Custom Card (Home Rule) Playthroughs

Custom Card (Home Rule) Playthroughs

Ms Marvel - Justice, Groot - Protection, and Rocket - Aggression vs 

Green Goblin Mutagen Formula - Skirmish mode.

This was a quick game-night playthrough to teach Marvel Champions.  Kurt just happened to pick Ms Marvel, with my custom cards (with optional rules) for Big Hands and Sneak By.  GGMF is good for skirmish mode, because he puts pressure on you early.  I should probably have played GG II or III for skirmish mode, but I was just teaching, and the later GG's add way more early pressure.  

Pairing

I picked Groot as soon as someone picked Rocket.  I wanted to be able to make sure the team-up cards worked, and I wanted to be able to add counters to Rocket's weapons.  I leaned back and played a support role, defending for myself and one other almost every round.  The others were learning about support and upgrade cards vs event cards vs allies, so the early rounds were less optimal.  

Ms Marvel

This is the reason I'm blogging about this playthrough.  Kurt played Ms Marvel, and totally used a few of my custom cards.  He didn't even notice that they were custom cards.  Big Hands alter ego got played twice (draw 3 extra cards next hand).  Sneak By, however, was always used to thwart (lots of scary side schemes from GG).  I really like the way those played.  It's not overpowered at all, and it helped Ms Marvel get to some of her upgrades a little earlier.  It definitely created a fun option when she was in limbo with her cards (all attack cards, and no minions out, but lots of threat on the main scheme). She needed a little extra insurance that the next hand would be able to remove some threat.  All in all, Kurt gave Ms Marvel a thumbs up for playability and theme.  

Groot - Protection

I played a supporting role to show how awesome protection can be...  Groot started out defending for the team with readies, but got hit with 2 extra attacks, and had to flip for more growth counters.  Then Rocket got hit twice, and was taken down to 2hp.  Groot finally got a 9 damage hit from I AM GROOT.  Once the Booster Boots and Electrostatic Armor came out, Groot was rolling.

Rocket - Aggression

Rocket was played by Jonathan, who was new to Marvel Champions, but not to complex board games.  He learned quickly, playing lots of weapons and hitting for plenty of overkill.  He did 10 damage with one shot from the Rocket Launcher ==> GG is known for his array of minions, and we got to see them all.  Jonathan had no problem keeping track of Rocket's draw cards and discard tech cards abilities, and played them very efficiently.  Rocket finished out the game, hitting for 12 to take down GG I.  Jonathan really liked the Rocket overkill mechanic, especially with so many minions to fight.  Rocket was really clearing the board.

Ms Marvel - Justice, Spider Man - Protection, and Captain Marvel - Leadership vs The Wrecking Crew, normal difficulty.

This was a slightly longer game (three player with four villains, each with 33-42 hp).  Obviously, you can game these villains, but I was teaching again, so it's a fun scenario because it's long enough for all heroes to get fully built out.  They were mostly learning their heroes, and weren't focusing on a particular strategy with the villains.  When Piledriver played a card which said that we always had to attack him, we just attacked him.  Once Captain Marvel got going, the villains started falling.  It was nice to see the group get the hang of their heroes.  

Ms Marvel

CC played Ms Marvel this time (Kurt was bragging about her).  CC's a big Sentinels player, so he gets most of the mechanics and general game play.  He used Ms Marvel's Big Hands alter ego custom card rule twice this game --and really enjoyed how it worked.  Initially, he thought is was just slowing the hero tempo, but realized, it helps you move through your deck.  Of course, this game didn't have so many minions, so it sometimes made more sense to use Big Hands in alter ego.  We talked about whether I should make it four cards instead of three, but he thought Ms Marvel had plenty of cards flying out as it was.  Once again, Sneak By was always used to thwart.  Ms Marvel did an amazing job with thwarting various schemes.  There were always multiple schemes in play for Multitasking + Shrink.  CC figured these combos out very quickly.  

Note that I revamped Big Hands and Sneak By (see Ms Marvel Home Rule blog entry).

Spider Man

I played Spider Man, and mostly defended.  I love the support role.  Once I got Aunt May, I flipped for a quick heal to enable Dauntless.  I played a few allies, and threw a few Swinging Web Kicks in at the end.  Wrecking Crew has a lot of extra attacks, so I got a good bit of damage from retaliate, plus lots of card draw (Unflappable really gives Spidey some big hands).  Webbed Up is great for three player.

Captain Marvel

Kurt played Captain Marvel, and had a blast once he figured out leadership.  He eventually got four allies out and hit a big Mass Attack for 15 damage.  He liked the versatility of allies, for thwarting or attacking.  No one used allies for blocking very much, because Spidey was on his game.  He charged up two Energy Channels and both hit for 8.  Once again, Ronin was amazing, and Kurt added some upgrades to really stack him up.  

Hulk - Aggression + Ironheart - Leadership vs Green Goblin Mutagen Formula

+ Goblin Gimmicks

This was a decent pairing.  Hulk defended early on, mid game he just took it on the chin, then Ironheart was able to block for Hulk in the late game.  The main scheme advanced on them early, because Ironheart was flipping down a lot to add progress counters.  Hulk got to do a 15 point Hulk Smash, and Ironheart got to throw a 17 point Go All Out.  This is where I noted that both heroes are vulnerable to stuns.  I may add Unshakable to Hulk's deck.  When GG flipped, Ironheart played Go For Champions.  That was a great move --it covered most of the bad stuff from drawing 3 encounter cards.  Finally, Hulk closed it out with inspiration from Ironheart, and a ready.  They finished with 1 minion and 1 side scheme out.

Hulk

Hulk never flipped back to Banner side.  I think this means the Dr Banner side is not OP in Aggression.  I used his Wreckless power twice --that had a good feel.  It was a minor effect, but it felt thematic.  Hulk got most of his upgrades out, but some were buried on the bottom of the deck, and his hand size makes him go slow through the deck.  Hulk did one Sub-Orbital Leap early on, but then Ironheart took over on thwarting.  Boundless Rage and Unstoppable Force were much nicer to play.  

Ironheart

Wow.  She definitely feels like a more functional Iron Man, slowly getting built out.  It took her four rounds to change to version 2 (flipping every round), but only 2 more rounds to change to version 3.  So powerful.  Her upgrades are crazy.  I used them every round.  She can thwart on her own.  Go All Out and Push Ahead are insane with her deck, although this game I never used Push Ahead.  I used the R&D Facility more than I thought: whenever she needed it to defeat a minion, whenever she had a ready, or to power Go All Out.  I agree with the community, once she gets built out, it's game over.  

Dr Strange Protection + Adam Warlock vs Green Goblin Mutagen Formula

+ Goblin Gimmicks

I was having fun with a Mystic game.  This was a longer game.  They took a long time to clear minions, and Green Goblin throws minions out like candy.  The schemes were easy to clear, even when two side schemes came out at the start, but they took three rounds to even damage GG.  The minions broke lots of toughs.  This game reinforced my thought that Adam feels more like a Justice deck.  He would pair better with Aggression or Leadership.

Adam Warlock

This was an interesting game.  I didn't use the Counter Earth card, but I used the (home rule) Staff and Cape.  Adam did not seem overpowered.  I think I might just add Counter Earth for simplicity and play the original staff and cape.  He was able to fish one upgrade out of the discard pile.  The whole game, he used Quantum Magic three times ==> the first time I've ever used them.  I really like this home rule.  Adam never flipped down (that was probably because of Dr Strange adding toughs and stuns), so he never tried to use the Cape to discard a Basic card for discard pile control.  I'm not sure I would have anyway.  That rule looks like more of a desperate measure to get a card back.  I used the Staff power multiple times, and felt free to use his discard powers often.  This was definitely helpful, but once again, not overpowered.  Shuffling a card back into the deck just turns a random long delay into a random short delay.  Adam used his Battlemage power often, and played two (home rule) Cosmic Entities.  They had a mild effect on the game.  Toward the end, I used quantum Magic to put the Energy Spear on Yondu.  Better late than never.  Overall, I liked his whole kit much better.  

Dr Strange

Stephen feels even more like an OP support character.  At the end, I had to flip down to get another attack card out of the discard pile.  He has several options for multiplayer defense.  I liked the feel of playing Dauntless with Energy Barrier.