In early August, The Marvel United Multiverse set arrived: see above and below. This is the #1 entry in my Top 10 Anticipated Cooperative Games of 2024!  

This is crazy, because now we have the original Marvel United stuff, the X-Men Marvel United Stuff, and now the Multiverse Marvel United Stuff!  Have we lost our mind?  Yes.  Yes we have.

Unboxing

The bigger box comes with a bunch of expansions: Coming of the Galactus (which we reviewed a few weeks ago), War of Kings, Age of Apocalypse, World War Hulk, Annihilation, Maximum Carnage, Civil War, and Secret Invasion.  Whew!  That’s right: each one of those is an expansion for Marvel United!

We aren’t done yet! The other box comes with the Stretch Goals (the big box with more heroes and villains), The base Game Marvel Multiverse, Campaign Decks, Team Decks, Pet Companions, and a few other Stretch goals!  Oh, and how can we forget Fin Fang Foom? Whew!!

Is This Ridiculous?

Yes.  Yes, this is ridiculous.  Do you want to know why?  I still have about 10 of the original Marvel United expansions STILL IN SHRINK WRAP!  I am super excited to play The Sinister Six!  Thanos! Asgard!  And yet, they are still in shrink wrap.  And here I am, ordering 7 new expansion, 1 new base game, and a bunch of other extras.  

Why do I do it?  I love my Super Heroes.  I know, someday, I will play all of them.  Even if I am in the Old Folks home playing through them, I will play through them.  I actually think I will.

In the meantime, I am trying to enjoy what I have when I can.

Stretch Goals Unboxing

The Stretch Goals box is pretty mammoth.

Look at how many new heroes and villains we have! Holy Cow!

The four sides of the box (after the lid has been taken off) so all the heroes and villains in play here!

The Stretch Goals box has a new mat (for a new Wrecking Crew play), some new Locations, some new Tokens, and a few new rules (see the rulebook above).  

Underneath the minis are all the cards: heroes and villains.

There are SO MANY cards in the Stretch Goals box.

The top-level (3 levels of minis) are the villains (red) and one hero (blue).

The middle layer is a mix of heroes (blue) and anti-heroes (purple: characters that can be either villains or heroes).

The bottom layer is all heroes.  Note that Cassie from Ant-man is a HUGE mini, as is Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

The upper left corner is empty!!! What’s that supposed to be?

Relax, It’s just Iron Lad: it’s included as a special Stretch Goal box.

Oh my goodness, there are so many cards. So many heroes. So many villains.

Playing From the Multiverse Stretch Goals

Cypher is new in this box.  He is a New Mutants character that was killed off.  

Even though Warlock comes from the previous set, he seems the proper character to team-up with Cypher: there were inseparable in the New Mutants.

Who are they fighting?  Illyana … err, Darkchild … she went a little “bad” for a while.  But it’s up to Cypher and Warlock to bring her back to sanity!  Darkchild is an anti-hero in the new Multiverse set.  

I had a fabulous time playing my old friends (well, they felt like old friends) and trying to bring Illyana back from the dark side!  

In the original Absorption Expansion mess, I was worried about how well “untried” combinations would work together; recall, we have some trouble with Emma Frost.  Part of the issue is just that there are so many heroes and power and villains and new things,  I do worry that they may not work well together.   

Luckily, most of my games from this set so far have seemed fairly balanced.

Team Decks

The Team Decks are a new way to give you more choice!  Basically, there are “two extra” choices you can use on your turn; instead of your own cards, you can choose to not draw and just use one the Team Deck cards instead (there are usually 6 Team Cards total).

There’s a price to use the Team Decks …  well, two prices … well, three prices …
1) All members of the team have to get rid of the double-double wild card from their deck (for balance). 
2) There is also a “bad” Team Deck card, where you have to play it facedown to the storyline to get rid of it!  
3) You actually have to be a member of that team …

The Team Decks adds a little more “drama” to the game, but it also adds more choices!  It’s not affected by KO’d effects, it’s just another option in case you don’t have quite what you need.

I liked the idea of Team Decks; it simply adds more choice to the game.

The New Mutants Team Deck was in the Promo Team Packs, but there are several other Team Decks …  like tons of Teams and Team Decks.

I would recommend the Team Decks to “add some spice” to your Marvel United games.  Find a group of heroes you like, and use Team Decks!  I wouldn’t recommend using the Team Decks unless you are fairly experienced: Team Decks may throw off new-comers off for their first few games.

Help! I’m Drowning, But In a Good Way!

I am very happy I got the new Marvel United Multiverse set, despite the fact that I am drowning in Marvel United content.   Find me when I am in the Old Folks home in a number of years, and I’d be happy to play any of the Marvel United expansions that are still in shrink at that point … I mean, I promise I will play them eventually … the good news is that they will still be playable for many years to come!