A Storm is Coming

(Movie Bumblebee not included in this deck)

You may not have realized it until this very second, but there are a lot of Transformers with 'storm' in their name.  I guess that makes sense - storms are violent and uncontrollable, which makes them good reference points for Decepticons ... and theme decks.  Editor's note: the official internet dictionary definition of a storm is "a violent disturbance of the atmosphere with strong winds and usually rain, thunder, lighting or snow."  The official Marvel Encyclopedia defines Storm as a member of the X-men. See? This blog is educational! 

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

Characters:
Acid Storm (6)
Sunstorm (11)
Nova Storm (7)
Indestructible Sword Card (1)

Battle Cards (Pip)(Number)
Data Pad (W)(2)
Enhanced Power Cell (BL)(3)
Escape Route (WG)(3)
Fusion Borer (BL)(3)
Hazardous Shield (BL)(1)
HV Electron Breacher (BL)(2)
Increased Durability (BL)(3)
Kinetic Converter (W)(2)

Rapid Conversion (W)(3)

RR Disrupter Blade (BL(3)
Metal Detector (BL,G)(2)
Pocket Processor (G)(3)
Testify (O)(3)
Treasure Hunt (O)(3)
Work Overtime (W)(3)
Indestructible Sword (BL, BL)(1)

Breakdown: 6 orange, 13 white, 8 green, 19 black. 15 actions, 9 weapons, 4 armor, 12 utility.

Why these characters:

Not including the custom sets, there are so many characters with 'storm' in their name that they can't fit on a standard 25 star team.  Storm Cloud, Brainstorm, Sandstorm, Ion Storm ... but the three I picked worked best because they are all Decepticons and I think their powers can be complementary.  Acid Storm can prevent bold, Sunstorm likes cards in hand because his attack number is set by the number of cards in hand, and Nova Storm likes black upgrades.  I think I can accomplish using all three skills with a careful battle deck build.  

It also doesn't hurt that their names are particularly fierce.  A storm of acid would be pretty bad unless you had an acid-proof umbrella (which as far as I know isn't a battle card yet).  At first blush, a storm of suns doesn't really make sense, unless it is like a solar flare which can be pretty nasty.  And the Chevy Nova was a pretty beast car, so you can imagine that a bunch of them flying around in a storm would be more intimidating than a Sharknado.

Why These Battle Cards:

I tried to build my deck in two piles, cards that help Nova Storm and cards that help Sunstorm - recognizing that they could help each other (i.e. drawing cards for Sunstorm can help play a black upgrade on Nova Storm). 

Sunstorm pile - Card Draws: Treasure Hunt (which can help find those black upgrade cards), Testify, Pocket Processor, Kinetic Converter, Work Overtime, and Data Pad. In addition, Indestructible Sword returns to my hand if scrapped.

Nova Storm pile 1 - Black upgrades: Enhanced Power Cell, Fusion Borer, Electron Breacher, Hazardous Shield, Increased Durability, Meal Detector and RR Disrupter Blade all will be helpful if I can attach them to Nova Storm.

Nova Storm pile 2 - Conversion cards: These cards help Trigger Nova Storm's ability to move a damage counter to an enemy if she (I think its a she) is equipped with a black pip upgrade. Escape Route and Rapid Conversion can help.

You could also consider adding some plane or Decepticon specific cards if you'd like to take advantage of the team makeup.

Strategy:

I have no idea if this deck will hit what it needs since I'm trying to find different things for different characters. I'm probably leaving Acid Storm in bot mode to turn off bold. That coupled with cards like Enhanced Power Cell can help keep my team alive.  I'm looking to get a black upgrade on Nova Storm and flipping her back and forth to move damage to an enemy. She'll probably attack first so she can get some damage on her to move back when she flips.  I'm waiting until I have a good stack of cards in hand to unleash Sunstorm.

Final Thoughts: The best part of this deck is it gives you the opportunity to declare "I feel a stormfront coming!" every time you attack.  That kind of catchphrase ability is worth its weight in common cards. If you haven't tried "Oh how it pains me to do this!" yet, you haven't lived.  I kind of feel bad for the other Stormy crew for not making it into this deck.  Not because I think the deck will win a lot, but because I've never really worked any of them into a deck before.  If this deck is well received, perhaps I can create A Storm is Coming ... Again deck!

Starscream's Brigade

Starscream.  He's kind of whiny.  He always schemes to take over the Decepticons.  According to Megatron, he's a fool and a failure.  But what if Starscream was an effective leader who could lead a team of planes to finally achieve victory?  Here is my attempt at building a deck around that concept.

Characters: 

Starscream Air Commander (11)

Raider Tailwind (5)

Raider Nightflight (4)

Raider Visper (5)

Battle Cards (Pip Color)(Number in Deck):

Armed Hovercraft (B)(3)

Bombing Run (B)(2)

Cooling Vents (O)(3)

Crash landing (None)(2)

Decepticon Crown (WG)(1)

Emergency Maintenance (O)(1)

Energon Axe (B)(1)

Energy Pack (O)(1)

Escape Route (WG)(3)

Extra Padding (BG)(3)

Grenade Launcher (O)(3)

I Still Function (None)(1)

Inferno Breath (B)(1)

Mining Pick (O)(2)

Rapid Ascent (O)(1)

Rapid Conversion (W)(3)

Repair Bay (O)(2)

Roll Out (OB)(1)

Bigger They Are (B)(3)

Two Pronged Attack (O)(2)

Pocket Processor (G)(1)

Breakdown: 16 orange, 14 blue, 8 green, 7 white.  19 Actions, 9 Weapons, 7 Armor, 5 Utility

Why these characters: I started with the idea that I wanted to get as many planes with Starscream Air Commander as possible to trigger his flip 1x damage per plane.  The best way to do that was to cram as many of the air strike patrol onto the team as possible.  This has an added benefit due to Tailwind's assistance to the other members of the patrol and his bonus when they die.

Why these battle cards: Every time Starscream flips to plane mode, he nails an enemy with damage equal to the number of planes.  With this squad, that tops out at 3.  So, my primary goal was keeping my planes alive and flipping Starscream as many times as possible.

I'll try to keep them alive with Bombing Run, Cooling Vents, Emergency Maintenance, Energy Pack, Extra Padding, Repair Bay, and Two Pronged Attack.  To a lesser extent, my one copy of I Still Function could bring a plane back for a turn (If you have an extra copy, hit me up and I'll love you forever).  To help flip Starscream, I added Roll Out and Rapid Conversion.

I prioritized cards that benefit from ranged characters and planes.  Armed Hovercraft, Cooling Vents, Rapid Ascent, Bombing Run, and Two Pronged Attack fit this.  Where possible, I included green pips to take advantage of the air strike patrol's skills (8 green pips).  I love crash landing as it gives a parting gift to remember you by when you die.  Since we are assuming this team will help Starscream finally succeed, I added Decepticon crown.

Finally, I focused on cards that could do some damage since these guys are pretty puny - Grenade Launchers, Inferno Breath, Mining Pick, Energon Axe.  Because most of the team is composed of small bots, I also added The Bigger They Are...

Strategy: This deck is more about chip damage than having killer bots.  Starscream's flip ability, Armed Hovercraft, Bombing Run, Crash Landing, and Inferno Breath are all ways to chip in some damage without having a strong offensive team.  Tailwind's vehicle mode helps his team out if a green is flipped and Decepticon Crown and Mining Pick might help manipulate the draw to make that happen.  I'd probably lead off by flipping Starscream and attacking with him or Visper (because Visper seems to be the most expendable of the squad).  After that, it is a race to keep people alive and flip Starscream to trigger his ability.  When Visper and Nightflight bite the dust, I can flip Tailwind for an enhanced attack.

Editor's Note: In the cartoon episode Starscream's Brigade, Starscream assembled a team ... but it did not involve planes.  His brigade was made up of old World War Two vehicles that he used to create the Combaticons by installing the personality components of some renegade Decepticons.  The Combaticons are particularly cool because they combine to form Bruticus.

Fire in the Sky

Background: In the cartoon, Jetfire is called Skyfire and he has a cool backstory revealed in the episode called "Fire in the Sky."  This is probably why he's called Skyfire, because "Jet in the Sky" would be a dumb name for an episode.

Millions of years ago, before the Decepticons and Autobots started fighting, Skyfire/Jetfire (We'll stick with Jetfire from here on out for convenience sake) and Starscream were buddies exploring the galaxy.  When they were charting Earth, a storm separated them and Skyfire/Jetfire was lost.

Flash forward to the present and the Decepticons are messing around with a crystal that converts the Earth's heat into energon cubes.  While digging around the crystal, Rumble finds Jetfire frozen in the ice and the Decepticons dig him out and fix him.  Starscream is glad to see his old buddy and because he is loyal to Starscream, Jetfire joins the Decepticons.

Meanwhile, the Autobots and their human allies Spike and Sparkplug head up north to figure out why its freezing everywhere. Things don't go well and pretty much all of them get captured.

Megatron starts to sense the Jetfire isn't down with being a total jerk, so he orders Jetfire to execute Spike, Sparkplug, Ironide, Ratchet, Hound, and Gears.  Jetfire refuses and Starscream blasts him and the prisoners with his null-ray (Luckily, Hound used his hologram powers to save the day).  When Starscream leaves, the injured Skyfire is repaired by Ratchet.

Jetfire proudly declares himself to be an Autobot and he and Starscream end up in an aerial dogfight.  Skyfire manages to bury the crystal before he crashes back into the ice.  The Autobots are sad and leave him in the ice for a few episodes for some reason before finally digging him out in the episode "Fire on the Mountain."

Characters:

Captain Starscream (12)

Jetfire Air Guardian (10)

Mounted Missles (2)

Vandalize (1)

Battle Cards (Pip Color)(Number):

Bashing Shield (OG)(2)

Bombing Run (B)(2)

Crash Landing (No Pip)(2)

Defensive Configuration (O)(1)

Disarm (B)(3)

Dismantling Claw (BG)(3)

Extra Padding (BG)(3)

Increased Durability (BL)(3)

Minor Medic Kit (BL, BL)(2)

Mounted Missiles (OO)(2)

Multi-Missile Pod (B)(3)

Null-Ray of Starscream (O)(1)

Reactive Armor (OG)(3)

Scrapper Gauntlets (O)(3)

Smelt (BG)(3)

Vandalize (O)(1)

Vaporize (B)(3)

Breakdown: 15 Orange, 20 Blue, 14 Green, 7 Black.  12 Actions, 9 Weapons, 14 Armor, 5 Utility.

Why these characters: I wanted to recreate the story of these two buddies who grew apart.  I picked Captain Starscream because it features the cybertronian jet alt mode, which I imagine he would have looked like back when they were friends way back in the day.  That only left me with enough stars for the smaller Jetfire.

Why these battle cards: Sort of by accident I stumbled on an interesting pair dynamic.  Starscream likes to scrap enemy upgrades while Jetfire lets you add upgrades from your scrap pile.  This seems like a good way to approximate two planes that started out as bros but ended up enemies.

Bashing Shield, Disarm, Dismantling Claw, Reactive Armor, Scrapper Gauntlets, Smelt, Vaporize and Vandalize try to take advantage of Starscream's "When an upgrade is scrapped, do 1 damage to that enemy" power.

Bashing Shield, Defensive Configuration, Extra Padding, Increased Durability, Minor Medic Kit, Crash landing*, and Reactive Armor were included to take advantage of Jetfire's "When you flip to this mode, put an Armor or Utility from your scrap pile onto this character" ability.  In particular, Defensive Configuration allows another armor to be placed, which I might need if he lives long enough to flip a few times. I liked Mounted Missiles because it has a double orange pip and it is a weapon that could be placed in an armor or utility slot.

Starscream's Null-ray had to be included because he totally blasted his former friend with it. 

Crash landing is obviously useful with planes, but I also liked how it fit what happened in the episode.

Finally, Bombing Run is included to try to keep my two tall planes alive.

Strategy: Starscream transforms first to get the additional attack and goes first.  Hopefully, this gets some utilities or armor into the scrap pile for Jetfire to claim when he flips in round 2.  With Starscream in bot mode, any cards that scrap an upgrade do 1 damage to that enemy.  Starscream can stay in this mode in round 3 to hopefully take advantage of his scrap/chip damage ability while Jetfire keeps flipping back and forth to claim upgrades.  

What do you think of this deck?  Is there any chance of a Starscream/Jetfire reconciliation?

Note: I am short two multi-mission pod cards from actually being able to run this deck, so if you have extra, hit me up!

*Update: Thanks to some feedback, I realize Jetfire can't grab Crash Landing because Jetfire isn't in plane mode when he uses this ability.  I still like it as a card I can play on Jetfire the normal way so I can hurt someone when he dies, but would be open to some other nominations for upgrades he could snag. I've received some good suggestions to use Superior Jetpack or Superior Plating instead of Crash Landing, as Jetfire's scrap pull ability allows you to use them without needing Tech Research.