Time Cataclysm, the Chairman, and my brain

I figured out last week (while away from my decks, of course; mutter mutter) that the only way to beat the Chairman is with Legacy making himself immune to a category of damage and then taking the hits for everyone. Eager to test my theory, I randomly rolled up some allies and an environment, and ended up with the Time Cataclysm.

I was doing pretty well, but toward the end of the game–I hadn’t shuffled the villain trash yet, and everyone but the Chairman had HP in the teens–the environment deck played the card Surprise Shopping Trip. If you don’t know it, its text says that whenever a card enters play, each target is dealt one melee damage.

The next card to come out of the villain deck was Prison Break. The trash had not yet been shuffled and all five underbosses were in the deck, so they all came out at once, and then each one brought out a henchman to go with.

Legacy’s Lead From the Front couldn’t protect the heroes, since the damage was being inflicted by an environment card, but that’s not the point. The point is, I wonder when exactly this damage is being inflicted. I…

Ugh, this question is complicated. Never mind, let me tell you what I did and you can tell me what I did wrong.

The first card to come out was the Deputy. I inflicted one point of damage to him, to the Operative, and to the only one of my heroes who had no armor to absorb the melee damage for a card being player. The second card to come out was the Fence, so I inflicted one point of damage to him, to the Deputy, to the Operative, and to my unarmored hero. Each card played took one less damage than the card before it, in short.

Was that how it should have happened, or did Prison Break cause each underboss to come out simultaneously, so that each one would have taken five HP of damage?

What about at the end of the turn, when each underboss brought out a henchman? Do they come into play one at a time, or separately?

Thank you for any answers, and for alleviating the headache I have inflicted upon myself.

Nothing in Sentinels happens simultaneously.  I believe you handled this correctly, with one exception.  My understanding is that one shots enter play as well, so everything currently in play (ie your unshielded hero and the Operative) should have taken damage for Prison Break.

Since Prison Break doesn't specify an order, you can choose what order the underbosses come into play.  This is important, because end of turn effects trigger in the order the cards came into play.  So the thugs will come into play one at a time in a fixed order determined by the order you chose for the underbosses.  If one underboss dies before they summon their thug, then that thug will not get summoned.

So when the Hired Gun came out, I could have made him attack Ra first, so Ra’s Flame Barrier (enhanced by a Staff of Ra) would have destroyed him before his attacks could have carried on to the other heroes?

Yup!

Wow, that opens itself to a lot of possibilities and even abuses. Like, there’s an environment card in Insula Primalis* that deals two points of damage to every target, and two more to every hero who doesn’t destroy an ongoing card. Could I, just for instance, hit all the villain targets with the damage first, then blow up Unity’s Bee-bot to destroy the environment card before damage affects the heroes?

*EDIT: Oops, I was thinking of Wagner Mars Base. Still, though.

That's not abuse, that's standard practice, brother.

There isn't a card in Insula Primalis that does that exact thing but you could do it with Volcanic Erruption, which is even better at 7 damage to each target!

EDIT: And that's what happens when you open a thread and then leave to go cook something, you get Ninja'ed by Spiff!

Yeah, totally intended.

The standard is the old End of Days + Bee Bot combo.

End of Days takes out all the villain's stuff. Then it destroys Bee Bot. Then Bee Bot destroys End of Days, and the heroes' stuff is left completely unharmed. 

I don't think that works.  End of Days doesn't hit targets it is an encompassing destroy affect. I can see choosing the order but destroying bee bot to me doesn't eliminate the main affect to me.  If that has been discussed elsewhere I apologize, but the wording on End of Days to me would seem to still work. The exception to me being that you took it out before it triggers with the environment turn. 

It has been confirmed that when a source of an effect is destroyed, the effect ends, even if it hasn't been completed.  End of Days + Bee Bot meets those requirements.  There are no simulatenous effects in SotM, and this includes effects that damage or destroy everything.

Quotes from Spiff's Rules and Clarifications:

​ > destroying a card before it’s finished 

dealing damage to the rest of the hero targets

​ > resolve each effect completely before moving on 

​ > there will be times when it looks like effects in the game should happen 

may choose the order in which each instance of damage occurs.

Quotes hate proper formating.  Sorry about that.

Thanks for the info

For End of days to be unstoppable they would word it so:

At the start of the Environment turn destroy this card.

When this card is destroyed destroy all cards in play, other than Relics and Character cards.

That way destroying it would not stop it's effect, and once the destruction process starts it cannot be double destroyed or anything.

Wait, there's only one way to beat the Chairman?

Yes, both the Operative and the chairman cards must hit 0 hp

*cough* Wrathful Gaze *cough* Sucker Punch *cough Fling Into Darkness *cough* Pipe Wrench *cough*

You forgot Cornered Beast ;).

That's a pretty bad case of Ass Whuping Cough you have there, especially when it substitutes Pipe Wrenchs for Tire Irons!

Yea, I know, but that made the joke so much harder to pull off.

The only other way I’ve ever managed it is to bury mooks (and the Muscle) under Haka’s Savage Mana, and the odds on that one are a lot longer.

Now I don't have a photographic memory but I've played a lot of Chairman games and don't remember him being earth-shatteringly difficult. Sure, he's hard, and we don't always win, but he's by no means unbeatable. 

I have never won against him, and I never remember to play him correctly either. Too easy to get bogged down in the thugs and underbosses, actually... I think I've only ever flipped him once... I have a really bad track record against any Rank 4 villain

I've often believed that the best lineup of heroes is all the complexity 1 heroes.  These don't need much set-up to do damage and they can do quite a bit.  And because they don't need much set-up they don't have to worry much about the villian destroying their equipment or ongoings.  To test this theory I pitted the complexity 1 heroes from the base game against a difficulty 4 villian.  I chose to fight The Chairman and I wiped him out.  I think what helped the most was 2 Ground Pounds and 1 heroic interception.

Those level 1 villains also happen to be some of the most powerful.  Which is cool, because that lets new players have an uncomplicated and powerful character.