Marvel Champions: The Card Game Review: With Great Power…

Marvel Champions: The Card Game is a straightforward, if somewhat simple, co-op game that Marvel fans just might love.

You Are Reading :Marvel Champions The Card Game Review With Great Power

Marvel Champions: The Card Game is not just the latest co-op Living Card Game from Fantasy Flight Games – it’s also the company’s first official collaboration with Marvel. To that end, it’s not only FFG’s entry point into the Marvel universe, but also a great entry point for players who’ve never encountered an LCG before.

What Is A Living Card Game

First, let’s get the Living Card Game idea out of the way. With every LCG Fantasy Flight has released, a player can get everything they need to experience the game in the Core Set (that’s what we’re reviewing today). Down the road, future expansions add set, non-random cards to the game; these are more like typical board game expansions than booster packs. This way, unlike with games like Yu-Gi-Oh! or Magic: The Gathering, there is no rarity, no collectability – it’s just about the game, and knowing exactly what you’re buying with each pack. Marvel Champions will be no different, though at the time of this review, no such expansions have been released.

That said, the core set comes with a lot of game in it. There are five heroes to choose from – Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and She-Hulk – and three main villains to fight against, alongside a host of minions. Each hero can be combined with one of four aspects – Justice, Protection, Aggression, and Leadership – meaning straight out of the box, without any complex deckbuilding, there are dozens of combinations of heroes and aspects that can be taken into battle.

How To Play Marvel Champions

Each player takes on the role of one such hero, and their deck is a combination of cards specific to that hero – Spider-Man comes with Black Cat and Webshooters, for example – alongside cards from the chosen aspect. There’s no deckbuilding, really, to be done here – just take all the Spider-Man cards and all the Protection cards, shuffle them together, and there’s your hero.

Each turn, players play cards from their hands by paying the appropriate cost – usually, this means discarding other cards from their hands equal to that cost. In the above picture, for example, playing Black Cat normally requires discarding two other cards. Some cards have an effect and then leave play; others, like Black Cat, stay in play as Allies, permanent Upgrades, or Support cards. Then, players use their cards to damage the villain, or thwart their schemes; either way, numbers are going up or down. Players win when they defeat the villain by reducing their hit points to zero. Players lose, of course, when they’ve lost all their hit points, or the villain accumulates enough Scheme points to achieve their goals.

This being a co-op game, the villain isn’t played by anyone; rather, they are represented by a deck of cards that includes all their minions, traps, and tricks. Players draw from this deck to see what the villain is up to; maybe Rhino has upgraded his armor, or Ultron has just built an annoying number of drones. Sometimes, players draw cards from this deck specific to them; Vulture might make an untimely appearance just when Spider-Man thought victory was close at hand.

How Marvel Champions Stands Out

What separates this game from so many other superhero-themed games is the fact that it’s just as important to spend time as the heroes’ alter-egos. Spider-Man has to recover from battle by going undercover as Peter Parker every now and then, and some cards can only be played by the hero or the alter-ego. Playing as the alter-ego doesn’t feel boring, though – each has a role to play, and there are many reasons a hero might spend time as their alter-ego.

Each card is illustrated by art straight from Marvel comics, bringing the game to life in a way unique from other FFG offerings. The graphic design is overall clear and easy to read, as baffling as “Sch” and “Thw” might be when the game first begins.

The game is easy to learn and play, but its simplicity might also make it less than satisfying for fans of FFG’s other co-op Living Card Games, such as Arkham Horror: The Card Game. The simplicity of mechanics also means there is less room for the theme of the game to shine through.

Captain Marvel, for example, doesn’t feel especially Captain Marvel-ish, but Iron Man spending half the battle building his suit, or Spider-Man, upon being attacked, drawing the card that lets him backflip out of harm’s way, feel authentic to the heroes in question. The upcoming Captain America deck includes his requisite shield, which is constantly bounced back into the player’s hand as it is used to damage or thwart enemies. Like with many LCGs, it is difficult to know how the game will look in several months, or years, but we can assume it will become a more varied, complex, and interesting experience.

The Verdict

Overall, Marvel Champions: The Card Game is a solid, if simple, card game that Marvel fans will get a kick out of, but one that veteran card gamers may find a little bit lacking.

A copy of Marvel Champions: The Card Game was provided to TheGamer for this review. Marvel Champions is available now at your local game store.

Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/marvel-champions-card-game-review/