The Wincer

The Wincer is a Green-blue-red unit.

Strategy
A burst of 15 damage is extremely difficult to defend against if there is no pre-emptive defense in the set (such as Infusion Grid), meaning The Wincer is often a must-buy in such sets. Even in sets where preemptive defense abounds, the Wincer is often a good unit. It comboes extemely well with Chill units, especially bursty ones like Nivo Charge or Endotherm Kit.

Value wise, it can be compared to a large Auric Impulse that has and gives over  in attack burst threat (30 assuming the  opponent could freely pay unit value into efficient Prompt defense right after) which if fired, resets the unit effect for the cost of 5 Drones instead of the normal cost.

The main time when you would not want to go for The Wincer is in a low-economy game. Since it requires two Blastforges and an Animus, the player who goes for it on a low economy is likely to end up wasting a lot of tech. If the opponent survives the first Wincer shot (which they almost always can if they prepare correctly), The Wincer player will be down 5 Drones, and might not be able to hold out long enough to fire again.

Sometimes it is actually better to not fire the Wincer once the opponent has defended against it. For example, if your opponent's defense consists entirely of Forcefields, Walls, or other defensive units that do nothing if you don't kill them. You don't actually gain anything by firing except the ability to threaten a second shot sooner (And the shot runs into Absorb), while if holding for 3 turns, it loses an entire firing cycle, while gaining 5 over 3 turns, an over 20 gain by the turn the Wincer would fire again. If you losing 5 Drones will put you at enough of a disadvantage that the game will end before then, you should probably not fire the Wincer.

Counters
The Wincer does poorly against breachproof strategies. The reason is that when we have to buy defense we always exhaust the most efficient source (often Walls) first and turn to less efficient sources such as Rhinos or holding back Drones only when pressured, and derives much of its value from this fact. Breachproof players, however, are not subject to pressure in the same way.

The next best counter to The Wincer is preemptive defense such as Infusion Grid or Shredder. Buying units like these ahead of time allows you to defend much more efficiently than if you had to block the entire 15+ plus damage using prompt sources.

Efficient soak units such as Aegis and Polywall, especially emergency defenders like Plexo Cell and Blood Pact, also help defend against. Be careful about buying multiple Plexo Cells however, as the Wincer player may be able to exploit their lifespan by delaying the Wincer shot for one turn.

Combos
As stated above, burst/pressure units (Grenade Mech, Nivo Charge) can be bought on the turn when is about to fire to make the sudden spike in damage even more difficult to defend. Units with long Build time like Frostbite or Endotherm Kit are especially effective when timed to hit at the same time as.

Also as stated above, players who go for the Wincer often suffer from overteching. Thus, units like Perforator and Pixie can help out. Hellhound is both a very strong attacker in its own right and can spend for just. Bombarder may be the strongest combo, since on spending Tech, it can efficiently Threaten and Hold, but also Block against conventional Attack, crushingly

Openings
Player 1 High Econ
 * DD
 * 1) DDE
 * 2) DDD
 * 3) DDDC
 * 4) BBA
 * 5) The Wincer +TD (1G left)

Player 1 Centrifuge (1). Opens with a readied economy and a loading The Wincer.
 * DD
 * D1
 * 1) DDE
 * 2) DDD
 * 3) The Wincer +DDT

Fastest version: This leaves 11 Drones to set up for whatever attack opponent may muster when on a timer itself.
 * 1
 * DD
 * DD
 * 1) The Wincer +TD

With the Thorium Dynamo (2). Avoids floating Gold and Green, and burdening the Absorb denial with regular Attackers.
 * 1
 * DD
 * D2
 * 1) The Wincer

Chrono Filter (1) Rush for Player 1.

Requires cheap Blue support to be efficient.
 * DD
 * DC
 * B1
 * 1) The Wincer
 * 2) SD...

Chrono Filter (1) Rush for Player 2.

Requires support to be efficient.
 * DD
 * 1) DDC
 * B1
 * 1) The Wincer +D
 * 2) SDD...

Chrono Filter (1) and Auric Impulse (0) Player 2 rush.

A very early The Wincer, great with a cheap GB unit or sink. Economy units or Absorb denial preffered.
 * 00
 * 1) CB10
 * 2) The Wincer (2 left)

Player 2 Ferritin Sac (1) rush. Benefits from a way to sync other Attack with the The Wincer burst.
 * A
 * 1) DD11
 * CT
 * 1) The Wincer +D

Player 1 Ferritin Sac (1) and Nitrocybe (2) rush. The Nitrocybes add more controlled Attack.
 * A
 * 1) D11
 * 2) CD2
 * 3) The Wincer +2

Change log

 * December 9th, 2015
 * Cost increased from to.
 * September 18th, 2015
 * Cost decreased from to.
 * May 23rd, 2015
 * Cost decreased from to.
 * April 16th, 2015
 * Cost increased from to.
 * April 7th, 2015
 * Cost increased from to.
 * March 22nd, 2015
 * Added to the game.