Advanced Ennead

A propos of little, I've been enjoying recently taking a hand-picked team against the Advanced Ennead:

Legacy

Ra

Tempest

Haka

Fanatic

My thinking was that I wanted the boost from Legacy, the AoE from Tempest, and then as much consistent damage as I can muster. Ra's nemesis bonus, Imbued Fire boost, and AoE from Scorched Earth are all also greatly desired. 

I've won less then half of the matches so far. One unexpected star card has been Heroic Interception. A couple of my wins had everyone at high health except for Legacy, who was low or incapacitated. Another great card has been Ground Pound.

I am not claiming that these five are the best configuration for beating the Advanced Ennead. They just happen to be what I was playing. I imagine getting Argent Adept to give Tempest more power uses would be pretty cool, as would getting out Mr. Fixer's Jackhandle or Dual Crowbars. Expatriette's Submachine gun with an attached Hollow Points would be pretty sweet, too. 

The team configuration makes sense and with the amount of cards they play which are damaging Ground Pound and Heroic Interception.  

I tried a random grouping against them and survived only due to how many power uses I could give AZ once all the other heroes were down.   I'd use Thermal Shockwave a few times and then use Coolant Blast.   Due to the villain reshuffling AZ was often hit by fire damage there too which was great.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qhfho9k61gtqgx7/photo%20aug%2011%2C%2011%2021%2042%20pm.png?dl=0

Especially once Set had been flipped Take Down is great every time it comes up with that group.  

One really disgusting combo you could try is Legacy + Visionary + TL Tachyon.  You use TL + Visionary to give Legacy the draw to find 2 Take Downs, and then you just use Mental Divergence to cycle them.  To be fair, that works against MOST villains, but especially so against Ennead, because plays are everything to them.

Edit: Add in Argent Adept, and you could do it with just 1 Take Down.  AA Sarabande's Take Down away, Mental Divergence puts it back on top, TL gives him the draw, he plays it on his turn.  With Rhapsody of Vigor and Motivational Charge, you could keep that up forever.

I'd want to try that. The team placement would be AA-Vish-TL Tach-Legacy?

Yup.

Don't even need Rhapsody and Motivational Charge if you have Next Evolution – Take Down's damage hits Legacy at the end of the turn, so you could play the card, make him immune to Energy and you're golden.

Wouldn't that mean that Take Down wouldn't be in play when the villain turn came 'round?

Why wouldn't Take Down be in play?

Take Down's effect isn't conditional on the damage. The card reads:

Villain cards cannot be played.
At the end of your turn, the Villain Target with the highest HP deals Legacy 2 Energy Damage.
At the start of your turn, destroy this card.

Fair enough.