Returning player, starting ES

[Raimu]

Hello everyone!

If you had to choose one keyword to start ES, which one can cover most strategies & schemes in current GG? And which versatile models are useful?

[Maniacal_cackle]

McCabe with Botanists can cover a ton.

Maxine with her EVS can cover tons of stuff.

Both got a pretty big power boost with their titles (and were already pretty good before the titles).

I only casually play ES though.

[im_open_to_suggestions]

Mccabe is a good shout as mentioned above.

  I have had success with Ivan and also Basse winning tournaments running fixed lists with both.

[TheUnseemlyOne]

It’s a bit matchup deal dependent, but I’d recommend either Maxine or Ivan

[hydranixx]

With GG2 soon (presumably) to change to GG3, it's hard to know what the right keyword to invest in would be. However, if you were to just look at it from a GG2 perspective, I'd pick Maxine or McCabe.

Maxine is relatively flexible and her keyword is durable, and reliable. The card quality mechanics that EVS offers means you always have a chance, even in match ups where your opponent puts you under extreme Control Hand pressure. One advantage to picking Maxine is that she's usually comfortable playing exclusively within her own keyword, so you don't have to collect a lot of models to do well.

Optional Versatile/OOK hires for Maxine: You might like to have access to the Intrepid Emissary for some brawly match ups and when Assassinate is in the pool, or Vernon & Welles to help with your scheming and to pressure opponents with their Glimpse the Void trigger (which is very dangerous to enemies within Harata's Distraction aura). I also quite like hiring a Sand Worm with Maxine too on some boards. But, none of these 3 models are necessary to playing Maxine well. 

 

McCabe is extremely versatile, and his keyword has a lot of special tech in it that helps you counter most of the nastiest things in the game an opponent can throw at you. Once you get your positioning right, you'll also have a decent amount of card draw coming in most activations to help power your plan up. The keyword is pretty unforgiving though, so give yourself time to make mistakes - it'll probably take quite a few games before you feel that you're doing most things right most of the time.

Optional Versatile/OOK hires for McCabe: Botanists, Botanists, Botanists - particularly if you like the look of McCabe2. Luckily you get 3 in one box, because in some games you'll want to hire all 3. You might also want the Emissary if you're feeling like you really need to dissuade Assassinate, but it's not a high priority hire (or purchase). In the longer term, there's a looooooot of cool things McCabe can do with out-of-keyword Minions of all varieties, so if you end up collecting other keywords, you'll find reasons to bring in some of their Minions from time to time too.