With Wave 5 completely revealed, we’ve rounded up the herd of robo-cats that is the Wreck ‘n Rule crew and jotted down some thoughts about the cards that we’re most excited to get onto the table.

We’re not saying that these are the most powerful cards or that they’ll become meta staples, but these are the cards that we’re most excited to sleeve up and get onto the table for our first few games with Wave 5.

Let’s begin by taking a look at our most anticipated TITAN MASTER bodies/heads.

RJ – Skullsmasher/Ominus

Brian is a strict teacher, he had us complete this assignment with a preferred head for our favorite body. While it took me all of 4 seconds to select Skullsmasher since I have been pumped for him since his reveal, the head I want to run with him is less of an obvious choice with me. In the end, I went with Ominous because Pierce 4 on top of Skullsmasher’s innate Pierce 3 (to Autobots) just seems too good to pass up right now.

I think you want Skullsmasher to be as big as possible so every time someone taps they are dealt damage due to his ability (in body mode). At 14 stars with Ominous attached, there aren’t many bots left that are bigger than him. I believe Captain Omega Supreme has the highest innate Pierce in the game at Pierce 4, so Skullsmasher blows him away with Ominous when attacking an Autobot. Going first and attacking into their Galaxy Optimus (and flipping an orange) for 7 Pierce 7 on your first turn seems like it might be more than okay – that is Arcee levels of pierce without playing a single card.

Really, just about every head is useful with Skullsmasher. You can throw the Stealth head on him to make him, well, stealth to the opposing team and just constantly “ping” free damage out as they tap down their bots who are bound to be smaller than him. The extra health or extra attack heads make sense as well, in addition to the extra defense head. Like Brawn, I believe this guy is truly viable in both modes. Obviously, if you are going up against an all Decepticon team then his alt mode becomes useless, but you flip him once and then you can focus your remaining flips on the rest of your team. Skullsmasher is especially unique because he is the centerpiece of your team that doesn’t take up your entire flip economy.

I’m not sure how good he will be overall, but he’s the one I am most looking forward to playing right off the bat.

Brian – Horri-bull/kreb

You’re going to be seeing a lot of Horri-Bull once Wave 5 hits, and for good reason. Horri-Bull’s bot mode ability is extremely potent, especially with the plethora of new black pip cards coming in Wave 5. It’s not unlikely that you’ll be able to ping someone for two damage a turn by playing a black pipped upgrade and action (and even more if it’s a black pipped action that also does direct damage like Rock Toss or Scouting Mission). On top of that, you can flip to alt mode to move an additional point of damage to your target.

I’ve been getting some insane plays by pairing Horri-Bull with Detritus and using Detritus’s flip-to-alt-mode ability to get an additional black pip card out there. It’s gimmicky, but it’s a ton of fun. I’m preferring a mainly blue/black focused build, while mixing in some orange black cards like Wedge Formation and Terrifying Resilience.

You do have to be mindful of how much damage you’re piling onto Horri-Bull, and a savvy opponent is probably going to target him first in order to limit how much mileage you can get out of his bot-mode ability.

For those reasons, Kreb is probably the ideal head to use with Horri-Bull, since you’re adding to Horri-Bull’s health pool while also keeping his star cost down. If you do have an extra point to play with, it doesn’t hurt to bump up to Brisko to get an extra point of health. It’s anecdotal, but I’ve found that my opponent often has just enough damage to KO Horri-Bull while using Kreb, so that extra point of health might be enough to eke out one more activation.

Kevin – Megatron/Emissary

Every great series is defined by its antagonist. Lex Luthor, the Joker, that Carol Baskins lady I keep hearing about.

And Transformers has one of the biggest and best out there; his iteration in the new set certainly doesn’t disappoint. With 3 defense and 15 health in alt-mode, Megatron is a tank both literally and figuratively here. 4 attack is about average, but flipping to his bot-mode means you can deal the damage when you need to.

Emissary might seem an odd choice when you have options like Grax (+5 HP means he’s gonna be around awhile), Arcana (+2 defense, means he’s gonna be hard to deal damage to), or even Ominus (4 pierce, guaranteed 4 damage with every attack is always nice), but I like Emissary for the ability to determine just what you’re going to flip this turn.

I’m imagining running him in more of a mixed deck to take advantage of his alt-mode ability, so the focus here really helps. Going for the big swing? Cycle out those blue pips. Did they catch you in bot mode? Ditch the orange and black pips and find those blue ones. Definitely something I’m looking forward to trying.

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