Nova vs. Venom Goblin (Heroic Roulette)

Welcome to the Venom Goblin entry of my "Heroic Roulette" game project where I pair heroes with individual scenarios and tune them to win on Heroic difficulty. Additionally, I require that within an expansion (like Sinister Motives) I use each aspect at least once. You can see the previous 4 rounds here:

Round 1: Miles vs. Sandman (https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/21987/miles-vs-sandman-heroic-roulette-1.0)

Round 2: Spider-Ham vs. Venom (https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/22061/spider-ham-vs-venom-heroic-roulette-2.0)

Round 3: Sp//dr vs. Mysterio (https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/22091/sp-dr-suit-vs-mysterio-heroic-roulette-1.0)

Round 4: Ghost Spider vs. Sinister Six (https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/22111/ghost-spider-vs-sinister-six-heroic-roulette-1.0)

As I set out to pair each scenario with a hero from the Sinister Motives cycle, Venom Goblin was where I started since I thought it would be the hardest scenario of the bunch. So for the toughest scenario, I had to send in the best hero of the cycle, which is either Nova or Spider-Ham. I ended up choosing Nova because the broken-ness of Unleash Nova Force in a scenario with 3 main schemes was what I felt was needed to defeat this end boss on Heroic. The 3 main schemes also made me choose Justice as my aspect for cards like Multitasking and Overwatch to deliver high value.

The Big Picture:

• This scenario is defined by the balancing of the three schemes, which includes knowing where to send the glider counter if there is a tie and keeping all three evenly low to never get a Symbiote environment in play. Venom Goblin's villain activation is one of the scariest in the game, and actually outweighs the encounter cards in my opinion, as all 3 Special effects on the main schemes hurt. Once even a single Symbiote environment is out, the remaining schemes hurt even more, and many of VG's encounter cards are buffed.

Modular Set: Goblin Gimmicks

• This is the only scenario of the Sinister Motives expansion during this game project where I significantly eased the difficulty of the scenario by changing the mod set from the recommended. Advanced Glider is simply not a card I want to see as Nova playing Justice. At least Goblin Gimmicks is still very thematic with Venom Goblin and he keeps one mod set that reflects the Venom half (Symbiotic Strength) and one that reflects the Green Goblin half.

Significant Encounter Cards

• Symbiotic Monstrosity. An absolute unit of a minion that is as bad when drawn as a boost card as it is as an encounter card. Since there is only one copy, I haven't built a good answer into the deck. It is ok to leave it alive a turn or two until you get a Pot Shot.
• Anything that gives the villain an extra activation (Advance, Swinging Assault, etc.). Triggering Venom Goblin's forced response again makes any of these cards so much worse than they'd usually be. Unfortunately, VG is steady and then stalwart, so cancelling his activations is not a good option. We are certainly in for a tough ride!

Card Selection

• Unleash Nova Force. Obviously a mandatory card, but this card is the gameplan. If the game lasts 12 turns, you should be playing this card 9 or 10 of them (thanks Ms. Marvel). It is hard to overstate how busted this is...for 2 resources you draw 5-7 cards and get 5-7 readies
• "Go for Champions!". This is the other card that makes this matchup even remotely possible. You need to play it the turn you advance VG to stage 3 to not die on the spot. Even on a normal turn, this might prevent like 15 damage and get you an extra Ms Marvel use.
• Quasar, Multitasking, [Clear the Area].(/card/04049), Overwatch, Crisis Averted, Heroic Intuition. Can you tell I wanted to thwart this scenario? Usually this is way too many thwarting effects, but due to the 3 main schemes they will almost never be dead in your hand. Overwatch + Crisis Averted is a nice combo that can almost never be used in other solo scenarios. Clearing all schemes every turn is extra important for Unleash Nova Force.
• Adrenaline Rush. A card I added 3 of on the 3rd iteration of the deck and cut to 1 on the 4th. It gets a lot of value on the Unleash turns and conveniently lets Nova kill Enraged Symbiotes.
• Nick Fury, Avengers Mansion, Clear the Area. On the 4th and successful iteration of the deck, I realized I just wanted super fast deck velocity to see my Go for Champions and Unleash more often.

Game Review (4th attempt, 1st with this iteration of deck)

• I got Jesse Alexander and Avengers Mansion out early without falling too far behind. The Unleash Nova Force train started on turn 2 and kept me at pace with the villain while being able to chip away at his health with allies and Nova's basic attacks. As I planned, a "Go for Champions!" into villain stage 3 in hero form was perfect for coming back from the 5 encounter card turn. It was a long game as I went through the encounter deck twice and the player deck maybe 6 times? Eventually a turn of Pot Shot, played twice thanks to Ms. Marvel, closed out Venom Goblin giving me the victory. After going through my deck that many times, I was really happy with the card selection. 1 Adrenaline Rush seems like the perfect amount since I would see it every other turn, and there isn't much to gain from popping two on the same turn. Overwatch was another all star, being stored on a scheme if it was already depleted that turn and helping launch huge thwarting turns to get the main schemes down to 0 to trigger Unleash the maximum number of times.

I had a lot of fun doing this first round of "Heroic Roulette" against all scenarios in the Sinister Motives campaign. I was successful against each scenario, although it often took me several tries, but that was my goal...to take on a challenge and iterate until I got the formula right. If I have the energy to do it all over again, I will see you with Mutant Genesis comes out!