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.

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.

Paul - Balance Update 02

Paul

Anyone playing the Online WW Championship seeing a lot of Pauls lately? I for one see a Paul every 3 fights (my rating is currently 1280s). Wondering why there are so many Pauls? My guess is because ever since May 21st, Paul has received 3 boosts to 3 cards that make it very likely that he can Strike you with 5 cards when you are at full HP and there is literally nothing you can do about it. Those 3 cards would be, Double Strike (Damage increased to 55 from 40), God Hammer Punch (damage increased to 15 from 4, this card is significant because of it's ability: Strike : Opp -1 Parry) and Phoenix Wings (damage increased to 60 from 50). Still not convinced? Let me put together a quick Paul deck that has the potential to One Hit KO any character despite their power card (this includes a 255 HP Nina with 255 HP)

• 3x Shoulder Tackle: 50 Damage, Punch, After the attack: This card blocked: -20 HP
• 3x Double Strike: 55 Damage, Punch, Before the attack: Focus Opp HP ≤ 90: -20 HP
• 3x Flash Elbow: 50 Damage, Punch, Before the attack: Opp Block: -10 HP
• 3x Phoenix Wings: 60 Damage, Kick, After the attack: Cards ≥ 3: -20 HP
• 1x Thruster: 75 Damage, Punch, After the attack: This card appears Cards ≥ 2: -30 HP
• 1x God Hammer Punch: 15 Damage, Punch, Before the attack: Strike: Opp -1 Parry
• 1x Kongo Blast : 5 Damage, After the attack: Strike: Opp -2 Parry
• Power Card: 165 HP, First turn: +1 card, 1st card + 15 Hit

Strategy: Focus till 5 cards, press Strike

As you can see, with the exception of God Hammer Punch and Kongo Blast, every card does a nifty 50 damage or higher. As a Yoshimitsu player with a pitiful 160 Health (apparently this is 2nd lowest possible Health for Gold Power cards, 155 HP from Law is the lowest) my chances of survival are slim to none even if I know they are going to focus till they have 5 cards.

Fortunately I think Pauls reign of terror will end by June 11 during Balance Update 03. But in the mean time, you may ask, how do you battle this deck? My answer is simple, dodge any incoming Paul matches (lol). Unfortunately, according to the Tekken Twitter and Facebook page, this option may not be available in the next few days and when that happens, just sit tight till Balance Update 03 and all your frustration against Paul will be rectified as you watch all the QQ from the Tekken Facebook and Twitter Page.

Characters

If you haven't created a character yet then this information might be useful to you. As of the time of writing, the most successful characters in the "world wide championship" are Paul and Panda. I don't believe there is a weakest character or at least there shouldn't be (if there is one, it's definitely Yoshimitsu). According to the Twitter and Facebook page, each character is designed to be strong against some and weak against others. As of right now, Paul and Pandas are dominating the scene, with Nina and Lili not too far behind. Last week it was Xiaoyu and Nina. Next week it could be anyone, even maybe Heihachi.


Each character has a different play style and strengths and weaknesses. After I completed an "A" Yoshimitsu deck, I regretted it because I wanted to play as Kazuya. I will probably stick with Yoshimitsu till I have 3 of every card and all the SR cards, including the power card.

Kazuya is kind of an average fighter at first, but when his HP is low, his card effects tend to overwhelm the opposition.

Paul's cards have extremely high damage, but usually have negative effects as a tradeoff.

Law is a rather well rounded character with mid to high base damage and cards that negate the opponents card effects.

Yoshimitsu's cards are average base damage and the card abilities are quite weird. He has a very large assortment of tricks but the thing unique to him is the power to conceal his cards (not that useful at all) which is currently 'not working and will be improved/fixed'.

Xiaoyu draws cards fast. Her cards are usually 10 damage with the exception of a few. She is one of the few characters that will probably play strike more than focus.

Nina is a rather well rounded character as well. I believe she specializes in healing. Like Xiaoyu, she also has many ways of drawing cards without actually focusing.

Lili has many abilities, the ones I notice the most are her parries. I also see a lot of ways for her to draw cards without having to play focus, sometimes this involves the opponent drawing a card as well. She also have mid to high base damage on many of her Punch cards.

Panda hits as hard as Paul. She doesn't have much heal or any reliable heals but her SR card has the highest starting health and many of her cards come with protection to make up for the lack of healing.

How I picked my character was Law because I wanted to see him do a somersault in the animation (this never occurs by the way). After a couple games I got the feel of what the game was like (I only had bronze cards) and I began to explore the buttons on the user interface. It led me to logging out and because there is no option to create a password at start, I abandoned that account and made a Kazuya deck. I mustered enough credits to buy an ultra pack, opened it and got a golden Yoshimitsu power card. So I sold all my cards and started a Yoshimitsu deck.