Stats:
No. of players: 2-4
Amount of time to play: 20-60 min
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: minimal

Defenders is the first expansion for the VS 2PCG system. It adds two new factions, more main characters and a bunch more supporting characters.

VS 2PCG Defenders Rules Description:

If you are new to the VS 2PCG you can read my overview of the game play and review here. This post is going to focus on the new elements introduced in the Defenders expansion.

All the cards in this set are for the two new factions. There are no cards for any of the factions in the base game. But you can make some interesting combo decks using cards from both sets. The new factions are the Defenders and The Underworld. The Defenders are made up of characters that have been on the various rosters in that comic book. And The Underworld is made up of different villains from the Marvel Universe.

I am just going to highlight some of my favorite characters and their abilities from this expansion.

Moon Knight is a 4-drop supporting character with a 5/5. Nothing too special there, but you can discard any character to power him up. In a deck with some extra card draw he could be pretty powerful.

Ghost Rider is available as a supporting or main character. His supporting character version is an 8/8, 7-drop with 2 health. Again nothing too crazy. His Penance Stare lets you place -1/-1 counters on one enemy character equal to the number of Good characters in your KO pile. (Good characters are ones not from the Villains or Underworld faction.) This could stun most main characters in the late game.

Kingpin, like Ghost Rider is available in both characters types. His supporting version is a 5/9, 6-drop with2 health. His special power lets you spend a fist resource to make him your main character. But only if you have two other Underworld characters on your side. With that high defense this last minute switch could save your bacon.

Mary Walker has four different 2-drop cards each with unique stats and powers. This would make sense to anyone that knows her from the comic. Though they are different you can only have one copy of each Mary Walker in your deck. And one copy has all the powers of any Mary Walker in your KO pile. I am not sure how powerful she is, but the mechanic is new and cool.

If you are interested in seeing more cards from the Defenders expansion, google and enjoy reading up on them.

A Quick Review of the VS 2PCG Defenders Expansion:

Defenders adds a lot of new options to the VS 2PCG system. The additional factions and characters give you more deck building options and introduce more anticipated heroes and villains to the game. The new rules and mechanics are not cumbersome to game play.

The components for this game are really nice. The cards do not suffer from the chipping that caused issues in the base set. The art is good. And the rules are straightforward and easy to follow.

Just having more deck-building options is great. There was some of that available in the base set but this really opens things up. The new main and supporting characters add many options for creating powerful new decks.

I like that new decks can be built but from what I have seen there is not a lot of power creep in this expansion. There are some new and different abilities but nothing overpowered or game breaking. It still feels balanced with the original set.

If you own the base set of the VS 2PCG you should pick up the Defenders expansion. It is worth it and will add new strategies and replay value to the game. If you don’t own the base game, pick up both. You won’t regret it.

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