A Star(Card) Is Born

The Needlenose back of the binder challenge is particularly difficult for me because Needlenose doesn't appear in an episode of the show. This means I am robbed of my normal theme deck article structure.  The best I could do is share this Dinobot-a-riffic comic cover:

Even without the benefit of TV, the power of the internet reveals that his slogan is "Get hip or get hit!" That is worth something! He is apparently cool and trendy, which means I have to come up with a deck befitting his attitude.  Does this deck do the trick? Sure!

Characters:

Needlenose (8)
Nightracer (5)
Flamewar (5)
Raider Laserbeak (5)
Villainous Spotlight Stratagem
Stealth Mission Stratagem 

Battle Cards (Pip)(Number):
Ancient Wisdom (O)(3)
Armed Hovercraft (B)(3)
Cooling Vents (O)(3)
Crystal of Power (BL)(3)
Data Pad (W)(3)
End Hostilities (B)(3)
Energon Mace (B)(3)
Grenade Launcher (O)(3)
Grenade Launcher (O)(3)
Hold the Line (WG)(3)
Pocket Processor (G)(3)
Spymaster's Ruse (BL,BL,G)(3)
Unleash Potential (B)(3)
Even the Score (OO)(2)
Mounted Missles (OO)(1)
Pincer Movement (OB)(1)

Why these characters:

One key ingredient to the Needlenose back of the binder challenge is ... Needlenose.  His abilities both trigger on star cards, so my goal was to get as many as possible into my deck.  My first stop was Nightracer, as she (along with her stratagem) brings two star cards into my deck.  Villainous Spotlight is a means to two more star cards, so I needed to make sure I had all Decepticons on my squad (I could have gone with Beachcomber, but I couldn't find a partner to make his abilities work).  With my ten remaining stars, I picked the always versitile Flamewar and Laserbeak, because he's awesome.

Why these battlecards:

The only star card that works with Nightracer is Even the Score.  To hide which secret action I play, I added Hold the Line (which gives some healing and damage limits), End Hostilities (which will help my orange skewed deck defend agaisnt orange decks).  To make the best use of these cards and Nightracer's abilities, I added Spymaster's Ruse, which will keep them in play.

Since Needlenose is hip to star cards, I added Unleash Potential and Ancient Wisdom to bring some more into my deck. I admit I am kind of obsessed with this combo, and I haven't really gotten it to work, but there's a first time for everything!  I also added cards to help draw cards to get these into my hand, Pocket Processor, Data Pad.

Strategy: 

The goal is to get secret actions and star cards into my hand.  When this happens dictates when I play Needlenose.  I'm probably flipping Flamewar into bot mode and keeping her there to help everyone defend.  If I can get star cards into my hand, I'm Needlenose is doing all the flipping, which lets me do 1 damage when I play a star card and then retrive it when I flip him.