Charging Against Rhino as Spider-Man in Marvel Champions
Experience the excitement of a superhero battle in matchups like Spider-Man vs. Rhino in Marvel Champions: The Card Game.
Onward! I had a lot of fun crafting my Spider-Man deck in Marvel Champions: The Card Game, yet I needed to dig in if I was going to defeat Rhino. With so much content, I could see myself creating brand new decks and taking on more villains. But I had the initial villain in my path, and it was time to see if Spider-Man’s deck actually worked!
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
The initial fun is in choosing a superhero and building a deck around either aggression, justice, leadership, or protection. Synergies come together as the battle rages on against a villain, complete with minions and side schemes to build the threat level. Never a dull moment here!
First Play
August 8, 2020
Complexity
3
Latest Play
August 22, 2022
Expansions
30
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
27
Play Time
15 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
22" x 20"
Low Score
N/A
Immediate Trouble
I was still getting used to my deck and remembering how I could benefit from it. Protection, as I only recently learned, can be a difficult aspect in solo. No problem!
Spider-Man went down poorly, and I could only assume what the “!!!” meant. Ha! The minions were a lot.
When Sandman came out, I knew that would likely be the end of this match. Yet a Hydra Bomber joined the party, because of course that was what needed to happen!
Without so many photos, my play time dropped down to a much more reasonable 15 minutes. Off to reset it all!
A Little Pep Talk
I lost due to too much threat. I lost due to Spider-Man’s health falling to 0. But I never was defeated exactly the same way, which gave me plenty of hope.
Losing a few times also allowed me to understand what was going on with my deck. Maybe it wasn’t perfect, yet I found some pretty clever and fun combinations!
So at last, I called out to Spider-Man. I think he listened, judging by this fantastic art from the rulebook. Ha ha!
There were a lot of questions up in the air, yet my level of confidence in this deck was finally at an all-time high!
The Challenge of Building a Superhero Deck
When I set out to build this Spider-Man deck, I wasn’t trying to do anything amazing… Save for focus on a few elements and try to make them happen. As I’ve admitted before, sometimes my card choices are based on flavor text or artwork. So I’m certainly not the master of the superhero cards! Ha ha! Yet the charm in crafting a deck still exists.
I think that’s also a big part of the game: It isn’t just about playing through the matchups, but discovering the ways a deck works. At the same time, weaknesses might come out over a handful of plays. There’s nothing to stop a little rearranging in between plays, which is something I may need to do down the line for Spider-Man.
There aren’t enough allies, and a few card combinations are so particular that they might not be that useful to hope for. But I still love this deck, despite its flaws! Almost every card has a special purpose, and deciding which ones to put into play is a great challenge. Resource generation is another element I might need to look into for more help.
If I wanted to, I could even stick with Spider-Man but change up his aspect. That would be a drastic change, but that’s a big part of the game. There are so many combinations to discover, and I may never find my perfect deck… And that’s OK with me! The learning process makes for lots of fun moments with this one. Can’t wait to explore this deck even more!
Barely a Scratch
Then… I managed a superb victory! Shown here are the only cards I played. With luck on my side, it was a very exciting win that showed me I could build a deck!
Spider-UK came out early and helped out a little bit with his attacks. He didn’t escape unscathed, but I managed to exhaust him in order to bring out Ghost-Spider.
This powerful combination, plus a whole lot of web kicks, did the job. Rhino went down quickly. A great victory!
And although this might sound like a boring matchup with so few rounds, it was well worth all the previous losses.
In the nick of Time
Victory couldn’t come soon enough! This nightmarish turn of events had just appeared. Rhino was doing his usual breaking and taking, while Vulture showed up.
It looked pretty dire, indeed, but there wasn’t too much to suffer from with the quick actions of Spider-Man!
As I learned, Rhino needed some threat management, but taking him out as quickly as possible definitely worked.
There were limited sound effects this time around, likely since it was all over so quickly. But I was certainly yelling at Rhino here and there… My secret to winning? Ha ha!
Session Overview
Play Number: 12-14
Expansions: Many for Deck Construction
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Spider-Man / Protection vs. Rhino
Outcome: 1 Win and 2 Losses
Perhaps the ending wasn’t much in terms of tension, yet things were poised to deteriorate quickly. Vulture could only watch as Rhino fell to Spider-Man’s many web kicks. Yet the nemesis lives on! The plan is to move onto Klaw next and see how Spider-Man fares against him. It might take some time, but I’ll find another way to win!
%
20 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
8
+ Pros (Positives)
- It takes time to understand and master a deck, which makes each play useful and interesting until the end.
- There are nearly countless combinations and options to explore between the superheroes, cards, and villains.
- Even with an identical setup, playing can be very different with the number of cards and available options.
- The ability to play a card or use it to pay for another card always adds interesting decisions during each turn.
- Play progresses quite quickly with a single superhero, and the time needed is minimal for the amount of fun.
- Unique artwork helps bring the world to life and create action as battles are fought and threat is removed.
– Cons (Negatives)
- A certain degree of luck is needed with the way the cards are drawn, particularly for the villain and schemes.
- The hit point wheels can be a little fiddly to work with, although this issue is generally pretty minor.
- With certain support and upgrade cards, it can be a lot to keep track of the special abilities during each round.
- Some decks can lead to a much larger play area, which can spread out a lot more than expected from setup.
Victory Conditions
Defeat the Villain
- Overall Goal Progress 7%
Goals and Milestones
Defeat each villain as Spider-Man / Protection (02 / 28).
Continue the Conversation
How have you been enjoying Marvel Champions: The Card Game? Did you learn something interesting about a particular deck after playing with it a few times? I can certainly see how the same deck might be lot to stick with for all of the current villains, yet there’s lots ahead. Up next… Klaw! I’ll have to see if I prepared well for that matchup!
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