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 ACTION battle cards.
RJ – Scouting Mission
This one was, in a word, tough. For some reason there are so many action cards that I am excited to use. There are also a ton of action cards that I will hate to sit across from, and if Brian mentions Reflect Damage at all then we are going to have issues. I ended up at Scouting Mission because that was one of the first actions that when I saw it revealed I thought it would be an immediate inclusion in almost all of my decks.
First, they were able to get Bee in the set without actually having him in the set for what is now 3 (?) sets in a row! I think this is the first card in the entire game where you get to choose which side the damage goes to, which is really strong in my opinion. Back in the early days, I remember a specific play where I Zap’d my own character (illegally) to try and equip an Energon Axe to him. I don’t think my opponent caught it. All this to say, again, this card has incredible utility.
You are now able to ping yourself for one more easily to proc the Energon Axe, and the card is on-color to boot. In addition, you are able to draw two cards to refill your hand. You can also obviously use it to finish off your opponent (again, at the cost of two cards going to them) but you would probably save that for a closing move with the game in hand. Again, I mention this card is pretty much on-color for most of the decks it wants to go in, but if you’ve been paying attention then WotC is really pushing us to more and more mixed decks with this set.
Honorable mentions for me include: Belligerence, Hold the Line, and Supporting Fire amongst many others. This seems like a really good set for actions, and I’m excited to start digging into them.
Brian – Reflect Damage – Supporting Fire
Like RJ mentioned above, it was tough to narrow this one down. I was strongly considering Hand-to-Hand Combat, Last Stand, and Tripwire for my choice on this one. Ultimately, I have to go with Supporting Fire because I’ve always been a fan of those blank Hail Mary cards that can turn the tide of games, often unexpectedly.
I love I Still Function. I love Ready for Action. I love Steamroll. I love New Orders (even though it’s not blank). I love Lamp.
Beyond that, I really enjoyed playing SRT Bee back in the Wave 1 days, then really enjoyed playing Razorclaw in various lists ever since Wave 2. When Frenchie was pulling his orange vomit shenanigans, tossing Razorclaw into a 4 wide Orange list (Fireflight, Razorclaw, Arcee, Grimlock) was one of the few ways I could find to shut it down.
In the case of Supporting Fire, I can see it having a number of uses when Wave 5 drops. For one, it allows you to take out Horri-Bull when your opponent won’t expect it. Chances are that they’re going to hold him back to get as much use out of his robot-mode pings as possible. This gives you an opportunity to take him down much earlier than your opponent was expecting.
Beyond that, there’s the obvious use of going for a target that your opponent thought was safe. They might offer you up Skydive, thinking you’ll waste an attack into a target that’s only there as a stumbling block. With Supporting Fire, you might be able to swing into a meatier target (like Galaxy Optimus) before your opponent has an opportunity to get them armored up.
Perhaps most interestingly for me, Supporting Fire is one of the possible avenues for 3-wide orange to get back into prominence. If you can take out one of their characters before they get a chance to activate, that’s game-swinging. If you can change up who’s going to be the active player once everyone untaps, that’s game swinging. If you can kill a Titan Master body, leaving only a puny head to act in its stead, that’s game swinging. If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.
With that said, it is now a guarantee that I will never ever actually see this card in hand, only flipping by in the breeze.
Kevin – Spymaster’s Ruse
Secret Actions have been sort of a niche thing in decks. It’s not enough to run one secret action, you need a couple; otherwise your opponent knows exactly what it is the next time you play it, and can possibly avoid its trigger. And that’s where Spymaster’s Ruse comes into play.
This card isn’t going to be worth it for every secret action, but the ones it helps will be major. Things like Stable Cover, and Hidden Fortifications you would want to use right away anyways on defense, so not worth it to play with Ruse.
Lose the Initiative however, would be a perfect card for this. Now your opponent’s untaps are yours and they can’t get around it by simply just not playing that card this round. Hijack, Scavenge the Battlefield, Speed Trap, all would benefit from waiting to be used at the proper time and your opponent not being able to dance around them. It even makes Take Cover usable, since now it lasts through the round til you need it.
Of course the one card I see being the most fun to use this with is: Heroic Resolve. I like the idea of playing this early game, and just making your opponent wonder what it could possibly be when it’s just sitting there waiting for the right moment to trigger; and then springing it at the perfect moment to change the game.
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