Monday, January 26, 2009

CE alien survey #12: MASOCHIST

First appearance: Fantasy Flight Games.

Plain-English power: If you lose all of your ships, you win.

Loved by: Anyone who enjoys playing with reckless abandon; sadists.

Loathed by: Strong offensive powers like Virus and Anti-Matter.

Three ways to win as Masochist:
  1. Get your hands on (or Card Zap) the two Mobius Tubes cards. Be ready to Plague yourself when the time is right. Also, if you are lucky enough to pull the Omega Missile as your tech, then pile all of your ships onto one planet and blow it up for a possible instant win. [editor's note: LAWL! Death Star! Nice one.]
  2. Ally with anyone who will take you, and always send four ships. Then play your reinforcements to help the opposite side.
  3. Remember that you can still win the normal way if you end up with strong cards late in the game. A sudden reversal in your tactics can catch your opponents unaware.
Three ways to win against Masochist:
  1. The best weapon is the wild Reincarnator flare. If you are lucky enough to get this then wait till he has stripped down to two or fewer planets (just to be on the safe side) and play it, forcing him to draw a new power.
  2. Strategic use of Mobius Tubes is key. If you get one, then wait out Masochist for as long as your own ship situation can handle it. Also, if you have the Delta Scanners tech, use it to pull back a spent Mobius Tubes.
  3. Keep Masochist out of alliances; his presence usually benefits him regardless of outcome. Also, attack where he has the least number of ships, and don’t play Negotiate cards against him. In the event of a deal, it's likely as much to his benefit to lose three ships as it is to gain a planet.
At CE Online? No.

Anything else? Masochist, one of a number of former homebrews to become official in the FFG edition, is credited to Matt Stone.

— Submitted by Jordan Browne

18 comments:

Adam said...

Awesome! I love this power. We played it once, and it produced a lot of laughs... and nearly a victory.

Note for the Blogmic editor's staff: "he won’t be able to lose" should be "he won't be able to use," no?

TheDukester said...

Quiet, you!

(And you owe me some more strategy articles, pal. Are you gonna let Large Dome Zeke write all of them?)

Big Head Zach said...

I haven't had a spare moment to write any up lately, but I think I can pitch another one in this afternoon. Can you update the post on what's been done and what hasn't?

Adam said...

Sadly, I haven't played Cosmic (except online) since before I wrote that last one. I need to remedy that before I'll be ready to tackle a new one. Hopefully this will be sooner than later.

Anonymous said...

What, do I have to write more now? :P

Anonymous said...

What happens if the Masochist is cosmic zapped when they lose their last ship?

TheDukester said...

It's not the losing of the ship that would be zapped. Masochist uses his power at the beginning of the regroup phase to basically declare "I win" -- it's at that point that he'd have to be zapped.

Anonymous said...

The discussion we had was that masochist's power is that it doesn't lose it's power when it has lost it's home colonies. So my friend was claiming that by cosmic zapping me, my masochist ability got turned over, and couldn't be un-flipped until he had regained 3 colonies. Which was impossible since I had no ships.

IE, I'm just out of the game. I thought that was too powerful since ANYBODY could cosmic zap the masochist at pretty much any time, and nullify his ability entirely.

Big Head Zach said...

Actually, Cosmic Zap can't nullify any portion of an alien's power unless that portion is used. Therefore, you can only zap Masochist when his card indicates he can use the power to win the game - no other text is affected.

TheDukester said...

This is true. The FFG edition is VERY, VERY careful to tie in zaps with the concept of "use." Always look for that one word ... THAT will tell you exactly when a ap can be played. See page 12 of the rules for more.

Your friend was wrong.

Anonymous said...

Plus, a Zap only stops someone's power for the rest of the encounter. Masochist would just flip his sheet faceup at the start of the next encounter.

Anonymous said...

I think the situation was unique, in that Masochist was zapped while not occupying at least three home planets, and that was the impetus for not letting Masochist to reactivate at the end of the encounter. But I agree, it was incorrect. Masochist doesn't need any home planets to use his power, and he can't be zapped until he tries to win anyway. And THEN you have to somehow find a way to either give him a base or win the game yourself. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Ok, that's the conclusion we reached as well, but we also had an additional complication.

After the masochist was zapped, another player used the masochist wild flare to redirect the regroup of the next player to the masochist player.

Where does that ship go? The masochist has no colonies to recieve the ship. Does it go to the gate? Can it be refused? If it goes to the gate, since it's not the masochist's turn, is the masochist a forced ally of the next attacking player, or does the homeless ship just live in the gate till the masochist's next turn (if every player refuses to allow the masochist to ally with them).

Anonymous said...

If a ship has no colonies to go to, it goes back to the warp. It only goes directly into the cone if it's the offense's ship. So nice try to whoever played that, but it wouldn't work.

Anonymous said...

Thanks guys, you've been a great help.

It's a super rare situation, but I almost hope it comes up again so I can flaunt my now-superior knowledge!

:D

oakleyses said...

air max, burberry outlet, true religion jeans, louboutin, louis vuitton outlet, louboutin, ray ban sunglasses, tiffany and co, coach outlet store online, oakley sunglasses cheap, christian louboutin shoes, longchamp outlet, louis vuitton, true religion jeans, tory burch outlet, kate spade outlet, kate spade handbags, oakley sunglasses, jordan shoes, polo ralph lauren outlet, louis vuitton outlet, louis vuitton handbags, coach outlet, prada outlet, ray ban sunglasses, chanel handbags, michael kors outlet, longchamp handbags, michael kors outlet, oakley sunglasses, nike shoes, air max, coach purses, michael kors outlet, longchamp handbags, louis vuitton outlet stores, nike free, prada handbags, coach factory outlet, gucci outlet, tiffany and co, louboutin outlet, michael kors outlet, polo ralph lauren outlet, michael kors outlet, burberry outlet, michael kors outlet

oakleyses said...

marc jacobs, soccer shoes, abercrombie and fitch, hollister, asics running shoes, canada goose, ugg boots, nfl jerseys, reebok outlet, herve leger, ugg, north face outlet, mont blanc, longchamp, insanity workout, canada goose uk, chi flat iron, babyliss pro, ugg pas cher, ugg australia, canada goose jackets, mcm handbags, canada goose, wedding dresses, new balance shoes, mac cosmetics, soccer jerseys, celine handbags, birkin bag, p90x, ferragamo shoes, valentino shoes, nike huarache, beats by dre, ghd, instyler, jimmy choo outlet, lululemon outlet, bottega veneta, canada goose, rolex watches, canada goose outlet, vans shoes, nike roshe run, moncler, ugg boots, north face jackets, uggs outlet, giuseppe zanotti

oakleyses said...

louboutin, moncler outlet, juicy couture outlet, iphone 6 cases, hollister, moncler, karen millen, oakley, baseball bats, wedding dresses, ray ban, gucci, canada goose, ralph lauren, canada goose, swarovski crystal, hollister clothing store, moncler, air max, converse, pandora jewelry, juicy couture outlet, rolex watches, moncler, supra shoes, moncler, pandora charms, ugg, vans, toms shoes, links of london, pandora charms, air max, timberland boots, parajumpers, hollister, thomas sabo, louis vuitton, montre homme, coach outlet store online, lancel, ugg, swarovski, moncler, converse shoes