Low Flying Jets

Alright, let's finish this up. Sorry for all the delays-things have been, uh...well let's just admit there's a lot going on.

So it turns out, three Escape Route is too many. Because Starscream draws so much attention, I can confidently use Escape Route once and if I'm smart and lucky, twice.

But that third time means that something has gone very wrong for my opponent and I'm winning anyway. What is most likely to happen is that I'm going to draw or have the third copy available and Starscream will be dead.

So, two copies of that seems to be correct.

Now, I don't know that Starscream and the Raiders can hang with the best of 'em. I've been playing this deck against a decent range of stuff but there's been a lot of prototype decks, ideas in evolution, that sort of thing and that just doesn't give me the same kind of data that practicing against Bugs or OPBL decks might.

That said, I've done well against those prototype decks, so maybe call this one a Tier 1.5? Good but  not great, and with skillful play and smart sideboard options, a winner. (Although I am not sure how one sideboards this deck.)

I have heard some rumblings about how Tripwire is going to be the end of patrol decks like this but I don't buy that argument.

It's true that Tripwire is a good card and its stock goes up against the 4-5 wide decks. But they still have to draw it and then have to decide that it's the most important action they can take. I will take those odds.

Final listing:

1x Starscream - Air Commander
1x Raider Nightflight - Air Strike Patrol Spy
1x Raider Tailwind - Air Strike Patrol, Strategist
1x Raider Visper - Infantry, Patrol Leader Deck

2x Reprocess
3x Head-on Collision
3x Cooling Vents
2x Repair Bay
3x Improvised Shield
3x Reactive Armor
3x Aerial Recon
3x Bombing Run
2x Dismantling Claw
3x Inspiring Leadership
3x New Orders
1x Personal Targeting Drone
3x Force Field
2x Disassemble
2x Sharpened Talons
2x Escape Route

The Suggestion Box

After a few games this weekend, Jason gave me a few suggestions. We had a long chat about this, because balancing the tension between the cards and the pip requirements is a challenge. The green cards don't add to anything Starscream does but I need them to keep the ASP in business.

Jason pointed out how much damage I was getting off of Starscream's flips, in one game getting six damage from flips alone and suggested Rapid Conversion and Escape Route.

Rapid Conversion seems less useful: I really only want to funnel my transformations into Starscream and there's no way to reliably ensure that I'll draw it. Escape Route, as a one of though? That I can get behind. So long as I have an active Starscream it's likely useful and when I don't, it's a white and green pip to add to the Air Strike Patrol attacks or defense. It has the potential to do a lot of work in this deck and maybe even worth adding a second?

I'm so used to just adding in three copies of any effect that I need that trying to come up with the best configuration is a challenge. What's become very clear, however, is that adding 3x cards with green pips is not always going to be correct. In the case of Espionage, sure, because the build of the deck is going to skew towards use of discard effects, either via Major Shockwave or other battle cards.

But that isn't necessarily true of Enforcement Batons or Bashing Shield and that's the stage I'm at right now.

As I Say

I'm fairly sure that 'irony' doesn't apply here but it's certainly something that the day I make the statement

"Now, the upside is that the flip economy is concentrated mostly on Starscream. The level of complication is kept to a minimum but that doesn't mean I can let my attention lapse,"

I do just that.

In two of the three games I played with Jason, I skipped a transform with Starscream and in at least one of those two games, it would have changed the outcome from a loss to a win. The third game I can't be assured of a win, but missing three damage is a big deal.

Part of it is about practice; Both with the deck and with the pause, to make sure I'm taking one last consideration before acting. It takes a little practice because I've been Magic for so long that I'm used to being able to take actions after an attack, because you can still take actions after you do so.

In Transformers, once you attack, your turn is over. Which means that in Magic the strategy is that you want to hold everything back until the last moment-including, potentially your opponent's turn. In Transformers you want to stage everything correctly before an attack, trying to project which attacks will be the most effective, because you're locked in once that happens.

It's a long way of saying: I am making a habitual mistake carried over from another game entirely.

Better keep practicing.

Seekers

This started off as a "classic" Seekers deck, with Thundercracker and Skywarp, but the thematic elements of each of those characters all went in different directions.

So I thought that instead, it would be neat to have Starscream lead his own army of planes, doing chip damage with his flips, with the Air Strike Patrol swings in for extra damage with green pips.

Starscream 11*
Raider Visper 5*
Raider Tailwind 5*
Raider Nightflight 4*
Head-On Collision 3
Cooling Vents 2
Repair Bay 3
Improvised Shield 3
Reactive Armor 2
Aerial Recon 3
Smelt 3
Bombing Run 2
Dismantling Claw 3
Inspiring Leadership 2
New Orders 3
Frag Toss 2
Personal Targeting Drone 2
Force Field 2
HV Electron Breacher 3
Reprocess 2

The hope is to send Starscream Air Commander in first, using it's Bold 2 effect to get a solid hit in on an important character, then use Cooling Vents, Repair Bay and Reprocess to keep it alive long enough to get in multiple flips for damage, while attacking for 5+ with the Air Strike patrol. A Starscream flipping for 3 damage every other turn is a Bolt of Lightning on the regular and that's pretty good. In addition, sending one of the Air Strike Patrol in to take some damage means that Bombing Run can do quite a bit for you.

However, I don't want to pass up the greatness that Raider Tailwind can provide, attacking for base 5 with a defense of base 3 in the late game. Remembering that is a tool to use can be critical to close a game.

With Titan Masters coming out soon, and already testable online, cards like Sharpened Talons, Regenerative Core and High Five might but worth considering to help increase the density of green pips.

As it is, the Seekers deck seems to require savvy play to use your actions and upgrades for maximum impact. Dismantling Claw being scrapped by Reprocess to heal two and take out your opponent's best weapon is a heck of a move and this deck can help you pull it off.

I'll be getting some games in this week to tweak and improve it.