Beginner's guide: Core Set Only

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neothechosen · 10794

Hello all!

I've recently realized that our beloved Marvel Champions is getting lots of attention from new players. Also, I've noticed a few threads on Reddit where players are asking for advice on how to beat the core set scenarios.

In the past I've published a lot (ok, too many...) decks where I share my enthusiasm for certain characters or combos, but this time I felt that I may offer some help for those who are just starting the game.

So, if you are a new player, here's a decklist that features only coreset cards, and a player's "guide" that may help you vanquish the first few villains.

If it happens to be useful, please tell me!

ABOUT THIS DECK

Usually, you start playing Marvel Champions using the decklists suggested in the rule book. Those are a bit awkward, giving you a bit of everything so you can test everycard. As a result, the deck is less focused and less efficient.

I won't lie: building a solid deck with just the core set offers limited options. Because you need 40 cards at least, it means even this list includes cards that I would not usually recommend. Feel free to change the list to your liking and try other players' advice too!

Still, because Black Panther has a solid 2/2/2 statline, lots of resources, and gets stronger with every BP upgrade in play, this deck should be enough to beat the villains from the core box, even if you play solo.

HOW I PLAY

I usually tend to play the game in a "controlling" way:

get rid of side schemes
get rid of minions
get rid of villain attachements
keep the main scheme at ZERO threath or close
while I do this, I also want upgrades and supports in play ASAP so, over time, my turns keep getting stronger.

WHEN side schemes, minions, main scheme are under control, THEN I consider hitting the villain. An empty main scheme/villain board is also useful if you need to revert to Alter-Ego and Recover. With Black Panther, reverting to Tchalla also means using The Golden City, very strong, or Ancestral Knowledge to shuffle Wakanda Forever!, Vibranium into your deck.

BLACK PANTHER

Since Black Panther is very resourceful (Vibranium), he is very efficient at playing higher-cost cards, such as Nick Fury, Vision, Avengers Mansion, Helicarrier...

Black Panther also has a strong endgame, and any Black Panther deck is going to look for this:

Put all BP upgrades in play (Panther Claws, Energy Daggers, Tactical Genius, Vibranium Suit).
find and play as many Wakanda Forever!s as possible!

This is your ticket to victory. If you keep controlling the threath level, vanquish minions, have all 4 upgrades in play and play ever Wakanda Forever!, well, you win. ALSO, since Black Panther attacks, thwarts and heals with Wakanda Forever!, when you have all 4 upgrades out, don't be affraid to block the villain's attacks. With Vibranium Suit, you may end up completely negating the remaining damage, and still be dishing out serious damage from Panther Claws and keeping threaths under control with Tactical Genius.

During the setup phase, I usually choose Panther Claws to add to my starting hand, but you may prefer Energy Daggers when facing lots of minions and Tactical Genius if you feel like you really need more thwart.

AND ALSO: don't forget your retaliate 1 ability! (incredibly useful for Ultron Drones!)

Playing this deck

ALLIES!

Right at the start, you may want to mulligan your entire hand to find an ally among those: Maria Hill, Nick Fury, Mockingbird, Shuri.

Allies are incredibly useful! They come in play, draw you a card (more draw = more Wakanda Forever!) or stun the villain, thwart, then block the next villain attack so you don't have to take the damage (Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Mockingbird). Shuri gets you one of your precious upgrade to put into play.

Vision and Hawkeye have different purposes. Hawkeye damages incoming minions for you, so you don't block with him until he's got no more arrows.

Vision can be very useful to keep in play because you can boost his THW or ATK as needed. That is the reason you have First Aid in this deck: you can heal Vision and keep him in play (preventing his demise to consequential damage) to benefit from his boosted stats. This is also why I included Haymaker. Haymaker isn't a good card, it's there because it is a to boost Vision, and to fill the deck up to 40 cards. Still, the use of First Aid and Haymaker on Vision offers you one of your first experience at ally-centric combos, very useful if you keep expanding your collection and end up trying "Voltron" decks (where you upgrade allies to make them crazy strong and keep them in play through healing).

SUPPORTS

Helicarrier is really helpful, giving you the opportunity to play a card for 1 less resource (FREE Wakanda Forever!? YES PLEASE!). Avengers Mansion draws you more cards, always good. If you can put these in play early in the game, you will reap benefits all game long and it'll feel much, much easier.

The Triskelion offers you the opportunity for a 4th ally in play, very useful if you already have Vision and Hawkeye taking two spots. And of course, Tchalla's own The Golden City is the dream.

RESOURCES

Why no The Power of Leadership? Because with 3 copies of Vibranium plus Energy, Genius, Strength, Black Panther already has enough. Moreover, when you've got a board full and your deck is getting "thin" as you go through it a second / third time, you don't want too many resources to clog your hand.

EVENTS

Aside from Wakanda Forever!, which is your bread and butter, Make the Call is probably your top event. Remember when I suggested that you play allies to draw cards, have them thwart then block a villain's attack? Well, Make the Call lets you recall the very same ally from the discard pile. Given Black Panther's incredible resources, you may even be able to play Nick Fury using Make the Call and two double-resource cards. When Fury lets you draw 3 cards, you've basically got all your hand back, 2 THW and a free block. Solid move. Same for Maria Hill, Mockingbird, Shuri, or even have Hawkeye refill his quiver!

Get Ready is also pretty good, letting you get a second activation out of an ally. Very strong on Nick Fury who will not other wise use his 3rd hp. Also, notice that Vision's boost is active until THE END OF PHASE, meaning a second activation will also get the boost you paid for. Two 4 DMG attacks / 3 THW? YES PLEASE! Just be aware that every activation is going to deal consequential damage, so if you want to keep Vision in play, do this only when he's full health and heal him with First Aid afterwards.

Lead from the Front is a sweet combo card that you can play to boost EVERY character you have in play. When you have 3 / 4 allies in play, plus Black Panther's own stats being boosted, it can be quite strong, especially if you can also use Get Ready on a boosted ally (the boost lasts until the end of the phase like Vision's own).

As I already said, First Aid and Haymaker would normally not be my first choices, but the opportunity to use it to boost and heal Vision, I felt they were the best that could be done to fill the deck to 40 cards given the limited card pool of only the core set.

EXPANDING THE DECK

If you happen to like the deck and it feels comfortable, you may want to take it to the next level. However, with only the Core Set, it will be impossible to make it a lot better.

if you plan on expanding your collection, my suggestion would be to get the Captain America Hero Pack. It has cool leadership cards and it doesn't hurt that CAP is one very, very good hero! IF YOU DO:

take out all 3 First Aid, 3 Haymaker, 2 Lead from the Front.
add:

3 more allies (Falcon, Wonder Man, Squirrel Girl) 3 Strength In Numbers 2 Avengers Assemble!

This will allow you to use your allies as an "engine" to draw cards using Strength In Numbers and pull off more complicated combos with Avengers Assemble!. Strength In Numbers is a cool leadership staple that has become a pillar of leadership deckbuilding.

If you plan on going this way, I strongly suggest that you check out this deck: https://marvelcdb.com/decklist/view/449/wakanda-forever-and-ever-and-ever-and-ever-an-1.0

Dr00 is one of the most highly-regarded deckbuilder around this website, and this deck got no less than 514 likes (as of this writing)!

FINAL WORDS

If you got here, well... thanks for reading it all! Welcome to Marvel Champions!

If the deck / write-up did help you, let me know! I thought about proposing decks for other Core box heroes too, when I get time.

Have fun!

2 comments
Jul 25, 2022 Erathis · 16 Ouch, Core only is both super tough and super easy. Almost no choices to make (because you have no cards to choose from) yet enough to agonize over if you wanted to. To start off, I'd do Emergency over Haymaker. While it doesn't see play much anymore (I still have it in my Iron Man deck!) Emergency was actually a playable card when the card pool was small. It's 1 Effective Resource for 1 Thwart, which is on rate. Haymaker's 3 ER for 3 Damage on the other hand is far below rate (for 3 ER you should be looking for closer to 6 damage). There is also the fact that Threat Prevention is quite valuable, especially in the Core Set/Solo. Rhino is classically a villain that if you ever lose to him it's because you got an unlucky Advance, Emergency can help. Similarly Ultron's final scheme not allowing Thwarting makes Emergency that much better. The other Nit-Pick I'd make would be to drop Triskelion for the third Lead from the Front. Both Maria and Nick are basically leaving play almost as soon as you pay for them so they don't take up much space at all. Shuri and Mockingbird's value is in their enter play effect and chump blocking, so they shouldn't stick around long either. That just leaves Vision and Hawkeye on the bench with a free slot left open to cycle through the others. That said, Triskelion does have some value here it's just tough to justify with only the Core Set.
Jul 25, 2022 neothechosen · 10794 Emergency could well hold the spot for its , although it is very seldom useful if memory serves. If it wasn't core only, neither it nor Haymaker would make the cut. Haymaker isn't there to be played per se, it fufills the 40 cards requirement or serves Vision, so Emergency can do the same and maybe be useful at times, agreed. I could also see the 3rd Lead from the Front, what I like about The Triskelion is that it thins your deck but indeed, until you buy an expansion and more allies, it isn't that useful. Thanks for the comment, I believe that discussions like these are also a part of what helps players evaluate cards more clearly!

2 comments

Jul 25, 2022 Erathis · 16

Ouch, Core only is both super tough and super easy. Almost no choices to make (because you have no cards to choose from) yet enough to agonize over if you wanted to.

To start off, I'd do Emergency over Haymaker.

While it doesn't see play much anymore (I still have it in my Iron Man deck!) Emergency was actually a playable card when the card pool was small. It's 1 Effective Resource for 1 Thwart, which is on rate. Haymaker's 3 ER for 3 Damage on the other hand is far below rate (for 3 ER you should be looking for closer to 6 damage).

There is also the fact that Threat Prevention is quite valuable, especially in the Core Set/Solo. Rhino is classically a villain that if you ever lose to him it's because you got an unlucky Advance, Emergency can help. Similarly Ultron's final scheme not allowing Thwarting makes Emergency that much better.

The other Nit-Pick I'd make would be to drop Triskelion for the third Lead from the Front. Both Maria and Nick are basically leaving play almost as soon as you pay for them so they don't take up much space at all. Shuri and Mockingbird's value is in their enter play effect and chump blocking, so they shouldn't stick around long either. That just leaves Vision and Hawkeye on the bench with a free slot left open to cycle through the others. That said, Triskelion does have some value here it's just tough to justify with only the Core Set.

Jul 25, 2022 neothechosen · 10794

Emergency could well hold the spot for its , although it is very seldom useful if memory serves. If it wasn't core only, neither it nor Haymaker would make the cut. Haymaker isn't there to be played per se, it fufills the 40 cards requirement or serves Vision, so Emergency can do the same and maybe be useful at times, agreed.

I could also see the 3rd Lead from the Front, what I like about The Triskelion is that it thins your deck but indeed, until you buy an expansion and more allies, it isn't that useful.

Thanks for the comment, I believe that discussions like these are also a part of what helps players evaluate cards more clearly!