2017 was one of our greatest years in Entertainment so far. On the gaming side, we saw huge growth with the release of several original titles as well as the first Legendary title to release with a home-grown fantasy setting on mobile; Legendary DXP. We also released our most popular Marvel Legendary expansion so far. Last year was filled with growth, learning, and lots of fun.
Legendary
Following our traditional format, we released two small Marvel Legendary expansions and one big box.
Our first release was early in the year with Legendary Noir. This unique expansion was based on the Marvel Noir stories that hit their stride in Spider-Man Noir released in 2009, which told the story of superpowered individuals in the 1920s and 1930s. This small box expansion holds new versions of Luke Cage and Angel, Professor X as a master criminal, and one of the most fun and interactive schemes.
Legendary Noir contains 100 cards and has an MSRP of $19.99.
Over summer we released Legendary X-Men which has been one of our best-received expansions so far and contains fan favorite heroes such as Jubilee, Psylocke, Banshee, and Legion (with his own split card). A new form of combat, Piercing Energy, was showcased as well as the new keywords Soaring Flight and Lightshow. For the first time, we also had harder difficulty Epic Masterminds which are double-sided to provide a little extra challenge. Several Marvel characters made their debut in Legendary.
Legendary X-Men contains almost 400 cards and has an MSRP of $39.99.
Finally, at the tail end of the year, we released Legendary Spider-Man: Homecoming which featured your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man from the most recent Marvel film. Homecoming brought Michael Keaton’s Vulture to life with two different Masterminds (as well as returning Epic Masterminds). Happy Hogan became a Hero, and we saw the Vulture’s Scavengers Villain Group. We used screenshots directly from the movie for the first time in a Marvel expansion, and we got quite a bit of feedback.
Legendary Spider-Man: Homecoming contains 100 cards and has an MSRP of $19.99.
We used screenshots for our next product as well as several new mechanisms to the Legendary system. Travis Chance and Nick Little brought the beloved show Buffy: the Vampire Slayer to life with 15 Heroes, 5 Big Bads and 8 Schemes in Legendary Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Legendary you know and love, fighting over the Hellmouth with the Light/Dark Track and several other new mechanisms. This base game came out on Halloween and has become one of the most challenging sets so far.
Legendary Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, contains 500 cards and has an MSRP of $59.99.
VS System 2PCG
VS System recently saw a huge change (link) in its publication format, which means the next retrospective post will look much different. But last year saw VS System 2PCG’s first big box release as well as three small box releases throughout the year.
VS System 2PCG: Legacy introduced a variety of new mechanisms, but sought to fill out the existing teams. It also introduced the biggest game-changer yet; Level 3 Main Characters. We also released a replacement for Thanos, which had been dominating tournaments. We saw the release of several high-profile characters such as Psylocke, Elektra, and the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl!
VS System 2PCG: Legacy contains 200 cards and has an MSRP of $29.99.
At GenCon, we released two products that saw retail releases soon after. The first was Monsters Unleashed! which was also our first big box expansion for the game and doubled the cards in the base set. This set introduced new teams such as the Champions, the Inhumans, and two other teams. Ms. Marvel, Gwenpool, and Fin Fang Foom were included among the 78 new supporting characters.
VS System 2PCG: Monsters Unleashed! contains 400 cards and has an MSRP of $49.99.
The other expansion was Predator, based on the film franchise of the same name. Two new factions were introduced, and several keywords were highlighted such as Stealth and Leader. The Predators were tough and hunted characters like Dutch and Blain. Each team got to introduce some new Equipment, though, which granted the ability of additional customization.
VS System 2PCG: The Predator Battles contains 200 cards and has an MSRP of $29.99.
In November we announced the new format and that small box expansions, now known as Giant-Sized Issues, would be used less frequently. The last of those, for the time being, would be S.H.I.E.L.D. vs. Hydra which introduced the two eponymous factions, as well as the keywords Agent and Soldier. Each team got a number of new, cool equipment that helped bring a bit more power to their side. Many of the characters introduced drew their inspiration from the recently wrapped up Secret Empire storyline that saw Captain America not only fighting for but leading his long-time enemy Hydra.
VS System 2PCG: S.H.I.E.L.D. vs. Hydra contains 200 cards and has an MSRP of $29.99.
Original Games
This year Upper Deck released five games from original designs. These games vary from set collection to roll-and-move, have take-that and hidden-movement and are designed by all different designers.
The Dingo Ate The Baby is a set collection game that plays quickly in 20-30 minutes for 2-5 players. It was designed by legendary game designer Mike Elliott. Players score at the end of each turn, and when the first player gets more than 15 points at the end of a turn, the game is over.
The Dingo Ate The Baby contains 65 cards, a d10, a game board and 5 score markers and has an MSRP of $19.99.
Ryan Miller built a card game with tons of beautiful fantasy grimdark art. Dread Draw is a simple game you can learn and play in ten minutes or less. Each player creates a small stack of cards, then takes turns drawing cards from the top of their deck in an attempt to press their luck and summon monsters in front of them. When only one player remains, he deals damage to the other players.
Dread Draw contains 100 cards and has an MSRP of $19.99.
Over four rounds players will draft heroes and weapons to complete quests and defeat monsters Dungeon Draft. Players will acquire gold and XP to upgrade and get new cards over the course of four rounds in this drafting game by famed game designer Justin Gary. At the end of four rounds, players count the amount of XP they’ve acquired, and the player with the most is the winner!
Dungeon Draft contains 198 cards and 80 tokens and has an MSRP of $24.99.
Tom Deschenes is a first-time game designer who brought a fantasy world to life in Quest for the Antidote where players race to find the cure after being poisoned by the Mad King! On their quest, players seek out four ingredients, but some players may be looking for the same ingredients so they must use their actions wisely, back-stab, and have some luck to be the first to the apothecary!
Quest for the Antidote contains 1 game board, 6 wooden pawns, 6 breath trackers, 146 cards, 1 d10, 1 d6 and a debris token and has an MSRP of $39.99.
That brings us to the final game of the year; Shark Island. Richard Launius and Pete Shirey bring this semi-cooperative one-against-all game of hidden-movement and resource management to the table. One player plays the shark who is given a secret objective they must accomplish by terrorizing the town. The players must guess and track the shark through hidden tiles while making sure their rig doesn’t get too damaged. Each turn, the hunters will have the opportunity to find the shark.
Shark Island contains 153 cards, 82 tiles, 34 tokens, 3 custom dice, and a barrel to roll them in and has an MSRP of $39.99.
These thirteen releases made up our 2017. We look forward to lots of new games to come in 2018. We recently announced our new Marvel Contest of Champions: Battlerealms which we had a live play through of, we also announced our first expansion for Marvel Legendary would center around the Champions team. We also announced at our GenCon party that in 2018 we would be releasing Legendary Encounters: The X-Files which will come later this year.
We thank you all for your continued support, and we look forward to a fun 2018!
