Devin Low returns to Legendary®: A Marvel Deck Building Game! The game designer behind the fan favorite Legendary® game engine came back to work on the revamped Core Set, Legendary®: Second Edition. Here’s what Devin Low had to say in the Legendary®: Second Edition Designer Notes.
Product depicted for demonstration purposes only and is subject to change without notice.
© 2026 The Upper Deck Company. © 2026 Marvel. Ages 14+
Back in 2012, working on what would become Legendary®, I thought, “Hey, there could be something really cool here – I hope I don’t mess this up.” Ten plus years, over thirty-five expansion boxes, two thousand five hundred twenty-one unique Marvel Legendary® cards, and seven spinoff Legendary® brands later, I’m thrilled to see that there was indeed something really cool here. The scope of the game and the player community stagger me with gratitude. The number of people who have played Legendary® continues to grow every year.
Of course, when making that original Core Set, I also messed some things up! Over the years, I have learned a lot about what to do and what to avoid when making expansion sets. But those lessons could never go back and change the Core Set – it was already locked in the past. Many things went well in the first Core Set, but with the benefit of hindsight, many things could have been better.
For example, those first Masterminds were too easy to defeat. They didn’t have enough unique abilities to distinguish them from each other. Black Widow and Rogue were too strong. Spider-Man and Thor were too weak. The original solo mode had too few Master Strikes and ended too quickly. Many core set Villains’ abilities didn’t evoke the feel of their powers as much as I would like. Juggernaut helped players way too much. And so on and so on.
In most areas of life, you look back fondly on the things that went well and wistfully at things you regret. But you can’t change the past. But what if…you could? What if… you could harness the Time Stone to reach back in time and fix those mistakes from 2012?? Redesigning the Core Set has felt like a dialogue with my 2012 self and a very rare chance to change and improve the choices of the past. With this Core Set Second edition, I seized the opportunity to use everything I’ve learned over the years to make this the best possible Legendary® core set. I want it to be the perfect on-ramp for the next generation of players, while having enough compelling new content, redesigned cards, and improvements to be heartily welcomed by players who have already been playing for many years.
Mostly, I just wanted to say thank you to the many Legendary® players who have played the game over the last twelve years and all the years to come. I’m filled with appreciation for the welcoming, creative Legendary® community who are always there to answer each other’s rules questions and cheer each other’s big wins. I’m grateful to the talented, hard-working art, brand, and production experts at Upper Deck. I’m grateful to external playtesters whose feedback helps so much to improve the sets. I’m grateful to Marvel, which has been doing amazing storytelling that has enchanted and inspired me for decades. I’m grateful to my parents for some key advice. I’m grateful to my family – Lindsey, Alana, Piper, and Melody – for putting up with me working so much on Legendary® on nights and weekends. Designing the game and its expansions for all these years has been a joy and an honor, and I look forward to more to come.
- Devin Low
Stay up to date on all things Legendary®!
Get first looks at upcoming releases by following Upper Deck on Facebook @upperdeckent, Instagram @upperdeckent, X @upperdeckent, and YouTube @UDvids.
Learn more about Legendary®: Second Edition by visiting: https://upperdeck.com/Legendary-Second-Edition/
Make sure to sign up for the Upper Deck Newsletter to have Upper Deck game updates sent straight to your inbox: https://upperdeck.com/sign-up-for-our-email-list/
