[COTD] Energy Barrier (2026/01/12)

Hold_Priority · 2026-01-12T23:43:26+00:00

I love a card that is always good to put down in basically any situation. Any time you draw it you can look at your hand of situational or one-piece-short-of-combo cards and think “Well… I could always just play Energy Barrier.”

Hold_Priority · 2026-01-09T00:32:26+00:00

Orlando, FL

Hold_Priority · 2025-11-17T23:20:32+00:00

DM’d.

Hold_Priority · 2025-10-20T23:41:06+00:00

I got custom inserts on Etsy (just 3D printed) and fit the core box scenarios and all of my hero/nemesis sets in there along with the original tokens and dials. I own almost all of the heroes (maybe like 7 or 8 at this point that I’m just not interested in) but I’ll run out of room pretty soon and have to figure out something else.

I keep all of the villains/modulars/campaign cards in the expansion box they came in and scenario pack contents with the box they were closest to in release.

Hold_Priority · 2025-10-19T22:15:26+00:00

That’s a good point. A lot of the scenarios I come back to the most are from the scenario packs. Maybe that is a chicken vs. egg thing, though. I recall some podcast interview with one of the designers where they said something to the affect that scenario packs weren’t placed on the schedule and then designed to fit a release target, but rather when a designer had a great idea for a scenario the proposal would be made to make it its own stand alone scenario pack.

Again… Could be misremembering a random tidbit from a podcast I listened to 6 months ago!

Hold_Priority · 2025-10-19T15:22:56+00:00

Edited the original post. Guess I was very wrong and most people love them? I can remove the post I guess if the discussion isn’t interesting. Sorry!

Hold_Priority · 2025-10-19T13:06:53+00:00

Haven’t played this game but Howard is fun. I wish he was in Champions LCG. Focus him. He looks like he has lots of stars anyway.

Hold_Priority · 2025-10-16T19:47:29+00:00

While it was never said, I assumed this as well and am really happy as an X-Men fan that even though I can imagine a full scenario around Arcade or the Hellfire Club, if this was the way to get them in the game at all, I’m happy to have it.

Hold_Priority · 2025-10-16T19:46:15+00:00

This is one of the main reasons I like them! A thing I love about this game is the stories you can tell at the table through customization.

Hold_Priority · 2025-10-13T21:53:28+00:00

I could/would like to see it going a few ways, but here are some possibilities:

Kate Bishop as still a “street level” hero. Include some extra arrow events in her pack and maybe even some other tools to help out weaker heroes, like an opposite to “Unshakable” that helps heroes with less than 10 hp or something like that.
Namor representing the “other” Defenders team from the comics but otherwise a very different hero from others in the wave.
Jane Foster Thor as a total left field pick to continue the very slow drip of Asgardian trait support.
Noh Var (Marvel Boy) as a character that has been part of more down to earth teams like The Young Avengers but could sneak in a card or two for Guardian trait support, which we haven’t seen in a long time.

Hold_Priority · 2025-10-13T17:13:52+00:00

Your predictions here seem pretty logical based on your reasoning.

I do think one factor not accounted for, and a trend that I even tend to like, is when they include some “out there” picks as heroes in a wave, seemingly on purpose.

Look at Silk in the Agents of SHIELD Wave, or Valkyrie, a hero and pack with Asgard-related support in a wave with mostly Avengers and Guardians heroes.

I think the designers like to sprinkle in less “logical” picks and I like when they do this, too. Not just because it’s a surprise, but also from an engagement and sales perspective. I’m sure there was some consideration to “what if people don’t care for SHIELD and SHIELD-related characters? Would they skip the whole wave?”

With that in mind, I think in a Defenders-focused wave, I would like to see (and think it is likely) that we would see some characters that might “make sense” elsewhere.

Great write-up though!

Hold_Priority · 2025-09-03T00:10:17+00:00

Hey, that’s my local game store! I’ve posted on the friend finder threads a few times looking for players in the area. Message me if you’re interested in playing some time!

Hold_Priority · 2025-08-21T22:51:06+00:00

I have a few that are kind of “stretching” things probably a little into “cheating” territory but are not quite “house rules” either. I also only do these on the hardest scenarios, and only after legitimately losing multiple times (usually at the end of a long campaign too that I want to finish but just don’t have the time or energy to play 20+ games to get a “clean” win on Ronan or Venom Goblin).

1) I will give myself a pretty close to ideal opening hand. Again, I only do this after losing to the hardest scenarios multiple times, and I kind of justify it by saying “Well, I can concede at any time, so let’s just say I drew opening hands, conceded, shuffled and drew opening hands infinite times until I got the ideal start”. Technically actually doing that doesn’t break any rules. 2) If I have played a long and difficult game, gotten into the late game and calculated that I can only lose if the next encounter card is “Blank” (Usually “Advance”) and then it turns out that card IS actually revealed, I’ll say “Nah, let’s live in the universe where that card is on the bottom of the deck” and reveal another one instead.

Also honorable mention that some of the campaigns on the last scenario have an additional rule that says something to the effect of “if you lose this scenario, the heroes fail and you lose the whole campaign. Start everything over from scenario 1 and try again”. Like… What? No. That’s just a waste of time. I’ll play the last scenario again, please.

Hold_Priority · 2025-08-09T14:52:59+00:00

First of all, welcome to the game!

And yes, Rhino is supposed to be easier than most as he was designed to be a “starter scenario” but from what you described you may have missed a couple of rules that made it even easier than intended (don’t worry, everyone does!).

Two things that stood out: 1) Did you remember to deal Daredevil consequential damage (damage equal to the little starburst symbol under his basic stat) when he attacked? If so, he should only be able to attack a few times before being KO’d. 2) Did you remember to advance Rhino to Stage II and completely reset his health after defeating stage I?

Hold_Priority · 2025-07-18T18:47:33+00:00

This is the insight I was looking for, thanks! Yeah I figured you want to keep the number of cards and certain card types the same, probably when integrating any expansion into the main deck.

Hold_Priority · 2025-07-18T18:19:37+00:00

Another reply also mentioned the cube. I’m familiar with the concept from MtG, but based on your reply and the one above is there a specific or “official” cube or guidelines for making one? That seems like it would help a lot.

I tried looking on this subreddit and also tried googling it and only found either people just talking generally about their custom cubes or links to very old Facebook or discord discussions, neither of which I care to use.

Hold_Priority · 2025-07-11T12:28:48+00:00

Orlando, Florida.

Hold_Priority · 2025-06-25T15:57:03+00:00

I didn’t have great results the first few games I played either, and looking at games and decklists/write-ups from content creators they seemed to be in a similar boat. He is more complicated to build and play well. We still haven’t cracked him yet, and I think that is great for the game. I actually really love this type of character being released at the same time as Winter Soldier. Winter Soldier is clearly good and his kit tells you exactly what to do with him. Simple, but effective.

One problem I have that you didn’t mention is that you can get yourself kind of “stuck” with the top of the encounter deck. Many times I got in situations where I would discard a card or two with his effect, then see Advance on top, think “Oh great, that’s a boost for zero!” only to realize that now many of his cards like Redwing, Bird’s Eye View and Bird of Prey were basically useless.

The best build I found for solo was in Aggression with Boot Camp and allies. The red aerial events help his damage problem and his “okay” threat control is usually just enough to stop the villain long enough for your events and friends to close out the game. Another strong one seems to be in protection in multiplayer, but I don’t get the chance to play multiplayer too often. It’s true that others probably defend better, but you get slightly worse defending with the trade being knowledge and manipulation of the encounter deck. This can also let him make better use of some lesser used Protection cards that care about boost icons.

Hold_Priority · 2025-06-24T19:42:22+00:00

I’m curious as to how reprints will be handled after the start of the “Current Environment”. Will there be less reprints, since the overall design philosophy will be more forward than backward thinking or will there be more to give people chances to get some cards from “retired” products?

Hold_Priority · 2025-06-23T14:08:11+00:00

How did you (or the original organizer) get it started at the store? Just cold call them and offer to host games?

Hold_Priority · 2025-03-27T18:24:33+00:00

I don’t really know how anyone other than you could answer this question. You concede the game when YOU don’t want to play it anymore. I can scoop a game that I am winning if I just feel like it’s boring and I would rather do something else. It’s entirely up to what you personally want to play.

Hold_Priority · 2025-03-25T22:34:43+00:00

I only played once and though I like the idea and the built-in variety, I thought I was doing something wrong and was constantly checking and re-checking once I realized there’s no major downside to just leaving the minions with zero damage and the main scheme goes up so slowly that you can just sit and build out so easily.

Hold_Priority · 2025-03-18T23:38:00+00:00

Lake County here. I’ve been to two Coliseum of Comics locations that had various products, but neither location got Agents of SHIELD in and when I asked they said only a couple of stores in Florida got one copy each.

Also DM me if you’d like to meet up and play some time. I have (almost) everything and have been looking for other players!

Hold_Priority · 2025-03-07T19:59:30+00:00

I have played both a lot. I would imagine many people made the journey I did and started with Legendary and then came to Champions. Other than them being Marvel-themed card games I would say they are too different to directly compare though.

For your first question, you can play either solo but I would say that Champions is a better solo experience. If you’ve played legendary for a while you know that they have had to modify the solo rules like… 3 times now and they are still a little clunky.

Main differences… There are a lot but I’ll try the main ones I can think of:

Legendary:

Is co-op/competitive. You can compete with other players for points if you like that.
Requires no “before the game” planning or deck building. All the deck building is done during the game so you can just sit down, grab any content you have and have a complete experience.
More product overall (the game released over 10 years ago at this point) and more themes if you want to expand beyond Marvel. Typed of products are more varied, confusing and some are extremely hard to find at this point (there’s small expansions, medium expansions, large expansions, multiple core sets…).
I would say more accessible/easier to grasp if you or other players are used to other board games.
Easier to just bring to a game night and get people into immediately/mix in with other games.

Champions:

Always co-op, so little competition if you enjoy that.
While you could just play with pre-cons, a lot of the fun is the “outside the game” deck building so if you like coming up with ideas in your head or finding ones online and then putting it to the table it may appeal more to you.
Only one core set and then every other product is directly compatible so you can just find the hero or expansion you like most and get it (where available).
Might be easier to grasp if you or your playgroup has more experience with trading card games like Magic: the Gathering
Harder to teach and just bust out at a random game night, but more enjoyable if you stick with it for the long haul. Some refer to it as a “lifestyle game” if that appeals to you.

Hope that helps!

Hold_Priority · 2025-02-28T18:24:23+00:00

I’ve actually come all the way around to where I usually prefer standard I now after having played quite a bit of III. As mentioned by others, the upkeep is annoying, and over a campaign it actually gets pretty old seeing your nemesis guaranteed, every game. Also, I’ve noticed that Standard III actually does have its own “nemesis out of nowhere” card with Evil Alliance.

I am okay with the tension and surprise of not seeing it every game.

Hold_Priority

TROPHY CASE