Monday, May 4, 2020

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?




No comments:

Post a Comment