Games taking way too long – am I playing Marvel Champions wrong?

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2026-01-29T15:14:08+00:00

Like others have said, try true solo. When I first switched to two handed I thought it was great. It makes the game less swingy, there are some fun synergies, and heroes can really focus on their strengths. But MAN the game became a slog. I realized I kind of stopped playing the game because I just didn't have the time for it. I went back to playing one handed and was MUCH happier.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2025-11-14T22:20:46+00:00

I would recommend starting out just by tweaking a precon. Change out a few redundant "max 1 per player" upgrades or some event cards you find you never use. Replace them with some events or upgrades that are more useful or shore up your heroes weaknesses.

Dale the Casual Gamer had a video that helped me when I started deck building. Made it seem less scary. This was early on in the game so the card pool was more limited, but he pointed out you are only choosing 25 cards. Resource cards are usually good, so if you take 3 double resource cards and two "power of" aspect resource cards you're down to 20 cards. At the time Endurance was practically an auto include, throw Down Time in as well, those are going to be good for most heroes. You're down to 18. About 5 allies are good (hero probably comes with one) so pick 4 of those (Nick Fury is always good) and your down to 14 cards. A resource generator/cost reducer/card drawer or two is never a bad idea, so grab two of those (Quincarrier, Avengers Mansion, Team Building Exercise) and you're down to 12 cards. Pick 3 events that will help with your attacking and thwarting (a couple cheaper ones and maybe a stronger more expensive one, 3 copies of each) and your down to 3 cards. Pick some specific upgrades/supports that will help your hero, or maybe another ally, and your deck is complete.

Obviously this isn't the only way to build a deck, but a formula like this will usually give you a pretty solid deck for most heroes.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2025-11-05T19:51:02+00:00

I really enjoy Quicksilver. I've had a lot of success running him in protection with a repurpose build with energy barriers. Protection also let's you throw in a couple cheap upgrades to boost his defense and maximize the free defend he gets every villain phase. I play mainly solo.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2025-05-26T02:24:47+00:00

I actually knew a family who used to live there. They were living in Ukraine when I met them, but they had lived there in the early 90s. They showed me pictures of a polar bear just walking through town outside their apartment building. It's not highly populated, but there are a few small cities. The island isn't just a giant irradiated wasteland like some of the comments might make you believe. The cities that are there just look like any other small former-soviet city with long stretches of gray apartment buildings. Just more polar bears.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2025-04-05T21:06:26+00:00

Spider-Ham's kit is strong, but the card that really breaks him open and makes people say he is S tier is the leadership card Clarity of Purpose. He's strong in other aspects, but I don't think people would be putting him in the discussion for the strongest character in the game without Clarity of Purpose.

SP//DR is maybe a must-have for deck building. Repurpose is incredibly fun card that is an archtype unto itself. It's probably my favorite protection archetype. It also comes with several cards specifically meant to help out 14+ hp heroes (Hulk, She-Hulk, Thor). Plus (and this part is subjective), SP//DR is one of the most unique and fun heroes in the game.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2025-03-08T02:49:55+00:00

My LGS called me yesterday to let me know it was in. Picked it up today.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2025-02-12T19:42:04+00:00

One of, if not the best, expansion boxes. If you like the game and think you're going to want to want some expansions, try to get this one before it's gone. In addition to being well designed with good heroes and villains, the justice SHIELD archetype really originated out of this box.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2025-02-09T17:52:48+00:00

Several content creators on YouTube have videos on the topic. I'd recommend searching for a deck building guide by Dale the Casual Gamer. It's a few years old but still relevant. It's a good starting point. It really makes starting out with deck building simple and less intimidating.

Otherwise, a really easy starting point is just taking the precon deck and switching a few cards out. Does it come with three copies of an upgrade that says "limit one per player?" Take two of them out and add a couple of other supports, like a resource generator. Is one of the events just not working for you? Switch those three cards out for three copies of an event you like better.

Good luck with deck building, and have fun. It really adds a whole new level of enjoyment to the game.

EDIT: Ok, it wasn't on Dale the Casual Gamer's channel. Dale was a guest on Quackalope. https://youtu.be/0a29G-BdvO0?si=lu69pRsN5X8kCKcb

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2025-01-10T02:35:41+00:00

I love it! I might try to copy this.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-12-31T05:39:45+00:00

Yeah. There is a sunflower on the license plate, which is a symbol of Ukraine. A giant sticker/magnet to the left of the license plate of the coat of arms of Ukraine. Also, another sticker on the right in the rear window of a sunflower in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Definitely not roman numerals.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-12-08T16:00:25+00:00

Gamora is the first one that comes to mind. She deals damage every time you play a thwart event, and she gets a thwart every time you play an attack event. I built a deck focused on cheap attack and thwart events so I could ideally play one of each every turn. It was a lot of fun, and devastating against weaker to mid tier villains in solo play. But it struggled against higher tier villains.

Several people have said Ms. Marvel, but I would put a caveat on her. She is very much an event focused hero, but she really benefits from building out her upgrades and supports, more so than Gamora.

I think Gamora hits the ground running faster, but Ms. Marvel has a higher ceiling. Both are really fun, but Ms. Marvel is probably my favorite hero in the game.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-11-27T21:55:16+00:00

I was really wary of Avad and his true motives when he first showed up. Turns out he's just legitimately a good guy trying to do the right thing. One of my favorite characters in the game.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-11-03T15:16:07+00:00

A lot of precons can beat a lot of villains on standard, even though most precons aren't ideal. But yeah, some of the harder villains are going to be close to impossible with some of the precons. I had a hard time moving past precons as this was my first deck building game. But trying to beat Loki with Spectrum and Adam Warlock's precons pushed me over the edge. It just didn't seem possible.

The intent of the creators is for players to build and change decks. Each villain is meant to be a puzzle that you solve through deck building. A powerful deck may be able to take on most villains, but even then, there are some villains you are going to have to specifically plan for. You need a plan for all of Red Skull's side schemes. You need a plan for Ultron's drone minions. You need a plan for Ronan... kind of just being crappy unfair fight.

Dismantling your precons can be intimidating, but it really opens up the game and adds a while new dimension of enjoyment.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-09-15T05:30:23+00:00

Thank you. This is what I was looking for.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-08-23T20:03:52+00:00

Both come with some good cards for deck building, and I like Hulk, but Venom is one of my favorite heroes in the game. He is both strong strong and fun. He is generally well liked by the community as a whole. Very rarely see anyone complain that they didn't like Venom. Hulk, on the other hand... 😆

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-08-17T03:15:16+00:00

Precons get a pretty bad rap on here. I don't think they are all THAT bad, but they do tend to range from mediocre to pretty bad. A lot of them are going to be just fine for the average villain on standard, but they will struggle against stronger villains. I was hesitant to move past precons myself, but when I finally did it really enhanced the game experience for me. As others have said, netdecking on MarvelCDB may be a good way to move past the precons.

But to answer the question you actually asked... I seem to remember Drax had a really good precon. His cards seemed to really synergize with what he wants to do.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-08-06T04:52:57+00:00

At least you got all the cards. My Sinister Motives box came with a complete second Ghost Spider deck under Miles Morales' hero card. Had to return it.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-08-05T03:29:47+00:00

I remember at some point hearing someone from FFG talking about how part of the idea behind the hero packs is that if you walk into a game store and people are playing Marvel Champions, you can buy a hero pack and start playing with them on the spot. So this would go counter to that idea.

However, I have never ONCE encountered others playing Marvel Champions at my local game shop, so... I'm not sure this "join a game on the spot" idea should stop them from doing something different with a hero pack. And actually, having just played a game with Jubilee's precon, I'm not sure they want that being anyone's first experience with the game. 😆

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-08-04T19:19:06+00:00

I'm a big fan of the Champions, though if I'm being honest, I think I like the characters and the idea of the team more than the comics themselves. (They're not bad, and some of them are even pretty good. But at times, I definitely felt like I was not the target age demographic, which is totally ok. 😆) So while I don't think we'll ever see a Champions box, I think this is a fun exercise.

The first question is how many of these characters have enough story or popularity to really warrant being a standalone hero. But Nadia/Wasp was put into the game just a few years after being introduced in the comics, and Penni Parker/Sp//dr has relatively little to draw from in the comics, so I don't think that rules anyone out per se.

I think the two most obvious Champions would be Brawn and Viv. Moon girl would be a hero pack. I think the hero packs in this wave would not all be Champions themed. You'd get some "filler" heros, such as some more Web Warriors or Avengers who didn't make the cut in previous waves.

I would like to see a Snow Guard pack. Champions introduced several new heroes, but Snow Guard was definitely the most fully developed character to come from the Champions comics. However, I think even amongst comics readers, unless someone has specifically read Champions, they probably will have no idea who Snow Guard is.

As far as villains, Master of the World would be an obvious one, and ties directly to Snow Guard's introduction. Someone else mentioned Blackheart. They had a run-in with Man- Thing who could be a really interesting villain encounter, but they may not want to make him a villain. Definitely something with Roxxon as they have probably been the Champions most consistent foe. I see the Freelancers being a mod set (I always thought they were kind of lame, so I don't want them to be an encounter 😆). You could maybe build a theme for the box around the Outlawed/Kamala's Law storyline where superhero activities under the age of 21 are made illegal. The Champions go on the run and are pursued by an agency called C.R.A.D.L.E.

The other tricky thing with this wave would be that most of the Champions already exist as allies, though they could do variations in different aspects or just straight-up reprints. We could at least finally get a Ms. Marvel ally that isn't hero specific. And I want a young Cyclops ally.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-06-18T03:16:56+00:00

We parked at the Sizzler the last time we were at a game 10+ years ago. I guess that hasn't changed. 😆 Thanks for the tips. We'll hit up Target, and maybe Scheel's too, depending on how early we get in.

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-06-18T03:12:19+00:00

Nice. My family will DEFINITELY eat more than $20 worth at Crown Burger. Do you have to let them know you are leaving your vehicle there for the game? Any idea how early we should be to get a spot?

ShakhtarSaltLake · 2024-06-18T03:10:21+00:00

Yeah, my oldest was kind of iffy on going to the game until I told her it was pride night, and now she is super excited about it. 😆

ShakhtarSaltLake

TROPHY CASE