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Something that came to mind while listening to you talk about how situational a lot of his cards are: do you think it’s a consequence of his hero ability and his Alter Ego ability to be able to fetch and recycle these cards? you know, if they were all super effective or efficient maybe it would be too strong because he can access them so easily. i’m wondering if they thought hey let’s give him a bunch of wild cards that may or may not be awesome but if we make it really easy to find them that kind of makes up for it.
It's possible and it crossed my mind. I'm not 100% sure that's what they did intentionally, but maybe! If so, I think my preference would have been to tone things down a little elsewhere and make his kit less situational. But on the other hand, his cards are really satisfying when they hit in the right situation which I absolutely love
There's also the fact that he can do a lot with his base stats. He's got a ready and a stat bonus in his kit and he's got ways to avoid defending, so he can often attack and/or thwart for a total of five every turn. Also, while his cards are situational they are also very cheap if you have the helmet in play since that resource can't be used for anything else. If Electromagnetic Blast actually only costs 1 it's a lot better.
Thanks for the shout 😁 Great assessment of Magneto. I agree he has oddly situational cards and that to me makes him a unique hero in that way. Scrying the encounter deck is really satisfying for Magneto to pull the correct situation for what he wants to deal with, good point with Global Logistics 💯
Please read me! To make Magneto feel really awesome I wish he had a card with the following text: "Hero Action: Discard a Support in play and choose a player -> Deal X damage to the villain and every minion engaged with that player, where X is the printed cost of that upgrade multiplied by 3". *Imagine Magneto throwing the X-jet or Avengers Mansion over a board full of enemies!* That would feel like the real Master of Magnetism, no BS. Also, "choose one Support in play" means Magneto could use supports of any player to do this. I probably will design this card and substitute one of his less appealing cards with it. Cheers Villain 🎉
I went straight for Mutant Mayhem for my first Magneto deck. His ability to tank hits with toughs and his bubble makes the setup for that so much easier.
Only had the chance to play Magneto once, and I played a modified precon. Found myself having a lot of awkward turns with an awkward amount of resources in hand. 3 digging deeps might be too much... wrapped in metal and magnetic missle are really fun when you can get them to go off, but i found myself always having the wrong one in hand. Really dislike having dead hero cards in hand.
Now that the wave is over, I would love it if you would revisit your modular set ranking and best aspects and tell us where you think the new cards from this wave fit in.
magneto feels live Venom 2.0: plays well in any aspect, has a light build aspect which is quite quick to put up, several activations, money is not a problem, no signiture ally..
It is hard to think of a single card that is more important to their hero than the Cape is to Magneto. It really helps him stay productive during those clumpy turns where you draw all money and no action (or vice versa). Even Honey Badger doesn't seem quite as essential.
I agree with your statement. I tried repurpose, pool light saber and etc. but it’s unreliable. I rather play an event or ally in my deck. Extra point for Suit Up for being a great versatile card that is also a resource sink. If Magik cannot break the game with extra handsize and cost reduction, Magneto is no different. Not saying his bad, I love him a lot because he’s simple and there’s a lot of up and down when you wish you mill the right card.
I think something you touch on in the first section (Ready for Anything) that I'm seeing more and more of is over-synergy, specifically with the X-Men. There are simply too many cards that synergize with a hero and with each other to fit them all in a deck and have the deck actually do anything. This problem is highlighted by Magneto because his events are very situational, so you need your aspect cards (that you are discarding with his hero ability) to solve your board state issues for you in a lot of situations. Oddly enough, the cards Magneto needs the most are cards like Clobber and For Justice, and trying to index too much into all of the X-Men support means you need to hit those cards quickly or you'll fall too far behind. I really like comparing him to Magik, because I think both heroes share some similarities (getting extra resources and conditional stat increases), but I actually think Magneto needs X-Men synergy less than Magik. Magik needs to scale her output more compared to Magneto because Mags already gets extra cards and readies, while Magneto needs reliable early game options to solve the board while he builds and eventually outscales the encounter.
Think I'm getting confused by the last bit here about who needs allies more! But generally in agreement. Over-synergy isn't a phrase I've heard much before but I could definitely apply to the X-Men cards.
Great review, I put Magneto in that vanilla category like Captain America and Captain Marvel but in a good way I dont want every hero to be Psylocke. I've had success with him in Aggression (using a Jarnborn build) and Leadership (Uncanny). I think he is fun in solo and capable of beating any challenge in the game, but not sure how excited I would be to see a Magneto player in multiplayer as he doesnt really offer much or fill a role someone else can't do better.
Wow, cool I also tried the Jarnbjorn strat (though I didn’t run Lock and Load), but mostly for theme. It’s fun though in my experience I get maybe 1 or 2 turns of using Jarnbjorn liberally before the game ends. I’m curious what drew you to Jarnbjorn for him
@@spinnerrogers I've always found its good with characters with readies as you can use it multiple times per turn (once each attack with enough resources) as it doesnt exhaust. Magneto usually has excess resources so you need sinks so Jarnbjorn, Plan B, Machine Man, Blade, Lockjaw are all good for efficiency. Jarnborn's damage is also flexible as it isnt attack traited itself. The deck didnt rely on having Jarnbjorn on the table but all these cards meant I could always utilise my entire hand Edit: Also it's cheap and gives me something to discard to Caught of Guard as he needs his hero upgrades
Magneto shines better in multiplayer or minion heavy villain decks in regards to his hero cards. If you can get wrapped in metal out on two minions that removes two minions from the villain deck for as long as you want. To get the most out of Magneto you have to maximize his card recursion, which is difficult to do.
Fully agreed he does best in multiplayer. I typically like to Magnetic Missile my little Wrapped victims but sometimes I'll time it so they dodge the encounter deck resetting.
Great review, I agree that Magneto with Uncanny X-men is really strong. So strong that I'm having a hard time justifying using another aspect with him (for an optimized build).
Uncanny X-Men entered a whole new level of crazy with these allies now. If we're talking about optimizing, it's hard to beat. You might have to look at recursion Leadership to get close in my opinion.
I have heard the argument to go 50 cards with Magneto to dilute the magnetic cards and increase the number of cards discarded with each pull. If that was the case, does adding 3 copies of combo cards (when you would generally go with 1 or 2) offset his consistency/deck building issues?
What do you mean electromagnetic blast is situational? I ran him through the FFG weekly challenge 18 vs Crossbones, and I was very delighted to see it everytime 😂 Seeing that advanced glider come out didn't even worry me! He's been pretty fun to play so far, but other than that Crossbones game, I've only had him at three player count. I found I was rarely ending up with too many "dead" cards, although there were some suboptimal turns. It would always be annoying when I know I have a copy of the card I need still in the deck, and only one or two other magnetic cards and pull one of those instead. Its also great when you do pull the right tool for the job. I mostly just liked using the bubble for ping damage, while relying on chumps and toughs for attacks. I always have that problem with the 6 damage soaks like Groot or Forcefield generators I plan to repurpose. When I go to take a hit on them its almost always going to be a 6+ damage attack, and then I feel like I way overpaid for it! That being said, I just don't see him hitting my table too often. I think you are correct in your assessment that kind of generic is the most reliable way to play him. And I can run that deck with any number of other characters who have a more interesting hook! BTW, thanks for your recent Colossus deck! It heavily inspired the last game I ran with him and it was a ton of fun!
No mention of Ally Domino - did you try her with Magneto yet? Do you think she helps with not burning his deck too fast? (By putting one of his cards on top before you pull)
I totally forgot to mention Domino. Big fan of her in Magneto decks. I think she's great for his Armor and Digging Deep even more than avoiding burning his deck
A bit off topic but as someone who plays in the UK, do you know of any events being held in the UK (preferably near Wales) centred around Marvel Champion?
Afraid not, I only know a few local things and London really! Try asking here in the Marvel Champions UK Discord server if you use Discord: discord.gg/Qp9MSXyB
@VillainTheory so what you are telling me is there is an opportunity for a moderately successful Marvel Champions content creator to run his own Marvel Champions event within the UK 👀 I would happily attend. Sign me up 😊😂
Ohhh I meant to cover this in the video! For me, I like to stick with 40-42. I just think getting his Cape ASAP is so strong, and it makes recycling his resources back in more useful/sooner to be beneficial. I don't think going over is bad, it does have those upsides, but also introduces another element of uncertainty by diluting things. So I think it's fine either way but my personal preference/recommendation is don't go higher on purpose
I find him a bit dull to actually play, discarding all your good aspect cards in favor of mediocre identity specifics cards doesn’t feel great. He’s in my “meh” tier.
You can sacrifice his hero cards and then flip down to alter-ego to add them back in your deck. Magneto is weird in that you can sacrifice the cards you want for a better card in your hand and flip down to add the discarded but valuable cards back into your deck for later draw.
@ yeah I get the theory of it but as I’ve been playing it, I’ve found it to be more frustrating than rewarding. He doesn’t really have a reason for going to AE since his health is never an issue and Asteroid M is forgettable
@@WinningHandPodcast if you really need to dig for a specific aspect card in your deck you can just not use his ability, if anything choosing when and when not to activate his ability should give you more gameplay options
Magneto seems too vanilla, based on experience, sad. I wont say he is bad, but with too many heroes, he will probably never be played again after a month of buying and playing him. He feels like his main gimmick is he is rich, but his hero cards are only sometimes useful. 8 situational cards, asteroid M that is just so so, shield that is not that great, his cape and resource cards are nice, but losing some good cards every now and then due to discard feels bad.
![All X-Men Heroes & Villains - Retrospective Review [Marvel Champions]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ALtGpxEvqlY/mqdefault.jpg)
Check out www.chaoscards.co.uk/ for great board game deals! International delivery!
Use code CHAOSVILLAIN for £3 off when you spend £30+ on any basket! One use per customer. Excludes pre-orders and damaged items. VALID UNTIL JANUARY!
Something that came to mind while listening to you talk about how situational a lot of his cards are: do you think it’s a consequence of his hero ability and his Alter Ego ability to be able to fetch and recycle these cards? you know, if they were all super effective or efficient maybe it would be too strong because he can access them so easily. i’m wondering if they thought hey let’s give him a bunch of wild cards that may or may not be awesome but if we make it really easy to find them that kind of makes up for it.
It's possible and it crossed my mind.
I'm not 100% sure that's what they did intentionally, but maybe! If so, I think my preference would have been to tone things down a little elsewhere and make his kit less situational. But on the other hand, his cards are really satisfying when they hit in the right situation which I absolutely love
There's also the fact that he can do a lot with his base stats. He's got a ready and a stat bonus in his kit and he's got ways to avoid defending, so he can often attack and/or thwart for a total of five every turn. Also, while his cards are situational they are also very cheap if you have the helmet in play since that resource can't be used for anything else. If Electromagnetic Blast actually only costs 1 it's a lot better.
Thanks for the shout 😁 Great assessment of Magneto. I agree he has oddly situational cards and that to me makes him a unique hero in that way. Scrying the encounter deck is really satisfying for Magneto to pull the correct situation for what he wants to deal with, good point with Global Logistics 💯
Please read me! To make Magneto feel really awesome I wish he had a card with the following text: "Hero Action: Discard a Support in play and choose a player -> Deal X damage to the villain and every minion engaged with that player, where X is the printed cost of that upgrade multiplied by 3".
*Imagine Magneto throwing the X-jet or Avengers Mansion over a board full of enemies!* That would feel like the real Master of Magnetism, no BS.
Also, "choose one Support in play" means Magneto could use supports of any player to do this.
I probably will design this card and substitute one of his less appealing cards with it.
Cheers Villain 🎉
I went straight for Mutant Mayhem for my first Magneto deck. His ability to tank hits with toughs and his bubble makes the setup for that so much easier.
Only had the chance to play Magneto once, and I played a modified precon. Found myself having a lot of awkward turns with an awkward amount of resources in hand. 3 digging deeps might be too much... wrapped in metal and magnetic missle are really fun when you can get them to go off, but i found myself always having the wrong one in hand. Really dislike having dead hero cards in hand.
31:00 Turns out the real Marvel Champions was Magnetos we made along the way.
Love your reviews! I appreciate the amount of time and thought you put into them.
Now that the wave is over, I would love it if you would revisit your modular set ranking and best aspects and tell us where you think the new cards from this wave fit in.
magneto feels live Venom 2.0:
plays well in any aspect, has a light build aspect which is quite quick to put up, several activations, money is not a problem, no signiture ally..
Excellent review, thank you!
It is hard to think of a single card that is more important to their hero than the Cape is to Magneto. It really helps him stay productive during those clumpy turns where you draw all money and no action (or vice versa). Even Honey Badger doesn't seem quite as essential.
I agree with your statement. I tried repurpose, pool light saber and etc. but it’s unreliable. I rather play an event or ally in my deck. Extra point for Suit Up for being a great versatile card that is also a resource sink. If Magik cannot break the game with extra handsize and cost reduction, Magneto is no different. Not saying his bad, I love him a lot because he’s simple and there’s a lot of up and down when you wish you mill the right card.
I think something you touch on in the first section (Ready for Anything) that I'm seeing more and more of is over-synergy, specifically with the X-Men. There are simply too many cards that synergize with a hero and with each other to fit them all in a deck and have the deck actually do anything. This problem is highlighted by Magneto because his events are very situational, so you need your aspect cards (that you are discarding with his hero ability) to solve your board state issues for you in a lot of situations. Oddly enough, the cards Magneto needs the most are cards like Clobber and For Justice, and trying to index too much into all of the X-Men support means you need to hit those cards quickly or you'll fall too far behind.
I really like comparing him to Magik, because I think both heroes share some similarities (getting extra resources and conditional stat increases), but I actually think Magneto needs X-Men synergy less than Magik. Magik needs to scale her output more compared to Magneto because Mags already gets extra cards and readies, while Magneto needs reliable early game options to solve the board while he builds and eventually outscales the encounter.
Think I'm getting confused by the last bit here about who needs allies more! But generally in agreement. Over-synergy isn't a phrase I've heard much before but I could definitely apply to the X-Men cards.
Great review, I put Magneto in that vanilla category like Captain America and Captain Marvel but in a good way I dont want every hero to be Psylocke. I've had success with him in Aggression (using a Jarnborn build) and Leadership (Uncanny). I think he is fun in solo and capable of beating any challenge in the game, but not sure how excited I would be to see a Magneto player in multiplayer as he doesnt really offer much or fill a role someone else can't do better.
Wow, cool I also tried the Jarnbjorn strat (though I didn’t run Lock and Load), but mostly for theme. It’s fun though in my experience I get maybe 1 or 2 turns of using Jarnbjorn liberally before the game ends. I’m curious what drew you to Jarnbjorn for him
@@spinnerrogers I've always found its good with characters with readies as you can use it multiple times per turn (once each attack with enough resources) as it doesnt exhaust. Magneto usually has excess resources so you need sinks so Jarnbjorn, Plan B, Machine Man, Blade, Lockjaw are all good for efficiency. Jarnborn's damage is also flexible as it isnt attack traited itself. The deck didnt rely on having Jarnbjorn on the table but all these cards meant I could always utilise my entire hand Edit: Also it's cheap and gives me something to discard to Caught of Guard as he needs his hero upgrades
@@thomasmcintosh1452 All very good reasons, thanks
Magneto shines better in multiplayer or minion heavy villain decks in regards to his hero cards. If you can get wrapped in metal out on two minions that removes two minions from the villain deck for as long as you want. To get the most out of Magneto you have to maximize his card recursion, which is difficult to do.
Fully agreed he does best in multiplayer. I typically like to Magnetic Missile my little Wrapped victims but sometimes I'll time it so they dodge the encounter deck resetting.
After Iceman, Jubilee, and Nightcrawler, it was a breath of fresh air not having to jump through hoops to play his cards.
Great review, I agree that Magneto with Uncanny X-men is really strong. So strong that I'm having a hard time justifying using another aspect with him (for an optimized build).
Uncanny X-Men entered a whole new level of crazy with these allies now. If we're talking about optimizing, it's hard to beat. You might have to look at recursion Leadership to get close in my opinion.
I have heard the argument to go 50 cards with Magneto to dilute the magnetic cards and increase the number of cards discarded with each pull. If that was the case, does adding 3 copies of combo cards (when you would generally go with 1 or 2) offset his consistency/deck building issues?
What do you mean electromagnetic blast is situational? I ran him through the FFG weekly challenge 18 vs Crossbones, and I was very delighted to see it everytime 😂 Seeing that advanced glider come out didn't even worry me!
He's been pretty fun to play so far, but other than that Crossbones game, I've only had him at three player count. I found I was rarely ending up with too many "dead" cards, although there were some suboptimal turns. It would always be annoying when I know I have a copy of the card I need still in the deck, and only one or two other magnetic cards and pull one of those instead. Its also great when you do pull the right tool for the job.
I mostly just liked using the bubble for ping damage, while relying on chumps and toughs for attacks. I always have that problem with the 6 damage soaks like Groot or Forcefield generators I plan to repurpose. When I go to take a hit on them its almost always going to be a 6+ damage attack, and then I feel like I way overpaid for it!
That being said, I just don't see him hitting my table too often. I think you are correct in your assessment that kind of generic is the most reliable way to play him. And I can run that deck with any number of other characters who have a more interesting hook!
BTW, thanks for your recent Colossus deck! It heavily inspired the last game I ran with him and it was a ton of fun!
No mention of Ally Domino - did you try her with Magneto yet? Do you think she helps with not burning his deck too fast? (By putting one of his cards on top before you pull)
I totally forgot to mention Domino. Big fan of her in Magneto decks. I think she's great for his Armor and Digging Deep even more than avoiding burning his deck
A bit off topic but as someone who plays in the UK, do you know of any events being held in the UK (preferably near Wales) centred around Marvel Champion?
Afraid not, I only know a few local things and London really! Try asking here in the Marvel Champions UK Discord server if you use Discord: discord.gg/Qp9MSXyB
@VillainTheory so what you are telling me is there is an opportunity for a moderately successful Marvel Champions content creator to run his own Marvel Champions event within the UK 👀 I would happily attend. Sign me up 😊😂
Do you think you should run 40 or 50 card decks? Running more means you mill more for armor and it takes longer to deck out.
Ohhh I meant to cover this in the video! For me, I like to stick with 40-42. I just think getting his Cape ASAP is so strong, and it makes recycling his resources back in more useful/sooner to be beneficial. I don't think going over is bad, it does have those upsides, but also introduces another element of uncertainty by diluting things.
So I think it's fine either way but my personal preference/recommendation is don't go higher on purpose
I find him a bit dull to actually play, discarding all your good aspect cards in favor of mediocre identity specifics cards doesn’t feel great. He’s in my “meh” tier.
Totally fair. I do like his cards, there's just a lot of situational stuff 🤨
You can sacrifice his hero cards and then flip down to alter-ego to add them back in your deck. Magneto is weird in that you can sacrifice the cards you want for a better card in your hand and flip down to add the discarded but valuable cards back into your deck for later draw.
@ yeah I get the theory of it but as I’ve been playing it, I’ve found it to be more frustrating than rewarding. He doesn’t really have a reason for going to AE since his health is never an issue and Asteroid M is forgettable
@@VillainTheory which is frustrating! You discard stuff you can use for stuff you can maybe use.
@@WinningHandPodcast if you really need to dig for a specific aspect card in your deck you can just not use his ability, if anything choosing when and when not to activate his ability should give you more gameplay options
Magneto seems too vanilla, based on experience, sad.
I wont say he is bad, but with too many heroes, he will probably never be played again after a month of buying and playing him.
He feels like his main gimmick is he is rich, but his hero cards are only sometimes useful.
8 situational cards, asteroid M that is just so so, shield that is not that great, his cape and resource cards are nice, but losing some good cards every now and then due to discard feels bad.
I hope they balance complex heroes with basic ones. Since well i like the complex ones 🤣
First.