Well, technically it doesn’t, as the event itself has been cancelled, but the lists were still published and I thought it would be a nice pastime to go over them together, in these times of self-quarantine.
At first glance, there are some interesting lists as well as some definite jank to be found there, so let’s get to it.
Stats
Even though it’s not as bad as some other factions, Cryx seems quite underrepresented with 6 players across 5 teams, putting us squarely in the bottom half of popularity. The most popular faction by far is Protectorate, which is, surprisingly, not all about Harbinger, but also about Cyrenia, and definitely all about The Faithful Masses.
Even Cygnar is back with the popular kids, as Flames in the Darkness gave it the boost they were craving.
Somewhat surprisingly, we have Crucible Guard at the same level as Cryx, which might be caused by everyone that played the faction jumping back to Cygnar. Retribution is even lower than us, which probably has much to do with the faction still crutching hard on Tridents, which everyone is learning to deal with. The bottom of the pile, in no particular order, is filled by Convergence, Legion, and Trollbloods, as the recent (small-ish) buffs appear to not have been enough to convince people of their viability.
It’s worth noting that Minions beat us in popularity by one, and I know of at least one person whose fault that is. They know who they are…
American Treasure
Deneghra 3 BI / Skarre 2 SotBC
The Deneghra list appears to be about pressuring the opponent off the board. Mortality helps to make sure that whatever you hit will stay down and Ghost Walk will help to deliver your models where you want them. The Mechanithralls get their standard recursion and one of the units can even go into ambush.
The Necrotech can heal the dragon in a pinch and the Soul Hunters can supply Deneghra with some souls, if needed. Nightmare is probably here to keep the opponent honest, because it’s the most (only?) hard hitting thing in the list and could Prey the opposing caster right from the get-go. With native Ghostly and access to Grave Wind, it can also be quite the bully.
All in all, I’m not a huge fan of this list, because it clutches hard on frail models, but it could probably do some work in some cases.
Honestly, the Skarre 2 list feels more like rule of cool, to have the Queen of the Broken Coast with all of her subjects. Orin is cute tech against the likes of Agathon, but I’m kind of missing the high impact models to feat on. There’s definitely Barathrum, Gerlak and Skarre herself and then I suppose the intent is to feat on 2 of the opponent’s strongest models and have a proper time-walk turn.
Apart from that, I would say the list lacks hitting power and I will usually include a colossal and something like a Void Archon with her. Note that you can also feat on the latter, to give your opponent’s some proper headaches.
I’m also slightly miffed by the inclusion of Severa, at least without supporting some Gunslingers, and the second arc node, with the only really impactful (offensive) spell worth casting being Black Spot, and the list hardly needing any more help in blending infantry.
All in all, this pair will shred through opposing (light) infantry like nobody’s business and this could very well be useful in a team format, but I would personally try to include at least one list with a bit more “oomph”.
HORDAK’S WARMACHINES
Agathia 1 DH / Deneghra 1 SotBC
Ok, the Agathia list actually seems fairly interesting. First thing is that she herself can get Prowl in this theme and fuel the Desecrator, because she has the Bane tag. Her feat can deliver the battle group into gunlines or can pull shenanigans if the delivery is not needed. Note that the Wraith Engines can also get Stealth so are quite likely to make it to the other side.
My only worry would be how she is going to actually fuel all these jacks, so this would definitely feel like a list where I would squeeze Asphyxious 4 into over some BG jacks.
The Deneghra 1 list on the other hand feels like someone dared this person to put as many Ogrun and harpoons in a list as was humanly possible. For the record, he failed, there are still Smog Belchers available.
Jokes aside, the Boarding Party is actually quite good as they can hit like trucks and are relatively cheap yet durable bodies. If you’re not facing a gunline, this list can bring some pain, and with Agathia there, this is unlikely to be facing said gunline. I would personally probably drop a Reaper and the second unit of Iron Mongers, even though those also hit like trucks against opposing Warjacks, to include the Smog Belchers and perhaps some Gunslingers to complement Severa. But, as a list with a purpose (hitting hard), I don’t hate it.
To be honest, I quite like the idea behind this pair. Both of them can hit hard where it matters and one is designed to play into gunlines and the other into some degree of infantry, but mostly into tanky melee lists. It’s a shame we won’t get to see how it works in action.
Springtime for Vinter
Ah, the classics. A good old Asphyxious 3 beatdown, with a Void Archon to keep your opponent on their toes and some Carrion Thralls to spread the Ashen Veil love. Then there’s Darragh to make the list even tankier vs living models and a bunch of Necrotechs to keep everyone patched up, or to make a pile of bombs.
The Ambush can also serve to push things more to the middle, or the Shield Guards can keep Asphyxious safe.
Personally, I would probably want to get Gurglepox in, rather than the Deathripper, but points are tight if you want to maximize Slayers. I only own 5 Slayers though and am a sucker for Cankerworm, so that feels like an easy switch, for me.
The Coven list is slightly more puzzling. I guess the feat takes care of delivery and we try to apply either Void Archons or the Sepulcher to the opposing caster. The Sepulcher especially seems like a weird choice as the guns are rather lackluster and it has nothing to use its corpse mechanic for.
Then again, the pull it has on its melee weapons could help enabling the rest of the list to finish something off.
Overall, I’d probably be looking out for the assassination when going against this list, especially with Eilish enabling either a more likely critical Blind or Paralysis.
The pair as a whole seems ok and is probably looking to drop Asphyxious against most things, with Coven providing an out into the more difficult matchups.
Team Great Helmet
A team with 2 Cryx players! I like them already.
Deneghra 2 DH / Goreshade 2 DH
This version of Deneghra 2 seems to look to utilize Ghostly, and optionally Incorporeal, to deliver itself when it where it wants to, after forcing the engagement with some Hellmouthing. Deneghra actually has all the tools needed to square off against a melee list, in Hellmouth and Breathstealer, and Banes love getting the drop on someone. Note that she can use the feat to make the Wraith Engine Incorporeal again after it attacks, which is a cute trick.
I’ve always wanted to like Goreshade 2, because he actually has an amazing spell list, even though his feat is relatively tame. Bane Riders and the Bane Warrior officer will probably be the feat targets of choice, but sacrificing the Scrap Thralls and possibly some of the free Machine Wraiths.
Mirage is an excellent spell to put on Bane Riders, to extend their threat, but also to let them play around in or behind terrain better. Occultation is free to go pretty much anywhere as there are loads of good targets in this list.
The battle group is a bit odd as it’s quite resource intensive, which Goreshade can ill afford, but I suppose the Slayers can be a decent second wave.
The pairing as a whole seems to put 2 casters together that have great spell lists on paper, which makes them a decent drop into many things, but I feel like its limited by having both of them play in the same, limited, theme force.
Here’s an entirely different take on Asphyxious 3, with the Kraken being an impressive center piece and adding in some Seethers for added efficiency. This list will hit considerably harder than the one we saw previously, at the cost of durability, and some flexibility. The Kraken, being MAT 6, will most likely often rely on landing Calamity, which is probably why the arc nodes are there.
This Skarre 1 isn’t too unusual at first glance, but it does have some elements that diverge from the “norm”. She doesn’t do a lot for the Void Archons, but they themselves will serve to herd the opponent exactly where you want them.
What is more surprising to me is that the rest of the list is so slow, mainly because the battle group consists of nothing but Slayers and some arc nodes. Having some Stalkers there would really help to apply pressure in tandem with the Void Archons.
While I have played Slayers with Skarre 1 in the past, though in BI, and have been relatively impressed with them in such case, I don’t think they particularly fit here as they are fragile and slow-ish.
Stygius is of course a great addition to Skarre 1, as he can cast Ritual Sacrifice for her, as well as provide her with some much-needed healing, which we haven’t had available for her since MK2, when the Necrosurgeon was no longer allowed to stitch up actual people.
The pair as a whole looks to project quite a bit of force onto the table and will probably do quite well into opposing box/ARM spam.
One thing that is for sure is that this group is a big fan of Dark Host.
The High Council
Hey, that’s my Skarre 1 list! But wait, what’s this? It seems to have swapped out Tartarus for Stygius. I honestly quite like Tartarus in my list as he’s a great flag-camper and feat target, but I can see a point for Veteran Leader being less valuable. I also usually feel like Skarre is perfectly fine with casting her own Ritual Sacrifice as she generally won’t have Stalkers left to fuel after the feat anyway.
All things considered though, I do like the swap as Stygius does a lot for Skarre and, as said, Tartarus’s main selling point applies less when you have Dark Guidance on demand. Definitely something to consider.
As always, Wraith Engines, Darragh and Stalkers are staples in the list and the Bane Knights provide an excellent wall of bodies that can serve as a second line. In a pinch, they will be feated on to push them to effective P+S 21 on a charge.
Asphyxious 3 seems rather classical, having squeezed in a Void Archon to deal with some problematic matchups. I wanted to say that I would’ve tried to include some Brute Thralls, but I see there are only 2/3 requisition options being used, so that’s probably just an oversight or bug.
The pair isn’t very subtle, but is reliable and it should perform well when it matters.
Bonus
Well, there’s not that much Cryx, so I figured I might as well check the factions that stole our casters and see what they’re doing with them. Technically Rahera is a Mercenary caster first, but there’s only 1 list with her, so I figured why not. Mortenebra (2) is what I was really interested in.
Pantheon
It looks like Rahera has the ambition to just blast everything off the table. The Freebooters are actually really scary with Escort and/or Manifest Destiny, especially since they have a Chain Attack to trigger their own Thrash and then possibly get an ancillary attack from the feat. The Blockader also has a melee threat of 14″ and everything else pretty much shoots, and then shoots again from the feat.
With Anastasia there to increase the odds of going first, this list will be all up in your grill as soon as possible.
Team Canada
Fiona 1 FitD / Mortenebra 2 SB
I noticed that the owner of this list gave his own explanation of the list’s intent on Discord and I have pasted it here below for you to peruse.
Well, those are definitely a lot of guns and the list will look to apply pressure from far away and the Conservators can hit surprisingly hard when all things line up. They can also threat up to 16″ away, if an Ironhead is brought in with Nemo and after using Locomotion and landing the Beacon shot from the Diffuser.
It’s played next to Fiona, so it’s unlikely to see all that much table time in the first place, but it does definitely look interesting.
Epilogue
So, definitely some interesting things to look at here, as well as some golden oldies.
If you see me talking about your list and feel like I’ve missed the point, or am not doing it proper justice, do feel free to hit me up and we’ll see what can be done to get that sorted.
I just wanted to say that I know that my Cryx reports are at somewhat of a low point at the moment and honestly, it’s quite a lot of work to write and edit those.
I will definitely do more in the future, don’t worry, but if there’s anything you would like me to write about in particular, such as event coverage, feel free to send me a message, using the medium of your choice.
Smeerlapperij 
I find it especially interesting that there are so few SotBC lists here. What are your thoughts on the rationale behind that?
LikeLike
That’s an excellent point, thank you. On average, it looks like every Cryx player brought 1 Dark Host list in their pairing, so people like Banes, still. There is of course 1 player that took double Dark Host, but in general, they might’ve started from the need to crack armor.
Dark Host can also be a good attrition list, so is innately droppable in many matchups, which already encroaches a little into Scourge’s niche.
From there, it would seem people felt the need to cover the shooting matchup by pairing it with Black Industries. Everyone that paired DH with BI went with Asphyxious 3, which is still a solid list that has broad applications.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Scourge is an amazing generalist list and it’s a good entry point for any pair, but that doesn’t mean it’s mandatory and I can see why people would branch out away from it. All of our themes are functional, though I’m not too hot on Ghost Fleet or the Thrall side of BI, but it’s the choice of caster that really pushes a list towards the intended role. I’ve always felt this was especially true in Cryx, which is a large part of why I never got bored of the faction.
So, if you have a clear idea for what your pair is supposed to do, especially in a team environment, you don’t necessarily need to take our “best” theme. Note also that being alive can be a detriment and our faction is uniquely placed to offer very little living models between a pair, which can be an advantage.
Or maybe, some people just want to play what they have, or try out stuff they found in the jank tank.
That got a bit longer than I intended, but I hope to have answered the question 🙂
LikeLike