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Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Feel free to discuss anything about any of the thousands of Transformer toys here. Anything from Generation 1 all the way to the soon to be released, the never to be released or the hope to be released is fair game! Want to show off your stuff? Please post your's and see others in the Transformers Collections Forum.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby #Sideways# » Sat Feb 09, 2019 3:25 pm

Motto: "Wake up. Wake up and smell the ashes."
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Read Scrapper's vehicle mode. It's a mechanic special to the Constructicons.
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby Bumblevivisector » Sat Feb 09, 2019 5:37 pm

Since Superion's right leg is back far enough to spill into Air Raid and Silverbolt's cards, I guess we can forget about getting a Slingshot to swap in down the road. Even though that would be an interesting potential mechanic for this expansion, if slight alterations of the gestalt team's roster had different effects when combined.

At the very least, if they do a proper six-breasted LioKaiser someday, there should certainly be a way to replace Hellbat with Deathcobra for varying effects, like sacrificing his invisibility power for extra weapons slots or something.
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby ZeroWolf » Sat Feb 09, 2019 5:42 pm

Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
Weapon: Battle Blades
It's possible they may just make a new superion that features slingshot instead of having it swap out. Though I'm more than okay with having Alpha Bravo as part of the team ;)
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New Starscream Card Revealed For Official Transformers Trading Card Game And In-depth Analysis

Postby ZeroWolf » Sun Feb 10, 2019 6:08 am

Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
Weapon: Battle Blades
While we revealed [url=h]the two newest Combiners to hit the Official Transformers Trading Card Game yesterday[/url], today we have some new (and old) characters getting in on the action! These come couresty of contributor and fellow Seibertron user, #Sideways#, who also provides in-depth analysis of these and Superion and Devesator.

Without further ado, over to you #Sideways#!

______________________

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"For you, the day Devastator destroyed your village was the most important day of your life. But for me? It was Tuesday."


There is a massive amount of news to go over this time, including TWO new Combiner teams, but even more than that we have some extremely exciting news!

First off, let's get to the thing that I know a lot of people are awaiting news on: Competitive. You heard me right, we have a bit of news on that front. Before, the brand managers have been extremely open about having zero plans for tournament support, but as of a surprisingly under-the-radar podcast/interview with Drew Nolosco, we now have a revelation in the fact that they are currently working for support down the line! In fact, most recently, local game stores have been finding a reporting system to register players for Transformers at their stores to keep track of active players.

Why would they do that if they weren't going to make Competitive? Drew was tight-lipped on specifics, and stated that "large tournaments with large prize support is more of a convention thing", but noticeably avoided discussion of Friday Night Magic-esque tournaments. This means that they are at least considering the possibility, which is lightyears more than having no plans for competitive at all.

The podcast as a whole was a good peek into the mindset of the developers, and is a good watch if you're interested. Drew mentions Soundwave and how he was meant to come out in this set, but that his playstyle (shockingly not mentioned as a "deployer" like Metroplex) was discordant with Rise of the Combiners, where he will be pushed back to a later date even though Drew himself is a massive fan of Soundwave.

Drew also mentioned directly that "you guys haven't even seen triple-changers yet" when talking about the contents of Rise of the Combiners, which confirms that we will be seeing them in this set! I, for one, cannot wait to find out who they will be. Blitzwing, anyone?

Speaking of upcoming characters, let's dive right in to the massive roster that was revealed!

__________CHARACTERS__________


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"I... See... Stars...!"


Bombshell is coming out of another reveal from VectorSigma.info, and I couldn't be more confused at whether or not this card is good. I mean, I don't really think it will be meta, but I think it will be as niche as Cosmos is right now. Cosmos is actually a fantastic simile, as both live and die based on their teammates that support them and how their abilities pop off. Bombshell has absolutely abysmal offensive and defensive stats but an HP that makes me swoon, and he even has a draw ability in his alternate mode.

But the real Cosmos comparison comes from his robot mode ability, which has the capability to KO literally every character in the game in one hit. Of course, one-hitting Optimus Maximus is about as feasible as getting the Pope to do the Fortnite default dance, but KOing smaller characters like Skrapnel, Thrust and even Optimus Prime? Well... That's a bit more doable.

So, what exactly does he do and how can you facilitate that effect? By discarding as many cards as you like from your hand, if you discard an equal amount of cards as your defender's stars, they are instantly KO'd. This means that your hand becomes a valuable resource, which makes playing cards from your hand even less of a good idea than in other, similar hand-based builds like Sunstorm. Your entire team has to facilitate hand growth to hit those magical numbers, and it's a fascinating prospect to think about.

There are a few partners for him, including Chop Shop and Skrapnel for a fascinating defensive Insecticon concept, but that's just theorycraft for the moment.

Now, it's hard to appreciate the amount of effort it takes to get to 13 stars -- let alone 25 in the case of Combiners and Metroplex -- especially in a game like Transformers where draw is few and low in number, so the feasibility of pulling off large discarding attacks with Bombshell will forever be in the realm of variance. Some days you hit all of your Data Bank and you draw half your deck, but other days you don't draw any of them. It's always a coin flip, I find, when it comes to hand-based decks like this, and it's unfortunate considering how interesting their playstyles are.

Although, that being said, he is a Specialist, and being able to play multiple Equipment Enthusiast or Treasure Hunt in a turn via Multi-Mission Gear or Field Communicator is always a good thing. To what end in the realm of interplay remains to be seen, but I can't help but thinking that it's all pie in the sky.

Trust me, I've been trying to get Sunstorm to work since he was first seen as a blurry picture from Gamestop. High numbers are usually a pipe dream. But smaller numbers, like 8, for instance, is actually surprisingly doable. That alone makes him better than Cosmos, in my opinion, and the two share the same point cost. Being able to KO smaller characters without the massive setup requirement from Cosmos makes Bombshell's matchups against Combiners and Insecticons way better than Cosmos' ever could be, and having the eventual option -- albeit an unlikely one -- to be able to KO Battlefield Legend Optimus Prime automatically makes him better than Cosmos, who cannot no matter what.

Of course, this is all theorycraft. I could simply be talking out of my exhaust pipes here -- Bombshell could be really good, or he could be simply be a nice thought. I'm leaning toward the latter.


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What is a worm to a man? What is a man to a king? What is a king to a god?


A mech known for his bad comedy routines rivaling that of modern day Saturday Night Live, Starscream is the second Super Rare Transformer coming out of Rise of the Combiners and goodness me, this guy is actually kind of insane.

Before we get into why, let's go into his stats as I try to justify his 13 Point cost to you. Firstly, his high HP makes me happy as most Planes have been known to be rather frail, but the real juice comes from his high attack stats in both modes. You won't be attacking in vehicle mode, though, because his robot mode has one of the most powerful damage boosting abilities I have seen in this game thus far.

High praise, I know, but let me explain.

So, if you recall, Decepticon Crown is a Utility that has a green and white pip. Its effects are slightly lackluster, though sometimes being able to Plan on anyone is better than not being to Plan at all, but it was an interesting card that made certain decks happy to play it. Not an extremely noteworthy card, to be frank, but a pleasant one to consider for certain lists.

But what other decks might find less than useful, Starscream finds as his life-blood. You see, whenever you flip a Decepticon Crown when attacking or defending, you gain a stat boost of +3 in both attack and defense stats. That's fantastic when you consider that he starts out at 6, and when you boost to 9, you are going to start seeing a lot of value coming out of him when he hits some ridiculous numbers through the use of Null Ray orange pips. But that's not all -- he's also going to be a bugger to take down thanks to a potential 4 defense. Sure, you aren't going to be able to find a Crown each defense, but you will if you try and help him along with some Reinforced Plating or perhaps some Evasive Maneuvers.

But that's not the best part. Since you can use the Crown's green pip, you can use one of many Plan effects to return it to the top of the deck to use again, practically permanently boosting your offensive stats. In fact, if we happen to have an Armor that has a Plan effect, you can practically stay at four defense indefinitely, but that's just speculation.

But most of all? You can potentially hit multiple of these off larger Bold flips, making his damage skyrocket to even higher ludicrous numbers. But you might be saying, "Won't that discard the other Crown?" and you would be right, but when you Transform Starscream into vehicle mode during his down time, you get to return a card with the keyword "Plan" to your hand -- which includes the Crown!

Something else that I would like to point out is that you can also return Mining Pick and certain Action cards, as well, making the ability to put a Crown on the top of the deck that much easier. I shudder to think about using Plan 2 on a Mining Pick to put two Crown on top of the deck.

All in all, I would be extremely surprised if Starscream didn't become a mainstay in the meta almost instantly. The amount of combos you can pull off with the potential partners is actually insane, and I can't wait to see where he'll end up next. Let's just hope it won't be a pile of ash on the floor.


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"We all sang Dirges in the Dark / The day that music died"


Dirge (revealed HERE) is really, really niche and if not that then
he's really, really terrible. The problem with him is that he requires his opponents to be nearly dead in order to get value. Sure, you can play him with Thrust to maybe make a magic number or two, but wouldn't you just rather just one-hit them? Or play a Car, who can untap and deal markedly more damage than Dirge?

But that's the thing, right? His effect of untapping himself is too weak of an effect to justify basing your strategy on that. But the problem is, his vehicle mode ability is only good against combiners and only then before they Combine.

Dirge is unfortunately not the best, and that's a shame. But it makes me wonder if we're about to see an 8 Star Ramjet in this set. I don't know if the set numbers allow for that, but it would be interesting if Ramjet allowed some interesting plays with his other conehead brethren.


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"To compensate for the nosecone, we made the Droop Snoot."
"A 'Droop Snoot'?"
"The snoot drooped."


Did I mention that we have Aerialbots? Because we have Aerialbots.

So Silverbolt is the leader of the Aerialbots, and we already see a bit of what they're going for in terms of win condition: Direct damage. You see, Planes have always been about the non-attack damage as part of their archetype. Armed Hovercraft, Photon Bomb, Thundercracker, Starscream, Slipstream, Bombing Run... They all deal damage to their opponent before they attack. The same is true here with the Aerialbots and that will become evident as we go through them together.

See, Silverbolt is actually one of the weakest of the bunch in terms of both attack value and defensive potential, but he makes up for that with being able to supplement other attacks and your amount of spread damage that you'll be doing.

Now, his vehicle mode ability is actually one of my least favorite for this team. In any other team being able to get an extra transformation seems utterly fantastic, but when you consider that the Aerialbots will actually be a primarily defensive team, you realize that playing orange-pipped cards in your list will become more of a liability. Of course, you could always play Roll Out or the Matrix of Leadership to attempt to give options to Silverbolt, I find it's better all around to build a list for consistency. Of course, a balanced list might end up working -- but I push back at that given what Superion actually does and how much damage you can do through your Actions and Upgrades.

Silverbolt, if you build a balanced list, will definitely benefit your combination speed, but in a purely defensive list he can also be transformed outside of combat to supplement someone else's attack which -- in my opinion -- is for the best. This might change, of course, but I honestly do believe that defense is the best way to play Aerialbots from the get-go.

Why? Well, that's for a few reasons. Such as...


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"Take my love / Take my land / Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care / I'm still free / You can't take the sky from me."


I find that Combiners with someone that has Brave are instantly all the better for it. Certain lists like Devastator and Stunticons are incredibly weak to being attacked on the first turn of the game for massive damage to their important combiner parts, and an early (albeit lucky) KO would mean a severe handicap throughout the remainder of the game.

Predacons and Aerialbots both have a built-in remedy to this problem in Headstrong and now Fireflight, who have built-in Brave in their vehicle modes. This is so, so good for the consistency of the list as it forces your opponent not just to waste one attack, but potentially two attacks on the Brave character. In Predacons that usually means that they lose the game because you get more attacks than them, but in this one, it means you have more ammunition to use with Bombing Run and you have more power in Fireflight's offensive capabilities.

Sure, his stats are low -- but if you're playing all blue, your opponent will have a tough time KOing this guy on the first turn of the game. Whereas his robot mode ability seems lackluster, and it is, but being able to use Piercing Blaster or Noble's Blaster on him turns him into some good chip damage once he's used up his usefulness.

Something that's perhaps even better than that is that it makes your Predacon matchup much better, since Razorclaw won't have the option to KO a defenseless untapped character like he normally could because Fireflight is on the field with Brave. In this matchup and in similar matchups like Cars with the SR Bumblebee, it's best to leave him untransformed if your opponent might be gearing up for some untapped KO plays.

Being that he is a Plane and five stars, you can also splash him in certain Plane lists to take the heat off your more important Planes. He won't be making any big plays, but his presence on the battlefield shouldn't be discounted when considering building any Plane list. Whereas it's likely better to simply take Acid Storm and beat Dinobots more or less outright, it's an interesting thought to play Fireflight to abuse that Brave ability in certain lists. Food for thought.


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"Yeah. Uh huh. / You know what it is.
Black and yellow. / Black and yellow.
Black and yellow. / Black and yellow."


Skydive is my favorite Aerialbot, and I'm not just talking about this archetype. Back in the mystical era of 2007, I had this DS game for the Transformers movie and I loved it dearly. It was a big sandbox in most regards, with story-based missions to fight Decepticons, blow up "robot" tanks and romp around a wide-spread city-scape, climbing around buildings and suburbs. It had some great G1 voice talent in it, but it also had the best voice for Barricade in anything ever and you cannot fight me on this. Keith David is not only the Arbiter from Halo, but his silky tones just made Barricade the best.

Anyway, your self-insert character had a final form, and that final form was "G1" Skydive in the Autobot version where the Decepticon game had "G1" Starscream. He was the only jet that the Autobot game had, and he was basically my favorite from then on. He still is my favorite Aerialbot, and this game changes very little about that opinion.

Why? Well, his stats aren't anything to write home about, and his Specialist nature -- whereas that makes me extremely happy to see in any archetype because of their utility -- isn't exactly special given the next character we're going over, but the fact that he has built in Tough 2 is actually insane. You're going to be playing a lot of Armor in this list, including Reinforced Plating, and that will quickly boost him to Tough 4 and that makes him withstand a ton of punishment right off the bat.

Skydive also has the ability to heal off an Aerialbot, but that doesn't really matter all that much given Bombing Run already does that for you and you'll want him to stay in his vehicle mode given his high levels of Tough.

Of course, given that he is a Specialist, you have access to Multi-Mission Gear and Field Communicator both, and in this archetype having that Specialist support is impressive given that you can use Photon Bomb and Bombing Run in the same turn, moving four damage counters from your characters to one of your oppponent's. In fact, so long as we're talking about Narnia and other impossible things, if you Brainstorm a Photon Bomb and you happen to have two Bombing Run in your hand with a Multi-Mission Gear, you can deal 10 damage in total to an opponent's character without attacking (2 from Photon Bomb, 4 from one Bombing Run and 4 from the other).

Skydive definitely won't be played outside of Aerialbots, but being a tough Specialist means you're almost definitely going to get the Specialist value out of him during the game. Plus, when your opponent two-hits your Combiner pieces, your opponent is automatically in a bad spot since they're putting so much effort into KOing one of five others. It's just a poor trade and you'll eventually come out on top in that value, at least that's the hope.

Now, you might be wondering why I say that you're only going to be getting four damage out of Bombing Run at maximum. It could be that I'm simply thinking about your opponent being able to KO Fireflight, but that isn't the case -- I'm actually thinking about how one of your Aerialbots isn't even a plane at all.


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You'd think they would eventually stop snubbing my boy Slingshot, but maybe they don't want to dredge up memories of Carbombya.


Hey, a helicopter! Fascinatingly, this is the first Helicopter we've seen out of this game, and that's a good thing! It means that the potential for him, Blades, Vortex and Springer to potentially get support is pretty high, and that makes me happy. The rest about him is pretty lackluster, if I am to be perfectly honest.

Alpha Bravo is another Specialist, which is definitely a good thing, and it almost confirms you'll be getting the 'ol Multi-Mission Gear combo off sometime during the game, but the rest about him is a little underwhelming. First off, he does chip damage to opposing Planes which can definitely backfire given Planes' damage moving abilities, and his stats are pretty abysmal.

Something that is worthy of note is his Pierce is actually really good, and can combo with Energon Axe to give him an unblockable Pierce 5. That's great, and since you'll be using Photon Bomb to set up some Bombing Run plays, Alpha Bravo will be damaged enough to use it almost off the bat. Whereas this is a small victory for the Little Helicopter That Could, the rest of his kit can really only be useful against opposing Aerialbots where that single damage will be meaningful to their -- and by extension, your -- low health pools.

He can also be used as a counterpick against Aerialbots if they become a big part of the metagame. You run the risk of powering up their Bombing Runs a bit, but hopefully with him on a standard, non-Combiner list you can definitely have the offensive power to capitalize on the weakened states of the Aerialbots. It's an interesting thought to think, and I can definitely see him teched in to certain lists for that reason alone. It remains to be seen if Aerialbots will take over the metagame, as with any new card reveal, but it is nice to know that Alpha Bravo will be there just in case they do.


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Vanilla spice.


Air Raid is kind of that guy you send into combat with a smile and a "good luck" because deep down you know you'll never see him again. This guy is going to get dumpstered by everything. He'll hit pretty hard, sure, but with zero defense he'd be extremely lucky to make it out intact. Naturally, you can improve his defensive capabilities with your Armor cards, but I wouldn't waste my resources on that aspect to his kit. I would be much more likely to attack with him with a weapon like an Energon Axe to get the most value out of him as possible before he inevitably goes down.

Fireflight also makes him more survivable if (likely when in some cases) he survives your opponent swinging at him if you went first. Air Raid can survive attacking, yes, but it just isn't likely enough to warrant too much defensive resources being used on him. That being said, offensive resources is something that our boy in black can use to the fullest extent. With a Leap Into Battle and a Noble's Blaster on him, it boosts his damage to a healthy 9. With the setup damage you've been (hopefully) doing through Armed Hovercraft, Photon Bomb and Bombing Run at this point, 9 becomes a massive threat to a lot of characters.

You're going to be using him to trade KOs more than likely, and that's definitely fine in my book. On top of that, you get to scrap an Upgrade when you damage your opponent. I am unsure if that means that Force Field will be scrapped before it takes effect, but it's an interesting note if it does which opens up even more options.

From the start of this, you might have thought that I was going to be talking extremely negatively of Air Raid. You couldn't be farther from the truth -- whereas he will be instantly vaporized by your opponents, the best part about his kit is that he capitalizes on the damage you set up, and he even scraps an Upgrade while he's at it. This is a great card, to be honest, and he adds in a good level of punch into the mid to late game for the Aerialbots, though I wouldn't expect much longevity from him.

In other lists, Air Raid can also be used as an Upgrade scrapping character, but there are better options to take care of those. He won't serve you better than -- say -- Flamewar, Alpha Bravo, Arcee, Torox or even Headstrong/Fireflight, but as a five star tech in certain lists, he could be used somewhat effectively to scrap certain upgrades before your larger characters swing. He can be useful, which is more than most other combiner pieces can say.


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"I am not Ultron; I am not J.A.R.V.I.S.; I am... I am."


Superion is freaking insane. He's huge, bulky and he is one of the most defensively inclined Combiners in the game. With a built-in Tough 2, you can plop an Armor on this guy and he becomes an even bigger version of Skydive. More than that, you can target three damage on an opponent when you combine, potentially finishing off a KO after the setup damage you've done over the course of the game.

In fact, you can transform Silverbolt last, using his damage ability to compound with Superion's, dealing 4 damage instead. Then, you get to use an Armed Hovercraft and spread even more damage -- a total of five on one character in one turn. After that big turn of non-attack damage, you get to double down and attack with an albeit middling attack stat, but with Pierce he confirms at least three more damage on a character.

Superion can one-hit Skrapnel with that damage. With four damage from simply combining and transforming Silverbolt, then following up with Superion's attack, you can clean out a completely fresh Skrapnel who is a known harasser of Combiners thanks to his damage mitigation ability.

But beyond that, you do have Bold 1, but I wouldn't pay too much mind to it unless you're playing balanced. It's a bad idea to go full Orange with this guy just because of that one instance of Bold. Whereas it might get you somewhere against non-defensive lists, you're going to be ramming your head against a wall if you face an all-defensive list.

With his Pierce 3, you can even use a Noble's Blaster, Piercing Blaster or Energon Axe to boost it to even larger numbers of Pierce to make him threaten even defensive lists. That, combined with the fact that he's incredibly hard to take down with his Tough Stacking, your opponent is going to be on a clock when facing him.

The only problem I see is that Bombing Run really necessitates using your Planes in vehicle mode, and combining requires all of them in robot mode. It's unfortunate that the two discord, but when you realize that certain matchups necessitate not combining, it becomes an option and not a strategy. Most Combiners want to combine as soon as possible, but in this case, I can't say one way or another. Superion is a beast, yes, but sometimes just using Bombing Run is just better.

It's up to you whether or not you want to combine, but I find that having the option to combine into someone as beefy as Superion is almost never a bad thing. I could be wrong here; I never said that I'm always right -- in fact, I once said that Metoplex was terrible, but he ended up being a top deck. Theorycrafting this guy, however, has simply brought me to the conclusion that he's mostly an option, not an end-goal. But, it cannot be ignored that having Tough 4 with a Reinforced Plating is extremely powerful when you use him to finish off your early game set up damage.

Aerialbots really seem to be a great archetype in my opinion, and it feels like he will swoop down on the unsuspecting like a vast predatory bird. I can't wait to see if I'm right.


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Four Man Foreman for man, man!


Scrapper isn't too much to write home about in the stat territory, but he has a ton of usefulness with the exclusive mechanic to the Constructicons, the "Tower" card. We have no idea what this looks like -- or if it will look like anything at all, to be frank -- but we do know that his robot ability will facilitate its growth from even the KO pile. This makes it easy to grow your tower even if Scrapper gets KO'd on the first turn of the game, for instance, by a Battlefield Legend Optimus Prime or a very angry Insecticon.

Scrapper also has one of the highest HP from his comrades, so it's best to keep either him or Hook alive as long as possible before you combine into Devastator. But before you do, there are a few things to note:

Every character other than Scrapper grows your Tower the same way, by attacking in their vehicle mode. Scrapper combos that by allowing them to be KO'd, building your Tower even higher. More than that, you can even use I STILL FUNCTION! to "force" your Tower higher by KOing one of your Constructicons again after using them to attack from the grave. Scrapper doesn't value the lives of his workers at all, and when you see the final result in Devastator, you'll see why.

The general strategy for the Constructicons is to attack with three Constructicons in vehicle form while transforming three others to robot mode, then attacking with the rest while transforming the KO'd three. This allows you to pretty much always get Devastator off at a rather tall tower, coming in at 8 when only Scrapper remains. Any plays with I STILL FUNCTION! before hand can give you more wiggle room in terms of robot mode attacks, and it also builds your tower taller since it triggers Scrapper's effect a second time.

So, speaking of these composite parts, just what am I talking about when it comes to their Tower building effects?


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Think he makes a good martini?


Mixmaster is extremely expendable. His vanilla robot mode with zero changes to his stats make him a perfect candidate for a first attack role, with his vehicle mode ability building your Tower even higher. Then he dies. Simple as that. He's a small guy, and he will do a mediocre amount of damage, but with an all orange build with a weapon, he can do some considerable numbers, especially five other guys following suit. He's also four stars, which is the same for all other members of this team other than Scrapper, which means that they could be used as a better point filler than Metroplex's deployers. Food for thought.

Other than that... Well, he's just kinda vanilla. Not much else to say about him.


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Something about expendable?


Don't believe his lies -- he's not Tough at all. You might say that allowing him to take a hit in robot mode allows you to dig deeper in your deck for your Enigma, but that's what I like to call being wrong. You have five other attacks, not even counting Supercharge, Flamethrower and white pips -- you're going to hit your Enigma.

Something worthy of note is that he -- like all but Bonecrusher -- has above 4 HP, which means you can continue to offset your opponents offensive power by putting a Force Field on him to save his life. It's almost always a good thing to do in a Combiner list, and having multiple living Constructicons at the time of Combination is always a good thing.

But other than that, just swing with him in his vehicle mode and be done.


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THE CROTCH MAN COMETH


You'd think with the run of bad luck Long Haul has, he would have gotten another short end of a stick, but in this case, he's one of the best members of the team. Since he has an innate Bold 1 in his Robot Mode, you can stack that with Flamethrower and Supercharge to do a massive amount of damage to unsuspecting foes.

Long Haul is one of three characters you will be wanting to put into Robot Mode when they are alive, and you would be severely missing out if you allowed yourself to attack with his vehicle mode. He deals so much damage considering the power level of his comrade that, with his other comrades having attacked before him, he can more than likely eliminate weakened threats rather easily.

But, again, he won't be living through it unless you have a Force Field, but that's to be expected. More fuel for the fire, or rather, the Tower.


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"BOOOONE SAW'S READY!"


Bone Sa-- Bonecrusher I mean is another one of your team you'll have in Robot Mode at the start of the game. He's especially useful against high defense teams with his Pierce 2, but Long Haul remains the king of damage in that regard. He has his uses, but sadly, his death is all but confirmed thanks to his dismal 4 HP. Not even a Force Field can save him from himself.

But, that's not why you play him, after all. Fuel for the Tower!


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"The hooks, boyo! The hooks!"


Hook is the only Ranged member of this crew, but it matters little. You won't be doing too many things with that, but it does mean that Thundercracker can't place damage on you. He has that going for him, but the rest of him screams "backline" with his zero defense and abysmal damage stats.

Sure, dealing Pierce is good, but one Pierce? Yikes.

But the good news is that he has 7 HP, which means you can save even more HP for Devastator when you combine, and believe me, you'll need it.

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"I am fire. I am death."


Devastator is a freaking huge boy who only gets bigger. You were wondering why we were building that tower? How does dealing 10 damage sound? How does healing 10 damage sound? Sound nutty? You'd be right.

Simply playing the deck out without any I STILL FUNCTION! or Rapid Conversion to speed up your Combination allows you to come into 8 total Tower points, healing him by 8 and giving him Bold 2. That is why it is so important to use I STILL FUNCTION! to get higher Tower early, to heal off more damage and to put him at a towering 10 attack base.

As you have Scrapper or Hook as the last member of your team alive, you can Combine and heal off 8 damage, putting your HP at 15. A 15 HP Combiner off the bat! That is extremely impressive. If you manage to build up to a 10 tall Tower, you have access to a 17 HP titan of a mech.

It is here where you can claim some real damage out of him, potentially one-hitting some of the largest characters in the game by brute force alone. At an average 8, you have Bold 2, and with a Flamethrower or Power Punch (look in the Battle Card section), you can put that to much higher Bold numbers and much higher damage numbers. If you have ten attack, it's staggeringly powerful from there, too.

But the best part about him is that your opponent will almost definitely not be able to retaliate. For instance, if you swing at the same guy all game with your Constructicons, you will inevitably KO it before you Combine. Then, you Combine into Devastator and likely one-hit another character, leaving your opponent with likely one character that will likely never burn through your 15 HP and two defense. At that point, their defeat is not a question -- it's an inevitability.

That being said, Aerialbots kind of eat him alive. You dominate regular lists in certain regards, but when they start putting damage on you without attacking, you get a little scared. Aerialbots can one-hit most of your characters by chaining Photon Bombs and Armed Hovercraft, and there is very little if anything you can do to stop them from doing that. That matchup seems pretty unwinnable, but Aerialbots are unproven in the meta anyway, so you never know if they won't fall through the cracks.

But Devastator? I honestly don't think he will. I honestly believe that Devastator is a strong archetype that should not be underestimated. From my experience, it's a scary thing to face down a Combiner, an inevitable end in certain cases. I really hope Devastator lives up to my hype for him. After all, he's the best Combiner character, anyway. I mean, who else can pull off lime green and purple?


__________BATTLE CARDS__________


Image
Hey, an Enigma!


Hey, look, it's a card that does something! To be perfectly honest, it's best not to have too many Enigma in a list, but in Devastator I might make an exception. This card, after Combination, can finish off your Tower and potentially put you at 10 to practically win the game. Unfortunately, you can't recombine Devastator to get that healing effect again, but honestly, at 10 attack, there isn't too much else you need.

But other than that, it's an Enigma. What else do you need it to do?


Image
Hey, an Enigma!


Hey, look, it's a card that does less things! This card can help you finish off some characters an inch from death, but that's also what Armed Hovercraft and Photon Bomb are for too. I suppose it's just -- after combination -- a more consistent Strafing Run, but it's honestly a worse Photon Bomb in most cases.

I'll give this one a solid: "Enigma/10"

I mean, it's an Enigma. What else do you want from it, right?


Image
"Blue Leader, standing by."


Aerialbots like having Aerialbot Formation, but not a lot. Almost at all. It might seem like a Grenade Launcher in certain regards, but it's really not anything close to it. Whereas it is a Blue pip that lends itself to the Aerialbot defensive playstyle, it also highlights another weakness of Combiner lists by showing off the frailty of their composite parts.

Let me explain. Remember my boy Air Raid? Remember how he blows someone up and then goes down himself? That's what I mean. You attack, and then you die. Of course, in Aerialbots you're probably going to tank a hit pretty hard with your characters and defense-centric list, but the problem is that your opponent is not going to allow your Aerialbot Formation to reach its fullest effect. They will either double target or play direct damage abilities to soften you up. Of course, you have Bombing Run to add to your survivability slightly, but not by a lot. In fact, since you're going to be damaging your own characters with Photon Bomb in all likelihood, you're going to be even weaker than before.

All of this culminates into Aerialbot Formation not receiving the full benefit. There are so many better weapons to play, in my opinion, and Superion can't even use it. I'm not quite sure if I would play it for that reason, in fact. Quite sad indeed.


Image
BUMP


Bumpers comes out of the Team Covenant Webcast, and this card makes me extremely happy because it allows Cars to be able to beat back Aerialbots. Motormaster already does this for Stunticons, and Bumpers makes it an even better matchup. Stunticons already are a defensive, denial type of deck, and Bumpers allow them to not instantly die to Planes as soon as Motormaster goes down, and he will go down eventually. Bumpers makes it even harder for your Stunticons to go down to them, and that makes me extremely happy because I know that -- no matter what -- there will be a bad matchup for something.

I'm always excited when I know that there are bad matchups for something that is a little bit hyped because I know that it will never be able to be the best deck. Of course, I don't know if Aerialbots are going to be super good -- or good at all for that matter -- but either way, it's always good to know that things aren't invincible.


Image
"Super stealthy boi"


I'm going to combine my thoughts on this card with the thoughts on the next card. Read below!


Image
"ALRIGHT TIME'S UP LET'S DO THIS! LEEEEEROY JEEEEENKINS!!"
"Oh my god, he just ran in."


Bravery and Stealth are pretty darn okay, but I do wonder whether or not Heroism isn't just a better card. I mean, I get it, Heroism doesn't count the defensive stats of the character that it's attached to, and Stealth is a big "no button" that says that your opponent can't attack you at all, but both require that character to be tapped (or targetable in general) in order to be of use. Heroism does not.

This is one of the reasons a character with Brave on their alternate mode is so good, because at the start of the game your opponent has to attack them. If it's an Upgrade, then it might be too late because the Brave and Stealth will only be useful when two or more characters are tapped.

I don't know if these are going to see play, especially over Heroism, but when you see that Stealthiness has an Orange pip, I can definitely tell the potential here.

For some food for thought, consider what Stealth would look like on a Metroplex. Also, just think about Metroplex trying to be Stealthy.


Image
"One hundred push-ups! One hundred sit-ups! One hundred squats! Run 10 Kilometers! Every! Single! Day!"


Power Punch is freaking insane and I love it. It's just another Grenade Launcher! I'm being serious when I say that Power Punch is probably going to be a staple in Orange decks like Insecticons, Predacons and other, similar lists. Power Punch does similar levels of damage, especially if a character has innate Bold like Long Haul or Metroplex, same with the entire list of Dinobots.

Power Punch makes me so happy. Now, that being said, it is not good against anything that plays Acid Storm. Once Acid Storm hits the field, this becomes a blank card. It's sad, to be frank, but I do love that level of interplay to make you question if you should play certain cards in your list lest you face a certain deck.

It's a great, great card that I am almost certain is going to be a staple, but Acid Storm makes you wonder for how long.


Image
'Underhanded Tactics'? You'll need them if you want to get value.


One damage? One damage? A single damage. You deal one, and you heal one but only if you KO someone? Dear god, this is one of the worst cards I have ever seen.

I am not exaggerating here. Even Zap is more playable in offensive lists like Insecticons because it has an orange pip.

I'm sad.

So, the biggest problem about it is that you have almost zero payoff to its effect. You have to put someone at 1 HP, and that is extremely difficult, and when you play this card to only heal a single damage counter and only when you KO them, wouldn't it just be better to play something like, I dunno, MEDIC! or perhaps Emergency Repairs? If you need healing, play some healing!

This is not healing. This is a fool's errand.


Image
"BLLAAAAAEEEERRGGGHHHHH"


Inferno Breath (revealed from THIS INSTAGRAM POST) is so freaking good for Aerialbots. Aerialbots have always been about that non-attack damage, and when you use it in conjunction with Silverbolt to deal four damage to something, I get a little weak in the knees. It also boosts Aerialbot Formation, but it's already established that that card is not the best anyway.

Now, all of that being said, it also allows some powerful combos with Brainstorm, as well, actually one-hitting Skrapnel and other 7 HP characters without attacking. How? Well, you Brainstorm a Photon Bomb and an Inferno Breath, then you attach an Armed Hovercraft, then you Transform Silverbolt to deal a total of 7 damage to a single target and 3 to all others.

That combo sounds absolutely disgusting and I am actually super spooked about the possibility of Aerialbots outright abusing this card to its maximum potential. It's not a Star card, though we don't see the bottom of the card, but it's honestly pretty much as good as one.


Image
Speaking of cards that abuse Aerialbots...


Defensive Driving, a card first revealed HERE isn't the best at stopping Aerialbots, but it certainly prevents Silverbolt, the Enigma and Armed Hovercraft from taking over a certain character on your field. I could see attaching this card to Bonecrusher, in fact, to attempt to make him survive a turn against the Plane Onslaught, but the problem is finding it, and attaching it while still finding value out of your other characters.

I don't know about this card. It's okay, but honestly sometimes you should just bite the bullet and accept a bad matchup for what it is.


__________CONCLUSION__________


These new Combiners are magical. I seriously wonder if they won't be a major part of the metagame, especially the Aerialbots. Devastator is also extremely unique and if you don't think I won't be building it and probably bringing my G1 Devastator with me to tournaments we can't be friends.

But in all seriousness, almost all of these cards have merit in many different degrees. I absolutely love what they're doing with this game, and I can't wait to find out what's next.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this article, please check out my YouTube Channel where I go over deck profiles and other meta discussion regularly. Check it out if you have the time (and to be fair, if you have read this far, you have more time than most!) and let me know what you think in the comments below!

Thanks for reading guys, and as always, I'm going to go to sleep for the next 18-32 hours after writing this behemoth of an article.


__________

What do you think about these reveals? Excited by them? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby chuckdawg1999 » Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:50 pm

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Weapon: Saber Blade
Wasn't Alpha Bravo traditionally an arm?
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby Zeedust » Mon Feb 11, 2019 12:27 am

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Weapon: Anti-Thermal Cannon
chuckdawg1999 wrote:Wasn't Alpha Bravo traditionally an arm?


Nope. Blades and Vortex are traditionally arms, but Alpha Bravo's standard placement has always been a leg.

I'm pleasantly surprised they're using Alpha Bravo and Offroad, rather than sweeping them under the rug and pretending they never existed.
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Triple Changers Land In The Official Transformers Trading Card Game + In-depth

Postby ZeroWolf » Mon Feb 11, 2019 5:50 am

Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
Weapon: Battle Blades
Combiners aren't the only new type of bot to hit the Official Transformers Trading Card Game, as couresty of the Official Transformers Trading Card Game Facebook page (sent to us via fellow Seibertron user, Survivefan23), we can reveal Springer and Blitzwing!

Not only that but fellow Seibertron user and Transformers TCG contributor, #Sideways# is back with his thoughts on these new cards!

__________________

They are here.

They have arrived.

Triplechangers.

But are they as good as they're hyped up to be?


__________CHARACTERS__________



[centerImage[/center]
Mr. Steal Yo Girl


Springer is the first of at least two Triplechangers coming in Rise of the Combiners, and he's the second Helicopter in the game. Being a Triplechanger, he has three modes, but I fear that only two of them are going to be useful -- and if you've been reading up until this point, I think you know what I'm about to say -- because of his lackluster robot mode.

Okay, before I delve into that deep black hole, let's talk about Triplechangers. We don't exactly know how they start the game. One would be able to guess that one starts in "Alt 1", but being that the rules merely state "Alt Mode", then it stands to reason one might have a choice of alternate modes at the start of the game. That being said, one would probably prefer to start the game in his Truck mode anyway given his higher Defense stats, but that's neither here nor there.

I, for one, would put money on the "star side face up" logic and have him start in Truck mode, but until we have an official ruling on the matter, then I'd refrain from playtesting it any other way.

Anyway, to the card itself, I think the versatility that Springer's vehicle modes bring to the table is actually fantastic. First off, since Springer's Truck mode is just that, a Truck, he can use Cargo Trailer which is always an interesting thought, but the fact that he has Tough 2 with an Armor already attached makes me swoon. Having that means that, with a Reinforced Plating, he becomes extremely hard to take down with his massive health pool and a permanently high Tough in an all blue list.

But that's not all! You see, his Helicopter mode is the analog to this, having Bold 2 with a Weapon attached, making his five attack turn into some pretty insane numbers in an all orange list, especially with the advent of Power Punch. With a Power Punch, Supercharge and his innate Bold, you can hit Bold 8 and deal frankly disgusting, Dinobot levels of damage fairly easily.

This brings me to something that I'd like to point out. You can build three separate lists for Springer, with one being an all blue list that focuses on defense, another being an all orange that focuses on offense, and a third, balanced list. It's a fascinating concept that brings forth several options that could each work well in their individual rights. But, balanced lists can be inconsistent, and if you choose to focus on one color you forsake the other -- and the other mode.

You really have to pick your poison with Springer. Whereas I do think that balanced is probably optimal for him, the mono color lists for him should not be ignored or discounted.

What probably should be discounted is his robot mode, sadly. You see, his robot mode doesn't really do anything. With an emphasis on Pierce if he has a Utility, that's honestly fine -- but the problem arises when you look at both his mediocre attack stat and his abysmal defensive capabilities. You'd think that either of them would have gotten boosted instead of a net loss in literally both categories but that's just my opinion. His attack is that low to justify having Pierce, though, which is understandable -- but unfortunately, it really isn't. You can't really do anything with even that high Pierce number because his Attack stat is simply so low that it forbids it.

Normally, in cases like Megatron -- Decepticon Leader, he actually had higher attack than his Pierce, which allowed plays with cards like Energon Axe to put some considerable levels of Pierce on opponents characters. That just isn't happening here, and I am extremely sad about that.

All in all, I really do like Springer and his potential variety in gameplay, especially in a balanced list, but his robot mode is incredibly lackluster which essentially turns him into a two vehicle mode character since you're almost never going to be using his robot mode. It's unfortunate, but then again, his vehicle modes pretty much have all the power you're ever going to need out of him, but I can't shake the feeling that his robot mode -- or perhaps the lack thereof given its uselessness -- make him worse than the competition.

Speaking of...


Image
"I'll never talk!"
"Then let's make it official."



Blitzwing makes me extremely happy just looking at him, and no, not just because of the literal action figure hands in his artwork, but the fact that he has Brave in his Tank mode, Stealth in Plane mode and an actually useful Robot mode ability.

Let's talk about that Tank mode real quick. I've already spoken about this, but teams with Brave as a starter that force your opponent to target a specific thing means that you are free to play far more important small characters. For instance, Flamewar is a very important character who kind of dies in one hit from certain characters, and if she goes down before you get to use her, you pretty much end up losing that game. With Brave, you are virtually guaranteed to be able to use your smaller, squishier characters' abilities -- sure, at the cost of some HP from Blitzwing, but hey, that's the name of the game.

Being a Tank, Blitzwing can use amazing Actions like Hunker Down to not just give him an Armor -- likely a Force Field -- and all but confirm his survival, but you will be confirming the survival of your teammates as well because not only are you using Hunker Down to Upgrade him, but you are also suddenly putting a Brave character on the field. This means not only are you accelerating Upgrades but you are also forcing your opponent to attack into a Force Field, essentially all but wasting an attack. You won't be attacking in this mode, sadly, but that's not the point of his kit.

As a lighter note, he can even make use of Crushing Treads if you really hate yourself enough to give him Pierce 1 or Pierce 0. I mean, let's be honest here, that's one thing that you're never going to use on him. Funny, though!

Blitzwing does a lot of work, but what happens when the pressure is a bit too much? Well, that's easy -- just transform him into his Plane mode, which innately has Stealth, which forces your opponent to attack someone else. If you think it's time that your squishy allies to finally take some heat, then instead of being a Tank, Blitzwing can also become a competent Plane with a moderate attack stat and Stealth. In fact, you can play him with Slipstream and Bombing Run to make a surprisingly competent Plane list, even abusing his Tank mode to take the heat off Acid Storm as a potential third partner. But despite all of that, you still won't be attacking in this mode, either.

Why? Well, let's take a look at his robot mode, which unlike Springer actually has an attack stat and ability that's worth something. Of course, you have zero defense, but you are highly unlikely to need it as you can use the abilities of his robot mode to transform after the attack into one of his alternate modes, to either the Tank to the Plane to abuse either of the abilities.

On top of that, you even draw a card to potentially aid any Plan effects you have on Blitzwing to all but confirm his transformation ability to pop from your flips. The amount of versatility that Blitzwing can bring in teammates to capitalize on either of his modes is an interesting analog to Springer, whose abilities are more useful based on a self-sustaining deck build. Blitzwing is more team-focused, aiding his team and their survivability.

Between the two, I much prefer Blitzwing given his field focus instead of Springer who -- if you simply don't draw into your specific parts -- can whiff pretty badly and lose his value. Blitzwing is a much safer pick if you're looking for consistent value, but both have their merits.

But as for Blitzwing, the thought of playing him with Warpath and Acid Storm to make use of both his modes to their fullest makes me think. I've considered other "Hate Bears" lists with both Warpath and Acid Storm, including the Super Rare Starscream, but I wonder if this wasn't their intended place. I mean, where else are you going to get a Tank and a Plane in the same place?

Jesting aside, it's always an interesting idea to consider what the developers had in mind for potential partners and playstyles when looking into new characters, because I find that they usually know more about the game than I do. Whether their logic holds true or not when a player-driven metagame takes over is another animal, though, which is why it's generally a good idea to take every supposition with a grain of salt, but the fact can't be ignored that it's uncanny that both keyword blockers are both a Tank and a Plane.

I don't know, perhaps my tinfoil cap is showing and my voice is echoing out of my tailpipe, but it's always something to keep in mind.


__________BATTLE CARDS__________



Image
The last thing that went through Galvatron's mind was a four letter word and an energon blade.


Surprise Attack is not the best, but it's actually kind of niche in certain decks. It's not by any means "good", nor will it go in most lists. At all. But there is actually some merit in blue lists. Of course, you should be using The Bigger They Are and Leap Into Battle to facilitate your damage, but it's not exactly horrible to confirm a certain amount of damage in certain lists, like Aerialbots or perhaps Tanks.

It'd be like playing a redundant weapon like Erratic Lightning in a deck that already plays Grenade Launcher. It's not a bad thing -- at all, actually -- but it's redundant, which increases chances of drawing one or the other. I'm not saying it's particularly fantastic or special, but I am saying that it could be used as a third wheel to Leap Into Battle and The Bigger They Are.

You know how I feel about Pierce, so when I give a Pierce card a few options, you know it has potential, am I right? But either way, it's an interesting card, but I don't think it'll see much play outside a few lists, and even then it's kind of a redundant card in a few regards.


__________CONCLUSION__________


Triplechangers are magical. What does this mean for the game moving forward? Well, it means games are about to get a lot more interesting without much effort unlike Combiners. Combiners are always an interesting game to be sure, but they require the entire team to be devoted to that singular goal. With Triplechangers, you have the traditional playstyle married to the unique triple-sided card mechanic as well, which is sure to make more interesting, more engaging choices happen in the future.

It should almost go without saying at this point, but I am extremely excited for these guys. Super Rares or not, they bring a lot of diversity to the game without having to devote all of your points to it (Volcanicus notwithstanding).

What are you most excited about? Are you on Team Blitzwing or Team Springer? Who do you think is coming next? Let me know in the comments below!
__________

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Dreadwing Soars In To The Official Transformers Trading Card Game And App Launch

Postby ZeroWolf » Wed Feb 13, 2019 4:52 pm

Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
Weapon: Battle Blades
Thanks to fellow Seibertron user and contributor, #Sideways#, we've now learned that Blackwing and Dreadwind are set to make an appearance in the Wave 2: Rise of the Combiners expansion of Wizards of the Coast's Official Transformers Trading Card Game! The reveal was shared over at the Official Transformers Trading Card Game Facebook page.

#Sideways# also gives us his detailed thoughts on the cards and their combined form!

___________________

Image
[center]Why is it that Decepticons always have the raddest names?


Back in the mystical past of 2007, I had the Transformers movie game for the PS2 and in that game there were a lot of memorable characters and enemies from them. I still remember the cool Shockwave bossfight that they had, but one of the most memorable enemies that they had was Dreadwing, who would fly around, jump into the sky and use flamethrowers to deal a ton of damage to you if you got too close. They were a bit easy to kill because they kinda just stood completely still and you could just walk away and just shoot them, but they looked awesome.

From that point, I payed attention to the name Dreadwing, so when I got up this morning and saw that the last Combiner for this set has been revealed and that it was none other than Dreadwing, I couldn't help but to pay attention. But first, let's talk about everything that makes up his plane glory: His composite parts.


Image
[center]For a name like 'Blackwing', he sure has some... Shall we say loud colors on those wings.



Blackwing hits hard and gets hit harder, if that wasn't obvious from his zero defense in robot mode. He still swings pretty hard in both modes, despite him being a vanilla 8-star Plane. Blackwing doesn't really have too many things to really go over except for his robot mode ability, which takes the place of the Enigma for these pseudo-Combiners.

You see, at the end of your turn, if both Dreadwind and Blackwing are in robot mode, you can scrap three cards from your hand and combine them into Blackwing. This effect is expensive, but extremely fast considering you can pull off a Combination on the second turn of the game. This is a powerful effect, and I wager it will always be Blackwing who will be using this effect.

There really isn't much else to talk about for this guy -- he just swings really hard and then turns into Dreadwing.


Image
[center]Glass half empty.



Dreadwind is a very depressed individual, and his stats definitely reflect that. Having such a low attack stat in robot mode and relying upon Pierce 2 to deal any damage whatsoever, Dreadwind is almost as dismal as he is.

Almost.

You see, there is a silver lining about this guy: His defense. When you attack with him in his Plane mode -- which you definitely would and I'll tell you why in a moment -- you shove a solid three defense in your opponent's face and tell them to deal with it. Three defense is honestly huge, especially in a primarily defensive Plane deck where you're likely to take even less damage than the average. It is here where his Pierce actually shines instead of being extremely underwhelming like most Pierce is.

You see, if you're playing a balanced or blue Plane build, you're going to be sitting there with a low attack trying to chew through your opponents' defense stats. Certain decks like Double Primes can make good use of their already monstrous attack stats to still beat-stick their way through defense stats, but when you have such low attack like Dreadwind here, you're gonna need that Pierce to do anything whatsoever.

But what is this leading into? What exactly does Dreadwing do?


Image
[center]Oh, oh big ol' jet airliner / Don't carry me too far away
Oh, oh big ol' jet airliner / 'Cause it's here that I've got to stay



Dreadwing is very good and you should like him too. Okay, guys, that's it, the end of the article, thanks for tuning in!

But in all seriousness, what makes Dreadwing good? Well, he's essentially a combo of Dreadwind and Blackwing, and that shows through in every ounce of his kit. On one hand, you have 24 HP and 7 Attack -- a combination of the composite parts' stats -- and he has two of every Upgrade slot. This makes it to where he can swing incredibly hard with two weapons, tank an inordinate amount of damage with multiple Armor slots, provide draw with Data Bank, keep the heat off teammates with Bravery or even use multiple Aerial Recon in his Utility Slots.

Dreadwing has a massive amount of utility and staying power on the field, even more when you consider that he is a Plane, which means that he can use Slipstream's damage moving effect as well as Bombing Run to keep him in tip-top shape. The fact that he has the incredibly strong ability to have multiple Armor cards combined with all of that healing make him last forever. The best part is that his "healing" doesn't even count as "healing". Since it's technically "damage moving", not even Torox can keep him from doing as he pleases.

Dreadwing isn't just a pretty name -- he's a freaking monster on the battlefield, and through the use of Bravery and the stacking of Armor, whoever you pair him with can attack with impunity as well.

So how do you get him into play efficiently and without either of his parts getting KO'd in the process? Well, that's easy. Blackwing has zero defense, so thus he must attack last lest you want your opponent to obliterate him. But, that doesn't mean you have to transform him second, now does it? You see, Dreadwind has three defense and Pierce in his vehicle mode, which allows him to deal chip damage while sitting pretty with his three defense. Your opponent won't be able to do much to him, especially if you happened to get an Armor on him (for instance, if you went second).

Then, the next turn, you simply transform Dreadwind and swing with the already Transformed Blackwing and by the end of the second turn of the game, you have Dreadwing on the field with little if any damage on him. This also makes it incredibly easy to get value out of him as you can attack with him the turn after, essentially gaining not just a "free attack" but essentially a "free turn" since you will be more or less untapping one of your characters through combination. This makes his offensive power incredibly apparent after you focus the character both the composite parts have been attacking.

I realize you'd be essentially making yourself "tall" by only having two characters on the field, but I wager it's worth it given your monstrous HP, powerful offensive potential and incredible defensive capabilities.

All in all, Dreadwing is a character that is both consistent and powerful -- and a common at that! What more could you want? Well, what more could you want other than needing Slipstream as a partner, that is. Those convention exclusives! Always playing hard to get!

What do you think of Dreadwing? Too powerful to handle or "too big for his britches"? Do you want me to cover him on my YouTube channel? Let me know in the comments below -- I always read them! Until next time, thanks for reading! See you then!

__________

Thats not all though! Also revealed on the Official Transformers Trading Card Game Facebook page is the launch of a companion App you can download on your smart phones or tablets! This news was shared with us by fellow Seibertron user, jon3.0.

Image

Download now from your devices app store!

What do you think of this surprise reveal? Will you be using the app? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby Bumblevivisector » Wed Feb 13, 2019 6:25 pm

No, No, NO! I don't care what the Steve Miller band thought they were singing, the line is "Big ol' Jed had a lighter"! He had it until the FCC took it away from him! Well, funky sh!t still goes down in MY city! Kicks are for trids!

As for the cards, this was a really nice surprise! Quick 2-bot combiners are a welcome variation for this expansion. Too bad we're a ways off from having cassettes, as I can't think of too many other pairs unless they use Battleslash and Roadtrap, Crash Combiners...or the Multiforce! Now they would be the freakin' bomb in this game!

And just the other day, I was wondering how this game would handle the _______master characters, and our first 'Con powermasters give us the eloquent answer: just ignore that gimmick for now! No, seriously, since western fiction depicts most of those characters as having just been plain ol' TFs prior to entering binary bondage between '86 and '09, treating them as such for now and saving their organic upgrades for later waves makes perfect sense.

Will this game last long enough to see a Masterforce expansion repaint these cards into Buster and Hydra? Let's make it happen! I just need to actually learn how to play, and...
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby Rainmaker » Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:17 pm

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Weapon: Acid Rainmaker Rifles
Dreadwind and Blackwing are only 16 stars in total, so you still have 9 stars to use to support the already mightly powerful Dreadwing!

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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby steve2275 » Thu Feb 14, 2019 4:46 am

Motto: "it may not get better
but it wont get any worse"
pretty cool
i come and go more than a hmw programmer
or a karma chameleon
BEAT L.A.
im content
WWWYKI!!!
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Transformers TCG Omega Supreme card exclusive to Loot Crate

Postby Emerje » Fri Feb 15, 2019 1:07 am

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Weapon: Saw-Edged Pincer
Loot Crate has been advertising a mystery Transformers item in their February crate for a little while now, and thanks to the official Transformers TCG Twitter account we now know what that item is. The "Transformation" themed crate will contain an exclusive Titan-sized Omega Supreme - Autobot Defense Base card. This is going to be a massive card, the same size as Metroplex featuring bot mode on one side and base with tank on the other. The crate containing the card appears to only be available in North America, but fear not, they do say the card will be available "via alternative avenues in EU and APAC regions."

Image

The full tweets can be found below:

Get a double-sided, Titan-sized Transformers Trading Card Game card featuring OMEGA SUPREME - AUTOBOT DEFENSE BASE in this month's ‘TRANSFORMATION’ themed Loot Crate! Sign up by 2/19 at 9pm Pacific: https://loot.cr/tfwotc

OMEGA SUPREME - AUTOBOT DEFENSE BASE will be available via alternative avenues in EU and APAC regions. Please consult your preferred card game retailer for availability and more information. Stay tuned for more information!

The crate will also contain items from Marvel, the Alita: Battle Angel movie, Adventure Time, and Naruto Shippuden. This standard crate runs $19.99, but be sure to keep an eye out for working discount codes to get the best deal possible!

How do you feel about the Loot Crate exclusive? Sound off in the Energon Pub forums below!
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby Rodimus Knight » Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:44 am

Well I'm a sucker and will sign up for the cards. I have Metroplex already, might as well get Omega.
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby What's Crackin'? » Fri Feb 15, 2019 9:43 am

Motto: "Sometimes size doesn't matter."
Weapon: Double-Barreled, Armor-Piercing Particle Beam Cann...
I love the TCG but I hate Loot Crate. Hard pass.
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby Rodimus Knight » Fri Feb 15, 2019 12:39 pm

What's Crackin'? wrote:I love the TCG but I hate Loot Crate. Hard pass.


As soon as those cards are in my hand, I'm cancelling.
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby ZeroWolf » Fri Feb 15, 2019 12:44 pm

Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
Weapon: Battle Blades
I'd imagine ebay will be the place to look for the cards once the crate hits (wonder how the rest of the world will get them as this is America only)
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Images of Predaking and Devastator Transformers Trading Card Game Packs from New York Toy Fair 2019

Postby william-james88 » Sat Feb 16, 2019 3:43 pm

Motto: "'till All Are One"
Toy Fair is taking place right now. Directly from the floor at New York Toy Fair 2019, site owner Seibertron is sending us images of the Hasbro display showroom as we prepare the galleries for the site. The Transformers Trading Card Game is there and we can see the pack for Devastator and the packs for Predaking. Devastator's pack features the combiner cards making up the combiner. You can see them below and keep an eye out on this site for more Toy Fair news, galleries and videos.

If you want to know more about these cards and strategies, we have breakdowns here.

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All Cards Revealed For Official Transformers Trading Card Game Wave 2: Rise of the Combiners

Postby ZeroWolf » Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:36 pm

Motto: "My past no longer binds my future..."
Weapon: Battle Blades
Well as we get closer to the release date of the first expansion for the Official Transformers Trading Card Game, Wave 2:Rise of the Combiners, the official Facebook page has now released all the pictures for you to feast your eyes upon! This news came to us by fellow Seibertron user, and voice of both Soundwaveand Shockwave in the hit Bumblebee movie, Jon3.0.

Thats not all though, as fellow Seibertron user and contributor, #Sideways#, has sent in his In-depth analysis of Omega Supreme and a new Bumblebee card!

Over to you #Sideways#!

_____________

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[center]Robo Smasher not included.


If you hadn't guessed already, today... I have a rather large reveal to bring to you guys. Oh yes, my friends, it's Omega Supreme. Now, as a preface I do have to mention that you can technically buy this guy right now, but there is a catch. You see, not only is Omega Supreme a promo card found in this month's Loot Crate, but it is currently only in Loot Crate. Now, say what you will about that, but something that I definitely recommend is that you use the Valentine's Day code -- LOVE50, or in some cases LOVE35 -- to get a solid 35%-50% off your order.

Basically, you get the stuff in the Loot Crate as well as a confirmed Omega Supreme for about $15. But that's not all that's special about this guy -- notice that his set code states "P2", meaning quite literally "Promo 2". What, then, would Promo 1 be? What could possibly be on-par with Omega Supreme?

Nobody knows, but me personally? I wager Trypticon will be stomping his way to the battlefield shortly.

__________CHARACTERS__________


Image

Bee always was a man of Action.


This Bumblebee is really, really good, and it's easy to see why. First off, you have great stats with a considerable HP stat and a very respectable attack stat in both modes, but you're also a Car Leader, which is very neat when you consider Matrix of Leadership's existence. Perhaps even moreso, you can play him with the Starter Bumblebee to do some Matrix Stacking which is an interesting thought if you don't mind not having a slot to use Turbo Boosters or Agility of Bumblebee with.

But those are just his innate effects; I haven't even touched on what really makes him good. You see, the best part about him is his ability to combo Actions. For instance, in his robot mode, you have the ability to scrap an Action to draw two which nets you a lot of cards (considering) without using your Action for the turn. Of course, this is something that happens essentially at the end of your turn, but any draw is generally good draw.

But that's not all.

Not only does Bumblebee draw using Actions, but he also allows you to play a "free" Action during your turn when you Transform him to vehicle mode, the same ability that Mirage has. So, that being said, when you play a Roll Out or a Start Your Engines and have both a Bumblebee and Mirage in robot mode, you have the ability to play two free Actions, then untap one of your Cars. That's monstrous value, and when you consider playing him with other Bumblebee to abuse Agility of Bumblebee, that value gets even higher.

Now, that being said, he won't be in every car list thanks to his 10 Star cost to play him, but standard Car lists might want to make use of him. It would mean dropping the Super Rare Bumblebee, who is rather incomparable to Common Bee outside of having the name "Bumblebee" given that SR Bee can attack untapped characters and at the end of the game turns into something of a beast, but as a cheap alternative, I don't see why you wouldn't want to play him.

There are already debates regarding whether or not it's better to play him over SR Bee, but I find myself on the Super Rare side of the fence after playing Predacons. Being able to attack untapped characters is immensely powerful, especially against decks like Insecticons, Combiners and even Double Prime because you can potentially remove a character that has not attacked yet from the field. Doing this essentially wins you the game, so to say it's powerful is a bit of an understatement.

That being said, being able to draw more and play more Actions certainly makes me swoon. You're likely to have more early game usefulness with Common Bumblebee, while at the end of the game SR Bumblebee will be a monster. I don't really know for sure, of course -- this is all just theorycraft -- but it cannot be denied that a case for either could be made and made quite well.

I suppose it's all up to your personal preference which Bee is for you, but I think it should go without saying that you should probably be playing one in your Car list.


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"Designation: Omega Supreme. Imperative: Chew bubble gum, kick tailpipe. Lacking: Bubble gum."


Something that I've noticed about promo cards from the Transformers Trading Card Game is that none of them seem wholly unplayable. Slipstream has her uses in Planes, Cliffjumper has his own version of Cars to consider, Devastator seems extremely strong out of the gate, Metroplex turned into a top tier deck and even Ironhide, who is oft regarded as one of the worst characters in the game, has a home in the Truck archetype. Or at least he did before Motormaster likely took his spot, but that's another discussion for another day.

Basically what I'm saying is this: Just because they're a promo, don't discount them. Too often promo cards have turned into shiny proxy backs, or even the esteemed position of bulk. Not here. Not with Omega.

Omega seems to have some of the most janky potential in a promo card I've seen yet, and when you consider that he has 19 stars, it's easy to see why. Having 19 stars means that you can play him with a small partner, someone to either help keep heat off him or perhaps increase his damage. Where he has only one defense, his HP and attack are both quite high indeed, and on top of that he's a Tank, where you can abuse Hunker Down to attach everything from a Force Field to a Reinforced Plating. That, and when you consider playing him with Flamewar in an all blue setting, you begin to realize that Omega will begin to have a monstrous amount of staying power.

He won't be the only one to stay on the field forever, though, given his ability in robot mode to take two damage off your opponent's attack directed at your smaller, softer character you play him with. This is an incredible ability, which essentially makes it to where he can let his partner last a lot longer in the battle. I mean, imagine: Your opponent swings at your partner for six. You defend three, and then you move off two with Omega. Your opponent did effectively one damage. Omega is insane at keeping his partners alive, and it really shows.

Omega also has his vehicle mode, which is both a Tank and a Spaceship -- which would be nice if being a Spaceship actually meant something given the decided lack of support for them. Omega also has the neat ability to either deal one damage to something when you flip to his vehicle mode or to draw a card. Drawing a card is usually better, but depending on the partner you chose you might want that extra damage. In fact, that ability pops Skrapnel for enough damage to turn him into a 2HKO instead of a potential 3HKO. Being a Tank and using Hunker Down and Flamewar on the same team, you can start to defend quite a bit of damage.

But that's honestly not my favorite way to play him, even though I am and always will be a fan of Flamewar. Not to betray my Decepticon waifu, I actually like the idea of playing Omega with either Warpath or Acid Storm. Since these anti-keyword characters are both six stars, playing either one with Omega Supreme seems obvious. On one hand, one could dedicate an extremely defensive list with Acid Storm, using Omega Supreme and high blue cards to keep Acid Storm alive and keep Dinobots depressed, but on the other, one could use Warpath in the same way to try and beat Double Prime.

So let's talk about that for a moment. Which one is better, and in a way, isn't playing one redundant if the way to play Omega is defensively?

Well, on one hand Acid Storm seems to lend himself extremely well to that defensive playstyle. Acid Storm turns off Bold, which means your opponent will be doing even less damage to your blue-driven deck, decreased even further given your recycling of Armor with Hunker Down. That, and when you consider that Omega will be doing his part to keep Acid Storm alive by taking two damage for him, you realize that Stormy can pretty well keep himself alive from there with his healing ability. Dinobots will then be dead drawing into their Bold Stacking cards all game, while Insecticon players will be considering dropping Barrage from their list altogether, but there's a problem with that:

Acid Storm sucks against defensive lists.

Against anything that's offensive, Acid Storm chews through like butter, but when you run across something that's going to be trying to outlast you, he falls apart. Conversely, Warpath -- who turns off Tough -- is something approaching the same thing for offensive lists, or at least he should.

You see, Warpath's ability prevents your opponents characters from using Tough, and that also means that these extremely defensive lists like Double Prime, Planes or similar lists are going to be taking a lot more damage than normal. All of their armor in their deck essentially turns into dead cards in their hand, and when you consider that Warpath is a Tank as well as being on the same team as Omega, you realize that he will be able to stay on the field forever to keep it that way.

Double Primes also becomes even more inconsistent given that they will be potentially drawing into dead armor cards all game, and their deck cycling effects won't come into play, making Nemesis' ability even slower than it already is. Simply put, Warpath is priority number one on their list of KO candidates -- so it's a good thing that in a defensive Tank deck with Omega Supreme on the battlefield, your opponent won't be able to do anything about him.

This is why I like Warpath. He doesn't help you "win harder" against Dinobots, which should still be a good matchup given your "Tank"y ability and blue list, but he also helps you against Double Primes which is the best deck in format at the moment. That, and he's a Tank, which means that you can Hunker Down with him as well as Omega, cycling Force Fields and Reinforced Plating all game. He might not have much offensive power -- at all, actually -- but that's what Omega's job is. With an Energon Axe, Omega Supreme has a whopping 10 Attack, which can deal even more damage with Leap Into Battle and other boosting cards.

I definitely think that Warpath is the way to go in terms of six star teammates for Omega, and as for Omega as a whole, I look forward to seeing Omega be the anti-meta pick he was always destined to be. Of course, his smaller friends should always watch out for any Aerialbots on the horizon, but Omega fears nothing but the strongest of foes.


__________BATTLE CARDS__________



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"It was just a fling!"


Jar Ja-- Erm, Wheelie gets his debut in the Transformers TCG by being on a Battle Card, and it's just about as terrible as he is. Fling is just outclassed by pretty much all of its peers. It's a bad healing card, as MEDIC! straight heals more, and even Field Repairs allows you to Plan while still providing an orange pip. Even Emergency Repairs is better because it has a pip and the ability to repair three damage from one of your characters, and Emergency Repairs isn't that great.

So, if its medical license is revoked, then how about its offensive potential? Well, it's not good either. Shall we look at some examples? Plasma Burst deals two damage while still having no pips, "One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall" deals three damage and while having recoil damage you can also use that to your advantage through Energon Axe and Slipstream-esque abilities. Even Inferno Breath deals three damage and has a pip. Sure, it taps one of your characters, but a lot of lists don't really care about that given the new Brave mechanic.

So on all fronts, Fling is lackluster. It just isn't a keeper. It's just a fling; not really marriage material.


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The "let's make that broken card better" starter pack.


Press The Advantage is a keeper; definitely marriage material.

You might say, though, "Now, wait a minute, this only matters with Autobots VS Decepticons!"

You could say that. You could. But when you consider that pretty much every deck plays at least one Decepticon with Metroplex being one of only a few exceptions, and with Wave 2 adding even more good Decepticons, Press The Advantage becomes quite the good card. Let's quickly dive into why.

So, this card both increases your Autobot damage while decreasing Decepticon defense which, mathematically speaking, is essentially another increase in damage. When you consider that most defense stats average out at 2, you end up seeing a boost of essentially +4 damage against Decepticons and a standard +2 against Autobots. That +4 is insane when you consider Optimus Prime -- Battlefield Legend. Not only does he have the ability to flip this card and boost his damage with the orange pip to nine, but he also gets that solid +2 bringing his damage to 11. Worse yet, whomever he attacks will have their defense lowered to zero, making their demise on likely the first turn of the game something of a done-deal.

But that's not all. What, you thought that confirming an OHKO on the first turn of the game without any repercussions like Reckless Charge or One Shall Stand was good enough? Ohohoho, you might want to sit down: This is gonna make you weak in the knees.

Press The Advantage has a green pip so the turn after you use it with Battlefield Legend, you get to use it again. But Optimus is tapped! You can't use him again, right? Well, the whole "choose an enemy Decepticon" thing doesn't have to be with an Active Autobot present, so you get to use it with Nemesis Prime or perhaps an Autobot partner to Battlefield Legend, making them deal more damage as well.

Sometimes, the built-in armor stat is so vital to the survival of the character they have a low HP stat. Just look at Tanks for example. Demolisher has four defense but only seven HP, Darkmount has nine HP but a whopping potential five defense against ranged characters, and so on. That defense is their lifeblood, and when you strip it from them, things start looking dire for them very quickly.

Now, it should be noted that simply doing more damage is essentially what's happening here. Reducing defense is the same thing as doing more damage since more damage "ignores" the armor, but most highly damaging Actions like Reckless Charge have some sort of drawback. This one does not, and that's what makes it so good at dealing that damage. The fact that it has a green pip makes it even better.

As a whole, this card makes me more terrified of being one-hit on turn one by a Battlefield Legend than I already am, and it begs the question about Battlefield Legend: Is he too good? Nothing can compete with the amount of utility Battlefield Legend has, and very few things can compete with the amount of damage he can do out of effectively nowhere. I think it remains to be seen if he will continue to keep that crown given that we haven't seen all of the characters from this set yet, but I don't think he's going anywhere any time soon.


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Remember, kids, it's only legal if you're the Rams trying to get into the Super Bowl.


Tackle is surprisingly good, I'm not gonna lie. Being able to tap your opponent's characters to either open them up to attacks, trigger the "end of turn brawl" where your characters all get to gang up on one of your opponent's characters or deny them the ability to attack is pretty fascinating.

Cars, for one, can make especially good use of this card given their reliance on Turbo Boosters. You can transform Bumblebee -- Trusted Lieutenant and play Tackle to tap one of your opponent's characters, then Turbo Booster him and then still have your Action for turn. Perhaps even moreso, you can use Start Your Engines to transform him, use Tackle for free, then use the Start Your Engines untapping effect to untap the character you just tapped.

Tackle gets kind of crazy when you use it in conjunction with characters that can either untap or in wide lists that have man advantage over your opponents, but something I would also like to touch on is a potential lock combo with Battlefield Legend.

You see, when you flip this card on an attack with Battlefield Legend, you can tap your Nemesis Prime to tap your opponent's Nemesis Prime. If this is the first attack of the "round" with no characters tapped, you're essentially denying your opponent an attack with Nemesis.

And, when everyone resets, you can transform Battlefield Legend and reuse it -- this time tapping Battlefield Legend to tap your opponent's Battlefield Legend. Of course, you're also denying yourself an attack, but it's an interesting thought for the mirror in Double Primes, though to be perfectly honest if you're that worried about the mirror you should probably be playing Enemy Combat Analysis and try tipping the matchup that way.

The Battlefield Legend combo seems interesting, but I don't know if it's any good. Just a thought.


__________CONCLUSION__________


Omega Supreme -- outside of the card himself -- might be one of the weirdest promotional ways to get a trading card I've ever seen, and I am still not sure how I feel about it. I mean, on one hand it's promoting the game, but on the other hand it's a goofy way to get a single card. I dunno, it's strange. But hey, you can't deny that getting a bunch of other cool stuff in your Loot Crate isn't a bad thing.

I'm just sad that I literally just bought a real-life loot box. Curse you, Activision for setting the industry standard! Curse you EA for making it worse!

But in all seriousness, the cards revealed so far have had very few bad cards among them. From Omega Supreme to Devastator to Dreadwing, I can't believe how competent that these decks are. I think that we're about to enter a very diverse metagame, but I don't know if any of them can beat Double Prime at the top.

As always, you can catch me uploading more competitive discussion and deck profiles on my YouTube channel, Nanomachines regularly. If you want to see some of my deck lists, check out my deck profiles!

What do you think? Is Omega Supreme good? Is Bumblebee? Is Press The Advantage as good as I think it is, or am I just living in Narnia? Is Battlefield Legend too good, or does he create a centralized meta approaching some of Pokemon's best years during the SP era? Let me know in the comments below, and as always, I'll catch you next time!

__________

Don't forget to check out our photographs of the TCG products at Hasbros display at this weekends Toy Fair New York 2019!

What do you think of these cards? Will any of these end up in your deck? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby Rainmaker » Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:08 pm

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Weapon: Acid Rainmaker Rifles
But you can fling potentially 5 and 10 damage counters, healing and damaging at the same time

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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby Bed Bugs » Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:12 pm

Motto: "The Bigger The Buffet, The Better!"
Weapon: Black Magic
LootCrate just sent out an email saying February is delayed!
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Omega Supreme Card Delayed
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby Bed Bugs » Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:13 pm

Motto: "The Bigger The Buffet, The Better!"
Weapon: Black Magic
New estimated arrival dates:
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby PerfectVision » Wed Feb 27, 2019 7:14 am

I will ignore promotional card,so,i replace Cliffjumper with Hound and Splitstream with Dirge.
First,i want to rewrite the seekers deck.
Scream11 and Thundercracker or Sunstorm and Dirge +Skywarp\Metroplex

1 X photon\crash\strafing
rollout(scream11 magic with that)
fog(+Rascent)
backupP\surprise\forceF
armedH
Rascent
Areckon\protected
Eaxe thanks to skywarp\grenade
nullray\powerP\height
collatteral\M swapM
trasure
swapP(it reset the side effect)\M escape
bombing\M TBTA
Eenthusiast\rally

THE ADJUSTING:2O\1W\2B\1W\rollout every ten

Very bad against truck\tank,the trucks has recieved a buff with Novastar instead of optimus12,bumpers instead of blast,she attack first and recieve every teamup and cargo,kup in second,he is the only one who flip and use the cybertronium.
Scream13-blitzwing and springer-grapple are duos,nerfed version of the previous ones,yes they are nerf,i will ignore dreadwing.
Bolt X 1
Dcrown\espionnage
rollout
drill
scrapper
Sconsole\crushing size(perfect on springer + noble)
disruptive
disrupt
collatteral
ramming
ancient+unleashed
scoundrel\noble
nullray\shock

THE ADJUSTING:1O\1B X 2\1W

The third magician is acid storm with trhust and mega2
ECA X 1(anti grimlock,sludge is more irrationnal,there should be a limit on his absortion)
tech+supierior(the cannon is out of place)
bravery
evasive
fusion
heavyhand
TBTA
vaporize
handheld
pep
scoundrel
system

4B\1W\tech every ten

A reminder of the two others,they have recieve buff
rollout
escape
grenade
Shockwave-bomb8-ransack
plasmaburst X 1
underhanded
brainstorm
backupB
swarm
computerS
repair(+ransack)
multimission
scrapper
system
debiliting

cosmo-chromia-redalert
salvage X 1
teamup
pep
leap
intelligence
datapad for chromia
leap
thermal
confidence
reinforced
blast

3O or B\1W\rollout every ten with the minority
You may get +3 regulary instead of 2

A new anti combiner deck,very aggressive
bomb11-venin-old kickback\blurr-old optimus7-warpath
the focus fire is very important for the final KO,one every ten with one extra cornered
scrounge+erratic+stealth
always put the scrounge behind upgrade that aren't green
inverted
swindled\confidence
powerP\supercharge
bashing
reckless
pace and improvised+secretD
testify

for every combiner:the enigma every ten and the Rconversion

predaking\superion
they use magic damage
steamroll X 1
piercingB
surprise
intelligence(enigma draw or close)
bodyA\powerP(+I)
trasure
tooth\Areckon
enforcement\cooling
inferno
Eslingshot\Aformation
underhanded\markman
scoundrel\noble

2O\1W\2B\1W

devastator\volcanicus
they are agressive and draw fast,the first will have 4 extra card,so,i write only the second.
? X 1
scrounge+electrified+mining for sludge
spare
testify
new design
confidence
databank
pep
master
bravery

3O or B\1W

menasaur\maximus
they use healing
? X 1
bravery
teamup
pep

piercingB
surprise
defensive
turbo
repair
powerP
ancient
unleashed


tackle(it can ruin grimlock9)
static
fieldR(+Rconversion in particular)
press
ancient
unleashed
Ccommand
ion

maximus use a 1O\1B deck,it took me longtime to understand that.

This wave is not completely usable without the first one,i find that bad but maybe it's capricious.
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby ScottyP » Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:39 am

Weapon: Battle Blades
How are the pulls going for everyone so far on wave 2? I'm 72 packs in and on the struggle bus for Super Rares and have more duplicate Rares than I'd care to, but at least those will be good trade bait. Very oddly, I still don't have one Common - Breakdown.

I can say that there's no way I can keep up doing 4 cases or the equivalent for each wave only to end up without a full set. It feels excessive, like a mobile game that milks the microtransactions as hard as possible because it will only survive by creating gambling addicts, which isn't necessary here imo.
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby william-james88 » Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:43 am

Motto: "'till All Are One"
ScottyP wrote:How are the pulls going for everyone so far on wave 2? I'm 72 packs in and on the struggle bus for Super Rares and have more duplicate Rares than I'd care to, but at least those will be good trade bait. Very oddly, I still don't have one Common - Breakdown.

I can say that there's no way I can keep up doing 4 cases or the equivalent for each wave only to end up without a full set. It feels excessive, like a mobile game that milks the microtransactions as hard as possible because it will only survive by creating gambling addicts, which isn't necessary here imo.

I thought that, like with hockey cards, one case would give you everything albeit with loads of doubles. This sounds pretty intense.
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Re: Wizards of the Coast Transformers Trading Card Game Thread

Postby ScottyP » Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:58 am

Weapon: Battle Blades
william-james88 wrote:
ScottyP wrote:How are the pulls going for everyone so far on wave 2? I'm 72 packs in and on the struggle bus for Super Rares and have more duplicate Rares than I'd care to, but at least those will be good trade bait. Very oddly, I still don't have one Common - Breakdown.

I can say that there's no way I can keep up doing 4 cases or the equivalent for each wave only to end up without a full set. It feels excessive, like a mobile game that milks the microtransactions as hard as possible because it will only survive by creating gambling addicts, which isn't necessary here imo.

I thought that, like with hockey cards, one case would give you everything albeit with loads of doubles. This sounds pretty intense.
The last actual trading cards I did were some Legend of Zelda cards from Enterplay a couple yeaes ago and a case pretty much guaranteed a full set outside of gold foils and box toppers. For whatever reason Transformers cards can't seem to get this concept down. Armada took years to finish off. Despite hundreds of free packs from Robot Kingdom and four ultra cheap clearance cases from BBTS, I still don't have 8 DotM cards. These aren't much different. I get it on the Super Rares and Rares but it feels like "Common" and "Uncommon" mean totally arbitrary things with these particular sets.
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