Dino DNA

Transformers.  Robots that transform into vehicles.  While it would seem there is no way to improve on that concept, in "S.O.S. Dinobots," the cartoon upped the ante.  Robots that transform into dinosaurs!?  How is this possible?

Here's how.  Remember how the Autobot base is really a ship that crashed into Earth and lay dormant for a long time?  Well, right outside the base were some fossils, which Ironhide found.  Spike helpfully explained that the fossils were from dinosaurs.  Just like that, the Autobots were hooked.  Wheeljack and Ratchet decided to construct robot versions of dinosaurs to help fight Decepticons.  After much work, Wheeljack proudly unveiled Grimlock, Slag (which is apparently a British curse word so now he's Slug), and Sludge.  Apparently Wheeljack didn't spend much time learning about dinosaurs, because Sludge is a sauropod (the category of dinosaurs that Apatosaurus and Diplodocus fall in) and they were vegetarians who didn't fight, so I'm not sure how useful that would be in the ongoing war with the Decepticons.  I'll give him a solid B, because a Tyrannosaurus Rex is pretty legit, despite its tiny arms.

Swoop (the third member of my squad) was introduced later.  While the original Dinobots were kind of dim witted, Optimus Prime considered them pretty cool and asked for more.  In "War of the Dinobots" Wheeljack and Ratchet pulled another Dr. Frankenstein and made Swoop and Snarl.  Technically, Swoop is a pterosaur (pterodactyls are a type of pterosaur) which isn't a dinosaur, but having four Dinobots and a Pterobot doesn't have much of a ring to it so I'll give them a pass.  Perhaps due to their sloppy paleontology, the Dinobots didn't really dig the Autobots at first, but when Prime saved Grimlock, they came around.



I'm a big dinosaur fan (if you can't tell from my science links above), so this deck celebrates everything Dinobot.  The fortressmaximus.io visual depiction of the deck is included at the end of the article.

Characters/Stratagems:
Grimlock Powerful Commander (9)
Sludge Mighty Stomper (8)
Swoop Fearsome Flyer (6)
Jurassic Punch (1)
Heroic Spotlight (1)

Battle Cards (Number)(Pip) Note: the Heroic Spotlight Stratagem allows me to use two blue star cards which would otherwise exceed the star cap:
Dinobot Enigma (3)(G)
Dino-Chomp! (3)(B)
Electrified Spikes (3)(O)
Emergency Repair Patch (3)(B)
Enforcement Batons (2)(OG)
Enhanced Power Cell (3)(BL)
Grenade Launcher (3)(O)
High Five (3)(G)
I Still Function! (3)(no pip)
Improvised Shield (3)(OO)
Medic's Protective Field (3)(W)
Minor Medic Kit (3)(BL, BL)
Ready For Action (3)(no pip)
Energized Field (1)(BB)*
Fuel Cache (1)(WOB)*
Breakdown: 15 Orange, 9 Blue, 8 Green, 4 White, 9 Black.  22 Action, 5 Weapon, 10 Armor, 3 Utility.

Why these characters:

Dinosaurs are cool. Transformers are cool. Dinobots should therefore be the coolest.  But I've never been able to make them work in the game. Perhaps Wave 5 has some tools to help.  To keep with the theme, I wanted to have all dinobots but I didn't like the other combiner dinos very much. I chose Sludge because he can heal dinobots when they attack in his bot mode (and transfer damage to his alt mode when he flips).  Hopefully, that can help keep Grimlock alive.  I picked Swoop because his star count fits and I liked his alt mode ability to move a damage from him to an enemy when he flips.

This deck tries to use Sludge to keep Grimlock alive long enough to bring the other combiner Dinobots into the KO area so he can combine. Swoop is around to either draw an attack (because he's the squishiest target) or stay alive with his flips. His 3 atk, 10 HP, and 2 Def compare favorably with the wave 2 Dinobots and he costs fewer stars (Snarl is 3/9/2 and Swoop is 3/11/1 for 7 stars). Since I wanted to try Jurassic Punch, I can't use the 8 star combiner Dinobots.

I toyed with using Me Grimlock, You Grimlock to put a head on someone else to get them into the KO area as a Dinobot, then using I Still Function! to bring them to life for an attack, which could in theory spring the head into action when he dies after the turn ... but that seemed to be a lot of work and a lot of stars to bring a headmaster into the battle and I'm not sure if it is even legal.

With my extra stars, I used Jurassic Punch, because it seems like the only proper thing to do with a dino deck, even though I don't think the card is very useful and I doubt I'll make it to combination.  Since the team is all Autobots, I used Heroic Spotlight to get some more star cards into my deck.

Why these battle cards:
Let's start with the obvious.  Dinobot Enigma, Dino-Chomp, and Electrified Spikes are Dinobot specific cards.  That means they have to be in, even if they aren't that great.  The Enigma is there on the off chance I can pull off my strategy and get into position to combine.  I really like Electrified Spikes, as it allows me to hurt my attacker if I pull two orange pips while defending.  Dino-Chomp is meh, but it could come in handy if I only have one card in my hand anyway.

Because I only have one of the combiner Dinobots in my lineup, I need to try to get Grimlock to attack as many times as possible.  To do that, I need Ready For Action so I can untap him.  I also need to keep him alive.  So I included Medic's Protective Field, Minor Medic Kit, High Five, Enhanced Power Cell, and Emergency Repair Patch.  The goal is to keep Grimlock alive so he can keep attacking and bringing out more of the Dinobots into the KO area.

To deal some damage, I added Enforcement Batons (which also has the nice effect of scrapping a weapon), Grenade Launcher, Improvised Shield (2 orange pips).  I tried to include a fair amount of orange to trigger Energized Field and Electrified Spikes, but I admit I didn't put enough in to count on it reliably.  I used Heroic Spotlight to fit Energized Field and Fuel Cache into my deck.  I am hoping that is legal, as Fuel Cache has a blue pip and orange.  I selected it for its pips, as I felt I needed more orange in the deck.

I had considered adding Swap Missions to get more attacks out of Grimlock, so that is an option as well. I didn't include it because it ends up tapping someone else, and I felt like that could be counterproductive on a 3 wide team.

Strategy: The idea is to keep Grimlock alive and get as many attacks out of him as possible.  I am going to need to squeeze four attacks out of him to make it work, which will be very tough.  Sludge should help, as should all the 'keep him alive' cards I put in my deck.  Once I get Grimlock into bot mode, he doesn't need to transform anymore.  Similarly, once I get Sludge into bot mode, he will only have to flip if I really need him to transfer some damage from Grimlock to himself.  That leaves Swoop free to flip back and forth to heal himself or to transform the bots in the KO pile to get into combiner position.  The first two turns, I'd transform Grimlock and Sludge, with the order varying depending on if I go first or second and what the opponent does.

This strategy is reliant on hitting two cards - I Still Function! and Ready For Action.  Once I get some of the combiner Dinobots into the KO area, I can use I Still Function! to bring them into the playing field, transform to get into bot mode (which they need to be in to combine) and get an attack in before they die again.

Ready For Action will hopefully let me untap Grimlock, which is needed to keep him from being targeted by everyone and allow him to attack again, bringing another combiner Dinobot into my KO area.

The health and healing effects are all funneled to Grimlock (and Sludge if I need to siphon off some of Grimlock's damage).  If I can pull this off long enough, I just might be able to combine these guys into Volcanicus.  He should be able to one shot anyone on the other team, so I'm hoping it has become a 1 on 1 at that point.

Note 1: Slag/Slug is not on the team, but he had a sweet line in Transformers: The Movie:

Note 2: If you use this deck against a plane team, use the picture of Grimlock biting a plane out of the air to argue he should get to immediately K.O. a plane.

Date Night Action

Background: The early seasons of Transformers are largely set on Earth, but there were tantalizing glimpses of life on Cybertron.  The Search for Alpha Trion provided a new wrinkle - female Autobots!  Wait, Transformers have gender?  Apparently so! 

You'd think an episode called "The Search for Alpha Trion" would be focused on ... the search for Alpha Trion.  But this episode actually focused on Prime searching for his long lost love interest, Elita-1.  


When the female Autobots' plan to steal energon cubes went awry, their existence was revealed. Shockwave was as surprised as I was when he saw them: "Female Autobots ... I thought they were extinct!"

(Nominee for best comeback - "Yeah we exist...and we always will." You tell him, female autobot!)

For some reason Megatron was mega keen to capture the female Autobots (you'd think he'd just blow them up) and he sent a crew to Cybertron to help Shockwave.  Starscream got the job done for once, and poor Elita-1 was snagged.

Megatron then called Optimus to gloat and gave Prime two hours to turn himself in.  So yeah, I guess that explains why Megatron wanted to catch her. 

We then get a flashback that showed Optimus leaving poor Elita behind when the Autobots escaped Cybertron on the Ark (not cool, bro!).  Feeling obligated to make up for that lame move and Optimus traveled by space bridge to Cybertron on a one man mission to rescue Elita-1.  That went about as well as can be expected and he got captured too. Starscream hung him over a vat of acid, because that is much more likely to work than shooting him in the face with his null-ray.  

Elita 1: Please, let him go.
Starscream: Very well my dear.  Let him go ... into the acid!

Man, Starscream is funny!

Elita used a "special power" to save Optimus but her crazy stop time disco lights scream drained her of all her life force. Optimus took her to Alpha Trion, hoping that he could save her before it was too late.

This deck brings these two star crossed lovers together again and guarantees some action (explanation below) Note, I have added the fortressmaximus.io visual deck view at the end of the post.

Characters: Captain Elita-1(12), Optimus Prime Battlefield Legend (13)

Battle Cards (Pip Color)(Number):
Calculated Strike (BL)(2)
Ancient Wisdom (O)(3)
Cargo Trailer (B)(3)
Confidence (O)(3)
Diagnosis (W)(3)
Field Repair (O)(3)
Fling (No Pip)(3)
I Still Function (No Pip)(1)
Matrix of Leadership (OB)(2)
Repair Bay (O)(3)
Rock Toss (O, BL)(3)
Security Checkpoint (BB)(3)
Team Up Tactics (B)(3)
Unleash Potential (B)(3)
Wedge Formation (O,BL,G)(2)
Breakdown: 19 Orange, 17 Blue, 2 Green, 3 White, 7 Black.  35 Action, 5 Utility.

Possible Star Cards: Energized Field (BB), Indestructible Sword (BL, BL), Mounted Missiles (OO)

Why these characters: The Prime/Elita-1 romance (PrElita? Elitime?) rivals that of Romeo and Juliet. This is a great chance to get them back together again. Out of all the Optimus cards, I chose Battlefield Legend because it gets me to 25 stars without having a third wheel on their date. Also, I'm jazzed to finally have the card thanks to the Energon Edition.

Why these battle cards: When I said I wanted to guarantee some date night action, I was serious.  I loaded this deck with 35 action cards. The only upgrades were (1) Prime's obligatory trailer because it is awesome and in the episode he whisked her away in the trailer to get help (how romantic!), and (2) Matrix of Leadership.  Elita-1 and Prime are both leaders. They deserve a chance at matching matrixes.



The rest of the cards are actions.  Why?  "Getting some action" puns aside, when Prime attacks in bot mode, if you flip an action, you can play it right away. Having all action cards guarantees I will be able to sneak in some extra action card plays. Elita-1 is somewhat synergistic because when she dies, you can play the top two cards of the deck.  Since Prime is likely anticipating his reunion, I threw in Anticipation Engine, which is a weapon that lets you check the top card of your deck when you attack - if it is an action, you can play it.

Given the number of actions cycling through, I decided that this was the best chance for me to get the Unleash Potential/Ancient Wisdom combo to work. I've had difficulty getting both cards into my hand fast enough or at the same time, but I decided it was worth the risk to get some star card upgrades into my hand. Worst case, Ancient Wisdom gets another action into my hand.

I also tried to include cards tied to the theme of the episode - healing. With only two characters, I anticipate being ganged up on by wide teams.  Diagnosis, Field Repair, Fling, Repair Bay, and Wedge Formation all help heal.  Team-Up tactics could apply to truck Prime (repair 2) or car Elita-1 (draw two cards).  Wedge formation also could apply to either character. See, they do make a great pair!  If/when Elita-1 dies (or gets captured by Megatron), I Still Function could bring her back. While she'd simply die again at the end of the turn, that would trigger her two card power a second time.

Security Checkpoint is a double blue pip card that has both players scrapping all upgrades from their hand.  I thought this would be fun to add since I likely won't have any upgrades.

Since I hope to use my extra actions to make up for having only two teammates, I used as many actions that did two things as possible.  Confidence lets me draw two cards and play another action. Diagnosis repairs but also allows me to draw a card.  Field Repair heals damage and lets me plan. Fling repairs damage and moves it to an enemy.  

I completed the deck with some damage dealers.  Rock Toss does 1 damage to a tapped enemy and has the advantage of a black, orange pip combo. Calculated Strike adds +2 attack and +2 Pierce, which could make up for my lack of weapons. 

What do you think of this deck?  Do Optimus Prime and Elita-1 have a love that is built to last?