Written by Richard Wyatt
Making a Splash
Hello dear readers and spoilermongers alike! I have the pleasure and the privilege of being back here again typing to you all during that most wonderful time of the year: spoiler season. The Alpha Trion Protocols are out here still kicking and with that comes the revelation of new cards to add to the pool and new potential decks to dive into.
The card I’m going to be spoiling today has two personal attachments to me. The first is that one of my favorite movies of all time is the Princess Bride, a main character of which is the Dread Pirate Roberts. Well one of the cool things about the expansive Transformers IP is that it has weird little areas of overlap in its storytelling, for example: there is a Dread Pirate title that gets passed along from owner to successor to successor; there pirating just so happens to occur in space–which is much, much cooler than just oceans I think we all can agree.
The second of these personal attachments is actually that I reached out and had the art for this character commissioned leading up to working on the card over the course of ATP-7 development. Daniel Khanna, an incredible artist and the same one who completed our commission for Broadside, really made something beautiful for this guy. Okay enough of the flitting around, here’s the card.
Everyone, say hello to Captain Cannonball, Dread Pirate Scoundrel
Hoooooooooo buddy, ain’t she a beaut’? That bot mode has to be one of my favorites of all time, and who doesn’t love a good Mercenary card.? Let’s actually cover some of the juicy bits, though, shall we?
First of all, some of this card might be a teeny bit subject to final changes–so you can take some of this with a little grain of salt. But covering what’s there so far, we have a 10 star Mercenary. On his alt side, he’s a 4/2; on his bot side, he’s a 5/2. Those are fine, if a bit underwhelming of stats on their face. He’s also got 15 HP, which is pretty good for a 10-star.
The abilities we’re working with are a natural resilience to many rinky-dink attacks with his Alt mode “After this defends” trigger shaving off some damage. He can also be an interesting flip centerpiece for your line-up if you’re trying to aggressively complete a Mission Stratagem that relies on damage or if you’re really heavily focused on the new Plot Action card type that has been spoiled already as part of this set! On his bot side, he’s got a really interesting Bounty ability; this is where I actually think most of his value comes from as a character: his ability to interact. C’Ball has a uniquely powerful and trigger-able Bounty ability among Mercenaries. He gets this ability when you complete a Mission, deploy a character, or he KO’s a defender; that’s a ton of ways to get him going. But what does getting this Bounty going really do for us? Great question, reader. It allows us to out-tempo and value our opponent. The flexibility to hamper either a deck focused around Plot Actions while playing our own OR to slow down the development of Upgrades while playing our own is really interesting. The goal is to figure out what the best way to get that ability triggering early and often is, and what the decks might look like than can capitalize on both parts of it.
On his face, Cannonball here (or C’Ball, for short) is competing most directly with Doubledealer, although he adds you a different facet. One of the best things and worst things is how target Doubledealer is towards Legend mode metagames. C’Ball is a bit more of a proactive option. He looks to help you accelerate completing your Mission Stratagems and has a bonus against opposing wide teams–a la Devastator and his Constructo-gang.
The more broadly interactive nature of the character might mean that he is part of transformative sideboard plans where it makes sense to become more controlling against some strategies. He’s also a great option to consider should opposing Plot Action heavy decks become abundant.
Having his Bounty trigger on deploy is also interesting, as C’Ball might be better alongside Titan Master characters and heads than he is alongside Legend mode characters–although he’s likely to be paired with one or both. His Bounty trigger also might trigger on another kind of deployment that may or may not be being released as a part of ATP-7… But we’ll discuss that later.
Overall, C’Ball is an entirely unique character even in the 10-star Mercenary space. I can’t wait to see how the character ends up making a splash in the metagame upon release!
Until next time, y’all: Clear eyes, Flip bots, Can’t lose!
-Richard W
Written by Dan arnold
Spoilers ahead!
In the midst of this Spoiler season you have seen a ton of Plot support and cards that disrupt them, accelerate them, and even allow you to play them from your scrap pile. However, none of the plots revealed thus far truly on their own have the power to win you a game. So how are the Plot Theme decks going to power through opposing strategies ? Today we will see potentially the two most game altering Plot Action cards that will enable certain strategies to truly turn games upside down if given enough time to set up their big turns. Let’s start with our Ranged Plot Action first!
A well Designed Plan!
Foolproof Designs, is our Plot Action with a Blue Pip, that allows us to over the course of the game Ping down our targets. Enact 2 to do 2 damage and Enact 4 to do 3 more! 5 damage out of a single action is quite unheard of, but it does has some conditions that will have to be met. First and foremost this card needs to be around for 4 turns! Which means you have to get this Plot in play early to ensure you will even be around that long to begin with. You also must have a Ranged character in play to get the Enact 4 trigger, this gives Opponents alternate means of removing Foolproof Designs from the equation. This card is one of the more satisfying plots to be accelerated from many of the different means given in ATP-7!
A new way to spend your Stars?
Through the design of ATP 7 we knew we wanted at least one Plot Action that would be a Star card, we love adding more and more ways to spend your Stars, and this felt like an ideal way for Plot themed decks to utilize Heroic and Villainous Spotlight. With that I give you The Space Bridge! Another Orange Blue pipped Star Card to add to the collection but this one sure does offer you a bunch throughout the game. The Space Bridge immediately replaces itself with its Enact 1, then allows for an additional play on turn 2 and 3. Although its Enact 3 allows you to bring back a Plot Action you may have already once completed in the game when compared with a Foolproof Designs you have the ability to potentially do 10 DAMAGE in a game with a single Foolproof Designs!
ATP 7 is nearly fully spoiled!
ATP 7 is pushing a brand new Archetype into the game with Plot Actions, while doing so it is also reinventing decks of the past with a new potential spin. Enjoy the remainder of Spoiler season, lots of old Friends are to reappear in the coming days to Spoil new cards!
Time to sieze the moment
Written by Drew
ATP-7 has introduced a new type of Action to Transformers TCG...the Plot Action. For those of you who don’t know how these work, it’s simple – Plot Actions are played to your side of the battlefield and remain in play, even after your turn has ended. At the beginning of your subsequent turns, you will do 1 damage to any of your Plot Actions in play. When you do the damage, you will then follow the Enact instructions on the card for the amount of damage accumulated.
With any new game mechanic comes the need to interact with it. I give you Seize the Moment. This card shines against Plot Actions, especially if you have a Melee character in your lineup. The green pip ensures that you have access to it without having to draw it, which is fantastic because if your opponent is left unchecked with a Plot Action or two in play you’re gonna have a bad time. You heard it here first - staple card!
Written by Jason
Welcome! Welcome! to more ATP-7 spoilers! This set introduces Plot Actions as well as upgrades which complement the new gameplay.
The way plots work is that they are actions that stay on the battlefield after turn. Each turn you get to “enact” it which is to add another counter to it. As the enact counter grows you are able to work off the card text.
The first card we have today is Anointed Blade:
- This card gives 1 attack and bold one as well as allows you to move a damage to push your plot enactments.
- You even have a choice to move a damage to an enemy which is very important especially if you miss a KO by 1.
- The common rarity allows for junkion play.
The second card we have today is Fortified Hide:
- This card has a blue battle icon as well as gives tough 1. This is definitely a help to survivability for plot-centric decks.
- Similar to Anointed Blade the allows you to do a damage to an enemy or plot action in play
- Anointed Blade and Fortified Hide are both common rarity for the junkion format and should work well together.
These upgrades will allow a deck to fully support the plot action archetype. It will be exciting to see what combo decks people come up with in ATP-7.
Bonus Spoiler!
Dare to Dream is a card were so very excited to bring to the game!
1. It's Choose two Functionality means the card can be different every time you play it.
2. The card also aids in the fear of not seeing our plots early enough in games to make an impact.
3. Most importantly, the option of playing a plot and doing 1 damage it is a great accelerator for Plot Decks.
Dream big with this staple for plot decks!
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