Fun Murkalot teams

[Aeolyn]

The main advantage of Murkalot + Arcane Storm teams is that it has two good openers. You can either go the Azure Whelpling/Nexus Whelpling + Arcane Storm route, or you can open with Murkalot.

If the team is Murk / Nexus / Blighthawk, wouldn't RI end up sending out the Blighthawk if you end up using RI as an opener? Unless you assume P/S on the Blighthawk and some wonky breed like P/B on the Nexus Whelp so it has more health in order to be sent out to set up weather.

[Sellys]

Meh, Murkalot is pretty powerful. But there's likely always going to be something that's the most powerful. First valks, now murkalot, then probably S/S death adders.

*grumbles about the person on the weekend playing Murkalot, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling, and a Magical Crawdad*

[Awq]

Those trying to defend Murk or say that he is less broken than the Valk are likely Murk users themselves.

First off, I recommended a change to the 'always go first' aspect of RI. I do believe that the problem comes from always going first, like Vek does.
I personally do not own a Murkalot, but I've used it while playing with a friend. She has all the rare pets (like Frosty <3), pets that I do not own. I might be biased for using this pet though. I think we've gotten 100 wins using Murkalot.

I however do not experience much problems fighting against Murkalot teams, I expected much worse. The thing that holds Murkalot teams back is that the pet is difficult to use. I have a great winrate against Murkalot. In nearly 60% of the cases the opponent could have won, if they used this pet better.

One must overview the whole battle and pretty much decide the best course of action. With Murkalot + AoE teams this is relatively simple, and even here people fail. With other Murkalot teams good predictions become even more vital.
I might be biased. I personally like to have some control on my teams, which gives me a good chance against Murkalot, despite using less popular pets.

The Unborn Val'Kyr is a lot easier to use. If you screw up with the Val'Kyr it most likely won't impact the outcome on battles. Mistakes with Murkalot are instantly punished.

Do I believe that Murkalot is broken? Yes.
Do I believe that Murkalot is horribly broken in the hands of a good player? Yes
Is Murkalot a problem on live servers? Not really.

I might be wrong though. I would like to see another wild pet with RI + Ghostly Bite combo. Then we can judge if this combo would impact the metagame a lot.

He is perhaps the only example of a truly "Pay to Win" pet in the game (BA/Sunlight team can be depending on what you run into, and Rag is bad but very manageable).

Do not underestimate Frosty.

[Awq]

The main advantage of Murkalot + Arcane Storm teams is that it has two good openers. You can either go the Azure Whelpling/Nexus Whelpling + Arcane Storm route, or you can open with Murkalot.

If the team is Murk / Nexus / Blighthawk, wouldn't RI end up sending out the Blighthawk if you end up using RI as an opener? Unless you assume P/S on the Blighthawk and some wonky breed like P/B on the Nexus Whelp so it has more health in order to be sent out to set up weather.

I mainly used Azure Whelpling. I've played 2 games with Nexus Whelpling as replacement. Nexus Whelpling might play differently.
I have tried both a H/H and H/P Blighthawk with an Azure Whelpling. I prefer H/P, both breeds have advantages/disadvantages.

One of the openings is Azure Drake/Nexus Whelpling. You first watch how much burst your opponent has in late game. Then you decide how often you are gonna Breath (can be 0). Breath > Arcane Storm > Swap Blighthawk > Ghostly Bite > Lift-Off is a combo. You basically win through Ghostly Bite + Falling Murloc damage, while being able to one shot any pet that you prefer. The types have reasonable coverage, would be better if Breath was a critter attack. It basically becomes a 3vs2 battle, where you can decide which opponent you want out of the battle.

The other option is Murkalot. When you open with Murkalot you generally WANT to open with Blighthawk. Ghostly Bite allows you to do 1300 damage, while Breath is around 800. From here on you can decide to keep in (consider their next opponent) the Blighthawk through its stun or you can swap into the Drake to set up the weather.
The Whelp is not the best follow up pet. Arcane Storm AoE damage is too low and Breath is not optimal. Setting the weather is important in most match-ups. There are exceptions of course. Against tanky teams one could still set up the weather and sometimes it makes strategic sense to kill the opening pet.

I could be wrong though. Kendrah could use the Nexus Whelpling in a different way.
*I personally mainly used Azure Whelpling. While Surge of Power does amazing damage, it locks you for many rounds.
Mana Surge locks you for three, but it does do damage, so you might want to Mana Surge for non-1-shot-damage