Second Hand Masters

Opportunity

This article will probably lose some readers, especially the UK group, because they don't include the hiring of additional masters into their crews. However, there are some metas who do, and this article is for you guys. What I do want to talk about is, if the opportunity is there why and when would you bring a second master along to the party.  First off, lets talk about what a second master could potentially add to your crew and what you lose by taking them. 

Masters are inherently strong models. They have 3 actions to spend and some of those actions are particularly strong, looking at you Zoraida. However, they are also expensive, averaging in about 16 points being hired in. 

Its Dangerous to Go Alone

So what do you gain from taking a 2nd master? Opportunity. Masters like Ophelia and Zipp can offer tough to remove options that are decently good at removing other models from the table. Strong masters that don't require synergies from keyword models to function can act to apply good amounts of pressure on the board. Some masters even have some interesting interactions with other keywords allowing the ability to shore up some weaknesses inherent in the crew, like once again Zoraida into Ulix. Her bonus action helps Ulix deal with the a lot of the hand pressure that comes with growing up piggies. Another possible option is Som'er into a crew like Tricksy. Mah can help Som'er focus up and he provides disposable bodies to tie up problem models. As a matter of fact, Tricksy is probably one of the crews you will see with a second master hired in. Her horrible hollerin' action hands focus out to a master like Som'er or Zipp and gets them up the board, effectively trading one Mah Action for the equivalent of a walk and a concentrate on the other master. 

Not So Fast

So, Masters hired in sounds good right? Well its not that simple. Hiring in a second master can skew your crew selection in a serious way. They are expensive, taking up a good 3rd of your hired points. So your crew will end up being very short on activation control. Also, if you mis-position and let your second master get taken down quickly, the game suddenly looks a bit more uphill. There's also the problem of resources. Masters are inherently very resource intensive, requiring suits to get off important triggers and soul stones to help them stay alive. Two masters competing for the same cards in your hand could mean that you get less of what you want instead of more. Also, a few masters rely heavily on their totems and synergies built into their crew making them less impactful than where they play with the full keyword. 

So When and Why?

Alright so we've covered pros and cons, let's figure out when the pros outweigh the cons. Honestly, most of the time they don't. At least for me, I find second masters to be niche hires rather than all the time, and though some combos can be pretty brutal, its a balancing act that not everyone can fully exploit. Recently, Cody Hiatt, from Swampfiends go check out his podcast its great!, and I were talking about a very important thing in competitive gaming, Meta Knowledge (Tm). So what is this mysterious power? Quite simply, it is having the ability to exploit the current game state to your favor. A lot of major decisions in Malifaux are made when you declare your Master and create your crew and at any given point, you have to make decisions based on what you know right then and there. 

For example, your opponent picks Hoffman, and you gain some information there. You know he has access to big beefy armored robots. You know they like to target each other for pushes and such. This can lead you to wanting to take Sparks for analyze weakness and hostile work environment. Rami, with his 2 armor ignoring triggers is a good pick too. That's all things you know from the pick of Hoffman. Now you build a crew to counter all that armor but you don't worry about condition removal, because Hoff doesn't do conditions and suddenly, he reveals Sonnia in his list. Yeah, suddenly your information has changed. 

Second masters are a good pick when you know the keyword your opponent picked has some nasty issues for the keyword you picked, a second master can toss their plans astray. When you declare  Zipp they might not be expecting Ophelia to show up with guns blazing, or alternately if you pick Ophelia they will be expecting you to go aggression heavy, and suddenly your list has not only Wong but cross synergy with Sammy and the Bokor. 

A second reason for hiring another master, enemy obeys. If you are going up against an enemy Zoraida, a second master is a good way to gum up the works. No longer can she obey your biggest beater to smash people's faces, because that beater is a master. Zoraida's crew often relies on getting a few good obeys in on the opponent's crew to help soften blows. When you don't give her good opportunities, she has to rely on her own crew. Plus, some of her defense is being able to obey models away when they come in to apply pressure to her. A second hired Zipp is just gonna pick her up and move her away. 

Third reason and the one I see people talk about the most recently with second master hires, strategies like Reckoning. Sure, they will give up a ton of points if they are killed, but a second master also is usually extremely resilient and is probably gonna help you take down the enemy crew even faster. 

 

I have a fourth reason, its the most important, and I know this is a (semi) competitive gaming blog but stay with me; its fun! You have the ability to create some team ups for your favorite combos that tie into bits of the lore you like, or just sounds like a great idea. Bring Som'er and Ophelia into Public Enemies, let your opponent know they are having a competition to see who can bring in the most kills. Som'er is gonna cheat of course by using his brood to do the killing, but that don't matter none. 

Who's Invited to the league of super gremlins?

Let's get to the more Bayou themed section of the article, who is it that you take with you to the party?

Zipp he works pretty well solo, doesn't need his totem to function and can really throw off your opponent's game

Zoraida  she obeys, she draws cards, she doesn't need to hire her totem in and her keyword models are thematically strewn throughout the Bayou. If any master would be close to a problem as a second master, its her

Som'er sure he works better with his boys around, good thing he can summon a couple in. Seriously, a free spit hog or good old boy is nothing to sneeze at

Wong People are gonna look at me sideways here, but Wong actually works pretty well on his own and has the ability to toss markers around and apply hand pressure to the opponent. Plus, bokors are prevalent in bayou lists so helping them get glowy is always a good trick. 

Ophelia she provides a ton of kill potential and is stupidly hard to take off the table, she does work better with her totems but they aren't completely necessary. 

Ulix doesn't cut it for me. He is too heavily tied to his pig synergy. you would at least need to bring the Sow along to summon piglets. He might like Zoraida to come play with him, but he's not getting out of the pig pen very often.

Mah while she can provide a nasty surprise for anyone not expecting a wooden spoon to the face, Mah's Careful Planning is so good I have a hard time not keeping her as the master in charge and hiring someone else. She likes to be the boss. 

Brewmaster this is another keyword that just requires a lot more synergy to stay working than others. I don't often see a good opportunity for Brewmaster to get a place as a second fiddle to anyone and don't see many places another master fits into Tri Chi crews very well. There is one Caveat. surprise your Resser friend and hire Brew in when he declares McMourning.

Silurid in the Room

The concept of Masters as second hires in the game is pretty controversial and has been ever since Wyrd told us about it way back before 3rd edition came out. It CAN be a pain in the butt to work around. Some Masters are just so game warping that they alone are hard to deal with, however, I've yet to see any real data to say that bringing a second master gives you a big statistical advantage in most cases. Like anything in Malifaux, experience makes a difference. If you play against a combo that makes your brain hurt, discuss it with your opponent. Find out where you can apply the correct pressure to take advantage of getting 1 model for the price of two. 

If you like the article, or have some insights feel free to leave some comments. Similarly, if you have suggestions for future content, let me know. Until next time, grab some moonshine and enjoy the sound of banjos plinking. 

*all images are copywright of Wyrd Games.