This variant is to address the “swingyness” of solitaire and I believe adds to the story logic of all comics...that is, heroes suffer setbacks but always come back to try again.

Solitaire Variant Rules

When you would lose the game, immediately refresh all characters. Heal all damage on all characters. Replenish upgrades etc.

Remove all Threat from Main Scheme and discard all other Encounter cards except Villain and cards attached to Villain, and Nemesis and Nemesis Side Scheme if in play.

Add one Threat to the Main Scheme and add one Expert card to the Encounter deck.

Re-start the game.

I feel a Ron Burgandy quote encapsulates this perfectly.......‘That’s just dumb!’

How would you add an expert card to the deck if you’re already (presumably) playing in expert?

1 hour ago, Derrault said:

How would you add an expert card to the deck if you’re already (presumably) playing in expert?

Add a nemesis deck card from a different hero to the encounter deck 😆

I can't tell if this is a joke or not. Why not just restart?

24 minutes ago, 2morrow said:

I can't tell if this is a joke or not. Why not just restart?

Most games tend to have a similar rhythm where in the beginning you are doing long-term set-up, getting cards onto the board like Black Panther or Iron Man upgrades, Helicarrier, Avengers Mansion, Med Team, etc. Only later are you ready for the final attack. However too long in set-up or just a really unlucky early encounter card combo can mean the end and you must start all over. I believe Owhawell's variant is intended to allow you to skip the set-up process when you restart. The cards you have played the first time stay on the board.

1 hour ago, Cable2 said:

Most games tend to have a similar rhythm where in the beginning you are doing long-term set-up, getting cards onto the board like Black Panther or Iron Man upgrades, Helicarrier, Avengers Mansion, Med Team, etc. Only later are you ready for the final attack. However too long in set-up or just a really unlucky early encounter card combo can mean the end and you must start all over. I believe Owhawell's variant is intended to allow you to skip the set-up process when you restart. The cards you have played the first time stay on the board.

If your board is fully developed you should be able to finish the villain off in 1-3 turns, doesn’t really make for a challenge.

On 5/12/2020 at 8:53 PM, Derrault said:

If your board is fully developed you should be able to finish the villain off in 1-3 turns, doesn’t really make for a

On 5/12/2020 at 7:49 PM, Cable2 said:

Most games tend to have a similar rhythm where in the beginning you are doing long-term set-up, getting cards onto the board like Black Panther or Iron Man upgrades, Helicarrier, Avengers Mansion, Med Team, etc. Only later are you ready for the final attack. However too long in set-up or just a really unlucky early encounter card combo can mean the end and you must start all over. I believe Owhawell's variant is intended to allow you to skip the set-up process when you restart. The cards you have played the first time stay on the board.

You’ve understood the point of the variant perfectly.

The criticism of the solitaire rules is that you can have dreadfully bad luck and lose the game through no fault of your own.

I have the found the variant to work well so far...I do play against all three instances of a Villain though! Metagame I think of a hero defeat as being the end of a comic (rather than the end of the game) and beating each level of a hero is also the end of a comic...so the challenge would be to beat the Villain within three issues.