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Marvel Champions: Star-Lord Hero Pack
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Description
The first of the Guardians of the Galaxy hero packs could only be one person: their leader, Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord). The Star-Lord Hero Pack comes equipped with the leadership aspect which is only fitting. As in every hero pack, Star-Lord comes with a nemesis. For Peter, it’s his own father, King J’son of Spartax, Mister Knife.
Star-Lord
First, let’s look at Star-Lord himself. He has a standard health pool, recovery, and hand size of 10, 3 and 6. These are standard, being alike to most other heroes. On his alter ego side he has a setup ability that allows him to start with one of his element guns in his hand. this is very useful as he could deal at least 3 damage every round if he has a spare resource. He also has another ability called Smooth Talker. This allows him to swap a card in his hand for the card on the top of his deck once per round. Very handy if you have a card you want to save for the next round.
This could also combo well with abilities that let you see the top card of your deck. This ability works very well with the Cosmo ally ability, which has you guess what card type is on top of your deck to stop Cosmo from taking consequential damage.
Flipping over to his hero side, his hand size changes to 5 and his thwart, attack, and defence change to 2, 2 and 1. Only having defence of 1 is a downside but Star-Lord has some cards that will reduce or block damage for him. As the leader of the guardians, it is only right that he has an ability to improve that skill. Any ally that Star-Lord Controls gains the guardian trait. This is useful as it means that he can run allies that aren’t guardians, and still affect them with his cards that only work on guardians.
His next ability “What could go wrong” showcases another theme of his deck, risk-taking. This ability allows you to take a facedown encounter card to reduce the cost of a card by 3. Star-Lord has cards in his deck that deal him more cards and some that improve based on the number of encounter cards he has taken.
Star-Lord’s Cards
Talking about his other cards, the 15 cards in the Star-Lord Hero Pack have a good spread of abilities. Some can strengthen his allies and others can play off his risky nature. A few highlights of his cards would have to be Nova Prime, Sliding Shot, Leader of the Guardians and Star-Lord Helmet.
First in that list is his ally Nova Prime. He may look expensive at a cost of 5 but that could be reduced to 2 at the price of an encounter card. Nova prime has a good attack of 3 but the main attraction is his response ability. When he’s played, he can defeat a non-elite minion. This is a very useful ability if there is a minion getting your way.
The next card I want to mention is Sliding Shot, as it is Star-Lord most lethal card. Using this card with Star-Lords “What could go wrong” ability and some of his cards can get Sliding Shot to do 9 damage or even more.
Star-Lord’s Leader of the Guardians upgrade gives each guardian you control +1 thwart. This works well with a leadership deck because if you’re focusing on bringing allies out then you give each of them this bonus for a lot of extra thwarting. Star-Lord’s Helmet can allow you to set up for one great turn after another. Being able to increase your hand size so much gives you the ability to play a lot of cards a turn. To be able to have back-to-back large hand sizes you would need to survive the onslaught of encounter cards you would be dealt. Working with someone who focuses on defence, like Groot, or dealing with encounter cards, like Black Widow, can help Star-Lord get away with this though.
Leadership And Basic Cards
The leadership and basic cards that come with the Star-Lord hero pack allow him to deal out a lot of damage on top of what he can already do. The cards I would highlight out of these are Yondu, Air Supremacy, Blaze of Glory and Knowhere.
Yondu is one of the best leadership allies available for decks based around upgrading allies. Like Black Cat, Spiderman’s unique ally, Yondu takes no consequential damage when he attacks. Having a deck based around ally upgrades would mean you can raise Yondu’s attack and have him fight every round for free.
Next up is Air Supremacy, a card that finally brings a use to the aerial trait. Some characters receive the aerial trait from cards, and it always felt like it would become useful at some point. That time is now. This card, alongside the 3 other cards that come with the pack for the other aspects, focuses on the aerial trait. Characters like Spider-Woman and Doctor Strange received aerial from cards but it isn’t used again in any of their cards. Now there are aerial cards that can be used in each aspect. This means there can be more synergy in decks where heroes couldn’t utilise their aerial trait before.
Another one of Star-Lords cards that works well when he has a full board of allies is Blaze of Glory. This card gives each guardian character +2 attack and thwart till the end of the phase. However, it then deals 1 damage to each of them at the end of the phase. What makes this card even better is that it isn’t limited to characters you control. This card gives the bonus to other guardian heroes too. From games I’ve played with this card, it’s fun to realise you’ve won just because this card can buff so many characters at once.
To further improve Star-Lords ability to utilise allies the card Knowhere lets him play an extra ally, allowing him to have 4 out at one time. This card even has the added benefit of allowing a player to draw a card after they play a guardian ally.
Final Thoughts
The Star-Lord Hero Pack is an excellent leadership deck with the cards he comes with. A few tweaks here and there could improve his deck but most of the cards he comes with work very well with him. On top of that, he would work well in other aspects like aggression. Star-Lord works best when you embrace the chaos and risk that comes with dealing yourself encounter cards. Have a turn where you play risky, take three encounter cards, and then spend the next turn recovering.
When the villain gets low on health and you have a hand that could get you the win, but it looks too risky, take it. Star-Lord can deal massive damage and that makes him super fun. Try playing him alongside other guardians and use Blaze Of Glory and watch as the villain’s health disappears. Try building a deck centred around buffing allies, especially Yondu and it will not disappoint. This hero pack is a solid buy for any marvel champions collector and owning the Galaxy’s Most Wanted expansion makes it even better.
Marvel Champions is a 1-4 player superhero game. Each player takes on the role of a Marvel hero to battle it out against one of three villains. Play as Captain Marvel, Spiderman, She-Hulk, Black Panther, or Iron Man and face off against Rhino, Klaw, or Ultron. Each Hero is represented by a deck, consisting of basic cards, Hero-specific cards, and aspect cards. Each Villain is represented by a deck of cards, comprising villain-specific cards, basic villain cards, and a modular encounter set.
Marvel Champions is a Living Card Game (LCG). As such, the publisher, Fantasy Flight Games, is expanding the game with new Hero & Villain packs all the time. If you’re inclined, check out a full review & final thoughts of the core game here.
Set-Up
To set up the game, each player will select a Hero to play and place their identity card, alter-ego side up in front of them. The identity card will number the hit points they have and these are entered into the hit point dial. Each Hero will have an obligation card and a set of Nemesis cards which are set aside for the moment. The player then shuffles their player deck which will consist of Hero specific cards, basic cards, and aspect cards. Hero decks come pre-constructed but players are free to build their own decks whilst complying with the deckbuilding rules.
Next, a Villain is selected and is placed on the table along with the Villain’s main scheme and the Villain’s main deck. The Villain’s hit points are entered into the Villain’s hit point dial. The main scheme may have some setup instructions which are followed and resolved at this stage. The relevant encounter cards and modular sets and the Heroes obligation cards are added to the Villains the main deck and shuffled to form the encounter deck.
Each player then draws a starting hand of cards as detailed on their identity card and can discard any number of cards, drawing back up to their hand limit. If a Hero has any setup instructions these are resolved and followed now.
The game is played over a number of rounds, alternating between the player’s turns and then the Villains turn. On a player’s turn they can perform a number of actions:
- change form from alter ego to Hero or Hero to alter ego but only once per round,
- play cards from their hand paying the relevant resource costs
- Use their Heroes basic attack or thwart ability (only in Hero form and exhausting their identity)
- Use an ally they control to attack or thwart (exhausting the ally)
- Activate an action card they control (and exhausting the card if applicable)
- Use their alter-egos recovery ability to gain hit points (only in alter ego form and exhausting their identity)
Once a player has performed all of their actions they pass, the next player performs their actions until all players have passed. At this stage players can discard any remaining cards in their hand (if they want) and draw up to their hand limit (This may change depending on the form they are in) Each player then readies all of their cards (identity, allies, action cards).
Next is the Villain phase. At the start of the Villain phase threat is placed on the main scheme as detailed on the main scheme card. The villain and any minions then activate against each player. If the player is in Hero form the Villain attacks. If the player is in alter ego form the Villain schemes and adds a threat to the main scheme. Each time the Villain activates they draw a card from the encounter deck and add the number of boost icons to his base attack or scheme value. The Villain then deals each player an encounter card face down and in turn order, each player reveals and resolves the encounter card.
The first player token then passes to the next player and the player’s start the round again.
The game continues this way until the Villain has been defeated by reducing his hit points to zero for both stages and the player’s win. Players lose if the Villains scheme threshold reaches its maximum or they all have their hit points reduced to zero.
Strategy
What I love about Marvel Champions is the way the Heroes and Villains play differently. The key to success is figuring out how the Heroes play, their strengths, weaknesses, and how to best utilise them to take down the Villain. Certain Heroes require a certain amount of setup to become strong. He is best left in alter ego mode as he builds up his suit, armour, and weapons. Once he is up and running he can be a formidable character.
Figuring out when to stop building and when to take the fight to the Villain comes with practice and experience but it is worth that time investment. Where it might seem that you are not making progress by hitting the enemy it’s wise to learn the “arc” of the Hero and play into that. Being efficient with your cards and trying to not have any cards left in your hand at the end of the turn is a good idea.
The board state needs to be managed very carefully. Often the best move is not necessarily just smacking the villain in the face. Controlling the minions and the side schemes that can mount up is often a better move. Keeping an eye on the main scheme threshold is also key. Knowing how the Villains play and what’s in the encounter deck can help you decide how best to defeat them. At some point you will have to start dealing damage to the Villain but knowing when to push and when to hold off and control the threat/minions is critical. Like the Heroes, each Villain and modular encounter set has a different feel. Knowing how to handle them is essential. The timing of when to defeat one stage and advance to the next is often a critical step.
Aspects
There are four aspects in the game that all have their unique playstyles.
Aggression, as the name suggests, is all about hitting the enemies hard and fast. Generally, aggression based Heroes are not great at thwarting and removing threat from a scheme. Subsequently, t is often a race against the threat build-up and taking the Villain down
Justice is more focused on removing threat from schemes. Justice based characters are good at managing threat and keeping things under control however they are not typically hard hitters.
Protection is all about defending, preventing damage, and healing. It can react to incoming attacks, prevent that damage and sometimes cause reactive effects based on that.
Leadership is a very versatile deck and can do a lot of things but is mostly about bringing out Allies.Allies can be good for attacking, thwarting and defending and is a good all purpose aspect if used with a large selection of ally cards. Protection is reliant on these allies so Villains that target allies can make this aspect weak.
Deck building is a big part of Marvel Champions. You can customise your Heroes deck around the Villain you’re facing. There are great resources online such as www.marvelcdb.com
Zatu Score
You might like
- Being the Leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy
- The risky playstyle of the deck
Might not like
- Benefits from knowing the villains deck
- The danger of taking multiple encounter cards