What makes a great caster?

I was having a discussion yesterday with a fellow Warmachine player who is convinced that pStryker is srs bzns - as in a truly competitive casters that you might see at the top tables of a Masters event. I think pStryker is ok and has a strong feat, but is seriously lacking in several departments.

So it got me thinking - what makes a great caster? Let's say an A-grade, or 8+/10 type caster - the type of caster that you want your children to grow up to be, the type of caster than can move mountains and slay dragons and bed maidens.
Can we take a strictly analytical approach to this question, or are great casters a result of pure synergy detached from their individual components? I think there is a little mix of both, more the former than the latter, but for the most part great casters have most if not all of the following attributes:


1. Movement buff - being able to be unpredictable with positioning, flexibly increase threat ranges, move more aggressively to contest zones and control the board.
Examples: Boundless Charge, Leash, Road to War, Temporal Acceleration, Warpath

2. Damage buff - being able to increase damage potential -  debuff ARM, buff damage or accuracy.
Examples: Parasite, Flaming Fists, Fury, Battle Lust, Dark Shroud

3. Denial / Control - being able to shut down parts of the board, enemy movement or access to resources.
Examples: Disruption, Crippling Grasp, Temporal Barrier, Inhospitable Ground

4. Answers - Being able to deny your opponent his spell, terrain or raw stat advantages.
Examples: True Sight for stealth, Purification for upkeeps and animi, very high burst damage potential for high ARM ala Breach or Overkill, mass KD effects for high DEF

5. Survivability - having good survival stats and abilities, a large control area, get-out-of-jail-free card or the ability to mitigate or redistribute (types of) damage.
Examples: Borka (Unyielding + Drunk + Iron Flesh + Wind Wall), FOC 8 casters, Stealth, Call to Sacrifice, Admonition, Scroll of Grindar's Perseverance

6. Metaskew: the Unknown Factor - Providing a unique problem through a combination of abilities so that your potential opponents are forced to consider this specific caster when constructing tournament lists.
Examples: Shadow Pack on eLylyth (tough Stealthed models that can outshoot almost any list), eHaley + Stormwalls (not playing the game for a turn in the face of huge firepower and big threat ranges)

A great caster requires most of these, an overpowered caster will probably excel at them all in a faction that accentuates them.

Some All-Star Examples:

eLich - Arguably the best caster in the game, eLich has pretty much all of the above on his card or in his faction, leading him to shine in pretty much all six categories:

1. Speed buff - Teleport, Excarnate
2. Damage buff - Parasite, Banes
3. Denial/Control - Hellbound, Caustic Mist, Satyxis jam
4. Answers - Death Knell/Bile Thralls for high DEF jam, , Withershadow for upkeeps,
5. Survivability - solid stat line, tons of focus through souls, Hellbound, FOC 7 control
6. Metaskew - Spectral Legion feat can control entire game through its existence alone, Excarnate Bile Thralls combined with Teleport, Cryx

Irusk1 - Not on the same level as eLich, but a very solid caster in his own right and probably Khador's best. He only shines in half the categories, but is quite solid in the others.

1. Speed buff - Superiority is a good boost for your one jack.
2. Damage buff - Battle Lust, +2 to hit on feat, in Khador
3. Denial/Control - Inhospitable Ground, 4+ no KD tough feat
4. Answers - Airburst is actually one of Khador's two answers to Stealth (the Spriggan is the other)
5. Survivability - FOC 7 control, Iron Flesh, far behind the usual Khador grind, decent stat line.
6. Metaskew - Iron Flesh can be a really skewy spell, especially when combined with his feat and naturally high DEF infantry. If you can't deal with Iron Flesh infantry that are super tough no KD for a turn, you're in trouble.

The Case of Stryker1

This is why I think Stryker1 doesn't really cut it in the big leagues -

1. No SPD buff - (Snipe, perhaps? It does increase threat range)
2. No damage buff
3. Denial / Control - Disruption gun, Earthquake
4. Answers - No real answers apart from merc options, maybe Earthquake to deal with high DEF
5. Survivability - He does very well here: monster ARM on the feat turn, Blur, potential 2 Arcane Shields in the list and a respectable stat line.
6. Metaskew - Everything is stock standard, nothing really unexpected can happen beside Earthquake.

This says it all, really.

Stryker1 only shines in one of this six criteria (survivability), does ok in denial/control (only against WM though) and is little other than a support bot. He doesn't really have the answers to deal with some of the tougher problems, and he doesn't pose any tough questions himself. In short, he is not really competitive and is squarely average in most respects.

The Case of Gatormans

This being Rot 'n' Roll, I better write something about Gatormans. Faction wide our casters have access to Spiny Growth (survivability boost), Elasticity (effective speed buff) and the Gator Rise trick (speed buff). These 3 animi are all really good and define the faction's playstyle. On the flipside, we have no in-faction damage buffs, Thrullg is the only upkeep removal/disruption effect on hand and we are desperately lacking decent ranged options. Our metaskew capability is extremely low on account of lack of options.

Rask

Speed buff - Boundless Charge
Damage buff - Fury
Denial/Control - Inhospitable Ground, Paralysis
Answers - Bonkers amazing gun, Boundless Charge for Pathfinder, Fury for high ARM (hallelujah)
Survivability - Admonition, Call to Sacrifice
Metaskew - None.

Barnabas

Speed buff - Warpath
Damage buff - nil
Denial/Control - Swamp Pits make rough terrain, deny shooting.
Answers - Swamp Pits can answer shooting lists effectively, KD feat deals with high DEF
Survivability - Unyielding (combos well with Counter Charge), Iron Flesh, transfers. Good stats.
Metaskew - Low, Swamp Pits can skew the game heavily away from pure shooting lists, which are not very common in SR 2013.

Maelok

Speed buff - Revive, Spirit World
Damage buff - Malediction
Denial/Control -Death Pact Gators can be very hard to remove
Answers - nil, mostly just problems.
Survivability - Undead + Spirit World,  Death Pact, souls for extra transfers. Good stat line.
Metaskew - None.

Calaban

Speed buff- nil
Damage buff - Parasite, Carnivore
Denial/Control - nil. Grave Door could make your opponent reluctant to do things, but it doesn't.
Answers - Excellent spell list. Hex Blast, Parasite, Carnivore, Occultation
Survivability - decent stat line, Occultation
Metaskew - None.


And there you have it - Rask is sweet, Calaban is not. News at 11.