Saying this "needs to be changed" is an overreaction, but you are entitled to play how you enjoy. This will usually cost you 2-3 resources of value, which is on par with other encounter cards. Does it feel bad? Sure, but that's the encounter deck's job — Stretch22 · 1302 5/27/25

Yeah, obviously it's your board game so you should play how you want, but "needs to be changed" is a bit of an overreaction when a card like Overwhelming Force exists. Definitely sucks to pull it when you' only have a big upgrade or support on the board, but a card you have to think about when deckbuilding. — Jvenom23 · 3 5/28/25

Well, it’s the Standard I modular which gets added to almost every scenario because Shadows of the Past is a base game element. Overwhelming Force is Standard II (which many people don’t play because it’s just punishing and worse than Expert 1). As it stands, most consider that S1 < E1 < S2 < E2. If we cared about S2, we’d probably change that card. “Needs to be changed” refers, of course, to base game pacing. Breaking hero build-outs on the base game leads to late build-outs which are often not economical to play + game might be over next turn, so you might not get to experience the full (or near full) build-out. The Upgrades and Supports are kind of weird anyway. Did Vision lose his cape? Thematically, suiting up tends to match powering up for a villain fight (especially with stage 1 feeling like an initial villain fight and stage 2 feeling like the final showdown). I mind cards like Caught Off Guard less in harder scenarios, but for learning the game –come on. That’s not learning, that’s just robbing players of the full experience. Why have a deck, if you can’t play it? Also, I would argue that the hero decks are the most fun part of the game. Lots of people spend a lot of time building them. Building custom villain scenarios with different modulars? Not as much (with notable exceptions). — underthewronghat · 57 6/4/25

Thanks to all you commented... We decided to change this home rule to, “Discard an upgrade or support you control, or pay two plus the cost of the upgrade to keep it in play. If no cards were discarded, this card gains surge.” The main reason here is because heroes like Hawkeye have a built-in mitigation for this card. Thus, it would cost Hawkeye one total resource plus flipping to get his bow back, or he could pay two resources right now and draw another encounter card. Thor could flip and get the hammer back for 1 cost, or he could pay 3 total resources and draw another encounter card to keep Mjolnir in play. Options are great. This has the effect of letting the player choose to have a resource set back plus another encounter card, or a full deck and re-shuffle setback. This retains the usefulness of those Alter Ego abilities. — underthewronghat · 57 6/8/25

Eh, when I first started playing, cards like this and Shadows of the Past used to irritate me. It always felt like it was derailing everything I wanted to do. Now? There's plenty of cards in the collection to mitigate treachery cards or cheap upgrades that can sacrificed to this card. If your concern is that you feel like you're missing the full build out experience, well, since you're already house ruling, why not just put all a hero's upgrades and supports into play from the start? Why wouldn't Vision start with his cape in play, or Cyclops without his visor, right? Makes logical sense but the game wasn't balanced that way, and that's why I generally don't house rule to make things easier. — erikw1984 · 29 6/13/25