Heroic Quest #1

Scenario: Thanos
Difficulty: Heroic 1
Total Attempts: 16
Heroes Used: Doctor Strange (1), Wolverine (5), Captain Marvel (4), Nebula (3), Phoenix (3)
Number of Rounds in Winning Game: 16
Modular Sets: recommended/default ones
Win Date: 14 Dec 2022

My Heroic History

Ever since heroic mode was introduced, I've always been drawn to it. Every once in a while I enjoy the challenge of creating the most efficient deck and taking on the villain at their very best. Team Covenant going through the heroic challenge gauntlet may also have played a role in my desire to do it.

I do my heroic quest true solo and I go through scenarios in release order and I do scenarios standalone without any campaign elements and with the default modular sets. I try to use as many different heroes as possible, but some scenarios (looking at you Thanos) require the biggest of guns....

Including Thanos, I've completed the first 15 scenarios using 10 different heroes.

The Scenario

Some problems I was facing:

1. Lots of big minions
2. I can't go down to alter-ego even once
3. Being stunned or confused from the infinity stones
4. And of course the constant need for chump blockers

There were many attempts where the threat on the main scheme would start at 0 going into the villain phase and Thanos would scheme out (normal scheme, Avatar of Death/Advance, Time Stone, etc.). Advancing to Balance the Scales is not an option, I tried to play on in a couple games and it didn't work at all having half of your deck and getting an extra encounter card twice as fast when you deck out.

The Heroes

Other Heroes

I started with Wolverine for a few rounds, but when playing on heroic it doesn't take too long or too many games to realize that a certain hero or hero/aspect combination isn't going to work.

Next up I brought in my personal favorite, Captain Marvel. She's beaten some of the hardest scenarios on heroic (Ultron, Red Skull) and she does it her first try every time. I usually don't start with her, but for the tough scenarios I bring her in. I was confident in pitting an undefeated Captain Marvel against Thanos, but I started to shrink a little after several lost attempts. Thanos being stalwart presents a much different challenge compared to other villains you can stun and confuse. The closest I came to defeating Thanos was getting him on stage III with 24 HP remaining. I came to the sad conclusion that I needed a different hero/aspect.

Enter Phoenix. I wanted to use Pinned Down and since Phoenix was the only one with access to Psychic Misdirection at the time, I thought she could stand a fair chance. There are enough big minions in the scenario that they show up often in the speed of heroic. They slow you down, because you can't ignore them since they hit hard, and they take away damage that could be piled on to Thanos. But alas, after a few attempts I realized that Phoenix wasn't going to get the job done either for me.

Who could I turn to that doesn't ever need to go to alter-ego, can pay for lots of allies, deal with statuses and/or get around them, and can handle lots of threat and do damage? The one and only Sorcerer Supreme himself: Doctor Strange!

Card Hot Takes

He has an answer to every problem.

• Stunned or confused? No problem! Vapors of Valtorr turns it into a tough.
• Need to take out a beefy minion or do a lot of damage to Thanos with retaliate from Thanos's Helmet while your stunned? Crimson Bands of Cyttorak
• Need to remove a lot of threat after an extra scheme in the villain phase? Images of Ikonn
• Need to keep your comrades in arms and yourself alive longer? Seven Rings of Raggadorr
• Need to pay for all your stuff? Winds of Watoomb
• Need to ready after being forcefully exhausted Exhaustion? Cloak of Levitation
• Need to somehow prevent that treachery that is one more attack than you can handle this round because you're all out of allies and toughs? Protective Ward

The good Doctor is a monster. 1 in 14,000,605 wasn't just the number of times I would win against Thanos on heroic. It was that I beat him my first try with Doctor Strange.