Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game – X-Men
Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game – X-Men Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
X-Gene
This keyword represents X-Men combining unique mutant powers with their signature teamwork.
- Some Heroes say things like "X-Gene (X-Gene symbol): You get +2 Attack." This means "If you have a card in your discard pile, you get +2 Attack." You can use a card's X-Gene ability only if you have the specified kind of card in your discard pile.
- You can only use a card's X-Gene ability once, no matter how many matching cards you have in your discard pile.
- Remember: when you play a card during your turn, it stays in front of you until the end of turn. Then all the cards you played that turn go to the discard pile. So if you have an empty discard pile, you can't play an X-Gene card from your hand, then immediately play a card with "X-Gene" (X-Gene card icon) and use that X-Gene ability.
- One cool combo is to recruit a Hero into your discard pile, then play your "X-Gene" card, and you'll get to use its X-Gene ability.
Piercing Energy
This keyword represents X-Men using psychic knives & sonic screams to pierce enemy defenses.
- Some Heroes give you a new kind of points called "Piercing Energy," using the Piercing Energy icon. You can fight a Villain or Mastermind by spending Piercing Energy points equal to that enemy's printed Victory Points value (Victory Points icon). You ignore that enemy's Attack and any Attack modifiers.
- You can also ignore any special conditions for fighting that enemy, automatically rescuing any Human Shields.
- You can't use Piercing Energy against cards that have no printed VP value, like Shadow-X Villains, or Master Strikes that become Villains.
Berserk
This keyword represents some X-Men going into a berserker rage of unpredictable violence.
- "Berserk" means "Discard the top card of your deck. You get +Attack equal to the discarded card's printed Attack." (So if the discarded card gives "2+ Attack", you just count 2.)
- Some cards say "Berserk, Berserk, Berserk" so you discard three cards in a row.
- Some cards say things like "Berserk. X-Gene card: You get +1 Attack." You do the card abilities in order, so Berserk might discard a card from your deck, letting you use your X-Gene ability.
- Berserk gives no benefit from discarding printed Recruit Points or Piercing Energy values.
Soaring Flight
This ability represents X-Men flying into action as rapid reinforcements.
- "Soaring Flight" means "When you recruit this Hero, set it aside. At the end of this turn, add it to your new hand as an extra card."
Lightshow
This keyword represents X-Men using fireworks and blinding bursts in spectacular combinations.
- Some Heroes say things like "Lightshow: You get +3 Attack." Once per turn, if you played at least two Lightshow cards this turn, you can use a single Lightshow ability from any of those cards.
- If you play three, four, or more Lightshow cards you still use only a single Lightshow ability.
Dominate
This keyword represents Villains using telepathy, sorcery, or illusions to twist Heroes' minds to evil.
- Some Villains and Masterminds say they "Dominate" Hero cards from various places. This means "Put those Heroes under this enemy. This enemy gets +1 Attack for each Hero it's Dominating."
- When you fight that enemy, put one of those Dominated Heroes into each player's discard pile. You choose which player gets which Hero, including yourself. There might not be enough for every player to get one. KO any excess Dominated Heroes.
- If a Villain escapes, any Heroes Dominated by that Villain go to the Escape Pile too.
Human Shields
This keyword represents enemies hiding behind innocent people to prevent Heroes' attacks.
- "Ambush: This Villain captures 2 Human Shields" means the Villain captures the top 2 cards of the Bystander Stack face-down. You can't fight a Villain while it has any Human Shields. During your turn, any number of times, you can pay Attack equal to that Villain's Attack value to rescue one of its Human Shields at random and put it in your Victory Pile. (The white symbol on their Attack icon is a reminder.)
- A Villain can have face up Bystanders and face-down Human Shields at the same time. You'll need to pay to rescue the face-down Human Shields. Then you can fight the Villain, which will rescue the face-up Bystanders automatically.
- Human Shields still count as Bystanders. Villains escaping with Human Shields still make players discard as normal.
Traps
The Legendary X-Men set adds a completely new card type to Legendary: Traps. Every Villain Group in the set contains at least one Trap.
- When a Trap is played from the Villain Deck, it gives you a challenge to complete this turn to avoid the Trap. If you complete the challenge, put the Trap in your Victory Pile and get its VP. A Trap is not a Villain and doesn't enter the city.
- If you fail to complete the challenge, then at the end of the turn you must KO the trap and suffer the listed consequences! (Do this after you draw a new hand).
Double-Sided Epic Masterminds
As an extra-hard challenge, Legendary X-Men introduces 6 new "Double-Sided Epic Masterminds." Each has a normal side, or can be flipped over to use its extra-nasty Epic Mastermind side, using the same Mastermind Tactics.
- "Regular" Onslaught and Dark Phoenix are already devastating. Their "Epic Mastermind" versions are insanely hard, with god-like powers!
Horrors
Legendary X-Men also adds a second, completely new card type to Legendary: Horrors. These make the game harder in a variety of ways. All the Epic Masterminds explicitly say they add Horrors to the game. Players who want to play in "hard mode" can also choose to add any number of Horrors (random or hand-picked) at the start of a game against any Mastermind. How many can you beat at once?
Heroic Bystanders
The New Mutants are Professor X's students, dreaming of becoming full-fledged X-Men. For them, the Legendary X-Men set introduces New Mutant Bystanders that become Heroes when you rescue them.
Token Cards
Sometimes game play will cause additional Villains or Masterminds to be added during play. For example, a Master Strike may cause a special Villain to enter the city. Token cards represent these special characters that would otherwise be represented by the card that drew them out. Tokens are all identified by a Token icon in the upper right of the card. These new cards are optional so have fun with them!
Divided Cards
To match Legion's split personalities, "Divided Cards" return from the Legendary Civil War set, with two miniature cards printed on the same card.
- If a Divided Card costs "3" on each side, you just pay 3 to recruit it from the HQ, not 6.
- When you play a Divided Card, you choose which side to play. You generate all the Recruit Points, Attack, and special abilities of that side as normal. You ignore the other side, as if it didn't exist.
Villains Ascending into Masterminds
Like Legendary Secret Wars Vol. 1 & 2, some powerful Villains ascend to become new Masterminds, so there are multiple Masterminds in the game! Players must defeat them all to win. When a Master Strike occurs, each Mastermind does its Master Strike ability. The player whose turn it is picks the order.
Game Contents
Rules insert and 394 cards:
- 15 New Heroes of 14 cards each (Each Hero has 1 rare, 3 uncommons, 5 of one common, and 5 of another common)
- 7 New Villain Groups of 8 cards each
- 5 New Henchman Groups of 10 cards each
- 6 New Double-Sided Masterminds (Each has 1 Mastermind card and 4 Mastermind Tactic cards)
- 8 New Schemes
- 9 New Token Cards
- 1 Master Strike
- 1 Scheme Twist
- 9 New Special Bystander types (1 card each)
- 20 New Horrors