ALL HAIL MIRAGETRON!

General Megatron is the big scary SRT on the table, but Mirage is the real secret sauce of this Tough Blue deck.

While General Megatron's formidable direct damage abilities are useful, the real star of the show here is Mirage and his Secret Action-enabled Tough 2. If an unremovable Tough 2 bonus wasn't enough, Mirage's alt-mode flip offers a card draw effect! The ideal upgrade for Mirage is the [[Kinetic Converter]]. With this bad boy, you'll draw a card on every flip, two cards when you flip to alt mode no matter what, and make his ability a full-blown free [[Universal Network Access]] if your top card is a Blue pip (75% Blue). This makes for a potent combination and encourages you to flip Mirage frequently.

The big advantage to Mirage's bot mode ability is that his bonus Tough can't be stripped by a timely Bashing Shield or Vaporize - armor (and therefore Tough) is ridiculously easy to strip in the current meta, so this gives him a terrific edge. A Hidden Fortification grants bot mode Mirage Tough 5 without any additional armor or bonuses! Add in Flamewar's passive Tough 1 bonus and Mirage is an absolute wall with Tough 6!

Use Bravery and Step Forward creatively to focus fire on the real tank, Mirage, while Megatron and company suit up in an array of weapons and other gadgets fed to them by Mirage's alt-mode flips. Once you've stacked some weapons on your side of the board, flip Megatron to deal plenty of direct damage (up to 7 if you get everything just right!) or leave him in Bot mode to punish your foes turn after turn with a withering wave of munitions.

The large number of Secret Actions in this deck allow you to play plenty of mind games; you do not have to reveal a Secret Action in response to the trigger - you can keep Swerve face-down and still get the Tough 2 bonus when defending with Mirage or reveal it when defending with Megatron. Sideboard in New Designs if you'd like, to make playing multiple upgrades per turn possible, or use the Security Checkpoints for additional defensive pips and to clear out your opponent's hand of upgrades - don't worry, you'll draw more as long as you can keep Mirage alive!

General Strategies & Tips

Miragetron prefers to play First, in order to transform Flamewar for the immediate team-wide Tough 1 bonus.

Always attack with Megatron first. Megatron has 3 defense in Tank mode - combined with Flamewar's Tough 1, Megatron will typically have 6-7 defense versus the opening attack. This should be enough to tank most Turn 2 salvos.

Once Megatron has eaten damage, it's time to flip Mirage and get to business. Even in unlucky games without a Secret Action or Armor to defend early with, Mirage has 13 health and Tough 1 can provide for a respectable 4 or 5 total defense. Piling on Armor and playing a Hidden Fortification will give Mirage enough toughness to give Raider Aimless a run for his money - except Aimless won't get you a steady stream of extra card draws and has 1 less attack, 5 less health, and 1 less defense.

Try to resist the urge to flip Megatron unnecessarily. On your third turn, before Flamewar attacks, you'll likely want to flip Megatron to bot mode and then leave him there until the time is right. Try to use his direct damage flip to secure a kill and only if you're certain it will do the job (if you're lucky, you can get two bots in a turn with the follow-up attack!) However, [[Swerve]] can punish your opponent for attacking into Megatron instead of Mirage, allowing you to snipe an opposing bot and pump Megatron's defense. With some preparation, you can get a surprise KO and negate combat altogether.

Generally speaking, from Turn 4 on, it's better to flip Mirage as often as possible to get a steady stream of Secret Actions and Upgrades, even moreso if he has the Kinetic Converter handy. Getting a free [[Universal Network Access]] every 2nd turn is very fun. Try to hold on to your [[Hidden Fortification]]s for when Mirage is in car mode, or to protect Flamewar.

As with any Blue deck, keep Flamewar alive as long as possible. The passive Tough 1 bonus cannot be underestimated for its value; Flamewar should generally be your #1 priority for an Armor upgrade whenever it's missing from her (don't neglect Mirage though!) She has the lowest health and provides a crucial bonus to your whole team, so cherish her!

Metal Detectors are a high priority to snatch up on battle flips - these can enable you to get plenty of free Upgrade plays and Utilities tend to be a less likely target for removal. Combine Metal Detector or Shoulder Holster with Reclaim to pull upgrades from your scrap pile and back into the fight. Megatron loves having 3 Attack Drones and using a Reclaim to pull the Crude Club out of the scrapheap and into his Shoulder Holster right before a big swing for 15.