On this page you’ll find some of the latest FFG rulings for Marvel Champions post-RRG 1.6 (the week of July 23, 2024). All prior 1.0-1.4 questions and responses can be found on this main page, along with errata. All 1.5 and beyond questions can be found here.
To create a link to a specific ruling, just use this format and note the number at the start of the question. Note that some numbers may not be accounted for as a result of being pulled for outdated/legacy rulings.
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July, 2024
1 – I’m a bit confused by the new enemy attack rules. The new rules reference says: “Enemy attacks are always initiated against both a player and a character.” “If a player other than the target player defends, the defending player becomes the target player for this attack.” (So if another player defends the target player changes but it doesn’t say the target character changes) “» If the defending ally leaves play prior to damage from the attack being dealt, the attack is considered to have no character defending. • If no character defends against the attack, the attack is considered undefended. All damage from the attack is dealt to the character targeted by the attack” (for comparison 1.5 says that for an undefended attack All damage from the attack is dealt to the target player’s identity (even if that identity is in alter-ego form).)
Step 2 only says that the target player changes not the target character. The only place where is looks like a new target character is declared is maybe in step 4 after damage is dealt to a defending ally or hero where is says “» The defending hero (or ally) is considered to have been attacked.” But if an ally, who exhausts to defend, leaves play during the attack who is the target character who gets the damage dealt to them? Is it the target character the attack was initiated against? So if an attack is initiated against my identity and another player defends for me with an ally and that ally leaves play due to a boost effect is my identity the target character who gets the damage dealt to them?
Do I become the target player again? It certainly feels more thematic that way. If Ultron is about to attack Shehulk and Spider woman tries to jump in the way but she is knocked down by a concussive blow, it makes more sense for Ultron to finish attacking Shehulk rather than have him turn his full attention to Carol Danvers who isn’t even there and is in alterego on her airbase. Or if an attack is made against say Hope Summers and I defend with an ally and that ally leaves play is Hope the target character who gets damaged?
Or is it the same as it was in the 1.5 rules reference where if an ally left play, the target players identity takes the damage if their ally leaves play during the attack? If this is the case through when did that identity become the targeted character? There doesn’t seem to be anything in the new rules to say that if another player defends with an ally for me then their identity becomes the targeted character.
- Once a player defends an attack with a character they control, that player is the “attacked player” and the character is the “attacked character.” Say that Player A has an attack initiated against them, and Player B defends with their ally; Player B is the attacked player and the ally is the attacked character. If that ally then leaves play before the attack finishes, Player B’s identity will take the undefended damage.
- Similarly, if Player A controls Hope Summers and Hope Summers has an attack initiated against her, Player B can defend with their ally, making Player B the attacked player and their ally the attacked character. If the ally leaves play before the attack finishes, Player B is still the attacked player, and their identity takes the undefended damage.
-Alex Werner, FFG Game Rules Specialist – July 25, 2024
2 – Does the unique rule check the mission area from the Age of Apocalypse campaign? Kang’s insert says that separate game areas are not beholden to the unique rule, and AoA says that the mission area is a separate game area. So can an ally be played to the mission area when one copy of that ally is already in play under another player’s control? If a minion attempts to enter play and engage a player that shares a title with the overseer minion, does that minion still enter play? Thanks!
No; the mission area is a separate game area. Characters in the mission area do not count toward unique characters in play.
-Alex – July 25, 2024
August, 2024
3 – If I’m playing a 2 player game and one player is eliminated: 1. Will the villain activate an additional time to account for the eliminated player? 2. Will an encounter card be dealt to the eliminated player? Thanks!
No and no; during the villain phase, the villain will only activate once against each remaining player, and only one encounter card will be dealt to the remaining player.
I’ll add that any “Per Player” icons will calculate their values based on the number of players that started the game, but beyond that, everything you need to know is covered in the “Player Elimination” rules.
-Alex – August 8, 2024
4 – I have a question about the alliance keyword: to play “Problem Solvers” a player should be in hero form because it is an “Hero Action”. Can another player in alter-ego form can help to pay for Problem Solvers?
Yes. The player who plays Problem Solvers must be in hero form, but other players helping to pay its cost do not have to be in hero form.
-Alex – August 8, 2024
5 – I have a rules question for Marvel Champions. I have system shock from the Mad titans shadow campaign in my hand, that reads “you cannot choose to discard this card from your hand”. I also have another card in my hand. I have Plan B in my play and activate it and discard a random card to deal 2 damage. Can I discard System shock this way? Does the answer change, if I have only system shock in my hand?
Yes. As long as the discarding effect has you discard a “random” card (meaning, you’re not specifically choosing which card to discard), you are able to discard System Shock that way. It does not matter if System Shock is the only card in your hand.
-Alex – August 8, 2024
6 – I saw it was previously ruled that if Nova removes the last threat from The Search for Spiral via its Hero Action he could use the effect of Unleash Nova Force. Could the effect of Unleash Nova Force also be used when the Nova player removes the last threat from: (1) Spatial Positioning via its First Player Action? (2) Tooth and Nail via its Response, after Nova attacked Venom? (3) Tooth and Nail via its Response, after a different character attacked Venom? Lastly, moving away from Nova: (4) Could a player place a counter on Hall of Heroes after defeating Common Criminal via its Alter-Ego Action?
No; if Nova used the ability on The Search for Spiral to remove the last threat, he would not get the ready+draw 1 bonus from Unleash Nova Force. Same for if he removed threat from Tooth and Nail via Tooth and Nail’s ability, or if his player removed threat from Spatial Positioning via its ability. Encounter cards are not considered an extension of the player’s identity, so their abilities that remove threat are not considered performed by the identity and do not combo with Unleash Nova Force. Similarly, if a player uses the ability on Common Criminal to deal damage to it, they would not place a counter on Hall of Heroes.
-Alex – August 8, 2024
7 – If I use three steps ahead to choose the same scheme three times to remove a total of 6 threat from it, how many threat can I remove from another scheme if I trigger overwatch? 2 or 6?
Threat is removed simultaneously from the scheme(s) chosen with three steps ahead, so if you choose the same scheme three times, you’ll be removing 6 at once from that scheme, and 6 from the scheme chosen with overwatch.
-Alex – August 8, 2024
September, 2024
8 – Hi, I had “I am inevitable” come up as a boost card, and I was wondering if I could use Preemptive Strike against the Infinity Stone’s boost icons. It says I “apply its boost icons as if it were a boost card”, and I know that other rulings have made “as if it were from hand” act very much like it came from your hand. But I don’t know if in this case the infinity stone is considered a boost card when I turn it face up to be able to trigger preemptive strike, or even something like Defiance. Thanks!
Yes. Because “I Am Inevitable” treats the Infinity Stone card “as if it were a boost card,” you are able to use abilities that affect boost cards on it, including Preemptive Strike.
-Alex – September 5, 2024
9 – Looking over the new rules document, which looks great so far! I noticed the rule about “For Each” which I think is good to have in the rules, but I think it forces cards that seem to pretty clearly hit multiple targets down to hitting only a single target, since they don’t use “choose”. Those cards are: Bitter Rival, Eros, Hex Bolt, Luck be a Lady, and The Eye of Sauron. Should these cards be limited to a single target, or is there a way they can hit multiple targets under the new rule? I think the rule technically breaks some cards like Boom Boom that effect “each enemy” because by valid target rules they “require a target”, and by the new For Each rule that would make them effect only a “single target”. This feels like it might need a minor adjustment to the new rule, but do you have any clarity to offer in the meantime? Finally, one that showed up in my search was Brotherhood Beatdown, which could be covered by the “target” being the player, or by something that covers Hex Bolt, but could you suggest a way to make it work with the new rule?
When we added rules for “For Each” in 1.6, our intention was to clarify card effects where it was ambiguous whether “for each” included single targets or multiple (such as Falcon and Ham It Up). We recognized that there would be a selection of player cards that wouldn’t fit into this model, many of which you pointed out in your email. Bitter Rival, Eros, Hex Bolt, Luck Be A Lady, The Eye of Sauron, Boom Boom, and Brotherhood Beatdown are not intended to be resolved differently than they were before 1.6; these cards can still affect multiple targets, and you should apply The Golden Rule to them to resolve them as they are written. We would like to revisit the new rule & the way these cards are worded in a future rules reference update to eliminate as much confusion and ambiguity as possible, but for now please play these cards as they are intended.
-Alex – September 5, 2024
10 – Just came across a situation where a minion had Priority Target and Psionic Shield attached. Priority Target is Interrupt: When Defeated, while Psionic Shield is Forced Interrupt: When attached minion would leave play…1.6 explains timing for defeat interrupts, but conspicuously leaves out leaves play interrupts so I was wondering which order to resolve these in. Are leaves play interrupts only resolved during step 9 of the damage diagram, or should the be resolved during step 6-7 like the defeat interrupt
An ability that triggers when a character is defeated is resolved before an ability that triggers when a character would leave play. Priority Target is resolved at Step 7, while Psionic Shield is resolved at Step 9 (the character being “discarded” is simultaneous with it “leaving play”).
-Alex – September 5, 2024
11 – Just came across a situation of trying to play Muster Courage against Hela, and I was wondering whether she has a “Stage Number”? She’s different from all the other cases as far as I can tell, in her stage numbers being A1, A2, B1, and B2. So, can I consider A2 as stage 2, or is it non-numeric and should be considered as 0?
Yes; A1 of Hela is her Stage 1, and A2 of Hela is her stage 2. A villain’s “stage number” corresponds to the roman or arabic numeral in their top right corner. If a villain does not have either, then they have no stage number.
-Alex – September 5, 2024
12 – An enemy with a tough status is attacking me 😱 If my hero has retaliate and I defend and play the new riposte protection event, do I understand correctly that I could resolve retaliate first to knock off the tough and then resolve the delayed effect of Riposte to deal 3 damage?
You can. Riposte’s ability creates a delayed effect, which has the same timing priority as the Retaliate keyword (RR 1.6, page 5), meaning that they can be resolved in either order; you may deal the damage from Retaliate first to remove Tough, then deal 3 from Riposte.
-Alex – September 26, 2024
13 – Hi FFG! Can Nightcrawler use the ability on Bamf! If he is exhausted? Why or why not?
Yes. Because Bamf! specifies Nightcrawler is declared as the defender without exhausting, he’s a valid target for Bamf! regardless of whether he’s currently ready or exhausted.
-Alex – September 26, 2024
14 – Can I use Bamf to declare Nightcrawler the defender of an attack if Nightcrawler is exhausted?
-Alex – September 26, 2024
15 – Could you please help us with some Setup questions – specifically relating to new modular sets with the Setup keyword in Marvel Champions. Blue Moon, Genosha and Savage Lands all have a “Setting” environment card with the Setup keyword. This keyword means they begin the game in play – and their When Revealed effect says: “When Revealed: Discard each other Setting Environment in play”. We’re uncertain what happens if we start to play a scenario and want to include two of these new modular sets with “Setting” environment Setup cards. We try to put both out during the setup steps but both of them try to discard the other.
There is also some confusion around how Setup cards that attach to the villain function in multi-villain scenarios. So my specific questions are:
1. At What stage during the Setup rules found in the 1.5 rules reference do Setup cards’ When Revealed effects trigger? Step 12 covers When Revealeds but only specifically gives an order for the main scheme and villain with 12b and 12c.
2. How would it work if we include two Setup modulars whose When Revealed effects try to discard each other? Do we choose which order they are put into play, and in doing so effectively choose the last Setting card left standing? Or something else? E.g. If I include Savage Lands and Genosha in a regular scenario as its modular sets, what Setup cards are in play, in the deck, and in the discard pile by the time the first player’s turn begins?
3. How do Setup cards that attach to the villain work in multi-villain scenarios? Example: The Four Horsemen scenario recommends you use two modular sets. You start the game with four villains in play. I choose the Super Strength and Flight modulars from NeXt Evolution. Both have Setup cards which say to “Attach to the villain”. Are we officially allowed to attach Super Strength to one villain and Flight to a different villain? Or are we forced to attach all of them to the villain with the active counter?
Following the setup rules in RR 1.6, cards with the “Setup” keyword are put into play at step 11, and any “When Revealed” abilities on them are resolved during Step 12.
If you include The Savage Land and Genosha sets in a scenario, the environments’ “When Revealed” abilities trigger in the same step, so you can resolve them in either order, essentially choosing which one to discard and which one to keep in play.
Most multi-villain scenarios state that abilities that refer to “the villain” only refer to the active villain. This means that if you include the Super Strength and Flight attachments in a scenario, they will attach to the villain with the active counter (and remain on that villain throughout the scenario.)
Note: if the attached villain leaves play, because Super Strength and Flight are permanent, they can’t also leave play; you must to attach them to the current active villain (or if there is none in play, set them aside and attach them to the next active villain).
-Alex – September 26, 2024
16 – I have a question relating to how we now place a card on the table when trying to initiate playing it, and how this allows us to immediately turn over the top of Magik’s deck when she is in hero form if playing a card from the top of her deck. What happens when I, playing Magik, attempt to play Mutant Protectors from the top of my deck but try to overpay with the only X-Men ally in my hand, spending said ally as a resource? I believe that, following the steps in Initiating Abilities, we can reach Step 5 before choosing what to pay with.
Which means Mutant Protectors has been moved from the top of my deck and onto the table, and I can see the next card on top of my deck now. If I play Mutant Protectors from the top of my deck, it’s discounted by 1. But you can choose to overpay for cards, so I could still effectively “spend” the ally from my hand on it before we get around to resolving it, is that correct? And if so, Mutant Protectors can no longer be paid for as its effect does not have a target as per the cost rules. Is this correct? Where does Mutant Protectors end up? Where does the ally I was trying to overpay for it end up? Has Magik’s ability to play a card from the top of her deck been consumed?
Say you’re playing Magik and have Mutant Protectors on the top of your deck and an X-Men ally in your hand. You can declare you’re playing MP using your ability (at which point you have a valid target for MP), then place MP on the table, overpaying its cost and discarding the X-men ally to do so. In this case, MP will attempt to resolve, but since it has no valid target anymore, its ability “fizzles” (nothing happens, but it’s still considered played), and it is placed in your discard pile. Magik’s ability will be considered resolved for that phase.
-Alex – September 26, 2024
October, 2024
17 – We got a ruling recently that said “Kurt’s Cutlasses generates a resource for an event’s resource cost”…but this seems to go against previous rulings, such as the FAQ for Finesse which says that “As long as the resource generated by Finesse is spent on an aspect card (its resource cost or a cost within that aspect card’s ability), Finesse can be used.” So, can we get some clarity on this? In particular, 1. can Finesse be used to pay for the ability in Make the Call? (2. Does it only work if the ally is an aspect ally?) On the other side, 3. can Kurt’s Cutlasses be used to pay for the 3 resources needed to repeat Across the Spider-verse? And finally, 4. Can I use Power in All of Us to generate 2 resources to repeat Across the Spider-Verse?
1-2) You can use Finesse to pay for the ally chosen with Make the Call as long as that ally is an aspect card. Our previous ruling on Make the Call (RR 1.6 page 53) clarifies that the player is paying for the cost of the chosen ally when using the ability, which is why “The Power Of” cards generate the additional resource if the ally has a matching aspect.
3) Yes, you can use Prehensile Tail (not Kurt’s Cutlasses) to pay for the repeatable ability on Across the Spider-verse, since you’re paying for the event ability’s cost, not the cost of the chosen ally.
4) Yes, you can use The Power in All of Us to generate 2 resources to pay for the repeatable ability on Across the Spider-verse, since you’re paying for the event ability’s cost, not the cost of the chosen ally.
-Alex – October 3, 2024
18 – I’m wondering about the “linked” keyword X-23’s insert explains: “Cards with the linked keyword cannot be included in a player’s deck.” What happens if Defense Specialist is discarded from play, does it go to the discard pile (so, in the player deck) or does it is set aside?
Linked cards are not considered part of the player’s deck for the purposes of deckbuilding, but once they are brought into play, they remain in the game as any other card of their type would, and are considered “owned” by their controller for the rest of the game. For example, if Specialized Training puts Defense Specialist into play under your control, you will become the owner of Defense Specialist for the rest of the game, and if it gets discarded it will be placed into your discard pile.
-Alex – October 3, 2024
19 – I am playing the new jubilee hero and I have a few questions. 1.With the Three steps ahead event card, is it repeated individual instances of threat removal, each treated like single sentences or is all the threat removed simultaneously? 2.And can I choose the same scheme multiple times? 3. With Her blinding flash event and cards worded like it, am I correct to understand “Choose X” to mean “Choose different X”? 4. Can I “half stun” a steady, stalwart enemy? 5 With the Eros justice ally, can I confuse the same steady enemy twice?
To answer your question(s):
All threat is considered removed simultaneously. If a crisis icon was in play, the main scheme could not be chosen for threat removal with Three Steps Ahead.- Yes, you can choose the same scheme multiple times.
- Yes, “choose X enemies” means “choose X different enemies.”
- No; a Stalwart enemy can’t have any stunned or confused status cards placed on it.
- Yes; you can treat Eros’ ability as saying “…choose a minion and confuse it for each [M] resource…”
-Alex – October 7, 2024
20 – The Minion “Tweedledope” from the “Crazy Gang” encounter set in the new Nightcrawler expansion has a Star Symbol in the lower right corner. But there is no special rule on his card. I assume that should have been a Boost Symbol? Or no Symbol at all?
It’s a typo; Tweedledope should have 1 boost icon, not 1 star icon.
-Alex – October 7, 2024
21 – ‘Lost’ Child says that ‘attached minions sch is equal to it’s printed thw’ but it also has a ‘-1 sch’ symbol in the bottom left hand corner. How does this card work? My understanding from ‘Mind Control’ and ‘Karma’ was that attachments on a minion which becomes an ally can not change their thw because both these cards so that the minions ‘printed’ sch becomes its thw but ‘lost’ child seems to suggust the printed sch/thw becomes the base thw/sch and this base value can then be altered by other effects?
“Lost” Child should have stated that it treats attached character’s “base SCH” as equal to its printed THW, because the -1 SCH is intended to be applied to the character as well. Karma and Mind Control should be treated the same, where they set the character’s “base THW” as equal to its printed SCH, but still allow for other abilities/effects to modify that THW value further.
-Alex – October 11, 2024
22 – I ran into a question about “move” that I expected to find in the rules but couldn’t. Does “moving” threat involve “removing” the threat from the scheme? The rules note that it’s “placing”, and similarly that damage is “dealt” but it doesn’t explain the other side whether it’s “”removing” for threat or “healing” for damage (I think rulings have said it is healing). As a specific example, could Temporal Leap (Cable) move threat off of the main scheme when a Crisis icon is in play?
Yes, you “remove” threat from one scheme in order to “move” it onto another. This means that you can’t play Temporal Leap if there is a crisis icon in play, because you cannot “remove” threat from the main scheme.
-Alex – October 11, 2024
23 – My question is about the particulars of this bullet under target: “A target that “cannot take damage” is not a valid target for an ability that deals damage.” So, assuming I have a tough villain that cannot take damage with no other enemies, can I: 1. Play Tackle without the kicker? 2. Play Tackle with the kicker? 3. Play Piercing Strike? (just to remove the Tough)
- As long as Tackle can stun the chosen enemy, it can be played; you can play Tackle and target the villain in this case.
- Same as #1, nothing additional happens in this case because you can’t deal damage to the enemy, but you can still stun it. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you pay with a physical resource or not.
- Yes, Piercing Strike can be played to remove the tough status card. Although the first sentence doesn’t have a valid target, we believe the second one does, and is able to remove the tough status card.
-Alex – October 18, 2024
24 – I’ve been wondering for cards like Adaptive Plumage or Solar Beam which have multiple abilities…how exactly do they work? 1. Am I always resolving both abilities but one “fizzles” due to form, or am I only resolving the ability that matches my form, or am I choosing which to resolve? As a particular situation, 2. if I’m stunned in Angel form and play Adaptive Plumage do I ignore the stun, thwart and remove the stun, can choose to remove the stun or resolve the thwart, or must remove the stun and get no other effect (or some other option I haven’t considered)?
- With Solar Beam and Adaptive Plumage, you can only initiate the ability of the form you’re currently in; you determine this when you “check play restrictions” of the card (see “Initiating Abilities”).
- If you’re stunned as Angel and play Adaptive Plumage, you must discard the stunned status card and do nothing else; you haven’t attacked or thwarted.
-Alex – October 18, 2024
25 – So, defense-labeled abilities seem to be settling into a good place, I just want to confirm: “cannot defend” means you cannot play a defense-labeled ability during an attack, is that correct? So that means that Vision in Intangible form cannot play Side Step during a villain attack, including against Crossbones’ Machine Gun (which triggers after the attack initiates). I will note that the ally defend section says that another character “cannot defend”, but we are allowed to play defense-labeled abilities because it’s explicitly allowed. It seems like that “cannot defend” is somehow different from Intangible’s “cannot defend” so perhaps it needs reworded.
While Vision is in Intangible mass form, he cannot become the defender of an attack and he cannot play defense-labeled events, even if doing so would not cause him to become the defender of an attack.
Just to clarify, is Side Step vs Crossbones’ Machine Gun damage generally defending? Similarly for Side Step vs Boost effects, like Concussive Blast? Is this considered “during an attack”, or should it only be considered defending when the defense ability triggers from something directly related to the attack?
Yes, playing Side Step as an Interrupt to Crossbones’ Machine Gun ability would make the player the defender of the incoming attack. This is a change to an old ruling we made, but we believe it’s important that an interrupt to an attack occur when the attack is initiated, but before it’s resolved—as in, the attack has started, but you haven’t resolved step 1 of it yet.
And, since you’d be playing Side Step during an attack, that makes you the defender of that attack. As for the Concussive Blast interaction, you playing a defense event within the steps of an attack will make you the defender of the attack if there isn’t one already. This occurs even though Concussive Blast’s damage isn’t “damage from an attack.”
-Alex – October 18, 2024
26 – I have some questions today that have to do with double-checking an older ruling or two. I’m wondering if 1.6’s updates to status cards might have implications for whether certain abilities are considered to “trigger” or “resolve”.
1. When does Black Widow’s “Widowmaker” ability resolve, relative to the PREPARATION ability that it is triggered by? Does it resolve immediately after the PREPARATION ability’s trigger condition is met, or does it resolve after the PREPARATION ability resolves? (I’m mostly looking for the definition of “trigger” in this ability’s trigger condition)
2. Does “Widowmaker” trigger after a PREPARATION ability is canceled by a Stunned status card? (Speaking more generally, does an ability canceled by a status card “trigger”?)
3. When Nebula’s “Combat Protocols” ability resolves and the ability on a TECHNIQUE upgrade is canceled by a Stunned status card, does “Combat Protocols” discard that upgrade? (Speaking more generally, does an ability canceled by a status card “resolve”?)
1 – You resolve Widowmaker after resolving the Preparation card ability.
2 – No; the stunned status card replaces the Preparation card ability, so Widowmaker can’t trigger.
3 – No; if the Technique card ability is replaced by a stunned status card, it does not get discarded.
-Alex – October 18, 2024
27 – If I use Bamf or Shield Maiden do I get to use my DEF stat to reduce damaged dealt without exhausting my identity? Am I considered to have made a basic defence or used a basic power?
Yes to all. Shieldmaiden’s wording is a little clearer on this, but Bamf! is intended to work the same, where “declaring X the defender without exhausting” encompasses the character making a basic defense and using their DEF to reduce damage dealt.
-Alex – October 21, 2024
28 – If I have Counterspell (Doctor Strange #30) attached to my hero, and am Stunned, can I play a single ‘(attack)’ labelled event to clear both Counterspell and the Stunned status? If not, which will be removed?
No; status card removals and Forced Interrupts have different timing priorities, with status cards coming first. Playing an attack-labeled event in your example would result in you removing the Stunned status card but keeping Counterspell attached to your hero.
-Alex – October 21, 2024
29 – My question today is about whether cards like One Way or Another or Return the Favor are “played” when their costs fail. 1. If I’m playing Gamora and play Return the Favor but get no Treachery, does that still count as having “played” an attack event for her Response? (2. Similarly for her cards that check if you’ve played an Attack event this turn) 3. For Spider-Woman, if I play Return the Favor does her ability trigger before I begin looking for a Treachery? 4. Either way does it trigger if no treachery is found?
- No; if you fail to find a treachery with Return the Favor, you haven’t paid its ability cost, and the rest of the ability doesn’t initiate. You then aren’t considered to have “played” an attack event for Gamora’s response.
- No, you aren’t considered to have played an attack event for the turn.
- No; the costs of the card need to be paid before triggering Spider-Woman’s interrupt. Failing to find a treachery with Return the Favor means its ability cost wasn’t successfully paid, so you can’t trigger the interrupt.
- No.
-Alex – October 21, 2024
30 – I have a question about whether thwart and attack labeled abilities have any particular requirements for scheme or enemy targets. For example, can I play Covert Ops just to confuse the villain, even if there is no valid scheme target? Such as, if there is no threat on any scheme, or if the main scheme has threat but I’m engaged with a patrol minion. Or, on the attack side are we allowed to trigger attacrobatics when engaged with a guard minion just to cancel boost icons?
You can play Covert Ops as long as one of the sentences has a valid target, so yes, you can play it to confuse the villain and not remove any threat, and are still considered to have thwarted. Similarly, you can trigger Attacrobatics to cancel boost icons even if you can’t damage the villain with it. You are considered to have “attacked” because it’s an attack-labeled ability, but there’s no attacked enemy in this case because Guard prevented you from attacking the villain. (So an “after you attack” ability could trigger, but nothing that affects “the attacked enemy”.)
-Alex – October 24, 2024
31 – If I am stunned as Angel and play Adaptive Plumage, why does the stunned status card apply and replace the entire event? What happens if I am stunned and confused and I play Adaptive Plumage?
For Adaptive Plumage and event cards like it, you choose one of the two abilities to resolve when you play it. In most cases, only one ability will be able to be resolved, because only the one matching your form would be able to affect a target. However, let’s say you are Angel and stunned, and you intend to play Adaptive Plumage. You have the option to choose either ability, resolving the “thwart” ability as written or removing the stunned status card by triggering an “attack” labeled ability (as the rules of stunned status cards allow you to do this when there’s no valid target for the attack ability, which we agree also means which form you’re in isn’t relevant for status card removal as long as you’re a Hero). You can’t resolve both abilities, as that is not how these cards are designed. (I made a mistake on an earlier email stating the status card must always be replaced, when in actuality the player has a choice.) If Angel is stunned and confused when playing Adaptive Plumage, he chooses which ability to trigger on Adaptive Plumage, then discards the appropriate status card, then ends that action.
-Alex – October 24, 2024
32 – Assuming, I play against Zola. I reveal Zola’s Mutate as an encounter card, while Zola’s experiments are already in play. What happens, if Zola’s Mutate discards Neurological Implants and the top tech in the discard is also neurological implants? Are both attached to the mutate? Or only one, because the rules for attach say that the legality is checked, when the attachment is about to be attached. If the legality is actually checked in this case, what happens, if a minion with more hit points is in play?
Yes, both copies of Neurological Implants will attach to Zola’s Mutate. The abilities on Zola’s Mutate and Zola’s Experiments circumvent the “attach to” specification on Neurological Implants, and NI does not check for legality once attached.
-Alex – October 24, 2024
November, 2024
33 – If my deck empties before I find a magnetic card am I still considered to have resolved Magento’s Magnetic pull ability for the sake of cards like Magneto’s Armour which trigger after Magnetic pull is resolved? Or does Magnetic pull fail to resolve because I can’t finish paying the costs?
No. To consider Magnetic Pull “resolved,” a Magnetic card must be found by the time your deck empties; if you don’t find a Magnetic card this way, you can’t trigger Magneto’s Armor.
-Alex – November 8, 2024
34 – I’ve got a couple interesting questions for you today. Suppose that I’m attacking Venom with Heroic Strike, and choose to deal the damage to Bell Tower, then I know that enemy isn’t Venom because I didn’t damage him, 1) so is Venom even being attacked? In particular, do I trigger his Retaliate? Secondly, suppose I defeat Stage 2 of Venom with Heroic Strike, paying the fist resource. 2)Can I stun stage 3 (is it still “that enemy”)? 3) If I stun Stage 3, do I take Retaliate (is stage 3 considered a target in that case)? 4) If I don’t pay with a fist resource (so don’t affect stage 3 at all), do I trigger the Stage 3 response?
- Yes. Even if the damage from Heroic Strike is redirected to Bell Tower, Venom is still the initial valid target of an (attack)-labeled ability, so he was still “attacked” and his Retaliate will trigger.
- We are issuing an updated ruling regarding Heroic Strike’s ability to stun here. Since Venom is the initial valid target of Heroic Strike—meaning, he was able to be dealt damage and therefore a “valid target” of HS when it’s played—he is still “that enemy” targeted by HS and can still be stunned by HS, even when the damage from HS is redirected to Bell Tower. He was still targeted by the ability, he’s still the attacked enemy, he can still be stunned. (Note, this doesn’t change our rulings on other abilities that use “that enemy” language, this is just a unique case because of how Bell Tower fits into the interaction.)
- Yes; if the 6 damage from Heroic Strike defeats Venom II, you can still stun Venom III. The target of both effects is the same character, “the Venom villain.” A stage was defeated, but the character was not.
- Yes; “Venom” the character has still been attacked, and “Venom” has Retaliate during the window it triggers.
- Yes; same as before, “Venom” the character has still been attacked, and “Venom” has Retaliate here.
-Alex – November 14, 2024
35 – If an enemy “deals” the Starhawk ally at full health 15 damage with overkill, how much damage does Starhawk “take”?
An attack with overkill deals any excess damage from the attack simultaneously to the identity of the player controlling the attacked ally. In your example, Starhawk takes 15 damage, and the hero takes 12 damage simultaneously.
-Alex – November 19, 2024
36 – Questions about how retaliate works against villain stages. 1.If you attack and defeat a stage of a villain that has retaliate, does the next stage retaliate if it also has it? 2.If you attack and defeat a stage of a villain with an instance of damage from a multiple instance damage attack and then damage the next stage that has retaliate, does it retaliate? If so, are the different stages considered different enemies or how does it all work?
- Yes. The new villain stage is considered the same character/enemy, so if it has Retaliate in the window after it’s attacked, it deals damage to the attacker.
- Yes, the newly revealed stage triggers its Retaliate X once the attack resolves.
- Each stage of a villain is considered the same character/enemy (assuming each stage has the same title, which is usually the case). You can “defeat” a villain stage and are considered to have “defeated” an enemy for the purposes of abilities with that triggering condition, but the enemy is still considered the same “character” and its Retaliate still triggers.
-Alex – November 19, 2024
37 – 1.When an effect has you choose x enemies, like the new blinding flash jubilee event or target x enemies like the shield toss captain america event, can you choose the same enemy multiple times? 2.With the Ultron scenario, if you reveal The biomechanical upgrades attachment that checks for printed hit points from the doomsday chair encounter set, does it get attached to a facedown drone minion?
No; for Blinding Flash and Shield Toss, a different enemy must be chosen each time.
Yes; Biomechanical Upgrades will check Ultron Drones in play when determining the minion with the “highest printed hit points.” This is because the Ultron Drones environment gives the Drones a defined “base value” for their Hit Points, which is synonymous with their “printed” valu
-Alex – November 19, 2024
38 – Drang III is revealed. I start discarding 4 per player cards from the encounter deck, stopping to check each time a minion is discarded. Putting that minion into play engaged with the player with the fewest minions. If I discard a minion with an interrupt ability, forced response ability, quickstrike keyword ability or teamwork keyword ability, do those abilities/activations trigger immediately or wait until I’ve finished discarding all the 4 per player cards?
When you’re putting minions into play with Drang III, you don’t resolve any “When Revealed” abilities on those minions because they weren’t revealed, so you skip those; you will resolve any “Interrupt” abilities on the minions immediately after they engage a player; and after they’ve all engaged, resolve all Quickstrike and Teamwork abilities on those minions, then any Response abilities.
-Alex – November 19, 2024
39 – Would the Hero action on the Library Labyrinth environment card be prevented by a crisis icon? I’m not sure if the player is removing the threat or the encounter card is.
No; Library Labyrinth’s Hero Action can be triggered even when a crisis icon is in play. In this case, Library Labyrinth is considered to remove the threat, not the player.
-Alex – November 19, 2024
40 – I have a few nightcrawler pack questions. 1.Does Nightcrawler need to be ready in order to trigger the bamf upgrade? 2.Can I use his tail upgrade to pay for the action on the make the call event card? 3. If the friendly character that the rogue ally uses its ability on leaves play, does she keep the traits and ATK/THW boosts? 4. If the ATK and or the THW of that character changes, does rogue adjust accordingly or remember what it was when she triggered the ability?
- No, Nightcrawler doesn’t have to be ready in order to trigger Bamf!.
- No, Prehensile Tail cannot pay for the action ability on Make the Call. Prehensile Tail generates a resource for an event’s resource cost, and Make the Call has a resource cost of 0.
- No. Rogue’s ability constantly checks for the traits and printed stats of the chosen character. If the character leaves play, her ability doesn’t have a reference point and won’t give her a bonus.
- Generally, no; Rogue’s ability is checking for the “printed” THW/ATK of the chosen character, and almost every character’s printed stats will never change.
- We have made a ruling that the Gambit ally in the pack can have his “printed” THW/ATK change if the number of boost icons on his tucked card changes, but this is a very unique case.
-Alex – November 19, 2024
41 – The Robert Kelly ally has a Tough status card and 2 HP remaining. The Starshark minion attacks me who’s attacks deal indirect damage. I understand that Robert Kelly forces the minion to deal it’s indirect damage to him. Do I assign 2 damage to Robert Kelly and the 1 leftover is lost? OR Does Robert Kelly Force you to deal the indirect damage to him equal to his remaining hit points and therefore I would need to assign 2 damage to him and must assign the 1 damage to another character I control?
Robert Kelly’s ability forces you to deal all damage from an undefended attack to him, even if that attack deals indirect damage. Following the rules of indirect damage, you’ll deal Robert Kelly damage up to his remaining hit points (which is then prevented by Tough), and the rest of the damage is ignored.
42 – 1.Is the only scheme in play with 0 threat on it considered to be both the scheme with the least and the most threat? 2.Is the only enemy in play with 0 damage considered to be both the enemy with the least and the most damage?
Yes, the only scheme in play with 0 threat has both the “least” and “most” threat. And yes, the only enemy in play with 0 damage has both the “least” and “most” damage.
-Alex – November 19, 2024
43 – Question on how to resolve the “infinite prelate” treachery card. Do all 3 of the bullet points resolve before or after the activation in the first sentence?
For Infinite Prelate, you resolve each bullet before resolving Unus’ activation.
-Alex – November 19, 2024
44 – So I ran into a timing situation that I need help with. The villain with retaliate attacks a hero that has both retaliate and the counterattack upgrade. Damage is dealt and taken by my hero. Counterattack triggers. Does the villain or the hero retaliate first?
The sequence of events is: villain deals damage -> Counterattack triggers as a response, dealing damage to villain -> villain’s Retaliate triggers as a response -> hero’s Retaliate triggers from villain attack.
-Alex – November 19, 2024
45 – Rules of Red Skull reads: when a side scheme is defeated, goes to the discard pile of side schemes deck. Player side schemes start the game in player decks, but where do they go when defeated? Discard pile of side schemes deck or victory display? And “Shopping spree”? Player discard pile or side schemes discard pile?
In the Red Skull scenario, only shuffle side schemes from the encounter deck into the side scheme deck; do not shuffle any player side schemes into that deck. After defeating a player side scheme during that scenario, place it in its owner’s discard pile. Any side scheme (player or encounter) with the Victory keyword should be placed into the victory display when defeated instead of in a discard pile.
-Alex – November 23, 2024
46 – When I play “Three Steps ahead” can I choose to remove the last 2 threat from a side scheme with the crisis icon and then chose the main scheme and remove 4 threat from it?
Yes. While we have ruled differently in the past, we believe that resolving Three Steps Ahead sequentially is the most intuitive (and empowering) for players. This means that yes, if the first instance of threat removal causes a side scheme with a crisis icon to leave play, the main scheme becomes a valid target for the other instances of threat removal.
-Alex – November 23, 2024
47 – If I reveal Brimstone Strike while Azazel is already engaged with me, will Azazel’s quickstrike trigger?
No. If Azazel is already engaged with you, he cannot re-engage you, so his Quickstrike won’t trigger.
-Alex – November 23, 2024
48 – I am wondering if this statement (from RRv1.6 – General Question 1) is out of date: A hero can keep their tough status card if a constant effect reduces the damage the hero takes to zero. because i have found in hallofheroeslcg.com, several answers like: If Vision was in Intangible form and Tough before being dealt 2 damage, Tough would be removed before Intangible’s constant ability affected the damage.
The 1.6 ruling you quoted is correct. There are two rules of note here: first, for abilities with the same triggering condition, constant abilities come into effect before status cards; second, a “Tough” status card prevents damage a character “would take,” rather than damage dealt to the character, etc. Thus, Intangible’s constant ability reduces the damage Vision “takes” from an attack before the Tough status card checks if Vision has “taken” damage, and this may lead to Vision keeping his Tough status card.
-Alex – November 23, 2024
49 – Could you clarify how the card Three Steps Ahead (Jubilee #15) works? I’ve seen a couple of rulings stating that the different instances of damage are dealt simultaneously. However another ruling seems to contradict this, stating that they should be resolved separately, and, by extension, sequentially. Additionally, in RRG v1.6, under “For Each” it states: “- If a “for each” effect with a “choose” instruction deals damage or removes threat, each iteration of that effect is considered a separate instance of damage or threat removal, even if the same target is chosen multiple times.”
Which again seems to state resolving them separately, and by implication sequentially. Which is correct? Specifically, what happens in these two scenarios: 1: I have a crisis side scheme in play with 2 remaining threat. May I use Three Steps Ahead to first clear the threat of that side scheme, removing it, and then remove threat from the main with subsequent iterations of the For Each on Three Steps Ahead? 2: I have a side scheme in play with more than 6 remaining threat, attached to that side scheme is Overwatch, and there are no crisis icons in play. I play Three Steps Ahead, paying for it with three different resource types, so I remove 6 threat from the side scheme and pop Overwatch.
Will Overwatch allow me to remove 6 threat from another scheme, or just 2?
The ruling on Three Steps Ahead being “simultaneous” threat removal was based on the precedent that single-sentence abilities have their effects resolve simultaneously in MC, e.g. “Deal 2 damage to each enemy.” In this interpretation, even if a side scheme with a crisis icon had all of its threat removed, it would not be discarded until after all instances of threat removal with TSA were resolved. While this is a valid reading of the current rules, we have observed that this is largely unintuitive to players.
We are going to adjust the rules to better match what players intuit: Three Steps Ahead’s instances of threat removal are sequential, not simultaneous. If choosing a scheme and removing 2 threat from it causes a side scheme with a crisis icon to leave play, the main scheme can then be chosen as a valid target for any remaining instance of threat removal. We are going to adjust the rules of “for each + choose” to make this interaction clearer.
As for Overwatch, we are firm on our last ruling of it: you can trigger Overwatch’s interrupt based on a single instance of threat removal. Even if Three Steps Ahead targets the same scheme multiple times, it is removing only 2 threat per instance, so triggering Overwatch with it will only remove 2 threat from a different scheme.
-Alex – November 23, 2024
50 – As I understand it, discarding an enemy is not the same as defeating it. If a minion is discarded via Magneto’s Magnetic Missile, and the minion happens to have Valkyrie’s Death Glow Attached, wouldn’t Death Glow go to Valkyrie’s discard pile instead of being set aside? Reading the text her Death Perception text literally, since it’s not “set aside” aside at that point, then she wouldn’t be able to play Death Glow until it is back in her hand?
Correct. An enemy “discarded” by Magnetic Missile is not considered “defeated.” If Death-Glow were attached to the targeted enemy, Death-Glow would go to Valkyrie’s discard pile. It would not be considered “set aside” in that case, so she couldn’t play it with her Hero ability. (She could use Visit Valhalla to retrieve it, or as Brunnhilde she could use her Action to set Death-Glow aside even if it was in her discard pile.)
-Alex – November 23, 2024
51 – If you defeat stage one of a villain, stage two is then revealed. Villain cards are defined as Encounter cards, so you are “revealing” an encounter card when you reveal stage two of the villain. How would revealing stage two of a villain interact with Deadpool’s Metaknowledge card? Villain cards can’t be discarded, but can their “When revealed” effect be canceled with this card?
Though villain cards are a type of encounter card, they cannot have their “When Revealed” effects canceled. (Same for main scheme cards.) We will plan to add that to a future rules reference.
-Alex – November 23, 2024
52 – How would Psychic Manipulation work with Green Goblin in Risky Business? Psychic Manipulation text reads: “Interrupt (thwart): When the villain schemes, this activation removes threat instead of placing it.” Green Goblin doesn’t actually scheme though, his card reads: “Forced Interrupt: When Green Goblin would scheme, remove 1 madness counter from State of Madness instead.” Since he doesn’t scheme and add threat to the main scheme, does Psychic Manipulation just effectively do nothing, or does it cause his activation to add madness counters instead of removing them?
Green Goblin’s Forced Interrupt resolves before Psychic Manipulation’s Interrupt, meaning no scheme takes place, and Psychic Manipulation can’t be played.
-Alex – November 23, 2024
December, 2024
53 – If the forced response of Sentinel Mark VIII gets the Energy Barrier attachment, would that minion be given a tough status card? What about if Zola’s Mutate gets Energy Barrier? What happens if the when revealed ability of Zola’s Mutate gets Flamethrower? I’m not sure if Flamethrower would search for another minion always, or sometimes, or never.
No to all; when an ability attaches an attachment card to a target, the card’s “attach to” text is ignored. Energy Barrier would not give a tough status card to the minion, nor would Flamethrower search for a new minion if attached to the Mutate in that way.
-Alex – December 10, 2024
54 – I’ve got a rather confusing timing situation that might help us understand better how events, interrupts, and the like all interact. Scenario is: Shadowcat in solid form plays Haymaker, targeting an enemy with Hidden in the Clutter attached. Hidden in the Clutter triggers, and has 3 effects: Place damage on it instead, Enemy attacks you, Discard Hidden in the Clutter. Suppose Shadowcat defends the attack. So, my questions are: 1) When in that process is Haymaker discarded? 2) When does Solid’s response trigger? 3) Assuming she chooses to flip, when does Phased’s response trigger (or does it trigger at all)?
I’ll lay it out in steps to make it easier to follow:
- Shadowcat in Solid form plays Haymaker. Haymaker remains on the table as it’s resolved.
- Hidden in the Clutter’s Forced Interrupt triggers from Haymaker’s damage and resolves in full. All damage from Haymaker is redirected to Hidden in the Clutter, and the attached enemy initiates an attack against Shadowcat.
- Shadowcat chooses whether to defend, and the enemy attack resolves as normal.
- After the enemy attack, Responses to that attack can trigger, including Shadowcat’s mass form if she defended the attack.
- Hidden in the Clutter is discarded; this indicates the closing of the Interrupt window for having played Haymaker.
- Haymaker is discarded. Responses to playing Haymaker can trigger here, including Shadowcat’s mass form.
-Alex – December 10, 2024
55 – Question about Magneto’s nemesis minion, Exodus. Does his forced response remember what his atk was during his attack including boost icons from his Villainous keyword? Or does it only look at his base ATK plus any constant modifiers since the attack is over when if triggers?
Yes, Exodus’ Forced Response is intended to discard cards equal to what his ATK value was during the attack, accounting for active modifiers and boost icons during that attack. We recognize this could have had clearer wording and will consider an erratum to his ability.
-Alex – December 10, 2024
January, 2025
56 – I have a question concerning player campaign cards classification: Is Navigation Column (GMW 172) a basic card? can it be paid fully with The Power in All of Us?
No. Navigation Column is categorized as a Campaign card, but not a Basic card, so The Power in All of Us will not generate an additional resource when paying for it.
-Alex – January 3, 2025
57 – I have a question about the card “Psychic Manipulation”. You ruled for library labyrinth, that the activation is not done by the heroes and therefore it circumvents a crisis icon. Does that mean, that “Psychic Manipulation” also circumvents a crisis icon, because it is the villain removing the threat? In case of “yes”, why is it a thwart? If “no”, what’s the difference to “Library labyrinth”?
No, Psychic Manipulation would not circumvent a crisis icon. Psychic Manipulation is specifically a thwart-labeled event, so it falls into the category of being an extension of the player’s identity. Library Labyrinth is an environment card and not thwart-labeled, so it is not bound by the same rules.
-Alex – January 10, 2025
58 – I have another question. This time about retaliate. You ruled, that when I attack the villain and defeat the stage, that retaliate triggers, if the next stage has retaliate. However, I don’t quite get why. Going with the retaliate definition in the RRG 1.6, the attacked character has to “survive the attack” for retaliate to trigger, but I can’t find a definition, what “survive” means in the context of MC rules. If I read the “Attack (Player Ability Type)” section, it also states, that the enemy has to survive and also states in the last bullet point: “The retaliate X keyword (if the attacked character was not defeated).” Since defeating a villain stage counts as defeating an enemy, I interpreted this as retaliate not triggering, since I defeated the attacked enemy, but you ruled otherwise. So how does this work now?
The Retaliate keyword states that after a character with Retaliate is attacked, that character deals damage to the attacker if it “survived” the damage. You are right that “survived” here is not properly defined in the current rules reference, and while Attack (Player Ability Type) suggests it be understood as the character not being defeated, we are planning to rephrase it as the character still being “in play” at the time Retaliate triggers. Although it’s established that defeating a villain stage is defeating an enemy, two villain stages with the same name are considered the same “character,” aligning with the FAQ ruling on Melee not being usable on two different stages. Retaliate has always been defined as character-specific, so a newly revealed stage with Retaliate is the same “character” that was attacked in its previous stage, and with it being in play post-attack its Retaliate will trigger.
-Alex – January 10, 2025
59 – About Adam Warlock’s deckbuilding requirement: Is it allowed to use 0 cards from 4 aspects, and so having a pure basic deck? Thanks
Yes, you are allowed to make an Adam Warlock deck using zero cards from 4 aspects.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
60 – I have a question concerning the errata of the Rules Reference: OLD RIVALS (31) Should read: “When Revealed: Gamora attacks you. If the Gamora hero or ally is in play, she attacks you […] So, it could happen that Gamora attacks twice when Old Rivals is revealed? Also it seems there is a mistake on the errata of MANIPULATED MIND (137) the card reference (137) should be replaced by (171).
The Rules Reference 1.6 update clarified that Referential Abilities have a hierarchy for determining which card by title they are referring to: first the card itself, then any card in the same hero or encounter set, then all other cards. The errata to Old Rivals was made as a response to this, so that the first sentence of Old Rivals can only apply to the Gamora minion, whereas the second sentence can only apply to the Gamora hero or ally. The rules of uniqueness prevent the Gamora minion from being in play if the Gamora hero or ally is already in play, making it near impossible for two attacks to occur from Old Rivals. We will fix the Manipulated Mind entry in the near future.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
61 – A couple of questions regarding the Self-Experimentation side-scheme from the Hood scenario pack? “Forced Interrupt: When a BRUTE enemy would take any amount of damage, remove that much threat from this scheme instead.” First question: If an attack deals 15 damage to a BRUTE minion with 7hp, how much threat is removed from the Self-Experimentation side-scheme? I have interpreted this as 7 because that is the amount of damage that the minion can take. Second question: If an attack deals 15 damage with OVERKILL to a BRUTE minion with 7hp, is the 8 excess damage dealt to the villain?
- If an attack deals 15 damage to a BRUTE minion with 7 HP, then 15 threat is removed from Self-Experimentation. If none of the damage is prevented, then all of the damage is considered taken, even damage in excess of the target’s remaining hit points.
- Yes. Overkill damage comes into effect based on the damage dealt to the minion, which is then simultaneously dealt to the villain; even if the minion does not take all of that damage (e.g. it was prevented or replaced with an effect), the villain will still take damage.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
62 – Regarding the card “You got this!”, the way it’s worded is that the condition is to exhaust in order to attempt an Attack or Thwart (plus discard an Ally). As I understand it, it’s not required that the Attack or Thwart succeed or even happen. Does the effect still partially occur in a Stunned or Confused state? That is, after attempting a Basic action that is replaced by removing a status. Can this card then be played to make Ready?
You are correct. Following the steps of “Initiating Abilities,” you’d exhaust your hero during step 5 in anticipation of using a basic power, then during that same step you’d be able to pay for and play “You Got This!” and resolve it, all before you’d move on to step 6 and replace the basic power usage with discarding the status card.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
63 – Todays question is about the Four Horsemen scenario, where we have enemies that are not defeated at 0 hit points. 1. Can we continue damaging them anyways? It seems important that they are valid targets for attacks since otherwise we can’t deal with their attachments, but I’m not sure if I can keep placing damage counters on them so that when the treachery that heals them comes up they don’t have 1 or more hit points. It was ruled that Deadpool could have more damage then hit points for his defeat effect, but I wasn’t sure if this applied to villains as well, or if there is something special about villains and heroes being tracked with a hit point dial. 2. If the damage is capped somehow, is it still ‘considered’ taken, for purposes of card effects (i.e. if something had an effect depending on amount of damage taken, is there any case where remaining hit points matters for that)?
I wanted to follow up on this again, as it came up with Starhawk, his interrupt ability is: When Starhawk takes damage exactly equal to his remaining hit points, return him to your hand. It seems to me that if a character can only take damage up to their remaining hit points, he would always return to hand. Similarly for SP//dr: Add SP//dr to your hand if she was defeated by taking excess consequential damage. would seem impossible. It seems like that at least some cards are designed around taking more damage than their remaining hit points, so do these cards need errata? Or is there a desire to distinguish between a character taking damage and that damage being tracked/counted. (Also, if characters cannot take damage beyond their hit points, it would seem that Iron Man’s War Machine ally could not use his ability when he has 1 HP remaining…which I believe was clarified to be possible very early on.) Anyways, those are the cases that I’ve come across that seem to go against the ruling, so I hope it will help in getting a better final rule.
Thank you for following up. The previous ruling resulted from a misunderstanding among the team, and we apologize for the resulting confusion.
The revised ruling is, cards can take damage beyond their remaining hit points; as you pointed out, the abilities on Starhawk and SP//dr are clearly intended to reward player planning in regards to taking damage. Part of the confusion had come from rules surrounding taking damage in regards to paying costs, damage prevention, and indirect damage assignment, none of which are relevant to the Horsemen or aforementioned allies.
So yes, a Horseman villain that is dealt damage beyond its remaining hit points is considered to take that damage; however, their hit points cannot be reduced below 0. You are allowed to target them with attacks and abilities even when they have 0 hit points, and they do take that damage, but their hit point dials default to 0 and never go negative. This makes it so their treacheries can work as intended and heal them when revealed.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
64 – If I use Psychic Misdirection to deal damage from the villain attack to a minion and the minion is defeated, can I still trigger Change of Fortune? PM says “damage from that attack is dealt to the chosen enemy” which makes some think our identity is doing it. Change says “after you defeat”. Just want to make sure this isn’t a weird thing where the attacking enemy actually defeats the minion and not “you” Can you confirm a few other things as well: – Any “after attacks and damages you” effects would not happen, but “after attacks you” effects would happen? – Because damage was not dealt to us, this dodges certain boost abilities like Sonic Boom? – Also because damage was not dealt to us, indirect damage would go to the intended target and not the player? – Piercing would still affect the targeted character because it occurs before damage is dealt correct?
- Yes, you’d be able to use Change of Fortune if your playing of Psychic Misdirection defeated an enemy. This is because Psychic Misdirection is an event, meaning it’s an extension of your identity, so your identity defeated the enemy.
- When you play Psychic Misdirection, you are still considered attacked, but you are not considered dealt damage nor have you taken damage. Any indirect damage is dealt to the chosen enemy rather than you, including any indirect damage beyond the enemy’s remaining hit points. And yes, piercing will still affect you as the attacked character, because the definition of piercing specifically says such; the chosen enemy is not affected by piercing.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
65 – Can Prehensile Tail be used to pay for Make the Call? – The rulings on the Power Ofs working for matching allies suggest no – The way Finesse works on aspect cards has been brought up to suggest maybe it/Tail/Biosynthetic Polymer Suit might work on MtC.
No. Prehensile Tail generates a resource for an event’s resource cost, and Make the Call has a resource cost of 0. “The Power Of _” cards work differently because they pay the chosen ally’s cost, while Prehensile Tail specifically states it’s paying the event’s cost.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
66 – 1) If Sentinel Mark VIII attaches Energy Barrier to itself from the discard pile, does that trigger Energy Barrier’s “attach to” clause and give it tough? Or since it is coming into play attached, the attach to does not trigger? 2) Is the second sentence of No Quarter an alteration effect? I’m asking because the following combo used to be legal, “Pay for No Quarter with Salvage to put a tech on top of the deck. Deal excess damage to a minion with the first line of NQ. Trigger Rocket Raccoon’s “Murdered You!” ability to draw that tech before the second sentence of NQ”. 1.6’s alteration effect entry leaves me unsure, but I lean toward the second sentence of NQ NOT being an alteration effect that resolves before “Murdered You!” would.
- No; if Energy Barrier attaches to a Sentinel Mark VIII via the Sentinel’s ability, EB’s “attach to” text is ignored, and the Sentinel doesn’t get a tough status card.
- The second sentence of No Quarter is not an alteration effect, so that combo still works as before: Rocket Raccoon draws a card before the second sentence of No Quarter resolves.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
67 – 1) Can you explain how Informant interacts with Stealth Suit? 2) Can you explain how Serve and Protect interacts with Stealth Suit when used on a villain activation? 3) Will you exhaust to make a basic attack or for Go All Out’s cost before Break Cover triggers?
- Informant modifies the targeted minion activation, meaning an activation still occurs, allowing 1 threat to be placed on Stealth suit form.
- The threat placed on Stealth suit form is never placed on the main scheme, so even though Serve and Protect interrupts the placing of threat on the main scheme, the ability on Stealth suit form is separate from this and still allows 1 threat to be placed on itself.
- In either case, yes, you exhaust before you trigger Break Cover. If you look under 1.6’s “Initiating Abilities,” you exhaust during Step 5 as a “cost” to initiate the ability, then trigger Break Cover during Step 6 as an interrupt.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
68 – When an ally that was played this turn with Effective Leadership is discarded by You Got This, does that ally’s +1/+1 get counted by You Got This?
No; when playing “You Got This,” you’ll place the ally in your discard pile and add only its printed power to your hero’s matching power, disregarding any buffs it had while in play.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
69 – I have a question regarding the Hero Magneto in the Mysterio scenario. Let’s assume that we are in the middle of a game, and the player deck consists (top to bottom) of three cards: Encounter Card, Encounter Card, Player Card (not Magnetic). Now Magneto uses Magnetic Pull, to discard cards until he discards a Magnetic Card, then drawing this to his hand from the discard pile. What exactly is happening? This is my understanding: – Magnetic Pull would discard the topmost card of the deck, but Maze of Illusions’ Forced Interrupt triggers and let you deal this card to yourself as an Encounter Card, and as an effect draw a card. – Since the next card is also an Encounter Card, the Forced Interrupt triggers again, dealing yourself an encounter card and letting you draw a card. – You draw the last card of the player deck. What happens now? Will the player deck reshuffle, because this happens in the effect window of the interrupt? Thus discarding from the new player deck? Or are we again in the resolution of Magnetic Pull, which ends unsuccessful, since we attempt to discard from an empty deck?
Because of nested sequencing, the Maze of Mirrors interrupt window that caused Magneto to draw the last card in his deck prompts an immediate shuffle, before that interrupt window closes; meaning when Magneto returns to the timing window created by Magnetic Pull, he will keep discarding cards from his newly shuffled deck.
-Alex – January 24, 2025
I thought about this for a while, and since the Upgrade Informant was spoilered, I have a question. It does a similar thing as Psychic Manipulation, but isn’t a thwart, but an upgrade. Does that mean, it doesn’t circumvent crisis icons? What is the defining thing, if something circumvents crisis? Being considered part of the identity or being a player card vs encounter card? Or even being specifically a thwart?
We are correcting a recent ruling we made on Informant, which emphasized the card’s theming over how it fit into rules as written. The updated ruling is that Informant does not circumvent crisis icons, given it is an upgrade that does not attach to “another friendly character” and therefore its ability is considered performed by the identity, so a crisis icon would prevent it from removing threat from the main scheme. For something to circumvent a crisis icon, it either has to explicitly state so (like Shadowcat) or it has to be an ability that isn’t an extension of the identity and is not on a card that a player controls, such as an ally or support. Environment cards and encounter cards are not controlled by players, so they are not affected by crisis icons in play.
-Alex – January 31, 2025
I recently saw a ruling that Informant gets around crisis icons. I’m wondering how that works with the ruling that Psychic Manipulation does not and how Psychic Misdirection has still been ruled to be “you”. To my knowledge, events and upgrades not attached to another character are still “you.”
We re-examined our previous ruling on Informant and concluded that in leaning into the card’s theming we contradicted rules as written, and we’d rather Informant function according to rules as written and similar to other upgrades and abilities that alter activations. Given that, we are changing our previous ruling to the following: Because Informant does not attach to another friendly character, its ability is considered to be resolved by its controller’s identity, meaning that a crisis icon in play would prevent Informant from removing threat from the main scheme. It’s still the case that Psychic Manipulation is considered performed by the identity and does not circumvent a crisis icon.
-Alex – January 31, 2025
I have a question regarding the card “Henchman Heist” from the Sinister Motives Expansion. The text on this Side Scheme is “Forced Response: After any amount of Threat is removed from this scheme, place an equal amount of threat on the main scheme.” Question: Will this Forced Response happen, if I remove the last threat from the side scheme? Or is it defeated before the Forced Response triggers? Regarding to this topic: There is a table in the reference rules 1.6 on page 14 regarding timing of damage. Can we assume a similar table regarding Threat?
No, the Forced Response on Henchmen Heist will not trigger when it’s defeated. The Response window would occur after Henchmen Heist was already discarded from play.
-Alex – January 31, 2025
! I have a question regarding a past ruling of yours. I’ll post this ruling here again: 54 – I’ve got a rather confusing timing situation that might help us understand better how events, interrupts, and the like all interact. Scenario is: Shadowcat in solid form plays Haymaker, targeting an enemy with Hidden in the Clutter attached. Hidden in the Clutter triggers, and has 3 effects: Place damage on it instead, Enemy attacks you, Discard Hidden in the Clutter. Suppose Shadowcat defends the attack. So, my questions are: 1) When in that process is Haymaker discarded? 2) When does Solid’s response trigger? 3) Assuming she chooses to flip, when does Phased’s response trigger (or does it trigger at all)? I’ll lay it out in steps to make it easier to follow: Shadowcat in Solid form plays Haymaker. Haymaker remains on the table as it’s resolved.
Hidden in the Clutter’s Forced Interrupt triggers from Haymaker’s damage and resolves in full. All damage from Haymaker is redirected to Hidden in the Clutter, and the attached enemy initiates an attack against Shadowcat. Shadowcat chooses whether to defend, and the enemy attack resolves as normal. After the enemy attack, Responses to that attack can trigger, including Shadowcat’s mass form if she defended the attack. Hidden in the Clutter is discarded; this indicates the closing of the Interrupt window for having played Haymaker. Haymaker is discarded. Responses to playing Haymaker can trigger here, including Shadowcat’s mass form. Now my question: In the Reference Rules 1.6 under “Activation” the last bullt point states: “If an effect initiates an activation during the resolution of another activation, the newly initiated activation resolves after the current activation has finished resolving.” How does this work together with the above ruling, where “Hidden in the Clutter” initates a new activation within the attack activation of Shadowcat
“Activations” are a function that only enemies perform, not heroes. A hero action can be interrupted by an enemy activation.
-Alex – January 31, 2025
I need some insight on Espionage. I have Espionage and Spycraft in play. An encounter card is revealed with surge keyword. I trigger Spycraft to cancel the effects. Is surge canceled? Can i still trigger Espionage (because it contains would)?
Yes, Spycraft can cancel the surge keyword; however, if you cancel surge this way, you cannot trigger Espionage, as it has nothing to Interrupt.
-Alex – January 31, 2025
If my nemesis side scheme was already in play when I revealed the analysis paralysis side scheme, would any additional threat be placed on it? My understanding is that it X here would be 0 because of this entry,”An effect that uses “that [target]” refers to the target of a previous effect and can only be resolved for a valid target of the previous effect.” “that” side scheme would have needed to be the scheme I searched for and revealed. I could have technically searched for it even though I knew where it was (in play) but I don’t think I could re-reveal it since it’s already face up.
No; if your nemesis side scheme is already in play when you reveal Analysis Paralysis, you do not re-reveal the side scheme, and you do not place additional threat on AP. You are correct in that AP only places threat on itself if the nemesis side scheme was revealed via AP’s first sentence.
-Alex – January 31, 2025
She -Hulk vs Magneto – She-Hulk has the superhuman strength upgrade in play. -Magneto has the Magneto’s armor attachment attached. -She hulk attacks Magneto. -Magneto cannot be stunned, so the forced response on superhuman strength does not initiate. -Player then triggers the non forced response on Magneto’s helmet and pays the cost to discard it. Does superhuman strength initiate now?
No. After you attack Magneto, a timing window opens for Response abilities triggered by the attack, where Forced Responses are resolved first and Responses are resolved second. You first check if you can resolve the Forced Response on Superhuman Strength and see that you cannot, then you check Magneto’s Armor and see you can resolve its Response so you do. You do not then retroactively re-check Superhuman Strength, as its timing window already passed.
-Alex – January 31, 2025
March, 2025
She -Hulk VS Magneto -She hulk has the superhuman strength upgrade in play. -Magneto has the Magneto’s armor attachment attached. -She hulk attacks Magneto. -Magneto cannot be stunned, so the forced response on superhuman strength does not initiate. -Player then triggers the non forced response on Magneto’s helmet and pays the cost to discard it. Does superhuman strength initiate now?
No. After you attack Magneto, a timing window opens for Response abilities triggered by the attack, where Forced Responses are resolved first and Responses are resolved second. You first check if you can resolve the Forced Response on Superhuman Strength and see that you cannot, then you check Magneto’s Armor and see you can resolve its Response so you do. You do not then retroactively re-check Superhuman Strength, as its timing window already passed.
-Alex – March 6, 2025
Can you clarify Maria Hill specification: Is the max number of copies for a SHIELD support is mandatory, or can I choose the number of copies up to the max? Is it possible to include copies of only 1 SHIELD support from another aspect?
You can think of Maria Hill’s deckbuilding rule as “all or nothing.” If you choose to include off-aspect S.H.I.E.L.D. support cards in her deck, you must include the maximum allowed copies of 3 different cards by title; otherwise, you would include no off-aspect S.H.I.E.L.D. support cards. (For example, in her preconstructed deck she has 3 unique off-aspect S.H.I.E.L.D. supports, each one of a different aspect.)
-Alex – March 6, 2025
I have a question about Maria Hill’s alter-ago ability. How many off-aspect supports by title can Maria Hill bring? Is it 0 or 3 exclusively, or can she choose to just bring 1 or 2 supports by title? And then if she chooses an off-aspect support, she must bring the maximum copies of that support, correct?
You can think of Maria Hill’s deckbuilding rule as “all or nothing.” If you choose to include off-aspect S.H.I.E.L.D. support cards in her deck, you must include the maximum allowed copies of 3 different cards by title; otherwise, you would include no off-aspect S.H.I.E.L.D. support cards. (For example, in her preconstructed deck she has 3 unique off-aspect S.H.I.E.L.D. supports, each one of a different aspect.)
-Alex – March 6, 2025
I have a question about Marvel champions LCG. When playing against Kang stage 2, a player draw Azazel as the boost card for his Kang’s activation. As the boost effect said, the card should be dealt to Nightcrawler player as facedown boost card. However, nightcrawler player is not in the same game area yet. So should the player dealt Azazel as facedown boost card to Nightcrawler player? Or should he ignore it since he can’t find nightcrawler player in his game area?
Since the rules for Kang stage 2 state that cards in one game area cannot affect another game area, if the Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner player is not in the same game area as Azazel when he’s revealed as a boost card, Azazel cannot be dealt to that player and you ignore that instruction.
-Alex – March 6, 2025
When another player reveals an encounter card, if I trigger my Black Widow protection ally to cancels effects, who reveal another encounter card, me or the other player?
The controller of Black Widow is the one that reveals the new encounter card.
-Alex – March 6, 2025
Under enemy attack in the rules, it reads: “Abilities that trigger “When/After [enemy] attacks you” are resolved when/after a player is attacked, regardless of which character they control was attacked.” Is this also true of “When [enemy] would attack you”, such as Nick Fury’s Stealth suit? In particular, if the Nick Fury player is in Hero/Stealth form and draws Leaping Kick, does the enemy scheme instead of attacking an ally?
Nick Fury’s Stealth suit form triggers when specifically Nick Fury is attacked, not an ally he controls. The bullet you quoted was written with mainly enemy abilities in mind, such as the ones on Ultron I & II. We will consider an update to that rule to make this clearer.
-Alex – March 16, 2025
Question about the new cyclops leadership ally and the deal/take damage distinction. Does the chosen enemy take 1 extra damage from each instance dealt to it with an attack that deals multiple instances of damage? Same question with attacks like grande finale that from my understanding deal 2 damage and then deal up to 6 more damage but in instances of 2 sequentially?
Yes, the enemy chosen for Cyclops’ ability takes 1 additional damage per instance of damage dealt to it. For example, choosing an enemy with Cyclops and then playing Grande Finale targeting just that enemy would deal 3 damage to it multiple times, totaling up to 12 damage if three different resource types were used to pay for that event.
-Alex – March 16, 2025
There was a recent ruling that we should not retroactively re-check Superhuman Strength after its timing window passes. I’m curious whether and how this may apply to Stunned/Confused statuses and interrupts that change the activation type such as Armor Up or Nick Fury’s Stealth suit.
1. So, if a Confused enemy attacks Nick Fury in Stealth mode, his Stealth Suit triggers after the window for Status cards, and then creates a replacement effect of the enemy scheming, does Confused trigger in this case? 2. If a Stunned enemy schemes against Colossus in alter-ego, and he plays Armor Up, this is again after the window for Status cards. It does not create a replacement effect, but changes the impending scheme into an attack, does Stunned trigger in this case?
When Nick Fury’s Stealth suit form triggers against an attacking enemy, it causes the enemy to change its activation type to a scheme, resetting the new activation to its initiation step and causing another check for status cards to occur. It is therefore possible for a Confused enemy to initiate an attack against Nick Fury, trigger Stealth suit form, initiate a scheme activation, and then discard its Confused status card.
Armor Up can similarly alter an enemy’s activation type in this way; if a Stunned enemy would initiate a scheme activation, Armor Up can be played to change the activation type and reset the new attack activation to its initiation step, causing the villain to discard its Stunned status card. We are looking into updating the rules for enemy activations to make this process more clear.
-Alex – March 16, 2025
1.If I play the double life event card without using a physical resource, is the event completely resolved and discarded after the first sentence? (Ignoring the second)
2.Do I control my Identity card?
1. No; the second sentence of Double Life is never ignored, you will always make a check if you paid for the card using a physical resource.
2. Yes, you control your identity card.
-Alex – March 16, 2025
If the basic ally Melinda May defends and survives an attack, is it considered as a basic defense? Can she trigger her response considering this was a basic defense ?
No. Because allies don’t have a DEF stat, they aren’t considered to “use a basic power” when they defend attacks. Melinda May must use her THW or ATK for a game function in order to trigger her ability.
-Alex – March 16, 2025
Four-part question: first, can you verify that, when a character has more than one of the same status card and that character loses the ability that allowed that to happen, is the player meant to discard status cards to meet the usual limit of one status card of each type? Currently, I understand Colossus’ hero ability is meant to allow him to have two tough status cards and this answer would affect what happens if his text box is blanked or if he flips to Alter-Ego. Similarly, the Steady keyword allows some characters to hold up to two stunned or two confused status cards and this keyword could be lost while the character still has two of the same status card. … Secondly, would you consider re-wording the rules reference entry for status cards from “A character cannot have more than one status card of each type at a time.” (RRv1.6 p38) to something like “Only one status card of each type at a time can be on a character unless otherwise allowed by a card ability.” perhaps with additional verbiage making it clear what to do about having more than one if you lose the ability that allowed that to happen? The main concern behind this request to revise a section of rules is with the word “cannot” within the rules text.
The rules reference entry for “cannot” (RRv1.6 p11) makes it clear the word is absolute and applies not just to cards on the table but to rules, as well, with anything that says “cannot” taking precedence. We’ve even had an official ruling (Hall of Heroes post 1.5 pre 1.6) explaining that not even the Golden Rule can override “cannot”. … Thirdly, would you similarly need to re-word the sections for the Crisis icon, the Guard keyword, and the Patrol keyword? The rules entries for all of these also use the word “cannot” in the rules text. Several player cards are meant to circumvent these things: Nebula’s Evasive Maneuvering, the Justice Wasp ally, Colossus’ Shadowcat ally, the Shadowcat hero, and Psylocke’s Psionic Training, among others. That said, all of these cards instruct the player to “ignore” the mentioned icon or keywords, so maybe that’s enough? I’m not sure that’s enough to counter the supposedly-absolute “cannot”, though. … Finally, do you think it would be wise to define “ignore” within the rules reference? The word is used in the definition of the Ranged keyword, in a few other places within the rules reference, on a dozen or so player cards, and on a small number of encounter cards. I suppose everyone’s naturalistic understanding of the word might be enough, though, so maybe it’s unnecessary.
To answer your specific question, yes, if a character loses an ability that would allow them to have multiple of the same type of status card, they must discard down to the allowed limit (usually 1). As for the rest, we are looking into how we’ve used “cannot” in our rules and are considering what updates we want to make, but have nothing definitive to state at this time.
-Alex – March 16, 2025
I’m playing the hero Nightcrawler against Klaw and the minion Melter is engaged with my hero. I have attached BAMF! to Melter. Now Melter activates. Melters text states: [Star] The engaged player must defend against Melter’s attacks with an ally they control, if able. Am I allowed to use BAMF! to make Nightcrawler the defender of Melters attack, since BAMF! is an Interrupt, which takes place before the attack of Melter and before the step “choose defender” in the attack step? The same question, if I would play the protection event Powerful Punch, which is an Interrupt triggering on the activation of an enemy. (Or similar Interrupts, that trigger before the step “choose Defender”). Notes: I’m aware that Melter’s ability is a static effect, but the Star Icon connects it to his ATK attribute and the Interrupts above trigger to the activation and resolve even before the activation.
Melter, being an old card, has a poorly formatted ability; while it’s presented as a constant ability, it would only come into effect during the point in which you would declare a defender for his attack, which is during Step 2 of his Attack Activation. If you trigger an ability at an earlier step of his attack, such as triggering Bamf! or Powerful Punch during the attack initiation, you can declare your hero as the defender of that attack, and you would remain the defender of that attack as per the rules of defending.
-Alex – March 16, 2025
Am I correct in understanding that Get the Scoop for Silk will only activate the defeat condition if you are in alter-ego?
The “When Defeated” ability on Get the Scoop will trigger regardless of which form Silk is in. The wording “the Cindy Moon player” is meant to mirror how we word obligation cards so that they’re always given to the intended player.
-Alex – March 16, 2025
The following is from the Agents of shield campaign guide. Q.When resolving the ability on Thunderbolt Backup, what happens if there is a tie for minion with the most damage? A.If two or more minions have the same amount of damage (including no damage) the first player chooses which of the tied minions to place under Thunderbolt Backup. My question is does this answer include the minion that’s already there? I am wondering if the minion currently there would be forced to swap if possible.
If the minion attached to Thunderbolt Backup is tied for the most damage, it is a valid target for that Forced Interrupt, and the first player can choose to have it remain attached to Thunderbolt Backup.
-Alex – March 21, 2025
I have some questions about the leadership ally Slingshot. Knowing those from RRG: ACTION: […]Players can only trigger action abilities on cards they control […] OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL: […] A player controls the cards in their own out-of-playareas (such as the hand, the deck, and the discard pile). – Can I trigger Slingshot ability without paying her 3 resource cost? – More generally, can I trigger an action of a card in my hand without paying its cost? – If Slingshot is in play, can I still trigger her ability? Spend an energy resource should not be a problem Obviously she cannot be played from hand since she is already in play so this part fizzle out But the last part, the lasting effect, is it a valid target on its own?
Slingshot’s ability allows you to put her into play from your hand by spending an Energy resource, bypassing her resource cost of 3; if you do this, you then have to return her to your hand at the end of the phase. The card’s ability is worded in such a way to allow this; most Action abilities on Allies can only be triggered while that Ally is in play. You technically can pay Slingshot’s ability cost while she’s in play, and in doing so you’d resolve as much of it as possible, resulting in you returning her to your hand at the end of the phase.
-Alex – March 21, 2025
April, 2025:
In the Agents of SHIELD box, If Batroc’s scheme “Extract Captives” is in play, with “Forced Interrupt: when an enemy attacks, it attacks a rescued captive”, and Nick Fury is in Stealth Form with Forced Interrupt: “When an enemy would attack you, it schemes instead”. Which forced interrupt has priority?
Stealth suit form’s Forced Interrupt has the triggering condition “when an enemy would attack you,” which gives it priority over Extract Captives’ triggering condition “when an enemy attacks.”
-Alex – April 4, 2025
Saw a couple questions I wasn’t sure about over the weekend. 1.In what ways is your identity considered to have generated resources? Check my understanding. ✓ Resource abilities on your identity ✓ Resource abilities on upgrades ✓ The resource card type from hand ✓ events (if any or for the future) ? Non resource card type cards discarded from hand X Allies X Supports X Player Side schemes. The SP//DR nemesis minion, M.O.R.B.I.U.S brought up this question. So for example, I’m playing as Ironman. I’m in hero form. I have M.O.R.B.I.U.S engaged with me. I place the avengers mansion support card on the table. I pay the cost with a Genius resource card from hand, a first aid event card from hand and I use the pepper pots support card resource ability. How much damage does my hero take? Second Question. Does the Operation Zero Tolerance side scheme trigger on minions that were treated as allies like from the karma ally, when they are defeated and discarded?
A player is considered to “generate resources” any time they pay a cost by either spending cards from their hand or using a Resource ability on a card they control. Most of the time, if a player is playing a card that costs 1 or more, they will be generating resources for that card. For your example, if you’re Iron Man paying for the 4-cost Avenger’s Mansion, you generate 2 resources by spending Genius, 1 resource by spending First Aid, and X resources by using Pepper Potts’ ability, where X is the resource of the top card in your discard pile. This means an engaged M.O.R.B.I.U.S. deals you 3 + X damage. Note, it’s possible the total is greater than 4, the cost of Avenger’s Mansion, because it’s possible to “generate” resources beyond a card’s cost when paying for it. As for Operation Zero Tolerance, no, a minion being treated as an ally would not get placed under OZT when defeated; once it’s discarded from play, it reverts to being a minion, and there will be no ally for OZT to find
That’s interesting. Would you say that every resource that’s generated is generated by both the player and the identity? The wording on m.o.r.b.i.u.s makes me think that heros generate resources but with pepper pots being a support, I thought you would say that she would not trigger m.o.r.b.i.u.s.
We appreciate your follow-up, as it helped us realize an additional clarification we’d like to make. M.O.R.B.I.U.S. currently states it triggers its response when “the engaged hero” generates resources, and we agreed that we don’t want to make a distinction between “the identity” and “the player” generating resources in Marvel Champions. When the player generates resources, their identity does as well. We are going to make a small update to M.O.R.B.I.U.S. to clarify how it fits in with this rule; its Forced Response will state that when the engaged player generates any number of resources, deal an equal amount of damage to that player’s hero.
-Alex – April 4, 2025
Question regarding Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Abduct Superhumans is already in play, then AIM Abductor gets revealed When AIM abductor gets revealed, do I tuck an ally without doing the Forced Interrupt on Abduct Superhumans? Do I need to add the acceleration token and threat?
When AIM Abductor enters play and tucks an ally under Abduct Superhumans, that ally is considered to leave play and will trigger the scheme’s forced interrupt, which you resolve as much of as possible. The ally is already tucked, so you proceed to adding threat to the scheme; after which, because the text preceding “then” in the ability was not fully resolved, you do not add an acceleration token to it.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
I was wondering if you could help clarify a cost question for me. It is my understanding that costs are paid simultaneously. For example it has been ruled that a 1-hp Venom hero can use Symbiotic Bond to pay for Momentum Shift and end up with 2 hp. If I have an ally that has Clarity of Purpose Attached with 1 remaining hp. Can I pay for, play “You Got This”, and target that same ally with 1 remaining hp? Defeat is often considered a very immediate effect so I’m not positive if I can stack both the damage/defeat and discard cost on the same ally
Yes. Because costs are paid simultaneously, the ally is dealt damage/defeated in the same step as it is discarded via the ability cost of “You Got This!”, allowing you to pay for “You Got This!” in this way.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
Looking for some clarification on Red Skull’s The Rise of Red Skull Main Scheme (1A). It says that I should put every other side scheme into the side-scheme deck. 1) Does this include Player Side Schemes (PSS)? Which I believe have been ruled as side schemes? 2) Would a player deck with 40 cards (inclusive of side schemes) be a valid deck? 3) In addition, Rise of Red Skull Insert states a side-scheme is defeated or otherwise discarded to place it in the side-scheme discard pile. Does this override the Victory keyword?
In the Red Skull scenario, only shuffle side schemes from the encounter deck into the side scheme deck; do not shuffle any player side schemes into that deck. After defeating a player side scheme during that scenario, place it in its owner’s discard pile. Any side scheme (player or encounter) with the Victory keyword should be placed into the victory display when defeated instead of in a discard pile.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
Marvel Champion’s Rogue. She has a hero ability called “Skin Contact”. Which attaches the Touch upgrade to another character. 1) It is FFG’s intention that Rogue is able to use the Skin Contact ability even when the Touch Upgrade is set aside? (Which it often will be given Rogue’s Forced Response). 2) In the 1.6 Rules, page 22, it states: “Card abilities only interact with, and can only target, cards that are in play (unless the ability text specifically refers to an out-of-play area).” Given this rule it appears that I would be unable to use the Skin Contact Ability when the Touched upgrade is set aside? 3) Based on responses for questions 1 and 2, would FFG consider an errata to fix this issue? Perhaps “Skin Contact − Action: FIND AND Attach Touched…”
Yes, Rogue’s Skin Contact ability and Energy Transfer event are intended to be able to find Touched while it’s set-aside in order to attach it to a character. In hindsight, these abilities likely should have specified the player “find” Skin Contact in order to attach it; however, we don’t believe an erratum for these cards are needed unless we see widespread confusion on how they are intended to interact.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
If I play face the past and my nemesis minion cannot enter play, is it still considered revealed? And do you reveal an additional encounter card or not?
If your nemesis minion cannot enter play (such as it being prevented to by the rules of uniqueness), it cannot be “revealed”; in that case, you cannot play Face the Past because you cannot pay its ability cost.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
If I am in Alter-Ego while I have the warriors of the great web card attached and a web warrior ally leaves play, does its response trigger?
Yes, Warrior of the Great Web’s Response can be triggered if a Web-Warrior ally leaves play while you’re in Alter-Ego form. That said, your Alter-Ego can’t gain or use a basic power type it doesn’t have; but, with WotGW creating a lasting effect giving “attached character” +1 ATK, you could flip to Hero form and gain +1 ATK until the end of the phase.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
First one came up with the Undermine Support side scheme card from the Baron Zemo scenario. During the end of the player phase steps, can players optionally choose not to ready cards they control? Second one is about the upcoming Target Spotter support card. Does the minion engage the original player first or is the target spotter ability meant to replace that engagement with another engagement? Finally, is it intended for cards without the uses keyword to be able to have all purpose counters placed on them?
- For Undermine Support, players may choose to not spend any resources and not ready their support cards.
- If a player uses Target Spotter when a minion would engage another player, the minion does not engage that other player.
- Yes, a card without the Uses (X) keyword can have all-purpose counters placed onto it; in that case, the counters are simply treated as “all-purpose counters” with no other qualities.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
Is the Longshot ally from the single card encounter set in the mojo mania pack considered a basic card? I am curious because it’s a gray colored card but doesn’t have the word basic in the bottom right
No, Longshot is not considered a Basic card. To be a Basic card, it must be labeled as “Basic” in the bottom right corner.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
If I use the energy resource card to pay for thors lighting strike event card, can I spend 1 of the resources on its resource cost and the other resource on its ability cost?
Yes. You pay resource costs and ability costs simultaneously, so it’s possible to use the resources generated by one Energy on both a card’s resource cost and its ability cost.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
For cards such as Undermine Support from Baron Zemo and Mister Fear from Crossfire’s Crew that interact with readying cards at the end of player phase, does a player have to ready their cards and thus pay the costs? Or can players choose not to ready those cards?
For both Undermine Support and Mister Fear, players may choose to not pay the additional cost and not ready their specified player cards at the end of the player phase.
Another related question popped up: If I’m playing as Ironheart, am I able to choose not to ready Brawn at the end of player phase? Or does there have to be an additional cost for me to be able to choose not to pay?
No, you cannot choose to leave Brawn exhausted at the end of the player phase if nothing is preventing him from readying. You must ready cards at the end of the player phase, unless an ability prevents it or requires an additional cost to be paid to ready the card, in which case you can choose to not pay that cost.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
I have a question about the timing interaction of Nick Fury (hero) and Surprise Attack (Aggression). If you attack and trigger his Forced Interrupt to change from Stealth suit form to Assault suit form, does the Response of Surprise Attack take place before the initial attack (that caused the form change) resolves? The only thing in the RRG 1.6 that I found that leads me to believe that that’s the case is the wording that a Response Ability takes place immediately after its triggering condition occurs.
It just seems odd to me because it almost feels like using a Response like an Interrupt. I’m wondering though if there is a parallel here to the ruling on the interaction between Shadowcat’s Solid Form and Powerful Punch (Protection). There, it does seem like the Response on Solid Form triggers immediately after the damage from the Interrupt of Powerful Punch, but before the enemy’s attack continues. Does this mean that you can use a Response to an Interrupt within the window of the Interrupt’s triggering condition? Or should Surprise Attack (in this instance) wait until Nick Fury’s initial attack (that caused the form change) fully resolves?
The main thing to keep in mind is that Surprise Attack is responding to the hero changing form, not interrupting the hero’s form change or attack. Nick Fury has the unique ability to change form as an interrupt to an attack, so he can play Surprise Attack as essentially a response to that interrupt, giving it unique timing.
The specific sequencing is as follows:
- Nick Fury initiates an attack (let’s say it’s a basic attack).
- Nick Fury’s Break Cover triggers, changing his form.
- Surprise Attack is played in response to changing form.
- Surprise Attack is resolved in full. Because it’s an attack event, Assault’s ability can be triggered as an interrupt to that attack.
- Nick resolves the rest of the basic attack, and may trigger Assault for that attack.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
I have a question regarding the upgrade Redemption. The RRG1.6 does not mention the case of an upgrade with the victory X keyword. I suppose it works the same than an attachment: If the REDEEMED ally is defeated, Redemption goes into the victory display. But what if the REDEEMED ally leaves play without being defeated (discarded by Last Stand for example), does Redemption goes into the victory display or in the discard pile.
Yes, an upgrade with Victory X is treated the same as an attachment with the keyword: when the attached character is defeated, the upgrade goes to the victory display. However, if the attached character leaves play without being defeated, instead the upgrade is discarded, not placed in the victory display.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
Some of us are struggling to understand how newly revealed card “Target Spotter” (Shuri’s hero pack) works in combination with various player cards with minion summoning effects in Marvel Champions.
To cut a long story short, if a player plays the following events but someone uses Target Spotter, which cards’ cost arrows are fulfilled? And, in the case of Angela, do we have to discard her or is her Forced Response’s condition satisfied?
– Angela
– Defender of the Nine Realms
– Looking For Trouble
– Chooser of the Slain
– Come Get Me Bub
– Squared Off
– Face the Past
– Infiltration
Firstly, let us state that if a player uses Target Spotter’s ability on a minion that would engage a different player, that minion does not engage that different player, only the player that triggered Target Spotter. This baseline should help clarify its interactions with the following cards.
For events with an ability cost involving discarding and engaging a minion (Squared Off, Defender of the Nine Realms, etc.), the player can attempt to pay the ability cost by discarding cards, then if a minion is found the Target Spotter player can change who the minion engages; if they do, the ability cost of the event is not considered paid, its post-arrow effect fails, and it gets discarded.
Chooser of the Slain is mostly similar in that the search is allowed and Target Spotter can change the minion engagement, resulting in the ability cost being unpaid and the event getting discarded.
Normally, if it’s known the cost can’t be paid, the card can’t be played; but with these events having ability cost relying on uncertain information, they allow for an attempt at payment, and Target Spotter is able to interrupt that process.
For Infiltration, the player that the minion engages is inconsequential to the rest of the card’s ability; the cost can still be paid and the post-arrow effect still has at least one valid target even if the minion engages a different player.
For Face the Past, as long as the minion is “revealed,” the ability cost is considered paid and the post-arrow effect can resolve. The player that “reveals” the minion can be a different player than the one that “engages” it.
For Angela, as long as a minion is put into play as a result of her ability, she will remain in play. Even if Target Spotter changes the minion’s engagement, Angela still put the minion into play.
-Alex – April 8, 2025
Do player side schemes remain under the control of the player that played it? The Chimera villain cares for example.
Yes, player side schemes are controlled by the player that played them.
-Alex – April 17, 2025
I have a question regarding The Hood Scenario and adding modulars that have permanent or special cards. For example, I want to create a scenario with a bunch modulars with Setup cards: – Infinity Gauntlet – Super Strength – Telepathy – Flight – Genosha – Savage Lands – Blue Moon. Are the setup cards put on the table or are they shuffled with the encounter deck?
When choosing encounter sets with Setup/Permanent cards for The Hood scenario, those cards are set aside with the rest of the cards in that encounter set. Then, when their respective sets are added to the encounter deck, any cards with Setup/Permanent are put into play at that time and not shuffled into the encounter deck. (Also, when the Infinity Gauntlet set is added to the game, be sure to create the Infinity Stone deck at that time.)
-Alex – April 17, 2025
I have a question about Restrained (Ebony Maw #20/MTS #83). The card says “Attach to the friendly character with the highest ATK and exhaust it.” My question is, if it is revealed as an encounter card when you are playing solo in alter-ego form and you have no allies, what happens? Would the card attach to the only friendly character (your identity in alter-ego) or would it be discarded without effect because your alter-ego has no ATK?
Since Alter-Egos do not have an ATK value, they are not valid targets for Restrained. Restrained would not attach to anything if there was only an Alter-Ego in play.
-Alex – April 17, 2025
I’ve a question regarding Regroup and a controlled Minion. Lets say Regroup is in play, and a minion controlled by Karma is defeated. the interrupt on Regroup triggers, returning the Controlled ally to its owner’s hand. But since the scenario is the owner of the minion, where goes the minion? into the encounter deck?
If Regroup is in effect when a Controlled minion is defeated, that minion will be placed in the encounter discard pile.
-Alex – April 17, 2025
I was playing a 2 players game and we ran into a question. I am playing as Angel and my friend is playing as Psylocke. My encounter card is Psylockes obligation, Body Swapped. I have the Spycraft Justice upgrade in play. Body Swapped has a when revealed ability but also an instruction to give to the Betsy Braddock player. Which player is considered to be revealing obligations that are instructed to give to another player?
Obligations are revealed by the player with the identity specified on the obligation (assuming there is one). The Betsy Braddock player is considered to reveal Body Swapped even if another player drew the card; Betsy’s player can then use Spycraft on Body Swapped.
-Alex – April 17, 2025
I was wondering about the restrictions of clearing a status card. If the Vision hero is in dense mass form and confused. Can you play his just passing through event to clear that status?
No; in order to play Just Passing Through—even to clear a confused status card—Vision must be in Intangible mass form.
-Alex – April 17, 2025
I have some questions about timings and the new Silk hero.
- If I play wall crawl and resolving it one sentence at a time can I remove two threat from a scheme with a crisis icon, defeating it, and then choose to remove 3 threat from the main scheme?
2. If I remove 2 threat from a scheme with wall crawl and defeat it when do I trigger Silk’s ability to tuck the card under her ID? Is it before or after I remove 3 threat from a different scheme. It makes a difference because if I can remove 2 threat, defeat then side scheme, and then tuck the side scheme immediately, then I could discard the side scheme I’ve just defeated to allow me to remove 3 threat from a scheme from the same encounter set. If I do tuck the side scheme immediately would I also trigger any other responses and when defeated effects before I remove the 3 threat from another scheme? If I have to wait for the whole ability to resolve before triggering Silk’s response this could also be beneficial if I already have 4 cards tucked under Silk before playing wall crawl, as it would mean I could get rid of one of the cards already under Silk freeing up a space for the side scheme I just defeated.
3. Spider reflexes tucks the top card of the encounter deck discard pile under Silk after the attack resolves. This will usually be a boost card but if I reveal the treachery Assault which card will be on top of the encounter deck when Spider Reflexes tucks a card? Will it be the boost card which is discarded during the attack or the Assault treachery which is discarded after the attack resolves?
4. I assume Silk can’t tuck a treachery which has it’s when revealed cancelled by Spider Tingle because although it’s revealed it is not resolved?
- Yes; if the first sentence of Wallcrawl defeats a scheme with a crisis icon, the following sentences can target the main scheme.
- If the first sentence of Wallcrawl defeats a side scheme, then you can trigger Silk’s ability immediately as a response to that defeat to tuck the scheme, and you can then continue resolving Wallcrawl by discarding the newly tucked scheme.
- Yes, you’d also trigger any “When Defeated” abilities on the tucked scheme immediately, before removing threat from another scheme.
- The delayed effect created by Spider Reflexes to tuck a card after the attack shares a timing point with discarding Assault after the attack resolves, so you can choose whether to tuck the top card before placing Assault in the discard pile, or after placing Assault in the discard pile (and thereby tuck Assasult).
- If a treachery has all of its effects canceled, it is not considered resolved. If Spider-Tingle canceling the treachery’s “When Revealed” effects means that nothing on the treachery resolved, then it can’t be tucked under Silk; but, if the treachery for instance had a keyword that still resolved, it could then be tucked under Silk.
-Alex – May 16, 2025
I was hoping to gain a little bit more clarity on the SWAP action for both the Thunderbolts and Loki Scenario. Thunderbolts Scenario 1) Is it correct to say that this scenario swaps two in-play minions? That is to say, there was no point where any of the thunderbolt minions left play during the swap process? In the v1.6 RRG there is less language to explicitly outline what steps should be taken for an in-play swap. 2) Should I swap just the minion cards? Or should I swap the minion cards AND their respective tokens, status cards, and attachments? Loki 3) For Loki we are told to swap Loki with a random set-aside Loki villain. Swap currently states we only retain tokens, attachments, and status cards. Should Loki retain the same hitpoint during the swap process? Damage on an identity or villain is tracked by a hit point dial rather than tokens.
Yes, the Thunderbolts scenario swaps two in-play minions, and neither of those minions leave play. Each minion retains the tokens, statuses, and attachments on them when they swap. And yes, when Loki swaps, he retains the same hit point dial.
-Alex – May 16, 2025
If the Winter Soldier player is in alter-ego and tries to use their Cybernetically Enhanced (CE) ability while Cybernetic Arm (CA) is in their hand, and actually use said Cybernetic Arm card as a resource to pay for the ability’s cost of 1 resource, what happens? Is this valid because we know where the card is and thus know it has no valid target?
There are other abilities in the game which search for a target where it’s a lot trickier as to whether there might be a valid target, and I assume both abilities would be beholden to the same rules. For example, Hawkeye’s Quiver asks us to search the top 5 cards of our deck for an arrow event. But it’s possible to know where all 10 of his arrow cards are if they are all in “open information” areas such as your hand, discard pile, or already under the Quiver.
So ultimately I think our real question is less about Winter Soldier’s alter-ego ability or Hawkeye’s Quiver, but more so on the rules about valid targets on initiating abilities that search your deck (and how much information the player is meant to memorize and how many areas they are meant to search through to confirm if there might be a valid target).
Yes, you would be able to use Bucky Barnes’s ability and discard your Cybernetic Arm to pay for it, allowing you to “search” your discard pile for the Arm and put it into play. Similarly, you could use Hawkeye’s Quiver to search the top 5 cards of your deck for an Arrow event, even if you already know that no Arrow event can be found there.
When we discussed these examples we ultimately determined that “search” abilities should be exempt from “valid target” rules, with the consideration that most searches will be made using incomplete information (similar to ability costs requiring discarding a deck to locate a valid target). Most of the time a player using the ability of Hawkeye’s Quiver won’t know the specific location of each of their Arrow events, and the game shouldn’t require them to keep track in order to use the ability; they should just need pay the cost of exhausting the Quiver and having 1 or more cards in their deck to search.
And we’d want to treat Bucky’s ability the same, where as long as the cost can be paid, a search can be made, and knowing the location of the Arm beforehand does not prevent the search. We will continue to discuss how exactly to implement this in the rules.
-Alex – May 16, 2025
I’ve seen a couple of questions related to playing Black Panther/Shuri/T’challa allies and I was hoping for some clarification: 1) In a true solo game with just Shuri hero, can she play both her signature ally (T’challa) and the Black Panther Leadership ally? Using the Unique Icon rules, it appears that there is no conflict stopping me from doing so. The leadership Black Panther ally has a different title than T’Challa. The Black Panther leadership ally also has a different subtitle than the hero’s alter-ego name (which is Shuri). 2) In a two-player game where Shuri Black Panther and T’Challa Black Panther are in hero form, could the Shuri player play her T’challa ally? There would be no cards that has the T’challa title in play. Currently the rules only ask me to check the titles that are in-play for Uniqueness.
- Yes, the Shuri/Black Panther hero can have both her signature T’Challa ally and a Black Panther: T’Challa ally in play, as these cards have different titles.
- No, the T’Challa ally cannot be in play if the T’Challa/Black Panther identity is already in play, on either side. A unique ally cannot be in play if a hero or alter-ego in the game has the same name as that ally.
-Alex – May 22, 2025
The card Brains Over Brawn says: “After your hero makes a basic thwart, deal damage to an enemy equal to your hero’s THW”. Does the THW value refer to the one used during the basic thwart (including potential modifiers “for this use” or “for that thwart”)?
No. Brains Over Brawn can be played as a response to a basic thwart, which occurs after the thwart has finished, and any “for this use/thwart” abilities modifying THW have expired. (Any static abilities increasing THW, such as Heroic Intuition, do count toward Brains Over Brawn though.)
-Alex – May 22, 2025
So with the MACH-IV minion from the Supersonic encounter set, is the ability meant to include allies when it read character? Do allies make basic defenses but just without a basic DEF power?
First, we’ll note that allies cannot make basic defenses, as a basic defense requires the character to use their DEF power, which allies do not have. Second, MACH-IV’s ability will receive a small update to read: “Each character without the Aerial trait cannot defend against MACH-IV’s attacks.” With this, Aerial allies and heroes can defend against his attacks.
-Alex – May 22, 2025
We have some questions around how some cards function while attached. Here’s some examples. 1.When Concussive Bombs attaches to the Zola’s Mutate minion, does it trigger when Zola attacks? 2.When Inhibitor Collar attaches to the Zola’s Mutate minion, does it blank my text box and can I and/or other players trigger its removal ability? 3.When Concussive Bombs attaches to the Famine villain in the Four Horsemen scenario, does it also trigger when any of the other horseman attacks?
- Yes, it will trigger while attached to Zola’s Mutate. Concussive Bombs triggers after “the villain” attacks you, rather than “attached villain” like other attachments might have been worded.
- The “your” in Inhibitor Collar’s constant abilities only refers to the attached identity; if it’s attached to the Mutate, those abilities don’t affect the Mutate. And yes, players can still trigger the Action ability on Inhibitor Collar if it’s attached to Zola’s Mutate.
- Yes. Similar to question 1, Concussive Bombs will trigger even if attached to a villain other than the active villain.
-Alex – May 22, 2025
Can I use the new elephants trunk support card by itself to draw one card? I noticed the rules say that when a cost involves “up to” that it must be at least 1. Is that rule only meant to apply to abilities with a single cost that uses “up to”?
Yes, you can exhaust just The Elephant’s Trunk to satisfy its ability cost and draw 1 card. (We will look into how we may want to reflect this and abilities like it in the rules; for now, rest assured that the answer is yes.)
-Alex – May 22, 2025
I wanted to better understand the timing of effects that resolve “after this attack”. I attack the Black Widow villain while she has retaliate and her ability discards the A.I.M commando minion. What resolves first, the delayed effect from the preparation ability which would put that minion into play and trigger Quickstrike or Black Widows retaliate?
Because the A.I.M. Commando’s preparation ability creates a delayed effect that resolves “after the attack”, the same timing as the Retaliate keyword, you can decide the order in which to resolve the abilities.
-Alex – May 22, 2025
I have a question around attacks that have multiple targets. I recently played Spray Fire to attack Black Widow and my 3 engaged minions. The preparation card that was discarded from the Black Widow ability was an A.I.M. Grunt. Which of the following should I understand the ability to mean. 1. It only references the part of the attack that targets/affects Black Widow, resolving that part against the Grunt instead. So dealing damage to the Grunt and each minion engaged with the chosen player? 2. The entire attack now resolves against the Grunt, essentially protecting Black Widow and the other 3 minions. Does the grunt take damage once or twice? 3. Spray Fire effectively resolves normally, dealing damage to Black Widow and any minions engaged with the chosen player.
A.I.M. Grunt’s preparation ability makes it the target of the attack the villain would have taken. In the case of Spray Fire, it is taking 3 damage in place of Black Widow; and because the damage dealt to “the villain” and “the minions” is simultaneous, the Grunt only takes 3 damage once.
-Alex – May 22, 2025
I ran into a complex timing situation. Playing Nick Fury. I have Stealth Suit, Eye Patch Camera and Secret Agent in play. – Nicks stealth suit has 4 threat on it. – Enemy attacks. – Suit changes the activation to a scheme. – During that scheme I trigger eye patch camera and choose 3 to add to suit. – I trigger Secret agent to move 1 to the suit. Does the suit still add 1 threat from the activation itself, instead of on to the main scheme?
Stealth suit form’s Forced Interrupt has an alteration effect with a higher priority than Eyepatch Camera’s Interrupt, so Stealth will be the first to place 1 threat on itself from the activation, then Eyepatch Camera and Secret Agent can place their threat.
-Alex – May 22, 2025
Playing in campaign mode against Magneto. I play Vivian (basic hero); and blank the text box of Magneto’s Fortress. I then thwart enough to remove the side scheme in the same turn. Does it just go to the encounter discard pile?
Since Magneto’s Fortress is double-sided, it can’t be placed in a discard pile when defeated, and would be removed from the game instead.
We will note that this scenario was designed with the intention that Magneto’s Power would attach to him and increase his stats for the rest of the game. We recommend playing the scenario with a rule preventing Magneto’s Fortress from being blanked in this way (and we will consider giving it an official erratum).
-Alex – June 10, 2025
“So the weirdness with the uniqueness rules…Steve Rogers, Captain America is in play…you cannot play the Captain America title if Steve Rogers is in.” – Tony
-Tony (FFG Live) – June 17, 2025
During a game I reveal “Zola’s Mutate” and then the first TECH attachment discarded is “Inhibitor Collar”. Where Inhibitor Collar should be attached on, my identity or Zola’s Mutate?
In that case, Inhibitor Collar attaches to Zola’s Mutate. The Inhibitor Collar would then give -1 ATK, its constant ability would have no effect, and its action ability could still be triggered by any player.
-Alex – June 17, 2025
-Alex – June 17, 2025
1.Is Retaliate damage considered to be dealt by the character that has it? For context, the Change of Fortune protection upgrade and being able to draw 2 cards. 2.Is Overkill damage considered to be dealt by the character that attacked with it? For context, the Schadenfreude Rocket Racoon event and being able to heal 2 damage twice from a single attack. 3.With the Innocent bystanders obligation from the Thunderbolts scenario, could you explain what each of the multiple uses of “you” refer to in the ability? 4.There is some confusion from the community around what the triggering condition of “attacks and damages you” or “attacks and damages a character” means regarding overkill damage. Some players think it means that character A has to both attack and damage Character B with that attack.(Excluding Overkill damage). Some players think it means that character A just needs needs to damage character B with an attack it made. (Including overkill damage). So we would love to know which way it should be played.
- Yes, Retaliate is considered damage dealt by the character with the keyword. Change of Fortune will trigger if Retaliate defeats an enemy.
- Yes, Overkill damage is considered damage dealt by the attacking character. Schadenfreude can heal 2 damage from Rocket twice when he deals Overkill damage, given he dealt damage to both a minion and the villain.
- “After you attack an enemy” triggers when specifically your identity attacks an enemy, while “after [an] enemy attacks you” triggers when either your identity or an ally you control is attacked. (This exception to “you = your identity” is outlined in Rules Reference v1.6.)
- An ability with the triggering condition “attacks and damages X” will trigger when Overkill damage is dealt to X, as Overkill is considered damage from an attack. Basically, if X took damage from the attack, the ability triggers, even if X was not the specific target of the attack.
-Alex – June 17, 2025
I wanted to clarify on Fabian Cortez’s When Defeated ability. It’s been ruled in the past, if I discard/engage an Acolyte Minion with the Teamwork keyword, that the new Acolyte minion’s teamwork would not activate. Two questions: 1) Is that still correct? It is my understanding that Fabian Cortez is still in play while the Teamwork minion engages me as I need to fully resolve the When Defeat ability before discarding Fabian. 2) If it is indeed correct that the minion’s teamwork would not activate, is there a “no nested” ability at play here that would prevent the teamwork keyword?
That’s still correct; Fabian Cortez does not trigger Teamwork on the new Acolyte minion. When Fabian is defeated, the new Acolyte is put into play, then Fabian is discarded, and then the Acolyte’s Teamwork triggers. There is no nested sequencing causing Teamwork to trigger before Fabian is discarded; you resolve Fabian’s When Defeated in full and discard him immediately, then you open the timing window to resolve Teamwork and also any “Response” abilities triggering off of Fabian’s defeat.
-Alex – June 17, 2025
I wanted to clarify my understanding of Dash (Value) in the RRG. In this example, I’ll be using the Hulk Ally. Previously there has been a ruling where Hulk was not able to initiate a thwart against Red House. This is in contrast where we’ve had newer rulings where the Hulk ally is able to thwart a side scheme with the Assault keyword. The questions I have are: 1) Is the Hulk ally able to thwart the Red House? Even if there is no Assault keyword? 2) As I think about the dash value, is the dash (value) tied to a game action (i.e. exhaust for basic activation) or is it tied to a stat that is used in the game?
No, Hulk cannot thwart The Red House; a character needs to be able to initiate a thwart against The Red House before triggering its interrupt to use their ATK, and since Hulk has a “dash” (-) value for his THW, he cannot exhaust to initiate a basic thwart this way. Although the Assault keyword is worded very similar to The Red House’s Interrupt, Assault is always in effect while the Interrupt is a triggered ability. Assault requires the character to use ATK when thwarting, and since Hulk has an ATK value he can initiate a thwart against an Assault scheme.
-Alex – June 17, 2025
I have a scenario that I am looking for a bit more clarity on using Ready for a Fight / Antman’s 2 hero forms. I am in a multiplayer game where I am Ant-man is in Tiny hero form and the villain schemes on another player. I trigger Ready for a Fight to prevent the scheme. One of the effects of Ready for a Fight is that I “change to hero form”. If I am in Tiny form must I change to Giant form so that I obey the “do as much as you can” mantra? Am I allowed to choose if I want to or not? I believe with Cable’s Bodyslide ability (assume he changes to hero form), I may change from one hero form the the other.
Yes, if you trigger the ability on Ready for a Fight, you must change to a hero form if you are able; in this case, you would have to change from Tiny form to Giant form, and would not get the option to stay in Tiny form. Bodyslide states that other players “may change” their form, and with Ant-Man having two hero forms he can choose to change as well as which form to change into if starting in Alter-Ego. But Ready for a Fight does not include “may,” meaning changing to a hero form is not optional.
-Alex – June 17, 2025
I wanted to clarify some questions about the requirements of targets specifically for encounter cards. It is my understanding that if an (1) ability or game function requires one or more targets, that ability or game function can only be initiated if it has at least one valid target (pg. 39 – v1.6 RRG). (2) Encounter cards are game functions that require valid target as no exceptions have been granted. This is reinforced by Concussive Bombs which requires a valid support/upgrade to be exhausted otherwise no bomb counters can be removed. Below are a couple hypothetical examples:
1) Using the example of Counterspell card (part of Doctor Strange’s Nemesis Kit), what would happen if I am in Alter-ego? Therefore there is no valid target for Counterspell to be attached? Is there a way to un-initiate an encounter card? 2) With Caught off Guard (part of the standard set), is there always a valid target because “this card gains surge”? 3) How should Breakthrough’s (part of the Juggernaut set) choose option work if I have neither any supports/upgrades and I have Go For Champions (part of Ironheart pack) that makes my Champion hero unable to take damage?
Correct; a valid target is required for an ability/game function to initiate.
- If Counterspell is drawn by a player in Alter-Ego form, the card has no valid target to attach to, so it is discarded with no effect.
- Yes, Caught Off Guard can always initiate; even without an upgrade or support to target, the Surge keyword can resolve in almost every circumstance, its “valid target” being a card in the encounter deck that can be drawn.
- In a situation where neither bullet on Breakthrough has a valid target, its ability does not initiate, and it is discarded with no effect.
-Alex – June 17, 2025
I have a question about Marvel Champions, specifically about the Ebony Maw scenario. I managed to get two pacification in the same encounter phase, therefore two turns later both triggered at the same time. If I read the rules about valid targets correctly, one triggers and exhausts all my upgrades and stuns me, then the second tries to trigger but doesn’t have any valid targets left, so doesn’t. Since it doesn’t have any counters left the Forced Interrupt can never trigger again and it sticks to me for the rest of the scenario, but doesn’t do anything (besides interacting with other cards in the scenario). Is that correct?
Technically yes, if the second Pacification has no valid target (as in, all of your upgrades are exhausted and you are already stunned), then its ability cannot initiate and it will remain in play for the rest of the game. (That said, in such a situation, you have our permission to treat the cost arrow in the ability as a period, as it’s not intended for these environments to be in play indefinitely.)
-Alex – June 17, 2025
I have a question focused on Label Ability and it’s interaction with Multitalented [Jubilee Hero Pack]. Below are some questions I have for the card: (1) Even if I only pay for multitalented with Energy resources (i.e. Heal only), my identity would still be considered to have been making an attack and thwart? (2) If I remove two threat from a scheme, am I considered to have thwarted and attacked that scheme? (3) If I deal two damage to an enemy, am I considered to have attacked and thwarted that enemy? (4) If I heal myself, am I considered to have been making an attack/thwart against myself? Additionally, how would I resolve this attack against myself if I have the retaliate keyword?
Regardless of which resources were paid or which effects were resolved, Multitalented is still labeled as an “attack” and a “thwart,” and by playing it your hero is considered to have “attacked” and “thwarted”—it just may be the case that there is no “attacked enemy”, damage dealt, “thwarted scheme”, or thwart removed by Multitalented. You cannot thwart an enemy, attack a scheme, or attack yourself with this card, and you do not resolve Retaliate on your hero when playing this card. Something you could do if you only healed using Multitalented would be triggering Surprise! and/or playing Pitchback, as you have “thwarted” and “attacked”, and neither reference the scheme or enemy targeted by that thwart/attack.
-Alex – June 26, 2025
I have a rather interesting English word question involving Wolverine Hero / Jubilee Ally (Wolverine’s signature ally) / Teamwork. The question I have revolves around the word “THEY get +2 ATK”. Does THEY a reference to the singular (the character making the basic attack) or the plural (both Wolverine and Jubilee). In the case of Teamwork, if Wolverine attacks the chosen enemy, is Jubilee’s matching power 1 or 3 in this scenario? We checked the Spanish and Chinese versions of Wolverine and Jubilee and they appear to indicate the plural, but we wanted to check with FFG! Thanks!
Yes; when either Jubilee or Wolverine make a basic attack against the chosen enemy, they each get +2 ATK for that attack, meaning that Jubilee would have 3 ATK when Wolverine plays Teamwork and targets that enemy.
-Alex – June 26, 2025
I am in a multiplayer game and the villain [ultron] is attacking another player. I defend for that other player using my ally because my hero only has 1 hp. We reveal the villain boost card which is Concussive Blast which says that I should deal 1 damage to each character I control. Which means I am defeated. In the scenario I am defeated by the villains boost icon during an attack, what happens to the remaining attack? Does the attack resolve against the original identity that was targeted? Or does it just resolve undefended?
If you are defeated via a boost ability during an attack, the attack then ends, and the damage from that attack isn’t dealt to anyone.
-Alex – June 26, 2025
I’m playing the Batroc scenario and I revealed the Security Camera treachery while in hero form, having multiple characters in play and 3 threat on the low side of the Alert Level environment. Does that resolve simultaneously or sequentially? The rules I found around “for each choose” is about target selection rather than option selection so we didn’t know how to resolve it.
Each choice you make with Security Cameras is sequential; you’d exhaust a character or place 1 threat on Alert Level one at a time, which could result in Alert Level flipping during the resolution.
-Alex – July 11, 2025
I have a question about the new Black Widow villain. If I attack her using Nick fury’s spray fire event and discard the attacrobatics treachery, does that preparation ability prevent the damage dealt to minions? I will link an older ruling. Dive bomb is a little different than spray fire but we are not sure it it applies or if this is still the case. Is there a general rule we could go by in these situations?
Like Temporal Shield preventing just the damage dealt to Kang, Attacrobatics only prevents the damage that would be dealt to Black Widow during the attack. Spray Fire would still deal damage to engaged minions.
-Alex – July 11, 2025
I recently played a game against the Baron Zemo scenario playing as the Mariah Hill hero. There was 1 secret counter on the last board member environment in play. There was a S.H.I.E.L.D agent minion in play and Baron Zemo was down to 6HP. I played The Hard Call event discarding my 6 cost Iliad support. How would this situation play out? Who wins?
Technically, since S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent’s ability is an interrupt, the secret counter would be added immediately, interrupting the defeat of both enemies. If this caused the last Board Member environment to flip, you would then reveal and trigger the loss condition. That said, your action also defeated the villain, which is the condition you need to win. You have our permission to consider this case still a victory.
-Alex – July 11, 2025
Valid Target question. If the only enemy in play is the villain and it doesn’t have the steady or stalwart keywords. Can I play Quick Quip to place 1 confused status card on it?
Yes. So long as you can pay the cost of Quick Quip and its effect has at least 1 valid target, you’re able to play it and place just 1 confused status card. The “total of 2 confused status cards” phrasing was meant to clarify the ability, not restrict it.
-Alex – July 11, 2025
Regarding the team up keyword. Does it check for subtitle names? For example if I’m playing as Ghost Spider and I’m in Alter-Ego form and I have the protection Spider-man (Miles Morales) in play, can I play young love?
Yes, Team-Up cards check for subtitles on allies in play. You can play Young Love as the Gwen Stacy alter-ego with the Spider-Man: Miles Morales ally in play.
-Alex – July 11, 2025
So I’ve seen a ruling about how rispote functions and a ruling that hard knocks functions the same way in that they create a delayed effect. But the rules under altercation effects, this/that, bullet point read to me that hard knocks should not function like ripsote. Is this something that’s changing? Thanks! More info The ruling states hard knocks would get tough before a when defeated ability dealt your hero damage. My understanding is that the second sentence of hard knocks is not a alteration effect and you should be dealt damage before resolving the sentence to gain tough.
You’re right, we made a mistake on the previous ruling. What happened was we thought the second sentence of Hard Knocks creates a delayed effect similar to Riposte, and while the two cards look somewhat similar in that way, Hard Kocks does not actually create a delayed effect. Instead, Hard Knocks is resolved sentence by sentence, where Response abilities triggered by the first sentence resolve before the second sentence resolves. If targeting Goblin Soldier with Hard Knocks, first the enemy is dealt 4 damage, then the enemy’s “When Defeated” resolves and deals 1 damage, then the hero gets a tough status card.
-Alex – July 11, 2025
I saw a ruling that I had a question about answer number 3. Since piercing strike has an alteration effect, wouldn’t that make the piercing sentence be tied to the attack sentence that didn’t have a target and make it unplayable in this case?
A target that “cannot take damage” is only an invalid target for an ability that solely deals damage to it; Piercing Strike’s alteration effect makes it so that an enemy with Tough can still be its target, even if that same enemy “cannot take damage,” resulting in the Tough status card being removed.
-Alex – July 11, 2025
I was trying to understand the recent rulings on the retaliate keyword in regards to villain stages being defeated. – I understand that If you attack and defeat a stage of the villain that has the retaliate keyword, retaliate will not trigger because the stage was defeated. – I understand that If the new stage of that villain has retaliate, it will not trigger because that stage was not attacked. -The part I’m confused on is the ruling states that If you attack and defeat a stage of the villain with the first instance of damage with an attack that deals multiple instances of damage and then you deal damage to the new stage that has retaliate, retaliate will trigger. Are villain stages considered different enemies? If not, why does the new stage retaliate? If so, can you target different stages of the same villain with the melee aggression event?
We discussed in length how we want Retaliate and villain stages to function, and have concluded the following: The Retaliate keyword states that after a character is attacked, it deals damage to the attacker if the attacked character “survived” the damage. The use of “survived” here is not well defined in the current rules and we are likely updating the phrasing to the attacked character needing to be “in play” when Retaliate triggers in order to deal damage to the attacker. (For instance, if a minion or ally with Retaliate were defeated by an attack, they would be in their respective discard piles before Retaliate would trigger.)
As for villain stages, it’s established that defeating a villain stage is “defeating an enemy,” but each stage of the villain is the same “character”—this aligns with how Melee cannot be used on two different stages of a villain. After a villain stage is defeated the next one is immediately revealed, which means that if the new stage has Retaliate, it triggers because the “attacked character” is “in play” at that point in time. (This is assuming both stages have the same title.) We hope this addresses your questions.
-Alex – July 11, 2025
With the wrecking crew scenario and piledrivers side scheme “pile it on” Do you discard the highest cost card regardless or do you choose between upgrade and support and discard the highest cost card of that type?
For the “Pile It On!” scheme, you would discard the highest cost card “regardless”, as you put it. You would only choose the type if you had an upgrade and a support tied for the highest cost.
-Alex – July 18, 2025
For Suit Up, if you find an ally but no upgrade that can be attached, are you still able to take that ally into hand? Essentially, checking that “take them into hand” is not an implicit requirement to find both.
Can find just the ally, “them” includes the ally as a valid target Yes, you can find just an ally with Suit Up and not an upgrade, and still put the found ally into your hand.
-Alex – July 25, 2025
The forced response of the main scheme of magneto scenario is “… reveal that card, then remove 3 magnet counters from this scheme”. If the first discarded magnetic card is “electromagnetic blast” or “metal shards”,their when revealed ability will once again place magnet counter on the main scheme.Will the forced response of the main scheme be trigger again before removing the 3 magnet counters?
The intention for those main scheme abilities is that, once the Magnetic card is found, the 3 magnet counters are removed from the main scheme and then the Magnetic card is resolved. As written, the abilities don’t convey this well, so we will plan to errata them to better match their intention. Play with the updated ability in mind; remove the magnet counters, then resolve the Magnetic card.
-Alex – July 25, 2025
1.The cost of rogue(Protection ally) has no “choose”,can she deal damage to characters controlled by other players? 2.For “marked for death”,places mockingbird faceup beneath this card,is it similar to tuck mockingbird under marked for death? 3.How should the target threat value for the age of apocalypse(main scheme of apocalypse) be calculated?Does X include per player icon correction? …
1. Yes, the Rogue ally can damage a friendly character that isn’t controlled by her player. The “friendly” in the ability allows for her to target another player’s identity or ally.
2. Yes, placing Mockingbird beneath Marked For Death is functionally similar to if she’d been “tucked” there, where she’s visible and out of play while placed beneath the scheme.
3. When determining the target threat for The Age of Apocalypse main scheme, treat X as equal to the numeral—as in, just the digit—in Apocalypse’s printed hit point value. For instance, on Apocalypse I, his printed hit point value is 8 per player, which defines “X” on the main scheme as “8” and puts the target threat as 8 per player.
-Alex – July 25, 2025
1.Which player’s cards should be placed for modular of “project wideawake” scenario? 2.Can I exhaust x-men allies controlled by other players to pay for “team strike” cost arrow icon? 3.I select angel hero to play game.If I am archangel and contral psylocke ally,can I play “soaring hearts”?
1. Any player can place any number of cards beneath Operation Zero Tolerance when modifying the difficulty of Project Wideawake; who places and how many they place is up to group discretion, so long as the total number of facedown cards matches the group’s desired difficulty.
2. No; the player can only exhaust X-Men allies that they control for Team Strike.
3. No; to play Soaring Hearts, the Angel player must be in Angel form, not Archangel or Alter-Ego form.
-Alex – July 25, 2025
1.The ally I once controlled is now engages with me as a minion. That minion is attached with both “clarity of purpose” and “beguiled” at the same time.Can I still trigger “clarity of purpose” of it? 2.What would happen if “hope summers” as a minion engages me by ‘pool-ized when “sinister ends” main scheme is in play.Will “mister sinister” attack the minions of “hope summers”?Can I defend against this attack?
1. Yes, you still control Clarity of Purpose while it’s attached and you are still able to pay its ability cost while it’s attached to a minion.
2. Yes, in that case Mister Sinister will attack the Hope Summers minion. As this is still an enemy attack activation, a player can still defend against this attack.
-Alex – July 25, 2025
If villain or minion has a facedown boost card and it leaves play,how to deal with the boost card?
In that case, discard the boost card.
-Alex – July 25, 2025
Wondering about the interaction between Nick Fury’s Assault suit ability to add damage and the damage from Pulse Grenade? Does it basically make each boost icon worth 1+ the amount of threat removed from the suit Or ads to the total damage after counting boost icons? Because a player used this to di 20 damage with one grenade in a game today. Seems a bit OP.
Pulse Grenade only deals 1 instance of damage to its chosen target, so any “additional damage” is applied onto this 1 instance. This is what differentiates Pulse Grenade from multi-instance attack abilities; 1 target is chosen 1 time, and a variable amount of damage is dealt at once to that target. For example, if you used Pulse Grenade’s ability and discarded two cards with 2 and 3 boost icons respectively, then also removed 3 threat from Assault suit form, you’d deal a total of 8 damage to the chosen enemy.
-Alex – July 25, 2025
-Alex – August 7, 2025
Does the “Player side scheme limit” work like the “Ally limit” in that a player can play a player side scheme over the limit and then immediately discard down to the limit? The rules are not clear to me on this.
Yes, if you ever exceed the player side scheme limit, you must choose and discard player side schemes from play until you reach the limit.
-Alex – August 7, 2025
Hi there, I had a question about Slingshot’s ability (https://marvelcdb.com/card/50013). If Player 1 has Slingshot in their discard pile. Player 2 then uses Make the Call to put Slingshot under their control (https://marvelcdb.com/card/01071). If Player 2 then uses Slingshot’s ability, whose hand does Slingshot ultimately end up in? Player 1’s or Player’s 2? In v1.6 RRG we have a section on pg. 29 “””If a card that has changed control leaves play, after the resolution of the game occurrence that makes it leave play, the card is physically placed in its owner’s equivalent out-of-play area (hand, deck, or discard pile, or removed from the game if that player is no longer in the game). Other card abilities cannot interact with this secondary physical placement.
If Slingshot is put into play via Make the Call and not under her owner’s control, this counts as her “changing control,” so when she leaves play via her ability she returns to her “owner’s equivalent out-of-play area,” in this case her owner’s hand.
-Alex – August 7, 2025
Hi there! I have a question related to Spider-man (Peter Parker)’s Spider-sense ability and if Peter Parker still gets a card draw when an attack is directed to an ally via a Forced Interrupt. In this example we can use either the the ‘Morlock’ ally (from Morlock Siege encounter set) or ‘Snitches Get Stitches’ Attachment (From Sinister Motives Campaign). Below are some points we have considered:
(1) Forced Interrupt is before Interrupt, which means that the Villain will change their attack to Venom prior to Spiderman’s ability.
(2) The “you” in Spider-man’s ability is specifically referencing the Spiderman character and not the Spiderman player.
(3) It has been ruled that “when an enemy attacks you” = “when an enemy initiates an attack against you”
(4) [To my understanding], that while a defender can change, the “you” does not change as far as who the attack was initiated against [e.g. Powerful Punch and Magik’s Colossus ally]. Please let us know if any of the points above is incorrectly misconstrued. Essentially, does Spider-man still draw a card via his Spider-sense ability when it might get intercepted by a forced response which routes the target of an enemy’s attack to an ally?
Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense ability depends on if the villain’s attack initiated against him; if a Forced Interrupt causes the villain’s attack to initiate against a different character, Spider-Man’s ability can’t be triggered. Both the Morlock ally and Snitches Get Stitches cause the villain to initiate an attack against a different character, so Spider-Man cannot trigger his Spider-Sense ability.
-Alex – August 7, 2025
I have a couple questions about the “Limit once per card” found on Falcon’s Flock.
1. I want to confirm that this limit is really per copy/instance of the card, and if you use it on Redwing, then bring Redwing back to hand, you can use it on Redwing again and again, as many times as you bring him back to hand (and have counters left).
2. Does that also mean, if an aerial card had an ability with a resource cost (such as the Champion ally Falcon) I could only generate the resource for it with Falcon’s Flock once as long as it remains in play?
3. And finally, if I spend a Flock resource to play Falcon, can I spend a resource on his ability or is the resource used to play him considered to meet the limit of once per card?
1. If you play Redwing using the Falcon’s Flock resource, you can return Redwing to your hand and replay him (as “a new instance”) using another resource from Falcon’s Flock.
2-3. The intention of Falcon’s Flock is that its limit applies once per instance of paying a cost on an Aerial card. With the Falcon ally, you can use Falcon’s Flock to generate a resource for his resource cost, and also for each time you use his ability.
-Alex – August 7, 2025
There was a recent question that made me realize we’d drawn some conclusions without official input (that I can find). Do costs require valid targets, or only effects? In particular, if Go For Champions is in effect, can I use Clarity of Purpose if I’m a Champion, or similarly can I use the Ms Marvel (Nova’s ally) ability. These abilities both have you deal damage to the character, which is allowed even when they don’t take it (such as if they are tough). But they are not valid targets to deal damage to. It seems like this means that a character that cannot take damage cannot be dealt damage (i.e. is not a valid target for it), but I’m not clear on if ‘target’ is a specific term that only refers to ‘effects’, and not cost resolutions.
Yes, the “valid target” rules apply to ability costs as well. “Go For Champions!” preventing Champion characters from taking damage also means that the Champion characters cannot be dealt damage when paying a cost, e.g. Clarity of Purpose or Nova’s Ms. Marvel ally.
-Alex – August 7, 2025
Making sure we understand the process of revealing a minion. Does the minion get revealed and engage the player simultaneously in one step? Some examples where it could matter. Which player resolves a when revealed ability on a minion after Target Spotter was triggered? Can you trigger the anticipation upgrade as an interrupt to engagement to ready and then play the Warped Reality event to cancel the entire card?
- Revealing and engaging a minion occur simultaneously, though they are different triggering conditions.
- Target Spotter can change who a minion engages, but not who resolves the “When Revealed” ability. If Player 1 reveals a minion and Player 2 triggers Target Spotter to engage it, Player 1 still resolves the “When Revealed” ability.
- Yes, you can trigger Anticipation and Warp Reality in either order, since both are Hero Interrupts and the engage and reveal occur simultaneously.
-Alex – August 7, 2025
Some card abilities have you “take” damage like Klaws Sound Manipulation treachery. In those cases, is the damage “dealt” first? I’m wanting to make sure that something like Aerial Evacuation could save another friendly character from those type of effects. Basically is it safe to say that damage of any kind is always dealt before a character takes it? There’s a bullet in the rules under damage that says “When damage is dealt to a character, that character takes damage” but I didn’t see one that covers the reverse.
Yes, the damage taken by Sound Manipulation is also dealt to the Hero, and that damage can be prevented by Aerial Evacuation.
-Alex – August 7, 2025
How does the treachery Nabbed! Interact with the response on the White Fox ally when she is discarded by the when revealed effect on Nabbed? Does she end up under Abduct Superhumans or does she go into play?
When Nabbed! discards White Fox, you first tuck her under Abduct Superhumans, then you are able to trigger her “Response” ability to put her into play, then you finish resolving Nabbed!
-Alex – August 7, 2025
I have a “you” question. I play the storm flash freeze (defense) event when the villain attacks me. If I defend a later attack from a minion or a second attack from the villain with an ally I control, does the -3 ATK still apply?
No; the word “you” on Flash Freeze refers to only Storm. If Storm blocks attacks against her with an ally, the enemy does not get -3 ATK.
-Alex – August 14, 2025
If while drawing up to my hand size I draw Shapeshifter Surprise before I draw all of the cards I’m supposed to, does the forced response wait until I draw the rest? I wasn’t sure if this was like the discarding rules related to responses of cards being discarded like Digging Deep.
Yes; cards are drawn one at a time, so if you draw Shapeshifter Surprise when drawing up to your hand size, you immediately resolve it before finishing drawing cards.
-Alex – August 14, 2025
If I play Spectrum ally (https://marvelcdb.com/card/53018) and tuck Rocket’s Salvage Resource (https://marvelcdb.com/card/16033), would she have a 5 THW / 3 ATK / 5 HP statline? that is to say, does she get the +2 THW benefit from both the wild and the mental resource?
Yes; tucking Salvage under Spectrum would give her both the Mental and Wild resource bonuses, so +4 THW, +2 ATK, and +2 HP.
-Alex – August 22, 2025
1.When Mystique’s Manipulations is defeated,which player should shuffle the Misled treachery into their deck.Defeat the side scheme player or first player?
2.I received a reply that stated ‘ When determining the target threat for The Age of Apocalypse main scheme,treat X as equal to the numeral—as in,just the digit—in Apocalypse’s printed hit point value’,and I would like to know if Hope’s Captor does include per player icon when resetting the villain’s hit points?
1. The intention is that the player who defeated Mystique’s Manipulations is the one that shuffles in a copy of Misled. We’ll plan to give this an erratum to make that explicitly clear.
2. Yes, resetting the villain’s hit points to its “printed hit point value” includes the “per player” icon. The Age of Apocalypse scheme is different because it states “X” is only equal to “the numeral” in Apocalypse’s printed hit point value, not the full amount. (Noting that, the target threat on TAoA still includes a per player icon; we just wanted to be clear that “per player” isn’t accounted for more than once in the target threat value. If Apocalypse’s printed HP is 8 per player, then TAoA’s target threat is 8 per player also, and TAoA’s forced interrupt removes 8 threat.)
-Alex – August 22, 2025
If I were playing a 3-player game,the player order would be A,B,and C. 1.In what order are the encounter cards dealt in heroic level 1?ABCABC or AABBCC. 2.If B reveal Cruel Intentions(after A reveals encounter cards),when will A reveal the new encounter card by Cruel Intentions?
- Encounter cards are dealt one at a time and in player order. In Heroic Mode level 1, cards would be dealt in the order ABCABC.
- If player B reveals Cruel Intentions and player A is dealt another encounter card, player A will reveal and resolve that card after player C reveals and resolves their encounter cards.
-Alex – August 22, 2025
1.I played Vivian(basic ally) and used her response to make Reluctant Foe printed text box as if it were blank. What happens to the attached hero?
2.Can I use the resource ability of a support or upgrade card to pay for the cost of Spectrum (leadership ally) and tuck this card under Spectrum?
1. While Reluctant Foe is blanked, nothing would happen to the attached hero. It would not be considered an engaged minion, it would not be placed under any player’s control, and it would not leave play.
2. Yes, you can use a resource ability to pay for Spectrum and then tuck that card under her.
-Alex – August 22, 2025
Hello, If an Ally from a Team-Up card is being treated as a Minion by a card such as Fallen Warrior, can I still play a Team-Up Card with the Hero and “minion” character in play? It appears to only be “reminder text” in the rulebook that refers to an Ally, it only says “Character” in non-reminder text.
No; Team-Ups should only be played if both named characters are in play as “friendly” characters, not enemies. We will update the Team-Up keyword definition to reflect this.
-Alex – September 12, 2025
I have a question about Encased in Ice (Blizzard modular set), and whether you can choose it for Toe to Toe. 1) Is ‘choosing’ Encased in Ice with Toe to Toe ‘attacking’ it such that it is treated as a minion and able to be chosen? 2) Do the Choose rules have any odd interactions here that might prevent it? 3) Also, if choosing is targeting the enemy, does that mean that Toe to Toe has a valid target even if no enemy can attack or be damaged?
The Encased in Ice attachment can be attacked as if it were a minion/enemy, meaning it can be chosen as the target of an attack or attack ability that targets an enemy. Since Toe to Toe is an attack that chooses a target enemy, Encased in Ice can be chosen and serve as “that enemy” for the duration of the ability.
-Alex – September 12, 2025
I have a question regarding what happens when your nemesis minion, such as Thor’s nemesis minion Loki, is in play as an ally with the Redemption upgrade attached. If the environment Pursued by the past receives a counter that then triggers its forced response, does the Loki minion in play as an ally attack the Thor player? Or is this scenario resolved in another way?
If an ability causes a card to change its card type, it loses all other card types it might possess and functions as would any card of the new type. If Redemption is attached to Thor’s nemesis minion Loki, Loki would then not be a minion but an ally, and would then be an invalid target for Pursued by the Past. Loki wouldn’t be found, revealed, or activated in this case.
-Alex – September 12, 2025
I had a question related to Falcon’s “Up, Up, and Away card (https://marvelcdb.com/card/53005) specifically resolving both copies on the same enemy attack. 1) If I choose not to do any card swapping, it is my understanding that I could resolve both Up, Up, and Away cards on a single boost card. Is that correct? 2) What would happen if I choose to swap the boost card on the first Up, Up, and Away card? How would I resolve the second instance? Is “that card” considered the original boost card (which is on top of the deck) or the newly swapped in boost card? Or could I not even initiate/resolve a second copy?
Yes, you can play both copies of Up, Up, and Away during the same attack. Even if you swap the original boost card with the first copy, the second copy can still be resolved using the current boost card and current card atop the encounter deck.
-Alex – September 12, 2025
I’m wondering about how the card Might Makes Right (Baron Zemo treachery) works when Baron Zemo is stunned. The text is: “Baron Zemo attacks you. If no character takes damage from this attack, remove 3 secret counters from among BOARD MEMBER environments”. When Baron Zemo is stunned can I remove 3 secret counters or not? On the one hand, no character took damage, on the other hand there was no attack so maybe the condition is impossible to fulfill?
If Baron Zemo is stunned when you reveal Might Makes Right, the stunned status removal cancels Baron Zemo’s attack. Since no attack was made, the condition for removing 3 secret counters was not met.
-Alex – September 12, 2025
I have two questions about Master of the Mystic Arts. 1.Can I see the second card in Invocation deck during resolve Master of the Mystic Arts? 2.Will resolve of the last Invocation card by Master of the Mystic Arts cause Invocation deck to be shuffled?
Yes and yes. Using Master of the Mystic Arts, you resolve the Special ability of the topmost Invocation card, which always places the card in the discard pile. At that point in time, you’d reveal the new top card of the Invocation deck. Then, you’d finish MotMA and place the resolved Invocation card back on top of the deck. If the deck emptied with the resolved card going to the discard pile, then the deck is first shuffled, and the resolved Invocation is placed on top of the new deck.
-Alex – September 15, 2025
I have some questions to consult with you. 1.Nebula is in alter-ego and she is ready,controlling one Technique upgrade. Can I choose the second option if I reveal Inferiority Complex? If she don’t control technological upgrades, will the answer change? 2.The rules for overkill mention:”If a minion is dealt any amount of excess damage by an attack with the overkill keyword,simultaneously deal damage equal to the excess amount to the villain.”I noticed that there is a damage process(on page 14).For the attacked minion and the villain who take damage due to overkill,is each step based on the damage process and is it done simultaneously?
When an encounter card ability has a player choose between multiple options, they must choose the option they can fully resolve; if there isn’t one, they must choose what they can most fully resolve (see “Choose (Option)” in the rules reference). If Nebula is in Alter-Ego and ready with 1 Technique upgrade when she reveals Inferiority Complex, she must exhaust her Alter-Ego because that’s the option she can most fully resolve. It would be the same if she had no Technique upgrades. If she were in Hero form and chose not to change to Alter-Ego when she revealed the card, then she’d have to choose the second option, and resolve as much of that as possible.
As for overkill, yes, when a minion is dealt damage by an attack with overkill, and the excess damage is simultaneously dealt to the villain, both instances of damage resolve effects in the order listed under “Damage” in the rules reference, and each step is resolved simultaneously for both targets.
-Alex – September 15, 2025
I have some questions to consult with you. 1.Which out of play area cards can be looked? Such as set aside,victory display,removed from the game… 2. I am Quicksilver player,which has Defense Specialist and Electrostatic Armor. Is there a sequence of triggering times for these three after I use basic defense against an attack? There are subtle differences between their three descriptions of triggering timing.
1. I believe you’re asking where you can search when instructed to “find” a card, correct? If so, you can search set-aside cards, discarded cards, and attached-facedown cards; you can’t search facedown encounter cards, the victory display, or removed-from-the-game cards.
2. After you make a basic defense with Quicksilver, you can trigger his ability, Defense Specialist, and Electrostatic Armor in any order. While they’re all worded a little differently, they are all “Responses” that trigger from the same triggering condition, which is Quicksilver making a basic defense.
-Alex – September 15, 2025
I’m playing the Age of Apocalypse campaign and I have a couple of questions about it: 1) I understand that cards in the mission area can’t be affected by other card abilities (unless the card specifies mission area) but can the cards in the mission area affect other cards? For example, if I play an X-Men ally to the mission area, can I trigger Utopia? 2) If I reveal Agent of Apocalypse after I’ve already defeated the mission side scheme, can I choose to send him to the Mission Area (from his When Revealed text)? If not, what stops me from doing so. It’s unclear to me if this is an intended incentive to defeating the mission area early or not. Thanks, as always, for the rules help.
1. Yes. Allies in the mission area “enter play” which satisfies Utopia’s triggering condition, allowing you to ready an X-Men character outside of the mission area.
2. No. Once the Mission side scheme is defeated, all cards are removed from the mission area, and there is no longer a mission area to place Agent of Apocalypse in.
-Alex – September 25, 2025
I’ve got some confusion on how Directed Force works. It’s an interrupt “When your hero makes an attack that has a keyword”, so it seems to me that it interrupts the attack before it begins to resolve. But, for an attack like Relentless Assault, it only gains the keyword as part of its resolution, so
1. Can I use Directed Force on Relentless Assault (assuming I spent a physical resource)? This also had me wondering about Melee vs a Marked enemy with Directed Force. 2. Can I use Directed Force if I attack a Marked enemy with Melee? 3. Does it increase both instances of damage or only against the Marked enemy?
4. What if I attack a non-marked enemy first, does that change anything? 5. What if the Marked enemy is Thomas Edison and there is another minion engaged with me that I must attack before he is a valid target, does that change anything? Thanks for helping me to understand this odd card!
- Yes. Relentless Assault’s second sentence is an alteration effect, giving the attack overkill; this allows it to combo with Directed Force’s additional damage.
- Yes, with a few considerations (explained below).
- Because Marked is giving the “attack against attached minion” overkill, Directed Force can only apply additional damage to the part of the attack targeting the minion; in this case, the 3 damage from Melee is increased to 5 against just that minion.
- If you attacked a non-Marked enemy with Melee first, the attack does not have the overkill keyword at that time, and Directed Force cannot be played at that time. But, once the Marked enemy is chosen as a target, you are able to play Directed Force then to deal 5 to that enemy. (This is an interaction unique to Marked, as most attacks that gain a keyword do so at the attack initiation and apply to all parts of the attack. Marked applying the keyword to only one target of a multi-target attack requires us to determine what part of the attack has the keyword, which we determined must be the damage dealt to that target.)
- If the first enemy targeted with Melee is defeated and this causes a Marked Thomas Edison to become a valid target, then Directed Force can be played and the damage dealt to him is increased to 5.
-Alex – September 25, 2025
Is it intended that S.H.I.E.L.D. Deputy does not have a Max 1 per character limit?
Yes, that was a mistake. S.H.I.E.L.D. Deputy should have “max 1 per character.”
-Alex – October 10, 2025
About Giant Strength: if you turn Giant during villain’s phase (with Ready for a Fight for exemple), how long +1 ATK remains?
Giant Strength gives Ant-Man +1 ATK until the end of the “turn.” Since no “turn” is being taken during the villain phase, Giant Strength has no effect.
-Alex – October 10, 2025
I have some questions to consult with you. 1.I noticed that Leadership Skill are written as “when an ally makes a basic thwart or basic attack action…”. Is using basic power an action? Can I use basic power in other players’ turn? 2.I’m playing Tower Defense scenario. What would happen if I defeat M.U.S.I.C. while Manipulated M.U.S.I.C. is in play?
- No. Leadership Skill probably should have been worded differently; when it says “basic thwart or basic attack ‘action’”, the “action” is in reference to a generalized game function. This is different from “Action” abilities, which are triggered abilities that players can perform during other players’ turns by request. Characters cannot perform basic thwarts or basic attacks when it’s not their controller’s turn (unless an ability states otherwise).
- In this case, move all threat from Manipulated M.U.S.I.C. to just the main scheme with the Focused Defense attachment. (Since threat is being “moved” from one scheme to another, the number of tokens placed should be fixed; and the player should not be able to split the tokens, so this is the simplest way to progress.)
-Alex – October 10, 2025
What I actually wanted to ask is whether it’s possible to view cards that have entered the out of play area from a non-viewable area (such as the player deck). For example, if Stolen Memories place the top 8 cards of my deck facedown under this card, or if Pirate Lackey remove the top card of my deck from the game, can I see what those cards are?
It depends on if the cards are still in the game or out of the game. Stolen Memories is designed around hidden information both mechanically and thematically; the cards placed beneath it cannot be viewed by the player, and although these cards are “out-of-play”, they are still “in the game” and can be interacted with by discarding the obligation. Pirate Lackey is different. Once it removes a card from the game, the card is not “in the game” and is not beholden to being hidden information. The player is allowed to view the removed card and get a sense of how their deck changed.
-Alex – October 10, 2025
I have some questions to consult with you. 1.I play Clear the Area and removes the last threat of The Search for Spiral.Can I draw 1 card? 2.A double-sided side scheme,such as Stryfe’s Grasp or Light at the End.If I remove the last threat on one side and trigger its forced ability to flip over,did I defeat the side scheme? 3.My hero has a tough status card.Can I trigger the hero action on The Search for Spiral just to discard my tough status card?
- Yes; you still removed the last threat from The Search for Spiral, so you can draw a card with Clear the Area.
- Yes; removing all threat on a double-sided scheme and flipping it still counts as defeating that scheme, so long as there was no Forced Interrupt replacing the defeat.
- No; The Search for Spiral got an erratum making the “take 2 damage” effect on the scheme an ability cost for removing the threat. A Tough hero cannot take damage as a cost, so they cannot remove threat this way.
-Alex – October 10, 2025
I have some questions to consult with you. 1.I defeated Build Support and triggered its when defeated ability. Can I put Team Training from my deck under the control of other players? 2.I played Vivian to treat Boarding Party printed text box as if it were blank, and then dealt damage to Magneto that exceeded 6 per players. Will the damage on Magneto decrease after the round ends? 3.Avalanche villain and Pyro minion are in play. What conditions do I meet when I reveal Brotherhood Beatdown? Does Brotherhood Beatdown not deal 2 indirect damage because Pyro minion does not belong to the Mansion Attack encounter set?
- No. When Build Support puts Team Training into play, it does so ignoring the cost, restrictions, and “play under…” ability of Team Training, and places Team Training under its owner’s control.
- Yes; once Boarding Party’s ability is back in effect, it will immediately affect the amount of sustained damage Magneto has, possibly resulting in less damage on Magneto.
- With the latest update to referential abilities, the Mansion Attack scenario was affected in unintended ways, and we are going to remedy that in a future update. That in mind, the way Brotherhood Beatdown should be played is that when it’s revealed, for each enemy in play with an indicated name, you resolve the associated effect; in your example, you’d exhaust your identity and take 2 indirect damage.
-Alex – October 10, 2025
About the tuck keyword and maximum limit: A player may play or put into play allies beyond their ally limit, then they must immediately choose and discard from play ally cards they control until they have a number of allies in play equal to their ally limit. It is the same behavior with player side scheme. Is max tuck is a limit comparable to the player side scheme limit or the ally limit? where you can exceed the limit temporarily, which immediately triggers a correction phase? It is explicit with Silk ability, but unclear for Resource Reserve and Ionic Physiology.
The word “tuck” in an ability doesn’t inherently indicate a limit or maximum on the associated ability; any limit or maximum on that ability is dictated by the rest of the ability’s wording. Silk/Cindy Moon’s constant ability is worded to allow the player to “tuck” more than 4 cards beneath her, but when they do, they must discard down to 4. While similarities could be drawn between this, the ally limit, and the player side scheme limit, that is unique to the ability itself, and does not impose a universal rule for the usage of “tuck.” When Resource Reserve or Ionic Physiology reach the maximum amount of tucked cards, no more cards can be tucked there; a tucked card would need to be removed first before a new one can be tucked. This is because of how “max”/maximums function in card abilities.
-Alex – October 10, 2025
had a rules question in regards to Marvel Champions Hero card Magik and the Aggression Event card from Dr. Strange called “Magic Attack.” Magic Attack reads “Hero Action (attack): Choose an enemy and discard up to 5 cards from the top of your deck → deal 1 damage to that enemy for each card discarded this way.” Magik reads “Play with the top card of your deck faceup.” If I use Magic Attack while Magik is in Hero Form, I choose an enemy and “discard up to 5 cards from the top of your deck”.
Other Marvel Champions cards would dictate for me to choose to discard 1-5 cards and then discard them. Magic Attack doesn’t. Am I intended to interpret Magic Attack as allowing me to sequentially choose how many I wish to discard, with Magik allowing me to see the results in real time? Let’s say I see Colossus as fourth card from the top, can I choose to stop from proceeding, say I am only discarding 3 cards, and resolve the remainder of Magic Attack’s effect?
When you play Magic Attack, you have to choose how many cards you’re discarding and then discard them simultaneously; you can’t look at each of them, just the top one as Magik.
-Alex – October 10, 2025
Could you help us clarify how the Suit Up event from Age of Apocalypse works and how it interacts with a couple of cards? Our questions relate to just how far Suit Up can read into the cards it’s looking for to determine what exactly it deems “can be attached to that ally”.
This first arose when I wondered if Suit Up could be used to fetch one of Iceman’s signature allies, a Snow Clone. This is because Snow Clone’s ability says “Cannot have upgrades attached”. Since no attachments can be attached to Snow Clone, presumably Suit Up can’t find an attachment that is valid. However…I believe that ability on Snow Clone is a “constant ability”? And it’s my understanding that constant abilities are not active until the card is attempted to be used or already in play unless otherwise specified. And so Suit Up should perhaps not be able to tell that Snow Clone could not receive an upgrade? So how does Suit Up interact with Snow Clones? Or more specifically: Does Suit Up read into the abilities of allies and, if so, does it read abilities that should perhaps not currently be active?
Our next question is about how much does Suit Up read into the abilities of upgrades. While some appear obvious I believe absolute clarity would be useful. If I’m playing as Spider-Man and I use Suit Up targeting the basic ally Moon Girl, who has only the Genius and Champion traits, which of these upgrades are valid targets for Suit Up (if any) and which are not? Laser Blaster, Sidekick and Honorary Guardian. One cannot be attached due to an ally trait requirement on the upgrade, one cannot be attached due to the ally being the wrong card type, and one can be attached in theory but can only be played if we have the Guardian trait and Spider-Man does not in alter-ego (or hero form).
You raise good points about Suit Up; as written, it invites questions about external factors that would affect whether or not the upgrade “can” attach to the chosen ally, e.g. Snow Clone’s constant ability that shouldn’t affect the game while it’s not in play, or a Trait-dependent attachment clause that could become true under certain circumstances. We’d rather Suit Up be simple to resolve and not ask the player to run through these factors to determine eligibility.
We will plan a small change to Suit Up; instead of searching for an upgrade that “can be attached to that ally”, it should instead be worded as “can be attached to an ally.” So long as the upgrade attaches and doesn’t specify a non-ally target, it can be found via Suit Up.
-Alex – October 10, 2025
It has just been pointed out to me that the basic Deathlok ally from the NeXt Evolution expansion has wording reminiscent of Suit Up. His card reads: “Hero Response: After Deathlok enters play, choose an upgrade in any player’s discard pile with a cost of 1 or less that can be attached to Deathlok. Attach that upgrade to Deathlok.”
Deathlok is quite different to Suit Up since he is an ally already in play at this point, so there are less uncertain circumstances, but I felt it was worth bringing up all the same. So I suppose my question here is, assuming I am playing a Guardian-traited hero who has just played Deathlok, how do you want his response to interact with Honorary Avenger, Laser Blaster and Sidekick?
We don’t think that Deathlok needs an update at his time. Given he’s in play when his ability triggers, it’s possible to determine if a given upgrade “can” be attached to him at the point in time you’re resolving his ability, which is the main difference between his wording and Suit Up’s previous wording. Deathlok must be a valid target for any “attach to” text on the chosen upgrade, but since the upgrade is not being “played” you can ignore any “play only if” text on that upgrade. To address your specific examples:
- With Honorary Avenger, since you are not “playing” the attachment, you can attach Honorary Avenger to Deathlok without your identity having the Avenger trait.
- With Laser Blaster, Deathlok does not have the Guardian trait, so you cannot attach Laser Blaster to him (unless your identity is hero Star-Lord).
- With Sidekick, since Deathlok is not an identity-specific ally, you cannot attach Sidekick to him.
-Alex – October 10, 2025
I have a question about phrasing such as X and Y, when there is some modifier after. For example, Organizational Support has us exhaust up to 3 “(allies) and/or (supports) (you control that have the SHIELD trait)”.
1) I believe both allies and supports need to have the SHIELD trait, is that correct? The reason I was uncertain was because of Green Goblin’s “After Green Goblin attacks and damages you” which seems to only care if the damage happens to you from an attack even if the attack was directed at an ally (such as with Overkill).
2)So, is that because of how ‘attacks and damages’ works? Or is it something special about ‘you’? In particular,
3) Venom has a similar ability which triggers ‘after you or an ally you control attacks and damages Venom’ does this trigger on Overkill like Green Goblin, or is it more like Organizational Support in that ‘Venom’ applies to both the attack and the damage?
- Yes, any Allies and/or Supports exhausted with Organizational Support must each share a Trait with your identity.
- If an ability triggers when a villain “attacks and damages you”, it means that the villain’s attack must have dealt damage to you with its attack activation, which includes damage dealt via overkill if applicable.
- Yes, overkill damage dealt to Venom will trigger his ability.
-Alex – October 20, 2025
For Hulkling’s thwart card “Impersonation”, if it removes the last threat from a scheme can I play Turn the Tide after I go to alter-ego? I was in hero form when the last threat was removed, but I didn’t end my thwart in hero form, so it seem unclear to me.
Yes. So long as the condition was met on Turn the Tide, you can play it even if you’re in alter-ego form when you do. Since your hero was the one to remove the last threat from the scheme, then you can play Turn the Tide as a Response to that occurrence, even if your identity is no longer in hero form.
-Alex – October 20, 2025
I had a question about Cindy Moon/Silk’s obligation (Silk Sense Overload). The final sentence reads “Then, if there are 2 tucked cards here, you may discard this card (remove it from the game instead if there are 3 or more tucked cards here).” How much of that does “may” apply to? Should this be interpreted as: You may – discard if there are 2 cards – remove if 3 or more.
Or should it be interpreted: – You may discard if there are 2 cards – Otherwise, remove if 3 or more (part of the forced interrupt, not affected by “may”) In other words, is removing the obligation from the game optional? Could you continue tucking encounter cards until (presumably) the players lose due to no encounter deck and infinite acceleration?
Once 2 cards are tucked beneath Silk Sense Overload, Silk can choose to discard the card or hold onto it. Once 3 cards are tucked there, Silk Sense Overload must be removed from the game.
-Alex – November 14, 2025
I’m wanting to settle a rules debate around Paying vs Overpaying, and how it relates to The Power Of X cards. Take the new ally for Wonder Man, Firebird. This is a 2 cost ally with an ability that only triggers when having overpaid. Could I Pay for Firebird with Power of Justice (generating two resources) and simultaneously Overpay with a third resource from another source, getting the rebirth counter? Or, would I need to not Overpay at all for Power of Justice to generate two resources, since that only triggers when Paying?
Yes, you could overpay for Firebird with The Power of Justice and one other resource. When paying a cost, you choose which resources are paying versus overpaying, and as long as you choose The Power of Justice to pay for the card, you can overpay with another resource.
-Alex – November 14, 2025
I have a question about the “assault” keyword: lets say X-23 (the hero) has 2 THW and 3ATK she makes a basic thwart on a side-scheme with the “assault” keyword Can she use “Animal Instinct” ? Does she remove 3 or 6 threats ?
Though X-23 wouldn’t be prevented from playing Animal Instinct when thwarting a scheme with Assault, the additional THW wouldn’t have any effect on her removed threat, because Assault uses her ATK when determining how much threat to remove. Her ATK remains at 3 during this thwart, so she removes 3 threat.
-Alex – November 14, 2025
1. I have some doubts about ‘/’. If Black Panther(Shuri) and T’Challa(Shuri ally) is in play, can I play Heart of the Panther?
2.After the Board Member is flipped from environment to attachment, will the secret counter on here be retained? There seems to be a conflict between the filp rule and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. rulebook regarding this matter. The filp rule states: A different card type from the previous face, all attachments, status cards, and tokens are discarded from the card. And the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. rulebook states: In campaign mode, secrets placed on board members carry over from one scenario to the next. Because of this, once a board member flips to its attachment side, it remains an attachment or the rest of the campaign.
- Yes, you can play Heart of the Panther with the Black Panther Shuri hero and the T’Challa ally in play.
- Yes, the intention is that when playing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., a board member environment keeps its secret counters when flipping to its attachment side. In this case, the campaign rules and intention take precedence over the default rules for flipping a card.
-Alex – November 21, 2025
1. About Ant-Man/Hank Pym(Leadership), Yellowjacket(Ant-Man’s nemesis minion), Yellow Jacket/Hank Pym(Basic), Yellow Jacket(Minion). These characters have similar titles or subtitles, and I want to know how they should follow unique rules.
2.Will the crisis icon on Distraction affect the main scheme in Venom Goblin scenario without the glider counter?
3.For I’ve Been Waiting For This! boost ability, if the active counter does not move, will the villain schemes?
- The “Yellowjacket” and “Yellow Jacket” minions have different titles, so they can both be in play.
- When playing Civil War competitive games, unique enemy cards have no impact on unique friendly cards; the “Yellow Jacket” minion and “Yellow Jacket/Hank Pym” ally can both be in play.
- We are planning a tweak to unique rules when it comes to allies; since “Ant-Man/Hank Pym” and “Yellow Jacket/Hank Pym” have the same subtitle, they cannot both be in play.
- When playing the Venom Goblin scenario, the crisis icon on Distraction will prevent you from removing threat from only the scheme with the glider counter. (This matches what you’d do for a crisis icon on an encounter card.)
- Yes, if the active counter does not move with the Boost ability on “I’ve Been Waiting For This!”, the current villain with the active counter will scheme. “That villain” in the ability refers to the one with the active counter, regardless of if the counter moved.
-Alex – November 21, 2025
Hercules has just been revealed for Marvel Champions, but his preview article has brought up a couple of rules questions. First of all, looking into the word Find, the phrasing of Find is different in both the 1.5 and 1.6 rules compared to recent products like Agents of SHIELD and Trickster Takeover. In the 1.6 rules it says a player searches “each game area”. In the new-ish products, it does not have that text and I have heard it argued this means we can search our whole card collection. What version of the Find rules is most up-to-date and can it reach into a player’s collection?
Secondly, the Embody Pathos attachment, one of Hercules’ three Labor cards, references an “encounter side scheme”. Is there a specific definition for this you don’t mind sharing and/or does it include nemesis encounter set side schemes while they are set aside? Thirdly, if Embody Pathos does let you choose a nemesis side scheme, what happens if the Hercules player chooses Cable’s Back To The Future nemesis side scheme in multiplayer? That side scheme’s wording means that only Cable can remove threat from it, but Embody Pathos says only Hercules can remove threat from it. What is the result at the end of using Embody Pathos and choosing Back To The Future? Can Hercules, Cable, both, or neither heroes remove threat from it? (Gamora’s nemesis side scheme may have a similar issue.)
And finally what happens if we blank Defeat The Hydra, an attachment from Hercules’ Labor deck, and then defeat the minion it’s attached to while it’s still blanked? As I understand it, the Victory keyword is blanked so Defeat The Hydra won’t go to the victory display as intended. And there is no designated discard pile for the Labor deck, etc.
- The rules for “find” in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Trickster Takeover are purposefully shortened for space compared to what’s in the Rules Reference, but are otherwise not intended to function differently than the expanded Rules Reference definition. In other words, the rules for “find” are always to search “each game area” where the specified card can be found, and not the player’s collection.
- Hercules’s Embody Pathos “find” instruction is able to search through set-aside cards, including nemesis sets. Though Hercules could find Back to the Future this way and attach it to Embody Pathos, neither he nor Cable would be able to remove threat from it.
- We don’t recommend purposefully blanking Defeat the Hydra, but if that did happen, you should return Defeat the Hydra to the Labor Deck.
-Alex – November 21, 2025
Do certain evidence cards from the Marvel Champions Agents of SHIELD campaign allow you to have a fourth copy of a card put into your deck (assuming you already have three)? For example, the Travel evidence card allows players to search their collection for a Justice support and shuffle it into their deck. What if I already have 3x Surveillance Team? Can I now shuffle another into my deck, totaling four, assuming I own more than the three that came with the core set?
Yes; the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. evidence cards’ Setup abilities resolve after decks are built, meaning the cards they add to decks are not subject to deckbuilding restrictions, including the “max copies” permitted for that card. If the players’ collection has a fourth copy of a given card, an evidence card can add that fourth copy to a player’s deck.
-Alex – November 21, 2025
Can Build Support put Boot Camp into play in someone else’s play area in multiplayer? Reasoning behind the question: there is a section in the 1.6 rules that says this is fine, and a section in the 1.6 rules that says it is not. Specifically, under a bullet point under Play, it says: “Unless otherwise stated by the “put into play” effect, cards that are put into play must do so in a play area or state that matches the rules of playing the card.”
This seems to suggest it works as Boot Camp may be played under any player’s control. However, just before this in the paragraph above the bullet points it says: “A card that is put into play enters play in its controller’s play area.” This seems to suggest it might not work. Could you please clarify this?
Yes; because the ability does not state otherwise, you’d put the card found by Build Support into play in a play area/state matching the rules of the card, which in the case of Boot Camp can include under the control of another player.
-Alex – November 21, 2025
I don’t want to start a Civil War in any rules discussions but I appear to have found an infinite loop, and the way to resolve it isn’t covered by the rules as far as I can see. If the Mighty Avengers treachery card (Civil War) is on top of the discard pile and you reveal the Moon Knight minion (Synthezoid Smackdown), you are stuck in an infinite loop. Moon Knight will trigger the When Revealed ability of Mighty Avengers, which will trigger the When Revealed ability of Moon Knight, which triggers Mighty Avengers, which triggers Moon Knight– And so on.
It’s my understanding per the reveal article that we cannot use these two modular sets together in the new “custom scenarios” in Civil War/Synth. Smackdown as one is a “Registration” modular set and the other is “Resistance”. But outside of the new scenarios it’s my understanding at least that it’s within the rules to include both modular sets in one scenario. Is this correct that we can include both the Moon Knight and Mighty Avengers modulars in an ordinary non-“custom” scenario? And would we consider it a game loss or should we resolve it another way?
Yes, the Moon Knight minion and Mighty Avengers treachery would cause an infinite loop. These sets were not intended/designed to be played in the same encounter deck. That said, it would be possible to play a non-Civil War scenario with these modular sets in the same encounter deck.
If that happens and you ran into this situation, we’d recommend resolving just the abilities on other minions in play and ignore triggering Moon Knight a second time, or surging if there are no other minions in play.
-Alex – November 21, 2025
About Show of Empathy, if a threat is moved out from it by Beat Cop, where that threat is placed? on Beat Cop? on a non-Elite minion?
If you use Beat Cop’s first ability to move threat from Show of Empathy, then Show of Empathy’s Forced Interrupt will trigger and change the destination of the threat token, and you’d place the token on a non-Elite minion instead.
-Alex – November 21, 2025
I have some questions to consult with you. 1.When I reveal Shadow of the Past, if there is a minion with the same name as my nemesis minion in play, causing the nemesis minion placed set-aside to not enter play. Will the nemesis minion be shuffled into the encounter deck along with other cards from the nemesis encounter set? 2.If the top card of the encounter deck does not have a boost icon or boost ability, can Battlefield Awareness discard this card? 3.If Honor Among Thieves reveals a quickstrike minion, which one resolves first, quickstrike or give that minion a tough status card?
- No. There will be a rules reference update soon that better addresses this, so we will use that ruling here as well; in a case where a unique non-villain card (e.g. a minion) would be revealed/enter play while another unique card with that name is in play, the new card is instead discarded (to the encounter discard pile) and the player revealing it is dealt a facedown encounter card.
- No, if the top card of the encounter deck does not have an icon in its boost area, Battlefield Awareness cannot discard it.
- In this case, the minion is revealed first, including resolving its Quickstrike ability, then Honor Among Thieves gives the minion a tough status card.
-Alex – December 11, 2025
Hall of Heroes 