Five years ago, in November 2020, the Transformers TCG community reached one of the defining moments of its post-cancellation history.
The popular Eye of the Matrix Discord opened a vote to decide which fan-created cards would be featured in its upcoming online tournaments. At the time, many players treated the poll as more than a programming decision: it appeared likely to indicate which design group, and which vision for community development, would take the lead as the game entered its first months without official support.
Most observers expected the result to be a contest between The Ark and ATP. Both groups had strong social-media visibility, active YouTube presences, and established followings within the community.
Team Bayformers, the predecessor of transformerstcg.org, entered the vote as an underdog. The team responded with a focused campaign built around shared community values and the recent announcement of Wave 6: World|Strike. At the time, World|Strike was the largest community release yet attempted, supported by extensive public testing and a substantial body of original commissioned artwork.
When voting closed, Team Bayformers had defeated both The Ark and ATP by only two votes. The Ark and ATP tied for second place.
The result did not settle every question about the future of the game, but it changed the direction of the conversation. Much of the community outside ATP subsequently rallied around cooperation between Team Bayformers and The Ark, strengthening a model centered on collaboration, public testing, shared play, and community-wide support.
That narrow victory helped establish Team Bayformers as one of the central organizations of the post-cancellation era. The relationships, releases, and principles that followed eventually contributed to the formation of transformerstcg.org and continue to shape our work today.
Five years later, the margin remains striking: two votes helped open the door to a different, community-focused future for the Transformers TCG.