Skittles

"Grenade Launcher isn't a common," my opponent said during testing.

Why sure it i-oh no. No it is not.

So that happened.

Fortunately, since this happened during testing and I didn't have to worry about having an illegal deck at the tournament. I tested with Crowbar but I wasn't entirely happy with that. Not unhappy but it's no Grenade Launcher.

So after a few more adjustments, this is what I went with:

Upgrades
3 Escape Plan
2 Kinetic Intensifier Whip
3 Improvised Shield
2 Basic Combat Protocol
3 Enforcement Batons
2 Erratic Lightning
1 Bashing Shield
2 Kinetic Converter

Actions
Repurpose 3
Ready For Action  2
Frag Toss 2
Head-On Collision 2
Defensive Formation 2
Battlefield Report 2
Brainstorm 3
Leap Into Battle 3
Escape Plan 3
Surprise Attack 3
Swindled 3

And I went 1-3.

First things first: I had a lot of fun in the games I played and I very much have a notion where to take this in the future. Just because I lost, doesn't mean I didn't have a good time! I learned a bunch and that is the most important thing.

Round One:
I was facing 5-wide team lead by Captain Impactor, with a heavy emphasis on bold. Game one I got run over. Game two I was able to stabilize but when even Private Tote is attacking for 11, that's just trouble.

Round Two:
I was facing a Dreadwing deck, supported by Bombshell! That was super cool and the matches were quite grindy, both of us eking out damage against the other. But I was able to hold off Dreadwing and eventually get the win. It was in this game that I was able to do things like one-shot Bombshell, something I couldn't do against the...not very defensive wide deck?

Sometimes, I do not understand this game.

Round Three:
This player was using Captain Astrotrain for damage and Sergeant Springer to draw a ton of cards. Against a two-tall team, I thought I had a shot, but I couldn't draw the cards I needed to heal, and I couldn't press any advantages. I figured out by game three that I had to take out Springer to keep the card engine from taking over, but the flips were not in my favor. Twice I flipped blues on attack, leaving my team vulnerable on the counterpunch-and leaving Springer with just one health left. One more orange pip and we untap with my two characters to his one but alas, that was not to be.

Round Four:
Another three wide team, this time using Optimus Prime-Freedom Fighter's innate bold ability to hit for a lot. Bold is a heck of a thing and it's helping me re-think how I build this deck. I was able to hit Optimus for eight in game two, letting me pull the victory out, but in game three I just couldn't get my deck going.

So what did I learn? In a big picture sense: I got distracted by shiny new cards (Reprocess, Defensive Formation) and forgot some basics that would've been a help. My biggest oversight was not including Forcefield in the deck, at least as a sideboard card. Bold attacks for 11 become a lot less scary when they hit for only four and I can heal one the next turn. But there were some specific things that I learned, too.

First: Repair Bay should've been in this deck, instead of cards with only black pips; as an orange card that heals the entire team, it fits perfectly. Second: I think I had too many white pips in this deck! Which is weird-the numbers say that generally one wants 9-11 white pip cards but I couldn't get consistent attacks and that might contribute. Third: more card draw (Incoming Transmission would've been fine) to assist Swindled could have helped, too. Finally, if there had been a way to incorporate New Designs, that would have been ideal. Card draw is huge (Kinetic Converter is excellent) but it needs to be followed up with pressure.

And that's it! Congrats to the winners and I'll have something better next time.