Avengers Week: Two For The Show.

In case you haven’t seen it, that bruiser was previewed in the new article on the mothership to inaugurate Avengers week.  It kinda blows my mind how big the beatdown will be if Hulk gets provoked for exactly 10 damage before he swings.  17 to the face? Ouch.  Then imagine, if you will, a way to keep him from being eliminated until your next turn.  Don’t get him hungry, you won’t like him when he’s hungry.

Oh, the other guy that gets to be a Leader character on the Avengers team right off the bat?  That would be Iron Man.  And, with the other killer card just revealed, he can’t be touched.  Scary, thrilling stuff.

Wanna Go First?

That is the old-school low-tech Iron Man suit that Tony Stark built in the desert. Yesterday on the mothership, we learned that it will get a cardboard incarnation in Marvel Superstars that packs a mighty punch. It can swing for six on turn one. Big beats, indeed.

Going first seems to be the aggressive approach in this game. Your enemy will not be able to play any Supporters to intercept. You will get a free shot on the opposing Leader with every character you control. Rush players drool at the idea, but beatdown beware. The player who goes second may have some sick early Action tricks lying in the weeds. Since the player who goes first draws one less card at the beginning of the game, the fast attack tack may have quite a few drawbacks. It remains to be seen what kind of alternative strategies will be keen. The anticipation is making us fiends.

First Supporter Character and Action Card unveiled.

Very, very strong. Rock solid. Imagine having the whole team on the board at the same time. This guy gets BIG.

Hmmm. It looks like Iron Man will be packing a rather powerful beam of light. Zap!

The Line-up is Set.

The waiting and wondering is over. Our eyes have seen the glory of the full line-up of Leader characters for the inaugural set of the Marvel Superstars Trading Card Game, and it is good. We have a Halle Berry.

Zap! Storm is joining Wolverine and Professor X as the first Leaders of the X-Men team affiliation.

Ouch! Ghost Rider burned a path to the final Marvel Knights spot on the Leader list. Hot times ahead.

How perfect! Mr. Fantastic will be joining his invisible mate as a Leader in the Marvel Premier set, which means that the Avengers will be left with only Hulk and Iron Man to represent.

Wow. The line-up is set, and it is simply magnificent. Here are the final 15 announced Leader characters. Get ready for a cardboard party unlike anything mankind has ever seen:

Avengers: Hulk and Iron Man

Fantastic Four: All four.

Marvel Knights: Blade, Elektra, and Ghost Rider.

X-Men: Professor Xavier, Storm, and Wolverine.

Villains: Abomination, Dr. Doom, and Magneto.

Our Odds for the Final Four.

With only four slots left on the list of the 15 original Marvel Superstars Leader characters to fill, we have our own wishes to reveal. As always with Legendary Cardboard, some of them are seductive underdogs that we would be crazy to actually hope for.

When calculating the odds on the inclusion of our desired final four, we made the assumption that each of the five teams would be give three different leaders in the Marvel Premier expansion set. With three Villains, two Avengers, two X-Men, two Fantastic Four, and two Marvel Knights already announced, it seems that there may be one more character chosen from each of the hero teams. These are our druthers, with some opinions about the chance of seeing them as mainstays in the intitial boxes. We are fairly sure that each of these myths will be represented by at least one supporter card, might they actually be Leaders?

Pepper Potts 20-1

Gwyneth Paltrow’s glimmering gal pal is going to get some serious action in the Iron Man 2 movie, but she probably didn’t have enough oomph in the first film. If they actually balance the teams with three leaders each they will need to find an Avenger other than Hulk and Iron Man, so she does have a hint of hope, but probably not gonna happen.

Rogue 20-1

Even though Anna Paquin is absorbing enormous amounts of popularity as a vampire right now, her role in the X-Men films may not be enough to make her a Leader character. Rogue has always been our favorite mutant, so we are taking the gloves off and crossing our fingers.

Invisible Woman 3-1

Jessica Alba seems like a sure thing, but her Leader character has not been announced yet. If the first set contains three per team, her inclusion would leave out Mr. Fantastic. Perhaps the Villains team will get more leaders than the heroes, or maybe the initial offering will have a “Fantastic Three”. We shall see.

Ghost Rider 2-1

The flaming skull may be a shoe-in if there are three leaders per team. With Elektra already representing the ninja side of Marvel Knights, Daredevil could be left looking for a future set to become a Leader character. The suspense is burning a hole in our heads, but it sure is fun to speculate while we wait.

All the Leaders We Know.

The Marvel Superstars Trading Card Game will elevate certain myths above the rest. These will be called Leader characters and they will be the basis for your personal strategy. So far we have learned the identity of eleven out of fifteen leaders in the inaugural Marvel Premiere set. Today we will run down the list and flash a bit of eye candy to get you all excited. As you can see above, the rivalry between Professor X and Magneto will be renewed on Legendary Cardboard…

Hulk and Abomination will be shaking card tables near you…

Iron Man soon shall soar in a whole new stratosphere…

Wolverine will be ripping shreds in enemy trading cards everywhere…

Human torch will be setting things ablaze…

Elektra will be roundhousing on your very own kitchen table…

Blade will be avenging demons in tournament halls…

Dr. Doom will be getting diabolical, while Thing clobbers some cardboard of his own. Pick your Leader Character and get ready to swing on some enemies, Marvel Superstars has a lively list of legends lined up to choose from with five more left to be announced. Cardboard combat will never be the same again.

World Championship Material.

One human player will be crowned as the World Champion of the Marvel Superstars Trading Card Game. An entire team of superhuman allies will be responsible for the victory. Who will it be? One can only guess.

It might be a balanced group of abilities tuned to perfection by its cardboard pilot. The Fantastic Four should bring a varied menu of game powers and strategies to satisfy the cerebral among us.

Perhaps, on the other hand, our future Marvel Superstars World Champion might crush the field using sheer savage force with the Hulk and his rival Abomination.

A World Champion needs to keep his or her cool during a challenging gauntlet of opposing teams and strategies. With Pepper Potts by his side, Iron Man may be the perfect candidate for the job.

The Marvel Superstars Trading Card Game World Championship is very far in the future, and it will change an morph many times before it actually arrives. By the time it gets here, the many marvelous mutations of the X-Men legends may emerge as the most viable team in all the land. The years ahead will tell us which of our modern Marvel movie myths will end up on top.

I’m an Iron Man, I’m a Wolverine.

From the first demonstrations at GenCon, to the interviews that followed, one thing is clear for the Marvel Superstars Trading Card Game. The initial starter set will feature Iron Man vs. Wolverine.

How will these two ultimate luminaries of the Marvel Universe be incarnated in our new game? It looks simple enough; Iron Man locks and burns, while Wolverine rushes and heals.

That is the Wolverine Leader character card. Leaders begin the game with 50 endurance. When their total is spent, the game is over. Every time you play an action card, your Leader gains a charge counter. Removing two charge counters from Wolverine heals for five. There are also reports of an effect that gives +2 attack points to all Wolverine characters you control. That promises to be a mad rush toward total opponent destruction.

The Iron Man Leader character card does three direct damage when its charges are removed. Bombs away! Is that all Tony Stark can muster? Of course not. We also have word of a lockdown strategy in the form of exhaustion. Feast your eyes.

Exhausting a character stops it from attacking or intercepting. Locking a dude down for two whole turns is just nasty. A control player’s dream in a mighty metal suit.

There will be many, many other ways to play Marvel Superstars. These two strategies are just the beginning. Still, we have enough data to make an informed decision.

Are you an Iron Man, or a Wolverine?

The Ben Seck Interview.

(Photo by Scott Gaeta.)

The Ben Seck is the only character of his kind in the entire world. I fondly remember getting waxed by his off-curve Gotham Knights draft deck at the top tables of Pro Circuit Indianapolis 2004. That was exactly five years ago, and the good times still linger. Having him in charge of the new Marvel Superstars Trading Card Game is a very comforting experience. Our new cardboard obsession is in the best of hands. Enjoy our interview with TBS, there is some explosive information enclosed. Notice, especially, the terms “World” and “Championship”. Game on!

What mechanics does Marvel Superstars share with traditional trading card games, and what mechanics are unique?

While all Trading Cards are somewhat related, I see games as a mixture of ingredients that form together to provide a unique experience. Though Marvel Superstars definitely shares some ingredients with some other games, it also brings to the table its own unique mechanics, and the combination of these create a new game experience!

Which Marvel characters and storylines will be featured?

The movies that have included Marvel Comics heroes and villains are all fair game for inclusion into this game. Don’t worry if you don’t see your favorite movie or character represented, with the current boom in comics movies, it will be only a matter of time before your favorite character is in a movie! Marvel has a full slate of upcoming feature films (such as Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers movie) and there are plans to integrate each of these into the Superstars umbrella.

Will Marvel Superstars have an Organized Play tournament circuit?

Marvel Superstars will have an exciting and robust tournament circuit, all the way up to a World Championship event. More details about this will be forthcoming.

How long does each game take to complete?

Each game takes about 5-15 minutes.

How many cards are in a Marvel Superstars deck?

Currently, Constructed decks are 50 cards (with a limit of 3 of each card) and sealed pack has a size of 30 cards. It’s possible that both of these numbers are subject to change.

Does Marvel Superstars support sealed pack play, including draft?

Yes. We’ve made sure that this game will be perfectly playable in sealed pack as well as booster draft.

What kind of artwork will be used on the cards?

This game will exclusively use images that are taken from movie images that include Marvel characters.

What will the first set be called?

The first set will be called “Premier Edition”, an homage to the cinema movies that the game is based upon.

What are the plans for future sets?

There will be future sets – we plan to release 3 major expansions per year.

Where will Marvel Superstars be sold?

Marvel Superstars will be sold in hobby game stores, comic stores, as well as other stores that carry Trading Card Games. Major retailers will also have access to some configurations of this game.

Who are the designers involved in the creation of Marvel Superstars?

There are many hands involved with the creation of this game engine – every member of the Upper Deck R&D team has worked hard to put it together. Mike Hummel, Dave Humpherys and Jeff Liu were pivotal in providing the foundation of the game engine, and myself, Dan Scheidegger and Justin Reilly also had a hand in developing the engine.

What do you hope players will experience when they play a game of Marvel Superstars?

The excitement of playing your favorite super-hero that you have seen on the silver screen!

Steve Rogers, is that you?

It seems that even Captain America approves of the decision to feature Iron Man on the first Marvel Superstars card. Photo by Scott Gaeta.