Transformers: the TCG More than Meets the Sleeves

WingedWeasel · July 2018

Look, we all knew it was going to happen eventually. But the 80's are smashing into modern gaming via a physical TCG produced by WotC. You may have heard of those guys, they produce Magic the Gathering. It is kind of a big deal. SDCC and Gencon will both have exclusive packs for purchase with promos. The game itself seems pretty good (without having played it yet). You can check out the rules below.

exclusives
https://www.hasbro.com/en-us/product/transformers-trading-card-game-convention-edition:6E3FE8EE-D4B0-461A-9EBF-F6DF26D814AE

rules video
https://transformers.hasbro.com/en-us/tradingcardgame/howtoplay

rules PDF
https://www.hasbro.com/common/documents/dad2d6781c4311ddbd0b0800200c9a66/882A026A63734809B40F2FEE87E5A012.pdf

There are a number of cards being spoiled at SDCC and the subreddit has a number of them up already
https://www.reddit.com/r/TransformersTCG/

I know I am definitely diving in head first and I'm super excited to get my hands on those cards at Gencon. What about you guys? Anyone else excited?

mightyspacepope · July 2018

Lots of discussion here, including the designers occasionally dropping in to give info:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/transformerstcg/

WingedWeasel · July 2018

the discord channel https://discord.gg/WHDHbrZ is pretty active as well. there is a rep from pasttimes (who is handling the sales/learn to plays at gencon) there who has been pretty helpful with information

Ceno · July 2018

I kind of want them just to get cards with the Legends artwork on them. Though I would prefer a Marvel Masterpieces-esque line of cards that don't have gameplay.

WingedWeasel · August 2018

Well the big recent news is they revealed and OVER oversized metroplex "starter" that I cludes his minibots. He is twice the size of oversized MTG commander cards (regular bots are "normal") oversized

timhodge · October 2018

The game is out! I like it. But can someone explain to me why tiny little Cosmos has the most HP of any character currently in the game?!

WingedWeasel · October 2018

From a gameplay perspective tive I can. From a lore perspective....not so much. I think it is just a concession to how he needs to live a long time to actually have a chance at triggering his power

Athenor · October 2018

I wrote up my impressions on this in the board game thread based on.. well.. rough rules, as far as I could tell. Can someone who has been playing it more help me understand how tapping is supposed to work, and how the heck you are expected to win if you are down to a single bot?

WingedWeasel · October 2018

Athenor wrote: »

I wrote up my impressions on this in the board game thread based on.. well.. rough rules, as far as I could tell. Can someone who has been playing it more help me understand how tapping is supposed to work, and how the heck you are expected to win if you are down to a single bot?

the full rules are actually on their site, but at a base level they are pretty simple. the complexity of course is from the cards themselves. there is an FAQ here:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/transformers-trading-card-game/transformers-tcg-card-faq-v11/1826769844111499/

tapping works mostly like this: you are required to attack each turn. there is NOT an untap step every turn. players alternate attacking with only 1 bot each turn until everything is tapped. once everything is tapped then ALL player's bots untap and you start over. so lets say play A has 3 bots and player B has 3. player A takes the first turn.

player A turn 1 attack 1 end turn
player B turn 1 attack 1 end turn
player A turn 2 attack 2 end turn
player B turn 2 attack 2 end turn
player A turn 3 attack 3 end turn
player B turn 3 attack 3 untap end turn
player A attack 4

if players have differing numbers of bots remaining (or to start, or if there is an untap effect) you could end up with a situation where player A has 2 + untapped bots at the start of their turn but player B is tapped out. in that situation play A would keep attacking (one at a time, individual attacks) until all their bots are tapped, everyone untaps and the next player goes. some decks, specificlaly thinking of cars, try to engineer this scenario to get wombo blowout turns

as to the strategic element there is really only one "go wide" build currently that i am aware of and that is 4 wide insecticons (i prefer skrapnel, ransack, kickback barrage), a lot of teams are 3 wide and i've been experimenting with 2 stacks but not much just yet. the issue is the reduction in overall statistics if you spread that thin. if you are down a guy the game actually inherently keeps things relatively close. if you focus attacks you are likely to go shot for shot with your opponent with the differentiation being playskill.

there are a bunch of strategy sites/media already that i could drop including some self promotion

Athenor · October 2018

When I was demo'ed the game (the night it came out) the online rules were only 3 pages long. That's why I was being confused as heck. Of course, the guy demo'ing it for me may have been told the wrong rules when he was shown the game at a trade show.

I'll look through that faq, see what I'm missing.

WingedWeasel · October 2018

Athenor wrote: »

When I was demo'ed the game (the night it came out) the online rules were only 3 pages long. That's why I was being confused as heck. Of course, the guy demo'ing it for me may have been told the wrong rules when he was shown the game at a trade show.

I'll look through that faq, see what I'm missing.

the actual rules are actually pretty short: https://www.hasbro.com/common/documents/dad2d6781c4311ddbd0b0800200c9a66/D862B2CF2C134D1497659F585B6DB078.pdf

that being said i know several places have had awkward demos

mightyspacepope · October 2018

My buddies and I have been doing some gameplay and analysis videos. Here's our How to Play walkthrough video.

https://youtu.be/lx8mKrV5GI4

mightyspacepope · November 2018

Metroplex was fully spoiled by WotC yesterday!

Metroplex Reveal Gallery

We printed some proxies (no, it's not released and we don't have an actual copy yet) and threw it against the Autobot Starter deck!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8vtVGAhumo

Both decks felt fairly even matched against each other.

WingedWeasel · November 2018

I'm pretty excited for metroplex, and that's strictly coming from a card game angle. He was basically non existent for me as far as old cartoons. The video games and comics definitely improved the situation but still. He seems pretty decent ccg wise but I gotta actually try him to see. He turns everything on it's head in such a huge (lol) way

Athenor · November 2018

I am going to give this a second shot. I think I misinterpreted things the first time, and that is on me, not the game.

I also couldn't help myself....

WingedWeasel · November 2018

i shouldve done that too. that's awesome

Athenor · November 2018

What I find interesting is that the character card is new art, based on the original toy. But because the card art comes from existing places, the deck art is of the Generations toy.

Also now I want to know if the new siege six-shot goes well with mine.

Penny Arcade

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Transformers: the TCG More than Meets the Sleeves

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