I managed to beat (Advanced) Chairman @ Rook City on my first try.
Here's (roughly) how:
Team: Legacy/Argent Adept/Ra/Visionary
For about the first half of the game, legacy was using a galvanize/motivational charge combo, eventually boosted by Inspiring presence.
Later on, he got out a lead from the front, superhuman durability and next evolution.
Argent Adept did normal stuff for him, though what ended up helping the most was stack-playing the draw 5, hand/trash/etc. (Arcane Cadence I think). Letting Legacy use a 2nd next evolution every round was pretty darn useful too.
Ra... umm... did lots of damage.
Visionary ended up doing most of the work though, got a couple early brain burns out thanks to adept's vernal sonata (first one burned her, 2nd one was redirected to a decoy). I had her do a tiny bit of damage at least once too (psychic maelstrom), and lots of card draws to legacy. Oh, and having an ambitious racketeer shoot Operative a few times was nice too.
Oddly enough, rook city was what ended up winning it for me. About halfway through the game, I got out a Dr. Tremata, who got a Tony Taurus two turns later. Tony let me avoid a couple of Jailbreaks, which pretty much saved the game for me.
Final HP Totals:
Legacy: 4/AA: 2/Ra:4/Visionary: 3
First post Btw. Didn't do a story this time, but I think I will next time I post something like this. Gave me lotsa confidence about strategies. Not taking damaged thanks to legacy seems a bit OP imo though? Maybe next time I'll try without him.
(Confession: It wasn't the first time I fought chairman, I fought him earlier today with Fixer/Wraith/Expat/Nightmist, not on advanced... got wrecked)
That's really excellent. You seem to have a very good handle on the cards for someone who, I'm guessing, has not played a whole lot.
Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel
Early Brain Burns are SO useful against The Organization! Good work! Sounds like you had some incredible synergy with this team! It is extra impressive that you did it on your first try in Rook City. That place is a real [explitive]hole.
Ra, God of the Fun
Draw, God of the Sun
The Matriarch's Psychic damage is her forcing a gratuitous amount of Snapple facts about birds into a hero's brain.
Well, 20th game or so. I got my copy of it as a late Christmas gift 2 weeks ago, and the 2 expansions last Tuesday (played a friends' set about 5 times before that, was hooked immediately). Also, I picked the team specificially because I figured it gave me the best chance against him. I played all 4 heroes solo btw. Flamethrower's strategy guides helped immensly.
I yet have to beat the chairman on advanced with 3 players only. Up to now my best game was one in which Only the Chairman was left with 6HP. The underboss that brings hitmen is tough! Whenever he comes, all heroes take 6 hp, and this will probably happen for 2-3 rounds
You could try playing with Ab'Zero and try to get out the Subzero Atmospheres card - this is an Ongoing which says that any villain card which would act at the end of the turn instead acts at the start. This means that any Underbosses or Thugs who come out can't act in the same turn in which they're played, because they would normally act at the end of the turn. So you get a whole free round in which to try and take them out before they start kicking your arse at the start of the next turn. Subzero Atmospheres is pretty good against Voss as well, for the same reason.
I am the Wordweaver...
Basically, I like writing stuff ;)
Actually Sub-Zero atmosphere isn't really that much help against the The Chairman, as The Operative will just bring out Underbosses at the start of the turn instead, infact it just makes things worse as some underbosses have start of turn effects and will activate right away. Also the underbosses would then bring someone out and then would proceed to do their effects. After Operative is gone then Sub-Zero Atmosphere would be a good play.
Ah yes, fair point. Arse :P.
I am the Wordweaver...
Basically, I like writing stuff ;)
Still have yet to defeat (or come close... at all) The Ennead on Advanced. They... just... hurt... so... bad... and make lots of cards useless, because of the lack of non-character card villain targets. No idea what's a good team to use.
I can't even imagine how strong the Ennead are on advanced. The closest game I had against them on Advanced mode was on normal where in the first 5 turns 3 Ennead were brought out. They eventually cycled the whole deck and brought out the rest of them as well, so it didn't turn out to well. At least 4 of them were incapped though!
The Ennead are lots of targets with medium amounts of HP. 28 HP may seem like a lot, but it's small compared to, say Omnitron's 100. SO, you want someone like Tempest who can hit all of them at once, and then you want to boost Tempest as much as possible.
Try Tempest, Legacy, Fanatic, and Ra.
Also, it wouldn't hurt to fight in Insula Primalis where the dinosaurs might target the Ennead and where you might get some Obsidian Fields.
Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel
Tempest with his Gene-Bound Shackles works well against the Ennead, as long as you keep all the available targets at roughly the same hp - this way, Tempest can use Squall or Grievous Hailstorm and hit every target with his Shackles bonus by just hitting the thing with the highest hp first, which lowers its hp enough that a different target now has the highest hp :D.
Previously, we've done quite well against the Ennead but the other day they totally kicked our arses :P.
I am the Wordweaver...
Basically, I like writing stuff ;)
Thanks for the tips guys. I never really thought about using target-all, but it IS mathematically sound, now isn't it?
EDIT: Did what arenson9 suggested, with the notable exception that I used Tachyon instead of Fanatic. Yeah, Tempest basically rocked their socks. Never got Inspiring Presence out, but did get imbued fire out the first turn. Set coming up last saved me a substantial headache too. Never got Genebound Shackles, but it was definitely a great idea.
One of the things I love about Sentinels is that even if I've found a great way to defeat a villain, such as using Tempest against The Ennead, there are always new things to try out and/or new ways to play to bring the challenge/hardness levels into an interesting zone.
How would you defeat The Ennead _without_ Tempest?
Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel
Although, if you don't get the right cards, a strategy and character that helped you win before, may not help you in a different game.
Good ideas are usually just bad ideas a stubborn person eventually fixed.
Use Mr Fixer :-)
Who is absolutely awesome together with Argent, against Enneads
Sub-Zero Atmosphere is great as long as there are still Prison Breaks in the deck. Only two of the Underbosses actually have start of turn effects that actually hurt you if Sub-Zero Atmosphere is out, and they only do it once, whereas the Hit Man will, guaranteed, murder everybody three times per game. It also reduces the chance of 2 Underbosses coming out in a single turn.
I have to say, when I played against the Advanced Ennead, strong single target damage was usually more useful for us than area damage. Area damage tends to get countered by area healing. Hypersonic Assault was dead handy, though.