Uncommon Cards, MTM sorted by Tier; proposed by DutchRits
Uncommon Tiers, proposed by DutchRits
The Uncommon cards. These are most likely the first batch of cards that features a character we chose to max out. There are a lot of favorites in this batch...in my case, Sideswipe and Autobot Hound, as well as nods to the old-school cartoon and the rabid fanbase with the inclusion of Acid Storm. I'd go so far as to say that between these and the Common cards, the uniquely awesome art was one of the main draws to the game for me.
But let's look at the stats, shall we?
Much like the Common cards I proposed before,[1], the UC cards fall into distinct groups. While there is a little bit of "bleed-over" from the C cards in the 7.9k range (Reflector and Autobot Rewind, but no real surprise there) the overall effect is that the UC stats pick up where the C stats left off, MTM total-wise. For those who are of the "Sell all the C cards, use the UC cards to upgrade" ilk, it bears mentioning that if you are able to target your scans and random draws to the Tier 3/4 cards you'll get more "bang for your buck" when you upgrade.
The table also points out other obvious conclusions, such as distinctions between the three attributes (Acid Storm's attack is less than Razorclaw's, yet Chopshop (C) is usually ranked ahead of Reflector, usually due to attack power) and the MTM total usually figuring more towards how the game ranks cards rather than simply on attack power alone.
Finally, the table also reflects a kind of "relative capability" that I alluded to in the previous post. I.e., that when one considers the respective characters of the TF universe, we expect certain characters to be "better" than others. For example, I would expect Blaster to be more powerful than any of his (or Soundwave's) tapes just as I would expect that most of the Dinobots would be more powerful than most of the other Autobots. The biggest surprise (to me, at least) was that the Combaticons were universally at the bottom-end of the UC cards, and that Swindle was not included, even as a C card. Also surprising was that two of the Predacons, Divebomb and Razorclaw were rated so high in comparison to their teammates Headstrong and Rampage (with poor Tantrum left out until Road_to_Ruin) while the Constructicons were universally ranked so low.
I would have liked to have seen some UC Wrecker love for Roadbuster and Whirl, though. {sigh}
So while all that is cool info/opinion and could be considered useful knowledge for the new player to understand (you can't just get the characters you like and expect to compete in an event or in PvP, unfortunately) or up for intense debate/flame-war, it doesn't help the experienced player, much. So let's take a look at my rationale for these tiers:
Tier 1 7.9k-8.99k: Reflector as a UC card is almost silly. If any character is deserving of C status, it's this joker. He leads off the bottom-tier of UCs, though, which also includes some "heavy hitters" like Decepticon Brawl and Onslaught, which I thought would be in Tier 3 or 4 (as I alluded to, above). I would have put Vortex in this tier instead, but he's rated as the most powerful Combaticon...well, for a UC card, that is. Autobot Rewind and Eject should be Cs, as well...unless you count how bad-a$$ Rewind is in his bio over at the Transformers Wiki. Sergeant Kup is here too, leaving Hot Rod as the only absent member of their "team" from the original toys and the animated TF movie. Bah, wheep, grahn, ah, wheep, mini-bon!
Tier 2 9k-10.99: Inferno being included here was a bit confusing. He sprays foam. Foam. Put him back with Grappel as a Tier 1 Common. Cliffjumper also deserves a boot down to the minor leagues.
Tier 3 11k-12.99: This tier is relatively broad. Dirge and Thrust are the only Seekers to make appearances as UCs (unless you count Scourge), but I would have thought that Thrust would have had stats closer to Dirge's. Decepticon Rumble, Buzzsaw and Brawn should be dropped down a bit, IMHO, at least to Tier 1 UCs. It was nice to see the Dinobots begin to make their appearance here, although I'd like to point out that Swoop is actually less powerful than Sludge (in total, not in AP) and is the least powerful of the Dinobots (like he used to be). Slug and Snarl are also in this tier, leaving ol' Grimmy to revel in his R glory.
Tier 4 13k-13.99k: What's interesting with this tier is that you have UC cards that are nearly twice as powerful as those in Tier 1. Blaster, Razorclaw and Acid Storm comprise this tier, and they are head-and-shoulders above the rest of this type. I might have expanded this tier a bit and shortened the Tier 3 list, putting Onslaught & Long Haul in Tier 4, possibly along with Slug. I'm not sure I understand why Acid Storm is the most powerful UC card...he didn't do much at all (check his bio on the Transformers Wiki for details) but he sure seems popular amongst the collectors right now.
The bottom line: the UC cards continue the trend of using statistical tiers to differentiate cards within a type, and the tiers are glaringly obvious. Inclusion of some characters here is questionable, from a canon standpoint.
Next: the Rares
Edit 31 July 2013: added discussion for my proposed tiers. -Dutch