Welcome to a special review here on Phennix Gaming. I recently had the opportunity to try out an upcoming physical card game based on the Massive- Verse comic book universe. This review will focus on my thoughts and impressions, as well as give a breakdown of the game. I’m excited to have this opportunity, and maybe in the future I can bring more TCG content to the site. I’ve been playing card games all my life and am a comic book fan, so this game in particular was a slam dunk for me in terms of overall theme. 

The Massive -Verse is an independent superhero universe published by Image Comics and created by Kyle Higgins. It began with the release of Radiant Black, which I reviewed a while back. The universe is directly inspired by Super-Sentai series such as Ultraman, Power Rangers, and Kamen Rider. I have yet to dive much into the various spin off titles within the universe, but what I have read was extremely fun and a great exploration of the genre. 

Developed by Solis Game Studio, The Massive-Verse Fighting Card Game seeks to capture the explosive action and fast-paced narrative of the comic books. Players will each take on the role of an individual character and launch attacks at one another to see who can emerge victorious by dealing 10 damage to the other. The overall design of this game is relatively simple, and each match is meant to play out within 10 minutes or less.

 If I had to describe the game in a few words, I would call it a stylish and more strategic version of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Each deck consists of only nine cards that fill a few distinct types. You have your character card, which doesn’t have much info apart from some flavor text and is more of a vessel for conveying the theme. Each character then has a passive effect, which triggers when certain conditions are met and is always in play, as well as an ultimate card. As the name suggests, an ultimate card is a powerful attack that can only be used after acquiring a certain amount of energy, which acts as a secondary resource system. 

The remaining six cards form your starting hand and dictate the basic actions you can do throughout rounds. Unlike most card games, you won’t be drawing from a deck but have everything you need from the start. There are three basic attack cards. Each one deals damage and has another card that it directly counters. Think rock beats scissors etcetera. The final three cards consist of a block, a weapon card, and a rest card. These cards each have unique effects.

The block, as the name would imply, prevents any sort of damage-dealing effect thrown your way. Meanwhile, the rest card returns all your exhausted cards to your hand and provides you with energy, a special resource that is used for activating ultimate attacks and passives. Finally, the weapon is a special card that deals a small amount of damage and can’t be countered by any of the other three main attack cards. However, the special effect of the weapon is that when played against an opponent’s rest card, you will automatically win the game.

 Now that I’ve gone over the card types, I’ll explain how the game flows and utilizes them. In each round, each player will select one card fromtheir  hand to play. These are then played face down and are revealed at the same time. After checking the symbols, players will resolve effects and deal damage if applicable. Now keep in mind that each of the three main attack cards has one that counters the other.

If a player manages to select the right card to do so, then the player who was countered returns their attack to hand and deals no damage. Countering an opponent’s card also gives you energy, which is used for readying the ultimate. After resolving damage and effects, cards are then exhausted and go to a discard pile where they can only be recovered using a rest or some other effect granted by an attack or passive. Play then repeats in this fashion until one player is dealt lethal damage.  

Those are the basic rules, but how was my personal experience? I would say it was overall positive, though there are a few issues I could see turning away potential players. In terms of positives, the game is very easy to pick up and only takes a few minutes to learn before you are ready to play. I also enjoyed how the game really encourages mind games. Successful play requires you to anticipate what your opponent will play and try to outwit them by countering. When this happens, it feels quite satisfying.

Each character also has distinct playstyles fleshed out by the passive effects, ultimate, and individual effects on attack cards, which is nice. The two decks I tried featured Radiant Black and Premier from the same series. Radiant is built around staying healthy and attacking your opponent’s hand to set up counters to outlast your opponent, while Premier focuses on dealing incremental damage through defensive card choices. The overall theme of two characters fighting is also emphasized well by the gameplay systems. Overall, the game is very approachable for those new to card games and gives a good taste of what the genre can offer. I think those who like fighting games will also find a lot to enjoy here, as the game shares many key elements like countering specific moves with those in your arsenal or assembling small combos by taking advantage of passive effects. Most similar, though, is the focus on knowing when to execute certain attacks, a skill that is acquired only by playing many games with your chosen fighter.       

The cards look pretty nice, but nothing super impressive. The artwork is serviceable but for the most part consists of scenes ripped from the comic pages. I’m hoping that the full release will maybe include foil cards, particularly for characters and ultimate cards, to help them stand out a little more on the table.

On to things that maybe weren’t so great, I’d have to start with the weapon cards. I feel very mixed on these overall, as they can either feel great or terrible to play. Pulling off a weapon against a rest and ending the game early can feel satisfying when you correctly anticipate your opponent or when you are on the backfoot and suddenly turn the game around. However, there are certainly other times when you have an interesting back-and-forth game going, and suddenly the game is stolen away because someone just randomly throws a weapon out at the right time.

Another potential negative is the ultimate cards. I could see less experienced players feeling they are overpowered due to having little counterplay. However, after playing a few games, both my partner tester and I easily saw that the cards are often useless, given that you can just hold your block in hand the minute your opponent adds their ultimate and stop it on the following turn. This play does become a little trickier depending on how many other cards your opponent may have. Although seeing as how most ultimates can only be achieved after stockpiling some energy, a path which requires you to deplete your hand countering your opponents’ cards, the choice is usually easier, more often than not. 

My final negative for the game comes from the overall deckbuilding aspect. If you are someone who likes the deckbuilding aspect of card games, then there is no reason to play this game. Decks are pre-built, and characters enact similar play patterns each game, which can get stale fast unless you are constantly swapping between them each round. The developers have plans to release many more characters in the future, but I would also like to see new cards for existing characters with the same types but varying effects.

This would allow players some deckbuilding options for characters they enjoy rather than having to keep buying a whole new character to get a new experience. This was by far my least favorite aspect of the game. It certainly prevents the game from having too much depth and complexity, which could be a positive for some but a letdown for me. I just can’t see myself returning to this game frequently over other potential options when I’m deciding what to play for a day. 

The Massive-Verse Fighting Card Game is certainly an enjoyable casual experience, and as long as you go into the game expecting that you’ll not be disappointed. However, If you are a competitive-minded player who likes deck building, I can’t recommend this game. The Massive- Verse Fighting Card Game is set to go on sale this October. Consumers can purchase either the starter pack containing two decks or the base set bundle containing eight playable characters, so check out your local card store or online retailer if you are interested. 

A Starter Pack of The Massive- Verse Fighting Card Game was provided by Solis Game Studio for this review 

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Massive-Verse Fighting Card Game

25.00

5

Score

5.0/10

Pros

• Easy to learn
• Theme is well conveyed
• Fast games

Cons

• No deckbuilding options
• Some cards and balance feel off
• Can grow repetitive quickly