Blue/gray generals Challenge

wow

I decided to take the bull by the horns and to face a deadly pair Attila/Nobunaga immediately. My idea was to knock out Attila first. So, I deployed Li with Meteor boots (a guarantee that he will attack before Attila) and Peter opposite of Attila while Joan (6*) in the center absorbed damage from Nobunaga. I also deployed Cleo hoping that she will disable Nobunaga. And after a couple of attempts she succeeded. I lost Joan but it was a single loss and that was acceptable. The rest was relatively easy. I lost Hannibal in another fight, but, in general, my team was intact when it came to the final decisive battle.

Usually those with faster boots attack first. But in arena this rule doesn't work. Notwithstanding how fast your units are, AI will attack first, sometimes even twice. I recall I uploaded a screenshot long ago when my Suri with insane speed was annihilated even before she had a chance to attack once.

does this apply to gods too?

oh.. I thought fast boots meant loki hits later than usual
but its ok

Also, how would it be if we thought of our team as collective passives rather than collective actives
for instance, healing vs rumour vs pure attack(braveness) vs defensive vs leadership?

I don't think any schematic attempts to create a "theory" of EW5 have any bright future. I believe that EW5 is a very "practical" game: you face certain situations and you make certain decisions accordingly. It is very tempting indeed to find a key to all doors, but, probably, it doesn't exist. And to succeed you need two important factors to take into account:
1. To have a variety of different instruments (different active and passive skills) at your disposal.
2. To use these instruments not just automatically but when they really needed. The perfect timing is needed, in other words.