Legendary: What If…?

I LOVE the mat - feel, look, and all. The updated ruleset is great, because now the printed version matches the rules that were clarified on Board Game Geek after the initial base set's release. These masterminds and scheme twists are CRAZY to fight against. The masterminds are great, villains are cool, and everything else is alright for game mechanics. But that galaxy mat? GORGEOUS.

It has been a while since we've gotten a new base set, and What If... represents a great starting point. they managed to cram a lot into this rather novel box size including a proper playmat that supports all of Legendary to-date. It is a tad confusing for longer-term Legendary players that the basic agent for Recruitment uses Maria Hill art and the Shield Officer cards use Nick Fury instead, but this is a minor point. We have a very solid set of heroes in a new Guardians of the Multiverse faction that doesn't actually require you to play extensively with the group. The individual characters are pretty solid on their own and nicely capture the first season of the show.

Great game but arrived missing 1 card.

This gives you everything you need to start playing. The added in playmat is an excellent value for people. My only complaint isn’t with this product directly but the majority of randomizer apps havnt caught up so the balance level when compared to older sets is still fully not explored

Just what my son wanted for Christmas

Great!

This is advertised as an introductory standalone set, but it's more like an expansion with a neoprene playmat and alternate art starter cards. Yes, everything a new player needs to play this game is included, but the Schemes, Masterminds, and new Keywords are fairly complex and better geared towards players who are experienced with the Legendary series or deck-building games in general. I also feel that new players would get better value out of starting with the original base game. The original game came with nearly 600 cards, while this set has only 350. This set has only 8 Heros (original base game has 15) and 4 Schemes (original base game has 8), which drastically impacts gameplay variation. You'll quickly be wanting another $25 small-box expansion or two to improve the variety and replayability of this set. Also there are no dividers included, which I think is a first for a Legendary base game. That's another $10 you'll have to spend separately if you want the official dividers. All that being said, this is a good set for experienced Marvel Legendary players, and I would recommend this set "IF..." - you currently don't own a neoprene mat for Legendary Marvel (even if you do, I like the minimalist space theme over the other current options) - you're tired of looking at the same starter cards and want alternate artwork - you want to add more Hero, Mastermind, Villain and Henchman Villain variety to your existing collection - you need more storage space for small box expansions Final Verdict. Three stars for new players due to the complexity of rules and low card count compared to other introductory sets in the series. Five stars for experienced players looking to expand their existing collection. Overall, four stars.

It's missing one card.