So right about the time I started playtesting for IR, I moved to a new city, and I live alone. As a result, I started playing lots of solo games, and I found that I actually liked doing it. As a result, when my job started making me travel a lot, I started bringing my cards with me and playing in the hotels in the evenings. After playing lots of carefully crafted teams, I decided I wanted more challenge and variety, so I started using Spiff's Randomizer to pick my heroes, villains, environments, and even the hero turn order. The following is one such session.
Villain: The Matriarch
Environment: Realm of Discord
Heroes (in turn order): Absolute Zero (AZ), Argent Adept (AA), Ra, Visionary
Well, no "tough" heroes to soften the blows (Ta Moka, Fortitude, etc.), so it seemed like my best option would be to try for Twist the Ether on Matriarch, to channel her damage into cold, which Absolute Zero could absorb. I set about my task, but things went wrong right from the start. The Matriarch got out something like 8 birds on turn 1, which I foolishly killed (along with her Mask), just before Darken the Skies. I killed her Mask a total of 3 times, and each time, she drew Darken the Skies the next turn. She also got out the dual cohorts relatively early. The team finally died due to an avian explosion aided by a Carrion Fields (but they would have died to the birds themselves if they hadn't killed them).
No problem, I'd try again.
The first game I used Visionary's Enlighten on a couple of different heroes, but she never got Twist the Ether, so this game I resolved to use it only on her until she found Twist the Ether.
Rematch:
Things started off fairly similar with the Matriarch getting about 8 birds on turn one with her "stoppers" being Carrion Fields and Darken the Skies (a wasted first turn Darken gave me hope). With Carrion Fields out from the start, I decided to just take the Fowl damage rather than killing them, and AA used Counterpoint Bulwark on Ra and AZ to help lessen the hurt. Turn 2 her stoppers were both Horrid Cacophonies with some birds in between. I get a bit fuzzy on the next few turns, but thanks to Imbued Frailty I was able to kill the mask and the Carrion Fields, and I went ahead and "popped" the birds (all 15 were now out), eating the frailty-boosted revenge damage. Just after this, Visionary got out Demoralization, which thanks to the frailty helped out a good bit in keeping things under control.
AZ had gotten fairly well setup with both modules and spent several turns just healing. AA got a decent setup with Sarabande of Destruction, Scherzo of Frost and Flame (boosted by the frailty), and Drake's Pipes. Ra got out his staff and even chucked it once for extra damage, but was mostly playing 1 shots for damage rather than "setting up". Visionary was still searching desperately for Twist the Ether, but she did manage to come across all 3 Suggestions, which she played turn after turn. She continuously put Huginn on top (no sign of Muninn yet) and put the mask, a Carrion Fields, a random bird on the bottom.
The environment left Imbued Frailty out for a long time, along with an early Portal Fiend (which was largely ignored at first while I tried to deal with the mask and Carrion Fields), Explosive Bubbles, Ethereal Bonds, and Spinning Vortex. However, once AA got Sarabande of Destruction working, and the other heroes could afford to target their damage elsewhere, this finally got pretty cleared up.
Finally, Visionary got Twist the Ether, played it on the Matriarch, drew the second, and played it on AZ. Meanwhile, the second Carrion Fields came out, as well as the Huginn/Muninn combo. AA used Cedistic Dissonance to take out Muninn, allowing Ra and Demoralization to take out Huginn.
Then it happened: The Matriarch played Darken the Skies and summoned 14 of her 15 birds. AZ healed to make sure he was the highest target, AA removed Claustrophobic Delusion, which would have been disastrous, and Ra burned Matriarch. Visionary's turn started and Demoralization killed the birds. Visionary turned the first 6 into 3 cold damage each, healing AZ to max. She turned the next 8 into fire damage, dealing 3 damage each, but thanks to Twist the Ether on AZ and Focused Apertures, dealing 5 cold damage each to the Matriarch, for a total of 40 damage. This left the Matriarch at 2 and Visionary Mind Spiked her for the win. I pondered waiting and letting AZ blow her away with a 24 point Coolant Blast, but I didn't want to risk the environment throwing a wrench in my plans.
The heroes ended with AZ: 5, AA: 6, Ra: 5, Visionary: 4. The first game was a blowout, and the second game was close, and yet sort of not. One more Horrid Cacophony (she would have shuffled soon) would have nearly wiped them out, but even if she'd been at full, they still would have killed her the next round.
If you prefer a thematic version of this session report, check out https://sentinelsofthemultiverse.com/forum/topic/the-matriarch-chilled-to-the-bone-2496
Man, I just really love this game.
"I'm not prone to hyperbole, but she is the Antichrist." - chwineka
