Last fortnight I made a post discussing my thoughts on A2 Power Surge, a set that, while it had some powerful cards, I feel it ultimately missed the mark. This week I want to do the same type of post for A1 The New Challengers.
Let's start with El Eterno and his Arsenal. El Eterno and Lucy are by far the best characters in the game right now. For El Eterno, it all boils down to his signature Tactic, The Undying Hero, and a few other key cards.
The Undying Hero increasing Heal by 1, including targeted Heal which we haven't seen yet, means he has incredible survivability with Forceful Ki Blast and Unphased Catch in his Arsenal. Those three cards, along with Delayed Backhand Chop and his Kata cards, are what makes El Eterno a top tier character. Searching for Buff at the start of the game, healing 2 with each instance, 3 with The Undying Hero used as a Tactic and gaining Hyper each type he does it. It's a lot and adds up fast. Unfortunately the rest of El Eterno's Arsenal is not as notable.
Back Sweep Kick and The Equaliser are both control cards and were used to show how levels change the nature of effects, but I don't think they hit the mark. Both do their job of getting Buffs off the board, but they are too wide in their nature, hitting anything but Debuffs, something that absolutely would not be made now, but also not good enough. Back Sweep Kick should have a Hyper increase / decrease on an [ATK] effect and The Equaliser should be more destructive. Lv2 should be something trying to close out games, not pinpoint control like this.
The Resourceful cards are interesting in that the Block card, Resourceful Catch, has it's uses and gets better in time as you see more [REVERSAL] effects. It already works with Defensive Knowledge just fine. Resourceful Punch on the other hand isn't worth using. The goal with the card was to trade into a more damaging attack, but it doesn't really do anything or give you anything of substantial value. You get what is essentially a vanilla. It has been made very apparent to me that this card would have been far more useful as a Lv0. At least then you could trade into more Ki if you need it and it'd resonate a bit better with Flying Vampiric Dive.
Finally we have Light Life Kick which is just dramatically underpowered. While yeah, if it's in a pile of cards you're healing it'll give you more value, but most of the time it's a worse Delayed Backhand Chop. To be really useful, it needed to be +2 Hyper, but I'm not sure it needed to exist. El Eterno came with 3x Lv0, 2x Lv1 and 1x Lv2, but we've since learned 2x Lv0, 3x Lv1 and 1x Lv2 is a good base for everyone. El Eterno would have been fine, if not better, with this setup.
El Eterno himself is perfectly fine, same goes for his Kata. They're good cards that remain relevant. The only comment I'd have on El Eterno is Flying Vampiric Dive. It would likely be pretty different if I made it now, including a colour breaking typing. 😉
So let's move to the big star of the game so far, Lucy. She does just about everything and that's why she's the G.O.A.T. No, quite literally, she has access to too wide a variety of effects and some of the cards might just be too strong. I really don't have an issue with main characters being strong, if anything I think it's desirable, it's just that Lucy is a step above everyone else. Hefty POW modifier, chip, draw, pseudo heal, decreased Hyper Meter and fast Hyper gain, answers to Debuffs and the best Lv2 in the game. She only has it all.
I'll be talking more about the colour pie at a later date, but the current thought is that Blue should be the one to answer Debuffs and if Red does get it as a tertiary, it should be a lot harder to execute than this. 1 Ki was not enough.
Burst Takedown is the best Lv2 in the game and easily the best attack in the game. Last article I discussed how it influenced a cut mechanic, so I deemed it a success, I just underrated it. Hyper Fighter Lucy gives it 8 POW and launching 2 in succession is usually how a game is decided. 4 Ki needed to block two of them is a lot more than anything is really generating right now.
The flavour of Burst Takedown is spot on, it's a Spear and if you're familiar with that maneuver, you know two usually ends a match, but in game, it can be a bit much. I don't actually consider it a failure though, I think it's more setting the bar. The Lv2 have to be this impactful to be worth using. Breakthrough Strike is fine, but Burst Takedown is a step above and has been influential in how Lv2 is viewed going forward.
The final point of note with Lucy is the Ki Flow Forms. Neither are game breaking yet, they're fine, but they aren't forward thinking enough. Both are part of what makes Lucy so fast and strong, but they're going to become deeply concerning from A2.5 onwards, especially Ki Flow Form II. Lots of things will hit the Ki Pool over a turn, more if you force it, and other colours will be doing it. It's very likely one, if not both, will receive an errata to calm them down a bit. I'm extremely resistant to errata, but if it's essential for game health, it has to be.
Unfortunately, everything else doesn't really pull together. Back Buster shouldn't have been here. Don't read this as it shouldn't exist, just that it shouldn't have been in Taichi's Arsenal. It needed a better fitting home.
This is more about Debuffs than it is anything else. They can be exceptionally draining on Ki, which is by design, but 1 is just enough for any Arsenal. 2 Debuffs like Taichi has necessitates more Ki, which is why he has 3x Lv0 and no Lv2. He has to build more to make up for what he's losing, especially as Yellow cannot recover cards from the Exhaust in the way Red and Blue do or generate Ki in the way Red does. This has been discussed and will steadily be addressed as space permits.
In addition to this, his Hyper isn't particularly fast with only 4 cards in his Arsenal giving him Hyper, instead relying on Retribution Form I. As Sniper Shot is his only way to do real damage, it pushes more importance on his Hyper Attack to pick up the slack, something he's way too slow to do reliably.
Demon of the Wind is also by far the weakest signature card in the game right now. It's too slow, it's too restricted. I think if anything, it holds Taichi back because it feels like he doesn't have a signature card. It's trying to capitalise upon removal, a payoff like Demon Wind Slash, but it's bad at it.
Taichi needed more Hyper gain, more and better payoffs for Exhaust removal and a standardised 2x Lv0, 3x Lv1, 1x Lv2 lineup. He's not actually terrible or unsalvageable, I've personally made a control focused Blue/Yellow Taichi build that can take down El Eterno easily, but he feels lesser in general. Where and when is the right time to give him support? Hard to say, what he needs for constructed is so specialised, either someone will have to pack some of his Arsenal and build from there, or he'll need another go around.
A1 The New Challengers has some new game pains, but overall, I think it turned out well. I think the tone in which it is discussed is very different to A2 and what it did right has been highly influential on A3's design.
Till next time friends, thanks for reading.
-Erik
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