Hello all,

I've been really enjoying collecting this game, but I'm approaching something like 1800 total battle cards. Can anyone offer me some kind of guideline they follow as to how many cards one should have to make playing easier and versatile?

Basically, I want to know how much of each individual battle card I should keep.

 

I keep all commons and uncommons in card boxes separated by set and rarity to make things easier when building decks. Rares I keep a minimum of three each in binders. Rares that are used often like I still function, espionage, peace through tyranny, the bigger they are, energon ax,etc I keep a minimum of six. I don’t like to have to continually swap cards between decks or use proxies when playtesting.

 

I tend to follow the rule of 6 (not counting what I have for the collection). This way I can have sufficient # of cards to put in at least 2 different decks. All else are extras and I tend to put in the trade/sale box/binder.

 

Yeah, a box for multiple commons and uncommons would be a very good solution. Especially with the ones like Force Field, so you do not have to take it out of your binder(s) all the time you want to build a new deck.

So I personally intend to keep all my cards. That might change if I reach a certain number on certain common cards. On the other hand - I used my entire set of duplicate common and uncommon cards from wave one to replicate a complete Starter & a complete Metroplex deck (minus the exclusive Metroplex Battle Cards, which I bought on ebay). There mighty be some form of resell value here if you can find someone how might be interested in testing the game.

 

I maintain a dozen or so decks at all times. Suffice it to say this sometimes requires 15+ of certain staple cards.

 

I keep three of each, then give away the rest to new players.

 

I've noticed the Starter sets seem to have approximately three of Each Card so I'm just going off that.

I know there's not really a set a set limit on how many Battle Cards you can have in a deck or how many of each individual card you can put in a deck but I think three of each in a 40 card deck seems to work pretty well. Although 40 really isn't divisible by 3... so you can't have EXACTLY three of each in a deck but the average for most of the cards seems to be 3 and a couple sets of four just to round things off...

Although because of that Green Pip allowing you to keep the card in your hand after you flip it I kinda feel it's a little bit too easy to get the Enigma cards. I would of gone right past it and had to wait for another to come up if it wasn't for the fact that even if you flip it during an attack you can just put it in your hand instead of discarding. I might try to put some more useful cards in my Constructicon Deck and discard two of the Enigmas. I just kinda feel like there only really needs to be one and you're guaranteed to get it whenever it comes up so why bother increasing the odds with three of them when it's impossible to pass the thing?

 

Three of each go into a binder. I keep useful commons and uncommon handy. Anything extra gets thrown in a zip lock and donated with any extra unwanted character cards. Commons basically have not vAlue so need to hold them outside the ones showing regularly in decklists.

 

Okay... now I have opend 3 displays of Wave 1 and Wave 2 in total... That was a very.. productive.. weekend ^^ (so many cards....)

As far as collecting goes... I decided I want to keep 13 of each common/uncommon Battle card. I keep 3 playsets (or 9) of each in a binder with the Character Cards (sidenote: I want to collect 3 of each, except SR, 2 should be enough here). The other 4 cards I put in one of the licensed Ultra Pro binders.

 

After acquiring the entire collection from another ex-player, I decided to keep 18 of the common/uncommon Battle cards. Should be enough... for sure... I guess... for the moment...

Let's just say I am 80% sure about this, not keeping more of each. Especially knowing that WotC might recycle some cards in the future (with new artwork as a collectors bonus).

 

The enigmas have extra abilities than simply allowing you to combine your cards. The Aerialbot enigma causes 1 damage to each enemy if Superion is already formed.

For Devastator you can repair one damage and put a height counter on your tower... whatever that is.

The extra enigmas can be useful and you shouldn't need to wish to be able to pass them due to the extra ability.

The rules state only three maximum of each uniquely named battle card in a deck.

 

I wouldn't drop down to one Enigma. Constructicons by themselves are inherently weak. Combining into Devy is where it's at. Also, it is imperative that you get that height tower as close to or at 10. Not only do you heal a lot when combining, but also max out Devy's bonus. Lastly, apparently you haven't been on the receiving end of Espionage. You play just 1 Engima and they Espionage it --- game over. Having at least 2 will grant a 2nd chance to retrieve it if it comes up at an inconvenient time, if it gets ganked out of your hand (Espionage), and if your tower is below 10 (which will also grant you a minor heal).

So far the only combiner deck that I've seen do well with only 1 Enigma has been Sentinels as they are the only team that doesn't need to combine as a comeback mechanic.

The Tower is an additional mechanic you keep track of unique to playing Constructicons. The tower builds up as certain conditions are met. When the tower reaches certain thresholds, it allows certain other cards to be more effective or do something greater. It also unlocks certain abilities on Devastator based on how many counters the Tower has as well as heal Devastator when he combines.

 

There is an exception with Starred Battle Cards. The number of copies you may have depends on the # of stars you have available to reach the 25 star recruitment cap. If your team of characters is 24 stars, you may only play 1 copy of a Starred Battle Card. If your team of characters is 23 stars, you may play only 2 copies, etc.

 

The damage counters actually double as tower counters. And the height of your tower effects how much Damage Devastator is able to do. However there are other ways to build the tower... like every time you attack you get to add a counter to the tower. Anything passed 10 is kinda pointless as that's really the highest it can go anyway so that doesn't really help anyway and Devastator's life is so high anyway that there isn't really a need to heal... plus one point is kinda worthless.

There's also the fact that with as many times as you can go through the deck in a game that you'd pick up the card again anyway even if you only have one.

I didn't say I would wish to pass them. But the extra effect is kinda worthless... at least for Devastator specifically... and the only reason I would want multiples is to increase the odds of getting the card... but it's impossible not to pick it up so there's no need for multiples.

Of course I want to be able to get the card to form Devastator. I just wish it wasn't so easy to get it in my hand. The ability to pick it up at any point during the game rather than randomly drawing the card just kinda feels like a cheat.

Um... while I tend to do this anyway just because the prebuilt decks are made that way... I have not seen any rule saying custom decks have to be built that way.

The prebuilt decks also have a limit of 40 battle cards in total and while that's the recommended amount the rules actually state that you can have any number of battle cards you want. So you could have less cards or more cards in your deck if you wanted to. It's not recommended but the number limit is only there as a suggestion for the best results.

Yes but you seem to have missed my point about how easy it is to combine into Devastator.

You have to start the game with all the Constructicons in Vehicle mode. Every Constructicon has to be in robot mode before you can play the Enigma card. The thing is you are guaranteed to already have that Enigma Card in your hand before you even meet the requirement to have everyone in robot mode. You're guaranteed to form Devastator even if you only have one Enigma card in your deck. So the other cards are unnecessary. The only reason you would want multiples in a deck is to increase the odds of pulling that card but when you can instantly pick it up at any point during the game there is no need to increase the odds of pulling that card since it's impossible that you won't get it.

You want multiples or a green pip but having both is essentially meaningless. The whole reason for multiples is so if you pass the card you need while flipping to attack you still have extra's in the deck that you can draw. But with that green pip you can just pick it up as you're flipping cards. It's essentially the ability to look through your deck and pull out the exact card you need instead of it being a random draw. You don't need multiples to increase the odds when you're already guaranteed to begin with. You can't increase the odds from 100%

Without that green pip the odds of pulling a specific card are the number of that card in the deck out of the number of total cards in the deck. If you only have 1 in a 40 card deck the odds are 1/40 if you put 3 in then the odds are 3/40. You can clearly see that the more copies of a card you have in the deck the better the chance of drawing that card is.

However with the green pip since you would be flipping cards to attack and then have the ability to pick up any card with a green pip you're looking through cards and choosing which ones you want rather than drawing them. You draw a card at the start of each turn and you're going to flip at least 2 cards while attacking. You're also going to flip at least 2 cards while defending. That's a minimum of 5 cards you're going to be looking at every turn and that's not including bonus you can get from flipping a white or abilities of your characters. So in 8 turns maximum you will have the Enigma card and this is assuming that it is on the bottom of your deck and you some how only flip the 5 card minimum every turn. On average you'll end up picking up the Enigma card by your 4th turn while two Constructions are still in vehicle mode and you'll still have to wait another two turns before you can actually play it. Hence there isn't a need to have 3 of them as this is going to be the case no matter how many enigmas you have in your deck you will always pick one up in approximately four turns.

Well so far I've only played with the cards I own as I don't know anyone who has their own deck... and I don't own an Espionage card... at least I don't think I do it's been a while since I've looked at my cards.

Yup and as I already mentioned you can add a height counter every time Devastator attacks so I've had no issues building to 10 without ever playing another Enigma card.

 

I didn't miss your point. Alas, combining a combiner is not as easy as you make it out as one still has to deal with drawing the card. Having more than one in the deck increases the odds of you drawing it, retrieving it at a later time if it flips at an inconvenient time, or it gets removed from your hand.

Gotta say, regrading it being meaningless, I disagree with you here too. Multiples of a card increases the chances of draw it. Green pips makes it so said card can be retrieved during battle flips. They are both equally important. More importantly, specific green pip cards that one absolutely needs to have in hand one must play more than 1 of or run the high risk it getting removed from your hand due to not accounting for cards that get rid of cards from your hands (Disruptive Entrance, Espionage, W3 Shockwave and/or his specific weapon). To think that those cards will not affect you is going to be a heck of an awakening  

I do not know how fierce the competitive level is in your area, but around here it's pretty up there (and those are the "fun" decks). The tournament decks are just brutal. Hand removal is very common.

You will not get your tower to 10 on your own every game. Some times you don't get a chance to pitch that card to raise the tower. Or you're on the receiving end of W1 Grimlock or W2 Steamroll that kills off two of your characters. That's one less card you can pitch towards building the tower. The enigma helps towards still building that post combine.

 

Still seems like you did considering you go on to say this.

This is true if you actually had to draw the card at random which I just explained. But you don't have to draw the card at random so having more than one in your deck actually does nothing.

As I pointed out before, unless you only flip the minimum of 5 cards per turn and the card is at the very bottom of your deck which is very unlikely then retrieving it at a later inconvenient time is actually very unlikely. With as many times as you go through a deck in a game you're guaranteed to pick it up in approximately four turns.

Heck playing with three in the deck I was holding onto two of them before I could even use one. That is way too easy to form one of the most powerful characters in the game. There should be some kind of challenge to getting your combiner formed otherwise it kinda feels unbeatable. (unless you're playing against another combiner or similarly powerful character like Metroplex.)

Again only when it doesn't had a green pip. Those things let you pick up the card at any point in the game so long as you discard something from your hand. The green pips make having multiples meaningless.

Having multiples in your hand only increases the odds if there's a chance that it might be discarded while flipping. This chance is removed when it has a green pip.

That's my point. This makes it impossible to pass the card up while flipping and guarantees that you're going to retrieve it.

Um... are you even reading my posts? You should know the answer to that one considering I already told you in my last reply.

What are you even talking about? You know you can still form Devastator even if some of your Constructicons are dead right? In fact with some combiners you actually have to start the game with some of the characters being dead because of the 25 star limit. There's no way you can start with the full team when they exceed 25 stars. I've had half of my Constructicons killed before even forming Devastator so having 2 killed is not going to stop you from building your tower.

 

1) Actually, you can only retrieve cards with green pips when resolving an attack on offense or defense and it was one of the cards flipped. You can NOT retrieve a green pip card from the scrap pile if you discarded it to an effect played by yourself or your opponent.

2) All 6 Constructicons equal 25 stars exactly so you can play 6 wide with the whole team unlike Sentinels or Dinobots. You are correct that you can lose a Constructicon or 2 & still form Devastator. In fact, having a Constructicon KO'd puts a token on your tower per Scrapper's Bot mode ability.

 

https://media.wpn.wizards.com/attachements/transformers_tcg_basic_rules.pdf

Wizards and the Hasbro TF TCG companion app both have the rules in PDF form. So yes you are limited to only three of each uniquely named card.

And just so we're clear check the Advanced Rules page in that PDF.

Honest question: have you looked into the game much beyond your starter set?

 

I can safely say our game experiences are vastly different.

If you mean during battles, the minimum flip per character is 2, not 5. You're only bringing up scenarios where you're just losing the card via flips. There are more ways to lose it than battle flips. You have yet to be on the receiving end of hand removal an the day you do, you'll full understand what I am talking about. Also, unless you're using a ton of Bold or Tough to go through your deck, you're not going to get it to recycle back as often as you're making it out to be. Playing only one Constructicon Enigma will cost you. But don't take my word for it. Just wait till that day comes and you face it.

Incorrect. You can only swap out a card from your hand for a green pip card after battle flips are resolved. One cannot swap out for green pip cards anytime before or after that.

For someone getting on my case about not reading ... I digress.

Never did I mention about not forming Devastator. I'm fully aware one can still combine them with dead members. My point in that sentence was building the tower to 10 prior combining - you're not always going to get that chance due to how fragile the Constructicons are on their own. Using the Enigma grants a means to do so post combine. Here's another scenario to present to you - How do you cope when Scrapper is killed off before you get to transform your 3rd Constructicon? Which, btw, can easily happen with all the direct damage and certain characters that can attack untapped characters. How are you tower building then?

With as fragile as they are, odds are you'll lose more than 2 Constructicons.

 

You're right… never noticed that there before.

Sets... I've picked out every starter set that's been released so far except the Soundwave vs. Blaster set. Haven't had a chance to get that one yet.

You draw 1 card at the beginning of your turn. Flip 2 cards when you attack. And flip 2 cards while defending. Hench a minimum of 5 cards every turn. You can also pick up green pip cards on your opponent's turn after defending which is why I'm including it here.

It's technically 3 cards on your own turn and 2 on the opponent's turn. Still that's four extra chances you have to pick up that card that you normally would not have if that green pip wasn't there.

Well you forgot about white pips for one. If you get one on your first flip that's another two cards you get to flip automatically. That only counts once though. Some characters have bold or tough on them as a special ability. There are upgrades you can play that increase the amount of bold or tough you can use. So yeah it's entirely possible to go through your entire deck two or three times in a game. I've heard about some people even doing more than that... like the people who actually know how to build good custom decks. I don't think I'm one of those people... I mean I get the basics... some cards work for specific characters or types of characters and I always include those cards but the more generic ones that anyone can use I have really figured out the best way to utilize them yet.

So then how was I incorrect? That's the same thing I said in the first place. *Rereading my own post* OK I see the problem now. I neglected to mention the bit about swapping the card after the flips are resolved. I thought I said that... possibly in a different post but the way I worded that I can see why you interpreted it the way you did. I only meant that you can pick it up on your turn or your opponent's turn since you also have a chance to pick up green pip cards after defending not that you can literally pick them up whenever you want to. Just at any point within the rules of the game... which is still way more chances than you would normally have without the green pip.

"you're on the receiving end of W1 Grimlock or W2 Steamroll that kills off two of your characters."

This only makes sense if Devastator hasn't been formed yet. You can't kill off two characters after forming Devastator. This kinda implies that you think Devastator can't be formed if two of your Constructions get killed off.

Then what's the big dead about having two of them get killed?

I agree but what does that have to do with anything?

You also have a means to do so post combine simply by attacking. Every time Devastator attacks it adds a point to the height counter. This also why I'm so confused why you're talking about the individual Constructicons as if that matters at all.

Who is able to attack untapped characters? Also... I'm doing it EVERY TIME DEVASTATOR ATTACKS. Not only are you not reading my posts cause this is like the third time I've said that but have you even read the card itself. I've never needed the enigma to build my tower. You could build it a little faster but it barely makes a difference.

Which again is irrelevant. They don't need to be alive to form Devastator and it's not a requirement to build the tower before you do so I fail to see why any of this matters. Yeah the individual Constructicons are fragile... in fact all the Combiners are... I've made the mistake of trying to play with the combiner cards I don't even have complete teams of... it did not go well. But what's your point? Non of this means anything. It just sounds like your shouting a bunch of random Constructicons facts for no discernable reason.