On the Prowl

For some reason, I've gotten into building decks around different versions of the same character (See my Shockwave deck, Shock and Awe and my Bumblebee deck, Swarm of Bees).  The next character to get the treatment is a bot I don't really use very often - Prowl (He is part of my Daring Escape deck, Fury Road but that's about it).  Not only are there multiple versions of him in the game, but he's also featured on a lot of battle cards.  Let's see what a Prowl deck looks like and if it lives up to the intelligent labels all the cards ascribe to him.

As always, the fortressmaximus.io visual depiction is included at the end of the article.

Characters:
Prowl, Military Strategist (6)
Prowl, Strategic Mastermind (7)
Major Prowl, Infantry Strategist (10)
Mounted Missiles x2 (2)

Battle Cards (Pip)(#): 
Anticipation Engine (W)(3)
Compact Shield (BL)(3)
Confidence (O)(3)
Data Pad (W)(3)
Diagnosis (W)(3)
Emergency Repair Patch (B)(3)
Enhanced Power Cell (BL)(3)
Increased Durability (BL)(3)
New Orders (BL)(3)
Primary Laser (B)(1)
Start Your Engines (B)(3)
Steady Shot (B)(1)
Swap Missions (B)(3)
Team Up Tactics (B)(3)
Mounted Missiles (OO)(2)

Breakdown: 7 Orange, 14 Blue, 9 White, 13 Black.  19 Actions, 6 Utility, 9 Armor, 6 Weapons.

Why this character:
According to the dictionary, the word prowl means "to move about or wander stealthily in or as if in search of prey."  I'm not sure how that applies to the strategy and mastermind descriptors the cards give him, but Prowl is awesome...at least he was until he got wrecked in Transformers the Movie (see theme deck, Heroic Nonsense).  His alt form is a police car and he has cool wing-thingies on his head, which I always thought was awesome.  This clearly makes him worthy of a deck.

Why these battle cards:

Let's get this out of the way: I picked every card I could find with Prowl on it first, then tried to make the best of the rest of the deck.  I realize this isn't the best way to build a competitive deck, but it will be fun to have Prowl flip a card he's on.  Like "Hey, it's me!"  Maybe this will give him the confidence he needs to win. This is why Anticipation Engine, Compact Shield, Confidence, Primary Laser, Steady Shot, and Swap Missions are in the deck.  Since all Prowl's are cars, I added Team Up Tactics (to draw cards) and Start Your Engines (to untap one of them).  The other cards are an attempt to make the best of my remaining spots: New Orders (to untap the 6 star Prowl), Diagnosis (to heal and draw a card), Emergency Repair Patch (heal), Data Pad (draw cards), Enhanced Power Cell (add health), and Mounted Missiles (double orange pip and adds some kick by giving an attack boost in an armor or utility slot).

Strategy:

First turn, I'm flipping Military Strategist to get I'm in position to take advantage of a teammate KO.  I'm attacking with Strategic Mastermind because once he dies, he gets a KO pile flip ability. Second turn, I'm flipping Major Prowl.  If my opponent has a weapon, I'm attacking with him to get the +2 damage bonus. Any health and armor upgrades go to Military Strategist, as I want him to live long enough to take advantage of other Prowls dying. Once Strategic Mastermind dies, he can flip to scrap opponent weapons.

Fun Prowl Fact: Prowl is a 2010 American horror film directed by Patrik Syversen and written by Tim Tori and starring Courtney Hope, Ruta Gedmintas and Bruce Payne. This has no bearing on the Transformers Trading Card Game.