A Hero's Guide to Legacy

Character Profile

Best attack: Other players (Atomic Glare if Young Legacy)
Best Team Support: Inspiring Presence
Best Personal Support: Danger Sense (Legacy Ring if Young Legacy)
Honorable Mention: Take Down
Primary Damage Type: Melee (Energy if Young Legacy)
Secondary Damage Type: None (Melee if Young Legacy)
Worst Card: Surge of Strength (Superhuman Durability if Young Legacy)
Nemesis: Baron Blade

America's Finest Legacy is the biggest cheerleader I've ever seen.  His goal is to heighten the performance of the other players.  But he is no mere bard!  Legacy doubles as the primary tank of the Sentinels of the Multiverse.  His deck offers a plethora of options to keep him healthy, even while directing damage his way.  He barely even has to lift a finger to make the villains feel the pain - instead, he spends his energy protecting his allies while they deliver a royal beating.

Attack 

Legacy's best attack is generally to have Inspirational Presence and Galvanize together, adding two damage to the attacks of the other players.  That doesn't mean that Legacy won't be dealing damage at all, though, so the bloodthirsty among you can rest easy.

Back-Fist Strike, Flying Smash, and Thokk! are all very nice direct damage cards. I generally use these cards only after boosting the other heroes, but they are also great when you need to kill something right now. Motivational Charge offers a nice option for both damage and healing, but Galvanize will generally do more damage, and one point of health a turn won't outpace a dangerous foe. If you get the Legacy Ring to do them both, that's very solid.

Surge of Strength just isn't very good.  Don't get me wrong, increased damage is neat, but I don't find usually America's Finest Legacy personally dealing damage anywhere near enough of the time to make this worth the time investment.  I will generally play his other ongoings first, then maybe consider this before he starts Thokk!ing.

Team Support

This is where Legacy excels.  Beyond the damage boosts, he has a heap of cards intended to boost the powers of his allies.  Bolster Allies keeps everybody in cards.  Lead from the Front and Heroic Interception help keep everybody else healthy.  Take Down really slows the villain, especially if they were slated to play two or more cards.  The team also appreciates a timely Motivational Charge.

Heroic Interception is great for those villain megaturns - immediately after Voss plays Forced Deployment, for instance.  Block all the damage your allies take.  Just remember that Legacy will still take damage.  If he's set up with any of his damage-blocking ongoings, he can minimize that.

Defense

The rest of Legacy's cards focus on keeping himself healthy.  Fortitude and Superhuman Durability significantly reduce the damage he takes, while Danger Sense allows him to outright ignore the environment.  Next Evolution, while it costs a power use, can also vastly cut down on the damage Legacy takes. 

Fortitude, Superhuman Durability, and Next Evolution all combine superbly with Lead from the Front.  These make sure that the damage he is taking for the team is insignificant, and that he can take plenty more in the future.  In some cases, especially those where a villain relies on only one or two types of damage, this can put a major freeze on damage the heroes are taking.  Next Evolution is not limited, either, so if he combines them both with Legacy Ring and Lead from the Front, he will stop a ton of damage.  Just remember that Lead from the Front only redirects damage from villain cards, not environments or heroes.

Young Legacy

America's Newest Legacy offers a fresh take on the Legacy deck.  First off, in a 4 or 5 hero game, Galvanize almost certainly does far more total damage, depending on the nature of the other heroes.  However, Atomic Glare is a very powerful attack in its own right, and she especially shines at pushing damage through in a 3 hero game.  Two of Pappa Legacy's potential issues are that he lacks his own consistent damage, and he only deals melee damage.  Young Legacy solves these two issues admirably. 

Surge of Strength becomes very worthwhile in Young Legacy's hands.  Superhuman Durability falls to the back of the pack for her, except against the villains or environments where damage frequently comes in increments of 5 or more.  Legacy Ring is probably her best support, as an extra power use is very potent for either Motivational Charge on the attack, or Next Evolution in her defense.

For Atomic Glare, she trades two hit points.  This makes her slightly less capable of taking damage for other heroes.  Overall, the original Legacy is probably the “stronger” hero. Young Legacy excels in several situations where her father comes up short, though, and if you want to crush the villain personally beneath your (fabulously booted) heel, she’s a wonderful choice.

Drawbacks

Legacy is another hero that can’t destroy ongoing and environment cards. He can weather the most deadly environments with Danger Sense, and can extend this protection to his allies with Heroic Interception as a temporary measure. However, against ongoings that don’t just deal damage, he needs somebody else to get rid of it.

As noted above, Legacy relies on only Motivational Charge if he wants to deal consistent damage, and all of his damage is melee. Perhaps more importantly, Legacy’s true power relies on the ability of his allies to finish the job. A good portion of his deck is dedicated to improving their performance and protecting their life, and if he doesn’t have many around (as in a 3 hero game), Legacy might not contribute as much. If you think any of these might be an issue, perhaps Young Legacy might work better for you.

Damage boosts, Legacy's strongest feature, are not always entirely beneficial. In circumstances where heroes deal damage to themselves, they can grow to resent Legacy. Cards with constant damage effects like Tachyon's Pushing the Limits might become too dangerous to keep around, and things like Haka's Rampage or most of Nightmist's deck can grow to be really painful. Plague Rat's infections also put you in a world of hurt. If these scenarios seem overpowering, Legacy might look into using something other than Galvanize that round. To be clear, extra damage usually makes these inconveniences worth it, but keep this in mind if your hit points are low.

Teamups

Legacy is the team leader. He is the definition of “plays well with others”. Everybody appreciates the extra cards, defense, and damage boosts he can provide. Tempest and Fanatic spring to mind as two heroes that the damage boosts benefit immensely, as they both excel at dealing several instances of low damage. Mr. Fixer enjoys Legacy's damage increase when forcing through his Riveting Crane or Alternating Tiger Claw styles, and really craves his defense when using Bloody Knuckles. Absolute Zero doubles any damage boost he gets, so this is another fine combination.

Next Evolution and Lead from the Front make an impressive combination with Visionary’s Twist the Ether when played on a target that deals a lot of damage. Take Down can be retrieved with Visionary’s Mental Divergence to create a wonderful slowing effect on any villain where they only get to take half of their turns. Heroic Interception combined with Wraith's Smoke Bombs can extend damage immunity to Legacy as well, if he is the lowest HP target.