Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

[ZeroWolf]

You got the starter set already? There's no combiners yet, and I'm not sure how they'll do them outside of special decks like Metroplex. Also the things you mentioned are hardly mentioned outside very specific media basically, Wizards have done the best they could with what they got without bogging the cards down with effects so no one could see the art. I remember complaints about text heavy cards on MTG, things that slow gameplay down are not good at all.

Nautica would have a few things to say about a gun shooting different coloured lasers out depending on faction

[ScottyP]

You got the starter set already? There's no combiners yet, and I'm not sure how they'll do them outside of special decks like Metroplex. Also the things you mentioned are hardly mentioned outside very specific media basically, Wizards have done the best they could with what they got without bogging the cards down with effects so no one could see the art. I remember complaints about text heavy cards on MTG, things that slow gameplay down are not good at all.

Nautica would have a few things to say about a gun shooting different coloured lasers out depending on faction

Example citing a real thing: Skywarp doesn't teleport. That's a staple of him in the few continuities where he has characterization. Would it be so hard to say "Teleports and then causes (what's actually on his card goes here)"? I don't need much so it really strikes me as a game that was made, and then had Transformers art slapped on to it. I would love to be wrong about this long-term!

Picked up the starter set and SDCC promo cards off ebay the day after the promo ones sold out instantly on HTS. Ended up being $5 more than the base price of each plus shipping so I was good with it.

[ZeroWolf]

Ah but I think there will be a skywarp to do that at some point as we've already got two different Primes (and two different screamers).

I think the games got promise and as long as the support is there, it will hopefully be longlasting.

[Dr. Caelus]

Give me Transformers Heroclix and then I'll get excited.

[ZeroWolf]

With only two days to go till the Wizards of the Coast's Official Transformers Trading Card Game hits, the folk over at the Official Transformers Trading Card Game Facebook page have been busy revealing more cards! Following on from yesterday's bonanza. These come to us courtesy of fellow Seibertron user, #Sideways#, who again, shares his thoughts on these.

We start these reveals off with everyone's favourite security officer..

Prowl

The ends justify the means, hm?

Well, it would in Prowl's opinion -- and looking at his abilities, I can't say that I disagree. Remember when I said that cars were pretty interchangeable in their usefulness? This is one of those useful guys. I would even go as far as to say that he's one of the best value for Cars we've seen.

No, he may not hit for high numbers, but through his vehicle mode he gives all of your characters Bold 2.

Yes. All of them.

When you have Cars, you're constantly untapping your characters, which means you're almost always going to be attacking with all three at the end of the turns. Now imagine all of them with base Bold 2, plus whatever Weapon they're already holding. If you don't think that's very good, think again.

But that's not all. His vehicle mode is a Specialist, meaning that he can use Multi-Mission Gear to play free Actions and Multi-Tool to play free Upgrades. But that's not all; his robot mode also has a fantastic tool for Cars to use.

Cars is all about control and outlasting your opponent by forcing them to attack where you want. Your cars are almost always going to be damaged. So when you have Prowl in play, and one of your Cars get finished off, you can use him to heal one of your other Cars so you don't get snowballed out of the game.

Prowl has a lot of value in a very small cost. If you ever want to play Cars, I would heavily consider playing Prowl in your list.

Next up is the last of the seeker trio to be revealed...

Skywarp

Alt mode


Bot mode

"Let's do the Sky Warp agaaaaain! It's just a jump to the left!"

And two steps to the ri... Erm, anyway, Skywarp makes me happy. No, not because you get to look at the top card of both player's decks to gauge your next attack to make wiser decisions, and no, it's not his great defensive ability... It's that he is six stars.

Yes, that seems shallow. But listen, you can play the most expensive Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp all in the same list, and how can I not be happy about that?

But about the character card himself, he's fairly average across the board. Plus, he's one of only a few characters that don't get either a defensive or offensive buff from transforming. He's one of those characters you play because of his innate abilities -- like being a Plane -- and his abilities.

Skywarp's vehicle mode ability is an almost useless one, but it still gives you information you can somehow use. You see, you get to look at the top card of both players decks -- and whereas that sounds good, you have to realize that when you attack AND defend, you discard at least the top two cards of your deck. So you can't use it to plan out your next turn at all, but you can use it to plan out your next attack.

If you see your opponent has an overly defensive card on the top of their deck, you can play a System Reboot to force them to draw it. If you see that your attack is likely to do a lot of damage, you can use a higher damaging character to attack next. It's all about planning, but compared to other abilities, his seems a bit lackluster.

His robot mode, however, has a very interesting ability. You see, you get to redirect damage that would be dealt to him to another character. With eight HP, it isn't that hard to see why you would want to do that, but more importantly, you can use it to set up Bombing Run plays as well as avoid instant death. Remember, if one of your other characters is close to being KO'd, you can sacrifice them instead if Skywarp would be hit with an absurd amount of damage.

He's a cool character that definitely will see play in Planes, but outside of that, not much. He may be a mostly one-trick pony, but surviving is what he's good at, and that's good in my book.

For the last character reveal, we turn to the great inventor of the Autobots...

Wheeljack

"Ever heard of Movie Magic?"

Wheeljack is another amazing card for Cars. He has draw power, utility, survivability and a startling amount of damage potential. Sure, his point cost is a bit steep, but you can play him in a lot of Car lists due to their low point costs. Before we ramble, let's get to the basics.

His stats are kind of average in his vehicle, and above average in his robot mode, but like most characters, the real magic is in his utility. In his Car mode, he is a Specialist that can use Multi-Mission Gear and Multi-Tool, while also being a Car so he can abuse Turbo Boosters and Start Your Engines. His ability also allows you to draw cards and cycle your deck easier, which is awesome anyway, but in a deck like Cars that relies on an Upgrade for its central strategy, this is invaluable.

He also has a startlingly good ability to have Bold 3 if you have a weapon in the Scrap pile. Since you're going to be flipping cards anyway, the likelyhood of that is quite high indeed. Plus, you can use a Grenade Launcher and confirm that you will. Wheeljack then can use another weapon to give himself potentially even more damage potential.

One thing to think about, though, is his lackluster defense stats. If he gets attacked, you probably won't instantly get KO'd, but let's be honest, you'll come close. That's why it's important to attach a Force Field to him when you attack with him, since he'll be likely a high-priority target for your opponent.

All in all, Wheeljack is a good card for Cars lists that want certain layers of support that Cliffjumper and Mirage can't give. Remember how I said they were pretty interchangeable? Yeah, you're starting to see that, right?

The last card for today is an Action card with an effect that could prove groundbreaking.

Brainstorm

Speaking of Wheeljack... And oddly not Brainstorm?

This card is bananas. It's bananas dipped in chocolate, crusted with Pop-Rocks and doused with a can of Four Loko. Very few cards get me this excited. Imagine the potential of this card with Optimus Prime -- Battlefield Legend, or perhaps Multi-Mission Gear! You're playing so many free upgrades that it's just...!

Okay, time to calm down and explain why I'm so exited. Remember how you can only play one Action in a turn? Well, this doubles that. You get to play Inspiring Leadership, draw a Leap Into Battle and play it with no repercussions. You can even use another Brainstorm to indefinitely chain Brainstorms so long as you keep drawing into them.

I adore the implications of this card, and you should, too. It is slightly worrying that, if a deck manages to draw into them effectively, that a potentially broken strategy might arise, but that's just the potential of this amazing card.

All in all, Brainstorm should be in a lot of lists. But something that you should consider is that Brainstorm is only good if you can use it effectively. In a deck without a lot of draw -- or a lot of Actions -- you won't be able to use let alone chain Brainstorm.

It's not for every deck, but man does it make me wish that it was.

Are you gearing up to put these cards down in a game? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews.

[steve2275]

very cool

[ZeroWolf]

Well the 28th September is upon us, and that means, in America at least, Wizards of the Coast's Official Transformers Trading Card Game has launched! To mark the occasion, the last few cards from Wave 1 have been revealed over at the Official Transformers Trading Card Game Facebook page and we are sharing them with you, courtesy of fellow Seibertron user, #Sideways#, who also shares his thoughts on these.

To start with we have the last announced super rare card for the set, Bumblebee/ Legendary Warrior.

Bumblebee/ Legendary Warrior

Another one.

But here's the thing about this Bumblebee: He's Wave 1's second and final Super Rare. A little pretext about Super Rare cards, they have a 1-79 pack pull ratio, making them a one-per-two boxes of product rarity. This is a really, really rare card and should be sleeved or protected as soon as you open him. There's no telling how much value they'll end up having, but with a ratio that low, it's a good idea to protect them.

So, anyway, this card is pretty darn good. He's less of an add-on, though -- he's kind of the start to his own version of the Car archetype. Cars can be pretty interchangeable, but when it comes to having a proper team composition, I find that the strategy should usually revolve around one character. Nemesis Prime is supported by his teammates, Shockwave by his, Megatron is your main damage dealer in Tanks... You get the picture.

BumbleJumper can definitely be one of those archetypes. With the advent of Jazz and Prowl (revealed below), you can fulfill your full team of cars in a lot of different ways with that leftover seven points. It's a very versatile list that will likely have several iterations with several different characters before someone finally figures out the optimal way to play it.

But more on Bumblebee. This little guy is a thick, thick boy and can take a lot of punishment at an astounding 15 HP. The biggest Optimus Prime has 14 HP, for reference. He can also put out a lot of punishment at the end of a game with his loner ability amplifying his already moderate stats to something worthy of the greats. But his vehicle mode has one of the most interesting abilities I've seen thus far, being able to attack characters before they, themselves, have attacked.

This means that you can always pick off the weak links on your opponent's field, and more importantly, can target them down before they get to attack you. Goodbye, Ransack, it was nice knowing that you could have attacked this game. What's better is that he can fully take advantage of Start Your Engines in the latter stage of the game. Allow me to explain. It functions as a way to use that car mode's ability to give him the option to attack something that's untapped, then manually transform him to Robot mode to give himself the boost of damage.

It's a frankly great ability that makes him a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Oh, and he can also carry the Matrix of Leadership, just in case you wanted another reason to like him.

Deadlock

Deadlock gives you very little for his high point cost. I'm not joking, this guy is a big disappointment when it comes to abilities -- even moreso when you consider that he's fighting for space in a Car list.

He's less lackluster in the stat category -- actually having some of the highest when it comes to Car standards -- but it's the fact that he has no utility that makes him a hard sell when compared to the likes of Mirage, Wheeljack and Cliffjumper. Deadlock has draw over them, sure, but Deadlock's ability only activates when you flip to your Car mode, and only when you're going to KO someone.

That's wholly underwhelming, if you ask me, especially when you can compare him to his peers. Wheeljack draws when you Upgrade a car, Mirage can just straight play an extra Action, Cliffjumper draws when you Transform which is as broken as it sounds... He's too much points for too little utility.

I would very much consider him if he costed six stars, but other than that, the only thing this bounty hunter is hunting for is a way to stay out of my bulk bin.

Armed Hovercraft

This card is kinda nuts. Being able to do indirect damage is already pretty good, but being able to spread it amongst your opponent's entire field is another thing altogether. There are a lot of reasons to like this card, and a lot of decks that will be using it. For instance, you can play this in Planes which already likes indirect damage.

You can use it to soften up Tanks, laugh at the foolish Motorcycles that want to try swarming you and try setting up KOs on Cars. But one thing you should watch out for is using this against Planes, who absolutely love it when their characters take minimal spread damage since it allows them to use Bombing Run to both heal them and deal that damage back to you.

Disarm

You'd think this card would be good, wouldn't you? Well, in most cases, you might be right. But in this one? No. There is so much Upgrade scrapping in this game that it is simply better to use those cards, like Drill Arms, Crusher Gauntlets, Ramming Speed... The list goes on.

Why is it better to discard than to put it back into its player's hand? Well, that should be self-explanatory. It is functionally the same for board state, but you force your opponents can't play them back down.

Now, that doesn't mean that this doesn't have its niche uses. Shockwave wants to stack as many cards as possible in his opponent's hand so that he can discard them. But remember, this is an Action, not an Upgrade. That means you're unlikely to play both a Disarm and a Security Checkpoint/System Reboot in the same turn. It's possible, but it's strenuous.

All in all, it's niche, but still kinda bad otherwise.

Disruption

Literally just play Security Checkpoint. It discards both player's Upgrades, but you still get to play yours before you do. This is one of several "budget" versions of other cards that you might notice. Sometimes, though, they have attributes that makes them slightly better than their counterparts in certain instances.

This is not one of those points.

Security Checkpoint is a double blue pip, and that's as rare as it sounds. When I say, "just play Security Checkpoint", I mean it wholeheartedly.

Disruptive Entrance

This, however, I can see getting some play in certain decks. Right now there is no parallel for Disruptive Entrance, meaning it's the only card that can look in your opponent's hand and discard a specific Action.

I honestly think that this card is great for disruption decks, like Shockwave. Keep in mind, though, just discarding a card at random is not damaging -- but when you take away their only draw Action, that game-winning Peace Through Tyranny or their last "Dino-Chomp!" card, they'll be hurting.

Niche, for sure, but I still think it's way more viable than people might give it credit for.

Emergency Maintenance

I'm not really sure what I think about Emergency Repairs. Some part of me thinks that this could be pretty niche, like with the new Bumblebee, but let's be honest here, you could call almost every card in every game "niche" just because it fits in one deck, even if that deck is non-viable.

Emergency Repairs is just one of those cards that you look at and think, "hm, this could be good!" and then you read it a second time and think, "goodness, that's awful" and proceed to go back and forth until you pass out. It's not a bad card, but it's not a good one. It's just kind of... There, you know?

Repair Bay or "Medic!" is likely to suit you better, though I can't say that Emergency Repairs is without merit.

Fusion Cannon of Megatron

Fusion Cannon of Megatron is... An interesting card, mostly in the same vein as Null Ray of Starscream. It seems like a card you would instantly play in any deck that plays Megatron. Sure, there might be instances where you might outside of the Tank archetype, but I'm going to be perfectly honest with you: You don't need it.

Fusion Cannon is just an overglorified Piercing Blaster, which gives you Pierce 3 anyway. Megatron might like it, but no one else will, and when you already have Crushing Treads giving you plenty Pierce, what's the point of playing this card?

Sure, you can tech it in if you want your Tank list to have even MORE Pierce, but it really just seems redundant. Something I've found is that Optimus' Ion Blaster is the best exclusive weapon because it both gives a high damage buff and a defensive buff, making his stats even better than they already were.

Food for thought.

Heroism

I absolutely love this card. It's not for every deck, but let me tell you, this card makes me so happy. Let me explain.

Your opponent can only attack tapped characters, right? That means you should generally attack with someone who can take a hit (more or less cannon fodder) first. This protects your valuable, more expensive characters from damage and gives you a little breathing room.

Heroism allows you to attack with your first, high damaging characters first. You get to attach it to your cannon fodder and fight with your big, beefy characters without any repercussions. Your opponents may be trying to attack your important units, but with such heroic nonsense on your side, your opponent can't attack what they want to attack and that makes this card frankly amazing.

Of course, it can be scrapped and your bold play can -- and will -- be punished, but let's face it, who ever got anywhere without risking something first?

Crushing Size

Like Drill Arms and Scrapper Gauntlet before it, we come across our third and final "scrap x, else draw 1" card. I love these cards, a lot, but this one is sort of a middle child.

One one end, you have Drill Arms, which is the best of the three by far, and on the other end of the spectrum, you have Scrapper Gauntlets which are the worst (But are still good in Tanks!), and right in the "meh" area is Crushing Size.

It gives you Pierce, which is nice, but being able to scrap certain Utilities like Matrix of Leadership and Heroism is pretty handy, much handier than weapon scrapping. The problem is, Scrapper Gauntlets gives +1 Armor and Drill Arms gives you +1 Attack, both being very good, but Crushing Size gives you a measly Pierce 1.

Pierce 1 is terrible. Pierce 2 can have a case made for it, Pierce 3 and up is good, but Pierce 1? If you're having trouble doing one damage in a game, you're not going to win. That's kind of the thing with this guy; if you're playing a lot of Pierce, go ahead and play it. Otherwise, I'd probably look elsewhere for a spot in my list.

Combat Training

Yay, more Arcee artwork!

So, Combat Training is strictly "meh". Tough is decidedly not that great, and Bold 1 is okay when you have cards like Power Sword adding Bold 3 on that, but it seems like you're giving up a useful Utility spot for something approaching a filler card. I could be being a bit harsh on Combat Training, but in the highly competitive Utility space, there are just better cards to play, like Data Pad or Data Bank.

Collateral Damage

This is what I like to call a bad card. Your opponent gets to choose the Weapon they scrap (which will be a Drill Arms that has already outlived its usefulness), and they also choose the card in their hand to scrap. Sure, you're getting rid of an Upgrade attachment and in Shockwave you're dealing one damage, but even then, it's morbidly underwhelming in terms of playability.

But hey, not every card needs to be playable -- not every card has to be -- and I shudder at the thought of every card in a set being absolutely must-picks for a deck. Imagine what kind of horrible metagame THAT would be.

Body Armour

Now THIS is how you use Tough. Tough 3 is very good. No, it's not the best Armor, and you wouldn't play it in Tanks where Armor is kind of a necessity, but in decks that don't really play a lot of Armor, I can definitely see this one taking up a spot in a lot of lists. Sure, it's only attachable on Melee characters, but I can think of very few characters that aren't Melee in at least one of their modes.

Remember though, you're not confirmed to take less damage just because you have Tough. But decks that like taking less damage and cycling their deck a lot like Nemesis or Cosmos, this is a must-pick.

Cargo Trailer

With a name like Cargo Trailer, I was really looking forward to being able to hold more Upgrades. Unfortunately, I was disappointed that it could not fulfill my desire. Then I read the card and was disappointed a second time.

Then I read the card a second time and I was floored by how FREAKING GOOD IT IS. Okay, after some calming breaths, I can explain why this card is so good.

Every instance of this card gives the damage buff, not just one. So, when you have one on your character, it will give +1. Then, when you attach another, you get +2. On each Trailer. This will give you a combined +4. If you attach all three, which is unlikely, sure, but if you do, you have a +9(!?!) damage!

Since each instance counts each instance individually, each card gives its own damage value. That means you can stack a lot of damage potential on your characters surprisingly fast. Optimus Prime, Nemesis Prime, Hound, Ironhide, the list goes on. But all of them want these trailers just as bad as the last.

You just really need to make sure you know who you want to stack them on before you do it.

Computer Sabotage

Perfect Cell anyone? What, no one plays Dragon Ball Super in this place?

This card has great potential, but I doubt its usefulness in this card game. One thing I noticed about TFTCG is that you will have a normal hand size of roughly four to five depending on the deck you're playing. Sure, you're forcing your opponent to discard a couple of cards, but Cell Chain of Dragon Ball fame did the same thing -- and acted on it, by discarding the rest.

If you can figure out how to do that, you'll do great. Your opponents won't be able to upgrade their characters nor play any support Actions, but remember, a lot of cards have innate draw so it would be nigh impossible to keep them down indefinitely.

Definitely has potential, especially with a deck built around it.

Battle Ready

Why?

No, really, why would you play this? You're almost never going to have the chance to attack with more than three characters at once, and you're not going to be able to stack these, so why not just play Leap Into Battle which gives you +3 on a single character?

Again, there are "budget" versions of cards, or cards that are similar but different for the merit of being different. This is one of the latter, I think.

Backup plan

Speaking of, why would you play this when System Reboot exists, which scraps BOTH player's hands and draws four cards each?

Well, for one, you might not want to give your opponent a better hand, or a hand at all in some cases, but let's be honest -- it's almost always better to disrupt your opponent's hand.

Then again, there's no rule in playing both this and System Reboot in the same deck. Have fun drawing your deck, I guess!

Agility of Bumblebee

Agility of Bumblebee is pretty okay, actually. I would definitely play this card in Bumblebee-centric lists. For instance, decks that play the new Super Rare Bumblebee. If you're just casually playing the Starter Bee, I don't know if I would play it, but it's better than most utilities that you can put on the little guy.

Generally, I would rather put a Data Pad or a Matrix of Leaderhip on him, but if you have the extra space, then why not throw one or two of these cards in to supplement your draw? At worst, you can just attach it to someone else to give them another +1 to their damage through their Utility slot.

Aerial Recon

Now, if you know what Scrying is, you'll love this card. Sure, it's slightly worse than Scrying, but this does the job well enough. Planes have a distinct lack of draw power, and this doesn't really help to mitigate that, but it does let you discard the cards you want with your attack flips.

It's a good card, one that gives the Planes a distinct damage mitigation ability that they normally would not have.

Zap

Literally just play Plasma Burst. It's true that Plasma Burst doesn't have a pip and Zap does, but Plasma Burst is lightyears better than this card just because it does two damage instead of a silly one. And in my opinion? Photon Bomb is better than Plasma Burst, so that just shows you how useless Zap really is.

At least it makes a good proxy for Photon Bomb!

(Or Piercing Blaster, actually, since they have very startlingly similar card artwork.)

Swap Parts

Swap Parts isn't that good in many lists, but it's very good where it counts. Trucks, for one, love this card because you can use it to move a misplaced Cargo Trailer. You can use it to move Heroism, as well, when things get a little too hot for your damage soaker. Most decks won't use Swap Parts, but the ones that do love it to bits.

Much like me and that, frankly, adorable artwork.

Strafing Run

This seems like a budget Photon Bomb, and you're kinda right. But that also kind of makes me want to play it in Planes because when used in tandem with Armed Hovercraft, it makes for a Photon Bomb but just for your opponents. Not bad, if I don't say so myself.

Not too much to say about this card otherwise, since in any other deck it is a simply inferior Photon Bomb. Treat it as such, unless you're playing Armed Hovercraft.

Salvage for Parts

Boy, is this card a doozie. Scrapping all upgrades seems to be a stiff cost to repair a little damage, but when you consider the healing as a side-effect, what you end up with is a powerful Scrapping card, especially against Trucks that will be having a lot of Upgrades on the field. Moreover, Tanks also has a love-hate relationship with this card since they don't usually play healing themselves, but hate to see all their hard-earned Upgrades go down the drain.

Salvage For Parts is a card that I can't see putting in too many lists as it doesn't really serve a purpose, but if you're ever thinking how much you hate Upgrades and really like long games, this card is for you.

Reinforced Plating

Just play Body Armor, though? It's not overly bad, of course, it's just the equivalent to Flamethrower and Power Sword. One is better than the other most of the time, but the other isn't necessarily bad, either.

Let me be frank. Sometimes it's good to put in a bit of redundancy in a deck just because you mill yourself when you attack and defend, but that being said, you may find there isn't much room for redundancy in this game's deckbuilding.

It certainly isn't bad, but there are many other cards that you want to play in lists, making it hard to find room for redundancy. Remember, almost everyone has Melee sometime -- but for those who aren't, and want Tough, look no further.

Medic!

I don't really know if "Medic!" has a place in many if any lists. Team Up Tactics does its job but better, Repair Bay does one less but it does a collective heal which is way better than single target in turn based games, even Emergency Repairs does "Medic!"'s job better than it. Emergency Repairs is more situational, of course, so your mileage may vary.

All in all, this is probably not going to find its way into almost any lists. Not unplayable, just is outclassed.

Thermal Weaponry

Now that's a lot of Arcee artwork.

I really like this card in both Dinobots and Tanks. Decks that play a lot of blue cards in general are going to love Thermal Weaponry since it compensates for that potentially lost damage you will face when you flip blue cards on offense.

This mitigates the effects of randomness and I definitely love it. Of course, in Dinobots, you might want a Power Sword anyway, but there's always room for a backup weapon.

Treasure Hunt

So here it is.

This is our only search card in the game. Treasure Hunt discards the top four and puts any Upgrades into your hand, which is okay if you already have a large hand size, but in other cases simply playing a System Reboot would be better to just draw all the cards you're milling.

Of course, sometimes you'll just be drawing four cards as they'll all be upgrades. But I doubt it. There will be just as many times where you'll mill all Actions, but I suppose it comes down to pure deckbuilding at that point.

If your list can support Treasure Hunt well, look no further for the best card in your deck. If you're running a half-and-half Action/Upgrade or more on the Action side, you may want to rethink this card.

Then again, several lists want to use this card anyway, like Nemesis Prime or Cosmos, who don't care what they draw just so long as they burn their deck quickly. It's certainly something to think about when building your deck.

Otherwise, though, I think this card is a very good card that should belong in several lists. But not all lists are created equal.

Swap Mission

Swap Missions is a very, very good card. Now you might say, "Hey, Sideways, isn't this a worse Ready For Action?" to which I would say, "How dare you speak to me. Also, not really."

So what makes this card so good? Well, in a word, Cars. Cars have the pleasure of having the most concentrated amount of untapping abilities in the game. This allows Optimus Prime -- Freedom Fighter and other expensive characters like Nemesis Prime, Megatron -- Living Weapon and Sunstorm to all have the ability to untap.

Optimus Prime in particular can straight up abuse this card as he gets to play it for free if you flip it on his attack flips. Plus, you have Team Up Tactics synergy with both he and his car friends. This is why you would want to play him with Cars. Since Cars have Turbo Boosters (which untaps Cars on an Upgrade) allowing you to Swap Missions with one of your newly untapped Cars to attack with Prime once again.

Swap Missions hasn't seen a lot of hype lately, but I think that they just don't see the potential that Swap Missions has to really become a huge card in several lists that play more expensive characters.

#Sideways# Final Thoughts

So, that's it. That's all the cards in this set, and for the moment, in this game. My fingers just started a workers riot for writing all of this in one sitting and my eyes are rebelling against me for doing it at two in the morning. I have opinions, okay? I just can't help when I can share them!

This game is very fun and has shaped up to be a very well thought-out game. Drew, Matt and all the other developers have done a splendid job at creating an addicting and fun game. I can't wait to get my hands on Metroplex this November, and I can't wait to battle in some tournaments.

But that's where you come in.

Wizards will only support competitive play if there is a large enough desire for it. The playerbase needs to be active enough that Wizards realizes that it is worth their time to hold sanctioned events. To help make this a reality, and if you want to play the game yourself, please, please stop by your Local Game Store and pick up some product. The game needs to thrive in Wizard's eyes if they're going to continue to produce it!

So, that brings me to myself. I do, in fact, have a YouTube channel that I will be using to cover this game. If you would like to check out some deck profiles (and other variety gaming content) in the coming days, don't hesitate to drop by Nanomachines, my YouTube Channel and say hi.

Thanks for reading my ramblings on this card game, guys, especially this one that's so... Well, long. See you in the Energon Pub!

#SW#

Will you be playing this game then? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews.

[Carnivius_Prime]

Legendary Warrior Bumblebee is that nice movie-inspired black striped redeco of Classics Bee. That was a good figure. Definitely my fave of any G1 Bee toy.

[Nathaniel Prime]

Diď anyone else look at Deadlock's altmode and think "Knight Rider"? But seriously, this game is cool. I'd pick it up as soon as I find it

[Immortal Starscream]

Just found these at my local walmart. Had the starter decks and booster packs in a display next to the yugioh cards

[Seibertron]

First announced in late 2017, and showcased at San Diego Comic-Con and GenCon, TRANSFORMERS Trading Card Game is now available for purchase in the United States at major retailers and at Amazon.com!

The TRANSFORMERS Trading Card Game is a fast, easy-to-learn action battling card game designed for two players. Players build a team of TRANSFORMERS character cards and power them up with a customizable deck of battle cards. TRANSFORMERS character cards are huge – character cards in the AUTOBOTS Starter Set and Booster Packs are twice the size of standard playing cards, and can be flipped from bot mode to alt mode and back – and feature premium printing treatment on one of their sides. The deck of battle cards features Action and Upgrade cards to enhance TRANSFORMERS character cards.



Starting today, Transformers fans, tabletop gaming enthusiasts and others can purchase the following:

TRANSFORMERS Trading Card Game AUTOBOTS Starter Set (MSRP $14.99, ages 8 and up) - The AUTOBOTS Starter Set contains cards for two players to begin gameplay, and features OPTIMUS PRIME, BUMBLEBEE, IRONHIDE and RED ALERT character cards. It is now available for purchase at retailers in the United States beginning on Sept. 28, 2018, and in certain other markets later in 2018. The Autobots Starter Set is currently available on Amazon.com.

TRANSFORMERS Trading Card Game Booster Packs (MSRP $3.99, ages 8 and up) - Players can add to their character card teams and battle card decks for full gameplay with Booster Packs. Each Booster Pack contains 1 TRANSFORMERS character card and 7 battle cards from a pool of 40 character cards and 81 battle cards. Starting today, Booster Packs are sold separately and available for purchase at retailers in the United States, and in certain other markets later in 2018. The Booster Packs are currently available on Amazon.com.

Thank you to Hasbro for sending Seibertron.com a sample of these exciting new products!

[chuckdawg1999]

Does anybody know if there's a one player option, like solitaire?

[DeathReviews]

The 'super rare' card is Bumblebee? The most common Transformer of all? They need to change the stats.

BUMBLEBEE:

Play this card to annoy every other player in the game and make them sick of looking at it. Flip card to make every other character card on the field bored to death.

Flavor text: "What? HIM again???"

[WreckerJack]

Does anybody know if there's a one player option, like solitaire?

I'm sure you can do that if you have 2 decks. I have done that with MTG and Yugioh back in the day. It's good to find holes in your strategy or weaknesses in your deck.

[chuckdawg1999]

Does anybody know if there's a one player option, like solitaire?

I'm sure you can do that if you have 2 decks. I have done that with MTG and Yugioh back in the day. It's good to find holes in your strategy or weaknesses in your deck.

It's more about I don't have friends to play with and I kinda wanna justify buying this and the robotech game

[ZeroWolf]

The 'super rare' card is Bumblebee? The most common Transformer of all? They need to change the stats.

BUMBLEBEE:

Play this card to annoy every other player in the game and make them sick of looking at it. Flip card to make every other character card on the field bored to death.

Flavor text: "What? HIM again???"

Actually he's the second super Rare with the first being Nemesis Prime

[TheForgottenTaxi]

So I haven't played yet, but I have bought the starter and some packs, and I have to say: This is a pretty shoddy product rollout.

The "two-player starter" set really strains credulity. It contains enough cards for ONE player to play the actual game -- 25 stars worth of bots, and 40 battle cards -- but just says, "Hey, to learn the game, just split these bots and cards between two people!" I've never seen a CCG do this before -- you don't see Magic release a single deck as a "two-player" product.

What's more there's only the one starter. So if you and a friend want to start playing the real game right away, you either both play the starter and have to play mirror matches, or at least one of you needs to buy a bunch of packs and pray. You need to buy 6 packs ($24) to get the minimum needed battle cards to play -- and that's assuming you can play everything you open. But of course, a lot of cards have narrow applications.

You would think the natural thing would be to release an Autobot starter and a Decepticon starter -- or an actual freaking 2-player starter that actually had 2 player's worth of cards. I'm sort of baffled as to why they wouldn't do that.

[ZeroWolf]

The lack of a con deck is weird but there is the metroplex theme deck coming...in fact hasbro seems to be weird with all the Decepticon releases when you think of it, I mean we've only seen one con in the siege line.

[#Sideways#]

So I haven't played yet, but I have bought the starter and some packs, and I have to say: This is a pretty shoddy product rollout.

The "two-player starter" set really strains credulity. It contains enough cards for ONE player to play the actual game -- 25 stars worth of bots, and 40 battle cards -- but just says, "Hey, to learn the game, just split these bots and cards between two people!" I've never seen a CCG do this before -- you don't see Magic release a single deck as a "two-player" product.

What's more there's only the one starter. So if you and a friend want to start playing the real game right away, you either both play the starter and have to play mirror matches, or at least one of you needs to buy a bunch of packs and pray. You need to buy 6 packs ($24) to get the minimum needed battle cards to play -- and that's assuming you can play everything you open. But of course, a lot of cards have narrow applications.

You would think the natural thing would be to release an Autobot starter and a Decepticon starter -- or an actual freaking 2-player starter that actually had 2 player's worth of cards. I'm sort of baffled as to why they wouldn't do that.

If you read the insert, it states that the "two player option" for the starter kit is taking the included deck and cutting it in half, with both players taking two of the four characters. Dragon Ball does the same thing with their promotional starter decks. It's to get a feel for the game, not to build a competent, powerful deck for both players.

Pokemon does the same thing. They have theme decks that are frankly awful in every regard, but they give people an idea of what the game is and how it plays. Obviously you can't build a proper, competent deck with a theme deck (and they continue to be a meme in the Pokemon community) but they're great starts to collections.

If you'd like to play what you'd like, I recommend proxying a deck. You can find scans on their Facebook page and you can print them out there.

If you'd like a list, check out my deck profile on Tanks!

[WreckerJack]

Does anybody know if there's a one player option, like solitaire?

I'm sure you can do that if you have 2 decks. I have done that with MTG and Yugioh back in the day. It's good to find holes in your strategy or weaknesses in your deck.

It's more about I don't have friends to play with and I kinda wanna justify buying this and the robotech game

That's fair. I have the same dilemma. I'm probably going to just collect the cards rather than play the game since I am not sure if anyone else plays. I'd consider asking around at your LGS or if you have a local TF convention make some friends there to play the game with.

[chuckdawg1999]

Does anybody know if there's a one player option, like solitaire?

I'm sure you can do that if you have 2 decks. I have done that with MTG and Yugioh back in the day. It's good to find holes in your strategy or weaknesses in your deck.

It's more about I don't have friends to play with and I kinda wanna justify buying this and the robotech game

That's fair. I have the same dilemma. I'm probably going to just collect the cards rather than play the game since I am not sure if anyone else plays. I'd consider asking around at your LGS or if you have a local TF convention make some friends there to play the game with.

Yeah I don't have either of those, besides I heard these CCG are winner takes the losers cards and with the prices being what they are, that's something I'd shank a fool over.

[ZeroWolf]

Does anybody know if there's a one player option, like solitaire?

I'm sure you can do that if you have 2 decks. I have done that with MTG and Yugioh back in the day. It's good to find holes in your strategy or weaknesses in your deck.

It's more about I don't have friends to play with and I kinda wanna justify buying this and the robotech game

That's fair. I have the same dilemma. I'm probably going to just collect the cards rather than play the game since I am not sure if anyone else plays. I'd consider asking around at your LGS or if you have a local TF convention make some friends there to play the game with.

Yeah I don't have either of those, besides I heard these CCG are winner takes the losers cards and with the prices being what they are, that's something I'd shank a fool over.

Who did you hear that off these days no one does that, magic had some cards to that effect on its early days but that was to balance effects out.

[#Sideways#]

Yeah I don't have either of those, besides I heard these CCG are winner takes the losers cards and with the prices being what they are, that's something I'd shank a fool over.

Yeah, that's called a crime. XD

Whoever told you that has literally no idea what they're talking about.

[chuckdawg1999]

Yeah I don't have either of those, besides I heard these CCG are winner takes the losers cards and with the prices being what they are, that's something I'd shank a fool over.

Yeah, that's called a crime. XD

Whoever told you that has literally no idea what they're talking about.

That's what I heard back in the day about Pokémon and magic. Glad to know it was false.

[ScottyP]

The character cards are bending in the southern humidity like a willow tree. I am disappointed they did not release appropriate sized protective sleeves for these alongside the sets. Not that I didn't order some off the internet, but I can still gripe about it.