Geeking Out – More Marvel, More Often

So this mid-month we’re taking a look at some of the Adepticon reveals and other highlights from the Marvel gamer-verse that are hitting the table in the next wee while.

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ADEPTICON REVEALS

Well, there’s a whole host of the House of X coming: Professor X, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Bishop, Nightcrawler, and even Shadow King (what faction is he going in, I wonder?). Great alternate heads for Prof X and Bishop and there’s sword and BAMF! options for Kurt.

And, there’s a whole host of Wakanda-themed goodies too, with an MCU-inspired Rivals panel and a host of terrain:

From Atomic Mass: “New Wakandan Terrain with optional game rules for the terrain. These will affect threat level for missions and add flare and flavor. Includes a Vibranium Hauler with doors that can fold open and closed and vibranium canisters that affect the gameplay using the optional terrain rules.”

Oh and this wee gem: “We may look back and add similar rules to past terrain sets.”

As if that’s not enough, we’re getting a new M’baku that crosses between comic and MCU and a Klaw with sonic echo built into the sculpt!

Rounding things off, Cosmic Ghost Rider and an Ultron complete with Drones:

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MARVEL CRISIS PROTOCOL – SQUIRREL GIRL & GWENPOOL

(RRP £43.99)

Coming May 12th, we have Gwenpool and Squirrel Girl twin-pack. So, first up, the 4 threat treat that is Squirrel Girl – and she, rightly, is incredible, possibly even unbeatable.

A R3 S5 builder from the outset is pretty bloomin’ nasty – but with a jump move to the opponent on a Wild? Spicy. But the real craziness starts with tiny Tippy-toe, costing power equal to the target’s threat and negating their ability to use Crits. Pesky Squirrels!

And if that’s not enough, on her injured side Tippy can take one for the team and prevent her being KO’d. Tippy! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Right, on to Gwenpool. We are a comic page, after all.

Gwenpool is good… just not great. She’s incredibly vanilla, especially for 4 threat. Solid numbers, a builder, a reroll, a teleport, a condition disher, a damage reducer… she’s… fine.

She’s just not terribly fluffy, or meta-screwy. Now her cards might be, I grant you, but for comparison look at Jeff the Land Shark in Marvel Snap – a card that can move and play anywhere, regardless of other conditions – he’s cheap, fluffy and busts the meta wide open. I just expected so much more.

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MARVEL CHAMPIONS – ROGUE & GAMBIT

(RRP: £16.99)

Although separate character packs, Rogue & Gambit (rightly) fit a similar, complementary design space in-game. They are both reactive, adaptive Heroes that will suit a variety of play styles.

Unusually, they both work well as Solo, two-player or multiplayer Heroes – even more surprising given that Rogue runs off Protection, but she has MASSES of thwart and plenty of punch as well: her Southern Cross deals a minimum of 6 damage, and her innate Touched card allows her to switch out bonus thwart, attack or even traits (OVERKILL time!) by attaching to friend and foe. She’s an exciting character to play and rounds out any 3-player X-Men set up perfectly – at a push she’s the marginally better buy after Mutant Genesis than Gambit (despite doubling up on Protection), but not by much, and she is also a superb foil to Wolverine and Storm.

Gambit is a bit more of a finesse character. Whilst I don’t want to literally throw the cards (Chaos Orb, this ain’t), I would like to have seen more discard / cycling options rather than just charge tokens. Ironically, it’s his (very good) alter-ego that does more of this, using them to remove threat. I really like that we’re getting more cards for Justice/Spy decks (hello, Natasha), although Thwart 1 on a Justice-driven character feels a bit odd.

Like I say, I think he’s great, he’s just hard to use properly. If I had to pick one, I’d lean towards Rogue, not just because of her Southern Charm but also because she comes with the Reavers as an encounter set, which is just a bit more interesting to me than Acolyte, who comes in Gambit – but that being said, if you want more mileage out of your Mutant Genesis (read our review HERE), Acolyte certainly dials that up a notch. Ah, decisions, decisions!

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Next month, we’re going a bit Guardians – can’t think why!

Meantime, don’t forget to check out our Star Wars Giveaway from the start of the month, and if you want to snag an extra entry, tell us what’s caught your eye from the Marvel roundup above!

Till next time, true believers!

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The Writer of this piece was: Sam Graven
Article Archive: Geeking Out
You can follow Sam on Twitter and Instagram

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