Allow me to do a bit of self-promotion in the introductory paragraph this week. We now, finally, have an Instagram account! Follow us on Instagram to get some behind the scenes look at Wreck ‘N Rule on a somewhat sporadic basis. Spoiler: most of our time spent at WnR HQ is used on adjusting our lighting situation. It’s that, and eating Cookies n Creme Twix (not sponsored, but it they would like to sponsor us, we would be more than willing and able. Twix plz). If you want to scout out our Instagram page before you read this article, than that’d be pretty cool too!
I will say that this is one of our more active weeks in reacting to the cards. I think we’ve done a better job with reacting to them as they happen as opposed to all at once. With that, let’s take a look at the week that just passed!
bike gang
Revealed by TransformYourGame.net
Brian: As of now, the motorcycles in the game include Arcee (5), Flamewar1 (5), Chromia2 (8), and Flamewar2 (7). First of all, you’re already at 25 points. Second of all, none of those characters particularly want to attack while in motorcycle mode. Hopefully, this is preparing us for some future Junkion action, with Chromia1 as the big bad biker mama?
RJ: Did someone say Junkion? I wonder if WotC will take some notes from a game like VS System (WnR’s new favorite secondary game to play) where they have an “army”-type trait, meaning you can have any number of that specific character on your team. Though I would then worry that Brian would play nothing but an army of Sharkticons from here on out. Maybe ‘worry’ is the wrong word because when you say it outloud, it sounds like an awesome idea…
paralyzo box
Revealed by TCG Roll Out! on Twitter
RJ: The push for mixed pip decks by WotC continues. This card punishes decks that slant heavily towards a single color. I’m of the mindset that the Air Strike Patrol didn’t need any more help, but here they receive some more anyway. The fact that it’s an upgrade makes it less good than it can be because you have to use your upgrade play on a turn on something you may end up whiffing on, but the fact that it sticks around makes it somewhat more palatable. You don’t get the benefit of gaining information from this as it’s WHEN you attack and they’re flipping the card anyway but if I’m sitting across from this card I have the annoying decision to make of if this is worth dealing with or not.
Joe: What he said^. Potential characters for this: Spinister, Dreadwing. The sheer nightmare of Dreadwing being able to swing for 15atk before action/flips sounds fun.
Tom: I like this card, it’s a reloadable grenade launcher but with a twist. Agreeing with RJ here that seeing the card really doesn’t make a difference since your opponent is flipping it anyway, but using it with anniversary Soundwave makes it hit at least once per game. The only other card I can think of right now that lets you look at your opponent’s deck is Skywarp1, but again if it hits once per game and strikes out the rest of the time is it better than Grenade Launcher?
nightracer and stealth mission
RJ: I think that anything that gives you extra stars for free is, at the very least, worth consideration. Nightracer becomes a natural pair with Major Shockwave though I’m initially unsure if she is better than Flamewar. She’s better stat-wise than Flamewar is, but needing a Secret Action down to grant Tough 1 is not as beneficial since you don’t get that all the time. She does, however, free up a flip somewhere else since she grants Tough 1 in Alt Mode instead of Bot Mode. Being Ranged makes up for a lot of her shortcomings, though. I think she will see play since she frees you to flip someone else in the meantime. Throw a Piercing Blaster or Laser Cutlass on her and go to work.
Joe: Looks like another synergistic partner to go with Flamewar to play support for a 3rd character. The stratagem really makes you want to pair her off with Skywarp3 or Shockwave2. I for one will be seeing about squeezing her in with my Nemesis/Mirage3 deck.
Brian: I think my perspective here is skewed by our hyper-local meta, which very quickly embraced black pips (and Pierce in general). I haven’t really seen Mirage3 being used often for his robot mode ability (more for his flip back to alt mode to draw cards), so it still often feels like Secret Actions to grant Tough are a waste, although I guess having Mirage3 in bot mode and Nightracer in alt mode, then playing Step Forward will force you to attack into a Mirage with Tough 4 before you begin to factor in anything granted via Armor. Again, though, like I said earlier, our local area somewhat quickly tired of blue vomit and quickly started to embrace Pierce as a method of dealing with it. Beyond that, from a pure stats perspective, Nightracer now replaces Dead End if you’re looking for a 5 star Car.
Nightracer also has value when you’re looking for a support 5 drop, but would also like to have the Ranged keyword available.
Major kudos for using such an obscure character. For anyone who wasn’t around during the early online TF fandom days, there’s quite a history behind both the character and her creator. Weirdly enough, Flamewar also has a similar pedigree. It’s a bit crazy that we now have 3 cards in the game that are direct results of early online Transformers community drama.
Tom: Five stars with decent health, but if you’re not playing secret actions it’s essentially a blank card. Could be a good candidate for a piercing cars deck. Don’t tell Joe I said that.
autobot whirl and pop-up attack
Joe: Whirl + stratagem makes me want to see about trying some Metal Detector/Multi-Missile Pod build with the focus being just to pull off a 2x pod scrap instead of trying for the coup de grace. 2 MMPs while flipping a blue pip is 3 to the defender and 4 to every other enemy. Just remember, if you plan an MMP to the top for the MD play, that MMP won’t be able to trigger.
Brian: I mentioned this during the initial reveal, but I think Whirl can be a strong choice as your sideboard character (particularly against Ranged teams), especially if you want to shift into a two-tall build. I think I’d really like to see a 6 or 7 star mid-cost Helicopter character to use as part of his team.
RJ: I think Whirl is pretty bonkers. He’s stat’d similarly, if not better, than most 12* characters and the ability you want to try and utilize the most is in the mode where you don’t have to flip to use it. Flip a Blue on Attack (hey, guys!) and it acts as, pretty much, an Armed Hovercraft. Add in that he’s Ranged and you probably want to start splashing in multiple colors of battle icons in your deck anyway, and there is a good chance you can get his ability to fire off pretty consistently WITHOUT his stratagem. His built in Forcefield against ranged characters in his bot-mode is pretty useful in a pinch but too specific for me. I think he will see plenty of play. Did we mention he’s a Wrecker?
Tom: At first glance I thought he would be a really good sideboard character for when you run up against those 4-5 wide teams, but after looking again I think he’s going to see a lot of table time. I now need to find a way to abuse Armed Hovercraft on him and get his ability to go off. I wouldn’t even mind scrapping one Missile Pod on my attack for an extra 1 damage across the board & on top of it he boasts a strong base attack of 7. Question will be who to pair him with.
nitro booster
Revealed by Robots in Design #14 on Facebook
Joe: Just reading this card and thinking of all the possible characters that can abuse this makes my head spin. Who do you not want attacking you 2x in a row? Demolisher, Kickback, Private Lionizer, any character with innate pierce like Ravage2, to name a few. This card is going to hurt twice as bad on the wheel turn if your opponent is heavy orange. BOLO for people looking for ways to recur this.
RJ: To add on to what Joe said, my mind immediately went to Soundwave and the Spy Patrol at the end of the wheel turn. You can easily envision a scenario in which Soundwave and Laserbeak are both untapped, you plop this down on Laserbeak and get in for Pierce 6 on someone. *drools*
I’m reading this as it checks for activation when the character initially attacks, so as long as you don’t play anything with static attack and instead use Bold to supplement your attack, then this will untap all the characters Joe mentioned above. I think this is a good card, because ideally you want this circulating through your deck anyway with the black pips.
concealing contrails
Revealed by Robots in Design #14 on Facebook
RJ: I think this is really interesting. This offers you some survivability no matter where you are in the game, provided you are able to draw the card to use it. I’ll definitely be testing this out in most of my decks where I have black pips since there is little downside to this. I think it might especially fit in well in an OA deck.
conversion expertise
Revealed by Blues on Attack on Youtube
RJ: This card was built for Fort Max. He wants Tough in Alt Mode and Bold in Bot Mode (Carl note: Fort Max doesn’t have a Bot mode, only Body mode. So I was wrong. Again. Which is a common theme!) to proc his abilities. This also might be useful in sealed when you’re looking for Bold and Tough in additional places.
Joe: For Blitzwing/Bluestreak? They both have built in conversation mechanics and both want to attack in bot mode and defend in alt mode.
mission briefing
Revealed by Flip Flip Bang Bang
Brian: Remember all those decks you built based on card draw where you had 3x copies of Equipment Enthusiast, but never saw them in hand? Well, now you just need to have at least 3 characters that can survive for a bit and you’re sure to see this card at some point in the game. Locally, my fear is that Joe and RJ will use this card to help make Overwhelming Advantage and Daring Escape happen because they’re both terrible people.
RJ: Firstly, Brian is absolutely correct in his last sentence. Secondly, I had a nice paragraph typed up here about Devastator. On brand, I figured out I can’t read and you draw only when the characters are in bot or body mode. Better to figure that out now rather than in the middle of a game when someone (read: Joe) tells me I can’t do that and I look like an idiot in front of a ton of people. There’s still some good use to this card, and I suggest you read James’ article to see his suggestions with Blaster and the Run-a-bros.
high five
Revealed by the OMG!Hour Podcast on Twitter
RJ: Wes, of Team Primus, has called this card the Kevin (also of Team Primus) and RJ card. Is it because he is jealous of our friendship? Absolutely. I also argued that high fiving is for people scared of their feelings and that the true Kevin and RJ card would be centered around hugging. Maybe WotC will make that card happen and maybe Wes will further get jealous. Who’s to say?
hand-to-hand combat
Revealed by Matt Smith on Twitter
Joe: I don’t know why, but I want to play this with Triggerhappy (bot mode). Turns him into 5A4P while ruining someone’s weapon(s).
RJ: I think this card is really strong on the surface. In my opinion, it’s better than Enforcement Batons which has seen a lot of play recently. The only drawback is that it doesn’t have a green pip attached to it so it’s going to be tough getting it into your hand consistently. You play this, get a +3 pump, play an armor to protect yourself, and scrap all (ALL) the defender’s weapons. Seems good to me. I think this also might work with someone like Soundblaster where you can stack effects, have this trigger first, then pull in a black pip weapon from the scrap. The most-of-the-time blue pip doesn’t bother me for an effect that is really good, it’s just the lack of seeing it consistently.
beachcomber
RJ: It’s pretty obvious that Beachcomber pairs extremely well with Major Shockwave. Flip Beachcomber turn 1, flip Shockwave turn 2, play Roll Out and then watch your opponent get aggressively angry when you get +5 card advantage on them on turn 2. Same thing could potentially apply in a Galaxy Optimus deck where you Roll Out and “miss” on his action play from Alt Mode, but now knowing the top card of your deck you’re able to name it and draw 3. I anticipate seeing a lot of Beachcomber in the near future.
crankcase and data protection
Joe: Spam card draw with Kinetic Converter and Showing Off? What? My cards are safe in my hand? Can Sunstorm be brought back from the Wave 1 grave?
RJ: I like both of these cards. The stratagem turns off that annoying Shockwave and Crankcase himself encourages massive card draw and filling your hand. He initially fits in a lot of deck lists, but as Joe said, pairing him with Sunstorm is surely on the top of everyone’s minds.
mindwipe and vorath
Revealed by Powered by Primus on Youtube
Joe: I’m already trying to think of a way to pair Mindwipe with Soundwave to see how fast and obnoxious I can be with destroying someone’s hand.
RJ: I like Mindwipe’s abilities for sure. You can use Showing Off to get off multiple Espionages per turn which is really strong. His body mode ability is great as well because if they don’t have anything to discard, it draws you another card. He is definitely under stat’d against the other 10* characters we have already and have seen thus far, which probably makes him harder to play, but gives you the option of going a bit wider with your team. Vorath is obviously going to see a ton of play, and probably the most play in terms of heads to use. One star for Tough 1 is bananas, but an obvious inclusion seeing as we have Bold 1 for one star as well. He’s also ranged which, given that you want to use this in a bluer shell, makes his inclusion a no-brainer in just about every case.
scout armor
Revealed by….by US! Surprise! On Instagram too!! (wreck_n_rule_tftcg)
Joe: Trucks, Tanks, Wreckers, and Constructicons, oh my. Is this something you play on your character and then PTT them? Which TTWC characters benefit from getting KOed? Constructicons are an obvious KO choice. This might deter your opponent from spreading damage on them? Play this on a full hp Constructicon and maybe your opponent will go finish off a lower hp one so you don’t benefit from card draw?
For those of you following along, from our Roadbuster reveal video, clues placed here and there pointed to a message in the video which was translated to: “Can you decipher this message before it is too late?” At the end end end END of the video was a final cryptic jumble of nonsense mixed between Autobot and Decepticon text which prompted users’ brains one last time to spring into action.
T O U – R S M – A O – R C
I was shocked no one came up with Orca Tumors. We had a few Coast Rumor and Rumor Coast guesses but in the end Wes was the first to come up with the Scout Armor we were looking for. Ahhhhhh Scout Armor!
RJ: Some much needed support for Devastator! What I like about this card is that it doesn’t specify being KO’d by your opponents cards, so you’re able to pair this with self-KO/damaging cards such as PTT, OSSOSF, etc. if that’s the route you wanted to go. KO a Constructicon can now become: add 1 to your tower and draw two cards, which helps you get back some of the cards you pitch to up your tower in the first place. I think blue/black was always the route they wanted you to lean for Devastator and this further reinforces that.
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!
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