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Students of Conflict - Season 2 - #1B - Devin vs. Devon! (Misaki vs Von Schtook): Houston May Tourney 2024
381 Plays8 months ago
The Students of Conflict are back with new shenanigans! This episode we talk to Devin about the Great Devin/Devon-Off during the Echoes of the Breach campaign tournament played in Houston recently, we talk about our new Evil Twins alternative game format which we shall be unleashing upon the world during the upcoming North American Faux Tour Championship Weekend, and we kick around ideas for a Malifaux potluck.
Hosts: Doug and Clay
Guests: Devin and Andre
Tournament: Houston Monthly Tournament, 11 May 2024 (GG4, feat. the Echoes of the Breach Global Campaign)
Tournament on Longshanks: https://www.longshanks.org/event/15544/
Encounter:
Devin (Misaki) v Devon( Von Schtook)
Devin Echoes of the Breach thread selection: Adrenaline Rush
Devon Echoes of the Breach thread selection: Moonshine Madness
Standard Deployment
Strategy: Raid the Vaults
Schemes: Let them Bleed, Death Beds, Power Ritual, Outflank, Sweating Bullets
Mentioned in the Podcast:
NORTH AMERICAN FAUX TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND - Master’s Invitational Championship and NAFT Black Joker Open: https://www.dlairhouston.com/products/north-american-faux-tour-championship-weekend-ticket
Hotel link: https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?app=resvlink&id=1654866468754&key=CORP
Echoes of the Breach Global Campaign: https://www.wyrd-games.net/global-campaigns
Recipes discussed this episode: Butterfinger Brownies and Caramelized Banana Ice Cream (recipes can be found in the Students of Conflict discord channel shortly after the episode goes live)
Thank-Yous:
HUGE thanks to Top Doug Design for all the terrain we play on here in Texas and for sponsoring this podcast, to Wyrd Miniatures for allowing us to use their artwork from the 2nd Edition Student of Conflict, and to Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy Houston for providing such an amazing space for the community.
Top Doug Design: https://www.topdougdesign.com/
Wyrd Miniatures: https://www.wyrd-games.net/malifaux
Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy Houston: https://www.facebook.com/dlairhouston
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Students of Conflict Podcast
00:00:10
Speaker
Straight out of the heart of Texas, here come the students of conflict, helping you become a better Malifaux player and reach the top of the podium, one game at a time. All right, welcome back to Students of Conflict. We are Clay and Doug for tonight. I'm Doug every night.
00:00:39
Speaker
Yes, we are. You are, and I am Clay every night. It works out that way. Anyways, we made it through a long hibernation and we are back. We are trying to become better Malifaux players, leveling up ourselves and hopefully leveling others up as well. As usual, we're not trying to capture our guests' entire tournament journey. We do want to talk to them, though. We want to find out about the game. We want to take an in-depth look at just one of those games from their tournament. What were key decisions that they made before the game, during the game? And now that they're looking back, what were the things that they learned that they can pass on to other people?
00:01:09
Speaker
And then we interview our guests together. We release one individual podcast per guest, helping people level up one game at a time.
Meet the Tournament Winners
00:01:16
Speaker
Tonight, we're speaking with Andre and Devin. Hello, hello. Hello.
00:01:22
Speaker
And hello, guys. These guys came in first and second at the Houston Monthly Tournament, held on 11 May, 2024. This was a GG4 tournament featuring the Echoes of the Breach global campaign. So we're excited to be talking about that sometime tonight as well. We're gonna be releasing our discussions with them as season two of Students of Conflict, episodes 1A and 1B.
Malifaux Potluck Ideas
00:01:44
Speaker
Okay, so we are back. Students of Conflict season two
00:01:52
Speaker
Episode 1b and with us today is Devin. How you doing Devin? I'm doing good. How about you? I am doing well I'm excited to have you back and I'm excited to be doing the the podcast again It has been too long since I've seen all of y'all's smiling faces and you know, just Shot the shit with you guys
00:02:13
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited that you guys started it back up, too, you know, after your long hibernation, as Clay has been saying. Well, God, we all got busy. And, you know, you as an educator will appreciate it that, oh, goodness, my first semester teaching at, you know, collegiate level took more prep time than I anticipated. That will do it first year, for sure.
00:02:41
Speaker
But grades are in. The tournament has happened. And now it's time to talk some Malifaux. So as we all know, we love to do the icebreaker question here. And this time, the wonderful DiceMan87.
00:02:56
Speaker
recommended this icebreaker to us because shortly before our hiatus, I was left unsupervised and I turned students of conflict into our Malifaux cooking show. So we're just gonna keep rolling with that because quite frankly, it's fun and awesome. And even if we didn't roll with it, I'd still be doing it anyways because I can. So Devin, we're coming up on summer here.
00:03:26
Speaker
Get ready, you know, prepare yourself getting, you know, shorts mindset here. Pretend like you've been invited to a cookout. The weather is perfect, not too hot, not too humid yet. Nice breeze, some clouds in the sky. What dish are you making and why?
00:03:50
Speaker
Well, much like Andre spoke in 1A, I'm not the best of cooks. So I'm going to be bringing a dessert as well. One that when I tried it, I became instantly addicted to it. It's Butterfinger Brownies.
00:04:06
Speaker
And there's really no secret here. You just take a couple butterfingers and you beat the hell out of them. And then you take some box brownie mix and just put those suckers in, bake them up, they'll come out. Oh, it is so good. That sounds awesome.
00:04:22
Speaker
I'm on board for that. They are so good. I did not believe it when I found the recipe that this could exist. I was like, why did I not think of this? But as soon as I found it, I made them immediately and I've become addicted to them. I need those in my life. Maybe I will bring some to the tournament coming up because that is definitely a treat. Oh. Yeah. I should make cookies. You should bring these brownies. We're just going to have a
00:04:53
Speaker
You know what, let's just turn it into the summer barbecue that we are talking about here, you know? There we go, you know what? It'll be perfect. You know, we got we got to talk to Dragon's Lair about allowing outside food, you know, but you know, someone could be convinced to bring a brisket, you know.
Strategies and Team Compositions
00:05:10
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. That is something I have not tried doing. I've never like, I consider myself to be a very good cook, but I've not ever tried smoking the brisket.
00:05:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's I've done it before. It's it's not super tricky, just a lot of time, but it's really good. And actually, on this note of Malifaux and potluck, I actually did go to something in San Antonio before where there was a Malifaux party potluck and being one of the better events that I've been to there. It wasn't like competitive in any way, shape or form was actually to introduce a whole bunch of new players to the game.
00:05:47
Speaker
But it ended up being a blast. You know, you'd eat a little bit, you sit there and talk with some people, talk about what got you into the game and, you know, kind of playing a whole bunch of henchmen hardcore, because being honest, you know, full games with new players, especially in a venue like that, where people have been drinking a little bit, henchmen hardcore was far better. But yeah, it ended up being a blast. And I actually really, I think we should do this like a
00:06:10
Speaker
for a, you know, weekend of every month or something. Maybe we should try a potluck Malifaux or something, because it would be awesome. I do, it's delightful. I think, yeah, we should, we should look into that. That sounds awesome. I'll bring ice cream. Yeah, maybe like every other month, you know, but yeah. I know, here we go. We are, I'm loving the entire food and Malifaux theme. The food is really, yeah. To compliment, you know, the brownies and the cookies, I would bring some ice cream along.
00:06:38
Speaker
Cause I don't know if you know this about me. Um, I am an ice cream wizard. There we go. Like Archie. Oh no. I'm like a wizard of ice cream. It's amazing. I make this, uh, Devin, your brother is head of my ice cream on many times. Oh yeah. Oh yes. We, uh, but I, I think my favorite one is a caramelized banana ice cream.
00:07:03
Speaker
Or what I do is I take bananas and you let them get to banana bread stage. You know that stage where if you look at them sideways, the stem's gonna fall off, it's gonna flop and they're gushy and brown and their texture is deeply disturbing, but they taste so damn good in baked goods and stuff. So you do that, you mash them up with a bunch of brown sugar, you caramelize that on the stove, you make basically banana caramel.
00:07:34
Speaker
And then you, after that's cooled, you churn it into ice cream. And it makes this the most banana-y flavored ice cream I have ever had.
00:07:47
Speaker
You gotta
Tournament Reflections and Insights
00:07:48
Speaker
bring it, dude. I mean, you're also organizing the tournament, but you need to find some time, make some ice cream, bringing it. And Clay, I guess that unfortunately means you're doing the brisket, so... No, I was like, do I have it in my... No, no, I don't have it in my freezer right now. I ate all of it. Last time I did it, I actually made a variation on it. I put some cocoa powder in there with it as well, and then put chocolate chip cookie dough.
00:08:11
Speaker
in it as well. So it was chocolate banana with chocolate chip cookie dough. It sounded super stonerific and it was goddamn delicious. No, it sounds good. I never said that I have anything about being able to cook brisket, though I do do a mean tri-tip, but my Thin Mint hamburger cookies.
00:08:31
Speaker
We'll see about doing this. We got a little bit of preview of this upcoming North American Folk Tour Masters Championship tournament coming up, but we'll see about having some food there. That sounds like an awesome deal. And maybe I'll bring a bottle of whiskey too. Yeah! There you go. But yeah, okay, where was I? I'm hungry now.
00:08:55
Speaker
So let's just go get brisket right now. Brisket, anyone? Which round are you gonna be talking about, Devin? And why? I'm gonna be talking about the Devin-off that occurred in round one with Devin from San Antonio, correct? Done, done, done!
00:09:16
Speaker
So as soon as I met him, I knew the day would come. So it happened round one in the tournament. So I was quite happy about that. But it's going to be round one with Mizaki, one for myself. Van Stok won for him. So two Devins entered, one Devon leaves. Because there can only be one. So you are Highlander Devon.
00:09:39
Speaker
Uh, sure. Yeah. It's real shame about former Devin, but she took the dub. Yeah. Well, I guess there's another Doug to be added to the mix cause, uh, Devin took on the name Doug. So he, he, uh, Devin here hit Devin so hard that he changed his name on long shanks to Doug. It was very confusing when I was running the tournament, but it was deeply hilarious. Also I'm going to say Devin off sounds like a Bond villain.
00:10:08
Speaker
It definitely does and I'll take it. You that are like Rocky and Bullwinkle villain. I'm not sure which. So what were some of the big lessons you learned in this game against Devin other than that, uh, how to properly spell Devin?
00:10:29
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, that was that was the most valuable of the lessons to, you know, really bring that I home. But yeah, no, I mean, it was a one.
00:10:40
Speaker
It was a good game. I usually choose Mizaki for her mobility, and I didn't know much about what Devin was going to bring. So I just know that the one time I played him was a henchman hardcore game when he was just getting into the game and he was playing Van Stuch, so I just assumed Van Stuch was coming.
00:11:01
Speaker
So I didn't want to apply anybody to scheme because they might not survive the Valvikorian because I know that model can just be brutal. So I decided to go with Mizaki into round one to make sure that I didn't die so easily. But ended up not really being too big of a thing because I was actually able to take her out round one.
00:11:25
Speaker
And just so refresher to everyone, we talked about it in a previous episode, but you don't listen to this like two weeks later. You don't remember the past. The pool for this round was standard deployment, raid the vaults, let them bleed, deathbeds, power ritual, outflank, and sweating bullets.
00:11:50
Speaker
Yes. And the list that I brought, because I know this is probably coming up fairly quickly. I chose Mizaki 1, obviously with Shang. I brought Ototo, because always. Monaco Ray. I brought Ban Ying, one of the newer models from Malifaux Burns.
00:12:08
Speaker
Uh, cause I really like how he works and I'll, I'll talk a little bit more about that later. Uh, but then brought misguided and lone swordsman, uh, as my versatile cause you know, 10 thunders are known for our versatile. Um, so definitely brought those two along.
00:12:24
Speaker
Cool. Now, and just a reminder to everyone tuning in that we were doing this tournament as an Echoes of the Breach tournament to give everyone a chance to get, you know, some more games in with Nia to affect the fate of Nia and, you know, get points for Dragon's Lair because, yay, Dragon's Lair. What threat of fate did you choose for Nia this round and why?
00:12:48
Speaker
I chose Adrenaline Rush, and that's because I have entirely too many models that have bonus actions that are totally useless if I can't get some sort of extra oomph. So with Adrenaline Rush, models within three of Naya may treat any general action as a bonus.
00:13:06
Speaker
And that's the one that goes with honeypot? Yes, yeah, that's the one. So rather than Ototo and Fuhatsu doing nothing after not being hit round one or sometimes round two, they actually got to do an additional walk, maybe concentrate, which I actually found myself concentrating quite a lot this game, just to make sure they've got those extra little tidbits that you typically normally wouldn't get.
00:13:30
Speaker
Um, and I found this actually pretty easy to do because one of the objectives for adrenaline rush is just rolling cards within three inches in Aya. So with Monaco Ray, being able to inequality of fate, it just made it really easy. I just use some of my cards early, put Monaco Ray up there, um, you know, or close enough and then, you know, activated. I kept her there for like three turns and, uh, that also was able to hold a raid the vault, uh, for the most part as well. So it just, it made it really easy.
00:13:58
Speaker
Which thread did he chose? Yeah, he chose moonshine madness, which ended up not really playing into effect. I probably could have taken advantage of that because there were a number of times where I had conditions on me, but just forgot to draw the cards. So, yeah. So now you're obviously playing Ten of Thunders. Is that what you normally play for tournaments? Yes. Or do you bounce between affections at all?
00:14:24
Speaker
I've been wanting to bounce between factions. I just have not officially done it in a tournament setting. I typically go to my comfort, which is Ten Thunders, because about five of the eight masters, five of the nine masters, I'm used to. I'm good with them. Good, you know, subjectively.
00:14:45
Speaker
But I feel like I'm comfortable enough with them to be able to play them. So I always go with them and then try to think about who I might be playing into and who would be best for that game. I tend to go with Nizaki, but I've been really playing Linli a lot too. So for this tournament, I pretty much wanted to stick to just those two, depending on the pool and who I was going into.
00:15:10
Speaker
Okay, and so you've already kind of touched on why you chose Misaki, because not wanting to have to deal too heavily with schemy stuff against Von Stuck, and you know, why you went with the threaded for Nia that you did. What schemes did you end up picking, and why?
00:15:30
Speaker
I chose Outflank and I chose Sweating Bullets. Sweating Bullets, it feels pretty easy to accomplish, especially if the goal is to go and kill one another, which I was anticipating with Stuuk to run forward and we'd meet in the center of the board and do that thing. What model did you pick as your carrier of that scheme?
00:15:54
Speaker
Oh, that was a Toto. It's because a Toto is going to run on up there and most people want to kill him anyway. So I was pretty
Overcoming Challenges in Gameplay
00:16:00
Speaker
confident that I was going to get somebody up there to mess with him. And I'd be able to do that reveal. And then endgame ended up not being a particularly big problem in this game, because I actually ended up tabling him in turn five. If there's no models on the table that can't have a master or instrument, it was in six inches.
00:16:21
Speaker
Yeah, so to his credit, he did have really bad flips, turns one and two, which did cost him a couple of things. He and I had talked about him getting a little
00:16:36
Speaker
uh, overzealous with his, uh, Necropunk explosion. He was, he got nervous, turned one and blew up a Necropunk, which barely did anything to me. And then he also ran, uh, valedictorian up to center line, which allowed Fuhatu to shoot him twice. So that was just devastating for him. Cause that model was already at like two, three health before I even had my second activation.
00:17:00
Speaker
So, yeah, it was a rough game for him, but it was a lot of fun. We both stayed in really good spirits the entire time. It was a blast, you know, going around watching everything that Von Stuck could do, and then he said that he'd never played against Mizaki, so he got to see all the Mizaki shadow marker nonsense that she does. So it was a good learning experience for both of us, and, you know, we both had a really good time playing.
00:17:24
Speaker
What was your second scheme? Outflank and Sweating Bolts. Right, Outflank Sweating Bolts, yeah. You said that. I just forgot the Outflank part there. Yeah. Outflank, I just made sure I summoned what's called Catashira early, and then made sure they ran to go get their points, what's called turn three and four. Well, turn three, the reveal, and then endgame, they just camped. They just sat on either side of the board, did literally nothing but focus until they had focus too, and just hung out. Chill. Yeah.
00:17:54
Speaker
dance a little bit. Have a drink. Yeah. Just, you know, paper guys dancing. Cool. So now, during this game, what were some of the most interesting lines of play and key decision points that ended up affecting the outcome of this game?
00:18:17
Speaker
Well, for me, it was being aggressive with Ototo and Monaco because I kind of rely on you to attack those two, specifically Monaco. If I can get that Karmic Dead on you, that's awesome. Most people don't fall for that, but you know, it might happen on occasion.
00:18:36
Speaker
So what is that, just to explain that so that people are in New York? Oh yeah, Karmic Debt. If you hit Minaka with a willpower or a defense tool and she can get a mask on her trigger, which is built in, she can put Karmic Debt on you, which allows any damage that takes. It's an upgrade. Yeah, yeah, upgrade that's attached to the model that hit her.
00:18:56
Speaker
She then gets to put any damage that she gets after that attack onto that model as well. So she gets hit for three, that model gets hit for three. Unless, of course, at the start of your next turn, you discard two cards to remove that upgrade. But most people don't end up doing that because they don't want to go into typically turn three with four cards. So they just kind of work around that karmic debt if they made the mistake of hitting her to begin with.
00:19:23
Speaker
Most people will look for some, you know, blast damage or a move duel or something like that to deal with her if they choose to deal with her at all. Nine times out of ten, she just runs around doing whatever it is that she wants to do. So for eight points, that's pretty good. She's also pretty good on an attack. And then with that inequality of fate bonus action where she's got fewer cards, she can draw a card that, you know, helps out.
00:19:46
Speaker
Sometimes it's a little tricky to do with, you know, Cheyenne giving you Arcane Reservoir and, you know, starting off with Seven, but, you know, if it doesn't happen, doesn't happen, you know. Okay. So, yeah. Tell, you know, tell me about, you know, some, um, uh, obviously you told me, uh, told us how he, uh, misplayed his Valedictorian there a little bit. But what were some, you know, major lessons you learned in this game?
00:20:11
Speaker
Well, actually using Ban Ying, uh, he, I'll be honest, the first time I put him on the board on like our Thursday open plays, I was a little confused. Um, but then once I started playing with him a little bit more, I realized that, uh, his, it's a six inch bubble for him. So if you, um, put a shadow marker down within six of him, he can discard a Chi or card or, uh, is a Carter pass token. Let me just check here real fast.
00:20:38
Speaker
a card, a card or a cheat token to be able to summon a sunless self, which he can then hit through. So if he's able to stay back and have that sunless self, which has no health or anything, like you can't do anything to it other than try to remove it. And if you remove it, I think
00:20:57
Speaker
I'm not really sure exactly what happens or even if you can, because only friendly is treated as a scheme or shadow marker. So it's just this thing that sits on the board that you can't really do anything about, but can hit you if Ban Ying decides to swing through. So that's what I ended up doing. I was able to take care of a Sera Rotten through Ban Ying's, you know, some of the selves. I would just, you know, summon one and then let it chill there. And then when it did have to eventually activate,
00:21:26
Speaker
it would just move like a millimeter to the left, and then I'd summon another shadow marker there, which would then turn into a song of the self, because I'd just make sure I kept my chi to be able to do that in case I didn't have any cards. But yeah, being able to swing through that and then also disappear to other shadow markers that were around, because that ninja vanish bonus action that he's got allows him to be able to be almost as mobile as Mizaki.
00:21:51
Speaker
I say almost because half the distance for sure, but yeah. Him being as mobile as he was and Mizaki being as mobile as she is definitely made my options open for what it is I needed to do and also allowed myself to misdirect in who was going to be doing the outflank in the first couple of turns. And that's if I was even running that, given that there were the other schemes that I could have been doing.
00:22:18
Speaker
This Bonnie guy sounds really, really interesting. I haven't actually looked him over yet. Yeah, no, he's actually really cool. His sculpt is incredible. I actually really like how his sculpt looks. You know, some of the selves, they look pretty cool too. But I haven't really gotten more than one on the board. It doesn't really feel worth it to turn all your shadow markers into some of the selves, even though
00:22:43
Speaker
you know, when they activate, they could just double walk and then turn back into a shadow marker. So that makes it really good if you need that option to just have the move and then be another place for Mizaki to pop out.
00:22:53
Speaker
You know, because I have gone up against some opponents that realize that you don't want shadow markers on your half of deployment because of Mizaki can come at you from behind, then that's a problem for you. So no, you turn it into a you turn a shadow marker into a suddenless self. Suddenly they can't, you know, slam various other marker removal stuff there because it's no longer a marker. It's a person. Mm hmm.
00:23:20
Speaker
Yeah, now that's really interesting having the ability to flip back and forth. So, uh, uh, it looks cool. It's good to hear that, uh, that it was effective on the table for you as well. Cause it's one of those where, yeah, so many of the ashes model, you're like, Oh, that sounds totally intriguing. I gotta get this on the table. But it's, it's neat when you do that and it works. So.
00:23:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I think last blossom definitely got a leg up with this new model bonding. So I'm excited to make him a integral part of my list for now on. In fact, I'm pretty sure that he replaced Jin in most situations. Wow. Oh, really? That's an endorsement. Yeah, I will. I mean, his ungentle melee affairs, it definitely helps out when it comes to those shots, but his damage spread is so low with like, I believe it's a 124.
00:24:11
Speaker
So Bonnie's is his melee is 245. And then his dark and she which allows him to drop a shadow marker next to you within six inches is a 134. So getting some shadow markers back on the board that miss hockey can pop out of them.
00:24:28
Speaker
Yeah, unless I need to push a minion back into deployment, then it it's going to be bonding almost every time. You know, I'm definitely going to be looking at gin as a tech piece for last blossom for now on. But yeah, I think that he he officially got replaced by our little monk friend. That's wild. The past token thing because I in my mind, that's the reason why it feels like to me anyways, that I see gin all the time is the
00:24:56
Speaker
ability to gain active activation control plus new communion um and you didn't talk about that so i understand that like from a from a stat standpoint to that uh banh yin is a lot better but yeah from a
00:25:11
Speaker
I'm just surprised. I'm like, wow, okay. Well, the list that I tend to run, they tend to be a little scarce. I tend to come in with about seven to eight models, which normally when I come in with seven, that's enough to get me a pass token first turn.
00:25:27
Speaker
And then I just end up not using it. I'll just wait and then do initiative with that and then turn to I'll use it to make them go first no matter what or make them go twice if I want initiative because I want to see what they're doing and I usually tend to play a little bit more defensive. I want to see what they're doing and especially with Mizaki's abandoned honor. I'm totally cool with throwing, you know, high value cards out there to defend because I can always just get them back later on. That's cool. Thank you.
00:25:55
Speaker
So Andre, I think you had a question though. Were you about to say that? I did. Have you tried running Masaki too at all with Ban Ying? Does he unlock her in any way? I have not tried, but I imagine that it just becomes absolutely nasty because with you, anybody doing anything pretty much at all has a shadow marker drop in base contact with them. So if Ban Ying is within six, you gave him the ability to hit you just by doing things.
00:26:24
Speaker
So, because I was looking at, I know we're going to talk about this a little bit later, Evil Twins. I was looking at if Mizaki was going to be my choice there and I was just like, oh my God, I'm going to need to go print up some more shadow markers because they're going to be everywhere, like literally all over the board.
00:26:39
Speaker
They're going to be annoying because they will literally be everywhere. But Ban Ying definitely was like, you are 100% there for Mizaki Fractured, for sure. Because, yeah, just the shadow markers literally being like right next to you as soon as you do something, you end your activation, you've already got that like a shadow punching bag right next to you, it's just going to hit you in the face. So, yeah, now I haven't played it, but I imagine that they did go together like a lamb and tuna fish, you know.
00:27:10
Speaker
Very good, very good. I'm so confused now. Yeah. Dude, do lamb and tuna fish go together? Was it that Mr. Deeds? Is that what that was?
00:27:23
Speaker
No, it's an Adam Sandler quote. Oh, it's a quote. I consider myself an adventurous eater, but I've not heard of this dish there. I mean, I love anchovies on pizza, but man, lamb and tuna fish sounds a little bit weird. Well, that's just something else to bring to the tournament, you know, lamb and tuna fish.
00:27:47
Speaker
Well, you know what? You've got to do that. Do we want people to stay? Fair enough. So what was the MVP model in your crew?
00:27:59
Speaker
It's in this specific game. It was misguided. It was who hot to being able to bring valedictorian down to her knees like within this like it was my first activation and I was like, okay I'm looking at red Joker and the 13 of Rams so I was like we are hitting you we are hitting you with critical strike and if you're still around Wow And he was still around so it's like awesome We'll just have Monaco go take care of that and that's pretty much exactly what happened
00:28:29
Speaker
well actually not really no because Monaco summons so move summon that's what she did but yeah we definitely made sure that his big beater was not on the table after a first turn and then he was on the as he put it he was on a back foot pretty much the entire game you know started to make some like anxious plays rather than actually thinking it through and
00:28:51
Speaker
you're trying to work within his keyword to figure out how to do that. Because he got a cap on summoning Myla Zombies and made life a real problem for me. But he did. But like I said, he was also flipping terribly. So it was just, as they say in Malifoli, bad things will happen. They definitely happened to him that game. So.
00:29:14
Speaker
Yeah. But oh, Fuhatu for sure was the MVP for this one. And Lone Swordsman pretty much didn't do anything. He just kind of walked around. I think he took out like a minion. Oh yeah, Necropunk. Necropunk ran to my side to go try to take control one of my tableside, raid the vaults. So Lone Swordsman went and dealt with him and that was all he really did. Normally he does a lot more. But yeah, between everybody in the list was Fuhatu and Ban Ying. They did the most discounting Mizaki because she always does a lot.
00:29:44
Speaker
Now, has the Nerf 2 Fuhatsu affected your play with Fuhatsu at all? Not really. I actually, I got back into the game post-Nerf, so I don't know what he was doing that was so amazing before. I'm sure it was absolutely incredible. Making everyone cry. Yeah, I could imagine. But his reckless aim that he gets built in with the Gatling gun
00:30:13
Speaker
to draw a card and then his cover fire, even when he fails, he still succeeds. So long as someone's right next to that model, then we're doing good or near enough to that model. So I'm really okay with just making someone think that I'm about to just devastate their life with Fuhatsu. And Fuhatsu is normally a very big target.
00:30:35
Speaker
right off the bat so if I have any excuse to not bring for how to forward I won't. I love games for for how to does a five inch move and then does not move again it just chills in that one spot and then maybe does something cool maybe doesn't but.
00:30:51
Speaker
Yeah, even if he's not shooting, he's he's a control piece, you know, or she in the misguided case, but yeah, I actually think one of the draws that I got for the adrenaline rush was through misguided, because I would pull when I lost initiative, I would pull Naya closer to me.
00:31:12
Speaker
So, if I, you know, failed and then got the reckless aim draw, then, you know, I draw and got the one point. I think two of them were Menaka and one of them was misguided. And that's how I got my three that I needed for adrenaline rush.
00:31:25
Speaker
Well, and I mean, anytime I play into Fuhatsu, even, you know, post-nerf, that gun is something to take account of. That you've got to think about it. You've got to plan around it and either not give Fuhatsu a clean shot or lock Fuhatsu down fast. Yes, I agree. Especially because, you know, he's got the critical strike and the sweeping strike.
00:31:54
Speaker
So if you put a lot of models together, then I'm aiming for a tome rather than a ram. But normally, if I've got a 13 of rams in hand, I'm like, Fuhatsu, I got you. You're taking care of, buddy. Where normally, you would think I might want to use that with Mizaki. But no, Fuhatsu gets that first and second turn. And then every turn after that, it tends to go to Mizaki if I get it.
Skill Level Advice and Crew Management
00:32:19
Speaker
Um, the same rule, the red joker red joker. If I've got it in hand goes to Fuhatsu for the first two turns. Um, if Fuhatsu gets in a position, even shoot first turn. Cause let's be honest, Misaki. Yeah. She doesn't need your big cards. She doesn't know. Yeah. That's that seven Misaki's good. You know, decent with, you know, mid-level cards. You got those big boy cards, feed them to Fuhatsu means that.
00:32:46
Speaker
they're making a more impact on the game.
00:32:49
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah, I agree. I think I think that's actually a pretty important lesson that, you know, knowing that, hey, you don't always need to save your big cards for your master. Sometimes someone else needs those big cards more than your master does, because I mean, yeah, a lot of times we all save our big cards so we can get the big turn with, you know, especially if you say you're rocking a big beater master, which is what Misaki is.
00:33:18
Speaker
But it's like, yeah, she does just fine without those big cards. And actually, when I come to think of it, most of the people in my crew do pretty well without the big cards, because the lowest stat I have before Ban Ying is stat six. And then with Ban Ying, he's got a stat five. So yeah, typically, if I just have high value cards in hand, I'm like, all right, I'm gonna hit you.
00:33:42
Speaker
And I might be on a negative flip, but still, I mean, you know, that's going to be fine because most of them are doing, you know, pretty decent damage either way. Not that I'm looking to totally be completely agro with Nizaki. It's just, you know, a benefit of her nature. Like I would take out a model or two and then start scheme running because then I'm comfortable to do so. And then I'll just leave a Toto in the center and you can go mess him up because that's what you want to do anyway. You know.
00:34:11
Speaker
So... And Ototo can be a tough nut to crack sometimes. Yeah, especially if you put your stones into... I bring eight stones, so typically I'll go park him in the center and be like, cool, let's go use like five, six of these stones, just protecting Ototo. And then when you do bring them down, I'll activate them and use his juggernaut. So that way, you know, I can get a little bit of health on them. Shang will run on over and do a little bit of healing too. I can keep Ototo around for a while if I want to.
00:34:35
Speaker
which I'm kind of relying on my opponent to dump a lot of the AP into Ototo because that allows me to run around and go do other things. It also allows me to kill some of the other models. And then when you start deleting models, you know, one, maybe two per turn,
00:34:52
Speaker
It can be really problematic, especially if all the hate that you're putting into Ototo isn't really going anywhere. It is eating stones, don't get me wrong, but, you know, eight stones is a lot to eat through, especially with a model that's got hard to wound and armor, you know. And can juggernaut later too. Yeah. Hard to kill, right?
00:35:13
Speaker
I don't think he does, no. Oh, no, he does have hard to kill. Yeah. Hard to kill. Not hard to wound. Hard to kill. Hard to kill. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, not hard to wound, but hard to kill. But yeah, that's just I mean, that's why Shang stays within six inches of him. You know, I just think her Shang is close by. Yeah, just just just yeah, I'm gonna channel Helia, you know, and then we're gonna activate you and you know, then you'll do your juggernaut. And yeah, we keep them quite healthy. So
00:35:42
Speaker
What advice would you give to a bottom third player going into a matchup like this for the first time? Well, I'm a big advocate for read the cards because I mean, even like, you know, well-intentioned great players are going to misread their stuff. Like for instance, in round two, when I started playing story,
00:36:10
Speaker
Travis, who is another really big 10 funders player in our meta, pointed out that I cannot double shift story models. And I'm like, oh, yeah, look at that. I definitely can't. And, you know, not to talk about another round too much, but that kind of threw me for a loop because I totally misread that and didn't realize I couldn't do that. So I had to deal with that in round two, figuring out how to
00:36:35
Speaker
maximize double shift, despite the fact I've been playing it wrong the entire time. So read your cards, read your opponent's cards, you know, everyone's going to make that simple little hiccup that they again, it's not intentional. I don't think anybody's out there like purposely trying to like get one over on anybody. But you know, you will misread things like, you know, and
00:36:53
Speaker
Misreading something is common, common enough for you to reread your schemes, reread the strat, reread your cards and your opponent's cards. I tend to like to, I print out all of my cards front and back on one side, and I use my phone to track my opponent's models.
00:37:12
Speaker
So in that way, as whatever is going on, I'm able to see exactly what's going on. And if I got a question, I can throw that out there. And, you know, I actually will spend a lot of time putting the clock on me just so I can ask a question or two, just to figure out what's going on, because I don't want to use their time to have them explain what their list does. They know what they're doing. But if I've got a question, let's pop it on me. Hey, answer this for me real fast and then, you know, get through that. But I recommend, um,
00:37:38
Speaker
or beginning players or early players to do that. Don't be afraid to put the clock on yourself and ask a couple questions to understand what's going on because even with a little bit of understanding of what your opponent's crew is doing, you can maximize your own play. I know that typically you focus on what you're doing in the beginning rather than what is going on on the other side of the table, but just with a little bit of knowledge like
00:38:00
Speaker
Hey, this model is going to be able to heal itself for this one's got, you know, an actual like shot, you know, it's got a threat, you know, like very visual medium that is podcast. What you all at home can't see is, you know, I'm watching Andre just nodding his head. Clay just nodding his head. I'm over here, nodding my hands again. No, that that's just a
00:38:21
Speaker
That's a simple thing. Like, take the time, just read it. And just we're all like, yeah, you know, that's a simple thing that is really easy to overlook. You know, the moment you forget, oh, you know what?
00:38:35
Speaker
I'm going to take a moment here and I'm going to make sure I know exactly what I can do and exactly what my opponent can do. And that being said, what are some abilities or actions or, you know, just aspects of a last blossom crew that is very easy to overlook? I mean, you know, what are some gotchas?
00:39:01
Speaker
Having played against you, I know that you warn your opponents before the start of the game. You say, hey, these are some things to watch out for. You give a very good rundown of your crew to your opponent. But let's say, hey, baby, they're playing against the last Blossom crew and they're not lucky enough to play against you.
00:39:20
Speaker
or maybe they're just, you know, looking at this hypothetically. What is some stuff on the cards of the Last Blossom that is very easy to overlook or that might be a gotcha on them? One big one is Extended Reach on Mazaki.
00:39:37
Speaker
Yeah, that is a big one. There are a lot of people that, and I'll, even as you're getting ready to charge me, I'll be like, oh, before you move your model, she's got extended reach. And I do this, whether I'm in a casual game or a tournament game, I know what it feels like to run on it and do something like that. And then the opponent that you're playing against be like, nah, I got you. So that's just gonna stick. And it's like, I feel you, it's a tournament and I should have known better, but who does that sting when it's like,
00:40:05
Speaker
I don't know your crew entirely, but yeah, one thing when it comes to Mizaki, Mizaki's got extended reach and she has charged through. So the first attack she is doing, you definitely need to try to make sure it fails, especially with her. Ototo, he's got the ability to move very quickly across the board as well. So don't think that just because you're like 12 inches away from him that he's not getting you. He might slow you.
00:40:34
Speaker
because he might, the storm is coming twice and place in base contact because he doesn't need very much. He needs a five of masks to be able to teleport like clear across the board almost. He needs to use his entire activation doing so, but then you've got to pass a duel and if you fail that duel, you could be slowed. And then also Minako, like just Minako Red, you need to make sure that you are hitting her with blasts and that you are hitting her with move duels.
00:41:00
Speaker
you're doing everything in your power to not hit her directly with a defense or willpower duel because she will put that karmic debt on you and that can be pretty problematic to deal with unless you're willing to sacrifice those cards at the beginning of a turn. So those are some things I definitely think you should keep in mind. I know we brought up Jhin who is another typical that I have. With Jhin you have to be mindful that I'm going to push a minion back into your deployment.
00:41:28
Speaker
I know that Jin is a very popular last blossom model as well. So that's why I bring him up. But yeah, he, you might have your, your, you know, minion set up to go, you know, set up an outflank and you're like, all right, cool. I got this outflank on turn two. I'm gonna be good. But then I activate Jin and then I'm there doing the outflank and your pushback to deployment.
00:41:47
Speaker
don't get me wrong, you get to choose where you are in your deployment. So this could be helpful, especially if you got like, let's say power ritual in the pool, like maybe you forgot to put your scheme back there. Well, now you've got your opportunity. And that has happened in a game. I've played against others where they've been like, Oh, cool. Now I can do my my power ritual, you know, scheme place.
00:42:04
Speaker
But yeah, those are definitely things to keep in mind when it comes to these guys. Because they are very mobile, they are very aggressive, and they have no problem scheming when they need to. Cool. So what is some advice that you would give to a middle third player? A middle third.
00:42:32
Speaker
See, I kind of feel like this is the bracket that I'm in. So it's kind of hard to be able to say like, hey, this is what you should be doing. I guess like if I had to give advice to myself, this is probably the best way of saying that is to, this is probably the time to start looking at what your opponent's keyword can do a little bit more closely. I guess I'm going to make the assumption that you know a lot more about what your keyword does because you probably have
00:42:57
Speaker
you know become really good with one to three masters that are in your your faction so you have an idea of where you can counter play what you can you know bring against other things you know that if you know
00:43:12
Speaker
Like for instance, I almost always bring Mizaki whenever I'm playing against an Arcanist player because they have way too much that they can, like there's too wide of a breadth. And I just, I'm so much more comfortable than Mizaki, but knowing what they do and what you might be going up against is probably the best advice I can give to a middle tier player is start reading.
00:43:37
Speaker
cards and keywords out of your faction. I get, I know it's easier said than done, but try to get some games against other keywords that you don't typically play against. I know at least in our meta, I know that a lot of people I've played against, they'd be like, Hey, you know, I'm looking to get a little bit more experienced against like guild or Arcanists. Could you play somebody in there? And they're like, well, who would you like? You know, and it's like, all right, well, I mean, I haven't played, like I still haven't played a game against Sandeep. I know, I don't know how exactly the Sandeep is nasty, but I know that he is.
00:44:07
Speaker
And I have not learned that lesson yet, and I definitely need to. So that's one of those things that I would like to get in. So if anybody's down to beating up with Sandy. Seeing some of the stuff that he can do, I'm like, ooh, I've got an eyeball on him again.
00:44:22
Speaker
Well, see, that's the thing with, you know, like this new gaining grounds, it kind of changes how you're looking at some of these keywords as well. Some that you never think about playing suddenly are absolutely amazing. Like, for instance, I've never really been a big fan of Asami. But in this gaining grounds, Asami is nuts. And Travis showed me that. Like, wow, like Asami can do some work. Asami can pick up ski markers within a pulse. And that's just scary.
00:44:49
Speaker
Because if you've got them all within a certain distance, she's going to go pick them all up. Travis did that to me several times in that second game where Lin Lee was just dropping them and he was like, nope, I'm just going to go on over here and bonus action, pick them up. And it's like, this is a problem. I've worked hard for those ski markets. Exactly. Stop it.
Competitive Play and Strategies
00:45:10
Speaker
So I know you said that you think of yourself as a middle third player there.
00:45:15
Speaker
But what advice would you give to a top third player? I mean, heck, you got second place in this event and you have been consistently, you know, punching, you know, upper middle third there, tap in the bottom of the, you know, you've been doing better and better and better. What advice would you give to a top third player or what are some lessons that you've learned that you want to pass along?
00:45:40
Speaker
I actually I think I'm just gonna parrot what Andre said in his I think the unpack is really important. I think knowing how your crew does things because I mean like I'll be honest sometimes whenever I'm playing in the tournament I haven't really read the pools too much beforehand so
00:45:56
Speaker
When I'm sitting there, like laying out my models, like, you know, the pulling them, I'm not really thinking about exactly what they're going to do. It's just kind of like I know that I need certain people to go earlier than others. And I tend to be more of a reactive player. So depending on what your, what, what my opponent's going to be doing.
00:46:16
Speaker
might even change like where fuhatsu is gonna walk you know because like yeah i'm thinking okay if i put him here where he's got a clear line and you know you walk somebody in there i'm gonna fire but then the target that i need to take down might be clear across the board so i might spend all of turn one just having fuhatsu walk to a better position um so like avoiding those kind of things i guess for a top third player would be what you want to look for is how am i going to unpack
00:46:41
Speaker
Why am I unpacking the way that I am? And then where are my models best going to be deployed when it comes to whatever matchup I'm in? Because you don't want to waste an entire first turn just double-walking, especially somebody like Fuhatsu who has no bonus. So it's just, I'm going to double-walk and look, he's a totem. You don't want to do that. So I would recommend, yeah, the unpack is super important.
00:47:10
Speaker
Cool. So we've got a few questions from Discord here. And one of these, I mean, you've kind of already answered there. It sounds like you dip into the deep well that is versatile of 10 thunders. Do you tend to go very out of keyword at all in there?
00:47:28
Speaker
Yeah, I actually do. There is a few situations where I will actually go ahead and play with, and I'm going to butcher her name, Ohagoro.
00:47:41
Speaker
Yeah, I'll bring her on occasion. And that's because she's got that lore that my other models in Last Blossom don't have. So if I feel like I really need to bring somebody closer to me early to really like mess things up, I might bring her.
00:48:03
Speaker
But yeah, and I'll also bring Bill on occasion because, you know, Bill is just, he's Bill, he's awesome. So yeah, I'll bring him on occasion. But the versatile models that Ten Thunders have are great. And I've actually been reading into them a lot more lately to see how I might
00:48:22
Speaker
uh, tech play certain games, uh, you know, cause like, like the to do key or some models I'd never think about bringing, but I actually did recently consider putting one of them in with Lin Lee because of how they might work up against certain, uh, setups, uh, match-ups. I mean, so yeah, like I love our versatile pool. I love that we've got a lot of options there and that they're all like at cost.
00:48:45
Speaker
Um, so that way I don't feel like I'm wasting points taking out of keyword models, but we've got a lot of really good henchmen and enforcers in 10 thunders as well that sometimes it's just worth it just to take them out. Um, and then there's some that I wish were absolutely 10 thunders models because, uh, like the, uh, what are they called? The loco Raiders.
00:49:08
Speaker
I would love to be able to bring them in, uh, what's called like Yoku, um, or even Lin Lee being able to like pay, pick up the scheme marker and then get fast. Like, oh, it's so easy, but can't do it because it's now cast model. So, um, yeah, I, I, I tend to stick within the keyword for the most part because the first half was so large, but yeah, I, I will entertain options. I will go in and test play a couple of things and see how I like it and see.
00:49:34
Speaker
what worked about it, what didn't work about it. And then when would I do this again is always the question I leave myself with after those games is, you know, what do I want? When would I want to do this against two and why? Which I guess is good advice for our middle tier and top tier players as well.
00:49:52
Speaker
Cool. So now with Misaki herself, how often do you find that she is diving hard and going after priority targets? Or do you find yourself going and scalping out the small little targets, being a bully? Do you use her as an assassin or do you use her as a bully?
00:50:14
Speaker
When it comes to Mizaki, she tends to go after equal like members. I don't waste her on minions because typically a minion can be taken out with like one swing from her. So given that she has that abandoned honor, so like I'll thin my deck to the point where there's only like 10 cards left. And then I can normally do this with at least two models that still haven't activated. So at least I can go get that 13 of Rams.
00:50:39
Speaker
And yeah, write Joker back in, choose it as a crow, give stun to somebody close by, and then just mess up someone's life, make them eat a couple of soul stones. That tends to be how I use Mizaki. And I'm usually able to do that in turn one because of her shadow marker drop nonsense. And then especially if a storm is coming with Ototo, where I'm placing those within six of him and then going in base contact, sometimes she'll pop out of that one. And then with Banying being able to drop even more,
00:51:08
Speaker
I've got a lot of options for where she can come out and then just go mess up a large priority target. And the best thing is that if I'm doing it late in the turn after that model is already activated, I don't have to worry about being hit back. So I just kind of pop her out, run her up, do some nonsense, and then disappear at the end of the turn, which is one of the main reasons why I stick with Mizaki 1 primarily. But I'll be honest, the gaining ground score has been making me look at Fractured a little bit more.
00:51:33
Speaker
and maybe I'll go get a game or two and with her after these evil twins games yeah I don't think I've ever seen her on the other table there yeah neither of I yeah I've heard a couple people talk about her but I'm gonna say this I think this is a delightful segue as we talk about evil twins so
00:51:54
Speaker
going to do, you know, I guess it's that time of the evening where we're going to, you know, do some plugs and parting thoughts because, you know, I'm looking at the clock and going, all right, you know, want to get into discussing this a little bit. So those of you who are not aware, coming up here in Houston in
00:52:14
Speaker
June, second weekend of June, June 7th through the 9th, we've got the North American Fotour Championship weekend. We got, you know, a lot of the information for that we covered in episode one. This is something that those of us who organize the North American Fotour, we've wanted to get this going for a while. It was kind of the original spirit of the NAFT.
00:52:40
Speaker
where we wanted to have something that was not attached to a convention and we're trying out finally heavy to beat its own standalone things. The NAFT is a national ranking system that's like then, you know, you're not sure going into it how you're going to rank.
00:53:02
Speaker
The plan has always been to have two tournaments running side by side, where even if you don't know if you've got an invitation, you can book your ticket and know that
00:53:13
Speaker
If you get an invitation to the Masters Championship, awesome. Your season went well, you're going to have a great time. If, you know, you just happened to get not placed high enough, or you were from a really competitive conference, or you know what, maybe your conference just didn't get a whole lot of invites just due to the fact that, you know, some conferences are more active than others. We've got what we're calling the NAFD Black Joker Open, where
00:53:42
Speaker
everyone who is not in the championship gets to play in that. And well, we call it the Black Joker Open. I'm not saying, well, this is a consolation. I'm saying this is your chance to shine because there's so many times where I know I've played in an event and going into first round, I'm like, oh, well, look at that. I'm paired off against so and so. I know they just won, you know, this other big event.
00:54:07
Speaker
And I don't get to play as competitively as often. Well, guess I'm not being competitive this time. But if they're all kicking each other's asses over in the invitational, it's really the chance for the middle tier players to have their moment of the sun. Those middle tier players are the top tier for this. And those bottom third players, those are the middle third now. But it sounds like a really good opportunity to be able to get like
00:54:36
Speaker
the tryhard kind of malefoe that you want in a competitive environment without being like, all right, cool. It's the guy that crushes every tournament I lose. It removes that vague sense of nihilism from a tournament. So I actually really like that you're running it concurrently so that the big boys have to stay out, so to speak. Exactly. I'm excited for it because it, you know, it lets you I mean, functionally, it lets you book your tickets if you don't have it before you know the final standings.
00:55:05
Speaker
But it still lets everyone know, like, hey, you know what? I'm booking that ticket. It's like, I know I'm not going to get that invite, but I am, you know, I'm excited to, you know, be just below that there. And maybe this will be the time.
00:55:21
Speaker
And tickets are available. We've got the link in the show notes. The weekend is going to be June 7th through the 9th. So the invitation is the 8th or the 9th. June 7th is when we've got evil twins. It's something that we didn't talk about last time that I'm excited to talk about that Devon just mentioned there, is on Friday night,
00:55:46
Speaker
any major event that I run, I like to do something kind of fun, an alt format, some craziness. And there's this thing that in Texas, we've been kicking this idea around for a little while. It's called evil twins.
00:56:04
Speaker
So, Devin, give us a quick little preview of what you, of what Evil Twins is. Obviously, you know, we're going over this, but you know, I don't want to just be bow guarding all of the time. Because it sounds like you got some crazy ideas with Misaki for Evil Twins. Well, not just Misaki. I've actually considered Jacob Lynch.
00:56:26
Speaker
And I have actually been thinking that this might be the time where actually I go play Nakima. Because, you know, Nakima- Yeah. Pretty much the idea here is that rather than just bringing Mizaki one, I get to bring Mizaki one and her evil twin sister, Mizaki Fractured.
00:56:43
Speaker
Or if I'm going to do it Jacob Lynch style, I get to bring Jacob Lynch title dark bet, which brings along his evil twin brother, Jacob Lynch one, but then I also get hungering darkness as a master.
Exploring the Evil Twins Event
00:56:56
Speaker
So I've got three masters, or maybe if you're a, you know, explore society player, you could be like, I'm going to go ahead and pull Cadmus and, uh, have more mass. Oh God. Or we're just so right. Uh,
00:57:10
Speaker
and just all the obeys. Yeah. Hey, you're going to do this and you're going to do that. And then you're going to do this and a little bit of that. And yeah, but no, it, uh, it definitely sounds like a really fun format. And I love that we keep on trying new things and we're, we were kind of. The changing the, uh, the, the way that the game is played, whether it might be, I mean, I can imagine with certain masters, you could be utter
00:57:37
Speaker
But I imagine a lot of people are gonna bring those. You're not gonna be like, oh, this just sounds like it'd be fun, and it's not gonna do a lot. No, no, no, you're gonna bring the guy that's like, oh, no one's expecting this. And you're gonna be like, oh, wow, I've never thought about how those two together would just be absolutely devastating. Like, Yoku2 and Yoku1 together. Wow, like, yeah. Couple different ideas here that I've got for what I could do with the evil twins. But yeah, you bring both original and title with you in this evil twins tournament.
00:58:05
Speaker
So it's a 50 soul stone gain. You bring your higher master as normal.
00:58:11
Speaker
And hiring is normal, except for the fact that you are required to hire the other version of your master. So, yeah, that means, you know, you know, Misaki 1, Misaki 2, or, you know, Marcus and Barkis, or whatever, because I can say the other version, because some masters, you know, fancy new masters, they're both titled. So I can't say the titled and untitled version, but
00:58:38
Speaker
because the genesis of this idea was that there's so many times where you go, it's like, hey guys, this spitball in here, man, wouldn't it be awesome if this master had that ability that was on its other version there? There was like, yeah, but that'd be horribly broken. Exactly. That's the point. And so we are leaning into that and we fully acknowledge
00:59:05
Speaker
this format is going to be ridiculously broken and that is the point. We want to put maximum shenanigans on the table because, quite frankly, I'm here for shenanigans.
00:59:23
Speaker
Amen. And clearly weird as to with that tri-chi model that Naya has. So, you know what? That'll be ridiculous if they come out with that, but I'm still cheering for, for sword Nia. Okay. Here's a question for Clay then. Clay.
00:59:45
Speaker
What master combination are you looking forward to seeing? Whether it's you playing it or seeing someone else playing it, what master combo would you like to see on the table for evil twins? So I would like to see somebody run in Double Zoraida. I think that that would be just potentially insane. Neverborn Double Zoraida seems like the most. It is thing, I can imagine. And like anybody who has the brain power to drive that crew,
01:00:15
Speaker
like they will be smashed for the next for the real tournament it's you know it's going to be somebody at the master's tournament this is this is we're playing this the day before the the championships and uh my god it would be amazing but they would
01:00:31
Speaker
their brain will be leaking out of their head by the end of the evening. And that's cool. I'm trying to decide if it's double Molly or double Ma, and it's all about fun. I think that both of them offer some really, really interesting things with the pool that we've got. We've got a set pool, or you have a set pool, Doug. It is fixed list.
01:00:52
Speaker
and the set pool. And I worked with Brian, personal glitch on the Discord, to kind of figure out a pool that will work for all of the crews, but also that because you've got a fixed list, avoid those hard, well, crap, I can't accomplish this particular thing. So like most of the old formats, we have a fixed
01:01:20
Speaker
set up but it so it's standard deployment raid the vaults assassinate and snare deathbeds research mission and protected territory we feel like it's a good mix of killi and schemy it's something that plays well in a low model count game like raid the vaults is great for low model count game but it feels like
01:01:45
Speaker
There's a path to victory for any crew, any weird, shenanigans-y, ridiculous crew there. And also we're having it where you can score on turn one, because being able to score on turn one makes for faster games. And we want this to be fast and stupid. Fast and stupid. We need shirts. Fast and stupid. Fast and stupid. Evil twins. So Andre, what ridiculous combo
01:02:14
Speaker
Do you want to see, I'm not saying that it necessarily has to be you playing it, but what combo would you love to see at Evil Twins? Oh, that's a tough one. Why I asked it, because I'm a good interviewer. You are. Yes, you are. I think, so this sounds really dumb, but I kind of want to see double Von Stuck. Oh yeah.
01:02:41
Speaker
So just once, I want Von Stoke to be like, I'm so psyched to kill something and summon a model. It's a simple joy. I think it's cute. It's great. So for fun, I think that the double Stoke would be good. I think for myself personally, though, I'll probably end up running. I mean, I can't not. I'm going to try to run double Nakeemah.
01:03:06
Speaker
I mean, it's sort of the, behold all of the things. Yes. Like it's, it's too good to pass up. I have to try it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm all about the double Marcus, but also the double Titania. God, both of those seem ridiculous. Double Titania would be real nice. Double Titania is awesome. But let's be honest, we know I'm the world's biggest Marcus stan. Yeah.
01:03:35
Speaker
I remember that pick the pools thing. Double, double Marcus would be ridiculous for this. Yeah, maximum shenanigans. It's hard to pass. It's hard to pass. And I love these things where it's like, yes, just all of the shenanigans.
01:03:55
Speaker
100%. For maximum shenanigans, the dumb only morning seems like it could be. Oh, God. There is some machinery at foot there. That's another one where having the cycles to play that, just the brain power to pull that all off, might take more practice than it's worth. That's the issue. It's like sitting down and practicing these games has no other purpose than for this specific tournament. Most people are just going to show up and pick a master and they're going to be like,
01:04:24
Speaker
Oh, God, how do I play this? Well, in our play, you know, the Bonanza, I mean, Enforcer Brawl, which then became, you know, All Out Brawl and now Bonanza Brawl, those used to be fan formats. Henchmen Hardcore started as a fan format. And so there's all these all these alt format versions that have become either way into official, you know, weird canon, as it were.
01:04:54
Speaker
That's what we're trying here. We want to put some ridiculous shenanigans out there. And this is us throwing our 10 gallon hat in the ring. Beautiful. Ridiculous shenanigans. Love it. But yeah, any other plugs or parting thoughts, Devin?
01:05:13
Speaker
Uh, no, just excited for the, you know, the, uh, I'm almost positive. I'm in the black, black joker, uh, tournament. So I'm excited for that, you know, make your way out, you know, let's, uh, have a lot of fun with, uh, all the big boys playing in their tournament, you know, let's, uh, your white whales are going to be kicking each other's ass over in the, uh, invitational. So that black joker, I can see you doing very well in the black joker open there. Yeah.
01:05:39
Speaker
Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm expecting that if I don't have the fear of Andre or Travis or Brian, that, you know, I'm gonna be able to go on in and just be confident. We're like, okay, I'm, I'm going to be good no matter what, you know, it's going to bring my little, little windy and maybe some mayfang and it was kind of, uh, you know, wait to see what comes my way. But yeah. I think you are kind of exactly that player that we are putting this together for because you haven't really been able to go travel to a lot of events yet.
01:06:08
Speaker
Yeah, not yet. And I know that, you know, traveling to a lot of events gets you the experience, but also, hey, you know, because I think Andre, you're qualifying under wildcard. Yes. Because, you know, the Fodown, people doing well in the Fodown really stacked the Lone Star Conference for our. The locals. Invites. But
01:06:32
Speaker
But, you know, I think that, you know, players adjust at your level there, Devon, where you said you think of yourself as a middle tier player, but who can, you know, knock on the door of because you got second place in this event. Legitimately, you played a solid tournament. You may not always be hitting the podium, but you've got the ability to hit the podium.
01:06:58
Speaker
Yeah, and like you said, near the beginning, I do tend to like kind of grasp at the podium, I'm always getting anywhere between fourth to sixth, you know, rarely am I out of that bracket. You know, especially when there's like eight or more people playing. So I can at least hang my hat on that, you know, I do well enough to be able to get up there with with a
01:07:19
Speaker
better players and at least learn from them. Like, I value any game I get with Travis, especially because he's within the same faction to me. He's always teaching me something about at least two keywords. Whatever one I'm playing or whatever one he's playing, he showed me something. He teaches you lessons in pain. Yeah.
01:07:37
Speaker
And I got to say, you're being super modest. And we all appreciate that, Devin. But there were some really good players at this tournament. And so coming in second at this tournament is no slouch at all. So congrats to you. The last time I played against Andre, I lost only 4-2. Yeah. It's true. That's huge. That's a good game. Yeah, that was a really good game. Yeah, I got to learn how all that mad dog nonsense worked with the adversary. Oh, yeah.
01:08:05
Speaker
Let me just drop the ski marker right here. And yeah, companion. Yeah. But yeah, so thank you for coming, Devin. Thank you for coming, Andre. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it was fun to be on. Oh, and you know, glad to have everyone back.
01:08:27
Speaker
Students of Conflict is brought to you by Top Dug Design. Check out topduggdesign.com for all of your Malifotrain needs. Top Dug Design, 3D printable designs to enhance your tabletop. Students of Conflict is not an official product of Nuke Miniatures LLC.
01:08:42
Speaker
All intellectual property belonging to weird miniatures is used with permission. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of entities they represent. Any content provided by our guests and or hosts are their opinion and not intended to malign any group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything. Whoo!
01:09:23
Speaker
Behold all of the things! Magic of editing! Stay tuned for the shenanigans! Just, you know, paper guys dancing.