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Marvel Champions: The Card Game
#50BGG8.1RATINGHOT #45
Updated Sep 12
1–4
PLAYERS
45–90
MINUTES
2
BEST WITH
3.0
MEDIUM
DESIGNER CLARIFICATIONS2
Defeating a villain stage counts as defeating an enemydesigner
- CONTEXT
- The Rules Reference defines "defeat" by pointing to "villain defeat," which says reducing a villain's hit points to zero defeats that *stage*. Players disputed whether a villain stage is an "enemy," which determines if cards that trigger "after an enemy is defeated" (such as Chase Them Down) work on a villain stage defeat.
- RULING
- "Yes, defeating a villain stage is defeating an enemy."
AUTHOR: acharlie1377 (relaying Caleb Grace, designer, via FFG email)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(19 replies)DATE: 2019-11-21Consequential damage is the last step of an ally's basic attack or thwartpublisher
- CONTEXT
- Tigra heals 1 damage after she attacks and defeats an enemy, and she also takes 1 consequential damage for attacking. Players disputed whether the heal or the consequential damage resolves first, and whether the first player could choose the order.
- RULING
- "Dealing consequential damage is the very last thing that you will do when you use an ally's basic THW or ATK. That means that Tigra can stay on the table indefinitely so long as she is only used to defeat a minion with her ATK." Asked whether this means she cannot avoid the first point of consequential damage because the healing comes first, FFG answered: "Correct."
AUTHOR: LemonyFresh (Anthony Rubbo, relaying an FFG rules webform response)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(34 replies, 9 thumbs)DATE: 2019-11-05
Q&A12
What a player may do during another player's turncommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- During another player's turn, which of your own cards and abilities can you use?
- ANSWER
- You may trigger "Action" abilities — on cards you control in play, and on event cards in your hand — and you may use Interrupt, Response, and Resource abilities whenever their triggering condition occurs, including during the villain phase. You may not change form, play allies, upgrades or supports, use a basic attack or thwart, or recover outside your own turn.
Action abilities on cards another player controlscommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- If another player has a card in play with an Action ability, can you use that ability on their behalf when they request an action?
- ANSWER
- No. Cards in play are controlled by the player who played them, and only the controlling player may trigger their Action abilities. An ability that says "you" or "your hand" always refers to the controlling player — so only the Captain Marvel player may spend resources on Energy Channel, and Hellcat always returns to the She-Hulk player's hand.
Spider-Sense triggers on the attack's target, not on who defendslinked official sourcecommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- Does Spider-Man draw a card when he defends an attack made against another player, and does he still draw if someone else defends an attack made against him?
- ANSWER
- Spider-Sense depends only on who the attack was initiated against. The FAQ states that "Spider Man's ability resolves before any of the steps of the process detailed in the 'Enemy Attacks' section are performed." If Spider-Man is the original target he draws a card, whether he defends, another hero defends, an ally defends, or the attack goes undefended. If the villain initiates the attack against another player, Spider-Man does not draw — even if he or one of his allies defends.
AUTHOR: kneebiter (quoting the official FFG FAQ)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(28 replies, 20 thumbs)DATE: 2019-08-27Spider-Sense has no limit per villain phasecommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- If the villain attacks Spider-Man more than once in a villain phase, does Spider-Sense trigger each time?
- ANSWER
- Yes. The ability carries no per-phase limit, so it triggers on every attack initiated against Spider-Man. Abilities that are limited say so in their text.
Minions that enter play during step 2 of the villain phase still activatelinked official sourcecommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- If a boost card or a villain ability puts a minion into play in the middle of the villain phase, does that minion activate that same phase?
- ANSWER
- Yes, if it enters play during step 2. The villain activates first, then every minion engaged with that player activates — including any that entered play during the villain's own activation. Minions that enter play during steps 3 and 4, when encounter cards are dealt and revealed, do not activate unless the card putting them into play says they do.
AUTHOR: stephenfurmanek (citing the Hall of Heroes official FFG rulings page and a designer confirmation from Caleb Grace)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(17 replies, 6 thumbs)DATE: 2021-04-09"Revealed" is not the same as "put into play"community high-engagement
- QUESTION
- If a minion is put into play by an effect rather than revealed from the encounter deck, do keywords like Surge and Incite trigger?
- ANSWER
- No. Surge and Incite trigger on the card being *revealed* from the encounter deck. A minion put into play by another effect was never revealed, so those keywords do not trigger.
AUTHOR: mrsuitcase (confirmed by mournful)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(17 replies, 6 thumbs)DATE: 2021-04-09"Under Fire" resolves its When Revealed before its Surgecommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- "Under Fire" has both Surge and "When Revealed: Reveal the top card of the encounter deck." Is this simply Surge x2?
- ANSWER
- Not quite. Resolve the When Revealed effect first, revealing one card, then resolve Surge, revealing a second. Neither *deals* a card — both reveal directly from the encounter deck, so unlike a dealt card they are flipped face up and resolved immediately. The practical difference from Surge x2 is that the When Revealed portion can be cancelled by effects that negate When Revealed abilities, such as Spider-Man's Spider-Sense.
AUTHOR: Killbray (citing the Rules Reference)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(6 replies, 4 thumbs)DATE: 2019-11-28Searching an encounter deck that runs out of cardscommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- An encounter card tells you to discard from the encounter deck until you find a specific minion, but that minion is no longer in the deck. What happens?
- ANSWER
- The Rules Reference, "Empty Encounter Deck" on page 6, states: "If all cards from the encounter deck are discarded while an ability is looking for a specified card, the ability fails to find the card, the deck reshuffles, an acceleration token is placed, and the game continues. No cards are discarded from the newly shuffled deck." The search simply fails; you do not continue discarding from the reshuffled deck.
AUTHOR: Buffelbek (quoting the Rules Reference, page 6)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(8 replies, 15 thumbs)DATE: 2022-08-25"Advance" makes the villain scheme regardless of your formcommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- If you are in hero form when "Advance" is revealed, does its "the villain schemes" instruction fizzle, since villains only scheme against alter-egos?
- ANSWER
- No, it resolves. Your form determines only whether the villain attacks or schemes during step 2 of the villain phase; it never prevents a scheme caused by a card effect. "Advance" is a full villain activation, so the villain also receives a boost card for it. The card names the villain specifically, so engaged minions do not scheme from it.
Playing Interrupt and Response events from handcommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- Do you have to play an event with an Interrupt or Response ability in advance, during your turn, so that it is available when the trigger occurs?
- ANSWER
- No. Under "In Play and Out of Play" on page 9, events do not need to be in play to initiate their abilities. You play the event from your hand at the moment its triggering condition occurs — paying its cost and discarding it as part of resolving it — including during another player's turn or the villain phase. Only events labelled "Action", "Hero Action", or "Alter-Ego Action" are restricted to the player phase.
AUTHOR: Irrevenant (citing the Rules Reference, page 9)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(9 replies, 7 thumbs)DATE: 2020-07-19A defender must be declared before boost cards are flippedcommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- Can you wait to see the boost card before deciding whether to defend?
- ANSWER
- No. The Rules Reference sequence for an enemy attack is: deal a facedown boost card to the villain, declare the defender, then flip the boost card face up. The decision to defend is made before any boost card is revealed.
AUTHOR: Assussanni (citing the Rules Reference, "Attack (Enemy Activation)")SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(17 replies, 4 thumbs)DATE: 2022-05-04A player may defend an attack made against another playercommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- Can a hero defend an attack that was initiated against a different player, or can only that player's own allies defend?
- ANSWER
- Any player may exhaust their hero to defend an attack made against another player, and an ally may be exhausted to defend as well. An attack can have only one defender, and once a defender is declared it cannot be changed.
EDGE CASES3
Spider-Sense and stunned characterscommunity high-engagement
- SITUATION
- Either the villain or Spider-Man is stunned at the moment the villain would attack Spider-Man.
- RULING
- If the villain is stunned, the attack never initiates, so Spider-Sense does not trigger and no card is drawn — the same way the Rules Reference treats an attack prevented by Webbed Up. If Spider-Man is stunned, Spider-Sense still triggers normally, because the stun applies to his own activation, not to the villain's attack.
AUTHOR: vlad3theimpaler (corroborated by rlennon)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(28 replies, 20 thumbs)DATE: 2025-01-23A villain advances before your response to its defeatcommunity high-engagement
- SITUATION
- You defeat a villain stage with an attack and want to play a Response to that defeat, such as Chase Them Down, while a side scheme that the next villain stage would put into play is already on the table.
- RULING
- The villain advances first. Defeat occurs before the end of the attack, and advancing to the next stage is an immediate consequence of that defeat, so the new stage is revealed and its When Revealed text resolves before any Response opportunity opens. If that When Revealed would put a side scheme into play that is already in play, it does nothing. Your Response then resolves against the board state that follows.
AUTHOR: acharlie1377 (with WBuchanan citing the Rules Reference, page 14)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(19 replies)DATE: 2019-11-19Ultron's drones and the order of his activationcommunity high-engagement
- SITUATION
- Ultron I places a drone after his attack resolves, while Ultron II places a drone before his attack resolves and gains +1 ATK for each drone engaged with the defending identity.
- RULING
- For Ultron I the sequence is: Ultron attacks, the defender is declared, the boost card is flipped, damage resolves, then a drone is placed. For Ultron II the drone is placed first, raising Ultron's attack value, and the attack then resolves. In both cases the new drone is in play during step 2 of the villain phase, so it activates in that same step after Ultron finishes. A drone placed by an encounter card during steps 3 or 4 does not activate, because those cards do not instruct minions to attack.
AUTHOR: stephenfurmanek (citing Rules Reference 1.7, page 28, "Minion")SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(18 replies, 8 thumbs)DATE: 2023-02-03
Last researched: 2026-08-10
CATEGORIES
Card Game·Collectible Components·Comic Book / Strip·Fighting
MECHANICS
Card Play Conflict ResolutionCooperative GameDeck ConstructionEventsHand ManagementInterruptsScenario / Mission / Campaign GameSolo / Solitaire GameTurn Order: Progressive
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An opponent's settlement blocks your road network — your road cannot be built through or past an occupied intersection.
◆ Catan — Roads & Building, p. 7
At the end of each round, the player with the most of the goal trait scores points equal to their amount; the player with the second most scores fewer.
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Null cards deal 0 damage regardless of base value or any bonuses applied.
◆ Gloomhaven — Attack Modifier Deck, p. 23
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