Marvel Champions Advanced Strategy & Theory | Part 1: Card Evaluation

[@batmansmk]

Cool video. One nuance I had in my head for a while: the value of drawing is not 1ER, but between 1.1 and 1.2 ER, because double resources are in the deck, raising the average ER of a card (4-7 out of 40 cards). So Mansion only needs 3 extra turns to pay itself back (you said 5 extra turns, but you can use it the turn you play it). That's another reason why Nick Fury, Moon Girl or White Tiger are even stronger than a simple resource offset computation would show.

[@Stretch22_MarvelChampions]

I hadn’t thought of that! Definitely a valid point

[@jonathanpickles2946]

This extra value of draws is even more exaggerated by heroes with double or better resources. Cap M is better than Black Panther because her resources carry 4 extra pips while his only have 3. I've been playing a Cap M leadership deck with Band Together and the resource value of a draw approaches 1.5 in the late game (which is often turn 5). There was some other YT guy who did this efficiency analysis years ago who I cannot find now but he pointed it out first to me. He was very stuck on efficiency as the only metric though!

[@GarnyBear700]

You can use the card the turn you play it, but typically you've just dumped your entire hand into playing it so unless you draw into a 0 cost card it's unlikely to be providing value instantly. In general I find this to be an additional cost to the value proposition of expensive resource generators; it tends to decrease the chances that you'll get any sort of immediate value from them. But I suppose that's really more on the flexibility side of things rather than a raw number efficiency.

[@Stretch22_MarvelChampions]

​@@GarnyBear700 Very good point. I guess I meant the downside of the expensive cost to be more about tempo - very hard to answer previously drawn encounter cards the same turn as playing an expensive card like Mansion - but the total turn efficiency is a valid argument as well, even if you aren't under immediate pressure.

[@dynamicduke8119]

Great stuff here. I am so tired of watching content that revolves around true solo play, which takes the cooperative part out of the cooperative game to make it simpler and faster. Looking forward to the rest of this series.

[@Stretch22_MarvelChampions]

Thank you! I guess I didn't talk about multiplayer too much in this video but it will definitely come up in deckbuilding and gameplay videos

[@jonathanpickles2946]

Aah maths KZbin my second favourite sort of KZbin!

[@GarnyBear700]

Super excited for this series! Not sure if this will be covered in Gameplay Evaluation, but something I've been trying to kind of get a feel for is when you decide you're "built up" enough to turn the heat on the villain. Right now I think I play way too safe, making my games far too long. Usually when I end games I'll have a feeling that I could have probably ended it like six turns earlier.

[@Stretch22_MarvelChampions]

Thanks! I did intend that to be a topic in my Gameplay discussion video. I tend to play it very safe as well. For example, if you can go into the villain phase with a 95% chance of survival 5 turns in a row and have the win on the 6th, your total survival probability is 77% (0.95^5). Compared to going for the win in 2 with, say, a 75% survival rate because you've pushed damage instead of preparing for threats. Practically impossible to project the actual numbers in the middle of the game, but that's my general thought process

[@Durcia]

Great start to a new series! Thank you for doing this :)

[@svendejong8110]

Great video! I'm playing the game for 5 years but I still got a lot from your analysis of cards. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Regarding those limited resource generators like Deft Focus and Teambuilding Exercise, what's the minimum number of accompanying cards (X-Men, superpowers) you play in your deck before you consider playing the resource generators? Same goes for the limited double resource cards like Power Of. And then, how many resources and generators do you play before there's diminishing returns? Maybe a topic for the deckbuilding video too.

[@Stretch22_MarvelChampions]

Thank you! Good questions. Deft Focus is around 7, but I think it's justifiable at lower amounts sometimes like Scarlet Witch. She only has 4 but it's Hex Bolt, an amazing card, and she can draw through her deck really fast to see them often. Team-Building Exercise I feel like it's around 10. Power Ofs are also around 10. The thought process is usually - I have about 6 cards that are key to the deck that Power Of can double for, so I bias towards allies of that aspect over some of the staple basic ones, then there are 1 or 2 other aspect cards I might not normally play but are worth it to provide an additional use for the Power Of. So it's like there are a few cards that pull me towards the Power Ofs, but by the time the deck is done there are about 12 it can pay for. Last question - I probably want about 3-5 resource generators (40-card deck). I always play the double resources. If there are no identity-specific doubles and I don't want Power Ofs, I'll toss in one "free value" resource like Audacity. I will trim the resource generators if I'm loaded on doubles, so I probably never exceed 10 combined resource cards and resource generators. I will probably try to give some more exact data by reviewing my recent decks when I make the video. These thoughts are based on vibes from in-game experiences, not data, so I can definitely be wrong

[@jonathanpickles2946]

@@Stretch22_MarvelChampions Do you think it's ever right to play one of a power of... Card. My view is probably no as if you have enough cards to benefit from them you want to make sure you hit the resources. I guess if you have enough other resource options you might.

[@Stretch22_MarvelChampions]

@@jonathanpickles2946 I would think if you have enough 2+ cost aspect cards to play one it's right to play two. It wouldn't surprise me if there is a specific case where only 1 is correct based on the balance of extra resources and potential for wasted resources. I don't think I've ever done it

[@brucehenderson-dm2qh]

Excellent video! Thank you! Looking forward to the rest of the series!

[@jonathanpickles2946]

Interestingly the way of playing a hand of one cost cards (2ER) is 20 options while for 0 cost cards there is only one way to play them so zero flexibility, and indeed I have had issues with a super cheap deck with X-23. I hadn't though of that before, usually it's cheaper is better but that stops at 1, ort realistically a good mix of cheaper cards. Your flexibility point helps highlight why cheap cards should have lower efficiency than high cost ones to remain balanced with them. High cost cards are harder to play in general - an 8 cost card could be very strong as it would take real effort to play it. They are also inherently less flexible both by your metric and because it's harder to get full value off them. A Swinging Web Kick that takes out a 5 hp minion is just an Uppercut. This is so often violated by the game, your 3 Justice Cards are all too good as they are so easy to hit the trigger for. Skilled Strike and Chase Them Down have harder requirements to meet and are much more fair. They are also better than most Hero Thwart cards while there are next to no Aggression events that are better than hero events (Big Hands being an outstandingly bad hero attack is worse than some). I do play Clear The Area a lot mind.

[@DescryGamingMC]

Interesting content. Do you think the broken combos and synergies in the game make all this irrelevant? Great video.

[@Stretch22_MarvelChampions]

I wouldn't say so. In a game with adjustable difficulty, you can always make the scenario hard enough to where you still need to scrutinize your deck choices and gameplay. Moreover, I don't think people just want to find the single best deck they can find and play it every game. They want to find the best Black Panther deck they can play, or the best Black Panther Change of Fortune deck, etc, identifying something fun to do while still trying to optimize within those confines that they've established. That will be one of my theses moving forward with the series

[@DescryGamingMC]

@ I mean I say that, because you emphasize playing the hardest difficulty and a guide to win on that difficulty. There are decks that can kill any villain on round 1 of the game on any difficulty. That being said I like your response, I’m just playing devil’s advocate.