Prime Wardens: Oh My Goodness

We played the Wardens tonight in a few games and how they support one another is bonkers.  In each game, (Gloomy, Kismet, Akash) we were at full health with absurd boards.  AA with 3 or more powers per turn from (CC - Fanatic's power and Embolden and himself) with obscene set up speed by putting the right cards to the bottom of his deck... Cleansing Downpour multiple times with all the group damage one could want, Haka digging for damage, but occasionally using Restoration or a well timed Battle... And Cosmic making everything run smoothly, extra healing, DR and power uses.  Even the mistimed End of Days didn't matter, as that just let AA use a power to toss it.  Dark Watch and the Freedom Five can only dream of this level of synergy.

Haven't been able to play much SotM outside of the app in a while, so I haven't been able to  break out that team.   I'm really curious to try them out against a few villains and even V5 at some point.  The only item I see them missing compared to FF or DW is villain deck manipulation.  Maybe I'm forgetting something in one of their decks but I don't believe anyone on that team can prevent villain card plays or manipulate what they'll play.  

While that’s correct, AA is one instrument from tossing nearly Any problem card. And the sheer amount of healing and extra power use is just craziness. I could see trouble with an Alpha Strike for Iron Legacy because Wrathful Retribution is really hard to use with a full health Fanatic. A Haka of Battle, however…

Beat Progeny with that team. Wasn't sure if I was going to like Cosmic' alternate power, but it proved to be very useful against Progeny.

They are also really dependent on cards in play and hand, since not one of them has a damage base power.  Vs. decks that have All destruction they are weaker.

They are really strong though, esp. Fanatic.  I haven't lost a game she is involved in yet, and with argent adept and her it gets crazy.

The ridiculousness is replacing Haka with The Scholar.  Having PW Fanatic or PW Tempest using their powers without anyone taking damage is pretty sick, and with Vernal Sonata and Reclaim from the deep there's no trouble getting alchemical redirection back.

What's even more interesting is that there actually isn't F5 cards. Who knows what synergy that team might have.

The real question is where are the Freedom Four promos like Underwater Bunker?

Since they are core heroes, I assume hey were intended from the box to have synergy. With the full team, there's surely a bit of everything except out of turn play and powers.

Maybe, but not only do the other teams actually have the name of the team on them, the also have matching outfits.

Does the FF have matching outfits to our knowledge?

I especially liked Tempest base power - always fun to begin a game by playing the card that give him +2 against the villain, then use his power to play the five point lightning slash, bring it back from the trash and play it again. 14 damage to the villain while taking 9 from environment is a good deal. Sadly Haka played after him, so didn't have the time to play his Enduring Intercession first...

Tempest's Into The Stratosphere. 

And two members have cards that fish hero cards out of the trash for multiple uses of wrathful retribution. They actually recover from board wipe better than most as they all have accelerated play.

Enduring Intercession doesn't actually work w/ PW Tempest's power.  He's taking damage from the environment, yes, but Enduring Intercession specifies environment cards, which does not apply here.

That's pretty minimal villain deck manipulation. 

What Villain deck would hey need to manipulate?  What couldn't they control through other means.

To prevent villains from playing mass ongoing/equipment destruction.   This team with those promos as Phantaskippy stated do not have any innate damage dealing abilities so one those are out of play at best you have a Cosmic Weapon out for dealing damage until you can recover.  

However, recovery to having an attack power should only take a round thanks to Tempest's Reclaim from the Deep and Argent Adept's Vernal Sonata.

The Prime Wardens are insanely powerful in their normal card forms.

If I had to make a PW team between the PW promos and the original versions I would take PW Fanatic, and that is it.  The rest I prefer their base powers.

Captain Cosmic's ability to mitigate card destruction is actually lessened by his promo power.  With the wording cancelling all his destruction dependent effects I honestly can't come up with a scenario where it is valuable, unless there is a way for Captain to profit from a huge hand and few cards in pay.

Adept gets cards in play, but the accompany text is not as helpful early game, it gets you random cards in play, but much less gained from your songs.  If the cards you get are ones that work well, then you are better off with it, I prefer more control from that deck.

I prefer PW Adept. Doubling his plays is huge early game, which is what it's really there for. It lessens his dependency on his hand resources, and allows him to get set up so he can capitalize on his combos later on. He also has a slightly higher HP.

He can also double up on use on arcane cadence as it sets up the bottom card. In fact he comes out with a power level similar to TLT wich is a feat on its own. At worse the extra plays bring destruction fodder if the villains don't destroy everything at once.

Arcane Cadence is why I like this version better.  Each Cadence now gets me two cards of my choice in play with two in hand by the next turn.  PW Fanatic is just nuts, agreed.  Captain Cosmic is, without question, the worst of the bunch.  That leaves Haka and Tempest.

This Tempest is great specifically because the whole team lets him use mutliple powers.  Multiple power uses with Tempest is just nuts.  He can deal his usual ton of damage and keep everyone healed up.  In a random team, I wouldn't like him, but for this, I love him.

Haka is more iffy.  This version amps up the use of Shielding and Recovery, which is nice, but a ton of his power depends on how quickly you can get an equipment into play.  Luckily, Argent passes out draw like candy.  If Argent does nothing but hand Haka and Tempest draw early, letting them set up, there's going to be a ton of damage here.  They can both play a ton of cards on their own. From there...

So I'm sure this has come up but how do you deal with PW Fanatic playing End of Days from top of deck at an inopportune time?   

With the Prime Wardens? Sarabande of Destruction or Ball Lightning.

Safest way would be bringing DW Fixer along if it really scares you. I just make sure she plays before those who can destroy ongoings and inside the team that's Tempest and AA. You could also add an extra play from AA to play consecrated ground on the available list.

Another reason I prefer the original adept, he can destroy ongoings with his base power, and Adept last in team order is amazing.

I like Fanatic first in team order a lot, final dive, consecrated ground, Sacrosanct Martyr, Chastise, Zealous Offense, there is so much she can deal with, breaking through reduction or destroying ongoings/env. cards.  And with Resolute it works even better because you have people to help you deal with End of Days, and give a power use to someone who is better equipped to solve that round's main problem.

Secondly Prayer of Desperation is an awesome card to play from your deck with Resolute, unless you have 6 cards.  It ends your turn, but at that point it only costs you your normal draw, which as long as you drew a card with it who cares?  You still finish the rest of the power, so it really minimies its negatives.

Prime Wardens, if I'm setting then up instead of randomizing I want Fanatic-Tempest-Haka-Cosmic-Adept, regardless of what promo.  That order really sets you up to deal with whatever the bad guy throws your way.