Extra Life 2022

Scott Hardie | November 1, 2022
Once again, I'm participating in a game marathon to raise money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. I had a blast doing this in 2019 and 2021, so it was an easy choice to sign up again.

After discussing our options with my usual partner Wes, we settled for a third time on "Legendary: A Marvel Deck-Building Game." It really is the most flexible and replayable board game I've ever known: We can endlessly mix together new heroes, villains, and stories to continue challenging ourselves even after playing hundreds of times. This year we're adding a homemade "legacy" component, modifying the cards with stickers and other permanent effects that will force us to evolve our strategies even further over the course of a weekend campaign. (I found cheap card sets on eBay, so I won't mind destroying them.)

Plus, the S.H.I.E.L.D.-oriented overall story will give me an opportunity to criticize the fictional agency in a way that's consistent with my rants in The MCU Project, that they're a fascistic threat to their world with constant abuses of their massive power, and yet they always get away with it simply because they're framed as "the good guys." If I'm going to sit through seven seasons of a S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series totally lacking in self-awareness, I'm going to criticize them with my little board game marathon. :-P

I would be thrilled to have your support this year! Every dollar that you donate for our team goes towards helping sick kids, and I can't think of a better cause. Every donation, large or small, is appreciated! You can contribute by clicking the Donate button on our team page. And if you'd like, tell me your favorite Marvel character after you donate and I'll do everything I can to work them into the campaign and tell you how I did it. Thanks for your support! :-)

Scott Hardie | November 2, 2022
Thank you, Steve! Your support is appreciated as always. Thanos would approve again.

Matthew Preston | November 2, 2022
Yay! Always a highlight of my year to see you doing this. Happy to contribute!

Scott Hardie | November 3, 2022
Erik and Matthew, thank you both for your donations! I'm grateful for your generosity and lucky to know you guys.

Steve, I appreciate your levity in naming Beta Ray Bill -- how a horse-faced cyborg clone of Thor who flies around in space is not widely considered one of Marvel's weirdest characters eludes me -- but believe it or not, he's a playable hero in Legendary, a game with a truly deep bench of Marvel's oddballs.



In honor of your donation, I have just added him to the roster in one of the two cosmic-themed bonus chapters that we'll play if we get ahead of schedule.

And Erik, you mentioned doubting that Lady Sif was playable, but she's in there too:

Matthew Preston | November 3, 2022
Is Cosmo the Spacedog available?

Scott Hardie | November 4, 2022
Sadly, no, not even appearing in the background of some other character's card as far as I know. But I can write Cosmo into the story just the same.

They did get silly with a set of Pet Avengers cards with the likes of Kitty Pryde's Lockheed, Falcon's Redwing, Thor's Throg, and Black Bolt's Lockjaw:

Scott Hardie | November 7, 2022
Event complete! We raised $400 due to a lot of people's generosity, and I'm beyond grateful. Thanks for the support and good will. :-)