Preview | The Valiant Vessel and An Unlikely Alliance
The news came abruptly to all. Worlds came crashing down. Many were left lost and wandering. Yet there were those who banded together to light the beacons of hope for others. It was in this time of crisis that The Ark was born, and in their time together, many things were created to unite each other and build a new future for all.
Greetings one and all, Azyrine (Tim) here, this time with a preview article for The Ark and their very first wave of card designs! The Ark has very kindly reached out to me to create a preview article for their new set of cards, and how could I not say yes to doing it? I'm excited with what they are creating, and I know you are too! This is what you're here for, so let's kick things off with the card you clicked on this article to see - enter the valiant vessel, Seaspray!
Making his very first appearance in the Transformers Trading Card Game is Seaspray. A brief introduction to the bot at hand, Seaspray as his name suggests is the obligatory sailor character who loves the sea. He speaks as though his mouth is always submerged and bubbling. With his love of the sea comes with always getting assigned to the tasks related to water, like patrolling the rivers while the other Autobots patrol the lands nearby.
From the G1 comics, his story was a tad more exciting even though he was always left as a background character. He was a part of an Autobot resistance force led by Perceptor that fought Lord Straxus aka Darkmount during the whole smelting pool saga - the same bit where Blaster got famous from. After all that, they joined the other Autobots on Earth.
As a toy, he was released with the 2nd wave of mini vehicles alongside Warpath, Cosmos, Beachcomber and Powerglide.
Back to the card design at hand, at 6 stars, Seaspray has pretty sizeable stats with 3 attack, 11 health and 2 defense. The health is on par with only Fangry, while the 3 attack and 2 defense is on par with other 6-star characters. The additional perk of having Stealth while untapped is icing on the cake as we all know how annoying that can be after facing off the variety of patrols out there.
In his Bot mode, the attack and defense is a reasonable amount at this star level though he grants a slight edge while battling someone else in Bot mode as well. Take note that this ability works while both attacking and defending, and could potentially be the undoing of your opponent should he/she not be mindful enough.
Being a Specialist with good stats at the 6-star slot gives many decks the option to replace Swoop in their decks, not to mention being able to stay alive for much longer. A Specialist character with a Stealth effect could also enhance combo decks that rely on Specialist triggers and having them stay alive for a longer time in the game.
Not having anything too game-breaking puts Seaspray at a good spot as a common card. Though there is no more printing and packing ratios to worry about now, card rarity matters when it comes to playing in formats with rarity restrictions.
Hang on, I see some Decepticons approaching in the distance...
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It appears some Autobots are with them...?
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What's going on? Is this a trap?
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They seem to be smiling. It appears to be some sort of...
Megatron and Optimus Prime standing side by side, united against a common enemy. I am a huge fan of this artwork and would love to have it on a playmat.
The condition to play the card is something most decks can already fulfil. Requiring only an Autobot and a Decepticon on your starting team can be as easy as having a titan and titan master of different factions.
From the first gleam at this action, it seems skewed towards having multiple small bots of varying factions across your field to benefit from it since the effect lasts until end of turn and all your characters have their base attack at 6. For aggro decks, this would mean all your characters would likely be attacking for 8 attack on average after flips, not calculating white pips flipped, nor any other upgrades or action chains.
However looking at the drawback, it can be painful, dealing 2 damage to each of your characters that utilised this boost to attack. Anyone who has gone up against Erratic Energy Grenade or Quake decks will know the pain of having damage done across your board.
The first character that comes to mind with this card is Arcee, Skilled Fighter. This card is an absolute beast on her. Having Arcee in bot mode with the Pierce equaling her Attack, this is 6 guaranteed damage before flips to your opponent's board. It is much better than a Reckless Charge in this case. Combining it with a Grenade Launcher and 2 orange flips would give her 12 guaranteed damage on one character. This is a HUGE swing and very hard to come by without the aid of Bold.
Now I wouldn't want to spoil the fun of exploring other synergies for you, so that's all I will be sharing on interactions for now. I hope you get to have some fun smashing other bots in with this new card.
With that, I've come to the end of the preview. I look forward to seeing many of you find creative ways to utilise Seaspray, Valiant Vessel and Alliance in your decks, especially since we may be running a future Eye of the Matrix event with The Ark cards being legal <insert random hype noises>. In the spirit of Alliance, as always, Til' All Are One! Azyrine, out!