Jankyard | Optimal Repair Part 1 : Bug Banging
Hi everyone, it's Tim (Azyrine) from Team PTSD coming to you this time with a janky idea of reparing a hell lot of damage. There are two parts to this article as I would like to share two different builds on utilising Optimus Prime, Legendary Warrior with a partner. This first part is where he lets a bug take the beating for him. Here's the deck list to kick things off:
Deck List
Link to Fortress Maximus deck list:
https://fortressmaximus.io/user/deck/team-ptsd-bug-banging-ugO9FJLEsu7
Characters
Insecticon Skrapnel, Insecticon Leader
Optimus Prime, Legendary Warrior
Apex
Upgrades
1x Bashing Shield
1x Holomatter Projector
3x Increased Durability
2x Toolbox
3x Power Punch
3x Grenade Launcher
2x Erratic Lightning
2x Ion Blaster of Optimus Prime
2x Sturdy Javelin
Actions
2x Belligerence
2x Energy Transfer
3x Leap of Faith
3x Peace Through Tyranny
2x Repair Bay
1x Reprocess
3x Supercharge
2x Treasure Hunt
3x Wedge Formation
Sideboard
Thrust, Supersonic Interceptor
2x Energy Pack
2x Hold The Line
1x Enforcement Batons
2x Energon Axe
2x Matrix of Leadership
1x Holomatter Projector
Deck Tech
Characters
Let's kick things off with the one taking the beating in this deck - Insecticon Skrapnel. Now I'm looking at him only for his bot mode ability of being able to take a maximum of 3 attack damage each attack. This is the key of this deck and he is meant to be the tank of this build. With such an ability, there is no reason I should be playing defensive with Blue pips, nor should pierce from Black pips bother me, hence I have decided to go for an aggressive Orange build with this deck.
However Skrapnel has only 7 health, which proves to be an issue in this stage of the game where there are so many types of non-attack damage card effects available to push him past the 4 damage threshold. We will take a look at keeping him alive via healing effects in this deck.
Skrapnel is paired with the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, mainly for the body mode ability to be able to repair damage. The key thing here is that this repair ability happens in two phases. The ability is split into two sentences which resolve one after the other. This will come heavily into play when we discuss the usage of Toolbox later on.
Note that Optimus is melee in alt mode, but ranged in body mode. This allows versatility when played in conjunction with Sturdy Javelin and Wedge Formation. Having a draw effect on his alt mode helps with this deck when we run low on cards, and this deck is very flip efficient on Optimus as we only need to keep Skrapnel in bot mode.
How do I ensure Skrapnel tanks through and Optimus doesn't get hit? Why, by having Apex give Optimus Stealth! Optimus sits in the shadows and lets the dirty Decepticon do the dirty work while he just provides backend support.
Battle Cards
The main goal of this deck is to repair Skrapnel and keep him alive as long as possible, yet being an able to deal damage to the opponent's board. This works as most of the repair cards available are already Orange pips. Here are my thoughts on my selections, some of which are obvious choices so I will cover them briefly.
Bashing Shield - Always good to have armor removal available.
Holomatter Projector - This is to protect Skrapnel from burn damage. Green pip card that guarantees I get it.
Increased Durability - This is meant to be placed on Skrapnel. Giving him 4 extra health is amazing in this deck when you can constantly heal. You force your opponent to use either an upgrade or action on his turn to remove this card, and still try to deal sufficient damge to KO Skrapnel.
*Note that we are not going with the Enhanced Power Cell utility version as we want our utility slot for Toolbox.
Toolbox - This is one of the stars of this deck. Firstly it's a Green pip, meaning it's guaranteed to come to hand for play. I don't play 3 copies as I feel that excess copies are useless.
This card is amazing as it repairs one extra damage every time a repair takes place. Remember Optimus's body mode ability? The first repair takes place meaning it'll be 1+1 for 2 hp heal, and with 2 bots only on your side, chances are you will be with lesser bots than your opponent, so you will heal another 1 + 1 from toolbox for another 2 hp. That's a total of 4 health to be healed from Skrapnel!
Always prioritise playing this onto Skrapnel over any other upgrades in this deck.
Power Punch - Attack power that allows me to dig for any of my Green pips is good.
Grenade Launcher - Pure raw damage? Yes, please!
Erratic Lightning - This works well with Skrapnel since he already is at 0 armor and won't be taking a lot of damage. This allows him to swing with 8 attack base.
Ion Blaster of Optimus Prime - Eventually at some point Skrapnel may die and you are left with Optimus ready to come out of the shadows to beat down his opponents. Having this on him for the boosted defense can come in very handy. Having this sudden Blue pip appear during your defense to throw your opponent off-guard can be a fun surprise too.
Sturdy Javelin - It's a 2 attack for Skrapnel and Optimus in alt mode, but when Optimus goes into body mode, this can be your choice of direct damage to get rid of that pesky bot on the verge of death.
Belligerence - This is the card that turns games around against Blue decks. Just beware of when your opponent is likely to play End Hostilities.
Energy Transfer - This is for when you desperately need to get rid of the damage on Skrapnel should you not have your other heal cards available. Just shift the damage onto Optimus who has a beefy 16 base health.
Leap of Faith - I have 3 star card slots available from my line-up and I have opted to go with Leap of Faith over double Orange pip cards like Mounted Missiles or Full Loadout. I am a huge fan of this card because being able to get free cards in play is such a bonus.
This card has turned games around for me in so many ways, being able to play into Grenade Launcher and Supercharge, or Toolbox and Repair Bay, there options of having free plays are just too good, especially when this deck lacks a little on the draw power. Being able to get more cards played on your turn is always a great bonus, not to mention that the White pip helps.
The only card I don't really want to see from this is Peace Through Tyranny, so that makes it 36 other playable cards for maximum value when played.
Peace Through Tyranny - I chose this for the double pips over Improvised Shield for the sole reason that if a situation comes up where Skrapnel is unsalvageable on the untap, then a PTT would give me a chance to swing the game around for 2 major hits using Optimus.
Repair Bay - This card heals 1 across your board. With Toolbox that's 2 damage healed per bot that has Toolbox equipped. And it's an Orange pip. Enough said!
Reprocess - This is just a removal card that has a Green pip for guaranteed access. Some may prefer Ramming Speed for the Orange pip, but I want to ensure I get my removal, so here it is.
Supercharge - The action version of Power Punch. More flips for damage and chance to dig for my Green pips.
Treasure Hunt - This was a toss up between Incoming Transmission, but I leaned towards Treasure Hunt as I really wanted my Increased Durability to be on Skrapnel as soon as I could get it.
Wedge Formation - Green pip heal card for melee characters? And there's a Black pip to have a pierce effect just in case? Yes, please!
Sideboard
Thrust - Not many other options available, so I decided to go with the option that let me scale down to a pseudo 1-wide and have Optimus swing for huge damage each time.
Energy Pack - For games when you need the extra health on Optimus. Plus Orange pips are good.
Hold The Line - This card is so good against small wide decks or even against headmasters that pop out as they can't do more damage than their star count. Furthermore that heal effect in conjunction with Toolbox is icing on the cake.
Enforcement Batons - For when you really need to remove a weapon, though Skrapnel doesn't care how big you get.
Energon Axe - This is for when Thrust is sideboarded in. You want more weapon options and Blue pips available.
Matrix of Leadership - Also for when Thrust is sideboarded in. Extra damage, and Blue pip for some mitigation is good.
Holomatter Projector - An additional copy for when you really need it against burn heavy opponents.
Gameplay
So after going through my thoughts on the cards selected, the game plan is pretty straightforward. Keep Skrapnel healed and he will tank everything for you. When he dies, Optimus should be around to clean up the mess.
You ideally would want to go second. This is because you want to be able to play a card and setup as much as possible. Skrapnel starts with 3 armor in his alt mode, and with 7 health, that's quite hard for your opponent to KO in one hit.
If your opponent turns out to be an aggro deck as well and Skrapnel has taken a fair amount of damage, feel free to swing in with Optimus first. Flip him to body mode and get Skrapnel healed up a little on your first turn.
Conclusion
This deck may be a little draggy for an aggro deck due to the amount of healing done, but it can be pretty fun. This is but the first part of Optimal Repair where we look at using Skrapnel as our beatdown buddy. I will go into another variant of this deck in Part 2, where we look at using Dinobots for more healing options.
Thank you very much for reading this article and I hope you manage to try this out on your own too with your own tech. Till All are One, Azyrine out!