It was perfect. Exp had everything ready: Inspiring Presence (+1) and Galvanize (+1), both Twisting the Ethers (+1+1), and two obsidian fields (+1+1) on the field, as well as a natural nemesis bonus against Dawn (+1) and it was Expatriette's turn. I played Quick Draw, bringing out my Pride, and I thought, what the hell, might as well make it perfect for the next round, so I used Load to play Prejudice from my hand. For that next round, on Expatriette's turn alone, I was going to be able to deal 18 damage, without ammo ((2+1+1+1+1+1+1+1)x2). 18. That's a finisher's number, except I'd be able to do it every single round. I would have been able to make Ra jealous. I was ready to take Dawn down, when suddenly that card appeared. You know the one.
Devastating Aurora.
God, I hate that card.
Needless to say, I got my butt handed to me after that. I spent way too much time cultivating that ultimate set-up, and just that one damn card, and I'm gone.
So I decided "You know what would be fun? Advanced Miss Information, versus the classic Freedom Five, in Megalopolis."
It did not go well. Miss Information drew tons of diversions but almost no clues, except of course the one that gives a diversion back from the trash each turn, so it was a bloody fight across the streets against targets that not only didn't matter but also kept coming back, all the while suffering mysterious failures of equipment and ongoings. Needless to say, didn't win that one.
Then I tried it again, with a crucial change in strategy: Wraith's first impromptu invention didn't go for razor ordinance, but the infrared eyepiece. Man, did THAT make a difference.
Which just goes to show you: fight smarter, not harder.
I hate complete board wipes with no warning. I love Citizen Dawn otherwise. She has great flavor, her playstyle is diverse, challenging and it combo's with itself. But that one card makes you constantly worry about whether you should go all out or hold back. While a good idea on paper, I find that most people will only half play the game, because anyone that goes balls out anyway gets crushed and then spends the rest of the game recovering and not really having fun. I think any part of the game that forces or encourages not playing is never a good thing. At least Apocolypse gives you a round to attempt to prevent or minimize the effect. Dont get me wrong. Equipment/Ongoing destruction is necessary because it means you dont auto win once everyone is set up so the game stays fresh.
My first card games were actually spades and bridge, so I card count. It only helps you know "okay, now I can relax" and there have been plenty of games where it ends before we through the Aurorae. Is that cheating? Well.... my in-game explanation is that my heroes all have extensive background info and are quizzed on the capabilities of the supervillains (and Dawn's been around a long time)
I'm also a strike while the iron is hot kind of person. My other gaming experience is from JRPGs and lemme tell you, one does not put off until next term what one could do (admittedly, less awesomely) now. It definitely affects my sentinels strategy because I don't bother planning more than a few turns ahead. Not necessarily a good thing when I'm playing as certain heroes, but Von Moltke was right: No plan survives the first contact with the enemy (or the environment, let's be real). So my play strategy is to always assume that my status quo will not last more than a turn ahead and maximize what I have right now.
The rare villain-environment combos that have no destroy ongoing/ equipment cards are like a pleasant surprise.
Haha, I'm a bit like that myself - I know Rat has five Infections, Dawn has two Auroras, there are five Underbosses, Ra has four Staves, etc. It saves having to actually search through decks when the appropriate search card comes up if I know all copies of that card are already accounted for ;).
I sort of accidentally memorized all the cards of every deck as well. Really helps, especially against the Rat; one of my favorite games with him was in the Mars Base, and Meteor Shower came out. We just kept the Meteor Shower out until the Rat could use every single one of his infected, at which point we cured ourselves, and then we destroyed the MS to beat on the Rat with no fear of an impending infection :D
Like someone who only pays attention to trumps (I told you, bridge), I can't claim to know every card AND its frequencies, but i do remember the nasty ones very well.
Yeah, my knowledge isn't perfect (in a game yesterday, I could have SWORN Wratih had 3 Smoke Bombs instead of just 2), but I have a pretty good knowledge of what most cards DO, and a GENERAL knowledge of their frequency (just 1, 2-3, 4, etc). It just happened from playing for me.
Even with the best counting skills some cards just require the luck of draw.
Once played Apostate and had AA. It was like 3-4 turns in so I had gone through a good 1/8 of the deck. Then Apostate's Apocolapse came out, so I played the card that allowed you to put 1 on top, 1 bottom, 1 trash, 1 play, 1 hand.
I got a the other 2 of those in the 5, so I thought great as I can chain and look at another 8 (10-2 top cards I place) And I havent seen the AA power that destroys an ongoing out. On top of what I had I basically went through half the deck and still didnt get that card. Apostate continued on to wipe us since we had to rebuild. :(
Even with the best counting skills some cards just require the luck of draw.
Oh definitely. In fact, that's why I don't mind flipping through decks before playing for the first time (or... second if my memory is bad). Just because you know something could come doesn't mean you'll ever get to it in a given game.
Chaining cards can be very satisfying - once I was playing the Wraith and started with three Impromptu Inventions in my hand! That was cool.
But that does sound like a very unfortunate draw for the Adept there - chaining three Arcane Cadences and not turning up a single Sarabande after fifteen cards. Ouch.
