So far, I've managed to beat Rhino+Bomb Scare in solo expert mode with every hero only by using Justice. I believe Breakin' and Takin' needs to go away in the first turn and only Justice can consistently allow that. It's rare that you come out unscathed after drawing Under Fire while you already have to draw 2 encounter cards in the first place.

As the game progresses, this aspect also allows the best and most consistent control over Rhino's low ceiling main scheme. I got to say, that worked pretty well overall, though it took a couple of tries with Spider-Man (I'm not so used to playing him).

I moved on to Expert Klaw+Masters of Evil and tried with Captain Marvel Aggression, aiming at the quickest game possible. Despite untimely card draws I managed to get to Stage III with no side scheme and no minion remaining in play, but with only 1 hp left and 7 threat out of 8 on the main scheme, it ended on an appropriate note as I got killed by Advance during the encounter phase. That's always hilarious.

Anyway, reflecting on that particular game, I can't help thinking that Justice would have helped me control the threat level without having to use my basic thwarting ability at times that were also near critical otherwise (when I would rather heal, defend or just attack to close the game sooner rather than later).

So I'm thinking I either try again with Aggression but add a couple of First Aids and remove Hulk (he's fun but I don't like playing him much, and adding mental resources to the deck make him too risky), or I just go Justice because I just know I can advance (pun intended) my game plan more safely.

What's your approach to Solo Expert?

Aspect is largely irrelevant against Rhino when playing Solo.

Rhino is capable of going from 0-7 threat any time your identity is in alter ego, even with 0 minions on the board: 1 for the scheme advancing, scheme for 1+2, encounter card is advance (1) and draws a 2. Boom, game over.

Part of the decision strategy is when it’s safest to go into alter-ego (after you’ve seen both advance cards milled) and what recourse you have for any time the worst case scenario shows up (playing She-Hulk, emergency in hand, and/or black widow in play).

The margins get a lot tighter when there’s a high scheme minion in play (Madame Hydra, MODOK), and they, like schemes, tend to require that you deal with them before leaving hero. In order of threat priority, I’d tend to rank them as: Scheme removal, Minion removal, Main scheme threat drawdown, and dead last: Damaging the villain.

That being said, you could reverse that and just try to burn the villain down ASAP, but expending resources that way tends to mean forgoing board building, which makes minor inconveniences into potentially major threats. In general, I find it’s strategically best to subordinate damage against the villain to literally almost anything else.

As for Breakin’ and Takin’, I think every hero so far, except Spider-Man, has the signature card capacity to remove the 3 threat on turn one. (Spider tracers require a minion to take out, and Spidey only has 1 THW.)

BP can begin with Tactical genius (and with 5 wakanda forevers, probably will have one in hand on turn one)

Iron-Man has two option: His helmet and basic THW or his Reactor and basic THW x2

Captain Marvel has Crisis Intervention + basic THW 2

She-Hulk has both Legal Practice and The Superhuman Law Division.

edit: Nick Fury is, of course, the everyman choice for getting through Rhino II turn one easily.

The thing is, it feels like the other basic actions are often worth more than the basic thwart in expert mode. That's why For Justice! just seems too good to me to pass up, because it's better than any combination of hero card + basic action. But I do agree that on the first turn, it is less critical.

32 minutes ago, Derrault said:

In general, I find it’s strategically best to subordinate damage against the villain to literally almost anything else.

I am indeed starting to get to the same conclusion myself. Which made Captain Marvel useful, since she can be so explosive. Aggression was in all likelihood a suboptimal choice.

I mean, I like for justice, but in my experience the 4 threat removal is overkill playing against Rhino, because I’d never want it to be that high, given that advance can be +4 on top of the basic increase of 1....so encounter card advance on 2+ threat is, potentially, an instant loss.

It’s definitely good for taking out the Legions of Hydra or The Doomsday Chair though.

I am looking forward to having Captain America play Rhino and his hydra mercenaries, legions of hydra, and have baron Zemo and the additional hydra soldiers show up. Woof.

I'd counter that I would allow Rhino to be that high when playing Justice aspect, especially when I have Greater Responsibility in hand. With Spider-Man, I once avoided a game-breaking Advance with that card, which was pretty thematic considering the art. 😅 And I went on to beat the villain on the next turn -- as I already knew I could. So I guess that sums up my thinking here: I get to play a wee bit more dangerously in situations I wouldn't if I played another aspect. Spidey's Enhanced Spider-Sense actually allows the same kind of play with his signature cards. I dig that, though it did backfire a few times before I got his playing style right.

In any case, Rhino was just the way to introduce my question, as it wasn't its focal point especially.

How do you go about facing Klaw Expert?

59 minutes ago, Ascarel said:

I'd counter that I would allow Rhino to be that high when playing Justice aspect, especially when I have Greater Responsibility in hand. With Spider-Man, I once avoided a game-breaking Advance with that card, which was pretty thematic considering the art. 😅 And I went on to beat the villain on the next turn -- as I already knew I could. So I guess that sums up my thinking here: I get to play a wee bit more dangerously in situations I wouldn't if I played another aspect. Spidey's Enhanced Spider-Sense actually allows the same kind of play with his signature cards. I dig that, though it did backfire a few times before I got his playing style right.

In any case, Rhino was just the way to introduce my question, as it wasn't its focal point especially.

How do you go about facing Klaw Expert?

Essentially Expert Solo vs Klaw and Ultron I’ve only really had consistent success with Justice or Leadership. Protection and Aggression don’t really have the card pool to be consistently good against the harder villains yet. I think things could be different in Risky Business or Wrecking Crew though...

34 minutes ago, FearLord said:

Essentially Expert Solo vs Klaw and Ultron I’ve only really had consistent success with Justice or Leadership. Protection and Aggression don’t really have the card pool to be consistently good against the harder villains yet. I think things could be different in Risky Business or Wrecking Crew though...

Aggression only gets better once you have minion heavy decks (Ie Ultron) and Protection has the only aspect means in the game for avoiding advance in alter-ego (black widow)

1 hour ago, Ascarel said:

I'd counter that I would allow Rhino to be that high when playing Justice aspect, especially when I have Greater Responsibility in hand. With Spider-Man, I once avoided a game-breaking Advance with that card, which was pretty thematic considering the art. 😅 And I went on to beat the villain on the next turn -- as I already knew I could. So I guess that sums up my thinking here: I get to play a wee bit more dangerously in situations I wouldn't if I played another aspect. Spidey's Enhanced Spider-Sense actually allows the same kind of play with his signature cards. I dig that, though it did backfire a few times before I got his playing style right.

In any case, Rhino was just the way to introduce my question, as it wasn't its focal point especially.

How do you go about facing Klaw Expert?

I’m not sure I’ve ever had occasion to use Great Responsibility in solo... probably because it’s a hero card. So, with the exception of drawing an encounter advance that would outright end the game (and I have sufficient health to not die), it is mostly a dead card. For spider-man, I like justice, but again, only because he has the weakest innate THW options.

With Klaw, because he has the additional stage to his scheme, I like to play much more fast and loose on the threat levels. Same with Ultron, who usually shifts by turn 3-4 in solo (although with She-Hulk, thanks to her objection ability it’s possible to get lucky and suppress his scheming just enough to get by).

Also, for Klaw, my preference is generally to get him to his next stage quickly so that I don’t see the Immortal Klaw twice.

I never really liked Interrogation Room... until I went up against Ultron. I beat expert Ultron with Justice Spider-Man 2 days ago and Interrogation Room did a lot of the heavy lifting.

7 hours ago, FearLord said:

Essentially Expert Solo vs Klaw and Ultron I’ve only really had consistent success with Justice or Leadership. Protection and Aggression don’t really have the card pool to be consistently good against the harder villains yet. I think things could be different in Risky Business or Wrecking Crew though...

See I agree that those are, broadly, the “best” in that they see more consistent.

But.

This is based on evidence from five very different characters, with any number of future heroes being even more different. Solo Protection is probably, in my opinion, The Worst, as it will perform the most poorly in an even sample of games with the Core heroes (This is somewhat hypothetical and biased, obviously). But I looooove Protection Spidey solo.

Protection helps Spidey stay in hero mode, giving him more access to some of his best cards like Enhanced Spidey-Senses. It makes good use of his incredible defense value while making that defense less likely to only block incoming damage (counter-punch/indomitable). It stacks very well with his whole kit, really, and I find it fascinating how well he can perform with it.

Maybe I should try it against Expert Ultron, but my point stands: “easiest to plug a random hero into and win with” =/= best.

12 hours ago, SpiderMana said:

See I agree that those are, broadly, the “best” in that they see more consistent.

But.

This is based on evidence from five very different characters, with any number of future heroes being even more different. Solo Protection is probably, in my opinion, The Worst, as it will perform the most poorly in an even sample of games with the Core heroes (This is somewhat hypothetical and biased, obviously). But I looooove Protection Spidey solo.

Protection helps Spidey stay in hero mode, giving him more access to some of his best cards like Enhanced Spidey-Senses. It makes good use of his incredible defense value while making that defense less likely to only block incoming damage (counter-punch/indomitable). It stacks very well with his whole kit, really, and I find it fascinating how well he can perform with it.

Maybe I should try it against Expert Ultron, but my point stands: “easiest to plug a random hero into and win with” =/= best.

I’m only talking about the Core set environment. I think based on the new Protection cards we’ve seen, Protection is going to get more viable. I like Spider-Man Protection in multiplayer, but personally, I’d rather play him Justice solo. I’ve beaten Expert Rhino with a protection deck, but it took about 3 times as long, and contained some really dicey moments (as opposed to Justice Spider-Man, which seemed to win that match up fairly easily...

Yesterday I beat Expert Klaw+Masters of Evil with Captain Marvel Justice. It took two games. The first was a pathetic streak of bad luck against a constant wall of minions until an encounter card that made Klaw attack me a second time in the same phase killed me.

The second try? Oh boy. I managed to keep the main scheme to stage 1B until the very end, when an Advance that I completely shrugged off made it go over to 2A/2B. It was inconsequential. I knew I could finish him off on my next turn, and that I did.

This was an interesting game. One of the longest solo game I've done -- 44mins. I followed the strategy Derrault talked about, i.e. first taking care of everything other than damaging the villain. This was bound to make the game longer. I cycled my deck three times, and was almost near the second run of the encounter deck. But as I alternated between dispatching everything thrown at me and building my own board, I used maxed Energy Channels and Photonic Blasts to damage the villain when the way was wide open.

Things really started to turn in my favour when I played Spider-Woman and Mockingbird on the same turn. Needless to say, this felt good.

We (my son and I) have mopped the floor with Standard Ultron 2-Player, but we have had a lot of trouble beating Expert Ultron 2-Player. Last night we started recarving our teams for a 3-player match to be played later today when my brother arrives.

We decided to see how well the Black Panther/Aggro deck could go solo. We each had several close solo runs. After my son went to bed I gave it 3 more tries and then I got close using Nick Fury after a lucky shuffle then with one last turn I whittled him down to 5 Health and found myself with this scenario:

Stage 3B had 3 counters on it with 2 to go

Ultron had 5 Health left (2 Scheme/ 4 Attack)

Ready Black Panther had 3 Health left in Hero mode with 4 upgrades:

Combat Training (+1 Atk)

Energy Dagger (Hero Special deal 1/2 damage)

Vibranium Suit (Hero Special steal 1/2 Health)

Panther Claws (Hero Special 2/4 Damage)

Energy Dagger (Hero Special)

exhausted Avenger Mansion

exhausted Helicarrier

Ready The Golden City (Alter Ego Action: draw 2 cards)

2 Cards in Hand: Melee (Hero Action: cost 3 Atk 3 Dmg) Enhanced Reflexes (Exhaust for 3 Uses Energy Resource)

I ended up winning can you figure out how? (note: my son pointed out 2 other possible solution)

Oof... so Stick to the hero form, attack, he’s down to 2 health? He places a single threat and attacks, you defend or die, you only survive if he whiffs on the boost card? And hope for a relatively harmless encounter card to be dealt to you?

Alternatively, you flip and use golden city, hope for an Ally you can afford to deal the last two damage? If not that, you have the opportunity to mulligan for an Emergency or two to stay in the game for one more turn?

Edit: I can’t remember what Ultron III’s Text Box says, but he just can’t be hurt while a drone is out? And there are no effects that auto spawn a drone at that point, right?

Yeah, my guess is with @SpiderMana. You attacked for 2 then drew into Hulk with Golden City. (The suspense is killing my btw)

Hulk was the option my son thought of, I drew into Tac Team (smilar concept)

Tigra also works with Vibranium.