An idea that struck me the other day after playing a couple rounds of games -- has anyone thought out/tried a competitive game? Two teams of heroes against one another, with no villain? What kind of modifications, if any, would be needed to balance this sort of thing? Off the top of my head, I imagine it'd have to work like the Vengeance pack, where the players of different teams alternate instead of all of them going, then all the others going.
Thoughts?
There was a forum game like that, it didn’t work out so well.
Yes. It’s called Tactics.
What happened?
Spider-Man was unmasked. Turns out, he was that photographer Peter Parker all along! I don't think anyone saw that coming.
Also, Bunker ends up leading FILTER, somehow.
The game is just not balanced that way so leads to broken combos. In the forum game it was thematic Ww2 Bunker, AG Legacy, Argent vs Chrono, Omni X and (cant remember 3rd one). Ongoing/Equip Destruction was really powerful, extra power usage could essntially shut down other heroes. Incap abilities had the same potential as well and a lot of cards have to have an impartial judge to rule on them. So, in short, it can work, but don't expect an especially gun or balanced experience. Play Tactics
The SotM Civil War was brutal, people were taking sides: pro-registration and anti-regristration. One side held that if you wanted to join the superhero softball league you had to register in advance. the other side held that you could just show up on draft day.
J. Jonah Jameson certainly didn't 
Best and funniest part of that mess of a storyline.
Hero vs hero is never more than a fun and unbalanced side game, but it can work.
The games that woek best are 3v3, or 3 hero free for all.
How we do it:
Villain and non-hero refer to any hero not on your team, hero refers only to heroes on your team.
Ongoing destruction can also destroy equipment.
The environment deck treats all targets as hero and villain targets, if there are seperate effects (pillars of hercules) for villain and hero only do the hero one.
There's a lot of on the spot rules we make to help balance, and certain cards are not allowed, like takedown, if you draw it you put it in the trash and draw the next.
It only works as a friendly diversion, if people get competetive it goes bad really quickly.
Here is a link to the forum game:
I'd thought about doing a civil war type idea, with my roommate having one team and myself having another. Though I agree, some heroes would be bloody murder on the field (Tachyon with high Bursts). I'm still interested in a game like this though, so I'll think on it and see if there's a ruleset I can come up with for you :D
I had the same thought about Civil War and SotM, then a forum search led me here.
What if Tactics isn't your thing? What if you wanted the card game experience, but with hero v. hero?
And remember, before Vengeance (and later Villains), the only way to play was hero team vs. 1 villain.
It's possible to be done, and done well. Unfortunately, I think it is unlikely in any official capacity.
I could see this!
The Prime Wardens goes against Dark Watch! or the Freedom Five (-1)!