IntroThis method is insanely complicated, relies on extreme knowledge of game mechanics, intense calculation and some luck, and only works some of the time. Even having mastered the fights, it took over an hour of attempts to find a run where the AI didn't find some unbeatable combination. Personally I'd just cheese this one out for now. It's really not worth it.
Team SetupStill here? Okay, first things first - grind out Chanting. Sorry guys, 4-costs are pretty important for this strategy, and Chanting gives them a whopping +2/+6, the difference between barely surviving the opposing onslaught and being able to fight back. Furthermore, make sure all of your units have full Corruption. Personally I grinded Blood Gate using Thunderstorm runes - you can get 4 units and a level complete reliably in about 4 turns. As far as which races to use - personally I believe in diversity in both races and classes, so I ran 1 of each race, plus three Bovos and every hero except Bobaksuez (who's still not quite good enough to be playable). However, if you want the best possible race combination, go for a single Hive Drone and eight Bovos (hell, given that you rarely get to use them, there's a case for ditching heroes entirely, but I like having them for the final fight).
As for the class layout, I've very carefully crafted this:
http://puu.sh/lxfX6/662d393023.jpg. Keep in mind that your units all get converted into various races, all runes changing to that race's sex's version, but the statlines stay the same. Hero units actually get heavily boosted statlines, so that's why I've kept in heroes like Vanorel, who barely sees play during the fights. The converted runes are a bit ehh, but Heal is surprisingly flexible. As for runes, all the Assassins have Boost (Fire), the Mages have Thunderstorm (Dark), all the males have Warcry (Air) except the Phasmos Tank, who has Regen (Water), and the Bovos tank gets Protect Earth.
General GoalBriefly, the overall goal of this deck is to grind the opposing deck out, trading 1-for-1 or 1-for-2 into each of their units, eventually winning by taking out all of their units, while having
a few of your own left over. As such you need to use each unit optimally to trade for theirs, squeezing out as much value from each unit as possible. Also, you should only ever send out units to answer opposing units - never just play out units on their own. Ultimately, to out-survive their deck, you only ever need to trade one unit 2-for-1, and the rest 1-for-1, and you'll out survive them. In reality, it isn't that simple, since you'll often only have your weakest answers left over, and be unable to clear their last unit if you only end up 1 unit ahead. Aim for at least 3-4 2-for-1s each fight, and you should win quite comfortably most games.
Some general tips: try to play out the least flexible answer you can. For instance, if you could take something out with a Scout or a Mage, use the Mage, since the Scout can kill nearly anything, but the Mage is only situationally useful. Another general piece of advice is to watch the opponent's mana. If they've used all their mana, they can't play out any minions, so you can set up more efficient trades that work out over 2 or 3 turns, without having to worry about Scouts or Thunderstorm runes. It's often better to leave their units up until you can clear their entire board simultaneously, so your long term plans aren't ruined by a poorly timed enemy rune. Equally if you can keep 2 mana free, try to do so, since it'll let you throw out a desperation tank later on.
Unit OverviewWith that goal, how you use each unit is as important as how you play the individual levels, so I'll explain how each puzzle piece fits together before going into individual fights.
VLAD/ROM is only usable in the fourth and final fights. His purpose is to create a stalemate situation, where the opposing front line can't touch your front line, and your mages and healers plink away from the back lines. He should be played on the same turn as a few other tanks (or slow moving units), with a few magi behind - he's one of the main win conditions on those levels. Otherwise he and the other 2-cost tank serve the same purpose - as a last-resort answer to a Scout or similar that you can't otherwise stop. Don't just throw them out unless you have to - they're much more flexible later on. I keep VLAD in my starting hand for consistency and safety.
The 4-cost tanks exist as walls, to shield a healer or mage for a long, slow duke-out against the tougher enemies (such as their healers). Alternately, they can be used to slow a scout down, or trade well with a Mage. Try to use these instead of the 2-costs where possible, so the 2-costs are available to save you from getting bursted down later on. Also, use the tank with Intimidate over the tank with Protect to weaken enemies - the Protect is best saved for your Scouts.
The 2-cost healers (the converted hero units) serve a different purpose on each level, but their general use is to heal up a tank after a trade using the Heal rune, and to provide support with their 9 (!) attack stat. Use them in long, protracted conflicts, to finish off weak enemies, or whenever you just need a body on the board (for Beezy's special or just protecting yourself). The 4-cost healer is almost entirely used for attrition battles, sitting behind a tank wall making a small difference at a time. Honestly he's the worst unit in the team, and you could entirely justify replacing him (probably with a third bovos assassin), but I like having extra healers for slogs.
Photovol's converted form is useless, due to a terrible converted rune, and should be thrown away whenever 10 damage kills something. However, when she isn't converted (fights 2 and 5), she's utterly devastating. Leave her literally anywhere she won't die, assume her affect will never go off, and admire how often it utterly wins you long fights. Make sure you have a way to handle the sleeping units, but don't worry too much about attacking them - they'll still be there once you've handled the other threats. The other Mages are just there for the Thunderstorm rune and AoE damage - leave them behind a tank in any clusterfuck situations and they'll clear out entire groups on their own. Feel free to just use them for a Thunderstorm proc, but look out for opportunities to sneak in extra kills with their passive.
The single Hive Asssassin is in the deck for one reason, and one reason alone - 22 damage. That's enough to kill off their assassins or Knights in one hit, and one of the only ways in the game to handle them in one turn. Save it for a situation where you need that extra 2 damage - if you only need 20, use a Bovos instead. The Bovos, however, are powerhouses. They're your most powerful, most flexible answer, so try not to waste them unless you need them. One great strategy to earn a guaranteed 2-for-1 is to set a Bovos Scout to clear a 18-20 minions, then whack a protect rune on her. The AI will often throw out a 9/18 scout to counter her, which will fail due to the Protect rune, giving you a free 2-for-1. Otherwise, try to save them for as long as possible, since they're extremely useful defensively.
Finally, Jurassa is relatively simple - save her as long as possible, and use her as an AoE taunt effect, to guarantee your safety in a situation where the AI would otherwise switch lanes and kill you. It's better to never use her than to need her and not have her. As a 6/12 Assassin with Thundershock, use her to whenever you can to answer weaker units - she's not that useful in her converted form. Ioshia is one of the few ways to guarantee a 2-for-1 on the first level, and should only be played out when you can guarantee this. One way to guarantee a 2-for-1 is to send her against a Scout when the AI has used all its mana, then switch lanes to kill a Healer or Mage. Alternately, she can be used in lategame to clear out the last high health minion. Be very cautious, she's very hard to use correctly. In her converted form she's useless - use her to guard your commander or just to provide Boost to Jurassa.
Individual levelsPhew, finally got here. The first level is, thankfully, the hardest. That means that if you can beat it consistently, it only gets easier. Sadly, it's very hard to trade efficiently when your hero power can only be used for 1-for-1s. The trick is to efficiently kill off early units using Tanks and Mages, while using the 2-cost healers and their Heal runes to make it so that your units don't die off after trading out. Turn 3 is an excellent time to play out a Bovos scout, and follow it up with VLAD/ROM's protect, often getting a 3- or 4-for-2. If you play it right, your own units should narrowlysurvive the opponent's attacks, having already taken a kill or two between them.
Here's an example of how that might look (though it's better to have equal numbers of units).
When the AI uses its hero ability, play out the least flexible minions you can (healers first, then magi) until you have equal numbers of minions (no more - the attack boost is useless since the boosted minion just dies for free to a Scout), and pop the hero power to clear out. This clears your deck, leaving you with only the most useful minions left. If you have a weak start and don't have at least 5 units left in hand after pressing the button, it might just be worth restarting, since you aren't very far through. Once you have a card advantage lead, you can start trading 1-for-1 until they run out of cards. Try to save Ioshia for later on, when you can guarantee a 2-for-1 without her dying to a Scout counterattack.
The second level is, by far, the easiest. There are two ways to play the first few turns, based on your starting hand. Either play super aggressively, throwing away weak minions in 1-for-1s setting up a situation where they play out all their answers leaving you with no minions and them with a full board. Alternately, aim to slow them down using tanks, and force them to leave as many minions up as possible. Either way, once they use their ability, the board should look something like
this, and you can enjoy a satisfying 4-for-0. Later on, try to play out Photovol in any situation where she'll survive, regardless of whether she can attack, and use any sleeps caused to get even more value. Past the first press, you can just use your commander ability once you fall behind on board to even things out and get more sweet, sweet value. You should end up
ridiculously far ahead on this one.
Vinara's commander ability is probably the second weakest, behind Beezy's. The commander ability is about halfway house between Beezy's and Vanorel's , and the best way to abuse it is split between those two strategies. You also have the issue that it doesn't effectively counter the AI's commander ability. As such, you have two choices - use it consistently before the AI uses theirs, or use it sometime after. If you use it just before the AI's (which is a safe choice if you have some tanks in hand, and can clear with the minions already on the board), you should commit to always using it then, just to keep the timing up. Alternatively, if you use it afterwards (which is a good idea if you can stall for a turn, and should be combined with a Thundershock rune for the clear), the timing isn't that important, but it's often better to use it as soon as possible so that it's ready sooner. If you choose this route, past the first use, it's usually best to save it only for when you need it. Your hero unit is Jurassa this time, and she should be saved for whenever you need her (sometimes even holding 2 mana in reserve, just in case). This is one of the hardest levels to get value from, so you should take riskier approaches, and save at least one scout to counter the AI's final use - you'll usually end up only winning by one or two cards.
Finally, Pecunia has the strongest hero ability, but one of the hardest missions. This is because all of your runes change dramatically, forcing you to change strategy. This battle should be fought as a long, value-oriented slog, often with a clusterfuck of units in the middle, forcing out value with your hero ability and VLAD/ROM. Try to use them seperately, taking extra care that nothing can get through your lines. The main way you lose this level is from a single enemy sneaking through and instagibbing the commander, so try to move your units up to the enemy's line, and hold 2 mana and a 2-cost tank in ready, in case something slips past. The general idea is to start off stalling (keeping 2 mana in reserve), trading efficiently and creating a wall of tanks and tanky units in the middle. The moment part of the wall would go down, use the hero ability to back it up, and keep racking up free kills. Only use the hero ability when it would actually save something from dying. Once that wears off, assuming the wall is solid, pop VLAD/ROM to provide additional defense and healing (keeping him as far back as possible), and keep slogging away. Once that wears off, use your hero ability to get another two turns of free kills. By the time they actually break through your line, you should have gained enough value that you can trade horrendously inefficiently, and still win.
The final of the five missions gives you all of your commanders, and your own hero ability (+4 defense for 2 turns). Use this like a weaker version of Pecunia's to stall out a clusterfuck (leaving Photovol on the back line to slow the enemy down even more), but hold enough mana to answer whatever the AI plays out. Play really, really carefully, since you have to repeat a lot of content if you fail now. Ultimately, with the combined effects of your hero units, this one should be pretty trivial, and wringing out value isn't really that important. Just don't take unnecessary risks.