Cryx at the ATC

i heard musings that the cryx presence was strong at the ATC, how much of this was in theme? seems like a lot less Denny than i would imagine. good on the community for digging deep.

Also it would appear the fully matchup breakdown is now available: atcwmh.com/atc-2017-rounds-and-standings/

It seems Cryx's 100% win rate over Cygnar came exclusively from Skarre1 incorporeal spam.

I've played the Terminus version, but in my experience it's just a weaker version of Deneghra1's. Deneghra1 just brings so much to the list that no other caster can replicate, I've been thinking about doing a Ghost Fleet write up since I've been playing the Theme Force exclusively with different variations and different casters since the end of January. I'll see if I can get a write up done for later tonight or some time tomorrow.

For a while I thought the Ghost Fleet was the best Terminus list you could build, but now I'm not convinced. I honestly feel like Terminus is better off with hordes of our Cheap undead like the Carrions than with Revenants. Terminus is easily the most selfish Cryx caster, doing next to nothing for his army. This fact combine with the massive nerfs to Cryx's infantry makes it very hard to play him for attrition since Cryx troops die to anything and wiping full units isn't hard, and his scenario game is weak since he doesn't really have anything to prevent your opponent from gaining ground. Terminus' plan every game is assassination, typically by applying Doomslayer to your opponent's face. Now melee assassinations by using your caster is typically a last ditch effort plan, and usually a game losing plan. Terminus has a lot of defensive tech to help him survive, but I feel like he's better off out of Ghost Fleet for a few reasons.

1) Survivability. The Terminus game plan is Doomslayer to face. Terminus only has a charging threat range of 11", that's not very far. You're not going to be pulling the Molik Karn Side Step from down town assassination here, you've probably only got an 11" straight line to work with (maybe you can manage a Reaper Drag, but that's costly focus wise and probably leaves you with too little focus on Terminus). Now this means Terminus is going to be either close to or on your frontline, and that's a scary place to be. Luckily Cryx has some options to help Terminus survive on nonfeat turns. Darragh Wrathe gives +2 armor vs living, Madelyn gives him immunity to warrior models, and Wrong Eye gives us Star Crossed which combine with our Defense 14 means if our opponents want to hit us reliably they'll have to boost to hit meaning we'll be tanking less attacks. Unfortunately none of those models are available to the Ghost Fleet.

2) Threat Range. Terminus only threats 11", which as I said before isn't far. However Cryx does have some tools to extend that a little. The first is Darragh who can give Terminus an extra inch if needed. The second is Reapers. Now while Reapers are available in theme, they are highly focus inefficient in theme requiring Terminus to fuel them if you want to get a drag. Terminus is selfish, and does not wish to fuel anything unless it's going to get him a mountain of souls for his feat. Outside of the Ghost Fleet though Reapers can be fueled by other things. You can keep them on Terminus and fuel them with Sirens, or you can put them on Aiakos1 or an ILO with Siren support and get your boosted Drags that way. You also have the option to go with Malice, although she does compete with Terminus over souls.

3) Erebus. Remember when I said Terminus was selfish and didn't want to fuel anything. This guy is the exception. I remember the first time I got to live the dream in Mark2 & Gerlak pacman'd himself through 23 models. With Terminus Erebus is Gerlak on Cocaine. You have a Mat 7 Bazerking, Overtaking monster that auto Stationaries anything it hits. Load him full of focus on Feat turn and watch as he mulches entire units and leaves Terminus on armor 25+ before you've activated anything else.

4) Wurmwood. Few things have frustrated me more than playing Terminus into a caster than can't run away from him, but being unable to kill him because he keeps Strangleholding me. You can't Sac Pawn, Shield Guard, or shake the effects of Stranglehold. The only thing Cryx has to stop things like this from slowing Terminus down is Orin Midwinter.

I actually settled with the exact same Ghost Fleet build you're on, with the only difference being Bunker over Effigy of Valor.  What are your thoughts on the Coven pairing in a traditional masters environment? Currently the two big issues I've been running into with Ghost Fleet are Wurmwood, who I can't shoot to death thanks to Stealth, RFPs my Revenants with Hellmouth, and has magic sprays for the Incorporeal, and Retribution, who has plenty of magic weapons, infantry clearing, and ways of seeing through stealth to shoot down Deneghra. I'm not really sold on Coven into Circle, and planning to dodge Wurmwood doesn't sound like a great plan in masters.

Are there any other major weaknesses (Yea I know casters like Caine1 and Hexeris1 are brutal, but nobody really plays them) you've encountered in testing?

Thanks for the battle reports, Skittles. I always enjoy the flexibility of playing the Coven, but haven't tried the Ghost Fleet yet. It sounds like your first game into Thagrosh1 with GF probably stumped your opponent due to the incorporeal? And, your second round you managed to outlast some poor decisions in pairing and dice due to Denny1's power. What were you looking to drop it into and what do you see as its strengths?