Rogue Champions- Protection Events

Marvel’s Champions has grown over the years since its initial release. Each aspect now has a large pool of upgrades to choose from when building your deck. Previously we’ve reviewed Aggression cards and Justice cards. This week we’re going to start our dive into Protection.

We’ll rate the cards on the following scale.

Rating Scale

Excellent (Good in any deck)
Situationally Great (Good in most decks but very good in certain decks)
Okay (Not a bad choice but not necessarily the best choice either)
Situationally Good (Except in certain deck builds not a great card choice)
Bad (Generally just a bad card choice)

Events

Counter-Punch
- Rating: 3. Okay
- If you have a strong defender with a decent attack, this card is a way to get two actions for the cost of one.
- It does cost you a card to use on your turn, and if you already spent a defense card, you’re down a lot of cards in your hand.
Get Behind Me!
- Rating: 4. Situationally Good
- At the right time, this can be excellent. If you have it when one of those dreaded Treachery cards come up, Shadows of the Past and/or Advance when you’re near the scheme limit, it can be a life saver.
- The real trouble is having this card in your hand when that occurs is a shot in the dark.
- Paying to have the villain attack you feels bad. Unless you’re Drax, and you’d happily trade whatever treachery you were going to get for another counter to boost your attack.
Expert Defense
- Rating: 3. Okay
- Zero cost for a bonus three damage reduction to an attack can be nice.
- It only works when you defend, so it can’t be used when you’re exhausted or to defend someone else.
- Unlike most defense cards, it doesn’t have a secondary effect, though it is free to play so that balances.
Preemptive Strike
- Rating: 1. Excellent
- This ability is nice, as it is not tied to having to exhaust to defend. But it is a defense card, which, makes the attack “defended.”
- Turning potential damage to yourself into damage done to the enemy feels great.
Tackle
- Rating: 5. Bad
- Stuns are very handy. The potential to also do damage is a nice bonus.
- Three cost for a single stun is hefty. That’s often your entire hand.
Second Wind
- Rating: 5. Bad
- Heals don’t come about often, so you’d think this would be rated better. But three cost for four healing is a lot to ask.
- Unlike Med Team, which also costs 3, it can only heal an Identity, so no healing allies (not that many are likely to have four damage one them and still be in play).
Desperate Defense
- Rating: 2. Situationally Great
- This is a must have if you are a character that defends regularly. Extra defense and the potential to ready yourself after, negating the downside of defending.
- The condition to ready yourself does necessitate having a character with strong defense in order to block all the incoming damage.
Momentum Shift
- Rating: 3. Okay
- I always want to use this one. Healing and doing damage is a good prospect.
- The cost can be hard to justify. Two cost could do a lot more potential damage with other cards.
- At the right time, it can live up to its name though. Get rid of a game changing minion while healing yourself just enough you can avoid flipping down to alter-ego.
Muster Courage
- Rating: 4. Situationally Good
- Giving multiple characters tough at the right time can keep you from losing when you’re nearing that scheme limit.
- If you like to play on Expert mode this card has some value. Against regular villains the cost for the tough status is far too much.
Perseverance
- Rating: 2. Situationally Great
- Not many characters can benefit from this, as their goal is to remain in hero form at all time, limiting their opportunities to play the card.
- Some switch regularly though and gaining tough status for only one cost is a good value.
- Ant-Man is the clear stand out with Wasp and Spectrum close behind. Beyond them, one’s like Warmachine, Groot, Ms Marvel, Black Widow also like to flip.
Never Back Down
- Rating: 2. Situationally Great
- Very similar to Desperate Defense. Instead of readying yourself, you instead stun the attacker if you take no damage.
- In a group setting this can help you preserve your teammates.
Side Step
- Rating: 1. Excellent
- Similar to Preemptive Strike, this can turn an undefended attack into a defended one without needing to exhaust yourself.
- The ability to block damage once you know how much damage you’re taking is handy.
- The bonus damage if you happen to spend an energy resource is nice but not essential.
Bait and Switch
- Rating: 4. Situationally Good
- If you are a character with poor thwart, being able to remove four for one cost isn’t bad.
- The villain attacking you might even be beneficial if you’re someone like Drax and/or you also have Counter-Punch.
Fighting Fit
- Rating: 3. Okay
- Two cost for five damage isn’t bad.
- The condition of needing to be at or above starting hitpoints is situationally hard to pull off. Someone like Groot, who has growth counters to prevent damage, or a very defensive hero might find value with this.
Ever Vigilant
- Rating: 2. Situationally Great
- Of the cards added that require aerial, this one feels like it has the best value. Readying your hero is always handy.
- Two cost is a little steep but since it also removes two threat, it is well worth the cost.
- Iron Man, Thor, Captain Marvel, Rocket, Star-Lord, Spectrum all have access to aerial trait. Captain Marvel and Spectrum probably your best as Protection.
First Hit
- Rating: 3. Okay
- One resource for two damage isn’t a bad value but it feels rather insignificant.
- The best part of the card is that you have two choices for how to use it. Draw it while there is a weak minion out there, use it to kill the minion before it can attack. Or if not, you have an attack the villain card on your turn.
- Useful for Gamora to trigger her ability during the villains phase.
True Grit
- Rating: 3. Okay
- This is the counterpart to Counter-Punch.
- If you’re hero is a better thwarter than attacker, you can take this and do both when you defend.
- If you’re a well rounded hero, take both and just do all your things during the villains phase.
Deflection
- Rating: 4. Situationally Good
- Preventing five damage can be significant.
- Two cost is a lot and with many villains, five damage is the exception rather than the rule.
- Whether or not being forced to discard cards hurts you will depend on the phase of the game and the hero. Already have your core engine pieces out, probably no big deal. Playing Adam Warlock and need to recharge your full heal, it’s a positive.
Hard Knocks
- Rating: 4. Situationally Good
- Four damage for three cost is a hard ask.
- The potential for gaining tough has appeal but it is conditional.
Leading Blow
- Rating: 3. Okay
- This card is good for clearing out minions. Attack with a strong hero, kill a minion and then ready your hero for another attack.
- You need a hero with 4+ attack to guarantee you’ll do damage. Hulk, Ant-Man, Thor, Drax can all get there with relative ease.
- Best case scenario is you kill a one health minion and clear out a three boost card from the villains deck.
Subdue
- Rating: 3. Okay
- This card’s biggest weakness is that it is not a Defense card. You can’t use Nerves of Steel and you can’t play it to make yourself the Defender.
- The trigger is an enemy initiates an attack, so you can use it to protect anyone.
- Fun combo is to use it to defend a teammates US Agent. Triggers retaliate and the Ally remains alive longer.
Shake It Off
- Rating: 2. Situationally Great
- Tough for only a single resource is a good value.
- If you’re playing with a Guardian team, you will have many opportunities to play this card.
- It doesn’t protect you from the first attack, but it does provide defense for a future attack.
The Gardener
- Rating: 5. Bad
- All of these “shuffle this card into the encounter deck” cards are just bad.
- Two cost for an effect some time in the future you have no control over. If they came up as a boost card and they stayed in the encounter deck, they would be okay. But they get discarded back to your pile.
Shield Spell
- Rating: 4. Situationally Good
- Adam Warlock likes this card. Not sure if the other mystics do.
- Preventing all damage is cool. Discarding that many cards could be bad but Adam doesn’t mind doing that most times.
Stand Together
- Rating: 5. Bad
- I like the idea of this guard. Exhaust two types of characters, block damage and retaliate that damage.
- The cost kills it. It is already a very difficult card to pull off, needing two different types of ready characters. Add in a four cost and you are essentially spending your entire hand to play this card.
- There are not a lot of circumstances where doing all of this would ever be worth it. A good attack value is two damage for one cost. How often does the villain attack for eight plus damage? Fortunately, not all that often.
- To make this card worth it, the villain has to be attacking with Overkill, for enough damage to kill a hero and an Ally. It happens but if you’re relying on having this card in your hand at the right time to save you, you’ve already lost.
Defiance
- Rating: 1. Excellent
- Very similar to Preemptive Strike.
- This is another Defense card that does not require you to exhaust but still gets to count as defending due to the keyword.
- At zero cost it’s easy to play and it mitigates the hardest part of defending, not knowing how much damage you’re going to take.