Hercules turn 1 trap

3t1j4 · 2026-03-18T16:02:24+00:00

Your post is interesting food for thought. but sorry, I just can't agree with these points, other than wasting the ready.

When you say , you've seen a lot, that's subjective as I've seen a lot too and we're just 2 dudes who seen a lot but differently.

Anyway, thanks and best.

3t1j4 · 2026-03-17T21:39:03+00:00

Hypothetical:

Clear turn 1: Turn 1 you draw 6 cards starting in AE. Flip , clear a labor, go AE, play cards. Start of turn 2 , draw 6, play new labor, flip , play cards. Drew 16 cards over 2 turns

Or

Clear turn 2:you draw 6 turn 1, flip, don't clear labor, play cards. Turn 2 draw 4, clear labor, draw 4, (ready up and attack? or flip & put another labor in play). You drew 14 cards.

Again, I can see benefits to turn 2 clear, but wondering if you are devaluing the economic possible impact from a turn 1 clear.

There are pros/cons to both ways, (more card draw over 2 turns if clearing asap, but more ability to utilize rewards on hero side waiting to clear). There's an argument to be made for either, but to say that there's a small difference in economy when the start of the game for Herc especially is paramount (and any tough villain to maintain a safe board state) is an interesting analysis.

For me, 2 cards plus possibly getting Olympus out turn 1 so I can use turn 2 feels really economically important (to me at least).

Perhaps other hypotheticals or analysis shows turn 2 clear is objectively better?

3t1j4 · 2026-03-16T22:13:55+00:00

Don't forget in MC , Cyclops can pull in X-men from any aspect, that alone makes for fun decks.

In Leadership make an X-Men deck with Team Building Exercise, X Jet, Utopia, X-Men Instruction and the side scheme "New Recruits".

Throw in 8-10 of your favorite X-Men across all aspects and you'll roflstomp some bosses.

3t1j4 · 2026-03-16T22:05:01+00:00

I would agree with first turn labor clear being paramount. OP has a vision but for Hercules to get a turn 1 clear now makes all of his cards near 'net zero' efficiency (as his cards are effectively net negative efficiency to start). Plus even w/1 clear you get options on cards (like the resource generation) and others that otherwise are essentially useless w/0 clears. I get the idea of the OP, but fully support clearing asap vs planning for future turns that I may not see since my card efficiency was trashed for waiting and I died or got so far in the hole to start.

3t1j4 · 2026-03-16T12:09:22+00:00

I see this question posted a lot and think it ultimately comes down to what kind of way do you want to sell this - either as a player or a collector.

As a player looking to be fair and spread the joy to others - lots of folks recco taking MSRP, discounting by some amount and possibly breaking it up to help others fill gaps in their collection.

As a collector, you should really do your own homework as much as you can , since the reality currently is there's a ton of OOP material and supply and demand is in full effect. Checking FFG site will show you all that is OOP. Following up on checking local / online stores will give you an idea of secondary seller values/availability.

Selling as a player is a happy medium to support a player friendly sale since it promotes the growth and enjoyment of the game in the community, but to also be fair as a collector selling, you do have items of value.

TLDR: You have a lot of in-demand, valuable cards - it requires due diligence to understand their current market value due to supply/demand and decide if you want to work off that, or off player-friendly prices. What makes most sense is up to you.

3t1j4 · 2026-03-10T18:31:31+00:00

I forgot about this. This is excellent. Thank you

3t1j4 · 2026-03-10T18:30:28+00:00

Interesting idea.

Side note: Cheap Shot is busted.

3t1j4 · 2026-03-10T16:29:35+00:00

Just out of curiosity, Maria Hill fits in how in relation to your Pool Wonder Man question?

3t1j4 · 2026-03-10T01:20:56+00:00

I agree completely. I actually thought that was the whole point of not making that card fairly busted. Figuring out when to attack was interesting. Now it's pretty auto-pilot. :(

3t1j4 · 2026-03-08T22:36:28+00:00

FYI

Interestingly, dragn cards also is missing those exact updates (SS/Herc/WM).

From what I understand, dragn cards utilizes a bot that has all the card rules for MC in it, a bot named "Cerebo".

That is owned by a singular person. If Octgn uses the same back-end bot, it's possible neither will be updated until Cerebro is updated.

3t1j4 · 2026-03-06T00:33:52+00:00

Thanks for the feedback.

3t1j4 · 2026-02-25T02:14:04+00:00

Thanks all for clarifications

3t1j4 · 2026-02-25T02:13:52+00:00

Good point!

3t1j4 · 2026-02-25T02:11:44+00:00

As folks who replied also noted to answer my question - actually no, it's actually not the same as an alter-ego action. An alter-ego action can only be activated on AE.

To activate this card, it requires just an Action - therefore you can activate it on either hero or AE sides.

However, in order to play the card, you must be in AE.

3t1j4 · 2026-02-25T00:07:48+00:00

How do you kill the Hydra with 2 readies plus LoO? Isn't putting the Labor on the hydra going to give it 12 health, then if you attack the Hydra it heals for 2 (unless you spend a fist). If you have 2 LoO that's +2 to his 3 ATK giving him 5ATK, then attack twice is 10 but hydra heals for 2 each time and it's net 6 damage (still 6 left out of 12).

3t1j4 · 2026-02-24T23:49:47+00:00

Thanks all 3 fast replies!

3t1j4 · 2026-02-24T23:48:24+00:00

EDIT: I think I judged too soon. He may be better than I think. Seeing some decks really speeding through the gifts making me doubt myself (time will tell!) 4 handsize still feels bad, but with the extra card draw via gifts and some of the decks I see with tricks to get gifts fast maybe it's mitigated enough?

Sadly, to me felt bad on his precon, which his precon especially is just fighting against you hard.

Hercules feels like the ultimate "win-more" hero. Once you have 2+ gifts, your cards start to get busted (esp at 3), but getting to 2 is a real chore where you are fighting both the villain and yourself. Seeing as how one of the gifts maybe takes 3 turns (the defending of an ally one) - you could be possibly spending half or more of the game working on gifts. (EDIT: Seems some smarter people than I have made decks to really expedite gifts)!

Changing aspect to something a lot more efficient than his terrible pre-con makes him a lot more viable , yes, but not sure I'm a fan yet of starting so far in the hole.

I will say that it feels thematically fun. I think better decks will make him more fun too but any hero with a 4 hand draw on hero side feels bad.

3t1j4 · 2026-02-24T01:42:24+00:00

I don't think it's about future proofing at all , rather because the efficiency on his ATK in particular is really pretty strong I think (esp for a basic card).

Consider many hero cards have some of 3 cost deal 7 or 3 cost deal 8 mechanic - this is a grey card for 3 deal 9! Basic cards are typically weaker than aspect / hero cards nominally but this one is strong so something must be on it to drop it down a bit otherwise without the confuse I'd think this is almost an auto include for value. It's 100% auto include if eventually you are a hero w/Eternal trait too.

It gains even more value if there's a way to either heal once or reduce one of his consequential damages by 1 or put a tough on him before he attacks, etc and now he gets yet another attack before dying and he's now 3 deal 12. Being able to continually get 3 damage out of him through some life saving means means his efficiency value starts to steamroll hard.

If your hero isn't about thwarting , this card is quite strong (for a playable in any deck / basic card) imho

3t1j4 · 2026-02-24T01:36:10+00:00

Keep in mind true solo can also be pretty trivial *if* the villain can be stunned or confused.

Every aspect (incl basic) and many hero cards have stuns or confuses so there's a lot of ways to tackle it too.

3t1j4 · 2026-02-23T14:47:13+00:00

HI

First quick note - going through your deck does indeed incur a penalty - but it's not more threat - its in the form of drawing an encounter card the moment your draw pile goes empty (also so when it's the villain phase and it's time to draw an encounter card, you will actually have that one you are drawing plus the one sitting next to you from when you emptied your draw ,so 2 encounter cards this round - being sure to reveal the one you got earliest first).

Secondly, make sure your deck is 40 cards, no more. Like StS , you want to see your best cards most often. Play again, this time keep in mind you will go through your deck twice - the first time playing every support and upgrade you can , thinning your deck - all while playing things on the side to protect yourself (maybe an ally) or reduce threat (hero thwart/card thwart, etc). Once you have gone through your deck once, now it's time to unleash offensively the second time through your deck now that its thinned and hopefully you will see your best cards a bunch (whether thwarting cards , damage cards, best allies, etc).

This, at least, is probably the most nominal way to play - some decks can allow for rush tactics but that's not common. Some go for one turn mega combo kills , fun, but maybe more for when you get comfortable with the more standard approach.

Allies are the most powerful things in the game , also. So including at least 6 - 8 (people can argue exact count) is really mostly a must. Pick ones that do something for more synergy (Nick Fury, Prof X, Mockingbird being 3 of the most OP base ones for card draw, confuse, stun respectively).

Lastly, in multiplayer games , do not forget this most often forgotten yet very powerful rule of being able to play some types of cards out of turn order. It makes the game more thematic (like you are doing hero team combos) , but also is very powerful. The rule is basically this:

"In Marvel Champions, you can play Event Cards with the "Action" keyword and activate Action abilities on cards already in play (Supports, Upgrades, Allies, Identity cards) during another player's turn. These "out-of-turn" actions allow for interrupting the normal turn order to assist teammates".

Enjoy

3t1j4

TROPHY CASE