I’ve previously suggested to give us players the option to prioritize our troops’ spells, as a relatively simple measure to improve the AI. It ought to prevent exploders or mana generations from spamming endlessly without firing the spell(s) they are supposed to charge.
This idea could be extended further.
For me an advantage would be that the same team might not fight in the same way = more variation.
It should definitely DE-prioritize targets that are freaking immune to its spell. 
Yeah, that would be easy by pretending they also have stealth so they wouldn’t be targeted. But all the little AI adjustments would be easy, there’d just be a lot of them.
You could do some improvements just by altering the spell when the ai uses it, such as that wolf with hunters mark. Make ai always target first enemy instead of a random enemy. Entangle too, but if the first troop is impervious… but in most cases it would be an improvement.
The degree to which the first move is a dominating advantage makes fair actual PvP impossible even if all of the other technical issues were solved.
Could you make a possible second ai that activates after x level of play and at x difficulty? Let us say player red has been playing gems and gets to level 500. He has been playing against AI “1”, now at 500 levels he plays against AI “2” which is tuned for every single card in the game. Now player red is having difficulties with AI “2” but has been playing on warlord 4 difficulty. Player red could lower the difficulty down to normal and the ai changes back to AI 1 where it is not tuned to every single card. Would this model be of benefit to the players? Also note that difficulty does not affect pvp so neither does the AI switchover.
Ummm, yes and no lol. AI has many different levels, currently ours likes 5 and 4 matches first, but it is designed to make occasional mistakes adjusted by difficulty.
Maw + Mercy have made this game more interesting. When playing against them I sometimes need to use 20 % of my brains to win, comparing to the usual 2 %.
Can you imagine why they would have had Skeleros on that team? The only real use I see for that troop is when paired with a skull spammer, and even then, I wouldn’t trust the AI to use it at a reasonable time. If it was just for mana coverage, Avina or Carnex (or pretty much any other red/purple) might have given you a bit more trouble after that lucky mercy cast.
I agree with your initial statement though. It can be fun to climb uphill sometimes.
Don’t underestimate Skeleros. He’s a key piece in many teams and one of my Invade teams uses a Skeleros to great effect
For invades, yes. I’m sure you’re using him when there are a good number of skull generators. Put him with any one of Skeleton, KOS, BoneDragon or Sheggra, and he could be devastating. However, when put in the middle of Maw, Coronet and Mercy, I don’t see the point. @Bolatsi’s match was a perfect example of how the AI will squander the potential of that troop. The only time that troop might work is immediately after Maw’s one cast, which probably needs a lucky 4-match to be generated after he devours. So, given that line-up on a defence team, why Skeleros? (and this is coming from someone who puts up an intentionally bad defence team to bless my neighbours, but that clearly wasn’t the intent of that player).
Shadow Dragon***
Bone Dragon***
Giant Spider***
Skeleros***
Wolf Banner (Green/Blue)
As amazing as it is on Invades, it would just provide easy wins on Defence.
I would replace shadow dragon by heardmaster
That’s exactly what I was expecting when you said you used him on an invade team: Skeleros plus one or two purple creators plus a skull-spammer. That would be a fun and fast team if you have those troops decently levelled and traited. Generate purple to charge everyone up, fire BoneDragon to strip armor and create skulls, then fire Skeleros to generate a secondary skull-spam. Recharge off the fallout, rinse and repeat (if even necessary).
You would have said that no matter what he had in first slot. 
I think you’re better off with a purple generator rather than a purple-sponge in that situation.
No heardmaster is underestimated he can refill quickly anyone in this team
Also with 3rd trait he hit stronger and can cleanse everyone
If you’re going to give up a purple generator for an exploder, why not use Gorgotha, who isn’t limited to exploding yellows and doesn’t block purple, and has better traits for that lineup?
Yeah gorghota is a good choice also but need more mana to refill and gorghota will slower bone dragon since he also use brown and gorghota hit is weaker
Shadow Dragon’s Darkfall allows him to get 30+ Attack really fast, his Spell is another Mini-Purple boost and has Magic Link.
Every instinct I had said to not put Shadow Dragon first, but it’s where he fits.
I have to say I avoid the top-tier teams at times. This team is a combination fun/powerhouse team I made to find a synergy for Shadow Dragon.
Herdmaster slows Bonedragon since they both use purple. Gorgotha might slow Bonedragon since they both use brown. Talia’s team ignores all of that by creating enough purple for everyone, which is why I think it’s probably better than using either exploder. I know you love Herdmaster, so that is why I made my remark - that’s all.
In my opinion both team are same strengh, i just like to get exploder to refill everyone it look faster maybe im wrong