How can you beat 9 Angels in the second week if you don't have any Cons? The answer is, you can't.
P.S. I suspect that if 5.2.1 of the rules is canceled, there will be far fewer matches decided by random kamikazes showing up in taverns than there are now, due to the wild imbalance in the distribution of Cons/Hives. However, Mages are banned, and this freebie is not. It's unfair.