ITT: We build the ULTIMATE MANSION

[Dirjel]

So I want to build a custom 40 card mansion using the best monsters from each set.

I want to include things like the Yellow Herbs, and Rocket Launcher Case from the base set, and some of the "Gain infection if you don't kill me" monsters from Outbreak.

Other than that, we need monsters with a variety of effects - I'm thinking Ivy (heal 20 when you kill it), Security Guard Zombie (+20 Gold / +1 Buy when you kill it), and Reinforced Licker (Knife- and Pistol Leon-proof monster).

I also like the Zealots and some of the newer Ganados that scale their HP and defense as the game goes on. They stay relevant throughout, and that wins them big points.

Anyway, let's get a pool of nominations for the best monsters, then we'll start to narrow down and balance it out so there's a good curve going. I want to be able to go in with a knife and pistol and feel like it isn't hopeless, but that should definitely be a dangerous proposition.

Discussion gogogo!

===EDIT===
Here is my current mansion - post what you'd change about it!

Items/Events
Yellow Herb x2 - Fun card, and totally unique effect. Nothing else in the game does anything like this, so it's an auto-include for me.
Kevlar Jacket x1 - Nice to have.
Rocket Launcher Case - I like how the launcher gets shuffled back into the mansion after you use it. Plus, it's not Resident Evil without an RPG! The Minigun is NOT included in the Mansion because it is boring. It's TOO good - when someone pulls it, their deck immediately becomes a "Minigun Deck" instead of whatever they were building towards.
P.R.L. 412 - Catch up card. It's nice to keep people in the game even if they fall behind earlier on.

5 HP
Chicken x1 - 5 Damage, 3 Decorations. He's a fun early game card, and really more of an "Event" than an actual creature. I wish he healed you, too - would have been more on-flavor.

10 HP
Los Ganados (Male) x3 - 15 Damage, 1 Decoration, and he gets bigger as the game goes on. I really like scaling monsters, but this guy hasn't seen much play in my group yet, so I'm not sure how effective he is. This will probably be one of the first cuts I make if I need to readjust the difficulty.

15 HP
Los Illuminados Monk x2 - SPEAKING OF SCALING MONSTERS... I love this card. You can theoretically kill him on the first turn for a nice early windfall of decorations (3 of 'em), but he stays (very) relevant as the game goes on. This is probably my favorite monster printed so far.

Zombie Security Guard x3 - 1 decoration monster that provides some early game ramp. He's nice too because if you kill him late game you don't feel quite as let down as you would with just a vanilla low-tier monster. Perks are nice!

Wasp x2 - Entry-level monster that will still ruin your day end-game. Great card.

20 HP
Ivy x2 - DAT HEALING. Again, perks are nice.

Base Majini (Gun) x3- I wanted something that interacted with the new skill mechanic in my mansion, and this guy is it.

25 HP
Los Ganados (Pitchfork) x3 - Thin your deck or handicap someone else. This is another good monster that you will never be disappointed to kill.

Los Illuminados (Scythe) x2 - The first time I read his effect, my response was, "what?" It's kind of hilarious.

30 HP
Base Majini (Shield) x3 - Heheheh... junk other people's decks. Funny.

Los Illuminados (Shield) x2 - I like this card. It serves the same purpose as the Reinforced Licker in that it shuts down Knife Krauser, Pistol Leon, and Explosives Jill, but it also applies more globally to anyone who is just spamming multiple copies of the same weapon. Diversify!

40 HP
Yawn x2 - My personal favorite +Infection card. Big enough that he tends to make multiple appearances, and really sets you up for a high-infection late game, occasionally forcing someone into zombie status. Nobody ever turns into a zombie by choice; they usually just explore until Game Over.

Regenerator x1 - I love this card. He is such a pain to kill.

50 HP
J.J. x1 - I actually wouldn't mind too much if I pulled him early, and at 4 Decorations, he's a nice bounty late-game. Still, he seems kind of... heavy-handed, I guess, so he's just a one-of.

Chainsaw Majini x2 - A good "catch-up" card. Actually, a REALLY good catch-up card. I like this guy, and I like that it's a "Reveal" effect and not a "not Defeated" (or "Defeated," actually) effect.

60 HP
Nemesis T-Type - Hurts everyone on reveal, including partners. Scary.

Boss Tier
Red Executioner & Osmund Saddler - Yes, I'm running two bosses. Saddler is the "Boss" of the mansion, Red Executioner is just a ninja sub-boss that will sneak up on you when you don't expect it and knock your decorations out of you. I like this dual boss setup because both Infected force you to shuffle the mansion... which can be incredibly dangerous. Both bosses pack 60 damage so you don't have to worry about a turn 1 OHKO if you're playing one of the weaker characters - by the way, if you're reading this, Tylar, next time give us a 100 HP boss with 50 damage and a really mean effect please!

[Citibrat]

Seriously, the Hunters from "Nightmare" are deadly. -20 Max health to the character with the most decorations if you fail to beat it? Ouch! Also, I'd like to nominate the Reinforced Licker from Outbreak and the Nemesis from Premier, since he automatically does damage. Illuminados Monk and Guardian from Alliance should be in there as well. Maybe J.J. as well? He's pretty nasty.

The most successful creatures are typically the ones that do something wicked on reveal, not even giving the player a chance to battle them. The Wasp is one such infected. 20 dmg, regardless of whether you beat it or not. That's huge.

Just some of the ones that came to mind right away. I'm sure others will have some ideas as well!

[Khrest]

Tyrant t-002 as boss, add lisa trevor too, as a nice infection gaining monster

[T4S]

Nemesis, JJ, & Giant Majini should round out your mini-bosses

They all hurt &, on top of the previously mentioned Hunters & Wasps, will eliminate someone

You will make someone feel very sore for being so unlucky to die through effects, but the Giant Majini has actually contributed majorly to perma-death-ing a player in my games


Worth asking: by "Ultimate", do you mean our faves or most brutal?

[SMaster777]

Yeah, the deck needs Nemmy. Punching EVERYONE for 20 the moment he shows up, regardless of if he dies?

As for the bosses... I'd have to nominate either Wesker or Red Axey; the former doesn't shuffle the deck when he flips if he doesn't die, plus he boosts any others flipped with him. The latter? That deco shaver effect....

[Dirjel]

Worth asking: by "Ultimate", do you mean our faves or most brutal?

Okay, good question. Here's my personal design philosophy for the mansion. I want a mansion that promotes player interactivity and creatures that serve multiple purposes - it's not just a stack of bad guys, but exploring is going to actively change the game.

As for creatures with field damage effects, I actually took all of those out with the second or third custom mansion list I made. It's not fun when you are taken out of the game on someone else's turn - same reason I took out all the Hunters. One time my friend got an early lead, and he got -60 max HP from simple "Reveal" effects from other people exploring. I want a challenging mansion, but it should be fair - think more "Dark Souls" and less "Battletoads."

I had some friends over this weekend and we went through my old mansion list and edited in some of the new cards. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but I like what I have now, even though I think it might have too low of a curve. I may need to swap out some of the low level guys with some more heavy monsters. Before we get started with the monsters, let's look at the extra stuff first.

Items/Events
Yellow Herb x2 - Fun card, and totally unique effect. Nothing else in the game does anything like this, so it's an auto-include for me.
Kevlar Jacket x1 - Nice to have.
Rocket Launcher Case - I like how the launcher gets shuffled back into the mansion after you use it. Plus, it's not Resident Evil without an RPG! The Minigun is NOT included in the Mansion because it is boring. It's TOO good - when someone pulls it, their deck immediately becomes a "Minigun Deck" instead of whatever they were building towards.
P.R.L. 412 - Catch up card. It's nice to keep people in the game even if they fall behind earlier on.

5 HP
Chicken x1 - 5 Damage, 3 Decorations. He's a fun early game card, and really more of an "Event" than an actual creature. I wish he healed you, too - would have been more on-flavor.

10 HP
Los Ganados (Male) x3 - 15 Damage, 1 Decoration, and he gets bigger as the game goes on. I really like scaling monsters, but this guy hasn't seen much play in my group yet, so I'm not sure how effective he is. This will probably be one of the first cuts I make if I need to readjust the difficulty.

15 HP
Los Illuminados Monk x2 - SPEAKING OF SCALING MONSTERS... I love this card. You can theoretically kill him on the first turn for a nice early windfall of decorations (3 of 'em), but he stays (very) relevant as the game goes on. This is probably my favorite monster printed so far.

Zombie Security Guard x3 - 1 decoration monster that provides some early game ramp. He's nice too because if you kill him late game you don't feel quite as let down as you would with just a vanilla low-tier monster. Perks are nice!

20 HP
Ivy x2 - DAT HEALING. Again, perks are nice.

Base Majini (Gun) x3- I wanted something that interacted with the new skill mechanic in my mansion, and this guy is it.

25 HP
Los Ganados (Pitchfork) x3 - Thin your deck or handicap someone else. This is another good monster that you will never be disappointed to kill.

Los Illuminados (Scythe) x3 - The first time I read his effect, my response was, "what?" It's kind of hilarious.

==============

So, ignoring Events, at this point we have 20 monsters - that's half of the mansion - and all of them could be killed on turn one with a pistol and a knife (assuming you can live without your pistol). There are nine monsters we could kill without losing our pistol (or 14 if we pull all three weapons in one hand). 5 of these monsters are going to get stronger as the game goes on, and I feel like they all have effects that will keep them relevant as the game goes on. Again, I'm going to have to playtest it, but on paper those statistics make it sound like it's a pretty easy mansion. When we take into account the events, we have almost a 50% chance of a "successful" explore with just 20 damage (which, again, I think is probably too easy).

Anyway, let's look at the big guys now. I can always rebalance later as needed.

==============

30 HP
Base Majini (Shield) x3 - Heheheh... junk other people's decks. Funny.

Los Illuminados (Shield) x3 - I like this card. It serves the same purpose as the Reinforced Licker in that it shuts down Knife Krauser, Pistol Leon, and Explosives Jill, but it also applies more globally to anyone who is just spamming multiple copies of the same weapon. Diversify!

40 HP
Big Man Majini x2 - I didn't actually include this guy at first, but it was suggested in this thread and I feel like he's not a bad idea. I'm not running all three of this guy because his effect is a pretty harsh punishment if you pull him early on.

Regenerator x2 - I love this card. He is such a pain to kill.

50 HP
J.J. x1 - I actually wouldn't mind too much if I pulled him early, and at 4 Decorations, he's a nice bounty late-game. Still, he seems kind of... heavy-handed, I guess, so he's just a one-of.

Chainsaw Majini x2 - A good "catch-up" card. Actually, a REALLY good catch-up card. I like this guy, and I like that it's a "Reveal" effect and not a "not Defeated" (or "Defeated," actually) effect.

Boss Tier
Red Executioner & Osmund Saddler - Yes, I'm running two bosses. Saddler is the "Boss" of the mansion, Red Executioner is just a ninja sub-boss that will sneak up on you when you don't expect it and knock your decorations out of you. I like this dual boss setup because both Infected force you to shuffle the mansion... which may be incredibly dangerous. I don't know - like I said, I haven't playtested it yet. Both bosses pack 60 damage so you don't have to worry about a turn 1 OHKO if you're playing one of the weaker characters - by the way, if you're reading this, Tylar, next time give us a 100 HP boss with 50 damage and a really mean effect please!

Anyway, that's the mansion I'm currently running. 40 cards, lots of low-tier monsters with effects that I hope will speed up the early game, and some high-powered monsters with (hopefully) game-changing effects.

Let me know what you think, and keep posting suggestions/discussions. We'll build the ultimate mansion deck yet!

[SMaster777]

Needs Nemmy. Drop a Chainsaw Majini for him, I say. It doesn't seem to have a whole lot of cards that actually hurt on reveal, and it needs at least one. No, not the Nightmare Hunter, hes just plain mean, but Nemmy hits everyone, and that includes partners too if they're in play.

[Dirjel]

...I'll consider it. It probably wouldn't be too bad if there was only the one "damage on reveal" monster, and I wouldn't mind too much having another heavy guy.

I think that's a good idea, actually. Nemesis would probably keep everyone on their toes a little better, and with only one "damage everyone" guy people wouldn't cry foul as often if it kills them. Seriously, there's no reason to run around with 20 or less HP for any significant lenght of time.

And I'd rather take out a Regenerator or one of the 30 HP guys than the Chainsaw Majini. I like those the way they are.

[SMaster777]

One of the Shield Monks, then? I really only suggested Chainsaw because the HP difference between him (and JJ) and Nemmy is minimal, effectively preserving the overall HP spread.

[Dirjel]

Okay, so I added Nemmy, and put in a few more cards.

In
Nemesis T-Type - 20 damage to all characters on reveal
Wasp x2 - 20 damage on reveal, exploring character only
Yawn x2 - I realized I had no +infection monsters, and I needed to fix that.

Out
Big Man Majini x2
Regenerator x1
Los Illuminados (Shield) x1
Los Illuminados (Scythe) x1

I'm concerned about having three monsters that deal 60 damage each (Nemmy + the two bosses). Still haven't had a chance to playtest ANYTHING, so I'm still just working on theory.

I'll repost the full mansion list later later; I'm using my phone right now and it's tough editing long posts.