Welcome to the launch of the Transformers Trading Card Game, Wave 2 Rise of the Combiners! With all the reveals leading up to this, it’s been kind of eerie not seeing something new and shiny show up in my social media feed. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been plenty to check out. The Transformers TCG revealed all the Wave 2 Battle Cards on social media.

Over on our official Facebook page, we've posted ALL of the cards from RISE OF THE COMBINERS boosters! Go check 'em out! https://t.co/8AbADlU40y

— Transformers TCG (@TransformersTCG) February 18, 2019

And then they revealed a giant LootCrate exclusive card, Omega Supreme! He was available in the 2/19 LootCrate and will hopefully pop up again in another form (if you missed out). I don’t have any in-hand images (the crate was delayed), but here are the official reveal images. He’ll be an oversized card, just like Metroplex.

Rarity: Unattainable. Recommendation: eBay. (Image: Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro)

Rise of the Combiners Booster Packs

But forget news about things you can’t get. What about what you can get? Like, right now? The Transformers TCG Wave 2 Rise of the Combiners booster box comes with 30 booster packs.

Each booster pack has one Common, Uncommon, Rare, or Super Rare character, with Common being the most likely to show up in a pack and Super Rare being, well, super rare. All booster packs come with seven battle cards, also of rarity ranging from Common to Uncommon to Rare.

IT’S HERE! (Image: Anthony Karcz)

I don’t want to waste too much time talking about box art, but the Transformers TCG team really outdid themselves on the packaging this time. The Predaking artwork pops and the bold black background makes it easy to distinguish Wave 2 booster packs from Wave 1.

Unboxing the Booster

Hasbro was nice enough to send over a Booster Box for me to dive right in on launch day. You can see the whole “live” feed over on my Instagram account, but I’ve summarized it here.

SUPER RARE! (Image: Anthony Karcz)

First pull started off well! I’m a huge Dinobot fan, so grabbing Snarl to start was a very good sign. And then the big surprise, a Super Rare Blitzwing! Third was Fireflight from Superion. And fourth was Sunstreaker! It’s the one card I’ve been waiting for since the game was announced last year. Obviously, I was overjoyed he was in the first five packs. Breakdown and Rampage rounded out the first six booster packs.

Within six pulls I had components for nearly every combiner in Wave 2, plus a Super Rare.

These will multiply exponentially. (Image: Anthony Karcz)

I had also snagged a couple of enigmas amongst the Battle Cards. All in all, a very strong start to the booster.

More combiners, alright! (Image: Anthony Karcz)

Dreadwind gave me my next combiner team member, so by seven packs, I had one character for every combiner in Wave 2. Hot Rod helped me move toward completing Optimus Maximus. As did Skydive for Superion. Then Grapple and Bumblebee came along to remind me that there were single, non-Combiner characters in Wave 2, as well. Fireflight was my first duplicate (I’d see him again). And Novastar filled that car/truck hole in my heart.

Singles are nice, but where are my combiner bots? (Image: Anthony Karcz)

Team Optimus Maximus had a large presence in this box with my next pull of Prowl. Silverbolt gave me my Superion leader… followed by yet another Fireflight (that’s three so far). Air Raid helped soothe the duplicate burn. And Divebomb gave me hope I’d see more Predaking components soon. Though that was soon dashed by a duplicate Breakdown.

The one combiner everyone will have… (Image: Anthony Karcz)

Warpath was a nice pull (always good to have more tanks). And then the one true surprise of Wave 2 – Ruckus! This G1 Triggercon was a completely unexpected single character, though I do appreciate his deep meta inclusion (at one point, he was going to be a part of the Combiner Wars Stunticons figures instead of Off Road). Blurr was next, followed by Blackwing to complete my Dreadwing combiner team! Dead End gave me one more notch in my Menasor build. Ironhide got me closer to completing Optimus Maximus. Motormaster rounded out the Stunticon-themed pulls.

Down to the last four packs, I realized there was no way I was completing any of the big combiners. There are just too many characters needed. At this point I needed one more for Superion, two more for Menasor and Optimus Maximus, three more for Predaking, and four more for Volcanicus.

Thrust! …and Novastar again. (Image: Anthony Karcz)

I was happy to get Thrust (even if I needed more combiners), his original figure was my childhood favorite after Sunstreaker. The duplicate Novastar I could have done without (but Commons gonna common). Grimlock helped me toward rounding out the Dinobots, and Mirage left me with a Gleaming Optimus-sized hole in my Optimus Maximus team.

Rarity and Impressions

With only five duplicate characters (much less than my multiple Hounds in Wave 1) and still no complete combiner teams, I realized there are a lot more characters in Wave 2! Eight more, to be exact. There are four Super Rare characters as well, which means you’ll likely need to pick up four or more boxes if you want to collect them all organically (or, sell your extras on eBay and use the proceeds to pick up the others).

So near and yet, so very far. (Image: Anthony Karcz)

I’m hoping that with subsequent boxes, the distribution will be suitably randomized so you can collect at least one or two of the larger combiners. Going through a second box without completing Optimus Maximus or Superion would be highly disappointing.

Menasor is angry that you didn’t find his legs. (Image: Anthony Karcz)

The rarity ratio is split as expected, with about half the box being Common characters and the other half consisting of Uncommon, Rare, and Super Rare characters in descending order. All of my duplicate cards were Commons, with Fireflight being the most duplicated (three in my sample box).

Consolation prize Dreadwing. (Image: Anthony Karcz)

The good news is that there’s a high likelihood that every box will contain a Dreadwing. So even if you can’t collect a large combiner team, you can still try out the mechanic with the two-character mini combiner.

Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat? No. My collection’s not complete. (Image: Anthony Karcz)

As far as Battle Cards go, with seven per booster pack, I was able to get nearly every single card in Wave 2. I picked up all the combiner enigmas, all the starred Battle Cards, and just about every Rare card. Ancient Wisdom eluded me (though I did get its combo card Unleash Potential). As did the Rare cards Electrified Spikes and Marksmanship. Oddly, the Common card, Intelligence Mission, was also MIA. I’m confident I’ll fill in all the gaps as I get additional boxes.

Now, all that’s left to do is integrate all these cards into my collection and start coming up with new decks! I’ll keep trying to complete my large combiners, but in the meantime, there are plenty of new characters that lend themselves to existing synergies in the game.

Where to Find Them?

You can pick up a booster box with Prime shipping over on Amazon right now for $93. You can also check at your local game store or the aisles of your local Target. The Devastator box set isn’t yet released; expect to see him closer to the beginning of April. I’ll have a review of that set closer to launch.

(Thanks to Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast for sending over a Wave 2 Booster Box for review. Opinions are my own.)