Marvel Champions Modular Set Difficulty Ranking / Tier List

[@VillainTheory]

INTO THE AM (10% off!): intotheam.com/VTheory Tiny correction! When I was talking about the side scheme in Sinister Syndicate, I was actually thinking of the side scheme from Crossfire's Crew! Oops. I'm also starting to think Crazy Gang will be more like a 3-4 but we'll see!

[@forestofpurple]

Last night was the first time I ever tried experimenting with swapping out a recommended mod set and thought “man, someone should do a ranking of mod sets” Good work brother 👏

[@VillainTheory]

Wow, perfectly timed! Apparently I heard your thoughts - and I answered. Thanks and keep up the mod set experimentation! I can't recommend changing the mods enough! I love it.

[@TracerQQ]

​@@VillainTheoryis Psychic traited

[@VillainTheory]

​@@TracerQQ Little known fact but apparently I'm the inspiration behind the Telepathy mod set

[@TracerQQ]

@@VillainTheory I believe it!

[@MAXFightMan]

Excited for this one. Mod sets are one of the best parts of this game.

[@VillainTheory]

Absolutely love messing with the mod sets

[@cronebuster]

This is absolutely incredible Villain Theory!! I have started mixing up modulars for villains more and more recently and I’ve found it to be so refreshing for my enjoyment of the game. It’s essentially the same as trying out a new aspect or deck build for a hero but this is for villains instead and it really just revitalizes villains that are too weak or villains that are too strong to bring them more in line with the difficulty that I find both challenging yet still fun to go up against! So having said all that this video is going to become my number 1 resource for marvel champions, it is absolutely incredible the amount of work, effort and time you’ve put into creating this (along with all your other amazing content) for the community. Being able to quickly at a glance decide what modular to add based on what difficulty level, theme, or category I feel like playing at that time is going to make my marvel champions playing experience so much better, thematic, challenging and fun! Just an absolutely outstanding video that I can’t wait to rewatch over and over, you absolutely crushed this one 🙌🙌 P.s. thanks for also providing the PDF, I was taking screenshots of every single difficulty level so I could have my own slideshow and then when you mentioned the PDF at the end my jaw literally dropped out of excitement 😂

[@VillainTheory]

I'm so happy to hear this! Well, most of it. Sorry to make you screenshot it! I was tempted to mention the PDF earlier on the video but I was worried people would stop watching to look at it instead haha! Enjoy! And thank you so much for the kindness in your comment

[@mella4376]

This is a massive amount of work, thanks for providing the pdf too!

[@VillainTheory]

You're welcome!

[@spiekerboxx]

For all the hard work.

[@VillainTheory]

Wow!! You did not have to do that! Thank you so much. Let me know if there are any specific topics etc or anything you'd like to see on the channel!

[@spiekerboxx]

@VillainTheory Just keep doing what you do, man. I love the content, the podcasts, and especially the community that you have created. Any time I can help keep it moving and growing I will.

[@boardgametime3727]

Need some popcorn for this one. Thank you so much, Villain! 🔥

[@VillainTheory]

My pleasure 😄 Enjoy the popcorn!

[@bbyowll]

I am only a few sets into the video but this might just be your best video yet. I'm already impressed by the idea and the way you're handling the categories and analysis. A real treat.

[@VillainTheory]

Wow, thanks! I can definitely confirm it's the video I spent longest working on pre-recording

[@joshpaul6762]

Damn! Impressive work! This is why your the marvel champions GOAT

[@VillainTheory]

Goats are herd animals. The community is the GOAT.

[@Michieldecuyper]

Also fun to try: Older Hero Nemesis Sets aren't always as Hero-specific as they are now. Adding Captain America's or Black Widow's Nemesis set to anything Hydra related is fun. (Red Skull with Hydra Assault, Hydra Patrol, Legions of Hydra, Captain America Nemesis, Black Widow Nemesis & Spider-Woman Nemesis is bonkers!)

[@VillainTheory]

As a little spoiler for you and anyone else so curious enough to peek at this reply, I have at least two videos lined up talking about nemesis sets and I don't think you'll be disappointed!

[@Michieldecuyper]

@@VillainTheory You never disappoint ;-)

[@Achillieas420]

I gotta say thank you for these videos, this and your ranking of every hero/aspect have been phenomenal videos to watch and analyze as a player who played a while back and have been getting back into it after a hiatus this has worked wonders on getting me up to speed, liked and subbed!! Thanks dude

[@monoludico6166]

😮 What a great video! 😮😮 Tons of work! 😮😮😮 You have surpassed yourself! You've become my favorite MC content creator. This list is pure gold! Thanks Mr. Villain.

[@VillainTheory]

That is very kind of you to say! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Anondod]

This is super useful! I've tried most of the modsets in various combinations but not all of them, and I've often found that I've incorrectly judged how difficult they are especially when they're not part of a standard scenario. This will make it easier for me to find a suitable challenge level.

[@VillainTheory]

Great! I was hoping it would be useful for people! And the mod sets are both pretty difficult to judge sometimes, but some of them also have high variance - sometimes you sleepwalk through them, other times they stomp you into the ground...

[@Maxoratus]

Thanks! What an amazing job ! And having the pdf is so great. I have not played so much around mod sets, some have been taking dust…I will definitely give them more attention. Here is a little contribution for your hard work to bring our favorite game to the next level.

[@VillainTheory]

Wow! Thank you so much for your generosity! I hope the PDF helps and there will definitely be more mod set videos in the near-future!

[@markblant]

I love this type of analysis and as ever it's clearly been a product of many hours of thought and hard work. Good job!

[@VillainTheory]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Anatomy0204]

It is an astonishing feat, quite amazing! Thank you for your hard work.

[@VillainTheory]

Thanks! Glad it's done though I do plan to keep it updated

[@HedonistClam]

Great video! It can be hard for me to choose which set to mix in, so this will help a lot with that. One suggestion, though. While it is super nice of you to make a .pdf for us, I think it would be smarter to just have the list in the video. That way we will generate views for you every time we look something up. You've put a lot of work into this, you deserve the extra interaction numbers for the channel.

[@VillainTheory]

Regarding the first line, thanks! Regarding the second line, I weighed this up before making the video. Ultimately I feel like the gain to the community is more important than the extra views. Which is tough as I know from other videos which would, in hindsight, make great PDFs, it could be a LOT of return viewers. But I started making vids on KZbin to help people and engage with the community, not to get big numbers or make ad revenue (even if that's a nice bonus to have). So...here we are! Thanks though, I appreciate the sentiment a lot.

[@HedonistClam]

@@VillainTheory That's more viewer-friendly than almost every other content creator out there. Greatly appreciate the integrity. Looking forward to your future releases! :)

[@danielcraig6615]

That was magnificent! I love that you uploaded the pdf

[@VillainTheory]

Thank you!

[@MarcelBüchner-m6e]

Thanks man just started my marvel champion journey !

[@VillainTheory]

Oh nice! Welcome aboard! Some people don't mess with mod sets for months or years into playing, but I fully encourage it. The replayability it offers is off the charts!

[@MarcelBüchner-m6e]

@@VillainTheory thank you! Yes I thought against Zola I could add the doomsday chair. What could go wrong :D So after crushing defeat your vid was perfect to show me that this was a bad idea.

[@VillainTheory]

Ahaha, that was very brave! I kind of love that but probably wouldn't be what I recommend for a newer player 🤣

[@DaringLime]

Good Job Staying Villainous! Great video, and a fantastic asset for the community!

[@VillainTheory]

Hahaha I was hoping you'd see the ending

[@knighthalcyon1]

I really like bridging thematic encounter sets, like throwing everything Hydra into Red Skull. Mixing and matching on brand sets can create some nasty effects. I also enjoy things like "Infinity Gauntlet Ultron"/The Sinister Mod sets for random villians.

[@VillainTheory]

Definitely! I'd love to do more mod set videos and cover those topics more

[@kristhomsen3059]

One redeeming quality of Future past is that everything has Victory so you are guaranteed to only see it once. My personal favorites for upping the difficulty of sets are Osborn Tech and Legions of Hydra. Really good video that gave a good overview of the different mod sets. A fun video might be to break down a select couple of them?

[@VillainTheory]

I really actually like Future Past! The victory keyword is a great point to highlight. I didn't really mention it in this video but there are a few other sets that make use of it such as Galactic Artifacts and Personal Nightmare. Definitely planning to dive deeper into some of the mod sets!

[@kristhomsen3059]

I might have misworded that I ment redeeming as in not game breakingly difficult (looking af you Ronan) which I feel it could have been without the victory not in that I don't like it I do enjoy Future Past especially one easyre villains or if that Nemesis is interesting.

[@VillainTheory]

Ah, gotcha! Still an excellent point all-round.

[@prufrock1977]

It’s funny that a few days ago D20 did a live stream on this topic, but you have clearly been working on this for a while. I like your system, and again, I love seeing how different creators compare and contrast.

[@PaybackJack]

The PDF at the end was definitely a nice bit of effort that D20s was sorely lacking. Not trying to throw shade per say, but I had to skip around a bit to see everything that he had ranked because he was just jotting them down on notepad while browsing Hall of Heroes.

[@prufrock1977]

@@PaybackJack to his credit, he was making it an open discussion compared to an individual perspective with undisclosed methodology. I would be curious about VTs system of rankings

[@VillainTheory]

I did notice that! I put a members-only post up a few days ago, a day before D20 did his list, talking about it and that I'd been working on it a lot. And D20 is a member of the channel. But it's probably just a coincidence and we approached it in very different ways! My methodology was 50% play experience, 50% breaking down every card with different values. How difficult is it to get rid of/block/endure, how difficult is it to get rid of/how necessary is it to block it, how bad can it be in combination with other cards, boost icons and boost effects, etc etc etc. Everything has a numeric value that I tweaked slightly based on the many individual contexts of each card. It would take a long explanation in full, people always skip my explanations anyway, and since a lot of it was still influenced by experience (rightly so, in my opinion), I didn't think it was worth going into a lot. But hopefully that offers a little insight into the way I approached this beyond what I did share in this video! And no doubt, with so many sets in the game, my opinion will evolve and shift over time still. My plan now is to keep this list updated!

[@prufrock1977]

@@VillainTheory thank you for sharing. To be clear, I find value in different methods because they each offer a valuable perspective. I’m back in the game recently, and I am trying to get to the level of most content creators, but you guys are all very good at this game. I love what you have done and I look forward to more.

[@PaybackJack]

@@prufrock1977 Obviously a difference in a live stream versus an edited/scripted video. I wish he'd gone back at the end of the video and done a quick show in Google Slides or something that could be easily shared and viewed. That's why I say I'm not really trying to hate on his video, but it's really nice to be able to have something I can toss to my playgroup to talk about without trying to link them to spots in a video where the have to find names of scenarios in a jumbled notepad.

[@bryantstewart8280]

Man. I can’t imagine how hard and time consuming this was. Thank you for your time and dedication good sir. Love the video. I know you said on several of them you really liked em. Do you have a top 5 or 10?

[@VillainTheory]

Glad you enjoyed it! As to that Top 5/10, I definitely do. That sounds like a great video idea... I'll throw Band of Badoon out there as another one I really enjoy

[@wizrad2762]

Another amazing video from MC best content creator! I love mod sets! For me they really make the game more interesting. After playing a villain many times it can become a stale experience, but with mod sets you can change the theme and/or difficulty. I also like to use nemesis sets as mods as well!

[@VillainTheory]

Mod sets are fantastic. Love the replayability they add!

[@ginovilleneuve6557]

wow thanks for this insane compilation, will be very cool to experiment with. Keep it up with top content!

[@VillainTheory]

Thanks! Have fun with the experimenting!

[@ТарасХуторный]

Excellent work. Thanks for this rating. You should make your own difficulty system, similar to Star difficulty from BGG.

[@zeroisnine]

Only thought on the list is I would have Weapon Master operate under the assumption that the Villain had weapons in their encounter set otherwise. Kinda like Inheritors, it makes sense to make that assumption because that's when you would use it.

[@VillainTheory]

Interesting, I've always used it regardless since it provides multiple weapons. As opposed to Inheritors which just don't use their abilities ever if you don't use them with the right thing. But a great point that it gets scarier with certain villains regardless

[@morham10]

Thank you VT. Great work. Very helpful.

[@VillainTheory]

You're welcome! Glad it was helpful!

[@Alien1Peter2-9-12]

Good work VT.

[@mortenhje]

*Slow clap* I’m just starting to explore modifying decks and scenarios in MC. Perfect timing, Informative video, AND a useful PDF! Question: are you going to keep this updated as more MESs are released? 😅

[@VillainTheory]

Yep! The version you can see now is actually the second version, I moved Armadillo. Planning to keep it updated as long as I'm playing Marvel Champions

[@korhankaya6637]

One setup I like to play is Red Skull with all the Hydra modulars and with MODOK as a bit of extra.

[@VillainTheory]

That's super fun! And with MODOK, a super difficult twist.

[@davidmacfarlane7617]

Amazing! This is the exact kind of video I've been looking for!

[@VillainTheory]

Woo! And in a strange twist of fate, this was just the kind of comment I was hoping for!😁

[@TAC3O]

Ranking everything and with difficulty levels?!!!! Whaaaat? Incredibely useful, I have huge incentive to finally mess with modular sets now. Thank you VT 🙏🙏

[@VillainTheory]

Perfect! That's really what I made this for. Even if you don't get through the whole video, make sure you check out the conclusion. I think it will really help when it comes to messing with mod sets.

[@Anwar-AT]

Great video ideas ❤️❤️

[@andyn2854]

Excellent work! Personally, one that stood out to me to quibble is Exodus, I don’t think I’ve found him to be Nightmare, but he’s definitely up there as maybe a 7.

[@VillainTheory]

Thanks! And interesting! I'll add Exodus to my list of mods to replay soon. I'm keeping the list updated, so you might be responsible for him moving down in the next version...

[@andyn2854]

@@VillainTheory love it

[@danthecrow1701]

Omg - no wonder this one was in the editing room so long!

[@VillainTheory]

It was in the preparation room even longer 😴 Never again haha! Just little updates...

[@danthecrow1701]

Quality stuff my friend…. Great content

[@CamObscura88]

This is the video I didn’t know I needed!

[@VillainTheory]

Haha, enjoy!

[@DraxWithASax]

Just a small note, you pointed out Armadillo as the first we've seen that you designated as a mini boss, but you had Power Drain categorized as a mini boss set earlier in the video. Might have been intentional since you ran through a few mini bosses there, but just wamted to say cause I saw it with Power Drain and thought "oh that's a nice way to catrgorize it". Regardless, Amazing work, the community is lucky to have you

[@VillainTheory]

Oops. I'd love to say this was intentional but I think I simply forgot how I categorized Power Drain. Guess it made sense to explain with a bunch of them together but I'd probably have phrased it differently in hindsight. Great catch!

[@royaviles5004]

I’ve been trying to beat Mutagen Formula with Doomsday Chair, and can confirm: it sucks. Almost an auto-loss if I draw Modok or his side scheme

[@VillainTheory]

That sounds like a... nightmare 😅 Oof!

[@f.l.d.3575]

This is awesome! Do you have one for the villains? I looked but couldn’t find anything.

[@VillainTheory]

Don't tell anyone but my next big video is ranking the villains, entirely made the work with this video, keep an eye out!

[@f.l.d.3575]

@@VillainTheory looking forward to it!

[@krautbammer]

You're a mad man. Great stuff though!

[@VillainTheory]

Madness and villainous are two sides of the same coin

[@Izathel1]

Your videos always wow mean. This was a yeomen's task!

[@benredmond875]

As crazy gang is British villains, is that name inspired by the Wimbledon football team of the 80s and 90s?

[@VillainTheory]

I've actually not heard of that team! When I researched the Crazy Gang for the theme, I noticed they share a name with a British comedy group from way back when. But who knows? Maybe both!

[@zeroisnine]

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[@zeroisnine]

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[@zeroisnine]

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[@zeroisnine]

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[@zeroisnine]

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[@zeroisnine]

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[@neojaw2192]

I’m team “hate space pirates”… how dare they rob me of my cards for the rest of the game? >:(

[@VillainTheory]

YOINK!

[@JQTWin]

All Villains, in Theory.

[@VillainTheory]

Interesting theory...

[@brodysdaddy]

Not a hater, I say this with peace and love, drink more water before recording your videos if you want to remove the mouth/saliva clicks/noises. ✌️ & ❤️

[@VillainTheory]

No worries at all! I drink a lot before and during recording, I can't get rid of those annoying noises and I absolutely hate it