Wave 1 FAQ
- Deck & Team Construction
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You can’t have more than one of the same character card on your team, but you can have more than one of the same character if they’re on different cards. For example, your team can’t have two copies Bumblebee, Brave Warrior, but it could have one Bumblebee, Brave Warrior and one Bumblebee, Courageous Scout.
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Yes. All characters in the game can work together under your leadership.
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- Autobots & Decepticons
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Autobots have a red frame and the Autobot insignia in the lower right corner. Decepticons have a purple frame and the Decepticon insignia in the lower right corner. A few characters have "Autobot" or "Decepticon" in their names, although these aren’t the only Autobots and Decepticons.
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- Star
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Some cards refer to the number of stars a character has. Does a character in bot mode have any stars?Yes. Even though the stars are printed on the alt mode side of the card, the character has that number of stars no matter which mode it’s in.
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- Attacking
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As long as that character is untapped, sure. (The basic rules used with the Autobot Starter Set say that a character can’t attack twice in a row, but that rule isn’t part of the Advanced Rules.)
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- Bold & Tough
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Each Bold or Tough ability works. For example, if a creature with Bold 1 got a Weapon that gave it Bold 2, it would flip 3 additional cards when attacking.
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- Pierce
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Pierce tells you the minimum amount of damage a character can do in an attack, although a character can never do more damage than its attack total. For example, say a character with Pierce 2 attacks. After flipping battle cards, the attack total is 5 and the defense total is 4. Normally, the character with Pierce would do only 1 damage, but because of Pierce, it does 2 damage instead. This also works if the attack total is equal to or less than the defense total. Say the attacker has an attack total of 5, but this time it runs into a massive defense total of 9. If that character had Pierce 2, it would still do 2 damage. If the character with Pierce 2 had an attack total of only 1, it would do 1 damage against any defense total.
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Yes. For example, say a character with Pierce 4 attacks Insecticon Skrapnel in bot mode. (He has the ability "This can't take more than 3 attack damage from a single attack.") After battle cards are flipped, the attacking character would do 2 damage, but Pierce raises that to 4. Insecticon Skrapnel’s ability would then reduce the damage done to 3.
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- Upgrade
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Yes. Upgrades aren’t unique. You could have two characters each with the same Weapon, for
example. -
These abilities describe what kind of character the Upgrade can be put on. This is usually a trait such
as Melee, Plane, or Insecticon. An Upgrade can be put on a character only if that character matches the
listed requirement. -
Let’s say I have an Upgrade that says "Put on Planes only" and I put it on a Plane. But then next turn I
flip the Plane to its other mode, and it’s no longer a Plane. What happens?The Upgrade stays with the character it’s on. That ability limits only what the Upgrade can initially be
put on. Once that happens, the Upgrade doesn’t check again.
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- KO
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A KO’d character has damage counters on it equal to its health. Note that this is true even if it took
more damage while on the battlefield. For example, if a character with 7 health takes 10 damage, it ends
up in the KO area with 7 damage counters. -
Characters don’t change modes when are KO’d. If a character was in bot mode when it was KO’d, it
will be put in the KO area in bot mode. -
If a card returns a KO’d character to the battlefield, what mode is it in? Is it tapped or untapped?Unless the card that returns the character says otherwise, it will be untapped and in the same mode it
was in the KO area.
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- Triggered Abilities
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A triggered ability is an ability that’s caused by a specified game action. They’re usually written in the
form "When [something happens] -> [effect]." The effect happens just after the specified game action is
taken. For example, many characters have triggered abilities that start with "When you flip to this
mode." The effects of these abilities happen immediately after you flip the character to the appropriate
mode. -
Triggered abilities always happen one at a time. If all the triggered abilities belong to one player, that
player chooses their order. If both players have triggered abilities that would happen at the same time,
first the player whose turn it is handles all their triggered abilities in any order, then the other player
does the same with their triggered abilities.
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- Arcee - Skilled Fighter
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There are no damage counters to remove, so nothing happens to those characters.
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Yes. For example, if you play an action card that gives Arcee +2 attack until end of turn, she’ll have Pierce 3.
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Let’s say I attack with Arcee and reveal two orange attack icons, giving her +2 attack. Does her Pierce number go up?Yes.
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In that case, Arcee will have Pierce equal to her attack plus the Pierce from the Upgrade. In that example, Arcee’s attack is 1, so she’ll have Pierce 4. However, remember that characters with Pierce
can’t deal more damage than their attack total, so she’ll do only 1 damage (not including other attack bonuses or orange battle icons).
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- Autobot Cosmos - Recon & Communication
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Yes. You reshuffle your scrap pile into your deck as soon as the deck is empty. In this case, Autobot Cosmos will attack, you’ll flip up the two remaining cards in your deck, and the defender will be KO’d (assuming it has 12 starsor fewer). Your opponent won’t flip any battle cards for the attack if their character is KO’d this way.
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Say Autobot Cosmos has a Data Pad. Will Autobot Cosmos’s ability trigger if you draw the last card of your deck while he’s attacking?Yes. Drawing the last card of your deck will cause you to shuffle your deck, and this will cause Autobot Cosmos to KO the defender.
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- Autobot Hound - Long-Range Scout
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Let’s say you attack with another character and flip a white battle icon. Then, because your
opponent’s characters are all tapped, you get to attack again. For your second attack, you attack with
Autobot Hound and flip a white battle icon. Will his ability trigger?No. The white battle icon you flipped while attacking with Autobot Hound wasn’t your first white
battle icon that turn, so he won’t get the bonus.
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- Autobot Jazz - Special Ops
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The extra damage doesn’t happen. The attacking character will deal only 2 damage.
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Let’s say Autobot Jazz defends and the attacker has an ability that deals damage to him. Does that
damage count for Autobot Jazz’s ability?Yes. Any damage dealt to Autobot Jazz while he’s defending and his ability is active will count. If the
attacker has an ability that deals 1 damage to Autobot Jazz, then he can’t take more than 1 more
damage from the attack.
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- Autobot Mirage - Lone Wolf
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Yes.
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- Bumblebee - Courageous Scout
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You’ll draw a card, look at it, and immediately put it on top of your deck. You can’t do anything else
with the card (like play it) before putting it on top of your deck. -
Let’s say I reveal one white battle icon during Bumblebee’s combat. Then I flip another white battle
icon in the two bonus cards. Will his ability trigger?Yes. For any ability that looks at what battle icons you flipped, flip your two bonus cards before
checking if that ability triggers or not.
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- Bumblebee - Legendary Warrior
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No. It just lets Bumblebee attack untapped enemies if you decide to attack with Bumblebee.
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Yes. Because Bumblebee will be able to attack any enemy, tapped or untapped, you choose which
enemy he attacks. -
No. The enemy will stay untapped. None of the other rules of combat change.
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- Chop Shop - Sneaky Insecticon
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If I scrap three Upgrades from Chop Shop, can I repair 1 damage from each of three of my
Insecticons, or do I have to repair 3 damage from one Insecticon?You can choose a different Insecticon for each repair. -
Yes, but you’ll have to scrap the Weapon he originally had.
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If the Upgrade I move onto Chop Shop has an ability that triggers "when the Upgraded character
attacks," does that ability trigger?No. That Upgrade wasn’t on Chop Shop when he attacked, so that ability won’t trigger. -
If the Upgrade I move onto Chop Shop gives him Bold or an ability to flip extra battle cards when
attacking, do I flip extra battle cards?Yes. Chop Shop’s ability happens before you flip battle cards, so Upgrades that give Chop Shop Bold
will work. -
No. Any ability that says what an Upgrade can be put on still apply, so you can’t sneak Upgrades onto
Chop Shop that he can’t have.
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- Chromia - Special Ops
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Let’s say I reveal one white battle icon during Chromia’s attack. Then I flip another white battle icon
in the two bonus cards. Will her ability trigger?Yes. For any ability that looks at what battle icons you flipped, flip your two bonus cards before
checking if that ability triggers or not.
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- Cliffjumper - Renegade Warrior
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What happens if one of my characters that’s a Car while in alt mode but not in bot mode is KO’d
while it’s in bot mode?Characters are put in the KO area in the same mode they were in on the battlefield. In that case, the
KO’d character isn’t a Car and won’t add to Cliffjumper’s bonus.
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- Demolisher - Devoted Decepticon
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If I play an Action or Upgrade to increase Demolisher’s defense, do I flip that many more battle cards?Yes. Consider Demolisher’s current defense, including all bonuses from other cards, when
determining how many more battle cards you flip.
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- Dinobot Sludge - Mighty Stomper
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Dinobot Sludge’s health is 12. Let’s say there are 15 damage counters total on my other Dinobots.
When I flip Dinobot Sludge to alt mode, can I move all those damage counters onto him?Yes. This will, of course, cause Dinobot Sludge to be KO’d. He’ll be sad.
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- Dinobot Snarl - Desert Warrior
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Yes. The card you put on top of your deck (if any) will be the first battle card you flip.
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- Grimlock - Dinobot Leader
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Yes. Grimlock Dinobot. Grimlock count.
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Let’s say Grimlock attacks a character with 10 health and 8 damage counters. If he does 4 attack
damage to that character, 2 of that damage is enough to KO the defender. For the extra 2 damage, your
opponent chooses one of their other characters. That character would get 2 damage counters. -
Let’s say the extra damage is enough to KO a second character. Does the extra damage keep going to
a third character?No. The extra damage isn’t attack damage. Continuing the previous example, your opponent could
choose a character with 12 health and 11 damage counters and do 2 more damage to it. That character
would be KO’d.
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- Inferno - Fearless Firefighter
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Yes. You can choose any character, one of yours or an enemy. You could even choose a character with
no Upgrades if you didn’t want to return any to their owner’s hand.
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- Insecticon Skrapnel - Insecticon Leader
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The extra damage doesn’t happen. The attacking character will deal only 3 damage.
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Let’s say Insecticon Skrapnel defends and the attacker has an ability that deals damage to him. Does
that damage count for Insecticon Skrapnel’s ability?Yes. Any damage dealt to Insecticon Skrapnel while he’s defending will count. If the attacker has an
ability that deals 1 damage to Insecticon Skrpanel, then he can’t take more than 2 more damage from
the attack.
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- Jetfire - Air Guardian
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Yes, but you’ll have to scrap the Upgrade of that type he originally had.
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- Megatron - Living Weapon
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Yes. He can have a Weapon in his Weapon slot as well as Weapons in his Armor and/or Utility slots.
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No. As long as Megatron can hold all the Upgrades attached to him, you don’t have to specify which
slot anything is in. For example, if Megatron has two Weapons and a Utility, and you play an Armor onto
him, you can choose at that time which Weapon it will replace. -
Yes. The bot mode ability applies only to how the Weapons are put on Megatron.
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- Nemesis Prime - Dark Clone
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No. Neither you nor your opponent will know what card it is.
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They’re put into the scrap pile, along with any Upgrades he had.
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- Optimus Prime - Battlefield Legend
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Yes. The ability works after you’ve flipped all cards, including extra cards from abilities like Bold or
from white battle icons. -
Yes. The Action card was still flipped for the attack, so its orange battle icons will still count.
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No. You’ve already flipped cards for that attack.
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- Prowl - Military Strategist
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If I flip Prowl to alt mode and give my Cars Bold 2, but later in the turn I flip one of my Cars so it’s no
longer a Car, does it keep Bold 2 until end of turn?Yes. Once the bonus has applied, the character will keep Bold 2 until the end of the turn. -
Prowl’s ability says "When one of your Cars is KO’d -> Repair 3 damage from one of your other
characters." Does "one of your other characters" mean other than Prowl or other than the Car that was
KO’d?It means other than Prowl. Prowl can’t repair himself.
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- Ransack - Insecticon Commando
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In that case, nothing happens. No damage counters are put on Ransack.
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What happens if the only damaged characters are enemies? Can I choose one of my characters and
do nothing?Yes. You choose any other character, damaged or not. Then move 2 damage counters from that
character onto Ransack fi you can. -
Ransack’s ability sets his base attack value, what you’d see printed on the card if it didn’t change.
From there, Actions and Upgrades can raise that value. For example, if Ransack has 5 damage counters,
his base attack would be 5. If he then got a Weapon that gave him +2 attack, his attack would be 7. This
wouldn’t change the number of damage counters on him.
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- Slipstream - Strategic Seeker
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If either character is KO’d in the middle of an attack, the attack immediately ends. In that case, you
won’t flip battle cards (and neither will your opponent). -
What does "3 different battle icons" mean? If I flip two orange battle icons and one blue battle icon,
does that count?No. It means you must flip at least one of three different battle icons. For example, one orange, one
blue, and one white battle icon.
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- Sunstorm - Fusion Flyer
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Nothing. You won’t draw any cards, and nothing happens to the cards in your hand.
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Sunstorm’s ability sets his base attack value, what you’d see printed on the card if it didn’t change.
From there, Actions and Upgrades can raise that value. For example, if you have 3 cards in hand, his
base attack would be 3. If he then got a Weapon that gave him +2 attack, his attack would be 5. This
wouldn’t change the number of cards in your hand.
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- Thundercracker - Mach Warrior
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In that case, nothing happens.
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- Wheeljack - Weapons Inventor
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Yes. That ability triggers no matter how the Upgrade was put onto one of your Cars.
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- Aerial Recon
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Just put it back on top of your deck.
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- Agility of Bumblebee
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Yes. The Upgraded character will get the +1 attack bonus, although the ability to draw cards won’t work.
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- Backup Plan
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Yes. Your hand will then be empty. You won’t scrap any cards, but you will draw 3 cards.
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- Battle Ready
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What happens if I play Battle Ready, and then later in the turn the number of Upgrades on one of my characters changes?The bonus for Battle Ready happens when you play it and won’t change later in the turn, even if you play an Upgrade or one of your Upgrades is scrapped.
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- Brainstorm
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First, choose your first Action. Carry out all its instructions and set it aside. Then choose your second Action and carry out its instructions. Note that you don’t have to choose the Actions ahead of time. For example, if your first Action lets you draw a card, and that card is an Action, you could play that Action as your second one.
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- Bug Bomb
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Yes. If a card tells you to do multiple things, always do them in order. First, you’ll draw a card. Then you scrap an enemy Upgrade. Finally, your opponent scraps a card from their hand. (This means they’ll know what Upgrade you scrap before deciding what card to scrap from their hand.)
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- Cargo Trailer
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If my character has 2 Cargo Trailers, and I play a different Utility, do I scrap both Cargo Trailers?Yes. The character can hold up to 3 Cargo Trailers or a different Utility, bot not both.
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- Collateral Damage
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Any time both players are given the same instruction, the player whose turn it is goes first. If you play Collateral Damage, first you’ll scrap a Weapon from one of your characters, then your opponent will, then you’ll scrap a card from your hand, and finally your opponent will.
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Can I play Collateral Damage if none of my characters have a Weapon or if I won’t have any other cards in my hand?Yes. You can always play an Action card, even if you can’t carry out some of its instructions. Just do as much as you can.
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- Crushing Size
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No. If there is an enemy Utility, you must scrap it. You draw a card only if you can’t scrap an enemy Utility.
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- Crushing Treads
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If the Upgraded character’s defense is boosted by actions or Upgrades, does that raise its Pierce number?Yes. For example, if you play an Armor card that gives that gives the Upgraded character +3 defense, Crushing Treads will give that character Pierce 3.
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No. Similarly, orange battle icons don’t raise a character’s attack when that character is defending.
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- Drill Arms
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No. If there is an enemy Armor, you must scrap it. You draw a card only if you can’t scrap an enemy Armor.
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- Equipment Enthusiast
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Only your Upgrades on the battlefield count. Don’t include ones in the scrap pile or your hand.
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- Force Field
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Yes. Even if the attacker has Pierce 5 or more, Force Field will make sure the Upgraded character takes only 4 damage.
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Let’s say the Upgraded character also has Heroism. If another character would take 5 or more attack damage, what happens?The damage that would be done to the defender is instead done to the character with Heroism and Force Field. That damage is still attack damage, so 4 damage is done to the Upgraded character instead.
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- Fusion Cannon of Megatron
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Yes. The Upgraded character will get the +1 attack bonus, although it won’t get Pierce 3.
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- Grenade Launcher
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Any ability that starts with "After the Upgraded character attacks" happens after attack damage is done and the battle ends.
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If Optimus Prime, Battlefield Legend attacks, and the Action I play puts a Grenade Launcher onto him, will that Grenade Launcher be scrapped?Yes. After the battle, Grenade Launcher will see that the character it’s upgrading has attacked and its ability will make you scrap it. Similarly, if a character that has a Grenade Launcher attacks, but somehow no longer has that Grenade Launcher after the battle (say, because a Swap Parts put it on a different character), Grenade Launcher won’t be scrapped.
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- Heroism
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What happens if I have more than one character with Heroism and attack damage would be done to a different character?You can choose which of the characters will take the damage.
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Yes. Any other card that cares about attack damage will still apply.
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- Hunker Down
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Any character in alt mode, as well as characters who are in bot mode but whose alt mode isn’t a Tank, doesn’t flip. Then each Tank, whether it flipped or not, can get an Armor from your scrap pile.
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You choose which Armor goes on which Tank. The same is true if you have more Tanks than you do scrapped Armors.
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- I Still Function!
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A KO’d character has damage counters on it equal to its health. Note that this is true even if it took more damage while on the battlefield. For example, if a character with 7 health takes 10 damage, it ends up in the KO area with 7 damage counters. If you return it with I Still Function!, it will end up with 6 damage counters.
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It stays in whatever mode it was KO’d in. If you haven’t already flipped one of your characters, you can flip the returned character to its other mode.
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- Null-Ray of Starscream
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Yes. The Upgraded character will get the +1 attack bonus, although it won’t get Bold 2.
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- One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall
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In that case, the game is a draw. Time to start the next game!
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- Peace Through Tyranny
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Let’s say I play Peace Through Tyranny and end my turn with no untapped characters, while at least one of my opponent’s characters is untapped. What happens during my extra turn? Can I attack?Not unless you find a way to untap one of your characters.
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In that case, you’ll take two extra turns after the current turn.This was later amended with the Extra Turn Rule, defined in this article and the Tournament FAQ, that states you can't play more than two turns in a rule under any circumstances.
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- Photon Bomb
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In that case, the game is a draw. Time to start the next game!
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- Rapid Ascent
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Yes. It will still get the +1 defense bonus, although the ability of Rapid Ascent won’t trigger.
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- Roll Out!
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Nothing. They won’t flip.
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- Salvage for Parts
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Yes.
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- Scrapper Gauntlets
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No. If there is an enemy Weapon, you must scrap it. You draw a card only if you can’t scrap an enemy Weapon.
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- Start Your Engines
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Any character in alt mode, as well as characters who are in bot mode but whose alt mode isn’t a Car, doesn’t flip.
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No. You can flip any of your Cars, even one that was already in alt mode and didn’t flip.
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- Static Laser of Ironhide
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Yes. Those characters will get the +3 attack bonus, but they will be damaged by Static Laser of Ironhide’s ability when they attack. If the Upgraded character is Ironhide, that ability won’t do anything and Ironhide can attack without being damaged.
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- Swap Missions
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First you’ll untap one of your characters. Then, because that will be your only untapped character, you’ll immediately tap it.
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Playing Swap Missions in this case is probably a bad idea. Because all your characters are already untapped, you can’t untap any of them. Then you’ll tap one of them.
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- Swap Parts
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In that case, just move all the Upgrades from the one character to the other. There doesn’t actually have to be a full swap.
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What happens if an Upgrade can’t be put on the other character? For example, say I have an Upgrade that says "Put on Cars only" and the other character isn’t a Car?If an Upgrade can’t be put on the other character, it stays where it is. If the other character has an Upgrade of the same type, that Upgrade also stays where it is.
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If an Upgrade has an ability that says "When you put this on a character" or similar, will that ability trigger if I put it on a new character with Swap Parts?Yes.
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- Swarm!
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Can my opponent choose a different one of their characters for each 1 damage? Can I choose a different creature for each 1 repair?Yes to both.
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Not right away. Set them aside for now, in the same place you put played Actions cards and battle cards flipped during the attack. Those cards will all be scrapped at the end of the turn.
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- System Reboot
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In that case, the player doesn’t scrap any cards and just draws 4 cards.
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- Team-Up Tactics
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There aren’t any characters that are both a Truck and a Car.
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That’s not a real question.
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You would repair 2 damage from it and then you would draw 2 cards.
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…
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- Turbo Boosters
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Nothing much. It will get the +1 attack bonus, but the untap ability won’t do anything.
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