Review Details

Legendary: Marvel Deck Building Game

Product Review (submitted on February 3, 2017):

Legendary is a semi-coop deckbuilding game produced by Upper Deck. It involves playing as Marvel Superheroes who are trying to stop a Mastermind from completing some sort of scheme with assistance from other villains and weaker henchmen. It has similar elements to basically every deckbuilding game but has a few twists that make it really interesting, including the fact that you have Marvel superheroes at your command!

Since this is a review for the base game I'm going to explain gameplay then go through and break down the heroes and villains and share my opinion of each of them. I won't be able to perfectly explain how the game works but I'll do my very best- It's infinitely easier to teach how to play the game in person then via text.

The object of the game is simple- defeat the Mastermind before he can finish his evil scheme! Villains and Bystanders are worth points and, at the end of the game, whomever has the most points wins! But, if the scheme is completed before the Mastermind is defeated, everyone loses!

The box includes 1 rulebook, 1 board, 500 cards, and 60 card dividers for said cards.

To set up a game you pick a scheme, a mastermind (who has a group of villains he always leads), 5 heroes for the hero deck, and make the villain deck consisting of villains, henchmen (Easier villains), bystanders, and scheme twists depending on the number of players. Shuffle the deck together, give each player their starting deck (8 SHIELD heroes who give 1 recruit point and 4 SHIELD heroes who give one attack), flip over 5 hero cards for the HQ, and you're all set!


Now, how do you PLAY THE GAME:

A turn goes as follow:

Draw the top card of the villain deck and follow it's instructions. If it's a villain it goes in the Sewers space and sometimes things happen. If it's a scheme twist then you do whatever the scheme says. If it's a Master Strike the Mastermind attacks you somehow (outlined on their card) and if it's a Bystander the closest villain captures it, giving you additional points if you defeat that villain. If you place a villain in the Sewers and there's already a villain there, every villain in the city moves one space to the left (until a villain escapes or you hit an empty space BEFORE you move someone over). If a villain escapes, you KO a hero that costs 6 or less in the HQ as punishment. If a villain escapes and they have a bystander, then everyone has to discard a card as well.

After that's done, you take your turn. You have a starting hand size of 6 cards and cards almost always either give you recruit points (represented as stars) or attack (represented as slash marks). Recruit points let you recruit better heroes from the HQ while attack lets you fight villains in the city or the Mastermind. Some of the villains you fight will have additional effects when you fight them (Sentinels make you KO a card from your hand, for example, while Hand Ninjas give you +1 recruit point when you defeat them) that can help or hinder you. After you recruit and attack, you put any cards you bought in your discard pile and any villains you defeated in your victory pile (point pile), discard any cards you didn't play, and draw 6 more cards. Play then passes to the next player.

This continues until the Mastermind is defeated 4 times, in which case the heroes win, or if the scheme is completed in which case the Mastermind wins and the heroes lose together. Additionally, if the villain deck runs out, no one wins because no one had time to finish their evil plan... or stop the plan from happening!

That's the basic idea of the game. There are more rules, like some villains have ambush effects that occur when they are drawn, or effects that happen if they escape, and when you defeat the Mastermind you draw a card from under them that gives you some sort of benefit or detriment for fighting the Mastermind. All in all, however, this is how the game is generally played. Hero cards can also combo off of themselves if you play certain types of hero cards or hero cards from certain teams, letting you create some great synergy with your cards and making you feel like you're leading a team of superheroes. Generally, it's best to let each player pick a team/type of hero they want so your deck can work well with itself.

Though the concept behind the game is simple the game is a lot of fun! It's great comboing heroes together and requires a bit of math sometimes, but nothing major. I really enjoy Legendary and it's a great game to play.

Now, onto BREAKING DOWN THE CARDS!

Each hero in the game has 14 cards- 2 grouping of 5 common cards each, 1 group of 3 uncommon cards, and 1 rare card. Each card is (usually) part of a team, like the Avengers or X-Men, and each card has a card type. Cards are either covert, instinct, ranged, strength, or tech, and most cards have an additional ability that triggers if you play a card from a specific team or type.

There are 15 different heroes in the game belonging to 4 teams: Avengers, X-Men, SHIELD, or Spider Friends, with an additional (Deadpool) not belonging to any team.


AVENGERS: These are the 6 avengers from the 2012 movie so don't expect the original team here.

Capt. America: His deck is really versatile. He has 1 covert card, 3 tech cards, 5 instinct cards, and 5 strength cards. His cards are as follows: His strength card gives you +1 attack for each color of hero you play (Same as hero type), his instinct card does the same but with recruit points, his tech card lets you avoid taking a wound and lets you draw a card instead, while his covert card gives you +3 attack for EACH other avengers hero you play during your turn.

Capt. America is a great support hero and mixes well with anyone since he revolves around card type and not a specific hero team (except for his rare card). He gives decent attack and recruit points and is a solid hero for any team and any deck since he deals with card type. We use him a lot because he's so useful.


Black Widow: Her deck has 6 tech cards and 8 covert cards, fitting for her character. Her tech cards let her draw a card and rescue a bystander if you've played another tech card this turn, and her rare card lets you defeat a villain or mastermind that has a bystander for free. Her covert cards give you +1 attack for each bystander you've saved and the other card triggers if you play another covert hero and lets you KO a card in your hand or discard pile to rescue a bystander.

Black Widow sees a lot of play as well since she works really well with tech and covert heroes. Any hero that lets you KO cards is HUGE so you can clear our your starting SHIELD heroes as well as any wounds you may pick up during the game. Black Widow also gives you a good point boost since each bystander you rescue is worth 1 point at the end of the game.


Hulk: His deck has 5 instinct cards and 9 strength cards (Shocker, I know). His instinct card gives you 2 attack and 2 more attack if you KO a wound in your hand or discard pile. His strength cards give you 2 attack and +1 attack if you play another strength character, 4 attack but everyone gains a wound, and his rare gives you 5 attack and 5 more attack if you play another strength hero during your turn.

We don't use the Hulk a lot since he gives wounds to other players. It's a huge drag not only to draw a bunch of wounds during your turn but it can also cause you to lose the game as a whole. Though he does have some great attack cards I'd rather get someone else who doesn't give everyone wounds because they are a lot better hero to have on your team since they don't clog your deck with wounds.


Thor: His deck has 5 strength and 9 ranged cards. His strength gives you 2 recruit and +2 recruit if you play another strength hero during your turn. His ranged cards give you 3 attack and +3 attack if you play another ranged hero, 2 recruit and, if you have 8 or more recruit, +3 attack, and his rare gives you 5 recruit and lets you use recruit as attack during your turn.

Thor is a great hero as well. He's solid on his own and he ha some great bonus effects from his cards. He's a great hero to play and sees a LOT of playtime with us because of that reason.


Iron Man: His deck has 5 ranged cards and 9 tech cards. His ranged cards give him 2 attack and +1 attack if you play another ranged hero, while his tech cards let him draw a card and draw an additional card if you play another tech hero, 3 attack and +1 attack for each tech hero you play this turn, and his rare lets you draw 2 cards and draw 2 more if you've played another tech hero.

I love card draw and will pick it over almost any ability in any deckbuilding game, so Iron Man gets played a TON. Drawing cards is always amazing and, while he doesn't give you a lot of recruit or attack personally, he lets you draw the cards you need to have an amazing turn. Iron Man is a great hero to play.


Hawkeye: His deck has 5 instinct cards and 9 tech cards. His instinct card gives you 1 attack and lets you draw a card, while his tech cards give you 2 attack and +1 attack if you've played another avengers hero, 3 attack and, if you play a tech hero, lets you decide to let every other player draw a card or discard a card, and his rare card gives you 5 attack and lets you rescue 3 bystanders each time you defeat a villain or the Mastermind this turn.

Hawkeye is a good hero to use. He's a great support hero and has some good effects from his cards, but he doesn't have enough attack or give any recruit points so he needs some assistance to be a really useful hero. He's fun to use and sees some decent playtime with us, usually in conjunction with Iron Man.


X-Men: This is a smattering of all different X-Men, not the original team or anything like that.


Rogue: Her deck has 5 strength cards and 9 covert cards. Her strength cards give you 1 attack and +3 attack if you play another strength card, while her covert cards give her 2 recruit and, if you play another covert hero, the ability to KO a card from your hand or discard pile for +1 recruit, her other covert card lets you copy a hero you've already played this turn, and her rare card gives you 4 attack and causes everyone to discard the top card of their deck. You get to play a copy of each card discarded this way.

Rogue is a great hero because she can become whatever you need at that moment. Mix her with anyone to trigger her effects and let her dominate the game! We use her a lot when we want to get a little more umph out of our hero teams and know she can do it by copying other heroes.


Storm: Her deck has 3 covert and 11 ranged cards. Her covet cards give you 4 attack and move a villain to any different city space, rescuing any bystanders captured by the villain you moved. Her ranged cards give you 2 recruit and drawing 1 card if you play another ranged hero, 2 attack and any villain you fight on the rooftops has 2 less attack to defeat, and her rare gives you 5 attack, any villain you fight on the bridge gets -2 attack and, if you play another ranged hero, the Mastermind gets -2 attack as well for this turn.

Storm is a lot of fun to use. She really brings the pain to the villains and, if you mix her with some other ranged heroes, makes the game infinitely easier. She's a solid hero to put with any team.


Wolverine: His deck is 14 instinct cards. They give him 1 attack and an additional card if you play another instinct hero, 2 attack and the ability to KO a wound from your hand or discard pile, 2 attack and 2 card draw if you play another instinct hero, and his rare lets you draw 3 cards and, if you played another instinct hero, +1 attack for each card you drew this turn.

Now, despite what I said about card draw we don't use Wolverine that much in our games. It's most likely due to the fact that I have a personal aversion to Wolverine and I hate how he basically overtook the X-Men movies. I never liked him in the comics and I really didn't enjoy his movies. Plus, I don't think he's that useful of a hero in the game either.. anyways, your mileage will probably vary and leave me in the dust here because I just don't like him on a personal level.


Emma Frost: A mixed bag, emma has 1 strength, 5 covert, 5 ranged, and 3 instinct cards. Her covert cards give her +2 attack and, if you played another covert hero, can let you play the top card of the villain deck for an additional +2 attack. Her ranged card gives you 1 recruit and 1 card draw, her instinct card gives you 3 attack and lets everyone (including you) reveal an X-Men hero to draw a card, and her rare gives her 5 attack and 3 recruit for each villain or Mastermind you defeat during your turn.

Emma Frost is probably my favorite hero in the base game. She has great abilities, works amazingly with any deck, and is a huge asset to any team. She gets played the most out of any hero in the base game because of the benefits she gives to the team.


Cyclops: His deck has 5 strength and 9 ranged cards. His strength cards give him 3 recruit but you need to discard a card to play it, his ranged cards give him 3 attack but with the same restriction as the recruit card, 4 attack and if you discard this card you return it to your hand, and his rare gives you 6 attack and +2 attack for each other X-men Hero you play this turn.

Cyclops is a great hero as well. He gets you a lot of attack and recruit early when you need it (discard a starter card! No big deal!) and he can really propel you to victory in the early stages of the game. He's not quite as useful later because you have less cards you want to discard but he can still be a help then.


Gambit: A mixed bag as well his deck has 4 instinct, 5 ranged, and 5 covert cards. His covert card lets you draw 2 cards and put a card from your hand on top of your deck, his ranged card gives you 2 attack and reveals the top card of your deck- If it's an X-Men hero, draw it. His instinct card gives you 2 recruit and reveals the top card of your deck letting you keep it or discard it. If you play another instinct hero you can do this to everyone's deck instead. His rare card gives you 4 attack and reveals the top card of your deck, giving you +attack equal to that cards cost.

We don't use Gambit a ton because there are better heroes out there. He has some ok cards but they are really luck dependent. I'd rather go with someone who has a set card that I know what will happen when I play it then the random chance and hope I get lucky.


Other Heroes:

Nick Fury: Part of the SHIELD team, his deck has 3 strength, 5 covert, and 6 tech cards. His strength card gives you +1 attack for each other SHIELD hero you play during your turn, his covert card lets you KO any SHIELD hero in your trash or hand and gain a Maria Hill card (+2 recruit pts) to your hand, his tech card gives you +1 attack if you play another tech hero, and his rare lets you defeat any villain or mastermind whose attack is less than the number of SHIELD heroes in the KO pile.

Nick Fury is probably the most used hero for us in the game because he lets you trade your starting SHIELD heroes for Officers which then lets you get some serious heroes from the HQ. This alone makes him worth including in ANY fight, and his tech is helpful for certain schemes as well. Fury sees a LOT of playtime because he's incredibly useful.


Deadpool: Part of no team, Deadpool has 5 covert cards, 4 instinct cards, and 5 tech cards. His covert cards give you +1 attack for each other hero who costs an odd number that you play during your turn, his tech card lets a villain of your choice capture a Bystander, and his instinct card lets you discard the rest of your hand and draw 4 new cards if it's the first card you played during your turn. His rare card lets you gain a wound to let each player pass 1 card from their hand to the left.

We rarely use Deadpool. Part of this is because we're not fans on him in the comics and part of this is because he really isn't that useful to use. Trading cards stinks- we play a lot cleaner coop game and that doesn't help anyone at all. He's not part of a team so he doesn't combo off anyone and he's not that great to us. He just sits in the box collecting dust in our games. I think we've used him 3 times out of the 60+ games we've played.


Spider-Man: Part of the Spider Friends team, he has 5 strength, 5 instinct, 3 tech, and 1 covert card. His strength card lets you reveal the top card of your deck and draw it if it costs 2 or less, his instinct card does the same, his tech card lets you rescue a bystander and draw the top card of your deck if it costs 2 or less, and his rare card lets you reveal the top 3 cards of your deck, draw any that cost 2 or less and put the rest back in any order.

Spider-Man has a lot of hate against him in this game and I feel like it's mostly deserved. His biggest problem is he doesn't work well with any of the heroes in the base game because there are so few cards that cost 2 or less besides the starter cards. While the Paint the Town Red expansion may fix this somewhat, he's just not worth using because you have to recruit all of his cards to make it worthwhile and they don't give you enough attack or umph to make you want to do that. He only gives 1 recruit or 1 attack for most of his cards so you need a TON of them to take down a Mastermind. He's too weak for the base game and was introduced at the wrong time and left many people with a bad taste in their mouth because of it.


Masterminds/Villains/Henchmen:

oki: The strongest Mastermind in the base game, he always leads the Enemies of Asgard (hard villains), costs 10 attack to defeat, and gives you a wound for each Master Strike if you don't have a strength hero in your hand. None of the cards you draw when you defeat him hurt you, some let you KO cards, some cause other players to KO cards in their victory pile, and others get you a free villain from the city.

Loki is the hardest villain to fight in the base game but he's not too difficult to defeat. He's relatively hard to beat early on but if you can last a few rounds against him he's easy to defeat (Depending on the scheme). I'm probably slightly jaded here because of Masterminds like Galactus and Apocalypse who are REALLY hard to defeat but Loki has never presented a huge challenge to us. This is mainly because all his tactic cards are beneficial (or at least don't harm the player who defeated him).


Magneto: Costs 8 attack to beat, always leads the Brotherhood villains, and his Master Strike causes you to reveal an X-men hero or discard down to 4 cards. His tactics are all beneficial (or not harmful to the player who defeated him) again and either causes the other players to gain a wound, gives you free bystanders, recruit an X-men hero for free, or keep a card that you already played this turn for your next hand.

Magneto is not a hard Mastermind to fight either. It's easy to avoid his Master Strike and he feels really lacking when compared with the Masterminds in the expansions or with how intense he is in the comics. He needs to not be so helpful when you defeat him.


Dr. Doom: Currently the only Mastermind to lead Henchmen villains, he always leads the Doombot Legion. He costs 9 attack to defeat. His Master Strike causes you to reveal a tech hero or put 2 cards from your hand on top of your deck (which can be helpful sometimes). His tactics are all beneficial and let you either allow everyone else to draw or discard a card, gets you a tech or ranged hero for free from the HQ, draw 3 more cards when you draw your next hand, or take another turn after you finish this one.

Dr. Doom is almost a joke because he's so helpful to the Heroes. If he had a harder always leads group it would be INCREDIBLY beneficial to him. Magneto is harder to beat simply because the Brotherhood are harder to defeat. I wish that they did a better job making him a tough opponent to fight.


Red Skull: Costs 7 attack to defeat, he always leads HYDRA. His Master Strike causes you to KO a hero from your hand (almost always useful! Goodbye starter cards!) and his tactics are ALWAYS helpful. He gives you +4 recruit, lets you KO, draw, and discard cards from your deck, draw cards and then more cards for each HYDRA villain you've defeated, and gives you +3 attack.


Designed to be the Mastermind you fight when teaching/learning the game, Red Skull is really really easy to defeat. You need to pair him with a hard scheme to make him an opponent. When given an easy scheme he's like a joke to be honest.


Villains:

Masters of Evil: Has one 4, one 5, and two 6 attack villains in it, they aren't too difficult to fight but can give you some great points at the end of the game. They have Ultron here, which saddens me because he would make an AMAZING Mastermind.


Hydra: Always fight with Red Skull, Hydra has one 3 attack villain, one 4 attack villain, one 5 attack, and one 6 attack. The 3 attack villain even gives you a SHIELD officer for beating it, while the 4 attack villain plays the top 2 cards of the villain deck when you fight it. The 5 attack villain can give other players a wound and the 6 attack villain is worth more points for each HYDRA villain you've defeated during the game. All in all they are pretty easy to fight, if annoying sometimes, and definitely show that HYDRA is not force to join if you're looking for an entry level position because you're just cannon fodder.


Enemies of Asgard: Always fight with Loki, they have one 4, two 6, and one 7 attack villain. These guys are tough to fight- the 4 cost villain gives every player a wound when you fight them unless you have a ranged hero in your hand, one of the 6's does the same, and the 7 cost guy KO's all SHIELD heroes (Which is actually really really useful). The other 6 cost villain lets you draw 3 cards immediately if you defeat her. Definitely the strongest villain set in the base game without luck included, Asgard always makes someone harder to fight and can clog your deck with wounds if you're not careful.


Skrulls: If they are lucky they are the hardest villain set to fight in the entire game. They have a couple of special attack heroes, a 4 attack hero, and an 8 attack hero. One of the special attack heroes puts the rightmost hero in the HQ under this card and its attack is equal to the cost of the hero (can be easy or hard), the other special attack villain does the same but with the highest cost hero, the 4 attack villain causes everyone to KO a hero when you defeat him (can be useful!), and the 8 attack villain lets you pick a hero in the HQ for each player to gain for free. I like the Skrulls, though they can be a bit random and are really easy or really hard to defeat, all depending on whom they copy.


Brotherhood: Always led by Magneto, they have one 4 attack villain, two 5 attack villains, and a 6 attack villain. The 4 attack villain requires you to have an X-Man hero to fight him , one of the 5 attack villains becomes a scheme twist if she escapes, the other causes every player to reveal an X-Men hero or gain a wound, and the 6 attack villain causes each player to KO 2 heroes from their discard pile when he is drawn (can be useful) and do the same but from their hand if he escapes. While they can be a pain sometimes the Brotherhood isn't too difficult to fight either, unfortunately, and don't have a huge impact on any game.


Spider-Foes: One 3, one 4, one 5, and one 6 attack villain. The 3 attack gives everyone else a wound if you fight him in the sewers, the 4 attack lets you draw 8 instead of 6 cards at the end of your turn, the 5 attack requires you to have a covert hero to defeat him, and the 6 attack captures a Bystander when he is drawn. There's not a lot of umph here, though they can easily beat up poor Spider-Man.


Radiation: One 4, two 5's, and one 6 attack villain. The 4 attack villain causes you to play the next card of the villain deck when he is drawn, one of the 5's causes each player to reveal a strength hero or gain a wound when defeated, the other 5 gives you 3 bystanders if you defeat him in the Streets or Bridge, and the 6 attack villain makes you KO a hero for each strength hero you have when you defeat him. While sometimes annoying, there's nothing here to write home about either.


Henchmen:

Just a quick synopsis of them: There are 4 sets of them. They all cost 3 attack to defeat. The Hand Ninjas give you +1 recruit when you defeat them, the Savage Land Mutants let you draw an extra card at the end of your turn, the Sentinels cause you to KO a card from your hand, and the Doombots make you reveal the top 2 cards of your deck, KO one of them, and put the other back. Nothing crazy but what do you expect. They are henchmen, after all!


Schemes:

Midtown Bank Robbery: 8 twists, 12 Bystanders in the villain deck. Each villain gets +1 attack for each Bystander it has, any villains in the bank capture 2 bystanders with each twist and play the top card of the villain deck. Game is over when 8 bystanders escape. Not too hard to defeat/stop.


Negative Zone Prison Breakout: 8 twists, add another henchmen group to the villain deck. Each twist plays the top 2 cards of the villain deck and you lose it 12 villains escape. This one can escalate quickly and cause huge problems if you're not careful.


Secret Invasion of the Skrull Shapeshifters: 8 twists, heroes added to the villain deck that have attack equal to their cost+2. You get them if you defeat them. Twists add more heroes to the Sewers and you lose if 6 heroes escape. This scheme can pack quite a punch against you as well and is a blast to play.


Unleash the Power of the Cosmic Cube: 8 twists, twists do different things when drawn. Evil wins when all the twists are gone. The learning scenario again- not really that hard nor super fun to play.


Replace Earth's Leaders with Killbots: 5 twists, bystanders added to the villain deck (more of them). 3 twists start out in play, bystander costs 1 attack for each twist to defeat. Game over if 5 Bystanders escape. Not really that hard to beat nor really fun to play.


Portals to the Dark Dimension: 7 twists, all do different things but make villains in specific spaces and the Mastermind +1 attack to defeat. You lost if 7 twists are drawn. This one can be a pain but isn't too much- +1 attack is not really crazy.


Superhero Civil War: Different twists based on the number of players, each twist KO's all the heroes in the HQ. Game is over if the hero deck runs out. This one is a lot of fun since it makes the cards you buy a LOT more interesting. Do you really need that hero? Who knows!



Final Thoughts:

All in all I really enjoy Legendary. It's a really fun game that sees a lot of playtime at our house and we all enjoy it. The biggest downside to it is setup time since this isn't like a traditional deck builder. You have to create the hero deck and the villain deck from scratch every time and this takes time. We usually run with the same villains and heroes while changing schemes and masterminds (purposefully put it some always lead villains planning ahead) because it's the easiest way to play multiple times in one night. This game is a blast and I like it better then, say, the DC Comics Deckbuilding game but it sees less playing time because we can get in 2 games of DC to one game of this. Plus, it takes a bit longer to play as well.

I'd recommend this to anyone who is a Marvel fan, anyone who likes deckbuilding games, and anyone who wants to play a semi-coop game that can easily be treated as full coop or as a you vs. me kind of game. I really enjoy Legendary and, if you get some of the expansions, you really ramp up the difficulty of the schemes, Masterminds, and villains so it gets a LOT harder. That's fine by me! Go ahead and buy this game- you won't regret it!