Marvel United: X-Men – Blue Team Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Team vs Team Mode
  • Setup
  • Winning & Losing
  • Villain Turn
  • Hero Turn
  • Team Storylines
• Team Missions
• Special Rules
  • Attacking Opposing Heroes
  • Attacking the Villain
  • Overkill
  • Effect Priority
  • Breaking Ties
  • Special Effects and Location Effects
• Accelerated Villain Challenge
• Special Compatibility Rules
  • Super Villain Mode
  • Challenges
  • Villains

Components

• 1 Villain dashboard
• 4 Locations
• 1 Challenge card
• 3 Stunned tokens
• 1 Initiative token
• 12 DNA Sample tokens
• 6 Team vs Team Mission cards (3 Blue and 3 Gold)
• 6 Mission Complete tokens (3 Blue and 3 Gold)
• 6 plastic bases (3 Blue and 3 Gold)
• 1 Team vs Team Damage dashboard
• Heroes: Rogue, Psylocke, Jubilee, Gambit, Banshee
• Villain: Mister Sinister
• 60 Hero cards (12 for each Hero)
• 12 Master Plan cards
• 6 Threat cards

Team vs Team Mode

In Team vs Team mode, the Heroes are divided into 2 opposing teams with 2 or 3 Heroes each (either 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3). Players select a team color (Blue or Gold) and take all the corresponding components (3 Team Mission cards, 3 Mission Complete tokens, and 3 plastic bases). The following rules changes are applied when playing in Team vs Team mode:

Setup

1. The 3 standard Mission cards are not used. Leave them in the box. Each team takes their 3 Team Mission cards and places them in front of one of their players, with a Mission Complete token on each of them. Place the Damage dashboard at the bottom of the Mission Guide (where the 3 standard Mission cards would normally go). Toss the Initiative token and place it at the center of the Damage dashboard. The color facing up indicates the team with the initiative.

2. The Villain Health is always set at the maximum (as if for a 4-Hero game).

4. The placement of Threat cards is postponed to Step 7.

7. The team with the initiative will start 2 Locations away from the Villain going counter-clockwise. The other team will start 2 Locations away from the Villain going clockwise. Starting with the team with the initiative and alternating back and forth, each player chooses a Hero and places their game piece in their starting Location (attaching their color bases to them). Unless the Villain's Special Setup indicates a specific placement, the team with the initiative chooses one of the Threat cards and places it in their starting Location. Then, the other team does the same. Shuffle the remaining Threat cards and place them randomly in the other Locations.

(Setup Steps 3, 5, and 6 are not printed in the Blue Team rulebook.)

Winning & Losing

A team wins if, when the Villain is defeated, they have dealt more damage to the Villain than the other team. To be able to damage the Villain, a team must first complete at least 2 of their 3 Team Missions. In case of a tie, the winning team is the one who dealt the final damage to the Villain.

Both teams lose if the Villain completes their master plan, following the standard game conditions.

Villain Turn

At the start of each Villain turn, flip the Initiative token. This means one team will have the initiative during Setup, then the token will be flipped at the start of the Villain turn that kicks off the game, so the other team will have the initiative at the start of the game. The Villain still plays 1 Master Plan card on each of their turns, between the Storylines of each team (see on the right).

The Villain starts the game, and then will take their turn after both teams have played the same number of Hero turns each (3 Hero turns each initially, 2 Hero turns each once the Villain is Under Pressure).

If the Villain must play a Master Plan card due to a special rule or effect, but the team with the initiative has performed 1 more Hero turn than the other team, the Villain must wait for the other team to take its Hero turn before playing the Master Plan card. Note that the Initiative token is flipped at the start of these extra Villain turns as well.

If the Villain must add a facedown Master Plan in the Storyline, they add it under the previously played Master Plan card.

Hero Turn

After each Villain turn, the team whose color is facing up on the Initiative token has the initiative and plays first. That team chooses a Hero to start and performs their turn. The other team then chooses a Hero and performs their turn. Then, the next Hero of the team with the initiative takes their turn. Play continues back and forth, with Heroes taking turns in order, until both teams have performed 3 Hero turns each. A Villain turn then takes place. As the Initiative token is flipped at the start of each Villain turn, the teams alternate back and forth taking the first Hero turn after a Villain turn. This means that the team that played the last Hero card before the Villain turn will be the same team that plays the first Hero card after the Villain turn. However, the Hero will be the next one in the sequence, that can't be altered.

Team Storylines

In Team vs Team Mode, each team has their own independent Storyline, running parallel to each other. The Gold team plays their Hero cards in the inner Storyline and the Blue team plays their Hero cards in the outer Storyline. Effects that refer to the Storyline, refer only to cards in that team's specific Storyline, including the Villain cards, which belong to both Storylines.

When taking their turn, Heroes only benefit from the symbols at the bottom of the previous Hero card in their team's Storyline.

Team Missions

Each team has 3 Team Missions available to their Heroes. They can be completed in any order. Once all slots of a Team Mission card are filled, the Mission is complete. Remove that Mission card from the game, returning its tokens to the pool. Take the Mission Complete token that was on that card and place it on the leftmost empty slot of that team's color on the Damage dashboard, unlocking it.

Once a team completes their 1st Team Mission, the Villain becomes Under Pressure and starts playing Master Plan cards after every 2 Hero cards in both team Storylines, instead of after every 3 cards. This affects both teams equally, even if the other hasn't completed any Missions yet.

Once a team completes their 2nd Team Mission, the Villain becomes vulnerable to damage dealt by Heroes belonging to that team. The other team cannot damage the Villain until they also complete 2 of their Team Missions.

While they don't need to do it to win the game, once a team completes their 3rd Team Mission, each of the Heroes belonging to that team immediately draw 1 card from their deck into their hand.

Special Rules

Attacking Opposing Heroes

In Team vs Team Mode, Heroes of the opposing team are considered to be enemies for all game effects. This means a Hero can use an attack to deal 1 damage to a Hero of the opposing team, causing them to discard 1 card. However, if such an attack would KO the opposing Hero, the last card is not discarded. Heroes can never use an attack action or effect to KO a Hero from the opposing team.

Attacking the Villain

Each time a Hero damages the Villain, take the Health token from the Villain's dashboard and place it on that Hero's team's corresponding area on the Damage dashboard. When the Villain is defeated, the team that accumulated the most Health tokens on their side of the Damage dashboard is the winner. In case of a tie, the winning team is the one whose Hero dealt the final damage to the Villain.

Overkill

It's possible for a strong killing blow to the Villain to turn certain defeat into victory. If a Hero deals more damage to the Villain than the number of Health tokens they have left, besides placing all the Villain's remaining Health tokens on that team's corresponding area on the Damage dashboard, also take a number of Health tokens from the pool equal to the exceeding damage and add that to the Damage dashboard as well. Example: A Villain has 1 Health left. A Hero of the Gold team deals 3 damage to the Villain, so they take the Health token from the Villain dashboard, plus 2 Health tokens from the pool, and place them on the Gold team area of the Damage dashboard.

Effect Priority

Effects that don't apply equally to all Heroes are first applied to Heroes of the team that has the initiative. Example 1: A Villain resolves a [Villain effect icon] effect that deals 2 damage to a Hero in the Villain's Location, but in that Location there are 2 Heroes of the Gold team and 1 Hero of the Blue team. The Gold team has the initiative, so one of their 2 Heroes will suffer the 2 damage (the Gold team players choose). If the Blue team had the initiative, then the Hero belonging to the Blue team would have suffered the 2 damage. Example 2: A Villain resolves a [Villain effect icon] effect that deals 1 damage to each Hero in the Villain's and adjacent Locations. All Heroes in these Locations suffer the damage, regardless of which team they belong to or who has the initiative.

Breaking Ties

If there are ever events or effects whose conditions are tied, the team currently WITHOUT the initiative decides how they should be resolved.

Special Effects and Location Effects

Special Effects and Location Effects that refer to 'Heroes/other Heroes' apply to ALL Heroes in the game, not only to the ones in the player's team. Example: Gambit plays his Master Thief card. He gains 1 [token icon] token and takes 1 Action token of his choice from each other Hero, both teammate and opponent.

Accelerated Villain Challenge

The Accelerated Villain Challenge can be added to any game using Team vs Team Mode (including being combined with Super Villain Mode). It makes the Villain's presence more intense, meaning the Heroes need to concern themselves more with the Villain, instead of focusing on the opposing team. Each time TWO Hero cards have been added to each team's Storyline (so, a total of 4 Hero turns have been played, unless the Villain has been Accelerated or Delayed), a new Master Plan card is drawn from the deck, added to the end of the Storyline, and resolved. Remember to flip the Initiative token at the start of each Villain turn. Play continues in this fashion until a team completes their first Team Mission, at which point the Villain becomes Under Pressure and starts adding a Master Plan card to the Storyline after every SINGLE Hero card played in both teams' Storylines. If an effect causes the Villain turn to be Accelerated or Delayed, this is applied on top of the basic turn sequence established by the Accelerated Villain Challenge.

Special Compatibility Rules

Super Villain Mode

When combining Team vs Team with the Super Villain mode introduced in the Marvel United: X-Men core box, apply the following changes to Setup:

• The Villain chooses their starting Location.
• The Heroes don't draw Super Hero cards. Heroes also don't take the starting Action tokens listed on the back of the Villain dashboard.
• If using the Accelerated Villain Challenge, each team draws 4 Super Hero cards and chooses 1 for each of their Heroes, discarding the rest. The Heroes still don't take the starting Action tokens listed on the back of the Villain dashboard.

Challenges

Some Challenges require special setup rules when combining with Team vs Team mode:

• Endangered Locations: When playing 3 vs 3, only 2 random Heroes from each team are assigned an Endangered Location token.
• Secret Identity: The Journalist tokens start in the 2 Locations adjacent to the Villain's starting Location and in the Location opposite to that.
• Danger Room: Attach the Danger Room to the Location between the teams' starting Locations.
• Deadpool Chaos: Instead of being placed randomly, Deadpool starts in the location opposite to the Villain's starting Location.

A couple Challenges are simply not compatible with Team vs Team mode:

• Traitor
• Plan B

Villains

Some Villains require special rules when used with Team vs Team mode:

• Arcade: Murderworld cannot be chosen as the Heroes' starting Location.
• Bob, Agent of Hydra: The effect of the M.O.D.O.K. Henchman becomes: Flip the latest faceup Hero cards in BOTH team Storylines facedown.
• Bullseye: The Heroes lose if they get a total of 4 KO tokens, even when playing with 6 Heroes (3 vs 3).
• M.O.D.O.K.: When M.O.D.O.K. has to flip a Hero card, he flips the earliest faceup card in BOTH team Storylines.
• Magneto: The Use Cerebro Mission is not used. Teams use their 3 standard Team Missions.
• Mastermind: The Special Setup rules apply individually to each team (2 Heroes from each team start in Locations adjacent to their regular starting Location).
• Mojo: The team with the initiative during Setup may choose Mojoverse to be the Villain's starting Location.
• Phoenix Five Villain: Use the Standalone Game rules. The Train Hope Mission is not used. Teams use their 3 standard Team Missions.
• Sabretooth: When a Hero is KO'd, the Hunted token passes to a Hero belonging to the other team (for example: Gold 1 > Blue 1 > Gold 2 > Blue 2).
• Spiral: The Team Mission cards are not used. Instead, use the back of the Break the Spell Mission dashboard.
• Super-Skrull: The Heroes lose if they get a total of 4 KO tokens, even when playing with 6 Heroes (3 vs 3).

Some Villains are simply not compatible with Team vs Team mode:

• Apocalypse and Horsemen of Apocalypse Mode
• Dark Phoenix
• Dormammu
• Hela
• Lady Deathstrike
• Legion
• Mystique
• Sentinels & Nimrod
• Sinister Six Mode (all 6 together, not each individual Villain)