You know how I feel about Universes Beyond so no need to belabour that point today. Suffice it to say that I was surprised by how much fun I had with the “Avengers Assemble” Achievement that came to Arena with the launch of Marvel Super Heroes.
While I have not completed all the other Achievement sets in Arena, I do keep an eye on my progress and have even built decks and played to unlock specific ones. I did not realize at first that a new set of achievements had been added with the launch of this latest set. That only came with the first notification I unlocked.
Launched in February 2025 with the arrival of Aetherdrift, the Achievement system encourages a different type of play: finding interesting interactions, building around unusual goals, and trying cards I probably would have ignored otherwise. Over a hundred were immediately available including 10 for each color and 63 generic ones. Many were as easy as playing a certain number of games in a specific format but others are more challenging. For example, can you build a deck where you end a turn with 12 or more cards in hand?
More recently, limited-time event challenges have given us a chance to try to complete the individual challenges within a set time frame. Avengers Assemble is about to wrap up (you have a couple of days as I write this).
So what makes these so much fun. Instead of asking, “What’s the strongest deck I can build?” I found myself asking, “How can I actually pull this achievement off?” That’s a very different kind of deckbuilding challenge.
What’s interesting is that the Achievement system gave me a way to enjoy the set without changing how I feel about Universes Beyond as a whole. I still prefer Magic’s original worlds. I still get more excited for original planes and characters than I do for crossover properties. But gameplay is gameplay.
If a supplemental system encourages creativity, rewards experimentation, and gets players building decks they otherwise wouldn’t, I think that’s a success regardless of the setting.
I was surprised by how much fun I had with this Achievement set and the latest superhero-themed set. For example, I quickly built a hero based deck for one of the achievements. For fun, I decided to build around Ant-Man and The Wondrous Wasp (an awesome card by the way). Here is what I came up with up in a few minutes:
The deck did not work very well but it helped me work up to my goal of completing achievements where I had to cast hero spells. At the same time, the Limited Resources podcast mentioned how the Azorius colour combination was the dominant in draft. I rebuilt my hero deck around those colours, figuring it could not be worse than my first one despite my not playing draft. Here is what I ended up with, including Agent Phil Coulson who was great in my pre-release event.
I hope that Wizards continues to release more such Achievement-style progressions. Even better if these also extend to Universes Within sets. Imagine each Standard release including a collection of achievements that encourage players to explore new mechanics, build around niche cards, or accomplish memorable in-game moments. It would be a fun reason to keep revisiting a set long after the initial excitement wears off. Not every game feature has to be about competition. Sometimes giving players a reason to experiment is enough.
This superhero set may not have changed my opinion on Universes Beyond, but it did change how I engaged with the release. For me, that’s a pleasant surprise – and proof that good gameplay systems can bridge even the biggest thematic divides.
On a side note, I’ve changed the way some of the cards are displayed. In the decks above, I’m using a WordPress plugin to have them pop up when you hover over the card name rather than embed them directly into the post. I hope you like this feature!
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