Rogue Champions- Justice Supports, Upgrades, and Allies

Marvel’s Champions has grown over the years since its initial release. Each aspect now has a large pool of upgrades to choose from when building your deck. Previously we’ve reviewed Aggression cards. This week we’re starting our dive into Justice cards with a look at Support, Upgrades, and Allies. The first thing to note is there are significantly less Justice cards than Aggression. So much so that I combined more types of cards into one article. This will affect your deck building options for any type of Justice deck.

We’ll rate the cards on the following scale.

Rating Scale

1. Excellent (Good in any deck)
2. Situationally Great (Good in most decks but very good in certain decks)
3. Okay (Not a bad choice but not necessarily the best choice either)
4. Situationally Good (Except in certain deck builds not a great card choice)
5. Bad (Generally just a bad card choice)

Supports

There aren’t a lot of Justice support cards out there.

1. Interrogation Room
   • Rating: 3. Okay
   • When playing a minion heavy villain this is handy to have. The thwart is not much but when you’re clearing minions regularly it will add up, especially for only a cost of one.
   • Rocket would get use out of this as he likes to kill minions for overkill.
   • Also handy against villains who like to make you discard supports. Tossing this rather than a helicarrier is great.
2. Surveillance Team
   • Rating: 5. Bad
   • This is just too expensive for what you get. Two cost (plus the card itself) for three total threat removal, spaced out over three rounds?
   • Early game it might have had a role but when you could Beat Cop indefinitely for only one cost more?
3. Beat Cop
   • Rating: 1. Excellent
   • Beat Cops provide regular threat removal.
   • Their secondary effect doesn’t get used much but after a few rounds they’ll be able to explore and kill the toughest minions if needed.
   • The three cost feels high so I almost dropped them down to a 3 rating. But, I’ve never regretted playing one, or even all three.
   • Handy for heroes that like to switch to Alter-Ego a lot. Iron Man can use this to help thwart why building his suit in alter-ego form. Black Widow can do a lot remaining on Alter-Ego with these helping.

Upgrades

1. Heroic Intuition
   • Rating: 1. Excellent
   • The simplest of upgrades, increase thwart.
   • Best played on heroes that can ready themselves; Iron Man, Quicksilver, Captain America, Rocket, etc.
2. Followed
   • Rating: 3. Okay
   • One cost for four damage is a great value. The preconditions can be problematic though.
   • Villains with a lot of side schemes provide ample opportunity to use this.
   • Four damage is an awkward amount. It’s enough you want to throw it at the villain because it’s more than you need to kill many minions.
3. Under Surveillance
   • Rating: 1. Excellent
   • Giving yourself more wiggle room before the main scheme completes takes off a lot of pressure.
   • On those schemes that can suddenly just go from zero scheme to complete, it can be the difference between a win and loss.
   • Has more value in one player than four as the value on the card is fixed. Still handy in almost every Justice deck though.
4. Counter Intelligence
   • Rating: 4. Situationally Good
   • This is a prep card that can be used while on Alter-Ego which makes it very hand for those heroes that flip a lot.
   • Black Widow loves this card. With her Gauntlets, Safe House and Alter-Ego ability, she can play this essentially for free every round and get another card added to her hand. The thwart removal will often be enough to counter the Scheming the villain did against her.
   • It does have some value just as a safety measure to use when the main scheme gets close to completing. Unfortunately, you can only have one out and you can’t play it on other players.
   • For others, there’s usually a better way to remove three threat for two cost.
5. Skilled Investigator
   • Rating: 3. Okay
   • Like Followed and Interrogation Room, this card depends a lot on the villain. Lots of side schemes and it’s amazing.
   • The zero cost is great though. Throw it out for free and it can also absorb annoying effects that make you discard upgrades.
   • Works better in single player than multi, as the card draw is only useful if you haven’t gone yet or its your turn. In multi player the effect will trigger most often when yore turn is done.
6. Sense of Justice
   • Rating: 2. Situationally Great
   • Resource generation is always handy. Mental resource especially for thwart events.
   • Ms. Marvel and Gamora love this card. But anyone who takes thwart events will find use for it.
7. Sonic Rifle
   • Rating: 4. Situationally Good
   • Confuse is hard to judge the value of. There are many cases, you throw a Confuse on the villain and it sits there for a long time. However, a well timed Confuse can be the difference between the main scheme getting out of hand and being kept in check.
   • Handy on a hero that likes to flip a lot. Confuse the villain right before going Alter-Ego. Then save the second use for the next time you’re about to flip.

Allies

There are not a lot of Allies in the Justice department.

1. Daredevil
   • Rating: 3. Okay
   • Daredevil works well to cover all bases. Thwart but get to do some damage as well.
   • Four cost is always a hard sell for an ally.
2. Jessica Jones
   • Rating: 2. Situationally Great
   • Jessica is the ultimate side scheme thwarter. Face a villain with a bunch of side schemes and she can clear a bunch.
   • Her three health for three cost makes her more palatable to play than Daredevil.
   • She’s a great candidate for some upgrades and heals from a fellow Leadership hero.
3. Agent Coulson
   • Rating: 3. Okay
   • Coulson is great with a Preparation deck like Black Widow.
   • Three cost for three health is a reasonable cost. He mitigates his cost somewhat by adding a card to your hand.
4. Quake
   • Rating: 2. Situationally Great
   • For two cost, you can use Quake to thwart two and then remain in play to punch any minions that thwart. This helps her mitigate the sting of someone flipping to Alter-Ego.
   • Her value will be villain and hero dependent though as some villains just don’t have many minions, and many heroes strive to remain Hero side as much as possible.
   • Quake is almost excellent but I can’t say how much my bias toward the Agents of SHIELD show pushes me toward that.
5. Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
   • Rating: 4. Situationally Good
   • Spider-Man’s ability is awesome. He can outright clear most side schemes just by being played.
   • Five cost is quite hefty of a cost to play. Without special card effects, or resource cards, you outright can’t play him with most hero hands as the hand limit is usually five.
   • Works best in a four player game as he can remove twelve from a scheme. When you have that much on a side scheme, its game changing to bring him out.
6. Speed
   • Rating: 3. Okay
   • Speed gets around one of the weaknesses of allies, getting the full use out of them before they die. He can thwart twice, using two of his four uses, in one go.
   • Four cost is still a hard sell, even though you get one more health than Daredevil.
7. Wiccan
   • Rating: 2. Situationally Great
   • Two cost for a three health ally is nice. He is only a 1/1 but has the potential for a lot more.
   • He needs to be paired with someone who can view the villain’s deck, such as Spider-Woman, to get the most value from him.
8. Jack Flag
   • Rating: 3. Okay
   • Jack is the opposite of Speed. His value comes from being in play for an extended amount of time.
   • He is a four cost ally, with three health and a secondary effect, like Daredevil. His damage is a little more than Daredevil, but if you use your last health to thwart, you can’t do damage later.
   • Prime candidate for health bonus upgrades from a Leadership.