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Nix's Trip to the Masters - Gencon 2011 Master of Malifaux


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I wanted to get a couple battle reports out there for my 4 rounds in the Masters of Malifaux. I noticed on a quick scan that there were some questions about how the games went overall. These battle reports will also be posted on my blog (deadtau.blogspot.com) and will be discussed on the podcast (Games Lounge).

Note, if your reading these as they are posted, they will be coming in slowly (probably over the next couple days). Dixon and I are on the road back from Gencon this morning, so I am getting them added while Dixon drives. In addition, like most games I did not get enough sleep over the past weekend. With that said, if I forgot your list or your name I really apologize! Please post here (I have a picture of each of you) if you were my opponent, I would love your side of the battle as well!

Some basics were in place for the entire tournament. We played on Terraclips boards, with a fair amount of Ht 1, 2, and 3 terrain on the board. There were a number of buildings that consisted of walls, with no roofs. These were all ruled to be tall enough for ht 1 and 2 models to enter, but not Ht 3 or 4.

Master of Malifaux Round 1

Round 1 I played Stan, who was a whole lot of fun!

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Round 1 started out with Shared Turf War and I was matched vs Outcasts. My plan had me choosing 50/50 between my 2 lists. Turf War has me working to get my crew to his half of the board, and into his deployment zone to max my points. I chose to take my Dreamer list:

The Dreamer -- 7 Cache

3 Daydreams [6ss]

Alp [3ss]

Alp [3ss]

Alp [3ss]

Coppelius [9ss]

Insidious Madness [4ss]

Stitched Together [5ss]

Stitched Together [5ss]

My Opponent set down Gremlins across from me, consisting (if I remember correctly) of:

Som'er Teeth Jones -- 3 Cache

1 Giant Mosquito [2ss]

Bayou Gremlin [2ss]

Gremlin Taxidermist [6ss]

Hog Whisperer [5ss]

Piglet [3ss]

Piglet [3ss]

Slop Hauler [4ss]

Slop Hauler [4ss]

Warpig [8ss]

Looking at this across the table I chose Reclaim Malifaux and Steal Relic as my schemes. I thought this would work out well vs So'mer, plus I have the movement to reclaim Malifaux and still push through to the opposing side of the board.

We both deployed and after setting up, I noticed I had a straight shot to toss Chompy/Dreamer down the board and possibly take Som'er down first turn. I started to activate and set my crew for an early bury (Defensive Stance, etc), waiting for him to activate a load of models. I finally reached the point of decision and So'Mer was hiding right behind the wall of one of the buildings. I looked close, the building wall was ht 3, Chompy should be able to see over it, and I companion activated the 3 day-dreams and Dreamer. Daydream/Chompy/Dreamer/Chompy shuffle and I place chompy next to the wall of the building, within 2 inches of So'mer, inside the building. I declare the attack and my opponent asks if Chompy can see So'mer from inside the building since there are no windows. At this point I realize my error, I am not allowed to even place Chompy inside the building. FAIL! I pick up Chompy and measure all my other options. Nothing comes to mind. I place Chompy at my best choice of location and only have a Bayou Gremlin to kill, who dies promptly. I trigger "All Done", then use the daydream in my deployment zone to pull Chompy/Dreamer back home and use the third DayDream to bury everyone.

That was annoying. I have now tagged the three zones. End of Round 1 I have tagged the three Reclaim zones in my deployment area, the insidious is forward ready to grab one of the next areas, I leave 1 Alp out and forward to grab the next area, and have a Daydream positioned in the center to summon up another nightmare to grab the middle section.

Turns 2 and 3 are a lot of positioning on both our accounts. I continue to reclaim sections of the board, Gremlins run forward and snap off shots at random nightmares, one gremlin makes a charge for my deployment zone on the right side of the board (he has staked a claim on a piece of terrain there as well), and the insidious madness was fighting two piglets. The Warpig made a run forward, but Chompy jumped out and killed it dead (making bacon I might add.. Bacon makes everything better). I also left an Alp behind to try and head off the Gremlin making a sprint for my deployment zone on the right side of the board.

Turn 4 started on my side with another run on So'mer and a group of gremlins who had not left his deployment zone. Day Dream jumps forward and calls up the big boss, Chompy. I have the plan in my head and its all planned out. Chompy will Melee expert So'mer and hit him. If I onslaught I will take it, cheating low if I have to in order to not kill off So'Mer. I will use my 1st AP to steal So'mers relic (I have a 12 in hand and can soul stone), then finish the Gremlin Boss off with my 2nd AP, attacking and triggering "All Done" (I have a 11 of Books in hand) to put the boy on the table. Dreamer will activate with 1 AP remaining, summon all his friends ( I have a 3 of masks in hand), make them terrifying, and then the turn will be over. The turn starts out well, Chompy attacks and flips a high ram. I do a fair amount of damage and So'Mer has no stones left. Chompy Onslaughts and hits So'Mer again, bonus! I look over my hand, look over So'mer's health, then attack again and hit. I toss the book out, flip damage and kill So'mer. At this point I try and figure out what I am going to do with 2 AP on Dreamer. Chompy is "All Done", Dreamer comes back out with 2 AP and 2 (0), Summons all his friends as planned, makes them terrifying, decides he can fly, and scoots over to be ready to grab another quadrant for reclaim Malifaux. We activate 2 or 3 other models before I realize.....

FAIL!!

I forgot to steal the damn gremlins Relic. Best I can now score is 6 points on the game.

At this point I am fairly frustrated with myself for losing track of my schemes. Coppelius clears out his deployment zone, the pigs kill off the insidious madness and the Alp is just not fast enough to catch the gremlin running for my deployment zone. We have some small skirmishes but the game ends with Dreamer having reclaimed Malifaux, I have more models on his half of the table than he has on mine, his gremlin and my Alp are playing ring-around-the-Stake-a-Claim. Our final scores are tallied and we end up with a 6/6 draw (I get 4 points for Turf War, and 2 points for Reclaim Malifaux).

That Draw set us up at the exact middle of the tournament, as the only draw in the round. Round 2 will be posted soon.

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Keep these coming.

I like to see that a "broken!" crew(aka the Dreamer) fought to a tie with a "Crap!" crew(aka Gremlins). Helps to show people that not everything they read on these forums may be 100% true everywhere.

I agree, and Stan was a fantastic gremlin player! I can say no punches were pulled.

Bill

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Keep these coming.

I like to see that a "broken!" crew(aka the Dreamer) fought to a tie with a "Crap!" crew(aka Gremlins). Helps to show people that not everything they read on these forums may be 100% true everywhere.

Agreed. Good to see that the groupthink isn't always correct.

Wish I could have been there. Damn you Mary Kay seminar! (I had to stay home with the kids while the wife was away).

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It was a draw, yes, but probably should have been a win if the OP had remembered his schemes and placement rules.

As much as I hate group think and the "Neverlose" mentality, it's hard to disagree with this ... that said, in a balanced system, mistakes are what lose games. In a situation where player skill is the key determinate: He who screws up the least, wins.

Though simply forgetting your scheme is a bitter pill, hardly a factor of balance.

"I can win if he forgets to do X!" is rarely a sound strategy. ;)

Great report nix, keep 'em comin'!

Edited by Hatchethead
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It was a draw, yes, but probably should have been a win if the OP had remembered his schemes and placement rules.

Not to take any credit away from the Gremlin player, of course.

And how do you know the Gremlin player has remembered everything?

In my experience there's no such thing as a game where someone doesn't make a stupid error, unless you allow people to take their moves back. It's is a factor almost impossible to eliminate and as such, it doesn't cast much light on the actual balance.

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Here we go, round 2 of the Master of Malifaux from Gencon.

Round 2 I played Mike? (Names are quickly slipping from my head...) and his Resurectionist Crew.

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Round 2 was Shared Treasure Hunt, and playing Ressers. I had already planned to use my "Filth" list. Now, I want to point out that this list was the primary list I was planning to take to Gencon, simply because this was the Masters tournament and I felt this list was broken. It did not fail to deliver as expected. (and for that I actually feel bad for my opponents. I would never bring this list out in a friendly game, and am unlikely to bring it back in a tournament).

FILTH

Pandora -- 8 Cache

Primordial Magic [2ss]

Desperate Mercenary [2ss]

Lilitu [7ss]

Lilitu [7ss]

Nekima, The Dark Sibling [13ss]

Terror Tot Nephilim [3ss]

Terror Tot Nephilim [3ss]

His list, as best as I can remember was:

Nicodem, The Undertaker -- 5 Cache

Bete Noire [9ss]

Canine Remains [2ss]

Canine Remains [2ss]

Canine Remains [2ss]

Canine Remains [2ss]

Canine Remains [2ss]

Mortimer, The Gravedigger [7ss]

Rotten Belles [4ss]

The Hanged [8ss]

For this round I chose (I think) Hold Out and Kidnap on the dogs.

We had a fairly straight line down the center of the board with a fair amount of terrain to hide behind, but not a lot to block LOS. The Treasure was set mid-board between us and I deployed in a knot at the edge of my deployment zone. Lilitu #1, Pandora, Lilitu #2 in a line. Nekima behind that line, Merc to her right, Tot to his right, Tot #2 to my left in a building, Puking Snake (Primordial Magic) to my right in a building.

He deployed Dogs on the line in the center, ready to run for the treasure, Mortimer in the center of the dogs. Bell was set to the left of the dogs, back a bit from the deployment line, and Nico was hiding behind a building to the right of the dogs. Hanged hid out in a building and Bete was off the table.

So, my list works in a fairly prescriptive manner. Turn 1 went along these lines:

I get initiative:

  1. Merc activates and goes defensive stance (my opponent and I joke about 3 hungry women leering at him must make him nervous)
  2. Dog moves toward the treasure
  3. Nekima goes defensive stance. Gives all Nephilim Masks on their cast, Cuts herself for 1 blood, Melee Expert hits the Merc (I cheat weak damage), Moves 4 inches to in front of the line of Girls (Pandora, 2 Lilitu's)
  4. Dog moves toward treasure
  5. Tot #1 smacks the Merc, killing him, gains 1 blood (Nekima gains her second blood), grows to a Young. At this point I forget to use the Desperate Merc's healing ability on Nekima, minor glitch.
  6. Dog moves toward treasure
  7. I do not have a 12 in my hand, so... Lilitu moves forward 1 move, starts with Luring one of the Dogs. Dog fails to resist, lure auto-triggers double-take, keeps luring until dog is in base-to-base, and dies from a combo of whip hits and Pandora's 1 dmg. Lilitu targets dog #2 and does the same thing, killing it as well.
  8. Mortimer moves forward and buries himself, my opponent makes the comment that he is not going to play around with letting mortimer get lured all over.
  9. Lilitu #2 moves forward and lures a dog, dragging it in and killing it. Bete pops out of the dog. Lilitu fires up her last AP to lure bete to her death. Bete does "1 with the night" and goes back under the bed.
  10. 2 Dogs move forward toward the treasure
  11. Tot #2 casts sprint and shoots out to the Treasure, sitting comfortably on top of it, planning to pick it up next turn.
  12. Belle moves forward and lures the Tot 5 inches forward.
  13. Puking Snake moves forward through the buildings on the right
  14. Hanged comes through the building to get a bead on the Tot.
  15. Pandora activates, walks twice to get in front of Nekima and the Girls. Pacify on the front dog, push 4 inches, pacify on the Hanged, push 4 inches, PE on Mortimer, tagging the hanged and a dog, push 4 inches, pacify the Bell, push back, pacify the last dog, end the cycle.
  16. Nico wanders out from behind the building and positions for a bead on my crew for round 2.

Round 2 ended up much nastier than that. I drew a high crow in hand so started with Pandora first. Pandora uses Pacify to shoot down the board and gets in range of Nico. I drop a PE on Nico, forcing him to run to the board edge. I push around dropping some more PE and pacifies before shifting back toward my line. He activates Mortimer first and buries himself. I activate Nekima and give everyone masks. He attacks the Tot with the Hanged, but missed. I still have no 12s in hand, so I activate a Lilitu and lure the Tot back onto the treasure. I then lure another dog to its death, Bete jumps out only to face another lure and death. This time she does not go back under the bed and stays dead. I can see my opponent getting frustrated. Nico activates and rallies. Tot activates and picks up the treasure. Belle lures the tot, making him drop the treasure. My other Lilitu lures the belle to her death, then switches and lures the hanged to his death. 1 of the casts in that chain failed to cast, no worries on that as I have plenty more. Dog attacks and kills the tot. Young jumps forward to grab the treasure. Puking snake moves forward.

Round 3 Nico walks back up the board, Mortimer buries himself. I shift the whole line forward and then shoot Pandora up the table as much as possible. I was either in range, or was in range at the start of round 4, but I end up dropping a PE and self loathing on Nico. Nico runs off the board smacking himself in the head with his cane. Mortimer flings dirt in a laughing moment at Nekima. Nekima charges Mortimer and hits him with her big sword. Lesson learned, never fling dirt at the Nephilim Princess! At this point the game is over, the young picks up the treasure and walks back to my deployment zone. Game ended 8/0 win for me. Record was not 4TP / +8 Diff / 14vp

More reports when I get another break from work to write them!

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It was a frustrating list to play against :) that chain casting Lure and self healing group is just a sick combo if you are not prepared for it. So the game was frustrating but you were a good opponent. Still don't think I'll be at the NOVA event's unfortunately.

I still wish you could have triggered Nico staff and beat himself (w/ self loathing) into a mindless undead. It would have been funny!

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Thanks nix!

Question: Is there any one thing you could change (from a balance/design perspective) in your list that would make it markedly less filthy? In other words, is the filth the result of a single super-busted synergy or is it a slew of slightly bent interactions? Is it simply a matter of under-costed models? OR, can the power of the list be chalked up to catching opponents off guard?

Edited by Hatchethead
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Thanks nix!

Question: Is there any one thing you could change (from a balance/design perspective) in your list that would make it markedly less filthy? In other words, is the filth the result of a single super-busted synergy or is it a slew of slightly bent interactions? Is it simply a matter of under-costed models? OR, can the power of the list be chalked up to catching opponents off guard?

I'm not sure if it is the filth of the Nix' list, really. I think the Nicodem's list wasn't all that good.

First, nobody is going to give Nicodem enough time to raise a shambling horde out of whole 5 Canine Remains.

Secondly, there was virtually no thought given to all the crews that can get to you in the first turn. A single Crooked Man lying down 2 Shafter Marks could've shielded Nicodem long enough.

The later is the reason why Canine Remains lists (for Nicodem, of course), IMHO, have no future in Malifaux. Pick up 2 Vultures for the objective runs now, and Molly with Crooligans and the Necrotic machine will offer great synergy and compliment his lists very well in the future, I think. And spend rest of the points for a solid and fighty bodyguard for the man.

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Disclaimer: Not bashing the list, or its owner, just commenting on it!

I think it's the auto-trigger on double-take that tips it over from 'nasty' to 'plain filthy'. Anything with easy-to-achieve infinite loops tend to be very frustrating, in any game.

Obviously a very competitive list, and I'm not sure what Nico list could really have survived that. Shafted markers aint helping if your stuff is running 18" and getting repeatedly slapped in the face.

I'm not sure what McM or Seamus could've done either. Maybe Kirai could do her movement shenanigans to keep out of reach, but dunno...

Nice write-up, keep 'em coming!

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Disclaimer: Not bashing the list, or its owner, just commenting on it!

Me neither. Merely commenting on relative power difference between the two lists. Nicodem's Canine Remains spam seems to me like something of a nasty surprise in a gaming club, but too much of a one-trick pony to phase experienced players.

I think it's the auto-trigger on double-take that tips it over from 'nasty' to 'plain filthy'. Anything with easy-to-achieve infinite loops tend to be very frustrating, in any game.

Nicodem has some of that stuff too, you just need to survive long enough to set up all his synergies. A lot depends on positioning and the Control Card, but I think Nicodem can counter such a nasty Pandora list easily enough, and that makes the list less than filthy in my eyes.

Obviously a very competitive list, and I'm not sure what Nico list could really have survived that. Shafted markers aint helping if your stuff is running 18" and getting repeatedly slapped in the face.

There's nothing wrong with Nicodem sacrificing his minions. He can easily allow Lilitus to kill a minion or two - unless there's a Black Blood shaman on the table, you'll get these minions back (and if there is one, you have Vultures to claim the counters quickly).

The Fog is there to shield crucial minions and Nicodem himself from the Lure and such. It is good enough to hide 1~3 bodyguards - 3" radius around him is out of LoS at any angle, and outside it you get soft cover, that more or less forces the opponent to channel their Lure. Better, if you can nicely connect it with some terrain. Vultures can propagate the Fog further too.

Shafted Markers mean nobody can get close enough to threat Nicodem directly (attacks based on Auras, models that can charge with no LoS - all that has to get close to him and the markers are excellent to close the approach routes).

If opponent moves close to set up for turn 2 charges, you can always put the "body guards" around Nic, so that he is inaccessible, and put the Bolster Undead aura up.

After you survive the first turn, you'll be in position to start dishing the Rigor Mortis out and to Reanimate your fallen Minions (possibly bringing more deadly stuff to finish off the opponent).

Canine Remains list makes it impossible, because, almost by definition, it requires you to spend 2~5 AP on Reanimating, and Nicodem has only 6 AP in the first two turns and he needs to be spending those on movement and Fog. Movement, because you need to place him in a solid strategic location, so that he doesn't have to move much later, when he'll be reanimating, healing and paralyzing around.

I'm not sure what McM or Seamus could've done either. Maybe Kirai could do her movement shenanigans to keep out of reach, but dunno...

Nice write-up, keep 'em coming!

Nicodem can definitely deal with it. He needs good useful minions though - he doesn't work as a summoner and Canine Remains have very low usefulness.

I think that's why so many player diss him too easily. His fighty crews are easily as deadly as Lilith's and can work around movement limitations (Lures, Fresh Meat, every Reanimate means up to 12" jump, more if Bring Back has been used etc., then slows and paralyzes to take the speed away from the opponent).

Edited by Q'iq'el
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Thanks nix!

Question: Is there any one thing you could change (from a balance/design perspective) in your list that would make it markedly less filthy? In other words, is the filth the result of a single super-busted synergy or is it a slew of slightly bent interactions? Is it simply a matter of under-costed models? OR, can the power of the list be chalked up to catching opponents off guard?

I know there has been at least some talk about this, as I have brought it up a couple times. Personally I think the chain lure even when in base to base is broken. If I was to point to one change, it would be that Double-take stops once you get to B2B. To be fair, even a single trigger of Double-Take would be ok and still make Lilitu a strong model IMHO.

To be fair, not everyone agrees. Lilitu on her own is not too bad. The healing from Nekima is not too bad. Hell, even the masks on CA are not too bad. When Lilitu can chain lure you even when your at B2B, and you pile on the synergy of Nekima and Pandora into the mix.... well, Ouch.

Now, that is not to say its an unbeatable mix. Through testing the list prior to the tournament, it has a tough time against Neverborn, specifically Zorry and Dreamer. In addition, any list that can take Nekima down early or turn her to your advantage (Obey with Perdita) can hamstring the FILTH list as well. Due to the generally low WP, Ressers are really picked apart by the list. Guild is another that is at a disadvantage, even the Ortega's with their high WP.

Not attempting to over-pimp, but upcoming Gamers Lounge episodes will talk about some other suggestions as well. For example, in this game (above) Nico could have moved to the front and put up "The Fog" to slow things down. It would have left him in the vulnerable position however, but protected his crew a bit longer.

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Ressers really fall to this list. Kirai is the best bet, but Pandora can kill all the Seishin in 1 go, so even though Kirai can handle the nekima / Lilitu's she can't deal with pandora pinging all her seishin with Pacify and then dimentia (or what spell of hers drops the blast) And then once thats over, a luriing Lilitu can kill Kirai

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Hmmmm, I'm not sure if changing lure slightly is the answer to fixing the perceived imbalance of the list. I think I agree with you that this combo is perhaps a little too strong with some of the synergies available to to it. I think if we are discussing fixing it to something more manageable it should deal with the double take trigger itself. I haven't played Lilitu myself, so I can't personally comment on how essential to her play double take it, but would limiting the trigger's use to once per model per turn be too big a cuddle? That would still give each Lilitu a potential 4 casts of Lure a turn. Compared to the other "Lure Model" in the game, Rotten Belles, that is still a discount of 1 SS to do this because Belles cost 4 and Lilitu costs 7. I know their other abilities factor into this cost but just as a rough guide this seems fair.

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Game 3!

I have to apologize to my 3rd round opponent, I do not remember his name. As an admission, I was doing really good with names until about 3am Saturday night/Sunday morning and then they slipped right out of my damn head.** Its thanks to Dixon that I remembered Stan's name. So, if this is you, please post on here and let me know!

**Thanks to Adam, Gamers Lounge's one listener, I now know my opponents name was Jon. Jon, I apologize for forgetting your name, I owe you a beer next time we meet up! Remind me!

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Round 3 strategy was Shared Claim Jump, and my opponent had declared Outcasts. In pre-con planning, this was one of the strategies which I felt was ideal for the FILTH list, plus outcasts were one of the fair matchups for the list. With that said, I jumped back to the same list that served me well on round 2.

Pandora -- 8 Cache

Primordial Magic [2ss]

Desperate Mercenary [2ss]

Lilitu [7ss]

Lilitu [7ss]

Nekima, The Dark Sibling [13ss]

Terror Tot Nephilim [3ss]

Terror Tot Nephilim [3ss]

My opponent busted out Leveticus with the following list:

Leveticus, Steampunk Necromancer -- 2 Cache

Guardian [7ss]

Killjoy [11ss]

Rusty Alyce [8ss]

Steampunk Abomination [3ss]

Steampunk Abomination [3ss]

Steampunk Abomination [3ss]

Steampunk Abomination [3ss]

One of my local players played Levi pretty heavily for the past year plus, so I am very familiar with his threat range and other nastiness. With this, I was very comfortable going into the game.

I do not remember his schemes, but I took Kill Protege on Killjoy, and bodyguard.

At the start of the game my opponent and I discussed the terrain set-up and agreed that the Sewers drawn on the Terraclips mat would all serve as difficult terrain. Bridges and such were all open terrain, and the buildings stuck to the pre-defined terrain rules. The Claim Jump was set-up in the center of the board, with an "arched bridge" to the right of it. Basically this was a set of walls with an arch facing me and an arch facing him. Anyone on the claim jump could not see into the "bridge" or to the other side, but people on the "bridge" could see through.

My set-up was nearly identical to my round 2 set-up, with the puking snake on my left instead of my right. He set-up with a Waif inside a building on my right, 4 SPA's in diamond formation to pull themselves forward, Rusty Alice to my left, and Levi behind the SPA's. The guardian was behind the SPAs and next to Levi.

The first couple activations of turn 1 for me worked out the same, with the exception that I had a 12 in hand. Merc Defensive, Nekima defensive, smacks the merc, cuts for blood, gives out masks, moves forward, Tot kills the merc, gains blood, Nekima gains blood, grows.

This time I remembered to have my Merc hand out some healing with Last Noble Deed to Nekima, giving her a 2 point bump back toward full. I then have my Puking Snake move forward through some buildings, staying out of sight.

During all my set-up actions, his SPA's had moved forward and sheltered behind the bridge building, near the claim jump. He had moved in such a way that on the 3rd move forward he ends up leaving one of the SPA's behind and lonely. I am not sure what happened here, as I have not seen someone misplace SPA's before, especially not a player who could make it to the 3rd round of the masters with wins. That said, I saw the separation and knew I had to capitalize on it and stop the Desolation engine from coming on the board.

I activate Lilitu #1 and flip to summon her brother (Lelu), cheating the 12 from my hand and sacrificing the Tot. Now I have a chance to fire up the bond/super lure combo starting turn 2. Lilitu moves forward 1 time, and lures the "tip of the spear" SPA into B2B and kills it. Now there are 2 SPA in B2B at the corner of the "bruidge", and 1 SPA ~4 inches further back. My opponent starts inching Alice up on my left flank, keeping her behind buildings and out of sight. I move forward with my second Lilitu and chain-lure the remaining 2 SPA behind the bridge, killing them both. Levi activates and moves to the left side of the board, sacrificing himself to bring out KillJoy on the far-side of the "bridge" from the claim jump marker. The rest of the turn was a little positioning.

End of turn 1, I have a ball of nastiness mid-way between my deployment zone and the claim jump, he has Alice to my left (hidden out of sight), Killjoy and a guardian to my right (with the bridge between them and the claim jump), an SPA sitting near mid-board about 10 - 12 inches in, and Levi comes back to the Waif at the far side of the bridge from me.

Turn 2 starts and I pull 3 high crows into my hand and get initiative. Pandora starts, tags the SPA with Pacify, pushing forward down the board. I get LOS onto Levi, toss out a PE with a crow and stone it. Levi fails to resist (burning a stone), the waif makes her resist, Levi runs for the board edge. Pandora drops PE on the guardian, then I tag it with pacify and push back up the board, leaving myself out of charge range from anyone. Rusty Alice moves forward and takes a bead on Pandora. Opposed WP duel stops her shot and leaves her in the open. Nekima activates, defensive stance, gives out masks, and moves forward toward the claim jump. Levi activates and clears his falling back, but does not do anything else (specifically does not do anything to kill himself). My young nephilim moves forward toward the objective. Waif activates and passes. Primordial magic moves forward. Killjoy comes out on my side of the bridge, lining up for a charge next turn. I see my chance and activate both Lilitu's and Lelu. Lilitu #1 moves forward, chain lures the last SPA, and fails a cast which I let go. Second Lilitu stands still, chain lures Rusty Alice to her death, chain lures Killjoy to his death, Killjoy tries to smack her with his slow-to-die and fails vs her irresistible, then she walks toward the objective. Lelu activates and moves toward the objective. My opponent is looking pretty frustrated at this point. His guardian shifts around a bit to try and hide and the turn ends.

Turn 3 my opponent does not draw a new hand due to Levi not dieing. I activate and run through the Nekima standard operating procedure (SOP), able to now move her on top of the claim jump marker. Levi activates and walks back toward the Waif, keeping a bit cagey. Pandora scoots forward a bit, pings the guardian, and tosses out PE to give it a neg flip before coming to rest on the wall of the bridge closest to the Claim Jump and within the 3 inch target. Guardian activates and moves up the bridge, Lilitu moves slightly and chain lures the guardian to its death. Waif passes, I move the rest of my crew to strategically position around the claim jump marker, all within 3 inches and most out of sight of Levi, but with good LOS to cover the approaches.

Turn 4 starts, Waif activates and passes. Nekima activates, DS, gives out masks, passes. Levi passes. Primordial magic passes. My opponent looks at me and points out if we are both going to keep passing, then we might as well call the game as he cannot do anything and I already sit on 8/0. We call the game. Game ended 8/0 win for me. Record was now 7TP / +16 Diff / 22vp

His list was not the typical Levi list that I am used to seeing, and I think was at a disadvantage from the start. I was able to throw out my lures with 6's several times and he had little chance to resist. (guardian within 6 inches of Nekima is at WP 4, looking for an 11 to resist the 14 cast on the lure). Levi could have jumped into my line turn 4 and after to do some damage, but I am not sure it would have gone in his favor or he would have been able to turn anything. I have time to throw Nekima, Young, and Lelu at the waif to kill her, and could easily take down Levi. By turn 4 he had no stones left and I was still sitting on 5.

Edited by nix
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Edit: This is in reference to the Lilitu Nekima combo debate above.

I am a bit torn. On the one hand you have to dump 20 ss into two models to get the combo, but on the other a nearly infinite loop does seem overpowered. I think I would have to agree with Nix, that the most fair compromise would be to invalidate the trigger when in B2B.

Edited by pgbsamurai
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Hmmmm, I'm not sure if changing lure slightly is the answer to fixing the perceived imbalance of the list.

I was trying to figure out where this came from, and then a friend of mine explained it to me (thanks WRabbit). I am not recommending that Lure be changed at all. What I think should be changed is Double Take. I can see either of these changes working without breaking anything:

  1. Double-Take cannot trigger if the target is in B2B with the caster
  2. Double-Take only triggers 1 time (per turn or per cast), similar to aZoraida's Master of Manipulation trigger.

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