Teaming Up Against Rhino’s Confusion in Marvel Champions
Take on a heroic identity to battle villains with aspects like justice and leadership in Marvel Champions: The Card Game.
Years later, I’m returning to Marvel Champions: The Card Game… Again! I got into a sort of mindless challenge previously and never considered what it might be like to play dual-handed. After doing an extreme amount of organization to get all of the content properly put away in binders, I had some deck ideas and was ready to dive back into these heroic adventures!
Game Overview
Game Name: Marvel Champions: The Card Game
Publication Year: 2019
Designers: Michael Boggs, Nate French, and Caleb Grace
Artist: Uncredited
Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Each villain offers up a different puzzle with the challenge to balance all-out attacks with threat management. So much scheming to deal with! Heroes are all unique, with a choice of aspect to offer up plenty of variety. Gameplay is action-packed and thoughtful with lots of exciting turns!
First Play
August 8, 2020
Complexity
3
Latest Play
July 21, 2025
Expansions
53
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
31
Play Time
1 Hour
High Score
N/A
Game Area
36" x 22"
Low Score
N/A
Welcome Back!
I know I’ve done this before with this system… I start playing, and then realize I’m backing myself into a corner with grinding out victories against lots of permutations.
So I settled in to enjoy the deck construction process with a pair of heroes. I’ve only ever played solo with a single character in the past, so this was a very promising start.
I also enjoyed getting the play area set up to work well for me. Lots of extra customizations helped out, too!
A few meeples helped me track when I flipped an identity and I was really excited to sit down and play against Rhino.
A Few New Components
After poring over the latest rules reference, I had a feeling I was going to forget to activate some cards. Simple: I grabbed beads to place on cards as reminders for different phases.
I’ve also sometimes struggled to see the all-purpose and damage counters on cards… More easy fixes! I grabbed a bunch of small dice to track damage on allies and minions.
For my all-purpose counters, I pulled out my extras saved up from Charterstone. Pretty colors, and the perfect size!
Threat has always stood out for me, yet I might upgrade to dice or other counters. In any event, I was ready to go!
Not Quite Standard
Is Rhino the most basic starting villain? Yes. Is The Break-In! side scheme pretty standard? Also, yes. But I didn’t quite start out on this adventure with the base game set.
Instead, I grabbed the Standard III set, which replaces the original Standard set. It’s much more focused on player nemeses, but it doesn’t have a major increase in difficulty.
That’s for Standard II… Which I skipped over for now! I might try other sets eventually, yet I liked this setup.
Standard III was actually pretty great and provided a more engaging phase with a growing threat that felt thematic.
Endless Confusion
Captain Marvel was a major part of this play, courtesy of her exceptional use of support cards! The Sky-Destroyer lurked overhead near the start, and often activated with this deck.
But right near the start, a terrible encounter left her confused… And, no joke, Captain Marvel remained confused through the end. This was all just a false alarm, people!
Luckily, I built her deck with a lot of allies, who did the thwarting for her. She just wondered why. Ha ha!
Instead, Captain Marvel shifted over to a very attack-heavy strategy. And, as you might guess, she was quite successful!
Card Game Binders: The Curse and Joy of My Life
Generally speaking, organizing a huge collection of cards often comes down to boxes with dividers or binders. Since I love seeing cards laid out together, this game system is in a bunch of binders. Which currently number… 5, soon to be 6. And those are the huge 4″ binders. Goodness! It’s a lot, yet it works well enough. At least, when I keep up with new releases!
I’m a rebel and keep things alphabetized within a few sub-categories. That means I have to shift cards around, but I leave space after every few letters so it’s rarely a problem. Until I find things like linked cards that shouldn’t be sorted into different sections… It’s fine! Just part of the process, which I honestly feel kind of relaxing when getting things together.
Making these decks was a great experience with the binders! I got to appreciate the artwork, quickly locate keywords, and figure out if abilities were useful to me. Online deck construction sites are also an excellent approach, and I may switch over to this method eventually. The old-fashioned feel of flipping through pages of cards was just perfect for me, though!
Energy Channel! Pow!
With some decent decisions during deck construction, it wasn’t too difficult to power up this amazing superpower.
In a moment filled with sound effects provided by myself, Captain Marvel unleashed a burst of energy right in Rhino’s face. Pow! Boom! 10 damage to knock you down, Rhino!
Spider-Man’s role was basically indicated by this artwork… He was all about dealing with threat, but snuck up every now and then to do some serious damage of his own.
Things seemed to be going pretty well, minus the rampant spread of confusion. It even affected Rhino at this point!
Dwindling Health
Captain Marvel may have remained confused, but she was not immune to Rhino’s attacks. She was nearly defeated before retreating to recover at the Avengers mansion. Wise!
Meanwhile, Maria Hill and War Machine took up the front lines. They had the correct information… Rhino was scheming and not attacking randomly. Come on, Carol.
Her support cards were amazing, though! I enjoyed the extra card draws, but didn’t go through her deck too quickly.
With Spider-Man also faltering, though, it was getting to be a little dicey with the way Rhino kept up his assault…
Photonic Blast! Boom!
During a late round, I had done pretty much all I could with Captain Marvel. But then I remembered her ability to heal and draw a card… Might as well take that chance!
And it was the perfect card draw with Energy Absorption. As she healed herself and soaked up all that energy, it was the exact moment to strike with Photonic Blast. Ba-boom!
Take that, Rhino! Hilariously, this then took him down to a health total of… 1. Which had to stick around another round.
Goodness! The end of this round saw Captain Marvel’s deck empty and everything looked a little gloomier.
the Sky-Destroyer
It was pretty clear Captain Marvel and Spider-Man were on the brink of victory, yet that last villain phase was awful!
Just as Rhino revealed his extra fancy ivory horn, the crowd of civilians decided that this was the time to panic. Yeah… With Rhino barely conscious with 1 health left. Wise? Ha!
Despite having faced her nemesis and hearing about all the chaos, Captain Marvel still didn’t think there was any threat.
So she set out another support card, very calmly, while the Sky-Destroyer swooped in and dealt the final damage. Victory! In a very exciting sort of matchup. Awesome!
Session Overview
Play Number: 28
Expansions: Many (Deck Construction & Standard III)
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Captain Marvel & Spider-Man vs. Rhino
Outcome: Win
The standout hero was Captain Marvel, but this dual-handed play was excellent! Spider-Man did a lot more early on and ended up hanging out with Aunt May at the end, likely complaining about how Captain Marvel didn’t know what was going on and got all the credit. Ha! So glad to be back to playing this one again: Lots more content to try out!
%
30 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
10
+ Pros (Positives)
- Each hero plays very differently, and is further enhanced with an aspect that can shift the overall feel of a deck.
- Constructing a deck prior to play offers tons of options, but pre-constructed decks are available to make it simple.
- Villains and modular sets allow for very unique sorts of scenarios that offer challenging puzzles to work through.
- The balance of power between the villains and heroes shifts in an excellent way that maintains the tension.
- Standard III offers a better chance of bringing out a hero’s nemesis in a very thematic and interesting way.
- Awesome moments come up during play, both through careful planning and randomly, for very exciting turns.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Picking up more and more content requires an organized storage system, which can take some time to update.
- There are a lot of keywords and triggers to remember during gameplay, although visual reminders can help out.
- Jumping into play with a large collection can feel overwhelming, even though each play doesn’t require too much.
- Keeping everything organized during play takes a little effort, even with a well-designed idea during setup.
Victory Conditions
Defeat the Villain
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Defeat each base game villain with a duo team. (3/3)
Continue the Conversation
What is your favorite way to play Marvel Champions: The Card Game? Do you enjoy any particular hero or villain? Playing with a pair of heroes adds a lot to the play time, but I loved coming up with the story and seeing how they worked together. I still have a lot more I want to try out with their decks, and I’m sure they’ll team up again against another villain!
I prefer to play 2 player: It is reassuring to read you say it adds a lot of playtime, as it takes us at least 2 hours, more like 3 sometimes!
We play with the preconstructed decks where possible, and usually Rhino, base game villains, Kang or Mojo villains, with the standard I set and recommended modulars. I loved Spiderman and the fun of growing huge with Ant Man, though without deck-building (I’m too lazy for that) those two seemed underpowered compared to, say Quicksilver (another favourite).
More heroes definitely adds to the play time! I can see why some prefer to play true solo, although I do like the neat ways heroes can interact and help out with any weaknesses.
Sounds like a lot of fun with what you’ve got! I don’t know how much deck construction will appeal to me over time, as it took ages to put these together. Yet I love that it exists so everyone has a chance to find their preferred way to play! I’ll have to check out Ant-Man and Quicksilver eventually. So much content to explore. Thanks for stopping by, and good luck the next time you play!