Dude, Where’s my Character? 2009 Edition!

Of the various articles I’ve posted, Dude, Where’s my Character? has always been my favorite. Every now and then (although it appears to be annually), I’ll write an article that brings underrated or forgotten characters to the forefront of attention. Although a lot of characters get the shaft for good reason, some are simply forgotten when they otherwise shouldn’t have been.

So, let’s cut to the chase:

:::Balrog::: - Matching all 3 symbols with Visions of Destiny means John Herr isn’t the only one to abuse the card. I’m actually extremely surprised we haven’t seen much Balrog abuse going on. With Communing with the Ancients to act as Float, Algol’s support for draw, and Balrog’s own punches (Crazy Buffalo is crazy), he ought to truly be used more.

::Blanka:: - OK, all that momentum generation must be saying SOMETHING…isn’t it? The guy’s every bit as beastly and aggro as he should be. Although Powerful attacks are far and few and multiple attacks don’t particularly exist in its symbols, again, surely there’s a use for such momentum generation.

::E. Honda:: - Remember Your Mind is Known to Me? Remember how it never saw play? Ladies and gentlemen…Honda. Honda plays YMiKtM. He plays it very well. Why? Because while committed, it’s a +1 mid block that can be used over and over again. Free Will and Tag Along recur it, while Free Will and A Samurai’s Life bounce it to the hand. Being able to see your opponent’s hand on an otherwise routine basis and block it with a massive 6/30 stat distribution, again, shouldn’t be ignored. Talk about a sleeper, a character that works best while committed?

::Felicia:: - I understand people have tried time and time again to get 6-check Felicia to the top, but something tells me there’s a better way to do it. The first ability printed on her character is one of the best in the game hands down. Add your entire card pool to your momentum. That means she generates momentum faster than any card evar, and what’s more, she has the symbols to pull off amazement. Whether it be Combosauce or just Feline abuse, this girl needs to start seeing more play, and not just running jank like Excitable so that you have 6s.

*Hsien-Ko* - Remember Harrier Bee? Remember how everybody wanted it errata’d, but it never once saw play, so nobody cared? Of course it never saw play; it’s a 2 check no block that needs to be in the momentum face-up. That’s where Hsien-Ko comes into play. Every attack must be added to her momentum. Unless Harrier Bee’s first enhance gets negated, it will always be in the momentum. With Harrier Bee in play, the opponent must discard 2 cards per copy, per attack. 18 might not be much health, but it kinda makes winning that much harder when you’re losing 2-8 cards per attack.

**Morrigan** - I miss Morrigan. A lot. She’s so utterly broken, but ever since she lost reliable card draw and Contemplation, she just kinda died. However, she is still very much legal, and very much amazing. Between Hilde’s support and Donovan’s support, the girl has more than enough room to draw, but what’s more, in case people forgot, her reduction goes into negatives! Fun stuff is fun.

*Karin* - Karin has two amazing things going for her: built-in Spike negation and the ability to end an entire turn with one reversal: Mujin Kyaku. While Mujin is pretty statistically inferior, it doesn’t matter when an opponent’s entire turn is coming to an end. With an amazing symbol spread, the girl has plenty of options to run with, and a signature attack to really piss-off an opponent. Off Fire, Reunited can nab Mujin each and every turn.

:.:Mai:.: - I still retain my opinion that Mai is better than Sakura, even though they’re somewhat hard to compare seeing as how they only share 1 symbol. Anyways, Mai is stupid, and she shouldn’t have fallen off the radar. With just one momentum, she has access to her entire discard pile. Whether it’s an attack you need to seal the game or a deadly action, Mai can tutor it. What’s more, she’s gonna gain vitality as soon as she starts playing stuff, making her extremely annoying to take down.

.:::Taki:::. – Taki is an aggro superstar. While Ivy is busy attracting all the attention, Taki is actually working (lol). Her ability to draw when she deals damage means she supercedes her handsize by a large margin, especially when you incorporate her abuse with Wind Dance and Natural Leader, and the obvious Shooting Capoera. To all Ivy players, please, do not fret, there are other alternatives. By other alternatives, I mean Taki.

My argument of Taki being better than Ivy:

I figured I might as well address why I think Taki is better than Ivy, and who knows, maybe some people will find it helpful.

1. They both have All and Void, and let’s face it, who wants to run Life Ivy? Lol. They also have a 6 handsize and similar vitality, meaning the two have a LOT in common. I mean, they both draw at the cost of a foundation and both have ways of playing attacks easily. Eh? :3

2. While Ivy is pressured to run weenies (which almost always trigger her R) or run big attacks (which have no promise on triggering her R), Taki’s static works any time you deal any amount of damage, INCLUDING if you have no ready foundations (or any foundations at all). As such, Taki can run any attack line-up she wishes, while Ivy is busy worrying about her attacks dealing a certain amount of damage

3. Taki has Air, and really, that’s a HUGE advantage over Ivy. While Ivy does have Void-only access to Shooting Capoera (which Taki has as well), Taki not only has Capoera, but Wind Dance, which, sorry guys, Wind Dance is amazing. In Taki, a Wind Dance line-up could include such things as Hurricane Punishment, Low Reaper, Omni-Directional Cluster Bomb and Oratorio Halcyon, while being backed by Communing with the Ancients. Like I said, having Air is an immense advantage Taki has over Ivy.

4. Taki’s enhance is more reliable than Ivy’s foundations. Taki’s enhance is built-in, and works well with Natural Leader, White Gi, or Lord of the Makai. Ivy must rely on either foundations, or Switching Weapon Styles, which of course is subject to KFT. Taki’s enhance discards up to 3 cards very easily, while Ivy must either peg down 1 attack at a time, or rely on her action, which also clogs her card pool.

5. Taki’s main attraction, her draw ability, cannot be touched by Tag Along, as opposed to Ivy, who can be. This is a HUGE advantage Taki has over Ivy because, while Taki loves her enhance, it is but a bonus, and generally isn’t too phased by Tag Along (if they even have one). Ivy, on the other hand, is almost ALL reliance on her R, and unless she KFTs (which 2 foundations might be necessary for passing checks), her turn could be ruined, and as Ivy must string weenies, that’s saying a lot.

So, really, Taki is better. Try Taki with pokes, try Taki with regular attacks, and then build Ivy and tell me your results. If Ivy works better for you, then buena suerte, but I promise you Taki is better in every way.

::Talim:: - Talim’s attacks are not blocked. Period. In all three symbols, she has a wide array of mid attacks to be giving a heaping +3 speed to, and needless to say, she tears up with Wind Dance like none other. I’ve built pure Air and pure Good Talim, and maybe one day Fire, and as I’ve mentioned often, I have yet to have an attack be blocked. What’s more, her R is great for this recent flux of Hilde decks and damage boosts.

**Elena** - Elena makes tremendous use of Siegfreid’s support. By using Hualin’s Shop in conjunction with Needs no Ally, giving attacks Multiple: 1 becomes a breeze, and boy does that sure have its uses. Also, under most circumstances Elena will be giving every attack she plays +1 speed and +2 damage, making her aggro capabilities hard to rival. Oh yeah, and uh, Wind Dance =D.

::Ukyo:: - Ukyo was an OK character pre-set 12. He could uber reduce attacks, which was nifty, but otherwise, he had nothing going for him. Then came along a man named Lu Chen who gave him the means to clog both players card pools, and all of a sudden, Ukyo became amazing. With Master’s Challenge and Warrior Poet, Ukyo clogs both players card pools, and by both players, I mean just your opponent’s, because with his F, your entire card pool is gone. What’s more, don’t ever expect to take damage on your opponent’s turn. Block attack 1, use E Commit on attack 2, R with Arrogant and Insolent, Block 3, use E on Attack 4. Or, Block 1, use E Commit on 2, Block Soul Burner on 3, E on 4. He’s a beast, and if anybody has extra Ukyos I need one >_>

*Gen* - So yeah, I notoriously trashed Gen in the past, because I’d had him built when he FIRST came out, y’know, like when he tutor’d Clones? Well, during that time, I just didn’t like him; he wasn’t NEARLY as good as people had boasted he was. A lot’s happened since then, and now, I think he’s perhaps THE counter-meta character. Off either dual or tri-symbol, Gen’s amazing stat distribution and ability to tutor such cards as Atoning for His Wicked Deeds and the newly-reprinted Cursed Blood means he has a lot of options for countering the common meta. What’s more, access to both The Ways of Punishment AND Feline Spike mean the guy can kill in various ways.

**Sogetsu** - The new **Ukyo** of this block. He is the premier character to be using Aquakinesis. With all the card draw in his symbols, the guy is the closest this block has to **Ukyo**. Two symbols in common and the ability to both draw and discard? Can’t be a coincidence. How to abuse him? Various ways. Personally, I’d want to use Void because of all of its Draw, as well as The Ways of Punishment and White Gi. Order has Lord of the Makai abuse, which works well with his F, and Water is simply amazing, and of course, has Feline. Either way, Sogetsu’s support was designed very intelligently for his character, and the guy’s aggressive prowess rivals that of Seong Mi-Na, whom is similar to Sogetsu in many ways. I’d like to think that people will eventually realize this and build Sogetsu.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy!

I think you have a hard-on for Wind Dance pedo-bear

very good article, only negative point was your raging on about Taki being better then Ivy. Not saying True or False, but a little more impartiality could be used for sure. We don't want new players to read an article and go "I wanted to play this character, but this guy says she's totally useless and this one is way better. I don't wanna play anymore." We rather have them go "My deck isn't working properly, hey, this article says this character is similar to mine but does it differently, maybe it will work better!"

other then that, good read.

Wheeeellll...

I understand, but after looking around, Fei Long has Life and also clears his card pool, so by now I'm POSITIVE there's just no reason to run Ivy lol.

The important thing to remember is that Ivy IS good. Her R does draw more than Taki's does, and her F gives her the ability to play Raging Gnome much more easily than both Taki and Long. And of course, there's SWS, so really, there are reasons to run her.

They're extremely far and few, and I remain resolute in my opinion that Taki and Fei do her job better.

MarcoPulleaux said:

Nonetheless... I basically agree that Ivy is NOT all that and a bag of chips {although a bag of silicone, yes}. Lol

@Article: Not bad. I think Morrigan** hasn't completely fallen off the radar -- she made top 8 up here in Rochester, and IIRC there were (at least) two high-ranked Morrigans at PotM who just missed top cuts. Gen* IMHO is fairly well-known, certainly as one of the best posterboys for Earth and also having one hell of a great symbol spread backed by the Best Stats in the Game (SF02 rare Vega cheats). On the other hand, I disagree with several of your choices {Karin, Mai, Talim} for the opposite reason -- they're not good. But I don't think I can really elucidate why in any concise and specific fashion, so I won't go into it too much. In other words, I don't really want to throw a dissertation attacking your choice of characters, when all you offer as defense is a little 4-line blurb about why they're good. :b

To me, the thing I love about Blanka isn't the fact that he has Chaos and Fire. It's the fact that he has Death.

Menuett Dance is actually useable with him thanks to that.

While that would severely limit his use, think about it-He's got a 7 handsize, so he can fuel Inhuman Perception, Rev's, and Saikyo very easily. The issue with Death is that it really needs a larger handsize character to front it in order to work. If you're going to use anything like the aforementioned cards (which you really should use all 3 in a Death deck), you need to have the handsize to support the effect. Blanka has free momentum gen, more or less, and has a very good pump that can actually pump multiple copies (thank you card text for leaving out a key word.)

More or less, he can sport a very lethal attack lineup without having to run Knight Breaker (though there's no reason not to run it) since he can easily generate the momentum for menuett dance. I've got no problem with the fact that that would probably be the only use for Blanka's momentum gen in such a deck. The large handsize helps the cause to run him.

Wafflecopter said:

There's no denying the chief reason to run Ivy is for Switching Weapon Styles. Nobody can ignore its potential. But as for its promise?

Fei Long isn't hard-pressed to draw. He matches all 3 symbols with Feet of Fury and Make a Difference, and then there are other draw cards out there such as Flames of Fame, Aritificial Soul, Searching in the Past (or whatever that Ivy foundation is), Son of a Tychoon, Rootless, Rindokan, and as for end-of-turn draw, Terry's support as well as Fei Long's own draw should prove to be enough.

Whoa whoa whoa, let's not talk about Taki "burning her foundation base" until you've built her yourself. That girl is a beast, and like I said, where there is Taki, there is as much foundation-readying as can be found. Although I wouldn't try her with Pokes, my argument was that Ivy is supposed to draw enough pokes to win, which is what Taki CAN do if she wanted to.

Everything depends on attack line-up. I'm not sure I'd agree on "turtling". My Fei Long poke deck runs almost nothing but Stun attacks (including Zi Mei's lawl Stun: 3 attack), and Taki, as I'd mentioned, is an insane candidate for Wind Dance abuse. In All she has Bitter Rivals, and Void The Ways of Punishment.

Taki's E Commit serves to discard the card pool, and works really well with a lil something I just noticed, which is Flash of the Blades. That aside, I happen to appreciate her built-in E rather than Ivy heavily relying on SWStyles, or else, using a boatload of blockless foundations that just alleviate the card pool.

Also, I hate the concept of weenies. I realize they've never been used because they've never been good, but really, the truth of the matter is that, not only do you need a lot of them, they all need to pass their control checks, something bigger attacks simply do with more consistancy. If you're going to with weenies, you'd better be packing stuff like Savage Fighter and Fight or Flight (which I realize Ivy can run off All, as can Taki and Fei).

It's all preference I suppose, and again, nobody can deny that Switching Weapon Styles is what makes Ivy so appealing. Like I said, try Taki, try Fei Long, see what you think.

I didn't want to go too terribly in-depth with anybody (except I 'spose that argument with Taki) because I think that's what Tech Talks are meant for. I want people to read this and go, "Oh wow, I forgot about that character!" or, "I didn't realize they could do that!"

As HDC just mentioned, Blanka is amazing with Menuett Dance, something I did not even think of. Personally? I was thinking about the fun he has with The Curse of Immortality and Hozanto =D

Curse of Immortality is definitely a forgotten card, and another one that he definitely abuses.

HolyDragonCloud said:

The coolest part of CoI is that it isn't a damage redux, you just take 4 less when it is dealing damage. Any damage pumps are covered off his dual-symbol No Memories =D

i expect to see great things with elena** now that she is going to have great attacks( mark of the beast and dragon lifter)

mastermajora said:

or Siren's Call.

two 5 speed high's for 10? yum...

quarzark said:

mark of the beast is the same thing except mid if you have a momentum and dragon lifter is a 7 high for 10 if you have a kick

Some of these choices...there's a reason why they don't see play. They suck.

Sogetsu became godawful with this new set. Why? Because previously, there were *two* anti-discard methods (Big Cyclone and Will for the Fight). Now there are those...plaus the, what, five from the new set? His ability to look at their hand is very powerful, but given that it's still blind discard (opponent chooses), it's not going to be so hot when they hit you with Warrior's Path or Soul Wave...

Ukyo: there's been TWO regionals since this set dropped. Two. Both on the same weekend. Give it a chance, Jesus. I'm kicking around the idea of playing him for OUR regional at the end of the month (though the competition's pretty stiff; but he IS my Ukyo!).

Felicia: You maybe missed her going to the finals in Oshawa....?

What I want to know is where the BETTER underplayed characters are. Specifically, ***Morrigan*** and Yoshitora.

yeah, but neither of them give you the exact same damage on the multiple copy. Mark of the beast becomes a 5 speed mid for 10 and a 5 speed mid for 6, same with dragon lifter (though it would actually, if you combo, become a 8 speed high for 10 and a 4 speed high for 6 but I digress).

I really like making Order her third symbol, because the order seal is actually useful. Next symbol of choice for me would probably be air for the attacks you just listed above.

mmm... Exploding Death...

MegaGeese said:

The problem with your Sogetsu argument: the cards you mentioned are balls. My interpretation of the meta may be off, but I have yet to see any new anti-discard methods see play (although Iron Thunder is teh fun in Yi Shan). If the aforementioned anti-discard cards had keywords, they'd practically be mainstays to combat the recent popularity of Bitter Rivals. However, they do not, and thus, the card is first looked at for its actual effects, which unfortunately, aren't too great.

Also, anti-discard didn't prevent Dhalsim or Ukyo from rising to the top at 07 and 08 worlds respectively. Anti-discard has never been implemented all that well, and really, it isn't enough to stop Sogetsu (especially since I think he ought to be ran off Void, and Saikyo-ryu can scope their hand).

***Morrigan*** is useless. She's a character that is COMPLETELY dependent on the opponent. Not good. I realize her whole point is if you know the meta, you might be able to abuse her. But she has no independent abilities, and no 7 handsize or character-specific abilities that matter (does she even have any?). Last format, as I had understood from Matt Kohls, copying stuff like Widow Maker, Bitter Rivals, etc was apparently a good deal. Of course, I don't recall him making top 16 (although I'm sure he did well). I just...I refuse to acknowledge 3Morrigan3's existence. A character that does nothing without the opponent acting first is just stupid.

As a Yoshitora fan, I can simply tell you that Feline Spike makes his existence unimportant, as it does any other Air/Good/Water character. Spike's very existence means that this game becoems a competition to see which Air/Good/Water character can run it best. It's just that good. I've experimented a lot with the three symbols (as they are among my favorites), and almost every deck I build magically gets better once I run Spike in it. As such, it doesn't even matter what character you run: Air Good an Water are all Universal Fighters. It's just who's quickest, and who's best. It appears as if Chun Li or Donovan do it best.

As for the rest of 'tora? Well, he does have Evil, but the problem there is that Evil has no awesome momentum generation quite like Air which has almost every momentum piece around, and even Good which has White Magic and White Gi. If Evil had consistant momentum generation (apart from Zhao Daiyu's somewhat impressive foundation), then he might matter in Evil. However, as it currently stands, Zi Mei pretty much does his job a ton better off Evil. His E Commit is cool, but Lu Chen exists.

This is why we need more character-specific abilities. Characters, inevitably get overshadowed by others, and become obsolete, a problem that could possibly be remedied by character-specific cards and abilities.

I understand this game's direction, and we have lots of fun new toys of which to kill people with. However, before Combo and the superfluous amount of 3 checks we just received, this game was always, "Pull the useful cards, throw away the rest." I realize we're finally seeing a game where just about every card has feasible use, but a lot of those 'useful' cards still are, much more so than these new ones. Feline Spike being one of them, which is is why I want it to go. As much as I love writing these types of articles because I believe it makes at least some people think, sometimes it's hard to deny the truth, and as I'd just said, Feline is a real deck killer, and is the sole reason I haven't build an Air/Good/Water deck in a very long time.

Oh, and as for Yoshitora's Girlfriends, they suck, and then they get tired.

It's times like these that I wish you were being deliberately obtuse to either play devil's advocate or generate lulz =(

The new soul wave is incredibly good, actually.

MegaGeese said:

Eh, there are times for humor and generic asshattery, but I figured I'd state my case on the two since I have actual experience with both, not just an opinion.

Worry not Geese, my humor is almost entirely response-based; just wait for somebody to say something stupid, and I'll be there <3

*at Soul Wave*

Action cards have an extremely hard time seeing play in comparison to the other colors. The obvious reason being that they don't stay for more than a turn, and don't generally win games. That, and every symbol now has all sorts of actions, and much like assets, the ones you pick are far and few.

I didn't like the previous Soul Wave, and as such, I'm not too giant a fan of this new one. It isn't horrible, but I'm not this giant anti-asset buff like the rest of this game is.

There are a lot of characters that are missing, unfortunately, saying so is both a matter of opinion and would take a long ass time. Talim is beast really. And she got some new stuff that makes her even better. Unfortunately, her ability doesn't say this attack. Cause her plus a wind dance makes a 9 speed mid Lightning Horn and that attack is just brutal. And that dual symbols Fire and Good. I think she's probably one of the few that breaks the general rule of "would be better with feline spike."

oh, and I maindecked at least 2x Chinese Sword Styles in every deck I built in every block 2 event I could run it in.

oh and don't diss Karin either, he mentioned her best point, which was built in anti-spike. but her second best ability is by far the fact that she can roll All/Evil. that's just crazy.

Sorta my point, Shinji. Someone DID say something stupid =/

And you're looking at the WRONG part of Soul Wave.

On Sogetsu: I understand and believe that no one card makes another bad; why do you think I don't care about Calming the Mind stopping iSpin? However, this isn't a case of one card making another bad, like that one Algol Ranged attack having anti-discard printed on it. This is a case of LOTS of cards being put out there specifically to stop ONE thing, and it's the only thing Sogetsu can do, other than commit two foundations to draw a card and recur a momentum. A strong ability, sure, but without an outlet for those Tide tokens...what's the point? Why not just play someone with a better handsize or even a real ability?

And if you think Morrigan ISN'T good...sigh. Ask yourself...how many enhances are played in this game...? You cry about Rejection and Battle Prowess. There's also the abilities on Knight Breaker, Shredding Vibrato, Ichi no Tachi, Refusal of Power, and so on. Plus Form abilities like Owlface, Hero of Southtown 2.0, etc etc.

-The only other part of Soul Wave is its anti-discard effect, which as I said, they are still going about it in the wrong way. They need to start putting statics on attacks and foundations, cards that actually see play. In order for an action to see play, it seriously needs to be a pivotal card, and really, Soul Wave's anti-asset ability isn't too terribly important when you think of all the other methods we've already got.

-In conjunction with the above, I think you're relying too much on the opponent running anti-discard, and I'm telling you that isn't a fear. For the few matches Sogetsu MIGHT lose against potential anti-discard, he's winning against those who do not. I can certainly see where people would look at Donovan and go, "isn't Donovan better in everyway?" For the most part, yes. But Sogetsu has his advantages, most specifically: Void. I'd try to look at Sogetsu from a standpoint of pretending anti-discard doesn't really exist, because really, it pretty much doesn't. I understand there are cards, and some of them might see play, but really, they needed keyword abilities to make Bitter Rivals cry, and they needed better abilities, and this is the exact problem they've had.

-Morrigan would be better if she didn't have to pay two costs. I realize there are plenty, but here's the other thing: just because there ARE enhances and forms doesn't mean you'd WANT to take them (using Rejection on what? Your OWN attack?). Although using Ichi's enhance against them might seem intelligent, keep in mind you're still committing a foundation in the process.

I think she's nifty, but I that's as far as her novelty goes.

Morrigan punishes virtually every commit effect around, and makes opposing Ira Spintas just HILARIOUS. I think I need to experiment with her, actually...

@Anti-discard: It's worth mentioning that, from what I remember of reports from Worlds last year, Hata lost game 1 to Ben and came back to win games 2 and 3 because he boarded in Chinese Sword Style and forced Ukyo to either lay off his discard or find eveything he needed with his Form. Now there's Warrior's Path, which is a half-reprint of CSS that also draws cards (ie, make 'em discard 1 and you just gave them free card advantage). There's Soul Wave, which has an extremely playable ability along with a brutal punishment if it's discarded. There's the 4M6 free attack. There's Teih Lei, which has hilarious interactions with Harrier Bee and Yi Shan's cards {discard 3 momentum for 3 Striking Thunders = +6dmg}. There's Big Cyclone, which likely shuts off your win condition, and is also a huge move especially in a Good deck.

While it's your decision to run anti-discard or not, don't simply discount them because "no one will play discard." It'll happen, and it's up to you if you want to be ready for it.

@Geese regarding Sogetsu: There are also Familial Loyalty and Blue Dragon to make those Tide tokens into fairly pimp card advantage

Like I said, the main problem with actions is that they see the harshest amount of competition of all the card types.

The premier actions as of right now, quite obviously, are:

Rejection
Kung-Fu Training
Tag Along

It's extremely hard to compete with them, and for obvious reasons. I'm sure anti-discard will be sideboarded in various ways, especially since Bitter Rivals and Ways of Punishment are seen in just about any deck that can run them. Still, I wouldn't use them as an excuse to downplay Sogetsu.

Exactly. The only outlet is Familial Loyalty.

Free advantage IS free, but it's not worth it (in my opinion, at least) to have that be the only thing that your character can really DO.

If we're talking Water, I'd rather play Lu Chen, Morrigan, Ukyo, or Seong-Mina. If we're talking Order, there's Donovan, Nagase, Gen, Gill, Astrid, and so on.

Algol does the draw thing far better for Void, and also disrupts better as well.

Sogetsu is awesome off Void, and I wouldn't even compare him to Algol. Algol's support is generally about RANDOM discard (which is never good) to draw, whereas Sogetsu is simply draw. Algol's fun disruptive R is crazy, but it isn't reliable, whereas Sogetsu's is discard, one of THE most powerful mechanics in this game.

To each their own really. I can certainly understand why somebody wouldn't want to run Sogetsu (Donovan), I was just noticing how similar he was to Ukyo, and how I think that should merit him some attention.

Oh well, at least the actual Ukyo is in his own league of amazingness <3

There's also the little thing where Ukyo has 13HS to Sogetsu's 5HS... I think the comparison breaks down pretty quickly once you get past "omg discard" lol

I wonder if starter Sakura has fallen off many people's radars yet.