So I suppose I am quickly becoming known as the player that argues against oft run cards, standoff, financial troubles, etc. And maybe you can toss another - "dut is crazy, that card is staple" - at me in response to this topic.
That said, I'm still posting this because it is my opinion and it might help a few of you a) take a more well-rounded look at the meta, or b) find alternatives to cards you don't have for whatever reason.
So that everyone knows what I'm talking about, the card Paid to Protect was a prerelease card handed out (or won) during the Tekken prerelease near the middle/end of September. Many of the complaints on the forums are that there wasn't enough of it available. You should note that I have a playset of 4 between me and the person I share cards with, and also note that I am not planning to discuss prize support or card distribution in this thread.
Paid to Protect, henceforth P2P, reads (I don't have it in front of me so this is just the gist of it):
E commit: Reveal your hand. This attack's damage is reduced by X where X is equal to the number of keywords on cards in your hand.
R commit: Before attempting to block your opponents attack the speed of the attack is returned to it's printed speed.
It has a 2 difficulty, a 5 control check, a +3 mid block, is a foundation, and has the Earth, Fire, and Void symbols.
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How good is this card? Is this card needed to play at the top levels? Why or why not? Hopefully the below analysis can help you answer these questions.
Before including a card in my deck I usually ask. What can this card do for me? In every character but Hilde this card can help you survive, in Hilde it can give you a damage pump if used appropriately and before her Character enhance commit. I am not aware of any other character that can use this card offensively. The following discussion ignores Hilde because, yes, you would 100% use this card in Hilde if utilizing the symbol she shares with it, granted her vitality means she needs all the reduce/defense possible and it offers a very high damage reduce (or pump) if used correctly.
Under the assumption that I take into games, either I want an extremely aggressive deck, or a well rounded deck (i.e. A defensive only deck doesn't cut it at the moment without a really good exhaust method) P2P would only help round out the deck, and probably wouldn't be used in an aggressive only deck because it would not contribute in any way shape or form to a quick kill. I then need to know if it is the best option for rounding off a deck, or if I already have enough defenses. Personally, my favorite defensive cards are also aggressive, and in the current meta there are a few - Ultimate Team, Torn Hero, Ka Technique, Enemies now Friends, Standoff, Valued but not Trusted, Chasing After the Power, etc. Almost all of these cards I'd include in a deck before a strictly defensive card like P2P because they offer more flexibility. You will also notice that many of the cards listed either have earth, fire, or void... Strictly speaking all 3 of the symbols that P2P has already have defensive pieces, and already have defensive pieces that are also aggressive or flexible. If you agree with this we can move on to the next paragraph.
So what does P2P offer exclusively that these other defensive cards don't? I would argue that it offers void damage redux, and that void doesn't have a lot of damage redux. I would also argue it offers fire and earth unique damage redux that can either provide better or worse results than what it currently has. Sadly, I would also argue it provides the 'worse' results for earth and void, and 'better' results for fire in the way of damage redux. First of all, earth and void don't have 'mass' draw. They have draw, void has a bit more than earth, but in both cases it is more of a 'refill' hand option, rather than a rampant draw that fire has access to with assets (Paul's Gi, Hilde's weapons) and foundations (relentless, financial troubles) and actions (overconfident). Second, fire tends to have more keywords on their played cards. If you disagree with that all I ask you to do is look through 2 headed. So, the damage redux can be good for fire, but certainly isn't an exclusive thing to fire, a symbol that has countless other ways to reduce damage. I would argue that the redux for earth and void is negligible, more so in earth which has other better ways to reduce damage.
No surprise then that this card boils down to its second ability, the response that reduces speed. Now I ask you in all honesty, how many character cards utilize speed on few big attacks in today’s Meta? The answer, in my opinion, is surprisingly few… The only really dangerous ones are Hata and Hilde. Astrid stacked uses some speed, but most of her damage comes from big damage on many attacks (and many attacks works well because of the weapon keyword thing). Life characters in general have support that influences speed… White Crane can boost speed, but as of yet isn’t that influential. Sadly, Hata and Hilde are ‘top tier’ characters but are only 2/10 top tier characters, and arguably not the best two of that group. At least in my mind they aren’t.
We also have the fact that both Hata and Hilde will also use pommel or some sort of way to target your P2P, whether it be siren’s call or even persevering despite rejection. In other words, relying on the speed reduce as a defense isn’t good enough and should go hand in hand with other defenses. Then we have the fact that Hilde isn’t best beaten with good defense… She is beaten best with quick offense.
Long story short we have one character, Hata, that you might think you need speed redux against. I’m also going to step out on a limb here and say the best way to beat Hata isn’t to ‘block’ that one big attack. In fact, blocking against Hata is intrinsically difficult to do, what with his zone changing and stuff. Instead, the best way to beat a Hata is to ‘survive’ his turn, something that is much better accomplished with some timely damage reduction or by reducing the number of attacks he can throw in a turn. We also have the fact that stun is a big factor in this case, and that your ability to keep enough foundations ready to pass a printed speed block is still in question… P2P is also very subject to lockdown or an easy target. Why do you ask? Simply put, P2P responds after the enhance phase. Compare this to defensive abilities that can be played during the enhance phase before being stunned out or targeted. You know where I am going with this… Simple damage reduction, whether it be on the field or from the hand is the best way to survive Hata, not trying to survive by protecting a P2P. 1) The Hata won’t commit out if he knows you are just going to P2P and block, 2) You still have to pass a check and block the right zone… not super reliable.
I suppose there is also the argument that you will see big damage attacks created by PotM that are given speed pump. In these cases my argument would be that asset hate is more of an answer than speed reduction, especially since you will still need a block and still need to pass a check to block, wheras asset answers would be an easier answer and probably a more efficient way to survive.
Paid to Protect is a great card. But even great cards find the sideboard more often than not, see MAC. This card isn’t ‘that’ important, at this point it doesn’t go anywhere towards defining the meta, and trust a player who has used it plenty, it is a very ‘sit and be useless card’ in the staging area except for in very restricted matchups and situations (those that usually are still limited to your opponents turn). I would even go as far as to say the reason this is a promo card and not a set card is because speed reduction is not needed or tier defining right now, instead it is an ability that has its use in select situations and as such only a select few decks require it (hence few are needed by the mass population and few being released ‘shouldn’t’ be a problem…).
In closing I'd like to mention the alternatives to P2P, i.e. if you don’t even have this card for your sideboard what should you do. Personally, Flexible Body is my favorite. Then there is Faithful Bodyguard, Scroll of the Abyss, Valued but not Trusted, Rashotep, JJ, etc. I’ve also elaborated on the importance of damage redux cards, granted most decks that try to one shot you with a fast attack use multiple enhances and leave themselves very open after doing so (i.e. surviving is all that is needed for an easy counter win). Sa Symbol of Protection, Toughest in the Universe, King’s Action, etc. )
I hope this brief look into my analysis of a much talked about card helps the vast majority of players ^^
- dut
ps. P2P may become better and more influential as more sets are released, especially if speed pump comes back in the way it existed in block 2. This is just a 'right now' analysis of the card.