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).

Card Release 03

The new cards for Lili and Paul have arrived. These can be seen at the official Tekken Card Tournament site. I wanted to just do a quick review on them now that they are out.

New Cards

• Shears to Spinning Edge: 20 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Focus: -5 cards & +3 cards

Low-medium damage (Lili's average card damge is 21). Awesome card in position 1 or 2. The skill is similar to a card shuffle in higher positions. Since the ability of this card forces a discard on itself, this card can find its place in a Punch deck as well. I think this card is pretty good, amazing as a first card and synergizes very well with Monte Carlo Snap a staple to any Lili Deck.

• Rafflesia: 12 Damage, Punch, Before the attack, Opp cards ≥ 3: +1 Parry

Old Piercing Thorn but 4 less damage and unique. I suppose the developers thought that old Piercing Thorn was "Extremely" over powered and hence nerfed the damage, and made it unique and turned it into a Punch. I think this will be the biggest nerf for some time to come. Like its predecessor, this card is a great defense card but for 12 damage, there are much better cards and due to the uniqueness of the card and how most of Lili's opponent do their best to avoid having 3 or more cards (see 3rd Card Punch Deck), it is better to use another card.

• Delicate Uprising: 20 Damage, Punch, After the attack, Strike & Head-on: Keep card & 1st card discard

Low to medium damage, Works best in position 2 and still pretty good in positions 3, 4 and 5. Works really well in a 3rd card buffing punch deck as it hastens the 3 card striking theme. Unfortunately the ability may not proc after the first round or with the help of SR Elysee Le Bras Allonge.

• Rose Pique: 20 Damage, Punch, Before the attack, Cards ≤ Opp cards: 3rd card +15 Hit & Opp 3rd card -30 Hit

Pretty neat card, unfortunately does not go with the "opponent is trying to avoid having 3 or more cards" theme. It is pretty difficult to get the opponent to have 3 or more cards (if the opponent is intelligent) especially since this card is a Punch card (Broken Heart, Sunrise Sunset, and SR Elysee Le Bras Allonge is the only way to force cards to an opponent)

• Piston Fire: 5 Damage, Punch, Before the attack, Head-on card: Card +40 Hit

Piston Fire. Rolls off the tongue, and into your opponent's face! This card is quite intimidating in positions 1 and 2. If the ability does not go off (there is no Head-on card) it is just absolute junk. But at least it will stop your opponent from focusing so that it stays off. I think it goes quite well with a 2 card striking/healing/force discard deck with SR Power card. That way the ability is more likely to go off and there are no negative effects for going to 3 cards or higher like most of Paul's other high damage cards. I would still rather go for God Hammer Punch, Thruster and an SR card. It is really difficult to replace those 3 "Unique" cards in any Paul deck.

• The Boot: 25 Damage, Kick, Before the attack, Opp cards = 5: Opp cards -5 Hit

Terrible card. If it was Opp cards ≥ 4 instead it would be pretty good. It is quite easy for every character (except Xiaoyu) to be under 5 cards which is why the ability will rarely go off. I feel the designers created this card to help Paul players in the fight against Xiaoyu. Not sure why they did that seeing as how this card is useless against every other character.

• Chest Crusher: 25 Damage, Punch, Before the attack, Block: +15 Protection

Pretty good defense card for Paul. I don't think Paul has any Defense cards at all making this card the best defense card for Paul. Most Paul players are quite aggressive and when they aren't they have healing cards to aggressively focus. Not sure if anyone would consider using this card in place of a healing card. It does do wonders against Xiaoyu, unless of course she has Wave Crest (which every Xiaoyu seems to run).

• Foot Launch: 10 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Opp Block: Card +25 Hit

Not quite Nozuchi Fumi but it paired with 2 front cards that do immense damage, this card has the ability to do some strong damage. The damage isn't amazing and there are other options in terms of damage, but I think it offers a crappy guessing game for Paul (currently the One-hit-KO is the ultimate guessing game).

Conclusion

Lili's new cards are allright. I really like Shears to Spinning Edge and I would imagine it will be used quite often in all of Lili's decks (even the Punch ones). Rafflesia is a remake of Piercing Thorn, the damage is quite low and its uniqueness hinders consistency. Delicate Uprising is the 2nd best card in the batch. It's ability fits very well with the 3rd Card Punch Deck. Rosie Pique isn't amazing. It may be hard to get it's ability off without the help of SR Elysee Le Bras Allonge (which seems to go really well with a lot of Lili's cards).

With the exception of Chest Crusher, Paul's new cards seem mediocre. Although the abilities are new for Paul, the cards don't seem to offer much to Paul's current cards. I feel much of Paul's cards already cover what the new ones do and more. The Boot is new but the chances of it procing in a non Xiaoyu fight are almost nil. Hopefully these new cards get a buff somehow. If I were a Paul player, the only card I would consider would be Chest Cruncher, and even then, as a (pretend) Paul player, I wouldn't really be a blocking kind of guy.


No theme in this card release (I think). Up next, Panda and Nina.
Leave a comment or anything.

Card Release 02

The new cards for Yoshimitsu and Kazuya have arrived today in honor of Japan (lol, they said China last time, I wonder if they will say Japan this time). These can be seen at the official Tekken Card Tournament site. I wanted to just do a quick review on them now that they are out.

New Cards

• Demon God Fist: 46 Damage, Punch, Before the attack, Block: -1 Parry & +5 HP/li>
  

Second highest base damage for Kazuya (Stonehead is still in the lead with 50) but unlike it's successor in base damage, it does not heal the opponent. This card works very well with Oni Stomp and other Focus Break Cards. Also, it is not even Unique. Really matches Kazuya's No Block Policy. In those sticky situations where the opponent is trying to finish Kazuya from 81 HP, this card can become quite the burden, I guess those are the costs of a 46 Base damage card.

• Agony Spear: 20 Damage, Kick, Before the attack, Opp only Punch card: Card +30 Hit

This card just destroys punch decks. Ones that come to mind are, Lili, Panda, and Nina (Yoshimitsu's Punch deck is so terrible...). The damage is already pretty good and there is a good chance that unless the opponent has a Kick Deck, that this card's ability may proc for some big damage. This card doesn't really offer any utility to Kazuya, it is just another muscle card like Demon God Fist.

• Steel Pedal Drop: 20 Damage, Punch, Before the attack, HP ≤ 100: Opp 5th card discard

This card is kind of like another Entrails Smash but inferior. Both cards are unique so you can consider running this card as well as Entrails Smash for that extra defense. If the opponent is fishing to kill you with a 5 card strike, this card is the answer, but there are other choices in Kazuya's collection, Oni Stomp comes to mind.

• Slaughter Hook: 25 Damage, Punch, After the attack, This card blocked & HP ≤ 90: +30 HP

Great damage, sometimes unwanted ability. This card opens up the doors for possibly a Healing Kazuya deck? (lol). Sounds sketchy but you never know. The ability will throw off the strategies of a lot of Kazuya's opponents unless they take a meaty 25 damage.

• Kamikaze: 21 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Focus & Cards = 5, Both -5 cards & Opp -45 HP

This card is kind of like Gehosen, weird. I look forward to using this card, I really enjoy these screwy louie cards because when you win, it is like the most embarrassing thing for the opponent (imo, lol). I think it works well if the average damage of your deck is rather low. When the ability goes off, you'll always be on equal footing in card, or at an advantage. This will probably be the first card I buy from the new cards.

• Spirited Away: 18 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Cards ≤ 1: +1 card & Opp -1 card

Interesting card, can be used to really rush to a quick 3 card. Unfortunately this card only works in position 1 and is just an 18 damage otherwise. Wonder how it fairs with 3x Dragonfly Fist. I don't believe in putting 1 of any card in a deck unless it is a unique. That being said, putting 3x Spirited Away doesn't sound that great since they are only useful in position 1. I am somewhat interested in how these cards will play in a deck but something tells me by the looks of it, it is just a useless 18 damage Kick more often then not.

• Shisetsu Genman: 16 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Cards = Opp cards: +1 card & Opp -1 card

Another interesting card that I look forward to playing with. I can't think of the synergies off the top of my head but playing around with card drawing is always fun. From the Yoshimitsu pool of new cards, this card is my 2nd choice after Kamikaze, but in terms of viability and consistency, I will probably choose Shisetsu Genman over everything else as the chances of this card procing are quite high.

• Doushi Kiri: 19 Damage, Punch, Before the attack, Every turn: Both -1 Parry

Hallelujah, the answer to Parry Deck Lili (sort of) this card comes as a double edge sword but at least matches won't last 20 minutes against Lili like they usually do. Killing Kazuya just became easier as well. I wish this card was Opp -1 Parry but one can only hope. This will be the 3rd card I try out because I hate Parry Lili decks.

Conclusion

Kazuya gets 2 muscle cards which I think are pretty neat, a redundant defense card and an interesting healing card. I think the muscle cards may help Kazuya a lot in his game. If you've seen my Speed Kazuya Deck I think 3x Demon God Fist could replace Acute Pain in the future. Maybe things will change for Kazuya's style and the new healing card will pave the way for a Kazuya Healing deck.

I am kind of disappointed in Yoshimitsu's cards. I was hoping for a REAL answer to Lili Parry deck similar to Law's Wolf Fang (lol that probably would've been OP on Yoshimitsu). But I guess Doushi Kiri will have to do. Kamikaze isn't anything special, Spirited Away is mediocre at best. Shisetsu Genman on paper looks like the best card from the lot. Doushi Kiri will probably get Yoshimitsu killed faster than usual. I don't think Yoshimitsu will be moving anywhere in competitive play. But we will have to see. I am looking forward to making a silly deck though (lol).

My Review on Card Release 01 actually hoped for a release on Kazuya and Yoshimitsu. Spooky. Wonder if the game developers or designers actually read my blog. Hope you guys enjoyed this post. Leave a comment =]

Card Release 01

Just a few thoughts about the upcoming new cards for June 01 starring Law and and Xiaoyu. These can be seen at the official Tekken Card Tournament site.

New Cards

• Wolf Fang: 22 Damage, Kick, Before the attack, Strike: Opp cards nul. & Opp -15 Prot

This card is amazing, it's the answer to all those Lili Parry decks out there. It has good damage and an amazing effect that destroys abilities that occur before the attack. As for abilities that occur after the attack, Law has plenty of cards in his current arsenal that deal with that. Literally a "Poison Arrow" 2.0 with better damage, easier to activate ability and a better ability.

• Dragon Roar: 20 Damage, Punch, Before the attack, Opp cards = 5: Opp 5th card -60 Hit

Sounds like a decent defensive card which Law is in need of, pushes opponents to strike with 4 cards or less. Decent hit for a Law card. Works great if the card appears the same time as opponents 5th card. Not sure what happens when facing Paul's SR Power Card. I think it becomes a 20 hit card with a useless effect. The only thing is, I don't think a lot of players would 5 card strike a Law since Law has many strong cards that activate when opponent has more cards than none.

• Flash Fist: 24 Damage, Punch, After the attack, Focus: Both -1 card & +10 HP

Good damage, a heal that Law can control. Allows law to cycle his cards around and keeps the opponent on their feet. Extremely dangerous when in position 5 for the opposition, kind of like Trout Sweep in this case (since Law's 5 cards can potentially kill a lot of characters), fortunately this occurs only when this card is in position 5 and it is unique.

• Rainbow Kick: 15 Damage, Kick, After the attack, This card appears & Cards ≤ 2: +2 cards

Card that vastly increases the speed of Law's deck. Not sure if focusing with 2 cards and the 3rd card appearing is Rainbow Kick, triggers the effect, or if it only occurs when focusing with 0 or 1 card(s). In order to maximize the potential of this card in your deck, strike with 1-2 cards. If this card ever pops up, it will extremely put you in the lead. Synergizes well with the other new card, Flash Fist. Upgrading from silver to gold is not very attractive.

• Phoenix Tail: 10 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Opp Focus Break: +1 card & +25 HP

This card is like Hypnotist (10 Hit, Opp Strike: +25 Protection) except, it heals (which I think is better) and it gives you the card that you lost from focusing. Seeing as how Xiaoyu's only block when the opponent has 5 cards, I think this will boost Xiaoyu up the Tier more so. If combined with Hypnotist, Xiaoyu really has the perfect defense, can probably focus facing 5 card Opponent, lol.

• Street Sweeper: 10 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Opp cards ≥ 4: Opp -2 cards

This card has an extremely powerful ability. This card forces the opponent to strike at 3 or 4 cards, it makes the opponent predictable (they will most likely strike with 4 cards if this card just appeared) and offers gives Xiaoyu the card advantage more so if they do not strike.

• Wave Crest: 10 Damage, Punch, Before the attack, Strike: Opp -1 Parry & Opp -50 Prot

Good card to battle the parries of Lili, and the Protection of Panda. Unfortunately it doesn't add to Xiaoyu's card speed which is what makes her powerful. Would rather much have draw speed and Phoenix Talon (below).

• Phoenix Talon: 10 Damage, Kick, After the attack, Block: Both -5 cards & +5 HP

A card that just poops on Trout Sweeper, or any Heal per turn cards. The downside to this card is it puts Xiao at 0 cards, which is where a Xiaoyu never wants to be. Fortunately, you can activate the ability by blocking and take any card advantage that the opponent has. Don't bother upgrading from bronze to gold.

Conclusion

Law gets some pretty damn good cards. The new cards should boost Law's fighting capabilities to a more competitive level. Looking forward to what Law can dish out now and hopefully many players who've been hording gold will switch over to Law so I can see more Law activity during the championship.

Xiaoyu gets beast cards that were not really needed (I think). I would imagine Xiaoyu's going to be amongst the top of the Online WW Championship for this week.

I wish they gave something to Kazuya or Yoshimitsu. Those 2 characters I feel are at the bottom of the list in terms competitive play. In the last Online WW Championship, at 1290 rating, I rarely ran into Kazuya or Law and almost never ran into Yoshimitsu. Probably being biased but, hope they buff Yoshimitsu =]