Pre-emptive Strike is an Exotic Powercard in Bloons Card Storm, introduced in version 4.0. It destroys the next Bloon played by the opponent (not the Storm), including Bloons played from card effects (e.g. Red Bloon Storm, Necromancer's Zombie Blue Bloon). When played, only a sound effect will play, with no visual effect indicating the presence of this card's effect. The player can play multiple copies of this card before the first usage triggers, but it still only triggers once (wasting the other uses). If a Bloon with an On Play effect is played, the On Play effect is triggered before the Bloon is destroyed.
The card artwork depicts a Pre-emptive Strike submarine firing a ballistic missile at a Red Bloon. It is set at a lake with green hills during a partially cloudy day.
Against aggro players, this card is best saved until after the opponent has played all their weakest cards first, to improve the odds that it destroys a more valuable target or deters them from sending more Bloons until they draw another weak Bloon to trigger it.
This card is beneficial to opponents running The Eternal. Against non-aggro decks, it's worth waiting a few turns to see if the opponent has The Eternal before using it.
Red Bloon Storm or Red Bloon Apopalypse can be used to waste this card. This card will pop the first Red Bloon right after it is summoned, but the Red Bloon Storm or Red Bloon Apopalypse will still proceed to fill the entire board without it anyway.
If the opponent has many Bloons on their side, sending a Volatile Bloon will guarantee as a board clear, but avoid if your side has the advantage.
Intercepting with Volatile Bloons is more common when baiting Stage 1 Dreadbloon.
There's no visual indicating the presence of Pre-emptive Strike. Memorize the presence of the effect, and forget about the effect once it's done. To aid the memorization, remember that specific artwork as the opponent pulls out this card. If all is uncertain, check the card history menu.
Pre-emptive Strike now removes the effect of the ARBITR when it destroys it (bug fix)
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