Is it just me, or is this way tougher than ‘difficulty 2’ in solo!?

4 big guys that you can basically only kill with your big attack cards (Spinning Web Kick, Repulsor Blast etc) and 3 other cards that either make them appear more frequently, accelerate the main scheme or give them extra attacks.

I wonder if it’s this set that’s making Klaw seem so tough, rather than Klaw himself!

33 minutes ago, jonboyjon1990 said:

Is it just me, or is this way tougher than ‘difficulty 2’ in solo!?

4 big guys that you can basically only kill with your big attack cards (Spinning Web Kick, Repulsor Blast etc) and 3 other cards that either make them appear more frequently, accelerate the main scheme or give them extra attacks.

I wonder if it’s this set that’s making Klaw seem so tough, rather than Klaw himself!

Overall, it probably isn’t as tough as the others (some debate about Under Attack I’d say). It’s a huge step up from Bomb Scare though...

Bomb Scare - Fairly straightforward - Hydra Bombers are fairly weak and give you a choice as to whether to take some damage or threat. Bomb Scare is pretty basic for a side scheme. False Alarm isn’t too strong and Explosion often whiffs, and isn’t that bad if it doesn’t.

Masters of Evil - 4 strong minions, Much stronger side scheme (discard until you get a Master, although this can whiff of they’re all in discard). Masters of Mayhem is annoying if you let the masters build up, but if you don’t have any in play, it’s not too bad since it lets you choose the easiest one to deal with. It has great Synergy with Klaw though, as he has effects that make you discard until you get to a minion, and these usually hurt more than his standard minions.

Under Attack - the only module so far without Minions. Side Scheme is a Crisis, so has to be dealt with if you plan to thwart the main scheme ever again, and also comes with a fairly strong secondary effect, although it gives you the choice. First Modular card with 3 boost icons as well! The 2 attachments are very annoying, particularly early game - +1 Attack and Retaliate 1 or gain tough each time the villain takes damage are both huge obstacles that you can’t just remove with a sting attack (as you can most of the Masters). They’re both annoying to remove, as they also require exhausting your hero as well as the Resource cost. Concussive blast isn’t too bad an event, but it’s a nasty card to draw as a boost when blocking with a single wound ally, since it will remove them and force you to take the full attack!

Legions of Hydra - 3 x Hydra Soldiers who make the bombers look pretty weak - both Guard and a very nasty when defeated effect make them a real road block to success. On her own Madam Hydra isn’t significantly worse than any of the masters (but beware Minions with more than 1 Scheme!), but her real strength is synergy with her side scheme, of which there are 2 copies! Whenever she activates, she places 2 Threat on any copies of Legions of Hydra in play. She can’t be hurt while they’re in play. If she isn’t in play when it comes into play it puts her into play. This can make getting rid of her very difficult. With both copies of Legions giving a hazard icon and 3 boost icons, the internal synergy with this set makes it really nasty. Synergy with Rhino (who has additional Hydra enemies in his deck which also add to the side scheme threat) and Klaw (lots of nasty minions working with his normal minion stuff).

The Doomsday Chair - You have 3 copies of Biomechanical upgrades which does whiff without a minion. It’s pretty annoying with a minion though (as you have to kill it twice) and it always surges, even if you do have a minion to attach it to. MODOK is a real pain. Scheme 2 again can be really nasty, especially solo, but you really can’t afford to nickle and dime him with retaliate 2 - ideally you want to one shot him so it never gets the chance to trigger, but this requires some of the bigger attacks in the game with his 8 health (highest Minion health so far). 2 copies of Doomsday Chair side scheme which pull MODOk into play from deck or discard mean you potentially have to deal with him over and over again, or accept that he’s sticking around. Flat 8 threat also makes this a terrible side scheme to deal with in solo. Again, 3 boost on each.

So, in context, I don’t think Masters of Evil is higher than a 2, but I do think it’s a significant step up from Bomb Scare.

Admittedly I've only played against Rhino - Standard - Bomb Scare and Klaw - Standard - Masters of Evil so far. So more than willing to accept that the other sets will be more difficult, particularly Legions of Hydra.

So far I've only played against Klaw with Spider-Man Justice and I just cannot win - I'm 0-6 so far. And that's after beating Rhino pretty much every time with every hero in solo.

Yeaaah I think in the grand scheme (heh) of things, Masters of Evil is more of a 3. Hopefully new Modules continue to include difficulty levels, and at that point I could see them eventually editing the Rulebook PDF to say it’s difficulty 3 😜

I dunno, I’ve never had any real trouble with them as of yet. They tend to just require a single big hit making them a little more of a speed bump than the guards.

49 minutes ago, Derrault said:

I dunno, I’ve never had any real trouble with them as of yet. They tend to just require a single big hit making them a little more of a speed bump than the guards.

But is that in true solo? I’ve only played against them in true solo and as Spiderman Justice. The only efficient way to be rid of them is a Spinning Web Kick or maybe a Nick Fury. And then there’s another one showing up in no time.

59 minutes ago, Derrault said:

I dunno, I’ve never had any real trouble with them as of yet. They tend to just require a single big hit making them a little more of a speed bump than the guards.

8 minutes ago, jonboyjon1990 said:

But is that in true solo? I’ve only played against them in true solo and as Spiderman Justice. The only efficient way to be rid of them is a Spinning Web Kick or maybe a Nick Fury. And then there’s another one showing up in no time.

While they’re a pain to take out, and their “when they attack” effects can be nasty, they really don’t contribute too much damage or threat, either. Some careful use of Allies generally gets me through until I’ve got a big enough damage spike or whatnot.

Allies blocking also negates the “when they attack you” as far as I can tell, since I believe it’s the same wording as how Black Panther has to be attacked (no allies blocking) for his retaliate to go through.

1 hour ago, jonboyjon1990 said:

But is that in true solo? I’ve only played against them in true solo and as Spiderman Justice. The only efficient way to be rid of them is a Spinning Web Kick or maybe a Nick Fury. And then there’s another one showing up in no time.

I have only played in Solo, so yes.

1 hour ago, SpiderMana said:

While they’re a pain to take out, and their “when they attack” effects can be nasty, they really don’t contribute too much damage or threat, either. Some careful use of Allies generally gets me through until I’ve got a big enough damage spike or whatnot.

Allies blocking also negates the “when they attack you” as far as I can tell, since I believe it’s the same wording as how Black Panther has to be attacked (no allies blocking) for his retaliate to go through.

Spider-Man only draws a card off the villain, but the block decision step happens after that. So he always gets a card IF the villain attacks.

1 hour ago, SpiderMana said:

While they’re a pain to take out, and their “when they attack” effects can be nasty, they really don’t contribute too much damage or threat, either. Some careful use of Allies generally gets me through until I’ve got a big enough damage spike or whatnot.

Allies blocking also negates the “when they attack you” as far as I can tell, since I believe it’s the same wording as how Black Panther has to be attacked (no allies blocking) for his retaliate to go through.

No, their effects apply whenever they attack, regardless of who blocks it.

53 minutes ago, Derrault said:

I have only played in Solo, so yes.

Well I don’t know what I’m doing wrong then. Like I said they tend to represent significant road blocks for me, playing as Spiderman Justice in true solo.

All 4 of them have so much HP that you either waste a Spinning Web Kick on them or you need multiple sources of damage to take them down, such as Spider-Man’s basic attack, an ally attacking or Haymaker.

Melter kills any ally. Tiger Shark needs taking down immediately otherwise he’s even more difficult to remove. Whirlwind and Radioactive Man aren’t so bad since their attack is low, but they still need either multiple attacks or cards to deal with. And by the time you dealt with one, another is bound to arrive.

3 hours ago, jonboyjon1990 said:

Well I don’t know what I’m doing wrong then. Like I said they tend to represent significant road blocks for me, playing as Spiderman Justice in true solo.

All 4 of them have so much HP that you either waste a Spinning Web Kick on them or you need multiple sources of damage to take them down, such as Spider-Man’s basic attack, an ally attacking or Haymaker.

Melter kills any ally. Tiger Shark needs taking down immediately otherwise he’s even more difficult to remove. Whirlwind and Radioactive Man aren’t so bad since their attack is low, but they still need either multiple attacks or cards to deal with. And by the time you dealt with one, another is bound to arrive.

My only advice would be to spend your resources building your board and support structure. The goal would be to have what you need in place to drop one as soon as possible, the same way you would a side scheme, and to thin the deck as much as possible so that you’re cycling into those spinning web kicks faster.

Masters of Evil have seemed decidedly easier in group play for sure. Someone usually has the damage to just knock them down when they show up, and it helps you activate things like Interrogation Rooms, Chase them Down, Web Tracker and the like. Having minions pop up instead of extra schemes or attacks is usually a boon for me. Now, I haven't played a lot of solo, so I could see this modular deck seriously increasing in power in a solo environment compared to multiplayer.

Just to add my 2-player input, I've found Masters of Evil to be much harder than Under Attack for what it's worth. Masters of Evil is harder than a 2 I think.

I do play alot of solo as well as two player. Masters of Evil I felt was okay as long as you had some ability to deal decent damage. It's a real argument for including Haymaker in your decks right now. It's definitely easier for someone like She-Hulk who does tons of damage. Also not so bad for someone playing Aggression or Leadership. Justice/Spiderman is gonna struggle.

The modular set I think is the hardest in core only at lower player counts is definitely Legions Of Hydra. That set is such a tar pit.

For me, Spider-Man is the hardest character to use in solo. I don't think the Masters of Evil are much of a threat against the other heroes. Panther Claws, Repulser Blast, One-two Punch, Photonic Blast... damage output, Threat control, and resource generation all feel like a struggle for Spider-Man to me. He can really wail on Rhino, but I've been too timid to take him up against Klaw yet cause I haven't figured him out yet.

All I know is I beat rhino and Ultron pretty easy the first time I played against them. But klaw beat me four times before I finally won the fifth play through. He seems super hard to me.

11 hours ago, Damenwood said:

All I know is I beat rhino and Ultron pretty easy the first time I played against them. But klaw beat me four times before I finally won the fifth play through. He seems super hard to me.

Ultron is highly matchup dependent. Against Protection Iron Man (or a protection hero with Iron Man) he's super easy. Fairly easy with Black Panther too, and Aggression or She-Hulk can be nice.

But play against him with Spiderman or Captain Marvel and wooweee that's not a fun time.

But yeah Klaw is partially so hard because of Masters of Evil.

10 hours ago, Supertoe said:

Ultron is highly matchup dependent. Against Protection Iron Man (or a protection hero with Iron Man) he's super easy. Fairly easy with Black Panther too, and Aggression or She-Hulk can be nice.

But play against him with Spiderman or Captain Marvel and wooweee that's not a fun time.

But yeah Klaw is partially so hard because of Masters of Evil.

I used iron man- justice and spiderman-aggression to beat Ultron and it just flowed perfectly! I think I finally beat klaw with she hulk and spiderman!