With Wave 5 completely revealed, we’ve rounded up the herd of robo-cats that is the Wreck ‘n Rule crew and jotted down some thoughts about the cards that we’re most excited to get onto the table.
We’re not saying that these are the most powerful cards or that they’ll become meta staples, but these are the cards that we’re most excited to sleeve up and get onto the table for our first few games with Wave 5.
Let’s continue by taking a look at our most anticipated UPGRADE battle cards.
RJ – Regenerative Core
I think this is a cool card with a really cool mechanic. As I’ve probably said ad nauseum by now, I haven’t played many card games other than this one so this mechanic is fairly new to me. I recognize it from the Marvel LCG that you may have seen us play, so to see it translated to Transformers is pretty neat.
In the beginning I can see it being a staple in quite a few of my decks until I figure out how useful it is. It serves two purposes in healing and protecting your character against incoming damage, not to mention it is fetchable. I would have liked to see a colored pip attached to it in addition to green, but it may have made it too good potentially.
The first deck and combination of characters that this comes to mind in is in a Windsweeper based character list. With Windsweeper it’s now possible to throw this down on him, and then attack moving a total of 3 damage from him with two of it going to the defender (if you had 3 planes on your starting team) and the additional one going on this upgrade. That is to say, you are able to play a free One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall for five damage to the defender. That’s pretty bonkers to me.
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge Improvised Shield’s new art, which is just straight up fantastic. Five sets in now, the Magnus on the original Improvised Shield is pretty iconic, or at least one of the most recognizable cards where you don’t have to read the title, but I think this new iteration is replacing all my old ones. Something about Megatron using a car as a shield is infinitely cooler than Magnus using whatever it is he is using. I’m a huge fan of this.
Brian – Fusion Borer
If you’ve been paying attention to WnR for a while, you’ll know we have a bit of an obsession with blue decks that try to outlast the opponent, while guaranteeing damage back with Pierce. The coming of the blue/black pip in Wave 3 made this type of deck a lot more viable, but wasn’t quite there yet.
Up until now, the types of weapons available for this style of deck have been mediocre at best. Noble’s and Scoundrel’s Blasters are great, but they’re relatively pillow-fisted if you’re playing against the same faction. Piercing Blaster is mostly useless against orange decks, and on top of that, it’s a rough pip color when you’re trying to keep your white-pip count at a certain level, especially since Sturdy Javelin now exists. Energon Axe is a great card, but feels-bad-bro when you have multiples in hand on turn one and don’t take any damage for a while.
The other problem with the Pierce-focused strategy was that it needed a way to get the ATK value up. With cards like The Bigger They Are and Heavy-Handed, it’s been relatively easy to get your Pierce value up to high levels, but blue decks can sometimes struggle to make full use of that. Up until now, there have been somewhat limited ways to get parity in cards that boost ATK and Pierce. Noble/Scoundrel only work against the opposite faction and have limited value against same-faction and Mercs. Calculated Strike is good, but the blue/black deck usually wants its action card for something a little bit more impactful.
With most characters in the game at least having 1 DEF, Fusion Borer is just as good as, and usually better than, Grenade Launcher in a blue-focused deck. If your deck has enough black pips and you’re attacking with someone who lends themselves to a blue/black focused deck, it won’t be uncommon for an attack with Fusion Borer to hit for 7 ATK/ Pierce 7.
Beyond that, I can see Fusion Borer also finding a home in wider orange decks, potentially taking the place of Erratic Lightning. Alternatively, you might see those wider orange decks starting with a full playset of Grenade Launcher, Erratic Lightning, and Fusion Borer.
Sturdy Javelin was the Uncommon card from Wave 4 that I went out of my way to collect as many copies as possible of. Fusion Borer is in the running to be that card for me in Wave 5.
Kevin – Staggering Might
One of my favorite characters to use has always been Metroplex. It’s a different approach to the game, only having 1 character on the field and juggling when to bring someone out and going for the tap down ability. So I’m always interested in looking at cards that will help with that. I feel like this has more use overall then Spinner Rims, and would likely replace that in any Metroplex deck going forward. Between the additional attack bonus, the guaranteed extra card on offense and defense, plus being a white pip so you don’t lose your pip count on color diversity; overall Staggering Might is just a better card. Moreover, this card helps other decks too. Any of the Combiners would be able to use it; but I could definitely see it making appearances in Overwhelming Advantage Predaking, Devastator, and maybe even Dreadwing, and Superion. Who knows, maybe this is the card which finally makes Trypticon competitive????
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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I’m surprised none of you went for Paralyzo Box.
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