Back from a hiatus, still kinda hate Xekaar

So, you've probably had no idea that I hadn't been updating. Seriously, who checks this with any regularity? But hey, I haven't! So today I've got some updates, and a little batrep where, spoilers, Xekaar dies.

Turns out I got married, and what with the wedding and some followup events I've been kinda swamped. To make up for it, though, and start my marriage off on a rocky footing I have one hell of a WM/H month planned coming up....

August 12th: Champions format, local
-My FLGS, the one I usually organize events for, is going under and this will be the last event there. Had it planned a bit beforehand, trying to have a limited event so newer players wouldn't get stomped by shit like Haley2 and Denny1 (Have you guys been paying attention to the international meta? Because holy shit does it look like something is seriously wrong). I'll be trying to play in this one, though, since it will be our last.

August 17th-20th: GenCon
I'm signed up for one of the masters flights (might try and snag a spot in the other flight as well if I can), and am also going for the Champions on Sunday. Since there's yet more Champions going on, and I think Skorne has some serious game with sideboards, I'm going to be sticking to ADR throughout the week.

August 26th: Buffalo Beef & Wing Brawl
I have no idea what the name of this is about. I guess Buffalo is the home of that tangy sauce they put on chicken wings, and beef is a word you might associate with either food or aggression?

Anyway, it's an officially recognized masters event, so with the two champions tournaments and at least one masters tournament in the two weeks beforehand, I think if I stick to my pairing things will be decent?

September 9th: Five Colossals
This is a steamroller in Bethlehem, PA, that has an absurd amount of prize support. The eponymous 5 colossals will be given out to 1st-4th place at the tournament.


So, that's what I have on the plate for the next few weeks. I know what you're wondering, you useful narrative construct you, and yes - I am playing Xekaar. Unfortunately he's just where I have practice, at the moment, even though I think this means I'm in for some trouble in Masters events. Fortunately my other half to the pairing is Morghoul3, who I've found to be incredibly useful and quite powerful. While I think things are probably going to go mediocre, at best, for most events, I think a good theme or two might be enough to skyrocket this pair to something worth writing home about. For now, though, I'll just write here about it...

Battle report!

(Xekaar 1) Beast Master Xekaar [+31] - Agonizer [6] - Basilisk Krea [7] - Titan Sentry [15] - Titan Sentry [15] - Titan Sentry [15] - Aptimus Marketh [5]Tyrant Zaadesh [4] - Cyclops Shaman [8] - Titan Gladiator [15]Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]Paingiver Bloodrunners [9]

VS

Gaspy3 with some banes or some shit I dunno, there were a lot of them.

Opponent and I roll off, I lose and get stuck with first.

Round 1

I throw rush onto the three sentries, run them forward.

Oh look, my opponent also moves forward. One of the banes gets ashen veil on it. Can't be bothered to remember which one. I get a few scathers thrown at me.

Round 2

Triple rush goes out yet again and I jam my sentries into the zone. The goal is to force engagement far enough back on my opponents side that they aren't going to be able to get a foothold in scenario. Feat pops up and agonizer cries. My brick is ready.

Opponent retaliates and kills. Uh.. I think I lost 3 bloodrunners. He does manage to take the left circle, though, because for some reason I didn't put a sentry in it. His feat goes up.

Round 3

Krea, gladiator, and a sentry get enrage, as well as positioned for free charges. Rush goes up on the gladiator, and off he goes! The proxied devastator gets bricked handily. Shaman goes into right zone to contest. My sentries beat a few banes out of the central zone, krea kills a bane rider, and -2 strength goes up again. Xekaar clears the zone with a deadweight on a knocked down bane, and triggers it onto a bane rider.

Banes kill a bunch of shit, including a sentry and the gladiator, shaman, and Marketh thanks to some hot dice. Wraith engine moves up and gets a machine wraith out that swings hard into the agonizer.

I forget a picture.

Round 4
So things were kinda f'd from the get go, what with me playing this list into Cryx to begin with. I do, however, see an opportunity to get Xekaar and Zaadesh into Gaspy. Paingivers charge and drop Tartarus, one sentry drops a few banes, the other takes a free strike from a remaining bane and walks over to clear some space for other stuff to happen, agonizer drops the machine wraith clearing the charge for Xekaar. Off he goes, swings, hits, and does a damned nice spike putting a few damage into Gaspy even after a focus. Mortality goes up and I swing again, and eventually burn through the rest of my focus beaning him with boosted damage when Xekaar connects. Leaves him on 8 boxes and a handful of focus.

Zaadesh charges in and... Misses 4 times. Hits the 5th attack he makes, does 5 damage that gets ignored.

Anddddd Xekaar dies.




AfterthoughtsI'm pretty much just playing Xekaar and Morghoul3 right now, and my opponent likewise has been focusing on ADR for Saturday. As such, we've done the Morghoul3 vs banes match a few times, and while it's been far from a clean sweep it is definitely not a fun game for Cryx. So today we went with Xekaar into it, just for the reps. My opponent landed some lucky spikes, and I missed a few rolls where I needed a decent bit of luck. All in all, I'm happy with how it played out - I didn't really think I had much in the way of win conditions besides forcing the fight to happen on the far side of the table, and it wound up giving me a decent assassination vector. If I had to play this matchup again, and had a similar shot at assassination, I think I'd have to take it. If I'd left Marketh back a bit more, though, and had him to apply Mortality I think I'd definitely have been able to close it out.