Real Name: William Baker
First Comic Book Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man (September 1963)
Affiliations in Comic Books: Frightful Four, Masters of Evil, The Outlaws, Sinister Six

Marvel United Appearance: Marvel United: Return of the Sinister Six (July 2020)
Marvel United Team Decks: Sinister Six

Movement

BAM!

Civilians

Thugs

How Sandman Plays: Sandman gains health through a couple of methods (his BAM! and Overflow effects) and wins the game if his Health ever reaches 20. While this win condition (Villainous Plot) is more likely to occur with a higher player count, lower player counts may find Sandman difficult to defeat after he becomes vulnerable to damage.

Villainous Plot: The Heroes lose if Sandman reaches 20 Health (may go above his starting value).

Special Rules: When a Hero is KO’d, Sandman doesn’t activate his BAM!. Instead, he plays another Master Plan card.

BAM!: Sandman gains 2 Health. Deal 1 damage to each Hero in Sandman’s Location.

Sandman’s damage isn’t too much. His second effect proves more problematic. Sandman’s BAM! effect is one of two ways Sandman can gain Health. The Health Sandman has, the more difficult it will be to defeat him.

Overflow: If a civilian or thug token can’t be added to a Location, Sandman gains 2 Health.

Sandman’s Overflow effect will generate more Health since his Master Plan deck has fewer BAM! effects. Note: Sandman will gain 2 Health per Overflow, no matter how many Civilian or Thug tokens cannot be added to a Location.

Threats

Sandman has 2 copies of 2 different Threat Cards, and 1 copy of 2 different Threat cards (which are Henchmen).

Doctor Octopus (Henchman)
Health: 4

BAM!: Deal 1 Damage to 1 Hero in this Location.
“Doctor Octopus” has a standard “Deal 1 Damage to 1 Hero in this Location” effect text. Since this is the case, he has a lower priority than other Sandman Henchmen.

Electro (Henchman)
Health: 4

BAM!: Deal 1 Damage to each Hero in this Location. If there are no Heroes in this Location, deal 1 damage to each Hero in adjacent Locations.
“Electro” has a spicier “Deal 1 Damage to each Hero in this Location. If there are no Heroes in this Location, deal 1 damage to each Hero in adjacent Locations.” Electro has a higher priority than “Doctor Octopus” and a higher priority than “Sandstorm” in the early game. After Sandman becomes vulnerable to damage, “Sandstorm” can have higher priority. I advise defeating “Electro” early in the game if you choose to finish the Clear Threats mission.

Quicksand (Threat)
Clear: 3 Heroics
Constant Effect: Heroes using a Move to leave this Location must use 2 Move instead.

“Quicksand” has another standard Threat effect. It’s a Threat that reduces a Hero’s effectiveness. “Quicksand” has a lower priority than “Electro” in the early game and “Sandstorm” in the late game. You may consider removing one of the “Quicksand” Threats if you choose to finish the Clear Threats mission or if you have Heroes with plenty of Heroics.

Note: Sandman doesn’t place a lot of Civilians, so you may want to consolidate your Heroics to “Quicksand.”

Sandstorm (Threat)
Clear: 3 Move
Constant Effect: If the “Harder” Master Plan card is in the Storyline, Sandman cannot take damage.

“Sandstorm’s” effect only works late game and if Sandman manages to play his “Harder” Master Plan card. He only has one copy of “Harder,” so you may not have to deal with “Sandstorm” if you choose to rush Sandman.

But the smaller number of Civilians that Sandman places in his Master Plan deck makes finishing the Clear Threats mission a more viable option. You may be forced to Clear Threats and if you find yourself needing to clear Threats, “Sandstorm” should be a high priority, especially during the late game.

Master Plan Deck

Movement:

Sandman averages just over 2 Movement each turn. He is 35% faster than any of the core set villains. His movement varies, only has 1 card with speeds of 0, 1, and 4, and 2 cards with speeds of 2, 3, and 5. Sandman also has 3 cards with special movement.
Civilians:
Sandman adds significantly fewer Civilians per turn than most Villains. The Rescue Civilians mission may be difficult to complete.

Thugs:
Sandman adds slightly less than average Thugs. Players may be tempted to finish the Defeat Thugs mission, but Sandman begins the game with higher-than-average Health, and he can gain Health throughout the game with his BAM! and Overflow effects.

BAM!:
Sandman has a BAM! effect on less than half of his deck. With his Special Rules, a Hero getting KO’d doesn’t trigger another BAM! effect, so Sandman will use his BAM! effect far less than most Marvel United villains.

Special Effects on Cards

1) Harder: From now on, Sandman cannot take any damage until all Sandstorm Threat cards are cleared.

“Harder” is the only card of Sandman’s with a BAM! effect as well. The ability only takes effect during the late game, but if it is in play, the Heroes must clear both copies of the “Sandstorm” threat.

Sandman only has one copy of each card with a special effect. You may get lucky and “Harder” won’t see play.

2) Better: Deal 1 damage to each Hero in both adjacent Locations.

“Better” is accompanied by a special movement that ensures that Sandman will not land on a Location with a Hero, so his effect that deals 1 damage to each Hero in both adjacent Locations is more likely to trigger. “Better,” along with the following “Faster,” makes the Heroes question whether they should stick together or split up.

Again, Sandman only has one copy of each card with a special effect. If “Better” has already been played, the Heroes need not worry about splitting up. “Better” has some chance of not triggering. The same is not true of his other special effects.

Special Movement: Move clockwise to the next Location with NO Heroes.

3) Faster: 1 Hero in Sandman’s Location takes 1 damage for each Hero there.

“Faster” is accompanied by a special movement that guarantees that Sandman WILL land on a Location with a Hero, so this effect will trigger.

Furthermore, “Faster” entices Heroes to not stick together. Like the rest of his cards with special effects, Sandman only has one card with the effect text “Faster.” As soon as this card has been played, the Heroes don’t need to worry about splitting up.

Special Movement: Move clockwise to the next Location with any Heroes.

4) Stronger: Discard any Action tokens from the Threat card in Sandman’s Location. Then, each Hero there takes 1 damage for each token discarded.
“Stronger” is accompanied by a special movement that guarantees that Sandman WILL land on a Location with a Threat card. If the Heroes have started but haven’t finished clearing the Threat card, the Heroes can accept a lot of damage. I advise you to finish clearing any Threat card you have begun in between Sandman’s turns.

Like other special effect cards in his deck, Sandman only has one copy of “Stronger.” If the copy of “Stronger” has been played, feel free to leave started but not finished Threat cards in play before Sandman’s next card. Like “Better,” “Stronger” has a chance of not triggering. Sandman could land on a Location without any tokens. If that is the case, the Heroes wouldn’t receive any damage.

Special Movement: Move clockwise to the next Location with a Threat card.

General Strategy

Sandman is more likely to finish his Villainous Plot (having a total of 20 Health) at higher player counts, but lower player counts can find him difficult to defeat because he can heal beyond his staring Health. Sandman begins the game with above Health in the first place, so Heroes with a lot of Attack make sense.

Still, Sandman’s Overflow effect is the most likely way he can gain Health. And Sandman doesn’t add too many Civilian and Thug tokens throughout the game. The most he’ll ever add is two tokens per Location (and the adjacent Locations). This can be easy to mitigate, but you may need a lot of Move to get to disparate Locations. Sandman has more movement than most Marvel United villains.

The other way Sandman gains Health is through his BAM! effect. Sandman only has five cards in his Master Plan deck that have a BAM! effect. If you prevent ANY Overflow from happening and Sandman plays every card with a BAM! effect from his deck, the following shows the maximum Health Sandman can obtain:

2 Players: 14 Health
3 Players: 16 Health
4 Players: 18 Health

Even at a full complement of players, Sandman will not reach his Villainous Plot of 20 Health if the Heroes can prevent him from all Overflow effects. So, the focus will most likely be dealing enough damage to Sandman before time runs out. Again, lots of Attack can help. Heroes with a lot of Move also help.

After you lose a couple of times because Sandman adds a paltry number of Civilians and Thugs, I advise adding Locations that begin the game with a lot of tokens. This will make the Rescue Civilians and Defeat Thugs missions more viable. The following are Locations from the original Marvel United release that begin play with three or more tokens:

From the core set:
Stark Labs (3 Tokens; space for 4)

New York Police Headquarters (3 Tokens; space for 4)
Times Square (3 Tokens; space for 5)
S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier (3 Tokens; space for 5)
Central Park (4 Tokens; space for 5)

From the Guardians of the Galaxy Remix expansion:
Knowhere (3 Tokens; space for 5)

From the Rise of the Black Panther expansion:
Warrior Falls (3 Tokens; space for 5)

If you add five or six of the above Locations (or other Locations that begin play with two Civilian tokens), you can save more of your Attack for Sandman.

The Clear Threats is an obvious choice to finish as well. The following is the priority list for all four Threats:

1) “Electro” especially during the early game
2) “Sandstorm” especially during the late game
3) “Quicksand” because you may need to use up extra Heroics and you’ll want to preserve your Move to mitigate Civilian/Thug tokens and deal damage to Sandman
4) “Doctor Octopus” can be ignored; don’t end your turn at his Location unless you intend to defeat him.

After Sandman becomes vulnerable to damage, unleash your damage on him. Remember to time completing the first and second missions as close together as possible to avoid the villain speeding up too soon.

Heroes from the original Marvel United release who could work with Sandman are as follows:

From the core set:
Black Widow (manipulate which card is on top of the Master Plan deck)
Iron Man (tokens and Attack)
Captain America (tokens)

From the Enter the Spider-Verse expansion:
Spider-Man (lots of Move and “Great Power” and “Great Responsibility” can clear a lot of Civilians and Thugs)
Miles Morales (delay the villain’s turn by one card)
Ghost Spider (move Threats from one Location to another)

From the Rise of the Black Panther expansion:
Black Panther (a ton of Move)
Winter Soldier (a lot of Attack)

From the Guardians of the Galaxy expansion:
Groot (teamwork and tokens)
Gamora (a ton of Attack)
Rocket (also a lot of Attack)

From the Tales of Asgard expansion:
Thor (a lot of Move and Attack)
Beta Ray Bill (same as Thor)