Stats:
No. of players: 1-4
Amount of time to play: 45-90 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 5 min

Marvel Champions is a cooperative living card game (LCG) in which you control an iconic super hero and must defeat an infamous villain.

Marvel Champions Rules Description:

You start Marvel Champions the Card Game by selecting your hero. The base game comes with Spider-man, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Black Panther and She-Hulk. You must also select the villain you wish to take on. Rhino, Klaw, and Ultron are included. Each villain comes with their own minions and schemes they are trying to accomplish.

You lose if all the heroes are reduced to zero health or if the villain accumulates enough threat tokens to pull off their heinous scheme. You win by knocking out the villain.

There are four Aspects that pair with the hero’s deck in the game; aggression, justice, protection and leadership. When building a deck, you can use the suggested aspects for the included heroes or mix a different aspect with each hero. Likewise, the villains have expert versions and different minions you can add to increase or decrease the difficulty of the game.

On your turn you activate cards by discarding other cards. Each card you discard gives you a specific type of energy. Some cards require you to discard a specific type of energy, but most are non-specific. Another requirement for playing cards is being in the right form. Your hero card has an alter ego side and most cards may only be played while in the required form. The cards you play might have instant effects or be played in front of you for use later. Often these cards are exhausted and may only be used once per turn. Your hero can always make a basic attack or thwart the villain removing health or scheme tokens respectively.

After all players have gone they reset their cards in play and draw back up to their hand size. Then the villain schemes, adding threat tokens to their scheme based on the scenario and number of players. Next the villain attacks each player. If the player is in hero form they’ll take damage (which can be reduced by exhausting to defend) or they will add more scheme if the player is in alter ego form. After the villain attacks each player draws a card from the villain encounter deck in front of them and in player order resolve them. This card can add more damage to the hero, more threat to the scheme or deploy a minion that will fight the hero.
At the end each round you check the victory conditions. If neither side has won, you pass the first player marker and play continues.

Quick Review of Marvel Champions:

Marvel Champions the card game is another fun addition to the LCG series by FFG. It is quick to set up, easy to build different decks and the core set comes with everything you need to play a variety of scenarios at different difficulties.

The components for this game are great. Ninety percent of the art looks fantastic and the cards and tokens are durable. The rules are easy to follow, and you are given prepared starter decks for your first play to help accelerate learning the game.

I am a Marvel fan. I played Marvel Champions with two, three, and four players. I tried fighting Rhino and Klaw. The game is challenging but not impossible and requires you to work as a team. You can defend your teammates with your hero and minions. For that reason, solo mode is a bit more difficult.

Some people might want more deck-building options, but I like just grabbing an Aspect and a hero, shuffling them together and starting play. If you want to have the ability to tinker with the cards in a specific Aspect, the upcoming expansions will allow for more of that.

I like that each Aspect and each hero play differently. And since you can mix and match these elements, there is a lot in the core box to try out. Just know that there are only enough cards to play one hero with each Aspect.

There are a few well-known Marvel card game series. And each has something different to offer. Marvel Champions is great if you are looking for quick set-up, some limited deck construction, and unique hero play. Marvel Legendary is your go-to if you want in-game deckbuilding with tons of expansions to play with your favorite heroes. Marvel VS 2PCG is for players looking for custom deck construction and head-to-head competition.

Marvel Champions reminds me of the Lord of the Rings LCG (which is a good thing). For me, Marvel Champions the card game scratches a different itch than the other Marvel card games. I enjoy them all but am looking forward to more content for this one. More is not needed, but it will add some new options to an already great game. If you are a Marvel fan and are looking for a fun, cooperative card game, pick this one up.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 4 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 5 out of 6