Are there any superhero card games out there.  Something that could be played in under 30 minutes or so, where players sort of compete against each other.

For example, something where players draw mission cards (prevent bank robbery, save the prisoner, etc), and then draw power cards needed to complete each mission. Whoever has the most completed missions wins, etc?

Apparently the new Legendary: Marvel Deck Building Game only takes about an hour.

It looks appealing, and I'll probably pick it up, but it'll have to wait until after Christmas. DC has one out as well, but I know less about it. The Marvel game is most heavily compared with an unlicensed Supers card game called Sentinels of the Multiverse. I'll post the relevant Board Game Geeks links below:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/129437/legendary-a-marvel-deck-building-game

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/123779/sentinels-of-the-multiverse-enhanced-edition

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/125678/dc-comics-deck-building-game

I am kind of sad "The Supers," is no longer available, it be nice to get it printed on cardstock from a proper card printing place.

It was a nice little game, not fantastic and needed a few tweaks but still fun.

A few weeks old on this thread, but over Christmas, I got experience with all of these, so I figured I'd comment too.

DC Deckbuilding and Legendary are both deck-building games, so whether that appeals to you or not depends on whether you like that game style (I'm kinda neutral towards it - it's not my fave).  (Deck-building is not the same as a CCG - let me know if you need the distinction).

DC is the epitome of a theme pasted onto a mechanic.  Other than looking at great DC art, the game is like playing Solitaire next to other people at the same table.  Very little player interaction other than getting the high score.  I like it because it's fast and easy.  Games usually run no more than 30 minutes.

Legendary is cooperative and competitive at the same time and takes about 30-60 minutes.  It's basically coop because the players play against the game, but it is competitive because someone eventually scores the most points at the end of the game and "wins".  But that aspect is pretty forgettable.  The art is good, there's a lot of fun elements to the rules, the characters and even the stories that set victory conditions are all familiar to Marvel fans.  The game has plenty of replay value.  My biggest problem with it? It's too damn easy with less than 4 players.  I've cranked the difficulty to "high" levels on solo play and still have had no problem winning.  Another minor issue is that "feeling" the theme is a little tricky: each player is not a hero; the players run a team of heroes together to defeat a master villain and henchmen.  The best way to imagine it is this: imagine the Marvel movieverse of Avengers.  Imagine the council was pro-supers rather than anti-.  The players are the council recruiting heroes to save the world.  Overall, I like the game - I just want it to be harder.  The expansions will hopefully do that.

Sentinels of the Multiverse is pure joy for fans of coop card games and/or superhero RPGs.  It lacks an established DC or Marvel universe, but the game's universe is pretty well-developed on its own (certainly as good as many published supers RPG settings).  The art may be a matter of taste, though I happen to like it.  In SotM, each player plays 1 or more heroes (the game is made for 3-5 heroes at once).  There are presently 15 heroes available and each has their own totally unique deck of powers and gear.  The players then choose a master villain to oppose.  At the moment, there are 13 available, and each one plays a little differently.  Each villain also has a unique deck of powers, minions, and plot twists. Finally, the players choose an environment for their battle.  So far, they have released 8 environments, ranging from a major city, to a Savage Land clone, to a base on Mars, to a magical nether dimension, and others.  Again: these are unique decks with setting-specific challenges and even monsters (e.g., crashing trains, rampaging dinosaurs, meteor strikes, magical storms...)

So the villain takes a turn, each hero takes a turn, and then the environment takes a turn.  The game is really dynamic and very challenging, yet still plays in about 60-90 minutes.  If I sound like a total fanboi, it's because I am.  It's a great game.  Let me know if I can answer any questions.

I've been reading about this o'er christmas and it looks fun. I'm told it's not terribly strategic, but very flavourful. There's an edition that has some of the expansions included. I saw it in the shops, actually, but the box gave nothing away and I'd never heard of it so I didn't want to chance it. But I think my friends and I would really enjoy this. I even started thinking how to rip this off for 40k: Imperial heroes instead of superheroes and various enemies instead of...various enemies (you could have Eldar Farseer, Chaos Sorcerer, Ork Warboss, Genestealer Cult etc)

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;613263I've been reading about this o'er christmas and it looks fun. I'm told it's not terribly strategic, but very flavourful. There's an edition that has some of the expansions included. I saw it in the shops, actually, but the box gave nothing away and I'd never heard of it so I didn't want to chance it. But I think my friends and I would really enjoy this. I even started thinking how to rip this off for 40k: Imperial heroes instead of superheroes and various enemies instead of...various enemies (you could have Eldar Farseer, Chaos Sorcerer, Ork Warboss, Genestealer Cult etc)

Depending on what you mean by "strategic," it might be more so than you think.  Each character has certain strengths and each villain has certain patterns of behavior.  Learning how to fight the villain best is a fun part of the game.

As for editions, the "Enhanced Edition" is the one to get.  They fixed some typos, tweaked one important rule for balance, improved card quality, and made a beautiful box that can fit all the cards for the core game, both existing supplements (Rook City and Infernal Relics), and still leave room for more (like the two scheduled releases for 2013).  But unless it's a special store-created package (which I have read about), there isn't a single box that includes the two supplements.

I picked up the Marvel, DC and Sentinels games recently.

The DC Deck-Building game is a fun enough little game that doesn't exactly feel "heroic".

Legendary is much closer to the mark, with a team of Marvel heroes battling a villainous Mastermind and his henchmen.

Sentinels is kinda fantastic, with the heroes and villains playing off of each other. Played a really tight game last night with Legacy (A Captain America/Superman homage), Tempest (an alien weather controller) and Visionary (a time traveling telepath) battling Citizen Dawn (a Magneto-like supremacist who channels the power of the sun, running a group called RISE) on a Mars Moon Base...and just when we thought we found a trick to game the system (Visionary was telepathically controlling one of Dawn's minions to inflict damage on her, while sealed in a Telekinetic cocoon), Dawn was able to clear the field of our Ongoing cards (like the two Visionary was using to wipe her out with) and make it a game again.

We lost. Barely, but we lost.

...but man we had fun.

Over on BGG, someone posted a solo variant for Legendary that really opened that game up for solo play for me.  Otherwise, with less than 4 players, it's just too damn easy.  The first expansion sounds promising.

Tommy, sounds like you were unaware that Dawn could pull that effect out beforehand.  Or did you just get complacent fighting her?

Quote from: drkrash;629231Over on BGG, someone posted a solo variant for Legendary that really opened that game up for solo play for me.  Otherwise, with less than 4 players, it's just too damn easy.  The first expansion sounds promising.

Tommy, sounds like you were unaware that Dawn could pull that effect out beforehand.  Or did you just get complacent fighting her?

I hadn't looked through the cards or anything, so I didn't know what to expect. None of us did. We were completely shellshocked and scrambling to take out Citizen Summer AND get our feet back under us.

So, yeah, we were all caught flat footed...=)

I fought all the villains without looking through their cards...the first time.  But almost all of them have some ace-in-the-hole mega-F-you card of some kind that turns the game around.  My subsequent adventures always took those into account.  I bet you won't be fooled by her again.

I'll toss in a third for Sentinels of the Multiverse.  

My game group's been very hit-or-miss for the past few weeks, so it's been our go-to game for at our last sessions, and we've had a blast with it.  

While the fundamental game play is simple--Play a card, use a Power, Draw a card--each hero has different styles of play and different 'schticks'.  Some are more power-centric, some rely more on equipment.  Some heroes focus on dealing vast amounts of damage, others control the villain/environment deck, while others provide buffs and healing.  

Plus, you can get the Enhanced Edition of the game, with both current expansions, on Amazon for $70.  Not too bad, for all the replay value the game has.  I find myself playing it solo if I'm bored while watching tv.