New Game Mode: Frankenstein Combiners

 Combiners are pretty neat in concept, if not necessarily meta relevant. Unfortunately you are kind of locked into a set squad of characters to use them.  What's the fun in that?  This is why I am proposing another new game mode to use the five waves of official game cards - Frankenstein mode! 

But what exactly IS Frankenstein mode?  Glad you asked.  Frankenstein mode allows you to combine parts from any of the combiner teams.  The rules are as follows:

Game mode allows 27 Stars to account for higher cost combiner parts, but the two extra stars can only be used to fit bots on your team and not star cards.

Five and Six bot combiners:

* Can use any set of arms and body, with the following limitations.  First, the section of the combined bot that has box spelling out its power must be consistent such that you can read the text.  This means in practice you are likely using legs from the same team.  Second, the pieces must line up to the right spot (right arms, left arms, bodies).

* Combining can be accomplished by using any enigma on your team, which allows you to get more enigmas in your deck.  This has the advantage of making it easier to combine.

* Frankenstein takes the traits and affiliation that is visible on the card of the combined bot (usually the left side of the card).  For example, Air Raid is the card that says Superion, Aerial Bot, and Ranged, so if he is part of your team, your Frankenstein becomes Superion when you combine.  At that point, only the Aerialbot enigma would help you.

* Frankenstein can keep upgrades that were specific to other factions/groups when it combines.

Two character combiners:

* Can be mixed and matched, with the combined bot taking the characteristic in the text box (the bottom bot).  The only limitation is, you must use a top and a bottom and not two bottom characters.

* 2 star combiners can be combined by as if the second character name replaced the natural partner in the combining instruction box. 

* Unless it wouldn't work (see Sky Shadow combination), either bot's transforming method can be used.

Let's take a look at how this might work and what amazing fun can be unleashed.

Frankenstein Deck 1

Scavenger (4 - Leg)

Scrapper  (4 - Leg)

Silverbolt (5 -Body)

Rampage (5 - Arm)

Sunstreaker (7 - Arm)

Battle Cards:

3 Aerialbot Enigmas (G)

3 Constructicon Enigmas (G)

3 Predacon Enigmas (G)

3 Sentinel Enigmas (G)

3 Builder's Tools (O)

3 Reclaim (B)

3 Heavy Landing (B)

3 Heavy Handed (B)

3 Squish Them Like Bugs (O)

3 Emergency Repair Patch (B)

3 Energy Pack (O)

3 New Orders (BL)

3 The Bigger They Are (B)

1 Rapid Conversion (W)

How this plays out:

First, as you can see, we now have 12 enigmas in our deck of 40. This maximizes our chance that we can get these guys to combine and I have added a Rapid Conversion to help get your team lined up to do so.  You WILL combine! At that point, you will be huge, so I added Heavy Handed and Squish them Like Bugs to the deck.  Your only chance to use them will be if you are the first to combine.  This could lead you to try to combine fast, or you may want to remain wide to keep your opponent from ganging up on you.  This adds another element of strategy. If you want to hedge your bets, you can use New Orders to untap anyone but Sunstreaker.  This deck also has The Bigger They Are to hedge your bets in case your opponent combines first.

Our combined bot will become Optimus Maximus, Leader, Sentinel, Ranged, thanks to Sunstreaker being on our team.  After combining, only the Sentinel Enigma would trigger.  

But we also follow the powers of Devastator and have his 6 attack, 33 health, and 2 Defense.  Thanks to the text box that controls the bot, the Constructicon Tower comes into play.  This is  why I added three copies of Builder's Tools and Heavy Landing to the deck.  The individual pieces are interesting as well. Sunstreaker can flip when he's in the KO pile to help you draw a card.  Silverbolt adds chip damage when he flips.

With the near certainty that our big guy will come to life, we can use Energy Pack (he'll be more than 11 stars) and Emergency Repair Patch (he'll be an autobot) to keep him alive.

Frankenstein Deck 2

Sky Shadow Tank (7)

SkyTread (Tank) (6)

Sky Shadow Sync (1)

Captain Impactor (7)

Private Sidetrack (4)

Ominous (outside game)

Battle Cards: 

3 Composite Armor (O, BL)

3 Crushing Treads (O)

3 Escape Capsule (O, BL)

3 High Five (G)

3 Hull Down (O)

3 Hunker Down (B)

3 Last Stand (BL)

3 Peace Through Tyranny (OO)

3 Hiding Spot (BL)

3 Point Position (BL, B)

3 Stealthiness (O)

3 Armed Hovercraft (B)

3 Anticipation Engine (W)

1 Energon Axe (B)

How this plays out: Per the Stratagem under these adapted rules, when your Sky Shadow tank is KO'd you can combine him with Ominous and your bottom character, in this case Skytread.  If you had chosen a different top teammate, Skytread's Revenge ability could make you combine, but if you did so, you would be headless.  Because Ominous is on the squad, I added Escape Capsule.

What has our Frankenstein gotten us?  Well, it allowed me to shape a tank deck around a combiner because all my characters are tanks.  In addition to helping create a tank team, I get the Skytread power on the combined bot.  It also lets me bring in Ominous from outside the game to help. In addition to Crushing Treads, Composite Armor, Hunker Down, and Hull Down I added High Five because everyone shares at least one trait.  Go tanks!  This team is heavy on ranged characters, so I included Armed Hovercraft.

I also added cards to help kill Sky Shadow to trigger the combination.  Stealthiness, Hiding Spot and Point Position are geared towards funneling damage to him. Last Stand lets him go down swinging and Peace Through Tyranny give you an extra turn as a bonus for combining via ko.

What fun Frankenstein Decks can you come up with?

Fury Road: Daring Escape Cars

Taking a break from Gen1 themed decks, this is my attempt at a Daring Escape deck (which is admittedly hard when I only have two copies of it).  I have no idea if it would work, but it was fun getting to use some cards I haven't been able to use in a deck yet.  The fortressmaximus.io deck depiction is included at the end of this post.

Characters:
Cliffjumper (8)

Sunstreaker Bold Warrior (7)

Prowl Military Strategist (6)

Private Stakeout (4)

Battle Cards (Pip Color)(Number):
Daring Escape (BG)(2)
Diagnosis (W)(3)
Energon Axe (B)(3)
Escape Route (WG)(3)
Grenade Launcher (O)(3)
Increased Durability (BL)(3)
Kinetic Converter (W)(3)
Pep Talk (B)(3)
Pocket Processor (G)(3)
Rapid Conversion (W)(3)
Repurpose (BL)(2)
Roll Out (OB)(1)
Start Your Engines (B)(1)
Team Up Tactics (B)(3)
Treasure Hunt (O)(2)
Turbo Boosters (O)(2)
Breakdown: 8 Orange, 13 Blue, 8 Green, 12 White, 5 Black. 23 Actions, 6 Weapons, 3 Armor, 8 Utility.

Why these characters: I finally got Cliffjumper from the Energon Edition and was looking for a way to try him out. He looks great as a leader of cars, so I then tried to go wide and cram as many Autobot cars as possible into his team. Once I decided to combine his flipping car teammate ability with Daring Escape, Sunstreaker was my next choice.  I chose Prowl because his bot ability can help keep his fellow teammates alive when one goes down and his car mode gives them a nice flip Bold 2 bonus, which can help dig for Daring Escape cards. Stakeout's 4 stars fit, but even better, I can toss a white card (there are 12 in the deck) and flip another character if I want to trigger an ability (such as Sunstreaker's draw card ability).

Why these battle cards: I'm trying to thread the needle between having a good fighting deck but trying to trigger Daring Escape's win condition.  So, most of my cards are geared around drawing cards, even if I never use them, if they are in my hand, they won't be in my deck or scrap pile. Drawing cards include Diagnosis, Kinetic Converter, Pep Talk, Pocket Processor, Repurpose, Team-up Tactics (because this squad is all cars), and Treasure Hunt.

Because Cliffjumper and dead bot mode Sunstreaker reward flips, I included Escape Route, Start Your Engines, Rapid Conversion, and Roll Out.

In the likely circumstance I don't pull off that Daring Escape, hopefully the cars specific upgrade Turbo Boosters, Increased Durability, Grenade Launcher, Energon Axe, and Diagnosis can help.

Strategy: This deck is all about drawing cards and flipping ... to draw cards.  or the first turn, Prowl flips, triggers Cliffjumper draw power, and Sunstreaker attacks.  I don't mind if Sunstreaker dies because he can still flip and draw cards for me.  Second turn, I'm flipping stakeout (to trigger Cliffjumper's draw ability) and attacking with Stakeout.  If Sunstreaker is then killed, I can use his KO flip/draw ability.  If my opponent takes out Stakeout instead, Prowl heals Sunstreaker (or whoever my opponent attacked first if they went first).  Cliffjumper can chill out in car mode until he's the last man standing, at which time he will flip and take advantage of +3 attack for each of his dead car buddies. 

In the meantime, each time I play a Daring Escape, I can KO cards on the top of my deck.  If I get one early enough, this could be 3 or 4 cards.  Combining that plus my draw cards and abilities, and I just might be able to escape before my team dies.  Then again, being on an Autobot Shuttle isn't what it is cracked up to be, especially for Prowl (see Heroic Nonsense).

Note 1: I only own one copy of Roll Out and Start your Engines and two copies of Daring Escape. Would you recommend playing more in this deck?

Note 2: This deck was largely completed before Wave 5.  Would you swap in any Wave 5 cards to improve this deck?