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?

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!

New Game Mode: Clash of the Titans

Titans. Remember them?  I sort of do, but I can't remember the last time I played with them.  I find they are hard to use because they take up all your stars and they get wrecked by wide teams.  Plus, they aren't always fun to build decks around because you are mostly just stuck with them and the minions that they came with. UNTIL NOW!

This is the second post in my series proposing new ways to play the game using the official cards (the first was a 7, 8, 10 star character draft).  There are a lot of awesome fan made sets out there, but this is a way to breathe new life into the cards we all own.

Rules: The rules to this mode are brilliant in their simplicity (Note: I am not calling myself brilliant, I just like that phrase).  Each team is made up of:

- 50 total stars

- 1 oversized Titan sized extra large character, a 5/6 character Combiner, or the three card combiner Omega Supreme

- The same star rule applies for minion cards (like Metroplex, Trypticon)

- You can either use your stars to include combiners that don't normally fit (combiner Dinobots, Sentinels) or treat them as they are handled in a regular game to save your stars.

- All members of the team must be of the same faction (plus mercenaries)

Why?  Expanding the star count allows you to deploy some bots to help support your titan or combiner.  In the show, the 'regular' characters would be fighting and then the Constructions would combine and start crushing the Autobots until Omega Supreme popped and duked it out with Devastator.   This kind of awesomeness just hasn't been possible to recreate in the card game ... UNTIL NOW!

Requiring a Titan or combiner should encourage the use of Trypticon, Omega Supreme, Metroplex, and the combiners who are not used because they usually bite it before they can do anything.  Requiring all the members be of the same faction makes it feel like it is a real battle that could have happened, while providing a little structure to build teams around.  

This would open up new strategic decisions during team building.  Is it better to use a titan, who is ready to start pounding on people right away or do you go with the benefits of being wide with a combiner and risk failing to combine? Do you support your big guy with a few powerful bots, or do you go as wide as possible? Can you come up with a team that actually fought together in an episode?

Would this actually do anything to make playing with these guys more fun? I am not a numbers guy, but I think having more characters would give combiners more time to dig for an enigma.  It would give Trypticon more time to find the cards he needs to deploy his minions.  The right teammates could enhance Metroplex's deployable buddies.  What is the maximum number of heads you can get to pop in a game if you combined Fortress Maximus with some body/head teammates?  Heck, I bet we could even see Loot Crate Omega Supreme get used to take advantage of his smaller star count for a titan.

What kinds of matchups might we see?  I don't think we could go wrong with Optimus and the Aerialbots against a Megatron led team featuring the Stunticons, flipping the Autobots are cars, Decepticons are planes paradigm.  I'd love to see a Kup, Hot Rod, and Metroplex team against the Insecticons and Devastator (a scene right out of the movie if Metroplex is autobot city, which I've never figured out).  How about a team of wave 1 and wave 2 Dinobots against Trypticon and pals to form a true jurassic battle?

Conclusion: This mode not only forces you to use some characters that aren't meta competitive, it also makes them more viable. This also opens up new potential synergies, as you can now look at the Combiner/Titan powers and see if they mesh well with characters they've never been able to be paired with before.

Hit me up in the comments or on twitter with your epic squads!

Titanic Trypticon

Metroplex is the Autobots' huge transforming city.  Having a city sized teammate is a legit advantage, so naturally the Decepticons came up with one of their own.  In The Five Faces of Darkness (aka the episodes after the movie that weren't very good), the constructions created Trypticon out of a human city.  Trypticon was laying waste and taking names until Metroplex got his 'transforming cog' back and transformed into robot mode.  He picked up Trypticon and threw him in the ocean.  Trypticon did the wise thing and headed to Dinobot Island to chill out and lick his wounds (see episode Thief in the Night).  Metroplex ends up tossing Trypticon in the ocean again (Don't worry, Trypticon still didn't die, but he got played by Ghost Starscream in the episode Ghost in the Machine).  Sadly, Trypticon has met a similar chump-like fate in the TCG card game as well, since it is much harder to deploy his mini bots than it was to manipulate the toy when I was a kid.  

Can the wave 5 battle cards help out the poor Titan? As always, the fortressmaximus.io visual depiction of the deck is at the end of the article.

Characters:
Trypticon (24)
Brunt (4)
Wipe-Out (4)
Full-Tilt (4)
Villainous Spotlight Stratagem (1)

Battle Cards:
Ancient Wisdom (O)(3)

Battlefield Incursion (G)(3)
Data Bank (W)(3)
Energon Axe (B)(3)
Energy Pack (O)(3)
Grenade Launcher (O)(3)
Heavy-Handed (B)(3)
Height Advantage (B)(3)
I Still Function (no pip)(2)
Increased Durability (BL)(3)
Squish Them Like Bugs (O)(3)
Staggering Might (W)(3)
Unleash Potential (B)(3)
Relentless Invasion (WOB)(2)(star cards allowed by Villainous Spotlight)

Breakdown: 14 Orange, 14 Blue, 8 White, 3 Green, 3 Black.  22 Actions, 6 Weapons, 3 Armor, 9 Utility.

Why these characters:
Unfortunately, when you run a Trypticon deck, you are restricted on who you can use.  So the characters are set and the question becomes - why do a Trypticon deck?  Well, that is obvious - he's a giant robot T-Rex!  There is no possible reason not to want to make a deck with him in it.  He also happened to be the one huge Transformer toy I had as a kid.  Man, he was sweet.

Why these battle cards: 
I used the Villainous Spotlight stratagem to get two extra star cards, which I used to get two copies of Relentless Invasion into my deck. Relentless Invasion is needed to make the most use of my little minion dudes.  I added two I Still Function cards to my deck to bring them back and die, triggering that minions revenge ability (Wipe-Out and Full-Tilt's are the best in my opinion, depending on whether you need cards or chip damage). 

I doubt it will work, but since the Relentless Invasion card is so helpful, I added the hard to pull off Ancient Wisdom/Unleash Potential combo so I can maybe snag another.  I then picked the cards that go with high star totals/titans: Heavy Handed, Hight Advantage, Squish Them Like Bugs, and Staggering Might. Increased Durability (armor) and Energy Pack (utility) are there to keep Trypticon going since everyone is going to gang up on him.  Data Bank is there to help dig for Battlefield Incursion cards. 

Strategy: The plan is simple and yet complicated: 1. Keep Trypticon alive 2. Dig for cards. 3. Use card digging to find Relentless Invasion, Battlefield Incursion, and I Still Function! to get the minions out.  When a minion is out, attack with him and hope he survives an attack (unless he's resurrected by I Still Function) so Trypticon can eat him, triggering the minion's KO revenge ability and Trypticon's 3 attack or 3 health ability.  The minions don't hit very hard, so throwing a weapon on them can't hurt.  Grenade Launcher seems perfect, since they aren't long for the battlefield anyway.

The titan/high star cards should help.  Staggering Might gives Trypticon Bold, Tough and Attack 1, which could take advantage of my mixed pip deck and increases the odds of finding a green pipped Battlefield Incursion. The same goes for Height Advantage.  Squish Them Like Bugs is guaranteed to hit one of each of your opponents since everyone has fewer stars than Trypticon - and it would be particularly helpful against wide teams. Heavy Handed can help deal some damage.

My Trypicon!

Analysis: Ultimately, Staggering Might and the Villainous Spotlight stratagem are the reasons why I think this deck might work where my prior build attempts have failed.  Worst case scenario, I get to talk about how Trypticon got thrown in the ocean when I lose.

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.

New Game Mode: 7, 8, 10 Star Character Draft

With the unfortunate news that the Transformers TCG was canceled, groups immediately sprung up to keep things going with new fan made cards.  This is understandable, as people rightly feel the game can get stale without new content (and frankly the stuff people are putting out is pure awesomeness - see my card spoilers for The Ark's set)  But what if we looked at things differently and instead changed the deck building rules to allow fresh new decks?  This series suggests some new modes to try.  And the first format in my series is a 7, 8, 10 star character draft, where players bring their own battle card decks to the draft.

The Mode: 7,8, 10 Bot Drafting

Explanation: With no more packs being made, the old sealed booster game will eventually be impossible.  When playing constructed, sometimes it sucks to have to play against someone who has all the cool cards.  For this mode, you will put a pool of characters in the middle and take turns drafting to fill your team.  The draft order is: 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1 to reduce the advantage of picking first.  If someone prefers to draft two 7 star bots instead of an 8 star, that is allowed.  This may be desirable for players who want to squeeze a star card into their battle deck (or maybe they they just like the 7 star characters better).  For simplicity's sake, Stratagems are not allowed.  I have a suggested pool of draftable bots below, but you can alter this list as you see fit.  The key is to have  equal numbers of cool cards to choose from and not have one character be overpowered. I have chosen only common and uncommon bots as a proxy for this, plus you are less likely to get nervous about someone else drafting one of those cards and playing with it (because it isn't worth as much and you may have multiple copies of it).

Why the Draft format? There are some wizards at constructed formats.  We will never beat them. But this mode prizes smart drafting and flexibility.  There can be no 'magic deck' that can crush everyone in this format, because it changes every game.  Each player makes their battle card deck in advance of drafting, so you would have to make battle card decks that are flexible because you don't know in advance which bots will be using them.  Plus, if you see what the your opponent is going for, you can try to stymie them.  If you play fantasy sports, you know drafting is fun.

Common/Uncommon 3 Bot Pool: For this pool, each player will have a 7, 8, and 10 star bot from a pool of common and uncommon cards (or two 7 star cards).  Here's who I suggest for each pool, but this can be adjusted.

7 star pool

- Smokescreen: Safeguard is a decent ability to have in a team you can't plan in advance.

- Gears: I don't think anyone will draft him, but I see no reason why he can't be in the pool.

- Crankcase: His draw power could make him a high draft pick

- Snarl: I haven't used him in forever, but his ability to draw cards and stack the deck could be useful. Plus...Dinobot!

- Nova Storm: If you have black pip cards in your deck, she could be helpful.  She heals and gets pierce from them.

- Sergeant Chromia: Like Nova Storm, someone with a lot of blue in their pre-made deck will like her ability.

-Specialist Flamewar: She's nowhere as useful as the other Flamewar, but she does have Focus 2 in bot mode, which could come in handy, especially if you have a mixed pip deck.

- Sergeant Kup: HE HAS TO BE IN THE POOL!  No one will take him, but HE HAS TO BE THERE. One potential tweak to the rules is you get his stratagem for free if you draft him because ... HE'S KUP! The ultimate vanilla card!  To make this alteration, before the draft, one player has to declare it's a Kup match, and the stratagem gets placed with Kip for drafting.

Not included on purpose: Quake seems too overpowered, Battle Masters don't really fit the format.

8 star pool:

-Autobot Hound: Perfect bot for a deck with white pips, which give him a +1 ask/def boost and help him draw cards.

- Bluestreak: There's very little chance his ability will be drafted, because you have to hit on three pip colors. But maybe paired with Flamewar he could be worth a look.

- Deadlock Bounty Hunter: Another guy I never use, but his ability isn't overpowered so he's in the pool.  He has to KO someone to trigger it and draw two cards, which could be useful but may be hard to pull off.

- Dinobot Sludge, Military Stomper: Really only works on Dinobot teams, but if you draft Snarl, you could give him a go. 

- Mudflap: Like Deadlock, I've never really been into trying to trigger bounty abilities. He's a truck so that could come in handy depending on your deck.

- Greenlight: As was the case with Smokescreen, I could see her safeguard ability being useful in this format.

- Private Arcee: Focus could be useful if you have a mixed pip deck.

- Private Sideswipe: I think Sideswipe is more useful in wider decks, because he has abilities that trigger when your teammates are KO'd.

- Dirge: The opposite of Sideswipe.  He does better when there are KOd bots in his opponent's area.

- Triggerhappy: Great flip ability to retrieve weapons from a scrap pile to hand, which could combine well with grenade launcher, which I assume will be a staple in battle card decks in this format.

Not included on purpose: I left out Wingspan because I don't know if his upgrades will be scrapped as often when people build decks without knowing who they are going to draft.  I left Ratchet out because I'm trying to avoid characters who require a certain battle card in their deck  The Firecons work better together and probably need their battle card, so I tossed them out.

10 star pool:

- Apeface: Triple changers are fun, and his abilities aren't really tied to teammate synergy.

- Megatron Arrogant Ruler: His messing around with upgrades could be cool, and if someone comes in with an upgrade heavy deck, he could be a high draft choice.

- Major Prowl: He doesn't get much play, but in a system where you need a 10 star bot, there are worse ways to go than 2 damage every time you attack someone with a weapon.

- Lockdown Bounty Hunter: I've never really played with him, but his ability seems like the kind of thing worth trying if you don't have a honed team/deck. 

Not included on purpose: I am leaving Jetfire out, because I think he'd be too powerful in this format. I'm leaving Trailbreaker out, because his ability is dependent on having Force Field in your deck. Crosshairs is excluded since his ability is Battle Master dependent.

Final Thoughts: I'd love to hear your thoughts on the bot pool and what battle card decks you'd come into the draft with.  Drop a comment or hit me up on Twitter!

Hopefully this game mode will be better than this movie.

The Ark Wave 1 Spoilers!

Spoilers?  Isn't the Transformers Trading Card Game canceled?  While Wizards of the Coast is no longer making new cards, the Transformers TCG community has stepped up to keep the game alive. I am excited to preview two cards from Wave 1 of a set of custom cards being released from The Ark. In this article, I'll reveal the two cards I've been given to preview.  I'm happy to report that these guys really know what they are doing - both of these cards are stratagems that really help make otherwise forgotten characters usable in a deck.  In a future article, I'll try to build some fun decks using them.

Such Heroic Nonsense

History lesson: Heroic Nonsense refers to a line Megatron coldly delivered in Transformers the Movie. While the (spoiler alert from a movie from the 1980s) death of Optimus Prime gets most of the press, this one was the scene that really got me as a kid when I saw the movie in the theater.  For more historical context check out my previous Heroic Nonsense decklist writeup.

Why this card is exciting: Looking beyond its awesome name, this is a stratagem card for Megatron, who has consistently been underpowered in the game.  Any card that makes him more usable is welcome. As an added bonus, the card helps all tanks by getting a tank card into your hand easier.  Thanks seem to be underused so this is should encourage some tank squads.

What does this card do? For the price of a star, Such Heroic Nonsense essentially adds a green pip to the Hunker Down battle card if you have Megatron, Decepticon leader on your team.  This is a small change that doesn't break the game, but definitely helps. Hunker Down is a great card for tanks, as it allows each of them to fetch an armor from the scrap pile.  The problem with the card is, without the green pip, you will often frustratingly see the card pass you by in a battle.  This stratagem helps balance that out.  The best part is, while Megatron has to be on the field, this stratagem applies regardless of who is battling.

Hunker Down's flipping ability works well with Megatron, Decepticon Leader.  You will likely want to fight with him in bot mode (which somehow has more attack than his tank mode?), but when you flip to tank mode, you can scrap a card from your hand to scrap an enemy upgrade.  Scrapping an armor isn't so bad when you can retrieve it from the scrap pile with Hunker Down.  If you couple this card with some card drawing and flipping abilities, you could really drive your opponent nuts.

What kinds of decks will this card be useful in? While my full deck idea will be featured in a separate article, I think this stratagem not only helps Megatron, Decepticon Leader, but multi-tank decks.  My first instinct is to go with a tanks team of Brunt, Artillery Drone (4), Megatron (10), Demolisher (6), one of the (4) star battle patrol tanks, and this card (1). Demolisher would draw a lot of cards, which Megatron could discard to scrap enemy upgrades.  If you are willing to go with one less tank in exchange for an all Decepticon squad, you could swap out the battle patrol for one of the 4 star deception car or plane patrol bots.

Bust Some Deceptichops!

History lesson: A perfect card to pair with Such Heroic Nonsense, because Ironhide is who Megatron said it to in the movie.  While it is lacks the emotional gut punch of that card, the phrase has become Ironhide's trademark catch-phrase.  Is it clear what exactly Deceptichops are?  Not really, but that makes it even more awesome.

Why this card is exciting: Remember all those decks you made using Ironhide, Veteran Autobot?  Probably not, because he's the vanilla starter that you stopped using as soon as you bought your first booster pack (unless you wanted to run my Vanilla Trucks deck for some reason).

What does this card do?  For the low low price of one star, this card adds a whopping 4 health to Ironhide, making him an 11 health bot for the total price of 7 stars.  But wait, there's more!  This card also gives Ironhide a huge +2 bold and tough if he's fighting a Deception. All of a sudden, a lame card with no abilities has a chance of being helpful in a fight.

What kinds of decks will this card be useful in? While my full deck idea will be featured in a separate article, this card really helps revive the otherwise unusable Ironhide.  You don't get any fancy tricks or gimmicks, just a solid across the board increase in stats that doesn't create an unfair gamebreaking advantage.  I haven't played around a lot with combos yet, but my first impression is Ironhide + this card could be a good 7 star filler in a truck deck, especially if you know you are going up against Decepticons.  There are a lot of Autobot truck options, including Optimus. the off road patrol, Brawn, Gears, Outback, Hound, Trailbreaker, Inferno, Grapple, Ultra Magnus, and ... wait for it ... KUP!  Throw in 3 copies of 4-Wheel Drive, Battering Ram, and Cargo Trailer and let the mayhem begin.