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Originally Posted by Grey Waves
Could someone explain to me what exactly makes Sgt Drake (SOTM) A- tier? The only situation in which I'd even consider running him is if I'm bringing a 4th Mass build and am exactly 170 points under, and even then, I'd probably still rather take Alastair + Sam Brown. If you're looking for a can opener, Eltahale is 30 points cheaper while boasting better mobility (thanks to Thunder Step) and a multi-target 4-dice SA, and Alastair's ability to move 10 spaces at once and hit something with a double attack of 5 (although admittedly not on the same turn) makes him more effective than Drake for this purpose as well. I'm not even convinced that SOTM Drake is even that much better than ROTV Drake - most armies would rather bring another squad of commons than pay a 60 point premium for 1 extra life and defence. Fundamentally, 170 points is just a lot to pay for a single-attack-per-turn hero who's other abilities could at best be considered 'somewhat useful'. (4th and gladblast are the only top tier armies that are really bothered by Thorian Speed - the other ranged armies either don't mind engaging him or predominantly use special attacks anyway). He's still a good figure, but I can't help but feel that B+ would be a better ranking for him than where he currently sits.
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I'm torn.
On the one hand, I'd almost never (perhaps actually never) include SotM Drake in a bring-1 army, which is a strong argument against an A- ranking. On the other hand, he is actually a strong counter to most of the other heroes in the A-/A tiers given his 6 attack and strong survivability, so there are some bring-1 armies I might run where I'd rather not see my opponent having SotM Drake. That kinda puts him in the niche counter-pick option, like the Cultists in C3V, in my view.
Regarding SotM Drake v. RotV Drake, I almost certainly rank SotM Drake higher because I don't think I'd ever use RotV Drake over Alastair, and at least SotM Drake has a point total where he becomes a better option sometimes.
I think I disagree on taking Alastair + Sam Brown instead of Drake, as I don't think you're going to get useful OMs on Sam Brown almost ever, which kinda makes it more of a direct comparison between SotM Drake & Alastair and Drake just has the better stat line and survivability via Thorian Speed.
In some sense, I see SotM Drake as a somewhat similar figure to Cyprien insofar as he's a stand-alone hero that you'd normally pair with some common squad. Cyprien is clearly the better option to me, although he does have more terrible matchups than Drake does (but also way more great matchups).
So I really don't know where I'd rank him, but I wanted to throw some of these thoughts out there.