The last Pluvian has two things going for him - a fairly high health stat and reduced cost for players with "Guardian" identities.

You're probably not going to include him in any non-Guardian's deck. In a Guardian's deck you can do a lot worse than a 1/1/4 ally for 2 resources. He's a valid inclusion in just about any Guardian deck, but also an easy choice to cut if you need to trim cards.

With 4 health, you can probably get two blocks out of him, or get a few low power attack/thwarts out of him.

He's a very solid inclusion in Leadership decks that leverage the Guardian trait on your allies, since his cheap cost and high health means he's easy to keep around, and a high priority for the Energy Spear in Aggression decks for the same reason.

On a side note, I was a big fan of the original Guardians back in the 90's, and I'm a little disappointed that Marty's depiction in this game isn't particularly interesting.

This is a staple basic card and would be worth Ms. Marvel's pack alone (if she wasn't amazing anyway). Increases your max HP, removes itself from the deck, is dirt cheap at 2 ER, and doesn't lock the hero into any aspect. Having a lightning resource is also relevant in some situations (Iron Man, Captain Marvel), although not as much as physical or mental (especially after Ironheart). Unlike Down time, Endurance also takes effect immediately and doesn't cost you an activation, which is relevant in high-pressure situations where the extra hp really matters.

I have a rule of thumb chart that I follow for this card, that so far has worked well for me. If the hero has:

• 9-10 HP: auto-include this card. +30/33% max HP is bonkers for a single card.
• 11-13 HP: try to find a slot for this card if you can. There will be situations where you want need it, but most of the time +25% max HP is worth a card.
• 14+ HP: not needed unless you are playing Protection and/or high hp helps with your strategy (She-hulk says hello).

SUMMARY: boring but practical, the lower your max hp, the more useful it gets.

This is a great card. For 2 resources, you're getting a minimum of 4 additional threat removal and/or damage (since you can ready Quicksilver after doing a basic action, then boosting your defense by 2 for when he inevitably defends at least once during the villain phase.

High priority to put this back into your deck with Serval Industries.

Holy heck, how do you review Captain America?

The first thing that should be said is that FFG respected the character enough to make him formidable. It's been two and a half years and twenty-six heroes later, and Cap is still top tier. He's not infallible, and he doesn't has a magical secondary deck, but he has a powerful set of abilities that require meaningful yet reasonable costs.

His entire persona is really on point, but if I were to take up a small quibble, it would be that Cap really should have a 4 REC. He's just an unrelenting machine, and this is the sole area where I feel FFG dropped the ball. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's hanging out in the corner like Hamlet's ghost.

The only other issue I have is that Cap's ability to get his shield is exclusively a setup ability. This is a product of time and playtesting, and I think that if Cap were re-released today, it would be an alter-ego ability rather than a setup ability.

This is the route they have taken with all current heroes that have a signature upgrade (Thor, Hawkeye, Nova) so I am of the opinion that Cap is just a victim of the time in which he was created.

However, his Alter-Ego ability is tailored to Leadership decks (kind of a 'duh' situation there) and his Hero ability is a perfect, thematic balance of cost to benefit. Cap's 2/2/2 still stands out as formidable years later, and his shield provides him with both an extra DEF and Retaliate, which is unprecedented to this day. It actually makes it hard to play his Shield Toss, since it returns the shield to your hand. But then you remember that he has two unrestricted resource generators, and the Shield Toss is going to deal 4 damage to as many enemies as cards you discarded. The shield will be back out before the end of the turn, and thank goodness because that 3 DEF matters. It matters a whole lot more when one of the two Shield Block cards is in your hand, doing a Spidey Backflip to prevent all damage for zero cost. Then there is Heroic Strike which is a reverse Tackle that deals three more damage. Not to mention Captain America's Helmet, Cap's 'Get Out of Jail Free' card. Let us also not forget those two unrestricted resource generators; Super-Soldier Serum. For one more than a Web-Shooter, Cap gets a permanent source of might resources every turn, and he has two of them! Sure, they're not Wilds, but they have no restrictions on what they can be used for, and they are permanent upgrades.

Cap is a lot like Spidey, in that their hero kit is straightforward and easy to grasp once you know the basics of how to play. What separates Cap is that he has minion control, better thwart and permanent resource generators. They are solid compliments to one another, but Cap is the more versatile hero of the two.

Probably the most versatile ally in the game and an auto-include in many decks. She is the only non-Hero ally with 3 THW for 1 CD (and one of very few with 3 ATT for 1 CD) which means that in any deck running any ways to heal her or increase her HP, she is godlike as a thwarting machine.

She will be in the first 3 allies included in almost all decks I play, save a few with such a small hand size that they can't play her.