My Favorite Malifaux Masters to Play

I have been playing Malifaux for quite some time.  Except for the disastrous demo I received when the game was first released at GenCon, I’ve enjoyed pretty much all of it.  A shout out to Slaz and Dan for making me pick the game back up and give it another try as my interest in Warmachine was waning with the advent of the new version.

In all that time, I have tried out a bundle of different masters (and henchpersons).  Some of them only got a couple games before being shelved in favor of other options.  Others I borrowed to use.  Three masters I ended up picking up for one game only during the Pied Piper tournament.  But of the masters I have used most often, here’s how I rank them:

Zoraida – My first and favorite master.  She used to be considered the worst of the Neverborn masters and that underdog feeling made me really enjoy playing her.  Plus, she could do everything pretty well.  I’ve gone through many phases with her, from using Obey tricks, to using maneuvering tricks, to even putting her in combat for a few games to get her poison on people.  Some of my favorite stories in the game revolve around Zoraida.  Like when she obeyed an opponent’s Executioner to kill his Governor’s Proxy on turn one, and then cheated to fail the resist that killed the Executioner too.  Or when she walked up to one of the opponent’s models that was holding a treasure and politely Obeyed that model to hand the treasure to Zoraida.  Her avatar has just made her even more fun, allowing me to switch to a more offensive version of her if I need to.  She can work with virtually any crew and help them all.  And no one seems to expect big things from her.  But she does deliver.

Lilith – She stands as the only master I’ve played more often than Zoraida and she sits just below her in terms of my favorite masters to play.  She’s a challenge to make her work well with her crew, but on her own she’s a wrecking machine.  Like Zoraida, she can function fine with just about any crew.  She doesn’t actually need Nephilim to work well.  But she has a nice variety of lists she can pull.  She hits hard, she moves fast, and she has more tricks to her than most of the other melee masters.  I love her ability to withstand enemies too.  Recently I threw her into a melee with Avatar McMourning, Adam, and a Rouge Necromancy and she killed all three of them, taking only 2 wounds in the exchange (I had already run McM out of stones, so that helped).  Beautiful!

McMourning – This guy has been just a bundle of fun as I’ve been trying out Ressers.  I’ve played him almost as many games as I’ve played Pandora, which, given how little time I’ve owned McMourning versus Pandora should tell you something.  I like that he sits on a different end of melee power from Lilith.  With Lilith I feel like I can toss her into just about any situation, McMourning takes more finesse.  He’s got to pick his battles more carefully, but he can wreck face when he does.  And if things are looking tight, he can always summon in a Flesh Construct or Rouge Necromancy to handle things.  I’m really looking forward to Adam coming out this month.  He’ll be making an appearance very soon.

Viktorias – Let’s face it, these girls really are Neverborn in disguise.  They move fast and they hit hard.  Really hard.  People seem to forget just how hard these girls can hit.  And with two of them, they’re beyond crazy.  If you get a bunch of Masks, you can just whirlwind your way around an entire crew, cutting them down one at a time.  I don’t rank them as highly because I’m not as big a fan of their supporting models as I am the Neverborn and Ressers.

Kirai – I feel like I’m cheating when I take her.  But playing her successfully feels like conducting a perfect dance (I know people say that about Colette, but I’ve never played her).  You’ve got dozens of models sitting on the table, each doing their specific things and working together to bring down death.  More than any other crew, Kirai has the synergy I love.  Stuff dies and makes spirits, which kill more stuff or are sacrificed to make more spirits, which continue this crazy cycle that your opponent can’t really stop.  On good days, I walk out of the game with more points in models than I started.  And her ability to score victory points with objectives is just insane.  There’s a reason I think she’s the second best master.  And were Archanist schemes for Colette not so easy to get points with no real contention, Kirai would take the top spot.

Von Schill – I know he’s not really competitive, but what can I say, I like the guy?  I think it’s the fact that, of all the lists above, I have no ranged lists.  And Von Schill is a pretty solid crew to use ranged attacks for.  I like the Trapper a lot.  I think the Specialist, if you get the right game, can be really fun.  (Just don’t play him against a crew with Obey).  The Librarian is good too as a healing battery.  Overall, I think the crew is probably one or two models short of being viable, but for now they make a fun match when I’m just trying to get an entertaining game in.

Avatar Seamus – I have to specify the Avatar here, because I don’t care for the original Seamus and only ever take him with his Avatar.  Doesn’t mean I rush to Avatar him, it’s just that I really like his Avatar form.  Honestly, it’s the reason I picked up Ressers in the first place.  Seamus himself is decent with his gun, but I always feel like I’m not using him to his fullest.  Once I go to Avatar Seamus, though, the fun really begins.  Pounding folks, scaring folks… how can you go wrong there?

Dreamer – Honestly, I’m a little surprised he ranked this low on my favorite masters.  I think my biggest gripe with him has been twofold: first, people tended to groan when I pulled him out (except my most common opponents, who were much happier to see me with him than with, say, Zoraida).  Second, his crew selection is fairly limited.  Since his errata though, I’ve been more inclined to get him on the table.  It just took me a long time to remember to print out what his new rules were so I didn’t play him incorrectly.  He may hit the table a bit more often, and he’ll probably climb up in rankings now that I don’t have people groan their way through a game against him, but for now he’s here.

Pandora – Okay, she is probably the best of the Neverborn masters, and I am fairly good with her when I play her (got to be careful not to say I’m great with her or Aaron will challenge me to another game and punch me in the face).  When I play her, the game largely feels like solitaire.  What my opponent does usually doesn’t matter much.  I just bounce around the board wherever I like, zap whatever I like, and hide away safely.  It’s just not really that much fun.

Collodi – This ranking will change soon, I figure, what with the Effigies coming out.  My biggest feeling about Collodi is that his options have been really slim until the Effigies hit the stores.  He has only a few models he can take, and his extra soulstones are so high, that usually I’ve taken all his Marionettes, all his Stitched Togethers, and as many Wicked Dolls as I could fit.  Why?  Because that’s what was available.  But now with the Effigies, I think I can do a lot more with him.  They’re not Insignificant, so they can get a little away from him.  And now my options have moved beyond a ton of small attacks or a few big WP-based attacks.  I can try to be trickier with him.  That said, I love using Collodi as a henchman.  When it comes to grabbing objectives, very few do it better.

Nicodem – I know he’s really good.  I know Dan has proven time and time again that the internet is wrong and that Nicodem will eat you if you’re not careful.  I just don’t get him.  To me he feels like the Zoraida of the Resser crew – he’s deceptively powerful and until you see someone who finally figures him out, you’re going to be stuck thinking he sucks.  I just haven’t taken the time to learn how best to use him.

Hamelin – I hate Hamelin.  I hate playing Hamelin.  He’s labor intensive to play and pretty boring for both sides of the board.  It’s a real shame because I love the concept behind him.  But the rats are annoying, and his Insignificance-making is annoying, and I just don’t like him.

So there we have it.  My list of masters, favorite to least.  I’ve played each of these ones at least a handful of games.  Ones that I’ve played that didn’t make the list were Kaeris, Ramos, Marcus and Lucius.  I just don’t feel like I’ve got enough a handle on them.  Though from my initial game or two with them, I’d put Lucius up near the top, Marcus in the middle, and Ramos and Kaeris near the bottom.  If I were to get into Guild, it would be grabbing Lucius, no question.