Sentinels of the Multiverse: Vengeance

Expansion Overview

Vengeance, the latest mega expansion for the Sentinels of the Multiverse Card game offers five cool new heroes, two very unique Environments and most importantly a Super powered team of villains led by the infamous, and perhaps now unstoppable Baron Blade! With this new team of villains, named the Vengeful Five, Vengeance offers a new play style to the game and many new mechanics. Vengeance recreates epic multi-character multi-villain battles!

Team vs. Team

Usually in a game of Sentinels, your team of super heroes goes up against one villain or in some cases a small group of villains aided by their henchmen and other nasties from the Villain deck. The Villain acts before the team of heroes and in one game round gets one shot to do some major damage. Then every hero gets to act, one after the other. Vengeance creates a new play experience where heroes will now fight multiple super powered villains, each with their own Villain deck and their turns which occur between every hero turn. (Game turns now occur as Villain – Hero – Villain – Hero… and so forth until the last hero acts. Then the round ends with the Environment phase. ) This new style of play creates a fast paced experience where heroes will have to be much more tactical and reactive than in the standard game.

The hero turn in the standard game allows for more long-term planning. Now, statuses can change several times before a hero is able to act forcing the player to be more flexible in their strategy. For this reason, Heroes with deck manipulation become more valuable. In addition, One Shots become very potent, allowing heroes to eliminate a more immediate threat to one of their fellow heroes. Thus interaction between heroes is increased. Group hug!

The five new heroes in this expansion seem tuned specifically for this challenge. While the Villain cards in each one of the Vengeful Five’s deck feel slightly powered down when compared to the overwhelming single Villain decks of the previous releases. But don’t be fooled. You’ll have to stay on your toes to survive the Vengeful Five!

The Nemesis Factor

Before Vengeance, Nemesis icons and the corresponding Damage bonuses, were usually limited to one Hero vs. that single hero’s Nemesis Villain. Now, Nemesis icons have been added to many cards in the Villain decks and the two new Environments. Nemesis powers key into one specific hero including a few that … hmm… we haven’t heard of. Like the new game turn order, this small addition to the game provides more lethal encounters and makes the battles a bit more personal.

New Heroes

Let’s look at the good guys!

K.N.Y.F.E

Leading the Block’s Special Ops team gets you special skills – but spending too much time in an inter-dimensional prison can have its side effects! Energy spikes began to erupt from her body. Now with a close range energy projection suit to control her output, she is fighting to fix disruptions in the time continuum. Her main power is the Energy Lance which causes 2 Energy Damage to her Target.

Cool Cards: K.N.Y.F.E is all about Energy and has some great One Shots, but she has a few card combos that can be lethal to Villains. These two cards: Prototype Servo Gauntlet and Flawless Execution are not too bad on their own, but together can reap obvious rewards.

The Naturalist

A millionaire industrialist cursed by a primal sprit that can take the form of a Gazelle, Crocodile or Rhino. He fights to protect the earth against oppression from greedy corporations and maniacal super-powered criminals. His main power is to Transform and search for one of his animal Form cards and put it into play. These three form cards unlock his powers on each of his other cards keyed to that form with a small animal icon.

Cool Cards: The Form cards themselves have a unique power attributed to the animal he becomes, but with the Naturalist you almost have 3 decks in one, with cards such as Bestial Shift – that either heals, protects against or causes damaged depending on his form. And the Ongoing card Natural Form’s Power grants a more specific power to this hero depending on his form. These different card combinations make him super versatile.

Parse

An Archer who was Bombarded with an overflow of information from Omnitron now has analysis skills at a superhuman level. Recruited by the Freedom Five to combat Misinformation, her main power is Pinpoint Shot that deals 2 Projectile damage with her arrows.

Cool Cards: Many of Parse’s cards deal with deck and hand manipulation, like Extrasensory Awareness that allows her to view and seed the Villain deck to gain an advantage. Mix in some good One Shots like Impossible Shot, doing 3 irreducible Damage and netting her one card draw, and she seems to stay ahead of many of the games villains.

Setback

A freak accident of Baron Blade’s Progression Serum, he has the powers and the will, but not always the best of luck. Best described as an accident waiting to happen; often times these accidents work out for the best. His main Power is to add a token to his “Unlucky Pool” which he can utilize with amazing results.

Cool Cards: With this new hero comes a new mechanic. Most of Setback’s powers are derived from his “Unlucky Pool” of tokens. His Friendly Fire Ongoing card clearly puts him in harm’s way, taking damage when any non-hero target takes damage. But Setback can spend this bad luck later with devastating effects, such as with the card Exceeded Expectations that will cause 3 damage to a number of targets equal to the number of tokens removed. Boom!

The Sentinels

A Team of heroes with unusual and unlikely origin stories, team up to fight against La Capitan and call themselves… The Sentinels! Four heroes in one deck synchronize their efforts against the baddies in the Multiverse. Each Hero comes with a unique Power. Dr. Medico: a hero of pure energy, can heal one hero 3 HP. Mainstay: the muscles of the group, can reduce damage to all heroes by one for the turn. Writhe: a living shadow, can take the bottom card of any deck and possible put it on the top. The Idealist: can deal one target 2 Psychic Damage. Four team members with one common purpose.

Cool Cards: This is a very unique and fun “hero” to play because you are playing a group of heroes. Not quite as strong in HP as a Legacy or Tachyon, but they have card effects that are just as potent. Utilizing new “Signature” cards, each hero in the team has their own Ongoing signature Power or attack that is very effective. Take Hippocratic Oath for example. Also their cards key off of other members of their team, like the One Shot Fling into Darkness where Writhe must be in place to complete the super powered move, or Second Chance that revives a fallen comrade. All in all the Sentinels are powerful and fun to play.

The Vengeful Five

Baron Blade

He’s back and has assembled a team of super villains to take down any and all so-called heroes that stand in his way. Fueled by an unstable progression serum, and some nasty tech, BB is more powerful and formidable than ever.

Killer Cards: The One Shot: Old Tricks – New Allies can wreak real havoc on the heroes while healing the villain team. Empyreon is one Nemesis that may seem low in power, but with high HP he will take a while to knock out especially if Captain Cosmic is in play. Wait… who?

Fright Train

Freed from the Block by Baron Bade, Fright Train is a physically and mechanically enhanced Villain who has a vendetta against Bunker. He uses his strength and desire for vengeance like a lethal battering ram.

Killer Cards: Fright Train’s One Shot Crushing Blow is nothing to scoff at. But one nemesis in his deck has an effect that could turn the tide. Major Flay does some damage by himself, but if the popular heroine Visionary is in play, Villain Ongoing cards can’t be destroyed. Yipe!

Friction

Stealing a prototype speed suit from her former boss and rival Tachyon, Friction seeks revenge on her rival hero by joining the Vengeful Five and wreaking havoc!

Key Cards: Friction makes great use of cards with the key word “Surge” like Unhealthy Speed. The more Surges she has in her discard, the more powerful future cards become. She also sports a personal body guard: The Hippo in her deck. One of the best (and most amusing) cards in the game.

Ermine

The greatest thief in the world. Ermine was a socialite rival of the Freedom Five’s hero the Wraith. After the Wraith foiled a jewel heist by her former rival – Ermine’s reputation was ruined. Vowing never to be outdone she joined the Vengeful Five to seek vengeance on the Wraith and any other heroes that get in her way.

Killer Cards: Constant Prattle really is one of the most disruptive (and annoying) cards in the game. And it starts in play. You can almost hear Ermine laugh as you watch your hero’s cards hit the discard pile. One Nemesis in her deck: Equity can really pack a punch, especially if the Naturalist has shown up.

Proletariat

A product of Russian cosmic radiation exposure from an errant meteoroid, Proletariat can crate duplicate versions of himself. These Clones act as one but also can act individually with a multiplicity of deadly force.

Killer Cards: Each Clonethat Proletariat puts in play causes damage on its own but also taxes Proletariat by causing him psychic Damage. And hiding in his deck is a Nemesis for Chronoranger who takes potshots at the heroes each turn.

Environments

Mobile Defense Platform : Baron Blade’s home turf and mega weapon. A Hero team has very little to benefit from any card on the MDP. Crawling with Blade Battalion soldiers, many with unique effects, and other structures that give the villains a leg up. Heroes will have to take care not to damage the Propulsion Systems or…

Freedom Tower: The newly redesigned headquarters for the Freedom Five attracts the worse sort of villains to Megaopolis to try to test their metal against the team of heroes. The Freedom Tower is made up of many rooms, most of which give the hero team a slight advantage over their opponents. It’s a great place to wage a battle if you’re a Hero, and a great test for the most ambitious villains.

Final Thoughts

Just when you thought the Multiverse was maybe getting a bit too safe, a bit too well patrolled by the likes of Chrono-Ranger and Legacy; the Baron returns, bringing with him a team of Villains that vary from relatively easy to the very difficult. Is this just another expansion that adds more to the already vast Multiverse?

The answer is a definitive “no.” Let’s break it down.

The main difference is the new gameplay mechanism of villains alternating turns between hero turns. As was mentioned, this new game turn style makes for a much faster paced and reactionary gameplay experience.

The villain decks themselves, although not playable in what we will call the “standard” format of SOTM, have some great card interactions in this format. They sort of make you wish for a full deck version of each Villain, but really that would be more of the same wouldn’t it? The Nemesis cards are a great addition to these decks, and add a little spice to the adventure created by Vengeance. Perhaps more of them and/or other versions of them will show up in future expansions as well? I truly want The Hippo to be included in all my travels to the multiverse!

How about the Heroes? Playing a full team of heroes (The Sentinels) and the design efforts that went into making the deck work well is genius. It’s very fun to actually have seven new heroes in this expansion. Parse and K.N.Y.F.E feel a little familiar, but really are great additions to the standard game. Imagine Parse and Visionary now in a deck against the Ennead. Things might actually work out! The Naturalist (or Nature Boy as I like to call him) is very fun to play but can be a bit tricky to manipulate his forms to get the best advantage in gameplay situations. I found myself wishing I was a rhino when I was Gazelle – strange but true.

The environments are unique and do add a bit of a challenge depending on whether you want to ramp up the difficulty for a powerful villain, or your heroes.

Overall though, Vengeance feels like the portent of something coming. Like a stepping stone to something that is coming from the boys at Greater than Games. It’s not just the mention of several heroes on Nemesis cards that we haven’t been introduced to. One has the feeling that more decks and development will go into this team vs team play style and the Nemesis mechanic. And that’s an exciting thought.

One final final thought; if you have played SOTM and not yet really delved into the story line – try it. For lovers of thematic games, so much thought and attention goes into the back stories. And this is one of the few games where the flavor text on a card supports the theme and gameplay instead of being a minor distraction. Enjoy the threat and fun of Vengeance!