Written by Josh Bailey *Last updated 9/11/2020*

Introduction

The purpose of this guide will be to help everyone keep track of what is contained in each release, and for new players to determine their best path of early purchases. It will be updated as I’m able with each release. Card images and FFG product pages will be linked throughout.

For Hero Packs, I’ll include brief overviews of how the hero plays to help you decide if it’s an expansion that you want to track down, and also overviews of the aspect and basic cards to help you determine if the expansion is worth it if you don’t plan on using the hero.

For scenarios, I’ll talk briefly about the theme, difficulty, and mechanics of each scenario as well as talking about any included modular sets and what they can bring to other scenarios you may own.

Story boxes will be a combination of all of the above and may warrant their own detailed article, which will be linked from here.

Contents

General Buying Advice

If you are playing solo, hoping to start your own group, really want to play a Core Set hero, or want to experience deck building across all the available aspects, then you are you going to want to start with a Core Set. From there I would continue as above, identifying heroes and aspects that interest you and seeking them out. One or two Hero Packs should be enough to have a good player deck. If you are also trying to build your own collection of scenarios, the best first or second purchase right now is The Rise of Red Skull , unless you want to spend a little less in which case go with The Green Goblin

If it is ever possible in the future to obtain the Standard and Expert modular sets (necessary for most scenarios) outside of the Core Set, I will note that here. Currently it is not, but you can play against

without any encounter cards from the Core Set.

Specific Buying Advice

Release Month: October 2019

October 2019 Heroes: Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, She Hulk, Iron Man, Black Panther

Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, She Hulk, Iron Man, Black Panther Villains: Rhino, Klaw, Ultron

Rhino, Klaw, Ultron Modular Sets: Standard, Expert, Bomb Scare, Masters of Evil, Under Attack, Doomsday Chair (MODOK), Legions of Hydra (see all Villains and Modular sets here)

Standard, Expert, Bomb Scare, Masters of Evil, Under Attack, Doomsday Chair (MODOK), Legions of Hydra (see all Villains and Modular sets here) Overview: Well, you pretty much have to buy this if you want to play the game on your own. There will probably be a time in the future where you can go for a while without buying this product and instead just focus on buying whichever heroes you want to play and whatever scenarios you want to play against. You will just be missing out on components, which can be replaced with other tokens you already have, and the Standard and Expert encounter sets. The only scenario that can be played without any modular sets from the Core Set so far is The Wrecking Crew. It is worth noting, however, that a group of up to 4 players could be supplied by just one Core Set, especially if players are buying additional expansions. Such a group could split the cost of a single Core Set, buy their favorite Hero Pack, and have a decent amount of deckbuilding options provided everyone plays a different aspect.Ultimately, the Core Set is a great value and should be the starting place for anyone wanting to play the game. You get 5 heroes and enough cards to build 4 decks simultaneously as well as 3 scenarios and a few extra modular encounter sets. That much content for the cost cannot currently be replicated by only buying expansions. It is roughly the equivalent of 4 Hero Packs and 2 Scenario Packs which would retail for a total of ~100 USD. This may also be the best LCG Core Set product that FFG offers in that you can get away with just one copy and the contained scenarios are all worth your time. You will have a play-set of every card, so the only time you would potentially want more than one Core Set is if you’re determined to keep multiple decks built at once that share the same aspect or have multiple decks that want multiple copies of the same Basic cards. It is likely that many of these cards will be reprinted in Hero Packs so, if you can remain patient, even these situations may eventually go away for players with complete collections. As for the scenarios, other FFG co-op LCGs have made a tradition of the core set containing 3 scenarios with the first being a basic tutorial, the second showing off what the game can do, and the third being frustratingly difficult to the point it makes people quit the game. Thankfully, Marvel Champions keeps the good parts of that formula and gets rid of the bad parts. Rhino is very simple but the difficulty and flavor can be modified via modular encounter sets, Klaw is a fantastic scenario that can be dramatically altered by the minions that you include, and Ultron is difficult but hopefully won’t make you rage-quit like the corresponding Escape from Dol Guldur in Lord of the Rings or The Devourer Below in Arkham Horror. I expect to find myself revisiting all three Core Set villains in the future, especially as new modular sets are released.

Hero Packs

Finally, this page is heavily inspired by the oft-linked Tales From The Cards New Player Buying Guide for the Lord of the Rings LCG and features images and card info from the great Hall of Heroes and MarvelCDB resources. Many thanks to those creators.Like all other LCGs, I expect the day will come that new players will ask the age-old question, “What do I buy after the Core?”. With the new distribution model of this game, we may even start to see, “Do I have to buy the Core?” and “What can I buy instead of the Core?”. My advice depends on your playgroup situation. If you have been introduced to this game by friends that already own it and you just want to be able to play multiplayer with them, then I’d say identify your favorite hero (assuming it’s not one from the Core set) and buy just that pack, and possibly a second pack containing the aspect you most want to play if it wasn’t already included with your hero. If you are someone who enjoys deck building, I would then buy another pack of the same aspect to give you more options.Okay, so what if you just want to buy one or two expansions in addition to the Core Set and your tastes are based on play style and aspect more so than specific heroes? Well, if you want:

Release Month: Expected November 2020 (?)

Expected November 2020 (?) Aspect: Leadership

Leadership Nemesis: Yellowjacket

Yellowjacket Partial Card List

Notable Cards:

Reprints (? total):

Hero Overview:

Player Cards Overview:

Release Month: Expected November or December 2020 (?)

Expected November or December 2020 (?) Aspect: Aggression

Aggression Nemesis:

Partial Card List

Notable Cards:

Reprints (? total):

Hero Overview:

Player Cards Overview:

Quicksilver

Release Month: Expected TBD (December 2020?)

Expected TBD (December 2020?) Aspect: Protection

Protection Nemesis:

Partial Card List

Notable Cards:

Reprints (? total):

Hero Overview:

Player Cards Overview:

Scarlet Witch

Release Month: TBD (January 2021?)

TBD (January 2021?) Aspect: Justice

Justice Nemesis:

Partial Card List

Notable Cards:

Reprints (? total):

Hero Overview:

Player Cards Overview:

Scenario Packs

Release Month: December 2019

December 2019 Scenarios Included: Risky Business, Mutagen Formula

Risky Business, Mutagen Formula Modular Sets Included: Goblin Gimmicks (Goblin Gliders and Pumpkin Bombs), A Mess of Things (Scorpion), Running Interference (Tombstone), and Power Drain (Electro)

Goblin Gimmicks (Goblin Gliders and Pumpkin Bombs), A Mess of Things (Scorpion), Running Interference (Tombstone), and Power Drain (Electro) Full Card List

Overview: This pack gives you a lot value and is probably the first expansion you should get aside from the Hero Pack(s) of your favorite hero and favorite aspect. The reason for that is it includes two scenarios, one of which is generally thought of as fairly easy (Risky Business) and another that can be one of the hardest scenarios in the game (Mutagen Formula). Additionally, it comes with four modular sets that can greatly enhance the variety in scenarios you already own. Despite being not too difficult, Risky Business involves an interesting dual-personality mechanic for the villain that differentiates it from other scenarios and so can be a good first or second scenario for a new player if Standard Rhino and his single-scheme scenario is too boring. The damage heroes receive from Norman flipping to Goblin (due to Criminal Enterprise/State of Madness ) provides a decision on when to attack and for how much rather than just as-much-as-you-can-all-the-time which is the best approach for other scenarios. The more difficult Mutagen Formula features a full-time Green Goblin with the ability to deal extra encounter cards whenever he progresses to his next stage . This again forces the players to consider how to best time their attacks. Expert mode is a really tough test because each player will reveal 3 encounter cards in the very first villain phase due to the Green Goblin (II) When Revealed ability. The other focus of the scenario is minions. Most encounter cards either force you to draw a new minion, buff the minions’ stats, or do bad things based on the number of minions in play. The modular sets each have a central mechanic so that you can tailor your scenarios as you see fit to challenge certain aspects of your player deck. Goblin Gimmicks features cards that mostly enhance the villain, or possibly minion, unless a Hero spends an action and resources. This is where you’ll find Pumpkin Bombs and Goblin Gliders to make for thematic battles against Green Goblin (or weird battles against Rhino, if you’re in to that). A Mess of Things features Scorpion and is focused on extra attacks and stunning your hero. Heroes with exhaust abilities or dependency on their basic actions (like Ms. Marvel and She Hulk) will be tested by this set. Power Drain features Electro and causes you to discard cards from the encounter deck, which accelerates threat accumulation on the main scheme. This can be deadly in a scenario like Klaw or against any hero that takes time to set up or is weak at thwarting. Tombstone appears in the Running Interference set which focuses on making you waste your actions and resources or otherwise be subjected to some pretty bad effects. Notably, the resources required for these effects are Mental and Physical, so heroes like Iron Man and Captain Marvel that depend on Energy resources can struggle to remove these obstacles.

Release Month: February 2020

February 2020 Scenarios Included: Wrecking Crew

Wrecking Crew Modular Sets Included: None

None Full Card List

Overview: The Wrecking Crew starts to show off how varied scenario design can eventually be. The gimmick here is that you are fighting against four villains at the same time, each with their own encounter deck, and there are rules and effects that determine which one is going to be punching you at any given time. There are no modulars in this expansion and the only way to alter the experience is to change the stage of the four villains, so it’s probably not an early buy for anyone hoping to expand their scenario options quickly. On the other hand, an advantage of this scenario is that it never has to be disassembled due to sharing cards with other scenarios so it is always ready to go. Each of the four Wrecking Crew members have their own specialty in terms of how they put pressure on the players. Wrecker puts out extra damage, encourages you to defend, and messes with your ability to plan for which villain is going to trigger when. Thunderball damages and stuns you and your allies and builds up threat quickly. Piledriver can remove your supports and upgrades, Retaliates, and can heal or otherwise block damage. Bulldozer forces discards from your hand and deck to remove your options and also deal more encounter cards. The community assessment of this scenario so far is that it’s somewhat solvable and lacks enough pressure to be a challenge. If you identify which villains’ threats you can suffer most easily and take out the villain who is most directly affecting your game plan, then you can usually cruise to victory for the remainder of the game. Solving this puzzle isn’t going to be super obvious for all players, so there is still a challenge here and a unique experience even if it does eventually lose some replayability.