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It's time to properly introduce Rook and Blot into the roster with this weekend's event Welcome Party. Read all the details on their powers and abilities below and log in this weekend for a chance to win these cool new bots. Share your triumphs and tragedies with the Seibertron crew in the forums and good luck on the battle field!
New Bots Rook & Blot live this week!
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!
A Top 500 Alliances Leaderboard this weekend includes the arrival of new Bots: Rook & Blot! Welcome Party
Fight in this event to unlock a 2, 3 or 4-Star Rook or Blot and get:
- Up to 2,500 Premium Shards
- Up to 1,500 3-Star Shards
- Up to 800 4-Star Shards
- Up to 2,500,000 Energon
- And Bonus XP per Battle
Want more?
Go for the extra mile and unlock extra Spark from the hardest tiers and rank among the TOP 500 Alliances for guaranteed rewards! Event type: Alliance Leaderboard Start Date: 28/06/19 10:00 UTC End Date: 01/07/19 10:00 UTC Prestige Allowed: None (1) Bonus Experience: Triple XP! How to Participate?
Join an Alliance and reach HQ Level 4!
Tap the Event button!
Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
Collect prizes!
Continue to earn Battle Points!
Secure your rank on the Event Leaderboard!
Win amazing guaranteed prizes!
Alliance Leaderboards
Alliance Leaderboards allow you to earn Battle Points after redeeming all of your tiered prizes. Leaderboard Prizes are awarded based on your rank in relation to other Alliances in the game. => Only the top 40 alliance members Battle Point contributions will count towards your Alliance’s Leaderboard score.
Leaderboard Prizes are distributed at the end of the event and may take some time to process and appear. Event Battle Zones Totaliser Prizes Leaderboard Prizes New Bots: Rook & Blot
Ready your team for the two newest recruits to join the Earth Wars - Rook & Blot!
There will be a challenge battle available later this week for you to take our newest Protectobot and Terrorcon for a test ride!
One of the most instinctive strategists in the Autobot Earth forces, Rook's analytical/tactical mind belies his tendency to sometimes break ranks and charge headlong into the oncoming enemy forces.
Not that Rook has much to fear from incoming fire. His durabyllium armor plating can withstand punishing blasts and hold up under crushing weight, and normally at the forefront of his mind is pulling some injured party from harm's way, a feat he accomplishes by switching to his equally armored vehicle mode and utilizing his powerful hydraulic claw. It's all in a day's work for this fearless and selfless Protectobot.
Blot is a mess. No two ways about it. Emotionally and physically.
His unfortunate habit of leaking bodily fluids (oil, hydraulic and Primus knows what else) exacerbates his already low self-esteem, and so he presents a generally apathetic instinct to hygiene generally.
It doesn't help that Blot is unintelligent and slovenly, and prone to suffer breakdowns from lack of fluid. But he is very strong, loyal and agile, his piercing claws enabling Blot to climb virtually any vertical structure, making him overall useful for the Terrorcons to have around. In robot mode he's armed with a slime gun that fires a stream of odious corrosive liquid. Explosive Decoy
Place a decoy that has 65% of your Health and attracts defences. When destroyed, it explodes dealing damage in a large area. Only one decoy can be active at a time. Bug Fixes / Updates
The following bug fixes/updates are coming to the game soon.
Raid Beam Laser may now retarget between each attack, making abilities such as Pipes’ Defensive Rush work on them.
The HQ equipped with the Point Defense Beam or the Omni-Flamer core could target Slash/Rippersnapper even in their stealth mode. Slash and Rippersnapper critical hit in their ability mode was dealing less damage than announced in the ability description. We have increased the damage dealt in order to match the ability description.
We have fixed an issue where Huffer/Lockdown dying was killing Blaster/Soundwave's minions.
Find out which bots are joining the Earth Wars at the end of the current saga!
The Weakest Link
Take part in this weekend's event to win:
- Up to 30 Tool Boxes
- Up to 3,000 Prime Core Shards
- Up to 30,000 Spark
- And Bonus XP per Battle Event type: Individual Totaliser Start Date: 21/06/19 10:00 UTC End Date: 24/06/19 10:00 UTC Prestige Allowed: 30 Bonus Experience: Triple XP! How to Participate?
Reach HQ Level 4
Tap the Event button!
Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
Collect prizes!
Event Battle Zones Totaliser Prizes
* Each Tool Box contains one of the following: Prime League: Coming Soon!
At last the new top tier war league - Prime League - will go live this Thursday with a content release. Prime League is no joke, only reserved for our very top and most skilful alliances! If you lose one battle in Prime League you are immediately demoted back to Cybertron League.
Minimum alliance members to join Prime League is 30.
Rewards for winning a war in Prime League:
1,000 Premium Shards
30,000 Spark
400,000 Alloy
400,000 Energon
Prime League Effects Prime League has special effects that apply to defense buildings to make the war there a bit more challenging. The effect at launch will be the following:
All defense buildings get a 5% increase to DPS New Bots: Rook & Blot
One is a fearless Protectobot and the other is a vile Terrorcon, Rook & Blot are joining the Earth Wars at the end of the current saga!
One of the most instinctive strategists in the Autobot Earth forces, Rook's analytical/tactical mind belies his tendency to sometimes break ranks and charge headlong into the oncoming enemy forces.
Not that Rook has much to fear from incoming fire. His durabyllium armor plating can withstand punishing blasts and hold up under crushing weight, and normally at the forefront of his mind is pulling some injured party from harm's way, a feat he accomplishes by switching to his equally armored vehicle mode and utilizing his powerful hydraulic claw. It's all in a day's work for this fearless and selfless Protectobot.
Blot is a mess. No two ways about it. Emotionally and physically.
His unfortunate habit of leaking bodily fluids (oil, hydraulic and Primus knows what else) exacerbates his already low self-esteem, and so he presents a generally apathetic instinct to hygiene generally.
It doesn't help that Blot is unintelligent and slovenly, and prone to suffer breakdowns from lack of fluid. But he is very strong, loyal and agile, his piercing claws enabling Blot to climb virtually any vertical structure, making him overall useful for the Terrorcons to have around. In robot mode he's armed with a slime gun that fires a stream of odious corrosive liquid.
Their Special Abilities will be revealed in the next week’s newsletter! Bug Fixes / Updates
The following bug fixes/updates are coming to the game soon.
Slash & Rippersnapper could be targeted by Raid buildings during their abilities.
The Slowdown Photon Silver Core now changes the beam laser colour from orange to blue (now similar to the Bronze and Gold Core).
Previously, Lugnut received the squad effect of the Warrior cores. Since he is of the Special Class, he is now solely affected by the effect of the Special Class Squad Core.
Previously, Elita-1 received the squad effect of the Warrior and Special Class cores. Since she is of the Special Class, she is now solely affected by the effect of the Special Class Squad Core.
5* Perceptor and Bombshell’s ability cost increase is now 2 instead of 3, in line with the other star level.
Greetings and Happy Wednesday fellow Seibertronians! By the almighty amalgamations of Nexus Prime it's time for a Team Up! Direct from Space Ape we have the rundown of this weekend's event, Team Up! offering all manner of amazing alliance rewards. New G1 power ups, new league titles, and of course, the TITANS!
If you played last weekend's anniversary event you no doubt earned a few bot power ups. Well now it's time to put them to the test.
Grab your mobile devices and log in this weekend and play a few rounds with your digital Transformers collection.
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong! 5 Star Shards event this weekend! And find out what Prime League is! Team Up!
Gather your Alliance members and take part in this weekend's event to win guaranteed prizes:
- Up to 600 5-Star Crystal Shards
- Up to 900 4-Star Crystal Shards
- Up to 1200 3-Star Crystal Shards
- Up to 3000 Premium Shards
- Up to 3,000,000 Energon and Alloy
- Up to 30,000 Spark Event type: Alliance Totaliser Start Date: 14/06/19 10:00 UTC End Date: 17/06/19 10:00 UTC Prestige Allowed: 60 Bonus Experience: Triple XP! How to Participate?
Reach HQ Level 4 and Join an Alliance!
Tap the Event button!
Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
Collect prizes!
Event Battle Zones Totaliser Prizes New War League: Prime League
Later next week we will be introducing a new war league Prime League above the current highest Cybertron League.
This league is a bit different than the current leagues. The difference is that in every war battle in this league, special effects will apply to the defenders' buildings. Effects that can vary from an increase in HP or DPS to increased speed, or range of the defences.
The League effects will usually change every other month and will be clearly displayed in the war declaration screen and in the Battle/Scouting screens.
We will also be tracking the war wins for Prime league separately, to highlight how alliances are handling this new challenge and who is the best at it. You will be able to see these wins in the Alliance Info Page and also as a new field in the Wars Won leaderboard.
We are also planning on having a seasonal tally and highlight which alliances have won the most Prime League wins during that season. These seasons will match the change of League effects and will be clearly communicated in advance before they start. More details on this later. League Promotion
Since we know that this additional challenge is not for everyone, we will not be automatically promoting alliances to this new League after winning in Cybertron. Instead, the Alliance's officers will get the option to promote to Prime League after winning a war in Cybertron.
In the Alliance war screen, officers will now see the above, with information of the Prime League’s effects and the option to Promote or continue fighting in Cybertron. This promotion option will only be available to go into Prime League for now. The rest of the leagues will still use the automatic promotion system based on wins.
The new Prime League will go live next Thursday on the 20/06! War History
With the newly updated war league, we also wanted to bring a much-requested feature. The ability to check the war history of the alliance.
On the Alliance info screen for each alliance, you will get an extra War History tab. In this tab you can check the wars this alliance has taken part in the last 15 days, with details about the opponents and which league the war took place in.
Also if this is your own alliance, you will be able to tap on each war and open the alliance leaderboard for that war with detailed information of member attempts and scores. This feature will be available this Thursday with the content release.
For more details on this new League join us in our Stream this Thursday! Titans: Hall of Fame
The great cityformers known as The Titans bounded into Raids last week and you rose to the occasion! We hope that you enjoyed the introduction of these devastating new foes as an exciting new addition to Raids!
Congratulations to the alliances below who exerted the least amount of attacks to take down the mighty Titans and have earned a spot in our Titans: Hall of Fame! Autobots
1 - Prime Union
2 - Primus
3 - TF Cybertron Ops
4 - TF ILLICIT OPS
5 - PRIME DINOBOTS Decepticons
1 - Scorched Earth
2 - SCORCHED MOON
3 - Darkness Within
4 - Scorched Unicron
5 - stonecutters New G1 Power Cores
Starting later this week, the following bot duplicates have a chance to drop the newest G1 Power Cores.
Each of these G1 Power Cores will give them a classic look and unique abilities! G1 Laser Optimus & G1 Armada Megatron:
Give these G2 Leaders an exclusive G1 look! Also increases their Special Ability damage and generates a shield which absorbs 20% of all damage for 15 seconds. G1 Silverbolt:
Boosts Regular Attacks damage and every 20 seconds your attack stuns your target for 5 seconds. G1 Drag Strip:
Increases Special Ability damage and on attack, makes a decoy that has 30% of your health.Triggers every 15 seconds. G1 Skydive:
Damage Reduction from Laser Turrets and Beam Lasers. While attacking, every 15 seconds you disappear in a halo and restore 7% health. G1 Nightbird:
Increased health. While attacking, every 15 seconds you do a retreating backflip and restore 7% health. G1 First Aid & G1 Hook:
Increases the power of your Heal Beam and gives you a 25% Move Speed boost.
The challenge battle to get a taste of these new G1 Power Cores will be available via in-game newsfeed! Under investigation
Here are the issues reported that we've been investigating:
Game will sometimes crash after doing a raid attack
This issue is caused by using the last boost of a certain type in a previous battle and then immediately after that try to scout a base. The boost will still be available in the next battle that you go in and the game will crash you out at the end of that battle, invalidating your attack.
Slash/Rippersnaper is following OP bots, that are not near them after coming out of their ability
Reports on Skylynx & Blitzwing not able to do combo an explosion when a target is still under the effect of Plasma Shroud
We have seen mention of this issue but would like to get some more reports so that we can investigate.
These are just some examples of the reports that we've received from you and we continue to work hard to improve your experience with the game every day.
We would like to thank you for your time and patience, and if you have any issues to report, please get in touch with us here: support@transformersearthwars.com. Alternatively, you can reach out to us in game via Menu > Community > Contact Support. Bug Fixes
The following fixes went live!
Star Saber & Deathsaurus didn’t cause damage with their ability to Shock towers and the Shield Generator
This issue was fixed on Monday with a content push
5 star Rodimus Prime’s special Ability VFX now looks the same as other level’s.
This issue was fixed on Monday with a content push
Bots would sometimes walk away from buildings after doing one attack.
This just in Transformers Earth Wars fans! The Titans are here! And to celebrate their arrival and the third anniversary of Transformers Earth Wars Space Monkey is offering a link to plenty of free two star shards and sparks. If you receive these notification e-mails you should be able to access the link in this current notification; just close out your game, click the link, and follow the instructions for your freebies. This weekend's event appears to be a team totalizer so if you're not in an alliance now might be a good time to join one, if only for the event. Take a look below at all the amazing prizes you can win and some of the new five crystal warriors coming our way! Remember to sound off out loud with all your favorite cartoon and movie quotes while you're playing, I mean, what's the point otherwise?
Come on fellow Seibertronians, get in there and wreck n' rule and make those other players drool!
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!
The Titans have finally arrived! A celebratory Anniversary Gift is here to claim! Generation Next
Take part in this weekend's event to win:
- Up to 4,000,000 Alloy & Energon
- Up to 30,000 Spark
- Up to 2,000 Premium Shards, 1,000 3-Stars Shards and 700 4-Star Shards
- A NEW Prime Avatar!
- And Bonus XP per Battle
Want more?
Go for the extra mile and unlock Final Thrust Crystals from the harder tiers, each one containing up to 100,000 Spark or Power Core Chips!
Event type: Individual Totaliser Start Date: 07/06/19 10:00 UTC End Date: 10/06/19 10:00 UTC Prestige Allowed: None (1) Bonus Experience: Triple XP!
How to Participate?
Reach HQ Level 4!
Tap the Event button!
Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
Collect prizes!
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
*Usable for both factions
**Each Final Thrust Crystal contains one of the following:
3 Year Anniversary
Happy 3rd Anniversary, Transformers: Earth Wars!
To thank you for being a part of our player community and celebrating this special moment with us, we would like to provide you with the below loot link to show our appreciation for standing by us all these years: http://bit.ly/tfew3years
The loot link contains the following:
- 3,000 Spark
- 3,000 Premium Shard
- 5 Bronze Power Core
- 1 Silver Power Core
◆ You must be on your mobile device with the game installed to redeem the link.
◆ Please make sure to fully close the app before tapping the link above.
◆ The items via the link can be redeemed only once per player.
◆ The expiry date on this link is 30/06/2019, Sun 10:00 pm UTC.
◆ If you can’t redeem the link, please check this troubleshooting guide for additional steps.
We are also excited to announce the winners of our Golden Alliance Name special event. The following 6 alliances have been awarded a Golden Alliance Name effective immediately:
Germanguardians2
Grindbots40
AVAMPOSTO G1
Wrath of Hades
Evil Order
Peaceful Tyranny
Congratulations!
Titans have arrived!
The behemoths known as Titans have landed on Earth! The Titans are currently live in Raid battles!
A Challenge Battle facing off against the Titans is available via an in-game newsfeed now.
We have also introduced a new battle boost inspired by the Titans ability! This battle boost will be a part of the reward in the Titan Raids event, Titan Beam! Titan Beam: Summon the Titans power with this beam dealing huge amounts of damage (3,060 for HQ16) in a large area.
Note: The amount of damage changes depend on the booster level (MK1,2 & 3) and HQ Level. Check out our wiki for the stats.
As we mentioned in last week’s newsletter, there will be a Hall of Fame in the newsfeed following the event listing which alliance used the least amount of attacks to take down The Titans! New 5-Star Legacy Crystals
Our newest lineup of powerful 5-Star bots has hit the store, but don’t fret if you haven’t finished collecting all of the previous rotation!
The following 5-Star bots were added to the shop as a 5-Star Legacy Crystal yesterday: Elita-1 & Lugnut Blaster & Soundwave Sludge & Straxus Prowl & Brawl Ratchet & Hook Shanix Store Update
The Shanix Store rework is at last completed! The update to the store went live yesterday. The following changes have been made:
Squad Core Chip added to the store
Power Core Chips have been removed as they have not been very popular
Under investigation
Here are the issues reported that we've been investigating:
Long loading times during the first boot after a fresh install or a version update. Loading time goes back to normal after a restart.
Slash & Rippersnapper tend to chase Outpost Bots after finishing their abilities even though those Bots are far away.
Inspiring charge effect doesn’t apply to all bots.
We are investigating why in some instances the effect doesn’t apply.
These are just some examples of the reports that we've received from you and we continue to work hard to improve your experience with the game every day.
We would like to thank you for your time and patience, and if you have any issues to report, please get in touch with us here: support@transformersearthwars.com. Alternatively, you can reach out to us in game via Menu > Community > Contact Support. Bug Fix
The following bug Fix is coming to the game soon!
Sky Lynx and Blitzwing can’t do a second explosion after igniting a target.
In order for Flamestrike to cause an explosion, the target needs to be under the effect of either Cloud or to be Ignited (Blue flame). Due to the bug fix of making the duration of ignition be the stated 6 secs, the second explosion will only be possible when SL or BW are close to the target. Exploding the Shroud has not been affected and it should be possible to chain a number of explosions while the Shroud is active.
"UPDATE- Although this story originally posted Monday June 3rd, as of today both Metroplex and Trypticon are active in Alliance play! If it's been a while since you've logged in now might be a good time to hop back on just to try and see if you can topple one of these mighty mechanical mountains."
Transformers Earth Wars mobile game is ready to very literally take things to the next level! Thanks to Youtube member Skywarp Greer we have his view of his beta test of the mighty Titan who don’t mind fightin’, Metroplex! And thanks to Youtube member Engineer Hoist we have a view of his beta test of the one mighty beast who turns your city into a feast, Trypticon! Although the factors mentioned in the videos are subject to change they do both note a repayment of ability points for every life bar taken out – how many life bars there are for each appears to vary, and also changes depending on whether they are in robot or city/base mode. Both have an attack range that stretches across the whole board and appear to be a far more formidable force than you’ve encountered in your playing before. It does not appear clear what will trigger robot mode versus base mode on these giants, but it is going to be a feature exclusive to Alliance raids so you may not be seeing these all the time, but it will surely be worth the wait. Skywarp Greer mentions he believes these to be up and ready sometime next week, possibly Tuesday or Wednesday. Ready to jump back into the game to check these beasts out? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
Competitive is here! Let me say it again, louder, for the people in the back who can't hear it:
COMPETITIVE IS HERE!
The simple fact is, the lack of a competitive play is the sole reason that a whole lot of people didn't want to get into it. In fact, a personal friend of mine who regularly plays at a worlds level in Pokemon spoke to me about it, stating that he liked the game and where it was going, but he hated the fact that he couldn't put his knowledge to the test.
The announcement of competitive play is by far the best announcement that I've ever seen for the Transformers Trading Card Game. It means that people will be able to put their skills to the test, it means that people won't be afraid that the game will no longer be supported in the long run. But perhaps the biggest realization of this is the advent of the competitive rule set.
For a long time now, members of the community have been speculating at a competitive rule set. For instance, time limits, judging staff, tournament locations and most important of all, the presence of a sideboard.
Sideboarding in a Trading Card Game, if you didn't know, is the act of having an "extra deck" that you can swap or add cards to your deck in between games. This allows you to put cards into your deck for specific matchups, including cards like Dampening Field or Infiltrate against certain offensive matchups, or Pierce cards against defensive matchups. Of course, it's not set in stone what cards are the best to sideboard as there is a bit of overlap, and certain matchups almost require you to mainboard certain counter cards from sheer deck popularity alone, but that's neither here nor there.
The real juicy bit to the sideboarding is that you can include a character that is 20 stars or less to swap into your lists. For instance, you can put an Acid Storm into your sideboard and swap him out for a similarly priced character in your active list just in case you're afraid of things like Insecticons, Dinobots or Firecons. Moreover, if you happen to be afraid of facing infinite combo decks, you can sideboard in Torox.
But that isn't the only thing that competitive entails. In fact, you might have read about the Energon Invitational in the competitive announcement! Aside from the monetary prizes that I'm sure all of us would greatly appreciate, the juiciest prize of them all is the coveted chance to design your own card to be featured in the card game. Qualifying for the Energon Invitational is pretty easy, considering you just need to win a qualifying local tournament to do so, but if you want some more bang for your buck, there's the GenCon Open as well as the Origins Open -- both of which having large prize pools in their own right.
But that's not all of the info we need to chew through today -- we've got more! This time, we have new character cards to go over as well as quite a few Battle Cards. Let's dig in!
CHARACTER CARDS
"A runabout! I'll steal it -- AND NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW!"
The Battlechargers are here, and boy are they really, really weird. I have thoughts on them as a whole because they're somewhat inseparable considering their innate synergy with each other, so check out Runamuck's profile below where I go into both of them. This will just go over Runabout's stats so that you have context when I do talk about the whole of them.
Runabout has moderate offensive and defensive stats in both modes, but the big problem with him is that he, like Runamuck, has 10 Stars as their cost. This makes playing him as a single unit add-in to other lists nigh impossible, not even counting his synergy with Runamuck. The good part about him, in particular, though, is that his most offensive mode is in his alternate mode. That means that cards like Turbo Boosters, Start Your Engines and other things like them will be far easier to use and take full advantage of.
You really don't want to be put in a scenario by Start Your Engines where you have to transform, untap then transform again. You'd much prefer to use that transformation on someone else, like Stakeout who is a good possible partner for the Battlechargers. Now, that one extra offense in his car mode doesn't make him much more appealing as a standalone unit in one of your teams, but let's be fair here, you won't want to play him outside of the Battlecharger composition anyway.
To find out why, let's take a look at Runamuck as we finish our thoughts about Runabout as well as the entire Battlecharger composition in general.
Rarely are things so simple as black and white.
Runamuck is definitely the better between the two Battlechargers. Being a Specialist, you can take good advantage of things like Multi-Mission Gear to use Start Your Engines as well as Rapid Conversion to make the most of their transformation effects. If you haven't guessed by now, both Battlechargers have similar -- yet opposite triggering -- abilities that flip each other to the other's modes.
This allows you to activate the other's abilities roughly every turn. For instance, if you start the game, you can transform Runamuck and draw a card, simultaneously flipping Runabout to robot mode as well. That way, when the next turn comes around, you can flip Runabout back to alternate mode, heal off a little bit of damage that Runamuck took and swing with Runabout's corresponding mode.
Now, with that rhythm in mind, you have a few options to supplement that. For instance, you have access to Rapid Conversion, Start Your Engines as well as teching in Stakeout, who has a Rapid Conversion on command. You can also use cards like Brainstorm and Multi-Mission Gear to play multiple of them during your turn in order to flip your characters even more than you already are. That way, when you flip your Battlechargers, you can flip them again and again, reactivating their abilities multiple times in a turn.
But the big question is this: Is that worth it?
Well, in full Standard play? No. I don't think their cost justifies their damage, and Runabout's healing effect doesn't heal enough to swing any matchups. However, since they are common characters, you can definitely run them in limited draft or Turbo play to positive effects -- after all, they are consistent characters that can draw you a solid amount of cards that can heal off most of certain limited decks and their damage.
After all, it is the set of blue/black, and trust me, things are going to be pretty slow going in certain "Turbo" games if you choose to run these guys.
"Man, I'm good!"
Well Sideswipe said it himself, didn't he? I think that Sideswipe has a lot -- and I mean a lot -- of potential. Let me show you how by going into a bit deck theorycrafting with a brainchild I had earlier that dealt with Cliffjumper: Matchbox.
You can use Sideswipe with a Stealthiness on him or a Bravery on a Micromaster, attacking with him and tapping a Micromaster each turn to supplement his expenditure and his damage. That way, when you do get attacked, your opponent will be forced to attack into a Micromaster and when they're OHKO'd (you may be blue/black but you're not invincible), Sideswipe gets to untap and attack again next turn. Then, when all or most of your little Micromaster friends are KO'd, you can flip Sideswipe to alternate mode and gain a massive amount of attack and swing for -- in all likelihood -- the OHKO on something.
Of course, I've not tested this deck yet so I cannot say for certain whether or not it will be good, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it will be, especially with Stakeout potentially granting Sideswipe multiple flips into his alternate mode, stacking the damage boost that you'll be receiving. You can also sideboard Cliffjumper, potentially changing gears into a disruption-based list with heavy draw thanks to Cliff.
Now, all that being said, I think this is one of the only uses for him. Sideswipe in other car lists just doesn't appeal to me at all, even with his untapping effect. The biggest issues are his low car mode attack before your opponent KOs your other characters, the fact that your limited characters have to be KO'd in order for you to use him effectively and that his untapping effect only triggers on your opponent's turn. If it weren't for those things, I would say that he has moderate potential as a finisher.
Lastly, his relative frailty is doing no one any favors, least of all him. He's a bit of a glass cannon, which is why the Stealthiness and Bravery is so important in the Matchbox list. If he gets targeted down too early, you most certainly will not be able to beat most decks given your team being entirely made up of Micromasters. But other than those things, I for one look forward to seeing where Sideswipe will go in the metagame.
"... and then he led two of every animal onto an ark, and then beat the crap out of them!
That's why you never see two of any animal in one place unless it's a zoo! Or a farm!"
Hound is basically a slightly more expensive, way better version of Starter Megatron.
Don't let his vanilla vehicle mode or his average stats make you think that he's someone to overlook -- his robot mode can pack some serious power in it through some sneaky shenanigans. The thing is, you have a lot of power potential alongside a moderate starting offensive power, making the +2 you get when you upgrade him way more impactful than Megatron's +1 boost from a base of 3. Of course, Hound is two stars more than Megatron, and since he's an Autobot he can't make use of Swindled, but that's more than fine since you have access to other options.
For instance, you can play Inferno alongside him, whose alternate mode ability (aside from his monstrous attack) can allow you to return all Upgrades attached to Hound to your hand to be reattached perhaps in the same turn. Plus, when you consider that Attack Drone can attach three times in one turn, you can get a massive offensive boost from that play alone. Aside from Inferno, you have other Upgrade-shenanigans options, which include Disarm, Red Heat, Flak and Cog who can each upgrade Hound multiple times in a turn to get your power higher than it has any right to be. You can even play Cargo Trailer if you really want to, although I wouldn't recommend it given its inconsistent nature.
All that aside, Hound has a plethora of options on the table for him to be a pretty solid rogue deck. I wouldn't say that he's going to be meta, but I do think that he has a lot of potential with the correct partners. Again, I don't think he'll be beating Insecticons any time soon, but I do think that he is a neat little "haymaker" option to think about.
The polar bears thought that Global Warming would be their final challenge. Then the polar bears saw Stakeout.
Stakeout is pretty much exactly what Infinite needed to have everything they ever wanted. He's a 4 Star Specialist Autobot who is effectively the same as Detour in almost every way, stat-wise. No, Infinite is still not dead -- Red Heat is a character, and Peace Through Tyranny is still a card. Although it is to a diminished degree thanks to the sideboarding of Torox, it still loves anything and everything Autobot Specialist to make every other matchup way better. Although, that being said, Stakeout is marginally less offensive than Detour and he doesn't have the ability to draw, so perhaps there could be a case to simply add Detour instead of Stakeout and simply forgo the Confidence.
I suppose that's what sideboards are for, though, hm?
That being said, you really don't need me to say more about Infinite -- it's very good, and you've already heard me say it plenty of times before with several other characters. Who's really glad that Stakeout exists are the Battle Chargers and Sideswipe: Decks that love Rapid Conversion and other constant transformation. With Stakeout's pocket Rapid Conversion effect, he allows you to pull off some crazy flip combos. For instance, he can transform during your turn, tap him to transform a second time, Multi-Mission Gear a third transformation effect, then for your turn, play a fourth transformation effect and wind up back in your alternate mode for the second time that turn.
This effect is very strong on cards like Sideswipe, who gains an offensive advantage every time you flip. You could say the same about W1 Shockwave, where you can flip him a frankly ridiculous amount of times to put more cards in your opponent's hand in order to System Reboot them. Speaking of drawing cards, you can also use him alongside Cliffjumper to transform a partner character several times in order to draw cards with Cliffjumper's alternate mode effect.
I honestly adore Stakeout. I think he has a lot of really cool things you can do with him, and whereas it takes a turn for you to get the value out of him (I mean, if you are going to transform and use his tap effect, why not just transform the character you're going to target with him on your own?), he still has a lot of combo potential in certain lists.
The sequel is almost never as good as the first.
Sequels are really, really hard to make well. At least, that's what Hollywood would have you believe. New writers, new story, more expanded drama, yadda, yadda, yadda. I mean, unless, your name is Deadpool or Nolan Batman in which case the sequel is very much better than the first. Sadly, Skrapnel is neither of those names and he ended up paying the price for it.
At first, I was astonished that the guys over at Wizards were deciding to make Insecticons even better with a character that has innate Brave able to fit into the list. Defending Kickback or Barrage while they fight with relative impunity through Brave, then potentially healing off that damage through the use of your own Upgrade spam? Yeah, I was interested.
Then I saw the point cost.
Nine points? That's a very, very high cost for the Insecticons (Venin notwithstanding) and it more or less makes it impossible to run with the four wide Insecticon list that we're used to. That means that there is another way to run him, like with Venin. You can run Skrapnel, Venin and Ransack to potentially have a bulky, grindy Insecticon deck that heals itself over time while putting out Pierce damage. I'm not the biggest fan of that concept, but Bug Bomb is something that I have always liked since it was printed -- only problem was, it was kind of the antithesis of the trademark Insecticon playstyle.
Perhaps, then, we have a deck to play it in? Bulky Insecticons is... Difficult to think about given their aggressive Wave 1 counterpart, but hey, you never know, right?
O Captain! My Captain!
Captain Starscream is not good in his own list, but he is pretty fascinating as a supplementary character to someone bigger. I think we all know who that "someone bigger" is.
Before that, let's take a look at his stats. Starscream is expensive at 12 Stars, but he makes up for that with his other stats. First off, he has a monstrous HP stat at 16 with a middling to low defense split between his alternate modes. The good news is that you're likely to run him in a blue "burn" deck, relying on his direct damage abilities to do most of his work for him. Of course, his six attack can actually do a bit of damage to lesser armored targets, but with any luck your opponent won't be upgraded that much anyway. Although, that being said, you can make use of Null Ray of Starscream given that he is a Starscream just in case you wanted to use him in a more Plane-centric list, but I really think that job should be left to his Wave 1 incarnation.
But now on to the meat of his kit. His anti-upgrade abilities make him an excellent auxiliary character to direct damage "burn" lists that deal low attack damage but supplement their offensive power through damaging cards like Armed Hovercraft, Strafing Run and Plasma Burst among others. In fact, in a Burn list, Starscream has the unique effect of turning all of your Upgrade scrapping cards like Vaporize, Bashing Shield, Drill Arms and Device Virus into damaging Actions as well. Furthermore, he acts as a deterrent -- a small one, yes, but still a deterrent -- to playing cards that scrap themselves like Grenade Launcher and Force Field. In fact, Force Field scrapping itself will make your opponent take one more damage than they normally would. If you're facing something that adores Upgrades like Living Weapon Megatron or Predacons to name a few, Starscream is your guy.
It's for that reason why Captain Starscream has a bit of potential alongside -- thematically -- General Megatron. Megatron spreads damage around to your opponent's characters, and Starscream can be used as both an auxiliary damage sponge for the General (especially through the use of Callous Leadership), as well as acting as a secondary damage source through Starscream's abilities. The thing is, you're exposing yourself to potentially more damage concentrated on your characters thanks to the fact that you are playing tall instead of standard or wide with Megatron.
But there's a secondary reason why Starscream works well alongside Megatron. Why? To find out, let's take a look at the Battle Cards...
BATTLE CARDS
Pictured: The first and only time Starscream and Megatron cooperated together on anything.
As I was saying, in Tall General Megatron/Captain Starscream, you can use Two-Pronged Attack to either discard your opponent's hand to remove their options or to deal a moderate amount of direct damage, feeding into your "burn" playstyle.
Two Pronged Attack, much like Team-Up Tactics before it, can do a lot of powerful things with the right deck. In fact, I would say that it's probably better than Team-Up Tactics given the state of healing in the current meta and Pep Talk not requiring you to be in your alternate mode to give you the same effect. Two Pronged Attack, however, does much more useful things, like softening opponent's characters, or potentially dominating your opponent's hand before they really get a chance to use it.
I mean, how better for Starscream to prevent your opponent from using Upgrades on the field than by preventing them from being played in the first place, right?
So, with all of that in mind, does Two Pronged Attack make Megatron/Starscream Burn a mainstay in the meta? I don't think it's consistent enough to say that, but does it make it better to the point that we might end up seeing it in the tournament scene? Honestly? I really do think so.
As a final note, I'd like to give kudos to the Twincast Podcast for doing a great interview with Drew Nolosco, brand manager of the TFTCG and getting to reveal this and two other cards. If you haven't had time to listen to that, you should! It's HERE!
"But Optimus, if any of them ever get underfoot they'll, uh... Squish."
So, you're sitting down and your opponent is playing Insecticons. You have a lot of power in your characters, yes, but characters like Skrapnel, Force Fields and other damage blocking effects have you feeling like you're in an uphill battle. Plus, they've been swinging very hard.
Well worry slightly less because we have Squish Them Like Bugs! When you swing at a character who has fewer stars than you do, then you spread 1 damage to everyone on your opponent's field that has less stars than your attacker. I pops Skrapnel's 3HKO ability, it pops an angry Six-Gun with a Force Field on him, and it overall softens everyone on the field just enough to be relevant in most cases. In fact, against combiners this card is especially effective because they have so many small characters.
Now you could make the case that Strafing Run is actually the same card but less complicated. I would disagree! Since it has an orange pip, it is actually more valuable -- in my opinion -- than Strafing Run given its in-combat usefulness to flip. That being said, Strafing Run cannot be countered by Infiltrate, and perhaps that alone would be enough for some people to play Squish Them Like Bugs instead of Strafing Run. Of course, in Burn decks, why not both?
I really do look forward to seeing how much this card will get played as a counterpick to wide, aggressive decks like Bugs, Motorcycles or combiners in general.
"Shame to let good gold go to the grave."
Scavenge The Battlefield -- aside from having some of the raddest art of all Secret Actions -- has a very interesting effect that will more than likely be in many different aggro decks. Why? Well, that's easy.
Have you ever played Insecticons (or any other aggro deck), like, ever? Well, let me refresh your memory. You start your turn, flip Kickback, attach an Erratic Lightning to him and swing for a billion damage. Then, your opponent gets to attack Kickback and in a blink of an eye Kickback disappears, replaced with a vaguely Kickback-shaped grease-spot on the ground. Now, under normal circumstances, you'd have to find another weapon to use during your next turn's attack, forgoing the more interesting cards in your hand that might be able to net you more cards like Data Bank, save a life like Heroism or, perhaps chiefly, scrap Armor with cards like Bashing Shield.
With Scavenge The Battlefield, you can save the weapon you just used from one of your now grease spots of a character and then use it on your next soon-to-be grease spot! Not only that, but if your opponent happens to focus down one of your Upgrades through effects like Razorclaw's attacking of an untapped character, you get to keep those Upgrades -- all of those Upgrades -- as well.
I really, really like this card. I think it alleviates a lot of aggro's woes in terms of their consistency, it fixes Battle Masters even more than Quartermaster has in the past and I think it also makes certain defensive decks better as well. I mean, who doesn't like keeping their Upgrades on the field, right?
"Yes, I am so glad I had this very tiny shield to protect myself from a gunshot!"
Literally just play Armored Plating if you want an Armor that gives you +1 defense. I mean, I get it, you need black pips sometimes and it's better than not having black pips at all, but... At what cost? Besides, there are better black pips out there, and one of them is even an armor.
My point is this: Smoke Cloak is way better; it has black/blue and it also gives you Tough 1 which is essentially the same thing as +1 defense anyway, plus you can attach it to all of your characters, not just Autobots like Compact Shield. The biggest argument I can see for playing this is that it's redundant, and that it is at worst a black pip, but I don't think that's reason enough to play it in your list.
Cool artwork, but avoid this one.
Oh hey, it's an Avengers: Endgame spoiler but with no context!
Aside from having the best detailed -- and I mean the best -- artwork in the entire TCG, Heat of Battle storms the beaches to give Cars, Combiners, Metroplex and Motorcycles the best Action they could have ever hoped for. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Hey, now, what about that Tough 3 that your opponent is going to be getting?"
My answer to you is simple: Against aggro, who cares? They don't play blue pips anyway, and when you swing with all of your characters (in terms of Cars) with each at the very least Bold 3, your opponent is going to very much feel the pain. You can also play Warpath to prevent your opponent from reaping the rewards of Heat of Battle from his anti-Tough effect, though thanks to his limited usefulness you would most likely have to sideboard him.
That said, it's a very good thing to force Tough on your opponent's aggro deck. Their amount of double orange cards are finite in their deck until they become reshuffled -- when your opponent mills more cards than they need to, they will burn double orange pips more often than not. Although it does potentially net them green pips that they'd been digging for like Bashing Shield or their Enigmas, the rewards far outweigh the risks.
I cannot wait to see how people will use Heat of Battle -- it's obviously not a staple in every deck given that its power is mostly wasted on decks that can't attack more than once in a turn, but it is at least very valuable to those that do.
"OoooOooh, a Claw!"
With the advent of Scavenge the Battlefield, Upgrades have a lot more permanence. That goes for all kinds of Upgrades, except for perhaps armor given the prolific use of Bashing Shield. But, nevertheless, Device Virus is a good counter to that permanence and it makes for a powerful removal ability to "even the odds" if you will.
But what about making that effect even stronger? Well, that's where Dismantling Claw comes in! When you scrap it from a character, you scrap one of your opponent's weapons, and if you recall, Device Virus scraps one of your Upgrades from one of your characters. This way, you get to scrap potentially three weapons from your opponent's field if you so choose.
Now, let me ask you this: Remember Enforcement Batons and how it had this same effect except immediate, including the green pip?
No? Me neither.
In all seriousness, there really isn't a reason to play Dismantling Claw when Enforcement Batons exist. If you're playing Device Virus, you should be playing Enforcement Batons because its effect was immediate and didn't rely on using any other card to get value out of it. I get it, it has a blue pip, but at a point you can just bite the bullet and say that three orange pips in your deck never hurt anybody.
Post-nerf Brigitte incarnate.
This is just a slow Bashing Shield. My opinion is really quite unchanged from the card above, except this one is worse given that Bashing Shield is so prolific in the metagame. I mean, sure, the big reason you would want to play Dismantling Claw is the blue pip, but Bashing Shield and Reactive Armor are literally the same card except one is a lot slower than the other.
I just can't justify playing Reactive Armor... Well, at all really. I mean, unless you really, really hate Armor and want as many copies of Bashing Shield in your deck as possible -- even if it does require some fancy footwork to get value out of. But the odds of you needing that many copies of Bashing Shield (or like cards) in a game is astronomic to say the least.
I'd avoid this one unless I pulled it in a draft.
"Everybody knows / The low-rider"
I was ready to rail on this thing for insulting me with its existence.
I was so, so ready.
But then I remembered the time I put Combat Training in Metroplex just to add a slight prayer to hit all the cards I needed off my flips. I remembered on Jazz how I desperately hoped that I would flip a second white pip. I remembered how hard it was to flip another pip and then... And then I remembered!
I remembered that Bold and Tough exist.
Spinner Rims is just conditional Bold 1 or Tough 1. Now, that being said, I do think that there is a place for this card in Metroplex or Jazz decks, but other than that it's just worse Bold or Tough that you might not even make use of in the next combat depending on how many white pips are in your deck. In fact, I've found that more than six white cards in many lists can be too many because you're constantly flipping more than you need and it negates its benefits.
At that point, then, why are you using a Spinner Rim? If you're just going to flip more white pips, then I can't see much purpose outside of Jazz, Chromia or perhaps Cosmos in playing this. It's just the way it is.
CLOSING
There are a lot of really powerful cards that are coming out in this next set, and even more powerful changes in terms of the state of the game. Sideboards change everything, and tournaments change even more than that. I'm so glad that I can finally say that there is competitive play for one of my favorite games out there. For a long time now, I felt a slight tinge of worry when I say things like "yeah, I do competitive content for that game" when people ask me what my channel does and what articles I write; there has always been an underlying concern that it would never happen.
What about you? Are you as excited for competitive play as I am, or are you dreading it? Some people just don't like competitive! What side are you on? Let me know in the comments below, and I'll see you next time!
As the release of the third wave of the Transformers Trading Card Game approaches, the set list for the first of two expansions based on War For Cybertron: Siege nears completion with the reveal of two new cards: Private Stakeout and Sergeant Skrapnel.
The first look at Private Stakeout comes to us via Transformers fan Big Angry Trev's blog, with no Polar Claws harmed in the process.
The look at Sergeant Skrapnel is available via another Transformers fan blog, Life with Sprogs.
Check out the linked blogs above for some analysis of these newly revealed cards and keep it here at Seibertron.com as the final handful of characters for this wave are revealed in the coming weeks!
The Seibertron.com Twincast / Podcast returns faster than Blurr down the homestretch with a special episode all about the Transformers Trading Card Game from Wizards of the Coast. Counterpunch and Scotty P are pleased to speak with Brand Manager Drew Nolosco about the upcoming organized play events and the first wave of Siege booster packs. Plus, we bring you three never-before-seen Battle Cards that will be available in this next expansion! Read below to see the new cards and listen in to hear about where they might fit in your deck.
Episode #224 "TCG Siege Strategy" is available directly and in our RSS Feed, and should appear on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher Radio within 24 to 48 hours of when you see this news post.
Our sincere thanks to Drew Nolosco, Wizards of the Coast and the Transformers brand teams for their time and assistance with this episode!
| Love us? Hate us? Extra Super Love us? Drop us a review on iTunes. |
| Want to keep the discussion going? You can do so by simply replying to this post! |
| Got a question for the Twincast? Ask the Twincast. |
You will find below an announcement from the Transformers Trading Card Game relating to their plans for Organized Play in stores and at convention events this summer. This will lead up to the first ever TRANSFORMERS TCG ENERGON INVITATIONAL at PAX Unplugged in December!
TRANSFORMERS TCG Announces Organized Play: In-Store and Convention Events, Prizes
Wizards of the Coast is excited to announce that organized play is coming to the Transformers TCG!
Whether you’re playing in events run by your local shop or you thrive on the pressure and excitement of a convention crowd, Transformers TCG will have something for you in upcoming months. The fast-paced, action-packed game is going to heat up as it introduces Officially Sanctioned game store support and a path to prizes through gameplay for its most successful players.
The season kicks off at with an open tournament at Origins Game Fair in June and powers on through events at participating game stores in countries and regions in which the Transformers TCG is available, before another open event at Gen Con in August. Both open events will serve as qualifiers for Transformers TCG’s first-ever Transformers TCG Energon Invitational at PAX Unplugged in December! A small number of winners of last chance qualifiers on-site at PAX Unplugged will also be eligible to participate in the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational.
Placing among the top competitors at large-scale open events isn’t the only path to the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational, however. Players will also be able to qualify by competing in events at certain game stores.
Stores that receive the Transformers TCG War for Cybertron: Siege I In-Store Play Kit will be able to declare one store champion via Officially Sanctioned play during the in-store play period supported by the kit (July 1 - September 30). That player will receive an invitation to compete in the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational. For more details on qualifying in-store play events for the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational, contact a participating game store near you.
By joining in on tournament events for the Transformers TCG, you’ll not only be competing for the glory and renown of a skilled victory, but also an array of prizes, including the grand prize--an opportunity to design a character card with the Transformers TCG design team, as well as cash prizes, Transformers TCG items, and TRANSFORMERS toys!
Key information regarding the Origins and Gen Con open events and the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational, each of which will be run by Pastimes Inc., can be found below. Check out the Pastimes website for more details as the event dates approach!
Participation in officially sanctioned events requires a valid Organized Play account. Create your account here. STAGE 1: ORIGINS OPEN
Where: Origins Game Fair 2019
Greater Columbus Convention Center
400 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43215
When: June 12-16, 2019
Eligibility: The Origins Open is open to all Origins Game Fair attendees with a valid Organized Play account* while spaces remain available. Each participant will receive 1 Transformers TCG War for Cybertron: Siege I Booster Pack for each preliminary event entered.
Entry Fee: $26
Format: Officially Sanctioned Constructed play.
Play Type: Four preliminary events will advance the field to a 32-player final. A player may pay to enter multiple preliminary events. If a player who has previously qualified for the 32-player final would win an invitation to the final in a subsequent preliminary event, that invitation passes down to the next highest unqualified player in the final standings.
Prizes
Top 8: Booster box of Transformers TCG WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE I Product
Top 16: Entry into the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational and 3-Day PAX Unplugged badge. An additional badge for a parent/guardian will be provided for a badge recipient who is under age 18.
Top 32: $10,000 prize pool, to be split among the top 32 players as follows:
1: $1500
2: $1000
3: $750
4: $750
5-8: $500
9-16: $250
17-32: $125 STAGE 2: IN-STORE PLAY
Where: A friendly, participating game store near you. Contact your preferred local retailer to see if the Transformers TCG War for Cybertron: Siege I In-Store Play Kit will be at their store.
When: In-store play begins with release events for Transformers TCG War for Cybertron: Siege I on the weekend of June 28, 2019. Participating game stores may schedule qualifying events for the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational between July 1 and September 30. Check with participating game stores for details.
Eligibility: Qualifying events for the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational require players to have a valid Organized Play account.
Formats: Individual stores may choose Officially Sanctioned Constructed play or Limited play for qualifying events for the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational.
Prizes
Transformers TCG War for Cybertron: Siege I Release Event: Private Smashdown participation prize (while supplies last)
In-Store Play: Three different Transformers TCG large character cards with Gold Foil (while supplies last)
Photograph of actual promo cards
Transformers TCG Energon Invitational Qualifying Events: One invitation to compete in the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational at PAX Unplugged 2019, with the winner to be determined via qualifying events by a participating game store. Only stores that receive the Transformers TCG War for Cybertron: Siege I In-Store Play Kit may hold qualifying events for the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational. Please check with your friendly local game store to see if they are participating. If a player who has previously qualified for the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational (for example, at an Open or at a qualifying event at another store) would win an invitation, that invitation passes down to the next highest unqualified player in the final standings.
STAGE 3: GEN CON OPEN
Where: Gen Con 2019
Indiana Convention Center
100 S Capitol Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46225
When: August 1-4, 2019
Eligibility: The Gen Con Open is open to all pre-registered Gen Con attendees with a valid Organized Play account* while spaces remain available. Each participant will receive 1 Transformers TCG War for Cybertron: Siege I Booster Pack for each preliminary event entered.
Entry Fee: $26
Format: Officially Sanctioned Constructed play.
Play Type: Four preliminary events will advance the field to a 32-player final. A player may pay to enter multiple preliminary events. If a player who has previously qualified for the 32-player final would win an invitation to the final in a subsequent preliminary event, that invitation passes down to the next highest unqualified player in the final standings.
Prizes
Top 8: Not-yet-announced Transformers TCG Product (Product announcement forthcoming)
Top 16: Entry into the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational at PAX Unplugged and a 3-day PAX Unplugged badge.
An additional badge for a parent/guardian will be provided for a badge recipient who is under age 18.
If a player who has previously qualified for the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational at an Open would win an invitation to the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational and a 3-day PAX Unplugged badge, that invitation and the badge pass down to the next highest unqualified player in the final standings. If a player who has previously qualified for the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational at a qualifying event at a store would win an invitation to the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational and a 3-day PAX Unplugged badge, the badge remains with that player and the invitation passes down to the next highest unqualified player in the final standings.
Top 32: $10,000 prize pool, to be split among the top 32 players as follows:
1: $1500
2: $1000
3: $750
4: $750
5-8: $500
9-16: $250
17-32: $125
Transformers TCG Energon Invitational
Where: PAX Unplugged
Pennsylvania Convention Center
1101 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
When: December 6-8, 2019
Eligibility: The Transformers TCG Energon Invitational is open to the designated winners of qualifying events at participating game stores and players who have qualified via the Origins Open, Gen Con Open, or last-chance qualifiers on-site at PAX Unplugged.
Format: Single elimination Officially Sanctioned Constructed and Limited play.
Prizes
Champion: Collaborate with the WOTC Transformers TCG team to design a Transformers TCG character card (subject to terms and conditions).
Top 8: War for Cybertron Siege TRANSFORMERS toy and Transformers TCG prizes
Top 32: $20,000 prize pool, to be split among the top 32 players as follows:
1: $3000
2: $2000
3: $1500
4: $1500
5-8: $1000
9-16: $500
17-32: $250
*Officially Sanctioned Event Information
Eligibility: Players must have a valid Organized Play account in order to participate in Officially Sanctioned events. We strongly suggest players ages 13 and up have Organized Play accounts prior to arriving at the Origins Open, Gen Con Open, or the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational.
A Player who is age 12 or under MUST have an Organized Play account prior to arriving at the Origins Open, Gen Con Open, or the Transformers TCG Energon Invitational. They will not be allowed to sign up for an Organized Play account at the event.
Each player age 12 or under must also have a parent or guardian’s consent to sign up for an Organized Play account.
Officially Sanctioned Transformers TCG Events
Officially Sanctioned Transformers TCG events will be run under the official Transformers TCG floor rules. Complete Transformers TCG Floor Rules will be posted on the WPN Rules and Documents page no later than two weeks prior to the first qualifying event.
For planning purposes, here is some key rules information that will also be reflected in the complete Transformers TCG Floor Rules.
All formats
-Best 2 of 3 matches
-50-minute rounds
Constructed Play
-25-star or less total team and deck of battle cards
-40-card deck minimum
-Swap Parts is banned in Constructed play.
Sideboard Rules
(See upcoming Transformers TCG Floor Rules for more details)
-1 character card of 20 stars or fewer
-10 battle cards
-After sideboarding, decks must be legal
-After each game in a match, the player who won that game sideboards first and declares their team. Then the player who lost that game sideboards and declares their team.
-No more than 3 copies of each Battle Card are allowed between a player’s deck and sideboard.
-Duplicate character cards are not allowed between players’ decks and sideboards.
Limited Format Rules
-Sealed deck play
-Players use 6 sealed booster packs to build a 25-star or less team and deck of battle cards
-25-card deck minimum
-All cards in a player’s pool not part of their starting team and deck are considered to be that player’s sideboard.
-After sideboarding, decks must be legal
-After each game in a match, the player who won that game sideboards first and declares their team. Then the player who lost that game sideboards and declares their team.
Side Events
Other Transformers TCG side events will be happening at Origins, Gen Con, and PAX Unplugged. Check out the Pastimes website for more details as the event dates approach!
We have more reveals today, and I would like to preface this by stating that this is one of the most game-changing reveals that I have seen in this game thus far. I won't spoil what's ahead, but the implications of this reveal is massive. If you've read my previous article content, you'd know how much I've been begging for something like this for a while now.
But that's not all! Courtesy of ScreenRant.com, we have scans of both Generals of the Autobots and Decepticons -- Megatron and Optimus Prime! Without further ado, let's jump in!
CHARACTER CARDS
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
The reason I chose that quote from The Art of War wasn't because I was being pretentious -- well, I was being a little pretentious -- it was that it really epitomizes what this Optimus Prime really is. His strength is not overt like Optimus Prime: Battlefield Legend, or value-based like Optimus Prime: Autobot Leader; his is a subtle strength that's passed to his allies, not hoarded like his more expensive Wave 1 iterations.
You see, Prime gives all of his partners Bold 1 and Tough 1. You can use this in combination with a Matrix of Leadership to give them +1 Attack and Pierce 1 as well, giving your characters essentially a flat boost across the board. This flat boost comes at a cost, however, seeing as Optimus is an 11 Star character, your partners become somewhat limited in their availability. However, I think the one thing that should be in every General Optimus list is Flamewar: Veteran Decepticon. Her ability to give each of her allies Tough 1 in robot mode is actually nuts when combined with General Optimus, who gives a combined Tough 2 to all of your characters without even playing an Upgrade. That, and if you're playing Balanced or Aggro in terms of pips, you can always flip her to her Motorcycle and combine that Bold 1 with Prime's Bold 1 and give all of your characters a cumulative Bold 2.
With Flamewar as a partner, Prime has 14 HP, 3 defense and an innate Tough 2 -- but that's without playing Upgrades. If you play an Ion Blaster of Optimus Prime on him, you can give him 4 defense and an innate Tough 2 with potentially even more defense as your Armor Upgrades can give him more Tough and even more defensive power. You're looking at potentially massive tanking potential with just Flamewar and that's not even counting other potential partners to fill up your other slots.
Frankly, that's amazing, and it leaves a solid 9 Stars for you to play with in terms of smaller characters. For one, you can play Detour for 4 Stars and Skydive for 5 Stars -- I mean, who wouldn't want Tough 4 innately, right? Or, you could play a 9 Star character to centralize the list and try to give yourself more survivability in your raw stats. Whatever you choose, you can rest assured that Optimus is going to be able to spread that love as much as he can.
His robot mode is less useful, sadly. Having Focus 1 in robot mode is fine, but he lacks he power of many of his previous iterations. Sure, he has Bold 1 and Tough 1 in his robot form as well, but if that was a major selling point we wouldn't have left his alternate mode. In fact, his defense goes down in robot mode as well, despite his Tough and Focus. His attack is really the big reason you'd be transforming him, but it also exposes your team to potentially more damage than you would otherwise given that his vehicle mode effect goes away when you transform him.
So, is it worth it to transform him? Probably not in many cases, as the safety of your team -- and yourself -- is worth more than doing slightly more damage to your opponent. After all, if you're playing him defensively you're likely to be giving him a number of Pierce as well. So, at that point, what does that slightly more damage matter?
My guess? Not a lot. General Prime's defensive capabilities are frankly astonishing, and I cannot wait to see where he'll go.
"Who'd want to ignite things one at a time?" ~ Chandra Nalaar
In the Transformers Trading Card Game, there are a lot of "burn" cards. Now, just in case you don't know what that means, in Magic there are cards that deal damage to your opponent's cards and/or the player themselves. These cards are usually red in color and usually involve fire, and the color of red is represented by fire, which is probably why those cards are called "burn cards".
Transformers has plenty of burn cards, but sadly the characters never really wanted to cooperate with that playstyle. Either their stats were too low to give you enough time to burn through your opponent's HP with cards like Armed Hovercraft, Plasma Burst and other similar cards. That's where General Megatron comes in.
This beefy Megatron has the unique damaging abilities to consistently put out damage that affects not just one of your opponent's characters, but all of them as well. You see, if you upgrade him with three separate upgrades (which includes cards like Attack Drones), he has the impressive effect to slowly chip down your opponent's HP at every start of your turn. And, when your opponent's characters eventually fall to just close enough to being KO'd, Megatron can flip to his alternate mode and deal damage to it equal to the amount of weapons you have on the battlefield, including cards like Attack Drones.
Megatron may seem like he takes a lot to set up, but with cards like Swindled, Callous Leadership, New Designs, Attack Drones, Full Loadout along with a few Specialist cards like Multi-Tool, your "arms race" gets a lot easier. To make things even easier to get everyone upgraded, General Megatron has monstrous stats, like his high defense and HP, he can combine with Flamewar to be as defensive as possible. Plus, since he's a Tank, he can use cards like Hunker Down to attach free Armor to make it even easier to get him fully upgraded as well as hit those magic damage numbers with his flip ability.
As it happens, Megatron's biggest weakness -- despite his impressive stats -- is that he'll be quite alone in many respects. His 13 stars make his options for partners... A bit limited, shall we say. With Micromasters, this becomes slightly easier; however, with Full Loadout being so powerful in the list, I wonder if playing three of those would be necessary even though it would cost you another three stars. Perhaps, then, one could play Detour and Breakdown alongside three Full Loadout to make the full 25 stars?
Just a few ideas. But, keep in mind that you're going to be filling your deck with burn cards alongside your weapons. It's a weird balance between the two lists, but I think that General Megatron might have a lot of potential, especially in the low HP-dominated meta we are currently in.
Up for a game of darts?
Blowpipe is not a great, but niche, card.
First off, let's take a look at his practically vanilla robot mode. His stats are not that great, and neither is the Focus 1 -- but it at least makes him a little better at dealing damage, and in a list where you're no doubt playing all the colors of the rainbow, there's a lot of need for Focus with a character whose attack is that small, same with his defense. Focus as a whole isn't the best, but it certainly is way, way better than nothing.
The weapon mode -- the real reason one would play a Battle Master to be frank -- is also a bit lackluster. Dealing +1 for every kind of color you flip, Blowpipe is a fan of as many colors as possible -- a total of five at the moment between blue, orange, green, white and black -- to give a possible total of 5 damage if you flip all five colors not counting any orange pip damage. Whereas that sounds great on paper, it requires a high amount of Bold to work out. Remember, you have to flip all of those cards if you want to get their damage effects. Sure, there are combo cards like Scrounge, Smoke Cloak and Fuel Cache to name a few, but there are only a handful of cards that can take advantage of that.
Such as?
Well, Grapple for one can definitely make a lot of use out of Blowpipe especially given that his lists want to play literally every color in existence, and in many cases, the same could be said about Slipstream. Even Megatron: Living Weapon can take advantage of him simply because he's a cheap, Decepticon Battle Master. That being said, his usefulness only goes so far as your list is built to support him, and to be frank, I'm not convinced that he's someone you should build a list around. I could be wrong, of course, but I'm just too skeptical of him to think otherwise.
"Bring the rain."
First Acid Storm, and now the second Rainmaker is here! No, Sunstorm doesn't count (it's actually Nova Storm that's the final Rainmaker, commonly misinterpreted as Sunstorm). Which means, we could very possibly be getting a Nova Storm either in this set or the next. With that being said, let's get to the matter at hand: This scrub.
There are a few things to talk about with this guy. First off, Ramjet can eat his heart out. Sure, Ion Storm is somewhat more expensive than him, Ion Storm has a startlingly high HP, defense and attack in his alternate mode. Sadly, he's vanilla -- but hey, this is actually a lot of value if you're a fan of Ramjet. He's far less punishable than Ramjet, and even though he's more expensive, he also has far more value in his robot mode in Ramjet could ever dream of.
With his seven attack and still moderate defense, Ion Storm has pretty much the same value in his robot mode than he has in his alternate mode, but with a twist. Ion Storm bounces an Upgrade to your opponent's hand, and when you consider playing him with Debilitating Crystal, you can bounce two Upgrades at once. When you consider that your opponent could be playing Battle Masters, his effectiveness against them goes up, too. Since he can bounce multiple upgrades with a Debilitating Crystal, he can bounce both the Battle Master as well as the upgraded character's Armor.
Now, this is not to say that I think that Ion Storm will be a sudden mainstay in the meta or something like that. He's very expensive, and whereas he certainly has carry potential, I can't help but to think that he'd just fall apart against more aggressive decks. To stave this, you can play him with Acid Storm as well. You can play the Bold reduction to keep Ion Storm alive, while still devoting your pips and cards to offense. Remember, you don't need to worry about your opponent's defense -- not really -- because you can keep their armor off them effectively forever. In fact, it makes me wonder if Blue/Black Rainmakers might be the better way to play them.
Who knows? Maybe Nova Storm will be the final piece of the puzzle.
BATTLE CARDS
"Ah, Laserbeak! Unlike my other soldiers, you never fail me."
YES. YES. YES. YES. *Breath in* YES.
I can barely contain my excitement. When Secret Actions were revealed, I had a gut feeling that they were eventually going to print a Counterspell or a Power Spray. Although, I think I might be getting a little ahead of myself, here. What do I mean by this card being a "Counterspell", anyway?
Okay, to explain that, let's take a look at what the card actually does. So, when you use a Secret Action, you place it face-down in front of you. Your opponent takes their turn, and unless they do something that triggers it to flip face-up, the card is discarded at the end of your opponent's turn. In the case of Infiltrate, if your opponent plays an orange Action card. This means that your opponent, when they play their orange Action card, that it is negated and discarded instead of activating.
Infiltrate is so incredibly powerful. Remember Supercharge? Reckless Charge? Treasure Hunt? Roll Out? Scrounge? All of those cards will be negated if you play an Infiltrate. But perhaps the biggest card that will be negated out of all of these, creating a massive amount of counterplay to Infinite, is Peace Through Tyranny. Peace Through Tyranny -- if you didn't know -- is the engine that makes the infinite combo possible. When Infiltrate is played, Peace Through Tyranny is negated. That means that your opponent won't be able to begin their infinite combo (that turn, at least). Remember, Multi-Mission Gear, Brainstorm and other, similar effects still count as "playing" an Action -- Infiltrate will still flip and negate it regardless of where it came from.
Something else that I'd like to mention is, if you read last article, I stated that Sergeant Skywarp would be incredibly powerful with a negate card. Now that we have one, Skywarp is going to be an absurdly powerful character with it. When you play a Secret Action with him, you get to draw a card. Better yet, you get to return two different Secret Actions from your Scrap to your hand! It's an extremely powerful effect, and Skywarp will definitely have a fascinating playstyle with it.
Regardless, I can't wait for Infiltrate to come into the game. I have no doubts that it will slow down the game to make more defensive decks more viable. When you turn off your opponent's aggressive cards between Infiltrate and Dampening Field, your opponent won't be able to make too much headway in terms of damage. With Peace Through Tyranny decks being as they are as well, you can imagine how powerful Infiltrate will be.
Is this the part where they pick up a truck for no reason only to get shot?
Simply put, Take Cover is a bad card. There is not usually enough direct damage that deals a meaningful amount of damage to someone in order to warrant playing Take Cover. However, with that being said, the format might shift in favor of General Megatron and the direct damage ability in his alternate mode is frankly nutty -- but, is he alone enough to warrant you putting in a card that is going to be useless against most matchups?
No. The answer is no.
Shockwave always was good at RTS games.
Battlefield Scan murders Micromasters, but that isn't as simple as saying so. So basically, consider for a moment, the Micromaster. Micromasters have Stealth in their vehicle modes when they are untapped -- when they are tapped, they no longer have Stealth. This is just to confirm at least one turn of their use, and it's a great mechanic.
However, in the case of Red Heat, entire decks can be based around that single Micromaster. When doing so, you leave yourself open to potential punishment by cards like Tackle or Skrapnel. This isn't the only time that Stealth comes up, however; in the mid-game, your opponent's characters and yours are both entirely untapped, meaning you have your pick amongst your opponent's characters. With Battlefield Scan, you have the opportunity to ignore their Stealth and take out their Micromasters before they have a chance to use them.
Of course, you can also combo this with cards like Razorclaw or Bumblebee: Legendary Warrior, who both can attack untapped characters. This way, you can attack important Micromasters like Red Heat, Detour, Flak or other, similar characters. This card isn't for everyone, but it certainly has potential in decks that can attack untapped characters like Cars or Predacons.
"Oh, don't worry! You won't bleed out! The fire cauterizes the wound. You'll die of internal bleeding, not external bleeding."
The Firecons just got better.
So, remember Matrix of Leadership? How would you like that, but for Bold and for all of your Firecons? Sound good? That's because it is. Remember, Flamefeather adds Bold 1 to each of your Firecons when you flip him -- and when you combine that with Firecon Flame, it begins to add up quite a bit. Remember, it stacks amongst itself, too -- for each Firecon Flame you have in play, you're adding another layer of Bold 1 to each of your Firecons. With all three in play and Flamefeather, you'll have Bold 4 on each of you characters and you haven't even played an Action yet!
Now, again, you're only likely to ever have one or two in play at any given point in time, but the power of Firecon Flame should not be understated. You get a lot of value out of a single Upgrade attachment, and I think it pretty well confirms the usage of Firecons in a competitive sense. I really can't wait to see how they evolve over time, and I can't wait to see how they pair up against characters like the Dinobots and Insecticons.
"Well, this backpack isn't sentient, it's not purple and it doesn't speak Spanish, but it'll do."
Backup Bag is a weird, weird card. As far as I know, Salvage For Parts and Device Virus are the only cards that you discard an Upgrade on your own field with. Unless Grenade Launcher, Power Punch, Evasive Actions or similar card effects work on it (which I'd doubt), Backup Bag is quite possibly the most niche card I have ever seen in this game.
I'm actually quite confused. I mean, sure, Device Virus is a great card and it'll see play, but I really don't think Backup Bag is worth the spot just for Device Virus, y'know?
CLOSING
In short, these new reveals are some of the most exciting reveals I have seen out of this set. From Infiltrate paired with Skywarp to both Generals and their strategies, I can't wait to see where they're going. I've already playtested with a few next format decks, and it's been a really interesting experience. Red Heat is as good as people fear him to be, and Ultra Magnus is like a baby Metroplex.
Will these cards make them better or worse? Well, I would probably say that Infiltrate makes just about everything aggro slightly worse when you consider how easy it is to punish your opponent's overextension. Plus, if you consider what would happen if they printed an anti-upgrade Secret Action, Aggro would certainly start to fall out favor in the meta in favor of a more blue/black or orange/black centered deck.
What about you guys? Ever pick up a proxy or two and try out a deck before release? Are you as exited as I am about Infiltrate? Are you on going to play a General Megatron or General Optimus deck? You looking forward to Ion Storm? Let me know in the comments below, and I'll see you next time!
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