Tag Archives: Devastator Pack

Devastator Pack Review: Part 2 – Gameplay. Transformers TCG

Last week we got to have a sneak peek at the Devastator Deck, courtesy of an advance copy from Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, and look at the cards contained within in detail.

Now officially released, these are available for purchase, and over the past week I’ve gotten a chance to really put the pack through its paces.  So let’s have a look at the Devastator Pack in gameplay.

And the usual spiel: Neither Hasbro or Wizards of the Coast have paid for this review nor have they tried to dictate the contents of this blog.  Bigangrytrev.com would like to thank both companies for their ongoing generosity.

Since all the cards have been already examined in great detail in Part 1 of the review, we wont rehash what we already know.  If you need a reminder, go check out that post.  Instead I’m going to give you some top tips for using Devastator to… er… devastate! In particular we will look at pitting the Constructicons against other Combiner Teams, such as the Stunticons and  Menasor.

 

GAMEPLAY TIPS & TRICKS

Get Scrapper into Robot Mode

This should be your very first action!  Not only does it get one of the 6 characters into robot mode which you will need to make Devastator later, but it means every time another Constructicon gets KO’ed you will get a point for your Tower Card.

Get Bonecrusher in the mix

As your best offensive Constructicon, get him into Robot Mode next.  You want to try and inflict a fair bit of damage with him and his Pierce 2 on your opponents cards before he gets KO’ed due to his low Health Stats.

Flip Scavenger next

You want that Bold 1 and the extra card it garners you every time you are attacked.

Keep the others in vehicle mode until KO’ed or needed

The other 3 Constructicons don’t have particularly useful Robot Mode abilities so I suggest keeping them in Vehicle Form until KO’ed.  Their stats remain exactly the same and every time you attack with them it will give you another point for your tower.

If any character gets KO’ed in vehicle mode, flip them at the first opportunity. 

Their ability to get you extra points for your Tower is gone once they are KO’ed, so if you come across a card like Rapid Conversion, use it to flip a KO’ed vehicle into Robot Mode so they are ready to combine when required.

Build that Tower to at least 6 before combining!

I played several games both as and against Devastator and I’ll tell ya, you will really want those extra 2 Bold points Devastator gets when his Tower is at 6. They do make a difference when trying to knock out another Combiner like Menasor or a Titan like Metroplex, characters that have huge stats.  Also it means that it’s 6 damage points that you get to remove from Devastator, which also makes a huge difference!

Getting your Tower to 10 before combing is often unrealistic.

While it would be great to have your Tower at 10 before you form Devastator, unless you have a good run of luck with the cards it is probably not going to happen.  If you can achieve it, great!  It means you loose 10 whole damage counters and get extra attack power right off the bat, but again, it’s likely not to happen.  Hope to get your tower to 8 and then pick up some Builders Tools and Enigma cards to take you the rest of the way.

If your opponent makes a Combiner first, get combining!

Gotta Combin’em all!

The likes of Menasor are pretty damn powerful and you don’t want to give them free reign for too long, because your individual Constructicons aren’t going to be very effective against the behemoth.

Keep track of your Builders Tools and Constructicon Enigma Cards

These two cards are the only way to add extra points to your Tower after you build Devastator.  You get three of each card so keep track of where they are and how many you have used.  Once or twice I had to form Devastator when only having 4 points on my Tower, and coming across those cards enabled me to bring my Tower up to 6, helping turn the tide of battle.

If you get your Tower to 10 – get ready to bask in victory!

If you can get that Tower up to 10, getting an extra 4 Attack Points and your overall attack rating going up to 10 means that you are going to decimate your opponent!  As someone who has played both sides when this has happened, I can attest that the opposing Combiner/Titan/Team goes down very quickly under an onslaught that strong.

 

So there ya go, some top tips & tricks to playing as and winning with the Constructicons and Devastator.  A lot of it will depend on the deck your opponent has built.  Given that the other Combiners special cards are only found in Booster Packs, it’s unlikely they  will have 3 of each like you will be sporting, so if you find yourself destroying every opponent in sight you might even be magnanimous and take a couple of yours out to make things more even.  Until you reach that winning streak though, devastate away!

 Got any other tips to playing with this pack?  Would love to read them in the comments section below!

 

Related Articles:

Devastator Deck Review: Part 1

Rise of the Combiners Booster Packs Part One and Part 2

Metroplex Deck Review

Devastator Pack Review: Part 1 – Transformers TCG

With the Rise of the Combiner Booster Packs hitting shelves all over the country, it is nearly time for the first dedicated ROTC Box Pack to hit the shelves.  Due for release on March 29, this pack will have arguably the most popular and recognizable of all the Transformer Combiners – Devastator!  And once again bigangrytrev.com had been lucky enough to be given a pack in advance so as to bring you all the goss regarding these new cards.

Before we continue, the usual spiel: This pack has been given to bigangrytrev.com for review purposes by Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast.  Neither company has paid for this review or tried to dictate the content of this blog.  Bigangrytrev.com would like to thank both companies for their ongoing generosity.

Despite the average rate of finding a Combiner Character card to be 1 in 2, a lot of people have been struggling to make their first combiner, even when purchasing a whole box of the Booster Packs.  Personally I was able to make Menasor and Dreadwing right off the bat but many others have not been so fortunate.  So with the release of the Devastator Pack, it is going to bring a lot of joy to those yet to make one of these colossal characters!  In the Devastator Pack you will find not only all the cards to go with it, but all the characters you will need.  So no endless searching – all your Constructicons can be found in the same place – right here!  Lets take a look at them:

Oh and another note, like when looking at the Combiner Booster Packs, there is SO MUCH information to be shared here, this will most likely be another 2-part Blog, with part one being information and the second one gameplay.

 

Constructicon Character Cards

Scrapper

Leader, Melee

5 Stars

Hook

Surgical Engineer, Ranged

4 Stars

Mixmaster

Materials Fabrication, Melee

4 Stars

Bonecrusher

Demolitions, Melee

4 Stars

Long Haul

Transport, Melee

4 Stars

Scavenger

Mining & Salvage, Melee

4 Stars

So we are noticing a few things straight off the bat.  Firstly Scrapper as the leader has 5 stars but the rest only have four.  Whilst this makes them fairly weak characters, it does mean you get to have all 6 Constructicons on the board at once.  Also you will only have one ranged character, Hook, whilst the rest are melee.  All characters have the same amount of damage, health and shield points in both their modes, making no difference in stats whether you be rocking a robot or construction vehicle.

Now to their special abilities.  Again, nothing staggering either offensively or defensively.  Bonecrusher has the best offense capability with Pierce 2 in his Robot Mode, with Hook sporting Pierce 1 and Long Haul Bold 1.  The only character to be sporting anything defensively is Scavenger with Tough 1 in his robot mode.   So what are nearly all the other special ablitities geared towards?  Towards your Tower Card, which is going to be crucial when playing as Devastator.

 

The Tower Card

This seemingly innocent little card is going to dictate so much of your gameplay when playing with the Devastator Deck.  It has made me extra glad that this is the first Transformers TCG pack that has come with instructions included.  Unique among the Combiner Characters, Devastator’s abilities are tied directly to the height of his tower.  And your individual Constructicon’s abilities are aimed towards building that tower as much as possible before combining.  As well as powering up Devestator, the height of your Tower will also affect the strength of some other cards which we shall look at a bit later.

Scrapper’s abilities are both directly tied to the Tower.  His alt-mode means you put your tower into the KO area at the start of the game (which you get to do anyway) and having him in robot mode means that every time a Constructicon gets KO’ed, you get to add another height counter to the tower.

All 5 other Constructicons have the same ability for their Alt-Mode

So this makes your individual Constructicons geared primarily towards construction, making that tower as big as possible!  Of course there are other cards to assist them offensively and defensively, several of them exclusive to the Devestator Pack, and some of these too are geared towards your tower.

 

Exclusive Cards

Note: The pack contains 3 of each card.

Builders Tools

Can be used by Constructicons only.  Gives you an extra counter on your Tower whenever a character sporting the card attacks.  This makes this card very good to put on Bonecrusher in particular, as well as being one of only two cards that you can use to build your Tower further after combining.

Reclaim

Lets you access the scrap pile for upgrades, but if your Tower is 3 or higher then you get an extra card as well.

Heavy Landing

Gives you an extra point of damage to deal, but if your Tower is 6 or higher then you do 3 damage instead.

Work Overtime

The only exclusive card that does not involve the Tower, it allows you to draw extra cards until you have four in your hand.  This makes this card very useful for most any deck you construct!

Constructicon Enigma

Like the Enigma cards for the other Combiners, you need this card to form Devestator and all your Consturcticons need to be in Bot Mode.  Unlike the other Enigma cards however,  this card does not immediately become redundant after combining.  If played when you already have Devestator on the battlefield, you get to Repair 1 damage to him, as well as putting a height counter on your Tower.

 

Devastator

Towering Warrior, Melee

25 Stars

Here he is, the big guy!  No searching through endless booster packs, you get him in one shot!  His stats are similar to the likes of Metroplex and Menasor.

As you can see, his special abilities are directly related to his tower:

* When you first combine him you get to remove an amount of damage from him equal to the height of your tower.  This means that you can allow your individual Constructicons to get pummelled to a certain extent, because as long as you keep that tower going higher and higher, by the time you form Devastator a lot of that damage will disappear!

* If your tower is 6 or higher you get Bold 2

* If your Tower is 10 or higher, your attack rating goes up from 6 to a whopping 10!

It is for the above abilities I highly recommend you do not combine Devestator until you have a minimum of 6 height on your Tower, because once Devestator is formed you cant make it any higher, unless employing another enigma card.

 

Other Cards

This pack comes with 9 other types of card, both common & uncommon and ones we have already seen before.  The one of most use to you will definitely be Rapid Conversion, since you have 6 separate characters you need to get into bot mode.  I find it funny we got Scrapper Gauntlets, since it doesn’t seem to be Scrapper sporting them.  You get two to three of each of these 9 cards.

 

So is the Devestator Pack worth getting?

Yes, oh my yes!  Not only do you get to make a Combiner Character in one go without having to search through endless Booster Packs, but it comes with a ton of exclusive cards that you cannot purchase anywhere else.  Add to that the unique playstyle the Tower brings to the game and this really is a purchase that I can’t see any big Transformers TCG players bypassing.  I highly recommend going out and picking yourself up a pack when they come out at the end of this month!

 

Related Articles:

Rise of the Combiner Booster Packs Part 1 and Part 2

Metroplex Pack Review