For those of us who spend countless hours at the kitchen table flipping cardboard versions of our favorite characters, the last ten days before the debut of Upper Deck’s new Marvel Superstars Trading Card Game is excruciating bliss. We cannot wait to find out which legends will be included. We are on pins and needles wondering what new mechanics will drive the game engine. We are wild with wonder, wanting desperately to wield the waiting win conditions.

There are certain basic building blocks of Trading Card Game structure that will probably be part of our new strategy experience. Marvel Superstars may have some of these aspects:

1. Individual deck construction.

2. Specific deck size and limited card ratios.

3. Turn based play, drawing cards each turn.

4. Starting life points that are subtracted with success until victory.

5. Character cards.

6. Effect cards.

7. Specific sequencing within each turn.

8. A cost system to control card power.

How will those things be expressed in the Marvel Superstars system? We do not know. August 13th will be here before you know it, and a brand new world will be revealed. For now we wait and wonder.