This holiday season Thanos, not Santa Claus, will be delivering gifts to all the lucky “Marvel Puzzle Quest” players. And he’s bringing Death with him!

We talked to D3 Go! Producer Josh Austin about the Mad Titan’s “Puzzle Quest” landfall and everything the team has planned to keep us warm through the holidays.

Marvel.com: It’s been an awesome year for “Marvel Puzzle Quest,” there’s no doubt about that, but how are you ringing in this holiday season?

Josh Austin: This year we are ending with the mighty titan Thanos! We aren’t just bringing him in as a 5-Star character and disappearing for the holidays, we are also releasing a Thanos PVE event called Crash of the Mad Titan, a 3-Star Thanos, and we’re bringing back the popular Naughty or Nice Versus Tournament! Players have been begging for a new villain for a bit and what better way to end the year than making their wishes true with an Infinity Gauntlet bang!

Marvel.com: Thanos is another 3/5-Star split in the style of Doctor Strange. Previously the team had mentioned they were moving away from 3-Stars. What changed?

Josh Austin: We are super excited to be able to do this again, especially considering how popular it was when Doctor Strange was released a few weeks ago. Our overall focus is doing what is best for the entire community and we needed to rethink how new 3-Stars will add or take away from the player experience.

The game continues to evolve and we learn new things from both player feedback and behavior in the game. Once upon a time we wanted to progress with even stronger characters—hence the introduction of 5-Star heroes—but we have come to believe that releasing a couple of new 3-Stars each year will help the balance for players both old and new. But in all seriousness, I earned a 3-Star Doctor Strange and he is now one of my favorite characters to use in events so I am definitely a fan of us reintroducing 3-Stars.

Marvel.com: Thanos, the Mad Titan himself, finally crashes the “Puzzle Quest” party. What can you tell us about the cosmic calamity’s moveset?

Josh Austin: I can tell you Thanos is totally rad! His animations are great, one of his powers even brings out Death. I mean you do not want to mess with this guy. Both the 3-Star and 5-Star abilities go by the same name so I am going to run them by you according to the ability name starting with the 5-Star.

The first power is called Court Death and shows how Thanos’ desire to please his mistress Death can make him a terrifying threat and volatile ally. It’s a Black AP Passive that activates when Thanos downs an enemy, causing him to stun all characters except Thanos—allies and enemies—and then deals damage to all characters, a set amount to enemies and half that to his allies. The 3-Star Thanos Court Death power deals the same amount of damage to both enemies and allies.

His second ability, Infinite Power, shows everyone just how invulnerable, immortal, and nigh all-powerful Thanos is as he bends his foes to his will. This power costs 8 Purple AP and creates a 3-turn Purple Countdown tile. While the tile is on the board, Thanos deals an extra 15% match damage and no tiles may be destroyed or changed except by Thanos; tiles may still be matched away. The 3-Star Thanos version of Infinite Power gives Thanos an extra 150% match damage which is a lot higher than the 5-Star match damage, but 3-Star Thanos doesn’t get the added board control that 5-Star Thanos has.

His final power is called Come and Get Me. Thanos stands against the tide of his enemies before unleashing his wrath. This power costs 12 Green AP and places a 4-turn countdown tile that moves Thanos to the front of the team at the end of his turn. When the Countdown tile goes off, it causes damage to the entire enemy team. This ability is similar for both 3 and 5-Star variants.

Marvel.com: So on top of some awesome new characters we also have some Thanos-themed holiday fun ahead of us. What exactly can we look forward to?

Josh Austin: So much stuff for the holidays! We have the Crash of the Mad Titan event, which is a special version of Deadpool’s Daily Quest that has five pins with rewards and a Crash Pin featuring Thanos as the enemy for five days. Each day has a unique group of allowed characters including Guardians of the Galaxy, Inhumans, Villains, etc., with plenty of Thanos-themed quests. This event will include a special Thanos Vault for the duration with tons of great stuff! And ring in the New Year on January 1 with a new Thanos Versus Tournament, Behold Thanos.

Marvel.com: Is there anything else we need to know?



Josh Austin: Along with this Thanos event, there will be a 30% bonus sales for Iso-8 and Hero Points between December 20 and 26, a special holiday vault (featuring 80 items) from December 22 [to] January 1 attached to certain events, double Iso-8 rewards will be given in the upcoming Galactus Hungers (December 22), Crash of the Mad Titan (December 22), Naughty or Nice (December 22) and Unstable Iso-8 (December 25).

And finally, I want to wish Happy Holidays to everyone and thanks for playing “Marvel Puzzle Quest.” We have a special free token that we are giving out in the upcoming Vault as a thank you and we can’t wait to share more MPQ news with all the Marvel.com readers in 2017!

Take a crack at Thanos and all the “Puzzle Quest” holiday cheer here and stay tuned to Marvel.com for more “Marvel Puzzle Quest” news and interviews!