Zero is a pile!

  This past month we here at VectorSigma.info hosted our first inaugural Alpha Trion Championship and there were all sorts of decks presented that had intriguing options and decision points made with them that left most wondering why this why that? Today id like to discuss potentially my favorite list of the 16 entered in the event, at this time of writing this it’s one of the 2 decks in the finals, and that list is “Sky Ceptor”.

  In the field for the ATC the number of players who chose to play blue were extremely limited, but this deck was able find its way into the finals of the event. there are cards in here that show there was some pinpoint choices made and a true guess of a meta prediction gone right.

First and foremost, Perceptor was far from the most played character in the event of the 4 players that added him to their deck list 2 made it through their brackets 3-0, one of which is the deck in question here. What makes this deck click? Is it the 15 ones of? Is it the 2 Reflect Damage? Or was it the mixed pip fashion of it all. There is just so much about this unfortunate 41 cards (should be 40 sir, should be 40) that Thomas Jempty registered. Let’s take an in-depth breakdown of why it worked for him and what we can do to maybe even make the deck more efficient (spoiler step one play 40 cards).

The One Of’s

  15 one ofs in the deck some are great some are interesting, and some should be on the chopping block. Let us start with the upgrades. 

Bashing Shield

Reflex Circuits

Sparing Gear

W-5 Gyro Blaster

Staggering Might

Armed Hovercraft

So I believe 4 of these cards are likely a main stay (at least for now), the Sparing Gear doesn’t seem all to fit for this meta, and I think moving to a Sturdy Armor or a second copy of Reflex Circuits, as powerful as the Sturdy may be having more armor to also throw on Sky Shadow pieces may be worth the thought. Staggering Might in my honest opinion has been the worst card in the deck potentially, not that it wasn’t effective in certain games I just think it could have been a more powerful upgrade all around. The period during the game for you to get full use of it, likely you will have a one turn window for that card to even possibly important. Where just playing a third copy of Sturdy Javelin gives you so many more options. Armed Hovercraft depends on pip counts could be raided to 2 and there may be opportunity to either get rid of the W-5 Gyro Blaster or move it to the board. Outside of the Bold from Sky Shadow and Fight for Position I am not sure how much other bold your going to see. And with the addition of Belligerence using it to remove Tough also does not seem necessary. 

Now let’s look at the Actions

Brainstorm

Counter Espionage

Heavy-Handed

Hold the Line 

Reprocess

Spymasters Ruse

Stable Cover

Take Cover

The Bigger They Are

Some of these are auto includes for most list (specifically in the Wave 5 Meta-Game) others are very intriguing cards to say the lease. At first glance the Heavy-Handed sticks out like a sore thumb, however throughout the event this card to have some very big interactions. Anytime a Brainstorm was played it was normally one of two things, the first it consisted of a Secret Action and a Peace Through Tyranny,  the other was a Peace Through Tyranny  and a Heavy-Handed and that Heavy-Handed­  most of the time was used to Give Sky Shadow  a staggering Pierce 8!Now some of the remaining one ofs here may be replaceable or interchangeable but I think everyone of them has a place in the 50-card list. The Importance of “One ofs” in this list is crucial to the overall theme of Perceptor, choose what you lose too. 15 one ofs grants a Plethora of different potential flips that can be seen by an opponent. with so many of these cards be vitally important in all sorts of different points of the game. Also note the only person that 100% knows your Complete 50 card list, is you. Use that information against your opponent. When molding a Perceptor deck always think that most of your cards now basically have a Green icon. So, it can allow for you to play cards you hadn’t thought of before.

 As I look up a down this Deck list, I see so much of a true adaptation to the meta, and it was done off extraordinarily little information which makes it even more impressive. Going into an assumed meta of Sky Shadow playing a strong Auto-bot main you need to have ways to protect that character. This deck presents multiple ways of doing this, but none clearer then Reflect Damage and Take Cover. Reflect Damage was a card I had been extremely high on since early in the reveal season. However, when Spy Masters Ruse was revealed that was the security I needed to know this card has a ton of potential. What I believe has not been stated well enough is this card can just be a Bolt of Lightning when you want it to be. You can plan out turns where you are actively going to KO an opposing Sky Shadow force them to combine and the Reflect back at them. So, you get to KO a character and then protect your key character putting yourself ahead in damage most of the time. At worst your reflecting a Horribull Damage back at something and honestly that may seem small but the Horribull List plays turns precisely to deal damage very strategically so when your able to throw that off even once, it could end up with one of your characters living longer then anticipated. The mere inclusion of it, it yet but another threatening card for your opponents to worry about. I know many assumed Hold the Line would be the premiere secret action of choice, but I would be packing Reflect Damage a lot more often in this meta. 

It’s a control deck. No, it’s an aggro deck. Maybe it’s both?

This list feature 8 Orange cards, questionably 8 of the “Best” orange cards in the game from Bashing Shield to Peace Through Tyranny these cards read “impact now”. Scott referred to this deck as a “Good Cards Deck”, and I must agree with him. But these 8 cards truly set up the foundation of what the deck is capable of. Were a control deck using PTT which has never really been successfully done before. There have been plenty of “aggro” decks in the past to use Security Checkpoint (Origins 2019 had multiple finishes in the Top 8s throughout the weekend with Checkpoint Sentinels). Jempty played a ton of games on camera.  Although I didn’t agree with every PTT he played and then how he handled the card/turn after it that been played, this doesn’t take away from this deck being an incredible deck to use PTT in. There is a very good chance that when played properly you will get all four attacks out of your Sky Shadow pieces, and almost certainly control when you combine. Perceptor allows for so much advantage that whenever you flip over any number of certain cards in the deck it creates difficult decisions for you opponents (that’s the point of the character) and most of the time they very likely should be putting the piles as four and ZERO (yes Jempty Zero is a pile. PEW PEW) Grenade launcher, Energon Axe, Peace Through Tyranny, Showing Off, on occasion Belligerence can also be classified as one of those cards. Three of those cards are orange pieces Jempty chose to play and all were impactful out of his bracket. 

This deck is what “control” has to look like now in order to succeed (at least in this early meta) you can not just sit back and rely on defense to win the game, you need to be able to turn the dial when required. One of the all-time greats in wrestling stated that his matches would be so slowly paced and then SNAP he moved like lighting and hit a move know one in the building even thought he could. Control needs to be able to snap that finger when needed. Perceptor is a great facilitator for doing this. In an unknown or undiscovered meta being able to utilize the 40 cards in your deck is required and with this microscope he allows you to always have an outlet of acquiring non-Green cards at will. Will come to point when the meta settles and you’ll be able to lower these to just the best cards needed in multiples, but for now with so many things to explore and to expect playing a wider variety of options is what I’m most comfortable with. 

I’ve seen many players take cracks at the best use of Perceptor, I believe this deck should be a starting point for his strategy across the board. Is this the best 40 card deck? Well no, its 41 cards deep and there are cards that even Jempty himself said he wanted to make changes after his first match. But for anyone truly wanting to explore the potential of this Wrecker, I don’t think there is a better list posted to utilize for information.

Congratulations to Jempty on his finish in the event. He did Perceptor proud. This Deck will be a threat in the meta for some time to come, and I look forward to the next Alpha Trion Tournament Tier Constructed event to see if anyone else can enhance this concept.

Until next time everyone 

Auto-Bots Roll-Out (I guess we can now have a Decepticon also be an Auto-Bot so they can Roll-Out as-well) 

Dan Arnold – Your Current Energon Invitational Champion and Creator of Perceptor Precise Sniper