The Perfect Beginner Deck

Welcome to MARVEL CHAMPIONS!

Your friend knows you like Marvel, maybe especially the X-Men — remember the cartoon from the 90's? — and they've just handed you this deck and guide. Congratulations, you have a great friend. Thank them for spending so much money on this game.

It's a bold claim, but this may be THE PERFECT BEGINNER DECK. The primary reason being this deck has a) a simple game plan and easy-to-understand cards, with a clear focus on immediate benefits from b) defeating minions and c) removing the last threat from schemes.

The Simple Game Plan

Wolverine is very powerful for three reasons: he's hard to kill, his Claws allow him to play attack events for free, and he can pretty easily remove threat from schemes, especially with the help of his Justice cards.

As you begin the early game, focus on "clearing the board": removing threat from schemes and defeating minions. You can do this through a combination of events, allies, and Wolverine's basic attack or basic thwart.

As you go into the mid game, start to "build your board": get more allies on the table and play your upgrades and supports.

As you enter the late game, think about closing it out: with the help of big attack events like Lunging Strike and Slice and Dice, both of which you should be able to play since one can be played for free with Wolverine's Claws, you might be able to burn down the villain's second stage even in a single turn.

Now a note on defeating minions and removing the last threat from schemes...

Defeating Minions

You have two attack events which care about dealing enough damage to defeat minions: Berserker Barrage and Stealth Strike.

When you defeat a minion with Berserker Barrage, you can then take 2 damage and deal 4 more damage to another enemy. This can chain, allowing you to potentially kill multiple minions and still damage the villain! Make sure you set this up by dealing enough damage with Wolverine and your allies so that minions are ready to be defeated by the 4 damage from Berserker Barrage.

When you defeat a minion with Stealth Strike, you can then remove 2 threat from a scheme. Look to use this when you need to deal with a minion and threat at the same time. Don't forget you can pay for this card with Wolverine's Claws.

Removing The Last Threat From Schemes

You have three events which care about removing the last threat from schemes: Clear the Area, Track by Scent, and Turn the Tide.

Clear the Area and Track by Scent are essentially the same card: both of them remove threat, and draw you cards if this removed the last threat from a scheme. Set this up by removing enough threat with Wolverine and your allies that Clear the Area or Track by Scent will remove the last threat and draw you cards. Try to make this happen early in the turn so you can decide what to do with the cards you draw.

After you thwart and remove the last threat from a scheme, use Turn the Tide to deal 3 damage for 0-cost — this is amazing value. Just remember, Turn the Tide requires your hero to be the one who is thwarting, not your allies, but using Clear the Area or Track by Scent counts as your hero thwarting.

Additionally, whenever side schemes are defeated, every player in hero form who has Skilled Investigator will draw a card! Make sure you play one on your friend. That's a nice way to thank them, right there!