A little while back, I won some strange looking VS. cards on ebay. They were supposedly a beta version of the game that was later scappped for the current version. An image of the front and back of the Wolverine card are here:

http://www.vs-blog.com

Does anyone know anything more about this? Anyone seen a beta rule book sitting around? The guy who sold them too me didn't seem to know a whole lot about their history other than what I mentioned here already. Any additional info would be great.

Wow, I demoed the game at Gencon in 2003.

I dont remember specific cards, but I do remember that the game played alot like YuGiOh with its combat. I believe you started at 1000 endurance. You could "evolve" (via Pokemon style) into a ultimate version. So a normal Wolverine could evolve into the Ultimate Wolverine you have posted. See that 7/4 in the upper right hand corner? If you want to 'hardcast' the ultimate Wolvie you pay 7, but if you evolved from his smaller version you pay 4. I remember vaguely about equipment, and how it was transferable when the character died. I remember a Cyclops card with the 2-drop MOR art, and a Wolverine with the 7-drop MOR art. One piece of equipment had the artwork used for Jetpack, and the other equipment had the artwork used for No Fear (it was named Billy Club or something).

There is a large sized version of Nightcrawler running around somewhere (his stats were like 75/75). I think it was released in a inquest magazine or something.

Please, please, PLEASE scan images of each individual card you have. You would be doing a service toward VS System history. Perhaps with enough of the cards and pooled knowledge we could determine the game rules of the beta version of the game.

Also, may I inquire how much you purchased these cards for and from whom?

Dont know anything about the cards, but it'd be cool to see more of them.

Ya I'd like to see more of them.

eheh just take a look to the card's Arcade is throwing in the mor artwork.

Thought Nightcrawler was a 98/98 or something like that.

Thank for the info Tim - that was great! Do you mind if I quote your post on my blog? You've got the most knowledge about this, and I'm sure others would love to hear about your playtesting.

I won 2 sets on ebay. One X-men, one Avengers. Both for under $40 each. I don't remember who I bought it from. All I remember is that I was SHOCKED that they didn't got for hundreds.

As you'll see in future scans, some of the art made the leap from Beta to Final, while other art has yet to be seen (Beak, Kazar, one of the StarJammers).

I will definitely scan more tomorrow (I'll try to do more today, but its X-mas and I'll be pretty busy eating way too much food at my parent's place/napping on the couch).

Nice! I hadn't even noticed that! It looks like he's throwing cards of Wolverine and one of the Star Jammers from the Beta.

exactly, the cards seems to be the jetpack from msm, the xavier mansion from mor and this proto-wolverine, originally i tought it was a plot twist rejected from the final Mor set but it's something different.
now i'm wondering "what if.....Vs-system was releaesed in its first version?" ;)
maybe tim can answer this question....you said you demoed the beta-version, do you think VS is better in the final build we got? :)

While I dont remember exactly, I do recall the person showing me how to play kept referencing the rules of YuGiOh (because I already knew how to play YuGi), and he would mention how the Marvel card game played similar to that. Thus, in my opinion, this beta version of Versus (called Marvel at the time) was designed to be an 'improved' Yugioh. It had the mechanics and similar game rules of Yugi, but played differently because the cards did different things. For instance (from the decks I demoed), there was nothing close to the power level of a Raigeki or even a Tribute to the Doomed.

I believe it is a fair statement to say that the Vs System we play today was designed to be a 'improved' Magic the Gathering. That is the main difference between the two games. I think the beta Marvel CCG was designed to be a casual game, and the Versus system was derived when they decided they wanted a tournament level game that could incorporate both the DC and Marvel licenses. Because the MTG rules and mechanics meshed better with tournament play than YuGi rules and mechanics, they shifted their basis. The fact that many of the members of R&D are/were Magic Pros probably asserted some influence as well.

The VS System we have today is much better than the beta version I demoed. Not only do you have my opinion, but you have the many opinions of the UDE executives that decided to change the game for the better. The beta version had many flaws. The game was incompatible with DC and other licenses. The fact that a character was 'Ultimate' mattered, thus if a hero or villain hadnt been made in a Ultimate version in the comics, it could not be made in the card game. Further, the Marvel Ultimate fan base is obviously much smaller than the entire superhero fan base. Aside from thematical continuity flaws, a kid picking up a pack of cards at Wal-Mart would probably have no idea of the difference between Ultimate Spiderman and ol` regular Spidey. While I enjoyed the five month stint where I played YuGiOh locally and dominated little kids (I was 16 at the time), I realized the very basic play and enormous luck factor between competent players made competitive tournament play frustrating.

The fact of the matter is that without a Pro Circuit, I would not be playing Versus. I received my first Pro Circuit invite because of my accomplishments in the Dragon Ball Z CCG, and the first Vs tournament I played in was Indy `04. I won $880 and I was hooked. The fact that Versus is a competitive card game makes people like me play. If Versus remained the casual YuGi-clone like beta game that I demoed, it would have died after two sets like the X-Men movie and Recharge card games before it.

Thats fine, but as a disclaimer keep in mind that Im not 100% sure about all of this. My memory is a bit fuzzy, and I demoed the game right after I finished up DBZ worlds while the convention hall was closing up.

Awesome. I've heard of these cards, but this is the first time I've seen them up close.

That 'evolution' mechanic is interesting. Could be implemented into the actual game sometime in the future?

Anyways, yes, I desire MORE pics.

I remember these from the '03 comic ads they had, where Weapon of Choice was an equipment, etc. SOOO glad they changed the game to be, you know, not gay!

Sorta like Substitute?

Awesome find, Carlos!

-Mike

OK - It's the season for giving, so I've added a few more beta card scans:

http://www.vs-blog.com

Enjoy! Let me know what you think.

-Carlos

I find it funny that they were actually going to make a Beak card in the opening set, yet canned him and we haven't seen him after 3 years!