Which Living Card Game is Best for You?

There are many difference cooperative card games out there, in this video we explore Marvel Champions, Arkham Horror, Lord of the Rings, Earthborn Rangers, and Ashes Rise of the Phoenixborn and hopefully find your next favorite game!
Links:
How to Play Marvel Champions: • Marvel Champions First...
Marvel Champions Buying Guide: • Marvel Champions Buyin...
How to Play Lord of the Rings: • Lord of the Rings: The...
Lord of the Rings buying Guide: • Lord of the Rings: The...
How to play Arkham Horror: • Arkham Horror The Card...
Arkham Horror Buying Guide: • Marvel Champions First...
Join this channel to support it and get access to perks:
/ @nelsonallovercards
Subscribe for more content! / @nelsonallovercards
Join The Living Card Games Discord! / discord
Contact Info:
Twitch: / nelsonallover
Instagram: / nelsonallover
Twitter: / livingcardgamer
Pateron: patreon.com/nelsonallover
If you want to catch these shows live you can follow me on Twitch at / nelsonallover ! Come hang out and talk to me as I play!
0:00 Intro
2:30 Arkham Horror
5:18 Lord of the Rings
8:43 Marvel Champions
10:59 Earthborn Rangers
13:07 Ashes Red Rains
15:30 Quick Overview of Each Game
#boardgames #marvelchampions #games

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Which of these card games is your favorite?

[@Darthcarp]

Favourite is definitely marvel champions. The one I should get to the table more is Arkham

[@jazzosazzo4279]

I love Arkham horror lcg, marvel champions too, but I still play legendary marvel loads and think it’s such a great long term game

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

@@jazzosazzo4279 oh nice!! I played a ton of legendary early on in its life cycle, really great game for sure!

[@Xebeche1860]

Marvel Champions became my most-played game very quickly at the end of 2023 (yeah, I am that late to the party). It is so easy to squeeze in a quick play in the evening and to even build decks (a thing I absolutely loathed in the past). This makes me want to give Arkham Horror another chance, especially with the comfortable new big box format. Also, I am really interested in Earthborne Rangers and its friendly optimistic setting. Sadly, the gameplay of the Lord of the Rings LCG is not to my taste - as you say, it seems very mathy and hard. Which is really disappointing since I do love the Middle-Earth setting (can I have a „Middle-Earthborne Rangers“ please? 😃). Love your videos!

[@mitchschroeder1151]

Nelson, those commenters are crazy: you are not too happy. It’s your passion and endless optimism that keeps bringing me back to this channel. In a world with so many haters, your channel is a breath of fresh air. Thank you. My favourite of the bunch is LOTR. The deckbuilding is bananas and I love that the game flow hasn’t been overly streamlined. The older design leaves so much more wiggle room to play with. I love puzzle solving and finding creative/tricky solutions. LOTR lets me do that. Marvel Champions does see a lot of time on my table as well because of how quick it is and because it takes so much less bandwidth. At the end of an exhausting day once I finally get my kid to bed, MC is usually my game of choice.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Thank you so much! I really do appreciate it and I’m glad that you enjoy the channel! Totally agree about having more space to design in with the old school design, I personally love that and would much rather have that steeper learning curve for the payoff of that design space Champions is such a good quick game to fill the time! Love the diversity in these games and how they can each fill a different need!

[@nickmcdonnell5659]

So glad you made this comment. Nelson’s positivity is part of why I like him so much as a creator.

[@countjondi9672]

As someone that plays a lot of AH on hard and nightmare difficulty, You can pretty much win the campaign with most investigators with numerous strategies, but you do need a fair bit of thought into it and there are a few cards that see heavy play.

[@ThePantheons]

Totally agree! Don’t ever get trapped in the bubble, your presentation is fantastic and I’m excited to try LOTR LCG for the first time soon!

[@reuterss306]

I found out: I need two LCGs in my life. :D Arkham Horror is king imho. The story, the deckbuilding, the mechanics (mostly), the artwork...its just incredible and SO much fun to play with my brother. We even build or own little app which reads the huge amount of text with proper ai voices and atmospheric background music and sounds. BUT you need to commit to it and a campaign. I got Marvel Champions as second LCG and to me its the perfect alternative. No reading, no big campaign, quick fun, easy rules but many possibilities and so many beloves heroes to try out. Marvel Champions is great for what it is, but to be honest it cant compare to the memorable experiences I got out of Arkham Horror. There are just so many moments where the different campaigns surprise you and such intense situations...

[@alvaropomponio]

Awesome, very useful Thanks!

[@ramonosuke]

Of the main three, Marvel Champions works the best for me. I love that it combined the “skirmish style” of play that LotR offers, with the ability to play a campaign-light style too. I disliked Arkham because of many of the cards can only be used if your character got enough XP, and LoTR felt waaay to punishing unless and favored enemies way to much(enemies attacked first and each drew a nightmare/boost card…jeez). Plus as I’ve gotten older, I like that MC makes deck building a ton easier since each hero has to include their playset. Albeit LotR has a ton more deck customizing and Arkham tells a way better story, but I’m content with the happy medium.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Yea totally! I like thinking of Champions as a “happy medium” LOTR is insanely brutal!

[@TheHyde70s]

Good video. I would like to see even more of these, where you just talk about different card games related topics.

[@dhdoc_h8839]

super idea! thanks for the video

[@dhdoc_h8839]

One thing to point out is how strong/vibrant/welcoming the online communities for these games are (at least the LCGs; I dont' know about EBR or ARP online options).

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Totally Agree! We have some amazing communities! Thank you!

[@guillermoyaroslavlverduzco1551]

Cool energy bro. You really showed something most of them fake: Real emotion and passion. Subscribed.

[@wkylegreen]

Great video as always! Phoenixborn does have amazing art! Will you do much coverage of the co-op stuff with it? And ignore those who say you’re too positive. I am grateful for your upbeat attitude every time I watch a video. You do give criticisms when warranted, but in a positive way… which is good! Thanks for your channel!

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

I have played a few games on the channel and really need to break it out again! And thank you! I appreciate it 😊

[@Korlash1990]

For me its all of them haha my girlfriend and i have a blast playing all of them. Same with ashes reborn red rains 👌 Also found your channel this year and ive really enjoyed your content and look forward to what you do next year.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Oh awesome! So glad you’re here and thank you for watching!

[@cnspartan]

Thanks great video, though after spending the entire day trying to figure out how to play lord of the rings for the 3rd time I felt you were to positive about it lol. I was surprised you didn't mention astro knights, which gets its expansion in the next few weeks. Marvel champions would probably be my go to but we are constantly branching out.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Haha that’s fair! It’s a steep learning curve for sure!!

[@ms_zilia]

I'm really interested in Earthborne Rangers but that's not available to buy here at the moment. I'm thinking recently about LoTR as well, I'm not the fan of the franchise but I realized I like building decks for specific challenges, like in MC lately, I have much more fun assembling a deck taking into account a villain I'm going against.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Oh no! Hopefully it makes it over there soon! If that’s something you enjoy, I think you may really like LOTR!

[@lithracSolo]

I found LotR to be relatively rusty and it feels it hasn't aged too well compared to its competitors. I've culled my collection because I much prefer playing Marvel Champions true solo, and Arkham Horror with a friend. I'll miss the deckbuilding depth for sure, but the scenarios didn't really feel connected as AH's do, and is way too much punitive for me. Earthborne Rangers was an excellent find this year, it is my #1 game from 2023. Despite the novelty of the game, there are quite a few deckbuilding options, and I truly love the tone and mood of this game. Thanks for this presentation!

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

That makes a lot of sense and I love that we have so many games that everyone can find their favorite! EBR is great! My top game of 2023 as well, so freaking good!

[@mastertenshi]

Great summation, Nelson. Going to step up on a soap box for a moment. Personally, I bounced off of Arkham after playing through 3 campaigns. One of its main mechanics is something that I dislike in a lot of co-op games, and that's having tasks that can just fail. Most co-op games are designed around the idea that the players are given a limited number of actions over a limited amount of time in order to manage an expanding amount of tasks to reach a goal or avoid a fail-state. So at least for me, adding an element of randomness to your tasks feels terrible. I much prefer games where when I do something, I KNOW it's going to contribute to the endgame. I'll try to illustrate my point by comparing two scenarios, one in Arkham versus one in MC. In Arkham, let's say you're at a location that has the last clue token you need to get before the phase triggers and bad things happen. But you're engaged with an enemy, and it will kill you if you just ignore it. So you have to deal with that enemy before you have the chance to get the clue. In MC, let's say the main scheme is going to trigger at the start of the next villain phase. You need to remove some threat, or you'll lose the game. But you're engaged with a minion that has Patrol. In Arkham, you have to make a random check in order to either attack and kill the monster, or a check to disengage from the monster, either of which could fail by pulling the auto-fail token regardless of how many cards you dedicate to the skill check or how well you've designed your deck. Then, you have to make another skill check, which could auto-fail, just to get that clue. In Marvel, I know without a doubt whether or not I can take out the minion and thwart the main scheme. If I use my basic attack on the minion, by design, it will work. There's no ambiguity. Same goes for removing the threat from the main scheme. I either have the resources to do it, or I don't. This isn't just limited to those two games. I would also compare Pandemic and Pandemic: the Cure. The Cure is a push-your-luck dice game where the actions you take are dictated by the dice. But if you role a bad symbol on the dice, not only do you not get to do any action, but you make the situation worse. In original Pandemic, you just do the task. On a different note, I've really enjoyed Ashes as a dueling game. I think it does a great job shoring up the issues with Magic. I haven't had the opportunity to dive into Red Rains yet, but from what I've seen, it reminds me of the old World of Warcraft TCG Raid scenarios, which were pretty fun.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

I totally agree and think that this is a completely fair point! I too don’t love the auto fail aspect of the bag - I wish it could be more like the elder sign and have a personal negative effect rather than just losing That being said I think it makes it a better story game that players can look back on and remember all those horrible fails and epic successes! Ashes PVP is great! I hope you get to try the PVE soon! It feels so very much like the original game!

[@LangeBroeck]

Funny, because that exact argument is why I like Arkham Horror better. And I love all three of these games. The downside of knowing the exact outcomes of actions is that the final turn of Marvel Champions always ends up being a simple calculation. ‘Hey, how much damage can you do? 14. Ok, I have 12. How much HP does the villain have? 25. Ok… Then that’s just game isnt it?…’ There isnt as much excitement in that. Is doesnt feel as the big final blow i would want my superhero to pull off. Wheras in Arkham Horror, the tension when you grab a token from the bag, having added all of your cards in it, knowing you have to win it in order to finish the scenario and you get the elder sign token! Havent had bigger moments of triumph (and loss) in a game than I have with Arkham Horror. Is my favorite game of all time! 😁

[@Vancity3]

I haven't personally tried it, but just from looking at videos, etc.. the new coop expansion of Unmatched Tales to Amaze seems very much in the same vein.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

I keep hearing awesome things about this! I need to check it out!

[@arashii_8]

Hey, thanks for that video! I own Marvel Champions and Arkham Horror and I was thinking if I should get the last one from that LCG holy trinity, but after watching I think I should skip LotR... I love MC because of it's simplicity and HUGE replayability, the modularity of the game and how quick it is to set up a game and even deckbuild, I'm not the greatest deckbuilder, but in this game it's super easy for me to assemble a deck for a game. In AH I always have a problem with that, it's too complicated for me and even if I love the idea of deckbuilding here, I always end up taking something from arkhamdb... So with LotR it would probably be the same story. Although starter decks could be helpful, just as in AH - I love them! - but playing mostly with pre-made decks in a game that is all about "solving a puzzle" kinda make no sense... I will probably check out Earthborne Rangers, the theme looks very nice and relaxing, however how replayable is it?

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

That makes sense! There are also a lot of decks on Ringsdb (similar site to marvelcdb) if you wanted to try it out! From what I can tell EBR is repayable mainly due to the longevity of the campaign and the side missions. I hear that the campaign usually takes around 20 or so games (so about 2.5 Arkham campaigns) and you probably will only see 60-75 percent of the game on a playthrough. So if you want to play again you can and take a different path!

[@arashii_8]

​@@NelsonAllOverCards Wow, so EBR core box have a lot of content! I could never tell that from what I saw in a few YT videos. I'm not sure if I want to play such a long campaign though, haha :P

[@messenger3478]

I've thought about getting into Arkham Horror. I ended up getting the CoC starter set, because it was cheaper and I really wanted to know if I liked the genre. I couldn't even get into the story of Alone Against the Flames, because all questions I had about the system and the obvious disconect of the choiceswith the naritive. I kept searching the included rules, and couldn't find the answers I sought. In the end I shelved the box. Not worth it to learn the game tbh. Is Arkham Horror better? Do the mechanics or rule set get in the way of the naritive? Are they lacking?

[@Kingspawn000]

I think people bounce off Arkham Horror LCG sometimes because of the oversold difficulty. Once you realize it’s okay to play on Easy (especially on a blind playthrough) things get so much more beginner friendly! Any deck (even a fully drafted one with a tool online…) is viable in Easy, just get your skill test to +2 and you’ll pass nearly any important test you commit to. Is the test so important that you HAVE to pass it? Well then there’s probably a way to accomplish that test without even using your stats (testless cards, abilities, story assets, etc). I myself was even scared away from it for the longest time, because while I love roguelike video games, I didn’t love the idea of setting up/tearing down a card game just to get trounced repeatedly. I’m glad to say that’s not the case and even in the rare scenario it is, the “fail forward” mechanic means it doesn’t feel like a game over.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Exactly! I am thinking of going easy mode for my blind playthroughs, there’s just so much you don’t know and I think that can help out a ton! I do really appreciate the fail forward aspect!

[@Caidezes]

Earthborn Rangers looks really interesting, but that price is hard to justify for a first purchase.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

That is very true! I wish there was an easy bite sized core set!

[@starwindm8810]

While that is true, there is a TON of content for the price. I haven’t even had a chance to play, but all the sandboxy goodness is so much fun. I have spent a good amount of time just looking at all the different Rangers I can build

[@kecajo5023]

Can I play a single scenario in the middle of the campaign in Arkham Horror just like in the LOTR LCG or do I have to play from start to finish in one campaign of Arkham Horror?

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Arkham Horror Stand Alone Mode! #arkhamhorror #shorts

[@SlayBoredom]

Something important I think that should be mentioned: Fantasy Flight LCG are expensive as hell! I mean for LOTR a new campaign you buy the campaign and the characters seperately. In my country this costs you around 120 USD per new campaign. That is CRAZY! I mostly play AEONS END, where you get a lot more content for a lot less money... I think thats very important mentioning. Also Aeons End is such a great "LCG"!

[@reuterss306]

But to be fair FFG production quality is slightly higher and the artwork is WAY better than in aeons end. Also story-wise games like Arkham are more interesting imho...

[@urloony]

(sorry in advance this is a bit of a ramble) As a collector of all three of FFG's primary LCGs, all run on a similar game engine. Player hand, draw deck, and resolving a scenario usually by removing threat, gathering clues, or making progress on a quest. There are a number of additional similarities, which is why I think some players may think they are all the same. If I were to rank them: MC>LOTR>AH. That being said, if MC is a 10, LOTR is 9.9 and AH is 9.8. MC is at the top, because for my play style, it's a quick pick up and play kind of game. No campaign to dig out and assemble, and it plays much faster than LOTR. However, LOTR and AH both have vastly superior art. MC looks nice when they use original comic art, but the commissioned art is lacking. On the other hand, there is nothing anywhere in gaming that is prettier than a Magali LOTR card. Nothing. Finally, what puts MC over the top is that there is no game meta. Both AH and LOTR have a meta, with LOTR going even further having "one deck to rule them all." In other words, one deck that will defeat every scenario in the game, often without even trying (and it's awesome). AH has the hardest standard gameplay of the LCGs and as a result there are some investigators that really don't play well and are on the verge of being unplayable if you want to win, which you don't necessarily need to do to advance in AH, but I digress. The point is, in order to "win" in AH, you have to play the meta. With MC, you'll eventually find an aspect and a hero that will work well together and can be a winning combination. All heroes are viable in MC, even those so-called "F tier" hero's.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Really good insights! Totally agree re the art, especially LOTR! I can respect the art in Arkham and know it’s fantastic - but LOTR is just so special! Really interesting about the meta and not something I have really thought about before, but that makes total sense!

[@kevinpan9008]

Arkham Horror, Lord of the Rings, and Marvel are all my favorites… The problem is money… or I could just play on the tabletop simulator. 😒😒

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Money does seem to be lacking once I got into this hobby!!

[@atigerforever1]

You could literally spend YEARS ,playing MC every day with what they have out NOW ,switching out Decks you create...No amount of game has touched that variety. Add the fact you get expansions,hit or miss, for the next few years. MC for the win. Arkham is next for me because it is a bit more," Noobie Friendly" than LotR. I own LotR Journeys Complete and that's hard enough.lol. STILL plan on getting the entire LotR Saga . if and when it comes out to finish it out repackages.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Totally agree! There’s so much replayability in all of these games, but especially with champions and their modular system!

[@oliverpetersen3930]

You forgot Marvel VS. 2pcg. What was once a trading card game is now a lcg. Just like all the other lcg games you can get every card when you buy their expansion and you build decks just like lcg but the difference here is you need to play against another opponent. There is no story to it like marvel champions or lord of the rings but there are arcs.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Oh interesting! I’ve never heard of this game I’ll need to check it out!

[@oliverpetersen3930]

@NelsonAllOverCards it's a lot of fun, but it does require 2 people unless you are like me and you play yourself. Unfortunately, here in utah, I can never find anyone to play against, but the cards are beautiful, and I love the gameplay.

[@Negowa2]

For Arkham Horror true solo, you can just play on Easy.

[@raysandrarexxia941]

LOTR is brutal in true solo, better with 2 or 3 players

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

It’s definitely better with more players, but I don’t think it’s too too brutal solo, not as bad as Arkham at least!

[@Darthcarp]

Price for the core box for earthborne is a bit of a put off I get your gaining a decent amount of content but all the other games give you a chance to dip your toes in before investing too heavily.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

That’s a really good point, I think for the amount of content it’s a fair price, but if you just want to try it out, it’s pretty steep!

[@starwindm8810]

If you aren’t sure whether it’s for you or not, you could always watch the Playcast on the official channel. I wouldn’t watch past the prologue/prelude episodes though (best to keep yourself in the dark about most of the campaign content)

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

@@starwindm8810 really great suggestion!

[@Darthcarp]

@@starwindm8810 I get that and that’s really helpful I just look at it like you can get the core boxes for both Arkham and marvel for the same price and probably still have some left over for a hero pack.

[@reihidezero]

Marvel champion does have campaign

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Totally! Didn’t mean to imply that it didn’t!

[@reihidezero]

@NelsonAllOverCards lol I own all three of the lord of the rings , marvel champions and Arkham Horror the card game recently so they are not complete since they release more stuff haha all good games

[@wywerny]

What about Keyforge Adventures?

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Keyforge Adventures! #keyforge #boardgames

[@MrProulx]

I have almost everything for all 3 and I would say based on a lot of things LOTR>MC>AH. AH is a great game it just doesn't have that epic battle feeling.

[@Gakoth]

MC is my choice: • Quick to setup • Doesn't require a special "mood" to be played • Every Hero is playable • Solo and Two Players/Handed are the best experiences • Thematic expansions. You can complete what you like and ignore everything you don't care.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Love it!

[@nocturnalduck21]

Marvel champions has more replay value compared to lotr and arkham usung the modular sets

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Oooh good point!!

[@reuterss306]

Well, depends what "replay value" means to you. I love both games but have been playing AH since it first released and some campaigns we played like 20+ times. Never got boring. And imho the strategic and deckbuilding elements are way more complex. And to me one of the most important parts of a lcg is the deckbuilding, thats where I get MY personal replay value. Finding new synergies, possibilities or challenging each other with certain builds and setups. :D