Buyer’s Guide for New Players

Well, hello there, Transformers TCG-land. This little project is meant to serve two purposes.

First, for new players just getting into the game, it’s meant to serve as an overview of which cards to prioritize if they’re buying singles in order to build their collection.

Beyond that, for myself and hopefully some of you reading this, it’s also meant to be a bit of a nostalgic walk down memory lane.

If you’re looking to get your hands on them, I’d recommend checking the Transformers TCG Buy/Sell/Trade Facebook group, TCGPlayer, eBay, and TopDeckTCG.

For Wave 1 in particular, the Energon Edition is a great buy if you know you’re going to take a decent sized ($150) plunge into the game, since you’ll get the four Super Rare characters discussed below, along with the Wave 1 Rare versions of Optimus and Megatron, plus 30 packs of Wave 1, with the possibility of getting a good overall selection of characters (probably 3 additional Rare characters) and battle cards. You can then fill in the gaps by buying singles from the above sites.

Three important caveats to get out of the way:

  1. I never considered myself a competitive player. I may mention the value (or lack of value) for certain cards in competitive play, but my primary focus will be buying cards to play casual games at the kitchen table with your friends (or the equivalent if you’re playing over webcam).
  2. Since the game’s cancellation, various groups have decided to continue the game. Part of that process has included the use of stratagems (and other ways) to buff older cards. Evaluations and suggestions related to these cards are being made without any custom cards in mind.
  3. If I mention certain cards being more or less expensive than others, please keep in mind that this article is being written in March 2022. As time goes on, prices for these cards may very well fluctuate.

Wave 1

Character Cards