For a long time I've hated the Matriarch. I still think she's one of the most frustrating opponents, and not in a good way, but I think I have found a way to deal with her:
TLT/WGL/DarkVisionary/Unity/InfiniteScholar
Top 2 strategies:
- Get the Stealth Bot out ASAP. That will simply block all the birds. (Don't use the Stealth Bot to prevent damage to the heroes unless you absolutelt have to; he's for keeping all the bots alive and block 1 dmg AoE's.)
- Get 2 Flash to Iron from Scholar. That will block the Matriarch's revenge when you take out her birds (if you do.)
Also:
- My biggest original mistake: don't play environments that up the damage like Insula or Atlantis (duh!). Instead use safe(r) ones like the Block.
- Use DarkVisionary to make as sure as you can that Mattie does NOT nuke your ongoings.
- Take out the Mask *immediately*. Even better if you can Suggestion or Brainburn it away a la DV.
- If Hugin/Munin come out, get them gone immediately. Better yet, use DV to prevent them from comeing out if you can.
- Use Legacy's Takedown and Heroic Intervention to buy time to set up. Ditto with Scholar's Alchemical Redirection.
- If possible, get out Legacy's ring and Motivational Charge for a health pump that does not take away from him having TLT pump more cards.
- If possible, kill Mattie's Carion Fields so that you can use SUggestion and put it back on top of her deck for a harmless play (if the Mask is gone).
- Use Hypersonic assault liberally, always target cards that do retributive damage (Mattie, etc) first.
I think those are the main points. Using this approach, I can always beat her. (Usually with Unity's 40-70 damage bots set up).
That seems like a sound set of strategies to defeat one of the most frustrating villains in the Multiverse.
My own approach is to bring Tempest and let him get incapacitated. Then, on his turn, heroes always become immune to projectile damage and can ignore the Fowl.
It's a bit of a shame that successful Matriarch strategies always seem to revolve around bringing a specific hero team.
Any team should be capable of dealing with the Matriarch but I would say some teams are better setup to do so than others. I normally like using Tachyon as it seems she is normally effective against the cousin.
Crush your enemies, drive them before you, and laminate their women! - Guise, Prime Wardens #31
You can also go for a 3 man team, where 1 damage reduction can mitigate a lot. I like using Bunker who has the damage reduction and can play defensively and one-shot her with a fully charged Omni-Cannon.
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Strategies I've found that work best:
Stealth Bot + Argent Adept's Counterpoint Bulwark makes you immune to basically all damage in a 3-4 H game, provided you deal with Huginn and Muninn ASAP.
Basically any way to prevent damage -- Ground Pound, Hypersonic Assault, Grease Gun -- does a lot.
Irreducible Damage for when the Cohorts are out at once. If you don't have it and Muninn's first out, leave it out until Huginn joins it -- then you can bash Muninn quickly to remove the DR instead of having it brought back from the dead at full HP. Alternately, bring AZ along and Sub-Zero Atmosphere to keep the birds from bringing one another back if they pop up unexpectedly.
Or have Haka eat them.
Twist the Ether on Matriarch is always good -- turn that psychic or sonic damage into fire (if Ra's shielding you) or cold (if AZ has the highest HP).
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I actually originally said my lineup was TLT/WGL/DarkVisionary/Unity/InfiniteScholar.
However, upon reflection, it may be better to reorder that: TLT/WGL/InfiniteScholar/Unity/DarkVisionary
This is so DV can use Suggestion or Brain Burn after disposing of the Mask or the Cohorts.
I really feel like Matriarch is one of those villains you need to plan for. I'm not sure I've ever beaten her with a random team, but then I try to avoid playing her as much as possible.
But even if you just have Haka, Mr. Fixer or Tachyon (and Muninn's not out), being able to mitigate her damage is probably the most important thing you can do.
I almost always random and have beaten her loads of times.
I've also lost loads of times too.
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Having the right team is vital to taking down Matriarch. I've compiled a list of all the heros I think provide special advantage when facing her.
Absolute Zero - Sub-Zero atmosphere can keep Huginn and Muninn from chaining.
The Argent Adept - Counterpoint Bulwark is strong against plinky damage. Sarabande of Destruction can deal with a Muninn if you can't break the DR.
Bunker - no special advantage
Captain Cosmic - Dynamic Syphon and Vitality Conduit love plinky damage!
Chrono-Ranger - The Ultimate Target loves Matriarch's out of turn damage. And the Neurotoxin Dart Thrower is perfect for dealing with plinky damage, while Masada deals with Muninn
Expatriette - Hair-trigger reflexes wipes birds as they appear, and Liquid Nitrogen Rounds reduces the response damage
Fanatic - End of Days is great for getting rid of Huginn and Muninn at once. She also has some irreducible damage, and Final Dive as well
Guise - Gritty Reboot loves plinky damage, and Extreeeeeme! can punch through Muninn's DR
Haka - Eat all the birds. Laugh. Also, Ground Pound is great for bird wipes
K.N.Y.F.E. - No special advantage
Legacy - Lead from the Front and Fortitude cancels all the plinky damage, and Next Evolution adds Matriarch's reaction damage to that. And Heroic Interception works well for bird wipes
Mister Fixer - Grease Gun is perfect for clearing the birds, Mantis Form and Pipe Wrench handle plinky damage easily, and irreducible damage is invaluable for dealing with Muninn.
The Naturalist - and excellent tank for absorbing damage during a bird wipe
Nightmist - no special advantage
Omnitron-X - no special advantage
Parse - Deck control is harder against the Matriarch, because of how the birds chain. But Buffer Overflow still works!
Ra - No special advantage
The Scholar - Excellent tank for absorbing all damage during a bird wipe
The Sentinels - Mainstay can tank pretty well too,
Setback - I don't play Setback enough to know his advantages
Sky-Scraper - Thorathian Monolith is perfect for tanking during a bird wipe, and Sky-Scraper can do the wiping, too! And Cortex Hyperstimulator gets lots of use because of Matriarch's out of turn damage
Tachyon - Hypersonic Assault is the card for bird wipes. Period.
Tempest - No particular advantage
Unity - Stealth bot is a great tank
Visionary - Suggestion is great, even though the rest of her deck manipulation is less useful. And Twist the Ether can greatly reduce Matriarch's reaction damage
The Wraith - Smoke Bombs can protect your lowest heroes
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GI Bunker with a Dynamic Syphon to spread that delicious panzer busting around. Omni-X can, if your team is at the right HP levels, tank and/or retaliate against all the retaliation damage. Also Tempest for bird-clearing when you aren't worried about retaliation.
After checking out some of the list, I find that most of the advanatages you mention are minor at best. For example, Argent Adept's Bulwark can shut down 2 birds - out of her flock of what, 50? And he may have to give up giving other people card or power plays to do it? Seems pretty minor.
No, the major utilities I have seen that you have mentioned are TLT for Hypersonic, extra damage vs Mattie her Nemesis, and tons of extra cards; WGL for Lockdown, Heroic Interception, (both for giving the heroes more setup time) and Motiviational Charge/Legacy Ring (for healing), Visionary's Suggestion as you said, but also Brain Burn to get the Mask and/or cohorts out of the discard pile to not be picked up again, Unity for the Stealth Bot above all, neaturalizes most birds, also for massive damage to take down Mattie fast (35-60 damage per turn once setup), and Scholar for tanking Mattie's retributive attacks; using 2x Flesh to Iron Mattis can hit him all day and his health won't fall a single point. (Plus DDA and Proverbs can work wonders.)
I think the list you made above illustrates how many of those heroes can help a *little*, but again to use AA as an example, I don't see his little Counterpoint Bulwark making a big difference when Mattie gets going, and it seems at least half of the suggestions above are the same way, using an aspirin to handle a gunshot wound. I suspect the true list of heroes that can make a *significant* diffeence is far, far smaller.
Just my $.02 - I'm still very new at SotM, so what do I know? ;p
If you are playing three heroes the one damage reduction is pretty big. It becomes less of a factor once as you get to four and five heroes because of the H based damage the Matriarch does in retaliation but even one damage reduction will prevent a lot of damage from all of her sources. I think the best tank would be The Naturalist since he can setup in Rhino form from the first turn and continually get it back if you are playing his base card. He also has cards to redirect all damage to him, add more reduction, and if he can reduce that damage to one prevent it.
Crush your enemies, drive them before you, and laminate their women! - Guise, Prime Wardens #31
And yes, each helps "a little," but that's what the game's about -- each hero helps "a little" and it adds up to a greater whole.
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Also, while it's possible to completely shut down the Matriarch, often the best option is to not worry so much about the birds and go straight for the throat.
"Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?"
- Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
This gets at my fundamental problem with the Matriarch. You don't need to mitigate the birds, or the retaliation damage, or ongoing destruction - you need to mitigate the birds AND the retaliation AND ongoing destruction AND be able to deal big penetrating hits for the cohorts.
So you could bring Expatriette for her hair-trigger reflexes, but then you watch your health burn every villain turn from the retaliation damage. You could get out the smoke bombs to protect from the birds, allowing you to focus on the cohorts and Matriarch, but if you don't get out H other ongoing cards to sacrifice, the Cacophony will immediately expose you. Most of the successful strategies seem kind of hacky to me because they don't concentrate on one aspect or balance all aspects, they circumvent one or more aspects of what the heroes need to do.
The Fowl provide a cool mechanism for the villain deck, but then with all the other stuff pulled on top of them - Dayeinu!
There is a reason why she is a difficulty 4 villain. There are multiple things to juggle and contend with. Take one of those out and her difficulty goes down. It's a slog currently and I think it hits a good balance on being hard but not feeling potentially hopeless like some Iron Legacy matches feel from the start.
Crush your enemies, drive them before you, and laminate their women! - Guise, Prime Wardens #31
You're quite correct, my mistake - when I play AA I may use that more often. ;) Of course, that's gonna help you more using 3 heroes than 5... ;p
Cacophony only destroys Ongoings, not Equipment. I find Smoke Bombs extremely effective - once everyone has the same HP, almost no one takes bird or Carrion Field damage. Bunker's Heavy Plating is also great because it is Equipment and more easy to hang on to.
My mistake on that example; but I still stand by my more general point.
Bunker is actually strong against The Matriarch. He's one of only two Heroes who has Damage Reduction from Equipment, which if need be he can stack with Recharge Mode, he can get massive card draw from Ammo Drop, and the Omnicannon is good for killing Cohorts.
You could also use GI Bunker to give everyone else the ability to take down the Cohorts much more easily ;).
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