Curiosity and Conflicted - To Buy or Not to Buy

Games Sentinels of the Multiverse
1

I've recently gotten hooked on this game. As of now I have the enhanced edition base set, rook city and infernal relics, Shattered Timelines, Vengeance, scholar, Unity, and Silver Gulch. It'd be easy to call it good there...however... I have a couple questions about the stuff I don't have yet.

 

1. Wrath of the Cosmos - From what I can tell this seems like a strong set. The heroes are another pair of unique heroes one changing in size and the other has lots of targets called constructs. The villains seem to be strong as well, but the one that pulls me the most is Kaagra Warfang. Deadline draws me too, because of the way he interacts with the environment as an alternate way of losing. I guess I'm wanting to know aside from these things, is this expansion worth adding to what I already have?

2. Ambuscade - I've played this villain in the Ipad game version. I like the mechanic of the cloaking device, but so far he seems like a pushover, cause I've not had a problem with him. Is he worth the buy? 

3. Miss Information and Wager Master- What I've found on this villain is that she's played a little diffferently than most. Something about clues, and diversions. She's one that seems like one i'd like for her originality. Same with Wager Master. Is it worth getting these?

4. Guise - Guise is one that I'm not as interested in. He looks like a fun character, but from what I've read he's a little OP. Maybe I'm wrong on this, what are you're thoughts on this? 

5. Wasteland and Omnitron IV - Between the two Omnitron IV is the most compelling for me because a fight in Omnitron against Omnitron using Omnitron would be EPIC! Since it's possible. I guess I'm just curious about the strongness of both environments. 

 

So what are your thoughts on these expansions? If you could rank the mini expansions in the order of how much you enjoy them that would be great too.

2

1. You're going to get biased views asking here. I say yes, it adds more of the same (but different).

2. Ambuscade is easier than most, but he can still surprise you (just as Baron Blade can still bet you sometimes).

3. Miss Information and Wager Master are marmite, some love them, some hate them. They change the gameplay so much that it's almost like not playing Sentinels but a close copy.

4. OP? No. Guise is OTT.

5. Strongness? If you mean difficulty then O-IV is definitely harder, but Wasteland can remove cards fromt he game permanently, which allows for evil shenanigans...

 

All in all I'd say if you enjoy Sentinels for the storyline get them all, if you enjoy purely for the gameplay I'd skip Wager Master and Miss Information (and possibly Guise).

I'd rank the ones you list as Omnitron-IV, Wasteland, Ambuscade, Guise, Miss Information, Wager Master.

 

3

It's hard for me to step back from the fact that I love Sentinels and want ALL THE THINGS, so I'm not sure that I have useful feedbak to provide, but given that caveat:

 

1. Wrath of the Cosmos: I like the heroes and villains in this set well enough, but one of the most exciting parts is the artwork in the Enclave of the Endlings. It is an homage to older comics.

 

2. Ambuscade: Yes, he's a bit of a pushover, but there have been some great suggestions about how to tweak him for a more challenging fight. For instance, try starting with all of his traps already face up.

 

3. Miss Information is certainly a different playstyle. I've sometimes found her annoyingly frustrating and sometimes refreshingly different. I only have a couple of plays against Wager Master so far and have found it unsatisfying to this point, but am withholding final judgement.

 

4.  Guise. I don't think Guise is overpowered. He's intentionally gimmicky and hilarious.

 

5. Wasteland and Omnitron IV. Omni in Omni vs Omni is super thematic and super difficult. Wasteland is almost all targets, which can be _very_ interesting against some villains, like Akash'Bhuta.

 

You also seem to have not mentioned Shattered Timelines, though you did reference the hero Omnitron, so maybe you have this. Given what else you have, ST is the next natural buy, I think. Both heroes are generally player favorites, and it contains a nice mix of villains in terms of different difficulty levels and types of play.

 

4

1. great set and everything adds new stuff and a good challenge. especially the enviornments.

2. yup ambuscade can be a pushover, but I find he is also a fun deck to play againist when you want a lighter game or want to teach someone the game and dont want to use baron blade or omnitron. for the price he is, hes worth getting.

3. I have only had one game aganist miss information and none against wager master (havent had time to play solo test games lately and play group hasnt had time to play)

4. guise is only over powered when he goes off. I would say normally with him, you see 2 turns of building cards up and 1 turn of doing something. I wouldnt say he does anymore damage than I get when taychon or fanatic decide to go off.

5. honestly I say get both enviornments. one of the fun part of this game I have found is play similar setups but change something. Like maybe same hero team but different villian or enviornment or vice versa.

5

 

I knew I'd forget something. I do own Shattered Timelines. Thanks for the feedback so far. 

6

I can't add too much more to what has been said but get Guise for sure!   All of the mini expansions / normal expansions are worth it overall to me but like others I'm pretty biased.  My only suggestion would be that if you buy them directly from GtG that you make one larger order rather then a bunch of individual orders.  

7

Ambuscade is an easy villain, but I don't hold that against him. As Matchstickman says, he can surprise you at times - he's certainly beaten me an embarrassing number of times!

Personally I like having a selection of easier villains anyway, especially for teaching the game or when you just want a quick fight you don't have to think too much about.

8

I'm not the biggest fan of Ms. Information. If you're going to fight her, it's best to do it with three heroes since you don't have to wait so long for her to flip.

 

Wrath of the Cosmos is definitely worth getting. As a whole, its components are a bit more complicated, Kaagra, than some of the last expansions, but it's still a very enjoyable experience.

 

Ambuscade while usually easy is consistently enjoyable, and I actually like his advanced.

 

Final Wasteland is great. Omnitron IV can be enjoyable, but between the two, I find the Wasteland to be a more enjoyable experience.

 

Guise and Wager Master are good for what they are. They're gimmick characters, and as long as you acknowledge and understand that, they can be fun.

 

Ultimately, your goal should be to get all the Sentinels stuff, and so I'd recommend buying everything if you can.

9

I'll chip in my thoughts, if you like:

Wrath of the Cosmos

It's a very solid expansion, and you'll get a good deal of bang for your buck.  While Kagaara Warfang is a fun villain to fight, she's also a bit fiddly as she adds the "Title" mechanic to the game and beating her isn't as simple as just taking out her HP.  Progeny makes for a great, difficult fight that feels a good deal more dynamic than other, similar villains (like Plague Rat or Iron Legacy).  I like both Sky-Scraper and Captain Cosmic, though I still feel like I haven't gotten a great handle on Captain Cosmic yet.  Much like Unity, area-of-effect attacks really burn his utility down quickly.  Sky-Scraper, though, can really dominate again, switching between control, damage, and tanking with a good deal of ease.  Proportionist may be one of my favorite cards in the game, actually.

Oh, and the Enclave of the Endlings has one of the best art-homages in the Sentinels line.  The whole deck is an homage to the work of Jack "King" Kirby, which is utterly phenomenal.

Ambuscade

He's fun, but he's typically a short fight.  He has better damage output than Baron Blade, but doesn't destroy your stuff.  Once you work your way past his Reactive Platings and Sonic Mines, he tends to go down like a punk.  I'd hold off for later, unless you really like fighting him on the iPad.

Miss Information and Wager Master

These are both something of "gimmick" villains.  In both cases, you have to leave certain of their cards out to achieve various effects before you can actively attack them (and, in Wager Master's case, you may not even want to!).  They deviate pretty far from the SotM "norm", but I personally don't play them very often at all.  Once you can can cope with their "gimmicks", they're more annoying than fun.  Just my opinion, mind you!

Guise

Okay...unpopular opinion?  I don't like Guise.  I've seen him be effective--don't get me wrong--but I feel like playing him is literally "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."  Playing Guise, you'll draw and play cards like nobody's business, but ultimately your effectiveness is parasitic--you're only as good as your compatriots are and, if they're not set up or if their items are getting destroyed, all of those card plays are next to worthless.  I would never play Guise in a 3 player game and even have a hard time contemplating picking him in a 5 player game.  I'm not a fan.

The Final Wasteland and Omnitron IV

I love these environments.  The Final Wasteland (much like the Enclave of the Endlings) is full of nasty beasties, which will up the challenge of pretty much any game (especially against Akash'Bhuta!).  Omnitron IV is a really unique fight, which really feels like you're in a robotic factory, dodging around on assembly lines and avoiding drones.  However, because of the similarities between The Final Wasteland and the Enclave, I'd definitely pick Omnitron IV over the others.

 

Okay, so final verdict?  If you're going to get the rest of the items, I'd do it in this order:

  1. Wrath of the Cosmos -- best bang for your buck!
  2. Omnitron IV -- neat environment with nothing else really like it.
  3. The Final Wasteland -- lots of beasties to wail on!
  4. Ambuscade -- a great 'mid-weight' fight which is solid for newbies, if you're sick of beating on Baron Blade
  5. Miss Information -- a neat enemy, but somewhat gimmicky.
  6. Wager Master -- much the same as Miss Information, but with more bookkeeping.
  7. Guise -- a hero full of 'sturm und drang' but little substance or niche.

 

 

10

I may as well leap in too!

Wrath of the Cosmos - Yeah, this is cool, well worth grabbing. Not much to add!

Ambuscade - He is an easier villain, yes; it seems like things have trended towards the more difficult and complex as time has gone on, and Ambuscade was pretty early. He's a decent one for introducing new players, but mainly I'd grab him for completion.

Miss Information - Personally, I like Miss Information. I love the concept of a villain in their midst, and she plays differently enough for games against her to be a unique experience. She gets a thumbs up from me.

Wager Master - I haven't played against WM enough to really judge so far; the one match I had, it was a win the second turn because of the card he brought up. His whole thing is that matches are chaotic, and so he's worth pulling out if you want something silly?

Guise - Hmm. I feel like whether you'll enjoy Guise comes down to how well you know everything else you have. Guise can do crazy awesome stuff, if you can look at what everyone else has and figure out what insanity is possible, so being able to look at the whole table and see the possibilities is key.

Wasteland - I don't have the Wasteland yet! :o

Omnitron IV - Let's be honest here, you already know that this is here for Omnitron v Omnitron v Omnitron, and you already know if that's worth it for you. Even leaving out the Omnitron hero, using Omnitron and Villain and Environment makes both of them much harder, and so it's a great way to breath more life into that villain. I'll be honest, I'd be interested in people's opinions of this environment *away* from Omnitron as a villain; I should probably try it myself!

11

Guise isn't for everyone but that can be said of any hero deck in the game.  I will have to disagree that he is parasitic.  Only Lemme See That… actively takes a card away from another player and prevents them from using it.  Uh Yeah I'm That Guy doesn't steal anything from other characters and doesn't have to be played when another hero has out their ultimate Ongoing setup.  I Can Do That Too uses a power printed on a character card which outside of heroes being incapped will be in play.  Sure some group setups make those three cards better but if you really don't like those options then discard it Blantant Reference, Selling Out, or get rid of them if you drew them with Where Did I Leave That…

Thematcically you'll like Guise if you're a fan of Deadpool.  Play wise if you like playing Absolute Zero, Nightmist, or Scholar where it's not immediately obvious how to play but once you get it they are a lot more fun to play.  

12

My turn now! :smiley:

  1. Wrath of the Cosmos - Haven't actually played this too much due to getting less Sentinels time at home, but there is some fun to be had here. Sky-Scraper is good and Captain Cosmic can be ridiculous when grouped with his team leader, the Adept (one of his constructs is played on another hero and lets that hero use a power whenever it takes damage…). The villains seem to range between not-too-bad and omg-holy-wtf.

  2. Ambuscade - As others have said, he's not usually too hard so is a good one to go up against if you want a fairly quick game. I also agree that sometimes he can just randomly kick your arse out of nowhere. Getting Haka to eat his Cloaking Device is funny, though ;).

  3. Miss Information and Wager Master- Miss Information is easier with three heroes as her flip mechanic is H-based and she isn't a target until she flips. She can be nasty and has a fair bit of stuff-destruction, but if you can stay on top of that it gets easier :). Wager Master is, by definition, pretty much a rule-breaker. He messes with the actual rules of the game and can do stuff like change the order of play or reverse the phases within hero turns. He has a whole bunch of alternate win and loss mechanics. He's sort of weird and complicated at once and probably should only be played by people who are highly familiar with how the mechanics of the game should work. If things go well against him, you can have him down within a round or two (I remember someone on here once saying how they won during set-up!), or vice-versa if he puts out something horrible. He's deliberately made as a crazy-wtf villain so expect lots of messed-up stuff to happen when fighting him :D.

  4. Guise - Guise, as the Nemesis of the Wager Master, is similarly wtf. He is a fourth-wall-breaking guy who does a lot of crazy stuff, and generally his mechanics revolve around getting out as many ongoings as possible during or soon after your turn (all his ongoings are Limited but he has multiple copies of each), then making the most of them before the start of your next turn comes around and they all disappear. He has the ability to copy some abilities of other heroes and has plenty of ways in which to pull off some epic random combos.

  5. Wasteland and Omnitron IV - The Final Wasteland is pretty fun - it's one of the most target-heavy environments curently in the game so as people have mentioned, it makes Akash'Bhuta rather more difficult. Conversely, you can use it to just utterly wipe the floor with Lilian Corvus if you have the right cards come out. One positive thing is that of all the gribbly monsters to be found there, they don't tend to focus specifically on heroes the way some damaging environment cards do, so you have opportunities to fix things so that it's a villain target who gets hit rather than one of the good guys ;). As for Omnitron-IV, I've only played in it a couple of times but I can remember a few things about it. Firstly, the Omnitron x3 fight is…shall, we say, highly dangerous :D. Omnitron-IV has plenty of ways to buff or rez drones, for example. There is, however, a card which brings equipment out of everyone's trash, so heroes such as Unity or Bunker can take advantage of that :).

13

Here’s my thought: could any one of those things keep you entertained for a single evening? If so, then that thing is worth the price of a movie ticket to you.

Could it keep you entertained for multiple evenings? If so, then you’re making out like a bandit.

Conclusion: board games are pretty great!

14

Ok im going to step on in here.

  1. So i love this expansion a lot. On villain that no one (at least that i read) said yet was infinitor. Hes kinda acts like captain cosmic which to me is interesting a villain that can act similar to a heros powers except his “constructs” are called manefestations (cant spell for some reason). Instead of being a utility like constructs, they deal straight damage and other bad effects

2.ambuscade to me is a test villain. I like trying strategies on him with different heros and or environments. I like him over baron.

  1. Ok now personally i hate miss informant with a burning passion but i like her at thr same time for thr fact that she offers something new and if i want to punish .y game group i have a choose with her. Wager master on the other hand is a joke villain. The point of him is hes funny thats it.

4.ok I’ve seen guise get really powerful before but he has a unique weakness like every hero does. Its his ongoing xards. They all are destroyed at the beginning of his turn. That is in my opinion a challenge and enjoyment at the same time. His stuff is funny hes a fun hero to play once you just go through and really get to know him and understand his weird self.

  1. Ok omnitron environment if you want to do the triple omnitron is fun because it adds and hinders each of them. I love final waste land. I love turning the environment against the villains with the help of your friendly neighborhood Naturalist or just the fun of having to handle what feels like a hoard of monsters (actually is a hoard of monsters but you know what I mean) slamming you and or the villain
15

Thanks for all the input it really helps a lot! I think what I'll probably do is get WotC, Omnitron iV, and Final wasteland,  and maybe Wager Master or Miss Information if I need another pack to add up to 35 for free shipping on Amazon. 

i guess for me, guise doesn't really seem as essential as the two villains because villains can really change the gameplay and it sounds like that's definitely the case for these two. I'm torn between Miss information and Wager Master so will probably get WM first and then MI later.  Thanks again!

16

The way I see it the more in my tool box the more I can pull out when I want. WM and Miss Info are neat for less straightforward games. Boxed expansions are a no brainer. Guise is fun in a meta kinda way, any Deadpool fan would like to have him as an option. 

I will buy everything >G gives me a chance to eventually. I priortise Villains and Environments because evryone gets to enjoy them at the same time. I love to get new Heroes too as they add to the overall experience and just might be that perfect fit to make my friends want to play more often. So, yes they are all worth it to me... you I dunno.