Give me combinations for games that are, for lack of a more descriptive term, "interesting."
Ok, what do I mean? Well, I have played a lot of SotM, to put it mildly. In the last six months, I would estimate around 100 games, not to mention I've had it since it premiered and worked two GenCons with >G. I gave up estimating my total plays. I love it. It's fantastic. We go everywhere together, and I want to spend the rest of my life with it. But in the bedro... um, on the table, I've found myself wanting to spice it up, keep it fresh.
Therefore, I charge you forumites. Give me games to play. But I have a few rules.
1) No new rules for the game. This is the biggest rule. I'm strictly looking for ways to play the existing game in the most interesting way possible.
2) Difficulty should probably be challenging, but difficulty alone does not make an interesting game. Fun hero and villain and environment interactions are ideal.
3) Specifying Regular or Advanced is fine. Bonus points if it manages to be interesting without being Advanced.
And go! Preferably a couple in the next hour and a half, before the next game I play. :-P
While maybe not fitting in with your criteria I am enjoying trying (what I call) "The Christopher Challenge".
In a podcast many moons ago Christopher said [paraphrasing] Any 3 heroes can beat any villain on advanced. So I am putting that to the test. If I ever get the urge to play and don't have anyone to play with I randomise 3 heroes and a random villain and try to see if I can beat them, then I tick it off my list (yes, the list is growing faster than I can beat them). If not I put an X by it and see how many battles it takes before I can beat them with that combination of heroes. I am finding this particular challenge very interesting, and I don't play many 3 players games, it's almost like playing the game again for the first time.
Matchstickman: I like it. It's a bit of a meta version of what I'm trying to do here.
Foote: Side Objectives wouldn't necessarily be turned away, but that's not really what I'm after. Interesting combinations of hero, villain, and environment. Whether that's thematically or mechanically so, I'm easy to please.
I know you said no new rules, but this came up naturally in a game, but you could force the situation. Bunker, Expat, and Tempy, (and you could add Wraith) versus Omnitron with Reactive plating. Having so much projectile damage makes it a fun challenge to get around, and kill the components in a timely manner. Playing ammo cards just to change the type, or using an Omni-cannon Flak cannon combo in Turret Mode as the standard. You also have to rethink when to squall all the drones and make Omni immune to projectile.
One thing I did a while back was make themed 3 hero teams (since I was playing solo) I could create interesting stories around. For example, my personal favorite is my "The Judges of Fire and Ice" consisting of Redemer Fanatic, Ra, and Tempest. Some others include "The Wisemen" featuring Eternal Haka, Scholar, and Argent Adept, the "Gadget Girls" with Unity, Wraith and Tachyon, and the secretive bounty hunting group known as the "SSS (Secret Sentinel Squad)" with Chrono, Expat andNightmist (KNYFE will most likely replace the investigating expertice of Nightmist once Vengeance hits)
I think the most difficult Environment and Villain combo is probably Iron Legacy in Rook City. Both the villain deck and the environment deck are basically stacked to just wreck the players.
For interesting hero combos, I would try and take him on with no real damage dealers. Fanatic, The Wraith, and Visionary. They have consistent damage, but no nuke abilities. I think the Visionary is the one who makes it interesting, since you can basically use her to stack the environment/villain decks. Probably not the most difficult scenario, but it should keep you on your toes.
You may find it interesting to make this simple change: pick a card (or cards) from the villain deck and put it (them) into play at the beginning of the game. The idea is to see how a fight against a villain goes if you guarantee that he gets a powerful or interesting card or combination in play immediately. Baron Blade with his Electropulse out right away, or Akash'bhuta with an Entomb right away, Apostate with a particularly bad relic out immediately, or Citizen Dawn with Blood, Sweat and Tears all out at the beginning of the game should make things more interesting, and more thematic -- for once, the villain came to the fight a little more prepared than usual.
I have a couple cool subtle mod challenges but I can't give them out until they are used or eliminated from possibility in my campaign.
Solo Games I've been doing nemesis challenges with 2 heroes + support deck. I take Villain and Nemesis, a random environment, then choose whoever I want to go with them. Then the support deck I use five heroes character cards who aren't in the gme and use their incap abilities to give the two heroes a better chance.
One ofthe best challenges I've had is going up against Citizen Dawn in atlantis. You've got the manage the environment very, very carefully, sometimes preserve Citizens, and try really hard not to lose all your cards (to phosphorescent chambers and blinding blasts) or let Dawn get too far ahead (Pillars of Hercules, her various ongoings).
The Matriarch in Atlantis can be very nasty as well (Mystical Defences versus ALL OF THE BIRDS). Similarly so in the Tomb of Anubis - Mdjai hits all the birdies, and Akana brings out the entire environment as a result :P.
Oh wow. That's kind of amazing. May push the latter tonight.
Edit: Played The Matriarch at Tomb of Anubis tonight. That was the most vicious game of ups and downs I've ever played. Also, we lost. But it was very interesting.
I like themed superhero groups based off of ACTUAL superhero groups: So far I've come up with 3.
Teen Titans: Last Stand Wraith, Young Legacy, Bunker, Naturalist, and Nightmist vs. Ambuscade, while treating Ambuscade as Wraith's nemesis. (yeah, yeah, playtest heroes. Guess you'll have to wait for this one.)
Avengers: Ra, Haka, Legacy, Absolute Zero, and Wraith vs. Kismet, while treating Kismet as Ra's nemesis.
Justice League: Legacy, Wraith, Fanatic, Tachyon, and Tempest vs. Cosmic Omnitron, while treating Omnitron as Legacy's nemesis.
Wouldn't Bunker be a better Iron Man homage than Absolute Zero? I get that they're both in power-suits, but Bunker's more focused on modular weaponry. The Gatling Gun is straight off of the War Machine armor, and the OmniCannon is pretty much a send-up of the Uni-Beam...