Marvel’s Midnight Suns releases in October and information about it has finally been shared in detail following its official release date announcement. There is still a lot that fans cannot wait to hear about, such as the activities players have access to through its social simulation features at the Abbey. Earlier in July, Marvel’s Midnight Suns revealed a new YouTube deep-dive series from Christopher Odd, Marvel, and 2K. In this recurring series, Odd takes a more intimate look at each playable character slated to appear in Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ campaign roster.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns does not feature the traditional cast of characters seen in Midnight Sons comic book run, but instead blends its cosmic horror and supernatural magics for an alternate spin on the Midnight Sons narrative. This way, Firaxis and 2K are able to select which characters they wished to feature in Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ tactical card-based RPG, which recently announced that Spider-Man and Scarlet Witch were the latest characters added to its roster. But in the first entry to Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ character showcases, the spotlight is on Captain America.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Captain America Wields His Shield to Block
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In perhaps the most logical choice for the character, Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Captain America is largely defensive and has many card skills and passive skills revolving around his ability to block with his shield made of Wakandan vibranium. The Block effect absorbs incoming damage, and Captain America is able to wield this effect defensively and offensively.
For example, Captain America’s The Best Defense skill card grants Captain America Block “equal to damage dealt for two turns.” This is a creative incentive for players to deal damage with the Sentinel of Liberty for the next two turns in an effort to maximize how much Block is accumulated. Odd urges the importance of befriending and hanging out with Steve Rogers at the Abbey in order to increase their Team Friendship level.
Once players have hung out with him enough to achieve Team Friendship level two, Captain America will begin each fight with Block and “continue to gain Block after every turn.” Block will then passively be used in defense, but can be spent as a resource toward other attacks such as Captain America’s Shield Bash, which consumes 25 percent of his Block to deal one extra point of damage.
It may then be a balancing act of choosing when to allot Block to attack and heroic cards, and when to retain it in order to tank more damage before better cards begin to line the player’s hand. But players who assign Captain America to their three-person team in Marvel’s Midnight Suns will not only be defending themselves with all their amassed Block, as the tanky super soldier will also be keeping enemies at bay and distanced from other party members through the use of Taunt.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Captain America Taunts Enemies to Take Aggro
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Captain America’s Quick Punch attack card introduces his Taunt ability, which effectively draws the aggro from targeted enemies toward Captain America and presumably other characters who may have a Taunt ability on any of their own cards. In addition to Taunt, Captain America’s Quick Punch attack card refunds the player’s card play if the targeted enemy is KO’d by it thanks to the Quick effect.
Taunt is where Captain America’s heroics come into play in efficient ways and can help support the entire party. Captain America’s Shield Bounce heroic makes use of his iconic, ricocheting shield throw to deal damage and Taunt each enemy in an area. Likewise, Captain America’s “SPANG!” heroic exploits all enemy aggro he has accumulated through Taunt as it increases Captain America’s damage by 28 if a strike lands on an enemy who is targeting him.
“SPANG!” can then be upgraded to increase the damage toward enemies targeting Captain America at that time, gain the ability to draw two cards from a successful enemy KO, and reduce the heroism cost to play the “SPANG!” heroic card. It seems as if Captain America’s playstyle is best suited to taking aggro and having the defensive Block to withstand all the incoming damage that will be dealt to him as a result of Taunt.
But he also seems equipped to dispatch these Taunted enemies in particular, as targeted enemies and enemies who target him are more susceptible to damage from Captain America, especially if he has a wealth of Block reserved. Block appears to be a resource that Captain America will be reliant upon, as well as the card plays, redraws, and moves that players can make within each turn. If each character is as unique as Captain America, Marvel's Midnight Suns may truly stand out as a tactical RPG.
The Best Offense is a Good Defense for Captain America in Marvel’s Midnight Suns
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If players preserve their Block instead of spending it on Captain America’s Shield Bash, for instance, then there is a high-damaging heroic card players can take full advantage of. Captain America’s Shield Charge heroic card consumes all his Block to damage each enemy in a line. If players do not have an optimal line of enemies that they can orchestrate, it would be ill-advised to use Shield Charge when other attacks or heroics in Marvel's Midnight Suns' card-battler could employ Captain America’s Block more efficiently.
Therefore, Captain America's gameplay is all about choosing defensive and offensive options wisely. The Shield Charge heroic must yield an incredible amount of damage based on the potential amount of Block that can be accumulated, because Shield Charge also applies the Exhaust effect, which removes the card from combat when played. Moreover, its limit to one use per combat mission in Marvel's Midnight Suns means that players cannot abuse Shield Charge’s damage output with Captain America’s The Best Defense skill card.
However, this skill card can still seemingly be used to replenish the Block players had exhausted on Shield Charge if they play it in the same turn or the turn prior. Meanwhile, other attacks from Captain America require no Block for damage output but can unlock additional status effects, such as Captain America’s Brooklyn Handshake attack card inflicting the Forceful effect as well as its standard Knockback effect if the target had already been previously damaged that turn, sending them hurtling backward and into objects or other enemies.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns releases October 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.