Advanced Chokepoint is fighting Stuntman, Benchmark and Freedom Six Tempest in The Celestial Tribunal.
I was worried about this one, and needn't had bothered. The whole thing was over in under 5 rounds, with the heroes at a respectable 20/16/17.
Surprisingly to me, Tempest was the big damage-dealer this game. Getting "Grievous Hail Storm" in play round 1 was nice and "Gene-Bound Shackles" in play round 2 was *really* critical (more on why later).
Normally in the Celestial Tribunal, if "Representative of Earth" comes out, I pick Legacy for his +1 damage. But I tried something different here and played Captain Cosmic's "Requital" variant. This allowed a hero to play the top three cards of their deck, and since no hero on this team plays Constructs, there is no risk of the hero taking damage. I used this "Representative of Earth" power three times, first to get Benchmark set up, and then to let Tempest really bring the pain. On those two plays of Tempest's, he played 2 "Lightning Slash", a "Ball Lightning" (which he also used to destroy Stuntman's "No Time To Bleed" to let Stuntman also attack), and a "Chain Lightning". All of this damage got a +2 due to Tempest having "Gene-Bound Shackle" in play. I think in one environment turn the heroes did almost 30 points of damage to Chokepoint.
A few odd things. On an early play of "Harvest the Mighty", Chokepoint automatically choose Benchmark, when I thought all heroes had the same number of cards in play. It didn't matter, since I would have selected Benchmark anyway (for reasons), but I guess I don't understand why the game choose him. Also, I was surprised I was able to use "Representative of Earth" Captain Cosmic's innate power two times in the same environment turn (once from "Character Witness" and once from "Called to Judgement"). I was expecting that the second time I tried to use Captain Cosmic's power, it would show as "already used", but it didn't, and gave Tempest a *GREAT* environment turn. Reading the environment cards, I can see this interpretation, but just not what I expected. Still, yea!
A surprisingly fun match. 10/10. Would fight again.
I was also surprised by getting to use the power twice. I think it's just each hero can only use each power once per turn?
Regardless, I had no issues with this either even though I probably messed up a number of times with less than optimal plays. Tempest spent most of the game just destroying his own cards in Chokepoint's play area, but that meant he was already ready to deal with her ongoings!
It's a ruling we got from Fireside chats:
Crush your enemies, drive them before you, and laminate their women! - Guise, Prime Wardens #31
My favorite was benchmark playing another three software cards when he only had a software card out. I drew so many cards that next Start of Turn.
"I'm Setback and I'm helping!"
Heartbreaker & Equity Kill the Sentinels Universe
Pretty easy Mint; right at the beginning, I made the mistake of discarding several Benchmark cards, which pumped up Chokepoint's area, but immediately afterward I realized that Tempest can use his main power to blow up his face-down cards in Chokepoint's area, which helped keep his count at zero and Stuntman's about the same.
I also drew Called to Judgement three times in four turns, and I was using the Requital Cosmic trick, so Stuntman was playing three cards a turn out of turn order and just wrecking shop.
Regarding Harvest the Mighty - Benchmark would be chosen automatically if he had the most cards in play. Face down cards count.
Lead Bit Flipper, Handelabra Games
Developer of Sentinels, Bottom of the 9th, and Spirit Island
AAAAHHH! I see! Thanks for that explanation. That makes sense now. I figured I was missing something, but wasn't seeing what.
Easy mint, and I've played through a couple of times trying different strategies. My favorite win was when I couldn't quite finish her off (1 HP left before her turn), and she targeted Benchmark. It's always fun when Countermeasures takes out a mook, even more so when it finishes the villain!