I’d like to take some time today to discuss a certain double orange pipped battle card. Its power level is through the roof and is often undervalued by many players. I’ve been part of a multitude of discussions about whether it should be included in aggressive battle decks. My stance is that it is a staple. What, pre tell is this powerhouse that people have been misunderstanding? Must be Peace through Tyranny, right? Incorrect. I’m here today to discuss the necessity of this card:
Powerful? Yes. We just need to “ignore” the textbox when properly evaluating this card in aggressive decks. When I talk about aggressive decks, I’m referring to decks that have very little to no defensive capabilities aside from their printed armor. Instead of trying to survive, these decks are trying to get the most efficient attacks they are capable of. (Insecticons, Blaster, Lionizer based Strategies, 4-wide cars)
All these archetypes are focused on doing one thing: Killing the Opponent’s team as ruthlessly and quickly as possible. So how does ignoring part of the card considered “efficient?” There are two reasons:
High Damage Output
“Hidden” Text
The shield has no attack value while in your hand, but it does look quite different when flipped while attacking:
We do not need to sit here and discuss how +2 is more than +1, but we will talk about how great it feels to absolutely smash your opponents when attacking. The also average out any blank cards (including blues) you may have flipped. So, you either get +2 when flipped alone or you get to double down and keep your average to +1 when you flip a non-orange. Increasing the amount of cards you flip should in theory create more damage:
Clearly this doesn’t exist in a vacuum and there is additional context while playing. The aggressive strategies generally align themselves to flipping more cards (Bold) as well as static attack buffs. The higher your Bold stack, the higher your chances of seeing the cards you want. Generally, you want to see as much orange as possible to deal the highest amount of damage, but seeing more cards gives us a higher chance to find our green pipped “bullets”
These green staples should be in any deck that is able to support them. Press the Advantage cannot be played with an all Decepticon team but having at least one Autobot in your deck will be enough to warrant its inclusion. When you unfortunately draw your Improvised Shield (and it is a guarantee to happen) they just turn into free swaps on any green pip you may flip. Not only are you not going to playing the Shield at any point in the game (aside from corner case scenarios and banking on luck) you also want to have the +2 attack recycled back into your pool for future flips. There are also a few cards that get them into the pool for the immediate +2 for the next attack:
Mining pick looks innocuous. It may seem like card disadvantage (and it is) but decks that have Mining Pick are less concerned with card quantity and are more focused on damage output. Besides, Improvised Shield is awful when drawn, so you might as well turn your “dead” card into damage. Incoming transmission is mostly in the same vein. However, you are actively looking for the shield either before playing Transmission or hoping to find it in the top two cards. If you are holding Improvised Shield and play Transmission, its text changes to “Draw 2 cards. Guarantee at least 2 damage on your next attack.”
How else can we extract value from our “dead” card?
Both Confidence (and Swindled) and Wheeljack offer a way to filter cards from your hand. Not only do you get to improve the quality of your hand by hopefully finding cards you are actively looking to play, you are also simultaneously putting that +2 back into your flip pool for the future. Being able to have “free” discards while filtering is invaluable.
The next time you are contemplating cutting Improvised Shield from your deck, please don’t. There is so much value that is not written on the card as well as helping to achieve your endgame. I will concede the argument that it is a bad top deck when you need to draw action. But it is no worse in that situation than Peace through Tyranny and you are down to a single character. Would you cut Peace through Tyranny from your deck? That should be a resounding “NO” and the same is true with Improvised Shield. On the surface, Improvised Shield looks like the weakest card in any deck that includes it. That is certainly not the case. You just need to construct your deck in such a way that you are able to take full advantage of flipping while attacking as well as having efficient ways to utilize the card if you happen to draw it (where it is at its weakest point). Let this misunderstood card work wonders for you.
Dark Confidence: Competitive TCG Analysis 