It’s time for more Marvel Champions! I just got my hands on the new expansion box, The Mad Titan’s Shadow, and I’m very excited about it. However, since I’ve been doing these breakdowns in release order, I’m gong to focus on Quicksilver today! The sexy new box will have to wait.
As a reminder, I’m just looking at Quicksilver’s unique 15-card deck, without much consideration for aspects. I’m mostly looking for theming and how much the deck makes you feel like the character when you play it.
The Hero
As ever, we’ll begin with our hero. Pietro Maximoff has a scant 9 hit points, along with the usual 6 hand size and 3 Recovery. His main ability is Superpowered Siblings, which allows you to discard 2 cards and draw 2 new ones–pretty useful if you’ve got a rough hand! If Wanda Maximoff is in play (either as an ally or as another hero that a different player is using), you instead draw 3, which is even better.
Flipping to his hero side, Quicksilver has awful stats: straight 1s in Thwart, Attack, and Defense. He also, of course, drops down to 5 hand size. His ability, Super Speed, more than makes up for these shortcomings, though: as a response after using a basic power, you can ready Quicksilver back up. Best of all, you can do this once per phase, which means you can block in the villain phase without worrying about losing your usefulness in the hero phase!
Upgrades
You know me: I’m all about the upgrades, and Quicksilver has some good (if basic) ones. First off, there’s Accelerated Reflex, a 2-cost card that gives him a permanent +1 Defense. Spoiler: this is the pattern most of his upgrades follow! Hyper Perception is the same but for Thwart, while Reinforced Sinew takes care of Attack. Get all these out, and you have a 2/2/2 hero who can activate at least twice per phase.
He also has Friction Resistance, which costs 3 and can be exhausted to gain a Physical resource. Best of all, when you ready Quicksilver, you can ready Friction Resistance, so you’ll be able to generate multiple resources with it.
These upgrades might be simple, but they’re great–Quicksilver wants to be using his basic powers all the time, so making them better rocks. Friction Resistance is a flavorful way to give him a resource generator, too.
Allies & Supports
It should come as no surprise that Quicksilver’s iconic ally is his sister, the Scarlet Witch. She’s a 3-cost ally with 1 Thwart, 1 Attack, and 3 health; when you use one of her basic powers, you discard the top card of the encounter deck and boost her power like you would a villain. We’ll dig into this more when we talk about the Scarlet Witch hero, but I love this; using boost icons is a great way to make her chaos magic a game mechanic. Oh, also, having her on the field makes Superpowered Siblings better.
Pietro’s lone support card is Serval Industries. It only costs 1 resource, and it can be used to shuffle two cards from your discard pile into your deck. I always love things that let you move stuff back into your deck; you’ve got to stave off that extra encounter card for decking out! Plus, sometimes you have to discard something good and it’s nice to get it back without waiting to run your deck out.
Events
Quicksilver’s main event is Always Be Running, of which there are a whopping 4 copies. It only costs 1, and it has a simple effect: ready Quicksilver. Like his upgrades, this isn’t fancy, but it’s certainly effective! I love how this deck gives you the feeling of super speed by letting you ready up over and over, and Always Be Running is a huge part of that–especially if you manage to draw multiple copies in a turn.
Double Time is a 2-cost card that allows you to choose whether to deal 2 damage to an enemy or remove 2 threat from a scheme. Best of all, you get to choose twice–you can do both, or you can choose one option twice. It’s great for finishing off a minion and then hitting the villain or for getting threat off of multiple schemes. Again, the super speed angle shines here by letting you be everywhere at once.
Maximum Velocity is a 2-cost card that’s only usable once per phase, but it increases Thwart, Attack, and Defense by +2 each! If you’ve got your Quicksilver upgrades out, you’ve suddenly got 4 in everything–more if you have things like Combat Training in play. With luck, you might also have an Always Be Running in your hand, allowing you to really tear things up.
Lastly, there’s Speed Cyclone. Its cost is X, and it allows you to stun X enemies. It’s… fine. It’s an easy way to stun the villain, if nothing else.
Nemesis & Obligation
Quicksilver’s Obligation is Need for Speed. You can, naturally, exhaust your alter-ego to remove it from the game; otherwise, you have to exhaust your identity and can’t ready up until your next turn ends. This is a real killer for Pietro; since he’s built around multiple activates rather than events, you’re basically throwing away a turn completely.
Speaking of real killers, Avalanche is Quicksilver’s Nemesis, and he’s brutal. The man himself only has 1 Scheme, 2 Attack, and 4 hit points, which isn’t terrible; however, he’s got Incite 2 and when he’s revealed every player has to either take 2 indirect damage or exhaust. Then, there’s his side scheme, Extortion of Seismic Proportion, which has Incite 1, a Crisis icon, and 2 threat per player. He gets an attachment called Vibration Resistance, which reduces all damage received by 1, though it can at least be removed by exhausting your hero. The part that really stings, though, is the Earthquake treachery: it has Incite 1 and when revealed, the player has to discard 2 cards and exhaust. Brutal! If it’s drawn as a boost, you have to either spend 2 Physical resources or exhaust.
Conclusion
While I really hate Avalanche, I love Quicksilver. He’s very straightforward, but he has the kind of playstyle I like: one focused on long, balanced turns. You can keep readying up to deal damage or remove threat as needed. He’s a real jack of all trades, and I love that.
It Came From Off-Panel! 