Transformers Collectables News on Seibertron.com
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Date: Monday, July 1st 2019 1:31am CDT
Categories: Game News,
Collectables
Posted by: Stargrave |
Credit(s): Emerje from Seibertron/Lootcrate
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Views: 19,504
Well, $9.99, but forgive me that one penny as we let you in on a steal of a deal going on right now at
Lootcrate's Lootvault! At 75% off the normal $39.99 you can own the Transformers Trading Card Game Omega Supreme set for just $9.99!
From Lootcrate:
"This official, extra large playable card for the Transformers Trading Card Game features OG Autobot Omega Supreme, who transforms into a rocket, tank, and base. Play this exclusive, double sided card next time want to transform the outcome of your next game.
Pre-Order Today! Estimated Shipping: Late June. Will ship separate from other items in your order. US Only."
![Transformers News: Transformers Trading Card Game Omega Supreme Set on Sale at Lootcrate for only Ten Bucks]( "Transformers News: Transformers Trading Card Game Omega Supreme Set on Sale at Lootcrate for only Ten Bucks")
![Transformers News: Transformers Trading Card Game Omega Supreme Set on Sale at Lootcrate for only Ten Bucks]( "Transformers News: Transformers Trading Card Game Omega Supreme Set on Sale at Lootcrate for only Ten Bucks")
Those looking to bolster their decks with the king of the Sentinels for a fraction of the price the time to act is now because there's no word on how long this amazing sale is going to last. Click the images for the jump to Lootvault and let us know your thoughts in the forums. As always stay tuned to the Seibertron news feeds for the latest in Transformer news!
Date: Sunday, June 9th 2019 9:14pm CDT
Categories: Movie Related News,
Toy News,
Rumors,
Sightings,
Collectables
Posted by: Stargrave |
Credit(s): BB7 Toys
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Views: 91,232
Thanks to
BB7 Toys at Facebook here are some new images of the officially licensed Transformers 3D Metal Puzzles by Shangai Art Model.
These officially licensed models are made from ultra thin laser-cut sheet metal pieces assembling into a larger metal object 11-18cm long. You know, basically knives.
Using a simple tab-into-slot assembly process these models assemble with no glue, but do require a wealth of patience.
From this staffer's personal experience all you need is a little determination, an electron microscope, a pair of Doctor Octopus assistance arms, a few adhesive medical strips (for yourself) and you too can find the joy of juggling small knives until they somehow assemble into awesome looking metal masterpieces.
There is no current information on their suggested retailer price or their release date, but the release wave will feature the following live-action characters in their vehicle forms:
Ironhide as a GMC Topkick 4500 truck from Transformers 2007.
Sentinel Prime as a Rosenhauer Panther Firetruck from Dark Of The Moon.
Bumblebee in his Chevrolet Camaro Concept from 2017's The Last Knight.
Hound as a Mercedes Unimog tactical vehicle also from The Last Knight.
Hot Rod in his Lamborghini Centenario body from The Last Knight.
And Optimus Prime as a Peterbilt 379 Truck from Transformers 2007.
Check out the images below and share your own tales of woe (or joy) when assembling these mini metal models.
![Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model]( "Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model")
![Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model]( "Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model")
![Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model]( "Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model")
![Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model]( "Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model")
![Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model]( "Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model")
![Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model]( "Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model")
![Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model]( "Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model")
![Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model]( "Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model")
![Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model]( "Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model")
![Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model]( "Transformers News: Transformers Metal Models by Shanghai Art Model")
Date: Friday, February 1st 2019 11:46pm CST
Categories: Reviews,
Collectables
Posted by: Wolfman Jake |
Credit(s): The Roarbots
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Views: 31,865
Seibertronians, we have some exciting news for you for the second wave of the Transformers Trading Card Game! This news comes to us courtesy of
The Roarbots. Optimus Maximus now joins the fun as the latest Autobot Combiner in the game!
Optimus Maximus made his debut during the Combiner Wars toy line and the IDW comics tie-ins. This is a SIX member team, consisting of a special "Gleaming Commander" Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Mirage, Prowl, Sunstreaker, and Hot Rod. Use the "Sentinel Enigma" card to combine them into the heroic Optimus Maximus and turn the tide! These sentinel cards are augmented by the new upgrade card "Combat Commands."
We've also got some more support cards incoming, including Scrounge (There is no other like it?), Secret Dealings, and Smelt. The Dinobots get the new "Electrified Spikes" card and the Predacons likewise get the new "Tooth and Claw" card.
Our own Seibertron.com member Sideways has provided us with an extensive review of these new cards to help you plan your deck. Check out his musings along with some nice pictures of the cards in Sideways' review below! Are you hyped for the Transformers Trading Card Game? What strategies are you favoring so far? Let us know in the comments, and as always, stay tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest news on all things Transformers. With that, please, take it away, Sideways!
Big Chungus! Biiiiiig Chungus! There has never been a Chungus this big before!
__________
"Avengers, a--!"
With great reveals come great article-bility, and that's where I come in! There were a few publications that got to reveal some cards, and one of those reveals was an entire new six-man combiner team! We also get to find out what the heck a "Sentinel" is! Let's dive in!
__________CHARACTERS__________
Wow, the new Ultra Magnus card looks great!
This card is coming out of the exclusive reveal by
The Roarbots, where they showed off the entire team of Transformers to make up the Sentinels, the essential "Team Prime" to make up Optimus Maximus.
Let's do a quick breakdown of his stats. First off, his health is monstrous for a Combiner piece, and I should hope so given how integral he is to the success of this deck, and his surprisingly competent attack stat can make a good first impression upon attacking with him. He's melee in both modes, which is (at least in my opinion) a good thing, as he can use both Power Sword to pull off his combo and use Body Armor to supplement a middling defensive stat.
So, before I get into what he does specifically, I would like to point out that he has 11 points, and is rather sizable for being a Combiner piece. This, you might notice, is roughly half of your point pool, and that doesn't leave too much room for wiggling in five other friends to make up Optimus Maximus. That's where his vehicle mode ability comes in.
You place three "Sentinels" into your KO pile at the start of the game, which sounds counterproductive, but when you consider that Combiners combine from the KO pile as well as the field, and that you can choose to transform a KO'd ally for turn, things start making sense. Things make even more sense given the Sentinel's knack for being useful, even when dead, but that's something to be explained later.
The real juice that comes out of this Optimus Prime is the robot mode ability, which can put you even further ahead on the Transformation Arms Race that happens when Combiners face off. You see, when you flip one of each pip -- save Green of course -- you get to Transform one of your KO'd characters to its other mode, which not only puts you ahead, but also triggers several other effects on the character cards themselves.
More on that below.
But as a final word on Prime, here, you can't live without him in an Optimus Maximus -- OpMax for short -- deck for more than one reason, his vehicle mode ability being the only way you can combine and his extra transformation effects being fantastic to get you to a faster combination. But as for his obviously limited play outside of his own archetype, something fascinating you could play him in is a Volcanicus hybrid list, where you use Optimus' effect to give those Dinobots in the KO pile an extra transformation. Naturally, it'd be a tight list, but I would love to see if it could work.
But what about his other Sentinel brethren?
I'm surprised Optimus Prime isn't the one in the KO pile to give a boost to him.
He's finally here, and he's just as tiny as he was in Megatron's arms when he blew away Prime! He's basically Star-Lord punching Thanos, but thirty years ago. But it's not like I'm upset about something that happened before I was born or anything. Ahem.
Anyway, talking about the card itself, I love this guy. I'm not gonna lie, Hot Rod is one of my favorites of the entire group. Having a pocket indirect damage ability is great, especially when you consider he has solid stats that make him great at dealing damage until his inevitable demise. The biggest issue he has is the question of "who do I want dead at the start of a match?" Your whole team is pretty interchangeable in that regard, and really only changes it up depending on certain matchups.
The fact that he can help you 2HKO Skrapnel or KO a Force Fielded Six-Gun should definitely not be underestimated as both will likely prove problematic for OpMax, but dealing one damage elsewhere is kind of "meh" in certain regards. Combat Commands makes him really interesting, though, because it turns him into a continuous damage output mechanism from the KO pile no less. He's fascinating, and doing some interesting plays with I STILL FUNCTION! can never be ruled out.
Combat Commands is something I'm going to get into later since we now have the composite parts that make up the card's whole, and I admittedly misread it slightly when it was first revealed, but more on that later.
As for Hot Rod, he's really interesting for OpMax, but at seven points, there are definitely better Cars to take in other Car lists. Whereas he can still abuse the Car support and untap into infinity, you're still pretty underwhelming when it comes to other, non-Sentinel Cars. He's cool to think about in Cliffjumper, though, but outside of those two ideas I struggle to reconcile him in other lists.
"... And my AXE!"
Is it me or is Ironhide not the kind of person I would peg as running around with a melee weapon? Regardless, this old coot has the same stats that Hot Rod has and even the same point cost. The only real differences are that he's a Truck, and he has slightly different abilities.
The first of which is, instead of Hot Rod's Tough 1, Ironhide has Bold 1 which, in my humble opinion, is better than Tough 1 given the abundance of Bold stacking you can do as opposed to the sparse Tough effects. That being said, there is something to be said for Tough with the advent of Acid Storm's anti-Bold abilities, but his prevalence in the meta remains to be seen.
Acid Storm's presence notwithstanding, Ironhide is also, well, an Ironhide, which means he can use Static Laser of Ironhide to its fullest potential. It's an interesting concept that shouldn't be overlooked when considering active partners in a OpMax list. The simple fact that he is a Truck also allows you to play Cargo Trailer and Team Up Tactics, but it is still unknown whether or not the Cargo Trailer stay on the combined form when you do inevitably combine.
As for the final ability that Ironhide has, he gives his allies all Pierce 2 when used from the KO pile. I've already made several mentions of my detestation of low Pierce, but in this case, Ironhide combos pretty darn well with the Matrix of Leadership, giving each of your characters Pierce 3 in total. This can combine with The Bigger They Are to put yourself at Pierce 7, and then you're off to the races. Stacking Pierce is pretty okay -- not as good as Bold, of course, but high Pierce can definitely put a hurt on several different archetypes.
Again, I am not sure how useful he is outside of OpMax, but it is worth noting that in a Truck based archetype you can use him instead of Starter Prime or perhaps Kup. Trucks -- oddly enough -- have some good potential through use of high Tough and stacking Cargo Trailer, and I can't say it's any worse with the use of Ironhide. Either way, Ironhide is pretty useful in OpMax at least, and I think taking him alive instead of starting off with him dead is probably for the best depending on how you want to build your list, but the interchangeability of the characters in this archetype should never be understated.
You can't kill what's already dead.
Simply put, Mirage isn't the greatest in terms of offensive or defensive power. In fact, he has very few things about him that stand out. If it weren't for his Specialist ability, I wouldn't like him at all. But let's be fair here -- being a Specialist in a Combiner List, he allows you to use Field Communicator and Multi-Mission Gear to speed up your Combination, which is always a good thing in a format with Cornered! putting a hamper on Combiner hopes and dreams.
But simply put, Mirage is pretty dismal when it comes to usefulness as an active character. His robot mode, however, is very useful when KO'd. You can use him to dumpster Insecticons by removing their I STILL FUNCTION!, discard Cornered! so that it can't be used against you, and abuse Dinobots that want to play Dino-Chomp! pretty much ever in their lives. But perhaps the most important thing to note is, against other combiners, you can completely deny them a Combination likely for the rest of the game (depending on the list) by simply discarding their Combination Enigma at the right time.
That's why I actually really like this guy in OpMax and a potentially control-based deck, and why I actually kind of like the idea of running him in Cliffjumper-based Car Control lists. The simple fact of the matter is that a pocket Action scrapping effect is really neat. When he's alive, he's mediocre at best, but when he's dead, he can swing entire games in your favor. A funky card to be sure, but a welcome one.
He's also a Specialist, which might make you wonder if you should make him an active part to your list -- and it wouldn't be an overly bad idea, but it would be a somewhat redundant one given the next character we have on our plate...
"Hey, can you pass me another Capri-Sun?"
Sunstreaker is the better cousin of Mirage in almost every sense. He has better base stats, survivability and a generally more useful role as the team's Specialist. Generally, you have access to all the utility that a Specialist can bring to the team, and keeping him in Car mode for the majority of the game is a good idea given his robot mode's utility when he is KO'd. Like it or not, being able to draw a free card is almost never a bad thing.
Of course, there really isn't too much else to write home about for Sunstreaker unfortunately. Unlike Mirage, he probably isn't worth putting in the KO pile at the start of a game if for no other reason than to abuse his being a Specialist and his higher stats than Mirage.
As with all Cars, he can use Turbo Boosters and Start Your Engines to keep untapped and fighting fit. You can use him in combination with Hot Rod to both keep ahead in the attacking game and to use Swap Missions to keep attacking with Optimus Prime. Of course, Ironhide also should probably be active, but it really is down to your discretion and your list. These guys -- again -- are pretty interchangeable, somewhat mirroring Scramble City combiners of old.
But either way, you have access to a lot of things that make his Specialist utility definitely worthwhile to keep in your active list. He also can be used with Cliffjumper to have an extra draw while KO'd, but you don't really want to Transform any KO'd Cars unless you're doing something massive (like using Mirage to discard important Actions).
All in all, he's the Specialist you'd have active, but that's more by default than by design.
All suspects are guilty until proven innocent.
Prowl is another fighting for the title of "currently living", with the highest attack of his peers and Bold 1, he hits the hardest and the fastest out of all of his teammates. The only downside to that is that his robot mode is a bit lackluster considering he's just a Weapon scrapping effect. Weapon scrapping might seem good, but when you consider that Grenade Launcher already discards itself after use, your targets are far more limited than you might think.
If you're going to discard an Upgrade at all, make it an Armor. Armor can be overly oppressive between stacking Tough and Force Field, and when you can discard them before you get to attack your opponent's characters, it's pretty great. However, that's not what's happening here. It's a defensive weapon-scrapping effect that unfortunately happens on your turn. The reason that's bad is that when the turn passes over to your opponent, they can simply attach a second weapon to that character and completely negate your effect.
Sure, you can use it in tandem with Security Checkpoint, but I would just rather pour my Action resources into something far more useful, like a Rapid Conversion, a Confidence or a Swap Missions.
Regardless, at least he does something. He doles out a lot of damage, and having an effect when he does eventually go down is a good thing. Again, if it isn't evident now that these characters are pretty interchangeable, I don't know what to tell you.
Outside of OpMax, though, I can't see this guy being played all that much. Maybe in Cliffjumper to make use of his powerful offensive power, but there are a lot of great effects that Cliffjumper can make use of and I'm just not quite sure if you need an offensive car taking up that much of your point pool.
Rollin' in the streets, swingin' on the beats.
Optimus Maximus is a huge Combiner. 65 HP is a lot to burn through, considering, but when you realize that you're inevitably going to start the game with half that already taken, that number grows smaller by the minute. You see, when you place three characters into the KO pile, all of your characters have 10 HP (save Prime, of course) and that damage carries over to the combined form, leaving him with -- at most -- 35 HP. That's pretty much the same as Metroplex, but there's another caveat: There's no way to immediately combine, so you're going to end up taking at least 15-20 damage spread around your characters just as the game goes on.
The simple fact of the matter is this: You're going to have roughly 15-20 HP to play with once you combine, and that's around as much as a solo Nemesis Prime. That's fine, of course, because you're incredibly hard to take down once you do combine.
Why? Well, your defensive stats are "meh", but the real juice comes in when you realize you have a Plan effect when you are both attacking and defending. So, not only can you supplement your absolutely monstrous 9 attack to ludicrous numbers, you can also supplement your defensive capabilities to have some tremendous staying power. Whenever you attack there's a good possibility to completely OHKO an opposing character (especially with Mining Pick, which I'll talk about later), and when you defend there's a good chance you can block a good bit of damage.
You're also a Leader, but the Matrix of Leadership doesn't really do that much for you other than give you +1 as your team has merged together into a tall character. But nevertheless, there is a good chance we're about to see different Leader support as well.
This is all made easier given your honestly extremely speedy rollout. Optimus Prime allows you to transform quickly and get ahead in the ticking time bomb that is a Combiner. OpMax is a simply wonderful combiner that I can definitely see taking a spot in the metagame.
My only concern is Menasor. Menasor has a lot of power in his disruptive abilities, moreso than you, and it will really come down to the ol' "who can disrupt the other harder" game. I haven't playtested it, of course, but the two share a similar disruptive playstyle.
__________BATTLE CARDS__________
I ran out of Enigma puns a long time ago.
This Enigma is definitely not an Enigma. Most Enigma have a secondary effect that make having multiple in your hand not the worst thing in the world, for instance Predacon Enigma draws a card and plays an Upgrade, but most are somewhat underwhelming like this one.
Whereas it does scrap an Armor, it can't scrap
any Utilities and that's somewhat disappointing when you consider that Ramming Speed, a card that is barely played in the first place, can do all that the Enigma can do and more. But then again, Sentinel Enigma
is an Enigma and you can't really ask it to do anything more than that.
No painted rocks here, Indy.
"Taking a leap of faith" is the exact opposite of what this card does. This card plays free cards, simply put, and if you happen to flip a card that has an effect you don't like, you can choose not to use it. There is no "oops, that Security Checkpoint just made me discard my hand" or "I didn't actually want to use Peace Through Tyranny" here -- just pure, unadulterated free cards. Of course, drawing into this Star Card isn't going to be easy, but if you have a list with Optimus Prime -- Battlefield Legend, you can use this card extremely easily to play free cards out of your ears.
Leap of Faith is just plain nutty, and I love it.
I'm gonna be honest, that's a very red card.
Field Repair is kinda awful. Its effect of healing a single damage counter is terrible, and whereas Plan 1 is good, it isn't like that's an unheard of effect. There are a ton of good cards that Plan, for instance Incoming Transmission. There really isn't too much to even say about it, let alone combos.
Something that is worthy of note though is that its design is discordant with the other designs of Autobot Actions, having the entire text box be red like an Upgrade. Even more than that, it was revealed by my favorite source of spoilers, "some dude on Facebook". Whereas I wouldn't believe that this card was real, the moderators have been very good at taking down spoiled cards that have come out before the cards have been officially revealed and Wizards has been very upfront on communications with the community. Something else that I checked was the Cybertronian script at the top right, and verily, it says Field Repair without a typo in sight.
That's right, I legitimately thought it was a fake for the longest time. I was even debated not covering it at all until we had an official statement on the matter. The reveal was very unceremonious, so much so that it bumped my suspicion to the nth degree. I guess you're only paranoid if you're wrong, right?
Secret aaaagent man / Secret aaaaagent man
Secret Dealings is a card revealed alongside Scrounge and Smelt by
The Roarbots, and it is strictly okay.
Think of it like an Action version of Data Pad, which is okay, but when you consider that Incoming Transmission does the same thing but you draw an extra card, it makes me struggle to reconcile this card's existence in a list. You see, the best thing it has going for it is that it's a green/white pip. Incoming Transmission is an Orange, which means that some lists can't -- or don't want to -- play it, but then again most defensive lists don't want to Plan offensively like this card does anyway.
But having a green pip is a good thing, and it allows you to have a nice Planning effect. But that's not a good enough reason to take it in a list, methinks. There are just better cards to play during your turn.
I hear he has a special arm, that there's no other arm like it.
The second reveal by The Roarbots is kind of interesting when you think about it. On the surface, Scrounge seems like a worse New Designs, but when you consider that there are a lot of Plan effects, it becomes a somewhat better New Designs.
Put it this way: There are several new characters that Plan upon Transformation, and when you plan an Upgrade, you can use Scrounge to immediately play it, and you can pull off this combo fairly efficiently given the fact that Scrounge sports a green pip as well as an orange one. New Designs also
technically takes a card out of your hand when you play it, given that it attaches from your hand, and sometimes you can just roll the dice with Scrounge and see if you get another Upgrade.
You also have to have the Upgrade in your hand in the first place with New Designs, and often times you'll find yourself only having one to attach, making New Designs an effectively dead card in your hand. At least with Scrounge, you have the potential to get ahead on the Upgrade Arms Race.
Speaking of Scrounge... Too soon?
Smelt is actually not bad at all. Being a blue pip, you can use it in the heavily disruptive blue decks like Menasor or Double Prime, and sometimes simply scrapping one Upgrade is enough depending on your opponent's board state. Sometimes, your opponent only has one Upgrade on the field, and other times you just want to hold back their power before they get to set up. They get to choose their Upgrade to scrap, of course, but when their options are limited, it will almost always go in your favor.
It's not that bad, to be frank, and the green pip makes it even more solid than it would be otherwise. I would definitely play this card in Double Prime, Tanks or Menasor to be perfectly honest -- I think it's well worth the spot.
Megatron plays Fortnite confirmed. Think he did the Default Dance when he shot Prime that time?
Mining Pick is one of the most powerful Weapons I have ever seen. I am not lying when I say that this card adds an unbelievable power to a lot of decks, Optimus Maximus included. Think about it. You have Plan 2 on Mining Pick, which you can use to put two orange pips on the top of the deck which gives you +2 just from Mining Pick's effect alone, and when you use Incoming Transmission to place another on the top of your deck, that's another +1. Oh, what's that? You have a Data Pad? Cool, have another +1! And you say that Optimus Maximus adds another to the top of the deck? Nice, have another +1!
You add that collective +5 on top of the three orange pips you're going to see (assuming one of the cards you place is white) and you have an astounding +9 attack. Sure, you've dumped a lot of hand resources into that play, but if you're not killing something outright with that something is very wrong.
I love this card so much. The amount of power that you get with it is astronomical compared to most other weapons. Grenade Launcher still might be the now and forever king, but Mining Pick might just be the Mordred to this Arthurian tale.
"!yad etisoppo s'ti tuB"
This incredibly niche card is revealed by Scott over at
VectorSigma.info where he does an in-depth breakdown of this reveal card. Give him a read if you want to his thoughts on this card, but as for my own thoughts, I think this card is extremely niche but honestly incredibly powerful.
You might think, "Hey, Sideways, why are you showing me this bad card for balanced lists?" and you would be right -- this card is really bad for balanced lists -- but in solo color lists, this card is the absolute nuts. When you have an all blue list with a character that is about to go down regardless, you can pop Inverted! on them and suddenly swing for absolutely massive damage.
Here's an example. You are playing an all-blue Tank list, and Demolisher has 5 damage on him. You're probably going to go down the next turn, even though you have a Blast Shield on him, so you plop down an Inverted and suddenly his mediocre literally zero attack can now flip a potential 8 cards off the top of your deck to do staggering amount of damage out of nowhere. Sure, he's probably going to go down the next turn, but it's a great last-ditch effort card.
You can also use it to keep a character alive in an all-orange list, as every orange pip will suddenly be a blue pip. Sure, you're not going to be dealing as much damage (at all) but you almost certainly won't be getting knocked out that next turn. It's just more longevity and that makes me very happy.
I love Inverted! and you should to. It won't be in every list -- in fact, it probably won't be in most lists -- but those decks that play it will make definite use of it.
"Rip and tear... Rip and tear until it is done."
This Upgrade is sorely underwhelming. I have always had a problem, with an Upgrade that plays other Upgrades -- especially singular ones -- because at a point, why not just play the second Upgrade from your hand instead of having to go through Multi-Tool or something similar? This card is even worse than that because it doesn't even add an Upgrade. It simply opens up the possibility of playing another Upgrade if you ever happen to.
Predacons are notoriously thin on survivability, so when you attach this, you're not attaching another Weapon to attack with one of your teammates. Sure, you're getting +1 damage, but there are so many better options than that.
Perhaps, then, they want you to power up Razorclaw or Rampage with multiple Weapons and leave his teammates by the wayside while you wait for a massive attack. Again, I would simply attach another weapon and attack with another Predacon, but that's beside the point.
I don't really know what to think about this card, but I know whatever I rest on, it sadly won't be good. I just can't get behind this card in such a fast metagame.
Shocking.
I can actually think of no better Armor other than Force Field to play in Dinobots. This Armor not only has an orange pip, lending itself to Dinobots' Bold playstyle, and it has an effect that wants to flip orange pips which also plays off the all orange playstyle. Sure, the extra one damage isn't that much in the long run, it does help defend against Insecticons as Skrapnel will never attack anyone with one of these equipped.
It's not the best card in Dinobots, but I can't see a reason not to play it. It's a really cool card that makes itself right at home in any Dinobot list.
__________CONCLUSION__________
There are a great many a playable card in this next wave, and Optimus Maximus is forefront in my mind when it comes to a premier Combiner. His sheer speed and utility make me extremely excited to see where he goes.
Speaking of the Sentinels, I admittedly misread Battle Commands to where I saw it ending the combo in your vehicle mode, I see now that it ends the Transformation combo in
robot mode and only does so if you were already in robot mode to start with, making the effects of Mirage and Hot Rod even better than they already were. I am ecstatic to see such an interesting combo in this card game and I can't wait to see if OpMax is as good as I think he is.
But it's not just all aggro all the time, it seems, as there are plenty of disruptive cards being printed to give disruption-based decks a good boost. Whereas Double Prime is the most obvious of these, I'm sure that Shockwave will enjoy getting a disruption boost as well. Menasor can also use and abuse several of these new Battle Cards, and that makes me even more excited for the prospects of a combiner being meta.
As always, check out
MY YOUTUBE where I upload Transformers Trading Card Game content as often as I can. I've been under the weather lately so uploading has been slightly sparse, but as I can finally breathe again I can continue my uploading schedule.
All in all, with each reveal my anticipation for Rise of the Combiners grows larger and larger. Thank you very much for reading this titanic article, and let me know in the comments what you are looking forward to the most!
Date: Wednesday, January 23rd 2019 5:18pm CST
Categories: Toy News,
Sponsor News,
Collectables
Posted by: D-Maximal_Primal |
Credit(s): BigBadToyStore
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 39,328
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These gorgeous figures, busts, and statues from DC Collectibles are must-haves for comic book and figure collections! Sculpted and designed by actual DC Comic artists, these collectibles of iconic villains and heroes are sure to awe and amaze for decades to come.
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DRAGON BALL FIGHTERZ S.H.FIGUARTS ANDROID 21
From Dragon Ball FighterZ comes the popular Android No. 21! The scientist, powered by all of the traits of the other FighterZ rolled into one, joins the S.H.Figurarts series! $59.99
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NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET MEGA SCALE TALKING FREDDY KRUEGER
Freddy Krueger, the dream-haunting slasher from the original ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ films, is coming for you! The Mezco Designer Series Mega Scale Talking Freddy Krueger stands at a frightening 15 inches tall and says 5 nightmare-inducing phrases from the original films, including “You think you was going to get away from me?!” $89.99
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POP! ANIMATION: DRAGON BALL Z GOTENKS EXCLUSIVE
Funko presents the ultimate Super Saiyan Gotenks collectible in Pop! form! Pop! brings your favorite Dragon Ball characters to life with a unique stylized design. Each vinyl figure stands 3.75 inches tall and comes in window box packaging, making them great for display. Don’t miss out on this exclusive figure! $17.99
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NEW FUNKO POP!, ROCK CANDY, MINIS, PLUSH, & MORE
Funko brings your favorite TV show, movie, comic book, and other characters to life with unique stylized designs. Each vinyl figure stands between 3 to 6 inches and come in window box packaging, making them great display! You can also snuggle your new best buddy with Funko’s Plush lineup.
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FINAL FANTASY BRING ARTS CLOUD STRIFE
Final Fantasy VII protagonist Cloud who had wandered into another world now joins the fray as a Bring Arts figure! Square Enix has recreated the characteristics of Cloud’s face and the saturation of the colors on his clothing, based on Tetsuya Nomura’s illustration. $89.99
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NIER: AUTOMATA BRING ARTS 2B 2.0
YoRHa No.2 Type B (commonly known as 2B), the all-purpose combat model who is sent into the fray by humankind to regain Earth, is now available as a Bring Arts figure with a completely new mold. This new figure recreates the in-game 3D model more accurately than ever before. $79.99
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MARVEL LEGENDS SPIDER-MAN NOIR & MYSTERIO
With the Marvel Legends Series, both kid and adult Marvel fans can start a legendary collection of comic and movie-based Marvel characters. These 6-inch Mysterio and Spider-Man Noir figures are highly articulated and features a comic-inspired design, making them worthy additions to the Marvel Legends Series.
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POP! MARVEL: DEADPOOL (DRESSED TO KILL) PX PREVIEWS EXCLUSIVE
Even the Merc with a Mouth can be a dapper fellow! Funko recreates Deadpool as a sharp dressed man with this special addition to their fan-favorite Pop! figure line that can usually only be found in your local comic shop! This vinyl figure stands 3.75 inches tall and comes in window box packaging. $14.99
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TOY STORY DYNAMIC 8CTION HEROES WOODY & BUZZ LIGHTYEAR
Friendship blossoms in the unlikeliest of places as proven by Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. This duo will bring warmth and good cheer to any collection, making them a must-have for any Disney fan! $54.99
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ALIEN RESSURECTION WARRIOR & ELLEN RIPLEY SERIES 14 FIGURES
From the bestselling Aliens action figure line, Series 14 is dedicated to Alien: Resurrection, the fourth movie in the thrilling sci-fi franchise! This series includes Ripley 8 and the Resurrection Warrior and features Clamshell packaging.
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BATMAN (1989) 1/10 ART SCALE LIMITED EDITION STATUE
Iron Studios presents the latest from the Art Scale 1:10 line—the Batman (1989) Statue! Based on the likeness of Michael Keaton from the 1989 Batman film, Batman comes with a detailed movie logo base. $114.99
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FRIDAY THE 13TH JASON 1/10 ART SCALE STATUE
From Friday the 13th comes the classic demon audiences around the world have come to fear: Jason. The cold-blooded killer from Camp Crystal Lake is on the loose as a 1/10 scale statue! Wearing his signature hockey mask, this statue is hand-painted and includes a base. $114.99
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52TOYS GETTER ROBO ARMAGEDDON & BEASTBOX
52Toys brings you small yet adorable transforming figures! Part of their MegaBox lineup, each figure folds up into 5cm by 5cm-square cubes.
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ROUTER STYLE DISPLAY STAND
From Calibre Wings, the Router Style Display Stand can be used to hold a wide variety of action figures and transforming figures in both robot and vehicle modes. $11.99
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MARVEL: FUTURE FIGHT VGM33D28 PUNISHER WAR MACHINE ARMOR FIGURE
Inspired by the popular game MARVEL Future Fight, Hot Toys is excited to introduce the 1/6th scale Punisher collectible figure wearing War Machine armor specially made from diecast material. $392.99
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MARVEL AVENGERS ARTFX+ CAPTAIN MARVEL STATUE
Now the spotlight returns to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with a new series of Avengers characters based on designs by Marvel superstar artist Adi Granov. The next hero to join the series lineup is the current representative of one of Marvel’s most powerful heroes, Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel! $74.99
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ASHTRO LAD (SLEEPY 77) FIGURE
Designed by Ashley Wood, the Sleepy 77 Ashtro Lad stands 8 inches tall and features 3 points of articulation. $94.99
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NEW JAPANESE ANIME FIGURES, STATUES, & COLLECTIBLES
Anime and video game fans: get ready for new and exciting collectibles from series like Fate, Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, Sailor Moon, and so much more!
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JOY TOY DARK SOURCE FIGURES
From Joy Toy, these Dark Source figures are incredibly detailed mecha units and military personnel sculpted in 1/24 and 1/18 scales. Each articulated figure includes weapons and accessories while the mecha units include their own pilot figures.
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JAPANESE FIGURES & COLLECTIBLES
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THIRD PARTY TRANSFORMING FIGURES
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NEW STATUES
Build onto your collection of detailed polystone and PVC statues from Prime 1 Studio, Sideshow, Rebor, Iron Studios, and more. From anime to horror, there’s something for every type of fan to enjoy!
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MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM EX MODEL KITS
Build and add onto your favorite Mobile Suit or current builds with Bandai Japan’s scaled model kits! Each kit includes weapons and gimmicks from the many different Mobile Suit Gundam series.
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1/6 SCALE FIGURES & ACCESSORIES
Create and customize your own 1/6 scale figures with scaled down accessories!
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NEW ARRIVALS
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POWER RANGERS LEGACY
Relive your favorite moments with Power Rangers Legacy collectibles from Bandai America! Each figure, accessory, and replica feature series-accurate sculpt, paint, or even sound effect, all based on their respective part.
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FORTNITE PREMIUM ACTION FIGURES
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G.I. JOE COLLECTORS’ CLUB
Each single carded action figure stands 3.75 inches and features highly articulated modern era sculpts with weapons and accessories to accomplish any mission!
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IMMORTAL SERIES ACE-01 & ACE-02
Ace-01 and ACE-02 are third-party figures that transform from robot to sports car. Each figure features a high-quality paint application and LED lights. Additional details include no seam lines on each robot's chest and no exposed cavity on the forearms! $15.99 Each
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WORLD OF NINTENDO FIGURES
Enjoy the World of Nintendo with these 4-inch action figures! Characters from your favorite Nintendo games are here to join your collection. Each character comes with a bonus accessory and multiple points of articulation.
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MARVEL SELECT CLASSIC GREEN GOBLIN & MORE
Based on classic beloved Marvel characters, these articulated Diamond Select action figures include diorama bases that can connect with others to create a huge display.
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TRANSFORMERS: LEGACY OF CYBERTRON STATUES
Joining the Transformers this Legacy of Cybertron statue line is Optimus Prime's right-hand bot Jazz, the great warrior Ironhide, and the legendary leader himself. Standing 12 to 15 inches tall, each statue is poised atop a piece of ship wreckage in the process of leaping back into battle; combine them to create a battle scene.
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DRAGON BALL Z COLLECTIBLES
Designed to detect electromagnetic pulses, Dragon Radar is the perfect tool for finding and collecting all 7 Dragon Balls! This replica keychain has a brushed metal finish and can be attached to keys, belt loops, and backpacks via the secure metal keyring. This awesome collectible and more are available now from Abysse America!
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GAME OF THRONES TANKARDS, GOBLETS, & SHOT GLASSES
Cast in the finest resin before being lovingly hand-painted, these Game of Thrones drinkware come with stainless steel inserts for ease of cleaning.
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FUNKO POP! ARRIVALS
Pop! figures bring your favorite characters to life with a unique stylized design. Each vinyl figure stands 3.75 inches tall and comes in window box packaging, making them great for display!
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FUNKO SAVAGE WORLD
These classic 5.5-inch action figures come in iconic blister card packaging and character-specific accessories. $12.99 Each
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EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS
These collectibles from Eaglemoss Publications feature behind-the-scenes looks of your favorite sci-fi and comic series, scaled figurines, and cool accessories to wear and show off!
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MEGA MAN LEGENDS 4INCH-NEL ROLL CASKETT
Roll Caskett from Mega Man Legends joins the 4Inch-Nel figure series from Sentinel! Carefully sculpted to accurately represent her appearance in the game, she's about 10cm tall, and is highly poseable for maximum action. $69.99
https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/ ... ails/78211
Date: Tuesday, January 22nd 2019 3:59pm CST
Categories: Game News,
Collectables
Posted by: ZeroWolf |
Credit(s): #Sideways# from Seibertron, vectorsigma.info, Wreck'n Rule on YouTube
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 31,647
Yesterday, we revealed the
newest combiner to hit Wizards of the Coast's Official Transformers Trading Card Game Wave 2: Rise of the Combiners, Volcanicus(also the newest combiner to hit Transformers fiction in general!)
Well today fellow Seibertron user,
#Sideways#, has prepared a full in-depth look at the combiner, and all his components, his special enigma card and a few other reveals...
The other new cards revealed today come couresty of
VectorSigma.info and
Wreck'n Rule from YouTube.
__________
![Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game]( "Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game")
"Whenever Earth settles, God chucks a stone at it. And believe me, he's winding up."
W-Wait, is that the--?
The Beast!? Wait, what? It's Volcanicus? Oh, thank God. I thought I was going to have an aneurysm.
Anyway, the Transformers Trading Card Game group is back at it again with the reveals. This time, they've revealed an entire team of Combiners -- and they're all rare! That, and they teased the reveal of something even further beyond our imagination, with a Battle Card that references a "Sentinel". Let's dive in!
__________Character Cards__________
![Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game]( "Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game")
"Watch me swooce right in!"
Swoop here is actually really good, and I'll tell you why in a few seconds. But first, let's take a look at the stats. His attack is low, his defense is abysmal, his HP is good but with his low defense it will burn through pretty quickly, but something that I'd like to point out about Swoop is the fact that he is, in fact, a Specialist. Specialists in this set have gotten a good boost with Field Communicator. Field Communicator can play a lot of "free" cards, and has a power level in my opinion close to Multi-Mission Gear in terms of usefulness, and decks that can run are always the better for it.
But there are plenty of Specialists in the game, and two of them are Dinobots already! So, by now, it should be obvious why this card is good, then. You see, his robot ability has the effect that puts extra Green Cards in your hand. Like all Green Cards, you have to choose who you're going to let in. To your hand, I mean.
Unfortunately, you can only choose one Green Pip to put into your hand, and as such, if you happen to have -- for instance -- a Focus Fire and a Dinobot Enigma in your top flips, you can only choose one to put into your hand. The good news is that Swoop can put them both, and without discarding a card to do so. That is a great effect, as the discarding effect generally forces you to discard things you might not want to.
Now, when we compare him to his previous iteration from Wave 1, we see that whereas his stats are slightly better in some regards, he's also one more star in order to play, which kind of defeats the purpose of playing Swoop in your Dinobot list. Let's be clear, here -- playing Swoop in a Dinobot list is really only viable when you're trying to cut points in order to play a Mounted Missiles Upgrade or something similar to put those nice pips in the deck. Since this guy is a 7-Star and not a 6-Star, I can't really recommend playing him outside of the Volcanicus list.
All in all, I don't think that he'll ever replace his previous iteration -- but I do think that the Volcanicus lists that can play him, probably should if for no other reason than his Specialist support.
![Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game]( "Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game")
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
This version of Slug isn't as full of cesium salami that his previous iteration was, but let's be fair here, this version isn't that great either. Looking at the stats alone, we have a large point count with rather mediocre stats. I mean, he has great defensive abilities, for sure, but when you have a low attack along with it, you aren't going to be dealing a lot of damage at all.
But, there is a silver lining. His robot mode ability does give you a "soft" Bold effect when you flip a White pip, which can add to his damage moreso than not having that ability, but let's face it, he's a Dinobot, and that one extra card that you're going to see off the White pip isn't going to do much. It is nice, though, to combine it with your high Bold numbers that you're sure to run in a Volcanicus deck.
But what about outside of a Volcanicus deck? Well, in short, being 8 Stars could make him interesting to play instead of Sludge, but Sludge is so good at keeping your Grimlock and Snarl alive that you're kinda crazy not to play him. Sludge is just that good -- he's even a Specialist! -- so it's not that Slug is an overtly bad card, it's just that there are so many better options that it's not worth it to try and fit him in a list.
I mean, you could try making a list without Grimlock, but at that point, why are you even playing Dinobots in the first place?
![Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game]( "Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game")
"Draw, you yella-bellied low-life!"
Hey, what'ya know, it's the draw power of this archetype! In all seriousness, however, you can definitely tell that this card is "get out of jail free" card that you use after using a Dino-Chomp. Out of all the newly revealed Dinobots, this one synergizes the best with a Dino-Chomp. See, whereas your stats are low like all Combiner bits, you have that draw ability which gives you a way out of your potential "dead draw" mode after discarding your hand with a Dino-Chomp, all the while dumping raw power into your attack to deal much-needed early damage before you combine.
You see, the combination game can be volatile. Once you combine and you don't win by a decisive margin, to be perfectly frank, you're probably going to end up losing. You need to defeat several characters on your opponent's field (depending on what they're playing, of course) before you combine, unless you want them to gang up on your combiner. This is accentuated with the low defense of The Bea-- Er, Volcanicus' combined form.
I think that playing Dino-Chomp is the only way you're going to get that value in the early game, and who better to use it than a guy that draws you two cards when you do?
So, what about Sludge outside of the Volcanicus list? Well, I doubt you'll find too much use out of him. Wave 1 Snarl is just better value in terms of both offensive power and draw power, and Sludge is 8 stars to Snarl's 7, so there is very little reason to take him over Snarl. Sadly, the only home he has is in Volcanicus -- and Volcanicus is all-too happy to have him.
![Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game]( "Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game")
Well, hit or miss, I guess you never miss, huh?
This Snarl is straight up better than the previous Snarl. Why, you ask? Why do I think that this folded potato chip is better than the best Dino in Dinobots? Well, let's make like Lucio and break it down.
Okay, so this Snarl has one less attack than the Wave 1 Snarl in both modes, and lacks the draw ability that the previous Snarl had, but when you look at the draw power that he had before, you begin to realize that you are seldom going to be at zero cards in hand, especially with a Data Bank in play. Beyond that, Snarl from Wave 1 had essentially Plan 1 without the keyword -- and this Snarl has twice that, with Plan 2.
Early game, you're making more use of the less useful cards in your hand with his Planning effect, and making the most out of the cards in your hand before a Dino-Chomp makes me happy. The other Snarl almost discorded with Dino-Chomp in a few ways, being that his Dinosaur mode was the only thing that you can use to draw with, and that you're generally going to want to invest a Dino-Chomp in a higher attack target like Grimlock, it meant that most of the time you were Transforming and attacking with Grimlock instead of having the time to set up a Snarl draw play.
So, for that reason, I like this Snarl better than the previous one. You just make more use out of him early on than the other Snarl, and in this fast-paced game, you really need early value, and that goes for both Volcanicus and standard.
![Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game]( "Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game")
"And I shall call him... 'Mini-Me'."
This tiny version of Grimlock is one of the most fascinating cards I have ever seen.
First off, you might have noticed something. All of these Dinobots can combine into Volcanicus, and despite that, you can't play all five Dinobots on the same team. How is this possible, you ask? Well, look no further than Grimlock -- Powerful Commander.
You see, Combiners don't really care whether or not you've been killing all of their friends. Just so long as they're in robot mode, you can combine all the same. Sure, you're still going to have the damage carry over, but you're combining all the same. So, when you use Grimlock's ability to put some Dinobots outside the game -- i.e. His missing teammates -- you get to combine, albeit damaged, without having to play all five Dinobots in the same list.
That makes this Grimlock not only the most important character in the list, but also one of the most powerful. Looking at his stats, you have a considerable HP stat and some of the most powerful attack stats of his brethren, being tied with Snarl at 4. Of course, his defense is actually the worst out of his teammates, but, uh, we don't talk about that.
Of course, that means you probably won't get too much longevity out of him, but that's what I STILL FUNCTION! is for, right?
Speaking of, I would like to point out that it says "Dinobot" not a specific Dinobot card. Meaning, you can put one of the Wave 1 Dinobots in your KO zone, which brings up some fascinating -- and in some cases, absolutely absurd combos. For instance, you can put Grimlock into the KO zone and I STILL FUNCTION! him into play for some potentially game-winning Trample plays with his effects.
Of course, there is an even more absurd and -- dare I say broken? -- combo that you can pull off, but more on that later.
You can also put this guy into non-Volcanicus lists. You can deal small amount of damage in terms of his bigger brethren, but you can put some cool I STILL FUNCTION targets into the KO Pile to mess around with which makes that deck archetype even more interesting than it already is. But perhaps another interesting way to play him is to play him without any of his Volcanicus friends, and play a standard Dinobot list that, with his effect putting his Volcanicus friends into the KO zone, you can potentially combine with your other Dinobots on the field.
Unlikely, for sure, as it requires attacking with him four times in a row at least, but still an interesting thought.
So in closing, I'll leave you with two questions: One, what I STILL FUNCTION! combos can you think of? And two, why the heck does he have an Autobot logo on his, uh... Codpiece?
![:lol:]( "Laughing")
![Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game]( "Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game")
"I think a lot about meteors. The purity of them. BOOM! The end. Start again. A world made clean for a new man to rebuild."
This combiner is super nutty, and I like him way better than Predaking at least thus far. Predaking is probably a "baseline" combiner, with very little special happening with him (in terms of combiners, that is). Volcanicus, however, is the antithesis of that, with the most interesting way to combine. But here's the thing: They all have the same end result.
Predaking has a strategy that essentially follows the rhythm of "transform, attack, die" until you eventually combine into Predaking to take your last KO or two. Thing is, Volcanicus takes that and dials it up to 11. See, when you combine, your orange Battle Cards are all essentially treated as double, with each orange card you flip dealing extra damage indirectly to your quarry. You can do so much damage with that single attack that I'm not sure anything can survive it.
Volcanicus also has access to the staggering support of Dinobots, being a Dinobot himself. You can use Dino-Chomp! and Jaws of Steel -- heck, you can use I STILL FUNCTION! to return a Grimlock -- Dinobot Leader to the field and Transform him, giving you more Bold! Obviously that's probably a bad idea, but you get what I'm saying here. You can pull off some absurd numbers if you happen to have a card that allows you to play multiple Actions in a turn.
Here's the thing, though: Volcanicus has zero defense, and all damage from your composite parts remain on the finished product. That means your monstrous 56 HP isn't going to last too long when you're probably already sitting at 40 Damage when you combine. Remember, at least two of your characters are going to be KO'd when you combine thanks to Grimlock's effect, and that's not counting the potential one to two other characters that will be joining them before you get a chance to combine.
So, the end result is that you're going to be at a very high damage when you combine, and with zero defense, you're probably going to end up taking one KO anyway before you get a retaliatory KO, whether a Force Field is there being a big player in his survivability.
But there is a remedy for that problem, and it relies on Baby Grimlock (i.e. Volcanicus Grimlock) bringing in someone pretty special: Sludge from Wave 1.
How Sludge's healing works is that when you Transform him to Dino mode, you can move as much damage from your Dinobots as you want to him -- even if you go over his 12 HP. So, that being said, you can end up using an I STILL FUNCTION! to return him to play, and Transform him while he's in play to move all of the damage from Volcanicus to Sludge and completely heal off all 56 HP on that behemoth.
That's freaking insane, and it means that your opponent is probably going to scoop to you when that happens because there is no way they're going to be able to chew through 56 freaking HP. To put it in perspective, Metroplex has 36 HP. To say that Sludge healing off this guy is absurd if you can pull it off is a bit of an understatement.
Granted, pulling off that combo is unlikely, especially if the board state doesn't allow you to have that kind of leeway. In some cases, it's just better to bring out a Big Grimlock and hit somebody with him like a beatstick, just to avoid all of your opponent's characters from ganging up on Volcanicus. But to be frank, if you haven't killed something by the time you combine, you've probably lost anyway.
I could go on talking about this guy for ages, with so many different ways you can play him, but I think I should boil down my thoughts so you don't die of old age before I get to the point: Volcanicus is very good, and Baby Dinobots should not be underestimated. You deal a lot of damage early game with these Dinobots, and when you combine into Volcanicus, you are almost gifted a free KO with how much damage he can do. He's the definition of a glass cannon, so you're probably going to end up combining to take your last KO or two, but with spicy effects like Sludge, you can potentially combine and remain on the field almost indefinitely.
All in all? I'm terrified of this mad lad. This absolute unit has unbelievable potential in the metagame and I can't wait to see where he goes from here.
__________Battle Cards__________
![Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game]( "Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game")
"Life... Uh, finds a way."
There isn't too much to write home about when it comes to Enigmas. I mean, they do what you expect them to do -- like Spirit Links from Pokemon, they allow certain larger strategies to be played effectively, and the Dinobot Enigma is no different. But one thing I love about these Enigma is that even after you've combined with them, that they still serve a purpose after you're done using them.
Predacon Enigma allows them to attach another Upgrade, essentially a Green-pipped New Designs which is welcome in my book. This, however, is a slightly worse Supercharge, which makes me a little less excited. You see, when you live in the world of Dino-Chomp!, Supercharge and Focus Fire, Bold 2 just seems too small on an Action Card!
![:lol:]( "Laughing")
But it's not like you're playing this card for this secondary effect -- playing three Enigma in almost all circumstances we've seen at the time of writing is a big mistake, as they will just end up cluttering your hand and flips too much near the end of the game. We're at the point where we see something fascinating in terms of list building: A one-of.
Unlike Pokemon, there are no Prize Cards in this game that pull cards out of your list and put them in an unreachable state. There are no cards that disrupt Green Cards that we know of, so a one-of simply makes sense. I mean, you are a deck that still stacks Bold, here -- you get to mill your deck so easily that you're bound to find the Enigma when you need it. Of course, that's just a theory -- things could be different in practice, but again, theorycrafting is my job here.
All in all, it's just kind of... An Enigma card. I don't really expect anything out of these cards, so when I get something, I'm always glad.
![Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game]( "Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game")
This card is like me at parties -- just kind of... There, you know?
This next card is coming straight out of
VectorSigma.info with a great dive-in on the card from Scott Landis. He puts some good effort into his math for this card. We don't agree on this card's playability in certain regards, but if you have the time you should definitely check his article out as well as he has some good points he brings up.
Anyway, despite having arguably the coolest artwork out of all Star cards, I would probably wager that this card is the worst Star card of the bunch. You might look at the pips and say, "Boy howdy, this is the maddest lad of the bunch! Another orange/blue split!" and I would agree that it's always nice to see color combos in this game, but let me ask you, when you read this card, does it seem good?
You might say "yes", and that's fine. But look again. Doesn't this seem, I dunno, familiar? Look at it a third time. You're flipping an extra card on your attack and on your defense... Sounds like Bold and Tough, dunnit?
I have a very strong opinion on this card in particular, but for the sake of this article's length I won't bore you with the details. Well, most of them, anyway.
So let's look at this in terms of what it's meant to do. When you attack, you flip your three cards and you find that one of them is, in fact, not the color you were looking for. You scrap it, and you wind up with an optimal flip. Then, on your defense, you do the same, right?
Well, that's not exactly the case. You see, in this fast-paced game, the general gist is you should typically keep to a mono-color deck -- either orange or blue -- with very few decks playing the mix well or effectively. Metroplex gets away with it, but only barely, and he can't use this card thanks to his massive point pool.
Put it this way, when you attack, sure, you're going to make use of that Bold effect. But when you defend, you're flipping an extra card that could have been drawn or flipped later. In defensive lists, you're milling more cards than you need to on the attack flips. It's like attaching a Power Sword in a blue list -- not very helpful unless you're digging with Battlefield Legend Optimus Prime, right? That's what this card does in mono-color decks.
It's really not that great in them, and honestly, I would rather just attach a Weapon or an Armor in a balanced list. This meta is very fast-paced, so when you spend a turn attaching something that is essentially a combo of Bold 1 and Tough 1, it's just a "feels bad" moment like attaching a Data Bank, but unlike Data Bank, you aren't seeing that much return on your investment in the long run.
It's just better in your deck to flip, and in that case, wouldn't you just rather play a Mounted Missiles to flip and give yourself +2? Or even attach it to also give yourself +2? There are so many better Star Cards that I can't in good conscience recommend playing this card unless you have a very specific list in mind, and even then.
Cool artwork, good pips, bad card. Simple as that. But hey, they can't all be winners, right?
![Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game]( "Transformers News: Volcanicus In-depth Analysis And More Reveals For Official Transformers Trading Card Game")
Okay, okay, why is Optimus crossing the Delaware!?
This card is brought to us by
Wreck N' Rule, another YouTuber-in-arms of mine who also produces TFTCG content. If you'd like to check out their channel and their thoughts on this card, check their video out with that link!
There has been so much discussion around this card that it's actually a little startling. So many people have so many different ideas -- it's tough to keep track of them all. There are so many implications for this card alone that made people lose their minds for a 12-hour period.
Basically, the gist of it is, first off, that you put it on "Sentinels only" which is baffling since we have no idea what a "Sentinel" is or what that would be. This brought up several instances of lore digging, with several bringing up that Omega Supreme was part of the Omega Sentinels, who could be described as "Sentinels" in the card game.
Something that discounts this is the artwork, which has Victorion in the background. This might bring forth the idea that the Torchbearers could be renamed into the Sentinels, but that's the only evidence one way or the other in that regard.
Another thing that brought up massive discussion was the fact that it mentioned flipping your robots in the KO pile to Robot, then back to vehicle. This could imply that effects when characters Transform in the KO pile still take into effect, like Battlefield Legend's Action recycling ability. Or perhaps it's a simple effect for these enigmatic "Sentinels" we keep hearing about. Either way, if it's for combination, that simply won't do much for the archetype unless someone's ability is actually broken. Remember, transforming into robot mode is the optimal end result.
All in all, I can't pass judgement on this card because its mere existence brings up more questions than concrete answers. It's interesting, that's for certain! But other than that, I can't say one way or another. It's fascinating, and I find myself agreeing with George R. R. Martin when he remarked, "The question is usually more exciting than the answer."
Be careful not to build yourself up, for you may be preparing yourself for a fall of disappointment.
__________Conclusion__________
TFTCG Wave 2, Rise of the Combiners keeps getting more and more interesting. Whereas I don't think Predaking will make it into the metagame without better support, I do think that Volcanicus will take the meta by storm. I firmly believe that -- without playtesting, mind you -- that Volcanicus has massive potential to be a mainstay and a real contender for the top decks.
We have more questions than answers, though, in terms of Combiner support, and whether certain interactions with the KO pile make them better or not remains to be seen. Heck, certain KO Pile interactions still remain to be seen for that matter.
So, what do you think? Will Volcanicus take over the metagame? Will he be a niche deck that will be straight to the bargain bin? What are Sentinels? Let me know what you think in the comments below, and stay tuned for my next breakdown of the next Transformers TCG reveals, and be sure to check out
MY CHANNEL for deck profiles and competitive discussion. Thanks for reading!
__________
What do you think about these new cards? Will you be playing them? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!
Date: Sunday, July 29th 2018 9:42am CDT
Categories: Movie Related News,
Event News,
Collectables
Posted by: Va'al |
Credit(s): Chohenken
Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 33,557
Along with the official images from Prime 1 Studio
directly of their Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen highly articulated (and detailed) Jet Power Optimus Prime statue, we also have a first in-person image of the piece - as well as a first look at a Dark of the Moon Sentinel Prime too!
Twitter user
Chohenken brings us both apparently also from Wonderfest 2018, currently still taking place in Japan, and we've mirrored them below for your viewing convenience. Check them out, and let us know what you make of these pricey, sizeable display pieces - all in the Energon Pub discussion forums on Seibertron.com!
Date: Saturday, April 14th 2018 3:55am CDT
Categories: Movie Related News,
Toy News,
Collectables
Posted by: Va'al Discuss This Topic · Permanent Link
Views: 31,975
Updating our
stories about the latest wave of Transformers: The Last Knight Tiny Turbo Changers, which had yet to be seen anywhere at retail or in photography, we have a whole slew of in-hand images of the wee critters below!
We've also re-included the package codes for each figure if you're only after select characters, and Seibertron notes the following for those interested:
Bumblebee is the same as previous releases, based off his Age of Extinction appearance. The red figures are all the exact shade of red. The blue figures are all different shades. Barricade is his Transformers (2007) version and is my personal favorite from this wave, though Ironhide is a really, really close 2nd. Speaking of which, Ironhide shares transformation with Grimlock. Drift is AOE blue versus previous red The Last Knight version. Silver Knight Optimus Prime is obviously recolor of previous version. Ratchet is an obnoxious yellowish neon green color, very different from digital product images. Phantom Strike Lockdown is the same, just translucent. Sky Rage Starscream is a red recolor of previous Starscream figures. Dino is a red recolor of Series 2 Hot Rod.
Series 3 E 80051 Bumblebee
Series 3 A 80051 Ratchet
Series 3 B 80051 Slug
Series 3 C 80051 Phantom Strike Lockdown
Series 3 J 80051 Sky Rage Starscream
Series 3 F 80051 Evac
Series 3 I 80051 Silver Knight Optimus Prime
Series 3 N 80051 Drift
Series 3 P 80051 Barricade
Series 3 D 80051 Sentinel Prime
Series 3 H 80051 Ironhide
Series 3 G 80051 Dino
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