Teams for demo game?

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1

I just got this game a couple of weeks ago, and I'm totally stoked for it.  I'm going to run some demo games at the FLGS this Saturday, and don't really have the experience to put together decent teams for a demo.  I have basically everything that is sold at retail right now, and nothing that isn't (so Freedom Six cards aren't available, for example, but Unity and Scholar are).

Due to the number of folks who might show up, I might try to have 2 or even 3 simultaneous games going with the same set of cards.  Let's assume 2 if 3's too hard.

So here was my initial thought for 3 games of 4 players each:

Baron Blade, Omnitron, ???

Megalopolis, Insula Primalis, ???

The players likely to show are all experienced MTG players, so deck mechanics won't be new to them (though the cards obviously will).  My thought is to keep Absolute Zero and Argent Adept out of it since they're so complicated, and make teams of the rest.  

So how would you set up 2 (or 3) teams of 4 each, without repeating a hero, trying to keep teams balanced, have heroes that are easy to explain to new Sentinels but experienced card gamers, and (most important) make sure everyone has fun and wants to drop dollars on copies of their own?

What would you suggest for the 3rd villain?  Are there any other heroes you'd cut for being too complicated for a demo?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

2

Ambuscade would be a good easy villian as well. Gloomy is easy too, but I find his games are like 12 rounds minimum at times (read: too long)

3

The team we played last night was Legacy, Ra, Tachyon, and Tempest, in that order vs Omnitron in Insula Primalis.  Legacy and Tempest seem to be a massive combo together where crowd control is concerned, and IMO made the game too easy.  My thought there is to break them up, perhaps like this:

Team 1: Legacy, Tachyon

Team 2: Ra, Tempest

Filling out the remainder of those 2 lists seems like a good place to start.  So then I went like this:

Team 1: Legacy, Tachyon, Unity, Wraith

Team 2: Ra, Tempest, Visionary, Haka

...but I don't know if that's good, bad, too good, or what.  It would leave options for team 3 as:

Bunker, Chrono-Ranger, Expatriette, Fanatic, Fixer, Nightmist, Omnitron-X, Scholar

...if Absolute Zero and Argent Adept are kept aside.

4


This is very solid but IMO
Team 1: Legacy, Tachyon, Unity, Wraith
Team 2: Ra, Tempest, Bunker, Haka
Team 3(if needed): Visionary, Chrono-Ranger, Fanatic, Fixer (Apostate in Mars)
Team 4 for those that say … I want something deep or complex: Omni, Scholar, AA, Nightmist (This one might appeal to your player base actually) I have a friend who won a PTQ he really enjoyed playing Omni scholar and Nightmist … hasn't played AA yet (Matriach and Realm of Discord) (yes i hate the players :)  )

 

Edit : if you really want to keep AA and AZ out use Expreitte for team 4

 

5

If you are having a couple of mechanically skilled players join, I would suggest having a difficult villain as the last one

 

Say "Here are a few of the easier Villains such as Omnitron and Baron Blade, and if you guys really want a challenge try fighting XXX". I know I would not be interested in the game if I was only showed the insanely easy Omni and BB. I would actually want to lose in a demo if it meant I saw a future challenge to defeat

 

As far as teams are concerned, I would literally just set each hero deck and tell them to quickly pick one. If the place is even decently crowded with more than a few people wanting to play they won't spend hours mulling about trying to decide

6

I'd avoid Unity for an intro game? The whole "cannot play during the play phase" thing is a LITTLE fiddly. I mean, you could explain it, but... still.

 

If I were setting up three matches, I'd go with Baron Blade in Megalopolis (classic), Omnitron in Insula Primalis (Robots vs Dinosaurs!) and Grand Warlord Voss in Wagner Mars base (Sentinels... in spaaaace!) The last fight's a relatively tough one, so I'd put Legacy and Tempest on that team to give them a strong edge with boosted group damage, but let everyone else pick based on short character descriptions. (Maybe slip Visionary into the Baron Blade fight so her trash-manipulation really gets a chance to shine?)

7

Hopefully this isn't too late.

Honestly I would leave Absolute Zero, Argent Adept, NightMist, Omnitron-X, and, The Scholar, Unity from the first game.

Team#1: Legacy, Mr. Fixer, Expatriette, and Tachyon Versus Baron Blade.

Team#2: Ra, Fanatic, Tempest, and Haka Versus Omnitron

Team#3: Visionary, Bunker, Wraith, and Chrono-Ranger Versus GloomWeaver.

Team#1 works well together, since a lot of people dislike Mr. Fixer and Expat because of their low draw and possibly low damage without the right cards, teaming them with Legacy will allow for more damage and Tachyon will allow them to draw at least 3 extras cards that game with a Fleet of Foot. Also Legacy has Bolster Allies so he can give a few extra draws as well. Plus Tachyon's damage will easily break into his damage reduction if need be. Both Expat and Tachyon have the ability to destroy ongoings, so they'll be set if a Backlash Field and Living Force Field enter play. The like of Elemental damage will make the Elemental Redistributor useless.

Team#2 are great because of the High Damage and should be able to tear into Omnitron and the Electro-Pulse Explosive if one or both come out. They also aren't too Ongoing/Equipment heavy so a Sedative Flechettes or Technological Singularity won't effect them too much. If an Adaptive Plating Subroutine comes out Fanatic or Tempest can destroy it. Ra is up first so he could destroy his Imbued Fire if it were in play if the heroes doesn't have a way to destroy APS that turn.

Team#3 a team of slower character to get going, it will make GloomWeaver slightly challenging. His one ongoing can be destroyed by either Visionary or Wraith. They have a lot of spread damage so multi-targets shouldn't cause too much problems. They rely on so many cards being in play (aside from Visionary) that they won't be hurt by the very little destruction he has.

Environments

I would avoid using Megalopolis, Rook City, Pike Industrial Complex, and Tomb of Anubis, anything else would be fine. However these might be what I would pick in a demo game; Ruins of Atlantis, Insula Primalis, and Realm of Discord. Maybe team 1 in Insula, 2 in Realm, and 3 in the Ruins.

Insula for Team#1 because Baron Blade is suck a low HP target that he will surely be hit by the T-Rex or the Raptors a couple times in the game. Plus the Raptors love to eat tasty Defense Platforms, yummy!

Team 2 in the Realm as there are very very cards that will ever be in play at once that a Terraforming won't allow him to get too mant extra plays  from it.

Team 3 in the Ruins because Mystical Defenses can seriously help if Cultist and Zombies are piling up. Also the Kraken loves to attack them aswell. Sounds like perfection to me!

8

It's all in the psychology of the player.  I messed up my notes and wound up taking Ra, Tempest, Bunker, and Haka against Apostate on Mars.  Had a low turnout because a bunch of our dudes were off at a Magic PTQ somewhere.

The players on Tempest and Haka had played before, so they were just in it for the experience.  Tempest did virtually nothing the whole game, since the -2 damage relic basically ate all his AOE.  

We also didn't know the strat vs Apostate, and thought it better to burn him down than worry about his relics.  So we lost.  

This is where the psychology comes in.  The noob playing Bunker thought it was an awesome game and wants to play more.  The noob playing Ra isn't sure he ever wants to sit down to a game again.  Some thrive on the challenge, some need early success for encouragement.

FWIW, my wife and I swapped Tempest for Visionary later that day and won using the correct strat.  Still learning.

9

Didn't see this until now, but appreciate the input.  Will keep it in mind for the next time I do a demo.  I'm pretty serious about getting folks at the FLGS into this.  Right now the only other game going on as a Magic break is Legendary, and I think this is a stronger game.

10

This.  I played this game twice with a boardgamer friend of mine, and I went for the sort of normal philosophy of "give a newb someone easy to play."  He played Ra one game and Wraith another.  He pretty much hated the game.  Only because he hears me raving about it all the time, he agreed to sit down to a third game.  I asked him what he didn't like before, so this time I gave him Argent Adept and Absolute Zero (it was just the 2 of us).  After that game, he really liked it.  The problem was that Ra and Wraith were too straight forward for him.  He wanted someone more complex and difficult to play.

I wouldn't recommend Absolute Zero to your average "I don't play boardgames much" newb, but for someone that's a hardcore boardgamer, some of the other heroes might be a little too plain.