Ideas? Sentinels Randomizer Challenge

So the good ol' Sentinels Randomizer spit out this challenge today, and despite trying about half a dozen times, I haven't come close to beating it.  Any hints/ideas?

Villain:  Gloomweaver Skinwalker

Environment:  Dok'Thorath

Heroes:

Dark Watch Fixer

PW AA

PW Captain Cosmic

Nightmist

The problems are:

(1) Everything in the environment and the villain deck simply destroys CC's constructs before they can ever do much good.  Yes, technically his base power can provide a new card draw everytime an old construct gets destroyed, but far too often, I found myself replacing the invaluable Cosmic Weapon I had on Fixer, or the Augmented Ally/Dynamic Siphon on AA, with something like a Vitality Conduit, or worse, having no new constructs to play to replace the destroyed one.

(2) Maybe I'm using it wrong--I thought PW CC's power would be great on this setup, but against all of the AOE villains, it just results in a big do-over.  Ex:  I'd have 4-5 constructs in play, when suddenly, out would come the Cursed Acolyte, or Orbital Bombardment.  4 AOE damage, killing all of the constructs, and I can't replace any of them, because the AOE damage just kills them too.  So, my 4-5 constructs go away, and yes, PW CC gets draws, but 4-5 random card draws are rarely as good as the 4-5 carefully placed constructs he spent half the game trying to get into play.   It's like getting hit with Dawn's Devastating Aurora -- all of his cards are wiped and he has to start all over again.  

(3) This crew takes a LOOONG time to set up, and while they're doing that, Gloomy is pulling out minions and zombies to kill CC's constructs and whittle down the heroes' HP. 

(4)  Even worse, when he destroys a construct, Gloomy gets to play the top card off of HIS deck, which often as not, leads to some other card that whacks the heros/kills constructs.

(5) Once the heroes actually manage to flip Gloomwalker, he just tears them to shreds.  4 points AOE every round is an instant construct-killer, and every construct killed heals Gloomwalker.   Even with Fixer fully geared up, I can't pull together enough damage in this crew to do 100 HP of damage before Gloomy and his minions slaughter the lot of them.   

...and yes, I could stick Nightmist in Mist Form, and just have her turtle for hours until the environment kills Gloomy, but that's cheap, and none too satisfying.

Can’t remember if this works, but if you hide in Mistform, won’t Gloomy just kill himself (eventually)?

Sounds like a tough battle.... off the top my head the first idea that occurs to me is to throw NightMist in mistform after Gloomy flips.  I'm not sure that Gloomy's self damage would outpace his healing but that's ok.  Use PW AA's redirection incap ability on NightMIst repeatedly and once you've stacked it a bunch pop out of mistform and beat Gloomy down.

I believe it's possible, but it's hardly satisfying, and would take FOREVER, particularly because every environment target he kills heals him 2 HP.

What can you do with Captain Cosmic if you don't use his constructs? I have on occassion found surprising utility from a hero when I use them in a (to me) counterintuitive way.

CC is more limited in that regard than most heroes. His only two cards to have any utility when there are no constructs in play are Harsh Offense and Unflagging Animation, and Unflagging Animation isn’t particularly useful if you don’t plan on playing constructs.

The trick is to expect your constructs to die. Treat them as if they were all Guise ongoings, and you’ll only get one use out of them. Constructs like energy bracer and cosmic weapon become less useful, but you can still get a few good hits out of a wounding buffer or dynamic syphon. And if constructs make it back to your turn, blow them up yourself to get a little extra bonus.

Now, this isn’t the best solution against skinwalker gloomy because he gets a benefit when your targets die. But there’s only so much you can do. If nothing else, spend your time feeding Fixer cards.

Just remember Skinwalker Gloomweaver only gets a card play on his front side with the first destruction of a non-villain target.  So if destroy multiple Constructs and environment targets in the same turn there isn't more played by him.  

I'd say try and get Hoist Chain and Riveting Crane out and keep them out -- that plus Cosmic Weapon and Charge should seriously reduce how much damage Gloomweaver pumps out (saving the constructs) while letting him hit himself still. 

Manage the environment -- use Cosmic Crest to keep Constructs and CC safe from some of the environment cards, and use Dynamic Syphon on AA to kill the environment cards that doesn't block (or to just keep the Rebel HQ out). This should be one of AA's main jobs.

Spam Mistbound as often as you can on Gloomweaver's front side -- use Vernal Sonata to get it back and keep Gloomy from pumping out cards on big turns.

Consider using PWCC's power mainly for its draw, then once you've got a lot of good cards (and Cosmic Crest!) have PWAA help pump them out.

Stockpile Grease Guns, and use them once Gloomweaver flips. Nightmist should be your major damage dealer here -- slap on that Elder Ring and the Amulet of Elder Gods, have AA get her extra card plays and enjoy the heck out of that +2 against Gloomy.

That's how I'd go about it, anyway.

Skinwalker goes after the second lowest target. That means you can play 1 construct and it will not be attacked… i’ve been able to use that tactic a few times…

Also smoke bombs and twist the ether are great combo cards for CC against Skinwalker. That match up really is hard, but there are a few options.

Wraith and Visionary are not in this matchup.

I was just referring to how Cosmic can be useful against Skinwalker, not this match up specificly.

Okay, I just won this one, and here's what worked for me:

Front side:

Have Mr. Fixer start with Driving Mantis and keep it out at all costs, and put Wounding Buffer on someone else. This will let you get rid of most of the troublesome Environment cards as soon as they come out with minimal damage (preferably? Put it on AA, and pray you get Inspiring Supertonic fast).

Get Cosmic Crest out -- it will keep Voss's loyalists off your constructs and let you heal them back up when Gloomy hits them. I basically didn't play any other constructs until I got Cosmic Crest out. Put as many Autonomous Blades on Nightmist as you can, because she's guaranteed to damage something every turn, usually herself at the very least. At one point I had all three on her, so her power turned into "Draw two, take too damage, do six damage."

Environment Destruction is key for keeping Orbital Bombardment out of play.

Take your time setting up. Use Vernal Sonata to keep Mistbinding Gloomweaver as much as you can. Mr. Fixer should draw, draw, draw until he has at least three of: Grease Gun and Salvage Yard in some combination. He should also get out, and keep out, Hoist Chain and Harmony. You may have to keep him from attacking a couple rounds, but trust me, he will get his chance.

Get out lots of songs for AA, particularly Inventive Preparation. Cedistic Dissonant is also key in case one of the Relics shows up. Focus on taking out the Pouch of Bones, then wait until you have:

DWMR: Dual Crowbars, Harmony and Riveting Crane; the aforementioned Salvage Yard and Grease Guns.

PWAA: Just ... as much as you can get on him. As mentioned, Inventive Preparation, Inspiring Supertonic and Cedistic Dissonant are key.

PWCC: Cosmic Weapon in hand (or in the trash if you have Unflagging Animation) and as many Ongoings as you can get.

Nightmist: Everything. Just get everything out. The front side should take long enough for you to cycle through her whole deck.

Now, the first turn that he's flipped is going to be rough. Make sure the board is cleared of his cards beforehand if you can, and if you can, let Nightmist or the Environment get the flipping blow.

Let him take out one of PWCC's constructs first, then play Construct Cataclysm -- use his base power to play as many extra constructs as you can (saving Cosmic Weapon in hand) for some extra damage, and use it to draw once you run out of constructs to play. This should net you a solid 8 or 10 damage if you were able to keep constructs out. Redirect from Nightmist and he hits himself a couple times, so if you're lucky, he should already be down 15-20 HP.

Fixer's turn, if you've got a Bloody Knuckles, play it and whack Gloomweaver, then at Nightmist to whack him again. AA's turn, take care of any pesky environments, maybe heal, whatever, but have him play Grease Gun out of turn.

CC can play Cosmic Weapon on Fixer (Unflagging Animation FTW) and, if he has it, Augmented Ally, also on Fixer.

Nightmist: Start hitting Gloomweaver with everything she's got, but make sure she's got cards to discard for Fixer's redirects.

Gloomy should do a whole boatload of nothing with grease gun out.

Grease Gun should get destroyed before Augmented Ally kicks in, so go ahead and Cosmic Weapon Gloomy like you did before. Then play Salvage Yard to get Grease Gun back and Bitter Strike, taking out one of Captain Cosmic's Ongoings... well, you should see where this is going by now.

Don't be afraid to Overdrive and take out excess equipment others have, especially since you're going to be using Salvage Yard. But keep Fixer's set-up intact.

Ignore all other targets, spam Grease Gun with AA, and have Fixer and Nightmist wale on Gloomweaver until he goes down.

You might be wondering why Riveting Crane instead of Greased Monkey Fist. As I said, you are ignoring other targets here -- so if his cultists come out and defend him, you don't have to waste time killing them (and healing Gloomweaver).

It can be tricky, but it's doable.

Out of curiosity, how many tries did it take you, and how many incaps (or if none, how low was everybody's HP)?

Two tries; the first I restarted because both the environment and Gloomy put out a bunch of really rough cards right at the start, my HP was dwindling way too fast, and none of the cards I wanted or needed popped up.

No incaps, Fixer, AA and CW were all at 10 HP, while Nightmist (who got Master of Magic out first turn) was at 20.

And the final round was pretty do-or-die. I'd run out of grease guns, vernal sonatas and salvage yards, one of his damaging relics had come out, all the zombies and both Chosen Disciples, one profane zealot and Strength of the Grave. I think it was on AA's turn that he went down.

Though come to think of it, the relic being out turned out to be a blessing in disguise -- it gave Fixer another target for the first strike of Dual Crowbars without killing it and healing Gloomweaver.

Good stuff. Thanks