Upper Deck are finally slowing down on the number of Marvel Legendary expansions they are putting out each year so one of the few to hit the UK shores in 2023 was Black Widow. This set focuses on bringing back a handful older mechanics while only introducing only new one, Unleash.
The returning mechanisms are Divided cards, which allow you to play a card for one of two effects, generally making for some powerful heroes. Dark Memories, which require you to build a deck with multiple colours in your discard pile to trigger the effect. Dodge, which allows you to discard a card and draw a replacement, pairing well with Dark Memories. And Undercover, which allows you to cull cards into your victory pile.
This last one is a necessary prerequisite for Unleash. Unleash allows you to bring cards back from Undercover to your hand allowing for some really interesting combos. Unleash, in my opinion, takes the Undercover mechanism, first introduced in the S.H.I.E.L.D expansion and makes it far more interesting. However, like many Legendary mechanisms, it's more interesting when there are two or three heroes with the effect and too powerful when all the heroes have it.
As for Villains, the two new villain groups feel reasonably manageable, without feeling dull. Some recent Legendary releases have seen villain groups that are more powerful than the masterminds. The villains in this set have a series of effects, generally revolving around Dark Memories and abilities that summon additional henchmen to the city.
The two Masterminds included in the set are Taskmaster, who increases the difficulty of Henchmen villains while also being tougher to fight when you play a high cost hero and more interestingly Indestructible Man who cannot be openly fought, but instead can be defeated by taking out his Elite Assassins.
Overall then Black Widow is a nice expansion, not too punishing with some fun heroes with interesting combos. It would also pair nicely with S.H.I.E.L.D for more Undercover heroes or with Revelations for more heroes with Dark Memories.