Rules Roundup 2019-03-08

Questions

• If I start an attack with Wheeljack in bot mode, and there is a weapon in my scrap pile giving him Bold 3, but then I have to shuffle my scrap pile during the attack, do I keep the Bold 3 for that attack?
  Bold and anything that effects how many cards you flip during a battle is locked in once you begin flipping, so you would keep the Bold 3 in this scenario.
• Are cards with no battle icons (such as I Still Function!) considered a separate battle icon color for Grapple - Autobot Architect's bot mode ability?
  No. Cards with no battle icons would not apply to Grapple - Autobot Architect’s bot mode ability.
• With the some of the new combiner teams being over 25 points, how does this work? Do the players decide on the points totals they’ll be playing or are you still only able to take 25 points and you’ll not be able to use this team to combine?
  In a normal game, you must still adhere to the 25-star limit when building your deck, but Optimus Maximus and Volcanicus have special rules on their cards that explain how they function with more than 25 stars.
• So with the ruling for combiners KO’ing after you play I Still Function! because the sort of 'status effect' of the card, would all buffs/debuffs/other status effects carry over to Combiner mode?
  Yes.
• Does Motormaster's bot mode skill redirect the attack to another of your Stunticons, or does the other Stunticon defend on behalf of Motormaster, with him still taking any resultant damage?
  The other Stunticon defends and thus takes the attack damage.
• The enigma cards state that all the of the combiner component characters must be “in bot mode on the battlefield and/or in your KO area”. Do they still have to be in bot mode if they are in the KO area? Given how Volcanicus is formed I assumed they could be in alt mode, but now that the new rules state you can flip characters in the KO area, I’m not so sure.
  Yes.
• Say Silverbolt attacks and his alt-mode ability triggers, allowing him to flip to bot mode thus making his base attack 3. If that is the case, then why would Optimus Prime - Battlefield Legend not get +5 attack if he attacks, uses his bot-mode ability and flips Rapid Conversion which in turn flips a tapped Thrust to bot-mode? Both Silverbolt and Thrust have triggered abilities but only Silverbolt benefits from the higher attack value. Why? Thrust’s alt-mode effect mentions “this character” NOT “this mode” or “alt mode”?
  Thrust’s ability only triggers at the time of attack and does not check again. Silverbolt is not adding his attack, he is using his attack to determine the damage at the last point after he’s flipped and just before damage is dealt.
• How does playing multiple Focus Fires simultaneously work? Does each consecutive copy stack with each other copy to produce a pattern of bold like this:-
  1 copy- Bold 1
  2 copies- Bold 4
  3 copies- Bold 9
  No. Once an action is used, it’s done being used, so the pattern would be:
  1 copy - Bold 1
  2 copies - Bold 3 total
  3 copies - Bold 6 total
• What happens to Thermal Weaponry when Inverted! is in play?
  Then your orange battle icons would add to your pierce but not your blues.
• When a Combiner combines and the upgrades on its components go onto it, does that count as putting it on a character in the same way that Swap Parts does? For example: Torox has Energon Slingshot before Predacon Enigma was played. When Predaking is combined into, will Slingshot count as being put on a melee character and have its ability to deal 1 damage activate?
  No. Upgrades are not “put on” when Combining, they are “kept on”.
• Grapple’s effect of flipping exactly 4 different icons in battle and gains +4 attack and +4 defense says “until end of turn.” Does this mean the end of me attacking or my opponent? What I’m trying to know is if Grapple’s effect triggers, will he be able to defend with +4 defense?
  Your turn ends after you are done attacking. If you trigger his ability when attacking, the defense would not carry over to your opponent’s turn and vice versa.
• When you attack and scrap an action, what happens first: the draw two or the attack flip?
  If you’re referring to the Bumblebee - Trusted Lieutenant’s bot mode ability, you would draw two first. Attack abilities happen before flipping unless they’re related to the flip.
• Would like to check with you during situation of Brainstorm being used, the other 2 actions after Brainstorm are Ancient Wisdom and Leap of Faith. While flipping for Leap of Faith, I somehow manage to flip 2 Unleash Potentials. Does that mean that I get to bring back two 1-star cards outside the game I owned?
  Yes, if you played the Ancient Wisdom first.
• Next, is there a sequencing issue with the synergy of Ancient Wisdom and Unleash Potential? Say while playing Leap of Faith, I flipped Unleash Potential first and then flipped Ancient Wisdom, do I still get to bring in a 1-star card?
  No, that would not do anything.
• You target Blackwing, bring him back and combine. Now, Blackwing is technically gone right? As Dreadwing is its own bot. But you said I Still Function! KO’s Dreadwing.
  As a Combiner, Dreadwing is a mode of Blackwing. Dreadwing is also a mode of Dreadwind.
• Based off of the ruling for Autobot Cosmos - Recon & Communication (bot mode) that states that if defender is KO'd due to Cosmos’ ability, no defense flips are performed, When Bombshell - Decepticon Psy Ops (bot mode) attacks, are there battle flips for either party if a KO occurs from a discard?
  Nope. That’d be a garden variety KO.
• Based off the I Still Function! Ruling, would I be able to transform Razorclaw to bot mode, then combine into Predaking but retain his flip ability to attack untapped characters since he's part of the Combiner?
  Yes.
• I have a question: I have 3 tanks in bot mode and I play Hunker Down. I flip all of them to tank mode. Can I resolve their flip abilities first before the "Then" statement in Hunker Down where I search discard pile for armors?
  You must finish Hunker Down before using any flip abilities, which includes getting armor.
• If a character is equipped with 3 Combat Drones and the enemy plays a card such as Scrapper Gauntlets which scraps an enemy weapon, would just 1 of the 3 Combat Drones be scrapped or all 3? Thanks for all you guys do! Wave 2 is amazing!
  Just 1 and no, YOU’RE AMAZING.
• My opponent and I both have one tapped bot and one untapped bot in play. It's my turn, and I play Peace Through Tyranny, sacrificing my untapped bot. I now have no untapped bots, and I am the active player. What happens? Am I allowed to continue my current turn, play an upgrade, and flip the tapped bot, and then just skip the combat phase for this turn? What happens on the extra turn granted by Peace Through Tyranny?
  You can play your upgrades and flip a character, but you would not be able to attack. Same thing applies to the extra turn.
• How does Inverted! interact with other cards and abilities which care about the color of your flipped battle icons? Are battle icons ever in a 'natural' state immediately after they've been flipped off the deck, but before Inverted! has modified them?
  Inverted! applies immediately. There is no in-between or “natural” state.
• Defensive Driving makes reference to an opponent's "cards". What constitutes a player's cards in this case? Does this include abilities from bots on the field, in addition to played upgrade and action cards?
  Every card. All of the cards.
• Please explain the general rules on the battle cards with stars on the bottom? If you already have a 25-character deck, can you still put them in your deck for pip purposes and/or play them? Why is there a star on the bottom? Or do you have to have extra stars available to even put it into your battle deck?
  You have to have extra stars available to put star battle cards in your battle deck.
• So I’m attacking with Dinobot Snarl - Desert Warrior with 8 damage counters on him, he’s attacking Volcanicus, who has Electrified Spikes on him. Snarl flipped enough damage to KO Volcanicus, but for Volcanicus’ defense flip, he hit the two orange pips to activate Electrified Spikes. Which would do the KO damage on Snarl. So how is damage assigned? And whose damage goes first? Or is this a double KO?
  Electrified Spikes’ ability happens before attack damage, so in this scenario, Volcanicus would save himself with Electrified Spikes and KO Dinobot Snarl - Desert Warrior.
  Alternatively, you could try telling Volcanicus to stop hitting himself.
• In the FAQ, it is stated that when a white icon is flipped, you flip the additional 2 cards, and then scrap the card for Recon System. Is the card with the white icon an available choice to scrap, even though it was used to flip 2 additional cards?
  We’ve amended the answer in the FAQ to read: Choose one of the cards you flipped, scrap it, then flip the 2 extra cards.
• When Recon System is equipped on a character like Skywarp - Teleporting Seeker, will his ability still trigger if you scrap the only card with no icons, since you did actually flip the card, triggering Skywarp's ability?
  Yes.
• If I have all five Wave 2 Dinobots in Bot mode in the KO Area, what happens if I play Dinobot Enigma? Will Volcanicus essentially rise from the dead at 1 health?
  You can combine Volcanicus and he will remain in the KO area with full damage. In order to combine Volcanicus onto the battlefield, you must have at least one active Combiner piece Dinobot on the battlefield.