It’s still Cooperative Comics Month for a few more days! We end the month with a look at Daredevil!
I still remember the first Daredevil comic by Frank Miller I saw: issue #158 at Fantasy Creations back in Albuquerque in 1979. I was 11, had no money, so I couldn’t buy it. I mean, it was 40 cents!!! This was a time when comic books were everywhere: 7-11, Circle K, Grocery Stores, and … uh, weird Fantasy shops. It’s too bad I couldn’t afford it: it’s worth SO MUCH MONEY now! The first Frank Miller Daredevil comic!
I did pick up the next one #159 (and the next few) and really enjoyed the Bullseye and Daredevil story over that series. It was clear; this was a very different comic! This run of comics kind of built a lifelong love of Daredevil in young me!
Those of you paying attention might remember when we reviewed Unmatched Adventures: Tales To Amaze! See review here! Who was the first character we took through the Mothman’s city in Tales to Amaze? Daredevil! And who was the first character we took through Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Well, it was Leonardo … but we DID take Daredevil through as well! See review here!
When Marvel Champions announced they were finally adding Daredevil to the line-up, I was ecstatic!
The Fear No Evil: Marvel Champions box features Daredevil and Echo as two new hero decks!
With villains Bullseye, Electro (Electra?), Hammerhead, Purple Man, Typhoid Mary (Bloody Mary?), and of course, Kingpin.
Let’s take a look!
Unboxing
Fear No Evil is a bigger box expansion for Marvel Champions. We’ve seen plenty of these (starting with the Red Skull one which we reviewed waaaay back here)! See Coke Can above for scale.
There’s a heck of a lot of empty space in here! I DO know that Luke Cage, Elektra, Jessica Jones and a bunch of the Defenders are coming out separately, so I think the idea is that this box will become The Defenders box! (To me, the Defenders were Valkyrie, Hellcat, and Nighthawk, but that’s a different Defenders and not what we’ve seen recently …)
There’s a new hero deck: Daredevil! That’s why we’re here!
There’s a new hero deck: Echo!
And our favorite Daredevil villains (although, I gotta say, Purple Man is kinda silly).
The rulebook, just like the other big boxes, is comic-book/rulebook/chapter guide!
What did we think?
Daredevil
The Daredevil hero deck is pretty fun.
It includes 5 new Sense cards, which are a side deck of cards that can come out. Junkerman says that reminds him a lot of the Doctor Strange hero deck. (Since Dr. Strange is, at the time of this writing, out-of-print, this may be the only Sense deck you can get).
The Sense cards get “attached” to things (like the Sense card above getting attached to the Hammerhead villain) and do things usually when the entity “does something” (attacks, is defeated, etc). And there are cards to manipulate the Sense cards as well.
Interestingly, Daredevil has almost NO allies (Elecktra?) He’s very much a lone wolf! That is incredibly thematic … it feels like just like the comics. BUT also very thematic is that there are a lot of Support characters in his life! Matt Murdock has a lot of friends and a pretty good support system between Karen, Foggy, Maggie and others! Even though the Daredevil HERO is a lone wolf, Matt Murdock has a lot of support offline.
I found Daredevil incredibly fun to play! It was really his support that made him powerful! But, his Sense deck also did some amazing things too. I also thought the amount of cards requiring the “Lawyer” keyword were hilarious. If you get get Foggy in play, you can make sure you got a “Lawyer”, but otherwise Matt might have to turn to his Secret Identity side so he could be a “Lawyer” and go deal some papers of Justice!
Which makes sense, because Daredevil’s pre-built deck is a Justice deck.
Echo
Echo is harder to play than Daredevil, but she has some very interesting mechanisms. Her “Photographic Reflexes” basically allow her to remember up to 3 Aspect/Events for later use. My friend Joe says it’s very similar to Rogue’s power where she can “save up” cards.
Echo’s hero power (Watch and Learn) allows her to save up Events/Aspects under her deck …
… but it is her Photographic Reflexes (usually) that allows Echo to access those cards! There are a surprising number of the Photographic Reflexes in the deck! (Or cards that allow you to find Photographic Reflexes).
Because Echo’s base build is Protection, she is very “response-based”. By the time her turn rolls around, all the responses may have happened and she may not have a lot of cards to play! See above! With Daredevil, you have a lot of cards to play on your turn. With Echo, you respond to a lot of Bad Guy actions … which empties her deck! If you aren’t used to Protection decks, it can feel like “hey, I don’t have any cards to play … this isn’t fun”, but you have to remember Echo’s abilities and powers are responding to events!
We didn’t fully take advantage of Echo’s “Watch and See”, but Echo can pull Events from ANY player’s deck. Think about that: If you use her well in a multiplayer game (grabbing some other Hero’s event), Echo can do some amazing things!
Solo
Daredevil is a good hero to play solo, as he can do Thwarting and Attacking. He seemed pretty balanced. I worry a little about blocking damage since he has so few (1?) allies, but again, that’s very thematic: Daredevil has to get the stuffing beat out of him (lone wolf) and then go rest. And Maggie really helps him heal, which is again very thematic: ever read Born Again?
Since Echo is a little more event-driven, she’s a little harder to play solo.
Cooperative
Playing Echo and Daredevil as a 2-Player cooperative game worked great. See above as Junkerman and I play! Daredevil would keep the heat on with his Sense deck and direct actions, whereas Echo would set-up a lot of stuff, just maybe not exactly when intended (because she’s so demand-driven). Daredevil keeps the pressure on, and Echo helps when she can.
I don’t think, at least in our cooperative games, we took great advantage of Echo’s Watch and See ability. It is good to know that Echo is still useful playing her own Aspect/Event cards, but I think the full cooperative power of Echo is taking Events from OTHER hero’s decks! With some proper forethought, Echo can reinforce another Hero in amazing ways! I think this power something that could really really be exploited … in a good way.
Campaign
There is a campaign here. It’s a little more “loosey-goosey” than some of the other big-box expansions. You can “mix-and-match” the Villains and Chapters much more than in most! There is a recommended first play through the Adventure, but you can use any villains you want in general! This is a little different; The Red Skull campaign (for example) had a precise roadmap of who you fought in which chapters.
I love the idea of the campaign, and I love the art, but it’s just not really that much of a story. I’ve said this many times: the campaign is just an excuse to play through all the content. The villains are thematic and related, but the story? Meh.
Aspect Expressions
Junkerman is my Marvel Champions buddy. We were both VERY excited to play some Fear No Evil! We were able to play some Fear No Evil and have a blast! Whereas I play a lot of disparate cooperative and solo games, Junkerman plays significantly more Marvel Champions than myself … and now he has my copy of Fear No Evil, so I suspect he will some deeper thoughts on it later on this year!
Check out Junkerman’s Aspect Expressions blog (see link here) for in-depth analysis of Fear No Evil later this year!
Villains
The Villains are very thematic.
Conclusion
My copy of Fear No Evil is now with Junkerman (Merry early Christmas, Junkerman), and I already miss it! I am getting a new copy soon (I hope), and I am really looking forward to playing some more!
Daredevil was incredibly thematic, possibly the most thematic character I have played in Marvel Champions? He gets the stuffing beat out of him, has to get healed a lot, he’s a lone wolf, but he has an amazing support structure! And he’s a lawyer! His Sense deck is so interesting! Daredevil may be one of my favorite characters!
Echo is more subtle: Her Protection deck is a little harder to play, but I think her Wait and See ability to grab Events/Aspect from other Heroes might be a time-bomb of goodness waiting to go off! If you play her properly, she can be an amazing hero! But, you have to figure out how to play her and WHO to play here with to get the best advantage of her ability.
Fear No Evil is a very thematic (both heroes and villains) expansion. I loved it! 8.5/10.
These are our first thoughts: check out Junkerman’s Aspect Expression for deeper insights later this year (see link here)!!!
