Marvel Champions — Scarlet Witch Hero Pack (Overview, My Review)

What is the Marvel Champions Scarlet Witch Hero Pack

The Scarlet Witch Marvel Champions Hero Pack was released March 5, 2021 (note: click here for a list of all Marvel Champions releases). It contains 60 cards:

• Scarlet Witch deck cards (15 cards)
• Justice Aspect cards (18 cards)
• Basic cards (7 cards)
• Hero card (1 card)
• Aggression cards (3 cards)
• Justice cards (3 cards)
• Protection cards (3 cards)
• Basic cards (3 cards)
• Scarlet Witch nemesis cards (6 cards)
• Scarlet Witch hero pack deck list (1 card)

Scarlet Witch Hero Pack Description (from included insert)

Scarlet Witch wields powerful chaos magic that often has unforeseen consequences. Her most versatile spell, Hex Bolt, allows for cahotic variety, while Molecular Decay gives her the ability to turn damaging forces against her foes. When the situation becomes too hectic, use her Chaos Control ability and Scarlet Witch’s Crest to shift the odds in your favor, or change to Scarlet Witch’s alter-ego form, Wanda Maximoff, to team-up with her brother, Pietro MaximoffWith the Justice aspect, take down numerous schemes back-to-back through careful Multitasking, Turn the Tide on the villain for extra damage, and call on the aid of both Wiccan and Speed to put away the bad guys for good!

Pre-built Scarlet Witch/Justice decklist

Default Deck Overview

Identity Card (Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch)

Alter-Ego Mode

The 3 REC limits just how much healing you can accomplish with your alter-ego, but that’s not what’s important. Two of Scarlet Witch’s primary ways of improving your hand occur while in alter-ego form: Superpowered Siblings (alter-ego ability) and Agatha Harkness. The pre-built deck has no other card sthat require Wanda Maximoff identity.

Hero Mode

As mentioned just now, there are a number of hero mode cards in the pre-built deck. Here’s Scarlet Witch’s + Justice aspect cards:

That’s a good bit of Hero Action. And I included Turn the Tide since most often you will be thwarting while in hero mode.

Chaos Magic is my favorite card out of these. And for good reason it is limited to only one copy: this card allows you to cheat up to three resources (4 cost – 1 card). 1-cost Quicksilver or Speed is a pretty good partial turn. Or it can enable a easy 2x Molecular Decay. The card is phenomenal.

After that, Hex Bolt may single-handedly be the card that keeps me playing Scarlet Witch. I’m attracted to the roll-the-dice feeling one gets from playing the card. But it wouldn’t be chaos magic if you didn’t get to tip the odds in your favor every now and then. Here’s looking at Scarlet Witch’s Crest and her hero ability Chaos Control. Being able to manipulate the results to achieve at least one desired effect turns Hex Bolt into a deadly card. Of course, I am just waiting for that time when I am in desperate need of something (most likely a status card) and don’t strike gold.

Allies

Wiccan has surprisingly been better than expected. 2-cost is such an affordable amount, and the ability to potentially ping off enemies while thwarting makes him appealing. Quicksilver/Speed are two sides of the same coin, and come down to do up to four effects (damage or threat) and then absorb an attack; or you can just run it back again the next turn.

Other Justice Cards

Just making sure I show off the other two Justice cards. Heroic Intuition put in a lot of good work in my one Scarlet Witch/Justice game. I’m also looking forward to trying out a Captain America/Justice build at some point (envisioning 6 THW using his hero ability). When you’re done here, check out the Captain America hero pack overview.

Cards Included Outside of Scarlet Witch Deck

I have not yet started building my own decks, but my quick thoughts are:

• Recuperation: Unlikely to ever see play, but perhaps there is a deck that wants the physical resource and healing effect that allows for exhausting hero for some other need
• Last Stand: Don’t see playing three copies, but perhaps 1-2 in a deck that relies on recursion (e.g., Make the Call)
• Browbeat: Limited to only Avenger heroes; worst case this is a Haymaker and on Expert mode this could be five damage for only 2 resources. Could easily see this making the cut
• Bait and Switch: 1 resource to remove 4 threat is an awesome resource:threat ratio. And Protection is an aspect that may be able to best absorb that extra attack; this one seems situational.

Gameplay Summary

My current game state is solo against Klaw+Masters of Evil on semi-Expert (play with expert encounters but only do Stage 1 and Stage 2).

So far, I’ve managed:

• 1-0 with Spider-Man Justice (pre-built deck)
• 2-0 with Captain Marvel Aggression (pre-built deck)
• 1-0 with Captain America Leadership (pre-built deck)
• 0-3 with Ms. Marvel Protection (pre-built deck)

So, a) I’m either not very good with the pre-built Ms. Marvel deck, or it’s not very good (or, both and/or it’s just a bad matchup) and b) this matchup is winnable.

The first playthrough proved one thing: Scarlet Witch is both unique and fun.

The uniqueness comes from Scarlet Witch’s use of the encounter deck.

It’s a fascinating use of the available design space. It also creates tension, as you will be shuffling the encounter deck much more often than a typical game. Resulting in acceleration tokens. But luckily (or by design) the pre-built deck uses the Justice aspect which excels at thwarting.

Just check out this scene from my game:

Yes, that is two acceleration tokens. And I had also already gone through my deck. three times due to the filtering (alter-ego power and Spiritual Manipulation) and Hex Bolt.

What you are seeing is my final play to win this game. And yes, the final Klaw scheme is sitting at 7 threat. What’s missing is the side scheme I thwarted using Scarlet Witch’s thwart (+1 due to Heroic Intuition).

Ultimately, this attack hit for 20 damage, which was more than enough to take care of Klaw. But this game felt tight throughout, and required some helpful manipulation of encounter boost and a healthy does of three Magic Shield to have one turn of a breathing room.

My Review of the Scarlet Witch Hero Pack

Just how high you should prioritize this pack will depend on how much you just enjoy the encounter deck manipulation, which involves a healthy does of randomness. I mean, after all, this is Scarlet Witch.

It’s a solid collection of Justice cards if you’re interested in that aspect. Wiccan and Speed provide two allies, and lots of thwart-stopping action to choose from.

I don’t think any of the extra cards are must-haves. But I could see Browbeat or Bait and Switch making their way into Aggression or Protection decks respectively.

I’ve only played one game so far, but it was one of my most enjoyable. I highly recommend purchasing the pack.