Super Rare Bumblebee And The Last Cards Revealed For The Official Transformers Trading Card Game

#Sideways# wrote:Another one.

But here's the thing about this Bumblebee: He's Wave 1's second and final Super Rare. A little pretext about Super Rare cards, they have a 1-79 pack pull ratio, making them a one-per-two boxes of product rarity. This is a really, really rare card and should be sleeved or protected as soon as you open him. There's no telling how much value they'll end up having, but with a ratio that low, it's a good idea to protect them.

So, anyway, this card is pretty darn good. He's less of an add-on, though -- he's kind of the start to his own version of the Car archetype. Cars can be pretty interchangeable, but when it comes to having a proper team composition, I find that the strategy should usually revolve around one character. Nemesis Prime is supported by his teammates, Shockwave by his, Megatron is your main damage dealer in Tanks... You get the picture.

BumbleJumper can definitely be one of those archetypes. With the advent of Jazz and Prowl (revealed below), you can fulfill your full team of cars in a lot of different ways with that leftover seven points. It's a very versatile list that will likely have several iterations with several different characters before someone finally figures out the optimal way to play it.

But more on Bumblebee. This little guy is a thick, thick boy and can take a lot of punishment at an astounding 15 HP. The biggest Optimus Prime has 14 HP, for reference. He can also put out a lot of punishment at the end of a game with his loner ability amplifying his already moderate stats to something worthy of the greats. But his vehicle mode has one of the most interesting abilities I've seen thus far, being able to attack characters before they, themselves, have attacked.

This means that you can always pick off the weak links on your opponent's field, and more importantly, can target them down before they get to attack you. Goodbye, Ransack, it was nice knowing that you could have attacked this game. What's better is that he can fully take advantage of Start Your Engines in the latter stage of the game. Allow me to explain. It functions as a way to use that car mode's ability to give him the option to attack something that's untapped, then manually transform him to Robot mode to give himself the boost of damage.

It's a frankly great ability that makes him a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Oh, and he can also carry the Matrix of Leadership, just in case you wanted another reason to like him.

#Sideways# wrote:Deadlock gives you very little for his high point cost. I'm not joking, this guy is a big disappointment when it comes to abilities -- even moreso when you consider that he's fighting for space in a Car list.

He's less lackluster in the stat category -- actually having some of the highest when it comes to Car standards -- but it's the fact that he has no utility that makes him a hard sell when compared to the likes of Mirage, Wheeljack and Cliffjumper. Deadlock has draw over them, sure, but Deadlock's ability only activates when you flip to your Car mode, and only when you're going to KO someone.

That's wholly underwhelming, if you ask me, especially when you can compare him to his peers. Wheeljack draws when you Upgrade a car, Mirage can just straight play an extra Action, Cliffjumper draws when you Transform which is as broken as it sounds... He's too much points for too little utility.

I would very much consider him if he costed six stars, but other than that, the only thing this bounty hunter is hunting for is a way to stay out of my bulk bin.

#Sideways# wrote:This card is kinda nuts. Being able to do indirect damage is already pretty good, but being able to spread it amongst your opponent's entire field is another thing altogether. There are a lot of reasons to like this card, and a lot of decks that will be using it. For instance, you can play this in Planes which already likes indirect damage.

You can use it to soften up Tanks, laugh at the foolish Motorcycles that want to try swarming you and try setting up KOs on Cars. But one thing you should watch out for is using this against Planes, who absolutely love it when their characters take minimal spread damage since it allows them to use Bombing Run to both heal them and deal that damage back to you.

#Sideways# wrote:You'd think this card would be good, wouldn't you? Well, in most cases, you might be right. But in this one? No. There is so much Upgrade scrapping in this game that it is simply better to use those cards, like Drill Arms, Crusher Gauntlets, Ramming Speed... The list goes on.

Why is it better to discard than to put it back into its player's hand? Well, that should be self-explanatory. It is functionally the same for board state, but you force your opponents can't play them back down.

Now, that doesn't mean that this doesn't have its niche uses. Shockwave wants to stack as many cards as possible in his opponent's hand so that he can discard them. But remember, this is an Action, not an Upgrade. That means you're unlikely to play both a Disarm and a Security Checkpoint/System Reboot in the same turn. It's possible, but it's strenuous.

All in all, it's niche, but still kinda bad otherwise.

#Sideways# wrote:Literally just play Security Checkpoint. It discards both player's Upgrades, but you still get to play yours before you do. This is one of several "budget" versions of other cards that you might notice. Sometimes, though, they have attributes that makes them slightly better than their counterparts in certain instances.

This is not one of those points.

Security Checkpoint is a double blue pip, and that's as rare as it sounds. When I say, "just play Security Checkpoint", I mean it wholeheartedly.

#Sideways# wrote:This, however, I can see getting some play in certain decks. Right now there is no parallel for Disruptive Entrance, meaning it's the only card that can look in your opponent's hand and discard a specific Action.

I honestly think that this card is great for disruption decks, like Shockwave. Keep in mind, though, just discarding a card at random is not damaging -- but when you take away their only draw Action, that game-winning Peace Through Tyranny or their last "Dino-Chomp!" card, they'll be hurting.

Niche, for sure, but I still think it's way more viable than people might give it credit for.

#Sideways# wrote:I'm not really sure what I think about Emergency Repairs. Some part of me thinks that this could be pretty niche, like with the new Bumblebee, but let's be honest here, you could call almost every card in every game "niche" just because it fits in one deck, even if that deck is non-viable.

Emergency Repairs is just one of those cards that you look at and think, "hm, this could be good!" and then you read it a second time and think, "goodness, that's awful" and proceed to go back and forth until you pass out. It's not a bad card, but it's not a good one. It's just kind of... There, you know?

Repair Bay or "Medic!" is likely to suit you better, though I can't say that Emergency Repairs is without merit.

#Sideways# wrote:Fusion Cannon of Megatron is... An interesting card, mostly in the same vein as Null Ray of Starscream. It seems like a card you would instantly play in any deck that plays Megatron. Sure, there might be instances where you might outside of the Tank archetype, but I'm going to be perfectly honest with you: You don't need it.

Fusion Cannon is just an overglorified Piercing Blaster, which gives you Pierce 3 anyway. Megatron might like it, but no one else will, and when you already have Crushing Treads giving you plenty Pierce, what's the point of playing this card?

Sure, you can tech it in if you want your Tank list to have even MORE Pierce, but it really just seems redundant. Something I've found is that Optimus' Ion Blaster is the best exclusive weapon because it both gives a high damage buff and a defensive buff, making his stats even better than they already were.

Food for thought.

#Sideways# wrote:I absolutely love this card. It's not for every deck, but let me tell you, this card makes me so happy. Let me explain.

Your opponent can only attack tapped characters, right? That means you should generally attack with someone who can take a hit (more or less cannon fodder) first. This protects your valuable, more expensive characters from damage and gives you a little breathing room.

Heroism allows you to attack with your first, high damaging characters first. You get to attach it to your cannon fodder and fight with your big, beefy characters without any repercussions. Your opponents may be trying to attack your important units, but with such heroic nonsense on your side, your opponent can't attack what they want to attack and that makes this card frankly amazing.

Of course, it can be scrapped and your bold play can -- and will -- be punished, but let's face it, who ever got anywhere without risking something first?

#Sideways# wrote:Like Drill Arms and Scrapper Gauntlet before it, we come across our third and final "scrap x, else draw 1" card. I love these cards, a lot, but this one is sort of a middle child.

One one end, you have Drill Arms, which is the best of the three by far, and on the other end of the spectrum, you have Scrapper Gauntlets which are the worst (But are still good in Tanks!), and right in the "meh" area is Crushing Size.

It gives you Pierce, which is nice, but being able to scrap certain Utilities like Matrix of Leadership and Heroism is pretty handy, much handier than weapon scrapping. The problem is, Scrapper Gauntlets gives +1 Armor and Drill Arms gives you +1 Attack, both being very good, but Crushing Size gives you a measly Pierce 1.

Pierce 1 is terrible. Pierce 2 can have a case made for it, Pierce 3 and up is good, but Pierce 1? If you're having trouble doing one damage in a game, you're not going to win. That's kind of the thing with this guy; if you're playing a lot of Pierce, go ahead and play it. Otherwise, I'd probably look elsewhere for a spot in my list.

#Sideways# wrote:Yay, more Arcee artwork!

So, Combat Training is strictly "meh". Tough is decidedly not that great, and Bold 1 is okay when you have cards like Power Sword adding Bold 3 on that, but it seems like you're giving up a useful Utility spot for something approaching a filler card. I could be being a bit harsh on Combat Training, but in the highly competitive Utility space, there are just better cards to play, like Data Pad or Data Bank.

#Sideways# wrote:This is what I like to call a bad card. Your opponent gets to choose the Weapon they scrap (which will be a Drill Arms that has already outlived its usefulness), and they also choose the card in their hand to scrap. Sure, you're getting rid of an Upgrade attachment and in Shockwave you're dealing one damage, but even then, it's morbidly underwhelming in terms of playability.

But hey, not every card needs to be playable -- not every card has to be -- and I shudder at the thought of every card in a set being absolutely must-picks for a deck. Imagine what kind of horrible metagame THAT would be.

#Sideways# wrote:Now THIS is how you use Tough. Tough 3 is very good. No, it's not the best Armor, and you wouldn't play it in Tanks where Armor is kind of a necessity, but in decks that don't really play a lot of Armor, I can definitely see this one taking up a spot in a lot of lists. Sure, it's only attachable on Melee characters, but I can think of very few characters that aren't Melee in at least one of their modes.

Remember though, you're not confirmed to take less damage just because you have Tough. But decks that like taking less damage and cycling their deck a lot like Nemesis or Cosmos, this is a must-pick.

#Sideways# wrote:With a name like Cargo Trailer, I was really looking forward to being able to hold more Upgrades. Unfortunately, I was disappointed that it could not fulfill my desire. Then I read the card and was disappointed a second time.

Then I read the card a second time and I was floored by how FREAKING GOOD IT IS. Okay, after some calming breaths, I can explain why this card is so good.

Every instance of this card gives the damage buff, not just one. So, when you have one on your character, it will give +1. Then, when you attach another, you get +2. On each Trailer. This will give you a combined +4. If you attach all three, which is unlikely, sure, but if you do, you have a +9(!?!) damage!

Since each instance counts each instance individually, each card gives its own damage value. That means you can stack a lot of damage potential on your characters surprisingly fast. Optimus Prime, Nemesis Prime, Hound, Ironhide, the list goes on. But all of them want these trailers just as bad as the last.

You just really need to make sure you know who you want to stack them on before you do it.

#Sideways# wrote:Perfect Cell anyone? What, no one plays Dragon Ball Super in this place?

This card has great potential, but I doubt its usefulness in this card game. One thing I noticed about TFTCG is that you will have a normal hand size of roughly four to five depending on the deck you're playing. Sure, you're forcing your opponent to discard a couple of cards, but Cell Chain of Dragon Ball fame did the same thing -- and acted on it, by discarding the rest.

If you can figure out how to do that, you'll do great. Your opponents won't be able to upgrade their characters nor play any support Actions, but remember, a lot of cards have innate draw so it would be nigh impossible to keep them down indefinitely.

Definitely has potential, especially with a deck built around it.

#Sideways# wrote:Why?

No, really, why would you play this? You're almost never going to have the chance to attack with more than three characters at once, and you're not going to be able to stack these, so why not just play Leap Into Battle which gives you +3 on a single character?

Again, there are "budget" versions of cards, or cards that are similar but different for the merit of being different. This is one of the latter, I think.

#Sideways# wrote:Speaking of, why would you play this when System Reboot exists, which scraps BOTH player's hands and draws four cards each?

Well, for one, you might not want to give your opponent a better hand, or a hand at all in some cases, but let's be honest -- it's almost always better to disrupt your opponent's hand.

Then again, there's no rule in playing both this and System Reboot in the same deck. Have fun drawing your deck, I guess!

#Sideways# wrote:Agility of Bumblebee is pretty okay, actually. I would definitely play this card in Bumblebee-centric lists. For instance, decks that play the new Super Rare Bumblebee. If you're just casually playing the Starter Bee, I don't know if I would play it, but it's better than most utilities that you can put on the little guy.

Generally, I would rather put a Data Pad or a Matrix of Leaderhip on him, but if you have the extra space, then why not throw one or two of these cards in to supplement your draw? At worst, you can just attach it to someone else to give them another +1 to their damage through their Utility slot.

#Sideways# wrote:Now, if you know what Scrying is, you'll love this card. Sure, it's slightly worse than Scrying, but this does the job well enough. Planes have a distinct lack of draw power, and this doesn't really help to mitigate that, but it does let you discard the cards you want with your attack flips.

It's a good card, one that gives the Planes a distinct damage mitigation ability that they normally would not have.

#Sideways# wrote:Literally just play Plasma Burst. It's true that Plasma Burst doesn't have a pip and Zap does, but Plasma Burst is lightyears better than this card just because it does two damage instead of a silly one. And in my opinion? Photon Bomb is better than Plasma Burst, so that just shows you how useless Zap really is.

At least it makes a good proxy for Photon Bomb!

(Or Piercing Blaster, actually, since they have very startlingly similar card artwork.)

#Sideways# wrote:Swap Parts isn't that good in many lists, but it's very good where it counts. Trucks, for one, love this card because you can use it to move a misplaced Cargo Trailer. You can use it to move Heroism, as well, when things get a little too hot for your damage soaker. Most decks won't use Swap Parts, but the ones that do love it to bits.

Much like me and that, frankly, adorable artwork.

#Sideways# wrote:This seems like a budget Photon Bomb, and you're kinda right. But that also kind of makes me want to play it in Planes because when used in tandem with Armed Hovercraft, it makes for a Photon Bomb but just for your opponents. Not bad, if I don't say so myself.

Not too much to say about this card otherwise, since in any other deck it is a simply inferior Photon Bomb. Treat it as such, unless you're playing Armed Hovercraft.

#Sideways# wrote:Boy, is this card a doozie. Scrapping all upgrades seems to be a stiff cost to repair a little damage, but when you consider the healing as a side-effect, what you end up with is a powerful Scrapping card, especially against Trucks that will be having a lot of Upgrades on the field. Moreover, Tanks also has a love-hate relationship with this card since they don't usually play healing themselves, but hate to see all their hard-earned Upgrades go down the drain.

Salvage For Parts is a card that I can't see putting in too many lists as it doesn't really serve a purpose, but if you're ever thinking how much you hate Upgrades and really like long games, this card is for you.

#Sideways# wrote:Just play Body Armor, though? It's not overly bad, of course, it's just the equivalent to Flamethrower and Power Sword. One is better than the other most of the time, but the other isn't necessarily bad, either.

Let me be frank. Sometimes it's good to put in a bit of redundancy in a deck just because you mill yourself when you attack and defend, but that being said, you may find there isn't much room for redundancy in this game's deckbuilding.

It certainly isn't bad, but there are many other cards that you want to play in lists, making it hard to find room for redundancy. Remember, almost everyone has Melee sometime -- but for those who aren't, and want Tough, look no further.

#Sideways# wrote:I don't really know if "Medic!" has a place in many if any lists. Team Up Tactics does its job but better, Repair Bay does one less but it does a collective heal which is way better than single target in turn based games, even Emergency Repairs does "Medic!"'s job better than it. Emergency Repairs is more situational, of course, so your mileage may vary.

All in all, this is probably not going to find its way into almost any lists. Not unplayable, just is outclassed.

#Sideways# wrote:Now that's a lot of Arcee artwork.

I really like this card in both Dinobots and Tanks. Decks that play a lot of blue cards in general are going to love Thermal Weaponry since it compensates for that potentially lost damage you will face when you flip blue cards on offense.

This mitigates the effects of randomness and I definitely love it. Of course, in Dinobots, you might want a Power Sword anyway, but there's always room for a backup weapon.

#Sideways# wrote:So here it is.

This is our only search card in the game. Treasure Hunt discards the top four and puts any Upgrades into your hand, which is okay if you already have a large hand size, but in other cases simply playing a System Reboot would be better to just draw all the cards you're milling.

Of course, sometimes you'll just be drawing four cards as they'll all be upgrades. But I doubt it. There will be just as many times where you'll mill all Actions, but I suppose it comes down to pure deckbuilding at that point.

If your list can support Treasure Hunt well, look no further for the best card in your deck. If you're running a half-and-half Action/Upgrade or more on the Action side, you may want to rethink this card.

Then again, several lists want to use this card anyway, like Nemesis Prime or Cosmos, who don't care what they draw just so long as they burn their deck quickly. It's certainly something to think about when building your deck.

Otherwise, though, I think this card is a very good card that should belong in several lists. But not all lists are created equal.

#Sideways# wrote:Swap Missions is a very, very good card. Now you might say, "Hey, Sideways, isn't this a worse Ready For Action?" to which I would say, "How dare you speak to me. Also, not really."

So what makes this card so good? Well, in a word, Cars. Cars have the pleasure of having the most concentrated amount of untapping abilities in the game. This allows Optimus Prime -- Freedom Fighter and other expensive characters like Nemesis Prime, Megatron -- Living Weapon and Sunstorm to all have the ability to untap.

Optimus Prime in particular can straight up abuse this card as he gets to play it for free if you flip it on his attack flips. Plus, you have Team Up Tactics synergy with both he and his car friends. This is why you would want to play him with Cars. Since Cars have Turbo Boosters (which untaps Cars on an Upgrade) allowing you to Swap Missions with one of your newly untapped Cars to attack with Prime once again.

Swap Missions hasn't seen a lot of hype lately, but I think that they just don't see the potential that Swap Missions has to really become a huge card in several lists that play more expensive characters.

#Sideways# wrote:So, that's it. That's all the cards in this set, and for the moment, in this game. My fingers just started a workers riot for writing all of this in one sitting and my eyes are rebelling against me for doing it at two in the morning. I have opinions, okay? I just can't help when I can share them!

This game is very fun and has shaped up to be a very well thought-out game. Drew, Matt and all the other developers have done a splendid job at creating an addicting and fun game. I can't wait to get my hands on Metroplex this November, and I can't wait to battle in some tournaments.

But that's where you come in.

Wizards will only support competitive play if there is a large enough desire for it. The playerbase needs to be active enough that Wizards realizes that it is worth their time to hold sanctioned events. To help make this a reality, and if you want to play the game yourself, please, please stop by your Local Game Store and pick up some product. The game needs to thrive in Wizard's eyes if they're going to continue to produce it!

So, that brings me to myself. I do, in fact, have a YouTube channel that I will be using to cover this game. If you would like to check out some deck profiles (and other variety gaming content) in the coming days, don't hesitate to drop by Nanomachines, my YouTube Channel and say hi.

Thanks for reading my ramblings on this card game, guys, especially this one that's so... Well, long. See you in the Energon Pub!

#SW#