SantoriniPowerMedea

Introduction

Well versed in sorcery, Medea has just the powerful spell for this competition of building and ascending. A well-timed disappearance can turn the tide in many ways that are impossible for other gods. The only problem here is to make it count…

Hero Power

Once per game remove all blocks from under a worker neighboring either of your workers. You also remove any tokens on the blocks.

Explanation

Firstly, you can use this ability on any worker as long as it neighbors Medea’s workers, including on her own workers. Secondly, you must remove all blocks and tokens on the square when using this, sending the worker back down to level 0.

Game Strategies

Early Game

It is not quite clear how Medea should play the opening. Usually, I would recommend building next to the perimeter and corners and try to stick close to the opponent. By building in the corners, if the opponent uses those squares, it is easier for Medea to trap it by using her power. The goal to stay close to the opponent is to be able to use the power whenever Medea wants.

Mid Game

Let’s explore some different ways how Medea can use her power:

• Race to win: Medea ignores the opponent’s threats and creates her own threat on a distant area of the board. If the opponent started, he would create a winning threat first. However, Medea will use her ground level worker to defend, removing blocks from under the opponent if necessary. I’m not a huge fan of this strategy since in a normal game the opponent also has a power and Medea’s attacking lone worker will not create enough danger.

• Remove from own worker: This is a very rare situation in which Medea removes the blocks from under one of her workers. It is not easy to think of a scenario in which this strategy would be useful (it could happen for example against Hades), but you should keep in mind that this option is also available.

• Move up with the opponent: Medea moves up to a level 2 either because the opponent stuck close to her or because Medea stayed close to the opponent. The scenario ideally has one (or more) of Medea’s workers and (preferably) one of the opponent’s workers in a plateau of levels 2. If you can reach this scenario with Medea, then the opponent should start their prayers. Medea will wait for the perfect opportunity to use her power. Consider the following strategies, which are particular cases of this strategy:
  • Steal the win: The opponent builds a level 3, threatening to win. But the opponent was careless to realize that Medea could use her power, move to an adjacent level 2, and build another level 3, creating two winning threats. This might also work without building the second winning threat, but by building a barrier so that the opponent cannot defend the level 3.
  • Trap the opponent: The way Medea can trap her opponent is by removing the blocks from under them, such that they get trapped in a hole (surrounded by levels 2 or higher). This works especially well if the opponent is in the perimeter. For example, if the opponent is in E3, then Medea needs the five adjacent squares to E3 to be levels 2 or higher. Then, she would remove all the blocks from under the E3 and it would be trapped in the ground. Note that one of the adjacent squares can still be a level 1 since Medea will build after she uses her power. Another point worth mentioning is that it is not strictly necessary to trap the opponent completely (trapping the opponent in two ground level squares should be enough).
  • “Trap” the opponent: The difference from this strategy to the previous, is that you will not trap the opponent completely, rather you will put it out of play. This situation arises when both Medea and the opponent are in a plateau of levels 2 and Medea uses her power so that the opponent cannot get back up into that plateau. In that case, Medea should be able to secure a win in the next few turns.

Just like with some other heroes, the threat of using the power is enough for the opponent to play less optimal moves. If the opponent tries to prevent the strategies above, they might need to play some other moves (for example, not creating winning threats). Moreover, Medea gets to keep her power while making the opponent player weaker moves.

Late Game

As analyzed in the previous observations, if Medea reaches the endgame in an attacking position, even if the opponent is close, she has a lot of different ways to use her power and surprise the opponent. In that scenario, Medea will be very strong.

Specific Matchup

Achilles

Although it might be more appealing (and easier) to play with Achilles, Medea could be stronger. Achilles can try several tactics against Medea, but if Medea is able to defend the threats by building up the board, then she will probably win. We should note that in this matchup if Achilles reaches a level 2 while still having his power, Medea can survive a few more turns by removing the blocks from below Achilles whenever necessary.

Adonis

Adonis holds an advantage in this matchup as it is common that Medea is forced to use her power in response to Adonis using his power (since Adonis’ power is more aggressive, he tends to use it first). When this happens in a hero matchup, normally the first to use the power will be favored.

Asteria

Medea could catch Asteria by surprise by sending her to level 0 and hence prevent her from using her power, Nevertheless, it is still very complicated for Medea to win this matchup.

Atalanta

As you may know, Atalanta is one of the weakest heroes and so this will be an easy task for Medea. Medea just needs to defend for a while and use her power at the correct moment.

Charybdis

Recall that by removing blocks from under a worker, Medea also removes any tokens, including whirlpools. This could be an interesting strategy to defeat Charybdis.

Hades

Here we may have a rare situation in which Medea could remove blocks from under one of her workers to give it mobility. I doubt this would happen, but you never know. In this matchup, Medea holds the upper hand.

Harpies

It is very tough to play this matchup with Medea, but it is possible. Medea should try to move up to a (good) level 2 as soon as possible and if Harpies go there to defend, Medea will make them go to the ground.

Iris

If Iris is pushed to the ground, that might not be a big deal as she can just jump right over to a level 2. For this reason, this matchup tends to favor Iris. Moreover, Iris can try to create threats on several areas of the board, and a mere mortal (heroes are similar to mortals when defending) like Medea might not be able to cope with them all.

Nemesis

Pushing Nemesis to the ground is not necessarily good since you (Medea) can be in her shoes if she is able to get away. Nemesis usually tries to run away from the opponent (so that she can use her power) but in this case she can mix business with pleasure since that also prevents Medea from using her power. For these reasons, Nemesis will have an easier time in this matchup.

Urania

Urania likes to jump from corner to corner since she can create threats that are impossible to defend. In this specific matchup, this strategy works even better because Medea can’t even stay close to Urania and consequently the muse of astronomy will have an easy win.

Zeus

Once Zeus is pushed to the ground, it is usually easy for him to go up by using his power. However, the problem for Medea here is that Zeus can play aggressively by creating several levels 3 and winning threats, and Medea might need to use her power just to prevent a loss.

Conclusion

Medea can become very strong, and it might be very tough to create real winning threats if she sticks close to you. However, she is a very tricky power to play with and for that reason she might seem weaker than she really is. Nevertheless, if you consider the pool of all powers, there are many gods who can make her have a tough time and it is not clear how she can counterattack.

Tier ranking: B