Grimcount?

[Aolhelm]

Hey all. I'd like some advice for my grimcount deck - it's been working well against NPCs, and is undefeated (er, 1 for 1) in Folrart, but I realize that there's probably a lot of technique I have yet to understand (given that my previously-played files have been the rather straightforward SK and Lapierre).

Currently, I'm running:

1x Catherina (open)
1x Owl Sage
3x Mirelia (grim recycle)
3x Wizard Soldier of Regus (extra damage, if necessary)
3x Alna (pinpointing)
3x Vondora EX (finisher)
2x Hirum (in case I run into grimbane)
1x Sylph (for withdrawal strategy/agi boost)

2x Meaning of Failure
2x Return
1x Cyclone
1x Wrath of the Sea Lord
1x Absolute Wall
1x Withdrawal Strategy

SS lineup:

Ice Sorceress
Ice Sorceress
Elite Mage Knight of Regus
Mage Soldier Mercenary Girl
Hirum

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[GonFreeces31]

In general this is pretty well put together. You got a good balance of units to grims and a few sacrificial units. A few things:

1) Do not assume high rarity = high power. For what it's worth, I think your file might be better if you removed Alna and Vondora, and replaced them with elite fencer and sorc monk.
2) Undine > Sylph. If you have slow units with special abilities, use sylphs. Here, all your units are already fast, so Undine is a far better fit as a single copy great spirit.
3) I really really dislike Elite Mage SS as it has absolutely nothing to do with playing Falkow... However I also understand that it makes the file easier to play and get you wins, so that's good.
4) Use "Unlock Bandault" VERY SPARINGLY. Please remember that it costs 1SP. If you spam it constantly you will lose.

Ummm... I could probably talk for pages about playing a file like this but I just don't have the time now...

[Romdeau]

You can probably ditch Vondora. I'd keep Alna because I value pinpointing, and generally speaking you'll have the sp needed to use it. I think grim count now works best with Ascarat in it, so if you have her-use her and ditch the double ice ss for just 1.

[Aolhelm]

Thanks for the advice (and, Gon, if you have time later to talk about how this sort of thing should be played, I'd appreciate it). I unfortunately don't have 3 copies of sorc monk, but I pulled Sylph for Undine and 3x Vondora for 3x Elite Fencer - I've already noticed improvement, since before enemies with 4+ agi could be a problem (rarely). Don't have Ascarat, either.

[idol]

Don't you at least have 2 sorc monk from starter? Thats enough for end game imo.
Ascarat would be great but, sometimes u just gotta wait.

[Romdeau]

Couple of comments on the grimoires-what's with the random absolute wall? Also, I think 2 MoF is excessive, I'd suggest using one. I'm tempted to tell you to ditch one of the Ice Song ss, but it might be harder to get your file's count up without Ascarat....so I guess leave it if you're having trouble getting the damage you need without it.

Consider using tidalwave as a possible replacement-the bane shouldn't be that harsh of a counter, considering you're using Hirume. Also the 4th ss is return 1 random wiz king and deal row damage right? Any possibility you can upgrade that into something a bit more game changing?

Ideally when you're using a file with Alna you want 2-3 sp gen in a file...so owl sage, mof, and (ideally) 1 from SS. Also, I'd start gunning for ascarat via point card/spending if you want to have the most competitive grim count available. You can get by without her, I just don't see why you wouldn't use her though.

[Urizen_forum]

I would highly recomend faytis, also consider either giant antropeid ss or thunder drop you need somethign to get rid of a field of great spirits and get peoples ss out of the way in mirelia. I don't really see the slyph withdraw strat utility, better to replace with a third return and a faytis.

[WhiteDragon2]

If you really need more than two return you can always try to let Mirelia get some back for you. I think 3 returns therefore might be a bit much for this file. Also why use giant antropeid SS? Angry mob SS is also effective for getting rid of spirits, but you'll also have a targeted engage which can be useful at times. I don't know if you need such a area of effect SS though. A faytis or a tidal wave would be good to add though. I think the reasoning behind absolute wall is that after a certain point your units do so much damage that the 50 defense won't save the opponent, such that it basically is a cheap key of the holy realm for this file.

Please take my comments with a bit of salt as I never played grimcount myself

[Aolhelm]

Thanks for the comments, all!

I do have two sorc. monk; the question would be what other units to take out. Like Rom, I really enjoy Alna's pinpoint, and all other units also have their purpose.
WhiteDragon is spot on about the absolute wall; I usually am able to overkill later in the game. I replaced the sylph with Undine (though that may be less necessary now with Elite Fencer). Not really a fan of the third return, and unfortunately don't own a single tidal wave (I know, I know), but Faytis I could add. Absolute wall is probably the card I'd take out, in that case - in slower games I've found myself playing MoF and getting it back with Unlock Bandault every turn, so I'm reluctant to drop the second copy. I'll dig through my SS and see if I have anything better than Mage Soldier Mercenary Girl. (My point cards from clover went to Catherina, so I'll need to build them back up before I can do any serious point-carding.)

[GonFreeces31]

Thanks for the advice (and, Gon, if you have time later to talk about how this sort of thing should be played, I'd appreciate it)

See the thing is... I'm one of the best Falkow players around these part. I've conceived and played certain files, like big blue and mirelia control and played these files at 1900+RP when if you ask most people they will say these cards are useless.

Falkow can be very strong, but the thing is that you have to understand a lot of the basic strategic differences between falkow and gowen or lawtia or refess. Falkow is sort of optimized differently than the other spheres... and people complain like "i like to do this blah blah" or "this is what i like dont tell me what to do blah blah" ... And freedom is a wonderful thing and all...

but at the end of the day there are ways to optimize each sphere's strengths and weaknesses and good ways to run something and bad ways to run things. And that's part of the learning process of the game.

So if you get to really playing falkow like falkow, you will quickly understand why PoM SS is your worst enemy... and why SP count and field control is your best friend.