Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game – S.H.I.E.L.D.

For an advanced solo game, the setup includes a specific scheme, S.H.I.E.L.D. vs. Hydra War, which requires 7 twists and includes the Hydra Elite villain group. Instead of a single mastermind, there are four mastermind tactic cards (Red Skull, Viper, Arnim Zola, Baron Helmut Zemo) that are shuffled and drawn one at a time, each with unique master strike and fight abilities. The henchman group is Hydra Base, which are locations that disrupt the city. The villain group is Hydra Elite, consisting of various villains. The hero groups are Quake, Mockingbird, and Phil Coulson, all from the S.H.I.E.L.D. set, offering various recruit, attack, and S.H.I.E.L.D. level benefits.

The primary objective is to defeat all four mastermind tactics. Each tactic has different fight conditions and master strike effects. Players must strategically build their decks to generate enough attack and recruit power to overcome these challenges. The game is lost if the scheme's evil wins condition is met, which is when the Hydra Level reaches 11.

During a player's turn, they draw a hand of cards and can use their recruit points to gain new heroes from the Headquarters or use their attack points to fight villains in the city or mastermind tactics. Some hero cards have S.H.I.E.L.D. levels that provide additional benefits, and some cards can send S.H.I.E.L.D. officers undercover, which can be gained or used for specific abilities. Master strikes and scheme twists can introduce new challenges, such as gaining wounds or adding double agent villains to the city.

Victory points are accumulated by defeating villains and mastermind tactics. Each defeated card has a victory point value, and bystanders rescued also contribute to the final score. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game, if the heroes win, is the ultimate winner. However, in a solo game, the goal is simply to achieve victory by defeating the masterminds.

The game concludes when either all four mastermind tactics have been defeated, resulting in a hero victory, or when the Hydra Level reaches 11 due to scheme twists or villain ambushes, leading to an evil win. The Hydra Level is tracked by placing S.H.I.E.L.D. officer cards next to the scheme. If any double agents are already present when a twist occurs, one goes to the escape pile, increasing the Hydra Level, and the rest go to the bottom of the S.H.I.E.L.D. officer stack.