Except we’re usually (admittedly not always) doing damage to the Mask with things that hit multiple targets damage, such as Tempest’s base power, so that’s not totally relevant. :-\
Rabit
If that is the case, then you are not going to kill the mask very quickly. Nor can you make the claim that you “kill the mask first, no matter what” which is what I was responding to.
True. Our group usually just kills it and hopes for the best considering how frustrating it is.
On the subject of the Mask…what exactly does it represent? When it is destroyed, she still inflicts Psychic damage on heroes and still summons bird after bird out of her deck, but the Mask is the thing that causes her to control them? Also…what does her flipping represent? It doesn’t really reflect her running out of Fowl considering her deck gets reloaded with cards when she’s decked. With Blade he flips when the Impulsion Beam is gone, Voss flips to reflect him stepping onto the battlefield after his minions get battered, Dawn flips when she hulks out due to her Citizens biting the dust, Omnitron flips every turn to reflect going from Robot Factory to Rampaging Robot, Spite flips when he is jacked up on drugs, The Chairman flips when he needs to take matters into his own hands when his Bosses get downed, and Plague Rat flips when he’s…well, I’m honestly a little fuzzy on that one as well. When he’s surrounded by ravenous superheroes? Either way, I’m cool with that guy.
Also, flamethrower, I understand what you’re saying about villains. But there is a reason that Superman’s Nemesis isn’t The Riddler. With Tachyon, it just confuses me that The Matriarch is even a blip on her HUD Goggles (cousin or no), much less a full blown Nemesis. We know that Spite slaughters innocent Victims (It’s a straight up mechanic in his deck, after all), Plague Rat infects people and makes them disappear, and The Chairman promotes rampant crime and corruption, but I get the sense that (in the vein that, “sigh,” birds such as magpies like shiny things) The Matriarch is a villain that steals priceless jewels and golden riches rather than kill a bunch of innocent people. She seems more like the kind of person that writes about death rather than inflicting it on someone. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but I’d be very surprised if I found out that The Matriarch descended upon Rook City and started tearing flesh off of her victims a shred at a time with a vicious flock of birds. She just seems more like an Adam West Batman villain rather than a Post-Crisis Batman villain, to be honest.
The mask as I understand it is the source of Matriarch’s power. It’s a magic artifact and a Relic. It seems a reasonable conclusion to draw that in the SotM universe, Relics can not truly be destroyed, or at least doing so would be exceedingly difficult and require some means beyond just whacking it with your fists.
They can, however, be temporarily disabled or weakened. This I believe is what destroying a relic in game is actually supposed to represent. Think about Ra. Does he have an entire pile of Staves chilling out at his house? Probably not. More likey he uses up its power, and it possibly disintigrates, but only until he can summon the staff back, with its power restored.
As far as the Matriarch herself. She’s a societal misfit that is rebelling against her family’s wishes. 99.9999% of the time this is a phase that teenagers and young adults go through. But every .00001% of the time it ends in disaster. Like Columbine, or Virginia Tech or I could name half a dozen others. The likelyhood of disaster tends to amp up when somebody discovers they are in a position of power: IE, they have easy acess to a gun, or in Matriarchs case, a magical artifact that can summon Alfred Hitchcock. She wants to gain respect and she’s doing it by using her flock to tear the people of Rook City to shreds. After all, its easier to gain respect through intimidation and violence than it is by being well liked.
It’s entirely possible that the Mask has a mind of its own as well, and perhaps played on Matriarch’s dark desires to fufil its own goals. Cross reference The One Ring and a dozen others.
ah, that made me laugh. Well said.
[quote=““McBehrer””]
ah, that made me laugh. Well said.
[/quote]Prefer that to Salvador Dali.
ANTS! ANTS AND FLOPPY CLOCKS EVERYWHERE!
[quote=““The_Densetsu””]
Wait, you DON’T like that idea? Well, there goes the concept for the next villain. Drat.
That is a reasonable perspective. But I would think that if the Mask was removed from the field (thus temporarily disabled or weakened), she wouldn’t be directing revenge damage at the Heroes. The birds are still summoned (though not AS much), their individual effects still take place at the start of the turn, but if she loses control of the birds, why can she deal Psychic damage? I understand that we can’t just have her do nothing if she loses control of the Mask (though that would probably happen in a comic if that were the case), but I would think the revenge damage would be tied into the Mask rather than as an innate ability of hers.
As far as her killing civilians, I don’t really get that vibe from her. She has the whole “reign with fear and terror” thing going, but she seems like the kind of character that would threaten pain and death rather than outright inflict it. Thus far I haven’t read anything about her ripping people to shreds or going Columbine on her school. I’ve read that she likes shiny things and wants power and respect.
Also, what does her flipping from Ruler of the Flock to Her Avian Majesty reflect thematically? Does anyone know this? I’m quite curious.
I would hazard a guess that they mimicking a flock of birds, swooping down and then back up again to sit on their tree branch, ‘regrouping’ for another swing back down.
Perhaps the control is a lingering or ‘always on’ effect of the mask. But I’m just guessing here.
When you want power and respect and you’re a super-villain. Somebody usually gets hurt. If she wasn’t a legit threat, I doubt the heroes would be going after her.
I believe Matriarch’s mask, like Ra’s staff, has imbued the owner with its power. Losing the object only takes a portion of its power away as most of it has gone into the person. Also guessing the item would be useless to someone else while the current wielder of the power is still alive.
I agree. I imagine she is ambitious enough to use her Fowl to control Rook City and maintain absolute control utilizing the eyes and ears of every bird in the space of a city and beyond. Villains can still be villains while having a moral code or limits. I’m not saying she is or isn’t ripping the skin off of her victims with swarms of birds while she cackles maniacally and watches the world turn to blood, bone, and pigeon poop. I’m just gathering from what I’ve read on her, the artwork of many frightened (but relatively untouched) victims, and her rather campy elements (Lillian Corvus. Corvus is the genus of crows and ravens. “The Undead Poets Society.” The image of her scowling at mall-goers and looking for shiny things.).
I certainly hope she is a threat if the heroes find her worthy of their time and I imagine people get hurt when The Matriarch comes to town, but I don’t get the vibe that she is a Columbine case or a rabid psychopath. I get the sense that she is a self-centered, elitist, damaged little girl who has come across a power far beyond her maturity, and is using it to gain control, power, respect, and wealth. She can be a villain without being terribly fatalistic or violent. It could be something as simple as taking away an entire city’s autonomy.
Not a psycopath?
…lacking empathy, coldheartedness, lacking guilt, egocentricity, superficial charm, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, nonplanfulness, impulsivity, and antisocial behaviors such as parasitic lifestyle and criminality.
check, check, check, check, check, check, unknown, likely not, check, unknown, and check. Seems like Matriarch meets most of the clinical criteria to me.
So she clearly kills people by peeling their skin off with her birds because she is a Columbine case?
Okay. Flaying or psychopathy aside, we agree she’s a credible threat?
I understand the thread has turned more thematic toward Matriarch, but I felt like posting anyhow. It’s been a while.
I was one of those that had found the Matriarch to be the most difficult villain out there, and stubbornly (yet jokingly) stood by it no matter who or what said otherwise (including Christopher himself). But after I sat down with her in a solo game, using Wraith, Haka, and Tempest, I discovered how pitiful she can be when properly controlled. Once you make her stop lashing out at anyone who looks at her birds funny, there is little standing in your way of clearing the field and dealing big damage to the villain herself. Stun Bolts, once again, are villain neutralizers in the best sense, and against The Matriarch, they completely shut her down, making her cohorts and Carrion Fields the only threats remaining. And the Mask. All three (on basic mode) can be eaten by Haka’s Savage Mana with little fuss, and then the heroes just feel like awful people, mercilessly beating on a weeping woman bleeding out on the ground, surrounded by bird droppings and feathers and drips of mascara. Once manipulated, The Matriarch cannot stand against the heroes.
This sort of ties into her thematic discussion as well. The Matriarch is a confused and frustrated girl with illusions of grandeur that makes her feel as if she has the right to whatever she desires at the moment. From her looks, I can assume that she can easily manipulate people into following her orders, whether through seduction or intimidation. But, it is also not too hard to turn her plans astray by simply adding something new to the mix that would make her want that more. The one who manipulates is easily manipulated.
I personally think that makes a lot of sense considering what I’ve read on her.
And yes, flamethrower, I believe that if the heroes consider her a threat, she is most likely a threat. I still don’t find her to be a terribly compelling villain, but I imagine she brings big trouble to Rook City when she’s done writing sad poetry for the day. I just didn’t understand where the whole “Columbine case” thing came from.
As for the mechanical side of her, my group and I played her the other night. She got three or four fowl out over the course of three turns. She kept drawing her One-Shots and we consistently destroyed the Mask before her turn came up. By the time she got a few more Fowl out and one of her Cohorts (Ongoing/Equipment destruction; I do not have the cards in front of me) we hit her hard and fast and she dropped to zero hit points. She is quite manageable when she’s only playing one card per turn.
because I brought it up as an example of a pair of social misfits who turned to violence. That’s where the comparison was supposed to end. We don’t have to talk about it anymore =p.
We won our first non-three-hero game vs. Matriarch this past week partially thanks to me getting two of these in my opening hand. Certainly a difference maker! It also helped that she whiffed on both a Horrid Cacophony (first card played!) and a Darken the Skies (she played the first one, then some Fowl… then the second one) and both Cohorts were deep enough in the deck that we could delay their destruction until the flip.
How does Smoke Bombs take care of Carrion Fields, say in a 4 player game?
This combo.came up a few times in various threads and here is as good a place to clarify it than any.