Last time, we took a look at the rework of Asami Tanaka and the Oni keyword. The whole keyword was changed, so there are a lot of cards to get through – let’s take a look at the second half!
Kamaitachi
Ah, the Kamaitachi. MAJOR changes here, to a model that was always… kinda weird. It’s gone up 1hp and 1ss, become Significant, but most importantly it’s got Eye of the Hurricane. This ability is bananas and singlehandedly changes some matchups; your opponent always has to prepare for it, and it can ruin their entire day if they forget about it. Because of how incredibly potent Eye of the Hurricane is, the Kamaitachi has the very unusual Loyal rule making it entirely Keyword-locked; only Asami can hire it at all. This solution is a bit inelegant but it does make balancing less of a nightmare.
The Kamaitachi also no longer summons dust devil markers, as that is a bit redundant with Rift Markers. Instead, it has the rather unusual Exsanguinate melee attack (although you will not be attacking often with this little guy).
Ridiculous support package for 5, Eye of the hurricane + heals on pos flips, cycle 2 or rift push on a bonus, 2” unpack on a shockwave, twice. Dust Devil is still here, but just as a normal shockwave that pushes people around. Mostly, though, the Kamaitachi is a support piece. Like Austera and Twigge, it cycles your hand; like Amanjaku, it pushes Rift Markers into position; and it’s got a little heal, with a built-in positive if the target is near a Rift Marker to make those beefy Heal 3s a bit more common.
Draysen thinks this guy is an auto include and I tend to agree. Five stones is not much and the Kamaitachi offers a lot. Eye of the Hurricane is by itself worth the price of admission, but he improves your hand and lets your whole crew unpack more easily by dropping a shockwave for them to push towards/away from. Twice! And later in the game the heals will be clutch. Just make sure to keep him alive.
Lady Yume
Dreamer is catching strays a bit, as it’s not all good news. Poor Lady Yume has suffered a bit in the transition. Her stats are the same, although she now removes Rifts rather than adds Flicker tokens to draw cards. The headline front-of-card change is Warp the Veil going from Once Per Activation to Once Per Turn, making it significantly less powerful. Looking at three cards instead of two does not really make up for that.
Her back of card is the same, although Coil Around Prey has lost Glimpse the Void, for some reason.
Sigh. Sorry, Yume. Back to dreamland you go.
Akaname
Technically not Ten Thunders models at all, Akaname test the limits of Malifaux’s use of the Poison condition as a stand-in for multiple things. These little guys will show up again when we discuss Brewmaster, probably.
They’re front of card is basically identical (minus Flicker mechanics), and they have the neat little ability to generate Sludge instead of a Rift when they die, which is helpful in Tri-Chi crews that don’t ignore Rifts. Their Barbed Tongue has become Rancid instead, gaining a point of stat but targeting Df instead of Mv. There’s been some odd shuffling here; it used to inflict Slow and have a built-in trigger to inflict Poison; now it inflicts Poison and has a built-in trigger to inflict Slow. Not sure what the point of that is, but it’s not a premium attack either way.
They no longer create Scrap or Corpses in exchange for Flicker, or remove them to gain Poison; now they have a little shockwave to hand out Poison (super effective in Tri-Chi, less useful here) that can make Scrap or a Rift. And they can remove any marker for Poison as a bonus action – very helpful for a little four stone boy.
Don’t expect too much from these guys and you won’t be disappointed. They’re probably better in Tri-Chi than in Oni, but they’re incredibly cheap, and Asami2 both keeps them alive and gets them into position to slurp up markers that your opponent doesn’t want slurped. Plus they’re an incredibly cheap source of Rifts, although the range on that is short and it does need a specific suit.
Jorogumo
Public Enemy Number One, the Jorogumo is probably the biggest reason Oni needed to be changed. These things beat ass at a twelfth-grade level, and are still summonable (in fact it’s even easier); so what has changed?
Well, they’re faster. That’s not a good start (although they’ve lost Herald, so they’re not faster if you hire them). They’re also weirdly pseudo-Hard-to-Wound, in that they’re only HtW if hired rather than summoned. Beyond that, they’ve suffered more than most from the loss of Flicker; they have to stack and spend Focus the honest way. That means that their offensive output is actually significantly reduced.
Their Glaive is much the same, trading War Eternal for Bloody Fate (another card draw trigger with conditions) and Delay for Pick the Bones. They’ve also gained a Reposition trigger on Frightening Reminder, and… that’s it.
These guys actually got buffed in a vacuum, but the loss of the Flicker mechanic brings them down to earth. They’re still scary summons, but they’re not going to show up in the middle of the enemy crew and do 12 damage immediately anymore. Giving them Fast with Asami2 is going to be scary, though. Their output is much more dependent on the cards you have, but if you have the tools, they’re still hugely dangerous.
Tengu
Oni’s premier scheme-runners are… probably still doing that. They’ve gone up in cost but gained a point of Df and Stealth for some extra durability. They no longer have a weird aura to prevent Distracted and Slow, which probably doesn’t matter much, given that their role is to run around putting points on the board. They’ve lost their damaging melee attack and their AOE heal for a pure focus on Scheming. Importantly, they’ve also lost Dark Bargain, which was very good.
So what have they gained? Mostly Leap, and suited Leap at that, which means they’re about as scheme-y as they used to be – they still have, effectively, three AP to scheme with, as long as you hit your TN. They’ve also got a weird little melee attack that, as far as I can tell, exists purely to let them charge. It isn’t going to kill anyone most of the time, but it does hand out Stunned, and with the trigger you can scoot right out of melee or shove someone off a point.
These guys are, basically, how you score. Especially with Asami2, where Draysen thinks they’re an auto include – counting rift-teleports, they can cross the whole board in a turn. They’re fragile, but the enemy can’t shoot them off the board from long range, and if they’re in the thick of it at least Asami2 can keep them alive. Asami1 probably just summons them where she needs them.
Yokai
Yokai were extremely centered around the Flicker mechanic, so it’s not surprising that their card has been basically completely rewritten. They’ve gained a point of Df and Hard to Kill, making them surprisingly tanky, though they’ve lost Frenzied Charge and (obviously) their Flicker Token-triggered Place in Ephemeral Warriors.
Their Exotic Weapons have become Unearthly Kama which, like Bettari’s teeth, are more accurate when enemies are near rifts. They’ve traded out their two Flicker Token-related triggers for a built-in (though rarely useful Feast of Vengeance), and the much better Tear Off a Bite, which is great with Hard to Kill.
Misery Loves Company has becomes Wander the Earth – it has a shorter range now but gives you a free Rift Marker and has a pretty solid self-heal trigger. And Corrupting Essence has become Dark Bargain, which is very similar except that it deals damage rather than inflicts Flicker (and needs a trigger to ignore engagement, though that trigger is built in).
Draysen says these are “quite sturdy for 6 cost with a different defensive profile than most of the keyword so more of a pivot than standard choice, but have a place in Hold Up pools or on Ballots.” I tend to agree – self-healing and Hard to Kill is a potent combo, and these guys are remarkably durable, though without HtW or damage reduction they’re really relying on you either flipping well or being willing to cheat to make their Df 6 work.
Obsidian Oni
Finally, we have these guys, who were really more of an odd token than a model before. They’re still Armored and Ruthless, though they no longer explode for 2 damage and +2 burning when they go. You’ll probably take some actual swings with them, but they’ve lost a stat and Blaze on their Exotic Weapons (though they still have the all-important Critical Strike).
Flames From Beyond is a spicy action now, though, losing the Projectile marker, gaining a stat, getting that all-important +flip to enemies near rifts and adding both a blast and Stunned to its whole damage track (though remember only the target gains Stunned, not everyone hit). This is a real ranged attack now and very scary, especially since you can fire into melee without fear and heal friendlies (including yourself) even on a Weak hit with the built-in trigger. Sure, it doesn’t hand out burning anymore, but the crew doesn’t really synergize with that.
Unfortunately, they don’t create Hazardous (Burning) around themselves anymore, but they can just make Rift Markers at a respectable range (and do it twice for one AP with a low mask). Their Uneasy Murmuring action is pretty cool, although enemies that aren’t efficiently removing Rift Markers are going to lose to you no matter what, so it’s less impactful than it may seem.
I like the ranged attack, but Draysen says, “You create enough rifts already and if stun isn’t vital to the matchup, you can leave them at home.” I think he’s right – you really don’t need that many rifts, and this bonus action is pretty bad.
Story of Suzaku
Suzaku hasn’t changed, but the keyword has changed around it, so it’s worth mentioning: this thing is insane now. The Wind’s Wrath doesn’t look so good until you realize just how many sources of Hazardous you have now. Same with Up We Go. Dunk someone into a rift in Ama no Zako’s aura for a cool 4/5/6, then push them for another 2. Plus with Asami2 you can effectively reduce incoming damage by 4, to a minimum of 0, so if the opponent didn’t bring irreducible damage they are simply never killing this thing. Absolutely stellar, channeling Up We Go through Rifts is brutal.
Macar-Oni and Cheese
So where does that leave us? How does new Asami play? Is she… good?
Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes, probably too good.
I like a lot of the changes. Rift Markers are cool. Marker crews are cool generally. I love Mah Tucket. But stacking Hazardous and then pushing it into people is one of the least interactive forms of gameplay there is, and Asami is incredible at it. A lot of her crew can attack from complete safety, or pop in from an insane distance, and there’s very little the opponent can do to manage it without going hard into marker removal. The combination of efficient beaters with long threat ranges and lots of pushing haz markers into people is pretty brutal, and Asami is already racking up an impressive body count. I’d have liked to see Wyrd exercise a bit more self-control with abilities that create or move Markers – but I also think that Ten Thunders is sort of in a weird place right now, with a few insanely overtuned models (Thanh Giong) really buoying everything else up.
This Keyword would look a lot less impressive without Giong, who effectively makes any Thunders crew that wants to be incredibly durable. Asami2 in particular might actually be a little gunshy about eating a ton of damage for her spawn if Thanh wasn’t there to keep her safe. But there may be another errata coming soon, and I guess we’ll see. Until then, Asami will be the one and Oni keyword for her fans. It’s an Oni’s world; we’re just living in it.
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