Marvel: Remix is card drafting, set collection in which players will be building a team of heroes to take on a villain. It is essentially a rebrand of Fantasy Realms with an additional twist.
Each player is dealt a hand of six remix cards that will be a mix of characters, items and locations and one villain card, with all cards being depicted throughout the Marvel Universe. On a player’s turn they simply select one card from the remix deck, villain deck or from the central discard pile and add it to their hand. The player will then discard one card from their hand to the central discard pile.
The cards contain “tags” and abilities that will all score and combo in different ways as well as containing a base point value. The play continues this way until 10 cards have been discarded to the central discard pile and the game ends. Players will count up their points and the player with the most points is the winner.
Final Thoughts
Full disclosure, I have never played Fantasy Realms, however, I know enough about the game to know that Marvel: Remix shares a lot of the same DNA as the parent game. So is Marel: Remix just Fantasy Realms with a different skin or is there more to it. Well, lets find out.
For the most part, this is just a reworked version of Fantasy Realms with Marvel art. Being a Marvel fanboy this appeals to me hugely. There is one twist, which I do really like, and that is that if you do not have a hero/ally card and a villain in your hand at the end of the game you score zero points. Although it might seem like a small addition it is a fun twist and one that ties in with the games setting. It may also seem like something that will not happen often, but the game is so quick that the end can sneak up on you and I have seen far too many players score zero.
I do really like this game for what it is. This is a quick 20 minute playing game that you can throw down and play almost anywhere. Yet, it does have some tense decisions to be made. I often find myself evaluating my hand of cards and pivoting to what has been discarded. There are a huge range of tags and special abilities which mean you can score your points in a range of ways. This does mean that you are constantly evaluating and re-evaluating your hand of cards to maximise the points you can score. There can be times when you throw away a card that is perfect for someone so there is an element of luck involved. But in a 20 minute card game with minimal set up and low rules overhead, it does not bother me at all.
Marvel: Remix is ideal for an end of night filler game or when you have a quick 20 minutes to spare. It has a small enough footprint that you could play in most locations and is very easy to teach. Although I do enjoy the IP very much, I do not love all Marvel games, but this is one that I do enjoy a fair bit.