Weekly One-shot #82: Double Time

Biomancer, Baron Blade, The Operative, La Capitan, and Bugbear vs Chrono-Ranger, Expatriette, Mr. Fixer, Tempest, and Argent Adept, in the TIME CATACLYSM.

Well, this is pretty intimidating, but I managed to come out on top.  Solid Mint, with everyone a little over 10 hp.

I did what I always do when I can and banished Chiquito to the bottom of Helena's deck using No Executions.  Atlantean Throne Room slowed the entire game down, except for Mr. Harmonious Tiger Claw Jackhandle Fixer, who doesn't care about royalty, or other defenses.  It did however, make everyone immune to the Surprise Shopping Trip.  Everyone, that is, except for Bugbear, who we had been instructed to take down By Any Means.  It turns out that Surprise Shopping Trip triggers a great deal in a five hero team villain game.  That took away over half his health.  Then La Capitan's Chronological Hot Spot tried to make Mr. Fixer deal himself 3 damage.  Or in this case, blindly lash out at all the villains for 4 irreducible.  Tempest managed to chain his Gene-Bound Shackles, AA let Mr. Fixer play another Overdrive, and the only villains left were Biomancer and Baron Blade, each at 1.  A little Opressive Smog meant that they stayed at 1, and Chrono-Ranger kept his Eyes on the Prizes, and finished them off.

Mint barely, with Tempest the only one left alive with 1 whole HP. I thought the Throne Room would hurt more than help so I let it go away, which probably wasn't good in retrospect. I was only saved from the Shopping Spree by accidently ordering things so that Expatriette died before her turn, letting her give Adept the power use to blow it up. Didn't bury Chiquito because dealing with Bugbear and the deadly Ongoings seemed far more important, and it probably was. Opressive Smog hoses Biomancer pretty badly, of course.

Actually, I was surprised at the amount of ongoing destruction the heroes had this game.  Between Tempest repeatedly using Ball Lightning, a Temporal Grenade, and AA's Sarabande, the only reason an ongoing was still out was because it wasn't worth the time to destroy.  And even that wasn't enough to keep them safe.

So... have I mentioned how much I HATE Surprise Shopping Trip? Turned out that turn was NOT the right time for poor Mr. Fixer to play Bloody Knuckles :(

Mint, with AA down, Fixer at -3 an the rest around 10.

Bloody Knuckles, Tiger Claw, Jack Handle and Riveting Crane are a beastly combination, but fixed point came on the second to last Environment turn.

I threw myself blindly into it and don't think I even took out a single villain. In hindsight, I think leaving Throne Room in play and relying on Tiger Claw might be the best idea. I never did see Fixed Point, though, and I was really wanting to get a second style in play. I guess I oughta leave the Rifts out for as long as possible. I'll also try burying Chiquito! Never thought of that...

Fine. Managed to misplay two games straight and died with one villain remaining. Third time I changed up my strategy enough to do it. Should have remembered the No Executions strategy on Chiquito, and I really should have focused more on Bugbear. Didn't realize how dangerous he was at first.

Mint.

It was a skin of the teeth situation, though.  Atlantean Throne Room, Oppressive Smog and Jack Handle/Tiger Claw is what did it.  Otherwordly Resilience kept Tempest alive and helpful. Chrono-Ranger did quite a bit of damage too, before he went down at the end.  Argent Adept was taken out relatively early...I think either right before or right after Bugbear went out.

Misplayed a couple of things, like accidentaly boosting Argent Adept's damage (?!) instead of Tempest's with a Syncopated Onslaught and I kept using choose for me for area damage, only to realize that I should hit Chiquito first when he's got one card under him, instead of La Capitan.  I think that kept her alive longer than she otherwise would have been. And I never learned from my mistake. I think I did it almost every time.

As a result, La Capitan was the last villain to fall. It was close: Chrono-Ranger, Expatriette and Argent Adept were incapped, Mr. Fixer at 1HP and Tempest at 5HP.

Got through it with a Near Mint. Never could keep No Executions on Chiquito long enough for it to work, but it didn't matter. Cruised to a win on the combination of Alternating Tiger Claw, Jack Handle, Atlantean Throne Room and Oppressive Smog.

Always, always, ALWAYS rush Bugbear first. Every incap gives him not only more damage but feeds his life steal making him more and more unkillable. And once you start on him you have to continue the pressure or he'll just heal it back up. Pretty much the only thing that's higher priority are targets that hamper your ability to deal damage/keep things in play, and Steel's Agents.

My first game, I was able to use Tempest's incap ability to neutralize Bugbear rather completely; the only reason I died was Cueball showed up and I had like no HP left so his projectile damage beat me. A couple more terms and I probably would have pulled through.

Got the Near Mint in my second try. Knowing when Surprise Shopping Trip would drop so I wouldn't play Bloody Knuckles on *that* damn turn made all the difference in the world!

Pretty straightforward Mint.  Went for the Operative first, as her incap doesn't do anything really if Scholar isn't in the game.  Then went after Biomancer for similar reasons.  Eventually whiddled down the rest of them and killed them off in one final jack handle blast.  MVPs were Atlantean Throne Room helping to keep us alive and feeding us cards, and Oppressive Smog shutting down Bugbear.

Near Mint, but only because I tried it on too little sleep and made repeated bad decisions.  Also got hammered by Surprise Shopping Trip + Bloody Knuckles because Atlantean Throne Room was out and I couldn't do basic math at the time, and I kept trying to get extra card plays while Impulsion Beams were out.  Even still, the only villain who survived the first battle was The Operative, with 7 HP.  She's normally negligible... until she starts Iaijutsuing people.  Then it's just over.

Second game was smooth sailing.  Took out Blade and Bugbear quickly with contracts, and once the environment shuts down healing, the rest of these guys just have nothing to work with.

Mint, with pretty much the same experience as others. My first time playing any of these villains except Bio-Mancer who I knew could be ignored until last. Suprise Shopping Trip + Atlantean throne room + By Any Means had Bugbear dead in no time with no real damage to anyone else. I kept the Atlantean Throne room around since Mr. Fixed didn't care and I always stuck By Any Means on the next baddie I wanted dead. Picked on Baron Blade who went quickly and then everyone else went down not too long after that. Ended with everyone in the 6-9 hit point range. I ignored all the minions- between Tempest and Mr. Fixer, they went down fairly quick on their own.

Relatively easy Mint, final HP 4/8/7/4/7 due to the complete and total lack of healing. But the lack of healing due to the eventual environment shutdown hurt the enemy far, far more than it hurt me.

My round 1 plan went sideways when the villains played multiple forms of Ongoing destruction, so I spent round 2 doing other stuff and round 3 getting my plan re-set in motion thanks to Vernal Sonata. After three rounds, Fixer was set up for good with Jack Handle, ATC, and Harmony, and everyone else did what they could.

CR only saw two copies of Sudden Contract and never saw a bounties-from-trash card, so I had to make do with only By Any Means and No Executions. BAM was enough to get Bugbear dead in the round that Surprise Shopping Trip came out - he killed himself with his card play that round. No Executions shut down La Capitan, as others have noted.

Expat spent several turns using Arsenal Access until I started getting a hand full of Ammo. Three consecutive rounds of an Assault Rifle with Hollow Points (thanks, Fixer, for digging ammo out of the trash) was key in whittling down Operative/LC/Blade.

Tempest destroyed Ongoings and generally did a whole bunch of damage until the Throne Room came out, then he eventually drew some more damage one-shots.

AA mostly destroyed ongoings until he eventually had the chance to pass card plays around. Ruin came out early, so I never bothered playing any instruments.

Kill order was Bugbear, then LC/Operative in one round later, then Blade/Biomancer one round after that.

The surprise discovery for me in this game was the unexpected interaction between The Operative's incap ability and Opressive Smog.  Her setting the healing to a fixed "1" allowed me to keep using AA's Rhapsody of Vigor to heal the heroes 1hp each while the Smog kept Bugbear and Biomancer from healing.

That would be a bug. The heroes wouldn't gain HP, because of Oppressive Smog. We'll fix that up.

Near Mint. The first choice of which villain ongoing to destroy with La Capitan is a big one. I found that Iaido was the best one.

Also let the throne room sit for a round, so it nullifies the shopping trip.