Cryx Warjacks Deep Dive (Update for 10/2021)

Well, that was quite a shakeup in October! I figured that my deep dive wouldn’t necessarily be an “evergreen”, but I had no idea that so much would change so quickly! There haven’t been a lot of rule changes beyond point cost, but it’s still worth re-rating all the jacks in light of these updates and in context with the rest of the changes. This should be read as a companion piece to my prior article and will be mostly focused on the changes, not overall abilities. There’s also going to be a bit more granularity with this update. Away we go!

Cryx Warjacks Deep Dive (July 2021 Edition)

Cryx warjacks are pretty misunderstood these days.  Considering the incredible warjack benefits afforded by Black Industries and Scourge of the Broken Coast and the many ways Cryx casters interact with warjacks, it’s no exaggeration that Cryx has morphed into a jack-focused faction in Mk3.  I do see a lot of fundamental misunderstanding about what makes Cryx jacks good and in what situation, however.  There’s a lot of talk about Slayer spam and Karchev2 with whatever jacks (Slayers?  Stalkers?  Something else?) generally, but there’s such a wide variety of jacks and I feel most of them have a place in one position or another.  Thus, I’m taking this opportunity to go through the entire faction’s warjacks jack-by-jack.  Talking about what makes them good or not good, where they fit in, and if they have any special casters or other attachments that get the most from them.  I’m going to be going from least to most expensive and generally ranking them via the following categories and grades.

NOVA Blast! (My adventures in mediocrity)

Soooo, NOVA went well, but not quite well as I’d hoped.  I had a great time at the team tourney and missed getting into Masters by the skin of my teeth!  It was rough, but I definitely diversified my play a bit compared to my normal meta.  So, here we go!

WiTC Faction/Caster Breakdown (and how it relates to Cryx)

The Wisconsin Team Championship is coming up at the end of this week and it’s actually a fairly well-documented event (as opposed to Lock and Load).  By documented, I mean the lists are all submitted and categorized to the point where we can get a fair cross-section of the North American meta.  This’ll just be a quick breakdown of some common casters and themes to watch for in the future as things change and shift.  Away we go!

Spotlight: Carrion Thralls

It always fills my heart with delight when I put my birds on the table and my opponents ask “what do they do?”  Carrion Thralls are a highly underrated unit.  They’re highly mobile, have surprising hitting power and survivability for their cost, and are completely expendable.  I always liked the birds even before Infernal Machines came out, but now I use them all the time.  Gotta fill up those Thrall points somewhere!  Give them a try and see how this unit that surprises everyone can surprise you and your opponents as well.

Dojo: The Ghost Fleet (Addendum)

Just a short one this week, as it’s been extremely busy and I haven’t had a ton of chances to play Warmachine recently.  That will change soon with a local tourney circuit coming up in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, however, I wanted to update my Ghost Fleet thoughts a little bit in light of the new stuff coming out and some things I’ve seen (and subsequently used) that update some of my initial thoughts on the theme.  

Introduction

Hello, dear reader!  I’m Lambstar, and you’re reading the introduction of some loosely organized musings of a longtime Cryx player.  I’ve been playing the faction ever since Mk1, getting into it based solely on Asphyxious’s art in the original Prime, back when page 5 ended with “Play like you’ve got a pair, or go find something made of plastic”.  Much has changed since then and there have been peaks and valleys of Cryx power and play options, but nothing has driven me from the faction yet, and I suspect nothing will.  I just like writing, so this is as much an academic exercise for me as anything, but if anyone here gets enjoyment or tactical value out of my spotlights, thoughts, dojos and battle reports, who am I to argue?  I’m just here waging my one-man crusade against the entire internet.