Ep. 3: Avengers Revisited! - Shadow of the Cast: A Marvel Champions Podcast

[@CoryLovec14]

Villain Theory + Spirit Island??? Fantastic! SI is my # 1 game ever (Marvel Champions is #2). I hope you have a great time with it; if you go down the rabbit hole and end up creating a podcast or some videos with it, I would not mind - the SI community could use your thoughtful/kind insight! .

[@VillainTheory]

Too kind! Loving it so far, I have the base game, Horizons and Branch and Claw already. Played and won with all the spirits against low difficulty adversaries so far - time to ramp things up? I think so!

[@cihs88]

Villian, Nelson, I like listening to you both. I feel like Villian is the mind and Nelson is the heart or soul. Having you both feels nice :)

[@VillainTheory]

Thanks! 😁

[@LC_Umbe]

Another great one, guys! Congrats!! And I cannot put into words how excited I am for the upcoming aggression archetypes video on VT’s channel!

[@VillainTheory]

Thanks! Looking forward to posting it!

[@chrissalmasi3407]

Great listen guys! I have found that pairing Cable Justice with older heroes makes their setup so much smoother. His ability to run through PSS so quickly can help older heroes get out their key cards. Always frustrating to play Ant man or Quicksilver and the helmet or friction resistance be at the bottom of the deck.

[@VillainTheory]

Awesome! Can't wait for even more side schemes for Cable from the new hero packs! I think the Specialist Training one will be great with Quicksilver too.

[@marvinp90]

I have to stick up for Hawkeye. He is really good at having what he needs when he needs it with his quiver. He can put his thwart , single dps, or minion clearer arrows aside and keep them in his back pocket until he needs them. This becomes especially good in 2 handed play. This helps make him able to prevent being suddenly overwhelmed with minions with his explosive arrow, be able do a final push on the villain or take out a surprise high hp minion with his vibranium arrow, or deal with sudden massive threat increase with his sonic arrow

[@VillainTheory]

The arrows definitely do a lot of work if you have them at the right time. Huge fan of Explosive Arrow against a bunch of minions especially, very satisfying.

[@cihs88]

I was listening to art about ingenuity. Nelson mentioned it uits Ironman because he needs to go to his alter go. Even I am pretty sure once you play it you can trigger the card without going to alter ego, I had to check the rules to make sure once again. I think it might be good to mention this little card informations during the talk especially for the new starters.There are too many things and I learn new things al the time. Also even some thigs are writte and seems obvious they are not. (Especially if game is not in your native language or you don't memorise the rules)

[@starwindm8810]

Villain. I love this episode. I was hoping the way you've done Next Evolution reviews, you would revisit and review all the heroes from the beginning. Any chance on seeing that kind of content? Another banger, guys. Really look forward to this podcast regularly

[@VillainTheory]

Definitely! You are not the first to say that and won't be the last. The trick is finding the time. I think the core set heroes in particular would be fun to do, to see the contrast between oldest and latest heroes.

[@Stormmaster1]

Another great analysis guys. Loads of deckbuilding ideas. I am currently trying some 2h solo games with Captain America and Psylocke both in aggression to give a rush stun/confuse lock approach. What are your favourite 2 hero combos?

[@VillainTheory]

Thanks and great question!

[@OresteGamba]

Very interesting! Thanks for the video!

[@VillainTheory]

Hey, thanks for watching!

[@johnwaynemcclung8056]

I've always found Spectrum to be a strong hero for any decks that flip to alter-ego frequently. That gives her full control over which basic ability she can use, and she can plan for it in combination with whatever other cards she has in her hand.

[@VillainTheory]

Absolutely, great point.

[@cihs88]

I have another idea for you (and Nelson). (I hope you are taking notes :D ) It might be cool to make aspect and hero based card combos video For example Agent Caulson and Leadership card that allows you to bring back. Knowere and Star Hawk (I was confused how can he get that amount of damage until I red about consequentual damage so it is nice to mention) Spiderham and leadership card that hurts you. Taunt seems only works with Spiderman, Spiderham, Wolveine for me. Celebro, Proff X if you have Psionic hero or you are psionic. etc

[@guarism0]

I would like you guys to share all your Spider-woman decks, I'm so bad at building for her 😅

[@VillainTheory]

Haha! It's definitely more complicated than the average hero. As a rule of thumb, she likes cheap cards so she can play as many aspect cards as possible in one turn for a bigger stat boost from her hero ability. But finding the right balance can be tough and I often go to 41-44 cards on her.

[@guarism0]

@@VillainTheory thanks for the tip 👍🏻

[@jonathanpickles2946]

In the battle to the bottom Avengers I far prefer Hawkeye to Warmachine. WM is incredibly clunky and frustrating made worse by comparison to Ironheart who I got at about the same time and has a much better Shoulder Cannon once she is upgraded. Hawkeye's kit is very slick and once it's set up it is (mostly) self sufficient - draw arrow with quiver fire it with economy cards. His hand is free for defence and thwarting. I found he was great with SHIELD, or the leadership card draw swarm (yawn) while I could never make Warmachine great. I've always pointed out that the heroes with strong kit like Cap A or Miles are capped in power while the ones like Cap M with money & bad cards or Spider Woman with a bigger pool to choose from will get a greater increase in power as more cards are released. The web warrior ally package is so ridiculously strong I guess it could be made to work with anyone who can fiddle it!

[@VillainTheory]

Oof! Yeah, Ironheart is going to make War Machine feel very obsolete in some ways. Now that I think about it, her Version 1 and War Machine even look very similar. I softly prefer War Machine but I have specific builds for him that I enjoy. I feel like he at least has more interaction with aspect cards which I like, while Hawkeye largely has all his arrows going on and then the rest of his deck working in a completely different direction. But Hawkeye definitely plays much smoother and I think most people would agree with you (except Nelson haha). And yes! I like throwing the Web-Warriors on other heroes - particularly Star-Lord. Drawing a card from Knowhere and Web of Life and Destiny feels like cheating.

[@jenswunder72]

When you build to counter the weakness of Hawkeye, he delivers on a solid basis. He mostly stays in hero form and every turn nearly plays the same. A bit bland for my taste. WM though is slower to build up, but his turns in the last third of the game are imho way more satisfying. I enjoy his clunkiness and the sheer amount of firepower. No other hero embodies Scorched earth better than him for me. In regards of theme FFG really hit the nails with WM. Ironheart's buildup is a bit too easy.