Official Transformers TCG Metroplex Theme Deck Card Reveals

I did an extra edit on his optimal deck,he is a variante of the seekers,they use magic damage and equipement research with moderate flip but not minimal,they are very bad against Trucks\Tanks,good against melee(maximal flip),getting the Metroplex special flip early make you win time

For melee:Grimlock-sludge-snarl

Bee10-slug-swoop

Bee6-wheeljack-jetfire is another variante.

EDIT
i suppose the special tap is longer than usual,that's the only explanation.
Also we can argue if heal expand HP or if the repair bay doesn't work if not every characters are damage which would be exarggerately weak.The swap part is stronger if you can give upgrade to someone that isn't equipped at all,i consider some cards can't be used if you don't have a hand to scrap...ect.

More like good against quadrio and Optimus7,magicians seem stronger against melee but i'll stop assumptions there.

It already look like a NOOB VERSUS NOOB competition anyway.

I'm really surprised Metroplex's attack and defense is so low for a city-sized bot. They should be doubled.

More importantly,Thundercracker has enormous killability with the supercharge and possible at first turn.

Sorry,i continue:Metroplex is even more dangerous,maybe the special tap that negate the next attack should be limited at one per game.
Some suggestion:first turn bold forbidden,stat that can't go over 9,heal that expand hp.

You can't call every minions but choose:Slammer with the protection,Sixgun with the armed hovercraft(attack from the city form),Scamper with the rapid ascent or force field for Metroplex,"the bigger they are"work with each of them.

For Scream10:2 reinforced plating and 2 thermal weaponery is a better idea than 4 ranged upgrades.

The whole scheme is:"Melee against Duo against Truck\Tanks against Seekers against Quadrio against Magicians against Melee".

But as i said,it's a NvsN competition,all the stupid habits and créativity players already take,it's beyond repair isn't it?Obsessed with bold and force field?Puzzled by Metroplex?Creative team building with illogical deck?25 stars has the priority over any kind of magic,Shockwave can't rely on his own for exemple(i wrote it).The triple Bee is nonsensical.The list goes on.

The 25 stars is there for balance, plus I agree with #Sideways# assement. Metroplex is very slow to get moving, which a lot of deck types can take advantage of.

ZeroWolf wrote:The 25 stars is there for balance, plus I agree with #Sideways# assement. Metroplex is very slow to get moving, which a lot of deck types can take advantage of.

Another nonsense,As an exemple,Optimus13 is stronger with Inferno than Shockwave,a 25 stars team is ALWAYS stronger,that's basic math.

He's not particulary slow,considering he must not call every minions and has 2 card for draw and 1 for flip+abilities of minions.The slowest deck is the one for Duo,this is why they must slow you down,Melee is not as slow if reshuffling allow double draw,they hate fast draw induced by magicians,double icons upgrades are for flip.

One other suggestion:reshuffling should allow you to choose a card,probably one that doesn't have icon,beffore to shuffle and draw 2 card.Also,i suppose the end of your deck finish your flip invariably.

EDIT
"stata that can't go over 9"more like damage or flip stat bonus.Overall,more ruling seem necessary.

hasbro just posted a tutorial video on youtube

(it's late for me)Maybe we need one about Nemesis,the idea is not to speed up reshuffling but to survive with blue icon and 5 white from the back up plan,1 debiliting crystal and 1 crushing size,1 emergency maintenance also,his magic damage and the weapon research of Megatron13 compensate the lack of orange flip,1 grenade launcher worth 4 of them,that remind me Otimus13-Inferno should take 1 absorber instead of 1 blast shield,the secret is to adjust the deck before the shuffle.

Hot off the heels of the TRANSFORMERS Trading Card Game’s successful September launch is the latest and greatest addition to the card game - the METROPLEX Deck, a ready-to-play team and deck starring the famed Autobot Titan Metroplex, and it is now available for purchase in the United States at major retailers for $19.99!

The METROPLEX Deck is a pre-built deck for one player and contains cards not found in the AUTOBOTS Starter Set or in the TRANSFORMERS Trading Card Game Booster Packs, including:

· The all-new Titan-sized Character Card Metroplex that stands at 200mm tall – nearly 8 inches!

· 40 battle cards three unique Battle Cards not found in Wave 1 Booster Packs– Rally the City, Height Advantage and Protected by Metroplex

· Three all-new character cards – Scamper, Six-Gun and Slammer

To see images of the cards themselves, you can click here. This deck is now officially released across the US and below you will also see an image of the deck found at Target in Cary, NC.

hmm only 20 bucks

If anyone is looking to play the game with a friend I'd advise getting both this set and the "2 player" set. The Metroplex set actually comes with a full set of rules unlike the 2 player set. The 2 player set is a really watered down version of the game and honestly turned me off initially.

Railbomb wrote:If anyone is looking to play the game with a friend I'd advise getting both this set and the "2 player" set. The Metroplex set actually comes with a full set of rules unlike the 2 player set. The 2 player set is a really watered down version of the game and honestly turned me off initially.

Does this idea is in?

I may have found a way to define the first turn before "rock,paper,scissor"(more unpredictable than a coin):each characters in their alternate forms give you a speed point,the biggest begin.

Metroplex set has a pretty decent deck ready to rumble right out of the box. As a noob, it was very noob friendly.

Love the huge format for the Titan card. Bring on Trypticon!

ScottyP wrote:Metroplex set has a pretty decent deck ready to rumble right out of the box. As a noob, it was very noob friendly.

Love the huge format for the Titan card. Bring on Trypticon!

It has cards for melee,maybe the inspirationnal leadership is a better idea than the security checkpoint for the Bee6 deck,no,because it reduce the deck too much.

I suppose Trypticon will be a third Trucks\Tanks team,tanks are already the best against Metroplex,i found someone who think he has the life of two characters(like Op12 and Nemesis),but he has the stat of a plane with the triple of life.

I consider pierce as explosif.

At the fourth turn,you will use 21 cards minimum,you need 4 suplementary to end your deck,the trucks can reach that with 1 treasure hunt or by attacking twice with the bold of Optimus,this kind of detail make me think you should get advantage from finishing your deck and not only with neme-cosmo faggots.

PerfectVision wrote: neme-cosmo faggots.

Hey there Perfect Vision. Let's try to be a little more careful with our choice of words there. That word may have flown a decade or two ago (still not super cool then)but, the times are drastically changing, and it's really not acceptable.

Thanks! Carry on. Carefully.

Edit: Well, looks like Burn beat me to it and added it to the swear filter.
Well played Chief. Well played!

Cobotron wrote:

PerfectVision wrote: neme-cosmo ****.

Hey there Perfect Vision. Let's try to be a little more careful with our choice of words there. That word may have flown a decade or two ago (still not super cool then)but, the times are drastically changing, and it's really not acceptable.

Thanks! Carry on. Carefully.

Edit: Well, looks like Burn beat me to it and added it to the swear filter.
Well played Chief. Well played!

I read it somewhere and thought it meaned showy,pretentious,yes,i look stupid.

I'm unable to sleep...Noob friendly...I remember a noob team they call "hot wheels",it's just Bee10 with mostly orange flip,Wheeljack instead of Slug and Prowl instead of Swoop which is the most nonsensical choice,he must be in the Jazz quadrio variante of the insecticons ,we need a tutorial,first the deck:

1 one shall fall///ready for action
Melee and double icons upgrades
Heroism+energon axe+absorber
Jaw/one agility/one booster and one extra absorber
Incoming transmission
Chomp/start your engine /security

It must be balanced because It's slow unlike the magicians.

The ROLE!

-the common scout able to altern beetween endurant and powerful,perfect for first attack.

-the common leader that can cumul a lot of power.

-now a specialist as defender with the heroism and the axe because he can be damaged BEFORE he attack.

Grimlock is the most balanced with the best scout,Bee10 is the most offensif with the worst defender,Bee6 has the best defender and the worst leader who give an extra pierce and flip more in defense.

Specialists are not playstyle.

EDIT
I checked the rules FAQ and learned that the flip team and scrap+draw are not strict at all,also,the deck format that is 40 and not 25,which doesn't scare me,i found 4 invariable cards,first, the back up and roll out,in third,the colatteral damage everytime you take 2 weapons,it rentabelize them,if not,take the grenade launcher,Megatron13 take them both,in forth,a second armor or utility,maybe both.So,the complementary cards for Metroplex are the swap mission and rapid conversion(i found a sckizophrenic deck on him),for Shockwave,the debiliting crystal,3 scrapper but 1multi gear+1ascent+1blast shield,for Cosmo,the shield and team up,for quadrio,the shield,treasure(MISTAKE,IT'S ONE SUPERFLUOUS CARD) and 1 RFA,Optimus7 need his weapon,keep the utility and colatteral instead of TBTA,only the static laser for the trucks.

We have some exciting news for fans of the Official Transformers Trading Card Game today, thanks to a tip off from fellow Seibertron user, #Sideways#, we found a teaser for Set 2 of game on the Official Transformers Trading Card Game Facebook page!

We don't have much to go on yet but more information is promised within the new year. The art work teased shows off a likely new Character for the Autobots, Windblade!



Other than this, the design team are keeping everything else close to their chests but we'll know more in due time, so keep your optics peeled.

Which characters do you think should be included in Set 2? Do you think they should make a Trypticon deck to throw down with Metroplex? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews.

I remember her being part of an anti titan team in a continuity.Does they will incorporate side deck with counter pick?More like the charaters,the battle card collection is almost complete unless you're a noob.A third Tuck/Tank may be Trypticon,there 's no third magician deck.Team expension?Not sure if it will be enormous.

I want to rewrite the one for duo but a organized place would be better and not just for individual card which make no sense,especially in well planned games like that.

EDIT
Extra hypothese:new personnal armor,the weapons are better than the default grenade launcher,the force field is NOT for everyone,the flamethrower is only for inbalanced deck like Shockwave(the"hot wheels" is directly inferior to him,slower and more fragile).
New icons(unlikely).

EDIT 05\12
I found a double prime deck with TBTA...I really must rewrite the duos(back up and roll out everywhere)
Op13-Inferno\Mega13-nemesis\Scream10-ramjet-flamewar
Peace X 1
drill
scrapper
crushing size
ion\fusion\thermal
shock\grenade\reinforced
collateral
inspiratonnal
disruptive
OP disrupt\security
OP raming\debiliting
brainstorm\emergency\TBTA
THE ION AND THE 2 LAST CARDS HAS THE PRIORITY OVER THE AXE PERIOD.
Swap mission only for titans."i still function''with Sludge+total heal.

EDIT 16\12
On their twitter account:they seems to praise some stupid deck,one clarification is necessary,SOME NERF ARE NEEDED:
-OP13 and Inferno defense reduced at 1 and 0
-Thundercracker's power at 3 in both form
-Barrage HP at 9,change the Kickback flip
-OP12,Bee10 and Nemesis HP at 12 but the car should have 5 attack instead of 4
-grenade,leap and piercing blaster a +2
-TBTA at +1\2,energon axe at +3\0
DO THE DIFFERENCE BEETWEEN STRONG AND IRRATIONNAl!THEY SUGGEST SOME INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERS AND WHO ARE BALANCED?THAT'S NOT THE SOLUTION!

The Transformers trading card game from Wizards of the Coast has shared information via Kotaku.com about the next wave of cards being prepped to hit your deck. The "Rise of the Combiners" expansion will be available March 1st, and features six sets of combiners to collect along with other new character and battle cards. The first of these combiners to be revealed is none other than the Predacon gestalt Predaking!


By collecting all five Predacons and their respective Enigma of Combination battle card, you can combine them into Predaking even if some of the individuals have already been knocked out by your opponent. If you're wondering how these will work in the current format, check out this video from the TCG's official Twitter account demonstating the folding card gimmick utilized. With a huge amount of health and the ability to wield up to five weapon cards (as opposed to the usual one per character), these combiners look like they could swap any battle in your favor with the right deck and a little luck.


Those fans not wanting to utilize combiners will be happy to see other new character cards like Windblade in her "Combiner Hunter" form that will also be included in this expansion. With her lending Pierce 4 to the rest of your characters for a turn, this can help you turn the tide if your opponent suddenly gets extra big and stompy. Although we must note the "Super Rare" status, meaning cruel odds of finding Windblade that are 1 in 79 packs, assuming the first wave's odds carry over.

Are you excited for this latest expansion, or already down about how the Predaking Enigma is a "Rare" battle card? What kind of strategies does this change in how you approach your deck build? Sound off with your other Transformers fans in our Energon Pub Forums by replying to this news post.

business about to pick up

Reminds me of the king cards in the yyh tcg

I thought that Combiners could never be in the Transformers Trading Card Game. I thought they were impossible.

I thought wrong.

Combiners are coming in Wave 2 of the TFTCG, aptly christened "Rise of the Combiners", it features 46 character cards and 81 Battle Cards, with 6 full teams of Combiners. That's right, with six teams and more or less five members per-team, we're looking at a solid 30 characters devoted to Combining.

So. How do they combine? Cards only have two sides, ergo they can't have a robot, alternate and limb mode, right?

That's where you'd be wrong.

See, Combiners are made up of smaller characters in more way than one. These Combiner Teams are comprised of unique folding cards, with one side having the limb mode and the other side having the robot and alternate mode. Simply fold the card in half with the specially designed crimping and you have a character -- albeit smaller than others -- who has three modes.

To show this off, the TFTCG Facebook page has posted a video showing off this feature HERE.

To combine into their gestalt forms, all Combiners are printed with another companion Battle Card called an Enigma. To use this Battle Card, it requires all of the team members to be in robot form, though it does not require them to be currently among the living to combine.

Damage and some Upgrades carry over, including the damage from the currently KO'd, so it's best not to be damaged when you finally combine to make use of your massive health pool, especially since you're likely to start taking a lot of damage from plenty of other sources when you finally combine.

But that's enough on the rules. Let's do a breakdown of the cards we've seen thus far. They all have 5 Stars, of course, so there aren't too many standouts in terms of power -- but there is plenty of utility to go around here.






Razorclaw should be respected, and not just because he's a Leader. Leaders -- more specifically, Decepticon Leaders -- might get their turn for the limelight in this wave, especially with how many Leaders are going to be present. But aside from speculation, there is a very important ability that he has that is worth noting.

Razorclaw, like the Super Rare Bumblebee, can attack untapped characters. That means, turn two (or one if you went second), he can attach a Grenade Launcher and deal 7 base attack against something squishy on your field, like Arcee. He's going to be an utter nuisance to people who play glass cannon decks with a specific order of operations, like Cars or Insecticons.

But, his stats aren't much to write home about. You'll notice that same thing with the other members of his team, but they are all 5 Stars, so that's something you should definitely consider.

Since he's 5 Stars, you can splash him onto teams very easily, making him a contender for other teams even outside of his Predacon archetype.





Divebomb doesn't really do anything. In his bird form, he's a painfully average vanilla. If you Transform him, he's even worse. His only saving grace is his ability, which can Scrap an Action from your opponent's hand if they happen to reveal one by chance. If they don't, then... Well, he has 7 HP and 0 Defense. He's going to die if you attack with him in robot form -- it's a done deal.

My best guess is that you're supposed to transform with Divebomb last, making use of his effect and then combining everyone into Predaking. But other than that, he's really nothing to write home about. Outside of Predacons, he's a simply waaaaay worse pick than Flamewar. At least Flamewar gives your team buffs. She's even a Specialist!

All in all, his only niche so far is in Predacons. But that isn't the most interesting note about this picture. If you notice, there are six icons pictured when showing his place on Predaking. This doesn't mean there are six members -- it was a Photoshop mistake by community manager John Schork, inadvertently revealing that there will be six-man teams, with Devastator being the most prominent of these.

A goof, yes, but a good goof for those of us who crave more information!




Headstrong brings us one of our first looks at a new mechanic, "Brave". Brave reads that all characters that can attack Headstrong, do so. This is an amazing ability. This means that explosive turn one plays by high attack characters like Kickback or Optimus Prime -- Battlefield Legend are going to be directed not at your important characters like Razorclaw, but rather at this poor sod.

Sure, he doesn't have much punching power. At all. But as a sacrificial lamb so that his teammates can get their Transformations in? He may die, but that's a sacrifice that I'm willing to make. Especially if you happen to place a Force Field on him, he won't be able to get OHKO'd.

Brave is a great mechanic, and I honestly love this little guy. He'll probably even see play outside the Predacon archetype, with that Brave utility coming in handy with more "protect the president" styles of decks, like OptiCars for instance.




Rampage is a fascinating character. His effects aren't actually that important, when you consider it. He heals one damage from each of your Predacons when an enemy is KO'd, which would be easy if you weren't doing two damage. He's great against other Combiners, but when you face off against a larger opponent, you're going to be hard-pressed to survive with these low health pools.

Against opposing Combiners, though, we can assume that they won't be OHKOing you like you to them, so Rampage becomes quite the important character in that regard, since enemies will be likely to be KO'd far easier than some of your larger friends.

Other than that, there's not too much to consider outside of the Predacon archetype.




Torox has a very interesting ability that prevents healing. There isn't too much healing going on in the game at the moment, especially with the high damaging meta we find ourselves in, but if there ever was a prevalent healing deck... I know who I would tech in to counter it. Torox's alternate mode stops all of your opponent's healing, which also makes me wonder if we're going to be seeing more healing in the game. He's also hilarious against the mirror match since Rampage wants to be healing everyone.

To make him even better, he draws a card when you Transform him to robot mode, and then we get another "new" mechanic, which is just a keyword for placing a card from your hand on top of your deck. It's good to know that there's a keyword for this common effect, since it will clear up card clutter.

The only bad part about this guy is that he has zero defense in both modes, meaning, even though he has 9 HP, he's going to be dumpstered any time your opponent can take a random potshot at him. Sad, but Force Field and Heroism mitigate that to a large degree.

I honestly would love to see this guy in other lists if healing ever became a mainstay in the meta -- he provides too much utility to ignore.





Dear god, this is happening.

Predaking is honestly a very, very big boy, and not just in terms of physical size. Mind you, each part of this guy is about six inches wide, and there are five parts to this guy -- he's freaking ginormous. Just turn the playmat -- you're never going to tap him all the way.

So, as for his stats, they seem underwhelming at first. I know, 37 HP? Underwhelming? Well, when you combine, you carry over damage, even from KO'd characters. So, that high HP definitely chews itself up over the course of the game before you can ever hope to Combine. But the real staying power of Predaking is in his offensive prowess.

It should be noted that Combiners begin untapped and keep 1 Upgrade in each Upgrade slot from its individual pieces. But this guy has 5 Weapon slots. You can attach multiple Grenade Launcher, Energon Axe, Flamethrower, anything like that. His already high attack doubles to triples in mere moments, and if something isn't dead by the time you're through attacking, there is something very wrong.

Of course, getting all five on my boy Exodia here can be a challenge, which is why he has the effect of being able to draw a card when you combine, and then play a card, including an Upgrade, for free. That's fantastic. Predaking is fantastic.

But there's a problem: He's the epitome of "tall". His defense is middling at best, and with all that damage you have no doubt racked up over the course of the game, you won't live for long. Either you combine early, or you combine as a last resort. Either way, Predaking is a beast of a Combiner. I just fear that, without proper support, most decks will be able to walk over them before they get a chance to set up.




Windblade makes her debut in the TFTCG by doing the thing she does second-best: Make mince-meat out of Combiners. She's expensive, coming in at 12 Stars, and she's a Super Rare, but most importantly, she's actually very good at playing with smaller characters who wouldn't like going up against a big dude like Predaking.

She has an ability in robot form where, when she attacks a Combiner, each of your characters get Pierce 4 -- meaning, if you're still alive when that happens -- you're going to deal a massive amount of damage with a swarm of Pierce taking likely a good third of Predaking's health in one blow.

She's a combiner huntress, but I fear she is also just as much a one-trick-pony. I mean, what else will she do during the game? Won't the Combiner team just focus her down and then combine? It's an interesting dynamic for sure, but I'm sure Razorclaw is up for the challenge. It's good to know that someone who clearly is meant to nerf the Combiner's effectiveness isn't without her counterplay.

Windblade also has access to a very interesting ability in her plane mode, where she may reveal the top card of your deck, and if it has more than one pip color, you can play it for free. i.e. Cards like Roll Out. This is a really interesting ability, but without more cards that have multiple colors, I can't see her making much use of this ability. Although, you can pull it off without a hitch with Planning effects, but the extent of those remains to be seen.

She'll be difficult to fit anywhere else but her own archetype, sadly. But she's definitely one to watch.







This is the first of the Enigma battle cards we're getting for our Combiners, and you'll notice something straight away: That's a green pip. There is not a green pip in the game yet, and there has already been speculation all over the place.

Could it be healing? Could it be draw? Could it be placing that card in your hand instead of Scrapping it? There are countless opinions in the game of speculation, but one thing remains a constant: It's the only way to combine your Combiners.

Also that is a garish orange background.

You may also notice that it's a very good card that acts like a New Designs on freaking speed. You have the ability to draw a card, then play an Upgrade, so not only is this card not completely dead in your hand after you combine, but it is your lifeblood while setting up your Predaking.

This card is nutty -- and I can't wait to find out what that green pip does. My money is on healing, especially with Torox.

UPDATE: It's been revealed that this green effect is putting it into your hand when you flip it! You have to discard a card first, but this is a fantastic idea for the health of the game! I'm so stoked for this!



All in all, I think the Combiners will likely be the most difficult combo to pull off. I mean think about it. With stats that low, turn one your opponent can KO a piece of your team and you would have little to no say in the matter. You can try to build your deck to counter that, but that's neither here nor there.

The fact remains that when you combine, you are built Tall. Exceedingly so. You'll be very weak to wider compositions, as they will be able to punish your inactivity with their overactivity. I can almost see times where I don't want to combine at all, which is actually a good thing; I dislike one-trick-ponies that play the same three cards a game and try to win that way.

That being said, I do play the Pokemon TCG, so I'm a hypocrite.

Either way, there are so many things to love about this next wave and I am extremely excited to play with the Combiners. I'm just hoping that they're well supported -- otherwise, Nemesis/Optimus and Insecticons will remain on top.

Thanks for reading. Hope you learned something from my endless ramblings!

-Arcee herself must be with the "cars":Jazz,Prowl and Cliffjumper who is too rare

-The predacons are a MELEE team,it's already visible

-nerf are necessary,also,the Kickback bold make zero sens,ze-ro...Too much créativity with stat...You shouldn't be afraid to call for modification and without author approval.

I have some buff suggestion and flexibilty,suggest as you want:

-no HP under 9,except maybe the Metroplex minions and Skrapnel,maybe
-the swarm should recognize white flip
-the collatteral shouldn't force the user to scrap his own card in hand if he has already scrap a weapon from his field.Or it has more icons.

-Kup:you may flip him everytime you give an upgrade to his truck
-Ironhide:when flipped to humanoid:you may play an upgrade
-Redalert humanoid offense at 6
EDIT
-Jazz pierce at 3(the adjusting for triple balance is 2O/1W/2B/1W, rollout and the blank card every ten usually.

I have to say it:some reveal look like joke

-Bluestreak is volontary useless like Deadlock:8rank and inferior to 6rank cars
-battle card that cost stars,okay with new blank profit ability,some new 22star duo,but look at the effect compared to the irrational blue leap.The authors don't check every stats?

A theory about Windblade:for each specialist you have,look the first cards in your deck and put them in any order,matrix first +her flip.The specialist would be...The third trucks/tanks

Back up and rollout
Medic X 1
Cybertronium
Shock
Cargo/crushing threat/matrix
Statik/fusion/multi tool
Blast
Collateral
Team up/hunker/specialist card
Leap
Equipment enthusiast
Treasure
Repair

The new Megatron already look like a magician team member like Hound/Chromia,mostly orange like Shockwave-Bombshell-Ransack?Balanced?I except another Scream,together like Op7-Bee9-Mirage .

The very beginning:
MAX FORCE,ENDURANCE and SPEED are the three main categories for deck.MAX is not obligatory a MAX STEEL or CRYSIS reference okay?

Heuu,i won't come back everytime...

I'm not sure what you're trying to say but the designers are trying their best to balance the cards, ir's kit always going to work as there might be a couple of things to slip through testing.

Unless by author you mean #Sideways#, in which case I trust his judgement as he's put a lot of time and effort into research

Awesome writeup Sideways! I think I like reading about strategies and watching the game be played moreso than actually playing it. Not a knock on the game whatsoever, just personal preference. These will be fun to collect, and I hope at least one of the Combiners is a complete goofball like Dinoking.

Is there limb mixing between teams? Or are they all tribal in that sesnse?

Unless the actual scramble city teams are different, I'd imagine it's tribal. Although depending on how they play this we could get alternate members.

ZeroWolf wrote:Unless the actual scramble city teams are different, I'd imagine it's tribal. Although depending on how they play this we could get alternate members.

Wonder how/if they’d do Sea King/Poseidon. Guessing they’d leave the triple changing gun mode out. Will also be interesting if they do Alpha Bravo, Off Road, and what’s his face? Wonder if we’ll get different rarities of Blast Off with alternate art?

Would be interesting if there are Super-Rare/Chase G2 scamble combiners

sore are not showing

Thanks to fellow Seibertron user, #Sideways#, we have some new cards to show you as well as #Sideways# look at how the card fares. Included in his run down is a look at the rules change that is coming with this set and some suprises we can look forward to.

The reveals listed here come from multiple sources (Links contained in article):

WTF@TFW podcast
Wossy Plays YouTube Channel

Without further ado, over to you #Sideways#!

#Sideways# wrote:It's the most wonderful time of year -- in other words, it's time for more spoilers for the next Transformers Set! Of course, with a new set means new stuff, and in this case, we have new characters, rule changes, new keywords and an official statement on the use for the green pips!

__________Rule Changes__________


So, normally, the rules read that once a character is KO'd, you can't use them for anything. Generally, when they're KO'd, you can't transform them, attack with them or use any ability. Before, you had to use "I STILL FUNCTION!" to bring someone back to life, then transform them, and let them die at the end of the turn.

Now, though, when you transform for the turn, you can transform a KO'd character. This is phenomenal news. Cliffjumper requires Cars to be in the KO Pile, where -- and chiefly of these -- combiners require all members to be in their robot modes in order to combine in the first place. This means that, once a character is KO'd in their vehicle mode (for instance, a character with Brave like Headstrong), then you can transform them in the KO pile to finally get that combination off.

It's actually fantastic.

No longer do you have to spam "I STILL FUNCTION!" to get your characters how you want them, now you can just transform whenever, wherever you want!

__________Green Pips__________



Everyone's going green these days.

Okay, so, if you didn't read my edited post the other day, you would not have seen what green pips do. So, very recently, WTF@TFW did an hour-long interview with the developers, who revealed some very interesting information, including a new character (which we'll get to later). One of these things was a clarification on the green pips.

Green pips activate when you flip them, and when you do, you may choose to scrap a card from your hand. If you do, you may put that green pipped card into your hand.

This is fantastic news because it makes the game more consistent and way less reliant on draw to get some specific cards, like Combination Enigmas which are confirmed to be all at least in part green pips.

Have you ever had a moment where you accidentally mill the card you've been digging for all game? This is the effect that seeks to curb that. Sometimes, it was horrible where you could discard two out of three Cargo Trailers and suddenly your deck falls apart. It gets worrying when you discard your important cards.

When you need it and you need it now, green pips are your answer.

__________Characters__________



Bringing flip-flopping to a whole new level.


Bluestreak was one of two cards that Wossy Plays, a fellow YouTuber, got an exclusive on. If you'd like to hear his impeccably British opinion on the matter, check out his video HERE!

But you're here for my opinion, and who am I to withhold that?

Well, sorry to say, I'm just not impressed by Bluestreak here. He has a cool gimmick. If you flip one of each, you get to flip to your alternate mode, swapping your zero defense for a whopping four defense in your alternate mode. This defense is probably the best part about him, I'm not gonna lie. His attack is middling, his ability is daunting at times and his eight-star cost makes him a hard sell in comparison to other Cars.

Maybe it's just me, but when I have a car on my team, it has to hit hard and draw harder. Bluestreak does neither of those. That being said, he has access to all the Car support which is honestly the best support in the game, at least at this time of writing. But Bluestreak does have potential.

If you whiff with him, he's dead, but something fascinating about him is the ability to play him in a Cliffjumper deck. There are several effects that can rig your topdeck, and even if you do whiff, then Bluestreak will end up fueling Cliffjumper's high attack stat.

Of course, there are probably better cars to play, but Bluestreak isn't the worst one. In other words? He's no Deadlock!



"I don't like that word, 'insane'. I prefer the term 'visionary'."

For the second exclusive that Wossy got, he got access to the second common Megatron card! Again, you can see his thoughts on it HERE.

So, as for my opinions, what do I think of this new common? Well, I think this card is probably the best Megatron second only to Living Weapon. He's lightyears better than Decepticon Leader, despite Decepticon Leader's innate Upgrade scrapping ability and ability to gain high levels of Pierce. But here's the thing. This Megatron is insane -- pun intended.

First off, in his robot form, you have a draw ability that is always good in Transformers, and even better in the Tank archetype. Megs here can attack, pitch an Armor and then draw two new cards, potentially one of those pesky Hunker Down you've been digging for the entire game. But the scrapping of Armor is always good in Tanks thanks to that Hunker Down, and it's even better with this Megatron.

Megatron can use his alternate mode ability to play an extra card, probably a weapon or a Crushing Treads to make your offensive capabilities skyrocket. But the best part is, you can use that with Hunker Down. You can use it to attach that armor you scrapped (and probably the other Armor that you flipped), then flip Megatron to play a second Upgrade onto one of your characters and then finally attach a third Upgrade, fully upgrading someone potentially, with one card play.

Tanks got a massive buff with this Megatron alone, and I cannot wait to see what else that gets brought to the table for them in the future. After all, they are one of my favorite archetypes at the moment.

Acid Storm -- Toxic Terror

Alternate Mode:

Plane - Ranged
3 Attack / 10 HP / 0 Defense

"When you flip to this mode --> Heal one damage from Acid Storm for every Double Orange card in your opponent's Scrap Pile."

6 stars

>>>>>>>>>FLIP>>>>>>>>>

Acid Storm -- Toxic Terror

Robot Mode:

Ranged
2 Attack / 10 HP / 0 Defense

"Your opponent cannot use Bold."


Whoa, that's toxic!


Acid Storm was one of my first G1-themed toys back in the day. It was the Universe mold for Starscream, and he remains one of my favorite Transformers toys. He was well-painted, and I had a thing for camo back in the day so he got all the sweeter. So, when I heard that there was going to be a Transformers TCG, I got my hopes up for my favorite toy to finally make it into the lime-light. Wave 1 was a tease, but wave 2, thanks to the WTF@TFW podcast, has made my dream come true.

Unfortunately, we don't have a single picture for Acid Storm, but the developers revealed his stats and text in the interview and I've transcribed them here.

Acid Storm is the killer of Dinobots. Dinobots use a massive amount of Bold to deal a massive amount of damage, but Acid Storm's corrosive weaponry stops that from happening. No amount of Bold will keep you down -- this 6-Star splash-in is going to ruin Grimlock's day. Planes got a huge buff with this guy, as Skywarp was depressingly average in the deck. But Acid Storm takes the normally bad matchup of Dinobots and has the potential to make it a fantastic matchup. Really and truly, I am excited to see what Acid Storm can do when put to the test.

Sure, his stats aren't too much to write home about, and his plane-mode's ability is mediocre given his awful defensive capabilities, but his robot mode is invaluable. I recommend placing Heroism on someone else, like Starscream, to keep Acid Storm alive during the game, lest you want to give Grimlock his Bold powers again.

But it's not just Dinos that hate him, it's Bugs. Insecticons make use of high bold as well, dealing usually low damage until their Bold racks up. If you end up facing off against an Insecticon swarm, make the switch to Acid Storm and watch as they start to flounder in their hopelessness.

I can also see using Acid Storm in a Nemesis Prime or Cosmos deck, where the big strategy revolves around a singular entity to pull out wins. All in all, I think this guy is the best card I've seen in Wave 2 as of the time of writing. He's just so good.

__________Battle Cards__________





Thunderbolt and lightning! Very very frightening!


Bolt of Lightning is an interesting addition, and I love it. Bolt of Lightning deals 3 damage straight with nary a downside. You normally only see that on One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall, which deals 3 damage back to you in recoil.

See, I misspoke about the "nary a downside" thing because it does have a "downside": Taking up a Star value. You see, Bolt of Lightning is one of several new cards we're getting that actually cost points to put in your list. Normally, you would have a team that maxed at 25 stars, but your characters could only reach 22 stars. This remedies that lost value in spades, filling out points and filling out your deck with more powerful cards.

As for Bolt of Lightning, I can definitely see it getting played. We don't know how many cards have these star costs, and it would only be logical to assume that there are more than two in this set, and this is one of the better ones I've seen. Sadly, it has no pip so I am a little reluctant to play it, but the rewards of dealing three indirect damage to something without taking any yourself is going to be a hard sell not to play in lists that can spare the point values.



Mounted Missiles is the second battle card revealed by Wossy Plays (revealed HERE!) and might I say that this card is one of the nuttiest Battle Cards I've ever seen. Remember when I said that it would be a hard sell not to play Bolt of Lightning in your list when you have spare points? This is what I meant.

See, unlike Bolt of Lightning, Mounted Missiles is a third -- count them, third card that has double orange pips. This is absolutely absurd. Being able to play a third card that has a double pip like this is one of the craziest things I've seen. Aggressive decks that can spare the points are going to be doing so much damage now that they have access to another double orange.

What's that? I haven't even spoken about the card's bonkers effect? Oh, sure. See, this card can be in your Utility, Armor and your Weapon slots, which means (if I'm not mistaken) you can stack three of them on the same character and reap their rewards. Best part is, it has a static +2 damage effect, so it's never a dead card in your hand because you're not losing that double orange effect.

Mounted Missiles is absolutely bananas. Unfortunately, not every deck can play it to its fullest potential. In fact, most lists can't play it at all. But the ones that will rise up and make the space will love every moment of this card, and all that sweet, sweet damage they're about to deal.

__________Conclusion__________


Rise of the Combiners is looking to shake up the meta, and I can think of no better way to do that than Acid Storm and the point costing Battle Cards. There are so many potential uses for these cards that it's insane. Imagine, playing three of each and simply dropping a character from your list.

These reveals change everything, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that.

But that's not all. There's one more reveal from the WTF@TFW interview that is monstrous -- it's that there will be one combiner that won't be 25 stars in total, and others that won't be five or six-man rosters. Meaning, you are going to be able to play either these new Battle Cards or another character in your list and make out to be the easiest combiner to pull off. The only question is, who is it? Sky-Lynx comes to mind, but there are other options on the table.

What are you hoping to see in this set? Let me know in the comments below!

What do you think of these? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews.

-"the insecticons has good bold"
Okay,folks,when he talk about them,he talk about Kickback only,beware.One day,you'll realize that something is wrong with this card and some others

-Bluestreak is not stronger than Jazz,Redalert and Bee6,he's also inferior to Cliffjumper,Splitstream and Bombshell

-Acidstorm can be put instead of R.A with Cosmo but i except someone beetween him and Mega2

Magicians are the venimous style,VE-NI-MOUS and they are all anti MELEE,quadrios are sensible to seekers

-mounted missilles doesn't look like a joke but we don't know their owners yet.

PerfectVision wrote:-"the insecticons has good bold"
Okay,folks,when he talk about them,he talk about Kickback only,beware.One day,you'll realize that something is wrong with this card and some others

-Bluestreak is not stronger than Jazz,Redalert and Bee6,he's also inferior to Cliffjumper,Splitstream and Bombshell

-Acidstorm can be put instead of R.A with Cosmo but i except someone beetween him and Mega2

Magicians are the venimous style,VE-NI-MOUS and they are all anti MELEE,quadrios are sensible to seekers

-mounted missilles doesn't look like a joke but we don't know their owners yet.

No, actually, Kickback does not have Bold at all. By speaking to Insecticons and their usage of Bold, I was talking about their playing of Flamethrower, Supercharge and Barrage to supplement their damage. Kickback plays very little into this. The developers were very careful not to use the word "Bold" on him and Demolisher because they knew that they would eventually nerf it with characters like Acid Storm, making their damage output literally zero. I get that you might think that he's too good, but he's the definition of a glass cannon. He's great, sure, but he's just as fragile. I'm not quite sure I know what you mean by "something wrong with this card and some others" -- he's fine in my opinion.

As for Bluestreak, I mean, I agree, Bluestreak isn't that great, but he does have potential with proper support. Your comparisons to the six star cars is completely incomparable because of their point values -- Bluestreak has 8, not 6, and is such far less splashable than the three of them. As to your other points, I agree that he is worse than Cliffjumper in terms of cars, but after that... I have nary an idea why you've brought up Slipstream and Bombshell. I mean, Bombshell has 4 Defense -- but that's the only redeeming quality about him and the only relation between he and Bluestreak. Bluestreak is actually playable in a car list because he takes advantage of the rest of the car tribal cards -- Bombshell cannot make use of any of them, thus he should not be played at all in any car list.

If by R.A. you mean Rare Arcee, then I would agree with you to some extent that Acid Storm can take her spot in Cosmos builds. Unfortunately, with the way the meta is forming, Cosmos can't really take too many tournaments due to its autoloss matchup against Nemesis/Optimus decks. Cosmos can't pop Battlefield Legend Prime, after all, and unfortunately, Acid Storm helps little with that problem. But it does make your Dinobots and Insecticons matchup easier.

I definitely agree that using him in a Rare Megatron deck is a good idea. I actually think that he finds most use in decks like that, where he's slowing down your opponent's damage output to prevent damage to your more valuable characters, like Megatron. I can even see using him in a Battlefield Legend deck, as well, or maybe even a Nemesis deck. I think he's perfect for lists like that.

I literally have no idea what you're talking about after that. Could you perhaps rephrase what you mean so that I -- and the other readers -- may better understand what you mean?

#Sideways# wrote:

PerfectVision wrote:-"the insecticons has good bold"
Okay,folks,when he talk about them,he talk about Kickback only,beware.One day,you'll realize that something is wrong with this card and some others

-Bluestreak is not stronger than Jazz,Redalert and Bee6,he's also inferior to Cliffjumper,Splitstream and Bombshell

-Acidstorm can be put instead of R.A with Cosmo but i except someone beetween him and Mega2

Magicians are the venimous style,VE-NI-MOUS and they are all anti MELEE,quadrios are sensible to seekers

-mounted missilles doesn't look like a joke but we don't know their owners yet.

No, actually, Kickback does not have Bold at all. By speaking to Insecticons and their usage of Bold, I was talking about their playing of Flamethrower, Supercharge and Barrage to supplement their damage. Kickback plays very little into this. The developers were very careful not to use the word "Bold" on him and Demolisher because they knew that they would eventually nerf it with characters like Acid Storm, making their damage output literally zero. I get that you might think that he's too good, but he's the definition of a glass cannon. He's great, sure, but he's just as fragile. I'm not quite sure I know what you mean by "something wrong with this card and some others" -- he's fine in my opinion.

As for Bluestreak, I mean, I agree, Bluestreak isn't that great, but he does have potential with proper support. Your comparisons to the six star cars is completely incomparable because of their point values -- Bluestreak has 8, not 6, and is such far less splashable than the three of them. As to your other points, I agree that he is worse than Cliffjumper in terms of cars, but after that... I have nary an idea why you've brought up Slipstream and Bombshell. I mean, Bombshell has 4 Defense -- but that's the only redeeming quality about him and the only relation between he and Bluestreak. Bluestreak is actually playable in a car list because he takes advantage of the rest of the car tribal cards -- Bombshell cannot make use of any of them, thus he should not be played at all in any car list.

If by R.A. you mean Rare Arcee, then I would agree with you to some extent that Acid Storm can take her spot in Cosmos builds. Unfortunately, with the way the meta is forming, Cosmos can't really take too many tournaments due to its autoloss matchup against Nemesis/Optimus decks. Cosmos can't pop Battlefield Legend Prime, after all, and unfortunately, Acid Storm helps little with that problem. But it does make your Dinobots and Insecticons matchup easier.

I definitely agree that using him in a Rare Megatron deck is a good idea. I actually think that he finds most use in decks like that, where he's slowing down your opponent's damage output to prevent damage to your more valuable characters, like Megatron. I can even see using him in a Battlefield Legend deck, as well, or maybe even a Nemesis deck. I think he's perfect for lists like that.

I literally have no idea what you're talking about after that. Could you perhaps rephrase what you mean so that I -- and the other readers -- may better understand what you mean?

Mega2 is the new one,R.A is Redalert,Cosmo is not the only magicians,of course he's not for high rank target,Bluestreak and Bombshell do the same thing,the second has better stat,6rank dudes are still better than him,Splitstream has the same activation scheme and is better too.

Insecticons need defense and pierce(backup and rollout everywhere),like the "cars".
Salvage X 1
Piercing blaster
Force field
Data bank
Grenade(not far from M.M)
Blast
Bug bomb
TBTA
inspirational
Swarm
New design
Battle ready

Kickback is the only reason to go full orange,OP12 and Demolisher need the cybertronium.

PerfectVision wrote:Mega2 is the new one,R.A is Redalert,Cosmo is not the only magicians,of course he's not for high rank target,Bluestreak and Bombshell do the same thing,the second has better stat,6rank dudes are still better than him,Splitstream has the same activation scheme and is better too.

Insecticons need defense and pierce(backup and rollout everywhere),like the "cars".
Salvage X 1
Piercing blaster
Force field
Data bank
Grenade(not far from M.M)
Blast
Bug bomb
TBTA
inspirational
Swarm
New design
Battle ready

Kickback is the only reason to go full orange,OP12 and Demolisher need the cybertronium.

I still do not understand what you mean by "magicians". Is it autocorrected from something, perhaps? Or do you mean ability-based cards? This is my main source of confusion.

Insecticons should only be played wide with all Orange with few exceptions. I for one love Heroism in Insecticons and it's Blue, but the most prolific build is entirely Orange for a reason. Pierce and defense sounds cool on paper, but Tanks and Trucks are the only things that can pull that off well. Insecticons have such a miniscule health pool that they're just going to be one-hit regardless of a pool of blue cards.

If by Op12 you mean the Common Optimus who has 12 Stars, then I couldn't disagree more on the notion that he and Demolisher require Cybertonium Bow. Cybertonium Bow and Shock Absorbers are both universally reviled in the community due to their extremely difficult to use effect. It is very difficult to have equal numbers of orange and blue pips whenever you flip, especially with Demolisher who flips potentially eight cards if you flip a white pip. It's just far better to attach something -- anything -- else.

As I said above, Bombshell and Bluestreak are mostly incomperable. They belong in their own lists. Bombshell cannot be played in a car list, while Bluestreak can take advantage of everything Cars have to offer.

I also said in my previous post that the six star cars are also incomperable because their far smaller point values fill a separate role than Bluestreak who would be filling a larger spot in your deck.

Slipstream is a plane with a completely different set of abilities. Regardless of what her activation to her completely different ability is, she is also radically different to Bluestreak. Your logic here is a stretch, don't you think? It's like saying Common Megatron from Wave 1 is better than Arcee because he has more consistent Pierce output than her.

Finally, I don't understand why you would play Red Alert in a Cosmos list. He is Vanilla, and there are so many better cards to play in his stead, like Jazz or Arcee.

#Sideways# wrote:

PerfectVision wrote:Mega2 is the new one,R.A is Redalert,Cosmo is not the only magicians,of course he's not for high rank target,Bluestreak and Bombshell do the same thing,the second has better stat,6rank dudes are still better than him,Splitstream has the same activation scheme and is better too.

Insecticons need defense and pierce(backup and rollout everywhere),like the "cars".
Salvage X 1
Piercing blaster
Force field
Data bank
Grenade(not far from M.M)
Blast
Bug bomb
TBTA
inspirational
Swarm
New design
Battle ready

Kickback is the only reason to go full orange,OP12 and Demolisher need the cybertronium.

I still do not understand what you mean by "magicians". Is it autocorrected from something, perhaps? Or do you mean ability-based cards? This is my main source of confusion.

Insecticons should only be played wide with all Orange with few exceptions. I for one love Heroism in Insecticons and it's Blue, but the most prolific build is entirely Orange for a reason. Pierce and defense sounds cool on paper, but Tanks and Trucks are the only things that can pull that off well. Insecticons have such a miniscule health pool that they're just going to be one-hit regardless of a pool of blue cards.

If by Op12 you mean the Common Optimus who has 12 Stars, then I couldn't disagree more on the notion that he and Demolisher require Cybertonium Bow. Cybertonium Bow and Shock Absorbers are both universally reviled in the community due to their extremely difficult to use effect. It is very difficult to have equal numbers of orange and blue pips whenever you flip, especially with Demolisher who flips potentially eight cards if you flip a white pip. It's just far better to attach something -- anything -- else.

As I said above, Bombshell and Bluestreak are mostly incomperable. They belong in their own lists. Bombshell cannot be played in a car list, while Bluestreak can take advantage of everything Cars have to offer.

I also said in my previous post that the six star cars are also incomperable because their far smaller point values fill a separate role than Bluestreak who would be filling a larger spot in your deck.

Slipstream is a plane with a completely different set of abilities. Regardless of what her activation to her completely different ability is, she is also radically different to Bluestreak. Your logic here is a stretch, don't you think? It's like saying Common Megatron from Wave 1 is better than Arcee because he has more consistent Pierce output than her.

Finally, I don't understand why you would play Red Alert in a Cosmos list. He is Vanilla, and there are so many better cards to play in his stead, like Jazz or Arcee.

-magicians are Shockwave and Cosmo,who are spaceships also

-adjust your cards 1O/1B or 2(maybe it's the same result),rollout help after white,

-pierce fit them,also,Barrage has more HP than he should,Skrapnel must stay in full defense.There's two armors.How's that one hit?

-the blaster and the TBTA beat flame and supercharge at this point,think about card use

-like Ramjet,Redalert will mostly have blue flip,his humanoid is usable with the reinforced plating,he and Jazz should be a bit more powerful anyway.Trucks need buff too.

Ready for action may be better than Salvage.

PerfectVision wrote:-magicians are Shockwave and Cosmo,who are spaceships also

-adjust your cards 1O/1B,rollout help after white,

-pierce fit them,also,Barrage has more HP than he should,Skrapnel must stay in full defense.How's that one hit?

-like Ramjet,Redalert will mostly have blue flip,his humanoid is usable with the reinforced plating,he and Jazz should be a bit more powerful anyway.Trucks need buff also

I see. Then I disagree completely with your previous statements about "magicians". Honestly, Cosmos is a victim of the meta and now he's victim of the rest of the game. Rare Prime, Living Weapon, Metroplex and now Combiners utterly dumpster the poor guy.

Shockwave also needs a lot of love, in my humble opinion. Players just don't scrap enough cards from their hand to justify taking Shockwave over someone -- or some people -- who are better. I realize that Security Checkpoint, Disruptive Entrance and a few other cards discard a couple of cards, but the amount you're discarding isn't going to be enough to justify his existence in a list.

I realize that playing Roll Out and Matrix of Leadership add to that, but they don't really add anything when you think about it. For instance, they add one of each, but that has no bearing on what you flip afterward which could serve to offset the rest of your flips. It's bound to happen more than it doesn't. That inconsistency makes it far better to play cards that give more damage presently, like Grenade Launcher, Energon Axe or Flamethrower.

I don't know what you mean by "Pierce fit them". But I can glean from the rest of your statement that you're wondering how they one-hit you. That answer is simple. Turn one, Optimus Prime flips a Leap Into Battle and swings at an Insect-Mode Skrapnel for 11. Turn one. No one has played a card yet. After that, they can play a Grenade Launcher and a Leap Into Battle from their hand and flip a The Bigger They Are off the top of their deck. That's 17 Damage. Bombshell dies to that in one hit, even with three blues off the top of your deck. If you're defending with Skrapnel, they will be content with two-hitting him after they play a Plasma Burst for free. Heavens, they can even play two Plasma Burst in one turn thanks to Brainstorm or Prime's effect. It's a bad matchup, and it's a third of the meta.

Okay, then, how about Insecticons? Grenade Launcher a Barrage after using Zap on Bombshell. Barrage has Bold 2, with a base of 9 damage after the Grenade Launcher. They flip an average flip, with two white pips. They flip one of their Improvised Shields and a Peace Through Tyranny as well. The rest are single Orange, as per the deck list. So, in total, 5 more damage. A total of 16. You might live with one HP or so, but you know that's a war you cannot win because you're not one-hitting them back. A bad matchup, another third of the metagame.

How about Dinobots, then? Grimlock swings at you with Bold 9 with a Flamethrower, Jaws of Steel and a Dino-Chomp! in his robot mode. He flips six of those Bold as orange cards, with two being double orange. It's fairly average. His other four cards were two oranges and two more white. Slightly less than optimal flips. Bad luck for Dinobots, but then again it happens to everyone every now and again. But either way, that's 6 damage base, with 10 added on. 16 in total. You're not doing enough damage to threaten them while they set up. Another bad matchup, another third of the metagame.

See what I'm getting at? Your health pools are way too small to be played in a defensive list. The damage numbers for the rest of the meta are just too high. Yes, Skrapnel's effect is very good at keeping him alive, but the metagame has plenty of workarounds for him, too, with a lot of lists playing indirect damage, like Insecticons, Dinobots and Double Prime.

Ramjet is actually a low-key favorite of mine. That instant 7 Damage is really neat, despite his zero defense. Speaking of zero defense, Red Alert rarely survives anything in his robot form. Again, my same arguments against the high defense Insecticons apply to him even more given his zero defense. Jazz is actually kinda niche in mostly white decks, but I definitely agree that he should be way better. Same with Trucks.

Trucks are kind of very hard to balance. Too much support and they get freaking insane. They already have a pipped healing card and Cargo Trailers, too much tweaking and they might take over the meta.

#Sideways# wrote:

PerfectVision wrote:-magicians are Shockwave and Cosmo,who are spaceships also

-adjust your cards 1O/1B,rollout help after white,

-pierce fit them,also,Barrage has more HP than he should,Skrapnel must stay in full defense.How's that one hit?

-like Ramjet,Redalert will mostly have blue flip,his humanoid is usable with the reinforced plating,he and Jazz should be a bit more powerful anyway.Trucks need buff also

I see. Then I disagree completely with your previous statements about "magicians". Honestly, Cosmos is a victim of the meta and now he's victim of the rest of the game. Rare Prime, Living Weapon, Metroplex and now Combiners utterly dumpster the poor guy.

Shockwave also needs a lot of love, in my humble opinion. Players just don't scrap enough cards from their hand to justify taking Shockwave over someone -- or some people -- who are better. I realize that Security Checkpoint, Disruptive Entrance and a few other cards discard a couple of cards, but the amount you're discarding isn't going to be enough to justify his existence in a list.

I realize that playing Roll Out and Matrix of Leadership add to that, but they don't really add anything when you think about it. For instance, they add one of each, but that has no bearing on what you flip afterward which could serve to offset the rest of your flips. It's bound to happen more than it doesn't. That inconsistency makes it far better to play cards that give more damage presently, like Grenade Launcher, Energon Axe or Flamethrower.

I don't know what you mean by "Pierce fit them". But I can glean from the rest of your statement that you're wondering how they one-hit you. That answer is simple. Turn one, Optimus Prime flips a Leap Into Battle and swings at an Insect-Mode Skrapnel for 11. Turn one. No one has played a card yet. After that, they can play a Grenade Launcher and a Leap Into Battle from their hand and flip a The Bigger They Are off the top of their deck. That's 17 Damage. Bombshell dies to that in one hit, even with three blues off the top of your deck. If you're defending with Skrapnel, they will be content with two-hitting him after they play a Plasma Burst for free. Heavens, they can even play two Plasma Burst in one turn thanks to Brainstorm or Prime's effect. It's a bad matchup, and it's a third of the meta.

Okay, then, how about Insecticons? Grenade Launcher a Barrage after using Zap on Bombshell. Barrage has Bold 2, with a base of 9 damage after the Grenade Launcher. They flip an average flip, with two white pips. They flip one of their Improvised Shields and a Peace Through Tyranny as well. The rest are single Orange, as per the deck list. So, in total, 5 more damage. A total of 16. You might live with one HP or so, but you know that's a war you cannot win because you're not one-hitting them back. A bad matchup, another third of the metagame.

How about Dinobots, then? Grimlock swings at you with Bold 9 with a Flamethrower, Jaws of Steel and a Dino-Chomp! in his robot mode. He flips six of those Bold as orange cards, with two being double orange. It's fairly average. His other four cards were two oranges and two more white. Slightly less than optimal flips. Bad luck for Dinobots, but then again it happens to everyone every now and again. But either way, that's 6 damage base, with 10 added on. 16 in total. You're not doing enough damage to threaten them while they set up. Another bad matchup, another third of the metagame.

See what I'm getting at? Your health pools are way too small to be played in a defensive list. The damage numbers for the rest of the meta are just too high. Yes, Skrapnel's effect is very good at keeping him alive, but the metagame has plenty of workarounds for him, too, with a lot of lists playing indirect damage, like Insecticons, Dinobots and Double Prime.

Ramjet is actually a low-key favorite of mine. That instant 7 Damage is really neat, despite his zero defense. Speaking of zero defense, Red Alert rarely survives anything in his robot form. Again, my same arguments against the high defense Insecticons apply to him even more given his zero defense. Jazz is actually kinda niche in mostly white decks, but I definitely agree that he should be way better. Same with Trucks.

Trucks are kind of very hard to balance. Too much support and they get freaking insane. They already have a pipped healing card and Cargo Trailers, too much tweaking and they might take over the meta.

-Jazz+Prowl bold make the pierce granted,cliffjumper and Arcee,there's no place for Bluestreak

-stop forgetting armors

-OP13 is way too strong,potentially banissable,to remove his stupid defense and first turn action should be enough,he must begin as a truck flipping during other offense.If you can abuse blank and win,that mean your characters are too strong.

-MANY card scrap MANY card like the dino chomp itself,the backup,the system reboot and computer sabotage

-my ideas for trucks are good

-low attack require pierce,insect has quantity which can compensate one hit KO on them

-Offense is too good overall,feel more like MEGAMAN BATTLE NETWORK where only a handful of card is necessary,both in preparation and action(optimal deck variance is low),the presumed plurialism of FIRE EMBLEM and VALKYRIA CHRONICLE is also a scam.All of that in a POKEMON VIDEOGAME like.The rarity system is disturbing obviously.I feel like i have wasted my time.Have fun.

PerfectVision wrote:-Jazz+Prowl bold make the pierce granted,cliffjumper and Arcee,there's no place for Bluestreak

-stop forgetting armors

-OP13 is way too strong,potentially banissable,to remove his stupid defense and first turn action should be enough,he must begin as a truck flipping during other offense.If you can abuse blank and win,that mean your characters are too strong.

-MANY card scrap MANY card like the dino chomp itself,the backup,the system reboot and computer sabotage

-my ideas for trucks are good

-low attack require pierce,insect has quantity which can compensate one hit KO on them

-Offense is too good overall,feel more like MEGAMAN BATTLE NETWORK where only a handful of card is necessary,both in preparation and action(optimal deck variance is low),the presumed plurialism of FIRE EMBLEM and VALKYRIA CHRONICLE is also a scam.All of that in a POKEMON VIDEOGAME like.The rarity system is disturbing obviously.I feel like i have wasted my time.Have fun.

I addressed your comparisons to the other cars already. Please reread them.

I did not forget your character's armor. I simply showed that the meta does enough damage to more or less ignore it.

Optimus is a very good card. But don't condemn someone for playing a good card -- that's the name of the game. But he's not unbeatable, either. Orange Insecticons have a very even matchup against Double Prime. I don't know whether or not he needs banning as we're only in wave one at the moment, and Brave/Stealth will definitely make things more interesting, but I don't think he's broken.

You speak about Dino-Chomp! as a card that benefits Shockwave. Okay, that's fine. Dinobots has a three or four card hand including Dino-Chomp! on average. Most decks have that small of a hand on average. They play down their Upgrade, down to a three card hand. Then, they play the Dino-Chomp! and discard the other two, leaving themselves with no hand. Remember, Shockwave lets your opponent decide where they put that damage -- not you, unfortunately. So, the Dinobot player takes one damage on Grimlock, then puts the other on Sludge. Sludge's robot mode heals your Dinobots by one damage when they attack. Grimlock then attacks and heals off that damage that Shockwave made him place. You have effectively done one damage.

Everything else that scraps on my turn can be countered by one point: I can play whatever cards in my hand that I like during my turn, so why would I choose to play a card that damages me when I could play other cards like Incoming Transmission or Equipment Enthusiast which do not scrap cards? As for Computer Sabotage, the average hand size is four cards. You have scrapped one card. Security Checkpoint can deal more, but again, the average hand size is four, and let's be generous and say that half that is made up of Upgrades. You've only dealt two damage that I, as your opponent, can spread around however I wish. System Reboot is the only consistent source of damage that you could use with Shockwave, and even then you have to draw into it to deal three to four damage that I can spread around however I want.

With Shockwave, your opponent gets to control your damage output. It's unfortunate, but it's the truth.

I'd love to hear your Truck ideas. Honestly, I think they need a more consistent way to get Cargo Trailers. Flipping them is terrible, and when you whiff a couple you're kinda hurting for the rest of the game. As the guys from WTF@TFW said, "Trucks get scary when you give them a gun." in other words, a Cargo Trailer.

As for Pierce offsetting your characters getting one hit, I can only say this: No. Pierce or not, you've just been one-hit. If you have four guys, and one of them just got one-hit, you have three left. You retaliate with a Piercing Blaster and by playing a The Bigger They Are. Then, you retaliate by swinging for Pierce 7 -- this is best case scenario. You deal 7 damage to someone, and then they one-hit you again. That's a hard sell, man, don't you think? Not even Tanks can deal with that kind of offensive power, and all of their characters have at least 4 Defense.

I agree that the game speed is a bit too fast. Offensive power is kinda nutty, but then again, Double Prime is shaping up to be the BDIF, the Best Deck In Format -- and it's an all-blue deck. I dunno. Aggro is very, very strong. I think that Acid Storm will curb that to a large degree, but we haven't seen the rest of the set yet so I can't make any judgement one way or the other. I mean, who knows what else the combiners will bring?

As for the relations to those video games, I have very little idea what you're talking about again. Judging from a quick Google search, are you talking about gacha? The Fire Emblem and Valkyria Chronicles mobile games are naturally very gacha-centric, as is with most free mobile games. If you're comparing their rarity system to the rarity system of the Transformers TCG, then I would only marginally agree. Whereas I don't personally own a Super Rare (the fact that they aren't just reskins of a simple Rare card is a little upsetting), I've never thought they were out of reach. I can just buy a single from online vendors instead of opening packs -- it's usually way cheaper than opening a box for $120 and hoping you pull something out of it.

Sorry you feel like you wasted your time. I thought this debate was very fruitful for both parties. I personally quite enjoy debates as they help to evolve or reinforce my opinions. Unless you feel that way about the game, which is again, unfortunate. I think the game is very fun, personally, and I think that is one of the most important parts to a game. Yes, it has gotten a bit stale given the meta seemed to consolidate around three decks, but... Honestly? That's what a new set is for, and we're getting that now.

Well with the recent reveal of Wave 2: Rise of the Combiners for Wizards of the Coast's Official Transformers Trading Card Game, we have a few more new cards to share with you all! The reveals today come from a mix of YouTubers Wossy Plays and Wreck N' Rule, as well as websites tabletopgaming and VectorSigma.Info!

So as usual, we'll hand things over to fellow Seibertron user, #Sideways#.

#Sideways# wrote:
__________CHARACTERS__________




"Like... A turd! In the wind."


Veno-- I mean, Venin was revealed by VectorSigma.info, a Transformers Trading Card Game competitive article website. Wizards of the Coast has really been fostering the community with these reveals, going to Kotaku, Wossy Plays, now even Wreck N' Rule and others. Hey, Wizards! I have a YouTube channel, too! Let me reveal some, too!!

Anyway, Venin is an odd bird when it comes to Insecticons. Insecticons deal a lot of damage very quickly, but can't take any punishment whatsoever -- at least, that's how things used to work. Venin looks to change that. He has a very disruptive playstyle with his bug mode -- something that is quite unlike other Insecticons. In fact, I would argue that he belongs in a defensive list with Bombshell (despite his vanilla nature) and Ransack with some spare room for Star Cards, but I haven't done any playtesting in that regard so I wouldn't be able to tell you one way or another.

His bug mode has a very interesting ability that adds to his defensive control playstyle that combos really well with Bug Bomb, a Utility that has most of the same effects as Venin. You would be able to play an I STILL FUNCTION!, return Ransack from being, well, sacked and attach a Bug Bomb to him. He would then attack for seven, then die again, discarding three cards from your opponent's hand. That's kind of really nutty. Keeping them there is going to be more difficult, but it pays off when you see Venin's robot mode.

His robot form allows you to give all of your characters Pierce 4 as long as your opponent has no cards in hand, which allows you to deal a considerable amount of damage to Tall decks like Combiners and Titans. He's a very interesting deck concept that really makes this whole "Defensive Insecticons" thing that seems to be just on the horizon.

He's a niche character -- and I don't think he'll find a place in the mainstream Insecticon Swarm decks -- but I don't think he's all that bad for control decks.

__________BATTLE CARDS__________




"Where was the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!"


Mounted Missiles is another so-called "Star Card" that we're getting in this next wave, revealed by Wossy Plays on YouTube! I gotta say, love this card. Being a third card that could be a double orange pip makes me very happy, and the fact that it can be attached to keep that +2 Damage is very exciting. The fact that you can attach it in your Utility slot makes it even better.

You won't ever be able to play three of these in decks like Insecticons or Dinobots, but having a seventh double orange card in the deck is never a bad thing.



"A'ight, time's up, let's do this! LEEEEEROOYY! JENKIIINNNNS!"


This card is revealed by the Wreck N' Rule YouTube channel, and might I say that Reckless Charge is freaking insane. It's like a better version of One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall. I mean, I get it, OSSOSF does direct damage to your target, but Reckless Charge is an orange pip that deals technically more damage not counting defense. Of course, with defense things get a little math-y, but I'm not going to bore either of us with the details.

Reckless Charge is a very good card for a few decks. Insecticons love this card, Dinobots love this card -- pretty much any aggro deck love this card. But something that I find very interesting is that Optimus Prime -- Battlefield Legend loves this card more than anyone else. Before, OSSOSF wouldn't boost his damage if you flipped it off the top of your deck with his attack and played it. Now, not only do you do +4 damage, you also are getting an orange pip on the top of your deck so you're essentially doing +5 damage.

That damage is astronomical for Battlefield Legend. You deal an absurd 13 damage before counting any weapons. Sure, you deal 3 in recoil, but there are very few things that can survive Optimus' attack when you swing like that. Makes me sweat a little, I'm not going to lie.



What makes you S.P.E.C.I.A.L.?


Wossy Plays gives us another card reveal, and this time, it's finally time to give your Specialists a Pip Boy! I mean, just look at it. I want to listen to Big Iron on it all day, although let's be fair here, I would just end up getting nothing but Johnny Guitar instead.

Jokes aside, this Pip Boy has a white pip, boy, making it the third card for Specialists that allow them to play free cards, the others being Multi-Tool and Multi-Mission Gear. This one, however, is definitely very strong, unlike Multi-Tool. Multi-Tool is redundant -- I mean, why play an extra upgrade by playing an upgrade when you could just... Play that Upgrade? -- but this allows you to essentially draw a card and play it while still giving you +1 damage in your Utility slot.

This is a very powerful effect. Nevermind what random card you might end up playing off the top of your deck -- you can rig that card with Planning effects. Cards that draw one and Plan 1 can look at the top and make sure you really want to play it before you get to play it for free. This is something I absolutely adore, and Field Communicator is definitely worth a spot in any deck that has a Specialist.



Now look upon the face of terror as another poor victim pulls his fifth copy of Sergeant Kup from his booster packs.


Courtesy of TableTopGaming.co.uk, we have a couple of reveals for the next wave, and first up is Enemy Combat Analysis. ECA is kind of an odd card, if you want my opinion. It is at least a very niche card in Combiner lists as it makes the mirror match far better. Having a card like this that gives you incredible advantages against the mirror match is cool, and in Pokemon I often find that people tech in one or two cards to make the mirror less of a coin-flip and more of an autowin.

It's interesting in Combiner lists because they're some of the only ones that can consistently pull off this effect, given that nearly everyone on the enemy Combiner team will have the same point cost as you. I mean, put it this way. You attach this to Headstrong, right? He has Brave and three defense. Now, with ECA, he defends against his counterparts with five defense. That's more damage than most all cards in the mirror can put out in the early game, and that's a very good thing.

Now, outside of Combiner lists, I can't see it getting played all that much unless you're afraid of the mirror, but in Combiners, I would definitely consider putting it in your list.



Focus Fire? Yeah, I play Overwatch Competitive -- it doesn't exist.


Focus Fire is another card coming out of TableTopGaming.co.uk, and this one is sort of an Action card version of Cargo Trailer. I have mixed feelings about it, but I do think that certain decks can make massive use of it. Naturally, decks that can make use of it the most are decks that have high bold, as its Green pipped nature allows you to dig through your deck and amass them.

Part of what I like the most about this is the fact that you're eventually going to build up the three of them in your hand, pretty much no matter what, and that makes me very excited because you will eventually build up to a fantastic Bold 9 turn. See, this card has the same stacking effect that Cargo Trailer has, where the more you play the more exponential your growth. It makes me very excited to see where this will go, as Insecticons, Metroplex and even Dinobots despite their constantly tiny hand.

The best part about this is that it's a green and orange pip. Most green pips are solo green, meaning you don't get any offensive or defensive boost when you flip them. But in this case, you get an offensive boost when you flip it and you still get to put it into your hand afterward. I very much enjoy this card, and in Bold-based decks, you might find that you want to play this card, too.

Of course, after the reveal of Acid Storm, I worry for the success of Bold-based decks like Dinobots and Metroplex. Simply killing him without your bold is harder than you might think, even with his zero defense, and when you have a lot of double orange in your discard pile, he might just be able to heal himself completely with some fancy footwork.

__________CONCLUSION__________


The TFTCG is shaping up to have a wonderful second expansion, with a good emphasis on helping past archetypes and giving tools to help make certain matchups better. Rise of the Combiners is going to be a very good expansion for the game, and if the support for Combiners and previous archetypes continue, I think it can only get better.

I just hope that power creep doesn't take yet another game from me, like it did Dragon Ball. I'm not worried, though -- Wizards seems to be doing a fine job with balance. In a recent interview, one of the chief designers of the game opened a document (that only he could see) filled with cards three sets in the future. If that doesn't tell you that they have a plan, then I don't know what else would.

Another thing I can definitely commend Wizards of the Coast for doing is that they are constantly trying to foster a community through letting certain content creators reveal certain cards, even article writing websites like Vector Sigma. Wizards is doing an excellent job so far -- and I can't wait to see what they do next.

What do you think of these reveals? Will you be adding any of these cards to your deck? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews.

Thanks for reading my articles, guys! As always, check out my YouTube Channel to hear my other thoughts on the game. I'm going to be uploading more content very soon!

Why is Venin's head upside down? That's just his bot mode head, the real head is supposed to look like this with the pointy part on the bottom:



Emerje

We've got more card reveals to share today, including the art for Acid Storm which reveals that he's a rare card in the set! Along with Acid Storm we also have Thrust coming to attack with his fellow cons and Nova Star appearing to aid the Autobots. Again, these reveals and thoughts come couresty of fellow Seibertron user, #Sideways#, while the card reveals themselves come from the WTF@TFW podcast and the official Facebook page for Wizards of the Coast's Official Transformers Trading Card Game.

Without further ado:

#Sideways# wrote:


Rarer than a console that doesn't play Skyrim.


We're back again with some new scans! These scans are almost all thanks to the TFW2005 podcast, WTF@TFW, and the official Facebook page! Wizards, of course, having reached out to several content creators to help reveal several cards.

If you noticed above, you might have noticed that we finally have the scans for Acid Storm, revealing his rarity as a Rare! These are roughly as rare as a Mythic from Magic or an EX from Pokemon, with somewhere around two to five being in each box. Acid Storm is a surprising addition to the roster, with a very useful ability to dominate several bits of the meta. If you'd like to hear my full thoughts on him, check out his reveal article here!

__________CHARACTERS__________




Squidhead.


Squi--Er, Thrust is another plane coming out of the WTF@TFW podcast, and dear me, I actually love this guy. Now, his stats aren't too much to write home about. His attack is middling in vehicle mode, his robot mode is just as average, his HP is just about as average as you can be, but the thing about him that I love the most is his vehicle mode's ability.

You see, adding your damage to your other character's attack actually helps you deal more damage than just attacking with each character alone. Why? Well, say you're attacking a character with 3 Defense with -- for this example alone -- Kup or someone else who has 3 Attack on your list. He has 3 Attack, so does Thrust. Assume the flips cancel each other out, so their three damage goes into their three defense -- in other words, no damage comes out of either attack. But, when you add the damage from Thrust onto Kup's attack damage, your damage would then penetrate their armor and deal damage.

This is fantastic for more than that reason, too. Take Grenade Launcher, for example. Grenade Launcher increases Thrust's damage by 4, making his damage 7 -- but now, his tapping ability doesn't trip the Grenade Launcher's self-scrapping effect, meaning he gets to keep it for when he attacks, or taps again. But now you're adding 7 damage to something -- and what could you possibly add that damage to?

How about Ramjet, with his own base 7 attack? Now, you're swinging for 14 with very little effort. The amount of effort that other decks to do that much damage compared to your own is well worth tapping Thrust. But here's the thing about that -- since you're attacking with two characters at once, you're essentially playing Tall since you only have at most one attack left in you. You would need to play multiple untapping effects for Thrust, just to make it a little more difficult for your opponents to punish your playstyle.

All in all, I think Thrust is a very, very good addition to the game, and I can't wait to see what power that Thrust will be able to put in Ramjet's hands. I'm also sitting on the idea that Dirge -- even though we have no confirmation that he will be in this wave -- will likely add another area to this archetype that I can't even begin to speculate.



Part car, part truck, all waifu.


First off, if you thought that Rodimus Prime was going to be the first Truck/Car combo that we were going to get, Novastar would need a word with you. Okay, a little context here:

Back in the earliest days of the game's release, there was a meme around Team-Up Tactics that was even reflected in the FAQ. The meme pondered what would happen if a Car/Truck combo would be targeted by Team Up Tactics, which had a different effect for either of the two. The answer? You would do both effects. Everyone was somewhat excited -- getting to Pot of Greed and heal 2 in the same turn was kind of an interesting prospect.

Everyone assumed it would be Rodimus, but how wrong we were. Novastar comes in like a lion, and with her, come a few interesting thoughts. One: She's the next meme character, taking the reigns from Sergeant Kup from the previous set. I mean, I think they even share an alternate mode. It's uncanny. Two: She's vanilla.

It brings up the vanilla character debate again, with wondering if using Team Up Tactics alone is a reason enough to use her in a deck. Honestly? I'm not quite sure what to think about her. My first reaction is "she's terrible", but my second reaction reminds me of the untapped potential of the Truck archetype, and that she can take advantage of the Car support.

She can pull Cargo Trailers, attack for a sizable amount given her high attack, not take a lot of damage and heal it off thanks to a high defense and the ability to use Team-Up Tactics, and then get to use Start Your Engines to untap again. It's very, very interesting -- I'm not quite sure if it's enough to get her into the meta, but she shouldn't be written off simply because she lacks abilities.

__________BATTLE CARDS__________




"Bad boys, bad boys / Whatcha gonna do? / Whatcha gonna do when I come for you?"


Bad Attitude is another card coming out of WTF@TFW and I personally think that this card does belong in several lists, but my favorite part about the card is the implications that it carries.

First, to the card's effects. It's essentially a combination of Strafing Run and Repair Bay, which could be used in Planes or Tanks to positive effects. I would prefer that it have a pip, a blue one to be more specific, but the effects that it brings are very niche for the decks that might use it. For instance, if Planes were to use it, it would be sort of redundant because of their reliance on Bombing Run.

It's kind of a goofy card that might find its uses in certain places, but I'm not convinced that many lists will be able to find room for it. The fact that it doesn't have a pip makes me concerned that adding it into a deck will make it less consistent in terms of attacking or defending. But, that remains to be seen.

Something that might very much enjoy this card are Decepticon Combiners. Healing one from each of your characters is a very good effect when cards like Armed Hovercraft and Photon Bomb can make your Combiner take 15-18 damage indirectly. Bad Attitude gives them a piece of their own medicine while healing your combiner by 5-6 damage before you Combine.

Combiners might actually be the best users of this Action, and I actually really like the options that it brings to their lists.

But the thing I like the most about this card? Wizards of the Coast know that people can mix-and-match factions, and that some more lore-focused players really dislike that. And, instead of forcing players down a pipe, they are simply making it more fruitful to keep factions together instead of mixing the proverbial mashed potatoes and peas on your plate.

It might not be for every list, but the lists that can make full use of it make use of it to its fullest.



"Evasive maneuvers, Mr. Sulu."


Evasive Maneuvers might just be a better Blast Shield. I'm not quite sure, but it might be. Let's look at the math for a little bit.

Blast Shield is an Armor that has a blue pip -- same as Evasive Actions -- and it gives +2 Armor. Evasive Actions gives 3 Tough, which is a random outcome. You could get 7 Armor off the top of your deck, or you cold get only 1. With Tough 3 you're probably going to end up erring to the former, but the randomness puts me off a bit when you consider Blast Shield's confirmed +2.

The most interesting thought is you could use this in Nemesis Prime as a very good way to mill your deck. Reinforced Plating still might end up being better due to its consistent defensive output, but let me know this: What about playing both? It'd be like playing Flamethrower and Grenade Launcher -- if we can play two Weapons, why can't we play two Armors?

Just a thought.

__________CONCLUSION__________


Thrust makes plenty of new, potential strategies, Novastar makes things more interesting for Trucks and the Battle Cards seek to supplement several archetypes that are forming up in the metagame.

These cards are evident of a paradigm shift in the Transformers Trading Card Game. A shift from crossing streams, a shift from mixing your potatoes with your peas. A shift from playing Autobots and Decepticons to making a homogeneous list. Wizards is aiming to pull off something that most early card game creators cannot not do: An easy transition. Most of the time, a fledgling creative director would simply make a rule change, or simply make "fake synergy" that forces certain playstyles.

Dragon Ball is one of the biggest abusers of this idea. Their power creep made more and more broken combos to where people couldn't play anything else than what they, the developers, intended. It's something that has a stranglehold on the game's health.

Wizards seeks to curb that by putting forward these new ideas, by making it fruitful to play tribal instead of mixing chocolate and vanilla. I only hope that they make it fruitful enough that the lore-minded players are satisfied.

What do you think of these reveals? See any cards you want to add to your decks? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

"Rarer than a console that doesn't play Skyrim."

The Nvidia Shield TV doesn't play Skyrim, and it's strange as the main processor for that console is the same one in the Nintendo Switch. I'm also surprised that regular Android and iOS devices haven't received a port yet. I suppose it'll come out in a few year's time though.

Anyway, interesting to see that the CHUG version of AS was used, instead of his other, more recent iterations.

I'm so glad that Acid Storm is getting a card of his own.

Why does Sideways say 3 Cargo Trailer's give +9 attack when each Cargo Trailer gives +1?

It's that time again folks, thanks to the hard work of fellow Seibertron user, #Sideways#, we have more reveals for Wave 2: Rise of the Combiners to share with you all!

Wave 2: Rise of the Combiners is the newest set for Wizards of the Coast's Official Transformers Trading Card Game.

Todays reveals come from:
Wossy Plays YouTube channel, Wreck'n'Rules YouTube Channel
Now let's give the floor to #Sideways#!

#Sideways# wrote:Ah yes, the proverbial "cats and dogs" as it were, the Autobots and Decepticons follow a very gray, very thin line between friend and foe in the Transformers Trading Card Game. In fact, one of the most prolific decks at the moment is Optimus Prime fighting alongside Nemesis Prime, which is ironic in every sense of the imagination.

There aren't many mechanical problems with this, game-wise -- after all, your opponent is the enemy, not a faction of "bad guys". But flavor-wise? It's like mixing Pepsi and Coke (or as I like to put it, making Pepsi slightly less awful), shrimp on pizza, orange juice in milk.

So, Wizards had three options. One: Make a rule change to force mono-faction builds. Two: Make "fake synergy" where you have no other choice but to play mono-faction builds. Three: Make mono-builds enticing with special cards but not to the point that they nerf the multi-faction builds.

Thank god they chose the third option.

_________BATTLE CARDS__________




"Who's scruffy lookin'?"


Scoundrel's Blaster is a card that certainly has a name that plays the part. I mean, when you play a card and you get to say the word "scoundrel" in an unironic sense, you're going to have a good time. But is the card as good as its name?

Well, it's kind of... Meh. The green pip makes it at least viable, but at the end of the day, it's a Primary Blaster that can give a very situational Pierce 2. As you may have heard me say before, I don't like low Pierce damage. There isn't too much point to it in most instances of the game -- if you're hitting for low enough damage to need that low of a Pierce number, you probably shouldn't be playing the characters you are.

The only thing I can think of that would definitely make use of this is a Combiner list. Combiners -- as per my playtesting -- have very, very low damage in the early game and even well into the mid-game. Without proper support, they will sit there doing very little for you.

With this, their low damage output becomes at least tolerable until you can combine them all and potentially have multiple instances of this card on them. But again, that's just pure conjecture at this point.

All in all, it's an okay card. I don't think it's bad; I just think that most lists won't be making too much use of it.



"The question you have to ask yourself is, 'do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya? Punk?"


As with the Scoundrel's Blaster, this card has a baller name -- that isn't very well backed up by its stats.

I'm not going to go into much detail on this one as it's not that relevant given it's roughly the same card as the Scoundrel's Blaster. But, that being said, it should also be noted that Decepticons have a heavily armored deck in Tanks, where smaller damaging lists like Combiners would have a rough time dealing any damage whatsoever to them. You could potentially play Noble's Blaster in an Autobot Combiner list to try making that matchup better, or other similar lists.

But the thing is, that's just one example. I don't think it will be prolific enough of a deck to be overly meaningful in the long run to play these cards, but they're very cool cards to have at the back of your mind just in case you think it might come up.



"This is bad comedy."

Decepticons, oft looking longingly at the Matrix of Leadership to light their darkest hour, simply couldn't compete with the utility it provided for Autobot decks. In general, the community couldn't really think of many things to remedy this idea -- the Dark Spark, perhaps, with a defensive boost instead of the Matrix' offensive one?

Well, look no further than the Decepticon Crown to answer those wishes. This card might not seem like much at first, but being a White/Green pip makes this a very interesting card combo that will definitely make its way into almost every Decepticon Combiner deck and several Decepticon mono-faction builds like Insecticons.

What's that I hear? "What is this over-glorified Data Pad doing on my screen?" Well, get out of here. How dare you denounce this great card to my face? Let me explain why I like this so much. Not only does it give the bearer Plan 1 (essentially a topdeck rigging effect, where you can flip what you want when you attack), but it gives your entire Decepticon team Plan 1. That makes me swoon. Too easy it is to sit on a huge hand and have nothing to play, with everything you need in your deck. This way, you pad out your attacks to hopefully increase the odds of you drawing what you need, and you also add a lot of potential damage to your attacks.

I mean, how often have you drawn Peace Through Tyranny or Improvised Shield and not played them? This seeks to curb that effect. Definitely a card to watch.



There's confidence, and then there's foolishness. Knowing the difference makes all the difference.


So this card is really, really good. Not gonna lie, when I read this card, I thought it was even better than I think it is now. I had the same reaction to Brainstorm that I had with this, and the big difference? I think I'm right about this one.

See, Brainstorm is simply "play two more Action cards", which you need to have in your hand if you want to make the most of it, whereas Confidence is "draw and discard two cards and play another Action". Sure, you're taking a net loss in cards in hand, but you're using this card to dig for the card you need right then instead of having to wait until the next turn.

Ever had a moment where you say, "God, where are my I STILL FUNCTION! or Dino-Chomp! right now?" With Confidence, you get to dig for it, and then when you draw into it, instantly play it. It's so, so good. Heck, you can draw into another Confidence and chain Confidence if you really want to dig for something specific.

Seriously, I can't say enough good things about this card. It has such good synergy with Optimus Prime -- Battlefield Legend, Dinobots and Cars just off the top of my head. I can't wait to see what you can do with this card with a Combiner, or even a Titan.



Rumor has it that Swindle once sold someone to themselves.
Oddly enough, he ended up overvaluing that trade.


Swindled is the second of faction exclusive Actions, and is arguably the veeeery slightly worse of the two. Like above, I love this card's draw effect, but the big difference here is the New Designs effect where you get to attach an extra Upgrade.

Honestly, the only thing that makes this slightly worse than Confidence is that there are just so many good Action cards in the game that Upgrades need to have a lot of punch in order to be worth the investment of your Action card for the turn. I mean, would you rather draw an extra card during your next turn with a Data Bank or resurrect the dead?

Yeah, I thought so.

But that being said, this is a very good way to attach an early Data Bank. Early Data Bank is never to be trifled with, and I honestly love the card very dearly in many of my lists. So, with that thought in mind, Swindled is a very good card to skip the "feels bad" turn of playing a Data Bank to no effect, since the turn you play it you don't get any rewards.

You can't chain it like you can if you get lucky with Confidence, but then again, you probably won't need to. If you play this card during your turn, you probably have a target for your Upgrade in mind, and in-hand.

All in all, this card is pretty much just as good as its sister card -- but perhaps "good" isn't the word to be using when comparing them. They're both good; it's just that they're different.



Thunderbolt and lightn-- Wait, I already did this joke!
... I guess I stole my own THUNDER! HA!


Erratic Lightning is a very good card, especially for a common. This is the first we've seen of a negative effect that reduces your armor instead of perhaps damaging you in recoil -- looking at you, Static Laser of Ironhide. But this effect? This effect is waaaay better than Static Laser, and for very good reason.

See, a lot of aptly nicknamed "Orange Crush" decks rely very little on defense to win the game. Insecticons come to mind at this thought, with one to zero Armor being the average. To say that Skrapnel -- who has zero Armor -- doesn't care if his Armor drops at all is an understatement.

Most instances of decks that would want to use this card won't really care about the defensive drop, but here's the thing: This card is more unflattering for defensive decks than Static Laser. A defense drop can be more lethal than predamaged characters in certain lists, and it further polarizes the playstyles and card pools which is, in my opinion, a good thing. It makes people have to be more inventive, and defensive decks can't just be defined as "Orange, but slow this time."

Keep an eye on this one. It's going to be one to watch.



"Ah, yes, I see the design flaw. It's especially weak to repeated, blunt physical trauma."


Hooooooooooly crap. This card is so, so good. Most games have a natural flow, a natural progression of events. Generally, characters get slowly upgraded with slowly give their players a growing advantage in the game. This card, revealed by Wossy Plays on YouTube just dumpsters all that hard work your opponents put in to their field.

Now, it should be noted that it doesn't say Armor, Weapons and Utilities -- it says "or". But generally speaking, discarding all of a certain Upgrade is almost just as good as discarding all of them depending on the board state. In fact, early board state is generally homogeneous in terms of Weapons or Armors, so that puts even more power into this card.

I love this thing, probably more than I should given I haven't playtested with it yet, but in theory, this card is absolutely nutty in the right circumstances.

_________CHARACTERS__________




"OHMYGODOHMYGODIFINALLYGETACARDINTHISGAMEITSABOUTTIMEIWASWAITINGAGES
TOFINALLYGETACARDANDWHYISMYROBOTMODEVANILLANOTHATSNOTGOODWHYDOYOU
HAVETODOTHISTOMEATLEASTMYCARISCOOLIGUESS"


Well, Blurr said it himself -- and I couldn't agree more. But in case you can't read or don't want to read Blurr's speech pattern, let me spell it out for you: His robot mode is awful, but his vehicle mode is really, really interesting.

Blurr, coming out of the Wreck N' Rule YouTube channel , shows us something we haven't seen before: Dual Attacks. That's right -- when you attack with Blurr in his vehicle mode, he generally gets to attack again. Now, he has three attack in this mode, but that doesn't necessarily mean he can't deal moderate damage, especially to undefended targets that your opponent would likely be saving, like Arcee.

He does "meh" damage in his vehicle mode, but thanks to the fact that he's a car, you can kinda go ham with him with all of their support. Turbo Boosters and Start Your Engines make him far more consistent than you might think upon first glance, and that makes his vehicle mode effect frankly fascinating to try and pull off.

But if I could ever put my finger on what might push him out of the run for viability, it would be his frankly dreadful point cost. It's 12! It's so high! This limits your team to very, very few options. Even if you wanted to run Thrust with him to give him that extra edge in his vehicle mode, you would end up running Scamper to play that third character and believe me when I say that it never feels good to play a Metroplex character without Metroplex.

But that being said, he isn't without friends, and there are plenty of six to seven star Cars to go around. Perhaps I haven't found the right companions for our speedy friend yet, or perhaps they haven't been revealed, but I can forgive everything about him because of one simple fact: He's a Common, and you can't expect the meta to form around one of them.

This guy probably won't see too much play, but there are definitely going to be people to try him out because of his popularity alone.


_________CONCLUSION__________


Nearly everything here reinforces my statement about Wizards knowing what they're doing when it comes to faction balance. They really seem to have their wherewithal about them, a plan, a direction they want it to go. Everything is very well thought out, and I can't help but to smile when I think about how well balanced it really is. Though there were some rough patches throughout Wave 1, Rise of the Combiners really livens up the metagame and I can't be happier for it.

Thanks again for reading my article, and as always, check out my YouTube channel to hear my thoughts on varying deck archetypes! I'd love to have you!

Now that we've seen quite a few cards, what has been your favorite thus far? What do you hope to see in the future? Are you happy with the game balance or do you want to see it go in another direction? Let me know in the comments below!

What do you think about these reveals? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!