Groot and Rocket defeat Campaign Ronan

Through tons of trial and error (mostly horrible error), we took down Campaign Ronan the Accuser with Rocket and Groot.

My son and I cleared the first four bosses with Rocket Raccoon and Groot on the first or second try. None were easy by any means, but played carefully enough, we took each one down. Then we tried Ronan...

His surge parties immediately wiped us. We regrouped with Groot Protection and Rocket Aggression, and wiped again.

The problem was Rocket's survivability, we thought. So, we tried Rocket Protection and Groot Justice. But the Raccoon died, and Groot just couldn't thwart enough to get rid of Kree Supremacy. Next, was both with protection, and although we lived for a few rounds, Ronan's scheme took us down quickly.

So, more thwarting needed. Try Justice and Justice. That did amazingly for scheme, but then Kree or Badoon minions crushed us. Each one has 5 to 8 HP, and usually have one of guard, patrol, villainous, surge or stalwart. They made it so we couldn't attack Ronan the Accuser or thwart the main scheme.

Eventually, we decided on a crazy concept. Rocket Justice and Groot Aggression, but twists on both. Rocket would thwart every round, and use Crisis Averted, Stealth Strike, For Justice! and other Justice events to keep the main and side schemes down. Groot would use aggression events like Into the Fray, Relentless Assault, Toe to Toe to kill all minions, keep the power stone.

Strategy

First, you have to take out Kree Supremacy as fast as you can. One round, if possible. Two at the most. This will limit Ronan's ability to have a surge party, but won't eliminate it. You will lose with these two decks, but you'll also eventually win.

Next, Groot must take out minions. Especially ones that have patrol on Rocket Raccoon. Into the Fray, Relentless Assault, Root Stomp, Toe to Toe are all great for minion killing. For the most part, those cards will either take out a minion alone, or do so with the combined power or Rocket's Rocket Launcher and Particle Cannon.

Rocket needs to find a way to put out both of the above weapons while still thwarting. It's the key to his survival. He also needs Booster Boots and Armor Plating to survive hits from Ronan the Accuser since he'll be thwarting every round. Rocket should never get the Power Stone. It's instant death for him.

Meanwhile, Groot defends with Vine Shield every round unless he has a tough status card. Even then, piercing can happen out of the blue with a Ronan the Accuser surge party. So Groot's defense and growth counters are pivotal.

Word of warning, only flip to alter ego side for Groot if he's about to die. Single-Minded Fury can attack you out of nowhere. You need to keep the Power Stone as much as possible. Losing it for one round can lose you the game.

Rocket Raccoon will need flip to alter ego a few times, but obviously only do so when threat is managed, and Groot can thwart some.

Make sure to exhaust the Milano and the Kree Command Ship ability every time he brings in an extra attack, takes the power stone or schemes again.

Both of our decks are extremely event heavy. The idea is to do one or possible two events while mixing 1 or 2 cost upgrades (Deft Focus, Down Time, Endurance, Vine Shield, Sense of Justice, Heroic Intuition, Thruster Boots) after the initial scheme and minion onslaught.

I'll link to my son's Rocket deck as soon as he published it.

Good luck! I hope you have the same ultimate success we did.