C3G Strategy Article Discussion Thread

[IAmBatman]

Don't forget to move Prof X close enough to use Psychic Defense X once a round as well.

If your opponent has any special attacks, though, that can weaken Blob a bit. He's definitely useful, though!

[Smithy Winfred]

Pyro would be a good choice there, what with so many people close together. As would Magneto, he could also help move those people towards Blob.

Mutant teams are really killer when you use the right strategy.

[Smithy Winfred]

Here's the link to my first Strategy guide Abomination

Abomination Strategy Guide

[CharosInCharge]

It is nice to see some strategy still being discussed in the c3g community

[Smithy Winfred]

Thanks, I thought I'd start picking up the mantle and work on writing up the Strategy Guides for the many lost C3G souls.

[quozl]

Viegon, you now have the OP. I suggest giving CiC credit for his write-ups first thing.

[DocGlock]

I'd like to see the Manhunters get some love. I read the yellow lantern write up and thought it was awesome but I really like running arkillo with 2 to 3 manhunters, mad thinker, and some strong android figures so you can constantly abuse his eviscerate special ability. And being able to use Jocasta to protect Arkillo is also a nice bonus if you have points for her.

[Viegon]

Originally Posted by quozl

Viegon, you now have the OP. I suggest giving CiC credit for his write-ups first thing.

Certainly. Thanks.

Originally Posted by DocGlock

I'd like to see the Manhunters get some love. I read the yellow lantern write up and thought it was awesome but I really like running arkillo with 2 to 3 manhunters, mad thinker, and some strong android figures so you can constantly abuse his eviscerate special ability. And being able to use Jocasta to protect Arkillo is also a nice bonus if you have points for her.

You've got some nice tips there! Feel free to write up a strategy article yourself or to suggest additions to existing ones. The Books Keeper Department will review anything before it goes into a unit's book, though.

[Viegon]

I went ahead and updated the OP and thread title to match it's new use, hopefully that's not a problem and that I didn't miss anything. I made sure to preserve all of CIC's original OP.

And to get some discussion going, here's a rough draft of a Strategy Article for Sage I've been working on:

Sage has one of the strongest Order Marker (OM) management powers in the game:
- Telepathic Tactician has no limitations on who the OM comes from or who it goes to (this includes squads and Event Heroes, which the likes of Professor X, Hush, and Baron Zemo cannot provide OM management for).
- Sage allows the OM to be revealed on the chosen units card, which can activate powers like: Radio Insect Control, Super Soldier Scout, The Wrecking Crew #, Frost Giant Raid, Creature Command, and many others.
- In Sage builds, you can leave the “3” OM on units like Destiny to keep their power active, but on the third turn move it to use someone else.
- Unlike other OM management units, the OMs do not need to be on Sage (except for one, which is often the “X”); this means that if Sage dies unexpectedly, you don’t lose turns. This also helps against OM removal powers.
- Telepathic Tactician does not have a range limit or require clear sight, which gives her an advantage over other OM management like Professor X and Hush on certain maps.

One of the best ways to effectively exploit Sage’s Telepathic Tactician is to draft her with a unit who has high survivability or who can safely sit in the back of your base, and place all but 1 OM on its card (the other OM goes on Sage’s card). Before each of your turns, as long as Sage is still alive, you can immediately rearrange ALL your OMs to take the turn you want. Such units might be Blob, Superman (I), Ant-Man, or Wasp. Alternatively, playing her with a large amount of the same squad or common hero is generally a safe place for OMs.

Probability Calculation is also an extremely useful power for many builds; not only does it allow you to boost your own rolls, but you can subtract from your enemy’s rolls. Considering pairing her with units like Wonder Man, who has an often negative effect when he rolls a 1 with his Ionic Imbalance; Sage removes this threat. Probability Calculation also gives you limited control over Mirror Master’s Through the Looking Glass and Blink’s Blink! special powers.

Sage also brings Mutant Power Boost to the table. When paired with units like Cable, Wolverine, Marrow, or Deadpool, this +1 attack boost now ends up adding 2-3 extra dice per turn. Definitely not something to overlook. When using Sage, you do need to be careful that you don't overdo her Mutant Power Boost; spending 3 turns out of a game to boost your units can give your opponent an advantage of board control. Consider only drafting her with 1 or 2 Mutant candidates for Mutant Power Boost.

Sage is Multiple Man’s best friend, as Mutant Power Boost only needs to be used once to boost ALL Multiple Men in your army, and Probability Calculation can affect both of Multiple Man’s 20-sided die powers.

Deadpool and Sage also make a cute couple. Mutant Power Boost nicely complements Deadpool’s Double Attack, and Deadpool’s Wisecrack 13 is not only boosted by Probability Calculation, but is also useful in protecting Sage.

Sage’s relatively cheap cost, acceptable stats, strong synergies, and aforementioned invaluable powers make her an ideal draft for a large number of army builds.

Please point out any errors I made or add anything I missed. Let's get this show (back) on the road!

[dok]

OK, here we are. My thought here was not to write up full USR-style strategy guides, but rather, to do relatively short (<250 words) bullet point reviews that could reasonably be put into a strategy section in the OP of a book.

Since she was just discussed recently, I'll toss Sage out there. Here's the sort of thing I was thinking:

• The Mutants that benefit the most from Sage's Mutant Power Boost are those who have the ability to attack multiple times with normal attacks, particularly ranged attacks. Cable, Marrow, and Deadpool are excellent examples of figures that get a big benefit from the boost. Melee multiple attackers like Wolverine, Beast, Sabertooth, and X-23 also get an especially large benefit.
  
  When using Sage in a Mutant build, try to get the Enhancement markers placed quickly and delay contact with your opponent until your key attackers have enhancement markers set.
  
  
• Aside from unparalleled Order Marker flexibility, Telepathic Tactician allows extremely flexible use of certain powers. Powers that trigger based on there being "at least one order marker on this card", such as Joker's Reorganized Chaos, Riddler's Befuddling Tactics, or the healing powers of Black Adam and Captain Marvel, can be used without leaving those Order Markers on those cards. The Sage/Loki combo gives you two "X" markers that can be placed on any card you want (including Sage herself, so she can give out two Enhancement markers in a round).
  
  
• Probability Calculation is most valuable when it is changing the likelihood of a power that is significant but unlikely, such as the many powers that can destroy an opponent's hero on a 19 or 20.

That's on the long side, but the sort of thing I was thinking. Most of them probably wouldn't be a step through the powers on the card the way this one is, but with Sage that feels appropriate.

[dok]

hahahahahaha!

Talk about a ninja.

EDIT: I should mention Destiny and Multiple Man. Definitely Multiple Man!

EDIT 2: Pulling in some of V's stuff:

• The Mutants that benefit the most from Sage's Mutant Power Boost are those who have the ability to attack multiple times with normal attacks, particularly ranged attacks. Cable, Marrow, and Deadpool are excellent examples of figures that get a big benefit from the boost. Melee multiple attackers like Wolverine, Beast, Sabertooth, X-23, and particularly Multiple Man also get an especially large benefit.
  
  When using Sage in a Mutant build, try to get the Enhancement markers placed quickly and delay contact with your opponent until your key attackers have enhancement markers set.
  
  
• Aside from unparalleled Order Marker flexibility, Telepathic Tactician allows the use of powers that require order markers in new ways. Powers that trigger based on there being order markers on a card, such as Joker's Reorganized Chaos, Riddler's Befuddling Tactics, Destiny's Probability Precognition, the healing powers of Black Adam and Captain Marvel, or several of the Legionnaire powers (Braniac 5/Cosmic Boy/Saturn Girl), can be used without leaving those Order Markers on those cards. The Sage/Loki combo gives you two "X" markers that can be placed on any card you want (including Sage herself) to activate "X" marker powers twice in a turn.
  
  
• Probability Calculation is most valuable when it is boosting (or crushing) the odds for unlikely, game-changing powers. At the extreme, Sage can double the probability of a power that kills an opponent's hero on a 20, or eliminate that probability altogether when it is used against her team.

The bigger question is whether the goal is quick strategy guides for the books, or longer pieces for standalone threads. I was definitely leaning towards the former.

[Viegon]

Originally Posted by dok

The bigger question is whether the goal is quick strategy guides for the books, or longer pieces for standalone threads. I was definitely leaning towards the former.

Me too, though now I realize my write-up is exceedingly long.

I'm not sure we'd ever be able to get full threads out there for all the units, or even if they'd be worth the time and effort. My focus was to get strategies into the books, especially on units like Sage who I think gets overlooked.

I hadn't thought of pairing her with Loki, that's a good one.

I'd like to see the "safety" of Telepathic Tactician and how to use it included. Here's some tweaks to what you've got, dok (reformatted a tad to fit with what we've got in Cyclops' book):

• The Mutants that benefit the most from Sage's Mutant Power Boost are those who have the ability to attack multiple times with normal attacks, particularly ranged attacks. Cable, Marrow, and Deadpool are excellent choices. Melee multiple attackers like Wolverine, Beast, Sabertooth, X-23, and particularly Multiple Man also get an especially large benefit. Multiple Man, Deadpool, and X-23 also benefit from Probability Calculation.
  
• When using Sage in a Mutant build, try to get the Enhancement markers placed quickly and delay contact with your opponent until your key attackers have Enhancement markers set. If your opponent is playing a fast moving team, be careful not to let them get too much board control while you place Enhancement markers.
  
• Aside from unparalleled Order Marker flexibility, Telepathic Tactician allows the use of powers that require order markers in new ways. Powers that trigger based on there being order markers on a card, such as Joker's Reorganized Chaos, Destiny's Probability Precognition, and several of the Legionnaire powers (Braniac 5/Cosmic Boy/Saturn Girl) can be used without leaving those Order Markers on those cards.
  
• Likewise, powers that activate "after revealing an Order Marker" like Super Soldier Scout and The Wrecking Crew are more viable with Sage then in many other builds with Order Marker flexibility.
  
• The Sage/Loki combo gives you two "X" markers that can be placed on any card you want (including Sage herself) to activate "X" marker powers twice in a round.
  
• Unlike other Order Marker managing units such as Baron Zemo and Hush who can fall victim to assassinations or otherwise be Order Marker risks, Telepathic Tactician puts Sage in charge without absorbing all your Order Markers. Consider drafting Sage with units like Blob to act as a "safe spot" for your Order Markers.
  
• Probability Calculation is most valuable when it is boosting (or crushing) the odds for unlikely, game-changing powers. At the extreme, Sage can double the probability of a power that kills an opponent's hero on a 20, or eliminate that probability altogether when it is used against her team.

I also don't think we need to be too worried about length, the one in Cyclops' thread (388 words) seemed generally accepted.