Siege 1 And Sealed

My buddy Jason came down last weekend and we went through two boxes, playing nothing but sealed over two days.

Our conclusion: Turbo Sealed is an anemic format for experienced players. It works but it doesn't show off how great the game is. For new players, however, the format is helpful because the complexity is low enough that new people won't be overwhelmed. If you're an experienced player though, it feels as though you don't have enough choices to make the games engaging.

Here's how we think you should play Sealed in Siege 1: Each player gets 3 packs and builds the best 25 star character team they can. Ignore the star value of your battle cards. You're playing with all of them.

You can effectively ignore the star value on your cards for two reasons: first, some of them, such as Ultra Magnus' armor, are difficult to play to begin with, due to restrictions of who it can be on, and the number in your deck, almost certainly just one. Which leads to the second reason:

Second; sealed inherently has issues with power levels and people occasionally get busted packs. We accept this as just part of the game: if Jason opens a General Optimus Prime and I open two Sargent Skrapnel, (which I did) you can probably guess how the game is going to go.

But that isn't certain: it's just really good for him. If we buy into that, then why bicker over the star count in sealed, which has players doing the best they can with random elements?

So don't: the games will feel more robust and sure, there will still be dead cards, but the improvement in gameplay will make up for it.

War for Cybertron: Siege 1 Thoughts

Here's a link to a setlist that you can manipulate to see specific factions/battle cards.

The Decepticons

Everyone was waiting for Soundwave and it looks pretty dang cool. How successful the spy patrols are will be what buoys Soundwave to a deck, but at 11 stars, there should be more than enough space to pair him up well.

I really want to like General Megatron but I'm reluctant to go there, since I'm just not sure how many weapons will actually be on the battlefield at any given moment and loading Megatron up seems like putting all your eggs in one basket.

The Runamuck/Runabout synergy looks like a lot of fun and the new Flamecon tribe for the Decepticons that's pure aggro to give the Insects a run for the money is good. Overall the Decepticons seem to get a greater emphasis on upgrades all around. Hopefully this makes for some new decks and strategies.

There's also a collection of 'glory of cool things' and that is harder to appreciate; tap for effect in this game feels really weird, since attacking is your only win condition. Why are we taking away our damage sources for something that isn't reliably forwarding a win condition?

For example: I could either attack with Raider Road Hugger for 3+ whatever orange I get or I can tap it to give +3 attack to something else + whatever orange I get-and I lose a card AND an attack step.

How is that a deal?

Now, as bodies to add to other character teams, shoring up a weakness, adding a tiny bit of damage-or absorbing it- these characters matter. But they seem very narrow and difficult to use to their best potential.

Maybe that will change in upcoming sets.

Autobots:

A playable Ironhide? Well, I never!

It will be really interesting to see how the mechanics of Ratchet and Trailblazer pan out; they are thematic but I don't know that they're good.

I do like the Battle Masters though; how successful they are, again, I'm not sure. The incremental advantage that an attack + a heavy duty weapon can provide is something to get excited about, I think! These could be especially effective as support for a character like Omega Supreme (again).

They also can draw attacks towards other characters; if I have the option to not kill a character that becomes a giant gun for another character, I'd  probably think about it. The strategic decision making goes up, and I believe that's a positive.

Battle Cards:

The Black icon is an interesting addition-again one that plays up incremental advantages, giving any attack at least one point of damage if the black icon flips. I think this will help keep games moving, even against heavy control builds and that's definitely in the spirit of what this game is doing.

But I think the big news is the Secret Actions and what kind of dynamic that will add to the game. Nothing so far looks like a blowout event, but I'm glad the game has enough room for that kind of interaction. The limiting factor in Transformers is the inability to do anything on your opponent's turn; they can see what you've done and nothing is a surprise.

Secret Actions will add more dynamic gameplay and I believe it does so without seriously compromising the way the game feels or is paced. That's some impressive stuff.

I think the EM24 IR Laser Launcher is going to be a bigger deal than expected, and while I don't know if any of the niche cards for trucks (Battering Ram), spaceships (Unconventional Flying Object), or motorcycles (Pop-a-Wheelie) will be enough to make the tribal effects worthwhile, I'm glad to see the support. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised!

My one complaint is about the black battle icons. Unfortunately, they blend in too well with the background of the card and are extremely difficult for me to identify-either when I had or flipped them or when my opponent did. I hope they can address this in the future-I asked about it, and they said they'd pass it up the line so here's to hoping!

Siege I

Woo-hoo, there's a third Transformers set coming!

Initial thoughts;

1) The Battle Masters are a pretty cool trick. Their size is understandable, since they become equipment and while that does take away from the cards you get, making sealed deck a little more challenging, the versatility may make up for it.

2) The Micro Masters are silly. The ONE instantly cool gimmick about the game (big transforming cards!) and they've just said 'yeah, but we never had to do that'. The tap abilities aren't a revelation (so far) and they take up a lot of stars from decks that want to send giant robots in to smash each other.

3) There will finally be a Soundwave card and people can quit complaining. About that.

4) There is a new action type that will allow for players to (occasionally, at least) take actions on their opponent's turn. This was bound to happen, because the options for engaging gameplay by incorporating actions you can take on your opponent's turn is too deep to ignore.

But so far, so good!