Tachyon Part 2

Variants

Team Leader Tachyon

Base Power Rating: 5 / 5

Before I get into how awesome Team Leader Tachyon’s base power is, I should start by pointing out that she has the highest HP of the Tachyon variants. Having more HP translates into being able to take hits better. Now onto why her base power is amazing:

If I had to pick one base power that I would consider to be the best in the entire game, I would pick Team Leader Tachyon’s base power. “Team Leader” is a base power that benefits every hero, regardless of the role they play on your team. Everyone likes having more cards in their hand. More cards in the hand means more options available to deal with problems, allowing other heroes set up their major plays faster.

There are other benefits, too. Consistent cards in the hand mitigates the damage done from starting out with a bad hand. Being able to consistently draw cards is also helpful when fighting against villains who can make you discard a lot of cards, like “Iron Legacy” or “Miss Information.”

This power combines well with other base powers, and can dramatically boost the usefulness of other heroes who either require lots of discards or need a certain number of cards in their hand to use certain combos.

While this power benefits everyone, it’s interesting to consider who benefits the most from Team Leader Tachyon’s presence on the team. Here’s the list of heroes I’ve come up with:

La Commodora:

La Commodora is a hero who has a lot of cards that require her to discard in order to remain in play. Having Team Leader Tachyon around to help her consistently draw cards lets her keep those cards out for longer periods of time.

The Scholar:

Like La Commodora, Scholar is a hero that has cards (his “Form” cards) that require a discard to keep in play. Once again, Team Leader Tachyon’s base power feeds him a consistent number of cards which lets him maintain his forms. It also powers up a card in his deck called “Know When To Turn Loose,” which deals 1 damage per card he discards.
Haka:

Haka has several different cards in his deck called “Haka Of____”. These cards require Haka to discard at least one card. The more cards Haka discards, the more powerful these cards become. Team Leader Tachyon can provide Haka with a consistent stream of resources to power these cards up.
Guise:

One of the more powerful cards in Guise’s deck is a card called “Super Ultra Kawaii.” It’s a card that lets Guise play more cards at the end of each hero’s turn if he has five or more cards in his hand. Being able to draw more cards on a consistent basis helps Guise reach the number of cards needed to play “Super Ultra Kawaii” quicker, and it also gives him more cards to play with that card. Similarly, “Selling Out” also becomes more useful, as Guise can more easily afford to discard a card to play three at once on the Environment Turn.

“Blatant Reference” is another card whose usefulness skyrockets with Team Leader Tachyon being on the team. It requires Guise to discard a card from his hand at the end of every hero turn in exchange dealing damage. Once Guise has more cards in his hand, he can discard more freely without having to worry about running out of cards.

As mentioned in the “Legacy Variant” article, Guise has a card in his deck that is capable of copying the powers of other heroes. Being able to copy the base power of “Team Leader Tachyon” results in every hero on the team being able to draw a card once again, which is always a good thing.

Action Hero Stuntman:

One of the main criticisms of “Action Hero Stuntman” is that he can run out of cards quickly. As someone who plays “Action Hero Stuntman” on a regular basis, I can confirm the truth of this criticism. This problem has a really easy solution: Put Team Leader Tachyon in the same team as him. She’ll provide him extra cards that will help him take advantage of his base power more easily so he can skyrocket his damage output.

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As we can see, there is a long list of heroes whose general usefulness goes up when Team Leader Tachyon is present. But are there any heroes whose powers synergize with hers? There are two heroes whose base powers work well with Team Leader Tachyon’s:

Freedom Five Wraith:

The way Freedom Five Wraith’s base power works is that she’s allowed to discard a card in her hand and let another hero draw whenever she draws a card. Team Leader Tachyon provides Freedom Five Wraith consistent cards to draw, which makes Freedom Five Wraith’s base power more appealing to use frequently. This synergy is especially useful when you’re trying to get a certain combo in play as fast as you can, like pairing The Visionary’s “Twist the Ether” with Ra’s “Flesh of the Sun God.” Team Leader Tachyon and Freedom Five Wraith on the same team provide other heroes with super accelerated card draws.

Lifeline:

Lifeline has a card in his deck called “Matter Manipulator” that activates whenever he draws a card. Lifeline is given the choice between drawing a card or using a power. Generally speaking, using a power is the better play. There’s a couple of things Lifeline can do:

• Use His Base Power Instead:Lifeline still gets to draw a card, but like Freedom Five Wraith he can provide another hero with an extra card draw. This strategy is helpful when you need certain heroes to draw through their deck faster.

• Use a Different Power like the Sulph-Axe: A combo like this can result in Lifeline dealing extra damage instead. The Sulph-Axe is one of the best cards in his deck, so this is a really good combo to pull off.

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Freedom Five Tachyon:

Base Power Rating: 4 / 5

Freedom Five Tachyon’s base power trades the ability to deal tons of damage via “Lightspeed Barrage” for the ability to do damage immediately. Every burst in her trash counts as an extra method of dealing damage. If you are going to use Freedom Five Tachyon then you should put her on a team where her damage will get buffed. This will cause her damage output to increase dramatically, which leads to amazing results.

For example, let’s say that Freedom Five Tachyon has 3 bursts in the trash while Legacy used “Galvanize” and has “Inspiring Presence” out. Freedom Five Tachyon will deal 3 damage each time she uses her power. Thanks to the way her power works, she can use that power multiple times. The first time she uses her power does not require her to give up a burst. If she wants to, she can remove all 3 of those bursts in the same turn. That’s 4 uses of her power multiplied by 3 which equals 12 damage in one turn. 12 damage. That’s ridiculous!

As awesome as this sounds, there’s a catch to using this power: It’s ultimately dependent on getting bursts into her trash. If Freedom Five Tachyon doesn’t have any of those, then her power isn’t going to do very much damage. This means that there will be turns where her power won’t be as useful.

When it comes to synergy for Freedom Five Tachyon, the heroes that work best with her are heroes that buff her damage. So Standard Legacy, Parse and Ra are the go-to heroes for her.

Super Scientific Tachyon

Base Power Rating: 3 / 5

“Experiment” is te type of base power that has an interesting risk / reward benefit. It can enable more plays, which is great, or it can be a total bummer if it doesn’t work.

The ideal way to synergize with this version of Tachyon is to put her on the same team with other heroes who predominantly use cards with the same keywords. Normally I’d list the heroes I thought would be useful for this, but somebody already calculated the numbers and beat me to it. So instead I’ll provide a link to a chart on those statistics: https://www.handelabra.com/blog/2014/12/19/super-scientific-experimentation

So if you ever need ideas on who to combine with “Super Scientific Tachyon,” here you go.

There are two more points regarding “synergy”. Every version of Tachyon synergizes well with the following:

1. Heroes that Buff Her Damage: As mentioned in my Legacy article, Tachyon has issues with her damage output. This is true of every version of Tachyon. So naturally the best way to solve this problem is to put her on the same team with other heroes that can increase her damage. Standard Legacy comes to mind. Parse is another great choice. Ra’s Imbued Fire is also welcome.

2. Standard Visionary

Standard Visionary lets Tachyon draw 2 cards and discard one. Every version of Tachyon loves being able to draw through her deck faster, and the free discard equates to a free burst in the trash. Every variant of Tachyon benefits from both the card draw and the discard making Standard Visionary super beneficial for her. Visionary also has “Twist the Ether” which can increase Tachyon’s damage output too, which is something that Tachyon greatly appreciates.

Tachyon’s Pros

• Ongoing + Environment Destruction

• Multiple Card Plays per turn on average

• Team Leader Tachyon’s Base Power provides a huge number of cards in each team member’s hands

• Lightspeed Barrage with multiple bursts in the trash often wins games

• She can prevent villains and environment targets from dealing damage a la “Hypersonic Assault”

Tachyon’s Cons

• Low Damage Output:A lot of her damage dealing cards deal 1 damage. Tachyon is not as useful against villains with damage reduction cards / effects. This is why it’s a good idea to put Tachyon in the same team as another hero that can increase her damage.

• Vulnerable to Trash Emptying Effects:Every now and then a villain or environment card will require a hero to put their trash back into their deck. Most heroes don’t care about cards like these, but Tachyon does. If she has an empty trash, then she’ll be significantly hampered.

• Minimal Defense:The only defensive card Tachyon has is “Synaptic Interruption,” which only works when she’s about to deal damage once. She also can’t heal herself either.

• Slow Charge Up Time: Lightspeed Barrage can take a while to charge up. By “a while,” I mean usually all game.

• Complete Reliance on Playing Cards From Her Hand: Tachyon doesn’t have very many powers to use during her power play. She essentially has “Research Grant” and her base power. If she is unable to play cards from her hand then she’s next to useless that turn.

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Overall:Team Leader Tachyon is the second member of the “Triumvirate of Awesome,” my three favorite heroes to play. Her base power of drawing ridiculous amounts of cards is the gift that keeps on giving, which is why I always use her. In addition to that, Tachyon has a lot of what a good hero in Sentinels could want: She can provide extra cards for her team, and she can pull off cool plays. If you’re new to Sentinels or are looking to give it a try, I highly recommend using Tachyon. You won’t regret it.