Welcome, Sam to our Marvel Champions 20 Questions Hotseat. Thank you for taking time out of your day to answer our questions.
It’s a pleasure to be here! I love talking about this game!
Without further ado, let’s get started.
1. Let’s kick this off with your history with Marvel. What was your history with Marvel, if any, before you discovered Marvel Champions?
My history with Marvel has mostly been with the movies and cartoons. The earliest I remember watching were The Sam Raimi Spider-Man films, and I fell in love with the character. I also watched the Fantastic Four cartoon and one of the Spider-Man cartoons. After that i pretty much just watched all the Marvel Movies I could from The MCU to even one of my favorites, Ghost Rider. I read the comics for a short time in 2014 but quickly fell out of that.
2. Moving into Marvel Champions, where and when did you learn about the game?
I discovered this game at Gencon during the Inflight Report. I was there when it was announced, and I was immediately hooked and pre-ordered the game before I even demoed it.
3. Before playing the game, what was your first impression?
I was stoked to see another coop LCG. and the fact that it was Marvel made it a thousand times cooler to me. And when they announced it would be one to four players i was ecstatic. It looked amazing and I hadn’t even got the chance to try it yet. Also the fact that Spider-man was in the core helped tremendously.
4. When did you play the game your first time and how did it affect your first impression?
I demoed the game at Gen Con and it was even better than I could’ve imagined. I played with some of the Cardboard of the Rings Guys, and it was fantastic. I knew our demonstrator and he started us off with Klaw instead of Rhino and I got to play Spider-Man so it basically tripled my excitement for the game
5. Clearly you love the game enough to do content for it, what was the final push that made you want to do content?
I’ve always wanted to do a podcast for a game I loved, so as soon as the game was announced I reached out to people on both the Mythos Busters Discord and the COTR discord and mentioned needing co-hosts. So the five of us from Deck-Celsior started planning and we were all super excited to produce content.
6. Speaking of content, what kind of content do you do for the game and where can people find it?
I do a podcast with four other guys, we are Deck-Celsior! We also post gameplay videos to our youtube channel!
We are on most podcast platforms, but you can also find us at:
www.deckcelsior.com
https://www.facebook.com/deckcelsiorpodcast/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC85gxQtFB4rByY7yvs738_g
And our discord server!
7. Has doing content for the game taught you anything about the game or yourself that you may not have learned? If so what was it, If not why not?
I’ve learned a lot about my playstyle through the podcast. For example I LOVE Hulk ally, because he really challenges you in deckbuilding and he is so much fun to play with. I’ve also discovered I’m not the biggest fan of Black Widow, because I like being proactive and not reactive.
8. Diving into the game itself, who is your favorite hero to play as, what aspect is your favorite and why?
My favorite hero to play is between Spider-man (big surprise) and Captain America. I love how fun the heroes are. Spider-man can really be built with any aspect for doing one sole purpose and he will excel in it. And his kit is strong and so thematic. Cap is very proactive, and he really feels powerful. I love solo and I can always rely on Cap to save the day no matter the aspect.
As for the aspects, it really depends on the hero. I love protection with Spidey, Cap, and Black Panther. I love aggression with Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Panther. I love leadership with Cap, Captain Marvel, Spidey, and Panther. And I love Justice with Widow, Iron Man, Cap, and Thor.
Each aspect has cards i love and cards I don’t, so I can never really choose just one as my favorite.
9. How about the villain side, who is your favorite villain to play against, which encounter set is your favorite so far and why?
I actually really love to play against Ultron. He just hits you in a ton of ways and he is the most interesting villain so far for me. Mutagen Formula Green Goblin is a close second, but the interplay between your deck becoming drones in Ultron gives it my top spot.
My favorite Modular is easily Power Drain, just because it’s such a cool set. It accelerates the scheme with out actually putting threat on the scheme, and it thins the encounter deck making the villain feel more consistent. Also Electro is a Spidey villain, so bonus points.
10. How do you prefer to play and if it is not alone, what does your playgroup look like?
I prefer solo, just because its honestly a great way to relax and just have a good time. When I play 2 player its typically with my dad and we play a lot together when I am home from college. Than for anything larger its always with the other hosts.
11. Do you customize your gaming experience anyway that goes beyond the official rules for the game, if so how and why?
I’ve only done so once or twice. The main one being a 5 player game but the fifth player was the villain and we created special rules where they picked the boost cards at the start of the villain phase and they dealt the encounter cards to each player. Other than that I’m not personally a huge fan of custom content so I haven’t really dived into any of it.
12. As is, how does Marvel Champions stack up to other games you play or have played?
It is currently my favorite LCG, and I play all three co-op LCG’s. This one is the most fun for me and I love the setting way more. And now that we are getting a campaign with this upcoming box that really puts this one above the others for me.
13. Is there anything you would change with how the game currently is? If so how, If not why not?
I would make it harder, but the designers already announced a format to make it harder and I personally love Heroic Mode. The game is still in its early stages so I have no complaints.
14. What was the craziest game you’ve had so far or your favorite memory from playing the game to date?
The craziest game I’ve played was a five player game with the other hosts where we did the villain rules as mentioned above. I created a group of heroes to use called the “Infinity Squad” because they were the main four who could hold off Thanos in the final battle in Endgame. The Heroes were, Cap, Thor, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel. We played against expert Mutagen where the fifth player was Goblin and it was insanely difficult but so much fun to play. This game is on our youtube channel and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M4iToLfk-s
15. If FFG came to you and said they wanted to put you in charge of creating OP for this game, how would you do it and what would that look like?
Considering this game is co-op and not competitive, I would just do season kits for the store that had playmats, promos, and maybe twice a year they include a scenario to play as well. Kind of similar to the game night kits for LOTR.
16. If you could bring any hero into the game, who would they be, what would they do and why?
Easy, Ghost Rider. He is just one of my favorite marvel characters of all time. But like Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider. I feel he would be great with defeating minions and side schemes and getting bonuses for doing so, and then just be able to pile it on the villain. He just has so much potential for design that I’m counting the days until we get a Ghost Rider hero.
17. If you could bring any villain into the game, who would they be, what would they do and why?
Personally I’d love to see a Civil War box with like either Iron Man or Cap as the villain. It would be so unique compared to like the normal view of a villain. Also Civil War was one of my favorite story lines, so it would be perfect for me.
18. If you had to turn yourself into a card for the game, what kind of card (it can be a hero, upgrade, event, hero, villain, minion, etc) would you be, what would you do and why?
I’d like to think I’d be a hero who focused less on stats but more on a bigger hand size and using my cards to my advantage. Making the most out of a hand is something I try to do constantly while playing so I’d think that would be a good fit for me as a hero card.
19. Time to head towards the conclusion but we need to touch on the MCU. What is your favorite MCU film and why?
I love all the MCU movies (except Thor 2) so I don’t really have a favorite, but the one’s I rewatch the most are, Age of Ultron, Civil War, Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Infinity War. I find these really fun and entertaining, and I love Thanos so Infinity War was amazing.
20. Before we get out of here, what is something you would like to share with our readers that most of them may not know about yourself?
My real name isn’t actually Sam, its actually Ben, but there was another Ben as a host and everyone just assumed my name was Sam because of my discord name. So we just decided I’d stay as Sam.
Thanks again Sam for answering our questions. We wish you the best in your content and would like to thank you for giving back to the community.
Thanks for having me, I love being involved in the community and the community for this game is absolutely amazing
If people would like to find you or your content, where can they find it?
www.deckcelsior.com
https://www.facebook.com/deckcelsiorpodcast/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC85gxQtFB4rByY7yvs738_g
And our discord server!
Thank you readers for reading this article and stay tuned for our next entry into this series, coming soon. Till then, we wish you nothing but the best and stay safe out there.
-JediGeekGirl
irebeldestiny.com 