Welcome to a gameplay guide edition of Footenotes. Geeze, when was the last time this forum saw a Footenotes post huh?
Benchmark is a level 3 complexity hero deck that utilizes a unique hardware/software mechanic, where the more equipment hardware he has in play, the more ongoing software cards he can sustain. Sounds simple enough, but with 9 unique hardware cards and no way to search for specific ones, Benchmark feels like his suit plays him to some degree and you are in his shoes figuring out how to hold it all together. Benchmark earns his 3 complexity rating through the sheer number of actions and interactions you need to play attention to ever turn. Against villains with limited board clear ability, Benchmark can rack up more cards on the table than even Argent Adept. Luckily, there are tools to reorganize the mess you'll find yourself staring at and we can't learn to fly this thing until we do. But to do that, we need to understand the pieces and how they all fit together.
Hardware: Building the Suit
In order to push all the fancy buttons and do attach the bells and whistles to this baby we need to build the foundation first, and the first thing Benchmark players need to look for are hardware cards. There are 9 total in his deck, each one with a unique ability. If you didn't find one in your opening hand, there are 4 copies of Deployment Actuation which will allow you to dig for the first Hardware in your deck, and you have Overhaul Loadout for card draw in a pinch, so chances are you will have 1 by your first turn. Benchmark does not have a way to search for specific hardware cards, and the order of a select few of them do matter. Due to this, early game Benchmark can feel like the deck will dictate the games playstyle for a few turns.
I view the Hardware cards as belonging to three groups, Body, Engine, and Systems.
The Body cards lay a foundation for not only the tankier aspects of his deck, but also create synergies with the other Hardware. This section consists of Reinforced Chassis (+1 self damage reduction), Subcutaneous Cybernetics (self healing + Missile discard), and Micro Fabricator (extra hardware cardplay or card draw + Missile discard). Chassis is your standard hero armor card and is always beneficial. Micro Fabricator's ability to let you play more hardware a turn is incredibly helpful, since you have a lot of cards you'll want in play later so any extra plays are great. Later on when you have the choice, I prefer to have Micro Fabricator as my first EoT effect if/when you use Overhaul Loadout in the game. Both Fabricator and Cybernetics offer discard options, which we will keep in mind for when we get to the Systems sections. Cybernetics has the heal ability on EoT and first time youre damaged a turn for a discard. Both the heal effect and the discard have synergies with other hardware cards, making CYbernetic far better as a mid to late game play.
The Engine cards give us more Software interactions and synergies that are the true keys to making this suit fly faster and harder. Legion-Core Processor sits at the heart of this engine, allowing for SoT power use (and you will have A LOT of powers) or padding your hand size for Missile discards. Flash Installation Drive is another EoT that is best when activating after Fabricator and it lets you put a Software card from your trash into play and discards the top of your deck for Missile. Having it after Fabricator just makes your table setup nicer as you can have the new hardware out for the new software to sit next to (it's something I do to keep track of my Hardware/Software ration at a glance and a helpful table organization tool to keep all your abilities straight). The last card in this section is Upgraded Memory Unit. It synergizes with Cybernetics by increasing all HP recovery, and it is also a great tool for when your hand is low on cards and you need more fast.
Systems has a focus in weapons and damage while providing synergies to the other groups. Onbaord Cooling Systems is an essential card for Benchmark. There is synergy to be found everywhere, and it is the extra power use that really starts to make Benchark shine. Secondary Cannon is actually exactly what it's name implies, it is a secondary weapon whos purpose really isn't the small damage ping it does on the discard per power use, it's the discard itself. So I've mentioned discarding in every section so far, and it is all due to Inferno Missle Pod. Inferno Missle Pod really needs to be the last EoT effect in the order, so keep that in mind after you reorganize with Overhaul Loadout. This is because you want all of the other possible discard effects to all happen before Inferno Pod pops to get the most damage out of it. There isn't a choice to "not" destroy cards under it, so make the most of every missile you can load up. This card can feel underwhelming in the early and mid game, but once the rest of your cards are out and you are churning out damage increases and discards, Missile Pod/Cannon/Cooling will have you belting out some really great damage.
Software: Pushing Shiney Buttons is Fun!
Let's talk about all the fancy bells and whistles that we can put into the Benchmark suit as we construct the frame. The majority of Software cards translate gameplay wise into extra powers he can use through Legion-Core and Cooling. You have two direct damage powers in Shunt Energy, which is 4 out but 1 to self and represents his largest single damage whomp. He also sports a 5 target 1 damage AoE with Auto-Targeting Protocol. He has two ways of increasing damage. Tactical Communicator makes the next damage a selected target deal become irreducible and increased by 2, which is useful for clearing annoying DR granting enemies. Multi-Point HUD increases self damage by 1 until end of turn which will be your main tool when you're focusing on Missile/Cannon damage. Intel Analyzer even fuctions within the deck as +2 Missiles for a power use which isn't bad. With all three powers avaliable, two HUDs and an Analyzer use means your Missile launch will be pretty sizable by the end of turn.
His powers are not all damage oriented though. Ally Matric, or even a few of them, can turn Benchmark into a full blown Argent Adept, granting another player card draw and a power use. Oh, and it requires a discard, which means more missle synergy on top of it. And no hero deck that can go full-blown Argent clone is complete without some enviro and ongoing destruction, and Benchmark brings that too with Threat Neutralizer.
There are 3 Software cards that do not come equip with a power option, but each offer some additional interesting utility. Load On Initialization allows you to draw a card or play more software on SoT before the check to destroy unsupported software. It is generally far more useful for the extra card draw considering the amount of cards you will want to discard each turn, but the option to play more software is really useful when you want to trigger the software destruction clause. Countermeasures is a really unique tool that Benchmark can deploy. Any non hero target that would damage him with 2 or less HP get destroyed instead. I encourage you to look for ways to combo this card with other redirect effects. It's not always easy to get this card to proc, but in the situations where it's useful it feels very satisfying. Intervening Path Calculator is a poor mans Smoke Bombs, giving Benchmark the option to redirect damage to the lowest hero to himself. This isn't always useful, but there are times you can get a few extra discards and heals in combination with the Cybernetic hardware that could make this effect worth while if you plan for it, not to mention that Benchmark is just really super tanky with a full setup out.
With all the extra plays and ways to get Software cards in play, you will find yourself in spots where you have some software in play that you'd really like to switch out due to a shift in your current line of play. The destruction clause on Software is not a punishment or a limitation nessesarily. Use it to your advantage. It nets you a card draw and room to play a more useful Software for your situation. This aspect might be easy to miss, so look for interesting ways to utilize it while not missing out on Coolant damage.
One-Shots: Bolts and Brooms
There are only 3 one-shots in Benchmarks deck, and they are all quality-of-life type cards. Fly-By is a versitile straight-up damage card, bringing 2 damage to up to 3 targets while allowing a second card play or the option to return it to your hand. The option to return it to hand after playing I've found very useful for times when the heart of the cards is just not going your way and you just have nothing much of impact to play. In times like those, Fly-By is a compfort blanket of sorts, since you'll pretty much know that you always can lay it down and bring it back if nothing else.
Deployment Actuation is a fairly critical card. You have far more software in your deck than hardware, so getting hardware out faster to support more software faster is always a central goal in the early and mid game. Use the ability to dig out hardware from your trash that you discard for any reason since it is harder to get those out of the trash once there.
Overhaul Loadout has a few main uses. It's first and most overlooked use is just flat out card draw. Forget the rest of the text if you want to, but it is a card draw focused card. With that said however, the obviously more fun aspect is the ability to completly re-play and re-organize your entire board, meaning swapping out less useful software/hardware for a better board state instantly while also letting you re-arrange all your SoT and EoT effects in ways that are easier to see and track and that work in your favor due to ordering. Its a great excuse to take a miniute and get your area cleaned up incase it got messy during the initial build.
Paint Job: Red or Blue?
Benchmark does have a promo card and an alternate base power. That suit also comes in a stylish "war-torn magenta" coating. Base vBlue Benchmark provides card draw with a little damage. Supply and Demand vRed Benchmark replaces the little damage with a little heal, and the card draw with a top deck card play. Blue is more consistent early game, while Red has a little more risk/reward early game (due to hardware/software ratio) but can get to a midgame setup potentially much faster, though your ability to discard compfortably is notably lower. Neither one changes the play style of his deck much, because your lines of play early all revolve around the specific hardware you end up getting first, so any "which one is better" debate comes down to more consistency vs more risk, so your milage will vary.
Benchmark might look harder to play than he is. And it is a sight to behold when it's all on the table. But once the pieces of your suit are in place, you will find that it's much easier to fly after you get the hang of it. All of his cards have small little synergies with themselves. You don't always know the order in which you will play your hardware, but knowing how all the parts fit together in the big picture will make it easier to start when youre handed four random pieces of it and terrible IKEA instructions for assembly at the start of every game..
