MC Summer Playthroughs

She Hulk - Aggression + Groot - Protection vs Klaw

Pairing:

I want to say that these two weren’t as good together, but Klaw can really get rolling sometimes.  This game, I think the Villain had a good game.  I played She Hulk with the home rules --but they were too much on the ropes to throw an early Gamma Slam in the middle of thwarting three schemes and killing off groups of minions.  They controlled the main scheme for a while, then Groot had to flip for growth counters, and got triple boosts on the scheme.  Then the encounter card: the villain schemed.  That flipped the scheme –bringing out a 3rd minion.  They flipped Klaw, which put another minion on the board for a total of 4 minions and 3 schemes out.   She Hulk was down to 4hp.  I looked at the board.  Groot had one defense card, and four attack cards.  Groot came up with 15 damage (with 5 growth counters), and She Hulk just went for it –Gamma Slam for 11, Attack for 4, Counter Punch for 4 ⇒ all totalled, 34 damage.  Ack! I couldn't quite knock him down. Klaw had 2hp left…  …ahem... ...and Groot had retaliate 2.  Ka-Smacka! My second win on the villain phase.  IN YOUR FACE, Klaw!  I mean the board was not in a good state, but for my money, that’s what makes this game complex and fun.

She Hulk

Home Rules (with Gamma Slam and Legal Practice home rules).  I agree with many others on BGG, her cards are just not good enough to pull their weight on a 4-card hand size.  She Hulk flipped a lot in the early game.  I like her flipping powers –no other hero has those.  I didn’t get to try using Gamma Slam twice in this game, but the home rule helped in that Gamma Slam was there from setup, waiting to be played.  For my money, this is the optimal way to play Gamma Slam ⇒ don’t play it until you’re out of options.  Either way, the home rule helps. 

Groot:

Got some early growth counters and cleared a tough scheme, then got absolutely pounded by Klaw.  She Hulk actually blocked for him.  Groot’s Fighting Fit and Dauntless cards require him staying at Max life.  He was able to stay at max life, but Klaw depleted his growth counters.  Groot did 100% defending until the end when it was “kill or be killed.”  Groot’s retaliate had a significant effect throughout the game.  Rocket is definitely a better fit for Groot, clearing minions just as fast, and adding growth counters to him.  

Vision - Justice + Rocket Aggression vs Green Goblin Mutagen Formula

Pairing:

Rough start –Rocket took three rounds to draw a single weapon.  Vision tried to defend a little.  I flipped him a lot with his Mass Form to get the bonuses.  Threat was no problem.  Early game, they did consistent damage.    Retaliate was even better as minions came out in the boost phase.  Vision took the damage, but retaliate sets up Rocket to do even more overkill…  Rocket got smashed early, and had to flip to recover.  I definitely felt the absence of protection here.  Vision did what he could, but Rocket wasn’t defending, so after a few bad hits from GG, he had to recover.  The nice part was that extra scheming was easier to manage with Vision in Justice.  It’s a different kind of game where you just have to accept / manage the hits and recover.  Once the guns started coming out, it was on.  They flipped GG and drew Vision’s nemesis Ultron.  Yuk!  Ultron put five 1/1 minions into play.  Vision only had his big attacks in hand, so they played against the villain for 12 damage.  I thought that was a good turn; Green Goblin was down to 24.  -Ahem-  Villains beware: never put 1hp minions in front of Rocket. 

He had two Follow Through upgrades in play –

• Battery: add a charge on the Particle Cannon

  

• Hitting a drone for 4+2, he did 5 overkill to GG ⇒ draw a card, 

• ready the Particle Cannon, 

• hit a drone for 4+2, deal 5 overkill to GG ⇒ draw a card

• Into the Fray on a drone for 5+2, do 6 overkill to GG ⇒ draw a card (Reload)

• ready the Particle Cannon, 

• hit a drone for 4+2, deal 5 overkill to GG ⇒ draw a card

• Hand Cannon on a drone for 5+2, do 6 overkill to GG ⇒ draw a card, 

• …Go looking under GG’s smoldering body for more drones…

Vision:

Easily handled threat and side schemes.  A couple confuses and stuns were nice.  He discarded two boost cards to defend Rocket, and he had retaliate early.  It’s weird having Vision in intangible form, because he mostly doesn’t care about minions. There’s a weird Vision Protection deck out there with tons of retaliate.  I just liked how retaliate + ally attacks set up Rocket to gain overkill, even with his pistols.  Vision really played into Rocket’s overkill by doing damage to minions, but not killing them.  That was fun.  Normally you’re trying to optimize damage and avoid excesses, and normally, you want to kill a few rather than do a little damage to all.

Rocket:

Oh my gosh…  I thought Rocket’s overkill cards were cool, but WOW.  That was insane.  “Hey, Rocket, it’s just a 1hp minion, no need for the Hand Cannon and Into the Fray…  It’s overkill.”  That sums up Rocket.  I gave him a Side Holster card which lets him have three weapons in play.  Two Follow Through upgrades were all they needed, but it gets worse if he gets all three…  Rocket’s Salvage (double resource) cards are cool because they let you search the discard pile to put a Tech Upgrade on top of your deck.  That combos with his hero power which lets you draw cards whenever you do excess damage.

She Hulk - Justice + Captain Marvel - Leadership vs GG Mutagen Formula

Pairing:

Lucky with GG’s deck –mostly schemes early on.  Schemes were absolutely no problem.  She Hulk got a lucky draw with Split Personality; probably the best start I’ve ever seen from She Hulk.  Captain Marvel was very unlucky in her draws: no allies til halfway through the deck, so she played upgrades.  Helicarrier, Avenger’s Mansion, Combat Reflexes, this gave extra resources to She Hulk who did 75% of the damage.  They flipped GG.  Capt Marvel finally released a full Energy Channel for 10 + another 5 from allies, but was only able to knock GG down to 15.  GG makes you draw 2 encounter cards each + She Hulk had to shuffle + the normal draw ⇒ total of 7 encounter cards.  I do not recommend this strategy (looking at you, Star Lord).  ;-)  She Hulk had to block 4 attacks, and was knocked down to 2 hp.  ==> Yup, just in time for a 13-point Gamma Slam.  I let Nick Fury finish him off.

She Hulk (house rules)

I switched her to Justice, and I like her there 10x better.  She flips almost every round.  Not as much damage, but she still cleared minions like a pro.  Her house rule played differently this time.  Gamma Slam was discarded by an encounter card.  She used Legal Practice to thwart 5 and bring it back, then played it on the last round. Again, this ended up being the strategy to play Gamma Slam only as a last ditch effort. In that respect, if things are terrible, it works great!

Captain Marvel

Using Rapid Response to put Nick Fury back in play, and draw three more cards, and defend for another player is maybe OP.  I really like that card with an ally who has “when played” powers.  I also like how Captain Marvel can throw resources into Energy Channel when she has a bad hand. It's a great backup plan.