Card Release 04

New cards for Panda and Nina have arrived. These can be seen at the official Tekken Card Tournament site. As usual, I'll do a mini review on them now that they are out.

New Cards

• High Jinks: 24 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Focus & Cards =5: -1 card & +15 Prot

I like this card a lot. It is 1 damage less than the average of Panda's cards. It gives the ability to cycle through cards for any specific cards you don't currently have in your hand and after the first focus, you get a nice 15 Protection. The only bad thing about High Jink is, it isn't a punch. I would try not to have more than 2 in a deck as drawing more than 1 in a hand of 5 could be counter productive. If you are fishing for Ultra Kuma or Deadly Claw, remember that you can only focus once, as drawing Ultra Kuma on the 2nd focus (assuming the opponent blocked) you must block to activate it, and it is 3 turns of "no action" forcing a discard.

• Bear Slide: 28 Damage, Kick, After the attack, This card blocked: -10 HP & Keep card

Nice card, helps boosts heavy hitting cards into a better position. Not surprisingly, Bear Slide synergizes very well with High Jinks to position Bear Slide in the right position.

• Bear Rolling Kick: 20 Damage, Kick, Before the attack, Opp cards = 0: Card +20 Hit

Not a fan of this card. In the current Meta with Skull Smash, Direct Persuasion, Shisetsu Genman, Xiaoyu etc. it is difficult to ever catch an opponent with 0 cards (unless it is a Paul Player). When the ability goes off, it becomes 40 Hit which is pretty good. I would rather take a 30+ damage card from Panda's other choices.

• Bear Flail Kick: 20 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Dual Block & Opp cards =0: Opp -35 HP

This card is like Trout Sweep on steroids. Unfortunately, like Bear Rolling Kick, it requires the Opp to have 0 cards. As mentioned, kind of rare but when it does happen, you can guarantee your opponent will be scared to do either Focus or Block. Pair this with high damaging cards for more Trout Sweep Panda shenanigans.

• Bombshell Blast: 12 Damage, Punch, After the attack, Strike & Opp Block: +1 card

Pretty nice card, encourages striking immediately with Flashing Escape. Synergizes very well with Catapult Kick and the current Spin Low Kick to Right Upper. Pair with Right Backhand Body Blow for promising results.

• PK Combo to Deadly Scythe: 10 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Focus: K cards +6 Hit

Awesome card! Keeps the opponent on their toes and synergizes extremely well with ALL of Nina's Kick cards. I can see Nina kick decks become popular with the introduction of this card. Something tells me that this will get a nerf in the near future.

• Seoi Gyaku Juji-gatame: 10 Damage, Punch, After the attack, Strike: +1 card

The old Spin Low Kick to Right Upper without the 4 HP heal and a big fat UNIQUE addition. Still deserves a place in any Nina Punch deck and possibly any Nina deck. With this addition to Tekken Card Tournament, I sense a nerf in Kazuya's Skull Smash.

• Kneel Kick: 17 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Dual Strike: Keep cards

What an interesting card. Personally I feel dual strike abilities can be easily avoided by the opponent. I feel this is a tool for Nina to fight an 80 HP Kazuya or Xiaoyu. Kneel Kick in combination with Catapult Kick are all you need to go heads up with a Xiaoyu/Kazuya. Against other characters, I am not sure. Pair this up with Cards that require hitting for positive results.

Conclusion

With the exception of High Jink, Panda's new cards seem OK at best. High Jink and Bear Slide are the best of the lot. It is no coincidence that the cards are all kick. I think High Jink will add for more silly mixups with Panda. I hope the current "if the number of cards don't change for 3 turns, then they are all discarded" rule persists in the near future, otherwise Panda can block twice, focus, block twice, focus etc. and sucker punch.

Similar to Lili's new card release, Nina gets an inferior version of an old card (still good enough to go in any deck) and 3 pretty good cards. Bombshell blast recovers the card gained from the opponent focusing due to powering up Right Backhand Body Blow. PK Combo to Deadly Scythe is a great addition for Nina decks and opens up the floor for some really creative Kick decks.

Leave a comments, questions or anything. I will most likely make a Nina Kick deck in the days to come. I mean for reference, I am not really a Nina fan (lol).