[Poll inside!] Warcaster decision

[PG_Dmark]

My dear fellow undead, pirates, nechrotecs, Satyxis and what else be out there! I have recently decided that I wanted to do something for the Cryxian community. For you to understand why I want to do this, you need to know something.

We have a whole ton of awesome warcasters in Cryx. Some of them are chosen because of their apparent power, others are chosen because they have game-shattering abilities and yet others are chosen because of the bag of dirty tryx they bring to the table. Now, I have recently entered the competitive environment here in Denmark and thus I have decided that I want to bring more light to the unpopular 'casters. I am officially going to the Danish Masters this September, and I want that to be the launch of a very special year. That's right, folks. I'm going to be playing all the unpopular 'casters solely for an entire year and I will even be bringing them to Lock and Load next year if I manage to scrape the money together. For this, I will need your help, however. All you need to do is answer this survey right here.

I thank you in advance and wish you great luck on all your personal endavours!

EDIT: After you complete the survey, a page in Danish appears. I do not know how to remove this, but that page doesn't matter, just close it down.

[SpiderBite]

I think i did it. . . it went all Danish on me after i submitted it.


. . . felt like I was trying to real the ruleset of some 'other' games.

[PG_Dmark]

Went Danish on you? Did it ask stuff in Danish?

[warlorddrax]

it went into some weird alien language for the submit button and the screen after that... coulden't read what it said so i Xed out

[PG_Dmark]

I've tried to see if I could remove the page in Danish showing up after the survey is completed, but I can't find out how. That page in Danish doesn't matter, however, and you should just close it down and ignore it.

[max2323]

Make sure you post the results.

[Kuwanger23]

I hope it worked. It hit the button that was in the Predators language. I assume that was submit. After that I gave up and crossed my fingers lol.

[Lamoron]

Uh that sounds fun... will be seeing you at the masters then. I've been thinking a lot about doing what you've decided to do, but every time I try I gravitate back towards the more powerful casters

[PG_Dmark]

Uh that sounds fun... will be seeing you at the masters then. I've been thinking a lot about doing what you've decided to do, but every time I try I gravitate back towards the more powerful casters

I will see you there! I don't know how it will go, but one can always hope. I've tried to do it before, but just as with you I quickly returned to my usual eSkarre and eDenny lists.

Anywho, the results are up!





As the results show, pShade is the least used 'caster for tournaments, after him comes Venethrax and eShade tied for a close second, Coven comes in third and with Scaverous taking the fourth.

However, I am a very unusual Cryx player, and I don't own a single bane, neither Knight nor Thrall, so I won't be playing pShade. I will, however be playing Venethrax, and if I can make an eShade list that works without banes, I will play him, else it's going to be Coven, a 'caster I'm really fond of.

[Deo85]

Don't people not play Coven due to hard match ups with this caster with any one who has range that can ignore stealth?

[usbprime]

Coven plus Legion = GG i've died from 1 ravagore shot on turn 2........and yes i played that game horribly, it was my first match against legion in a tournament setting. I've learned that you can play the coven decently against legion, but to do so, you need to play them as 3 separate casters, and find a way to hide the eregore somewhere safe.......buildings are the best to hide behind.

[PG_dbsmash]

I love the Coven as well, and I will be interested to see how you fare with them. Yes, they have hard counters. However, in a 2 or 3 list format you should be able to get around those bad matchups. Either way, the experiment sounds like a great time!

[Kuwanger23]

This pole worked out exactly how I thought it would and exactly how I voted. I am not surprised by the results.

[PG_Dmark]

Yeah, I wasn't surprised by the results either, but I decided to do the poll just in case the results turned out differently than expected. Also, on Coven being hard to play at a tournament, Denmark is a pretty relaxed environment. We play Deathclock with 60 minutes. Plenty of time. Coven should be played as if it was three different 'casters, yes.

If I ever go to a three list tournament, I'm going to bring Scaverous as my third. This will be loads of fun.

[Lamoron]

I think I might have to follow your example and pick pGoreshade then. This time I'll stick to it! (not likely)

[Island]

Do iiiiit! pShade is my only painted caster...

[PG_Dmark]

I think I might have to follow your example and pick pGoreshade then. This time I'll stick to it! (not likely)

By the way, do you know when the registrations for this year's Danish Masters opens up? I can't seem to find it anywhere on battlegroup.dk's forums.

[Lamoron]

By the way, do you know when the registrations for this year's Danish Masters opens up? I can't seem to find it anywhere on battlegroup.dk's forums.

As you've guessed they're not open yet so that's why (and I don't know when they will). There are qualifiers running (one on Saturday in Aarhus) and if you're qualified you get to sign up before everyone else. I don't think you really need to qualify to attend though, but it's nice to be sure

[PG_Dmark]

I knew the things about the qualifiers :P I have already attended a few, but I never made it to above a few places below the lowest qualifier (Damnit!).

Anywho, I think I might have found a pShade list I might be able to field. And I also think it might be competitive. My Venethrax List requires a lot of testing, though. Damn his feat is hard to time correctly, but I actually think it's powerful against shooting armies.

My pShade list looks like the following and I would like some feedback on it.

pShade (Mage Blight and Shadowmancer are two of the most powerful denial spells in the game. pShade will be able to shut down most armies if he brings the right list)
>Skarlock (For casting Hex Blast and Bleed. Might switch him out, though. Skarlock and Siren could easily make way for Tartarus to come into the list in the end)
>Deathjack (Because, why not? DJ with Stealth, Dark Shroud and Soul Gate available is disgusting)
>Harrower (To snipe off solos. Might exchange it for something else later)
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall (I had one point left over, so why not a Necrotech?)
Warwitch Siren (To fuel the Harrower when Shade needs his focus)
Pistol Wraith (Everyone needs two Pistol Wraiths)
Pistol Wraith
Max Bane Thralls (Because Stealth is kinda the only defense this list has against shooty armies, so why not make the main unit tough and weapon masters, too?)
>UA
Min Satyxis Raiders (Because they're an awesome first strike unit.
>UA
Withershadow Combine (For more upkeep removal, since Shade will be casting either Mage Blight or Shadowmancer and Soul Gate each turn)

Reinforcements:
Satyxis Blood Witches (Tough and healing denial can always come in handy. Plus, the Hag is yet another way to get rid of upkeep spells. Furthermore, the Blood Witches are generally excellent reinforcements)
>UA
Warwitch Siren (Such a good solo. You can almost always use another one of them. However, I might switch it with a Bloat Thrall later)
The list is not set in stone, but I've had one run with it, and it actually works pretty well.

[Sanctjud]

pShade is solid, but boring.
What I have found to be solid game play is to camp as much as you can (shadowmancer if you 'really' need it), have Wrathe in tow for Beyond Death, gauge threat ranges of enemy heavies and keep trash in the way of tramples and such... and the end game is delivering his feat like he was eGaspy.

I think casting any spell with him is sadness

[PG_Dmark]

pShade is solid, but boring.
What I have found to be solid game play is to camp as much as you can (shadowmancer if you 'really' need it), have Wrathe in tow for Beyond Death, gauge threat ranges of enemy heavies and keep trash in the way of tramples and such... and the end game is delivering his feat like he was eGaspy.

I think casting any spell with him is sadness

Mage Blight is kinda cool, though :P

[PG_Dmark]

I just played a game with the aforementioned Goreshade list. I had no idea Goreshade could be so fun! He is an amazing 'caster in my opinion. Shadowmancer is such a good spell. I played against Cygnar, and it was a bucketload of fun. An entire army of stealth, incorporeal and weapon masters is just so good. The Harrower was what enabled me the win, too, so that's not going out of there. The Warwitch is great, too. Only things I do not like so far is are the Skarlock and the Necrotech+Scrap. They make for good Soul Gate targets, but they hella expensive at that.

[bonesaww666]

Where is the Venny love!? I am new to Cryx but have been quite successful so far with him at Tier 4, it was finniky to learn delivery of my meat grinder caster but that aside I have had great success at beating both Warmachine and Horde armies with him... Except for Circles, transporting charge circus of doom... Pain in the, well y'know.

[Kuwanger23]

Seeing as I got dethroned this month in the tournament scene and my undefeated streak has ended I think I might try out pGoreshade and Coven next Steam roller. I Actually won my first MKII Tournament with pgoreshade and pDeneghra. Took Deneghra once and Goreshade twice. And I really like the Coven. Too bad I am still waiting on a resculpt of Goreshade.

[PG_Dmark]

Seeing as I got dethroned this month in the tournament scene and my undefeated streak has ended I think I might try out pGoreshade and Coven next Steam roller. I Actually won my first MKII Tournament with pgoreshade and pDeneghra. Took Deneghra once and Goreshade twice. And I really like the Coven. Too bad I am still waiting on a resculpt of Goreshade.

I actually like the current sculpt of pShade. A sculpt I don't like, however, is the eAsphyxious. But yeah, I actually think that pShade is competitive. He just needs the right list.

Where is the Venny love!? I am new to Cryx but have been quite successful so far with him at Tier 4, it was finniky to learn delivery of my meat grinder caster but that aside I have had great success at beating both Warmachine and Horde armies with him... Except for Circles, transporting charge circus of doom... Pain in the, well y'know.

Don't worry. When I have perfected my Goreshade list, I will get around to Venethrax. I'm thinking lots of Bloodgorgers, some Black Ogrun, two Seethers and Gerlack, then fill in with some extras.

[DialFforFunky]

edit: nvm, bad idea apparently.

Though I have experience with neither, I keep thinking that pGoreshade and the Kraken might be a decent combination. A colossal with stealth is always funny, and it gives pGoreshade and his Deathwalker a nice place to hide behind, allowing you to hand out more focus. The debuff provided by the Deathwalker helps the Kraken to hit as well. A downside to this approach might be that the force might be a bit slow, but if you take another firepower element, a Leviathan for example, you'll just force the opponent to come to you. Perhaps something to clog up opposing charge lanes might be nice.


F

[Gamingdevil]

A colossal with stealth is always funny

Colossals can't ever gain stealth.

[usbprime]

I'm going to try pShade for our upcoming hardcore tournament(since i was informed my previous list wasn't legal......) pShade, kraken and DJ. His Feat and shadowmancer will probably be all he does (and shadowmancer for the kraken to have a 4" dark shroud zone on his activation) Shadowmancer and a min unit of banes with this setup will annoy everyone but legion......and i know what my legion buddy (my biggest competition) will be bringing, and i think this list will break his.

[PG_Dmark]

Wow, my initiative to bring light to some of the more unused 'casters has gotten people to give pShade some attention. Just what I wanted to do with it. Mission accomplished!

[PG_cheddercaveman]

Looking at these numbers I have to say one of the things that I can't seem to figure out is why more people don't play Scaverous? He's got a fantastic spell list, he's pretty solid in melee himself. His feat can be alright if built for, definitely not the best feat and certainly not the worst. I don't know that I think he's quite as "plug and play" as someone like Skarre1 or Denny1, but with his spell list it seems like he would be a very flexible caster.

[The Horror]

The problem with Scaverous is twofold. First he wants all of the popular characters that our other casters need. Second and perhaps most importantly Scaverous does not mesh well in a timed environment. He does well at attrition, scenario, and assassination but he can't do them all at the same time. He can play as a buff/debuff caster or as a camp caster but he can't do both in the same turn. He has so many options that in order to play him correctly you need to stop and think, which is something you don't have time to do in the competitive scene. The other problem is that the way his typical army plays is very time consuming which creates slow play, something that will kill you in steamroller. I have fun playing Scaverous, but no matter how hard I try I can't seem to master playing him in a timely manner which is why he usually stays in the box.

[bonesaww666]

Due to a lack of helpful spells when running Venethrax I would recommend taking 2 Pistol Wraiths for some board control. His Tier list is amazing IMO and fun for my meta as the people I play have literally never seen Bloodgorgers on the field never mind 2 units of them! Oh and Skarlock for cycling Soul Harvester for the win!
I'm glad this popped up, I have been aiming for the lesser casters/units since I started playing and it's good to see some more people in the spirit!

[Sanctjud]

Also, Scaverous is relatively new... just saying
That would skew the polls a bit I feel.

[jonconcarne]

3. How popular do you expect Asphyxious the Hellbringer to become at tournaments?

64.9% Regular. He will see some experimentation, and some people will like him.

I'm totally in the like him camp. He's a beast if you can keep from getting assassinated, which is what crabjacks/huge bases are for. Carnage is a really big spell for Cryx I think. Much like Dark Guidance, but I like him a lot better than pSkarre for some reason. She's still probably better, just not for me :P

[PG_Dmark]

I'm totally in the like him camp. He's a beast if you can keep from getting assassinated, which is what crabjacks/huge bases are for. Carnage is a really big spell for Cryx I think. Much like Dark Guidance, but I like him a lot better than pSkarre for some reason. She's still probably better, just not for me :P

Mobility and Blood Boon into Bone Shaker is way too awesome, too. Plus, he has an offensive dispell. I'm liking him thus far.

[theHman]

The problem with Scaverous is twofold. First he wants all of the popular characters that our other casters need. Second and perhaps most importantly Scaverous does not mesh well in a timed environment. He does well at attrition, scenario, and assassination but he can't do them all at the same time. He can play as a buff/debuff caster or as a camp caster but he can't do both in the same turn. He has so many options that in order to play him correctly you need to stop and think, which is something you don't have time to do in the competitive scene. The other problem is that the way his typical army plays is very time consuming which creates slow play, something that will kill you in steamroller. I have fun playing Scaverous, but no matter how hard I try I can't seem to master playing him in a timely manner which is why he usually stays in the box.

I've been playing Scavvy since he came out last year and have to disagree with you regarding his use in tourny's.
Do you need to think about your turn a bit more than some of the other casters (like pDenny)?

Yes, absolutely.
But it shouldn't take you long to formulate a plan of action.

He's a fantastic caster and great at scenario play thanks to ARM buff along with tk.

In fact, I came in 4th in the tourny I played in last week.
I used him and pdenny - 2 games each.

Would have gotten 1st or 2nd place had I simply walked Scavvy into the control point during game 3 but got called on Time as I was deciding where to move him to. =(

Highlight of that tourny (for me) was killing Karchev on turn 2, not even 5 minutes into the game thanks to Tk'ing Karchev, then moving croes up and shooting him in the back. Took 6 or 7 or them to do it thanks to a couple really bad dmg rolls.

Only wished I'd paid more attention to the actual time for the game.

[The Horror]

Would have gotten 1st or 2nd place had I simply walked Scavvy into the control point during game 3 but got called on Time as I was deciding where to move him to. =(
Only wished I'd paid more attention to the actual time for the game.

I'm not sure how you can disagree about his taking time consuming turns when having time called on you cost you a game? I'm not saying he's not viable in tournaments, I'm saying he takes long turns which isn't very good in a timed format. If you can play him in a timely manner he's great, but I've yet to meet a Cryx player that can.

[Lamoron]

He makes my brain boil when I try to run him in timed events.

[PG_Dmark]

I actually don't think Scaverous takes too long turns to be played effectively. Yes, you have more abilities to activate for his army to get the synergies up, but that's what most menoth guys do every day. I like him and I think he has a lot of power, and I'd love to take him to a time tournament some time.

[Admiral_Arzar]

I actually like the current sculpt of pShade. A sculpt I don't like, however, is the eAsphyxious. But yeah, I actually think that pShade is competitive. He just needs the right list.



Don't worry. When I have perfected my Goreshade list, I will get around to Venethrax. I'm thinking lots of Bloodgorgers, some Black Ogrun, two Seethers and Gerlack, then fill in with some extras.

I've played a lot of Venethrax. I would advise Malice, Satyxis Raiders, Darragh+Soulhunters, the Combine, and a Skarlock to hot-swap Soul Harvester to be the core of your list. Fill in the gaps after that with whatever you like - that core is brutal against both Hordes and Warmachine armies that don't have much heavy armor. Afaik I never really lost with that list except to my own stupid mistakes back when I was still learning the game. Don't play his tier - Seethers just aren't good enough to make it worth your while.