Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game

Setting up Legendary involves placing the game board and organizing the various decks. Place S.H.I.E.L.D. officers, wounds, and bystanders in their designated spaces. Choose a mastermind, add their associated tactics face down, and select a scheme card, adjusting scheme twists and villain groups based on the player count. Build the villain deck by combining mastermind tactics, scheme twists, master strikes, chosen villain groups, henchmen groups, and bystanders. Build the hero deck using chosen heroes, shuffle it, and place five heroes face-up in the HQ. Finally, deal each player eight S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, four S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers, and draw a starting hand of six cards.

The primary objective of Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game is to defeat the chosen mastermind by overcoming their attack requirements before they complete their scheme or the villain/hero decks run out. Players cooperate to thwart villains, rescue bystanders, and build powerful deck synergies, but ultimately compete for the highest victory point total to win.

Each player's turn begins by revealing the top card of the villain deck and resolving its effects, such as master strikes, scheme twists, or villain activations. Villains enter the city, moving right and potentially escaping, which inflicts penalties like wounds or discarding hero cards. Then, the player plays cards from their hand to generate attack and recruit points. Recruit points are spent to acquire new heroes from the HQ or S.H.I.E.L.D. officers. Attack points are used to defeat villains in the city or attack the mastermind directly. At the end of the turn, played and remaining cards are discarded, and a new hand of six cards is drawn.

Scoring in Legendary relies on accumulating victory points in your victory pile. Players earn points by defeating villains, henchmen, mastermind tactics, and rescuing bystanders. In showdown mode, players sum their victory and recruit points from their final hands to determine the ultimate winner. Keeping victory piles separate from discard piles is essential for final scoring.

The game ends under several conditions: if the villain deck runs out, the round finishes and players lose unless the mastermind was defeated; if the hero deck runs out, the round finishes and players lose; or if the mastermind is defeated by the players, triggering the end of the game where victory points are tallied to crown the winner.