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Monday, September 21, 2020

The Rise of the Red Skull: Taskmaster (Expert Solo)

I've been very frank about my skill level on social media. I am not the best Marvel Champions player. I've never done Heroic and I've no real intention to, at least for the foreseeable future. I like the game because it challenges my more analytic and patient side which is... underdeveloped. I'm not good at just sitting down, taking a deep breath, and evaluating threats based on reason, as opposed to gut. And my gut is almost always wrong about this game. Taskmaster hit this weak spot and really made me stretch and grow, and I love him for that.

Spider-Blitz 

Allies

Brawn
Valkyrie
Black Cat
Spider-Girl

Support

Aunt May
Helicarrier
Hall of Heroes
Avenger's Mansion

Upgrades

Spider-Tracer x2
Web-Shooter x2
Webbed Up x2
Downtime
Martial Prowess

Events

Press the Advantage x2
Drop Kick x2
Enhanced Spider-Sense x2
Backflip x2
You'll Pay For That! x3
Toe to Toe x3
Relentless Assault x2
Swinging Web Kick x3

Resources

The Power of Aggression x2
Energy
Strength
Genius

Campaign

Laser Cannon
Basic Recovery

Taskmaster

Oof, this one gave me trouble. A lot of trouble. The first two times I had swapped out Downtime for Combat Prowess and originally had the Basic Attack instead of Basic Recovery, but found it just didn't do me any good. I started the game with 4 hp from last time and quickly found that a key component of the deck was to be able to recover quickly, so that the beat down could continue. Without starting at a higher hp count and a good recovery my offense did me very little good.  So  I swapped out to the configuration you see above in the third game.

Taskmaster himself works against my deck. I have a habit of being risky with my hp, edging on death so that I can get the last hit in. This doesn't work out too well if your hp is already low and you're facing a guy who punishes you for flipping into hero form, not to mention the constant pinging of damage every round. So the second time around I opted to taking the extra threat... and Taskmaster completed his scheme. Arg. 

The third time is when I finally went with Basic Recovery, which turned the fight against Taskmaster... at first. But when I got attacked twice in a turn I found that I was in deep trouble. Taskmaster was at 10 hp on the second stage, with 11 threat(!!!) on the scheme! So freaking close! I'd burned through all my stuff and had no way to clinch the win from events. I got lucky: my allies came to the rescue. I'd built up my machine of Martial Prowess, two Web Shooters, and Helicarrier, which made it possible to play Brawn, Valkyrie, and Spider-Girl, who managed to put Taskmaster down. I am not a fan of allies, but I can't deny they really came through. I didn't see a single captive in the whole game. I ended the game at 7 hp.

Conclusion

This is the first time I could say the campaign really affected what I was doing. Taskmaster is terrifying in his own right, but the carrying over of hp from previous games really forced me to change up what I was doing, which I found to be a welcome change of pace. Taskmaster really challenged my playstyle of blitzing an opponent, flipping to recover and stall, and then finishing off the villain. Taskmaster challenges me by punishing the routine that I love so much at every opportunity, forcing me to slow down and rely upon my allies. I'm a bit sad I didn't get to do the captive stuff, but that'll come up on future campaigns. And I really intend to keep doing campaigns. But that's for later.

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