Sideswipe Masquerade

The Transformers Trading Card Game Facebook group's March "back of the binder" unsung heroes deck builder challenge features Private Sideswipe.  My first instinct was to go the easy route and pair him with his brother Sunstreaker.  Only a heartless jerk would separate two bros, right?  But then I remembered the Generation 1 episode, Masquerade and my life (and this deck) was changed forever.


Generally, Autobots are cars and Decepticons are planes.  The Stunticons are an exception to that rule - they are Decepticon cars.  Cars created by Megatron because ... he was jealous of the Autobots' ability to not fly?

In Masquerade, the Autobots caught the Stunticons while they were on a robbery spree collecting parts for yet another Decepticon super-weapon.  Note the particularly innovative capture technique knowns as "playing chicken with another semi" used by Optimus to capture Motormaster.  Optimus was keen to figure out what Megatron's latest scheme was and an idea was born - painting the Autobots to look like the captured Stunticons to infiltrate the Decepticons.  And that is the genesis of this deck.

In the episode, Sideswipe impersonated Breakdown and Mirage impersonated Drag Strip (Optimus became Motormaster and Jazz became Dead End, but they didn't make as cool of a deck).  The Autobots in disguise (see what I did there?) moseyed into the Decepticon lair and delivered the stolen stuff.

Deliver all the parts the Decepticons are looking for?  Head into the Decepticon base with the sole protection being a new paint job?  If this seems like a foolproof genius plan ... it wasn't because the Stunticons broke out and merged into Menasor.  Obviously, the remaining Autobots were no match for a legit Combiner, so he was able to head back to the Decepticon base, exposing the imposters.

Luckily for the Autobots, Windcharger had an electric field ability that allowed them to merge together and Mirage used his illusion power to make that combined form look just like Menasor.  This begs the question, why didn't the Autobots do this like all the time?  Anyway, the two Menasors battled it out, but Megatron was about to shoot the Autobot Mensor with the new weapon built with the parts the Autobots so conveniently brought to him.  Luckily, Ironhide had messed with one of the components before they took it to the Decepticons and the weapon blew up.  So maybe the plan wasn't so dumb after all.

This deck, featuring two Stunticons and their Autobot doppelgängers, is so awesome your opponents will spend valuable time trying to tell your bots apart while you cruise (see what I did there?) to victory.  Note, I have placed the fortressmaximus.io visual depiction of the deck at the end of the article:

Characters:
Private Sideswipe (8)
Breakdown (5)
Autobot Mirage (7)
Drag Strip (5)

Battle Cards (Pip)(Number):
Attack Drone (WG)(3)
Bravery (B)(2)
Energon Axe (B)(1)
Force Field (W)(3)
Grenade Launcher (O)(3)
Incoming Transmission (O)(2)
Increased Durability (BL)(3)

Inferno Breath (B)(3)
Medic's Protective Field (W)(3)
Minor Medic Kit (BL,BL)(3)
New Orders (BL)(1)
Roll Out (OB)(1)
Special Delivery (BL)(2)
Start Your Engines (B)(2)
Stealthiness (O)(3)
Stunticon Swagger (none)(1)
Team up Tactics (B)(1)
The Bigger They Are (B)(1)
Treasure Hunt (O)(1)
Wedge Formation (O,BL,G)(1)
Breakdown: 11 Orange, 11 Blue, 4 Green, 9 White, 13 Black.  15 Actions, 7 Weapons, 9 Armor, 9 Utility.

Why these characters:
In addition to being based on an awesome episode, there was a method to my madness.  Sideswipe is happy when his squad bites the dust.  In bot mode, he untaps when a teammate is knocked out.  Then, when he flips to car mode, he gets +2 attack for each character in the KO area.  Luckily, the combiner cars I picked are likely to get smashed pretty easily, which should allow Sideswipe to untap a few times to get some more licks in.

Starting with Sideswipe meant that in order to keep my theme, I needed Breakdown.  Breakdown likes blue pips, so that led me to select Drag Strip as my second doppelgänger (he likes blue and orange pips to trigger his draw ability and I have the same amount of both).  I also liked him because his counterpart Mirage has a decent power that is triggered when he is in the KO pile, allowing me to scrap actions from my opponent's hand.

Why these battle cards:
This deck is all about keeping Sideswipe alive to take advantage of his team dying around him.  This deck is the first time I've used Stealthiness and Bravery, but they is going to be necessary to allow Sideswipe to attack but not get killed.  Force Field, Increased Durability, Medic's Protective Field, Minor Medic Kit, Special Delivery, and Wedge Formation are all geared towards keeping Sideswipe upright. Treasure hunt helps me snag some upgrades, which could help get an armor on Sideswipe.

New Orders and Start your engines are another way for me to untap characters and squeeze out another attack.  Drag Strip, Breakdown, and Sideswipe don't really need to transform much, but Roll Out has good pip colors.

Stunticon Swagger was included because it fits with my theme (It's got Stunticons on it!) and can also help Breakdown and Drag Strip.  Given the Stunticons' 5 star cost, I included The Bigger They Are ... because I anticipate fighting bigger bots.  Since the Stunticons are kind of weak and I didn't go with an all orange deck, I added Inferno Breath to ensure 3 damage on my attack.  Finally, Grenade Launcher, Attack Drone, and Energon Axe are there to help deal some damage.

Strategy:
My overall plan is to attack with Sideswipe, get someone killed, untap and attack with Sideswipe, and repeat.

First turn, I'm transforming Sideswipe to bot mode and attacking with Breakdown.  I don't want to attack with Sideswipe first because that will guarantee he gets smacked on my opponent's turn.  Breakdown is the most expendable but I'm banking that he won't get one shot killed on the first turn.  Second turn, I attack with Sideswipe.  My opponent now has to choose to attack Sideswipe or finish off Breakdown (unless I hit a Bravery card and can force the issue).  I'm hoping that Breakdown is so close to dying that he makes an attractive target. Third turn, I'm either transforming and attacking with Mirage or attacking again with Sideswipe if he becomes untapped when Breakdown dies.  It is hard to map out a decision tree with all the possibilities from there, but I think the second bot I'd like to sacrifice is Mirage, so I can start using his KO pile flip ability to mess with my opponents hand.  I considered attacking with Mirage first, but I think Breakdown makes a more attractive target for my opponent's second attack.  If I'm playing against a tall deck with with a lot of attack, I could adjust and go with Mirage first.  Meanwhile, I'm trying to put armor and Stealthiness on Sideswipe while playing cards to try to heal him.

Why this is the best Sideswipe deck out there:
I can't say whether it will be able to win matches, but you do get to spin a nice yarn about the time Sideswipe and Mirage impersonated Stunticons and saved the day...without even needing Omega Supreme to bail them out.

As promised, here is a visual depiction of the deck.

No Way, Two Can Play!

This is the second part of my series of opposing decks based on the battle of mini-cassettes during the siege of Autobot City.  Blaster seemed to be taking the battle in stride, saying things like "Hey Perceptor, what's shakin' ... other than this fortress?"  That's not the kind of joke someone makes when they are freaking out.

In the first article in this series, First We Crack the Shell, we relived how Soundwave deployed his fearsome cassettes to knock out the Autobots' communication ability before they could call Optimus Prime for help.  After tearing off the satellite dish, Rumble used his arms that somehow turn into pistons to get his buddies inside the dome.  Editor's note: Imagine my disappointment when the Rumble toy didn't have those sweet arms.

The mini baddies proceeded to overwhelm poor Perceptor, who really is kind of a wimp.  Perceptor, while being a lame fighter, was pretty heroic in telling Blaster to run and save himself.

Blaster was having none of it, yelling "No way, two can play!" as he ejected his own cassette crew.  That's totally a cooler way of saying "Two can play at that game."  Ramhorn and Steeljaw saved Perceptor, who somehow was being smashed by two mini Decepticon cassette bots.  This may be the first time in history a Rhino ever took out a bat.  Blaster was no pushover himself as he gave Ravage a pretty nasty ninja kick.  Eject chased off Ravage with laser blast to the face and the Autobots were left to wait and see if their S.O.S. had gotten through ... otherwise they were all going to look like "burnt out toaster ovens."

This deck lets you relive this victorious moment!

If you are interested in seeing the fortressmaximus.io visual depiction of the deck, I have included it at the end.

Characters:

Blaster (10)

Ramhorn (5)

Eject (5)

Steeljaw (5)

3 bonus star cards Interpret the Airwaves (3)

Battle Cards (Pip Color)(Number):

Force-Field (W)(3)

Medic's Protective Field (W)(3)

Obstructive Rhythm (W)(3)

Inner Groove (W)(3)

Kinetic Converter (W)(2)

Anticipation Engine (W)(2)

Energon Axe (B)(3)

Grenade Launcher (O)(3)

Daring Counterattack (O)(3)

Escape Route (GW)(3)

Interpret the Airwaves (OO)(3)

Rapid Conversion (W)(3)

Recover Cassette (B)(3)

Roll Out (BO)(3)

Breakdown: Orange 15, Blue 9, White 22, Green 3. 18 Actions, 8 Weapons, 9 Armor, 5 Utility

Why these characters: To keep with the movie plot, I went with a standard Blaster team.  I know a lot of people take advantage of the extra stars and replace one of the cassettes with a 7 bot character but such is life when you make a theme deck. Perceptor would have been cool to add in, but he's not out yet, the stars for his upcoming card wouldn't work well, and he didn't do anything but get embarrassed.

Why these battle cards: To fit the theme, I used as the Blaster cards from the set.  He's on the cards so I pretty much have to right?  Daring Counterattack seemed to fit what happened in the movie, and it will come in handy when my mini bots start to die.  Inner Groove seems pretty good for cassettes because it helps offense and defense.  Interpret the Airwaves seems useful for managing a deck. Obstructive Rhythm is an ok armor given the three cassettes I am starting with.  Recover Cassette could be a cool way to save (rewind?) an almost dead cassette.

To get these little guys out, I need to flip Blaster ... a lot.  So I added Roll Out, Rapid Conversion and Escape Route  Ramhorn lets me equip white armor cards when he defends, so I added Force Field and Medic's Protective Field to my Obstructive Rhythm, which were the only white armors I could find.

Strategy: Blaster has to flip a bunch to get these guys out.  If I can snag a white armor in my hand, I'm bringing out Ramhorn.  Otherwise, I'm using Steeljaw so he can give Blaster bold. My first priority is getting Blaster some help and keeping him alive long enough to do so.  I'm giving him an armor as soon as I can.  After that, I can focus on getting the cassettes into proper position.  I honestly have way to many white cards, but that's what happens when I try to maximize white armor cards and cards with Blaster on them.

First We Crack the Shell...

This is part one of a two deck series showcasing one of the best scenes in Transformers: The Movie. (The second part being No Way, Two Can Play). I'm talking about the mini-cassette battle during the siege of Autobot City.

Early in the film, the Decepticons managed to sneak through the Autobots defenses and were pretty much kicking the Autobots' teeth in.  Perceptor told Blaster to radio Optimus Prime for help. Soundwave had other ideas, sending his mini cassette legion to cut off the radio signal in a mission creatively called "Operation Interference."

This legion of mini-bots was pretty fierce.  Number, Frenzy, Ravage, and ... Rat-bat! I'm pretty sure Rumble is supposed to be blue in the scene below, but we'll overlook that.

The Decepticons wisely took out the satellite dish to prevent any communication from getting out and cut off the Autobots' opportunity to watch cable tv.

While Starcream uttered my favorite line from the movie (which I featured in my deck, Oh, how it pains me to do this), Rumble has a close second.  This deck is named in honor of his battle cry before he used his rumble arms to break the dome protecting the Autobots: "First we crack the shell, then we crack the nuts inside."  I'm not 100% sure I even understand it, and I love it.  Editors Note: Has anyone else ever wondered why Rumble got those cool piston arms and got to say stuff and Frenzy didn't and was just kind of there?

What ensued was an epic smackdown between Autobot and Decepticon cassettes.  This deck features the Decepticon side of the fight, and the second part of the series (No Way, Two Can Play) has the Autobot side.  Note, I have started putting the fortressmaximus.io visual depiction of my decks at the bottom of my articles for those who are interested. 

Characters:

Raider Rat-bat (6)

Raider Ravage (5)

Raider Rumble (6)

Frenzy (5)

3x Fuel Cache Star Card (3)

Star Cards (Pip Colors)(Number)

Extra Padding (BG)(3)

Reactive Armor (GO)

Immersed in Shadow (BL,O)(3)

Stealthiness (O)(3)

Attack Drone (GW)(3)

Dismantling Claw (BG)(3)

Scoundrel's Blaster (BG)(3)

Fight For Position (BL,O)(3)

Fuel Cache (BOW)(3)

Rock Toss (BL,O)(1)

Roll Out (BO)(1)

Secret Dealings (GW)(3)

War of Attrition (BG)(3)

Wedge Formation (G,BL,O)(3)

Buzzsaw, Ravage, Frenzy, Attack! (BL)(1)

Micro Capacitor (None)(1)

Breakdown: 20 Orange, 16 Blue, 9 White, 24 Green, 11 Black.  18 Actions, 9 Weapons, 6 Armor, 7 Utility.

Why these characters? If Soundwave thinks these four guys are good enough to send into battle to cripple the Autobots' telecommunication services, that's good enough for me.  True, they didn't really succeed at cutting off communication the message got to Prime and sure, they got chased off by the Autobot cassettes...but they had Perceptor on the ropes!

Why these battle cards? These guys don't really do much to play off of each other, so I decided to build my deck around Rat-bat.  Rat-bat has a cool tap ability in which he repairs one damage from each character for each color pip on the top card of the deck.  I therefore decided to have as many double pip (29) and triple pip (6) cards as possible.  I added Micro-Capacitor in the hopes that I can use Rat-bat's ability twice.  Stealthiness (and Immersed in Shadow) are there to keep Rat-bat alive so he can heal my other dudes.  Finally, I did have to add Buzzsaw, Ravage, Frenzy, Attack because like, it's basically my deck brought to battle card life.  Plus, I do have Ravage and Frenzy, so it might get a play.

Strategy: Keep Rat-bat alive so he can heal everyone else.  Equip him with stealth to keep people from swinging at him, while giving weapons to everyone else.  If I hit the jackpot and get Micro-capacitor early, it will likely go on Rat-bat, but Ravage would like it if Rat-bat has rat-bit the dust.  If I'm being true to the movie, Rumble attacks first and he has the most health so he's going to survive the first hit.  That would give Rat-bat enough time to heal him if need be, but it could also make sense to jump in with Frenzy as well to give another juicy target.  But let's not kid ourselves, Blaster's boys did a decent job defending themselves in the movie, so the odds of these guys winning is pretty small.

CLICK HERE to continue to the companion deck, No Way, Two Can Play.

Most Wanted Characters: Transformers the Movie

Transformers the Movie Characters We Need

Transformers has done a good job of fulfilling my Gen1 cartoon wish list.  But there is another rich source of characters left to be explored.  We already have Springer, Arcee, Ultra Magnus, and Blurr ... oh and thanks to Wave 5, a playable Kup.  But there are tons more cool characters where that came from ... and by where that came from, I mean Transformers: The Movie.  Below is my list of most wanted bots from the Generation 1 animated movie.  Not only are these characters pretty cool, but they would help me make more Gen1 theme decks:

Galvatron: After being mortally wounded in a one shall stand, one shall fall battle with Optimus Prime in which they both pretty much fell (see Passing the Matrix), Megatron was chucked out of Astrotrain and left to die (see Oh, how it pains me to do this).  But he kind of didn't.  Unicron found him and turned him into Galvatron.  I remember Galvatron being straight up awesome in the movie and kind of random insane in the subsequent tv episodes.  Either way, we need him in the game so we can have him go up against Starscream Decepticon King.

Cyclonus: Like Galvatron, Cyclonus was created by Unicron from a fallen Decepticon.  I somehow tricked my brother into giving me his Cyclonus toy when we were kids.  The least we can do is make a card for him.

Scourge/The Sweeps: Scourge and the Sweeps, which were pretty much just random dudes who looked just like Scourge were the rest of the Decepticons that Unicron repurposed.  I don't really dig this guy, but he could be a character where you could play multiple common Sweeps in a deck and get a stacking bonus to mirror the fact that there were more than one Sweep and they were all pretty much the same.  This would cut down on wasted common cards and help with pauper/intro decks (which apparently have been renamed Junkion decks).

 

Wreck-Gar: Speaking of which, Wreck-Gar is the leader of the Junkions, a group of junk robot Transformers that live on planet Junkion, which is basically a big garbage planet.  Wreck-Gar  seems to only be able to talk with Earth TV  soundbites (which the live action movies ripped off for Bumblebee, only less awesomely).  When the fleeing Autobots encountered the Junkions after crash landing they fought before realizing they can be friends.  The Junkions were easy to knock down, but they kept getting back up and they had the ability to bring Ultra Magnus black to life with some special wax polish stuff (which could be a legit battle card for them).  Also, when they appeared in the movie, Weird Al's Dare to be Stupid was playing, and that's just amazing.  Wreck-Gar is the only named Junkion I can remember, but that doesn't mean we couldn't have a team of them.

I thought of three mechanics Junkions could use.  Since he likes junk, Wreck-Gar could sift the scrap pile for something useful. Since he gets knocked down but keeps coming back, he could have some sort of back to life ability, which hasn't been seen in the game yet.  Finally, reflecting his ability to save Ultra Magnus, he could resurrect one bot during a game if he finds the appropriate battle card.  This could be limited to Ultra Magnus, a high star count character to help tall decks, an autobot to encourage tribal builds, or any other limitation to keep the game balanced.

Sharkticons: These guys were the guards/executioners used by the Quintessons.  In the movie, they tried to eat Hot Rod and Kup till Grimlock and the dinobots came in and totally bossed them.  My pitch here is similar to Scourge.  Because they are not unique, you could play more than one at once, with multipliers that reward that to simulate their swarming ability.  This could be a way to feel better about getting duplicate common cards. Plus, look how cool these guys look in alt-mode!

Quintessons: These jerks presided over captured bots and rendered them guilty or innocent.  But the strange thing was, if you were innocent, you got tossed into the Sharkticon tank to die.  I literally spent hours as a kid trying to figure this out.  What did the bots do to tick off these guys?  What was up with the 'opposite day' verdicts?  If they found you guilty would they let you go?  Later seasons of the show would sort of go into their backstory, but at the time of the movie, the Quitnessons were an enigma that boggled my young mind.  In card form, how about the first four way changer in which each mode has a different 'face' representing the different sides of the Quintessons?

Wheelie: This little guy was just chilling until the Dinobots found and befriended him.  His speaking in rhyme thing ("Wheelie say, meet friends today!") is either a cool gimmick or annoying.  He'd make the perfect small size character card.  Plus he would go perfect with the Fling battle card.  He's on the card and it has his signature slingshot.
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Rodimus Prime: I initially left Rodimus Prime off this list because he's basically Hot Rod with the Matrix of Leadership and an extended trailer (not sure how that works). But, he's less whiny than Hot Rod and the toy was cool, so let's get him as his own card!  Maybe he has some ability that only triggers when he gets equipped with the Matrix of Leadership card.

    

Kranix: His role consisted of being the last survivor of a planet Unicron ate and being tossed into the Sharkticon pit by the Quintessons.  His one saving grace is, he died with attitude, telling the Quintessons to "Spare me this mockery of justice!" The sad thing is, if he survived for literally a few more minutes, he would have been rescued! Making him into a card is the least we can do, even if it is an extremely low health vanilla (no abilities) card with Brave (meaning he gets attacked first).



Unicron: I almost know better than to ask for this, as even as a titan sized card, he would be too small!  Unicron is a planet that eats other planets and transforms into a huge evil robot.  Perhaps he could be formed with two titan sized cards side by side to make him big.  Maybe he is a special card that has 50 stars, and when you play him, the opposing team can go up to 50 stars as well for an epic battle mirroring the final scenes of the movie where Deceptions and Autobots alike had to attack him to save Cybertron.  Maybe he can only turn into a robot when some condition is met (he eats a certain number of opponents, his health drops to a certain level).  Maybe he heals for each bot he kills. He would be banned from competitive play, but could make for fun variation on game nights. He could make for a sweet promo card if you buy a whole box.

Biker Girlz

This deck has no basis in Transformers history, as I can't recall a time when these four characters would have hung out.  It features four female motorcycle specialist Transformers out to take over the world. Could they conquer Cybertron (or the Energon Open)?  Doubtful.  But I’m curious to see what you think of the Biker Girlz*.  The visual of the legal version of the deck from fortressmaximus.io is available at the end of the article (or you can just click here).

Characters: Arcee - Skilled Fighter (5), Flamewar (5), Specialist Flamewar (7), Chromia - Special Ops (8)

Battle Cards (Pip Colors)(Number in Deck):
Attack Drone (WG)(x3)
Combat Training (W)(x3)
Data Pad (W)(x3)
Defensive Formation(O)(x2)
Field Communicator (W)(x3)
Grenade Launcher (O)(x3)
Heat of Battle (W)(x1)
Mining Pick (O)(x2)
Multi-Mission Gear (O)(x2)*
Multi tool (B)(x1)*
Pop A Wheelie (W)(x2)
Ready for Action (None)(x3)
Repair Bay (O)(x2)
Rest and Relaxation (G)(x3)
Rock Toss (O, BL)(x3)
Roll out (OB) x1
Sturdy Armor (BG) x3
Breakdown: 16 Orange, 4 Blue, 9 Green, 15 White, 3 Black. 17 Actions, 9 Weapons, 5 Armor, 9 Utility.


*Update: Some eagle eyed readers have noted that Multi-Mission gear is banned.  If you want to run a legal deck, take those two out and replace them with two more Multi-tools.  If you do that, the breakdown changes to: 14 Orange, 6 Blue, 3 Armor, 11 Weapons.  I'm open to other suggested replacements.

Why these characters?  If they are going to make enough female transformers to form a 4 wide team, someone should create a deck with them. These ladies are also all specialists, which made using cards catered to that type easier to include. Finally, they are all motorcycles, and a Transformer motorcycle gang is just cool.  Biker Girlz is also a good excuse to use Pop a Wheelie cards.  It seems like these characters have a decent shot of working together to keep each other alive.  Arcee heals everyone else when she flips.  Flamewar gives everyone Tough 1 in bot mode.  Chromia can help pull cards into your hand.  Flamewar Special Ops is there because she fits.

Battle card reasoning: My overall goal was to keep these bots alive as long as possible. The deck has 16 orange pips, 4 blue, 9 green, and 15 white.  So how am I keeping anyone alive with so few blue pips?  I focused on actions that had powers that healed or added tough.  Combat training adds Tough 1, Defensive Formation adds +1 Defense, Field Communicator lets me draw a card when I attach it and play it, which can be helpful if I draw a healing card.  Heat of Battle gives Tough 3, Mutli Mission Gear* not only adds defense but lets me play an action.  Repair Bay heals one from everyone. Rest and Relaxation heals 1 from one character. Sturdy Armor helps against ranged enemies.  The 15 white pips are there to help Chromia trigger her abilities.  I tried to pick enough white cards to trigger Chromia's bot mode attack power of drawing cards while having good cards with white pips to end up in the crap pile for her flip to alt mode grab ability. 

This team doesn’t hit very hard, so the remaining cards are meant to deal damage.  In addition, I tried to pick cards that allow me to get extra attacks in, since the bots don’t have high attack stats.  Pop a Wheelie flips triggers Arcee’s healing effect and Chromia’s white pip card pull.  It also gives everyone Bold 1 from Flamewar.  Because there’s an extra attack this turn, this would result in two characters getting an extra bold attack. Roll out would have a similar effect, without the extra attack.  Ready for Action lets me squeeze out another attack by untapping someone.  Rock Toss either chips in a free damage point, or gives me pierce on the flip.  These cycles need some heavy weapons to overcome 2, 3, and 4 attack, so they have attack drones, grenade launchers, and mining picks.

Strategy: I think you have to flip Flamewar first to get everyone else tough.  The first attack would probably Specialist Flamewar.  She’s the most expendable and I want to attack with Chromia when she’s in bot mode.  She would be my only tapped character, which would overcome her stealth.  Second turn, I’d flip Chromia and attack with her.  Now she would be the character people have to fight, which spreads the damage around.  Third turn, I’d flip Arcee and attack with Flamewar.  Fourth turn, I’d either transform Arcee back to heal everyone else or transform Chromia to pull a Pop a Wheelie out of the scrap pile. Arcee's healing is crucial to keep my team afloat.

What do you think about this squad?

*Biker Girlz is a reference to the 2003 hit (?) movie, Biker Boyz.