Exso Bygone Tiri Theory

[hydranixx]

Our 9th Master will soon be gracing us with her presence: Tiri, the Nomad, and for most of us, we've just had our first peak at what will most likely be her core box models, courtesy of T&G.

For anyone who hasn't seen this, I'll drop the link at the bottom of this post.

I decided to dive right in and play her in two games so far, testing out what will likely be her core box model, and seeing how they feel on Vassal:

Game One - Corrupted Leylines vs Sandeep2

• Tiri, the Nomad
  • Hidden Agenda
• Oro Boro
• Kett
• Aua Warrior x3
  • Flush with Cash x1
• Bellhop Porter
• Intrepid Emissary
• 7ss Cache

Game Two - Turf War vs Lord Cooper1

• Tiri, the Nomad
• Oro Boro
• Kett
• Aua Warrior x2
  • Flush with Cash x1
• Bellhop Porter
• Intrepid Emissary
• Winston Finnegan
• 5ss Cache

 

Overall, the crew felt fairly unique and strong but not over the top like some titles (at least until we see more of her models - she is from Madness of Malifaux after all 😂). 

My initial take is that in a vacuum she plays vaguely akin to Maxine1; there's a parallel between picking to Follow Tradition or Embrace Technology in Tiri's activation and picking your Polymath suit with Maxine in the start phase, plus she has armoured, clunky Constructs, she uses Shielded, she can hand out Fast to friendlies, and of course, Let Bygones be Bygones definitely feels a lot like Captain of the Superior, at least at first.

 

So, let's Talk Letting Bygones be Bygones

As long as you stay in the bubble near your master, have Shielded, and do a thing you already want to be doing, you probably get to draw a card.

Nice.

You can often draw this card without having to Cheat Fate.

Also nice.

The really easy example here is Tiri's Impassioned Defense, which as long as she's going before her Shielded is ripped off of her, almost always read for me as: Put Shielded +2 and Focus +1 on a friend, and draw a card. I did flip the  trigger a couple of times and did end up declaring when it came up naturally since you're probably going to want to declare a  on at least one other action later on in Tiri's Activation anyway, and setting up two models with Shielded will have greater long term gains for you - but I don't think I'd purposefully cheat for the  trigger very often unless I'm actually missing the TN. The TN itself is so low that I only had to cheat for it once across both games. 

But on the other hand, you do have to declare the  trigger itself, so you can't be stunned or otherwise ineligible to declare triggers if you want to draw that card. Stunned is already one of the strongest tools in the game so having a particular weakness to it is slightly worrying - fingers crossed Bygone has a model which can remove Conditions. 

As far as getting the  itself goes, you'll have to either top deck it, cheat it in, or bake it in by having Shielded on you when you're chosen to activate - but whichever way you do it, you also need to actually win the duel. There aren't many actions requiring Simple Duels in the keyword so far - only Tiri and Kett have one of these - so your Aua Warriors and Oro Boro have to attack someone in order to secure that card. Of course, you can always punch a friend for a card. It's particularly spicy with the Aua Warrior's Discus Grenade since you can also push the model for 3" - drawing a card and pushing a model for 3" feels like a great trade off for 1 damage to me.

Impassioned Defence setting up your other models adds an interesting little mind game of "I just put Shielded +2 on Kett/Aua Warrior/Oro Boro - do you want to try deny Scars by attacking me to try rip Shielded off? If you do, I have Armour so I'm likely take very little damage overall, and if you only hit me once and take off 1 Shielded your effort was basically wasted." 

 

I found that I had to work hard to get multiple cards a turn out of Let Bygones be Bygones, which is probably where it should be. Free card draw is dangerous to balance, and this type of card draw felt fair because your opponent has many ways they can influence or mitigate it.

 

So, do I Follow Tradition or Embrace Technology?

Yes.

I really, really like how you have to choose whether to Follow Tradition or Embrace Technology - there's a lot of awesome things they unlock but equally there were multiple instances where I caught myself realising that my model would do a super cool thing if only I had been Embracing Tech, but I was instead Following Tradition, or vice versa. 

I especially like that the trigger tied to each of these on Tiri herself seems like it would want to be applied at different times in the turn; Mirage feels good early to turn off Vendetta/In Your Face/Hidden Martyrs etc while Remake the Old World is great for going late in the turn and denying enemy markers. So you have to make a meaningful decision on when to activate Tiri herself, and what to pick - and not just for herself but for the other models as well. 

For instance, if the opponent tries to shut down Kett's Scars by taking off his Shielded in melee, but you're in Follow Tradition, his knockback can move an enemy model away AFTER RESOLVING, and since you have Df6 there's a decent chance even if your opponent actively tries to knock off his Shielded they'll come up short. Of course, if you're in Embrace Technology, his ability to steal Focus is extremely rude - within Concealing he becomes a nightmare to deal with against Ranged crews and he can freely steal it as he becomes targeted, and he can rip it off enemy models whenever he sees fit - Kett robbed 3 different models in Sandeep's crew across 3 turns of their Focus which I can honestly say is some of the most fun I've had with the crew.

• Pro tip: Whichever option you pick, remember that Oro Boro is always immune to damage from Hazardous - he either reduces it to 0 if you're Embracing Tech or he's literally immune to it if you're Following Tradition! I completely forgot this as a I watched him die to Hazardous terrain in both games where he should have lasted longer.

 

So, what is Tiri getting from Explorers?

Intrepid Emissary feels ok at best here, to be honest. Phalanx only offers Shielded when you activate near him, not when you choose a model to activate near him, which is what Scars requires (a very deliberate and understandable decision by Wyrd, I think). In both games, he offered some light healing, pushed and Slowed some Minions and tanked a couple hits to keep softer models safer. But he didn't deliver 10ss worth of value. He's kind of just a big clunky brawler in a crew already filled with small clunky brawlers.

The Bellhop Porter genuinely does feel like he has a place here. Offering Shielded to help set up nearby friendlies with At Your Service is surprisingly useful. Once Markers start getting laid down he'll be activating with plenty of Shielded every turn due to Full Pack - in both games he had multiple activations in which he gained 4+ Shielded which he was able to share with whichever Bygone model needed it most. Oddly enough, he does appreciate the Emissary's Phalanx as it lets him give even more Shielded to nearby friendlies, but again, by hiring both to do this you have two big cumbersome models which both kind of offer the same tech: I've Got Your Back, 2" melee, pushes etc most of which I think has diminishing returns in this crew.

I gave Winston a spin and didn't regret it (though then again he's so often such a solid model that perhaps this isn't really a surprise). Dirigible Ride with the Heal trigger feels extremely good to keep Kett topped up and in the right position to make the most of his abilities and actions. With the models released so far, Winston can Dirigible Ride all of them which is close to essential as the rest of the crew is very static.

 

So, what about Outcasts?

Yannic! Among other things, but mainly Yannic, who looks outrageously good with Tiri. The aoe healing is very welcome, but the real gem is that little Follow Tradition Off The Path combo with the baked-in : Discard 1 Card and 1 nearby Scheme Marker to move a model 2"/3"/4", make it immune to enemy Schemes for the turn, and Draw 3 or 4 Cards depending on whether you have drawn a card from Let Bygones be Bygones yet. Insanity. Well played Outcasts, you win this round.

 

 

T&G link as mentioned:

 

So, what do you think of Tiri on first impression? 

Concocted any crazy combos?  

[Mindbadger]

Good effort trying her out already!

I think she's tough to evaluate currently, she's a support master but without any "meaty" models to support currently. Further reveals will give a clearer picture. She definitely has some decent actions, her attack is just fine but her bonus works great with the crew.

As for her triggers to shut down schemes, as Mirage is friendly only, it will require a bit more guessing and timing, it only hits the first part of schemes like Vendetta, Secret Meetup and In Your Face so it can be easy to miss those windows. Probably a good thing though, it shouldn't be that easy to nullify schemes. Remake The Old World seems more generous in timing and being able to stop more in the way of reveals and end of game. 

As for reasons to pick them in Explorer's, apart from your mentions, if there is a Bygone model who drops scrap (which I'd expect with Remnants Of The Aua being a bonus action on more than one revealed model), the Botanists could grow pretty fast with scrap being eaten for shielded. There is also an outside chance Jesse Halliday could find a home there, she can drop scrap, get in the way of people scoring by interacting, draw cards off scrap which is down, push enemy models, all things which seem to fit with Bygone. I'm not sure if they have enough of that already though.

[Maniacal_cackle]

I don't think Yannic is good with what we've seen so far - you only get to draw one card.

Personally I'm excited to try out all the staggered synergies. Everything we've seen so far attacks movement in some way (either directly or through TNs). So I'm probably going to test Montresor in Outcasts or Damned in ES.

[hydranixx]

2 hours ago, Mindbadger said:

 

As for reasons to pick them in Explorer's, apart from your mentions, if there is a Bygone model who drops scrap (which I'd expect with Remnants Of The Aua being a bonus action on more than one revealed model), the Botanists could grow pretty fast with scrap being eaten for shielded.

This was my first thought too. Botanists automatically handing out Staggered when they hit someone would appear to make them even more appealing - providing the scrap generation source is reliable.

 

1 hour ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

I don't think Yannic is good with what we've seen so far - you only get to draw one card.

But discard 1 for draw 4 is even better than what Yannic does with Austera and Twigge 😉

 

1 hour ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Personally I'm excited to try out all the staggered synergies. 

When grown up, Botanists have a better stat to hand out Staggered than the Damned does ❤️

[Axelst]

Discard one for draw 4 is great, but the action punishes you for not actually discarding a card. Tiri seems to have plenty of card draw already, and it adds pressure on your activation order in a crew where that already seems very important.

[esqulax]

Aua Warrior + Bellhop Porter could potentially be a cool way to spread some shielded around