Picked up Sonnia Criid

[MadArcanist]

Expanding on my small grouping of Guys (Playing Ramos and spiders) I decided to pick up Sonnia just the other day. I figured with 2 guys playing Rasputina, 2 playing Seamus, and 1 playing Lady J, picking her up would start rounding our numbers out slightly.

So my question from the guys who actually played her. How complex is her learning curve. Also what purchases are most beneficial to her? I'm thinking of getting a Governor's Proxy to make her hard to cast spells on (its hard enough as is with counter spell but it can also protect my other guys as well). So I ask, what other guild members are good? Are Astringers worth trying out? Are a couple of the Family a good consideration? Thanks in advanced

~MadArcanist

[Pipeline]

The learning curve isnt that bad. You're gonna want a lot of stones and some stalkers handy.

She's definitely not point and click. Finesse is the key with her. Keep her back and annoy your opponent. Her damage potential is pretty good, but you're gonna be burning stones to get those crits off.

The family is definitely worth having in your ranks, especially Nino. Franco is probably the best bang for your stone the guild has to offer. I'm not entirely sold on totems for the guild. I dont usually feel like they are worth it.

[YamiZero]

Sonnia's totem, the Purifying Flame, is good to have with her. Being her magical extension, you could with manipulate your opponents movements with Flame Wall if you have the right cards in your hand. Its 0 AP spell also has the benefit of making anyone trying to attack it in melee takes 2 damage.

Her Flame Burst is also deadly, it's severe damage has 3 blast markers with 5 damage. It's also pretty easy to pull off, as long as you're willing to sacrifice a soul stone to activate her Confiscated Lore to give her +1 CA with the Book needed to cast it. Just cast this off on someone with a low DF and send the templates off to blast other figures for free damage. This is especially good against anyone that is out of her line of sight or one that require duels to even target them.

[Wulfen]

Also, while she is good as a back-row caster, she also has some oomph if she gets in the thick of things. She has triggers that pop on her melee attacks with the runed sword; they allow her to heal and have some card control. She also has Inferno as a (0) action; don't discount her as a melee caster in the right instances. I'm certainly not suggesting that she can just wade right in, but if played right, she's perfectly capable far away or right up front.

One of the reasons she's my favorite caster.

[MadArcanist]

In terms of how I've been using her lately she has been one big toolbox, and I've been forgetting about Inferno as a tactic, I've only played three games with my crew set up (Sonnia, Samael, Fransico, 2x Witchlings, and a Student for my 30SS list). Depending on who I am fighting I've had to change up my tactics accordingly. But as I tell everyone when they see my starting SS pool being at 8 (and yes I build around keeping 8 SS) that she eats SS like they are candy (in a 6 turn game I generally use all 8 for various things). The over all problem I can see people having with playing against Sonnia is that her overall style of play changes from person to person, Whether or not you sit back and blast them with Flame Burst and casting Flame Wall for Def, or wade in against some people for an easy kill and Hand control (my last game I could do whatever I wanted cause I emptied his hand on my first activation of Sonnia). Then again I've proven that I'm not the "average" Mali player and that I do a lot more different things (Like using my guys as reaction/defensive fighters). I haven't had much of a problem playing sonnia, in comparison to when I was playing Ramos, and people hated me for playing him too.

Thanks for the advice. I've really gotten the hang of her and people have been hating me for it XD. Now onto who I can team her up with to make people hate me even more XD.

[Wulfen]

Yeah, I will always take max SS with her, pretty much necessary to pull off her tricks with Confiscated Lore.

[Buhallin]

Look for opportunities to hammer a low-end target with her, especially a tough one (as counterintuitive as that may sound). The hand depletion if you can get her into melee can really mess with an opponent.

She worked very well against Seamus - save the right cards to Reflect the Lure, draw a Belle out of position, and watch your opponent WISH she could die while you shred his hand.

She's definitely a master that requires a lot more creativity than Perdita (and Lady J, although I have yet to actually face her)... There's a delicate balance of range/melee that you have to walk as well, but she's a heck of a disruptive caster.

[Wulfen]

Or converting those almost-dead models into Stalkers. Nice to use on those 'hard to kill' models.

[MadArcanist]

I've only used Violation of Magic Successfully on McMourning, and it was the hit that killed him (because at that point he couldn't cheat and not use SS). My friends currently hate my Sonnia crew, primarily because they lack the ability to generally cast on me, and I have scared people into NOT casting at me cause I will just counter it. She definitely is a controlling character when it comes to the types of Masters out there. Also Samael is a total beat stick, and well since he comes with the box he is included in my general jack-a$$ery that goes on. Outta all the guild masters it seems we've fallen in love with the obscure one (I mean, she casts magic in a primarily "physical" attacking faction). I really hope the new guild person is a load of fun, or else I might have to resort to brawling with Lady J or Perdita.

By the way, what other master do you think complements her overall "style" of play? I wanna try Lady J mainly because she is crazy in close and can probably contribute the most to her overall crew.