Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Here is how to play the game based on the provided rules.

Setup

• Set Aside Nemesis Sets: For each hero being played, set aside their nemesis and its associated encounter cards out of play (p. 14).
• Shuffle Player Decks: Each player shuffles their player deck and places it near their identity card (p. 14).
• Collect Tokens and Status Cards: Create a pool of damage tokens, threat tokens, and all-purpose counters (p. 14).
• Draw Cards and Mulligans: Each player draws a number of cards equal to their hand size listed on their identity card (p. 12). Each player may then discard any number of unwanted cards from their hand and draw back up to their starting hand size as a mulligan (p. 12).
• Resolve Character Setup Abilities: Resolve any setup instructions listed on identity cards and player cards in play (p. 12, 51).

How a Turn Works

The game is played over a series of rounds, and each round consists of a player phase followed by a villain phase (p. 10).

During the player phase, each player takes their turn in player order (p. 18). During a player's turn, they may perform various options in any order, such as:

• Changing form once per turn between hero and alter-ego (p. 18).
• Playing an ally, upgrade, or support card from their hand (p. 18).
• Using their alter-ego's basic recovery, or their hero's basic attack or basic thwart power (p. 18).
• Using cards and abilities they have in play.

After all players finish their turns, the player phase ends: players discard down or draw up to their hand size, and all exhausted cards are readied (p. 34).

Next, the villain phase occurs, which consists of the following steps:

1. Place threat on the main scheme (p. 23).
2. The villain activates once per player, along with any eligible minions, to either attack a hero or further advance their scheme (p. 10, 23).
3. Deal one encounter card to each player, then reveal and resolve those encounter cards (p. 11, 23).
4. Pass the first player token clockwise and end the round (p. 10, 11).

How the Game Ends

The game continues alternating between the player phase and the villain phase until either the players win as a team or the villain wins (p. 10).

(Note: The provided evidence does not explicitly state the full victory conditions for the players as a team, only mentioning that the villain wins if the final stage of the scheme deck is completed or if all players are eliminated (p. 34, 23).)