I am obsessed with the game Marvel Champions.

It's thematic in a way that's next-level engaging... they've designed it so you really feel like you're a super-hero fighting bad guys. It's strategic in a way that's so much fun to play... you're making decisions not just for the moment, but also planning ahead to find a path to winning. It's highly flexible in a way that's surprisingly easy to manage... it's not overly-complicated to play and allows you to work with whatever hero(es) you'd like in whatever scenario(s) that interest you with whatever villain(s) that sounds fun.

But above everything else, Marvel Champions is a "living card game" (LCG) which means you're buying complete sets of cards in game expansions as opposed to "collectible card games" (CCG) where you're spending a fortune on random booster packs in an attempt to get the cards you need to build a great deck to play. I once heard the phrase "Pay-To-Win" used to describe CCGs, and it pretty much sums up my feelings on CCG games like Magic: the Gathering or Pokémon.

You would think that this would make Marvel Champions cheaper to play and, in theory, you'd be right.

But in practice that's not the case.

The game was designed by Fantasy Flight Games. That company is owned by board gaming giant Asmodee. For whatever reason, Marvel Champions expansions are NOT KEPT IN PRINT! Which is to say that if you want to play earlier hero decks like Captain America or Scarlet Witch, your only choice is to head over to eBay and pay insane prices to buy them.

And I have.

I've spent way too much money trying to fill in my collection... then finally had to stop because the remaining expansions I need are simply too expensive. Assuming I can even find them...

• Sinister Motives Expansion: Needed to play Ghost-Spider and Miles Morales (Spider-Man)... or fight Sandman, Venom, Mysterio, and Venom Goblin. Currently around $400 new.
• Cyclops Hero Pack. Currently $150-$350 new, $100 used.
• Phoenix Hero Pack. $300-$400 new, $175-$225 used.
• Wolverine Hero Pack. Currently $300-$350 new, $150-$200 used.
• Storm Hero Pack. Currently $300 new.
• Gambit Hero Pack. Currently $200-$250 new. $150 used.
• Rogue Hero Pack. Currently $150-$200 new, $100 used.

So... essentially I can't play most of the X-Men and can't fill out my Web Warriors. To do so would be $1,500 or more!

But it gets worse.

The Core Set comes with seven Standard "encounter" cards that get shuffled into your encounter deck. If you want a more challenging game, you can also shuffle in some Expert encounter cards.

As the game grew and expanded, we got "Standard II" and "Expert II" replacements for the originals. "Standard II" received some pushback from players, so we got "Standard III" as well. But the only way to get "Standard II" is to purchase The Hood Scenario Pack (around $150 new). The only way to get "Standard III" is to purchase the Age of Apocalypse expansion (around $100).

Having to pay $350 to get updates to an important part of the game because Asmodee won't keep the shit in-print is infuriating.

It's crap like this that drives me insane about loving to play board games. Why can't Fantasy Flight and Asmodee do reprints? And since it's just a bunch of cards, they could even print them with an on-demand service so they don't have to risk unsold inventory! Heck, you could even throw the old "waves" of content in combo packs! Put the six X-Men I'm missing in a single box and charge $100 or whatever! With more people discovering Marvel Champions every day, people would gladly... GLADLY... pay that.

But no.

What I'm not understanding is the logic here.

Surely there are players and potential players frustrated they can't play as Captain America (or whatever their favorite hero is), so they decide to not invest in the game. Which means sales Asmodee could be getting with minimal cost and effort are being left on the table. It's almost as if they are happy to drive the game into extinction as the heroes they have available get more and more obscure.

Surely such a fantastic game deserves better than that?

It absolutely does.

But here we are.

Oh well. The last semi-affordable piece of Marvel Champions I could find is headed from Kansas to me here in Washington State... via New Jersey, for reasons known only to the US Postal Service... so I suppose that will be the end of it. I'll just have to play with what I have and be happy about it.