Tactics 05 - Game Mechanics

This post is to discuss some mechanics of the game, as well as some other useful information here and there. The reason I wanted to put this post up is because I had just recently finished a fight with a 1260ish Paul user who found himself in a predicament where the BEST he could do was draw the match. Instead he must've thought he could win If he blocked correctly. Which leads me to believe that, even 1260+ players are unaware on how the game works OR Paul is a brain-dead character and it is possible to easily attain a 1260+ rating by focusing to 5 cards and striking (or, he pressed block by accident). Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it (I thought it would've made a great picture, I thought it was quite hilarious too, lol) but I will use MS Paint to recreate the scenario using past screenshots and cards taken from older pictures.

It takes a keen intellect to play Paul

The Scenario

First, here are the statistics of the said Paul player. As you can see he's no stranger to the game. Infact, he has double my total games played in victories.

Statistics of Paul Player

If Yoshimitsu strikes, Paul can at most Draw

As said before, this picture was recreated with MS Paint and I don't actually recall how it happened and what the cards were exactly but this is the closest thing I can think of that matches the scenario the best. So let's get to analyzing.

From the picture, If the Yoshimitsu plays strike, the Paul will only be able to Draw if he strikes, Lose if he focuses, and Potential Loss if he Blocks.

Paul: Striking

Easy to see what happens, both players kill each other. Paul swinging for 125 damage, Yoshimitsu for 70 damage. It doesn't matter that Paul is at 69 HP or that Yoshimitsu is at 7 HP, a KO is a KO.

Paul: Focusing

This is probably the worst thing the Paul player can possibly do. There is no need for more cards and there is an imminent strike from Yoshimitsu. Paul should only focus only under the assumption that Yoshimitsu will also Focus or Block. Paul Focusing against Yoshimitsu Striking will result in a loss for Paul.

Paul: Blocking

This is the 2nd worst thing Paul can do, and it is the stupidest thing Paul can do. Here's why: One only blocks when they predict a Strike (or you have some weird effects get you some advantage). If Paul blocks and Yoshimitsu Blocks he will lose 10 HP from his 3rd card and nothing happens to the cards therefore losing 10 HP for nothing. If Paul blocks and Yoshimitsu focuses, Yoshimitsu has 1 extra card and Paul is at card disadvantage (at this point it doesn't matter who has more cards). If Paul blocks and Yoshimitsu strikes, (remember this is the desired action the Paul wants by blocking) Paul takes 65 Damage, leaving him at 4 HP, and next turn if Yoshimitsu blocks activating the Paul's third card, Paul will lose before any striking occurs. Paul's third card, Flash Elbow: 50 Damage, Punch, BEFORE THE ATTACK: Opp Block: -10 HP, occurs before the attack and if Paul dies from this effect his strike does not count.

Conclusion

I also want to use this part to say some other things that weren't covered in the post but are related to game mechanics. These can all be found on the official site.

• Effects that occur before the attack and trigger a KO will void any strike animation or after the attack effects
• If an opponent's life points drop to (or below) 0 from an effect and heals HP from another effect during the same phase (Before/After the attack), the end result will be whatever the HP heals for. This point means, if a Lili with 10 HP blocks with a Monte Carlo Snap (After the attack: Block missed: Card discarded +35 HP) against a Yoshimitsu who focuses and gets Poison Breath (After the attack: This card appears, Opp -30 HP), the end result is Lili with 35 HP
• There is a 5% chance to get an SR card from an Ultra Pack
• You are 3 times less likely to receive a bonus on defeat than on victory

Lol, the last 2 points are kind of not related but I haven't made a good FAQ page. Will do that in the near future. Don't be a stranger to leave a comment or what not. To all the Paul Players: I don't mean any offense but you gotta admit that the ability to focus to 5 cards and strike for a 1 strike victory isn't the most balanced thing, hehe.

Yoshimitsu Deck - 02

This deck I call Seppuku because it is suicide sometimes. I haven't personally tested this deck but on paper it looks awesome and it plays like the current Paul & Panda metagame. Another good thing about this deck is, it doesn't contain an SR card, unless you want the SR Power card, which is HIGHLY recommended otherwise the -22 Damage first turn will suffice. I will describe how it works after revealing the deck.

Edit: I tested this deck. It is like a coin toss. It's not like Paul where the damage is definitely going to kill, but watching the numbers rack up to over 300 sometimes is quite pleasing for some reason.

Heavy Damage

The Deck

I cannot take full credit for this, and unfortunately I don't know who to give credit to. I have never seen this deck personally, however I did see a fellow Yoshimitsu use 3 of the 5 types of cards which is what gave me the idea in the first place.

• 3x Seiken Douharai: 15 Damage, Punch, After the attack: P cards conceal, All cards +13 Hit
• 3x Omega Hosen: 15 Damage, Punch, After the attack: Dual Block: Cards concealed 3rd card +25 Hit
• 3x Fubuki: 10 Damage, Kick, After the attack: Block missed: Card + 30 Hit
• 3x Nozuchi Fumi: 15 Damage, Kick, After the attack: Opp Block: Card +35 Hit

Select 1 of the 5 options or even mixed combination of the 5:

• 3x Tsurubebi: 20 Damage, Kick, After the attack: Strike & Opp Block: +20 Protection
  
• 3x Nebular Burst: 22 Damage, Punch, Before the attack: Strike: +30 Protection
• 3x Gehosen: 20 Damage, Punch, Before the attack: Focus, HP ≤ 35: +200 Protection, Both -5 cards
• 3x Mumyo Juji Ken: 22 Damage, Punch, Before the attack: Opp HP ≤ 70: Card + 20 hit
• 3x Tsuka Splitter: 20 Damage, Punch, Before the attack: Strike K&P cards owned: 3rd card +15 Hit
• Power Card: Yoshimitsu - III: 175 HP, First turn: +2 concealed cards, Opp +1 card

The deck has relatively low base damage, but if you take some time to read the ability descriptions, you will see that it has extremely high boosted damage.

Strategy

Focus to 5 cards, Block once or twice, and than strike. Opting for Tsuka Splitter may give you just enough damage to decimate your opponent. Strikes that meet blocks with Tsurubebi will ensure you won't die to your opponents strike the following turn. Nebular Burst may give you just enough HP to survive the 5 card Seiken Douharai(s) assault if your opponent and yourself cross swords. If one of you is not dead by the end of the 5 card strike, then both players must be at extremely low HP and you can commence the guessing game. This is where Gehosen and Mumyo Juji Ken really shine. Gehosen gives you the unfailing option of focusing whilst a strike from Mumyo Juji Ken will put the fear of God into your opponent.

Playing with the Deck

There is not much to be said about this deck, focus to 5 cards, block once, and start flipping a coin. (lol) I personally haven't tried this deck but I look forward to trying it. Reminds me of Trout Sweeping Panda's and 50+ Damage deck Pauls.

Conclusion

This deck is a gamble deck. It will probably get destroyed by Xiao Yu and parry Lili, but it is still fun. I think it will do well against healing Nina. With the "Best Slap" competition in full swing, this will get you first place for sure!

Don't forget to subscribe, leave a comment, and mash that like button on the side. I just had that put up =]

Yoshimitsu Deck - 01

I've been meaning to get this out but I feel upon doing so that its success may be compromised by the upcoming balance update. This is the deck for Yoshimitsu that I have used to achieve up to 1311 rating last week and 1280 this week in the latest 2 Online WW Championships. I will discuss about the strategy I use inorder to unlock its full potential as well as the strengths and weaknesses that come with the deck.
It is advised you read the previous posts about card counting and Yoshimitsu card analysis before continuing.

The Deck

Before having any gold cards, I looked at the Yoshimitsu deck and thought, "there are a lot of synergies with the "block" action". From there I examined all the Yoshimitsu cards and realized he had a lot of good unique cards. I picked up almost all the Unique cards and had a deck of 12 or so Uniques and 3 Fubuki. I struggled to break 1200 in the Online WW
Championships and went back to the drawing board. After accumulating a lot of gold and credits, I sought out to create a more consistent deck and here are the results:

Yoshimitsu

• 3x Oni Kick Combo: 20 Damage, Kick, After the attack: This card appears: 1st card +40 hit
• 3x Tsuka Splitter: 20 Damage, Punch, Before the attack: Strike K&P cards owned: 3rd card +15 Hit
• 2x Sakanobori: 12 Damage, Kick, Before the attack: Block: +1 Parry
• 2x Fubuki: 10 Damage, Kick, After the attack: Block missed: Card + 30 Hit
• 1x Kimon Matagi: 20 Damage, Punch, After the attack: Opp HP ≥ 75: +10 HP
• 2x Nozuchi Fumi: 15 Damage, Kick, After the attack: Opp Block: Card +35 Hit
• 1x Heshikirigari: 20 Damage, Punch, After the attack: Opp Focus: +6 HP
• 1x Magatama: 20 Damage, Kick, After the attack: HP ≤ Opp Hp: +25 HP & Cards concealed
• Power Card: Yoshimitsu - III: 175 HP, First turn: +2 concealed cards, Opp +1 card

This deck has relatively high damage as most of the cards are 20 and above. You can count that a 5 card strike Blocked/Unblocked will hit for at least 60 damage. That being said, I don't think the cards themselves carried me to mid to high 1200+ but rather how to use them.

Strategy

The strategy of this deck is to strike at around 1-3 cards, playing focus most of the time and blocking when the opponent has 4-5 cards (of course if first position is Magatama and I am severely weak, I will block to increase the likelihood of winning). I will talk about 3 important cards in this deck, these cards are very key and play the most important role in all matches. The 3 cards are Magatama, Kimon Matagi, and Heshikirigari. The significance they play in this deck is the ability to heal. Kimon Matagi can heal to full HP and this should be abused as much as possible, it also goes well with striking with 1-3 cards as it controls the Oppositions HP to be above 75. Magatama allows the player to have a risky and more reckless play style, focusing till 5 cards and striking whilst tanking any attacks the opposition throws. Heshikirigari was the next best healing card that did not compromise the consistent damage of the deck. The other cards are seen as raw damage, with the exception of Sakanobori which is another defense card that synergizes very well with the 3 healing cards.

Playing with the deck

I mentioned in the previous paragraph that 1-3 card strikes is how I generally play, however, every game is situational and I will do my best to elaborate on general playstyles of this deck and how I play with each of the cards

Yoshimitsu

Oni Kick Combo: with both players at 1 card, and Oni Kick Combo is drawn, I have a 60 damage card in possession for 1 turn. Depending on what the opponent's card is, I may focus, I may strike, and I may just even block. If it is the first card drawn of the match, I will usually strike to get an idea of how conservative the player is whilst not wasting more than 1 card. If I am low HP and need to shuffle through my deck, I will play focus in hopes of drawing one of the 3 healing cards. If the opponent is able to Kill me with a strike, I will play block because what they think is: "this Yoshimitsu has 40 bonus damage for one turn, he probably thinks I am going to block and he will focus, or he may use the Oni Kick Combo's ability and strike. He will most definitely not block, so I am going to go f
or it). It is all just a guessing game for this card but every situation is different. If this card is in position 3 or higher, it is just 20 damage muscle and its ability with the other cards will add too much intimidation for a sensible player to not block and hence I will focus.

Tsuka Splitter: This is just a steroid for when I have 3 or more cards. If I want to take away the opposition's first card because it has a strong ability, I will strike with just this card. I feel the opposition will not expect me to strike till I have 3 cards to utilize the ability of Tsuka Splitter and thus it seems more likely they will not block. Trading this card's damage for 1 other card (dual strike) is fine by me (unless it is a Paul). Often times if this is first drawn, I will focus. In position 3 4 or 5 and a guaranteed ability proc and I am able to play recklessly because of a life lead and do not require any healing whatsoever, I will flip a coin and strike or focus accordingly. If this card is in the first 2 positions, consider focusing till 5 for Nozuchi Fumi and Fubuki heavy damage.

Sakanobori: This card is for defense purposes. If the opponent has 4 cards or more, I will block. If they have 3 cards and their card in position 1 or 2 has an ability that procs only when it hits, or one of their cards will proc only when striking with 3 or less cards, I may consider blocking. Otherwise I feel this card is not useful and will focus. If the enemy's card is valuable (like a heal per turn card) I will strike just to take it away, but the first 2 sentences take priority over the last statement.

Fubuki: This card in position 1 or 2 is rather unlucky. I will consider blocking if the opponent has been striking me with 1 card all day, then if the ability procs, I usually focus and seldom strike. In positions 3 4 or 5, with 5 cards, you may consider blocking for proc, or striking for a CHANCE at sinking in the first 2. I put this card into my deck to give myself more incentive to block so if I feel an attack is coming I don't mind blocking.

Nozuchi Fumi: This card in Positions 3 4 or 5 is a lucky break. If in position 3 with 3 cards, I usually strike as the damage is usually guaranteed and i don't want it to get knocked down to position 2. In positions 1 or 2, I only consider striking to take out the opponents 1st card, but otherwise usually focus to shuffle through cards. Although I described striking with 1-3 cards, if you read this post on counting cards, I will focus past 3 cards if I feel Nozuchi Fumi will appear in position 3 4 or 5.

Heshikirigari: This card is not the greatest, but it still has some value. In position 1 and Opponent has 1 card or less, and in need of HP, block for a predicted strike and continue focusing till 5 cards. In positions 2 or higher, focus till 5 cards. I am considering removing this card from my deck.

Kimon Matagi: This card plays a very large role in the deck. In position 1, versus 3 cards or more, I will block if I am at 50% hp or lower. Versus 1 to 2 cards, I will block if I am near death and require HP. Not many characters can manage 10 Damage per turn. Otherwise focus. In position 2 3 or 4, I will focus everything that doesn't potentially kill me and block against 5 cards. In position 5, I will block till 80% HP or higher and I feel my opponent will focus, then I will strike.

Yoshimitsu

Magatama: This card is a huge life saver. In position 1, I will focus if I don't have use for the ability (assuming the opponent will focus). In position 1 with less than 50% HP, I will block till the ability no longer procs. With 3 cards and in position 1 versus 3 or more cards, I will block till the opponent strikes then proceed focusing. In position 2 3 or 4 with no threat of imminent one-hit-KO I will focus till 5 cards. With 5 cards, I will block until the ability no longer procs, and strike. Occasionally, I will heal till the 2nd last proc and strike.

Strengths and Weaknesses

This deck does well against characters that don't have a reliable source of healing such as Kazuya, Law, Other Yoshimitsu's (lol). The reason is because those characters can be picked at till they fall. This deck has the ability to turtle when necessary and play offensively otherwise. This deck does well against Panda decks without Trout Sweep, otherwise it is hit or miss. Due to the relentless assault this deck loses to Xiao Yu (personally I think Xiao Yu is over powered. I don't even get to see 4 cards before dying) because the deck is unable to effectively shuffle through cards. Against an intelligent Nina, this deck will lose as Nina can strike, heal and draw at the same time and the most this deck can do is cause a stalemate only to eventually lose. Against most Lili decks, this deck will lose as Lili's heal is extremely strong and her ability to parry without having to block really shuts down Tsuka Splitter, Nozuchi Fumi (unless in position 5). Lili's healing ability is also very strong.

Conclusion

Although I briefly described the strengths and weaknesses, I plan to create future posts describing matchups against every character. No deck should ever be perfect. Since this game is new and we have a long way till balance, I can only assume the most 'perfect' deck is the ones used by whoever ranks 1st place in Online WW Championship. But that is changed every 3 weeks from balance updates. Any competitive deck should be catered towards the metagame. Currently this metagame involves Paul and Panda. I wrote this a couple hours before Balance Update 03 (><) and from my readings on the Twitter Page this deck might lose a lot of luster. Fortunately if it is nerfed, it will be compensated in Balance Update 04.

Hope this post helps a lot of players. Again, don't be afraid to comment or subscribe.

Tactics 04 - Kazuya, the Killer

Edit: as of Wednesday, June 12, 2013, Kazuya received many changes in his cards due to Balance Update 03. As a result, I have modified this post to match the present stats for Kazuya. Twin Fang Double Kick's now triggers at 80 HP and below, but I still consider Kazuya's prime under 60 HP.

Since my last post on Kazuya Killing, many players have asked me how to counter it. Although I am not actually a Kazuya player, I have played so many Kazuya's and there are only a few times I've lost to a Kazuya after following the Kazuya Killing Practices.

The Deck

I won't tell you how to build your deck but I will tell you to leave at least 1~2 slot(s) opened for reasons explained. Here are the most popular cards I see on Kazuya:

• Jaw Breaker: 15 Damage, Punch, Before the attack: HP ≤ 110: Opp -1 Parry
• Skull Smash: 13 Damage, Punch, After the attack: Strike: +1 Card
• Oni Stomp: 10 Damage, Kick, Before the attack: Opp Strike HP ≤ 110: +25 Protection
• Twin Fang Double Kick: 13 Damage, Kick, After the attack: HP ≤ 80: Card discard & +2 cards
• Wind God Fist: 22 Damage, Punch, Before the attack: HP ≤ 60: P cards +15 Hit
• Power Card: Kazuya - I: 175 HP, Every turn: P cards + 2 Hit

I prefer cards that aid in the drawing speed for Kazuya, that way it is a relentless assault.

When I fight Kazuya's and use my strategy, the only times I lose are:

• when I overestimate Kazuya's killing power drop him from 75 HP to 3 HP due to sheer laziness or poor arithmetic (lol).
• when the Kazuya I am facing possesses a card which controls his own HP

Kazuya in God Mode. I end up losing the fight after blocking 4 times consecutively.

I strongly feel the last point makes the difference between a Good Kazuya and a Bad Kazuya.

The following are the only cards Kazuya can use to strategically lower his HP:

• Engetsusen: 20 Damage, Kick, After the attack: Dual Focus: Both -15 HP
• Tsunami Kick: 20 Damage, Kick, After the attack: Dual Focus: -15 HP & +1 card
• Devastator: 20 Damage, Punch, After the attack: This card hits: -15 HP & +2 Cards
• Slaughter High Kick: 30 Damage, Kick, After the attack: This card blocked: -15 HP
• SR Devil Blaster: 25 Damage, Kick, After the attack: Dual Focus: -10 HP & Opp -20 HP

Alternative SR option

Devastator and Slaughter High Kick are not very reliable in terms of control, therefore I would recommend SR Devil Blaster, Tsunami Kick or Engetsusen. I would choose Engetsusen over SR Devil Blaster and Tsunami Kick because of Price, and because Engetsusen gets the job done faster, doesn't waste focuses and you also may be interested in other SR cards.

Tips and Tricks for the Fight

These are very simple tricks but I see so many Kazuya's making all the wrong moves.

Block Opponent's potential weak damage, Focus if the damage will bring you to the optimum level.
What I mean by this is, if you and the enemy have 1 card each and the opponents character is a heavy light to medium hitter (Nina, Yoshimitsu, Xiao). They may be trying to bring you from 175 to 155 to 135 to 115 ... to 81/61 and then finish you off. You should be able to see this coming. When you are at around 81-100 HP, and you've seen the types of cards your opponent possesses, (say it is a Nina, so I would imagine, 10 Damage Blonde Bomb, 10 Damage Spiral Explosion,  10 Damage Spin Low Kick to Right Upper), let's say you are at 91 HP with 4 cards and the opponent has 1 card. My advice is to Block. She will either Strike, lose her 1 card, and you can focus/strike back, or she will Focus, making her have 2 cards which you can then focus her attack or strike it or, she is extremely crafty and will block 2x, and make you think she will block a third time forcing you to 5 card discard. If she blocks twice, then it is back to the guessing game.

Tank all five cards if it helps you activate God Mode (HP ≤ 60)
You start the fight at ~175 HP, if your opponent decides to focus to five and strike, and if those 5 cards will leave you at 60 HP. By all means don't block. You'll thank me later

If you have card advantage and you aren't in God Mode, striking could be playing right into your opponent's trap
If you read my post on Killing Kazuya, you'll know that bursting a Kazuya down from 61 HP is the way to go. That being said, there may be moments where the only reason Kazuya isn't dead yet is because he is holding cards such as Entrails Smash (20 Damage, Opp Strike & Opp cards ≥ 3: +1 Punch Parry), Demon Scissors (16 Damage, Block: +1 Punch Parry & Opp 4th card -10 Hit), or Oni Stomp (10 Damage, Opp Strike & HP ≤ 110: +25 Protection) and striking with them would mean discarding them for some damage. The way to handle this is to Focus to 5 cards, and provoke your enemy into striking you first, leaving you at less than 60 HP, you can attempt to accomplish this by focusing when already holding 5 cards. If all else fails, a 5 card discard will occur.

HP manipulator
Engetsusen, Tsunami Kick and SR Devil Blaster
If you've chosen Engetsusen, Tsunami Kick or SR Devil Blaster as your HP manipulator and your opponent is smart, they will refrain from focusing if it leaves you under 60 HP. In these cases, you will have to consider whether it is a good idea to strike with 5 cards or to 5 card discard. If that is the case, Devastator will be more useful.

Devastator
Devastator may just be the only way to get below 80 HP (this is only if your opponent REALLY knows the Kazuya matchup). This is because it is the only HP manipulator that your opponent has no control over (if it is in position 3, 4 or 5) unfortunately it could end up killing you as well due to the recoil damage.

Slaughter High Kick
Using this card to get below 60 HP may seem difficult at first but not a lot of characters can tank a 5 card strike from Kazuya without losing A LOT of HP, especially with Acute Pain on the field. To proc this ability, focus till 5, hopefully you would have taken some hits along the way.

Conclusion

• Add an HP manipulator to your deck
• Chip away at your opponent with cards that aren't your HP manipulator
• Consider tanking a 5 card strike if it leaves you under 60 HP
• Be Mindful of the defensive cards you hold and don't strike recklessly, it may cost you the game
• Play patiently and don't be afraid to 3x Block to trigger a 5 card discard
• Remember to block attacks that will leave you at 81/61 and to focus when their attack leaves you below 81/61
  

Hope this post helps a lot players to use Kazuya more effectively. If you have any quesitons or comments, please leave them below :]

Kazuya, God Mode