Specialist Stratagies

After the last set of changes, there was only one more; remove Vandalize for Battle Ready.

I didn't want to take out Vandalize; equipment is too useful to ignore. However, because of Bashing Shield and Enforcement Batons, I knew I had some answers. Utilities are still going to be a problem, but you solve that problem by KOing the character, right? More orange pips means that Supercharge becomes far more useful.

So with the list done, how do I approach games?

First: I usually transform Sludge and attack with Shockwave. Shockwave's stats are far superior to everyone else's and if I'm on the play, there's nothing for me to do anyway. So it's likely to get in a good hit, while being able to withstand a decent amount of damage.

This can change if I know I'm going up against a highly defensive deck but generally leading the attack with Shockwave is correct. Sludge gets transformed because opponents usually want to take it out quickly and getting the repair bonus is always helpful.

Now, turn two is where this deck starts to shine. That can even happen if you're going second! Because one can frequently engineer turns where you play Multi Mission Gear or Field Communicator to get a 'full' turn, playing multiple cards. Because Specialists play a game of incremental advantages, getting to take more actions in the early game can help give them an edge. They can't blow an opponent out; you have to look for weaknesses in the armor and capitalize on them. The sooner, the better!

Similarly, don't be afraid to use up Repair Bay on just one character. Incremental advantages, remember? Plus, those orange pips don't do you any good sitting in your hand.

Swoop usually bats cleanup and is definitely the weakest link in the deck so far. Generally, it's great to put a Grenade Launcher on him but any equipment is helpful, even Multi-Mission Gear for defense and a bonus action. And if he's carrying the full load of utilities, Battle Ready means Swoop has a bigger bonus to attack than Grenade Launcher, getting +3 from the utilities, plus +1s from both Field Communicator and Multi-Tool.

If Swoop survives, though, using the alt mode ability to repair and ping for one isn't bad, especially since on the next attack, that will also repair a second point of damage.

Similarly, I have found it useful to play carefully so I have opportunities to use Shockwave's bot mode ability with System Reboot. This can frequently hit for three points of damage but against a deck trying to use a lot of draw, like Bombshell, Psy-Ops might, you could KO someone.

If you get the chance to untap with the full suite of characters, I've found that I'm usually in a better position than I think. Swoop often tempts opponents to go after it but all three characters can do quite a bit and if one character is gone, the other two can still close a game. It's a pretty balanced roster, at least for now.

The updated decklist is:

Characters:
Sludge/Mighty Stomper 8 stars   
Shockwave/Cyberton Commander 11 stars   
Swoop/Fearsome Flyer 6 stars

Actions:
Pep Talk 2
Treasure Hunt 2
System Reboot 2
Supercharge 2
Repair Bay 2
Battle Ready 2Zap 2
Brainstorm 3
Surprise Attack 1

Equipment:
Bashing Shield 1
Equipment Enthusiast 2
Improvised Shield 1
Grenade Launcher 2
Data Pad 1
Multi-Tool 3
Field Communicator 3
Leap Into Battle 3
Multi-Mission Gear 3
Scrapper Gauntlets 1
Spare Parts 1
Enforcement Batons 1