Transformers Game News on Seibertron.com
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87 total news articles in this section, 10 per page.
Date: Wednesday, September 4th 2019 10:23am CDT
Category: Game News
Posted by: Stargrave |
Credit(s): Space Ape
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Views: 28,705
That's right everyone's favorite Autobot (or Decepticon?) double agent
Punch/Counterpunch is on his way to the Earth Wars! Check out the update for more info on this much loved specialized agent of the Autobot army and see how they've adapted his Power of the Primes design to the game. Full reveal coming on this Thursday's Twitch stream (see link below).
Alliance totalizer this weekend! Gather up your troops for a chance to win all manner of prizes, just see below for the full breakdown by points.
Remember, team Seibertron is always looking for active members so look us up and see if we have a spot available. Who knows maybe I'll see you on the battlefield!
Don't forget to share your wins and woes in the forum stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news!
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!
Super XP weekend ahead! Find out who are the new recruits to join the
Earth Wars!
Friendly Fire
Gather your Alliance members and take part in this weekend's event to win:
- A
4 Star Crystal!
- Up to
2,000 Premium Shards
- Up to
40,000 Spark
- Up to
10 Informer Crystals each containing
Spark, 3 Star or 4 Star shards!
- And
SUPER XP per battle
Event type: Alliance Totaliser
Start Date: 06/09/19 10:00 UTC
End Date: 09/09/19 10:00 UTC
Prestige Allowed: None (1)
Bonus Experience:
SUPER XP!
How to Participate? - Reach HQ Level 4 and Join an Alliance!
- Tap the Event button!
- Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
- Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
- Collect prizes!
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
* Each
Informer Crystal contains one of the following rewards:
New Bots in Progress
You may already have guessed from
Simon Furman’s in-game story but the next two bots to join
Transformers: Earth Wars are the long requested
Punch & Counterpunch.
Our design for the game was inspired by the
Transformers: Generations Power of the Primes "Special Edition" Deluxe Class toy. You can get a sneak peek below:
Punch & Counterpunch are known to be the two sides of the same coin, two personalities in the same iron shell. This double characterisation really shows in the way their head is modeled so we asked our 3D artists to pay special attention to this:
Will this split personality be reflected in their gameplay? You will find out in next week’s newsletter when we will reveal their special ability.
In the meantime, there will be a full showroom reveal in this
Thursday Twitch stream.
Lights. Camera. Cast your vote!
We’re putting YOU in the director’s chair! A brand new Transformers: Earth Wars trailer is in the works and we want you to direct part of the action!
The
Autobots are going up against a new
Decepticon foe of EPIC proportions.
Autobot fans: choose the
Autobot you think has the grit to vanquish the mystery
Decepticon rival.
Decepticon fans: choose the
Autobot you most want to see crushed by your new secret weapon.
Which side will end up victorious?
Cast your vote at the link below and stay tuned for the big reveal next month!
Vote Now:
http://bit.ly/2kroVAJ
- Closing date will be 2019 September 8th at 5:00 PM UTC
- Please don’t vote more than once or your votes may be nullified.
Bug Fixes / Updates
The following bug fix is coming to the game.
By introducing changes to mitigate Ramjet freezing in specific situation, we have introduced a bug where Goldfire was considered ‘flying’ during his rush ability.The fix for this will go live with a content push this Thursday
Twitch
Only a master of espionage -or counter-espionage!- can give the
Autobots or
Decepticons a much needed step ahead on their never ending war.
And we just know the best fit to cover such role!
Join Ioannis, Deb, and Fabien who will be talking about game improvements, new features, upcoming bots and more!
We’ll be back
LIVE Thursday, September 5th @4pm UTC!
Follow us on Twitch
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Twitch
Please keep in mind that any of the information in this newsletter could be subject to change without notice.
Copyright © 2019 Space Ape Games. All Rights Reserved.
TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission.
© 2015 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy |
Terms of Service |
Date: Wednesday, August 28th 2019 6:32pm CDT
Category: Game News
Posted by: Stargrave |
Credit(s): Space Ape
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 19,659
That's right Seibertronians we will now have Combiners posted to defend our bases! This weekend's event is an individual totalizer with triple XP so this is the perfect event to log on, play at your own pace with no pressure from the crowd, and just level up all your bots.
Also posted to the
Transformers: Earth Wars Twitter is a link to a free gift! Just click any of the wording below to head to the post, then follow the instructions, and get yourselves some shards!
Check it out:
"You can claim the missing 100 3-Star Shards from the last event in this loot link! bit.ly/rampagecomp
◆ You must be on your mobile device with game installed
◆ Make sure to fully close the app
◆ The link can be redeemed only once
◆ Expiry date is Sep 4th 2019 23:59 UTC"
Check out the Combiner base preview in the update below and don't forget team Seibertron is always looking for active participants. Looks us up and maybe we'll see you on the battlefield! Post your thoughts in the forum and as always stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news.
A new saga kicks off this weekend!
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!
A new saga kicks off this weekend! Find out which new building is coming to the game soon!
Cover Story
Take part in this weekend's event to win:
- Up to
4,000,000 Alloy &
Energon
- Up to
30,000 Spark
- Up to
2,000 Premium Shards,
1,000 3-Stars Shards and
700 4-Star Shards
- A
NEW Prime Avatar!
- And
Bonus XP per Battle
Want more?
Go for the extra mile and unlock
Final Thrust Crystals from the harder tiers, each one containing up to
100,000 Spark!
Event type: Individual Totaliser
Start Date: 30/08/19 10:00 UTC
End Date: 02/09/19 10:00 UTC
Prestige Allowed: None (1)
Bonus Experience:
Triple XP
How to Participate? - Reach HQ Level 4!
- Tap the Event button!
- Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
- Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
- Collect prizes!
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
*Usable for both factions
** Each
Final Thrust Crystal contains one of the following rewards:
Sneak Preview: Combiner Outpost
Have you ever wanted to put your
Combiner on defense? Then it's great news for you!
As we’ve announced during the stream last week, we will be releasing a brand new building:
Combiner Outpost in few weeks time, and you will be able to assign your
Combiner to defend your base when under attack. It will also allow you to pick one of their abilities to use.
Check out
the stream (00:42) as Ioannis and Fabien talk about
Combiner Outpost.
And
Skywarp Greer's latest video.
Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks!
Bug Fixes / Updates
The following bug fixes are coming to the game.
Buildings on Prime League sometimes were getting healed for massive amountsWe have already pushed a fix concerning Smokescreen/Drag Strip snipe indicator. Please send a report in if you see any other cases of this issue happening.
Victorion and Menasor Reflect ability animation will be fixed in the next game update
Bruticus’ Frantic Rage animation will be fixed in the next game update
Currently, Defensor and Abominus bots do not animate in the Combiner Lab when they are not combined (they appear ‘frozen’). They will animate when not combined as expected in the next game update.
Defensor and Abominus transformation sounds in the combiner lab will be fixed in the next game update
- Ore-13 collection popup doesn’t trigger when you tap on the Ore-13 Harvester building directly and not the Ore-13 icon over it.
We will push a fix for this in the next game update, for the moment still be careful when you collect the Ore-13 from the harvester.
Twitch
There will be no stream this Thursday.
We’ll be back
LIVE Thursday, September 5th @4pm UTC!
Follow us on Twitch
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Twitch
Please keep in mind that any of the information in this newsletter could be subject to change without notice.
Copyright © 2019 Space Ape Games. All Rights Reserved.
TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission.
© 2015 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy |
Terms of Service |
Date: Wednesday, August 21st 2019 12:07pm CDT
Categories: Event News,
Game News
Posted by: Stargrave |
Credit(s): Space Ape
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 29,599
Transformers Galaxies? In an Earth Wars update? That's right Seibertronians it turns out the writer for Transformers Galaxies the current curator of the Constructicons Tyler Bleszinski is also known as
papiblez from alliance Scorched Moon! In this update you will find a link to a cool interview with IDW and Tyler from SDCC2019 about the upcoming title which is drumming up much fan buzz. The issue is due out September, 25th so keep your optics tuned to your local comic shops. And of course the new stars of Earth Wars Defensor and Abominus make their debut this weekend! If you haven't played in a while, come on in!
Team Seibertron is currently looking for active members who want to play and have fun with the team. Look us up under Seibertron and maybe we'll see you on the battlefield. Enjoy the update and as always stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news!
Win a 4-Star Protectobot or Terrorcon Crystal in this weekend's alliance totaliser!
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!
Win a
4-Star Protectobot or Terrorcon Crystal in this weekend’s event!
Rampage!
Take part in this weekend's event to win:
- A
4-Star Protectobot or Terrorcon Crystal
- Up to
40,000 Combiner Spark
- Up to
2,500 Premium Shards
- Up to
1,000 3-Star Shards
- Up to
8 Mk3 Booster Crystals
- And
SUPER XP per battle!
Event type: Alliance Totaliser
Start Date: 23/08/19 10:00 UTC
End Date: 26/08/19 10:00 UTC
Prestige Allowed: None (1)
Bonus Experience:
SUPER XP!
How to Participate? - Reach HQ Level 4 and Join an Alliance!
- Tap the Event button!
- Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
- Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
- Collect prizes!
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
* Each
MK3 Booster Crystal contains one of the following rewards:
** Each
4-Star Protectobot Crystal /
4-Star Terrorcon Crystal contains one of
4-Star Protectobots (Blades, First Aid, Hotspot, Rook or Streetwise) for
Autobot players or a
4-Star Terrorcon (Rippersnapper, Cutthroat, Blot, Hun-gurrr or Sinnertwin) for
Decepticon players.
Please note that duplicates are possible if you own any 4-Star
Protectobots/
Terrorcons.
If you own all of the
Protectobots/
Terrorcons, you will receive a normal duplicate reward.
New Combiners: Defensor and Abominus
Two new deadly
Combiners are joining the Earth Wars this weekend:
Defensor &
Abominus! Don’t miss the opportunity to take them for a test run in the challenge battle available via the in-game newsfeed prior to the event.
The Twitch stream this Thursday will offer a look at both new super robots and their abilities so you don’t want to miss it!
The bots required to complete each of the Combiners are as follows:
Defensor
1 - Blades
2 - First Aid
3 - Hotspot
4 - Rook
5 - Streetwise
Abominus
1 - Rippersnapper
2 - Cutthroat
3 - Blot
4 - Hun-gurrr
5 - Sinnertwin
Special Abilities:
Defensor:
Blazing Fire: Jump and shoot a fireball dealing damage in a large area over
8 seconds.
Electrical Rush: Rush into combat dealing damage to the final target. You spread
electrical fire along the way disabling targets and causing them damage over
6 secs. If you hit a target affected by
Blazing Fire, the electrical fire propagates in a large area.
Force Shield: Generate a force shield reflecting
90% of the damage. After
6 seconds, the shield explodes causing damage in a large area. Upon death, the Combiner shields your allies from
50% of the damage received for
10 seconds.
Abominus
Toxic Zone: Jump and shoot an acid ball dealing damage in a large area over
8 seconds.
Electrical Rush: Rush into combat dealing damage to the final target. You spread
electrical fire along the way disabling targets and causing them damage over
6 secs. If you hit a target affected by
Toxic Zone, the electrical fire propagates in a large area.
Force Shield: Generate a force shield reflecting
90% of the damage. After
6 seconds, the shield explodes causing damage in a large area. Upon death, the Combiner shields your allies from
50% of the damage received for
10 seconds.
Not familiar with combiners? Check out the
Combiner FAQ on our wiki.
And
Skywarp Greer’s latest video to see
Abonomis in action!
And
Engineer Hoist's
video to check out
Defensor!
Featured Player Publication
We’ve got something fun to share with you this week from our very own talented player community! Long-time Transformers: Earth Wars player
papiblez from alliance Scorched Moon is releasing his first Transformers comic book this coming
September 25th, 2019!
The series is called
Transformers Galaxies: Constructicons Rising and it will be a four-part monthly series. You can check out his YouTube promotional video of the creator and his artist discussing the entire story arc.
Keep your eyes peeled for the comic’s release next month, and for assistance locating a comic book store for purchasing the first part of the series, pop over to
comicshoplocator.com. You can pre-order through your local comic book shop now!
App Store Story
Transformer: Earth Wars got featured in App Store!
A comic book illustrator,
Nathan Webb talks about how he met his hero and followed his dream.
Check out his whole story
here.
Bug Fixes / Updates
The following bug fixes / updates are coming to the game this Thursday with a content release.
- We have added a mention of Bombshell, Perceptor, Snarl and Hun-Gurrr’s passive effect in their long bio.
- Hot Spot and Tantrum Special Ability reflective effect does not stack with the Golden Lagoon’s effect anymore.
- Huffer and Lockdown’s death does not cause the Mini Laser from their ability to disappear anymore
Twitch
Defensor &
Abominus are almost here and we have more details to share.
Join Ioannis, Fabien and/or Deb who will be talking about game improvements, new features, upcoming bots and more!
Next stream will be
LIVE Thursday, August 22nd @ 4pm UTC!!
Follow us on Twitch
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Twitch
Please keep in mind that any of the information in this newsletter could be subject to change without notice.
Copyright © 2019 Space Ape Games. All Rights Reserved.
TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission.
© 2015 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy |
Terms of Service |
Date: Wednesday, August 14th 2019 11:22am CDT
Category: Game News
Posted by: Stargrave |
Credit(s): Space Ape
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 22,529
Greetings Seibertronians! This week's event is Defend and Protect - no vague allusion to Defensor there huh? This week's update gives us the finalized looks for the mighty combiners Defensor and Abominus and they look amazing. Anyone who's an avid fan of the game will no doubt enjoy taking these new behemoths for a whirl. Enjoy the update and share your thoughts with the Seibertron crew in the forums, and as always stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news!
Final Thrust Crystals & the final look for Defensor & Abominus!
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!
Final Thrust Crystals in this weekend’s event! And check out the final look for
Defensor & Abominus!
Defend & Protect
Take part in this weekend's event to win:
- Up to
4,000,000 Alloy and
Energon
- Up to
30,000 Spark
- Up to
2,000 Premium Shards, 1,000 3-Stars Shards &
700 4-Star Shards
- A
NEW Prime Avatar!
- And
BONUS XP per battle!
Want more?
Go for the extra mile and unlock
Final Thrust Crystals from the harder tiers, each one containing up to
100,000 Spark!
Event type: Individual Totaliser
Start Date: 16/08/19 10:00 UTC
End Date: 19/08/19 10:00 UTC
Prestige Allowed: None (1)
Bonus Experience:
Triple XP!
How to Participate? - Reach HQ Level 4
- Tap the Event button!
- Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
- Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
- Collect prizes!
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
* Each
Final Thrust Crystal contains one of the following:
Defensor and Abominus
Have last week work-in-progress screenshots of the upcoming combiners left you wondering about their final appearance?
Our artists have been hard texturing these giants and we are happy to reveal their final look today.
The work continues for us as we are configuring their abilities. It is still too early to reveal them but keep your eyes peeled: we will reveal their icon and description in next week’s newsletter and show them in action in our next livestream.
Defensor:
Abominus
Content Creator Crystals
In past newsletters, we’ve shared links to some of our Influencer’s Youtube videos which offer gameplay tips and tricks, as well as sneak peeks into upcoming content, for the
Transformers: Earth Wars player community. These content creators aid us in our outreach, and as a gift to their loyal subscribers we have recently provided them with promo links containing Influencer Crystals to distribute to their followers through trivia or raffles. The crystals have the name of their content creator on them and we want to ensure that you understand that these are legitimately provided by Space Ape!
These Influencer Crystals each contain one of the following - Spark, Premium Shards or a Sharkticon Booster - and each Influencer manages how their links will be awarded.
Our current list of Influencers are as follows:
SoulJiah
Engineer Hoist
Alpha Prime
Sunstreaker Wozza
Trioss Theory
Skywarp Greer
TFEW Addicts
Check out examples of raffles held by Skywarp Greer and Sunstreaker Wozza for a taste of what you can expect, and best of luck in earning an Influencer Crystal of your own in the future!
Win Exclusive Loot! from Skywarp Greer
GOLDFIRE and Content creator giveaway! by Sunstreaker Wozza
Bug Fixes / Updates
The following bug fixes/updates are coming to the game soon. We will be pushing a fix for this in the next client release
- Golden skins don’t render when assigned on outpost bots in masked (same faction) battles
We will be pushing a fix for this in the next client release
Twitch
There will be no stream this Thursday.!
We’ll be back
LIVE Thursday, August 22nd @4pm UTC!
Follow us on Twitch
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Twitch
Please keep in mind that any of the information in this newsletter could be subject to change without notice.
Copyright © 2019 Space Ape Games. All Rights Reserved.
TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission.
© 2015 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy |
Terms of Service |
Date: Thursday, August 8th 2019 10:40am CDT
Category: Game News
Posted by: Stargrave |
Credit(s): Space Ape
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 18,625
Defensor and Abominus are on the way! Check out the new combiners that are soon joining the Transformers Earth Wars in the update below and learn about all the rewards you can earn this weekend in the event.
Also, be sure to click the link in the update for a free gift to help cool off this summer of 3x Nano Frost Mk1, 3x Nano Frost Mk2,3x Nano Frost Mk3, 10,000 Spark, and 2,000 Premium Shards!
Enjoy the news and share your views with the Seibertron crew in the forums. And as always stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news!
Super XP & 5-Star Shards event this weekend!
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!
Super XP &
5-Star Shards event this weekend! And the
NEW combiners in progress.
Monster Within
Gather your Alliance members and take part in this weekend's event to win:
- Up to
3,000,000 Energon and
Alloy
- Up to
30,000 Spark
- Up to
3,000 Premium Shards
- Up to
600 5-Star Shards
- Up to
60 Guardian Crystals each containing
5, 4 or 3-Star Shards!
- And
SUPER XP per battle!
Event type: Alliance Totaliser
Start Date: 09/08/19 10:00 UTC
End Date: 12/08/19 10:00 UTC
Prestige Allowed: 60
Bonus Experience:
SUPER XP!
How to Participate? - Reach HQ Level 4 and Join an Alliance!
- Tap the Event button!
- Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
- Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
- Collect prizes!
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
* Each
Guardian Crystal contains one of the following:
Coming Soon: Defensor & Abominus
Defensor & Abominus are almost here!
These
NEW Combiners will require 3-Star or higher versions of the following bots:
Defensor
Abominus
The new Combiners will be unlocked soon. Meanwhile,
Protectobot and Terrorcon duplicates will drop
Universal Combiner Spark from this Thursday onwards, after the content push.
Bringing the
5th Combiner to
Transformers: Earth Wars is no small task! Our art team has been hard at work for some weeks now. Here is a sneak peek of the 3D models they’ve been working on.
Stay tuned for more information about these amazing Combiners and their release date!
Summer gift
Summer is now in full swing and we hope that you’ve been enjoying our newsletters in the shade! As a sweet summer treat, please accept our appreciation for making the
Transformers: Earth Wars community a bit brighter by sharing some cool gifts!
Below you will find a
Summer Gift loot link which contains the following:
- 3x Nano Frost Mk1
- 3x Nano Frost Mk2
- 3x Nano Frost Mk3
- 10,000 Spark
- 2,000 Premium Shards
http://deeplink.me/transformersearthwars.com/?promoCode=SUMMERTKGIFT
◆ You must be on your mobile device with the game installed to redeem the link.
◆ Please make sure to fully close the app before tapping the link above.
◆ The items via the link can be redeemed only once per player.
◆ The expiry date on this link is
Aug 31st 2019 23:59:00 UTC.
◆ If you can’t redeem the link, please check this
troubleshooting guide for additional steps.
Update: Prime League
It has been more than a month since we launched
Prime League and a lot of Alliances are enjoying the new challenge, so the time has come to update the effects present to keep things fresh.
Starting from
this Thursday after the content push the following effects will be active in
Prime league wars:
- Defences heal for 15% of the damage dealt
- Defences resist 10% of Ability damage
- 3 Sharkticons spawn when a defensive building is destroyed (3-star level 50).
Learn from Veterans
Last week, we received some pro tips from player and Youtuber Engineer Hoist regarding the bots that you do not want guarding your base. This week, we learn which bots can guard your base and make waste of any intruders!
Check out the
Best Outpost Bots from
Engineer Hoist at the link below.
Twitch
Presenting the
newest Combiners to join the Earth Wars:
Defensor & Abominus!
Join Ioannis, Deb, Fabien and/or Jairo who will be talking about game improvements, new features, upcoming bots and more!
Next stream will be
LIVE Thursday, August 8th @4pm UTC!
Follow us on Twitch
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Twitch
Please keep in mind that any of the information in this newsletter could be subject to change without notice.
Copyright © 2019 Space Ape Games. All Rights Reserved.
TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission.
© 2015 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Date: Tuesday, August 6th 2019 6:57pm CDT
Categories: Toy News,
Reviews,
Site Articles,
Game News
Posted by: #Sideways# Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 47,456
INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION
Warped Expectations
GenCon came and went, and with it, a ton new decks to make a massive splash in the metagame! My predictions were completely perpendicular to what actually happened, it seems, with a ton new aggressive decks to dominate the tournament standings instead of what I had figured, which was an amplified defensive presence. From Lionizer/Optimus Prime: Battlefield Legend, to General Optimus/Barrage to even Quad Cars, the entire format seemed to be catered to the offensive push.
With GenCon behind us, and a new aggressive meta unfolding before us, what are the causes of this paradigm shift? What changed from Origins to GenCon and what made people suddenly stop playing defense, and start playing offense? How will the format change in the future, deeper into the Siege meta? Let's dive in and find out!
----------
"Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh my!"
Lionizer is far and away the most obvious addition to the pantheon of aggro support in the Transformers TCG, with an astonishing Bold 4 and a weapon that not only gives Bold 4 as well but also trims the fat in your hand with Plan 1. It's a frankly disgustingly powerful card that is cheap enough to play in effectively anything you want, and powerful enough to never make you think twice about it.
The turn one play is incredibly powerful as well given that you, as Lionizer starts in robot mode, have an effectively free transformation on one of your other characters to set up for combos. You see, since he starts in his most powerful mode, you simply attack with him on the first turn of the game. That means you can devote your transformation per-turn to someone more pressing.
But that's not all that he does. You see, since he's a Battle Master, you can also equip him on an already high Bold character like Wheeljack to swing for even more damage, and since he's an Upgrade, he can also trigger Wheeljack's alternate mode effect, drawing you into better resources. It's a frankly ridiculous amount of value in Lionizer that makes him one of the most prevalent sources of aggression out of the Siege metagame.
Pressure / Pushing down on me
Pressing down on you / No man ask for
Under pressure
A less obvious cause of the more aggressive format is none other than Press The Advantage, a somewhat conspicuous card that deals quite a bit of damage to things that is consistent enough to happen when and where you want it to. But how does this little old card make its presence known so well? That has something to do with factions, and their prowess in certain categories.
If you look at the decks that are played, you can see a few things: First off, Cars are immensely prevalent due to their consistency and offensive prowess, but second off, when you have a defensive deck, it usually either features or is entirely made up of Decepticons. I mean, sure, there are exceptions in Aerialbots of course, but the vast majority of defensive decks either are comprised of or feature Decepticons. For example, Major Shockwave is usually entirely made up of Decepticons, the eponymous Double Primes from back in the day had Nemesis Prime, Tanks had an incredibly defensive (and Decepticon) setup and now Three Wide has both Flamewar and Aimless in it.
What does that tell us? Well, for one, Decepticons are probably depressed because they're blue all the time. But perhaps more importantly, it tells us that the most potent circumstances for Press The Advantage is also the most common, meaning Press The Advantage will deal far more damage to the most common defensive decks than against the most aggressive ones. And the best part? Well, it's a green pip, which means you get it pretty much whenever you need it given the fact that you have a monstrous amount of Bold, usually.
Press The Advantage might not seem it, but it's a huge reason why the meta's growing more orange than blue. But wait, if you notice, Press The Advantage only works for Autobots -- aren't we forgetting something? Huh. This is gonna
bug me!
An oldie but a goodie.
Insecticons are and have always been a fantastic deck that refuses to die. Ever since the deck was printed, Insecticons have always been a powerful deck that has only gotten stronger as the days go by, but oddly enough, it uses absolutely zero of those other cards. What keeps these bugs going? Is it that they hold their breath when someone whips out the Raid? Are they juicing on steroids?
Personally, I think it has something to do with this:
"Cowabunga it is, then."
Reckless Charge is, I think, the source of this extremely aggressive metagame. If you combine this incredibly powerful card with a Grenade Launcher (or any weapon for that matter) you'll be getting around +8 damage on one of your characters, around 2/3 of a character's HP before flips and before factoring in your base stats, not counting what Battlefield Legend can do when playing a free Action.
Doing +4 damage on an orange pip creates an immensely powerful card that doesn't really have too much of a downside when you consider that most aggressive decks are usually pretty fine with getting either one-hit or have enough HP that the 3 damage recoil doesn't affect them too much. Put it this way: If you're using Reckless Charge, you don't care about the recoil effects.
When you consider that Lionizer and Firedrive are Battle Masters and thus don't care about being attacked, or dying for that matter, Reckless Charge creates a practically unparalleled amount of damage with a frankly irrelevant recoil effect. Isn't this familiar, though?
If you think about it, One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall could be regarded as the same card but a little worse in some regards. Okay, yeah, sure, one is direct damage and the other is a stat boost and they're used mostly for different reasons, but consider this: When you're not using One Shall to target a different character, you're using it to target a character that you're about to attack. You could essentially say that you're increasing your attack damage to that character by +3 and taking 3 damage in recoil. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? With that in mind, wouldn't you rather do one more damage
and have an orange pip while also taking the recoil damage
after the attack instead of before?
That's my point. Reckless Charge is an immensely powerful card; so immense that it is actually better in some circumstances than a
blank pipped card. I think that, as a whole, there is no other card in the game that could attest to growing the offensive power of the game more than Reckless Charge. Nothing else comes close, not even Bashing Shield. Sure, Bashing Shield is a fantastic supplement to that power, but not everyone has a Force Field on them or even in their decks, so it's a strong card, but not as strong as Reckless Charge is.
So, what are we gonna do about it? Just have more oranges until we make Minute Maid jealous? Or perhaps we should wait until the next set and hope that things cool off?
Not if I can help it!
This is a little something I've been working on for quite a while, and I've found that it's one of the most powerful decks that I have created thus far. Ladies, gentlemen, all of my discerning fleshbags, feast your eye-holes on SkyStick!
SkyStick wrote:Skywarp -- Sneaky Prankster (6)
Raider Nightstick -- Ground Force, Weapons (6)
Flamewar -- Veteran Decepticon (5)
Raider Detour -- Infantry, Demolition (4)
Private Tote -- Special Ops, Infiltration (4)
(25/25)
3 Battlefield Report (B)
3 Hiding Spot (Blk)
3 Steady Shot (B)(Blk)
3 Dampening Field (W)
3 Security Checkpoint (B)(B)
2 The Bigger They Are... (B)
1 Calculated Strike (Blk)
3 Handheld Blaster (B)(B)
2 Laser Cutlass (B)
2 Piercing Blaster (W)
3 Bravery (B)
3 Security Console (W)
3 Field Communicator (W)
3 Smoke Cloak (B)(Blk)
3 Reinforced Plating (B)
40
Sideboard
Acid Storm -- Toxic Terror (6)
3 Infiltrate (B)
3 Point Defense System (Blk)
3 Take Cover (B)
1 Laser Cutlass (B)
Skywarp from Wave 1 is probably one of the most forgotten characters in the entire game. Sure, he was printed to be the six star, third member of the Seeker trio, but when you consider that he did practically nothing for that entire list, you start to wonder just what kind of list he should be played in.
Here's a refresher on what he does:
His vehicle mode is one of the most useless things in the game, and he'd probably be better off blank. But, when you consider his robot mode, you start to see where I'm going with this. You see, Skywarp defends attacks and stacks his defensive power using Flamewar and Reinforced Plating, but just when he's about to take the far reduced damage, you can instead choose to move it off him and onto one of your patsies -- erm,
teammates if you flip a white pip. You play plenty of white pips, so you'll get it effectively every time.
You see, that's what is so amazing about this deck. You reduce your opponent's damage by an incredible margin, and you force them to attack into Skywarp using Hiding Spot, Bravery and psychology in general. You start the game attacking with Nightstick and transforming Flamewar to robot mode, forcing your opponent to attack into Nightstick. They will almost definitely not one-hit him thanks to his effects as a Battle Master (of which can boost Skywarp's defensive prowess even more than it already is) and your defensive list in general. This leaves you to transform and attack with Skywarp, ideally with an Armor, effectively giving your opponent the choice of either attacking into a defensive tank or into a Battle Master a second time.
But how do you win the game? You can't just sit in one spot and do nothing forever. Well, that, my friend, is why you play Blue/Black. Dealing Pierce damage through black pips, Cutlass and Piercing Blaster can whittle your opponent down to nothing, one bite at a time. Your patsies aren't just an effectively extended health pool for Skywarp -- they can pack a punch.
And how will you do all of this? Well, that's where Detour comes in. Being a Micromaster, he has a tap effect. This tap effect, however, involves drawing two cards, which can be extremely useful into drawing into Bravery, which can force your opponent into attacking Skywarp for as long as it remains in play. Of course, you won't always need that Bravery when Skywarp has Nightstick eventually attached to him; your opponent may very well just attack him outright given that he's the largest threat on the battlefield.
Speaking of making him a threat, did I mention that Tote can untap him and allow you to attack with him a second time, scrapping Smoke Cloaks and Hiding Spots from your hand that you don't need anymore? Because Tote can do that thing.
SkyStick is one of my favorite decks at the moment. It's practically invincible, you play enough disruption to care little about what your opponents do on their turn, but if you eventually find that your opponent is simply too Bold for your own good, simply side out Nightstick for Acid Storm and watch them squirm. As it turns out, Lionizer isn't really a threat when he does zero damage. Of course, if it's Aerialbots you're afraid of, simply side in a Take Cover and Point Defense System and watch as they combine for no reason at all, reducing practically all of their damage to nothing.
SkyStick can still be beaten, of course, and it usually happens if you go second against an aggressive deck that can can do upwards of 12-14 damage on their first turn, potentially KOing Skywarp (or coming close enough for him to be KO'd outside of combat through direct damage). In fact, direct damage as a whole is entirely annoying for SkyStick, which is why I play Take Cover. If it ever becomes too much of an issue, however, it is definitely worth swapping out Acid Storm for Motormaster in your Sideboard since he effectively stops that from happening for the rest of the game.
----------
CONCLUSION
The format has never looked more aggressive, with an influx of powerful decks like Quad Cars, Lionizer Cars, General Optimus/Barrage and Lionizer/Optimus Prime: Battlefield Legend making strong things even stronger. In fact, Aerialbots did make a showing at GenCon, and all of them did rather poorly compared to the aggressive decks around them. Now, what does that say about this format, then? Is it some congealed mass of the same three decks? Is it some monotone, horridly homogeneous metagame?
No, it's not. In fact, this is one of the most diverse character metagames we've ever had, with oodles of combinations to work with. But does that mean that it's also diverse in deck creation? That's where things get a little dicey, with only a little variation in terms of pips, Weapons, Actions and everything in between. This is where the game could use some improvement, and I look forward to seeing what will come in the next set to aid the diversity of deck creation.
What say you? Will you be using orange, aggressive decks for the remainder of this season to try and get your invite to the Energon Invitational? Or will you go against the grain and go blue? Will you take SkyStick out for a spin or does a death from a thousand cuts seem too slow for your taste? Whatever you pick, let me know in the comments below, and I'll see you in the next one!
Date: Wednesday, July 31st 2019 9:01pm CDT
Categories: Game News,
Press Releases
Posted by: Stargrave |
Credit(s): IGN/#Sideways#
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 39,796
Just in from
IGN is the latest reveal for the Transformers The Card Game, and it's a big one! That's right, ready to give Metroplex and his Metro-minions a run for their money is Trypticon and his henchmen Brunt, Full-Tilt, and even Wipe-Out! From IGN:
"Every sealed, 30-pack booster display box of War for Cybertron: Seige II includes one Trypticon pack, inside of which you'll find the enormous Trypticon card and the "three large Character Cards" for Brunt, Full-Tilt and Wipe-Out. The booster packs come with one large and one small character card, as well as 6 battle cards.
In the Transformers Universe, Trypticon is the Decepticon answer to Metroplex, the gigantic Autobot city with his own, stand-alone oversized character card and set.
Transformers: TCG wave 4, featuring the Trypticon packs, will be available November 9 "in the US and certain other regions."
And this is from the official announcement from Hasbro:
"Today, Transformers TCG announced Wave 4 – which brings the mighty titan, TRYPTICON, to the fight!
For wave 4, each War for Cybertron: Siege II sealed Booster box includes 30 booster packs and a TRYPTICON pack. The TRYPTICON pack contains one Titan-sized TRYPTICON character card and 3 large character cards as his minions: BRUNT, FULL-TILT and WIPE-OUT!
Wave 4 will be available beginning November 8, 2019 in the US."
Are you ready to give your Autobot opponents a blow to their Metroplexis? Let us know what you think in the forums and as always stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news!
And this just in from our own #Sideways# is the new Trypticon Battle Card revealed on the
TFTCG Facebook Page:
Date: Wednesday, July 31st 2019 9:32am CDT
Category: Game News
Posted by: Stargrave |
Credit(s): Space Ape
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 17,827
An awesome new Electrum filled temporary Power Core is available during this event giving your bots a crutch with the Midas touch deflecting damage for a limited time while your bots trample the enemies looking bold in gold. Check the update from Space Ape below and maybe team Seibertron will see you out there on the battlefield this weekend. As always share your gaming triumphs and woes in the forums and stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news!
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!
Prepare to turn your bots into glistening gilded warriors with our newest power core -
Golden Lagoon!
The Golden Lagoon
Take part in this weekend's event to win::
- Up to
45,000 Spark
- Up to
1,250 3-Star Shards
- Up to
750 4-Star Shards
- Up to
2,000 Premium Shards
- Guaranteed
Golden Lagoon Cores!
Event type: Individual Totaliser
Start Date: 02/08/19 10:00 UTC
End Date: 05/08/19 10:00 UTC
Prestige Allowed: None (1)
Bonus Experience:
Triple XP!
How to Participate? - Reach HQ Level 4!
- Tap the Event button!
- Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
- Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
- Collect prizes!
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
New Power Core: Golden Lagoon
This week, we are introducing a new
Power Core that can not only dish it out, but they can definitely take it!
Golden Lagoon is filled with Electrum from the legendary
Golden Lagoon, adding a temporary gold coating to your bot that reflects incoming damage.
This will be our second time limited core after the introduction of our
XP Cores.
Golden Lagoon core lasts 24 hours once activated, however it can be switched between other bots during this time period. It only comes in the
Gold version and it only has 1 level so it cannot be levelled up.
A challenge battle will be available prior to this weekend’s event to give you an opportunity to test out some bots coated in the legendary
golden armament!
To check out the
Golden Lagoon Core in action, check out
last week’s stream around 00:50 and
Skywarp Greer’s latest video!
Learn from Veterans
Have you ever watched a defensive replay and watched one of your highest level bots provide little to no help in defending your very meticulously crafted base?
Check out
this video from player and Youtuber
Engineer Hoist for advice on which bots will not pull their weight when it comes to defending one of your base outposts!
Bug Fixes / Updates
The following bug fixes/updates are coming to the game soon:
- Slash/Rippersnapper’s issue with chasing bots after exiting their ability.
We have put some additional fixes that will be released in this week’s content update.
Twitch
There will be no stream this Thursday.
We'll be back
LIVE Thursday, August 8th @4pm UTC!
Follow us on Twitch
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Twitch
Please keep in mind that any of the information in this newsletter could be subject to change without notice.
Copyright © 2019 Space Ape Games. All Rights Reserved.
TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission.
© 2015 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy |
Terms of Service
Date: Wednesday, July 24th 2019 10:23am CDT
Categories: Event News,
Game News
Posted by: Stargrave |
Credit(s): Space Ape
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 33,444
Rhinox! Tarantulus! The Beast Wars are lighting up the Transformers Earth Wars this weekend as these two old favorites arrive at last! Also announced are the new Protectobot and Terrorcon teams! We no doubt have a Defensor and Abominus on the way gang.
Are you most of the way to completing these new teams? Is it time for the Beast Wars fandom to rise up and roar in the Earth War?
Well, let's be real, there's never a bad time for that.
Let us know about your current victories and woes in the forum and stay tuned to Seibertron for the ultimate in Transformers news!
Rhinox & Tarantulas are joining the Earth Wars this weekend!
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!
Rhinox &
Tarantulas are joining the Earth Wars this weekend!
Stampede!
Fight in this event to unlock a 2, 3 or 4-Star
Rhinox or
Tarantulas and get:
- Up to
1,500 3-Star Shards
- Up to
800 4-Star Shards
- Up to
5 Silver Power Core Chips
- Up to
1 Gold Power Core Chip
- And
Bonus XP per Battle!
Want more?
Go for the extra mile and unlock extra
Spark from the hardest tiers and rank among the
TOP 500 Alliances for guaranteed rewards!
Event type: Alliance Leaderboard
Start Date: 26/07/19 10:00 UTC
End Date: 29/07/19 10:00 UTC
Prestige Allowed: None
Bonus Experience:
Triple XP!
How to Participate? - Join an Alliance and reach HQ Level 4!
- Tap the Event button!
- Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
- Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
- Collect prizes!
- Continue to earn Battle Points!
- Secure your rank on the Event Leaderboard!
- Win amazing guaranteed prizes!
Alliance Leaderboards
Alliance Leaderboards allow you to earn Battle Points after redeeming all of your tiered prizes. Leaderboard Prizes are awarded based on your rank in relation to other Alliances in the game.
Only the top 40 alliance members Battle Point contributions will count towards your Alliance’s Leaderboard score.
Leaderboard Prizes are distributed at the end of the event and may take some time to process and appear.
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
Leaderboard Prizes
New Bots: Rhinox and Tarantulas
Rhinox &
Tarantulas are joining the ranks this weekend!
Let us share their ability as we’ve tweaked them since last week to make them more balanced.
Life Stealing Charge:
Rush into combat imprisoning buildings on your path for 7 seconds. The vines deal damage per second, slows down defences by 70% and heals your nearby allies by a percentage of the defence’s damage value per second.
Life Stealing Charge:
Rush into combat imprisoning buildings on your path for 7 seconds. The web deals damage per second, slows down defences by 70% and heals your nearby allies by a percentage of the defence’s damage value per second.
Check out
Skywarp Greer’s
latest video to see
Tarantulas in action!
As usual, their challenge battle will be available via in-game newsfeed prior to the weekend event.
Collections: Update
Two new teams have been added to the collections the
Protectobots and
Terrorcons.
The
Protectobots are a team of emergency, rescue and law enforcement bots dedicated to the protection of humans and their homes.
The
Terrorcons are savage beings, sometimes little more than feral creatures. True to their name, they tend to inspire terror in their enemies.
Check out the collections after the content release
this Thursday!
Prime League: Update
With the launch of
Prime League, one of the top feedback we had was for some kind of reward for participating alliances due to the league’s difficulty. So we have enabled the following rewards for the Alliance that loses the war.
- 10,000 Spark
- 250 Premium Shards
- 250,000 Energon
- 250,000 Alloy
This change will go live
this Thursday with a content release.
The competition for most wins has finished on
Wednesday 24/07/19 10:00 UTC and the result will be announced in the newsfeed and newsletter!
Bug Fixes / Updates
The following bug fixes/updates are coming to the game
this Thursday with a content release.
Skylynx/Blitzwing regular damage were of the same type warrior’s and the HQ were resistant to it. This should not be the case since Skylynx/Blitzwing is not a warrior and this has now been fixed. This means that their melee attack will also deal less damage to walls.
Sludge/Straxus ability icon would sometimes not being displayed correctly in battle. Stasis mines will now activate straight away instead of a second after they are triggered. This is to stop a number of issues from happening when players activated a bot's ability after he triggered the mine.
Quintus Prime Core, the Sharkticon would sometimes push it into buildings and wall when summoned from the bot in a confined space. In order to mitigate this issue, the Sharkticon are now summoned further away from the bot.
- Silverbolt/Thundercracker The damage over time effect from the special ability could be stacked multiple times on a single target.
This is no longer the case.
Twitch
Presenting the newest Transformers to join the Earth Wars:
Rhinox &
Tarantulas!
Join Ioannis, Deb, Fabien and/or Jairo who will be talking about game improvements, new features, upcoming bots and more!
Next stream will be
LIVE Thursday, July 25th @4pm UTC!
Follow us on Twitch
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Twitch
Please keep in mind that any of the information in this newsletter could be subject to change without notice.
Copyright © 2019 Space Ape Games. All Rights Reserved.
TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission.
© 2015 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Date: Tuesday, July 23rd 2019 2:46pm CDT
Categories: Event News,
Site Articles,
Game News
Posted by: #Sideways# Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 54,582
CON JOB
GenCon Meta Predictions & Rogue Ideas
GenCon is coming up next week, and with it comes a whole new meta with not just the Siege cards but also the slew of promos we got over the San Diego Comic Con weekend! Sure, not everyone was able to get them, but many people
were, and that means you're likely to see a whole bunch of people trying on Soundwave or the Omnibots on for size. Not only that, but with the advent of black pips making Pierce not just an easily reachable damage cap, but a powerful damage effect for defensive decks with low attack totals. With these new additions to the meta, how will the meta shift before GenCon begins and what should you play at the game fair? Let's dive in!
--
META PREDICTIONS
I think, as a whole, the entire format is going to slow down thanks to the black pip, Battle Masters and an increased reliance on Bold for more offensive decks to be countered easily by Acid Storm. But does that mean that the format has a bad case of the "blues"? Well, not exactly. Let me explain by going into the first deck that I'd like to cover, which is Aerialbots.
Aerialbots wrote:Silverbolt -- Aerialbot Leader (5*)
Skydive -- Air Warfare Specialist (5*)
Fireflight -- Sky High Recon (5*)
Air Raid -- Reckless Flyer (5*)
Alpha Bravo -- Airborne Special Ops (5*)
25/25
2 Aerialbot Enigma (G)
3 Steady Shot (B)(Blk)
3 Security Checkpoint (B)(B)
3 Inferno Breath (B)
3 Marksmanship (B)
3 The Bigger They Are... (B)
3 Battlefield Report (B)
3 Handheld Blaster (B)(B)
3 Smoke Cloak (B)(Blk)
3 Noble's Blaster (B)(G)
3 Armed Hovercraft (B)
2 Laser Cutlass (B)
3 Field Communicator (W)
3 Reinforced Plating (B)
37
Sideboard
Optimus Prime -- Battlefield Legend (13*) / Omega Supreme -- Autobot Defense Base (19*)
3 Infiltrate (B)
3 Dampening Field (W)
2 Hiding Spot (Blk)
2 Enemy Combat Analysis (G)
This is what, I think, an average Aerialbot list is going to look like. At least, this is what I would play if I were going to make the trip to GenCon. You might want to put a few more black pips in there to start with, such as Hiding Spot to effectively force your opponent to attack Skydive as much as possible, but generally speaking this is what an average list will look like in many cases with the only exception being a few cards in the sideboard.
Before we get into that, let's dive into the main list. Basically, you already play quite a few cards that give you Pierce in the first place. Playing a few black pips will help maximize the amount of Pierce you can do without bogging down your flips with potentially bad defensive flips. This is why Smoke Cloak and Steady Shot are both so powerful. Not only do they allow you to play fairly solid cards during your turn with Steady Shot being the major player in that regard, but you will never be sad to see them flip given the fact that they have both a black pip for offense and a blue for defense. They are both very solid cards, and if you're playing Blue/Black you should definitely be playing them.
So, all that aside, the rest of the list is fairly average. The exception is that I put a few interesting cards in the sideboard for your consideration, including Infiltrate for the aggro matchups as well as Omega Supreme for everything else.
Optimus will likely be the general side-in for most cases, having incredible utility and power and will often just out-value your opponent especially with cards like Marksmanship, Steady Shot, Inferno Breath and more in your deck to help increase his damage even further than you already will be with a Noble's Blaster. Plus, in a defensive list, he'll be incredibly hard to take down, especially with Fireflight using Brave to keep the major heat off him. Fireflight is so good, in fact, that I included a character in the sideboard for you to consider just because of his versatility.
You see, Omega Supreme really likes it when his partner is attacked instead of him. Omega's HP isn't as large as Metroplex, but if you only take two at a time and your partner defends the rest of it, well, you'll be lasting a long time to make the most of your powerful offensive potential. Since Fireflight has Brave, you can put Reinforced Plating on him (as well as Enemy Combat Analysis if you're facing the mirror) and you can force your opponent to attack him, dealing minimal damage thanks to Fireflight's defensive upgrades, which you can then move off to Omega to make the both of them last.
Omega is a lot like starting the game with Superion in play. Sure, sometimes that's not for the best and you'd be missing out on the time and value that your other parts give you, but sometimes the matchup just requires it, especially against Mirror. I think that Omega is super underrated in this metagame, and I think that the slower the format gets, the more viable he becomes. In fact, you can even use UFO to get even more value out of him, but even
I think that might be a bit much, investment-wise.
--
Forgotten, but not lost.
Speaking of underrated cards, I'd like to point out possibly the most underrated card out of Wave 1: Aerial Recon. Aerial Recon has been an absolute boon in my playtesting thanks to not only its scry effect, but its defensive boost on a
Utility. Sure, it's an orange pip and that makes me only a little sad, but when you consider the fact that you're going to be defending that much more damage on cards like Fireflight on a practically immovable Upgrade thanks to its Utility nature, Aerial Recon finds its value extremely quickly.
Plus, if you happen to swing for more Pierce than attack, it is always nice to flip one offensively to give yourself that extra oomph to get the job done. But that said, it
is an orange pip which means that there's a pretty good chance that you'll flip it at the wrong time, potentially messing up your defense of a powerful attack. Think of it like playing a blank card in your deck, of which this plays none. You can use Aerial Recon to powerfully boost your defensive stats, and when you get to keep it, you get to put it on Superion to boost his stats even more than your Armor already is.
If you're playing Aerialbots, try this card out. You won't regret it.
--
The meta has certainly slowed thanks to the introduction of the black pip with Siege, but I'd like to point out that it hasn't slowed down to a
crawl, at least not yet. With the introduction of Siege, the "old guard" of Insecticons and Cars can certainly look different in their updated forms. Will that updated form lead to wins against decks like Three Wide Primes and the new Shockwave deck that seems to be on the rise? Well, let's take a look at a list for each of them and see for ourselves:
Insecticons wrote:Barrage - Merciless Insecticon (7*)
Insecticon Skrapnel - Insecticon Leader (7*)
Kickback - Cunning Insecticon (6*)
Ransack - Insecticon Commando (6*)
2 Backup Plan (W)
2 Bashing Shield (O)(G)
3 Erratic Lightning (O)
2 Flamethrower (O)
3 Force Field (W)
3 Grenade Launcher (O)
3 I Still Function!
3 Improvised Shield (O)(O)
2 Mining Pick (O)
3 Peace Through Tyranny (O)
3 Power Punch (O)
3 Reckless Charge (O)
2 Static Laser of Ironhide (O)
3 Supercharge (O)
3 Swarm! (O)
Sideboard
Chop Shop - Sneaky Insecticon (6*)
3 Bad Attitude
3 Repair Bay (O)
2 Frag Toss (W)
2 Enforcement Batons (O)(G)
The Insecticon list hasn't changed much over the eons, but that's kind of the beauty of it. You see, when you have the massive amount of power that the Insecticons have, you don't really need to consider too much in terms of what to play outside of things that increase your damage. In fact, the mainboard for the Insecticons hasn't changed
at all from my Origins list. That said, however, with the advent of Acid Storm and Dampening Field being popular sideboards to counter the Insecticon playstyle, you need to play a few things to ease the burden.
For example, if you happen to face off against an Acid Storm or a W-5 deck, you would end up dropping the Flamethrower and either Supercharge or Bashing Shield for Frag Toss as well as adding the spicy Enforcement Batons. You see, Frag Toss gets you a nice bit of Action damage that can not only function as extra Swarms in your deck, but also functioning as another way to activate Barrage's robot mode effect. You play this especially over One Shall Stands because it isn't a blank card. I've spoken at length about how I dislike blank cards and how they can mostly hurt you in the long run, but thanks to the fact that Frag Toss has a white pip, you can play it without worrying too much about your deck's pip consistency.
Enforcement Batons, however, are certainly an interesting add-in even by my standards. Let's dive into why I love this highly underutilized card:
--
"STOP RESISTING!"
The sticks of fury strike true! Yes, Enforcement Batons are actually a very, very good addition into sideboards going into GenCon. You see, as a whole, the metagame has slowed down thanks to better defensive cards. But in many cases, W-5 Blaster is honestly extremely powerful at not just stopping Bold effects, but also stopping Kickback from, well, existing. You see, when you have Kickback who flips cards to get his value, only flipping a certain amount of cards makes him ultimately worse. Plus, Battle Masters like Nightstick and Lionizer are frankly ridiculous at getting value, especially used in tandem with characters like Battlefield Legend or similarly strong characters.
That's why Enforcement Batons are so strong. You see, by using them as effectively a Bashing Shield for Battle Masters like Nightstick, you're going to get an immense amount of value out of it. Plus, when it has outlived its usefulness, you aren't exactly losing anything offensively with the orange pip and +1 Attack. Of course, it isn't like you're
gaining anything offensively, either, but you're still getting rid of those pesky Nightsticks, Lionizer and even Ion Blaster of Optimus Prime.
Did I mention that it's a green pip so you can do this pretty much whenever you need to? Because it's a green pip that you can use pretty much whenever you need to.
Sadly, there isn't much in the way of removal for W-5 Blaster insofar as something as strong as Bashing Shield. With the advent of Personal Targeting Drone as well as Device Virus, one could make the case that simply using those would make an easy removal. That would be a lie, of course, simply because Personal Targeting Drone is awful. However, Crushing Size could be a savior in that regard. Getting to draw a card in the down-time of when your opponent is not playing a W-5 is quite a powerful effect, and being a white pip is certainly not a bad thing for consistency. But, that said, Crushing Size doesn't have a green pip, so you can be sure that you'll seldom have it when you want it.
Could Crushing Size be the savior Kickback has been waiting for?
Probably not. But it's a nice thought!
--
Cars wrote:Private Downshift -- Special Ops, Security Agent (8*)
Wheeljack -- Weapon Inventor (9*)
Prowl -- Military Strategist (6*)
23/25
2 Mounted Missiles (O)(O) (2*)
3 Confidence (O)
3 Supercharge (O)
3 Reckless Charge (O)
2 Press the Advantage (O)(G)
2 Start Your Engines (B)
2 Backup Plan (W)
3 Peace Through Tyranny (O)(O)
3 Grenade Launcher (O)
3 Erratic Lightning (O)
3 Power Punch (O)
3 Turbo Boosters (O)
3 Field Communicator (W)
2 Bashing Shield (O)(G)
Sideboard
Cliffjumper -- Renegade Warrior (8)
2 Heroic Team-Up (2*)
2 Enforcement Batons (O)(G)
1 Press the Advantage (O)(G)
3 Force Field (W)
2 Heat of Battle (W)
Cars is still a strong mid-range deck that features consistent damage output, though not quite as powerful as Insecticons in the raw damage department, that makes up for it with moderate defensive capabilities that translate into more attacks during the untap phase.
Sadly, the major cause for your defeats usually revolve around someone out DPS-ing you. In other words, you get one-hit on the first turn of the game by an Insecticon and you end up losing the aggression battle. It's why Cars has always had an awful matchup against Insecticons and other, similarly aggressive decks.
That's where Downshift comes in. The Omnibot may be part of the Comic Con booster pack, and without his two compatriots he may seem under-powered, but the simple fact that he can attach a free Weapon to himself on the first turn of the game, then give himself Bold 1 is frankly ridiculous value, especially on the first turn of the game.
Let's dive into that for a little bit:
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Upshift, amiright?
On the first turn, you can attach a Grenade Launcher to Downshift, giving him 8 Attack with Bold 1 on the first turn of the game. Something is going to die, especially against things like Lionizer, Insecticons and Aerialbots where the average HP is usually low.
The thing you need to consider, though, is that with your newfound power, you also have a lower Star Count which you can increase your deck power with. Mounted Missiles not only help you increase your pip strength, but they also increase your Weapon count to make the turn one play that much easier. Even better, you increase your potential damage by attaching it to Downshift's Utility slot, opening up your weapon slot for an even more powerful weapon.
But that's not all! You see, Downshift also happens to be a Car that Upgrades itself, making Wheeljack incredibly happy in that you can use Downshift to Upgrade himself, draw a card and then potentially discard a Weapon to not only buff Downshift but also activate Wheeljack's Robot Mode ability at the same time.
If you managed to get a Comic Con pack, you need to try this combo. Sure, he doesn't do as much damage as Bumblebee in the mid-game, and he lacks the draw power of Bumblebee, but his early game potential has the ability to completely annihilate a character before your opponent even gets to use them.
I absolutely adore Downshift in Cars for that reason, and you should too. Sure, yes, it is part of the Comic Con Pack and that makes it exclusive, but the point is, there are way more uses for the Omnibots than just their own composition.
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CONCLUSION
GenCon starts on the 1st of August, and with it comes a new metagame. With the powerful additions of black pips, Omnibots and even the Cassettes, the meta is growing steadily, but that's not all. The meta is also steadily
refining itself. This is where rogue decks can finally make purchase.
With a large card pool and more refined field, rogue decks or rogue derivatives of meta decks can shift the matchups that their derivatives normally had. That combined with the sideboard can create a vastly more creative metagame, and one that I can barely contain my excitement for.
I cannot wait to see what comes out of GenCon. With the meta slowing down slightly, you can play different, less conventional lists. In fact, I'd be interested to see if Dreadwing or even Black Constructicons make a showing, but that's probably just wishful thinking.
Sadly, I decided not to attend GenCon this year. I already have my invite to the Energon Invitational, and aside from clout and maybe a bit of money if I do well enough, there isn't too much reason to "grinch" people out of their invite. You'll just have to manage without my ugly mug this time around!
What do you think will be at GenCon this year? What kind of decks will make the best showing? Are you considering other decks with single Omnibots or do you think that they can only be viable as the full squad? Let me know in the comments below, and I will see you next time!
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