This week it’s time to look at Spider-Man. Possibly the most famous Marvel character and a lot of people’s favourite, how does he stack up in Marvel Champions? Let’s find out!
Hand Size 6 is normal for Alter Ego, but 10 Hit Points and 3 Recover are low. His Recovery isn’t too much of an issue because he has Aunt May to quickly heal him in Alter Ego. Spider-Man is probably the only character so far that I wouldn’t put a copy of Down Time into his deck. Ten Hit Points is also a bit of an issue, and I’d recommend Endurance to bump this to thirteen.
His Scientist ability is great; who doesn’t love a free resource? The only downside to it is that you must use it in Alter Ego mode, but it’s not much of a negative as there’s plenty of things you can use it to play. His stats may not be great, but his ability makes up for them.
One Thwart is terrible, two Attack is standard, and three Defence is the highest in the game! Five Hand Size is standard.
Spider-Sense will trigger every time that you are attacked by the Villain, great in scenarios where the Villain is likely to attack multiple times (Rhino is a good example). This ability will mean that most of the time you have six cards in hand, which is more than most Heroes.
I think that Spider-Man is okay, but definitely on the lower end of Heroes so far, even with his high Defence stat.
Cheap and cheerful, Black Cat can potentially draw you some cards to replace the resources you used to play her, but that’s not the best thing about her. So far, she is the only ally in the game that does not take consequential damage for attacking with! Barring an effect that throws damage everywhere (such as Concussive Blast), she can continue to attack for one for the rest of the game. If you have any effects that boost her attack (such as Inspired), she becomes even greater value. Black Cat is truly a great card!
Spider-Man has two copies of this in his hero cards. This is another amazing card, and one of the few cards in the game that it’s worth hanging onto at the end of the Hero Phase. Great for when Rhino has got Charge attached or Ultron is attacking with lots of drones in play. Not much to else to say other than you’ll always be happy to have it in hand.
There are two copies of this in Spider-Man’s hero cards. He keeps on rolling out the great cards! Enhanced Spider-Sense is another one that you’ll always be happy to have, as it can cancel some of the most annoying encounter cards in the game. The biggest target for this card will undoubtedly be Shadow of the Past, but Advance or Masterplan are also troublesome cards. Yet another card that you’ll probably want to hang onto at the end of the Hero Phase.
There are three copies of this card in his hero cards, and it’s the card that pretty much all other damage-dealing events are compared to and is held up as something of the gold standard. Paying three resources for eight damage is great, it really is, but it’s not my favourite of the hero card damage-dealing events. I rate Captain America’s Heroic Strike, Black Widow’s Dance of Death, and Thor’s Hammer Throw all higher than this (Doctor Strange’s Crimson Bands of Cyttorak is also better, but so is most of his Invocation deck!). Don’t get me wrong though, I think this is a good card, just not a great card.
This is a great card though! Aunt May basically means that you can take lots of damage and still heal it quickly. She also means that you can recover the same amount of Hit Points as most of the other characters without having to exhaust your character. Any character would love to have this card as part of their setup!
There are two copies of this in Spider-Man’s hero cards and it’s the only way he has of removing threat outside of his basic action. In my opinion, it’s not very reliable. In scenarios with lots of minions (such as Ultron or Mutagen Formula), you won’t find it difficult to use effectively, but in ones like Rhino you’ll struggle.
I primarily play Champions solo, but in multiplayer there will be some timing issues with this card because other players cannot request that you play it during their turn, possibly leading to awkward situations with minions (particularly ones with guard).
On its own, I don’t think this is enough threat removal for Spider-Man. Combined with his Thwart of one, it’s going to be difficult for him.
Spider-Man has two copies of this in his hero cards and it’s basically a cheaper, better version of the Enhanced upgrades. This card can be played for free using Peter Parker’s Scientist ability. Extra resources are always nice, even a limited number, but what is particularly useful is the fact that they are wild resources. This can help with Villain attachments that require specific resource types to remove (although it’s worth being aware that this is a hero resource only and cannot help with cards like Media Coverage).
There are two copies of this in his hero cards. This card will prevent the next two Villain attacks, entirely justifying the four resource cost and Hero form restriction. If you have Stunned the Villain before you play this (with something like Mockingbird), then the Stunned status will be removed first, then Webbed Up will trigger, making it three attacks that you will negate. I like this card but it’s sometimes difficult to play, as there are often more immediate threats. Potentially devastating in solo, especially when paired with other stun effects.
SUMMARY
- His thwarting capabilities are awful, possibly the worst in the game, and will need to rely heavily on his non-hero cards to make up for it.
- Has great abilities in both Alter Ego and Hero form, so can switch between them as needed.
- Between his high Defence, Backflip, and ability to heal quickly with Aunt May, he is quite a resilient character.
I think that it’s going to be tough-going with Spider-Man in solo, especially with Aggression, but I’ll do my best. I get the impression that he’ll be better in multiplayer, but Webbed Up might be a game-changer. Until next time!
Cheers,
Tim
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