I know there was a thread that discussed this some time ago, but I couldn’t find it, and I remember it really only being about Rook City, so I figured I’d ask again. Now that some folks have had a chance to play a lot, I was curious how the new stuff figured into the ranking of the old stuff. Speaking strictly in NON-advanced modes, my understanding and experience with the old set was, from hardest to easiest:
Citizen Dawn
Warlord Voss
Omintron
Baron Blade
Wagner Mars Base
Ruins of Atlantis
Insula Primalis
Megalopolis
So where do people think the new stuff fits into the old list? I’m trying to get an all-inclusive hardest to easiest, for Villains and Environments
I find Rook City to be an evil variant of Megalopolis (being the only other environment I’ve seen to have cards specifically designed to only help the heroes (Atlantis has a few cards that can help the heroes, but have other hindering effects to balance them out)).
Yeah, i just got done with my first two games against the Matriarch with three of my friends and me, and we got destroyed completely, both times. It was a complete flawless victory for her. I don’t know how we’ll ever beat her. I haven’t played the Chairman yet, but I pray he isn’t as soul-crushingly difficult as Matriarch.
I’ve gotten used to winning at Sentinels of the Multiverse. I’m familiar with all the heroes. I’ve got a pretty good idea how to use them effectively. I know what to expect from the villains and environments, so I know how to prepare for what might come.
The Chairman and, even more so, The Matriarch are on a different level. They’re beatable, but you really have to be on your toes. Coordinating what you’re doing just this turn is not enough. When constantly faced with an inability to clear the board of minions you’ve got to have a plan a few rounds in advance for how you’re going to survive. It’s like when you go against Dawn you know that if you can’t avoid her flipping you’ve got to at least set up some way to survive her being invulnerable, but more so because, particularly with The Matriarch, it just never stops. Fighting The Matriarch is like going up against a version of Dawn that has Forced Deployment cards, a permanent Backlash Field, and pulls an extra villain card every turn. And because of the new scaling rules, adding heroes doesn’t necessarily help.
If a group beats the Matriarch the first time they play against her without any coaching or looking at her cards in advance, I’d like to hear that story.
Well, now I’m really not looking forward to The Chairman. I do like a good challenge, but when we went up against Matriarch, it was just unfair. My friends and I played as what we consider to be the Rook City team: Mr. Fixer, Expatriette, Wraith, and Tachyon. She got a flawless victory on us without even flipping. We tried again, but replaced Wraith and Mr. Fixer with AZ and Fanatic. Matriarch flipped, and went on to get another flawless victory. She just heals so rapidly, especially with “Darken the Skies” when she’s flipped. Honestly, I think she’s a bit overpowered, mainly because of her mask. When she deploys Fowl cards, I can understand the continuous chain of deployment for a challenge, but when the chain ends, and she has her mask, it starts an entirely new chain. Take into account that we were playing with Rook City environment, and the number of those cards that make you play the top card of the villain deck, those started an extra chain almost every turn. I’m not complaining about her being difficult. I like challenge in a game. But challenge is only fun if you can get down to the wire and the match could go either way. Two days ago, we played Spite, and he’s my favorite so far, because he was challenging, but we still had a fighting chance. With Matriarch, she wiped us out and had the game more or less set in about five rounds. We will beat her, I promise. But damn, those two games stressed us out so much. AZ is completely useless against her, and Fanatic wasn’t all that great either. I think the main problem is you’ll need a powerhouse hero (Bunker, Haka) whose power doesn’t rely on ongoing cards, because she takes those out often. We’ll just have to keep trying.
But I can’t emphasize enough: I don’t hate the game. I love this game and I’m really happy with this expansion. I was one of the people who asked for more difficulty, and hey, I got it. And now with eight villains total, this should keep me occupied until Time & Space comes out. Not that I’m pushing for that right now. I’m happy with what I’ve got.
What’s worse is when a card is in play that reduces max HP (at least for villain cards) by 1. Fowl card comes out, dies immediately, Matriarch (and potentially Carrion Fields) deals damage, next card plays, another fowl, repeat as necessary, then Darken the Sky plays immediately ending the game.
One thing about Haka (plus three other heroes) vs. The Matriarch that was pretty awesome is Savage Mana plus Rampage when she has all her crows out. Although it is a pain trying to survive during that entire time since you don’t want to kill and crows while waiting. All my heroes during this had less than five HP each if I remember correctly.
At that point, just have someone that can prevent damage from villain cards, such as Legacy or Mr. Fixer (though Legacy might not be viable if Carrion Fields are in play).
My girlfriend and I played a game against Matriarch last night where we stomped her. As I recall, we played Fixer, Expatriette, Tempest, Tachyon and we played in Atlantis. Two of us got out damage reduction and killed her pets as soon as they came out, resulting in some pretty minimal damage (because of the reduction). The only time we had any trouble was with her cohorts, but Mr. Fixer helped with that the second turn with his Crane stance. I suppose maybe we got lucky, but she was significantly easier than both Spite and Plague Rat for us. As a hint, don’t play Legacy vs Plague Rat. Those infections hurt when they’re 2 or 3 irreducable damage a turn instead of just 1.
Matriarch is my favorite villain (and Tachyon is my favorite hero - thank you >G) and I’ve probably only won about 30% of my games against her. That being said I’ve still learned a few things along the way:
Destroy the mask as soon as possible.
Damage reduction abilities make her significantly easier.
Visionary is amazing against her (but then again Visionary is just plain amazing).
I’ve only played Spite so far, and maybe I just got lucky, but he seemed to be very easy. Of our four-character team, (Mr. Fixer, Expatriette, New!Wraith, and Tachyon, in Rook City) only one character was at under 20 HP when the game ended. Spite dealt so few significant blows that his damage was easily reduced by Stun Bolts, etc., and he couldn’t really do all that much to us. We slowly whittled him down until he flipped, and Safe House brought him down low enough that we took him out within the round. It’s true we didn’t ever see any Forced Entry cards, which would have made it more difficult, but that was thanks to Tony Taurus and Wraith’s Eyepiece, so it wasn’t even just luck.
Looking forward to the rest of the villains though.
I dunno. We played Spite on advanced mode, maybe that made the difference, but our team literally could not get any damage through to spite which he could not heal by his next turn. Even when dealing major damage (15-20 range) to Spite he would instantly heal it all on his turn when he was on his transhuman serial killer mode.
This makes me suspect you might have done something wrong, though it could have just been the difference in advanced vs regular mode, or blind luck. Are you remembering…:
whenever a victim is killed, spite regains HP
At the start of the villan turn, spite regains HP (not on normal mode)
ANY time spite does damage, he regains that much hp.
His Compound Omicron drug reduces the first damage he takes by 2 every turn (every hero turn, every environment turn)
Escorting lost children to the safe house makes spite regain hp (as per #3)
I mean with us, between Mind Phyre and Demons Kiss coupled with his basic attack, he would heal ~15-20 hp per round, more if he killed a victim. More healing from Compound 11 whenever anyone wanted to use a power, meaning you had to deal 3-4 damage with one power for him not to just heal it up instantly. And if Compound Omicron is in play, you have to deal even more. All healing is buffed by Compound Upsilon… Granted you dont have all these in play at the same time, but we spent a good deal of the game with 4/5 drugs out.
Actually, my friends and I (playing as that same Rook City team) took on Spite and found him fairly challenging. We had one casualty, and the others were low on health. I honestly think he’s my favorite so far. I really like the victim and safe house mechanic. I look forward to more games against him.
But last night we also took on the Chairman for the first time. You guys were right about him. It was brutal. We didn’t even get the Operative to half health.
We were keeping those in mind (well, not #2, since we were playing on Basic), but we were consistently able to reduce all the damage he did significantly, which reduced the amount he could heal, and we were hitting him enough times per round that Omicron wasn’t that useful for him. We also got the Victims stashed away in the first round that they were out almost every time, so no heals for him there, either.
My friends and I have faced all 4 of the new villains. First we took on the Chairman and the Organization all over Rook City with our Rook City team (Mr. Fixer, Expatriette, New Wraith, and Legacy). It was a challenging battle but we won thanks to Legacy buffing and Mr. Fixer using Alternating Tiger Claw and his Jack Handle. Then we tried the Matriarch with Mr. Fixer, Expatriette, and Tachyon. We had no chance even though we were able to control her flock pretty well. Next was Spite and he was challenging but fun. We barely got through his deck before he got all his Drug cards and flipped. But Mr. Fixer was able to continually reduce his damage. Last was Plague Rat at the factory. We had Legacy and really regretted that choice. I feel like Tempest would have been much more useful.
