Beginners tips for Battlesites

[mattkoz]

I've pretty much only played Any Heroes decks. What are a few basic tips you would have for a beginner battlesite player? I know the possibilities are nearly infinite and it depends on the location used, but I would appreciate some thoughts on:

• How many activators do you recommend overall (on average)?
• How many activators do you recommend for one character (to avoid dupes)?
• How do you manage which specials are under there (i.e., what to play early, what to hold)
• Since you only get one OPD, which OPDs are most useful?
• Are there certain battlesites that are more offensive or defensive?

[gameplan.exe]

1 & 2. The general consensus is to use 2 activators for every character available, letting that dictate the total (+Beyonder)

3. This is really pretty circumstantial. Generally, people like to go with 1 offensive and 1 defensive card, per character. So, the play of each Special tends to be directed by the flow of the game. If defense is needed in that particular hand, use the defensive card if it's available - otherwise, use the offensive card and save the defensive one for later.

4. This can range quite a bit, and it can really depend on the regular team you've assembled - but here are some of my own findings regarding the choice of a OPD (and often, that dictates the choice of Battlesite for me).
  (a). Is there a character you need to keep alive more than the others? then use of a BJ, CW, or a CT can be crucial. I've also found pretty good use of the CG and FQ* Specials off a Battlesite (FQ is Angel's from The Marvels).
  (b). Card advantage is another huge and very popular use of the OPD spot for Battlesites. Usually, something that forces discards from your Opponent (like Colossus' OC, or Dazzler's BY), but occasionally the draw variety (JA or HQ).
  (c). The last of the more common ways for me to choose a OPD is the "If only" card. I refer to this type, when looking at my Front Line and I think "If only ____ had a ____" and go with that. Some of the choices that have influenced me toward that are, "If only Gambit had an FD card" because his Charm makes him untouchable and can easily win you a hand with that combination. Another one has been, "If only Professor X had a BS card" because he's a max 8 and also has the +2 to all actions Special (BG), so he can block Teamwork follow-up cards and retaliate in furious fashion!!

5. Yes, there are. Typically, I don't think many people look to a Battlesite to find offense, though. Generally, if it's not balanced, they tend to be skewed to the defensive side. Two of the most popular defensive Battlesites, I think, are Danger Room and The Outback.
Krakoa is a great card advantage Battlesite
Onslaught's Citadel is a great Venture manipulation Battlesite
(although that can be a hard one to build in real life)

Hope that helps some, at least to get you started 

P.S., while a Battlesite used specifically for Offense is less common, I have found that X-Mansion has a lot of potential output, especially if you're using The Marvels. Also, Danger Room can be shifted toward Offense quite well (again, more so w/The Marvels).

For myself, if I'm looking to defense,

[mattkoz]

Thanks, great input.

So there's no placing for activator cards. It seems like you could very well finish a game where you leave several specials unused under the battlesite because of timing, duplication, etc.

Another question that I hope makes sense: You draw an activator for Iron Man. You have his 8EFS OPD underneath and a Radar Warning Avoid 1 attack. If the activator were your last playable card in that battle, would you have to use it to play the 8EFS or can you pass theoretically saving it to act as the Avoid 1 attack?

I can think you might want this flexibility in case the 8EFS was likely to be wasted in a round where you aren't likely to win venture. Of course, you could/would probably just concede at this point, but let's keep that part aside for now.

[breadmaster]

it's very rare (never for me) that every card under a site gets used, due to duping/conceding

as for passing, if the card can be used to attack in any way, you can't pass.  so you'd have to use the 8m in that case

[Bios]

ncann listed lots of good tips for starting out. Here is another good one: choose a battlesite with a negate special card (AO) . That's one of the few defenses against many cards like draw 3 cards, or colossus's siberian strength or even professor x's telephatic coordination.

Unfortunatelly there was an anti-negate crusade at some time and they didn't release that special anymore after Monumental. A huge mistake, in my opinion. Instead of decreasing decks with negate, it just made some characters overused.

[Jack]

it's very rare (never for me) that every card under a site gets used, due to duping/conceding

Don't forget Devourer of Worlds.

[gameplan.exe]

ncann listed lots of good tips for starting out. Here is another good one: choose a battlesite with a negate special card (AO) . That's one of the few defenses against many cards like draw 3 cards, or colossus's siberian strength or even professor x's telephatic coordination.

Unfortunatelly there was an anti-negate crusade at some time and they didn't release that special anymore after Monumental. A huge mistake, in my opinion. Instead of decreasing decks with negate, it just made some characters overused.

Yeah, a negate is often a requirement for your Battlesite, particularly when you don't have a negator on your Front Line. That's one of the reasons Danger Room and The Outback are used so often - they carry a combination of the biggest desires in defense:

Danger Room
Angel - AG (Marvels)
Beast - AD, AO, CD
Bishop - AC, AG, AY
Gambit - AD, BJ (OPD)
Iceman - AG, AD
Rogue - AC, AG
It has 2 effective "get off me" cards, and it has a negate, plus 4 other defensive cards (AC, AD, AG, AY)

The Outback
Dazzler - AD
Jubilee - AC, AD, AG, DB
Longshot - AC, AG, DO
Reavers - AO, BJ (OPD)
Sentinels - EE
Wolverine - AC, AG
It has 2 negates (the DO is a "personal" negate), but it also has good Teamwork defense with the DB and EE. And then it still has the OPD "get off me" card. Then it still has Jubilee's unstipulated teammate avoid, a regular AG, and an AC.

In general, The Outback is used more, I think, but I don't use the Reavers because "Bad guys are losers." 

P.S.
It's also worth noting that The Outback has a GL Special from the Reavers that is another common choice as the OPD because it can be used to get Devourer of Worlds out of your Opponent's deck.

[Bios]

Unfortunatelly there was an anti-negate crusade at some time and they didn't release that special anymore after Monumental.

Actually there was one negate released after Monumental. It was Mole Man's Strategic Tunneling.