Marvel Champions — Ms. Marvel Hero Pack (Overview, My Review)

What is the Marvel Champions Ms. Marvel Hero Pack

The Ms. Marvel Hero Pack, along with the Captain America Hero Pack, was the first Marvel Champions hero pack released. It contains 60 cards:

  • Ms. Marvel deck cards (15 cards)
  • Protection Aspect cards (14 cards)
  • Basic cards (11 cards)
  • Hero card (1 card)
  • Aggression cards (3 cards)
  • Justice cards (3 cards)
  • Protection cards (3 cards)
  • Basic cards not included in pre-built deck (3 cards)
  • Ms. Marvel nemesis cards (6 cards)
  • Captain America Hero Pack Pre-Built Decklist (1 card)

Default Deck Overview

Alter-Ego Cards

The alter-ego cards are a big part of the Ms. Marvel specific cards. Finding the delicate balance for when to stay in alter-ego form, and flipping over to Ms. Marvel is what makes the deck challenging to play. And I say this from experience as someone who is still trying to figure it out before tinkering with it (or switching aspects entirely).

You get basically three main things from the alter-ego cards (all personas) themselves:

  1. discard pile recursion and immediate card draw
  2. cost reduction
  3. delayed card draw
Hero Cards

To start: It’s important to highlight that Embiggen and Shrink can only be activated when in hero form. But you can absolutely play them while in your alter-ego form.

Biokinetic Polymer Suit provides a nice resource boost (just make sure to remember it is hero-form only!). The other cards (all events) form the backbone of the Ms. Marvel deck. Damage prevention, solid 2:1 damage resource ratio, and better-than-good 2:1 thwart resource ratio. Combine these with Ms. Marvel’s hero action (exhaust to return a thwartaction, or defense card to hand) to have continual ways to handle the enemy.

At least I think that’s the plan? Still learning best way to play this deck against the more difficult situations (more difficult scenarios, villains, expert level).

Allies

Red Dagger and Lockjaw both provide you recurring allies: one with buyback when dies and the other from the discard pile. Lockjaw even has some synergy with the alter-ego ability, which can potentially put Lockjaw into the discard pile (though this is more of a nice happenstance more than something to plan on happening).

I’ve not had a lot of success with Ms. Marvel’s standard deck in my current enemy setup (Klaw + Masters of Evil on expert). One thing I have not yet tried is using Nova as a repeatable source of damage via his interrupt ability. Two damage for one resource is discounted damage.

Protection Aspect (14 total cards)

For me, Nova is the highlight here: a solid ally that can pack a punch. Tackle provides the deck a bit of enemy control with the stun, but there are only a handful of cards in the pre-constructed deck that offer the needed physical resource to rigger the stunning portion of the card.

Energy Barrier provides the retaliate ability on a “stick”, but with only three charges. Preventing damage is great, but I have found the ability to pick off final hit points, especially on minions, to be helpful.

I’ve not been able to make great use out of Get Behind Me! or Preemptive Strike yet. It seems I inevitably use them for resources which means either they are sub-par, or I am not prioritizing them enough.

Basic Cards (11 total cards)
Other Cards Included (12 total cards)

My Review

For my personal playing style, the pre-constructed deck just doesn’t cut it. That’s not an indictment on the hero pack but more a recognition that I’m not caring for the Ms. Marvel + Protection combination. But, I am looking forward to trying out some other combinations. My next thought is pairing her with the Leadership aspect to try taking advantage of her alter-ego form as much as possible. Not quite sure if that will work out, but that’s what the Marvel Champions game is all about.

Lockjaw is a fun inclusion, though I’m not sure he’ll make many of my decks once I start deckbuilding. Nova, on the other hand, is solid for all early Protection decks (note: only have Core Set, Captain America, Ms. Marvel, and Scarlet Witch).

I could see passing on this hero pack for a bit, especially if you’re not a Protection Aspect player. But I’ve found it challenging and think Ms. Marvel will be improved switching her to Leadership or Aggression since she has solid built-in threat control. If you decide to purchase, support your local game store or you can get it Amazon.

About Wesley Lyles 117 Articles
Wesley is a jack of all trades hobbyist. Though much of his spare time is spent playing board games (especially solo card games like Legendary), Hearthstone, Rocket League, and MLB The Show.e He also enjoys most sports, but pays way too much attention to baseball and football.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.