(Photo credit to Fantasy Flight Games)
Written by Ed Carter, Staff Writer
Marvel Champions
1-4 players
Fantasy Flight Games
Living Card Game, Marvel heroes
This is a job for…Game Overview
When Marvel Champions first came out, I was deep into the Arkham Horror card game. My first thought was I have Legendary so that’s good enough. Fast forward to now, and I see that while it is another LCG, it really is simpler, and more interesting to me than Legendary. The mechanic of using an alter-ego is not just a gimmick but a crucial part in the game. So it was time to try it out. Needless to say, I am glad that I did.
- In Marvel Champions you play a hero going against one villain and their minions to stop their evil schemes and take them down!
- Each player uses a custom deck of cards for their hero and plays cooperatively to beat the villains.
- So don your hero suit, and get ready to save the day!
The City needs you! Game Set up
The core game comes with 2 pre-built hero decks (Spiderman and Captain Marvel) with cards to make hero decks for Iron Man, She Hulk and Black Panther. There is a pre-built villain deck for Rhino and cards for Klaw and Ultron decks. They recommend to use the pre-built decks for your first game.
After you select your hero, taking their hero card and flipping it to your alter-ego side; take a health dial and set it to the maximum health of your alter-ego and deal yourself the number of cards indicated. Set the Villain deck out placing their level 1 villain card and their master scheme. Set the villains health on their health dial indicated on their card. Set the threat, health and general counters out within reach to all players.
I can do this all day : A game round
The game is played in 2 phases; the hero phase and the villain phase. In the hero phase, players will play cards from their hand, use their basic skills to either attack or thwart the scheme, or switch to or from their hero side. Cards have a cost to play and it’s paid for with other cards in your hand. Simply select the card you want to play and use other cards in your hand to pay the cost. There are three actions your hero can do in hero mode; attack, thwart and defend.  When you attack, declare the target and assign damage to that target. If you deal enough damage that target is defeated. If the damage is assigned to the villain, they have to be defeated more than once. Once the final stage villain is defeated, the heroes win.
Once you play all the cards you want, reset your hero and allies and draw cards up to your hand size. Then the villain phase begins. The villain will always add one threat to the master scheme. Next, depending on whether you are in hero or alter ego determines what actions the villain takes. If the player is in hero mode the villain and all minions attack the hero. The hero can defend up to their defense value if they choose, and /or use cards for defense. If in alter ego, the villain will scheme instead. In addition to the printed attack or scheme value, the villain draws a boost card and adds that to the total damage assigned or threat added to the scheme.
Finally the villain will assign an encounter card to the hero. These can add additional schemes, allow another attack or add minions to engage the heroes.
If the master scheme ever has enough threat to match or exceed it’s target amount, or if all the heroes are defeated, the heroes lose. If the heroes thwart the scheme and defeat all aspects of the villain, they win the game. They must defeat the villain as well as prevent the scheme from being completed.
Final thoughts
Marvel champions is a strategic game with lots of decisions and strategies involved. It is very important to use the rules reference when playing, as situations arise that may need clarification. Each hero plays unique to their abilities and deck. The decks can be customized and this provides a lot of deck building options.
The game is very different than Legendary as Legendary uses a set of heroes while Marvel champions uses a deck for each individual hero. In Marvel champions you feel you are Spiderman and not just using Spiderman as in Legendary.  Since Marvel champions is a Living card game, there are lots of expansions and hero decks to add. With that said, the heroes that come in the core box, are really solid and offer a lot of replayability on their own. Both She Hulk and Captain Marvel can throw a lot of damage to the villain. Spiderman is a strong hero for combat as well as defending. Black Panther’s strength is leadership and using allies while Iron Man uses his armor to pound his opponents.
In summary, if you want a fast paced challenging Marvel card game, then Marvel champions may be just what you are looking for. Until next time, keep moving those meeples and happy gaming!
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