I have the worst dice luck in the world. The worst. In one of my latest games I'd marshalled 12 dice, with a Dragonzord in the wings. We were all so excited! 24 possible damage! I picked up the dice.
Twelve. Twelve. TWELVE
0's.
We won that game, for the record. Somehow. Turns out that Rocky's Risky Moves is an amazing card to pair with... Pretty much anything. More on that on a different day.
Point is, TJ was made for my kinda luck in mind. Y'know, folks who can't roll dice in this game, not without throwing around words to make a sailor blush. TJ's utility is obvious. And playing him is therapeutic. I would argue there's not a whole lot of depth to TJ: swap out dice for guaranteed damage. He does some interesting deck manipulation, but he's definitely a one-trick pony. That isn't a disparagement, for the record. Not everyone who plays this game is going to want a complicated puzzle to finagle into cooperation. I am usually not one of those people; Jason Zeo Gold may be my favorite ranger to play at this point. But simple can be nice. And TJ is simple. So yes, this post is going to be short.
TJ's are variations of losing a die in favor of flat damage. Unless you're playing a completely defensive team these abilities are never not going to be useful. Some character and zord abilities might not see use in every battle. I seriously doubt that'll be the case with TJ and his zord. Someone's always gonna need something to be for sure.
Buster Rifle is TJ's bread and butter attack. Everything else offensive either sets it up or imitates it. Cosmic Cleave is specifically designed to make Buster Rifle work better; Cosmic Cleave can be a good spot to get guaranteed damage on, just saying ! Astro Axe is just a souped up version of Buster Rifle. If you can get your team to use some deck manipulation characters then you'll be able to dish out three consistent damage easily. That takes a weight off of everyone else, allowing other people to recover or go to other spots. If you do TJ right he can solo entire teams of footsoldiers, just with Cosmic Cleave and Buster Rifle.
Strategic Defense is there specifically so you can get your Buster Rifle into a prime spot. It's also nice to have when you know FAST cards are a serious contender, allowing everyone to get their decks ready for rocketing. This is definitely one of those cards that can completely change the course of the battle, as it throws that extra energy into the pool. You can go and throw out a Power Weapon without dipping into people's reserves, creating situations where you're already on the right foot.
Precision Tactics is one of those fun little cards that's great to throw at Power Weapons. Most of the time I don't want spike damage with a power weapon, just something consistent. Precision Tactics gives you that. It's also a nice card to throw onto a chain of "play another card", of which we're getting more and more. Last game I played with TJ we were playing MMPR Jason, MMPR White, and Jason Zeo Gold. We had rounds where we were just passing from player to another, throwing in modifiers, always ending the handoffs with TJ so we could throw out 5-10 damage for practically no energy, not to mention no dice rolling!
TJ is a really simple character. He can either amp up everyone else by removing dice from the equation or solo a few rounds of footsoldiers. He's not the most complicated character in the world, but he's good to throw at beginners who feel more comfortable with some complexity and have them feel effective, especially if you spend a moment showing them how the deck works. He's not my favorite, but some days.... with 12 0's... I'm glad I got him.
In the interest of full disclosure, the author play-tested a prototype of TJ. A most sincere thanks to Jonathan Ying and the folks at Renegade!
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