Played parse for a third time last night, and got her killed for a third time. I have yet to see any evidence that she's worth a full point of H while in the game, and her incap abilities are just awful, so the fact that she has low HP and no defense tech is a serious problem, especially since I don't feel like she's able to carry the game by herself if others die to protect her. I haven't played her in H=5 yet, that's probably where she'll do best, but even so, I'm tempted to avoid running her against the stronger villains.
I've had her die a couple of times but be amazing on other occasions. Critical Multiplier can turn into one hell of an epic damage buff if you get all three copies out and play stuff like Recompile a load of times. That card where you can discard a villain card instead of playing it and then play the next one instead (Buffer Overflow, I think - has a pic of Parse lining up a shot at a giant reptile-monster in an arena) is possibly the only method currently existing in the game (at least, I can't think of any others) of avoiding stuff like Devastating Aurora. The fact that most of Parse's damage is irreducible is handy as well, as is the fact that she can make the other heroes' damage irreducible as well.
I'm not too keen on her incap abilities, though. I suppose the "look at the top card of the villain deck" is useful if one of the other heroes has deck control in order to be able to do something about it, but that hasn't yet come up for me. I can't remember what Parse's other two incap abilities are, off the top of my head, but neither of them have seemed particularly useful to me.
I've had Parse do very well for me three times, and meh twice. In both of the mediocre games, I was trying to use her as a primary damage dealer. I realize that my sample is nothing statistically, but I feel very good about the character now.
I've come to think of her hunting bow as an afterthought, when you don't know what else to do. She recently owned a game against the Dreamer, where the Toothfairies (since there was a pair in the opening draw, perhaps I should say Twothfaries, but probably not) were in the opening draw.
It was looking grim after turn two, where everyone's hands were nearly empty. Parse was able to play Syntactic Analysis on the Sentinels, who get back up to speed after a highly unlikely combination of Team Communications and Unique Capabilities. From there, Parse was able to keep the game tilted in favor of the players in Oracle mode.
YMMV, but I've been enjoying the heck out of the deck.
Disclaimer - I was only introduced to Sentinels a couple months ago, and have only been playing a lot within the past few weeks. Also mainly playing non-Advanced mode.
The combination of fairly low starting HP plus a lack of damage redirection or reduction certainly seems to be her glaring weak point. The first couple times I played her I was very underwhelmed - she seemed to drop quickly and not do a whole lot of useful stuff while she was out. Since then she's become probably my favorite character because I like the combination she offers of board control (Extrasensory Awareness, Buffer Overflow, Updated Intel, Segmentation Fault) and damage/damage-boosting (Base power, Critical Multiplier, Targeting Arrow, Exploit Vulnerability). Other characters that have both deck control and damage dealing/boosting cards seem to have a stronger inclination toward one or the other, while Parse strikes a balance between the two that I really enjoy. There are rarely games (albeit one I played last night, so I acknowledge that it can happen) where I have a hand of cards that I don't want to all play RIGHT NOW, and often games where I have a hand that makes me wish I wasn't going to have to wait another 4-5 turns to get everything set up.
One of the last games I played with her was against the Matriarch, and while I certainly don't expect this to be typical, this was the last turn which I found quite memorable:
Matriarch on her side B played whatever card of hers pulls the flock out of the discard pile. We'd known that was the last card in her deck because of Updated Intel previously, and we'd burned through her deck with some use of Extrasensory Awareness and possibly a Buffer Overflow to avoid the card that destroys H ongoings so she was at full health. Parse started off the hero turns by discarding something to use Snap Decision to Recompile, then played another Recompile thus discarding a total of seven cards while having all three Critical Multipliers in play. Voila, a 23-point shot from her base power. The Scholar played his card to do one target damage equal to the number of non-hero targets in play, then the Argent Adept allowed the Scholar to play his second copy of that same card, and then the Wraith blew up 10 pieces of equipment to overkill the Matriarch. Like I said, I certainly don't expect that to be typical - we were ridiculously set up at that point. However, Parse was also crucial earlier in the game to let us smack down both cohorts via Reveal the Flaws since, at the time, we had the ability to do at most 3 points of damage in any given attack.
We've played several games including Parse, including one where she was being run by a newer player last night, and she has always at least pulled her weight. She has a nice variety of deck control (some of which is brilliant), reliable ongoing/environment destruction, her own damage in a pinch, and tons of great support/buffing. Even if all she she does is facilitate other players doing the heavy-lifting, and doesn't bother dealing much of any damage herself by the end of the game, she'd still be contributing a lot. The fact that she combines rampant control/support with a damaging base power has, for us, guaranteed that even in a sub-optimal match-up or with a sub-optimal draw, she has never felt like she can't contribute something right now.
Well, maybe I'm just bad with her. Or maybe it's the matchups. So far, the games she lost were both against Vengeance Three including Blade and Friction (once with Proletariat in Tomb of Anubis, the other time with Fright Train on Advanced in Megalopolis), while the game where she and two other heroes died and the last was left with 1 HP was against Ambuscade (not even advanced) in the Ruins of Atlantis. In these games she's been paired with Naturalist, Omnitron-X and Ra (the sole survivor), Absolute Zero and Fanatic (both of whom I suck as, although someone else played AZ for the first time instead of me running him), and Visionary and Setback.
Visionary might have pulled that last game off - had I known what would end up happening, I might have used Parse to sift Friction's deck and get rid of her Ongoing destruction, since Visi in a Telekinetic Cocoon with Demoralization out seemed to be capable of single-handedly destroying at least Fright Train and maybe Blade (no maybe if he hadn't had his starting card out, but I never found any way to get rid of it), while neither could touch her. Had it been down to just Friction, with Blade no longer providing DR to the Devices, and Precognition able to avoid the most damaging Surges, Visionary could perhaps have managed, and I can see a way Parse might have been even better than Visionary at arranging such an outcome. But it didn't happen (and Setback was just completely useless that game, in large part because Impulsion Beam shuts down Risk).
I still think there's absolutely no excuse for Parse's incap abilities...but otherwise, I'm far from giving up on her (and even if I had, I'd still be required to play her, since I play everything with about equal frequency; she would just go in the same category as Fanatic and Expatriette, who lose half their games and die more often even than that, so I've come to kind of dread including them in matches which are at all uncertain as to outcome). I just wish I could figure out what precisely I'm doing wrong when playing her.
Wow. That's some serious losing with Fanatic and Expat. You must have a completely different play style to me (and the other G+ers), because I don't see them lose significantly more than anyone else. Sure, Fanatic dies more than average but that's kind of her thing, and she makes the most of sacrificing herself for the team.
I wish I could figure out why I lose so many games with Fanatic; I do play her self-sacrificially, as that's pretty much her thing, but while her dying so often is not too surprising, I think I've only once had her death benefit the team enough that they won (in fact, Expat has died more often than Fanny, but lost fewer games in the process). So my Fanatic sucks at martyrdom. I don't know why exactly.
With Expatriette, it probably has a lot to do with the fact that I keep pitting her against Rook City and/or The Chairman for flavor reasons. Also I seldom get around to playing Flak Jacket since I'm too busy shooting, and if I do play Flak Jacket, it seldom absorbs more than 3 damage. The big 8-damage wallops never seem to happen at convenient times.
I'm fairly bad with AA, AZ, Tempest and Bunker as well; AA and AZ both have 11 deaths on record, out of 19 and 20 games respectively. On the other hand, I only have 3 losses and 3 incaps (that is, two everyone-killed, one she-died-but-the-team-won, and one everyone-else-died-and-she-couldn't-pull-off-the-win-so-I-quit) with Nightmist, and only slightly less impressive results with Legacy and the Scholar, with Wraith only slightly behind them, and O-X comparable in his win rates, though he dies a lot in the process. Legacy's winrate probably profits from a lot of easy games, as you alluded, but the others are pretty much solidly examples of why I think those characters are "top-tier"; they seem to need to actively screw up, or be facing the absolute worst villains, in order to be capable of losing. The remaining heroes all hover pretty reliably in the 5-to-7-losses and 6-to-8-incaps in 19-or-20 games range, which I consider to be typical (for my habit of selecting slightly-easier-than-average matchups and seldom making them Advanced).
(I probably should just stop having Parse pick fights with the Vengeful Three. Also I misspoke earlier, her game against Ambuscade was advanced.)
I would define the flow of how I play Parse as a lot like Mr. Fixer, anticipating needs and setting your team up to win, although using very different means to do so.
Mr. Fixer gets better the more you know your opponent and your allies, and so does Parse.
Parse is a support, but she is the most aggressive support in the game, she isn't helping anyone live longer, she's helping other things die faster.
That's why anticipation is big, turning a big round for the villain against them (they get big DR, you Reveal the flaws, or their big card comes out only to get told to play something else, we won't be having any of that Forced Deployment nonsense today.) can swing a battle in one shot, which is exactly how she rolls.
Critical Multiplier is awesome, but it is not at all my favorite card in her deck, she has so much good stuff for whatever team she is in.
Comparing Parse to Adept or Visionary I think of them like this:
Visionary hanging back a bit, but still in the midst of things, subtly manipulating everything that happens, laying to waste the best laid plans of villains with a subtle tweak here and there, and an occasional misdirection. They can't understand why that Flagship is so late, or why that EPE backfired, but we all know.
Adept is hanging back for the most part, directing the battle with a timely card play here, an extra power there, some DR where needed or a timely boost to damage. Occassionaly he moves up front and gives his allies a much needed break, but mostly he's at his best making everyone else get more out of each round.
Parse is all attack, she's focusing on the badguys and showing everyone the things they need to know to win the fight. Often that means firing the first shot herself, or the first 3 or 4 even. She's actively going after the Villain, Visionary might confuse the Flagships orders so it shows up late, Parse is crashing it into the ground as it arrives. The heroes are laying seige to the fortress and Parse is sapping the walls. She isn't there to patch up your wounds, or take a shot for you, she's there to make sure the badguys are exposed and defenseless, their toys broken and their hiding places flushed open.
I still prefer playing Visionary, sitting back and laughing maniacally as you steer the entire multiverse to your desired result, only occasionaly having to step forward and reveal the true nature of your power, but Parse is a lot of fun too. She's the support version of Fanatic. That's how I'd describe her.
I don't recall if you've already said so but do you play a lot of games solo, Edwin? If so, maybe that's why you're having trouble - it can be rather more difficult when you have to spread your attention out between all three/four/five heroes and the villain and environment decks, so you might miss some of the good combos and stuff due to being distracted by having to keep track of All of the Things.
If you only ever play with other people, never mind - it was just a thought :).
What a coincidence. I'm not that fond of Fixer either. At least he's a bit more consistent in his damage-dealing, despite having a lower starting amount. I've won games aplenty with him on the team, but he seldom feels like an integral part of the victory; maybe the same will end up being true of Parse eventually.
Mr. Fixer gets better the more you know your opponent and your allies, and so does Parse.
There might be something to that; I'm very curious what you mean. I've got a fairly thorough knowledge of villains other than the V5 by now, but since I played her against the V3 twice and the third game was my first ever with her (and I seriously, horrifically miscalculated with the very first card I had her play), I've never played her with more than vague knowledge of both her AND her enemies. That could well have been a factor, but I can't entirely wrap my brain around it, either with her or Fixer. Can you go into more detail? (We could make it another thread if you don't want to clutter up this guide anymore, though at least the parts where you're talking about Parse will still be relevant, and you can perhaps use Fixer as an analogy even then).
Parse is a support, but she is the most aggressive support in the game, she isn't helping anyone live longer, she's helping other things die faster.
That seems like it only really works with a top-notch damage dealer on the team. Yes she can do damage herself, but she has such difficulty dealing more than a small amount of damage that it seems like you'd need to have other heroes protecting her. I haven't played her alongside Tempest, Argent or Medico; perhaps in a game with them (Argent especially, if there's at least one tank in the party to keep them both intact), she can survive long enough to completely take over the game with shenanigans. But in my last two games (actually two and a half, since the first V3 game I played a couple rounds of, committed an uncorrectable rules error, and restarted with another player taking over one of the heroes, and we did MUCH worse the second time), I just felt like there was too much that desperately needed doing and there was never any time for me to goof around with things that weren't immediately useful. Critical Multiplier came in handy one game because Blade was using his teleporter thingy to make his victim discard and Parse was the lowest HP, but with only one copy of the card, it's not great since there actually need to be damage instances for it to boost, and it doesn't multi-stack on multiple instances such as Fanatic's Exorcism, the way damage boosts usually do (the only other case I can think of where a damage boost is just to the very NEXT damage instance is Absolute Zero's incap; I'm pretty sure there are others, but almost all the ones I've actually used are things like Galvanize or Syncopated Onslaught, which work for a fixed duration and thus make Critical Multiplier look pretty weak).
That's why anticipation is big, turning a big round for the villain against them (they get big DR, you Reveal the flaws, or their big card comes out only to get told to play something else, we won't be having any of that Forced Deployment nonsense today.) can swing a battle in one shot, which is exactly how she rolls.
I definitely see that potential, but you can't just phone Parse in when you need her help; she's there all the time, adding to the H value and getting beaten up, and the moments when her aid swings the battle might never arrive. If she was meant to be the "Oracle" of the team, she shouldn't be a target, or else she should be part of some larger setup a la The Sentinels, where other stuff is actually contributing directly to the game while Parse makes little adjustments here and there behind the scenes. I agree that Parse being able to "crack the code" of the game is conceptually cool, but in order for it to really work, she ought to have about 15 turns of setup while she's playing detective and figuring out what's going on, before the fight actually starts. (Which is of course exactly how her nemesis, Miss Information, plays…whenever I get that match tried out, I will certainly have high hopes for Parse's contributions. But her usefulness against the vast majority of villains seems badly limited to me by the fact that she's a fairly squishy human in the middle of a firefight, with nothing but a bow and a few tricks that do very little to keep her from getting flattened.)
She's the support version of Fanatic. That's how I'd describe her.
I'm afraid that makes even less sense to me than the Mr. Fixer comparison.
I do play a lot of solitaire, and do often forget a few details (for instance in the non-Parse game I played the other night, I had Positive Energy Field in play for an entire round without remembering its existence, so I ended up having to retcon that the environment had played Spinning Vortex instead and we all took 3 damage), but I'm pretty good at spotting combos. Not excellent, so it's possible you're right, but usually I can tell what cards are likely to be good for even when there are a lot of them; I'm just not up to checking every single card at every significant moment in the game, so stuff like damage adjustments and triggered effects can occasionally slip my mind. Stuff I'm actively doing, though, seldom does. I know what most of the cards in Parse's deck are capable of; that isn't the same as being able to effectively deploy them at the rate of 1 play and 1 power each turn.
I feel dumb for forgetting that one. And it probably makes for a relevant comparison; a single Critical Multiplier and a single Haka of Battle both mean that discards turn into +1 damage. Multiplier can stack several copies and can apply to other heroes, but also requires multiple card plays to set up those copies, does nothing unless something else allows/forces a discard, and doesn't give you at least two cards to feed it even if your hand is otherwise empty.
I feel that given time, CM will outstrip HoB, as you're getting double value out of your discards (both paying whatever cost requires the discard and getting the boost), but with higher risk and less immediate results.
Right, and my experience with SOTM is that 2 times out of 3, the game is over within 6-9 rounds because of the rate at which you take damage, so you have very little time to spare. Haka of Battle seems like a far better bet to me; too often, you need to do something NOW or not get the time you might have wanted. Every character is great if they get their dream setup; Parse seems to be very weak if she does not, whereas Haka can easily get along with just one or two cards.
I may be way off course, but hey. Ive never been known to really be good at not speaking up.
As Ive readin other threads Edwin, you seem like you are a pretty solid MTG type player. Ill be fair, and say CCG type. You build a deck, and you hold it to a standard it has to apply to, and when youre playing that deck the deck revolves around a central strategy - and if the deck doesn't apply to that central strategy then its not working right.
And right here, Ill put it out there. I play magic, L5r, Android, and a few other competitive CCGs. Im fairly good, but by no means amazing. And I get that - central themes and /consistancy/ is how CCG decks become amazing.
So you (i say you in a generic sense) look at a deck as a CCGer and the first thing you're doing is looking for a theme. Damage from fanatic. Deck Manipulation from visionary. Self damage for redirection from Zero. Ect. And sure, these theme's are there. But they are by no means refined as much as you would find in a CCG deck. A ccg version of Abzero would replace things like sub zero temp with more search cards or more fire damage that can be redirected. In fact youll see this in a lot of custom variants of AbZ - his base power becomes a search function.
Problem is, SotM wasn't designed as a ccg. And so its decks have a lot of cards that don't immediately lend themselves to the 'theme' of each deck.
And thats what took /me/ a long time to realize. You play a CCG by looking for the best card for the situation - usually with consistancy. I need this card against this matchup, so Ill use this card to go get it (or maybe already have it in my hand) and I want to dig for this card if I can, because once I get it it's an auto win. Sure SotM has those moments - it is a card game and there are some black and white counters to various villains.
But the leson I learned was to forget there is the rest of the deck. Forget you have any cards that exist /except/ those in your hand. And find the best situation that fits the cards, not the best card that fits the situation. Its a subtle difference - and in the end, neither way is a bad/wrong way to play at all - certainly the CCG way will win you games and will give you victory. And it will lead to an enjoyable time for a lot of decks - Wraith for instance, the most CCG style built deck, imho, or Chrono Ranger.
But if you can shift your perception just a tiny bit (and Ill say again, it took me forever to do it) it will lead to characters like Fixer, Parse, Expat, and others becoming even more fun to play. It will lead to Wraith becoming a different sort of beast - sure you still want your utility belt razor ordenance throwing knife micro targeting computer damage madhouse, but youll find other ways for her to be useful - even start playign Rook City Wraith ;).
Again. Nothing wrong with playing it the CCG way. It works out well and if it is enjoyable for you, then keep going. But if you want to try to enjoy heroes you really don't like (Fixer, Parse, for instance) then try forgetting whats in their deck and just concentrating on your hand. And don't be afraid to loose the 'perfect setup' for some sort of incremental gain during this turn. More often than not that incremental gain is more important than keeping the status quo.
That said, I still don't enjoy playing Visionary no matter how I change her around in my mind ;)
I actually had a great game with Fixer just now - well, "great" might not be the word, the game as a whole was a horrible slog because it was Spite, but Fixer's performance in it was rather excellent (it didn't hurt that it was Dark Watch Fixer). Hoist Chain and Driving Mantis were quite useful at different stages of the game, and he pulled off a monstrous Salvage Yard, giving expatriette twelve cards since her trash was full because of that one Drug. Fixer wasn't the star of that match, but he certainly contributed and quite handily - the high point moment was when, having run out of Charges and Overdrives and once a Grease Gun to stop Spite's 2-damage instances, he settled for adding -1 with Hoist Chain - and then Writhe hit him with Blackout so he could deal another damage and apply another -1. Earlier, he'd gotten up to -3 on Spite's damage with the help of Expat's Liquid Nitrogen Rounds, and that kept a very low-HP Expat from dying when she Unloaded (alas, only a few Guns in play so it wasn't that great).
If I'd had any sense, of course, I'd have had Writhe bringing Spite his Drugs so he'd flip faster, and had Expat play all her guns and Fixer set up his tools and not even tried to deal any damage until after the flip. If I try a version of this matchup in future, I'll definitely go that route instead. But as it worked out, despite having wasted a lot of time trying to hurt him pre-flip without success, I'm still pretty (not very) happy with the game in general, and in particular DW Fixer's role in it was solid. He's still not my favorite hero by a long shot, but he's got some great stuff in his deck; I just wish it was easier to get the most out of him.
Parse, well, she's not looking that good to me yet, but I've got 17 games to go before it'll be a fair comparison.