Captain America (2019)
Overview:
This is a general review of Captain America's preconstructed deck, mostly through the lens of solo play. It is in no way an exhaustive review or commentary on the meta game. Rather, it is my thoughts and experience of the pack as a relatively new player. As the first hero review in my Marvel Champions series, let me know what you'd like to see!
Steve Rogers/Captain America:
Alter-Ego form - Steve Rogers alter-ego form has a hand size of 6, 11 hit points, and a recovery of 3. All pretty average as far as stats. As part of set-up Steve Rogers can add his shield to his hand, giving a huge leg up at the start, as Cap's shield adds 1 defense plus retaliation for a cost of 1. On top of that, while in alter-ego, Steve's ability Living Legend allows the first ally played each round to come in for 1 less resource. This is a fantastic ability, especially with the Leadership aspect, and coupled with other cards like Avenger's Tower. This ability also works well in multiplayer as Steve's ability doesn't say the first ally you play, implying that it applies to the team.
Hero form - Captain America's hero form has 2's for thwart, attack, and defense, again, average for stats. Cap's ability, I Can Do This All Day, is great as allows you to discard a card to ready him. Readying your hero is always a huge benefit, so make use of it. It means that you can attack/thwart twice or attack/thwart, ready, flip and heal (or vice versa), meaning Cap really can do this fight all day.
Hero Cards:
As all other hero packs, Cap comes with 15 signature hero cards, a lot of which are really good. Cap's hero cards give him good resource generation, attack, and thwart, a stronger defense stat, retaliation and even prevents his immediate defeat. I won't go in depth into all of them, but here are some of my favorites.
Shield Toss - Shield Toss is probably the most thematic and satisfying card to play, though its best use is very specific. Shield Toss is a 0 cost event that deals 4 damage to X enemies, where X is the number of cards discarded. Don't get me wrong dealing 4 damage to an enemy for 1 card is decent enough. However, Shield Toss is most exciting when there are a lot of enemies in play, such as the Wrecking Crew scenario. Dealing 4 damage to each member of the crew is just so fun, though it can be expensive.
Heroic Strike - Heroic Strike is Captain America's strong attack card that most heroes have. It does 6 damage, plus a stun if you paid with a strength resource. It does cost 3 to play, which is pretty standard, but it can be subsidized if you have some Super-Soldier Serum in play, which will also activate the stun.
Steve's Apartment - Steve's Apartment is a 1 cost alter-ego support that allows Steve Rogers to draw a card and heal 1 damage. This essentially makes Steve's recovery a 4 and hind size 7 (if you take the recovery action). It also works well for a small healing, after making two attacks in hero form and flipping to end your turn.
Aspect Cards:
Cap's hero pack comes with 6 new Leadership cards, which in my opinion are mostly good in certain situations.
Squirrel Girl - Squirrel Girl is probably the best leadership card in this pack. As a 2 cost ally, she is a cheap chump blocker made cheaper with Rogers' ability. When she enters play, she deals 1 damage to each enemy, which works well in a minion heavy scenario.
Wonder Man - Wonder Man might be my favorite leadership card to play in the pack. He is a 2 cost ally, with 3 health, 1 thwart, and 3 attack, with the condition that a card must be discarded to use his attack. First off, he's incredibly cheap for his power, so at the very least he's a cheap blocker. However, if you have an extra card (maybe from Steve's Apartment) his attack well worth it.
Quinjet - Quinjet can be really good if you get it in early, though 3 copies of the card seems excessive. It is a 1 cost support that generates one resources to pay for allies at the start of each turn. Coupled with Roger's ability, Quinjet can make a 4 or 5 cost ally free with the right timing.
Strength in Numbers - Strength in Numbers is a 0 cost event card that is good but situational. It allows you to exhaust allies and draw cards in return. I like to use my allies pretty much every turn, but this is great if you are keeping a hero as a blocker or simply don't plan to use them that turn.
Falcon - Falcon in my opinion is not that great. He's a 4 cost ally with 2 attack, 2 thwart and 3 health, which seems to be lower than most 4 cost allies. He does come with an ability that can help remove up to 3 threat when he enters play, but in my experience, it's unreliable.
Avenger's Assemble - Avengers Assemble is my least favorite leadership card in the pack because of how situational it is. As a 4 cost event, Avengers Assemble lets you ready all avenger characters you control, giving each of them +1 attack and thwart. This is fantastic and leads to a huge turn! However, it takes most of of your hand to play, and by the time you get it in with the right set up, you probably don't need it as much.
Tips from a beginner:
Use Cap's ability. It might seem like a waste of a card, but there is no reason to hang onto a card (depending on the card of course) in exchange for an extra action. His ability enables you to take a hero action and alter-ego action in the same turn, or the same hero action twice.
Invest in his set up. Take time to get Steve's Apartment and both Super-Soldier Serums in play. The added cards and resources is a huge benefit.
Make a few tweaks to the pre-constructed deck. Some cheap ally buffs, or better allies could go a long way. I would personally swap out one or two Quinjets and all of the Avengers Assemble, despite how satisfying that big play might be.
Feel:
The best part about the Captain America hero pack it that it feels like Cap. His abilities reflect his leadership, heart and persistence. Shield throw is incredibly thematic. Super-Solider Serum as a resource generating upgrade is super thematic too, as it is responsible for what allows Rogers to do these incredible feats.
Final thoughts and recommendation:
To start, even playing his pre-con deck, it is clear that Captain America is one of the strongest heroes in the game. However, I'm not super excited to play as him, at least with his pre-constructed leadership deck. There were too many turns over multiple plays where I had a dead hand; a lot of cards to build on allies that I didn't yet have. That being said, this is a deck construction game. I've since played three games with Cap with Aggression, and despite my beginner deck building skills, it was far better. Overall, I would recommend getting Captain America, at least as a fun character to learn the game with, as he is easy to use. And if you like deck construction, you'll likely enjoy him all the more.
Purchase the Captain America hero pack: https://amzn.to/308Jgft
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