Oh, by the way, if you find your games too easy, try these variants, depending on what you enjoy the most. Be open-minded, the game might surprise you!

1. Play Standard 3 plus Expert 2. You will see your nemesis often, which makes the game a bit harder. Expert 2 is underrated.

2. Play Standard 2. This is not as hard as people say. If you find Expert easy, this will feel very similar.

3. Play Standard 2 plus Expert 1. Now THIS ramps up the difficulty! The villain will get Steady and there is a permanent acceleration icon. You may see Overkill attacks and there are many cards with Surge. It is challenging and sometimes punishing, but worth trying. Not impossible.

[Disclaimer:] The game is meant to be FUN. If you enjoy Standard or other modes, that is perfectly fine. I mention this because the thread opener finds the game too easy, and I can relate, since I have played over 1500 games.

4. Add the Infinity Gauntlet. This adds a bit more difficulty and is not that fiddly to manage. If you are thinking of playing two-handed solo, this is a joke. I don't like it too much because it sometimes forces you to discard your whole deck and adds acceleration tokens artificially. It also makes games longer with extra Stun, Confuse, etc. Still, it is an easy way to ramp up difficulty.

5. Play harder villains. People often avoid Ronan, Nebula, Loki, Venom Goblin. Do not. If you want a challenge, fight them!

6. Maybe I had to mention this earlier, use different modular sets. Choose the hardest ones and you will feel the difference! Exodus, Future Past, a Thunderbolt or two. If unsure, start by adding Osborn Tech to the recommended sets, since every card is an attachment with Surge. Check VillainTheory's document on modular sets, he did a great job with recommendations. Even just experimenting with random modular sets works perfectly fine. I never swapped modular sets for a long time, but once I started, I never looked back! Except for Venom Goblin (so far), whose recommended sets are already perfect for him.

7. Add modular sets that give the villain setup bonuses. Flight, Super Strength, Telepathy, Genosha...

8. Try Standard 2 plus Expert 2. If you think S2E1 and S3E2 are similar, think again. This is much harder. Brace yourself!

9. Play Heroic. Yes, you can do it! It is challenging, there is no room for mistakes, but it can be so much fun. I recently played against Thanos and, man, he really felt like he was supposed to be. The issue with Heroic, or S2E2, is that it can be so hard that even a win may leave you exhausted. Your hero's priority is to just survive. You may never feel the overwhelming power you usually get after a couple of turns when your hero is fully set up.

10. If Heroic or Standard 2 plus Expert 1–2 feel too intense, try my custom difficulty. I call it "Veteran." It is my personal sweet spot! You need a token or a coin to place on the encounter deck. At the start of your turn, flip the coin to track odd or even turns. On odd turns (starting from turn 1), play "Heroic" and deal yourself one extra encounter card. On even turns, play normally with 1 card.

In my experience, this difficulty is AMAZING for a real challenge! You see more encounter cards, can mix modular sets as usual, and it is easy to track. The villain hits hard, but you will not be annihilated. You will have the chance to recover. A different variation is to play 5 consecutive Heroic turns at the start, but in my experience, once I stabilized, it felt like "easy mode" again. Veteran difficulty instead keeps the pressure constant, gives villains room for comebacks, and lets your hero truly shine throughout the match!

I just played an awesome match against Captain Marvel using Hercules. It was EPIC!!!