MCM Podcast

Hey all – KennedyHawk here from MCM and the Con of Heroes planning team! I’m stoked for this years Con of Heroes and wanted to write up a few hype articles showing off some of the cool events we’ll be running at the con. If you haven’t tuned in yet we have an entire episode talking about the events, SWAG, and fun we plan to have at this year’s con. But for now let’s get to the goods and talk about some of the con sponsored unofficial fan-made card arts and mods you can get you hands on at the con! Editor’s note – we are a few weeks out from our print date so small card tweaks may occur before then but with only one testing session left these are mostly locked in place.

So we’ve gone over the MCM sponsored mods and such but there’s also some goodies coming directly from the Con – last year we designed and made a fun new standard set and year 2 is no different! If you attend the con over multiple years – you just might build up enough standard sets to leave many villains pre-assembled! This years con set focuses on not just your nemesis minion but the entire nemesis set! Let’s get underway!

Art for these sets is once again complete by Parker Simpson who has their own unique style that reminds me of coloring books I complete with my kids! In fact – Parker may be adding more sheets with this year’s con art soon! The new standard is all about a your nemesis set. The new version of gang-up even searches for your nemesis and then has all nemesis minions perform an attack – even against Alter-Egos!

Every standard set wouldn’t be complete without some form of Advance and Assault. The new versions add a twist bringing out more damage in the form of your nemesis – or more threat in the form of your side scheme but eventually default to the more standard cards. The new version of assault features Colossus’s nemesis minion – Juggernaut!

While some of the art features nemesis minions from the game – when we wrote our art briefs we didn’t even know who all the nemesis minions were yet. So we get some classic mutant villains like Toad and Sabretooth as well!

Okay – but the nemesis shenanigans does not stop there. On top of the new Standard Rivalry we have another mod reusing some of these cards mixed with a few new. The Hits For Hire is another modular set focused on boosting your nemesis minion. Here’s a single card preview for that fan-set – you can’t avoid your nemesis or their machinations whether in hero or alter-ego form!

Why the focus on the nemesis?

At Con of Heroes 2022 we loved seeing all sorts of heroes picked by the players – but a common discussion point in the community is how often a nemesis set doesn’t come into consideration when deckbuilding. These new sets will make you think twice as you build your deck you will need to think about what could pop out of your set-aside nemesis set!

How long have these been designed, how were they tested?

Believe it or not – a rag-tag team of people before Con of Heroes 2022 came up with this idea and rough drafts o the cards were even tested at COH2022. We might already be tinkering on next years modular masterpieces so look out for some prototype cards at COH2023 if you want to give them a whirl in their very very rough beta state!

What about the campaign and challenges?

Ah yes! We will be having a Con-Campaign again on Saturday. This year’s campaign pushes heroes through 3 villains: Crossbones, Master Mold, and Mojo and we’ll have another article soon with your packing list. We already previewed the campaign Supermojo ally in the last article but today we will feature the scenario cards for the first mission! Prepare for a genre-hopping good time as you travel along with Mojo and his film crew shooting the MOST EPIC SUPERHERO SHOWDOWN EVER!

And challenges?

What Crossbones with the Western environment isn’t challenging enough??? Okay, okay, con organizer hone has put together some challenges for each of the 5 Mutant Genesis and 3 MojoMania scenarios. Together with community member Designhacker, hone created these 8 challenge cards. If you are unsure of what to play at the con – you can simply shuffle these 8 cards as a randomizer – each card has an applicable scenario along with suggested challenge conditions or modular sets. You can set up the just the randomized villain, or use the recommended mod on the challenge card, or even play with special conditions on the scenario. They are meant to be a “players choice” as to what challenge you complete on your card. Eventually we hope to have challenge cards for each scenario in Marvel Champions – but this year we are celebrating the Mutant Genesis and MojoMania scenarios and I can’t wait to play them with you!

Big shout out to the artist for these nemesis related sets. Parker Simpson and many thanks to designhacker again for their amazing templating skills and to our playtesting and wording check team for going over the constant revisions of these cards!

Well that’s all the previews I have for today! Watch discord and socials for another article talking about what to pack for Con of Heroes we are under 50 days away now and I am hype level > 9000!

Final note: as with all of MCM and Con of Heroes custom sets – this set will be available on the MCM and Con of Heroes websites as a print and play pdf file for those unable to attend the con – this event is intended to be a gift to the community to tuning into MCM over the years – we really appreciate your support!

Hey all – KennedyHawk here from MCM and the Con of Heroes planning team! I’m stoked for this years Con of Heroes and wanted to write up a few hype articles showing off some of the cool events we’ll be running at the con. If you haven’t tuned in yet we have an entire episode talking about the events, SWAG, and fun we plan to have at this year’s con. But for now let’s get to the goods and talk about another one of the fan-made custom mods (have I gotten the point across these are unofficial and not a purchasable product :p) MCM is donating to the con! Editor’s note – we are a few weeks out from our print date so small card tweaks may occur before then but with only one testing session left these are mostly locked in place.

We love the MojoMania scenario pack! We really do. The scenarios are great – and the modular sets are fresh and exciting. To add some extra spice to those scenarios requiring of MojoMania scenario pack modular sets we creates a 7th one! This time referencing and spoofing some classic sites in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! Here we’ll go through a few cards but some of their effects will be more of a surprise at the con.

The Mojo Cinematic Universe is Mojo’s own creation of the MCU. The villains and their minions are extra dangerous to leave viewers amazed but the heroes are always one step ahead with some extra ways to thwart their foil!

I always chuckle when in the 3rd act of every Marvel movie the hero inevitably gets a costume upgrade – only to be nearly beaten by the villain and have the costume torn up. With this encounter card – players can ditch their old threads for something better – in fact they have to ditch at least 1 if they can!

Ah – the legendary card spread that purposefully obscures some information! Someone should make a spoof card about that… but look – we do get a reveal of the final villain (minion?) of almost every MCU project! A giant CGI-Fest Monster who is just a checkpoint for the finale act! This minion can pack quite a punch so you may have to hide out in Alter-Ego form and let your teammates take it down or do like an MCU hero does and take one to the face!

Why more Mojo sets?

The MojoMania scenarios are super fun and among my favorite in the game but many of them require use of the MojoMania mods. As modularity is my favorite thing in the game I wanted to make sure we offer something to honor the spirit of this amazing new hero pack and really gives you another option when facing off against the latest scenarios!

What’s next?

Well those are the sets that MCM designed to donate to the Con for 2023 – but there’s more to come! Last year we had an epic campaign and other goodies to go along with that – in fact I heard that Mojo just might be looking to star in that campaign as an ally or something. Okay, I’ll just throw that teaser in there with ‘obligatory’ Hawkeye art!

Big shout out to the artist for these mojo related sets. Unknownamnesiac – their vision of Mojo spoofing the MCU is a thing to behold. Thanks to designhacker again for their amazing templating skills and to our playtesting and wording check team for going over the constant revisions of these cards!

Well that’s all the previews I have for today! Watch discord and socials for another article showing off more of the awesome events we’ll be helping to facilitate at Con of Heroes!

Final note: as with all of MCM and Con of Heroes custom sets – this set will be available on the MCM and Con of Heroes websites as a print and play pdf file for those unable to attend the con – this event is intended to be a gift to the community to tuning into MCM over the years – we really appreciate your support!

Hey all – KennedyHawk here from MCM and the Con of Heroes planning team! I’m stoked for this years Con of Heroes and wanted to write up a few hype articles showing off some of the cool events we’ll be running at the con. In case you didn’t know tickets are still available and the cutoff date for ordering a playmat is rapidly approach [February 28th]! If you haven’t tuned in yet we have an entire episode talking about the events, SWAG, and fun we plan to have at this year’s con. But for now let’s get to the goods and talk about the event I’m most excited for Friday’s Multiverse Meltdown! Editor’s note – we are a few weeks out from our print date so small card tweaks may occur before then but with only one testing session left these are mostly locked in place.

To really up the interactions at this years Con MCM is donating a modular set and running an event that is sure to be epic in scale. If you’ve played any of the other FFG LCG’s you may recall they often had “Epic Multiplayer” scenarios to play at conventions where tables results and game-play may interact. At MCM we decided we wanted to create and unofficial, home-brew event with the same feel. Cue the multiverse.

This custom modular set was designed by the MCM team to mix in with any villain and works at a standalone table or with a group of tables all including this “Multiverse Meltdown” modular set. This oversized modular set is going to set the tone for your villainous match-up and you’ll be able to send aide to other groups (tables) in the multiverse (the convention hall). Many cards in the modular set have a Multiverse: effect. When resolving a multiverse effect on an encounter card you will choose another table and let them know what effect to resolve. As soon as reasonably possible the other table will resolve this aide you have sent them from the multiverse.

The premise of this set is that of any game of Marvel Champions. The heroes must thwart a dastardly villain – but instead of just facing off against Rhino, Klaw, or Ultron Incursions are popping up all over the multiverse!

This incursion comes in the form of a double-sided side scheme with an unstable and stable side. Deciding as a team how long you can withstand the amplify icon on the unstable side will be a key decision for you as a group. Of course if you can guard the incursion you’ll receive the aide of none-other-than America Chavez as scenario specific ally but keeping the incursion stable comes at a cost – you’ll be leaving the villains scheme unchecked!

These incursions are caused by a villainous minion – Kang himself! Players will rejoice and moan as he comes back Time After Time. Not only will the team be juggling the incursion side scheme but deciding when to defeat and when to tank Kang is another decision point for the party!

I’m excited for you to all try out Multiverse Meltdown at this year’s con of heroes. With these incursions and elite minions running amok you’ll definitely need some help from the multiverse. Don’t worry there is plenty of that too!

Why Epic Multiplayer?

At 2022’s con it’s something a lot of folks left on the feedback survey. They wanted a way for tables to engage with each other and help out as heroes should. This is MCM’s first attempt and home-brewing something like that. I’m sure we’ll have other Multiverse like sets in the future but I’m really jazzed to get feedback from a wider audience on this one.

I really loved meeting community members at the con and I think it’s an ideal place for a teamwork like multiverse event! As a con we will be playing against Klaw using this modular set at 4 PM on Friday – and if it’s fun maybe again in smaller groups throughout the weekend. We’ll track the win-rate and if 50% of the tables can take down Klaw during his deadly team-up with Kang we’ll call it a community victory!

Why Modular?

My favorite thing about Marvel Champions is the modular nature. You can imagine countless “What If?” scenarios thanks to the amazing development team at FFG. Caleb, Michael, Tony, and Nate have done an great job creating the marvel champions world we all get to play in – we wanted to highlight the amazing scenarios that FFG has put together with a new epic twist! While typically we recommend all the tables play against the same villain using this mod – you could even all square off against different villains with incursions popping up around the multiverse – at least we tested it that way a few times!

How was this tested? Can I play with with 1 table?

While we don’t have the resources to test nearly as thoroughly as FFG we have put together a rag-tag team of testers for this event. I’ve run two separate focus groups to get wording, balance, and game-play feedback leading to the product we are previewing today! Thanks to all the folks who helped bring this epic experience together with a huge shout out to our artist Chris Acuña and designhacker on discord for helping with templates! We didn’t only get feedback from community members but I was also able to run a few 3-4 table events at my local store as we tested and tweaked the scenario. Finally, yes – I know a lot of folks play at home on their kitchen table. This modular set functions for a single table event – but be warned – without aid from the multiverse some of the card effects are a bit more swingy – but rest assured – Kang can be defeated!

Well that’s all the previews I have for today! Watch discord and socials for another article showing off more of the awesome events we’ll be helping to facilitate at Con of Heroes!

Final note: as with all of MCM and Con of Heroes custom sets – this set will be available on the MCM and Con of Heroes websites as a print and play pdf file for those unable to attend the con – this event is intended to be a gift to the community to tuning into MCM over the years – we really appreciate your support!