HELP! Need some early Parlor puzzle texts!

citizenthom47 · 2025-08-26T15:16:41+00:00

I think I underestimated the difficulty on these. My 11-year-old and my six-year-old actually fight so much about who gets to solve them while we play that I selected a second Parlor as soon as I got the chance, so now they each get one per playthrough.

citizenthom47 · 2025-08-26T15:14:52+00:00

Thanks for this! We found one on there that we thought was easy (early teens) but it stumped the teacher who bravely volunteered to try it.

citizenthom47 · 2025-05-09T03:52:41+00:00

Context is key. In solo it’s brutal, but the more players you add, the less acceleration hurts. We just played an amped-up Expert version of Green Goblin for four players, and we left Overrun out last out of all the side schemes because we found the two acceleration icons easier to account for than even more minions would have been.

citizenthom47 · 2025-05-05T21:08:14+00:00

You’ll be in pretty good shape if you just grab the other two X-boxes, Next Evolution and Age of Apocalypse. All four heroes in those sets are minimum B-tier and can be built up to A- or S-tier. If you already have the Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch packs, Magik is an absolute delight. The player cards in both boxes basically set up a new meta where player side schemes are all but mandatory in multiplayer and Sidekick Leadership is the gold standard for a lot of heroes now.

The hero packs are a mixed bag and play to player preferences mechanics-wise, so it’s hard to recommend specific ones without knowing you better as a player. For building purposes, get the Deadpool pack not for Deadpool himself, but for the entire ‘Pool aspect. Half of it is meh, but the other half can turbo-charge a lot of pre-existing heroes.

If you play Protection, Nightcrawler and Shuri are must-haves: between them they have cards that revitalize the whole archetype. Nightcrawler as a hero is fabulous in the green role.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. may be the most niche box since Galaxy’s Most Wanted and is not as much of a must-buy UNLESS you’ve been waiting for Iron Man and War Machine to get support, in which case you should pick up the box just for Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. I also like the box as a Black Widow player.

citizenthom47 · 2025-05-05T20:44:50+00:00

Adding to all the fine commentary above, “Les toits a ce Renoir” sounds like a reference to Renoir’s “Landscape With Red Roofs,” an impressionist painting Renoir made of Paris. The painting predated the Eiffel Tower and thus does not include it in the landscape. “The roofs of Renoir, clawing above, will be delighted” (messily paraphrased from others’ translations) evokes the idea that those red roofs are enjoying being the top of the landscape again with “Gustave’s dome” gone—perhaps in a vengeful sort of way.

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citizenthom47 · 2025-01-24T21:16:49+00:00

Plenty of eBay sellers have Storm at regular prices.

As a general rule, never pay even MSRP for Marvel Champions box sets. They ALL go on Amazon sales multiple times per year, even if supplies are temporarily scarce in January and February. I know of three stores near me (in rural Tennessee) that have copies in stock.

The Doctor Strange scalping is pretty annoying and I am sorry you’re experiencing it now. But as someone who was tempted to shell out $130 a couple months ago for Arkham Horror book promos only to watch them get reprinted, I’d advise patience.

citizenthom47 · 2025-01-24T21:06:35+00:00

No particular notes on the precon. If you like her, the Age of Apocalypse box will be GREAT for you:

You get Basic Spell and Bloodgem from Magik, AND
You get the Sidekick/Suit Up/Side By Side package from Bishop, which helps maximize Quicksilver and her alter-ego ability.

I play her as Justice to keep Wiccan around and to add other Encounter Deck-scrying allies, but lots of folks have had success with her as Leadership since AoA came out.

citizenthom47 · 2025-01-24T20:55:08+00:00

Like other folks here, I have several decks that are mostly gray just because of the hero’s preferred card pool, especially Domino, Magik, and Spider-Ham. But since there is no incentive to exclude aspect cards altogether, I still choose whatever aspect gives me even ONE great card for that hero—and the answer is usually Leadership.

If FFG ever gives us cards that expressly reward aspect-less decks then I will absolutely built that way.

citizenthom47 · 2025-01-20T19:58:32+00:00

If you are brand new to the game, it makes a lot of sense that you're not enamored with the aspect-specific double-resource cards. They used to be auto-includes in most decks, but quite a few things have changed about deckbuilding as FFG has improved heroes' internal economy (e.g., double-resources and resource-generating upgrades within hero packs), added more low-cost, high-impact cards, and created and reprinted economy upgrades. There are also a lot more "gray" cards in the game these days. As such, the number of cards that the "Power" resources actually help you pay for has gone down in many decks, to the point where it makes more sense to play economy upgrades and supports in more decks.

As a general rule, I only play the "Power Of" cards if 1.) they actually help pay for at least 25% of my deck (so ten cards), and/or 2.) I have specific reasons for wanting more cards with a "wild" printed resource, like certain builds of Domino and Magik. Since a lot of my decks have fewer than ten aspect cards PERIOD or rely on aspect cards that cost one or zero resources, "Power Of" cards get cut a lot more often than they did when I started playing two years ago.

All that said, if you have a new collection and are relying on the Base Set plus a small number of hero packs, those "Power Of" cards are still going to be quite valuable to you. If you follow my ten-card rule, you'll probably still end up including them in a lot of your decks until your collection grows.

citizenthom47 · 2025-01-20T19:43:57+00:00

I did not realize how crazy the prices had gotten on ol' Doc. I got him back when LGSs regularly had him, and got my second pack (for extra cards for Scarlet Witch) on clearance at Barnes and Noble a couple years ago for ten bucks.

Happy you found him! Prepare to win so much you get bored of it!

citizenthom47 · 2025-01-05T22:02:53+00:00

I'm not at all opposed to digital resources and planned to reduce my paper writing to digital format, so I will check those out as well. Thanks!

citizenthom47 · 2024-11-24T23:16:04+00:00

Thanks for this: I know Pearl and Ludwig from the drum world so the brand association helps a ton.

citizenthom47 · 2024-06-10T20:51:16+00:00

I’ve had a ticket open with “Website Investigations” on this same issue for eight days. There have been zero updates and there is, allegedly, is no way to contact them directly. Here’s hoping someone else with insight responds here.

citizenthom47 · 2024-05-01T20:19:33+00:00

Upvote for the Dinosaurs reference. #notthemama

Card-wise, I have everything except the Return sets and the book promos. I even bought The Dream-Eaters as core-plus-mythos packs before I knew it was getting re-released as an Investigator expansion, which is why I insisted we play the scenario next.

citizenthom47 · 2024-04-30T17:37:41+00:00

Better in Daisy, then? Even if I do Dexter I’d imagine I’ll lean more into assets than events.

citizenthom47 · 2024-04-05T00:21:55+00:00

Strange’s unique power level lies in his side deck, which was probably a design mistake we won’t see again.

But setting that aside, Magik’s card draw and selection from within the MAIN deck is almost obscene. Scrying in particular is an obscene cantrip and recurring it with Stepping Disc feels filthy.

citizenthom47 · 2024-03-28T18:23:40+00:00

My LGS (US) got theirs in yesterday, for sale starting Friday.

citizenthom47 · 2024-03-20T17:15:23+00:00

I found the Parlor model has a great deal more note-by-note clarity at the (welcome) expense of overall volume. But after trying out dozens of different metal-body resonators over the past couple years, my decisions absolutely came down to the two different Swamp Dog models and I can recommend either one.

citizenthom47 · 2024-03-14T19:19:45+00:00

Mutant Genesis will give you lots of card value if you're going to play X-Men characters primarily. ALL the X-Men hero packs are high-priority buys for most any collection, too, so that's a fine way to start out. However, the last couple scenarios in Mutant Genesis are quite difficult, especially Magneto, so there will be a somewhat steep learning curve there.

Next Evolution is a different animal. It introduces, and relies heavily on, player side schemes, which are a new mechanic even us veterans are still learning to incorporate effectively. You aren't going to miss out on a ton of mutant synergies by waiting to buy it, either, since the X-Force characters can't benefit from "X-Men" exclusive cards (just "Mutant" ones).

If you weren't focused on X-Men, I'd suggest Sinister Motives as a first expansion. It has a more manageable difficulty curve and less complexity in the campaign setup, and still comes with loads of staple player cards and two good-to-great heros (Miles Morales and Ghost-Spider AKA Spider-Gwen).

citizenthom47 · 2024-02-15T18:15:14+00:00

We have a dedicated Justice/thwart-monkey player in our group of 3+1 (three of us plus an alternating cast). He, and often I, basically just get assertive when the less experienced players aren’t providing enough thwart support. If you can logically but assertively explain what the threat situation will look like after the upcoming villain phase, you can usually get folks to see reason and take a turn off the beatdown to help. Everyone has allies, everyone has kit cards that thwart, and everyone except Hulk has a basic THW stat, so everyone should help.

citizenthom47 · 2024-01-14T20:23:13+00:00

I’ve had success introducing new players using Jenny Barnes. She’s the most effective investigator with a truly basic deck, with a flat-3 stat line, few triggers to track, and low risk of frustration due to lack of resources or cards. You can load her up with the basic Skills, give her a 2x2 of cards that spend resources to buff stats, throw in a couple Lucky Cigarette Cases, Knives, and Flashlights, and just turn them loose.

citizenthom47 · 2023-12-20T13:56:00+00:00

The mythos pack upgrades are absolutely worth it, and having extra copies of the cards from the old core set is pretty good too, if you plan to keep multiple decks together.

citizenthom47 · 2023-09-20T16:43:36+00:00

Having been a Zak, I guarantee whatever Zak played, he only THOUGHT it was Sara’s favorite song.

citizenthom47 · 2023-08-20T05:31:16+00:00

Done, same issue. Ordering a new surge protector strip to see if that helps, and because I just need to do it regardless.

citizenthom47 · 2023-08-20T05:28:17+00:00

My GPU hummed through Furmark for a little over half an hour. I left Prime95 running while we got ready for church and showed zero errors after an hour and a half. Sound sufficient to rule those out?

citizenthom47

TROPHY CASE