Update 1/30: Added the Sentinel Enigma battle card.

I was going to tell you about Menasor.

Revealed over the weekend, the combined form of the Stunticons is a five-character combiner much like Predaking. Each member is five stars, meaning that the entire team fits within the 25-star limit.

His stats aren’t nearly as impressive as Volcanicus, but there are excellent synergies between the team members, with abilities that let them do more damage, divert damage, do automatic damage to enemy cars, and heal.

There’s even a Stunticon-specific card that keeps enemy teams from using Bold and Tough against the upgraded character.

The takeaway is that the Stunticons are going to tear apart your strategies, while beating you to a shadow of your former self before combining and playing multiple actions to finish you off.

Enter The Sentinels

But we’re not here to talk about Menasor.

Last week, an intriguing new card showed up on Twitter. Combat Commands is obviously meant to facilitate strategies for a team of combiners with the new “Sentinel” classification. Preferably ones that also can take advantage of being flipped between modes while in your KO pile. But who are these new Sentinel characters?

I’m so glad you asked. (Click on exclusive images below to embiggen)

Ironhide is a 7-star truck with a bot-mode ability that temporarily grants Pierce 2 to all of your characters – but only when he’s in your KO pile.

Hot Rod is a little more straightforward. A 7-star car, he gets an extra flip when defending in alt mode (which is good, because those two defense and ten hit points aren’t going to keep him in the game long). When he does inevitably fall, however, he can stay in the fight. Flip to bot mode while he’s in your KO pile and you can automatically do damage to an enemy.

Mirage is another 7-star car, who’s also a nasty bit of work, doing Pierce 2 damage in alt mode. His KO pile ability lets you scrap an Action from your opponent’s hand (which will be very useful when they’re playing the Stunticons).

Prowl is yet another 7-star car that goes for the jugular with an impressive five damage. His KO pile ability strips your opponents of their weapons (very useful against Predaking).

And finally, the card I’ve been waiting for since Wave 1, Sunstreaker joins the Transformers TCG! He’s got a decent amount of damage as well as Tough 1 in alt mode (if I had to choose active characters, he’d be on my list even if he wasn’t my favorite Transformer ever). His KO pile ability helps you prepare for the coming battle by letting you draw additional cards. Like his teammates, he’s 7-stars (and a car, of course).

The team leader is, of course, Optimus Prime. This 11-star “Gleaming Commander” version of the character allows you pick three Sentinels from outside the game and put them in your KO pile, fully damaged. Optimus’ bot mode has an ability that lets you flip characters in your KO pile to their other mode, but does not include the automatic flip back like Combat Command.

By now you’ve added up the star counts and realized that, much like Volcanicus, there’s no way you can play all five characters in a standard game. But with Optimus’ ability, you can choose two other Sentinels and leave the rest in your KO pile to create havoc and also form…

Optimus Maximus

You thought the combined forms of the Dinobots was a beast? THIS is a beast. Based on the Combiner Wars character of the same name, the combined form of the Sentinels does a staggering nine damage and has a practically game-breaking 65 hit points. It’s fortunate, then, that the same rules apply when combining with bots in your KO pile. You can combine, but the damage from the KO pile carries over. With no innate ability to reduce damage, this means Optimus Maximus will be starting at a more manageable 35 hit points.

His ability is the new-to-Wave-2 Plan 1 that lets you put a card from your hand on top of your deck (so that you can better manage what pips you draw when attacking). It’s nothing like being able to wield five weapons or take extra actions or do automatic damage. At the same time, with the Sentinels’ KO pile abilities, your opponent’s team should already be in shambles by the time you’re able to combine.

Oh, you wanted to see them combine? I’m so glad you asked.

Who’s Next?

So that’s four out of the six combiners revealed (and one that I predicted back in my first article – go me!). Who’s next? We’ve got one Autobot team and one Decepticon team left. My money is still on Devastator being part of Wave 2 – after all, the Decepticons don’t have a big six-member KO pile combiner yet. As for the final Autobot team? My guess is Victorion.

Victorion would be a very fun addition to the game. While she and Superion are pictured on Combat Command, it’s Victorion that would give us a new truck, two new cars, and two helicopters (a very underrepresented alt-mode in the game so far). Who wants all jets anyway?

You can pre-order the booster box for Transformers TCG, Wave 2: Rise of the Combiners on Amazon right now. Otherwise, be prepared to stalk your friendly local game store or Target when Wave 2 hits the street on March 1.

Thanks to Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast for the exclusive reveal. Please, when you’re sharing the images, be sure to let them know that you got them from TheRoarbots!