Stepping Disc Colossus onto the top of your deck. Every. Time. He’s a wild resource so you get all of Magik’s bonuses. You draw him during the villain phase, Limbo him to the top of your deck so now he’s a 2 cost ally that negates an attack and is ready to attack/thwart on your next turn. Between Sorcerer Supreme and playing with the top card of your deck face up, Magik has an effective 7 hand size, so paying 2 resources for Colossus leaves you with 4 cards in hand and the top card of your deck, which can be played at a reduced cost during your next turn, means you’re still holding 5 cards, which is the average hero hand size. You have 3 copies of stepping disc and a large amount of deck sifting with three copies of Spiritual Meditation and Scrying. Colossus is good for 2 turns of blocking so with this game plan in mind you should very rarely be taking hits to the face with Magik.
Been playing Magik a lot. Then again, I’m a big fan of Domino. I would put her a smidge above Bishop. And he’s awesome. Rare we get an expansion with two top-rank heroes.
I think I like Magik because thought process overload with boatloads of choices is what I love the most. But she is definitely a giant puzzle similar to psylocke and that can be unfun at times (and a bit long for multiplayer play)
I agree on this, different people like to play different gameplay/style . I also prefer the really comboey and complex stuff. Though its also nice to play chill just punch and punch games at times.
I like Magik, but the thing I discovered is that I don't like to play "Spiritual Meditation" with her. Too many times I'd come out of the Villain Phase with the deck all set-up for my Hero play and then realize if played "Spiritual Meditation" I'd draw those cards and ruin everything. The same with the one-off spells that came with Adam Warlock because they would discard those cards. So with the exception of "Sorcerer Supreme" and her "Basic Spell", she's ironically the Mystic Hero I don't want to play Mystic cards with. Other than that, I do enjoy the deck manipulation antics she allows and the "puzzle" she presents in playing her cards. I appreciate that you didn't get the same enjoyment. That's why there's so many heroes available in the game, different strokes for different folks as they say, after all, as bizarre as this sounds, I'm sure not everyone shares your appreciation for Valkyrie. 😉
I’m really happy with Magik. She’s one of my favourite characters in Marvel and I think they’ve done a really good job. Each turn you’ve got so many options and expanding the mystic theme is really welcome. Love the art on all her cards too.
I’m so glad Bishop ended up being the star of the box. I was more excited for him, but didn’t actually think he’d be more fun than Magik. But he really, really is.
I love Magick. I only had a chance to try the precon myself and I didn't love it but I've seen others play other decks and I think she is great. I think Bishop is fine...he is cool and good but I like Magick way more. Her and Jean are my favs so far
I love Magik personally because she has a great build that caters to my playstyle. You might be overthinking her a bit. I basically ignored her upgrades except the sword and loaded the deck with fist resources like 3x Full Body Charge, 3x Clobber, Martial Prowess, and some other expensive cards like Nick Fury and Goldballs and I have it set up in a way to always load a fist resource on top of my deck to attack for 3-4 with the sword and Combat Training, swing for 5 with the hulk ally, and then full body charge for another 8 damage, and then I just have some extra allies for blocks and 3x Basic Spell's for some utility if I need healing or emergency threat removal lol. I do agree with you though that she feels way too reliant on the Limbo card. If it's at the bottom of your deck, it's such a pain lol.
I've been wanting to try her in protection and leadership. Currently running her in aggression with lots of allies and bootcamp. Cosmo with energy spear hits like a truck, I also have a symbiote suite for more health. She was fading way too fast, like you said glass cannon. Def flip a LOT with her which fits my playstyle. Legion is another great ally for the x men upgrade, basically have 2 allies that never die and give you lots of deck cycle.
My first play with Magik was amazing, with an ally X-Men swarm and To Me, My X-Men... but clunky is the word, for sure. Had a terrible play of aggression with her, and then a good play of protection. She is not as solid as I thought she would be, of a hero.
I actually agree with you on being less excited about Majik so far in my plays. She is very solid, but I prefer Bishop as I think he is more “different”. Majik feels familiar to other heroes to me - Domino, Psylocke, others. Bishop has the resources being integral which really no other hero has played much with (I’m excited for Jubilee too for the same reason).
How you feel about Magik is how I feel about Domino… except I don’t feel the same way about Magik! Loving playing her so far. She provides really interesting decisions and sequencing without it feeling overwhelming.
Magik precon really hurts her initial perception. Now that I built Basic magik with her spell and other good cards like wild ally like venom, symbiote, and deadpool. I also include a copy of Domino ally so I swap my deck twice. She’s awesome solo but yes, she likes to flip a lot. You have to only build around 2 resources (not including wild) Magik sword and crown is actually more valuable because she readies a lot with Stepping Disc.
You mention taking a lot of hits to the face. Remember that playing off the top of your deck is once per phase, so if you use Limbo in the Villain phase to put Magic Barrier on top of your deck, you can then play it for "free" and prevent three damage. I am sure you know this already, but this has been my strategy to keep her from taking too many hits, and not having to exhaust to defend. And yes, you lose Limbo for the hero phase but you still get to play off the top of your deck again.
I think Magik has the hardest sequencing in the game. I can't think of one other character where I have to think through my turn as much, and then I still find halfway through I sequenced something wrong two steps earlier. I think she may have the widest range of floor and ceiling based on skill level. I think she's like an S tier character when you are on, and a C if you aren't getting it right.
I was expecting to like Magik but started to get worried after the community's initial reaction seemed lukewarm. My AoA box finally arrived last week and I've been playing her nonstop. I find her interactions relatively straightforward compared to Domino and Psylocke. Two heroes that I tried once and haven't picked back up since. I plan to revist those two sooner or later, but the complexity put them off for me for a bit. Thankfully that didn't happend with Magik. She really needs to have her deck be focused on one resource and one signature upgrade, more so than with other heroes. She can have a bit more flexibility with a mix of resources if the deck gives her more options to draw or discard the top card of the deck to get what she needs
Your negative comments for Magik: she can't do everything all at once, she makes you think and plan your turns. The opposite of these are things you strongly dislike elsewhere. If she could do everything all at once she would be Dr. Strange 2.0 and if she didn't require planning and thinking she would be a boring one note hero you never play again. Maybe she just doesn't fit your rush aggression style? I think she's great! My primary criteria for heroes is "does their kit synergize with itself?" Magik 100% meets this criteria. This box knocked it out of the park with cohesive interesting hero design.
@@D20Woodworking Hulk is the poster child for anti-synergy. Most of the cards are overcosted and have fist resource requirements or kickers. You have to draw limitless strength to reliably and efficiently play these cards, but both Hulk and Bruce have a hand-size penalty on top of the "enraged" penalty discarding your hand. The badly needed resource generator is locked to alter-ego only and the hero has 0 thwart and no confusion cards. Hulk desperately needs allies to cover for him and has no signature ally. No synergy. No cohesion.
@matthewcreech3854 the fist resources are fine. You can argue it’s silly for banners lab to mental. But all his others are fist. So that’s not a problem. There are also more than enough other fist resources in the game to cover. Also you shouldn’t be worried about threat since the game shouldn’t be lasting that long. He’s obviously just a very basic straightforward hero. Hit hard and quick and win. That’s it. So having confuse would do nothing really. I disagree with his stuff being too expensive. It’s some of the most powerful attacks so they naturally cost up there. I agree his thwart card is bad and expensive. I think it shouldn’t be there but past that I think his kit is fine for what it’s trying to do. He’s just not going to be a solo hero that you play for 7+ rounds
@@D20Woodworking yes. I'm not saying Hulk is unplayable. Whether Hulk is enjoyable will depend on play style and luck of the draw. What I am saying is that his deck is not cohesive and not synergistic. His cards require fist resources, the reward is you can play your cards. If you don't draw the triple resource you must dump your hand to play 1 card. You must include ways to mitigate tough, stun, and exhausts which would otherwise nullify the 1 card per turn his kit supports. As a counter-example, Bishop has synergy within his kit. In his kit resource cards matter. The reward is healing, damage, readies and there are built-in release valves in the form of resource sinks for overdrawing resources. Bishop can tutor resources and put back resources. His theme and mechanic is straightforward, synergistic and cohesive.
Stepping Disc Colossus onto the top of your deck. Every. Time. He’s a wild resource so you get all of Magik’s bonuses. You draw him during the villain phase, Limbo him to the top of your deck so now he’s a 2 cost ally that negates an attack and is ready to attack/thwart on your next turn. Between Sorcerer Supreme and playing with the top card of your deck face up, Magik has an effective 7 hand size, so paying 2 resources for Colossus leaves you with 4 cards in hand and the top card of your deck, which can be played at a reduced cost during your next turn, means you’re still holding 5 cards, which is the average hero hand size. You have 3 copies of stepping disc and a large amount of deck sifting with three copies of Spiritual Meditation and Scrying. Colossus is good for 2 turns of blocking so with this game plan in mind you should very rarely be taking hits to the face with Magik.
You’re not playing Protection. You’re getting all of the benefits of Protection, while still having all the cards to play.
Well stated. This what I eventually figured as well.
Unfortunately you can only speed out colossus from your hand
@@PublicGoat Yes, that's true, and Magik's ability allows one to play a card from the top of the deck as if it were in the hand (once per phase). .
@@PublicGoatMagik allows you to play cards from the top of the deck as if they were in your hand.
Been playing Magik a lot. Then again, I’m a big fan of Domino.
I would put her a smidge above Bishop. And he’s awesome.
Rare we get an expansion with two top-rank heroes.
I’m a big fan of Domino also, i feel right at home with Magik.
I think I like Magik because thought process overload with boatloads of choices is what I love the most. But she is definitely a giant puzzle similar to psylocke and that can be unfun at times (and a bit long for multiplayer play)
I agree on this, different people like to play different gameplay/style .
I also prefer the really comboey and complex stuff.
Though its also nice to play chill just punch and punch games at times.
I like Magik, but the thing I discovered is that I don't like to play "Spiritual Meditation" with her. Too many times I'd come out of the Villain Phase with the deck all set-up for my Hero play and then realize if played "Spiritual Meditation" I'd draw those cards and ruin everything. The same with the one-off spells that came with Adam Warlock because they would discard those cards. So with the exception of "Sorcerer Supreme" and her "Basic Spell", she's ironically the Mystic Hero I don't want to play Mystic cards with. Other than that, I do enjoy the deck manipulation antics she allows and the "puzzle" she presents in playing her cards. I appreciate that you didn't get the same enjoyment. That's why there's so many heroes available in the game, different strokes for different folks as they say, after all, as bizarre as this sounds, I'm sure not everyone shares your appreciation for Valkyrie. 😉
I’m really happy with Magik. She’s one of my favourite characters in Marvel and I think they’ve done a really good job. Each turn you’ve got so many options and expanding the mystic theme is really welcome. Love the art on all her cards too.
I’m so glad Bishop ended up being the star of the box. I was more excited for him, but didn’t actually think he’d be more fun than Magik. But he really, really is.
When I play Magik I feel exactly like I do when I play Domino: My brain hurts a little, but I had a blast and I kicked the villain's ass.
I love Magick. I only had a chance to try the precon myself and I didn't love it but I've seen others play other decks and I think she is great. I think Bishop is fine...he is cool and good but I like Magick way more. Her and Jean are my favs so far
I love Magik personally because she has a great build that caters to my playstyle. You might be overthinking her a bit. I basically ignored her upgrades except the sword and loaded the deck with fist resources like 3x Full Body Charge, 3x Clobber, Martial Prowess, and some other expensive cards like Nick Fury and Goldballs and I have it set up in a way to always load a fist resource on top of my deck to attack for 3-4 with the sword and Combat Training, swing for 5 with the hulk ally, and then full body charge for another 8 damage, and then I just have some extra allies for blocks and 3x Basic Spell's for some utility if I need healing or emergency threat removal lol.
I do agree with you though that she feels way too reliant on the Limbo card. If it's at the bottom of your deck, it's such a pain lol.
I've been wanting to try her in protection and leadership.
Currently running her in aggression with lots of allies and bootcamp. Cosmo with energy spear hits like a truck, I also have a symbiote suite for more health. She was fading way too fast, like you said glass cannon. Def flip a LOT with her which fits my playstyle. Legion is another great ally for the x men upgrade, basically have 2 allies that never die and give you lots of deck cycle.
My first play with Magik was amazing, with an ally X-Men swarm and To Me, My X-Men... but clunky is the word, for sure. Had a terrible play of aggression with her, and then a good play of protection. She is not as solid as I thought she would be, of a hero.
I actually agree with you on being less excited about Majik so far in my plays. She is very solid, but I prefer Bishop as I think he is more “different”. Majik feels familiar to other heroes to me - Domino, Psylocke, others. Bishop has the resources being integral which really no other hero has played much with (I’m excited for Jubilee too for the same reason).
How you feel about Magik is how I feel about Domino… except I don’t feel the same way about Magik! Loving playing her so far. She provides really interesting decisions and sequencing without it feeling overwhelming.
Magik precon really hurts her initial perception. Now that I built Basic magik with her spell and other good cards like wild ally like venom, symbiote, and deadpool. I also include a copy of Domino ally so I swap my deck twice. She’s awesome solo but yes, she likes to flip a lot. You have to only build around 2 resources (not including wild)
Magik sword and crown is actually more valuable because she readies a lot with Stepping Disc.
You mention taking a lot of hits to the face. Remember that playing off the top of your deck is once per phase, so if you use Limbo in the Villain phase to put Magic Barrier on top of your deck, you can then play it for "free" and prevent three damage. I am sure you know this already, but this has been my strategy to keep her from taking too many hits, and not having to exhaust to defend. And yes, you lose Limbo for the hero phase but you still get to play off the top of your deck again.
I think Magik has the hardest sequencing in the game. I can't think of one other character where I have to think through my turn as much, and then I still find halfway through I sequenced something wrong two steps earlier.
I think she may have the widest range of floor and ceiling based on skill level. I think she's like an S tier character when you are on, and a C if you aren't getting it right.
Agree with your assessment, she’s not as frustrating as psylocke but she does feel like it takes a ton of work to get to the fun
In A you can also voltron cosmo and this dog will just live forever so you can try that approach
In that deck throw in Hulk and punches 😁
Agree, to me she feels like an aggression bleed from leadership. Which is amazing. Aging her in AOA has been EPIC!
Leave poor Magik alone, not everyone can be Valk.
I was expecting to like Magik but started to get worried after the community's initial reaction seemed lukewarm. My AoA box finally arrived last week and I've been playing her nonstop. I find her interactions relatively straightforward compared to Domino and Psylocke. Two heroes that I tried once and haven't picked back up since. I plan to revist those two sooner or later, but the complexity put them off for me for a bit. Thankfully that didn't happend with Magik.
She really needs to have her deck be focused on one resource and one signature upgrade, more so than with other heroes. She can have a bit more flexibility with a mix of resources if the deck gives her more options to draw or discard the top card of the deck to get what she needs
Your negative comments for Magik: she can't do everything all at once, she makes you think and plan your turns.
The opposite of these are things you strongly dislike elsewhere. If she could do everything all at once she would be Dr. Strange 2.0 and if she didn't require planning and thinking she would be a boring one note hero you never play again.
Maybe she just doesn't fit your rush aggression style?
I think she's great! My primary criteria for heroes is "does their kit synergize with itself?" Magik 100% meets this criteria. This box knocked it out of the park with cohesive interesting hero design.
What kit doesn’t synergize with itself?
@@D20Woodworking Hulk is the poster child for anti-synergy. Most of the cards are overcosted and have fist resource requirements or kickers. You have to draw limitless strength to reliably and efficiently play these cards, but both Hulk and Bruce have a hand-size penalty on top of the "enraged" penalty discarding your hand. The badly needed resource generator is locked to alter-ego only and the hero has 0 thwart and no confusion cards. Hulk desperately needs allies to cover for him and has no signature ally. No synergy. No cohesion.
@matthewcreech3854 the fist resources are fine. You can argue it’s silly for banners lab to mental. But all his others are fist. So that’s not a problem. There are also more than enough other fist resources in the game to cover. Also you shouldn’t be worried about threat since the game shouldn’t be lasting that long. He’s obviously just a very basic straightforward hero. Hit hard and quick and win. That’s it. So having confuse would do nothing really. I disagree with his stuff being too expensive. It’s some of the most powerful attacks so they naturally cost up there. I agree his thwart card is bad and expensive. I think it shouldn’t be there but past that I think his kit is fine for what it’s trying to do. He’s just not going to be a solo hero that you play for 7+ rounds
@@D20Woodworking yes. I'm not saying Hulk is unplayable. Whether Hulk is enjoyable will depend on play style and luck of the draw.
What I am saying is that his deck is not cohesive and not synergistic. His cards require fist resources, the reward is you can play your cards. If you don't draw the triple resource you must dump your hand to play 1 card. You must include ways to mitigate tough, stun, and exhausts which would otherwise nullify the 1 card per turn his kit supports.
As a counter-example, Bishop has synergy within his kit. In his kit resource cards matter. The reward is healing, damage, readies and there are built-in release valves in the form of resource sinks for overdrawing resources. Bishop can tutor resources and put back resources. His theme and mechanic is straightforward, synergistic and cohesive.
She's been on of my favs, bummed ya didn't care for her.
Ive been playing her in green also
Still waiting for the AoA Campaign review
ill-ee-ah-nuh.