Bah-weep-Graaaaagnahwheepnini bong, gamers, and welcome back to another article about Transformers: TCG. Wave 4 is now upon us, and with the new set comes a whole new draft meta, full of powerful new cards and new abilities to really push the format in a whole new direction. Weaponizers and Battlemasters are still around, but now throw into the mix are the new Mercenary faction, as well as new abilities like Bounties and Revenge, and both Constructed and Limited have been turned on their heads.

Last article I talked about my top picks for battle cards to pick in this new, Siege 2 draft landscape, but battle cards are useless without characters. Today I'm going to break down what I feel are the top eight character picks for a successful draft, in no particular order. However, before I get into my picks, I think it is important to talk about what goes into these picks.

The first consideration is the rarity of cards in the set. It goes without saying that you should always heavily consider drafting any super rare characters, so we aren't going to list those out. Next, we have to consider characters that aren't geared toward combo play or relying on very specific interactions. The chances of getting exactly the cards you need to pull off those abilities is very low given the small numbers of battle cards per pack in drafts. What that leaves are characters with solid abilities that are both reliable and consistent. So given those guidelines, let's get into my top eight draft picks for characters!

Private Hot Rod, Infantry - Soldier

The first Hot Rod released in this card game was part of a combiner team, and as part of that team, he was fairly solid, but not overly stand-out as far as characters go. Wave 4 Hot Rod, on the other hand, may just be one of the better characters in the new set. Early game, Hot Rod's alt-mode Safeguard ability helps to keep him from taking any massive hits, and with the smaller deck size of drafts, it should be nearly trivial to get that extra card underneath him. Mid to late game, with that card beneath him, his bot-mode ability allows you to play an extra action per turn. In a format that lacks other reliable ways to get extra action plays, and with the sheer number of powerful actions in the set, this ability goes above and beyond, giving your draft pool an extremely powerful edge.

Raider Spinister, Infantry - Aerial Assault

Coming in as my top-pick for the Decepticon faction is Spinister. The most immediate reason to run Spinister is the simple fact that he has two weapon slots, something very few other characters can boast. There's a high number of quality weapons in the most recent set, any number of which can be a major asset on any character, and being able to drop two on the same character can elevate them to being a major powerhouse on your team. On top of being a strong lone warrior, Spinister is also, shockingly, a team player, especially with the continued usage of Battle Masters in Wave 4. With the ability to pump their attack, and in turn be boosted by them even further when one ends up equipped to him, picking him early and substituting your team with a low-cost Battle Master is a solid plan.

Be careful of his high star cost, however, and make sure you pull enough weapons to support his addiction. However, if you can play the rest of your draft correctly, you'll be hard pressed to fail with Spinister on your side.

Private Greenlight, Special Ops - Recon

Once again we come with an Autobot pick that starts with Safeguard and a powerful secondary ability in alt-mode. Greenlight, like Hot Rod, is tough to kill off in the early game, and on top of that, your upgrades also get extra staying power. In a Limited format, upgrade removal is always a strong effect to bring to bear, but Greenlight simply ignores all of that while in alt mode. In bot mode, Greenlight lives up to the color of her namesake, getting a bonus to attack each time you play a card with a green battle icon. Given that green battle icons, by design, bring themselves easily to hand when flipped during combat, being able to activate this bot's ability easily is far from out of the question. On top of that, she's an eight-star character with impressive enough stats at only an uncommon rarity.

Raider Apeface, Espionage - Commando

The only triple-changer on my pick list, Apeface is a true force to be reckoned with. At the start of the game, his Focus ability allows for the stacking of your deck to make his attacks as effective as possible. Once he's taken a hit, his second alt-mode ability grants Bold 3, allowing him to swing in for some truly devastating hits in a Limited format. Once he's taken another hit or two, transforming him to his bot-mode makes him even harder to kill with Tough 3. The key to really getting the most out of Apeface in a Limited format is to draft an evenly balanced deck, with a good mixture of both offense and defense. Either way, for only 10 stars and packing a whopping 5 attack base, Apeface is a solid draft pick all around.

Sergeant Mirage, Special Ops - Spy

Yet another hard to kill Autobot, Mirage may not have Safeguard on his alt-mode, but he is a solid card draw engine. Card advantage is always excellent to have in any Limited format, and Mirage guarantees at least one card when flipped from bot to alt modes, and a good chance for two depending on how you've drafted your battle cards. In bot mode, he sports an impressive enough Tough 2 when you have a secret action in play, which if you pay attention to your deck-building, shouldn't be too much of a challenge. Given the quality secret actions in Wave 4, drafting them should already be near the top of your list anyway.

Raider Sights, Air Force - Artillery

Now, usually I wouldn't recommend a Battle Master as a first pick, but Sights is a bit of a different case. In bot mode, he only has the Focus ability, which doesn't seem very useful on the surface, but he has decent stats for his star cost, which is positive enough. Where Sights really shines is when he's KO'd and becomes a nice Utility upgrade for one of your surviving characters. In this form, his Focus ability increases from one to two, allowing you to filter your attacks even more thoroughly, but on top of that he also boosts both attack and defense by one each. If assigned to the right character, these abilities can easily turn the tide of the game in your favor.

Captain Impactor, Special Ops - Wrecker

Rounding out our Autobot picks is the Wrecker, Impactor. While he doesn't seem very impressive on the surface, his low star count and Bold abilities, for himself in bot mode and for the rest of your team when you flip to alt mode, makes him a solid support character. While he probably won't be the hero of your team, he's definitely a solid addition for his low cost.

Deadlock, Soldier of Fortune

Summing up my top eight is neither an Autobot or a Decepticon, but one of the new Mercenaries, Deadlock. What makes this Soldier of Fortune so fantastic is he simply can't be attacked by either Autobots or Decepticons so long as he's in alt-mode and there are other legal targets. Not only does this give him excellent survivability, it allows you to keep him healthy enough to set up for him to get the kill while in bot mode, allowing you to strike, KO a character, draw your two cards, and then run away back to alt mode to hide from your opponents once again. Things get trickier in the end game when you're down to just a couple of characters, or Deadlock by himself, but hopefully he's already done enough damage to have paid for his nine stars.

Honorable Mentions

This article's honorable mentions are focused on Wave 4's set of combiners. Because of the rarity of many of these cards, getting full sets of them to play is far from guaranteed, but if you can pull it off, then you'll have an amazing time! Both Brunt and Six-Gun are excellent grabs if you can get both parts, but with them both being rare characters, that may not be an option. The same goes for Skytread who is a little bit more manageable since both halves are only un-commons. Meanwhile, split out over 3 rare cards is the long shot of drafting a full Omega Supreme. If you can manage it, then by all means, but don't expect it to happen.

So there's my Wave 4 Character Draft picks! Hopefully this guide will get you thinking about your own draft picks, and how to evaluate a solid card that's reliable versus a character with synergies that may be near impossible to activate in a Limited card pool. Speaking of Omega Supreme, come back next week where I'll do a deeper dive into the new combiner version of Omega, and contrast him against the old promo version.