As much as wish Nagase had Kyoshiro's symbol spread, she doesn't, but her ability to give -5 and 6 damage to every attack you play with LoTM (if the deck is built right) and have built in Hand Destruction/Momentum Gen?

Also, ::Alex:: is beastly. I think if someone makes a solid deck off of him it will be a terror to behold, if simply because boomerrang raid's damage pump is static

quarzark said:

You won't even get to Boomerang Raid if everything works out okay. T3 kill very easily just with his R:, and with RfA you generally toss Chops at 3H14.

Sounds about right.

MegaGeese said:

bloodocean said:

In no particular order

1.) J. Talbain

2.) Promo Alex

3.) Zi Mei

4.) Akuma

5.) Gen

6.) Sophita

7.) Hanzo

8.) Chun Li

Homme Chapeau said:

I eat 3h14 for breakfast.

Archimedes said:

And this is why Boomerang Raid exists.

Homme Chapeau said:

Lol Rejection.

But the 3H14's (actually closer to 5H14, Hatman, since RfA gives a +1 speed, too)...how do you eat them AND the 4-6Mbajillion Banana Raids? =/

Serious question. I'd like to know so I can survive them, too. Alex is already bringing that noise, and I don't like it =(

Would probably help if I played Rejection's symbols more often

Maybe cause its not in our meta but why seoung-mina and gen?

control?

order?

idk

Gen is a 7/24 with Earth/Good/Order, and his abilities are okay. Seong-Mina has the ability to recur busted cards just from her effect and is ridiculously fat (34 Vitality) her 5 HS is off-set by the fact that her abilities are awesome and she can use her own card, The Bigger They Are... to draw 2 cards in pretty much any match-up.

Archimedes said:

Two can play that game.

Which is why it's a bad movie.

Despite the increasingly good abilities of lower hand characters, I still think the top eight cuts will be dominated by a combination of the dominant 7hs characters and a select few 6hs who break the basic rules of the game. While there are very promising 5hs and 6hs out there, we have seen time and time again that hand advantage can be the most important thing in UFS.

The 7hs+ bracket would be:

• Zi Mei – Off any symbol, either as straight up aggro or as a switch deck. She has two very basic abilities of both increasing her damage and controlling the opponent that can be used together to advance her win condition.
• Chun Li – Any incarnation that will probably feature Feline Spike and Hoyoko Sen. Chun Li forces the opponent to either to play their game differently or deal with attacks/build on their turn. In a way it’s a form of aggressive tempo control on a 7hs.
• Andrew Olexa – A character with access to both Rejection and Feline Spike, with in-built momentum gen and cc’hack. All three of his symbols are currently viable.
• Order Character – This is reserved for the Forethought/Experienced Combatant deck. There’s been debate over Kyoshiro, Gen, Gill or maybe Donovan. Each have their own strengths and weakness but generally will play the same style deck.

The 6hs bracket:

• Alex – Possibly ALLex. Really this character is a 9hs+, 29vit. Alex has a proven track record that is synonymous with both Paul Bitner and Jeremy Ray.
• Sakura – Like Alex, Sakura’s ability breaks the fundamental 6hs dynamic. Despite winning (iirc) two Team assets and featuring in more Championship level top eight’s than any other character in 2008, Sakura still seems to be relatively “under the radar.”
• Talbain – Powerful and very popular. Like Alex and Sakura, Talbain changes fundamental game mechanics. A combination of this characters popularity and ability to force a different play-style onto the opponent will see him build upon the two Team assets this character has already won.

Hewittzil said:

For a 5, or even 4 Handsize character, to ever win a large tournament, you'd need either something that's already been banned or "F Commit: Win the game."

ok so gen has the stats and i understand mina i just thought people didnt play 5hs

bigmattxxx said:

a lot of people don't. The tempo of the game is based on your draws, and a 7hs draws (generally) more cards then a 5hs, and can build and set the tempo faster. People counteract low-handsizes by playing cards that draw them more cards. Hugo is a good example of this, but the thing with that is the need to make room for cards that draw cards takes up space that could be used by something else. Out of all the low-handsizers I think (in order), Seong-Mina, Hugo, and Sogetsu probably have the highest chances of taking any tournament, but that's because they all also cheat their handsize.

who do u think is better mina or hugo

MegaGeese said:

Step 1) Play my Olexa deck list.

Step 2) Nom large amounts of damage effortlessly.

Mina by FAR. Just because she has Order. One Tag Along and Hugo is nothing but a 4 handsize.

Sogetsu's handsize is rather subjective. With two foundations and any throw, he has a 7HS at the cost of two foundations per turn.

By far the most viable <6HS characters are Sogetsu, Seong-Mina, and Hugo. Hugo is a 4HS, but has that built-in draw ability and tons of draw support that also doubles as damage pumps. I doubt he has the ability to hang with the likes of, say, Infiltrating lolbuki, but he certainly will be popping up from place to place.

I'm still formulating thoughts on what characters will be most viable. Everything I can see getting there has already been mentioned, though, with maybe a few exceptions (new promo Ukyo and Domination Ryu are deceptively good, for example).

So yeah.

Alex (promo first, then rare)
Zi Mei
Sakura
Sogetsu
Seong-Mina
Gen
Chun-Li
Kyoshiro
Sophitia
Victor
Jivatma OR Basara (you know one will likely get through eventually)
lolbuki
And a few sneaky ones (I'm keeping my mouth shut, but I have about three in particular in mind)

I also think Zhao Daiyu is one to watch for: her ability is like starter Akuma, giving the opponent a virtual handsize reduction. However, hers is -2 instead of -1...


Don't forget, folks - one set cannot possibly hope to move us away from the control environment that we (and by we I mean ME) currently enjoy. After all, it took about two sets to really lock it in last year (Realm of Midnight was the true tipping point). Be sure you're ready for it, because with the exception of Zi Mei, EVERY character who cracks top 8 in the near future is going to be fronting a control deck (and Zi Mei is only excluded because she only does it for a maximum of three turns, as she is by far the most aggressive of those decks; make no mistake, she's a control character, too).

Tech against it if you want to get to the top of the food chain.

MegaGeese said:

Yeah I had pretty much planned on not enjoying the next coming year due to Sets 8 and 10.

infiltrating ibuki will be replaced by begin anew ibuki in block 3, but hey, I'm running begin anew in my hugo deck, so it's all good Hugo's handsize is deceptive with his draw power, same with Sogetsu. Mina though... Mina's F answers the question that you have to ask in any deck that doesn't one shot is "How do I recur my win condition?"

also, I hate set 8 with a burning, burning passion.

quarzark said:

I've tasted it, and it blows.

Shaneth said:

Hmmm I wonder waht will happen when I make Heel snipe Ibuki?

Does anyone think adon will make an impact at all being a air aggro character?