If I had not been locked into completionist mode when the super powered twins, Pietro and Wanda, were announced as the next two heroes for Marvel Champions I might have let these pass me by. Did my insatiable need to have everything for this game pay off? Let's get to the review and find out.
Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver
In his alter ego form Pietro gets the basic human stat line, a hand size of 6 and a recovery of 3 with just 9hp. His power matches that of his sister, allowing him to discard 2 cards to draw 2, increasing to 3 if Wanda is in play.
However in his Hero form is where Quicksilver really comes to life. Initially his stats are underwhelming with 1's across the board until you realise his power is that he can ready once per phase, basically giving him 2's in all stats except Def.
And naturally it follows that any cards played on Pietro that affect his baseline stats are essentially doubly effective.
Signature Cards
Quicksilver is all about upgrades that boost his stats and events that allow him to ready even more times than his basically ability allows. Always Be Running for example, which you have four copies of, simply readies Quicksilver, making Quicksilver a superb reactionary character, able to protect other heroes without sacrificing his own action.
Pair this with Frictional Resistance though and you have a resource generating machine. At first Frictional Resistance seems weak, 3 resources for 1/per turn. However, the kicker is that you can ready the card each time you ready Quicksilver. So now you can use it to pay for Always be Running and the card is basically free to play.
Accelerated Reflex, Hyper Perception and Reinforced Sinew all add 1 to a basic stat and should be played as soon as possible to get the most out of Quicksilver.
Serval Industries is his only Alter Ego card but it allows you to get your Quicksilver cards back into your deck with dovetails nicely with Pietro's built in draw and discard, allowing you to restock those vital Always Be Running events.
Pietro's sister is his only signature ally and she comes into play with a weaker version of her hero power, discarding an encounter card and boosting her stats by 1 for each boost icon on the card.
Aspect Cards
Quicksilver ships in a protection build which is good in solo as he is rather down on health so anything that helps him avoid damage is a boon. Armoured Vest is a great boost for him, giving him Def 2 or 3 if he can play Accelerated Reflex. Multiple Man is an interesting ally, but one that I have found tricky to pull off effectively. When played, for a cost of 4, you put another copy into play, which puts another copy into play, the rub is that this only works if the card is in your hand or your deck, not in your discard.
Nerves of Steel is another resource generator, not as good as Frictional Resistance, but still useful if you don't want to discard cards from hand. This works really nicely with Side Step, preventing 3 damage and dealing one to the enemy that attacked you. Finally Never Back Down will boost your Def for an attack and stun if the enemy deals no damage.
Neutral Cards
Quicksilver's neutral set has a couple of basic cards, Adrenaline Rush and Civic Duty, both of which give temp stat boosts until the end of the phase. His other card is a Team Up event which allows him to cancel a When Revealed treachery card and deal to damage to the villain. A great card but it does require Scarlet Witch to be in play. For co-op that's great, in solo play it is trickier as you need to get the ally into play first.
Thoughts
Quicksilver is not a character I expected to light my world on fire, his MCU appearance was lackluster and while his Days of Future’s past cameo is arguably one of the best moments in the Fox X-oeuvre he is little more than comic relief. So imagine my surprise when I played him to discover he might just be my favourite Marvel Champions hero. That spot currently belongs to Black Widow with Ant-Man probably second, but Quicksilver is awesome.
So he’s all about action advantage, he comes with a built in readying capability which allows you to use him 4 times per round, twice in the hero phase and twice in the villain phase. Although if you do use him twice against the villain you’re going to need a way to ready him. Of course with 4 copies of “Always be Running” in the deck that should not prove too tricky.
Quicksilver is a simple hero to play, his strategy is to build up his stats and use them repeatedly until you win. Of course, with Champions being a boss battler Attack should be your priority but Quicksilver is a little squishy with only 9 hit points and a single defence, so funnelling everything into attack might not win you the game, unless you’re very very quick.
In the protection build he comes packaged with Quicksilver is a great support character, he can pick off weaker enemies and side schemes while blocking a couple of hits per round. For solo play he’s balanced but I don’t feel he’s truly optimised, shifting his focus from defence to attack or thwarting makes him super efficient at either due to his readying capabilities.
I ran Quicksilver, as always, against the Red Skull campaign to test him out. The campaign took 9 plays, giving me just over a 50% win ratio. However most of my losses came against Taskmaster. Quicksilver just never had enough attack to bring him down, while also concentrating on clearing the schemes. After 4 losses in a row I switched up the deck build, going for Justice over Protection and was victorious. That said, I did realise afterwards I had forgotten to give him a Basic upgrade after defeating Absorbing Man.
Final Thoughts
If you're looking for a hero with a simple tool kit then you can't really go wrong with Quicksilver. He is simpler to build up than other upgrade reliant heroes, such as Black Panther or Iron Man, but his ability to self ready, coupled with his balanced build, makes him a great all-rounder, ready to react to any situation, just don't throw him in front of a hail of bullets and you'll be fine!
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