“I’d like to show you the Foundry. This is where I design, build, and test every suit of Iron Man armor. One for every occasion.”

–Tony Stark, Tony Stark – Iron Man #1

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Every hero in the Marvel Universe is different, with their own array of fantastic powers and abilities. But these heroes never stay static for long—they’re always growing, evolving, and changing. Whether it’s Tony Stark building a new iteration of the Iron Man suit, Kamala Khan learning a new way to harness her shapeshifting talents, or Peter Parker tinkering with his web-shooters, any hero can find ways to improve.

In Marvel Champions: The Card Game, you become one of these heroes, and like these heroes, you can tweak what you bring to each scenario through deckbuilding. Join us today as we take a closer look at how you can explore deckbuilding in Marvel Champions!

In the Foundry

Building a new deck in Marvel Champions starts, as you might expect, with selecting your hero. But a hero isn’t just a single card. Every hero in the game comes with fifteen hero-specific cards that evoke that character!

For example, Iron Man (Core Set, 29A) comes with War Machine (Core Set, 30), three copies of Repulsor Blast (Core Set, 31), two copies of Supersonic Punch (Core Set, 32), Pepper Potts (Core Set, 33), Stark Tower (Core Set, 34), Arc Reactor (Core Set, 35), Mark V Armor (Core Set, 36), Mark V Helmet (Core Set, 37), two copies of Powered Gauntlets (Core Set, 38), and two copies of Rocket Boots (Core Set, 39). These fifteen cards must be included in every Iron Man deck, and they’re unavailable to any other hero—they’re the cards that truly set Iron Man apart!

Of course, not all of the cards that come with your hero are quite so beneficial. Every hero also comes with a personal obligation, which is shuffled into the encounter deck. In Tony’s case, that obligation is Business Problems (Core Set, 170), potentially pulling Iron Man away from the fight to resolve this obligation as Tony Stark. In addition to an obligation, every hero also has their own nemesis—in this case, Whiplash (Core Set, 172). The nemesis also comes with a unique side scheme and encounter cards.

All of these pieces are fixed, and define what makes Iron Man unique, but they’re also shared between every Iron Man deck. How do you bring your own personal touch to a deck? That’s where the next big choice in deckbuilding comes in—choosing which aspect you’ll pair with your hero.

Every hero in Marvel Champions can be played in one of the four aspects: Justice, Protection, Leadership, or Aggression. Each aspect offers a unique way for you to fight the villain and push your hero’s powers to the limits. You may battle in the name of Justice and thwart the villain’s scheme with Heroic Intuition (Core Set, 65), or you may play Aggression and take the fight to the villain with heavy damage-dealing cards like Relentless Assault (Core Set, 53). Leadership lets you call on your allies and Lead from the Front (Core Set, 70), but if you prefer to take a more defensive role, Protection could see you teaming up with Black Widow (Core Set, 75) to prevent the worst from happening.

Every aspect offers a wealth of cards, and carefully choosing which ones merit a place in your deck is a key part of deckbuilding. As the game grows and expands beyond the Core Set, you’ll find more and more options available to you, inviting you to build radically different decks.

The final touch on deckbuilding is filling out your deck with basic cards. These cards don’t belong to any of the four aspects, but they offer powerful options for bringing your deck together, such as the utility offered by Mockingbird (Core Set, 83) or the resources from Genius (Core Set, 89). No matter which aspect you pick for your deck, you’ll be able to add basic cards to your hero’s deck!

Once you’ve included at least 40 (but no more than 50) cards in your deck, you’re ready to play! Whether you’re taking on Klaw, Ultron, the Green Goblin, or another villain, you can take your hero’s powers in new and exciting directions just by changing your deck’s aspect. If you’re not ready to leap into deckbuilding yet, however, there’s still plenty that you can do with Marvel Champions!

Discover Your Powers

Right out of the Core Set, every hero has a recommended deck that’s easy for you to throw together. In fact, the Spider-Man and Captain Marvel recommended decks are pre-built when you pick up the game (along with the Rhino villain deck), so you just need to punch out some tokens and you’re ready to throw down against your very first villain.

It’s just as easy to keep playing as you start looking at the game’s Hero Packs, one type of Marvel Champions expansion that you can expect to receive on a regular basis. In fact, we’ve already announced the Captain America Hero Pack and the Ms. Marvel Hero Pack! These Hero Packs come with a pre-built and fully playable deck, so you can try out a new hero just by grabbing the next Hero Pack—no need to build a deck before you start playing.

Of course, if you prefer deckbuilding, there are manifold possibilities in every Hero Pack. Naturally, every Hero Pack contains a new hero, who can be played with any of the four aspects in the game. Each Hero Pack also features one of the four aspects—for example, Captain America comes with an assortment of new Leadership and basic cards, giving you new options for playing any hero. Finally, every Hero Pack offers a new card for each non-featured faction, ensuring that there’s always something to try in every Hero Pack.

I Am Iron Man

Whether you’re always dreaming up your next deck or you prefer to play a deck that’s ready-made for you, you’ll be able to jump into the boots of your favorite hero in Marvel Champions: The Card Game. And your chance to play the game is almost here!