What are the best three masters?

[Nirvanawn]

The question is: Which are the three strongest masters for competitive play, not your favorite. Also if you can add a blurb why that would be helpful.

I believe it goes:

1. Pandora

2. Leveticus

3. Ophelia

[Iamwyrd]

1) Lilith.....fast, df8 and transposition is one very good spell.

2) Perdita...fast, df8, and she has a gun.

3) Leveticus....if played right, he never dies, half plus one wd spell(stupid good) oh And he can never die. (Essentially)

[nilus]

Gonna play Devils advocate.

With the way Malifaux is generally played its hard to say what one master is good for Competitive play. So many Strategies and Schemes require different aspects that many master excel at some portion but not at others. Also add in the fact that most tourneys are run with a pick a faction but draft each round means its really more a of question of which Faction has the best tools(and IMHO they are all about even right now)

But top 3 masters if I had to choose at gun point

1) Perdita. High Defense, Ranged combat, Fast, Companion, Obey(to give your own models extra abilities). Good Defense trigger vs range. Ability to exchange cards. Very forgiving learning curve. Definitely top tier any way you slice. Ophelia arguable has many of the same traits which puts her pretty even as well(except Ophelia's crews tend to be a lot squishier then the Ortegas)

2) Zoriada. Fear the old lady when shes played right. Access to a large number of models across many factions. Ability to poison and cast spells while hidden. Lots of maneuverability.

3) I'd probably agree with Levi, but to be different I will say the Vikis. Cheap access to Ronin(and mercs in general, including the student of conflict and Friekcorp). Crazy sling shot shenanigans. If there strategy relies on killing the other guy(and doing it fast) then they are the team to beat.

[HopelessHeretic]

In no particular order.

Levi: difficult to kill, very strong spells, large access to models, and a fairly easy unique scheme.

Kirai: Insane movement shenanigans, almost every master struggles against her (not cridd or raspy), and her unique scheme is fairly easy.

Collette: Insane movement shenanigans, very good at completing objectives (except slaughter), can regularly complete power ritual for 3 points.

-Heretic

[Nirvanawn]

So the current total is:

4 Levi

2 Perdita

1 Ophelia

1 Pandora

1 Zoriada

1 Lilith

1 Kirai

1 Colette

I know the masters are situational. The question is based on competitive play. Say I have the ability to play one master in a tournament. I am interested in the strongest one.

[Iamwyrd]

Its hard to say, It would also depend on the total of soulstones.

At a low total I would say Perdita

At medium to high games I would say Lilith.

[yames]

levi for sure not only does he not die he also has a vass array of models he can choose from

perdita for the reason listed by others

for 3rd slot i think its a toss up between kirai and pandora but since i seen more kirai games (cuz i use her) im going with kirai

[tadaka]

1. Perdita

2. Levi (Per his version 3 I think perdita edges him out but close for top 2)

3. Kirai

[Isoulle]

I'm going with Perdita, Leveticus and Lilith.

[Nirvanawn]

7 Levi

5 Perdita

3 Kirai

2 Pandora

2 Lilith

1 Colette

1 Ophelia

1 Zoriada

Levi and Perdita start of well. The race for third is close.

Keep it coming.

[Lorenz]

1 collette

2 perdita

3 lilith or lady J

[huntroll]

1. Lilith - Insane defense, speed, decent Wp, good offense and a ton of board control.... All of this in the faction with the most brutal units.

2. Perdita - Almost the same as Lilith, except less board control and flexibility. But she is Immune to Influence...

3. I don't know, there are no other masters with such obviuos strength... I'd say the Dreamer, but he is less forgiving than the two mentioned above..

3 lilith or lady J

Lady J? Why? In my opinion she is one of the weaker masters... Even vs. the Ressers, Sonnia is a better choice (most Ressers damage with spells and have high Ca, so she takes care of them, she has AoE damage vs. swarms, can shut down their lures, etc.), and against the other factions Lady J has almost nothing but her insane melee damage, and she is easy to take down with her lack of defensive abilities and dependance on melee.

Also, the Guild has no means to deliver her to melee other than putting her in a coffin and releasing her near the enemy, which is nothing compared to the Neverborn or Viktoria Alpha Strikes or the Resser's Lure.

[Koali]

Pandora -> Insane Playing Style... no fun... for opponents...

Perdita... -> There was much said ...

Levi -> Unkillable and a few nasty tricks ahead...

[ProdigalPunk]

Pandora-> A lot of random synergy, and has insane lists that I terrify me

Perdita->Just a solid mast, solid damage output

Collette-> Super hard to kill

[oozeboss]

Levi -> Unkillable and a few nasty tricks ahead...

Funnily enough, the one time I got to watch a game of Levi (vs Gremlins) he got terminated in Turn 2.

Finished, kaput & deader than a maggot in a Mortein factory.

His crew lost.

[Tiny]

Lets be honest here. I was on fire that game.

[Dumb Luck]

Peredita has to be in the top spot. I had a turn one victory with her vs Levi last week. Aplha strike everything, Obey on PaPa from Abuela/Peredita and boom - takes whole warband off.

[oozeboss]

Lets be honest here. I was on fire that game.

Nah. It couldn't be that.

I took it as proof that Teeth is just plain hard.

:marshmell:marshmell:marshmell:marshmell:marshmell

[tenabrae]

Peredita has to be in the top spot. I had a turn one victory with her vs Levi last week. Aplha strike everything, Obey on PaPa from Abuela/Peredita and boom - takes whole warband off.

That doesn't make perdita awesome, it means either your opponent let himself die, or your build was good against levi... any nino/austringer combo is hell for levi.

IMO pandora is the best, I still think she's unbalanced... A couple of builds can take her relatively well but in general in a tournament sense where you're unlikely to meet a perfect anti-pandy build she's as solid as they come.

Lillith is definitely up there, her box set + cherub + young neph is super solid even in the post-rising powers game.

I'd put perdita up there if we're talking single master, her abilities are fantastic, add enslaved neph and you can do some silly things with obey and nino/executioner

[Ratty]

I don't think you can really put Levi up there. Yes he is hard to kill and can burn someones face off as soon as look at them, but he either does well or dies horribly. Against fast moving armies that can target the waifs he has issues.

Whereas Pandora works against any master. Same with Perdita. I don't know if there is a third master I would include. Kirai is very fast, but also very brittle. Lilith can be dealt with etc. I haven't played against Lady J or with my big Z yet.

[mythicFOX]

My list...

1. Pandora
   
2. Kirai
   
3. Lilith / Perdita
   

What I'd actually say is more relevant is the idea of tiering masters. I know there was a thread on this in the past.

The problem is most players broadly agree which masters are at the top end of the power spectrum, if not what specific order they're in.

[dgraz]

I understand the concept, but I don't understand how this thread is really worthwhile. Since the game is played with Masters and a crew, crew choice is the variable that really matters.

Most people agree that Perdita is in the top 3, but if I take her without any of the Ortegas her power level drops.

If I take Pandora with Nephilim and no Sorrows, she becomes useless - what if I add one Mature Nephilim for hitting power or the Hooded Rider? At the expense of spending those stones on more Woes - does she become more or less powerful?

Since I'll never put a Master down by herself to play a game......

[Ratty]

I understand the concept, but I don't understand how this thread is really worthwhile. Since the game is played with Masters and a crew, crew choice is the variable that really matters.

Most people agree that Perdita is in the top 3, but if I take her without any of the Ortegas her power level drops.

If I take Pandora with Nephilim and no Sorrows, she becomes useless - what if I add one Mature Nephilim for hitting power or the Hooded Rider? At the expense of spending those stones on more Woes - does she become more or less powerful?

Since I'll never put a Master down by herself to play a game......

Saying that Pandora's one of the few masters I've seen go on a rampage and win a game on her own without her crew.

[Nirvanawn]

Wow way to serious. This was suppose to be a fun post. I was just throwing around ideas to see what people thought.

12 Perdita

8 Levi

7 Pandora

7 Lilith

5 Kirai

3 Colette

1 Ophelia

1 Zoriada

1 Dreamer

[The Green Git]

My own personal list:

1. Lillith

2. Karai

3. Perdita

Granted, this is highly subjective. I've seen good players win big with Ramos and The Dreamer.