Second Best Master in Malifaux

My playgroup laughs at me because I believe that Colette is the strongest master in the game. It’s an opinion I’ve held since near when she was released and I have not been swayed by that opinion. It’s not an opinion that anyone else in my playgroup holds, and when we bring up the idea of the power masters and I mention Colette as being number one, my playgroup laughs at me.

Of course, they also laugh at me when I lose a game I should have won, or when I win a game. Or when I just show up at the store for my Tuesday night gaming. Heck, I was sick last night and didn’t make it out to game and they texted me to laugh at me instead (okay, they were yelling at me since there were an odd number of players that night with my absence, but still).

Frankly, they laugh at me for just about anything. It’s all good though, I laugh at them with equal measures. It’s just the way out gaming group works.

But back on topic, I have always known what I believe to be the strongest master, but I’ve wrestled with the second place. Is it Hamelin? Pandora? Many say the Dreamer’s number one, but I don’t think he even tops out the Neverborn masters. Regardless I think I’ve finally settled on the second best master in the game: Kirai.

Now I’m only three games into my experiment with Kirai, the last Resser to see playtime, and already she’s rocketed up to be one of the best masters in my eyes. After and 8-8 tie against Colette in the first game, Kirai’s won two games fairly handily, and in neither of them did I feel threatened. Kirai has so many ways to throw out new models, so many ways to bypass defenses, so many ways to achieve her objectives, and so many ways to keep herself alive it makes my jaw hit the floor.



She can summon a host of new models, from Gaki up to Shikome, giving you everything you need at a moment’s notice. Need a new Significant model? Just swap your Seishin for a Gaki or Onryo. Need some hitting power? Grab a Shikome. These new models are destroying your Seishin (but you can make new ones pretty easily), and they give you wounds (but you have several ways to heal). Plus she’s got a melee beast in Ikiryo that pops up exactly when you want her (with your Seishin you can essentially delay the turn until your opponent is all activated-out). Worried about all the extra points in Slaughter? Don’t summon too many spirits other than Ikiryo – she’s not going to give your opponent any points when she dies. And if she doesn’t get killed… all the better. Ignore her at your peril.

She’s generally got exactly what you need for the crew your facing. Bunch of fast folks? Don’t worry – you can summon 12” away and your movement tricks are insane with Into the Spirit World and Swirling Spirits. You have a couple of models that can bypass armor, and a lot of your models can target the worst of DF or WP. Facing some heavy armored guys? Drop Datsu-be and Ikiryo on them. Who cares if they kill Ikiryo, and if Datsu-be is getting hurt, Swirling Spirit her back, heal her up, and get her back to the front lines.

Objectives that require her to reach certain points are simple for her. Your opponent should never take Holdout if they know you have Kirai coming up. A 12” summon on the last turn will generally stop that quick. Or if that’s not enough, move a model twice towards the deployment zone, then swap it with another one with Swirling Spirits and move twice more. Or heck, just have your Insidious Madness (don’t leave home without one) double move and cover near half the board. She can summon models onto objectives pretty easily, and when she needs 2 actions to trigger a point on the board, just have one spirit move where you need to be and swap her with another unactivated spirit.

And forget about trying to kill her (though I still think as an opponent you have to try). She’s usually farther back, so that’s a problem. If you can reach her, you’re facing a WP duel with Pitiful (if she’s already activated, she can put Pitiful back up during her activation). If you pass that, and manage to hit her, she can shunt it off to one of five possible Seishin near her. If she’s already activated, she’s also likely a Spirit from Into the Spirit World, which means you want to hit her with magic. But she can shunt that off onto a Seishin too. And if she sacrifices a Seishin at the beginning of the turn, she and all the Seishin she owns ignore Blasts, Auras and Pulses. Plus she’s got her stones too, which she doesn’t tend to use for much else since she’s not slinging spells at opposing models much. If get through all those defenses, hopefully you’ve already killed the Lost Love or she stays on the table and permanently becomes a Spirit. If you manage not to kill her, she won’t be where you want her the next turn, and will probably be healed back up with the plethora of spirit-healing her crew has.

I have yet to score fewer than 8 points with her, and each game relies on me preventing my opponent from achieving their goals. I still don’t put her above Colette, but she’s easily slid to the top of the other masters out there. Next step: figure out how to beat her.