Marvel Champions (2019)
Produced by: Fantasy Flight Games
Players: 1-4
Age: 14+
Play Time: 45-90 minutes (I've had games as short as 15 minutes and as long as 120 minutes)
Overview:
Marvel Champions is a cooperative living card game (regular card releases) where you and up to three other heroes, work to defeat a villain before they knock you out or complete their evil scheme.
Main Mechanics:
Deck construction
Hand management
Components Review: Marvel Champions is a card game so there isn't much to judge. The cards themselves are pretty standard, not an incredible production. That said, the art is fantastic! If you are a fan of comic book art, you will love the art of this game, which really helps create the comic book feel of the gameplay. There are cardboard tokens and point trackers that are also pretty standard, which personally I am okay with. The majority of the game is in your hand. I personally plan to sleeve my copy, to prevent wear and tear from shuffling. The box is sturdy, which is important as my copy has gotten heavier very quickly.
Gameplay Review:
The game is played over a series of round broken into two phases each. First is the hero phase. During this phase, players take as many actions as they can pay for to deal damage, thwart a scheme, call on allies and more. Once a player has taken all the actions they wish, play continues in player order. After all heroes have had a turn, the villain gets a turn. During the villain phase, progress is made on their made scheme, and the villain will either attack or scheme further, depending on whether players are in their hero or alter-ego identity. One villain card is then dealt to each player and resoled, and the next round begins. (This is a simplified overview, but the most important pieces are there)
I have played Marvel Champions both solo and multiplayer, and enjoy both equally. Both solo and multiplayer play similarly, so the game scales well, the main difference is time and potential combos. What I love about solo is that I can play a game anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes, which means I can start and play another one just as quick. The great thing about multiplayer is that you can pick heroes and decks according to their strengths and build a well balanced team. Either way, each turn is a puzzle of how to best use the cards you have to move towards the goal of defeating the villain, while actively avoiding defeat.
Marvel Champions is a deck construction game with incredible replayability. The base game comes with 5 heroes, 4 aspects, 3 villains, and a handful for modules that can be added to villain decks. What this means is that out of the box there are TWENTY possible hero configurations. So if you played each hero, with each aspect, against each villain, you would get 60 plays in! I haven't done any deck construction yet (have only played with preconstructed decks) and have yet to play the same game twice.
Final Thoughts:
Marvel Champions is so freaking good. I have never played a card game. I got the game one month ago and am already 31 plays in. What I like most about the game so far is that all of the heroes play in a way that captures their powers, which really makes the game feel like a good movie or comic. It's so exciting to get a new hero pack to see how the cards will embody their powers. I'm not a stressful person, but the game even captures the high stakes stress of the heroes. Having to save civilians while trying to stop the villain is just thematic goodness. Marvel Champions is so, so fun, and I've barely scratched the surface of the game!
I'm hoping to review all of the hero and villain packs over time so be on the look out for those.
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