The end of the world has come. After defeating the likes of Magneto, Mister Sinister, and Stryfe, the X-Men and X-Force have returned home expecting some well-deserved rest. Instead, what they found is worse than anything they could have imagined: Professor X is dead, the world is in ruins, and a ruthless tyrant rules over what remains of humanity with an iron fist. Brace yourself, heroes, for the Age of Apocalypse has arrived!

Fantasy Flight Games is thrilled to announceAge of Apocalypse, the seventh campaign expansion forMarvel Champions: The Card Game!

As the conclusion of the mutant trilogy of expansions, this campaign expansion sees the X-Men and X-Force team up to take down one of the most powerful mutants in history, Apocalypse!Age of Apocalypsecomes with five brand-new scenarios, and just like with all other campaign expansions, you can play each of these scenarios individually or sequentially as part of a larger campaign. This box also kicks off a new wave of playable X-Men heroes for the game, beginning with Bishop and Magik, both of whom come with fully pre-built and ready-to-play decks right out of the box. This foe is unlike anything our heroes have faced before, so youll need to pull out all the stops to take him down. Do you have what it takes to survive the Apocalypse?

An Age of Despair

The story ofAge of Apocalypsepicks up right whereNeXt Evolutionleft off: at the grave of Charles Xavier. Our heroes barely have time to grieve when the first prelate of Apocalypse strikes: Unus and his squad of Infinites!

Unflinchingly loyal to his master,Unus(Age of Apocalypse, 59) enters the fray with a legion ofInfinite Soldiers(Age of Apocalypse, 69) under his command. Unus and his minions draw strength from theGene Pool(Age of Apocalypse, 71), which accumulates threat whenever the heroes allies are defeated. The Gene Pool grants both Unus and the Infinites several new abilities depending on how much threat is on it, and Unus can add more threat to it through the likes of hisPrelate Sidearm(Age of Apocalypse, 63) and the effect on the main scheme,Hunting Gene Traitors(Age of Apocalypse, 62B).

Unus is a dire threat to the heroes on his own, but he is not the only prelate of Apocalypse at large. While playing theAge of Apocalypsecampaign, the heroes must rely on their allies to handle special side missions around the globe! These missions take the form of specialMissionside schemes, such asEvacuate Survivors(Age of Apocalypse, 167A), which canonlybe thwarted by the allies that you send to take care of them. These allies form yourMission Team(Age of Apocalypse, 171A) and wont be able to help you deal with the main villain while theyre away (they also dont count toward your ally limit).

Side missions come with their own special rules and mechanics, as well asOverseerminionssuch as the bizarreSugar Man(Age of Apocalypse, 182A)that get in your way. It can be challenging to defeat them, but the effort is worth it. In addition to special campaign rewards that can aid you in later scenarios, you also get an immediate benefit depending on the current side mission. For example, when you defeat Evacuate Survivors, itflips over(Age of Apocalypse, 167B) and lets you pull any card you want from your deck or discard pile and add it to your hand. It also flips Mission Team to itsother side(Age of Apocalypse, 171B), granting your party some additional card draw for the rest of the scenario. We wont go into too much detail on the ins and outs of side missions today; just know that they do a great job of making each of the campaigns scenarios feel like global threats!

Speaking of threats, theres a new Standard encounter set in this expansion as well: the Standard III set. This set serves as a side-grade to the original Standard set by changing how nemeses enter play. Instead of the Shadow of the Past treachery from the normal Standard set, this set provides the permanent environmentPursued by the Past(Age of Apocalypse, 75A), which builds up pursuit counters over time until it eventuallyflips(Age of Apocalypse, 75B) to summon a nemesis set into the game. The rest of the Standard III set has various ways of placing pursuit counters, with cards likeDark Designs(Age of Apocalypse, 76),Sinister Strike(Age of Apocalypse, 77), andEvil Alliance(Age of Apocalypse, 78). The Standard III set is roughly the same difficulty level as the original Standard set, so be sure to give it a try if you want shake things up!

Harbingers of Doom

After defeating Unus, the heroes will have to deal with the most notorious agents of Apocalypse, the Four Horsemen!

This scenario pits you against four villains at once:War(Age of Apocalypse, 81A),Famine(Age of Apocalypse, 82A),Pestilence(Age of Apocalypse, 83A), andDeath(Age of Apocalypse, 84A). Similar to previous multi-villain scenarios, only one member of the Horsemen will ever be active at a time, but in this scenario,noneof the Horsemen will be defeated until you reduce all four of them to 0 hit points! Soaring above the battlefield on theirGolden Horses(Age of Apocalypse, 90)or onMetal Wings(Age of Apocalypse, 91), in Deaths casetheseRough Riders(Age of Apocalypse, 96) bring devastation everywhere they go!

Of course, even the Four Horsemen pale in comparison to Apocalypse himself! This tyrant is nigh-invincible, and he only grows in power the longer the fight goes on. Beginning with hisfirst stage(Age of Apocalypse, 101A), Apocalypse gradually upgrades tostage II(Age of Apocalypse, 101B),stage III(Age of Apocalypse, 102A) and finallystage IV(Age of Apocalypse, 102B) each time the main scheme,The Age of Apocalypse(Age of Apocalypse, 103B), is completed. This same scheme also prevents him from being defeated. How could our heroes hope to win against such impossible odds?

Thankfully, there is a way. In order to defeat Apocalypse, the heroes must first make their way to theHeart of the Empire(Age of Apocalypse, 104A) in order to reachThe Towering Citadel(Age of Apocalypse, 104B). Once theyve climbed the tower and reachedThe Tyrants Throne(Age of Apocalypse, 105A), the heroes must prove that the villain isNo Longer Worthy(Age of Apocalypse, 105B); only then will they be able to end his reign!

Well reveal more information about the fourth and fifth scenarios on a later date, so brace yourselves for whats to come.

Heroes of Hope

The might of Apocalypse is staggering, and the threat he poses is unlike anything our heroes have faced before. Thankfully,Age of Apocalypseadds two new X-Men to the roster, each of them packing some serious power.

First off isLucas Bishop(Age of Apocalypse, 1B), a time-traveling soldier with the ability to absorb and rechannel energy. This is represented inBishops (Age of Apocalypse, 1A) hero ability, Energy Absorption, which allows him to discard cards from the top of your deck after being attacked and add any discarded resource cards to your hand. If youre lucky, you could wind up with a bunch ofStored Energy(Age of Apocalypse, 10) in your hand after taking a big hit from the villain!

Naturally, Bishop comes with several cards in his kit that make special use out of all those resource cards. His signature allies,Malcom(Age of Apocalypse, 2) andRandall(Age of Apocalypse, 3) can both be readied and healed after discarding a resource card, whileBishops Rifle(Age of Apocalypse, 4) and hisUniform(Age of Apocalypse, 5) both scale to the number of resource cards in your hand. Discard extra resource cards to build up power onSuper-Charged(Age of Apocalypse, 6), or use them to pay for aConcussive Blast(Age of Apocalypse, 7) to dish out some damage and ready Bishop for another round.

As a battle-tested field commander, Bishop is a natural fit for the Leadership aspect, which is what his pre-built deck uses. As we said before,Age of Apocalypseis all about the X-Men and X-Force coming together to take on Apocalypse, and Bishops pre-built deck reflects that. StrongX-Forceallies likeCable(Age of Apocalypse, 11) andX-23(Age of Apocalypse,12) command similar abilities to their hero versions, while new additionsLegion(Age of Apocalypse, 20) andMarrow(Age of Apocalypse, 21) provide some extra burst utility. Once youve built up a team, use theAdvanced Suit(Age of Apocalypse, 14) to boost anyX-MenorX-Forceally and keep them on the board longer. If your hero has an identity-specific ally that youreallywant to keep around, make them yourSidekick(Age of Apocalypse, 15) so you can fight with themSide-by-Side(Age of Apocalypse, 16)!

Joining the fight alongside Bishop isIllyana Rasputin(Age of Apocalypse, 30B), better known asMagik(Age of Apocalypse, 30A). As both aMutantand aMystic, Magik has access to a wide variety of powers, and her ability allows you to treat the top card of your deck as if it was part of your hand! You also get a discount when playing a card from the top of your deck, so if you strategically use the power ofLimbo(Age of Apocalypse, 32), you could pull off some impressive feats for cheap.

Most of the rest of Magiks kit interacts with the top of your deck as well. HerCrown(Age of Apocalypse, 33),Armor(Age of Apocalypse, 35), and theSoulsword(Age of Apocalypse, 34) all grant a stat boost depending on what resources are visible on the card atop your deck. With that in mind, you can use Magiks signatureStepping Discs(Age of Apocalypse, 37) to warp a card from your discard pile back on top of your deck in order to give yourself the buff you need. Still not enough control for you? Then do someScrying(Age of Apocalypse, 36) to stack the deck (and net yourself a card in hand). And if youre worried about Magik taking damage while youre still getting set up, call on her brotherColossus(Age of Apocalypse, 31) to take an incoming hit.

With her impressive versatility, its no surprise that Magik is a fierce fighter. This is reflected in her pre-built Aggression deck, which doubles down on that versatility while also allowing her to dish out some serious damage. Call onGoldballs(Age of Apocalypse, 41) to deal the exact amount of damage you need, and useTempus(Age of Apocalypse, 42) to stop the villain from scheming. Whenever Magik takes down an enemy herself, you can tap intoBlood Rage(Age of Apocalypse, 43) to net yourself a card, then useAttackevents likeFull-Body Charge(Age of Apocalypse, 45) to build up counters forTest the Defense(Age of Apocalypse, 44), allowing you to take down tougher foes with a one-two punch! Befitting her status as aMystic, Magiks deck also features theBloodgem(Age of Apocalypse, 50) and the multi-useBasic Spell(Age of Apocalypse,51) as even more sources of versatility. It seems that this hero can do a little bit of everything!

Heroes on the Horizon

As with everyMarvel Championscampaign expansion,Age of Apocalypseheralds the beginning of a new wave of hero packs. Like the previous wave, there will be four hero packs this time around, each of them featuring a member of the X-Men. Well reveal each of them in time, but for now, heres a sneak peek of whats to come: