Welcome to the Windy City!
Opposing the Tornado Faction is like trying to catch the wind, a fleeting fantasy.
The focus of this faction is movement, being able to move cards from one base to another. Every minion & most actions of this faction have the ability to move themselves or another minion. This allows you to place minions at bases so they crack in the order you desire, usually with you securing 1st place.
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Boss Minion: Monster Tornado
This Natural Disaster can almost guarantee a 1st place base crack of your choice by swooping an additional 4 power minion from another base. In combination with an action, you can easily find a way to swing another minion to complete the task if necessary.
Dirty Lil’ Dust Devils
There are 4 of these sneaky storm clouds in the Tornado’s deck. They only count for 2 power each, but can be played on the outskirts of a lonely base to opportunistically blow in after a base cracks to earn you VP that you otherwise may have been shutout from.
Deck Composition - Balanced (10 minions/ 10 actions) Higher Power (2 Power 4 Minions)
Minions:
(x1) Monster Tornado: Power 5: ability - Move a minion of power 4 or less to or from where this minion is played.
(x2) Cyclone: Power 4: ability - Move this minion to another base.
(x3) Twister: Power 3: ability - You may move a minion of power 3 or less to or from where this minion is played.
(x4) Dust Devil: Power 2: ability - (Special) Before a base scores, you may move a minion there.
Notable Actions
Whirlwinds: You may move any number of your minions to other bases. This ability gives you complete control of the positioning of your minions on your turn. Your whole game can be set up around this card to crack multiple bases on a single turn to launch your VP to 15 & the win!
3 Special Actions: Gone with the Wind, Over the Rainbow, & Pick Up: These cards allow you to manipulate the scoring of bases after they crack &/or keep your minions in play rather than sending them to your discard pile. Along with the special abilities of your Dust Devils, you have a total of 7 cards that can be activated on other players’ turns. This constant threat of changing base scoring is just as nerve-racking to play against as preparing for a hurricane.
Tornado Advantages: Pivoting & Unpredictability
The Tornado Faction is tough to track when playing against it. On every turn its user can shift power from base to base. When playing, you never have to commit too much power to any single base. Your opponents never know when or where you will make your force felt.
Tornado Disadvantage: No Combos, No Card Draw
There aren’t any extra card plays or draws in the Tornado Faction’s deck. Other factions can quickly combo turns late in the game to leave you powerless if you play with a partnered faction that doesn’t address this flaw. The Tornadoes are also limited in that they don’t destroy any minions. This could work either way because you can push power where you want, but leaving too much opponents’ power in play can find a way to hurt you.
Awesome Smatch-Ups!
Shark/Nados - This was the featured combo of the It’s Your Fault Expansion. (Haven’t you seen the movie?) The Shark Faction swims around to eat up weak minions. So, it’s a scary scene when you are just blowing them around from base to base. 2 Week of Sharks action cards compensate for the lack of the Tornado Faction’s cards draw. & the Great Whites swim around to eat up low powered minions.
Bear/Nados - This combo may be Championship caliber! The Bear Calvary Faction carries some of the most powerful minions in the Smash Up world. Some of its minions’ & actions’ abilities destroy minions that are moved to where these cards are played. You can figure out for yourself how brutal this combo can be.
Toxic Team-Ups - Anything else with movement
The Sheep & Pirate factions are also heavy in movement abilities, but not to any benefit for the Tornadoes. Too much of this becomes more redundant than synergistic. When playing with these pairs you will find yourself in a one-dimensional dilemma in which you can move a minion or move a minion on every turn.