I have been watching this game for awhile now. I was excited to finally get my own copy after watching all the videos and reading about it online. Everybody said the same thing, why not just play Thunderstone instead? While the two games are quite similar, I found enough differences in them to enjoy this game on its own merits. It plays quicker, and has a better flow. I also found it easier to explain and teach to new players. After a quick game with the easier enemies, they pretty much had a handle on how everything worked.The game is simple, one read of the instructions and then a few references during your first game and you are pretty much good to go. Set up can be annoying, but for the most part it is easy enough. The game comes with 70 dividers which really help in this area. Figuring a system of organizing the cards with the dividers that is easy enough for you to find everything speeds up setup and tearing down the game greatly.Actually playing the game may take some getting used to if you are new to deck builders. You add stronger cards into your discard pile which then shuffles back into your deck to make it stronger. Think of yourself as a commander, and you are recruiting troops for your army. You keep making your deck stronger and stronger until you can finally take on the mastermind or main bad guy for that mission. Beat him 4 times before he finishes what ever his evil scheme is to win. You also have to contend with lesser villains stomping all over the town and capturing bystanders.One thing I really liked about this game is the flexibility of it. It is touted as a co-op game, but at its core it is pure competitive. Yes you win or lose together, but if you win you then compare your points to see who really won the game. When a game comes with cards that let you hinder your team-mates, it is not really focusing on the co-op element. That being said you can ignore that aspect if you want and play simply as a team. The difficulty is lower this way, as you are simply trying to win and not beat the other player however. The game covers this though in the rulebook, and gives you ways to make the game harder or easier given your tastes. It even has a solo variant which is fun for when nobody else is around to play. Certain masterminds are easier then others as well. This allows you to further tailor your difficulty by picking exactly what scheme and who you wish to fight while playing it. If you find destroying the Red Skull and his Hydra forces to easy, why not fight Loki and toss in some extra baddies along side his normal asgaurdian forces.What about the negatives? Well sadly one is a huge issue for me. Comics are art plain and simple. They are pictures, we are looking at art every time we read one. This game is lacking sorely in the art department though, and I can not figure out why. Every hero has a handful of cards, 14 I believe. And each one has the exact same image on it. Every scheme has the exact same image on it. So the card for the cosmic cube, and for the skrull invasion has the exact image and that is just wrong. I just don't understand how you could take a huge license that is known for art, and then be this stingy with it. With a Marvel game you would expect every unique card to have a unique artwork on it. Every other card game I have ever played does this. Look at lord of the rings the living card game, every different card has different art.Other negative, the schemes are disappointing. A scheme is kind of like a mission, it is what the Mastermind is trying to accomplish. The first one you will play is probably the mastermind trying to unleash the power of the cosmic cube. Sounds neat right? The scheme tells you how to play the game, but the title of it has nothing to do with anything. That card basically says after the mastermind gets to stage 5 of 8 he starts fighting back. You will not reference the Cosmic Cube at all during the game. So as cool as the schemes sound, they really have no real thematic purpose. That card could simply be called Scheme 1 and it would have the same effect on the players.Price wise this game goes from anywhere between 40 to 60 depending on your vendor. Those prices are fair, but I would say try to find the lower one. I enjoy the gameplay and think the mechanics work well. The theme is used decently, but does not seem to hold up in some areas. And the art while good, lacks diversity. I feel 50 is a good price for this game, it comes with 500 cards and 70 dividers. And the box insert is very nice for card games. I actually wish I could buy just another insert for my Lord of the rings box.4 out of 5 stars