The future is a scary place, and you are about to take a step toward not merely the future, but the far future—a millennium, to be exact. Welcome to the 31^st century! Legion of Super Heroes shows you the future of the Vs. System universe while it keeps some strong links to its past. I, as lead designer of the Legion expansion, am your guide for what is yet to come. You’ll find new teams and new friends, but you’ll also be re-introduced to some old favorites (some of which have evolved and are more powerful than ever). I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you open a booster come Sneak Preview day.

3001:  A Vs. Odyssey

There are four teams featured in this set, but all are connected by the idea that each character card in your deck is an important resource to exploit. The Legionnaires rely on each other to get things done, while their enemies—the Future Foes—force an opponent to be extremely careful about how he or she uses characters. Darkseid and his minions exploit having characters with an innovative new mechanic, and the revamped Teen Titans use their numbers to have the right character at the right time. There is a delicate balance for each team to navigate, and each looks to utilize its resources in a different way. What is most important, however, is that the meaning of affiliation will be brought to the fore.

For They Are Many

It’s inevitable that some of you will ask what the Legion of Super Heroes is. You may be surprised to hear that they are one of the oldest and most famous teams in comics, with ties to the most famous super hero of them all—Superman, the Man of Steel.  Inspired by Superman’s heroics, R.J. Brande (think of him as the Ted Turner of the 31^st century) brought together three young heroes after they rescued him from an assassination attempt. These three heroes (Live Wire, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl) then provided the core of the team that would go on to become the Legion.

Comprised almost exclusively of teenage super heroes from all over the galaxy, the Legion protects the interstellar government of the United Planets. One important fact about the Legion is that they all have different abilities; it’s part of their hiring process—they won’t bring anyone onto the team whose power has already been represented on the team. Looking at it as a designer, a team with such disparate powers doesn’t make for a good team in a strategy game. So how do we bring it all together? We move the focus toward what does bring them together, and that brings us to the trio of previews I am pleased to give you!

 

Three preview cards? Well, they are a Legion. . .  So what’s going on with these cards?

Ferro Lad is a solid character, has an interesting but simple ability, some unusual ATK and DEF numbers, and cosmic. . . hmm. Cosmic what? No, it’s not a misprint; Ferro Lad has the cosmic keyword, but no cosmic power. This is because one of the main themes of the Legion is what I called “cosmic-buddies” in R&D (Andrew Yip always throws cards at me when I call it that). Each Legionnaire’s power uses cosmic counters, but instead of using that character’s cosmic counter one can come from anyone else on his or her team. Almost all the Legion characters have a cosmic counter or can get one in a pinch, but you’ll have to carefully ration out which powers are most important to you. Note that Ferro Lad’s invulnerability power is not a cosmic one, so it doesn’t matter if he has a cosmic counter or not for him to use it.

Live Wire, one of the founding members of the Legion, has a different take on the Legion’s cosmic theme. Many of the Legion’s more powerful and veteran characters derive their powers from the strength of the team, transforming each into something of a “cosmic commander”. Live Wire is a natural-born leader, and helps all of your cosmic characters with a cosmic counter on them. Note that while his power also isn’t cosmic, he is able to replenish a cosmic counter each recovery phase with cosmic—surge, powering up his own ability as well as providing fodder for characters such as Ferro Lad!

If you’re concerned about spending all these cosmic counters without a plan to get them back, you need not worry. The Legionnaires have one of the most powerful arrays of cosmic counter-replenishing abilities, and this is headlined by We Are Legion. Quite possibly the most powerful cosmic regeneration plot twist for any team, you have the flexibility to give your entire team cosmic counters as long as you team attack with all your characters! There are a few powerful synergies with this card and the Legionnaires team, especially since the Legion has strong off-curve and team-attacking aspects to its strategy.

There is No “I”

As you can see from these previews, the Legionnaires show a focus that I thought needed to be re-introduced to the game of Vs. System—that of each individual card working to be part of a greater whole. This meant that synergies between affiliations and mechanics needed to be emphasized. You’ll see this design philosophy throughout this set, and I’ll hope you’ll agree that it’s fun having characters that actually work together in the comics working together in play.

I’d Like to Thank My Mom and My Pop. . . the Academy. . .

Your first lead design is like your first driving lesson—it’s awkward unless the person (or people) helping you are great and know what they’re doing. I was fortunate enough to have a great team around me (not so much for my first drive, though. . . ) to help me through what was an exhilarating ride that had many ups and downs. So before I go I’d like to thank them all! Join us here next week—and every day until Sneak Preview weekend (December 2-3)—and you’ll get more glimpses at the Legion of Super Heroes. And lastly, as a very special surprise, tune in tomorrow for a very special preview—one that will change the way you build decks forever!

Legion of Super Heroes Design and Development Team

Design Lead: Ben “TBS” Seck

Vs. System Game Lead: Mike Hummel

Development Lead: David Humpherys

Design and Development Team: Antonino De Rosa, Matt Hyra, Patrick Sullivan, Andrew Yip

Additional Design and Development: Justin Gary, David Baumgartner

Vs. System Rules Team: David Delaney, Paul Ross, Mitchell Waldbauer

Product Manager: Dan Bojanowski

Associate Product Manager: R. Hyrum Savage

Art Direction: Mark Irwin

Art Requests: Ben Kalman. Michael Pittman, Ben Seck, John Wick, JD Wiker

Graphic Design: David Lomeli, Brian Bateman, Anita Olmos, Scott Reyes, Gordon Tucker

Packaging Art: Kevin Nowlan

Creative Text Lead: JD Wiker

Creative Text:  Ken Hite, Ben Kalman. Michael Pittman, Jeff Quick, John Wick, Billy Zonos