Malifaux: Using Bad Cards

I have wined an awful lot recently about how I am struggling with Ulix compared with Som'er, today I would like to avoid that and talk about a way I am thinking of trying to improving my ability in Malifaux; using bad cards in your control hand.

 Som'er has got it good, a combination of 'Do it like 'dis' (Discard a card to add that suit to all Gremlins and pigs with 8") and the ability to Bayou Two Card (cheat from the deck) with a large part of the crew means that he is strong with card manipulation and when I moved to Ulix I missed that dearly. I think what I need to do is see the strengths of each card.

Whenever I see a couple of low cards in my hand (that I don't have a use for) I'll stone for cards which means by the end of the game I have no stones and I am at the mercy of my opponent, particularly if my hand is poor! I think what I should be doing is looking through my hand and then at the table and then seeing where I can apply the cards. For example, putting defensive stance on a piglet is pretty good, Def 6 with positives is hard to crack. Old Major can also use 'nudge them on' by discarding a card to add a suit and push a pig its walk, sweet stuff.

That's all well and good, you might be thinking, but not everyone has Old Major or flurry etc. in their crew. The other thing I realized I should be aware of is things that make you discard cards in the enemy crew. There is no point spending resources to craft your hand if it's just going to be stripped from you anyway! I often see horror duels in this way, you don't need something that high, but you need that card in your hand so don't chuck it away for something higher!

I'm not saying I am never going to stone for cards, it's a very good ability, but I think I may need to work on changing my tactics depending on what cards I have in my hand, playing more defensively if they're low for example (without being obvious!)

That's basically it from me, I know it wasn't much of a post but it's been my head for a bit so I thought it's worth saying. Chat later.