Marvel Remix Card Game

Marvel Remix is a hand management game from Wizkids and designed by Bruce Glassco based on his original game Fantasy Realms. It plays 2-6 players and runs approximately twenty minutes.

What A Marvel

In the box for Marvel Remix you will get two decks of cards. One villain deck which contains, as you can imagine, a series of villains all from the Marvel universe and one remix deck. The latter is a little more complex as it contains a series of different suits, however what unites them is that they are all connected to the heroes of the Marvel world.

The first thing you will need to do is shuffle both decks and deal six remix cards and one Villain to each player. The object of the game will be to have as many points from the cards in your hand as possible by the time the end of the game is triggered. The only condition to score is by the time the game ends, you must have at least one Villain in your hand along with at least one Hero or one Ally. Everything else is up for grabs.

Player turns are simple. Each player in turn will take a card and play a card. A card may be drawn from either deck or from the shared face up discard row. Then they must discard a card from their hand into the aforementioned discard row. As soon as there are ten cards discarded then the game is instantly ended and all cards are scored using the handy score pad included.

POW!

So what does each card contain? The first thing is the name followed by the artwork. Most cards will have one character or scene on them whereas there are a handful of characters that can be flipped to reveal a new character. Cards can only be flipped if the cards in your hand meet a specific requirement. For example, with the right collection of cards you can flip Tony Stark around to become Iron Man making his card more powerful. All cards will have a core value in the top left corner, with villains tending to give you minus scores whereas everything else will lean more positive. Then there are the tags. Most cards will have a series of icons along the left, under the core value. These thirteen tags really are the meat of the game. Along the bottom of most cards will be a scoring initiative. It may offer you bonus points for each type or combination of tags you have in your hand. This is how you decide what cards to keep and which to discard. For example, Black Panther will offer you an extra five points for every other Wakanda tag you have in your hand. Some will also ask for other suits rather than tags. But what are the suits…

BLAM!

There are six suits:

• Hero/Ally – these two will represent specific characters and will normally come with a series of tags depending on their skill or type of hero they are. Some of them will want to pair together, for example Shadowcat will want to work with her Ally, Lockheed.
• Location – The cards are usually not worth many core points and really rely on collecting tags in order to score and many other cards will want to be at a type of location.
• Conditions/Maneuvers/Equipment – These will all want to be paired with different types of Hero or Ally cards usually scoring big if you can combo multiple tags.
• Villains – As already discussed, these will generally have a large score attached to them but will lose a lot of points unless their condition is met. For example Mystique is worth a large 14 points but will lose you 20 points unless your hand has two or more ‘Intel’ tags.

BOOM!

Finally there is blanking in Marvel Remix. Some cards will blank others unless certain conditions are met. If a card is ‘blanked’ then you cannot count anything on it for end game scoring. Sometimes you might want to blank a card in order to stop you losing points but beware than blank cards score no points at all. For example ‘Worthy’ is worth a great 11 points but is blanked unless you have a Villain card with a core score of 12 or more.

That is it. As soon as ten cards are in the shared discard row then the game stops immediately and everyone scores their cards. Highest score saves the universe!

I love Marvel, there is no getting away from that. So when someone says, “would you like to play this game?” and they pull out a box with Marvel on the cover, I get very excited. Marvel Remix is just a little gem as well and here is why.

Stunning art.

It’s a very simple set up and it is a card game. Before even getting to this though the cover art on the box and printed on the cards is absolutely spectacular. We have classic Marvel comic art on display here and it just looks brilliant. Very much pleasing on my eyes.

Gameplay.

The rules are so simple. The game is for 2 to 6 players and is estimated at about 20 minutes. The deck contains 61 remix cards and 18 villain cards, that’s it.

Every player is dealt a hand of 7 cards, the remaining card deck left in the middle. The remix cards contain an assortment of heroes, equipment, locations, allies and more. The round is simple, draw a card and then discard a card. Players have the option (after the first players turn) to draw the card from the discarded item area. All discarded cards remain visible and when 10 cards are discarded, final counting begins straight away.

The players have to create a hand of cards that compliment each other and work towards creating the highest score possible. Players have to have a villain in the mix if they want to score well, you will be penalised without a villain. Work through all the cards and the bonuses printed on to determine the winner. There is a score pad included which is a lovely touch of detail that I appreciate.

The Devil is in the details.

This is such a clever game. Every card contained within it is totally unique, no duplications. Therefore, every card has its own unique attributes that can work and compliment very well with other cards. Like Captain America on one card, unsurprisingly compliments very well with his shield. They gain bonuses when you have both cards in your hand.

Then also, some cards clash and you can be heavily penalised for holding both in your hand. So you do need to strategize and do so quickly.

The game reminds me of Rummi or Rummikub in how you are trying to find the right tiles and cards to align with what is in your hand. However, with all the unique attributes there is so much more depth and then you need to consider how you can maximise a built up score. Plenty to consider here and very much a race to get it done within the 10 card discard limit.

There is a significant chance element involved with this game. It is somewhat lucky on whether you get the card you need. To see an opponent discard a card you need, then the following player picks it up and adds it to their hand is devastating when you know where it is at. That being said, the satisfaction of getting the card you need is pretty awesome. You cannot help but smile (on the inside, don’t give your game away).

Final Thought

It’s on my wishlist so that will tell you everything there is to know in my view. I absolutely loved it. The game is very fast, a wonderful theme and plenty of things to consider during the play. I want it!

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