Informants make it impossible to play a card without accelerating the Chairman's already deadly deck, which really doesn't have ANY "blank" cards other than Perfect Human Specimens, and only that if you're not even trying to kill the main villains. Since many heroes CAN'T kill the Informant without playing a card, and thus have to skip their turn if she's out, and the Broker also plays a card if she survives, I'd rate her and her minions as being more dangerous than the Hired Guns (except in Advanced games, I suppose). The Deputy is also a wrecking ball because of the protection he grants to everything you need to kill in order to make progress toward winning.
The Operative's retaliatory strike can in most Environments be dealt with through damage reduction. A couple of guys with 1DR, or one guy with 2DR, make her a lot less scary.
Once again, this implies that if your team isn't carefully selected to contain the right heroes, you're screwed. Not everyone has DR even some of the time, and only a few characters can get it reliably.
One card for killing the informant isn't too bad. It can't cause too much trouble for you outside of the villain turn, a prison break on the first hero in (H)=4 is actually kind of awesome as it gives you a while to prepare before they act.
The dangerous things about the Chairman are the Hitman and Chairman's retaliation. If you can deal with those two the fight becomes prety average in difficulty.
Much like Truth and Devastating Aurora for Dawn.
It doesn't make it a cake walk, but your win chance goes up a ton if you can handle those threats.
You can also turn the Informant against the Chairman pretty easily. We had Fixer with Grease Gun going last, so we burned cards through the informant and got the contract out first round, once we took him out the Chairman flipped, and we went to town on him with Grease gun in play.
My favorite way to deal with Chairman advanced is Twist the Ether on Chairman and AZ sitting there healing like a boss. We ended up with Smoke Bombs in play as well, and switching fire and cold to keep AZ highest HP and nuking everything.
No way. Underbosses and Prison Breaks played on a Hero turn are usually good for the Heroes, since they allow you to kill them without them getting to do anything. Undivided Attention only hits one or two Heroes, Hired Gun hits everyone, and for more total damage than Undivided Attention. Rook City is Mine! depends on the Environment. Many Environment cards have little effect when played out of turn, or are even beneficial instead of dangerous (e.g. Pervasive Red Dust). (It can admittedly get very rough in Megalopolis or Rook City).
Besides, if you have one Hero on your team who has or can reliably get a damaging base power or, even better, Start of Turn damage, you can always seat them first.
He's not a wrecking ball. He's a complication, and honestly the least worrying Underboss, since at worst all he does is give the Chairman 14 more hit points.
Once again, this implies that if your team isn't carefully selected to contain the right heroes, you're screwed. Not everyone has DR even some of the time, and only a few characters can get it reliably.
Who doesn't have DR even some of the time? I count Absolute Zero, Fanatic*, Ra, Tachyon, Expatriette, Nightmist, Unity, Chrono-Ranger, Parse and Setback. You're not going to tell me most of them have bad matchups against The Chairman, are you? I guess Tachyon might have trouble landing her Hypersonic Assaults, depending on who her teammates are. But Synaptic Interruption is a case-iron defence against the Hired Gun, so I have trouble saying she's got a bad matchup. Ra and Expatriette have very solid damage and retaliation or pretaliation that can take out the Hired Gun. Nightmist has the Amulet, Unity has tons of great stuff against the Chairman, Parse can entirely negate all that damage reduction you're so worried about and stop Prison Break cold with Buffer Overflow (among the many other ways she can wreck the Chairman), and Chrono Ranger is built for taking out characters like the Operative. Oh, and Setback has Wrong Time and Place, so more redirection there.
That leaves Fanatic and Absolute Zero, neither of whom exactly has a bad matchup against The Chairman, even if I don't think any of their tech is particularly dangerous to The Chairman (barring Visionary shenanigans).
#5: Team Ambuscade
I liked his personality, and I love the difficulty upgrade. Probably my favorite team villain.
#4: Skinwalker Gloomweaver
Gloomweaver? Difficult? WHAT?! It’s a way more fun way to fight gloomy. It feels like how Gloomweaver was meant to be fought.
#3: A tie! Our contestants: Apostate and Infinitor. I like them both because of the insane combos. However, runes, statue, orb is actually painful. So, winner: Infinitor!
#2: Deadline
Wow, this fight is tense. Deadline will eat the whole environment, or almost. This game is always close. DL’s only problem-his HP. If he had 90-95, it would be insane.
#1: Plague Rat! Oh wow, this fight. It’s so much fun! This is a perfect villain. Too easy? Play ultimate. Too difficult? Jim. It’s an intense battle to the finish, no matter what. And that gimmick is amazing.
The Chairman - Love the mob boss theme and the thrill of facing organized crime in the city.
Grand Warlord Voss - Alien conqueror leading an invasion adds a fantastic sci-fi element, and his advanced mode is a real challenge.
Akash’Bhuta - Unique and visually stunning embodiment of nature’s wrath. The battle feels like a struggle against the forces of the earth.
Baron Blade - Quintessential mad scientist with a doomsday device provides a classic superhero comic book vibe. His escalating plots and countdowns make for intense gameplay.
Iron Legacy - Evil version of the game’s flagship hero adds a compelling twist. His ruthless and powerful nature makes him a formidable opponent.