Wednesday 29 September 2021

Model Review- Misaki, Fractured and Jin Baccara

 Another one of my all time favourites with a very interesting title I like a lot, Misaki is also now corrupted by the Burning Man which is reflected in her gameplay. Moving from a Master that used to do a lot of work on her own with the ability to make her crew act as a supplement to her kit, she is now very much a support Master, but with her crew having some pretty great pieces she is definitely going to be worthwhile in the right pools. 


Misaki herself has now become an Obey Master in this form, with all that entails. Her front of card is very different to what she was before, as she is now very much non-combat, and most of her stats have gone done slightly (Df5/Wp6 compared to Df6/Wp7 of the old version, and 11 instead of 12 wounds). She does have a lot more synergy with Shadow markers in this version though, the least of which is that Shang counts as one when in her crew. She gains Shielded +1 every time a Shadow marker is placed within 8", and when Last Blossom or enemy models take actions generated from effects that aren't Charge (Obey, Onslaught, Knock Aside all count- Obeying a model to Charge still works as well) or gains Fast (Assassin) she gets to place a Shadow into base contact with them and thus also gain Shielded. This placement is only once per activation but that doesn't matter that much because it really is just free resources for doing things you would anyway with her. Wilting Tsubaki is good in itself, ignoring Concealment and then also gaining suits if models are near Shadow markers (which is great with every trigger she has) but when combined with the attack actions she has it is a really amazing part of her kit because you can make it work quite easily. Disguised also keeps her alive for longer which is nice to have, but that's about all to say about it and her front of card in general. Misaki only has one tactical action, and it's also her bonus action. It's pretty simple ignoring LoS and range, but requiring an enemy model that isn't a Master to be within 3" of a Shadow marker and for a 5 she can push the target up to 5 and make it drop a Scheme. The Mask trigger moves Misaki 3" but it is best in how it puts enemies out of position and also drops you a Scheme marker you can score off of which works great with a bunch of Schemes. Obey is the same as always (which is to say very good) and the suit built in on stat 7 is amazing, as well as it triggering her placement of Shadow markers once in her activation for a little bit extra free resources. The simple ability to make your own models take more actions (excellent for Ototo/Crime Boss charges, or moving/interacting with Torakage to let you scheme better) or against the enemy to turn their beaters against them or shove things out of position so they can't score. In general it's really great and I think it's the thing she will be doing the most. The 2 triggers though are where it really gets amazing. It's pretty obvious which one is going to be on friendly models and which is on enemies, because you want your own stuff with Focused and enemies with Injured, but you can pretty reliably make sure to get which one you want to have as well with some fairly straightforward play. Ink-Tipped Dart is fairly low damage, but stat 6 and the ability to very likely choose a suit is good enough for what is quite obviously a more support-based Master. It's Shadow marker generation (which means Shielded +1 on Misaki fairly often) and the triggers are both good too. Moment of Weakness can be a bit of fairly low-risk card cycling if you use it on your own models or more punishing on your opponent, and Shadow Pin (which you basically have built-in with Shadow markers) makes your damage better and gives a nice debuff in Staggered. Twisting Paths only works on Last Blossom or non-Master enemies (continuing the trend of this Misaki having a lot more synergy with keyword models) and they need to have Concealment as well to be able to be targeted by this action. 6 vs Wp is decent, and only needing a 5 to reach the TN is easy to do, while 8" range is pretty good to be able to mess with the board state in very relevant ways. It places the target into base contact with a Shadow marker within 8" of them so it puts things a long potential distance away from where they were earlier either to manipulate your own models placement to get where they may not have been able to otherwise, and for enemies to deny their plans or put them in places where they will be easy to kill for you. The trigger on a Tome (again, fairly easy with Wilting Tsubaki) for Last Blossom only, it instead Buries the target and you can Unbury later on in base contact with any Shadow marker on the table so you have even more range to get anywhere you want. 


Jin Baccara gets shared with English Ivan, and naturally that means Shadow Markers. He is overall fairly simple with a completely average stat line, Assassin as part of Last Blossom (but he is low min damage so don't expect it to happen in most games) and Ungentlemanly Affairs from DUA (which will be far more common, although again not as universally useful with his attacks). The other 2 abilities he has though are far more interesting and directly useful most games, with Skulker giving your crew pass tokens if he is Buried or in Concealment during the start phase (and with both keywords throwing out Shadows...) and Undercover letting him start the game buried. He can choose an enemy Minion if he is Buried when he activates (meaning this is a great potential counter to Tara and Lady J shenanigans too) and then Unbury in base contact with it before sending it back to its deployment zone and Jin himself gains Slow, which is generally a great application of the model mid-game (and you can still use some of his actions while Buried to get max value out of him). Of his 2 bonus actions both are good in the right cases, with Ambush being the usual one for free movement and Dispose of Evidence being great counter-scheming that you gain a card from at the same time. Hidden Blade at stat 5 isn't fantastic, but built in Critical Strike for 2/3/5 ignoring Armour is not bad for a cost 7 model and against Armour is one of the better ways to get damage through in Last Blossom. Ink-Tipped Dart he shares with Misaki, and here it is still competing with other very good actions but is still a great way to easily generate Shadow markers for you to use. Stat 5 is fairly average and won't be doing huge amounts, especially with 1/3/5 damage, but it's mainly the Shadow generation you want for the synergies that brings. His last action, Enemy Intel, is the main reason I like Jin because it is pretty great. He can take it while Buried, meaning the first couple of turns he can still have a meaningful effect on the game while still off the board. Stat 5 vs the enemy Leader's Willpower means there are some games that you are only really trying just cause you're Buried (when the Leader is Wp7 mostly), but in most cases you have a decent enough chance of getting it through it's worth trying anyway. The effect on it, forcing the opponent to choose either a discard or you manipulating the top 3 cards of their deck (and discarding them if you don't like the look of them- severes and the Red Joker) is really annoying to do and can mess up plans in a lot of ways. In general I think Jin will be seeing quite a lot of table time in the coming months in both his keywords, because he does so much to support their game plan

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