Just checking.

I didn't realize it ever died...

I'd say aggro has had something of a resurgence with the last set. Of course, the biggest culprit of this is one Ms. Chun-Li, but there are other characters capable of the aggro playstyle. They generally have to be something quite spectacular though to out-speed a good control deck.

The other problem is that the majority of the time, a good aggro deck LIVES off of Lord Of The Makai. Momentum seems to be the backbone of a lot of aggro decks, although there are a good few exceptions to this rule...

Raphael using Galactica Phantom with The King Of Fighters 2006 or N-Type Human works surprisingly well.

Chun-Li with Hoyoko-Sen and Feline Spike (or, well, pretty much anything) seems to be the most effective aggo character so far.

Felicia is well known to be one of the best Feline Spikers at the moment, and if Lord Of The Makai were to kick the bucket, she'd only grow in strength.

Zi Mei is surprisingly effective if played aggressively rather than controlling, but granted, it IS better to combine the two.

Talim is another example of a good user for Galactica Phantom, especially when combined with Wind Dance.

I think that the biggest problem with aggro decks is that the characters who potentially could go aggro, like Akuma, or Yang, don't have resources that do them any favours on the aggro front. In other words, Fire and Life need a big fat kick up the backside. But for now, Air seems to do a perfectly good job of smacking people hard and fast, and Good does a pretty good job of it too having Fight Or Flight as well as being able to keep itself alive with it's anti-control. The characters I would like to see get such a boost in their capabilities with their resources (as they are very powerful characters in my eyes) include:

Elena, Yang, Karin, Guy, Kazuki, Mignon (but LotM needs to go for people to see her potential), Rera, Kula, Siegfried and Yuri.

I just think Fire and Life need big boosts (especially Life) in order for aggro-orientated characters to be able to enter the fray more effectively, but aggro is most certainly not dead, Just ask Chun-Li

aggro is viable but it seems that only Combo Aggro works. No one in there right mind is just throwing attacks anymore.

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesss

Oh, wait. Yeah, there's no way to play this game successfully without disrupting your opponent in some form, also known as control. There's too much damage reduction and life gain (and CC Hax) available to make stringing attacks anything more than a Hail Mary. You need a consistent game plan, and with the absence of Absurd Strength, drawing attacks isn't one of them. Once again, or shall I say still, UFS is about foundations. Attacks are the least important cards in any deck, as they are more interchangeable than any other card.

Any Air/Earth aggro deck that can get Inhuman Perception out turn 1 to stop the CC haxx is still (very) viable.

TBH, even after going to 3 Air Patch events (and only getting 1 patch for coming 2nd XD), I'm still rocking Adon4 now with Sonic Boom EXTRAs.

Chaos is also a viable aggro symbol, but it works better as a hybrid deck with the "counter-haxx".

And aggro's posterboy Fire has lost too many decent cards through rotation (i.e. Absurd Strength, Way of the Mightiest, mostly attacks), and now lingers in the background with tons of low checks (in contrast to block 2).

the most i see with fire is building up 1 attack to kill. like my friend's jedah build which turned into kazuki. builds mass foudations and build mass kindle tokens (that action is really good for kazuki btw) and then throws that annihalating flames at me by increasing speed, then using the kindle counter effect with kazuki, pumps more speed, then drops cobra blow action on it.

for me, i play order donovan and like stated above, just throwing out a bunch of attacks just doesn't work like they use to. correct me if i'm wrong (i'm still rusty with ufs, i'm getting back into the game again) order has the best control right now in terms of foundation control. i spam the attack because at some point, they won't have the block. and after the card pool is cleared, attack and draw, drop a high plasma beam and they're dead. but that only happens every once in a while

so yah, order donovan can aggro a bit.

the only viable agro is air, chaos, and good (sortof water). fire realy isn't a bad symbol, it just can't agro anymore. i think right now we have to many kill atacks, and too few solid atacks. that means atack stringing isn't that good, and one shoting is.

trane said:

I think fire can deal with it they just have to use a good character I think something like akuma or alex can contend with everything .

Aggro dead?
No.

aggro in the sense that it used 2 be yes.........aggro in general no

Its just that you have 2 play more conservitive then you used 2 you cant string out attack after attack and expect that 2 just work but turn 3 or so with some 30 vitality character youve ran up against a wall of CC hax and DR or Life gain you got 2 have some sort of back up for the assult and it takes a few turns 2 set up

But i sure do miss the turn 2 days...........

Turn 1 Felecia

Turn 2 Adon

Nope.

Aggro's a little wacky right now, and it's not as solid as control, and we'll never see that pre set-8 period again when straight aggro ruled. I've always thought that in order to make aggro (and by aggro, I don't mean OTK Feline Spike) you've got to be a bit psychotic and innovative. You can't just build a deck with some cards like pre-set 8.

good example is Hewitt's Leona deck he put up in the deck building forums. Almost running more 2 checks then his character has vitality, suicidal, psychotic, and what looks to be an ingenious deck

in my opinion, aggro will continue to be an unrewarded playstyle as long as foundations continue to be undercosted for their abilities, and attacks kept irrelevant by the ammount of damage and other win conditions that are now being generated solely out of the staging area. but again, this is just my opinion. still love the game, but want attacks to do more than be orange pieces of paper.

The problem with Aggro is that the game mechanics are against it.....

In order for aggro to win, you need to play attacks, which have low CCs, so if you play a lot to aggro out, you end up checking poorly and can't be consistent. In order to counter this, you play Foundations. However, you now have fewer attack slots and will have a harder time drawing attacks, forcing you into a Hybrid/Control deck.

For aggro to work, there need to be attacks with greater than 3CC. They shouldn't be kill conditions or overly powerful cards, but solid attacks with vanilla abilities to help aggro players out. Game-ending attacks should still be 3CC or less, though.

I would hate to say it, but IMO and only my opnion, aggro needs a bit of a face lift. Not that we are not seeing it. With the last 2 sets, we are seeing aggro getting a bit of it's bite back. The thing is though, is that i has to contend with so many factors that if not placed into consideration, can derail it off the aggro track and into the control gutter. From the moment I have started this game till now, I have noticed that aggro has to have a bit of control in order to survive. IMHO, aggro needs to be agressive and in your face. There seems to be to many factors that doesn't allow a pure aggro deck to survive. Once again, not saying that that is the case, but you just have to figure out how to do that yourself. In this case, block 3 will more that likely be the season of the hybrid. (Not that that is a bad thing.)

Gaius Marius said:

I've been screaming this from the rooftops for months now. Something that is like 5 difficulty, 5 control 5 speed 5 damage with no abilities and no block would make aggro viable again. Obviously it has to be done in limited quantities but it so needs to happen.

Every time I bring this up someone yells clones and jumps infront of a truck while faking a heartattack waving a pistol in the air. Im not asking for us to make unbalanced 5 check attacks, just some 4 and 5 check attacks. Period...

High tide is a good start, but lets see some more.

Protoaddict said:

Honestly, High Tide is an attack that just so happens to have a 5 CC. And even then I'd dare say I'd put in something with an effect and a 3CC over High Tide in a great majority of decks.

Agreed.

As to agggro being dead - anyone who's ever played against Leona, rare Alex, or rare Balrog can tell you for certain that no, it certainly is NOT dead. I confidently submit that Balrog can consistantly turn 3 people with ease. RAWRAWRAWRPUNCHRAWR

Take Lord of the Makai away

Take Blood Runs True/Forethought away

Suddenly aggro is much more viable.

Lord of the Makai discourages the opponent attacking with a large string of attacks. Because they can just Makai up their momentum and one shot you with Ryu's Shin Shoryuken, Fire Kick, or any other large powerful attack at absolutely no effort. Momentum means absolutely nothing right now

Take away Blood Runs True/Forethought, and the aggro player go on a string and not get controlled down effortlessly.

Control decks are undercosted and overpowered in this, from the sheer nature of the control check mechanic. I can risk failing an aggro string, or I can go "Seal of Cessation, Blood Runs True, Lord of the Makai, Olcadon, Olcadon" and have absolutely no problem what so ever, then one shot you at my leisure.

Are there ways around the three cards I mentioned above? You betcha'. Speaking as a pure aggro player I've done nothing but devise counter methods and implement them (feel free to IM me if you wish to discuss my findings).

But speaking as one of the most experienced players on the board (sup ego?) I can say that if Lord of the Makai and Blood/Forethought were to leave, suddenly aggro would be a much more viable format for many players, because suddenly it wouldn't be pointless in trying to attack the opponent.

Archimedes said:

I would like to discuss your "anti-broken block three card" findings. I don't havee IM, so please try to reach me at [email protected]

Ah, LotM, a card I wish would die just because of it's crutchyness. I'd like to say "IN MY DAY YOU DIDN'T NEED NO CRAPFANGLED FREE E TO GET MOMENTUM YOU HAD TO ATTACK FOR IT!" but then I remembered Power Up, Hop, Whereabouts Unknown, etc.

And besides, in my day you didn't need any of that momentum to kill.

Archimedes said:

i think taking away these cards would help, but i don't think this would make agro beter than control/hybrid. i think agro is hindered by 2 mechanics. cc hax and discard/hand to momentum. if i go on a five atack string and don't kill you my tiny hand will be gone or bitter rivaled around in seconds. but of course you can't go on a five atack string because your cc will be hacked and you will fail. i honestly think if destiny was an infinity card that agro could beat control consistently. oh and also control has rejection, and vast lifegain (thats why people one shot).

Actually, it's not. Rejection is why people DON'T one-shot, at least not without knowing for certain that their hit will connect for lethal damage. It's like I said in my article - it's all due to CSS.

Multiples are still better than Powerfuls for this very reason. High Plasma Beam is better still <3

At a high level? Always.

Risk vs return is the short answer. Eliminating the luck factor is what makes good players great.

Pure aggro decks will always have a "luck' factor. If only I checked a five there....