The Rise of the Red Skull: Crossbones (Solo Expert)

 

I've been trying to get Spidey to work to my liking since the day this game started. Justice just didn't do it for me, mostly because it was too simple: thwart and Web Kick. I tried Protection, but found that I just don't have a very good handle on Protection yet. My deckbuilding for that aspect was really good (trust me, I checked!) but the cardpool for Protection just isn't quite where I want it for Spider-Man, not yet. Hint FFG: make a card that lets you use a character's Defense for an Attack and you'll get me back to that aspect with Spidey. When I saw all the raw draw power of the character cards in Spider-Woman's deck a lightbulb went off in my head, and I drafted the following deck. For those of you who are wondering, I do not have the ability to access online deck databases while writing; firewalls are evil. So this is what I got. Hope you don't mind.

Spider-Blitz

Allies

Brawn

Valkyrie

Black Cat

Spider-Girl

Support

Aunt May

Helicarrier

Hall of Heroes

Avenger's Mansion

Upgrades

Spider-Tracer x2

Web-Shooter x2

Webbed Up x2

Downtime

Martial Prowess

Events

Press the Advantage x2

Drop Kick x2

Enhanced Spider-Sense x2

Backflip x2

You'll Pay For That! x3

Toe to Toe x3

Relentless Assault x2

Swinging Web Kick x3

Resources

The Power of Aggression x2

Energy

Strength

Genius

So the idea around this deck is to go out on an all-out offensive, almost all the time, with some backups in case that is denied. Webbed Up gives you freedom from two attacks and also plays into Press the Advantage (get a card for hitting a stunned foe). You just keep drawing and drawing, looking for Spinning Web Kicks to eat through hit points. If somehow you don't murder the opponent within three or four turns the fact that so many of the cards are permanents will help you cycle through the deck faster the second time around, hopefully landing you on those big power shots.

Crossbones

Crossbones himself becomes a bit of a pain. Starting out with a machine gun looked fearsome, but we'll get to that in a minute. Most of Crossbones doesn't change that much from his Basic form, and his stage three (deal out out another experimental weapon) doesn't scare me with Spider-Man all that much. That being said, the increased hit points, however slight, is still a speed bump that has to be handled.

I immediately got a Webbed Up along with an Avengers Mansion and got the Webbed Up out, reasoning that would keep me alive for two turns while I got everything together. Turns out I was right. What proceeded was a very speedy set up. I literally did two Toe to Toes in the same turn, defending against one of them, which about destroyed Crossbones, especially when he was coming out of stun. I almost always blew out my hand, while drawing into all my energy support cards (Web Shooters and Martial Prowess), which let me nova almost half the game. 

Also, forgive me if I'm wrong, but the way that the machine is worded it sounds like Backflip avoids all that damage, which includes the indirect damage. That meant that Spidey could (and did in my case) render the machine gun useless. I mean, it says all damage. Even if that's not true it would have only added a turn or two, I think.

By the time I was done, four turns later, Crossbones was a broken man. The one thing I was afraid of- minions- hardly came out, and I found that my deck was well-suited to getting through Crossbone's low hit points. But it wasn't all positive: I ended at 4 hit points, which means that I will be taken an obligation card to reset my health. I'll need to be a bit more respectful of that in the future, but for a first outing? I'm really happy with the deck and had a blast exploiting Crossbone's weakness as fully as I could.

EDIT: One of my intrepid readers has convinced me to start against Absorbing Man with 4 hp, no Obligation. I think he made a good case for it. Should this not be the case I will be blaming him the rest of the campaign! W00T FOR DEFERRING RESPONSIBILITY!!! THAT'S SO SPIDER-MAN!

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The Undertow: Session Twenty-Eight

The Lone Keep is gone. Mikansia discovered her supposedly dead mother, Makirta, is very much alive. Taking her from the wreckage of the Lone Keep, Mikansia is unsure what to make of this unexpected development. But the family Mikansia has discovered is in tatters: Dale, young father of three year old Simone, had died to a dragon. Mikansia had banished The Dragon to Dream, unable to kill it at the time. Dale's wife, Ember, is beside herself with grief. After coming back to their old home in the Etranger Mountains Mikansia and her friends met up with Marian, who had made her way there on her own.

Mikansia woke up to the type of screams that turn a parent's blood to ice water. "Mamma Mamma WHERE ARE YOU?????" Three year old Simone just kept going and going. Mikansia was up and out of her old house. They'd come back to the old Sword Runner's base, up in the Étranger Mountains; it had felt good to collapse in the bed Mikansia had been forced to abandon. But now Mikansia was stumbling out the door... into the strangest twilight she'd ever seen. The normally clear mountain air was dark with particulates. There was the barest of hints of light from where the sun should have been. Simone was out, walking around, screeching into the darkness. Mikansia saw movement in her periphery; Makirta, Mikansia's estranged mother, was out out of her house, moving very assuredly for a severely malnourished elf.

Simone was still screaming; Makirta could wait. Decima had just come out of her old house and was wrapping her granddaughter in a bear hug while she cried. Simone finally choked out the words "Mamma was grabbed by a dragon and went through the ceiling! Get her! Please!" Mikansia held up Sydanelma, her magical sword, to Simone's red eyes; the soft rainbow glow soothed the toddler and her eyes glazed over. "Mamma..."

"It was probably just a nightmare," Mikansia said, feeling relieved.

"I wouldn't say that just yet". It was Jabez. He was standing next to Mikansia. And Decima jumped.

"What are you doing here?? We're not in Dream!" Mikansia said.

"Dream is now more tightly linked than before to the waking realm," Jabez stated. He looked uncomfortable.

Mikansia stared at Jabez, hard. "What happened? Why is Dream more connected than before?"

Even a dead friend can be dodgy. "That's... not really relevant to finding Ember right now," Jabez said, trying not to look at Mikansia. "The point is that Simone may be right. A dragon really may have come and taken Ember away."

Mikansia wanted to question Jabez a bit more, but he was right about that much. "Maybe Simone was thinking about Fish? Maybe he and Ember went somewhere?"

"No, Fish is still passed out over there, " said Nomi, coming up behind them. "He couldn't fly with Ember if it would save the world." 

Everyone's face fell at that news. "Let's go over their house a few times," suggested Mikansia. "We could have just missed her. Using Sydanelma's light Decima and Mikansia searched the whole house several times over. Ember was nowhere to be found. "We need to start tracking Ember. She's clearly not here," Mikansia dictated.

Out of the periphery of her vision Mikansia saw him: her father, Krakeru. He was talking with Makirta, Mikansia's mother, who was far calmer and collected than she had any right to be. Mikansia walked over with Sydanelma out and stabbed Krakeru without a second thought. He vanished; Makirta fell over, screaming. Mikansia watched with disgust. She couldn't help herself; anyone who had that level of connection with the vile thing known as Krakeru had too many issues for Mikansia. But Makirta needed help getting up: she had awoken and all of a sudden couldn't move, not without help. Mikansia shuddered, but helped Makirta back to her house, helping her into her bed.

"Be gentle with her," said Akseli. 

Mikansia jumped. She realized Jabez had been gone awhile. "You're not going to tell me what's going on, are you?" she asked Akseli.

Akseli shook his head. "No, I'm not. That's entirely outside your scope, what you're capable of dealing with, possibly forever. Just focus on what you can." He gently pulled Mikansia's to his. "Save Ember, the way only you can."

"By killing things" said Mikansia. There was some frustration in her statement; she wanted to know why the world had changed so much and just couldn't shake the feeling she needed to know to what it was. But Akseli was right: there were things she could do right now. And she trusted Akseli.

"Now you're thinking!" chuckled Akseli. And he was gone.

Nomi came running up. "Need help looking for Ember?"

"No, Marian will have the raw power to help deal with that dragon, if it's the one I think it is. I need you to stay back here. Guard Fish, Decima, and Simone. They need you."

"Oh c'mon I'm not a-"

"-not a babysitter, I know. That's not why I'm asking, Nomi. If things can manifest out of Dream Decima and Simone and... well.. Makirta... will need as much help as they can get. I'm not asking this to get you out of the way," Mikansia said earnestly. "I'm asking because there's no one else I trust with this. Period."

There was a brief flash of something soft on Nomi's face. Something beautiful. And vulnerable. "Well, I can't argue with that," she whispered. "You got it."

"Thank you". Nomi headed back to Fish. Mikansia walked up to Marian. "We have a dragon to track." Marian nodded. They left immediately, going down the mountainside. The spot of light that Mikansia hoped was the sun had risen into the sky.. but the world stayed in twilight.

Thirty elves appeared around them. "Taht's the one who brought down the Lone Keep and killed us! Let's drag her to Hell!" one of them shouted. Mikansia brandished Sydanelma and smiled. Marian's hands sparked green. A few minutes later Mikansia and Marian were alone on the mountainside: no corpses. That almost disappointed Mikansia. On they went, down the mountain.

Simone's dream form was sitting on a rock, looking around. Mikansia went to Simone while Marian began a spell to wake up Simone. Mikansia sat down awkwardly next to the three year old. She looked up at Mikansia: "Why did you let Daddy die?"

Mikansia took a deep breath. "Why do you think I let your daddy die?"

"You're strongest. You could have saved Daddy."

Mikansia had to absorb that for a moment. "Well... sometimes you can only do so much. And then... you just have to try and be at peace with what happened." Simone didn't look so convinced. Mikansia sure didn't blame her.

What little light was left was blocked out by The Dragon. Mikansia had trapped him in Dream when they'd first fought, but the barrier between the Waking Realm and Dream had made it possible for it to return. Ember sat on its back, a fell and bewitched light in her yes. "Simone, I need you to go and get Decima," Mikansia commanded.

"But Mama"

" I won't let the dragon take Mama! Not like it did your Daddy! I promise!"

Simone's dream form scampered away.

Marian came running up. "Finally got Simone to wake up! She's letting them know."

Mikansia stared up at Ember, avoiding The Dragon's gaze. She wanted to run. She needed to run. She had to run. But Ember was right there. She didn't know it, but The Dragon had her. Mikansia couldn't let that stand. Not again. Never again. She had to fight. She needed to. And that need outweighed her fear. No more running. "You with me?" she asked Marian.

Flames knocked The Dragon back. "More than you know."

A hurricane gale followed The Dragon's claw. By a miracle it didn't get through Mikansia's armor as she tried to duck under it. Time slowed. Mikansia thought the whole world may have stopped. She needed to get past this monstrosity's heavily armored head, to its underbelly. She had to. It had already taken Dale, it would not take Ember!

Mikansia ran, ducked, slid on rocks and gravel, and stabbed upwards with all her might. She was covered in blood. She heard the roar. And then felt a searing pain.

Darkness.

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The Rise of the Red Skull: Red Skull (Solo Basic)

 

Constraints of Review

I am using the prefabbed decks that come with the box to see how they handle solo play. I do not have the option to do group play by and large, so please take everything you read here with the knowledge that I have no idea how it relates to group play and probably won't for months. When I do get to do group play I'll let you know what I think then. Because I will be playing with everything out of the box, as-is, I will be doing the whole thing on Basic difficulty. I'll go through the box again on Solo Expert and will write up something for that, then.

What is This?

This is the first major expansion for Marvel Champions the Living Card Game. It includes five villains (Crossbones, Absorbing Man, Taskmaster, Zola, and Red Skull) and arranges them in a campaign format. Fight the villains in order, upgrading your deck with campaign cards. pretty simple set up, but simple can be very good. We'll see.

Last Time...

Spider-Woman and Hawkeye both did equally poorly against Zola, both losing a game before finally bringing the victory home. Zola. Is. An. Asshole.

The Red Skull

The star of the show did not disappoint, not in the slightest. Red Skull, like Zola, juggles a ton of things that eventually funnel back into a problem that you just can't help but shake your head at.  First off, there's the side scheme deck, which begins with "The Red House", which blocks all damage to Red Skull while its out. Fortunately you can attack it instead of thwart it! Obviously, this then leads into the central problem of Red Skull's deck: all his side schemes are in their own deck, which then plunks out a new side scheme each turn. Red Skull's attack is equal to the number of side schemes. This gives a completely different level of complexity, as I scrambled to get rid of the side schemes as soon as I could, while dealing with the rest of the nonsense in Red Skull's deck.

The problem, of course, became that my resources were needed elsewhere. Red Skull has a ton of minions, including the Sleeper, who has Toughness and Guard and is linked to a side scheme so you know that jerk is coming back soon (the side scheme deck cycles).EDIT: The Sleeper and his related scheme are removed from the game after defeat, they don't cycle. And thank God. Thanks to TD1215 on Reddit for catching that!  But the real MVP of Red Skull's deck are all the freaking toughness cards that get thrown around. Almost all the minions have toughness. Red Skull has a bunch of cards that grant toughness to himself. I think I drew them all. The sheer amount of orange being thrown around made me feel like I was in a prison cell. Fortunately Red Skull's hit points are pretty low, meaning it's possible to burst damage him if you get the chance. But you will have to earn that friggin' chance.

Spider-Woman took him out in one game and I've absolutely no clue how that happened. The campaign rules made me just completely blow through phase one of Red Skull's scheme: I was hopelessly outmatched. Or so I thought. Pheromones is a great card. But two Pheromones is the best thing ever. I was able to stall Red Skull long enough to get some better cards, turn around, and just punish him. There was a flurry of readies, piercing strikes, and venom blasts, which resulted in a very dead Red Skull. And not a moment too soon: there was an army of tough minions coming my way, which would have probably resulted in a schemed out or dead Spider-Woman.

Hawkeye had a significantly easier time, at least at first. Spider-Woman's base kit is so freaking flexible that she had made up the difference of her bad start. Hawkeye could not adapt the way Spider-Woman could, and so I found myself on the second stage before I knew it. But the issue of having to dance around multiple toughness cards in a row did not present the same issue to Hawkeye as to Spider-Woman, and that is entirely because of Vibranium Arrow and The Black Knight. Being able to just outright ignore Toughness makes The Black Knight an absolute necessity in dealing with Red Skull's nonsense. Somehow I managed to get Toughness on Red Skull three turns in a row, and each time The Black Knight knocked it off, allowing me to finally put down the menace for good.

Conclusion

The namesake of the box is a true threat, throwing around side schemes like they're rumpled up paper, hitting like a truck if you're not careful, and laughing off your feeble attacks to hurt him. The preconstructed decks are able to take him, provided you use them both to their full potential. As much as Spider-Woman's deck was hampered she managed to shine in a completely different way than Hawkeye did. It should be safe to hand this to a complete newbie and let them stumble around with it. This was an amazing ride. I can't wait to get started on the Expert side!

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Autarchy: Session One

Xellous couldn't wait any longer. Two years of rebuilding, raising Gerard, caring for Kora in her second pregnancy, helping rebuild their homeland Khouria, training... all while look at it. The motherload. The arrow that the angel Raphael had left him. Xellous had been told that he would know when to use the arrow. And for the last two years Xellous had stared at it on his mantle, hoping the day would come when he would know.

So he brought Ikuinen Lampo, the star whose sponsorship made him a Celestial Knight and capable of the manipulating aura, the life energy of each and every creature. Kora came along as well, swaddled baby in her arms. "I want to use the Angel Arrow to power up this" Xellous told them, taking out the khen-zai pistol he'd lifted off one of their footsoldiers over two years ago. "With the Angel Arrow I can make this pistol capable of hurting gods. Gods. We would have the firepower to destroy anything that attacked us. The khen-zai are still out there and we have to fight back. And the pistol is only the beginning!"

Xellous was going to say more, bu the look on Lampo's face made him stop. "That's... that's blasphemous"she said, face screwed up in disgust.

Xellous was taken aback. "What do you mean? I'm trying to protect us! I want us to be safe."

"But this wasn't... this isn't just any object" Lampo stammered. "This is a gift from Heaven itself. It's not an object in the way you think of it. The Angel Arrow is a sign, a gift. Look at all the myths of Pyheeta about tampering with Heaven."

Xellhous thought through all the stories he'd heard about during his stay at Ikuinen Lampo's Observatory. All those people who had messed with Heaven, for whatever reason, wound up cursed. But this was different. Right? "You may have a point. What do you think, Kora?"

Kora shrugged and shifted her weight, holding the sleeping infant. "I'm definitely with Lampo. This isn't just anything, it's a gift. I understand what you're saying, where you're coming from, about wanting to protect us. It is warranted, given what's out there. The Angel's Arrow would certainly accomplish that goal."

Xellous nodded. "That's all I care about. But I don't want to be cursed either. Telos would know what to do with this."

"But honey, how would you do that? It's been two years. Telos is on another planet. It's not like we can walk to the next farm or anything!" quipped Kora.

"Ikuinen Lampo, you're always connected to your metal, regardless of where it is, right?" asked Xellous. Lampo nodded. "Well, Telos has a suit of armor made from your metal. And I can shift to where he is, courtesy of some modifications I made to my wedding band, courtesy of that khen-zai corpse we've been keeping around," Xellous said, brandishing the ring on his left hand. "I just need to know where he is." Lampo nodded. She focused for a few seconds, and then touched Xellous on the shoulder. "I'll be back as soon as I can" Xellous promised.

A few seconds later and Xellous was standing in a bright field. Before him loomed a palace of solid gold. The energy of the field was completely malleable and could respond to his thoughts, even without the aura bending. But the palace was completely immovable: a fixed aura in... whatever this place was. The golden gates swung open at the slightest of touch. The silence was only broken by Xellous's footfalls.

All of a sudden a man in plain robes appeared next to him. "Well hello there!"

Xellous turned to face him. "Hello!"

The stranger fell in beside Xellous and they began walking down a hallway of reflective gold. "I'm looking for Telos, how about you?" asked the man.

"I'm here to see Telos as well. What's your name?"

"Xalmantra. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Xellous, Celestial Knight."

Xalmantra. It had been a very long time since Xellous had heard that name. Years ago Ernzen, the man who had sent flammeous lads against Xellous's family, had identified himself as the last of "The Cursed of Xalmantra". Xellous had never found a lead after that and was more concerned about looking for Kora, who had been kidnapped by the khen-zai. But Xellous had never forgotten. "How're the flammeous lads treating you, Xalmantra?" he asked coolly.

"Oh, I've questions for you too," chuckled Xalmantra "But first: Telos."

"Right here, Xalmantra". Xellous and Xalmantra turned around. Telos could barely be made out in his reflective golden robes. His retinue were clothed the same way. Xellous finally noticed that all the surfaces  were totally refective: they all were standing in an ever-reflecting series of golden surfaces. He could finally feel the intended effect: floating in an eternal sea of gold. All of them, together, were in an ocean of light. And telos was the anchor point.

Xalmantra bowed to Telos. "It is wonderful to see you again, Autarch of Heranyt! It has been some time since you were last here and available to visitors."

Telos returned the bow. "Always a pleasure, Autarch of Pyheeta. Xellous here is one of your patrons."

"Ah, yes the intrepid young Xellous, Celestial Knight! Hero of Khouria, twice over! Friend of Angels, destroyer of Nameless! Enemy of the godless khen-zai" crowed Xalmantra. He turned to Xellous. "It's such a shame. Normally I can locate all life on my planet... but I couldn't find you, to lend you aid, while all these things were happening to you." While he was talking Xalmantra began to prod Xellous's aura...

Xalmantra was an aura bender.

That was supposed to be unique to Xellous.

"Like what you're seeing?" Xellous asked Xalmantra.

"Oh yes," Xalmantra said, a surprised delight on his face. "A fellow aura bender! I've never met another. That must mean you've made quite the impression on a star. I'm most impressed." Xellous suppressed a shudder. Xalmantra was many times more powerful than Xellous and could crush him like a grape. So he let Xalmantra poke around as he wished.

Xalmantra turned back to Telos. "He certainly couldn't have masked his aura from someone like me, no matter how impressive he is.Only another autarch could ahve hidden his movements so completely. It would have almost destroyed him to do so, but anything's possible. Still. That breaks so many laws of the Sopusoin System it makes my head spin." Xalmantra smiled a thin lipped grimace at Telos. "Know anyone who would fit that bill?"

"If I see any autarchs breaking Sopusoin Law I'll let them know" Telos responded icily.

Xalmantra threw back his head and laughed. "Right you are! What a notion, an autarch interfering with the domain of another! I suppose I'll just have to keep looking. And now I must take my leave." He turned to Xellous. "I'll be seeing you very soon."

Xalmantra vanished.

Telos shook his head. "That was... unpleasant. Unlike seeing you, my friend!" The two men embraced; one was in simple farm clothes, the other in pure ever reflective gold. Neither cared."What can I help you with?" Telos asked warmly.

"I need advice and a drink with an old friend. Maybe a ship to sail the Void. Nothing much."

Telos chuckled. "Oh, is that all? Such simple desires! What advice do you seek? I'll do what I can."

Xellous pulled out the Angel Arrow. A man in Telos's retinue gasped. "I want to use this as an antecedent," Xellous said.

Telos dismissed all of his retinue but the man who gasped. "That is not a conversation to be had in our halls. Let us adjourn elsewhere." They made their way, floating on solid ground. Telos tapped a reflection and it slide aside to a myriad of reflections right next to Telos, Xellous, and the man who came with them. "This is Tyce," Telos said. "He's my chief bodyguard."

Xellous could tell they were in a smaller infinity. A table and chairs radiated in all directions. Telos touched one of the seats so Xellous could sit there. "Now, what you're asking for is very serious. What are your intentions?"

"I'm horribly outgunned. The flammeous lads, the khen-zai, and now Xalmantra... I need to protect my family. I know I've not been attacked in two years, but it's coming. And we need to travel to that junkyard planet we had been told about to get a generator for Ikuinen Lampo. So that way we can bring the fight to the khen-zai and everyone else connected to them. And if I use this arrow as an antecedent... I can do that. And if that's not lawful, good, can you help me find something that does?"

"Did you not see that conversation out there?? I can't directly intervene. Other lives depend on my neutrality, no matter how much of a lie that neutrality is. But... but I can call on an old friend. Stay right here." Telos got up and walked into a newly appeared hallway of infinities.

After a minute of awkward silence Tyce said something. "I've heard a lot about you. Your kindness... nobility... but this?? This is blasphemous. Or, at least I think it is. Please help me. I want to understand."

"I'll try. Imagine if you were a chef. And one day you get an ingredient that could just end hunger, forever. Now, wherever you got that ingredient from, wouldn't you at least think about it? Why wouldn't you use it?"

Tyce's jaw worked. "That's a... terrible analogy! You can't compare an Angel's Arrow to... too..." Tyce sat back, speechless.

Telos came back a few minutes later with a man in a white robe. "My old friend, Raphael the Archangel. Tyce, let's go discuss how on earth he got past the help without a proper greeting!" They were gone.

Raphael radiated calm power. "I was told you had questions about the arrow I'd given you and how you wished to use it as an antecedent. What are your intentions Xellous, Celestial Knight?"

Xellous scratched his head. "The world around me is so much bigger than I thought. And I want my family to be safe I'm about to take them on something strange and unusual and I want them to be safe. They definitely won't be safe without me, but now they have to be safe with me."

"You don't care about the power this thing could give you?"

Xellous looked confused. "Well, of course I do!"

"What would you use that power for?"

"To protect my family!" Xellous was even more confused.

Raphael smiled. He clapped Xellous on the shoulder. "Go in peace. You're the first person to ever take the trouble to find me and ask in person. You have my blessing."

And Raphael was gone.

Telos and Tyce, who looked greatly chastened, re-entered. "Got what you need?" Xellous nodded. "Then we should get you the rest of what you need, like a ship."

"And a drink."

Telos laughed. "Twist my arm why don't you?" He pushed in another wall and they were looking out into a freezing, howling, eternal night. Glowing ebony-skinned figures tended ships with white wood, white sails. Telos walked up to one of the glowing midnight folks and had what was undoubtedly a friendly conversation. He came back to Xellous. "You won't let me pay, will you?" Xellous shook his head. "Well, I told them you were an enchanter. They'd like some items enchanted in the human manner. It will allows them to be more versatile in their eternal war with the Nameless."

"I'd be more than happy to! Now, how about that drink, before I get to work?"

"Have the last two years been that bad, that you have to drink them away?"

Xellous laughed and shook his head. "Well, you weren't there. A lot's changed."

There was a beat where only the wind made any noise.

"I can't go with you, Xellous" said Telos over the wind. "Xalmantra won't stop watching. I can feel his spies, waiting on the edges, to report anything they see. Tyce, however, isn't bound to the laws that I am. With power comes more laws, more rules, more things to restrain it. He'll go with you. Is that acceptable?"

"I... I don't think Tyce likes me very much"

Telos chuckled. "Oh, he's young. He's not seen what you have. Few have. This will be good for him. Besides: if I tell him to he'll go."

"Ah, the power of an autarch," Xellous said with a mocking twinkle.

"Power indeed!" Telos shook his head. "I don't feel particularly powerful, most days. That drink you keep talking about may change that, for just a little bit."

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Rise of the Red Skull: Zola (Solo Basic)

 

Constraints of Review

I am using the prefabbed decks that come with the box to see how they handle solo play. I do not have the option to do group play by and large, so please take everything you read here with the knowledge that I have no idea how it relates to group play and probably won't for months. When I do get to do group play I'll let you know what I think then. Because I will be playing with everything out of the box, as-is, I will be doing the whole thing on Basic difficulty. I'll go through the box again on Solo Expert and will write up something for that, then.

What is This?

This is the first major expansion for Marvel Champions the Living Card Game. It includes five villains (Crossbones, Absorbing Man, Taskmaster, Zola, and Red Skull) and arranges them in a campaign format. Fight the villains in order, upgrading your deck with campaign cards. It's a pretty simple set up, but simple can be very good. We'll see.

Last Time...

Spider-Woman finally did better against Taskmaster than Hawkeye, finishing him in a game. She rescued White Tiger. Hawkeye took Taskmaster down in two games, getting Moon Knight as an ally.

 

Zola

Oh my goodness this guy was fun. Zola's shtick is multi-layered: he has Retaliate 1, kidnaps an ally of yours, and also starts building minions, which leads to Zola milling his own frickin deck. The minions take three rounds to build... most of the time. Zola has cards that can speed that process up unexpectedly. Every time I turned around Zola's deck was appreciably smaller, ratcheting up the tension as that extra encounter card came roaring down the tracks at me. The constant Retaliate is also further augmented by the side-scenario Under Attack, which can bump that up to Retaliate 2, which essentially means game over if you don't take care of that immediately. Zola also buffs all his minions with some of the nastiest upgrades in the game, throwing around Guard like its cotton candy, buffing hit points, and making his minions scheme and hit harder.  I don't remember any of the buffs being removable other than just killing the minion, which can be quite a chore. Literally the only way I found I could win was to try to make each individual hit as big as possible  so as to get pinged for one hit point less often and then to know when to weather a dogpiling form Zola and his minions so I go all in for burst damage. Zola is tense and is probably the best time I've had so far... but I haven't played Red Skull yet.

Spider-Woman actually had a marginally easier time with Zola. Yes, I lost the first game, but I found that Spider-Woman's core card set made her versatile enough to deal with a lot of Zola's shenanigans. But then again I never ran into minions who'd both been upgraded to have Guard and 7 HP, so maybe that's not the fairest thing to say of my experience. Spider-Woman dealt with the constant threat build up really well, had higher HP than Hawkeye, and dealt big enough burst damage to be able to survive the second fight without needing to flip back.

I think Hawkeye got the rougher end of the deal, game-wise. For whatever reason a lot more minions came out, stretching my early game resources past their limits and giving me choices that I found truly impossible to figure out. While having Hawkeye's bow meant that he didn't take damage from Retaliate I found that to be a small comfort, as Spider-Woman's amped HP was almost one and a half times Hawkeye's. There are a lot of minions in this deck and Hawkeye just doesn't deal with that sort of thing very well at all, even with his explosion arrows, since these are easily the toughest minions in the game. I lost the first game because of two Guard minion jerks with 7 HP, who gunked things up so badly that I couldn't get the burst damage that I had out at Zola. The second game I prioritized bursting and ignored my allies; they couldn't deal enough damage fast enough and definitely couldn't take enough hits against the oncoming horde, so why bother? I loaded up all the arrows and just shot and shot and shot and shot until Zola was a charred confused corpse.

Conclusion

Out of the four I've fought so far Zola has definitely been the most intense. There's multiple plates juggling, almost all of which eventually funnel into powerful minions who laugh at your feeble attempts to kill them. Retaliate 1 means you have to be more judicious about landing blows when everything in you wants to just ping this dude to death. And watching Zola deck himself lent a unique feeling of dread. Playing against Zola on Basic reminded me of Expert Green Goblin: there's always all this crap going on and you're wondering if you can truly handle it all. I look to the future Expert run with true dread and excitement.

May the Power Protect You: Mike Corbett (Magna Defender)

Time for a couple of hot takes: Book of Nine Swords is the best 3.5 DnD book. Yes, the best. It's the only book that would make me want to play an edition of DnD I find so fundamentally broken. 

If you don't like that go cry somewhere else.

Thank you. Your tears make me stronger. 

Y'know what part of the book I like the best? The frickin' Crusader class. You take damage and get stronger from it. The higher level you get the more you're able to absorb and turn into accuracy and brute force. I enjoyed throwing my crusader off of high cliffs, tanking the fall, and using that to destroy monsters' lives as part of the opening round.

Magna Defender is a faithful recreation of the crusader class.

Avenging Knight, Magna Defender's ability, has a really interesting implication. The first is that you have to discard a card for defense. I did not catch that. And that really threw me off the first few times I played him. So no, you do not want to take damage with Magna Defender all the time, as there are only so many benefits you can get to doing that. It's a level of gray I quite enjoy.

Most of Magna Defender's cards get stronger for having another type of card in the discard pile. You'd think this would mean you want to take as much damage as possible But a lot of the time you can't really control it. And you need to. Which is what Sacrifice is all about: take a card off the top of your deck and discard it. But there's more. Your friends then get to take any card they like from their discard and put it back atop their respective decks. This has been the card I've neglected the hardest and my playstyle with Magna Defender has suffered for it. Don't repeat my mistakes.

This bring us to Magna Defense. I keep finding this card getting in the way. I have to make sure that, when I use it, it's not causing me to not discard a card for defense. Obviously, once you use Avenging Knight you don't need to watching it as closely, so Magna Defense becomes a multi-use card: either use it so you don't hurt as badly to get Avenging Knight to go off or use it to tank shots that no one else can. Magna Defense doubles in efficacy if there's another one in the discard pile, which makes you one of the best tanks in the whole game. 

All the rest of Magna Defender's cards are attacks and get much stronger for having their twin in the discard pile. This means that Magna Defender is a great late-game attacker, dealing craptons of damage or gaining lots of energy for much less than what other people are pulling at that point. So take your time, hold off on attacking until you have your ducks all lined up, and then destroy the heathen. 

I mean. Oops. Sorry. Wrong universe.

Valiant Charge in particular I found useful when I had its twin in the discard pile, dealing tons of damage for very little. Long as you're willing to be patient I found that I could wreck shop later.

The Torozord only works if you discard the card for defense. While that sounds lame it means you can then use it to tank huge shots and probably deal half the offending card's health in a single hit! With the Torozord soft teams become capable of an amount of damage that makes them a lot more viable. It never does not feel good to use this zord.

Magna Defender was a bit more subtle than I was expecting, but I've found the time spent in learning how to play him well worth it. Get you discard pile set up and destroy! But as fun as he is, we know the real reason I love him so.

It's the frickin cape. In this case painting by Michael Jordal, what a piece of art!

The Birth of the Theotokos

 

Today is the prelude of universal joy;

today the winds blow that herald salvation,

and the barrenness of our nature is dispelled;

for the barren woman is revealed as the mother 

of her who remained a virgin

after giving birth to the Creator.

From her the One Who is God by nature 

takes what is foreign to Him and makes it His own;

and works salvation through the flesh for those who have gone astray.//

He is Christ, the Lover of man and the Redeemer of our souls. 

 "Today is the prelude of universal joy", says the Vespers service for this feast. 

The prelude. 

God does not work on our time. At all. Joachim and Anna were truly righteous people, but could not have a child. In those days that was a sign of being cursed by God. Joachim and Anna, despite their virtue, were outcasts for something that was not their fault. It's not like they had gone and jilted the poor and hungry, or had murdered someone, or were serial adulterers, or anything else you can think of! No. They did not have someone to carry on their memory to the next generation. And that was a sure sign of personal sin in their day in age. And before we start shaking our heads at the people back then for being so seemingly superstitious, I think it behooves us to ask if we have standards of a similar nature today.

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone at the most defenseless in our society: the dead.

But Joachim and Anna did not despair. Imagine being a pariah, to the point to where the priest won't even let you in the building! Many people who may stumble acrost this post probably can, actually, but understand this: they did not stop trying. For decades they continued to be kind and wholesome people, as the gathering suspicion of their unrighteousness built up against them. After decades and decades these two finally broke. Joachim was prevented from accessing the temple as a supreme act of prejudice.

And finally God acted.

And that is what is called "the prelude of universal joy": not when things are going well, not when you're looking at your life and going "I really could use x" , not when you're looking at the world and realizing it's going to crap but maybe there's a chance, but when all hope is lost. When you've run out of your last bit of juice. It is at that moment, if we allow God to act, that is the prelude to joy. 

I've talked before about the Church's preference for evening as the beginning of the day. That logic carries through here: at the beginning of the year the Church teaches that it's when our hearts completely break and we are out of all options that God acts. And it took Joachim and Anna decades to get there. But then they had Mary. And she had Jesus. The Church honors the gradual but steady pace that God has with us, by making this the first major feast of the year.

Hang in there.