Theory Crafting - Alchemists

Hello Guild Ballers,

I'm going to have a dip into the Alchemy pool of things.
So much like I did with my blacksmiths (who are primed and on my painting table) I'll go over my thought process to pick my 6 players I want to use as a team.

First off, I'm the kind of guy that likes to play what people shy away from a bit. This brings an element of 'what does that guy do exactly?'- confusion into your opponent's mind.

Brainstorming:

So into the alchemists side of things I'm having a look at two players first:

Crucible and Venin.

Crucible, imho, asks to be paired with Vet Kat; due to her Covalence aura she helps keep conditions on other players. And that is what Vet. Kat wants to get his intensify off. Only down side to this pair-up is I can't overkill Vet Kat since I have no 'tooled up' option in the guild.

Anyhow, I'll grab Vet. Katalyst and Crucible as my first 2 picks. Neither of them throw out AOE's so I'm not sure what route to take next. Go with Smoke and Calculus and Mercury, or apply conditions in another fashion and go play football with Midas...

If I want to play football I need acces to early tackle and preferably momentous ones... Only options here are Compound and Flask!
AND I imagine people will stay away from Vet Kat, where Midas's Lure of Gold might be handy...
Another good footballer not to be overlooked is Vitriol, who has a 4/8 kick stat AND a 2" melee zone!

This already brings my inital thoughts to 6 players:
Midas - only condition is through his legendary play -> snared.
Flask - no conditions, but intensify and synergy with vitriol if I can smoke a target she wants to get to.
Vitriol - no real synergy with the team, other than she's a striker like her captain...
Compound - My piece to keep in the back and steal the ball with. - but again, low synergy for putting out conditions...
Crucible - the only model actively putting out conditions
Vet. Kat. - My killing machine?

Reading that list brings me to ditching compound in favour for more Condition output. - For that I'm looking at Mercury - a 4/6 kick and tackle on one give him a good 'go get the ball' trait, and if he's not doing that he can put burning on people from a distance away. Since I believe poison on Crucible (not hindering her movement) will be the obvious choice to begin with.

Final 6:

Midas (4)
Flask (1)
Mercury (2)
Vitriol (2)
Crucible (2)
Vet. Katalyst (2)

Kicking the ball out with this team:

I've had this done to me so why not do it to them? Kick with vitriol and threaten a countergoal from turn 1 on. Or do it with Midas

First activation after kicking is figuring out if you can counterscore with the kicking model (preferably midas since he can unpredictable out towards the ball if somebody comes into him)
If that is not possible: activate Crucible, pick no condition and set her up for turn 2. (if you can spare inf, give her nimble)
Again check for countergoal threat, if not possible, move Vet Kat up with his furious
And again, but activating Flask (popping smoke is an idea if you don't face a ranged team)
Now it comes down to if you can score or not - if not, have a look if Mercury can put out burning one one or more players - if not, and no goal is expected, activate Vitriol and set her up with clone for turn 2
Still no goal? Again, Mercury or Vitriol.
Still no goal? You sure? Damn you're playing a mighty good player there...

Influence allocation :
Midas 6/13(7) (the whole shebang for a countergoal and all options in between)
Vitriol 3/13(4) (sprint or charge and one extra for a pass? if not clone + sprint)
Vet Kat. 0/13(4) (furious)
Flask 0/13 (4) (jog + smoke)
Mercury 3/4 (1) sprint + fireblast/flame jet
Crucible 1/13(0) nimble/sprint

Setup : Midas on one side, vitriol on the other, mercury in the middle, Flask and Vet Kat on opposite sides of Mercury.

Receiving with this team:

Setup: Option 1 Turn 1 goal with Midas
Vitriol in front of kicker to receive ball. Vet. Kat in the middle of the table or in the middle of the line-up of your opponent if they group. Mercury and flask near vetkat. Midas in the middle of the field somewhat to possibly score turn 1 goal. (sprint + promise of fortune + dodge from pass = 8 + 2 + 4 = 14" + 8" kick = 22" threat without taking in account a charge / dodge results.)
Option 1 play:

Retreive (sprint + pass + clone = 4/13(9)) with vitriol.
receive pass with VetKat (pass, furious = 1/13(8))
recieve pass with Flask (pass, jog, smoke = 1/13(7))
receive pass with mercury (pass, jog, throw out flames = 3/13(4)
receive pass with crucible (pass, jog, 1/13(3))
receive pass with midas and dodge towards enemy goal, sprint/charge, heroic, shoot = 3/13(0)

Option 2: Turn 1 goal with Vitriol.
Midas in front of kicker to receive ball with Vitriol next to him.

retreive wih midas (sprint + pass + lure of gold (vitriol) = 4/13(9))
receive with vetkat (pass, furious = 1/13 (8))
receive with flask (pass, jog, smoke = 1/13 (7))
receive with mercury (pass, sprint, flames = 4/13(3))
recieve with crucible (pass, jog 1/13 (2))
receive with vitriol and dodge forward, + sprint with Vitriol + score 2/13 (0)

I don't really like option 2 since Vitriol is likely going to be targeted (if not killed) to prevent a goal, not a problem if she can clear conditions or dodge out of melee if the engaging player is suffering a condition or the ball comes in with a good pass.

General gameplan

The general gameplan with this team is to set up kills for Vet. Kat and go for goals with the rest of the team.

If Midas can put out his Midas touch on a couple of people that Vet. Kat can get to that's great.
If you draw sick'em and get to intensify with Flask, that's bonkers
lure vetkat with midas!
After Midas scored, don't forget he's a snapshot turret with showboating!
Heal Vet.KAt every turn if possible and activate him last (appart from the first turn)
if you can go last, go last - to either kill with vetkat or put conditions on with mercruy near Crucible.
If you can go first, only do it to score or kill with vetkat
Try to gang up on people with mercury and crucible before going in with vetkat
use slip past to get out of the scrum!
Heal crucible every turn if possible especially when she's burning AND is poisoned.
Don't be afraid to give Flask 2 INF if he can get to the ballcarrier, it's not lost if the ball runs away if you can intensify after a charge for 2 times!

Flaws: playing into morts can be a pain, you need momentum on this team to heal a lot! Obulus his legendary is ... well, just play as if he's not there, he can only do it to you once. Pick what you're going to do and stick with it. If you set up a late turn Vet Kat activation, don't waste time with the ball if you don't have to. better to put Vitriol in for an extra dice than to let her sit around.

Anyhow, this is all the time I have today...
Hope I can remember this stuff when fielding them ...

Greetings,
Bob Out.

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