The Wreck ‘n Rule crew is incredibly hyped for the impending release of Siege II. On top of that, we’ve all been busy with job stuff, life stuff, and other stuff, so we’ve been having trouble getting together to record gameplay. In the meantime, we’ve been putting some thoughts down about the characters that we’re excited to start using on November 8th when Siege II hits. First up, let’s take a look at our most anticipated Common Characters!
Joe – Sergeant Mirage
Built in Tough 2 with a Secret Action in play on your side of the board while in bot mode and draw 1-2 when you flip to alt mode.
One option we can try is to pump some life into an old deck called Pierce Cars. Wheeljack 1 was the heavy hitter with his passive bold 3 and Thermal Weaponry. Piercing for for 7+ was always an option. Now that there are 3 more Black/Blue pip cards added to the pool (5 total), Thermal Weaponry and Brian’s hatred for my love of Thermal Weaponry gets a bump. Adding Mirage 3 to this will help the survivability of the deck. You may include a 3rd character of your choice, Cliffjumper was my choice but I suspect that may not be an option for some.
Another option could be a Daring Escape deck. Stall… flip blue pips, draw, draw some more, and win will be the name of that game. Pairing him with Flamewar1 and Genprime1 might be plausible teammates for stalling. Skywarp 3 will help ensure Mirage will be able to play a secret action every turn and if he has Bravery on him, he might become a wall.
Hidden Fortification should go wherever Mirage goes. Sabotaged Armaments and Step Forward should be extremely looked into for auto-includes with him as well.
RJ – Captain Impactor
A lot of people want to make tanks work, me included. I think Captain Impactor is a step in the right direction – but I also think he is somewhat versatile as well.
Pair him with Lord Megatron and Demolisher in an orange based build sounds like a lot of fun to me. Composite Armor in this deck helps everyone, and now suddenly your orange deck can not only dish out damage but becomes pretty survivable as well. I am definitely excited to try this one out, and will probably be one of the first things I try, assuming I pull Megatron!
A seven star Leader with the Ranged keyword on each side is just so useful in many slots. I can envision using him with W3 General Optimus Prime and Sentinel Prowl in a mixed pip deck. Impactor gives you access to ranged cards like Marksmanship and Armed Hovercraft that you may have been hesitant to play before hand with a team of, say, General Optimus, Sentinel Prowl, and Sentinel Ironhide. The Leader keyword gives you two targets for a Matrix of Leadership, and Sentinel Prowl helps your flip economy because you’re never flipping him. Impactor doesn’t have as much defense as Sentinel Ironhide when Impactor is in bot mode, but if you send him out first, your next turn you can flip him back to tank mode and now Prowl attacks with Bold 3 before any other cards are played! I’m excited to sleeve the newest iteration of this deck up.
Tom – Raider Chop Shop
If you have not sat down across the table from an Insecticon deck, then you’re probably playing a different game. The Bug Bros were the deck to beat in Wave 1 and they have managed to be orange card throwing pests all the way to Wave 3. From the spoilers of Wave 4, it looks like someone on the design team shows a liking towards the bugs and they are back, but a little different. The common I am looking forward to building with right away is Raider Chop Shop. He seems to be taking bugs towards a new direction, one leaning more towards a control/defensive deck than a full-frontal assault. He gives you the ability to scrap a green card on his flip and heal 1 from everyone, healing 2 if that card has only a green pip. This ability sounds downright annoying when paired with his leader buddy W1 Skrapnel, and Chop Shop costing 7* can leave the door open to a 4 wide character deck. You’re not going to want to build a deck around this ability since flipping nothing but green pips will get you knocked out fast, but it’s worth exploring some of the new wave 4 cards that can trigger it.
Two of them I want to try out are Soldier’s Blaster (C053) and Reprocess (C049), both are commons so they should be easy to get a hold of. Reprocess also gives you added healing abilities, and the ability to use that card defensively since the text says you can scrap an upgrade on ANY character and then heal 2, you might not want to heal your opponent but when your staring down a Battlemaster you can’t get rid of it might be the right call. Soldier’s Blaster seems like a good weapon with three factions now in the game, and you can pick it up when you need it. An old favorite card like Swarm! should be in this deck, and Bug Bomb may even make an appearance.
For now, my initial plans include Chop Shop/W1 Skrapnel/W1 Kickback/W4 Kickback, coming in at exactly 25*. Keeping them all at 7* or under allows me to run some of the best cards with Pierce in the game such as Laser Cutlass and The Bigger They Are. W1 Kickback allows for some extra healing while Wave 4 Kickback deals 1 to the opponent when a friendly Insecticon is attacking, that direct damage is going to come in handy. Combining some of these new cards with the older sets to create a new dynamic for an old team has me excited to start testing so I can find the other combos that lie hidden in Seige II. Until then, may the release weekend pulls be in your favor.
Kevin – Specialist Sandstorm
Of all the new common characters entering the fray, the one I think I’ll be spending the most time tinkering with is Sandstorm. This triple changer is quite possibly one of the most versatile bots in the game, able to take on any opponent and synergize well with any ally.
Did you wanna run Hot Wheels, with aggressive high damage attacks, and ridiculous untapping potential? He can do it. Looking to take advantage of powerful battle cards like Multi-Missile Pod with some high flying friends? He can do it. Looking for a team of specialists to make use of the whole suite of specialist cards to get extra actions, upgrades, and cards in a turn? He can do it.
Even more than that, he’s one of the more consistently useful triple changers, in that, no matter who you’re facing, you’ll always have a mode that will be useful. Admittedly, his stat line is slanted more towards an aggressive orange deck, but there’s nothing keeping you from running blue, and taking advantage of his strong attack as the basis for chipping away while withstanding attacks (plus with the majority of characters being ranged, he has the opportunity to make that defense even higher).
I definitely think I’ll be trying out a couple different ideas with this guy. Now to figure out which of the new uncommons looks interesting before Brian blackmails me into writing again next week…. (Editors Note: Next week? Try this week, Kev…)
Brian – Private Smokescreen
Okay, the real answer is that I’m incredibly hyped for the new Springer, but there’s a lot going on with him, and I’ve been too busy at work the past couple weeks to start trying to put pieces together to figure out the best way to use him. In the meantime, I’m excited to try out some shenanigans with Smokescreen.
Car? Good! Ranged in both modes? Good! Safeguard 3 in alt mode? Probably good! Focus 1 in bot mode? Good! Bonus for equipping a white pip Upgrade? Good with some cards we’re getting in this wave! 7 stars? Great!
One of my most recent decks has been General Optimus, paired with Wave 2 Hot Rod and Fireflight. It just vomits out blue like crazy, while also being able to run some choice orange pip cards like Improvised Shield, for both the pips on attack and for actual usage on a character. An easy update to that deck will be to keep General Optimus (Wave 3), but slot in in Wave 4 Smokescreen and Mirage as his partners instead.
From a more janky perspective, I’m also excited to try General Optimus, Smokescreen, and Turbo Board.
With both General Optimus and Smokescreen having access to Focus 1 in their bot modes, I’m excited to try to use that in conjunction with Turbo Board’s utility mode to play additional orange or blue cards on their turn. There will be a lot of moving pieces, but I’m excited to see some really weird combinations of interactions going down.
As always, keep your eyes on the Wreck ‘n Rule YouTube channel for our usual shenanigans. Also consider supporting us on Patreon, since the proceeds go toward helping us upgrade our recording set-up AND toward throwing some sweet custom swag your way! Plus, we now have merch available too!
Wreck 'N Rule 