Cooperation

Shockwave, as it turns out, is a specialist. 6 attack, 11 health and 3 defense are pretty good stats, and it means that the Specialists deck can concentrate on making attacks instead of trying to get Cosmos to trigger. The concepts are pushing against each other and that's one reason it's not working.

"I don't like Disarm," Jason told me.

I had to agree, it is the glory of cool things. New Designs has also been underperforming for me.

"Leap Into Battle and Supercharge," he told me. It makes sense; giving a character +1 attack isn't tremendously helpful. Giving a character +1 attack and then either +3 or Bold 3, that could swing a game. 

After a few games, I recognized another problem.

The reason Swap Parts was banned was because it allowed Multi-Mission Tool and other equipment to retrigger for free and all at once, creating an overwhelming advantage. I was using Disarm to get those triggers but it never came together the way I hoped it would. Effectively, the power level of the deck just isn't high enough to make games interesting.

So the next logical step is to play other equipment, so I can reshuffle older equipment into my deck and get those free abilities again. In order to make sure I get that equipment, I'm using the green icon introduced in Rise of the Combiners. If I flip over Enforcement Batons, that's fine! I can swap it out and then play it to keep the free stuff coming.

One other thought might be Battle Ready for the damage boost instead of Supercharge. I have frequently found myself with characters carrying 2 or 3 upgrades; this damage boost might be better than bold is, because my deck has as blend of combat icons. Battle Ready guarantees a damage boost but Supercharge does not. At least it's worth testing. Salvage for Parts was also on my radar but without a battle icon, healing my characters just isn't worth it.