HolyDragonCloud said:

If only to see new faces on cards?

Icarus_Rising said:

...I'm not trying to look cool, I'm just pointing out how I've noticed that a lot of people who either win or place well consistantly tend to become much more arrogant, cocky, and hold themselves to high regard.

I actually didn't have anybody in particular in mind, but I must say, you're gettin pretty defensive there.

You just indirectly insulted him and a bunch of his friends. He has every right to get a little defensive. Having met/hung out with a lot of these people who now have their faces on UFS cards, I don't see how any of them have 'let their success go to their head.' While I do know some people who have gotten cocky after winning a single event, the people I know who consistantly top at major events are all really nice people.

and have a great sense of humor. Jeremy Ray and Andrew Olexa were easily my favorite matches during worlds last year, and that's a super-serious tournament environment.

ShadowDragon said:

He could've said something akin to, "Who were you referring to when you said that?"

Instead he took the childish route.

Whatever, no need to continue with something that goes nowhere

I think a better topic would be: what luck have people had with these new characters? They sure do look good, but has anybody done well with any of them?

I can't wait to get my copies of Omar. If I get them in time, I'll play them for the regional in Lubbock in June =D

Haven't figured out the right way to make him brokensauce yet, though =/

Whereas we already know Monsiuer Herr is really good, on the back of a simple but extremely useful pair of abilities. I know my opinion's crap, but I kinda reckon him to promo Alex - he has simple yet deceptively strong abilities that aren't what you build the deck around, but rather, make the deck run smoother and more efficiently.

Olexa's ability could also be very useful with an Evil build, right into hacking the cliche Knight Breaker.

Dunno about Hata yet. Haven't gotten mine yet, but the pump ability is another of those simple but strong abilities. He's one of the few Fire characters I really like. And he could certainly be interesting with Personal Style.

MarcoPulleaux said:

I am going to take the very easy shot here in an effort to bait him.

So Shinji, what have YOU won then?

Archimedes said:

Beyond local tournies and coming extremely close to winning our AOP when we had it, nothing major. Of course, I've never competed in any big-name tournies either.

Should I go to one (not sure if our TX regionals counts), and do well or win, it'll likely be nothing more than, "I won/did well, here's my tourney report."

Let's say I win worlds. If I did, I'd really hope people don't assume that I'm a great player or that my insight now has more meaning. What I say as just some local unknown should be equal to that of me becoming world champion. But often I've seen people post regularly, and then when they win, they start saying stuff like, "You clearly don't know what you're talking about", "what events have YOU won?" and "my record clearly makes me a better player."

If records made you a great player, I'd be one of the best this game's got, because in my entire 2 and a half year career I have won almost every local tournament we've ever had, and until about October 08, we've had tournies once to twice every week.

I've brought up two issues in this thread nobody's commented on...

1. What do people think of Bitter Rivals? Is it an absolute staple that might even be considered for errata/ban or is it just overhyped as it was last year?

2. How are people's experiences going with all the new characters?

MarcoPulleaux said:

For the love of...

Let it die.

Just let it die.

It's over hyped, and we have this thread several times a week. Steve has specifically asked people to not keep rehashing the same "please ban this card" threads over and over.

If you want to read what people think of Bitter Rivals, go and read threads right here in the general discussion that went on several pages. It's not been that long since the last one, I can't see opions having changed since people are still figuring out the set 12 meta and the effects of many of the cards.

Antigoth said:

I apologize

^- well he answered #1 for me.

As for #2.... Zhao was a total failure, at least imho because the amount of tricks you need to pull to get off burn are just annoying and she lacks decent draw power. On the other hand, her UR combo is amazing and in Promo Zhao it's quite a beastly set up (and Void speeds up the deck quite a bit). Also, Mentally Unstable = <3.

Cervantes is cool, and could probably be a good character if you put effort into him. I think the nice thing about him is that if necessary, he can sub into Ibuki/Andrew Olexa off of Chaos/Evil.

Lu Chen is... interesting. It pretty much goes both ways, if you have a way to answer his character then you're pretty much golden vs. anything but an amazing starting set-up from him. If you don't... you are totally doomed...

Yi-Shan was sweet. Just with the starter deck and a few of his URs, I went 3-1 at a local tourney where everyone was running the same ol' crap (Sakura, Air Feline Spike, Fire). I think if someone worked at it, you could make a tournament calibur deck with him. Although I'd still probably start with his Promo. That extra 3 life and starting with the DR ability has won me so many games...

Tira is solid. She's not the best around, Air has Chun-Li, Death has Donovan/Zi-Mei, but the thing they don't have is Air/Death, and I'd say she's on par with Fio.

We all know Hilde, Astrid, and Ivy. Derp DR. Derp big weapons. Derp weenies. I think they're all amazing, but you will probably never be surprised by them ever.

And the last character from the new set I have played, Temujin, is beast. Powerful:3 is crazy awesome. Great symbol spread, and his Combo cards are amazing.

I expect BIG things from the Earth Barbershop Quartet of Rashotep, Asta-fish, Rager, and Siegfried. I haven't gotten a chance to play them, but all 4 are solid across the board.

quarzark said:

-Starter Yi Shan simply plays differently than promo, and really, I like promo better. Nevertheless, starter Yi Shan has omegaton abuse with his pendant asset, and really, it isn't too much to get an attack to deal damage off of his symbols. Regular *Yi Shan* is still beastin, and assuming he isn't hurt by Tag Along, it's pretty rough seeing all these weenies (like Ichi and Rising Hilt) become life-threatening block-baiting attacks early on.

-Tira's problem is simply the fact that her symbols have other kills. While she DOES make her own kill with her E Commit, it just doesn't matter when you've got stuff like Feline, Menuett, and the characters you mentioned. Oh well, I'd say that makes her probably one of the best Life characters around.

-Temujin makes Powerful: 3s, just screams Lord of the Makai/Natural LEader/White Magic abuse. Oh, and he's probably the only guy around to use that Might Makes Right card.

-I've been analyzing Earth, and here's what I've come up with:

Earth is arguably this game's biggest toolbox, although in my opinion, it is THE biggest anti-meta toolbox (just right above Good). As such, it has answers, a symbol spread to make an untouchable staging area (Blinding Rage + Journey to Repentance + Torn Hero = Your board is safe), a long list of win conditions (TWoP, Reverse Flayer, Tiger Fury, High Plasma Beam), and enough usable characters (Gen, Yi Shan, etc) to make it matter.

Now, Earth appears relatively slow. Lotsa bulky cards, 3 checks, high reliance on TWoP...

But then I realized, if you get your focus in the right place, ascertain your characters weaknesses and make up for them, you've got a pretty top tier machine.

As such, Earth is going to do really well from now on, and Good can too if somebody would run it.

quarzark said:

Yeah...cool as she is, I think I've decided to give up on Zhao. Much as I love her Embrace =(

I love Lu Chen. Unfortunately, there's LOTS of ways to commit him/negate his abilities. But o dear heavens, if you can't...yeah, you're screwed. Even something basic like Yugao is pretty much guaranteed to end your turn (that's...what, three facedowns plus two from their staging area in the card pool, in addition to the attack...+6 progressive to their second card of the turn?).

I dunno. I feel conflicted about Tira. On the one hand, Stand Off + Vibrato is pretty nice, but there's easier ways to kill on Air. Death has a great attack lineup, but Air's where the best foundations are. Chunners, unfortunately, IS better off Air, but the only character off Death who could give Tira a run is Zi Mei (Donovan off Death is very meh).

I've not heard much about Temujin. I know he topped at the NYC regional a couple of weeks ago, but I've not really heard much about him. I like the potential to give weenie attacks like Pommel Smash the potential to deal huge damage with Powerful:3. What I wonder, though, is whether he's most effective off the Combo approach (his F), or the Powerful route. Well, I suppose doing both is also a possibility...but what's the point? Dragon's Flame is a kill condition in its own right =/

If only Rashotep had been Death/Earth/Order. O the stupidity or committal, hax, flipping, and blanking =(

MegaGeese said:

-Just use promo Zhao with Embrace. Promo Zhao has use, especially off Chaos since Chaos can generate momentum much better than Evil and Void.

-Beyond Tag Along and Inhuman Perception, what other cards were you talking about? Water gives him access to lots of commit cards, and he has two ways to use KFT to negate Tag.

-I think the way to use Tira is off Life since she can just attack, attack, attack, E with Professional Soldier, E with Tira, lolgame? I mean seriously multiple on a Raging Gnome? XD.

-I agree. I think what would be cool is using Dragon's Flame's E to boost it to high heavens and use Temujin's E to give it Powerful: 3. If they Reject it, you use the Powerful: 3. If not, it's just an amazing attack. I understand that Dragon's Flame, Feline, and Spinning Beat are all kills in themselves, but Temujin can likely find easier ways to kill than fulfilling Dragon's Flame's Combo E. Just give him some Lord of the Makais and Natural Leaders and have fun winning.

-No. No Rashotep with Order shut up.

MarcoPulleaux said:

Rashotep does have order though. And Evil :-D Also, Lu Chen has trouble with Zi-Mei and Akuma.

He clearly means pack Rashotep not promo.

MegaGeese said:

The thing I like about Tira is that Gloomy Side attached = IBIS MINUET. GIGGITY

No. I'm a firm believer in the concept that "one card does not make another card bad". Problem is, it's not just ONE card that's able to nerf promo Zhao to all hell. There's NINE very playable cards that screw her out of her ability, and that's not counting the less playable Galford stuff, and a lot of them are the type you would play multiples of - Destiny and Soul Wave in a Death deck, for example. If she had another ability, sure, she'd be a bit better, but as is, all she can do is hack, and that's not enough, in this reporter's opinion. The rare version also has the better symbol spread.

You're forgetting about TYPFG 2.0, Shinji. And Pommel Smash, Hammer Uppercut, Juni, Soul Wave, etc.

Whoops, wrong regional. Sorry! =(

And yeah, Tira + Gloomy is hawt.

MegaGeese said:

Well you have to keep in mind, that hack is at the cost of your opponent discarding a card, so there is more to it than just hax. Plus, some people (albeit, I'd disagree strongly) think that Akuma's only use is his R, which would mean that he, too, is nothing but a hack (no pun intended, but still funny). Not saying either versions of Zhao are game-breaking, but they have their uses, and Twilight Embrace is certainly a major one, especially if you managed to Drifter it =D

That "discard to hack" option can really come around and bite you in the rear with more people starting to side board Big Cyclone and the new anti discard stuff.

Archimedes said:

Yeah, I agree. That, and some of the newer actions I hear are seeing play. Again, not saying she's brilliant, but should the opponent not be running any anti-discard, *Zhao Daiyu* when mixed with perhaps Bitter Rivals and Twilight Embrace is going to massively ruin one's game.

Exactly, Arch. LOTS of answers to her only ability makes her next to useless, imo.

And at least Akuma has a stupidly good second ability. If ALL he could do was hack, he'd just be a 7HS Evil character, which Ibuki, Olexa, and Herr do much better. Solid tapdown E is very, VERY good.

MegaGeese said:

Agreed, but I can't tell you how many Akuma tourney reports I've read saying things akin to, "I never really used his enhance"

Also, after just posting in the 6 hander thread, **Rashotep** is pretty awesome. He and his support are extraordinarily counter-meta, especially when you encorporate the increasingly anti-meta symbol Earth

MarcoPulleaux said:

Wait what?

Homme Chapeau said:

It's all Chinese to me