Predaking!

OK, so...how cool is THIS?

Don't know? Let me tell you:

It is incredibly cool.

I want to talk about the downsides, first; let's just get them out of the way, alright?

1) Who is Torox? I mean..is Tantrum that difficult? The name scheme breaks up the pattern of the other Predacons...

2) Tapping this character will be a challenge. I don't care that they made a video about it; the game is for people 8 and up and not everyone has big hands. While it's all well and good to say; "so long as your opponent knows" c'mon, people. Just admit it's a challenge but the important thing is that the character is clearly in a "tapped" (or used or something) state for all players to recognize.

Other than that, this is a very, very cool thing. The fact that you can create Predaking even if your characters have been KO'd is a great ruling. The stats are on par with Metroplex, and the themes for this set look awesome to explore.

One question I have is: Does Predaking only have five weapons slots, or does it have five weapon slots plus an upgrade and armor slot? I asked them on Twitter but didn't get an answer.

Windblade, the other preview card, is also savage. While one side has an ability only good against combiners, the stats are very good and the bot mode has a lot of potential, especially with the new keyword ability coming, Plan, which you can see on...ugh...Torox.

The other previewed keyword, Brave (seen on Headstrong), allows for some tactics for defensive play and I dig it. A great opportunity to dictate tempo to your opponent in a way we haven't seen yet.

The spoiler list so far can be seen here, and it helps resolve one other mystery: what's with the green pips?

For those not wanting to go there; cards with green pips in the graveyard can be retrieved in the post-combat step by discarding a card.

I think this is a cool idea with the upside of allowing players to utilize their graveyards, a resource that fills pretty quickly in this game.

I just hope they're careful about how this gets used, because utilizing the graveyard as your deck removes the variance that makes a card game intriguing. The explanation for the mechanic was good, though and I agree that this helps cement over some other difficulties in the game.

There have been near daily updates, so I can't get to them all right now...but holy crap isn't Predaking cooooool!?