Marvel Champions Is the Best Two-Handed Solitaire on My Shelf, and I Mean That as a Compliment

I bought the core set mostly because I was burned out on Arkham Horror’s random bag ruining my day every other scenario, and I figured, fine, I’ll try the lighter cousin. Full disclosure, I never read superhero comics as a kid, so the theme meant nothing to me going in, I just wanted a coop LCG that didn’t punish me for existing. Ended up playing something like fifty solo games before I ever got a second person to the table, and that’s honestly the mode this thing is built for. You discard cards from your hand to pay for other cards, flip between hero and alter ego, and there’s a real puzzle in figuring out what you can afford this turn versus what you’re saving for the villain’s next scheme.

At exactly two players it clicks in a way it just doesn’t past that. One reviewer put it well, it shines at two because the players can actually assist each other, and I felt that hard the first time my buddy used his card draw to bail me out of a bad turn. Push it to three or four though and more than two players doesn’t really add much to the experience, it just adds time. Someone else called it out too, great at two, but higher counts get long with too much downtime while you wait for your turn to matter again.

Where this game loses me a little is the money sink. Card packs run something like thirty bucks a pop and one guy on here said flat out that’s what made him sell his copy, the money sink got to be too much. I get it. Between the nemesis packs and hero packs I’m easily two hundred deep and I haven’t touched half of it. Per hour of actual fun it’s still fine, I’ve gotten dozens of hours out of the core box alone, but the treadmill is real and FFG knows exactly what they’re doing to you.

Four stars. Great puzzle, rough on the wallet if you let it be.