Thinking outside the box with Jacob Lynch

[Obscure_Ref]

Jacob Lynch is quickly becoming one of my favorite masters, right behind Pandy, to play. I have enjoyed playing him as a Neverborn master, and until I get Mei Feng and Misaki, will continue to use him as such. He is very effective with his crew that contains brilliance, but I am wondering what other crew compositions he could take without to many models with brilliance built in. Here is one list I was thinking of.

Lynch

Arcane Effigy

Coppelius

Insidious Madness

Insidious Madness

Stitched Together

Stitched Together

The Depleted

4ss cache because of not starting with Huggy.

It seams a bit fragile, but with the right hand ( *wink* ) could be very nasty. What do you think?

Edited October 30, 2012 by Obscure_Ref
added in smiley. *wink*

[CannonFodder]

I would have to double check, but I think if you would need to start with the totem if going for a non-brilliance crew. With that few brilliance models I would not expect him to come out at all. And he is the punch of the 2.

[Joel]

In this list you would, hopefully, plant the madnesses and stitched next to the depleted in deployment and then kill it turn 1 (you would need to have the card in hand to trigger it) - putting brilliance on all of the other models and bringing Huggy out.

Remember however, that brilliance goes at the end of the turn...so I'm not sure how even this will help you much.

If an enemy model snipes the depleted before it gets into melee you lose any option for having Huggy on the table.

I have used stitched and insidious madnesses with Lynch and Huggy and they work very well if played properly with him, but I would urge you to get a beckoner for keeping brilliance up and some board control.

Coppelius I have not used with HD yet, but he is a natural, if expensive, fit for the crew and should serve you well.

Lynch and Huggy want more stones than 4 in a list. They are no zoraida who can function and survive without them - they are as stone intensive as the dreamer. Based on that, I think the list needs as little work.

[*Jack*]

I'd drop an insidious madness and start with huggy on the board... Possibly drop a stitched or the depleted to get a beckoner aswell.

[Joel]

I'd drop an insidious madness and start with huggy on the board... Possibly drop a stitched or the depleted to get a beckoner aswell.

That would be a good start the arcane effigy is the other one to look at dropping.

[Malicte]

Honestly I am not sure I would ever start Lynch without a few ways to generate Brilliance. Huggy is more fragile than he looks and not being able to easily bring him back would hurt.

I love the idea of using Arcane Effigy and Stitched Together with Lynch, and I think the IM aren't a bad model either, but I just can't imagine using that list without tacking more Beckoners on. If you bumped the crew size up for 45 SS and added Beckoners I think you'd be in a much better spot.

All I know is that if I lined up against that crew from the other side of the board I'm gonna try my hardest to just drop Huggy, because I know he's not coming back. Whereas if you have some ways to bring him out later in the encounter the threat of the fearbomb + Huggy activation is enough to make an opponent think twice before killing a piece.

[Obscure_Ref]

Thanks for the responses! :-)

I can see where adding a Beckoner would be useful, and dropping a stiched is probably the way to do it.

Arcane Effigy is pure win with Jacob. I have had 15 cards (potential 16) in my hand before because of it. They also can stay with each other easily.

I don't like starting with Huggy on the table. To fragile and to much of a target, and his An Ancient Evil is really good. I may start him on the table against someone like Lilith who struggles with attacks, but against a crew he would fall to fast. IMO!!!

I have never run Jacob with more than 4ss. I only use them for prevention flips and healing flips, or if huggy is up in Liliths grill. ;-)

So I guess my next question is, does Jacob HAVE to take a bunch of brilliant models to be effective? Or, can huggy pop out and spread enough brilliance to keep him coming back?

[Tokaji]

Personally, my answer is no. The only models I see as auto-include with Lynch are Beckoners. They are the backbone of his crew. I want to try out Ototo, Yamaziko, Toshi (more for hilarity than anything), and Torakage with him. He really needs a big hitter with him, in my opinion.

[Rathnard]

I had initially figured there were two ways to play Lynch;

Brilliance Heavy - Pretty much just the Neverborn from Storm of Shadows, and focus on the synergies inherent with those models.

Hand Hate - Use Lynch, Stitched, Tannen and Jack Daw to build up your own hand while stripping your opponent's cards, then finish off their models with "discard or kill" effects (specifically from Jack Daw).

...and in addition, Nix has had success with a third crew;

10-Thunders - Take Beckoners for Brilliance Control, then a variety of solid 10-T models like Yamaziko, Kang, Torakage and Archers.

I suspect you could also do the same thing by focussing on the solid Neverborn minions too, such as going with Beckoners and the triplets (Lelu, Lilitu & Tuco), or perhaps a variety of less hated yet still very solid minions.

I've had success with a Hand-Hate crew using Zoraida as the Master, although I suspect Jakob could do a better job of it AND have a cheap melee beater on hand with the Hungry Hippo. In any case I'm curious to see how all this goes on the table. That is, once I FINALLY get the time to assemble and paint my own Dark Debts crew.

[Ausplosions]

That is, once I FINALLY get the time to assemble and paint my own Dark Debts crew.

Has it actually arrived yet?

[Cunning]

I dont agree that huggy is fragile at all. Unless you're up against a lot of magical attacks he's very durable with spirit and use soulstones. I will echo other's in that at least one beckoner is a very good idea.

[Rathnard]

Has it actually arrived yet?

As a matter of fact...

Yes.

And it only took 11 weeks from making the initial order.

[*Jack*]

I dont agree that huggy is fragile at all. Unless you're up against a lot of magical attacks he's very durable with spirit and use soulstones. I will echo other's in that at least one beckoner is a very good idea.

I dont know... I used pandora against him twice and found him easy enough to deal with. Doing one or two wounds at a time suited me well, even if huggy was healing one wound at the end of every turn.

As a matter of fact...

Yes.

Sweet jesus... So jealous right now :')

[Joel]

Generally it's not just one wound. Huggy's (0) action can grab him several wounds back on top of feast/famine and any stones he spends on healing. I'm also running brutal effigy in the crew quite often for extra healing flips.

[Rathnard]

I dont know... I used pandora against him twice and found him easy enough to deal with. Doing one or two wounds at a time suited me well, even if huggy was healing one wound at the end of every turn.

In all fairness, Pandora is pretty good at dealing with spirits so it's no surprise that she had little difficulty dealing with the Hungry Hippo. In any case, the fact that he can potentially come back multiple times throughout the game makes him pretty handy.

[Tokaji]

In all fairness, Pandora is pretty good at dealing with spirits so it's no surprise that she had little difficulty dealing with the Hungry Hippo. In any case, the fact that he can potentially come back multiple times throughout the game makes him pretty handy.

Not to mention a great deterrent.

I'm gonna throw this brilliant model in your face and annoy you with it until you kill it. Oh, what's that, you killed it? Here's Huggy!

[Kalkris]

I would simply like to make it known that taking Sorrows with Lynch and linking them for Dead Man's Hand is a wonderful idea. Casting that spell twice + 1 for each linked Sorrow is a wonderful feeling, especially with "Read 'Em And...". Love it.

~Lil Kalki

EDIT: This works because Syphon Magic is NOT Magical Extension.

[Joel]

But lynch takes wounds...so best be careful.

[Kalkris]

But lynch takes wounds...so best be careful.

Yes, this is a very valid point, especially because after getting RM&, your next priority hand/crew-wise beyond the obvious strat objectives, second scheme, and/or denial of the foe's vp, is likely to bring out Hungy if he isn't in play. The best bet will be to link the sorrows when in range with an enemy to DMH with, de-link the Sorrows with card trick once you've gotten a strait (likely via card trick for a walk away and not having the Sorrows follow), and then running the sorrows near where you want Hungy to emerge, in the hopes that you'll deal wd when foes lose the wp check upon Hungy's dramatic entrance in addition to having folks scatter.

That is probably the ideal way to get that done.

~Lil Kalki

[Soundwave]

I would simply like to make it known that taking Sorrows with Lynch and linking them for Dead Man's Hand is a wonderful idea. Casting that spell twice + 1 for each linked Sorrow is a wonderful feeling, especially with "Read 'Em And...". Love it.

~Lil Kalki

EDIT: This works because Syphon Magic is NOT Magical Extension.

However... "Spells that reference a model by name can not be syphones" combined with "Jakob's controller flips..." Makes it sound as if it's not possible anyways.

[Kalkris]

However... "Spells that reference a model by name can not be syphones" combined with "Jakob's controller flips..." Makes it sound as if it's not possible anyways.

Oooh... Good catch. I didn't catch that, nor did a Henchman I'd been speaking to about it during a casual game (in execution, not in a vacuum). I will have to clarify with him next time I see him, just so he knows (he doesn't have Lynch but it's good for him to know regardless).

~Lil Kalki

EDIT: If it were worded in a way intended for Syphon Magic to work, it would say "This model's controller" rather than "Jakob's controller", right?

[Soundwave]

EDIT: If it were worded in a way intended for Syphon Magic to work, it would say "This model's controller" rather than "Jakob's controller", right?

Yeah, then it'd work.

A pity though as I dunno what Sorrows can add to a lynch crew besides that!

[*Jack*]

I dont agree that huggy is fragile at all. Unless you're up against a lot of magical attacks he's very durable with spirit and use soulstones. I will echo other's in that at least one beckoner is a very good idea.

Having played using huggy the other week I'm more inclined to agree... Spirit negates most of what you're taking, healing back up from your own or enemy models using his (0) and finally healing a wound in the start closing phase.

Also, the ability to come back is ridiculously powerful. It means you can be stupidly agressive with him, knowing that if he dies, you can come back. I used him and put perma-brilliance on colette and cassandra. Colette later died, huggy got re-summoned, completely tipping the swing of the game.

[Kalkris]

as risky as it is, maybe linking sorrows to Huggy would be nice for that obey-ish spell of his.

~Lil Kalki

[Therril_83]

I've only tried using a sorrow with Jakob once so far, but I found it usefull and I like the idea.

What I did was link it to Pacman to get it up the field, with Pacman healing the wound back in the closing phase without trouble. I used Doldrums a couple of times to great effect, paralyzing a Convict Gunslinger once and drawing out alot higher cards from my opponent's hand than I put in.

With the options of using Pacman's other spells aswell if needed, I think it's a great investment for 3ss.

I wouldn't even consider linking it to Jakob even if Dead Man's Hand had another wording, as I find it an incredibly bad spell, except for some very specific circumstances.