Transformers: TCG Wave 5 Review

Titan Masters Attack (Wave 5) Release Date & Price: May 29, 2020; $4 U.S.

For a review of the basic mechanics of the game, see my review of "Wave 1" here. For a review of what was added with Combiners in "Wave 2", see my review here. Finally, for a review of what the Siege I and II expansions added, see here.

Sample of Transformers cards

    For the Transformers TCG's final release, instead of going on from Siege to Earthrise, they went backwards-- to Titans Return, the Generations line primarily featuring Head Masters, renamed "Titan Masters". Basically in every pack there is one normal-sized Transformer card and one "small" Transformer card-- just like Siege, but in some packs the small Transformers are instead Strategems (more on those in a bit). Additionally, just like with the second Siege expansion pack, if you buy a full case of Titan Masters Attack cards you'll get a special pack of the Titan-sized card Fortress Maximus (again, discussed more in a bit).
    For all of the Titan Master cards, you get a normal Transformer like usual-- one that transforms from alt mode to robot mode, for the most part. However, in robot mode they don't have a head, and this is where the smaller Transformer cards in each pack come into play. In head mode, each Titan Master card gives the Transformer it's "attached" to a bonus-- such as an additional attack point, say, or you draw an additional card when defending. The Titan Master stays in head mode as long as the "host" Transformer is in play, regardless of what mode the host is in. When that host Transformer dies, the Titan Master then comes off and automatically transforms into its robot mode, giving the Transformer essentially a "last gasp" before it dies. The Titan Masters are pretty much weak enough where it just buys you one extra turn, however, and then they're gone too. (Transferring the upgrades from a host Transformer to the Titan Master when the latter dies would help buff up the Titan Master more, but unfortunately, unless you play one of a special few cards, this doesn't normally happen.)
    The end result is slightly confusing and honestly seems to be an extra game mechanic tacked on just becaue they "needed" one. Basically they're just regular TFs where you get an extra turn with a weaker version of it before it dies. Plus, it adds another attribute to the Transformer-- y'know, beyond the ones on the card and any upgrades you may play on it. It's not uncommon for me to forget the bonus the Titan Master card gives its host Transformer when I'm playing with it. Worse, Hasbro is up to its more recent tricks with the card packs that they started in Siege-- that is, multi-part Transformers that cannot function in any way if you just have one part of them. (For example, Sky Shadow is included in this set, and he transforms into a jet and a tank separately-- but you need both to form his robot mode, so you can't play if you just get one of them. And of course they're some of the rarer cards in the set, so it might take you quite a lot of packs to unearth both parts of Sky Shadow.)

Examples of Battle Cards

    In some packs, instead of getting a Titan Master card and a regular "host" Transformer card, instead you'll get a common Transformer card that doesn't have the Titan Master gimmick, and instead of a Titan Master card, you'll get a new mechanic, called Stratagem cards. These are cards that are played at the start of the game for a few extra stars, and they modify the Transformer card you play them with with some additional abilities or attributes for the entirety of the game. Basically think of them as a permanent upgrade to the Transformer. The idea is sound, but these should have been counted as Battle Cards, not "regular" Transformer cards. For one, almost all of them will come with a Common regular Transformer card (since nearly all the "normal" Transformers in this series are either Common or Super Rare), and it's about a 50% chance you'll get a Strategem card in a pack. There's only about 6 or 7 Common "normal" TF cards in this entire set, meaning that you are going to get a LOT of the same commons-- I got a whopping FIVE of the same common Transformer in the same case! This is EXTREMELY predatory and just goes far beyond any previous expansion of this game when it comes to getting duplicates of the same TF cards. Plus, Stratagems will ONLY matter to you if you have the Transformer card it modifies already-- and most of the cards they modify aren't even in this expansion, with some even modifying Rare Combiners from 3 expansions ago! In short, the boosters for this expansion are a ripoff, moreso than for any previous expansion.
    Another mechanic has been added that's unrelated to the whole "Headmaster" thing, but it's pretty lame. Remember all those different colors on the battle cards that, if you draw them while attacking or defending, give your character different temporary bonuses? I.e., a card with a blue pip adds one to the TF's defense, a card with a green pip allows you to trade that card with one in your hand, etc? Well, now they've sometimes got certain symbols over the pips-- like the symbol for a jet, a tank, etc. If a pip has one of those symbols over it, it only comes into effect if the character you draw it for has that property. So if you draw a card with a blue pip on it with a jet on top, if your character's a car, too bad, it doesn't work. That's right, they've made the pips LESS USEFUL! What a great game mechanic! (As in, not at all.) They seriously couldn't come up with another pip color? THIS was their big non-Titan-Master-related gameplay change? Ugh. Why wouldn't I just stick to older cards when at all possible, then?
    Finally, in regards to Fortress Maximus-- he's three cards, and just like with the toy, he's a double Headmaster. So he has a Titan-sized fortress-to-robot card with a regular-sized Transformer Titan Master that transforms into Cerebros when Fort Max dies. Then, when Cerebros' body comes into play, Emissary's head is put on Cerebros, and when Cerebros dies, you get one last gasp playing as Emissary's robot mode. Generally though, it seems that, all things equal (that is, unless you're REALLY good at building decks), Fortress Maximus is a bit weak for being the only TF you can put on the battlefield, given how many stars his combined 3 cards are worth. I mean, you can only have one of them out at a time, and none of them are particularly powerful by themselves.

Fortress Maximus cards

    Titan Masters Attack is a pretty disappointing way for the Transformers TCG to go out, and quite frankly, if Hasbro would have continued down this path I'm kind of glad the game petered out when it did. The Titan Master gimmick may sound cool on paper, but in practice it just means you get an extra turn with a really weak TF before your guy's defeated-- not exactly a gimmick worth making a whole expansion over. The Stratagem cards and Battle Cards that have "pips with conditions" both just seem to be there to add extra rules without actually making the game more enjoyable, particularly for the latter. Add to that the VERY predatory way the packs are stacked, and this is my least favorite expansion to the game.
 

Overall Rating: 6/10 Above Average
 

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