Note: This deck and article has been unearthed 'from the vault.' I was working on it during wave 4, so I haven't updated it to reflect the new cards from wave 5. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to improve it given the new cards that have come out since I started this way back in August of 2020 (including the fan made cards) - if I get enough feedback, I'll do a write up on the revised deck.
As always, I have included the fortressmaximus.io visual depiction of the deck at the end of the article.
Characters: Skywarp Teleporting Seeker (10), Sergeant Barricade (7), Raider Trigger-happy (8)
Battle Cards (Pip Color if any)(Number):
Anticipation Engine (W)(2)
Bad Attitude (3)
Crash Landing (2)
EM24 IR Laser Launcher (3)
Emergency Defense Shield (3)
Fling (3)
Grenade Launcher (O)(3)
I Still Function (3)
Medic (3)
Proton Bomb (2)
Plasma Burst (3)
Ready for Action (3)
Steamroll (1)
Strafing Run (3)
W-5 Gyro Blaster (3)
Breakdown: 3 Orange, 2 White. 8 Weapons, 3 Armor, 5 Utility, 24 Actions.
Why these Characters: Two of these bots have cool abilities that rely on no-pip cards.
Skywarp's is arguably the coolest. In bot mode, when you battle and flip a no-pip card, you get +3 attack or defense. By limiting our deck to mostly no pip cards, we almost guarantee he is going to have 6 attack and 3 defense in this mode. But he has another bonus - when you flip to plane mode, you can return a no pip card to your hand. So, if you see a cool card come out in the battle, you can snag it with ease next turn.
Skywarp is cool, but his no-pip abilities were't enough for me to overcome the impact a no-pip deck had on other characters. Then Barricade came along and gave him a no-pip partner in crime.
In bot mode, after you battle you can tuck a no-pip card underneath him instead of sending it to your scrap pile. When you flip to car mode, you can play that battle card.
Triggerhappy was the best 8 star card I could find to fit what I am trying to do. As a plane, he can use some of the same battle cards as Skywarp. He's a Deception so I can use tribal cards. He has decent stats. His flip ability to return a weapon from the scrap pile could be handy given the grenade launchers and crowbar I loaded up on.
Why these battle cards: Transformers TCG is very well balanced. The tradeoff that comes with having no pips is you get super cool upgrades or powers. This deck attempts to take advantage of the upside of the cards while using Barricade and Skywarp's abilities to reduce the no-pip downside. I Still Function lets you bring a character back and get one last attack with him. Ready for Action lets you untap a character with 10 or fewer stars (all of these qualify). Bad Attitude, Fling, Medic, Photon Bomb, Plasma Burst, and Strafing Run all have some combination of healing and/or direct damage. I included one steamroll in case there is an opportunity to pass excess damage to another enemy. Without pips, this may not be incredibly likely based on the attack value of the characters, so I only included one. Based on the number of planes on this team, I added two Crash Landing cards.
Strategy: This deck could be ok against wide teams, with Ready for Action/I Still Function giving extra attacks and Strafing Run and Photon Bomb dealing a spread of damage. I would start by transforming Skywarp into bot mode and attacking with him. His +3 no-pip defense should keep him alive. Then I'd transform Barricade and attack with him to get a card under him. Depending on the cards flipped so far, I could either flip Skywarp or Barricade to activate their power, or transform Triggerhappy to get his pierce 4 and set up his weapon recovery ability on his flip back to alt mode. When either of my planes go down, I'd love to set up a combo where I use I Still Function to Resurrect them, then place Crash Landing on them for their attack, which would give a nice going away present when they went back into the KO pile.
What do you think of this deck? Did I miss a no-pip loving bot, or can Triggerhappy contribute enough to make this work?
Characters: Skywarp Teleporting Seeker (10), Sergeant Barricade (7), Raider Trigger-happy (8)
Battle Cards (Pip Color if any)(Number):
Anticipation Engine (W)(2)
Bad Attitude (3)
Crash Landing (2)
EM24 IR Laser Launcher (3)
Emergency Defense Shield (3)
Fling (3)
Grenade Launcher (O)(3)
I Still Function (3)
Medic (3)
Proton Bomb (2)
Plasma Burst (3)
Ready for Action (3)
Steamroll (1)
Strafing Run (3)
W-5 Gyro Blaster (3)
Breakdown: 3 Orange, 2 White. 8 Weapons, 3 Armor, 5 Utility, 24 Actions.
Why these Characters: Two of these bots have cool abilities that rely on no-pip cards.
Skywarp is cool, but his no-pip abilities were't enough for me to overcome the impact a no-pip deck had on other characters. Then Barricade came along and gave him a no-pip partner in crime.
In bot mode, after you battle you can tuck a no-pip card underneath him instead of sending it to your scrap pile. When you flip to car mode, you can play that battle card.
Why these battle cards: Transformers TCG is very well balanced. The tradeoff that comes with having no pips is you get super cool upgrades or powers. This deck attempts to take advantage of the upside of the cards while using Barricade and Skywarp's abilities to reduce the no-pip downside. I Still Function lets you bring a character back and get one last attack with him. Ready for Action lets you untap a character with 10 or fewer stars (all of these qualify). Bad Attitude, Fling, Medic, Photon Bomb, Plasma Burst, and Strafing Run all have some combination of healing and/or direct damage. I included one steamroll in case there is an opportunity to pass excess damage to another enemy. Without pips, this may not be incredibly likely based on the attack value of the characters, so I only included one. Based on the number of planes on this team, I added two Crash Landing cards.
Strategy: This deck could be ok against wide teams, with Ready for Action/I Still Function giving extra attacks and Strafing Run and Photon Bomb dealing a spread of damage. I would start by transforming Skywarp into bot mode and attacking with him. His +3 no-pip defense should keep him alive. Then I'd transform Barricade and attack with him to get a card under him. Depending on the cards flipped so far, I could either flip Skywarp or Barricade to activate their power, or transform Triggerhappy to get his pierce 4 and set up his weapon recovery ability on his flip back to alt mode. When either of my planes go down, I'd love to set up a combo where I use I Still Function to Resurrect them, then place Crash Landing on them for their attack, which would give a nice going away present when they went back into the KO pile.
What do you think of this deck? Did I miss a no-pip loving bot, or can Triggerhappy contribute enough to make this work?
