SotM Puzzle: Baron Blade in one round

Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to defeat Baron Blade before his second turn.  You may assume that all decks are stacked in the order you wish.  Unfortunately, the Scholar is not around to help you out - you will have to rely on other heroes.  (Because Don't Dismiss Anything and Proverbs and Axioms are way too powerful for these challenges.)  Also, you are not in the Time Cataclysm - no Fixed Point shenanigans allowed.

If this proves easier than I expect, than I have an additional restriction I can add.  But I think that I'll wait on that.

Does blowing up the Propulsion System with a team of Alternate-Version heroes counts as defetaing Baron Blade? 

I mean, he IS defeated. You just didn't win that game. 

No, that does not count.  You must win the game.  

If you want, I can phrase the challenge another way:

Win a game against Challenge Baron Blade.  He has the following special ability:  "At the end of the environment turn, move Baron Blade's deck into his trash".  Do not use Scholar or Time Cataclysm, but you may stack all the decks.

Actually, I'll just add the additional challenge now, although you are welcome to find other solutions.

This challenge is possible without ever dealing damage to Blade using hero characters.

I tried! 

I'm thinking Unity is probably the key here. Use characters that can feed her draws and card plays so she ends up with a ton of bots out by the end of her turn.

Hmmm…
I have a solution.

And I have a way of doing it without heroes dealing damage. (That part took me awhile to figure out).

I believe I have them both figured out.

If I am right, I figured the extra challenge out first because it limited my options.

With the heroes getting to damage blade I had so many choices I didn't know where to start.

I think that solutions should be included as txt attachments. That way we can compare answers without spoiling anyone who wants to solve it.

I think I have it

EDIT: so spoiler tags don't work here. Sorry for anyone that saw my solution and didn't want to

Here's my solution:

And we have all seemed to go with different approaches.

I really like this.

You all win prizes!

Hynju wins points for involving the environment and for remembering that Baron Blade gets a turn (I think that we can safely assume that he played his Blood Nanites in all three games, but Hynju was the only one to say so outright)

Dandalo wins points for showing me a new infinite combo that I hadn't noticed before.

Etheria wins points for managing to play all of Unity's bots.  But... you also lose points for failing to notice this forum's sad lack of spoiler capabilities.  You can make the text white, but that's the best you can do.  Also, I think you miscounted how much damage the Raptor Bots do by 1, although it doesn't affect your solution.  Don't worry, you gained more points than you lost.

I've attached my solution below.  Does it earn any points?

You lose points for having Ra play Chrono Ranger's deck.  

Here's my variant.

Clever!

Whoops.

Originally, I had Ra in CR's place, but I had to move stuff around when I realized that my original plan didn't work, and forgot to change out the name in every location.

Or we can just stack the decks with any card from any deck. XD Scramble mode activate!

@LewdDolphin21 - Why is the Ape dealing fire damage? Shouldn't it be 1+2 melee damage?

Twist the Ether turns it fire so it can take Imbued Fire's bonus, yeah?

What TakeWalker said. Twist the Ether changes it to Fire (and increases it by 1 as well) so it gets an extra +1. The self damage is not changed to Fire (and set to decrease by 1, though it's irreducible) so it does not get that extra +1 and does not kill itself.

Ah yeah, missed the Twist!

Pissed, he hissed, "Missed the Twist!" shaking his fist, curving his wrist and… you get the gist.

Hmmm … Can Twist the Ether decrease irreducible damage?!

I feel like I'm missing something about how this is working. Doesn't Wrest the Mind require the Skunk Ape to hit itself for three damage each time it's redirected?

BTW, all of these are really cool. This has been fun to read.

Wrest the Mind has Visionary deal the damage, but Vis can't deal damage to to Wraith Throat Jabing her.

No it can't. That's why Compulsion Cannister still does 2 self damage.  LewdDolphin21 has it right.

The point is to choose "reduce damage by 1" whether the damage is reduced by 1 or not, you just don't want to choose "increase damage by 1" as that will kill the Skunkape.

But couldn't Wrest the Mind redirect the Compulsion Cannister damage, too?  Won't change the end result but keeps the skunk ape healthier and kills the Baron faster.

That is a very fair point! You could then put both the Aggression Modulators on the Skunk Ape safely, for a slightly faster kill too.

Ah! thanks

As mentioned here (https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1681100/near-auto-win-freedom-five-wraith-and-guise-combo) there is a F5 Wraith/Guise combo which allows Guise to have infinite card plays at the end of the environment turn.

Have Argent Adept use Counterpoint Bulwark to given Wraith and Guise one damage reduction each.

Have the Time Cataclysm play Surprise Shopping Trip. Then, when Guise starts playing an infinite amount of cards, the environment will burn through the Mobile Defense Platform, then Blade's front side, then Blade's reverse side.

BUT, you said not to use Time Cataclysm, so ...

Super Scientific Tachyon uses her power to put two Synaptic Interuptions in play. Captain Cosmic plays a Wounding Buffer on F5 Wraith and then uses his power to put a second Wounding Buffer on Guise. Parse plays Critical Multiplier. The Ruins of Atlantis play the Atlantean Font of Power. At the end of the environment turn, F5 Wraith and Guise use their shenanigans to discard enough cards so that, via Critical Multiplier, the two wounding buffers have +40 and +30 damage, respectively. In the process, Guise deals enough damage to destroy the Mobile Defense Platform. The Atlantean Font of Power causes Tachyon to play Lightning Reflexes, which allows Tachyon to play two Nimble Strikes, one each against F5 Wraith and Guise. Both Wounding Buffers retaliate against Tachyon, but both are redirected by the Synaptic Interuptions. The first flips Blade. The second destroys him.

NOTE: Feel free to substitute Slamara from The Enclave of the Endlings for the Atlantean Font of Power. This can also be done with MMFFCC's Shooting Gallery by having Guise do enough damage to Tachyon so that she has the least amount of hit points of any hero character card and therefore Shooting Gallery causes Tachyon to deal each of the Wounding Buffers 1 projectile damage.

Hey, that's hero damage! That doesn't count! Sure it does. It's not a hero CHARACTER card doing the damage, it's the Wounding Buffers. 

ALSO: Captain Cosmic plays a Wounding Buffer on Visionary and then uses his power to play an Autonomous Blade on the Wounding Buffer. Visionary plays Wrest the Mind on the Wounding Buffer. Parse plays Critical Multiplier. F5 and Parse use end of environment shenanigans to discard enough cards to boost the Wounding Buffer and the Autonomous Blade to +40 and +30, respectively (or vice versa), while Guise destroys the Mobile Defense Platform. Any end of turn environment damage that would hit Visionary triggers the Wounding Buffer, which gets redirected by Wrest the mind to flip Baron Blade, and then triggers the Autonomous Blade to destroy Baron Blade. I like the potentry of that last bit.

Or: Unity gets out a bot, Visionary plays Wrest the Mind on the bot, Parse/F5 Wraith/Guise do their shenanigans to boost the bot to +40, while Guise burns down the Mobile Defense Platform. Than MMGGCC's Carousel of Horrors causes Blade to discard a target, which triggers the bot to hit itself, but be redirected to Blade, flipping him. Then F5 Wraith or Guise discards a card, triggering their shenanigans again to boost the bot back to +30, then MMGGCC's Carousel of Horrors continues, causing Unity or Visionary to flip a target, triggering the bot to hit itself again, but be redirected to Blade, destroying him.

NOTE: Can use one of Captain Cosmic's projections instead of Unity's bot.

OR: Similarly, use Agent Adept or O-X, instead of Unity/Captain Cosmic's bot/projection, to give Visionary a second card play so she can get out Decoy Projection and play Wrest the mind on it and pull the same trick using Decoy Projection instead of a bot.

Zhu Long's Mysterious Ceremonies could also be subsituted for Atlantean Font of Power.

Celestial Judgement' The Celestial Chamber could put Called to Judgement into play, which would bring Representative of Earth into play, which could put O-X into play and then a hero could use O-X's power instead of the Altantean Font of Power to start Tachyon's playing of cards.

How does Wraith or Guise discarding a card from their deck trigger the Clandestine Funding loop?

My bad. I got that wrong. Was thinking it could be triggered by discards, but it's only by draws.

Does that work now?  I know the Retcon to double Sell Out didn't work on the video game early on, but my tablet died and I can't test it now, it also isn't listed in the fireside updates.

Double Sellout works and always has in the video game.  

Well, technically speaking it didn't always work.  It didn't start working until Guise was added.  

I'm sorry.  I'll go away now.

Guise programmed himself into the video game from the start but knew we were ready for him yet

That doesn't work.  Bee Bot has Unity deal the damage when it blows up, meaning Backlash Field will hit Unity for 3 damage, and put her at the lowest once Shinobi Assassin starts going after Heroes.

Huh.  You're right.  (also, it violates the "no hero damage rule", so there's that)

Hm…  Switch out the Bee Bots for Raptors, and have Wraith Improptu out her Throwing Knives and Utility Belt to kill the raptors before the Assassin can, and I think it still works.

The MDP is destroyed by then.

Just play out the two raptors, have them attack Blade and get destroyed by the backlash field.  They would deal 6 and 5 damage respectively.

Then play out the Shinobi Assassins as before.

Right.  Forgot about the backlash field.  So Wraith schenanigans are unneeded.

I've been making this a lot harder on myself than it should be, haven't I?

If Unforgiving Wasteland overwrites Baron Blade’s flip, I have a solution. If not, I’ve got nothing.
If it does, here’s my solution:
Get F5 Legacy, default Nightmist, RC Wraith, default AZ, and default Ra in that order.
First, Baron Blade plays my favorite card: Anything other than another MDP, all target damage, backlash field, or forcefield.
F5 Legacy plays Inspiring Presence and uses his power on Ra, who plays Imbued Fire.
Nightmist Oblivions up 2 fours, blowing up the platform and hitting blade for 6.
RC Wraith inventions, (Utility Belt), inventions, (Ordnance), and plays MTC, hitting blade for 9 and putting New Jersey Devil in play.
AZ transducers, then continuously hits himself until he’s down to 2, hitting BB for a whopping 21.
Ra flame spikes blade, blowing up Imbued Fire and doing nothing else
Environment plays Unforgiving Wasteland, and NJD removes Blade from the game.

BB’s card states that when it would destroyed, it flips instead. I think removing him from the game works.

Cool! Yeah, it could go either way, and this is such an unlikely situation that it would almost never happen in the video game.

If I had to guess, the video game would say something like, “which effect activates first?” in which case this works!