Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game
Official Description:
Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game is set in the Marvel Comics universe. Players take on the roles of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, recruiting powerful Marvel heroes to form a deck capable of taking down a mastermind villain and thwarting their evil scheme. The game is semi-cooperative, as players work together to defeat the mastermind, but only one player will ultimately be declared the winner based on victory points.
At the start of the game, players select a mastermind villain and a scheme, which determines the scenario and special rules for that session. A hero deck is constructed from a selection of Marvel heroes, and a villain deck is built from various villain groups, henchmen, and bystanders. Each player begins with a basic deck and, over the course of the game, recruits new hero cards to strengthen their deck, defeat villains, and rescue bystanders.
As the game progresses, villains emerge from the villain deck, attacking the city and creating challenges for the players. Players must balance recruiting heroes, defeating villains, and working together to prevent the mastermind from completing their scheme. The game ends when the mastermind is defeated or the scheme succeeds, with the player who has accumulated the most victory points declared the winner.
Legendary Marvel serves as a modular foundation that truly finds its stride only once expansion content is added to broaden hero synergies and Mastermind schemes. While it lacks the sharper mechanical edge of the Encounters line, it remains a reliable, utility-driven baseline for any long-term Marvel library. The draw for veteran groups is the evolving puzzle of optimizing card sequencing—timing hero abilities and chaining keywords for maximum effect. It is a functional system that rewards repeat play, especially as the card pool grows and the tactical wrinkles become more pronounced.
Logistically, this title is a significant commitment. The manual process of sorting villain decks, assembling hero sets, and wrangling bystanders creates a high setup tax. Furthermore, the stock insert is quickly outpaced by expansions or sleeved cards, making aftermarket storage a practical necessity for keeping the 60-minute session from being derailed by organizational chaos. It demands a substantial table footprint and a host who doesn't mind the upfront effort required to get the "main event" under way.
Teaching the game is a procedural affair that requires a steady hand. The biggest hurdle is getting new players to internalize card sequencing; the specific order of hero play is vital for optimizing keywords and stat bonuses. Once this logic shift is mastered, the game runs relatively smoothly, allowing the host to step back. The indirect competition for victory points keeps table energy high, but the semi-cooperative structure ensures everyone remains focused on the shared threat of the Mastermind.
MY score
9
Our Total Plays
289
Last PLayed
22 Mar 25
🔥 In Rotation
Player Count
1-5
Playtime
60 mins
