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Marvel Champions is a 1-4 player superhero game, where each player takes on the role of a Marvel hero to battle it out against one of three villains. Play as Captain Marvel, Spiderman, She-Hulk, Black Panther or Iron Man and face off against Rhino, Klaw or Ultron. Each Hero is represented by a deck of cards, consisting of basic cards, Hero-specific cards, and aspect cards (one of leadership, justice, aggression, and protection). Each Villain is also represented by a deck of cards, comprising villain-specific cards, basic villain cards and a modular encounter set.
Marvel Champions is a living card game (LCG). As such, the publisher, Fantasy Flight Games, is expanding the game with new Hero & Villain packs all the time. If you're so inclined, check out a full review & final thoughts of the core game here. However, for today's review, we'll be focusing on one of the latest Hero packs, The Vision.
About The Vision
Vision, the ultimate synthezoid, was created by Ultron. Driven by logic and emotionally aware, eventually turns on his master and becomes a member of the Avengers. Vision can alter his density, increasing his strength and resistance to physical damage or becoming intangible and being able to pass through solid matter. He is truly a force to be reckoned with. The Vision hero pack comes with a preconstructed protection deck along with additional cards for further deck building possibilities. The deck also contains his very own nemesis, Ultron (of course!). He also starts off with a permanent Mass Form upgrade that can be flipped from Intangible to Dense with a lot of the Hero cards playing off of the Mass Form.
Final Thoughts
Despite Vision not bringing anything amazingly new to the table, what he does bring is a deck full of fun and strategic choices. The Mass Form is very thematic with players being able to flip from one form to another (once per round) when in Hero form. In Hero form Vision has 2 thwart, 0 attack and 0 defence. However, depending on the Mass Form that Vision is in his stats will change. When intangible he cannot actually attack or defend, but all damage from an attack is reduced by 2. When Dense he gets +2 attack and +2 defence. This makes for some very cool decisions on which form to be in and when to switch. Depending on your form when you are in Alter Ego mode will also affect how much you recover or your hand size.
Visions signature Hero Vivian also bounces off the Mass Form upgrade. Depending on whether Vision is intangible or dense will determine if Vivian gets +2 thwart or +2 attack to her base stats of 1.
Furthermore
Visions Hero cards such as Solar Beam & Vision's Cape will do different things depending on the form. Other cards such as Superpower, Just Passing Through and Superdense Strike can only be played if you are in one form or the other.
I love how the consequences of your Mass Form upgrade affects so many different cards. Vision really plays into his unique power of being able to change his Mass and always feels very thematic.
Some of the Protection cards in the pack are repeats from other decks such as Side Step, Get Behind Me and Indomitable but there are some new ones to add into the mix as well.
Overall, I have been enjoying the Vision Hero deck, especially with the Leadership aspect. Whilst nothing shockingly new, the Mass Form upgrade is fun to play with and helps control the game state when you need to. Switching from one form to another can create some cool turns and Vision is just fun to play with. Playing with Vision and Scarlet Witch creates some very thematic moments that make me smile. A worthy deck to add to your collection.
