For example, if you have a Trade Wheel in play, you gain 1 trade from its primary ability. If you purchase another Blob card, the scenario triggers your Trade Wheel ally ability and you gain 2 combat. You could then use Mega Mech to return your Trade Wheel to your hand and play it again, gaining another 1 trade. Then if you purchase a second blob card, the scenario triggers your Trade Wheel ally ability a second time!

One other technical note, and this is about Mega Mech in general: If you use it to return one of your own bases that has a Machine Cult ally ability, that ability won’t trigger when you play Mega Mech. Ally abilities on your other cards are triggered after you play a card and it resolves.

It’s a Shopping Spree!

You will be buying important cards all the way down to the final turns of the game. Because of the Colony Wars starter and its buy-to-hand cards and abilities, you already should plan to have slightly more trade in your deck than you would with the Core Set starter. But this week, with this scenario, trade matters even more.

In most of my games this week, I began purchasing trade in any form, including going to 3 or even 4 colors when necessary. It’s ok – we’ll make up for the lack of cohesion later with the scenario rule.

For my money, it was the Trade Federation that had the best ally abilities on common and uncommon cards in the format. (Authority gain and card drawing will always get my attention.)

Otherwise, stick to the basics.

Most of the cards keep their value pretty much the same as is non-Arena games. Trade row scrapping is slightly more important than normal, so you can go digging for a card to trigger an ally ability, but that is offset by the Blob’s blasé ally abilities on their common and uncommon cards. More so this week than in most, sticking to the basics should serve you well. Find a strategy, be sure you stock up on plenty of trade early, and you should be fine.

In Conclusion

It is a small article this week because it is a small format. Stick to the basics, but be a little bit looser with you purchases. I’ve come back from large deficits because I was able to hang around and make those Trade Federation abilities trigger. Whichever path you choose this week, I wish you the best of luck getting your 6 wins. This week’s foil is absolutely amazing — Orbital Platform never looked so good.