Alpha Trion TItan One (Open 5) Top 8 Profiles!

Name -  Scott Landis 5-1 in Swiss

Decklist - https://fortressmaximus.io/user/deck/landis-alpha-trion-oct-t1-LaNRHo2OZ61

Your Starting Character lineup – Skyshadow Darkmount (each with strats)

What drove you to play this deck? - I thought skyshadow was vastly under represented in the invitational so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t a loon thinking it’s still a top meta deck. Darkmount got perfectly with the strategy and my play style. 

What was your Favorite Play of the event? – I had a turn where I used a One Shall Stand, a Sturdy Javelin, and a Darkmount flip on a Jazz which meant the combine trigger would finish him off at any time 

ATP - 1  wasn’t tested with Titan One in mind, how did you feel about the stratagems in the format? - the Darkmount one felt strong but honestly I was tracking his Hp during the event and any amount was “enough” even like a +2 so it’s hard to say because he’s unplayable at 9. The Metroplex strat was pretty annoying but I’m not sure that’s a function of Titan one. The Jetfire one remains under represented but is likely the one I’m most concerned about in a slightly powered down format..but skyshadow may keep him in check

Who was your favorite Opponent of the event? -

Chuck in the mirror. It came down to the last turn each game 

What has been your favorite part about the Alpha Trion Tournament series? - helping to create it.  No, it’s really been the ability to play high level events continuously against players continuing to take the game seriously. It's inspiring to see players schedule time to play with people from across the globe. That takes dedication to the game and your craft and I love seeing players stepping up, competing, and showing passion for the game of Transformers TCG

 Name - Christian Young 5-1 in Swiss

Decklist - https://fortressmaximus.io/user/deck/galactose-intolerant-RWrbaFyCSI_

Your Starting Character lineup – Galaxy Prime/Brawn/Nightracer

What drove you to play this deck? - I’ve been playing almost exclusively orange aggro decks it seems like most tournaments, I wanted to try something different by playing a control deck, and I feel like Titan has given more space for control decks to do well. I also wanted a deck that wouldn’t have a terrible matchup against Metroplex which I expected a lot of.

What was your Favorite Play of the event? – My favorite play by far was playing against Kye, and surviving at 1 for 3 different attacks, then following up by immediately getting an energy pack each time I survived, then being able to finish off his metroplex at exact damage after he left me at 1 again with 3 energy packs (32/33 health)

ATP - 1  wasn’t tested with Titan One in mind, how did you feel about the stratagems in the format? - I expected the stratagems to make an impact absolutely, I was actually surprised because I expected them to make more impact than they did. There were a lot of Metroplex, but only one of them made top 8, and Darkmount mixed with Sky Shadow ended up being quite an intense force throughout the tournament, being the only deck I lost to in swiss pretty handily.

Who was your favorite Opponent of the event? - Definitely Palmer, the dude just radiates positive energy and it was some super close matches we had the last round! Excited to play against him again.

What has been your favorite part about the Alpha Trion Tournament series? - Easily my favorite part of the tournament series is the fact every single person in the tournament series that play are incredibly nice and fun people. I haven’t had a moment where someone was salty about losing, and every is just having fun playing the game win or losing. It’s incredibly positive to see even though the game doesn’t have official support anymore.

Decklist - https://fortressmaximus.io/user/deck/october-sky-shadow-sw4V7fWWXgr

Your Starting Character lineup – Sky Shadow and Darkmount

What drove you to play this deck? - I still think Sky Shadow is the best character in the game. And the new stratagem for Darkmount makes him good and probably the best 10 stars without a head.

What was your Favorite Play of the event? – I think it would be hard to pick an individual play that stuck out. All 3 games in the last round of the mirror SS Darkmount were extremely close and very skill intensive. I thought that whole match was super fun.

ATP - 1  wasn’t tested with Titan One in mind, how did you feel about the stratagems in the format? - They all feel very impactful. I used all the text on the Darkmount one to good effect at least once in the tournament.

Who was your favorite Opponent of the event? - This is a toss up, every match I played was extremely enjoyable and all members of the community are friendly and engaged. I could play anyone here and have a great time.

What has been your favorite part about the Alpha Trion Tournament series? - Just the hope that the game will continue to thrive with a great community. When the end of WotC’s involvement was announced I was very down about the whole situation, but the more I play and engage with the community the more I believe there will be real longevity even without a brand name to produce/publish.

Name -  Jon Palmer 4-1-1 in Swiss

Decklist - https://fortressmaximus.io/user/deck/palmer-october-titan-1-fslE1o7_SoF

Your Starting Character lineup – Fangry w/ Kreb, Tailwind, Nightflight, Visper, Storm Cloud

What drove you to play this deck? - The de facto removal of Quake in Titan One made playing superwide attractive again, and my continuing personal crusade against black pips pushed me toward the orange/green setup here instead of an orange/black Horri-bull/Powertrain setup. 

What was your Favorite Play of the event? – Every single time I’ve played Pocket Processor turn 1 or 2

ATP - 1  wasn’t tested with Titan One in mind, how did you feel about the stratagems in the format? - I’ve run into a few of them, Here’s the Thing is unsurprisingly powerful although the blacks becoming white pips actually helped me a few times. The 2 armor it gives Jazz cost me the win (becoming a draw) on my very last attack when he failed to trigger but I was one damage short of killing him. Heed the Call is unsurprisingly ridiculous and led to one close game, but a blowout game 2 because of Belligerence. I also saw Rally as part of a Bumblebee sideboard but the deck wasn’t focused on it and so it wasn’t as powerful as maybe it could have been. Overall I think they’re a positive as long as an eye is kept on them (Here’s the Thing and I Don’t Believe in Destiny may end up looking a touch overpowered)

Who was your favorite Opponent of the event? - All of my opponents were great, I think my last game against Christian was my favorite both because it was very chill and because it came down to the absolute finish of game 3, where I rightfully lost because of my mistake.

What has been your favorite part about the Alpha Trion Tournament series? - I like the mixing of formats, especially the couple we’ve seen that functionally remove Quake from the meta.

Name -  Tim Teo 4-1-1

Decklist - https://fortressmaximus.io/user/deck/here-is-destiny-77bN2ZUcK_H

Your Starting Character lineup – Jetfire, Air Guardian / Autobot Jazz, Special Ops / Fangry, Sky Tracker / Parsec

What drove you to play this deck? - I love the idea of making my opponents not have the option of scrapping my upgrades via I Don’t Believe In Destiny and still be able to move them around, as well as utilising Here’s The Thing to reduce black pip damage to my board. 

This line-up started as an aggro deck, but it felt a little short to go hard when it mattered and also taking huge amounts of damage in return. I decided to try making it more blue/black to go for consistent damage output yet being able to last longer in each game with the aid of Here’s The Thing to flip more on defense since black is white. 

Jetfire is a toolbox of options allowing me get what I need when I need it. Fangry is there for the beefy stats and the amazing push of damage he has the potential to do. I’ve had Fangry go for 9 attack and an over-pierce of 15 on multiple occasions.

What was your Favorite Play of the event? – Favourite play was equipping Parsec with a Noble’s Blaster and a Bigger They Are into a Decepticon, having him swing for a disgusting 6 pierce 6 and still able to move the Armed Hovercraft from Jetfire onto him at the end of turn for one more ping to take a game.

ATP - 1  wasn’t tested with Titan One in mind, how did you feel about the stratagems in the format? - I feel that the new stratagems provide options to players to be top contenders, yet they weren’t necessarily overpowered to take on the likes of Quake and Fortress Maximus who are still powerful. The stratagems provide an option for players to have a meta rotation of Orange/Black vs Orange vs Blue instead of just sticking with Orange/Black, though it remains to be seen how this meta settles and if Darkmount / Sky Shadow will be a mainstay here on out. On a side note though, I personally feel that Fortress Maximus should not be permitted in Titan One format.

Who was your favorite Opponent of the event? - I’d have to go with Scott Landis on this one. We’ve talked online but have never played against each other before. It was quite the experience to be on the receiving end of the infamous Scott Landis burn package and realise how unprepared I was for it.

What has been your favorite part about the Alpha Trion Tournament series? - Definitely would be having new deck concepts to play with and against people all over the world. Having new cards help keep things fresh and having to meet people with different play styles and deck builds is always interesting.

Name -  Nicholas Steer 4-2 in Swiss

Decklist - https://teletraan1.net/decks.php?deck=d57348fb

Your Starting Character lineup – Metroplex

What drove you to play this deck? - I had been trying a few different decks but I couldn’t find one that I felt comfortable with. Fellow Australian, Ozzy, has been playing Metroplex in many iterations of the formats that came and gone in the past, he naturally picked Metroplex up again after the ATP1 Heed the Call stratagem was announced. As he is my testing partner I played to death out of Metroplex opposing my side of the table. The more I played against it the more I loved the way the deck played and worked. So I picked it up a couple days before the event started and loved it from day one.

What was your Favorite Play of the event? – Against Ogar, he had Sky Shadow Tank on 1 health left but I didn’t want Metroplex to trigger and kill him, combining and having a massive attack on me. So I played Belligerance allowing me to kill his Nightflight and not triggering the ability despite me having the pips to trigger. This allowed for Slammer to come out the turn after, killing Skyshadow Tank and Metroplex was able to kill off the combined Sky Shadow.

ATP - 1  wasn’t tested with Titan One in mind, how did you feel about the stratagems in the format? - I think the format seems quite healthy with 6(?) unique line ups amongst the top 8. While there are 3 Darkmount Skyshadow variants, I do feel that the line up feels way more fairer than the previously played Perceptor and Horribull variants. The stratagems not only shook up constructed but it most certainly had a presence in Titan One and it was really good to see Metroplex in the fold once again, and seeing the Demolishers and Darkmounts while playing and spectating other games.

Who was your favorite Opponent of the event? - This would have to be Ozzy for sure, pre-COVID, we played in events against each other just about every weekend, despite the amount of online webcam based tournaments we have played in we never seemed to get paired up. It was really nice to have a match in a tournament environment after so long.

What has been your favorite part about the Alpha Trion Tournament series? - Connecting with the wider player base has been amazing. Australia has a limited pool of Transformers players, and more so within my State. Being able to play against players in America has been great to learn more about how others approach the game. As I feel Australians have a different approach to the game in general.

Name -  Chuck Hackenberg 4-2 in swiss

Decklist - https://fortressmaximus.io/user/deck/straxshadoe-LU26Vi4hDiA

Your Starting Character lineup – Sky Shadow and Darkmount

What drove you to play this deck? - I liked the direct damage combo of Sky Shadow and Darkmount

What was your Favorite Play of the event? – Playing a belligerence against Metroplex and putting 22 damage on him turn 1 (I still feel bad about it)

ATP - 1  wasn’t tested with Titan One in mind, how did you feel about the stratagems in the format? - I didn’t miss not having another titan and the stratagems helped decide on a lineup. 

Who was your favorite Opponent of the event? - I enjoyed playing with everyone but I was happy to finally jump on the shuffle bus and play against Neil. I love his deck building creativity and had a ton of fun in our matchup.

What has been your favorite part about the Alpha Trion Tournament series? - My favortie part is the reason I love to play the game competitively, getting to know people and testing our gaming skills against each other. Then building relationships and talking about cards, life and whatever nerd stuff we are into. I am grateful to have a platform to keep playing the game.

Name -  Eric Baumgard 4-2 in Swiss

Decklist - https://fortressmaximus.io/user/deck/sky-shadow-asp-5ta6m2ZfpJ-

Your Starting Character lineup – Sky Shadow, Tailwind, Nightflight

What drove you to play this deck? - Firstly, I relied heavily on help from some people I really trust in this game, such as Dan and Steffon, to build and pick this deck. Secondly, in testing, this deck really felt like it fit perfectly with my naturally aggressive play style.

What was your Favorite Play of the event? – My favorite play of the event was actually something that was done against me in testing. I was testing with my fellow Minnesotan Micah. He was playing a cars lineup, and on his first turn he played a Confidence into a Brainstorm into two Master of Metallikatos on his Windcharger. Obviously that was an enormous hit, but Sky Shadow is such a beast that I was still able to win that game. That's part of the reason I felt comfortable being able to do well bringing this deck into the tournament.

ATP - 1  wasn’t tested with Titan One in mind, how did you feel about the stratagems in the format? - I feel like the ATP-1 strats did a great job of making some previously uncompetitive cards strong enough to be serious contenders. Jetfire and Jazz have to be taken seriously, Darkmount is a force to be reckoned with now, and Metroplex can be downright oppressive when he hits his abilities.

Who was your favorite Opponent of the event? - My favorite opponent was Madsleepy, a new player. I personally just recently started playing this game competitively a few months ago when I joined the VS tournaments, so I felt honored to be able to play against a newcomer and help him get his feet wet with his first game in the VS tournaments. Plus, he brought a really fun Jetfire, Ultra Magnus deck that made for a really enjoyable set of games.

What has been your favorite part about the Alpha Trion Tournament series? - Easily the best thing is all the people I've gotten to meet and friends I've made since beginning to play in these tournaments. The community is extremely welcoming and helpful, and I couldn't ask for more.

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