Sentinels of the Multiverse Puzzle #1

We've all had those games that have gotten totally out of control.  You feel like you're struggling to keep your head above water and meanwhile the villain is still at full HP.  The attached file contains a midgame set-up for a game such as this with Visionary, Absolute Zero, Legacy, and the Wraith vs. Advanced Citizen Dawn in the Ruins of Atlantis.  It is currently the start of the Wraith's turn.  Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to defeat Citizen Dawn before the beginning of the Wraith's next turn.  In other words, you have 6 turns (Wraith, Environment, Dawn, Visionary, Absolute Zero, Legacy) to deal 80 damage to Citizen Dawn.

Designer's Notes:  I remember when I was younger doing these Magic the Gathering puzzles in Inquest or Scrye magazine where you have to accomplish some goal (usually winning the game) with the cards shown in play and in hand.  I've always wanted to see something like that for Sentinels and just finally found the time and energy today to make that happen myself.  I'm tentatively calling it #1 with the intent to maybe do more, but I'll admit that it was very mentally taxing and I'm still not confident that I didn't miss something in my solution that makes the whole thing insoluble.  If this is well recieved, I will certainly try to do more (maybe on a monthly or bi-weekly basis).  

I would rate this puzzle a 5 out of 5 in terms of difficulty.  I could probably have started with an easier one, but this is the one that came to mind.  The whole time I was coming up with the solution, I found myself wishing I had access to the Mega Computer that SotM: VG playtesters use.  If you don't have access to that, the next best bet is probably to set up the actual cards as I describe unless you are much better at keeping track of things in your head than I am.  

As a final note, there is certainly a way to do more than 80 damage to Citizen Dawn in the one round I've allowed, but my solution (again assuming I've done it right) leaves Dawn with exactly 0 HP.  

I'm going to press "Save" now.  I really really really hope I didn't miss anything in my solution...

Sentinels of the Multiverse Puzzle #1.docx (17.1 KB)

Interesting. I will look at this when I get home.

I almost have it solved. I can overkill her, but i haven’t sat down and figured out what the correct permutation for the damage is yet

I can get her down to 8, but I can't figure out how to shake the last remaining points out of her.

I’ll post some hints later. The basic strategy is pretty straight forward, but there is a specific order you have to deal the damage so you don’t kill your people

It's all about AZ and lightning damage, I get stuff out of order every time I try to get it all figured out.

Nope i didnt need the lightning. Solved a min ago. I actually found 2 options for how to get 80 exactly. It depends on what you destroy with sweat

The leaking room is there for a different reason than the damage boost

Oh, oh!  That's why that's there!

Okay.  I'll get it in a minute.

The leaking room is there so that Chromium_Man can tease us with all those lovely damage dealing cards in our hands that we then can't use.

Yeah, I got it now.  Not the exact solution, but I think putting Dawn at -10 is close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades.

Yeah i could have over killed her by a lot, but to be exact was much harder

First 2 hints coming up. Read at your own risk.

You must use AZ’s coolant blast.

Heroic Interception must be destroyed before the villain turn.

These were tame, but if you don’t figure those out you have no where to start

Wow. I'm obviously terrible at these things. I have no idea what the Leaking Room is for.

It’s purpose is subtle. Don’t worry about it

Easier said than done! This is going to bug the hell out of me until someone reveals the answer, since I haven't got a clue where to even start figuring it out.

I think we should put all hints in white from now on, so that they're easier to skip for the people who don't want to read them.

Ok then. Guess i will add a couple more clues. Spoilers below.

Subzero atmosphere must be destroyed.

Smoke bombs are important.

Im trying not to give the whole solution away

I’ll try to. It’s easier said than done on a phone

Fair point.

I'm also not sure what you mean about what Leaking Room is for (besides, as I said before, preventing us from using lovely, lovely cards such as Hoarfire and Mind Spike.)

Anyone want to give generic spoiler-less hints about how to go about figuring these things out? Strategy tips, if you like?

I want to try this but I really don't have any clue how to do these kind of puzzles. No idea how to start.

It doesn't help that I'm not used to playing solo, so I struggle with doing clever things with multiple heroes.

The heroes roles in this puzzle are very similar to their roles in the actual game.  Wraith is needed for a few choice utilities, Legacy for damage boosting, the Visionary for villian control and Twist the Aether, and Absolute Zero is for crazy comboing for ridiculous damage.

The key here is understanding how ridiculous AZ can be with Twist the Aether and coolant blast.  Once you've wrapped your head around that, it's mostly a matter of fueling his shenanigans as much as possible without killing anyone, and juggling the numbers to maximize his effects.

Getting all the fuel sources for the combo nessesary to deal 80+ damage requires some creative juggling.  If you need help with that, go back up to Humble-Knight's hints.

Leaking room is there because it’s the only caed that has no effect on the damage dealt. Any other card either deals damage, plays cards or boosts effects too much.

Haven't gotten the numbers right for an exact kill but Dawn is overkilled