Way-too-early variant unlock speculation

Counting future decks (from OblivAeon and the mini-expansions), there are (if I've counted right) 29 hero variants and one villain variant yet to be released in the video game.

I thought I'd see if anyone had ideas (that they were allowed to share) about what the unlock requirements might end up being for some of these remaining variants. Obviously, I don't expect to get any of these 100% right - most, if not all, of them will have additional requirements about what cards must have been played, or must be in play, or must not be in play, or character order, or... you get it. This is more a starting point to see what people think might happen. And for some of them, without knowing their decks, it's really hard to come up with things they might have to do.

Variants tagged "OblivAeon KS" were unlocked for the physical game as part of the OblivAeon Kickstarter, and Handelabra has said multiple times that they won't release those until OblivAeon itself has shipped to its Kickstarter backers (Omnitron-U being a one-off for their Season 2 Kickstarter).

Villain:

Unstable Kismet - Defeat standard Kismet. Then, while fighting in the Block, have n Prison Riots played during one game.

Already-released heroes:

Dark Conductor AA - Lose to Biomancer with regular (or PW) Argent Adept on the team. Then, ???

Fused CC (OblivAeon KS) - Defeat standard Infinitor, then defeat Heroic Infinitor. Captain Cosmic must be the first hero in (at least one of the two, maybe both).

Best of Times Chrono-Ranger - Defeat La Capitan in single-villain mode, then defeat La Capitan in team mode in the Final Wasteland. Chrono-Ranger must participate in both battles, must not be incapacitated in either, and may need to deal the final damage to La Capitan in the second game. (La Comodora may be required, which would push this back to after OblivAeon's digital release, but there are few enough variants not waiting on OblivAeon to ship that I'd think they'd want to get this one out sooner rather than later.)

Fugue State Parse (OblivAeon KS) - Omnitron and Progeny are probably both involved somehow.

Setting Sun Ra (OblivAeon KS) - OblivAeon, The Ennead, Fanatic, Fort Adamant, and (the Tomb of) Anubis all play roles in the story comic this relates to. Not being a playtester, I'm unclear on exactly how OblivAeon's play mode is going to work, but I seem to recall hearing that it uses multiple environments and might allow for villainous characters to contribute in some way.

Extremist Sky-Scraper (OblivAeon KS) - From the story excerpt provided, it would make sense to have Luminary and possibly Tachyon involved in some way.

Unleashed Visionary (OblivAeon KS) - Have the Argent Adept heal Dark Visionary for x amount of HP (in a single game? A single burst?).

Freedom Five: (OblivAeon KS) - All quotes in this section are from the KS update that revealed these variants.

F5 Legacy - The Freedom Five have "seen the worst of time and the worst of space". This would seem to suggest Time Cataclysm and/or the Nexus of the Void.

F5 Bunker - "Lt. Tyler Vance has been pulled in multiple directions lately. The U.S. military was revealed to be capturing and training/reprogramming super-powered individuals AND stocking items of great power. Lt. Vance’s duty to his superior officers were running in direct conflict with his duty to his team." More Chokepoint goodness?

F5 Tachyon - ??? I got nothing.

F5 Wraith - The mask on this costume kinda reminds me of Spite, which suggests to me that fighting him might be a requirement (ugh).

F5 AZ - "If he hadn’t been so abysmally bored, he would have just stayed in the cryo-chamber and goofed around on the internet for the rest of his frigid life." Have Cryo Chamber in play at the same time Freedom Tower's card Frost's Cryo Chamber is also active?

Xtreme Prime Wardens: (OblivAeon KS) - Each member of the team will likely have the first step or two be essentially the same: "Lose to Progeny, then defeat Biomancer (possibly in the Ruins of Atlantis), then..."

XPW AA - Have (specific variant of?) AA be incapacitated by damage dealt by Ruin.

XPW CC - ???

XPW Fanatic - Probably something to do with the Court of Blood and/or Apostate. Jeremy has mentioned that Christopher wanted PW Fanatic's unlock to involve the CoB, but Handelabra shot that down because it meant they wouldn't be able to release hers at the same time as the other PWs; I can't imagine that's not going to be involved in XPW.

XPW Haka - PW Haka is incapacitated in Magmaria.

XPW Tempest - ???

Mini-Pack 4 Heroes:

Benchmark: Supply and Demand - ???

Action Hero Stuntman - ???

Void Guard (Mini-Pack 5) Heroes: - I wouldn't be surprised if each of these has a Step 1 that's something like "Lose to Chokepoint in Ft. Adamant with the Adamant Sentinels on the team (or, perhaps, with a team consisting of the regular Void Guard heroes). Then..."

Malpractice Dr. Medico - Regular VG Dr. Medico deals damage that defeats Skinwalker Gloomweaver on his "Rotting God" side, possibly in Challenge or Ultimate mode.

Road Warrior Mainstay - "After" the events of OblivAeon, says the KS update that introduced these variants, which suggests to me that at least one requirement is to defeat OblivAeon with regular VG Mainstay participating.

Super-Sentai Idealist - ???

Cosmic Inventor Writhe - ???

OblivAeon Heroes:

Akash'Thriya, Spirit of the Void - Have regular Akash'Thriya incapacitated by OblivAeon with the Nexus of the Void as an environment. Then, ???

La Comodora: Curse of the Black Spot - Win a game in the Nexus of the Void with La Comodora active, but at less than 10 HP.

DW Harpy - Defeat Progeny in Rook City with Tachyon (any specific version?) and regular The Harpy on the team. Tachyon must be incapacitated; The Harpy must not be incapacitated, but must not deal damage that reduces Progeny to 0 or fewer HP.

Blood Mage Lifeline - Defeat Deadline in the Enclave of the Endlings. Then, ???

Ivana Ramonat, Luminary - Fight Iron Legacy in Mordengrad with regular Luminary and either America's Finest or America's Newest Legacy on the team.

Completionist Guise - Unlock every other variant in the game. If playing on a platform that supports achievements (I know Steam does, not sure about Android or iOS), may also require completing all of those, though that might be harder to check.

I'm willing to elaborate on where I got these ideas if asked.

Based on the Letters Page Tachyon episode it seems like it would involve either losing to Progeny with Tachyon or having Tachyon incapped in a Progeny match.   Harpy may need to be involved in the fight.  

That's pretty much what I have for Dark Watch Harpy, though, and I think it makes more sense for her than for F5 Tachyon.

I suppose either F5 Tachyon or XPW Tempest could involve Kaargra, since there was that whole thing, but I wonder if that would make more sense for him than for her.

DW Harpy happens still after Progeny though.  And F5 Tachyon built the suit she has because of her encounter with Progeny. 

You know, if these are close to what they plan, they might have to change it now to something harder and more complex! Who knows they might add thinks like Ultimate Mode to get an unlock!

I hope not.  DW Setback was rough enough and that didn't require Ultimate.  

That's why we shouldn't give anyone ideas! :P. I kid. I kid… I'm actually wondering which variants will be available in the next expansion.

Hard to say at this point.  I have to imagine Handelabra plans to release multiple variants between VotM and before OblivAeon.  At the least as something to sate players while they work on OblivAeon. 

My theory for unlocking any of the Xtream Prime Wardens:

Play any game with Prime Warden on the team whilst listening to Dragonforce on Pandora or some other way.

I will add "while doing a wicked BMX trick"to that

Don't forget "and reading a Rob Liefeld comic".

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F5 Wraith - The mask on this costume kinda reminds me of Spite, which suggests to me that fighting him might be a requirement (ugh).

F5 Wraith doesn't seem likely to involve Spite as her last interaction with him took place before the Agent of Gloom/Skinawalker event.  I would imagine it at least involves using all of her cards which give card draw being played.  

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La Comodora: Curse of the Black Spot - Win a game in the Nexus of the Void with La Comodora active, but at less than 10 HP.

This is supposed to be where her story begins so I would guess something involving Final Wasteland or Time Catacylsm going against the either one the villain La Capitan decks or both.   The incap for La Capitan in VotM is the first time in the card game we've seen La Comodora.  

The other interesting discussion point from this would be when will each variant released with the upcoming sets?

Chrono-Ranger: BoT and Kismet are both likely to come with Villains (the former was hired to bring down La Capitan and Kismet's variant is tightly coupled with Madame Mittermeier's)

Kvothe will likely release with Villains with the Dark Argent variant used in the foil pack (and I think he's strongly connected to Biomancer, since we see a Fleshchild Argent within his deck)

Pretty much any of the 11 new heroes will likely get their variants when their hero releases

Who all does that leave?

Freedom Five

X-Treme Prime Wardens

Fused Captain Cosmic

Completionist Guise

Parse: Fugue State

Ra: Setting Sun

Extremist Sky-Scraper

Visionary Unleashed

With the exception of the X-Treme Prime Wardens and Completionist Guise, all of those variants story wise are strongly related to OblivAeon. Wonder if we'll really get 15+ variants with the OblivAeon set, if they'll release them after the fact, or if they'll get sprinkled in between sets (it would make sense to do so, but since they're thematically tied to the event in some form, it'd likely be weird to release them before that.)

Handelabra will likely release some before OblivAeon simply because that's a lot of content to release all at once otherwise.   I think the F5 variants are pre OblivAeon as they get ready for him and not during.   Benchmark, Luminary, and Stuntman come from other universes so they are more tied to Nightmist opening gates to them so while Luminary would have to wait until his deck is ready in OblivAeon the other two should be available without the OblivAeon set.  Fused Captain Cosmic seems like it occur as OblivAeon is coming in but before he arrives at earth.   Fugue State Parse occurs from encountering the code again that made her into a hero to begin with and appears after she recovers.   Visionary Unleashed doesn't sound tied directly to OblivAeon just her getting help from Argent Adept to free herself from her dark personality.  Extremist Sky-Scraper only needed the help from Luminary so that's the only one I'm not sure of whether it would be done before OblivAeon or not. 

I think DC Argent, the XTREME Prime Wardens, F5, and maybe Visionary Unleashed are likely to come out before OblivAeon does.

I so can't wait for DC Argent and the XTREME PWs because I want to see what their bios will look like. Also you just know XTREME Argent's power sound effect will be hilarious.

I feel like each of the Xtreme PWS each should have their own Xtreme sound affect for their power.  

I want the scream from the start of 'Highway Star'.

(I think that's the song I mean)