Break Points

Rescue is one of the newer clans that came out in Urban Rivals in the last year. This clan has one of the most powerful bonuses in the game because it not only gives its cards one of the highest +X attacks possible, but also is the only clan which truly rewards players for playing a mono-deck,  ensures a 100% activation of the clan bonus in all games. Combined with an average power level of 6, Rescue allows players to have the:

a. Ability to put out threats in ever round without the use of too much pills
b. Ability to turn even the smallest of cards into walls
c. Ability to give a player an almost 50-50 chance in most rounds

This article will discuss the strengths of the Rescue clan, the weaknesses of the Rescue deck and finally, the different strategies players can use to defeat Rescue.


A. Strengths of Rescue

Strength #1: Resilience 

In random rooms, the Rescue player strongly relies on luck since the Rescue bonus can really put a narrow margin between the Rescue card and its opponent, giving the Rescue player nearly a 50-50 chance to win in each round!

In no-random rooms, the strength of Rescue is even greater. In most games, the Rescue player often only needs to play a defensive strategy and wait for the opponent to waste pills before finally striking for the win.

Strength #2: Bonus = Save Pills

The rescue bonus also provides the Rescue user the privilege of saving pills since a +12 attack is almost always equivalent to 2 pills. These saved pills often means victory in future rounds, victory in the game (via a well placed Fury), and even valuable battle points (BP) to win the tournament.

Strength #3: No-random Compatible

Lastly, what makes Rescue the ultimate equalizer in Urban Rivals is that its bonus is nearly unmatched in no-random rooms. Compared to the Junkz and Sentinel bonuses, Rescue has + 4 attack more; Against Uppers and Sakrohm, Rescue still gives its cards +2 to +4 attack more, which is still significant in most games. Even the Montana cannot truly compete with the natural power of Rescue. Because of Montana’s “minimum 8” limit, the Montana bonus does not truly cancel the Rescue bonus.

B. Weaknesses of Rescue

Weakness #1: Limited Playability

Even though Rescue is flexible in both random and no-random rooms, the cards consisting that make up Rescue is very limited. This means that the Rescue user will only be able to choose from a small card pool if he plans to make a decent mono-Rescue deck.  This weakness can be very evident in T1 because there is a limit on the total stars a deck can have.  As such, T1 players should expect only the staple cards in T1 such as Elvira, Lea, Alec, etc.

Because of this limited card pool, there are only a small number of viable Rescue decks that are considered as threats. All other Rescue deck variations either lack enough power to overcome most opponent cards, or lack sufficient damage to win a game via KO.

Therefore in T1, players should build a deck that can handle the staple cards of Rescue namely Elvira, Alec, Marco, Lea or Kerry. If a deck can accommodate cards that can handle the Rescue staples, then it can be a good deck to battle against Rescue.

Weakness #2: Low Power

With all the new cards that are coming out nowadays, it can be seen that the average 6-power of Rescue cards are is very low. Power creeping today is seen in the shift from the mean power of 6 to a mean power of 7. Therefore, if other clans get more cards with power 7 or higher (at a low star cost), then these clans can become viable cards to counter Rescue.

A good example is Tyd of Piranas. At 3 stars, he sports an 8/4 body with SOB as a bonus. Tyd is a good wall to counter almost all Rescue card on its own, and is even resilient to withstand Lea’s and Kerry’s SOB.

Weakness #3: Shifting of Power Level

Rescue was a good contender in the last year because almost all of its staples had great abilities coupled with the Rescue Bonus. Marco had Support: Power +1; Alec had Support: Damage +1; Elvira had SOA.

However, it can be seen that the game balanced Rescue by either changing the power level of the abilities its cards receive (Damage = Opp’s Damage of Tanner), or by weakening the card’s stats to accommodate a good ability (Courage: Power +3 for a 3-power card). It can also be seen that the last set of Rescue cards released showcased cards with good abilities but low power (Denise – 4 power; Pam – 4 power).

The latest released cards, however, gave Rescue the needed 7-powered cards to give the clan a fighting chance, but as you can see, their abilities won’t allow the Rescue player to win the game in less than 4 turns. In addition, both of them are high-starred cards, which mean that the Rescue player will be sacrificing slots to put them in.

Weakness #4: Lacks Utility cards

Up until now, Rescue only has one SOA (Elivra) and 2 SOBs (Kerry and Lea), one of which is a Courage-linked ability. This means that Rescue has little answers against cards with crazy abilities like –X power, min Y (Rolph and Toro), and SOB (Clara, Petra, etc).  




C. Strategies to Counter Rescue

Strategy #1: Play in no-random

True, Rescue can be a lot annoying in no-random rooms, but with the proper cards and a little calculation, any clan can be equipped with the stuff to defeat Rescue. Playing in no-random will remove the pesky 50-50 “lucky” round the Rescue player can have just because he put enough pills to evade your sureshot.

Example:
In a random room...
Lea (with no pills) = 18 attack      vs.       Chiro (4 pills) 32 attack.
Lea has 36% chance of winning while Chiro has 64% chance of winning. The fact still remains that Lea has the chance to win, dealing 2 damage, giving bonus points to the Rescue player AND costing the La Junta user 3 pills.

In no-random, this will never happen.

Strategy #2: Use SOB cards

Rescue is Rescue because of their bonus. If you can somehow disable the clan bonus then you have less to worry about Rescue cards. Anti-Rescue staples include Lulabee, Vickie, the Stop-Alls (SOA + SOB), and cards from Nightmare and Piranas.

It is good to consider using cards from Piranas rather than cards from Nightmare because the former clan has more 7+ powered cards that are superior to most Rescue cards. Nightmare cards usually have a power of 6 and have low damage values which are really weak against an aggressive Rescue deck. Piranas also give you access to Tyd, Dahlia, Bloodh, Smokey and even Hawkins.  Once Piranas get a better Stop-All card, then it will surely become a good anti-Rescue measure in TQs.

Strategy #3: Out-power

Another strategy to defeat Rescue is to use high-powered cards, or by further reducing the power of Rescue cards. Cards with power values of 8+ are good candidates in this criterion. Also, cards that have –X Opp’s Power, min Y can really surprise the Rescue user. Examples of cards that are good in this criterion are Rolph, Lulabee, Tanaereva, Toro, Dead Eye, Blaaster, and even Mona. 

Strategy #4: Play in Type 1

The +12 bonus of Rescue is strong in both T1 and T2. But this can be controlled in T1. Because of the star limit on T1 decks, Rescue players are forced to use a balance of strong and weak Rescue cards just to make a T1 viable deck, unlike in T2 where the Rescue player can practically put in any Rescue card he has.

In T1, you can actually encounter Rescue decks that are obliged to play cards like Larry and Slyde, which are predictable in battle and are vulnerable to SOAs. In T2, you have a higher chance of encountering Rescue decks that have most, if not all, of the nukes and walls of Rescue.

I mentioned that Nightmare and Piranas are good clans to counter Rescue, favoring Piranas. But in T1, since Rescue decks will be using weak cards as fillers, Nightmare now has a higher chance to survive and fight against Rescue. It is also interesting to note that Nightmare has two good and cheap [–X opp’s power, min Y] cards in the form of Eadh and Erzsebet. Nightmare also has Estalt, a good 5-star nuke with [–X opp’s power, min Y].

And let’s not forget about the Piranas which now has access to two [–X opp’s power, min Y] cards that are low-starred and have impressive damage values, namely Tula and Deadeye. Normally, these two cards are bad in T2, but in T1, they have killer potentials.

And for the last strategy….

Strategy #5: Play Rescue


Yes, this is one of the options available to players if they want to beat Rescue. It seems that Rescue is so resilient that it is even an effective deck against itself.  The winner is usually just determined as to who makes the least mistakes and who has access to the highest powered cards and SOBs (Lea and Kerry).

There is even a *cheap* Rescue strategy that relies on a passive role in battle using reducers like Slyde, Steve and Denise to reduce the damage done to the player (w/o using pills in the process) and uses his nuke to deal enough damage to win the game (but not via KO). Again, this strategy is simple yet can be very effective against those players who are easily intimidated by the +12 attack bonus.

Another Rescue-vs-Rescue strategy is to equip the Rescue deck with Hugo as a leader. This can give the Rescue cards a potential +15 attack, while also supporting Hugo himself by his own +6 attack.


Undeniably, Rescue is and still remains as a very potent clan in any format. Because of its game-breaking bonus, players who wish to do well in TQs must check if their decks can handle Rescue, either in power level, bonus or speed in making KOs. But with the slow power creeping of cards in other clans, the small number of Rescue releases, and the changes in game rules (like the creation of no-random rooms), the power of Rescue is gradually being controlled.

Gone are the days where players fear the almighty random, when nukes like Kolos fall victim to a very luck Lea or Larry, when players avoid T1 rooms because of the prevalence of Rescue decks, and when winning a TQ relied greatly on how player “luckily” didn't’t fight any Rescue decks.

I agree that Rescue is a good clan, but let me tell you that it is far from being unbeatable.


-breakpoint

Discussion

Tip #1: Browser Power

Before you think of speeding up your pace, you should first start by assessing your web browser. I have come to notice that certain browsers, like Mozilla, actually have a significant effect on your net speed. Pages load faster, data gets transferred faster, and even the animations are quicker.

During a TQ, anything that can shorten the delay of data transfer will mean quicker games for you. I'm not here to promote any single browser but I do want to point out that anything that can help speed things up will definitely help you in the long run.

Extra: It also helps to bookmark key areas in this game such as the "Play Now!" tab, "Guild message board" tab and even "Message board" tab.

Extra2: You can also create a shortcut in your taskbar to a calculator program just in case you need some quick and exact calculations. ^^

Remember: "Time is gold." Don't waste time calculating big numbers in your mind if you can do it at a touch of a button. If you want to practice math, do it in another time! ^^

Tip #2: Spam ENTER

Yes. The ENTER button will be your ally. Imagine yourself in the TQ room. You are waiting for a challenge to be accepted, when suddenly, the message appears for you to accept the challenge. What do you do?

At the end of the match, after the words BATTLE WON/LOST appear and the exp window of your characters start to appear, don't bother waiting for all of it to finish! Press the ENTER button until you return to the game room.

This action also automatically starts an auto-challenge because the last message you will receive will ask whether you want to use auto-challenge or not. The ENTER button automatically answers "yes" and you may have just saved 5-10 seconds or precious time every battle!


Tip #3: Avoid Chatting

Focus is the keyword here. I know, you may be inclined to write "BJ" or "GG" after a match. In cases where you've just ended a match with a very slow player, you might be tempted to send him/her a long message expressing your frustrations. STOP.

Why bother sending a message to someone who probably won't reply anyway, or worse, reply to you so that you both enter in a heated argument? It is simply a waste of time.

Instead, just follow TIP #2 (Spam ENTER) and continue focusing on the tournament. Don't let anything distract you. Writing and sending a message in-game eats up time, especially the sending part.

Note: If ever your opponent messages you to taunt you or anything unsportsmanlike-like, IGNORE. Again, this is a waste of your time.

Note: If you opponents simply say "GG" or "BJ" or any form of sportsmanlike greeting, again, IGNORE. The tournament is a race and the race isn't over until the final points have been taken in. If you want to talk to or thank your opponents, do it outside TQ hours. I'm sure they'll understand as long as you explain.

Tip #4: Pill Clicking

During a match at the point where you choose the amount of pills to use, what do you do? Do you use the arrow buttons to input the number of pills you're going to use? If so, STOP.

Did you know that you can actually click on the picture of the pills to simply add/subtract pills? And this is actually one of the greatest time saving techniques you can do. All you have to remember is to practice clicking the right number of pills on the input window.



Tip #5: Accelerate Button

During a match, do you notice two buttons on the lower middle part of the screen? Can you see a button with a picture of a running stick-man? If it is lit up, click it.

That button, when deactivated (dim), will greatly cut the animation time to nearly half!

Conclusion

These 5 tips can really speed up your games so that you can maximize your time playing the tournament.

If you can increase the speed of data transfer AND decrease the number of delays and distractions, then you can save a lot of time that can be used to earn you more points. Happy gaming! ^^

-breakpoint

Introduction

In my last article, I discussed the importance of leader cards in decks plus giving an overview of the uses of the first 3 leader cards available to players: Timber, Vansaar, and Hugo.

In this article, I will be discussing the next 3 leaders namely Bridget, Ashigaru and Eyrik and I will be giving creative deck ideas that will use the different leaders.

Discussion

Bridget
Obtained at- Level 20
Final stats- 7/5
Ability- +1 Life per Round

Bridget's ability is a life saver... literally! With the ability to gain one life EVERY ROUND, you practically start the game with 16 life points. Unlike most leaders, Bridget helps you rather than your other cards. Bridget's ability prevents players from being KO-ed by 1HKO cards like Kolos and most 2HKO cards that rely on 6-6 or 8-4 damage combos.

With a 7/5 body, Bridget has properties of an average wall. But with no ability to increase her attack, she's often not a good card in battle. Players can bet more on low-stared, high-powered cards like Tyd, Zatman and Marina to act as better walls. TQ-wise, I don't suggest that players use her since her ability directly help you win, or if her ability does let you win, it only means the game reached the 4th round, ergo, a slow game (And slow game means slow points).

However, her ability really can come in good use in specific formats were battle points don't matter like Survivor and ELO. In these formats, all players need to do to win is survive... and Bridget can do that for you. But Bridget is not the best leader for these formats.

Clans that work well with her ability include Pussycats and Sakrohm. Life gain and great reducers can really prevent you from being KO-ed, and both of these clans posses cards in this caliber.

AnnoyingAliens.preset
=Sakrohm w/ Bridget for T2 Survivor=
5* Bridget
5* Skrumxxt
4* Graksmxxt
4* Trinmkkt
4* Petra
3* Uranus
3* Murray
3* Corrina

Overall, Bridget is an "okay" leader, but not a recommended fighter in any TQ deck. She has potential in Survivor and ELO, but better leaders (like Hugo) can be used and are more useful to your deck. She's an average wall but an inferior deck filler.

Ashigaru
Obtained at- Level 25
Final stats- 8/6
Ability- Strikeback

Ashigaru, the leader with one of the most unique abilities in the game.

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake." -taken from ET-Spherehead's profile.

Ashigaru gives his controller the advantage of making the 2nd move. Normally, the player with the most number of stars in the starting hand goes first in the match, but with Ashigaru, it ensures you that you will be the one reacting to your opponent's moves (unless your opponent also has an Ashigaru). Ashigaru is one of the leaders viable in TQs. In no-random rooms, Ashigaru allows you to use nuke cards while minimizing the disruptive effects of reducers and stoppers of your opponents. Even wanted to get that Kolos though but your opponent has Jackie as the only SOA? With Ashigaru, all you have to do is to see if your opponent will play Jackie or not, if your opponent does play Jackie, then all you have to do is take her damage, leaving your opponent vulnerable for the kill in the next round. But if your opponent fails to use Jackie on the first round, then you can already go for the kill.

Some players may say that Ashigaru puts you in a REACTIVE position rather than a PROACTIVE one. I digress this disposition. With Ashigaru, although you will be placed in REACTIVE position, it places your opponent in a MORE REACTIVE position than you because he/she will have to make a move based only on a POSSIBLE threat.

Your opponent will have 4 questions to answer:
a. "To use or not to use Jackie?"
b. "If TO USE, how many pills?"
c. "If NOT TO USE, who will you use?" and
d. "How many pillS?"

But you will only have 1 question to answer:
a. "To play or not to play Kolos?"

This means that your opponent has a greater chance of making a mistake than you.

Aside from Ashigaru's unique ability, he is also one of the largest leaders in the game. At 8/6, he is both a wall and a nuke. Making him an additional threat for you opponent.

With Ashigaru's ability and stats, he seems to perform averagely in T2 TQs. Again, not the best choice for Survivor and is just bulky for ELO.

TacticalRaid.preset
=T2 Piranas with Kolos and Ashigaru (no-random)=
5* Ashigaru
5* Kolos
5* Bloodh
4* Sting
3* Tyd
3* Smokey
3* Cyan
2* Hawkins

Overall, Ashigaru is potentially a good leader but there are currently no format available to really maximize his ability. Although he is playable in T2, using him in a nuke deck would also mean fewer points at the end of each battle. To compensate, you will have to rely on speed. However, with an 8/6 body, players can rely on him as a generic nuke in any deck.
 

Eyrik
Obtained at- Level 30
Final stats- 8/5
Ability- Team: -1 opp. power, min 5

Eyrik has one of the better looking graphics among all the leaders. He also has one of the potentially devastating abilities in the game. With -1 opp. power, min 5, It can turn almost any wall into an average joe. Any card with 7 power are very tricky in battle, especially in no-random rooms. 7power x 7 pills = 49, while 6power x 8 pills = 48. 1 point of attack could mean the victory or defeat.

Eyrik solves this by reducing all your opponent's power by 1 (min 5), giving you team an edge especially with the right combination of cards. So which clan do you think goes well with Eyrik? Allstars seems to be the first thing that comes into mind.

But if you ask me, any card with -X power works well with him. To be honest, I like using Eyrik with Montana. Cards like Mona and Prince can bring down a card's power to 4. Along with Eyrik's ability and the Montana bonus, you further increase your chance on winning the round!

Look at this situation:

Room: No-random
You: Mona with 4 pillz; attack = 10
Opponent: Zatman with 4 pillz; attack = 12

But with Eyrik, Zatman's attack will be reduced to 8. Say good bye to an annoying wall. ^__^

Another great thing about Eyrik that he's an 8/5 (possible 9/5). He's a great wall and has a very potent ability that supports your deck just like Hugo. Eyrik has great potential in all formats especially in ELO since players can use him instead of Hugo.
 
DarkKnight.preset
=T2 Montana with Eyrik=
5* Eyrik
5* Vickie
4* Edd
3* Ottavia
3* Mona
3* Simon
2* Prince Jr.
2* Filomenna/Pino

Overall, Eyrik is another leader card worth using in any deck and in any format. He has a great ability coupled with a reliable body which give you the edge you need to win. With the right combination of cards, abilities and bonuses, Eyrik-based decks can someday be a reckoning force in the metagame.

Conclusion

Among the leaders discussed in the article, Eyrik shows the greatest usage in any deck. Matching that of Hugo's flexibility, Eyrik can be a great leader to build around on. Ashigaru follows the rank with his unique ability that allows players to make better decisions in battle while also giving them a good wall and nuke. Finally, we have Bridget with a fun ability but seems to lack the X-factor needed to compete with the more aggressive leaders.

Players that are interested in the ability of leaders should try to build decks that can reveal the powers of these great cards. I recommend players and probably the admins, to further encourage creative deck building by creating and reinforcing formats that allow full usage of these leaders.

***Perhaps they can make a room where leaders appear 100% of the time (like that in the lost warehouse).     

In my next article, I will be discussing the last 4 leader cards namely Ambre, Eklore, Morphun and Vholt, plus another article discussing one of the most sensitive issues in the game... How to beat Rescue! ^__^

-Breakpoint

Introduction

Leaders cards portray characters that show a unique influence in Clintz City. These cards have abilities that affect either you or your opponent's whole team. These effects are devastating when used properly and often will win you the game. But since Leaders are also cards themselves, they also participate in the match which means that aside from their abilities, their stats must be considered lest you want to lose the match.

In this first of three articles, I will be discussing the pros and cons of using leaders and the first 3 Leader cards (Timber, Vansaar, and Hugo) to describe their strengths, weaknesses and possible usage in different decks and formats.

Discussion

PROS

1. Leaders affect the whole match. Leaders like Timber, Hugo and Bridget provide support to make your team stronger, while leaders like Eklore, Eklore and Vholt, help by weakening your opponent's team. These abilities take effect and cannot be cancelled which makes them difficult to ignore and counter.

2. They are "free" cards. As long as your level is sufficient, you can easily acquire these cards, level them up, and put into your deck. No need to save up clintz to find a nuke or a support card in your deck! By simply leveling up and getting these leaders, you can easily make your deck a powerhouse.

3. Most leaders play a crucial role in giving some decks the needed "push" to excel and even dominate in some formats in UR. They give the deck the unique "X-factor" that no other card in the game can provide. Leaders that have constantly showed their worth in significant formats include Hugo (in TQs) and Ambre (in Survivor).

CONS

1. One leader card means one less bonus activated. In a monoclan deck, this is not a problem since the clan bonus will always be activated with or without the leader. However, in decks containing more than 1 clan, placing a leader will mean a lower chance of activating some of the bonuses available in your deck.

2. No useful bonus available. This means that leaders simply act as no-bonus cards in a match. Although most of them have good stats, some of them are relatively inferior to other cards with both abilities and bonuses active. A very good example is Timber being and easy prey to a fully powered Zatman.. or even a Frankie Hi.

3. Five stars is just a huge space in certain formats. Admit it, how you wish you could add Eklore in your GHEIST/Nightmare deck in T1 but didn't know which card to cut from your deck. Would you  risk the consistency in bonus activation over a unique ability, both of which can potentially win you the game? Or how often have you come into a dilemma where you already have a perfect theme deck using a leader but didn't have a good filler card to complete your deck just because your leader took up a huge chunk of your deck space? 

Opinion: To be honest, I think most leaders should be placed in monoclan decks only. This is the only way you can maintain the consistency of bonus activation while giving you the chance to have a unique uncounterable ability in your deck. I say "most leaders" because there are still exemptions wherein a leader can still work well in a deck without relying too much on clan bonuses.

============== Now let's move on to the Leader Cards!!! ==============

Timber
Obtained at- Level 5
Final stats- 6/6
Ability- Team: +1 Damage

Timber is the first leader card players will get in the game. His ability is actually half a fury activation each time, so technically, you are saving 1.5 pills for every card you use. His ability is commonly used to enable lots of 1HKO combos with any card that can generate 9 points of damage like Lennox, Python and Hammer (9 damage + 1 damage + fury = 12 damage in the dome). However, it seems that his usefulness is only limited to this.

Rarely do I want that extra +1 damage in my decks especially if it would mean sacrificing a good 3-4* card. True, there are some cards that have high powers (aka walls) and they can can benefit from Timber, but when you look at it closely, most of these walls already posses a suitable damage value, making Timber's bonus usually just a form of overkill.

At an average body of 6/6, Timber is easily destroyed by any card which can drop his power to 4 or less. Something that cards from Gheist, Montana, Uppers, sakrohm and Allstars can easily do.

Therefore, a negative effect of using Timber is when your 1HKO or "Alpha Strike" fails (because you would usually rely on using all your pills), you end up giving away extra points to your opponent when Timber is defeated by a low-star card.

Overall, Timber is only great at a support card to power up 1HKO combos and can be viable in T2 nuke decks in no-random rooms. In any situation outside the one I gave, Timber simply becomes too much a burden than help. He is a splashy leader card to use, but only in casual decks and is not advisable to be used in ELO, Survivor and T1 decks.

Vansaar
Obtained at- Level 10
Final stats- 6/5
Ability- Team: Xp +90%

Vansaar is the second leader card players may get in the game. His ability enables players to gain quick Exp in order to level up their cards. And sadly, it seems that this is the only logical use for Vansaar.

I will say it right now. Vansaar is NOT a good card to put in any competitive deck. It's not like I hate Vansaar or anything (in fact, I love him in training rooms), but his ability is practically useless in any competitive format. His only useful purpose in the game is to enable players to quickly level up those 4-5* cards so that they can use those cards in their decks. He cuts the leveling up rate of cards by a few games.

At a measly 6/5 body, he is more inferior to Timber. Even if he enables quick level up in battles, he finds no use in formats where card that level-up don't matter like ELO and Survivor. In T1 and T2, you may gave bonus points when cards level up but during TQ hours, this bonus is only reduced to 5 points making vansaar's support insignificant and impractical for use.

Overall, Vansaar has the lowest value in competitive decks in UR. He not versatile, has low stats and his ability becomes insignificant in half of the formats available in the game.

*** However, let me do justice to the great Vansaar by saying that Vansaar is not 100% useless in UR. His ability to quickly level-up your cards is very valuable, especially in training rooms. Plus, you gotta love they the admins made sure that Vansaar ALWAYS shows up in training rooms just to help you gain more exps.
*** To the admins, maybe you can add another ability to Vansaar... perhaps "+50% clintz per battle"? ^__^

Hugo
Obtained at- Level 15
Final stats- 7/5
Ability- Team: Attack +6

Now we get a little bit serious. Hugo is the third leader card players can obtain in UR. His ability gives each card you have (including himself) an uncounterable +6 attack. He is one of the more useful leaders available in the game. You can consider his ability a pill saved every time. His ability turns Rescue, Sentinels and Junkz cards into insane walls, and turning ever other clan into pseudo-junkz/sentinel cards. Because of this, Hugo is viable in all formats even in T1. He is also one of the leader cards which can work well even in a non-clan specific deck.

Another positive characteristic of Hugo is his huge 7/5 body. Unlike the first two leaders discussed, Hugo is the earliest free wall players can get, use and appreciate in their decks.

It is also important to note that Hugo has a great synergy with the Montana clan (perhaps because he is a criminal himself?). This synergy is clearly seen in the number of good ELO Montana-Hugo decks in the current meta. On their own, Montana cards will need to reach a minimum of 16 attack in order to get a sureshot if the opponent chooses to fight with little pills. But with the power of most Montana cards ranging from 5-6, you will often need +1-2 pills to reach the 16 attack mark. Hugo enables you to save 1 pill which you can probably use later.

Lastly, since Hugo increases the your cards' attacks by 6, it will be often hard for your opponents to make a sureshot especially in random rooms. As for no-random rooms, Hugo's ability can be the ultimate tie breaker of nuke cards. Imagine battling a 7-pilled Shakra with your 7-pilled Dorian but with the help of Hugo. Hugo FTW and 7 damage to the opponent's dome!

Overall, Hugo gets high marks for being very versatile in any deck he is placed in. Bring a hybrid (wall and nuke in one) AND turing all your other cards into walls, Hugo is one of the leader cards players can rely on in any format. It's a good thing that players can get him at a low level since he can really even out the playing field, at a certain degree.

Conclusion

Leaders can play a crucial role in potentially making your deck stronger. However, with the uniqueness of each leader's abilities, players must know which leaders to use in different situations. Players must weigh between choosing bonus consistency and gaining a leader ability.

Among the leaders discussed so far, Hugo has the highest value in any deck because of his flexibility and stats. Timber, although a great enabler in 1HKO combos is often not a great choice for most competitive decks but can be an acceptable filler nuke for most starting players. Lastly, vansaar is the only leader with no practical competitive use and is only useful in hastening your characters to level-up.

In my next article, I will be discussing the next 3 leader cards namely Bridget, Ashigaru, and Eyrik, plus some suggested deck types using these leaders.    

===================================

Small Talk

I would just like to share a little observation I found over the whole time I've been playing UR. A few months after the release of Kolos, players have already accepted that Kolos is not that "imbalanced", although it has the ability to 1HKO any unprepared player. With the standard build of most decks of placing Reducers and Stoppers (SOA and SOBs), players seem to have developed a mentality, or a style of play, when using Kolos.

I call it the Kolos Komplex.

The regular mentality of a Kolos player works this way:

If the player's opponent has reducers and SOAs, the Kolos player will have the mentality to "fish out" the reducers and SOAs in order to get their Kolos through.

Example:
Player A has Kolos, Glorg, Dahlia and Tyd.
Player B has Ottavia, Prince Jr, Zatman and Jackie

Round 1
Player A plays first by choosing Dalhia with only 1 (default) pill.
Player B reacts by choosing Jackie with more than 1 pill. Jackie wins.

Round 2
Player B chooses Ottavia with a few pills (thinking that Player A will use >2 pillz on Kolos)
Player A chooses Tyd with 1 (default) pill again. Ottavia *could* win.

Now player B has no more cards to stop Kolos from doing a 1HKO. Player A wins.

However, in a Kolos Komplex, this is what happens:

If the player's opponent has NO reducers and SOAs, the Kolos player will have the mentality to "pill out" the opponent by using Kolos (with 1 default pill) on the first possible turn hoping that the opponent will use most, if not all, of his pills to stop Kolos. This will then allow the Kolos player to play around the mistake made by the opponent.

Example:
Player A has Kolos, Glorg, Dahlia and Tyd.
Player B has Mona, Prince Jr, Zatman and Dorian

Player A plays first by choosing Kolos with 1 (default) pill.
Player B reacts by using Mona/Zatman or even Dorian with more than 6 pillz (in random) or almost all pillz (in no-random) thinking that Player A will go all-in.

Player B wins the round but is left with a few pillz, and ultimately, loses the match.

I'm not saying that Kolos Komplex is 100% present in all Kolos users, but this type of play is very prevalent (and seems to be popular) in the game. Again, this is based on months of observation while playing in TQs. If you have opinions or thought regarding this topic or any topics I have discussed so far, feel free to comment on any of the message boards available in this site or in the Urban Rivals site.

-Breakpoint

 

 

Introduction

One of the biggest argument in Urban Rivals is whether or not a player should use a fully evolved or an unevolved version of a card in a certain deck. Like any other type of strategy, there are some pros and cons in using unevolved cards in a deck. It is important that players first understand how unevolved cards affect deck performance, and finally, how these cards should be managed by the players.
This article aims to discuss the different pros and cons of using unevolved cards.

Discussion

PROS

Efficiency. This is the principle that explain the power of unevolved cards. As what I have discussed in my past articles, efficiency means the card's ability to win you games and earn you points. And to do this, a card must posses two elements: adequate stats (power:damage ratio +abilities/bonus) and a proportionate star levels.

Unevolved cards give players the ability to adjust the power level of their decks while sacrificing  power and/or damage points. But mind you, not all cards that can be used in the unevolved form SHOULD be used as such.

Let's give a few examples of cards that can be good in the unevolved form.

Wanda
Gwen
Dorian
Zatman
Vickie
Ottavia
Charlie
Yayoi
Xia Leming
Wee Lee
Vermyn N
Juicy Lord

What do these cards have that make them good in the unevolved form? simple --- they were able to maintain efficiency at a low star count. Take Yayoi for example. Yayoi at level 4 is a 7/6 with SOA. But at level 3, she is a 7/4 with SOA --- only a difference of 2 damage points! Does it matter? A LOT!
There are several reasons that make unevolved cards good in a deck. These are: Star Sensitivity, Power Sensitivity and Points Sensitivity.

A. Star Sensitivity

In certain deck formats that are star count sensitive, like ELO, a deck needs to maximize every star count possible. This means trying to put into the deck all the best possible cards while considering the total star count of the deck. The star count of one halfdeck will affect the star count of your other halfdeck. Therefore, it is important that a player strike an equilibrium of star counts and power level of each of his/her halfdecks. 

In ELO, a common pussycat halfdeck most players would use is:

2* Wanda
5* Charlie
2* Feelyn
4* Yayoi

Total star count = 13
Total Power = 21
Total Damage = 19
This halfdeck has a fair rating. It has 4 reducers, 1 SOA, 2 nukes, and 3 walls. But being at 13 stars,it means that you only have 12 stars left for your other halfdeck. Some players try to remedy this by changing either Charlie or Yayoi into another lower-star card. But in doing so, potentially removing a good nuke or SOA from your deck.   

Now, here is an example of a very efficient pussycat halfdeck ELO top players would use:
1* Wanda
3* Yayoi
4* Charlie
1* Gwen

Total star count = 10
Total Power = 29
Total Damage = 12

It has 4 reducers, 4 walls, 1 SOA and 1 nuke.
As you can see this halfdeck only uses 10 stars allowing the player to have a total of 15! stars for the halfdeck. That means that the said player can potentially put in 2-3 nukes in his other halfdeck. Another significant observation seen is that while there is a decrease in star count, there was an even higher total power count as compared to the first list. This is the explanation why unevolved version of some cards are good in the deck. These cards have nearly the same power level as the fully evolved version, but at a lower star count. Sure, this means that your halfdeck will have a lower total damage, but this can and will be compensated in your other halfdeck. 

B. Power Sensitivity

In the previous paragraphs, I was able to show you how unevolved cards help the deck by allowing more cards to be placed as a result of a decreased star count. Now, I will discuss why only some cards are worthy to be used in the unevolved form while some cards are needed to be used in the fully evolved form.

Reason I: Some cards have acquired their abilities at a much lower level than other cards making them good candidates as unevolved cards.

A good example is Lulabee and Hikiyousan.

At level 5:
Hikiyousan is...
8/5
A: +2 dmg
B: +2 pwr

Lulabee is...
7/6
A: SOB
B: +2 pwr

But let's say you only have 4 stars left in your Ulu Watu halfdeck and you have to choose which level 4 version you're going to use. Which card you you going to choose - Hikiyousan or Lulabee?
Clearly, the best choice would be Lulabee because at level 4:

Hikyousan is...
6/5
A: none
B: +2 pwr

Lulabee is
6/5
A: SOB
B: +2 pwr

They have practically the same stats, but Lulabee has her ability at level 4.

Reason II: Some cards already have a good power levels at a lower level as compared other cards of the same level making them good candidates as unevolved cards.
Here's another example. In your pussycat halfdeck, you only have one more star left and you had to choose between 1* Svethlana, 1* Wanda or 1* Gwen. Which card will you choose?
Obviously, Wanda because among the three, Wanda has the highest power. True, Svethlana has an ability that copies the opponent's power but she can only equal Wanda's power in certain situations. Plus, she falls down easily to SOAs.

Reason III: Some cards already have good damage values at a lower level as compared to the same card at a higher level.

Here's an example. A very good ELO deck is the Bangers/Pussycat deck using:
4* Blaaster
5* Bodenpower
2* Graff
5* Lennox
3* Yayoi
1* Wanda
1* Gwen
4* Charlie

Now, the card in question is here is the 4* Charlie. Strategically, 4*Charlie is already a good choice for this deck. Why? because she still maintains her status as a nuke even at 4 stars. Even at a low level, 4* Charlie can still make a possible 2HKO just like any other 5* Charlie in another deck.    

C. Points Sensitivity

Finally, unevolved cards allow the player to potentially gain more points in battles as compared to the same card at full level.
A good example is Dorian. Most Type 2 decks will use 5*Dorian. However, a modified Type 2 Uppers/Montana (that I use) utilizes a 3* or 4* Dorian. The reason for this is that a 3* or 4* Dorian already has 8 power which is equal to that of a 5* Dorian. This means that a 3* Dorian can equally defeat any card that a 5* Dorian can defeat. True, 3* Dorian has a low damage value, but this can be compensated by the other cards in the deck.
If Player A with a 5* Dorian defeats a Player B with a 5* Lennox, Player A will only get 3 points. But if Player A had a 3* Dorian and it defeats a 5* Lennox, then Player A will get a total of 5 points. Another useful bonus is when 3* Dorian levels up during a tourney, you will gain a bonus of 5 points.

CONS

A. Very Costly

This is the primary reason why players hesitate in using unevolved cards. Most of the time, the price of the unevolved card is not proportionate to the earning received in tournaments. It is this same reason why unevolved cards are very dominant in high-level game play such as in ELO, where the prizes are significantly more expensive than the cost of unevolved cards. Rich players are able to buy unevolved cards to use in their decks. They use their decks to get high ranks in ELO, and win tons of clintz plus Cr cards making them richer. This again, allows them to buy more unevolved cards to do the same thing. 

B. Very Limited Use

Most of the good unevolved cards are level 1 to 3, which means that from 0exp, these cards will need to gain about 500 to 2000exp before they lose their purpose in the deck. As such, the best use for these cards are as reducers, walls or chumps, and are rarely used to defeat high-star cards to avoid excessive EXP gain. Most of these cards level up fairly quickly therefore they also lose their usefulness fairly quickly, too. And due of the limited capabilities of these cards, the demand for these cards are insanely high. The sadder part is that the supply is very low. This is the reason for the high prices of these cards.

C. Release of Newer Cards

With the release of newer cards, some cards are given "acceptable" alternatives instead of using an unevolved version of the said card. A good example is Kluwn. Compared to Blaaster, Kluwn is -1 pwr/dmg but has practically the same power level as Blaaster, but at 1 less star.

Take this deck for example:
4* Blaaster
5* Bodenpower
2* Graff
5* Lennox
3* Yayoi
1* Wanda
1* Gwen
4* Charlie

Instead of adjusting the Pussycat halfdeck, players can instead replace Blaaster with Kluwn and opt not to use 4* Charlie and use a 5* Charlie instead, since Charlie is very expensive as an unevolved card.
Cards like Kluwn allow players to have a pseudo-unevolved card in their deck making the "genuine" unevolved cards nearly inefficient. 

Conclusion

Using unevolved cards is a strategy only a few players can effectively do due to the requirements needed to maintain these types of cards. But as seen in the examples, unevolved cards play a huge role in making certain deck types very good and very efficient. Players should understand that There are some drawbacks in using unevolved cards but in some situations, the payouts greatly outweigh the drawbacks mentioned.
So the next time you see a deck with unevolved cards, don't scratch your head and say "This deck is bad!" or "You need to change Card X to Card Y". Remember that some players are aware of the hidden powers of unevolved cards and are willing to take the sacrifice of using them for a greater gain.  

-breakpoint

Introduction

Playing in a daily tournament is a race against time. The saying "Time is gold", or players may want to change it to "Time is clintz", stands very true when a player is in a daily tournament. This article aims to discuss 5 tips on how players can maximize points in dailies.

Discussion

Tip #1: Start early.

It is a misconception that the TQ starts at exactly on the hour. True, the timer for the TQ starts exactly on the hour, but the TQ counts ALL battle points gained during the duration of the TQ INCLUDING THOSE GAINED IN BATTLES PLAYED BEFORE IT.
This means that as long as a player ends the battles within the TQ duration, that player will still get BPs that are valid for the TQ.

Example: Player X and Y fights 3 minutes before a TQ. They end the match 1 minute after the TQ has started. Player X gets 20BP while Player Y gets 9 BP. Both will automatically have the respective BPs valid for the TQ. They now have a head start as compared to the other players.

Tip #2: Never EVER (and I mean EVER) quit a match.. even if you know you can't win.

According to the rules, players lose 20points for quitting a match. 20 points is basically equal to 1 match. So if you quit a match, you practically set yourself back 2 matches from the lead player.

Tip #3: Know when to end matches

Sometimes, circumstances will tempt you to finish the whole match thinking that the more cards you defeat, the more points you get. But most of the time, you will have to accept the fact that the match must end as soon as possible. One good example is when you are facing a slow opponent. Sure, he/she may have good cards that you can easily defeat, but if you consider that the match may take 5 minutes or more, then it is better to end the match as soon as possible and just find another opponent quickly.

Example:

Which will allow you to gain more points?
a) One game that will give you 25 points but will last for 5 minutes?
b) Two games that will give you 13 points but will last for 2 minutes each?

Obviously, the best choice is B.

Tip #4: If you're gonna lose, MAXIMIZE your points.

Two things to remember here:
a. When already losing against a nuke deck, manage all your pills in bringing down as much opponent's nukes as possible. This is a better choice since simply losing a match will give you 3 points. But, losing a match while defeating a high-star card will give you (a maximum of) 4 bonus points for each defeated each defeated card.

Example:
In one game, i had Prince, Mona, Ottavia and Zatman. My opponent had Bridget, Lulabee, Fifty and Laetitia.

Round 1: Mona vs Lulabee. Mona lost. (6-13)
Round 2: Bridget vs Ottavia. Ottavia won. (6-11)
Round 3: Fifty vs Prince. Prince won. (6-8)
Round 4: Zatman vs Laetitia. Zatman lost. (0-8) opponent with 1 pill left.

At the end of the match, my opponent got 12 points. while I got 13 points. Even though I lost, I still managed to get more points than my opponent.

b. When the TQ is about to end and you need a few extra points to win/get a good rank, it is better to lose fast than to not get points at all.

Example:
In one TQ, player X had 213 points and placed 26th, while player Y had 215 points and placed 25th. player X intentionally lost (NOTE: DID NOT QUIT) a match and gained 3 points. When the final rankings were posted, both player X got 216 points and player Y still had 215 points. Player X got 25th place and received twice as much clintz as player Y. 

Tip #5: Avoid players with "Red Faces" as much as possible.

First of all, this is not to discriminate players with poor play rating. But for players who wish to avoid slow games in general, it is best to avoid players with generally poor play ratings. True, most of these "red" players are newbies in the game, but also consider that as newbies, most will be quite slow in choosing an action, ultimately costing you your time.
Other significance of "Red Face":
1. Unfair player (quits matches)
2. Unsportsmanlike player (very slow player)
3. player with possible slow connections

Conclusion

These 5 tips can generally help you gain more points during TQs. Along with proper pill management, a good deck and adequate playing skills, it will be possible that you will get more points than you ever did. 

 

Introduction

There are currently over 370+ cards in Urban Rivals right now, and the card pool is continually growing. With the large array of cards to choose from, it is important for players to know the classifications of these cards in order for them to understand the cards' roles in the deck.

Same as in the battlefield, the general who is aware of the full nature of his army and of his opponent's army has the edge in winning the battle.

This article will simply discuss the different classifications of cards in Urban Rivals, their characteristics, and their possible roles in one's deck. This article also aims to help the new players understand the different kinds of cards so they may appreciate the diversity of the cards in Urban Rivals.

Discussion

Nukes

Also called as "Tanks" or Heavy Hitters. Nukes are cards that generally have high damage values. Cards with a final attack value of 6 and above can already be classified as "nukes". These cards are primarily used to take a significant amount of life from the opponent as much as possible. Nukes, however, generally need lots of pills in order to do their job correctly. Most nukes also have high-star counts and may give the opponent a good BP boost when it is defeated by another card. Nukes are often "one-way" in a sense that they have Abilities/Bonuses that make sure their damage gets through no matter what. All 1HKO cards are classified as nukes.

Examples of nukes include: Fifty, Lennox, Kolos, FangPi 1HKOs. 

Note: Ironically, Tank (C) is not a tank, let alone, a nuke.
 

Walls

Wall are cards that generally have high power values. Walls generally have powers greater than 7, but if it has a good ability (usually +/- attack or power), then it can already be classified a wall even at 7-power.

They are called as such because they have the innate potential to survive a battle even with a little amount of pills, and rarely, even with just 1 pill. These cards have Abilities/Bonuses which allow them to place a huge margin between their attack and the opponent's attack.

Walls do not necessarily need to have high damage values but if they do, they become even more dangerous.

Examples of walls include: Zatman, LT Cr, Gibson, Gaia.
 

Reducers

Reducers are special cards because unlike all other abilities/bonuses, their reducing ability/bonus works when they lose. Reducers play crucial roles in most decks by letting the opponent waste pills while the reducer minimizes the damage done to the player.

Reducers also play as effective repellents to some nukes.

Examples of reducers: Na Boh, Uranus, Graksmxxt, Gina Glit etc.

 

Jokers

Jokers are cards with very dangerous abilities. They are called as such because they work both as potent attackers/defenders and as very intimidating bluffs. Usually, cards classified under this group are those with abilities like Courage, Life heal, +Pillz and even Poison.

These cards are tricky cards because unlike nukes, they all have relatively low damage values. Player often interchange some joker cards as nukes and vice versa.

Examples of jokers: Rhed, Sheitane, Mark, Katan, etc.

Stoppers

Stoppers are cards with the abilities Stop Opp's Abilities (SoA) and/or Stop Opp's Bonus (SoB). Every deck should, as much as possible, contain at least one SoA and one SoB. These cards are usually serve as more than one purpose in the deck. They may be in the form of Nukes, Walls, Reducers, Jokers and sometimes, Chumps. The most important use of stoppers is to neutralize either the Abilities or Bonuses of the opponent's cards. Most of them make good bluff cards while almost all of them help prevent you from being KO'ed by 1HKO cards.

Some stoppers are called "Stop All" since they have both SoA and SoB.

Examples of stoppers: Jackie, Petra, Striker, Shakra, Leviatonn. 

Chumps

Chumps are simply cards that have relatively no use in high-level battles. Usually played to "skip a turn". Rarely do they actually have a significant effect in battle. These cards are usually vanillas or cards with no abilities. Their only significant use is to complete one's collection.

Examples of chumps: Mikey, Globumm, Oryon, Cell,Morhla etc.

Hybrids

Hybrids are cards that have 2 or more classifications. As such, they have an inherent flexibility in battle. These cards are very potent in battle and must be players must carefully decide which role it must play.

Most cards are actually hybrid cards. It's just that they are often used dominantly as one role only.

Examples of hybrids: Charlie, Yayoi, Nistarok, Marina, Vermyn N, etc.

Conclusion

By understand the classifications of the cards, players can be guided as to what cards they should put in their decks. Identifying cards properly according to classifications will also guide players in making good decisions in battle.

 

-Breakpoint

Introduction

Most T2 players have the notion that their deck must only have 26 stars to maximize the points received in tournaments. As such, they are forced to build a working deck that will try to satisfy this condition. However, they fail to consider the law of probability used in Urban Rivals which mandates that no matter how many cards you have in your deck, your hand will always have 4 cards, no more, no less.

This is the reason why building a 9-card deck is plausible in T2. This not only gives you more options in your deck, but it also adds consistency to the bonuses of your deck.

Discussion

Let's just say that each deck in UR should have a MINIMUM of 4 cards and MINIMUM star count of 14. A good sample deck will be:

Jackie (R), Zatman (U), Rubie (R), 4* Dorian (U). = 14 stars. With this deck, your hand will always be equal to 14 stars.

Now, applying my theory in a smaller scale, we add ONE (1) more card to the deck. Let's now add Frankie Hi (U).

We now have: Jackie (R), Zatman (U), Rubie (R), 4* Dorian (U), Frankie Hi (U). = 17 stars.

Does this mean that we will automatically get lower points in battle as compared to the first list? No, because based on the law of probability, you will always have only FOUR (4) cards in your hand. Frankie Hi (U) can replace any of the 4 cards while still retaining the power level of your hand!

If Frankie Hi (U) replaces Rubie (R). What will be your star count? still 14!!!
Now, suppose he replaces Zatman (U). What's your star count? still 14!!!
and if he replaces either Jackie (R) or Dorian (U). What will be your star count? 13!!!  

As you can see, it can potentially give you ONE MORE BP after the battle!

Therefore, adding one more card in your T2 deck will not decrease your BPs after battle. In fact, it can increase the consistency of your bonus activation and even potentially increase your BPs.

===============================================================

Another example:

Let's say we have this theoretical deck:

Zatman
Zatman
Zatman
Zatman
Mona
Mona
Mona
Mona

In ever starting hand, we will always have a total of 16 stars with no bonus activated. This is means that if we win, we will get a minimum of 9 points.

Applying my theory, we now add our ninth card to the Primary Clan (Montana):

Zatman
Zatman
Zatman
Zatman
Mona
Mona
Mona
Mona
Prince Jr. 

Now in most hands, we will have a star count of 16, but in some hands, we will have a star count of 15, plus, the chance of activating the Montana Bonus. This deck now comes strictly better than the first deck.

<>This is the secret of the 9th card.<>

It acts by giving more consistency to the primary clan of your deck while retaining the relative power level of your deck. It adds options or utility cards that your deck may need without the hassle of changing your deck.

Just remember to add the "9th card" to the primary clan of your deck. never add a card of the supporting clan. The goal of the 9th card is not to add defense, rather, to make your offensive power more consistent, as if playing a monoclan deck. In another case, if you choose to use Uppers as the Primary Clan, then you can opt to add cards like Janine, Stanford, and Mickey T/Samantha as the 9th card.

Conclusion

Players have the misconception that having more cards in a deck will automatically mean more stars in hand, ergo, less points after battle. But after analyzing the law of probability applied in UR, and after using a mathematical basis to support the theory, it is now plausible to use 9-cards as an equally effective deck building strategy in Type 2.

-breakpoint 

Introduction

Quite a number of players often message me after I play in tournaments asking how I often get a high rank in dailies.

To help out my fellow UR players, this article will try to discuss the key ingredients on how to rank high in Dailies

Based on experience, I have identified three major factors that players must understand. These three factors each influence your possibility in getting a good rank in dailies.  In order to easily memorize the factors, I have used  key words to describe them. They are called the 

                 3 S's: Speed, Skill and Synergy

Discussion

(a) SPEED refers to the amount of game time you alot for PLAYING ACTUAL GAMES.

Think of it in this view: theoretically, which of the following players will get a higher score (supposing that each player wastes a total of 15 mins of the total tourney time waiting for an opponent to accept the challenge)?

Total tourney time = 60mins
Wasted time = 15mins

Player A: who wins 16 points every 1.2 min = 600 BP
Player B: who wins 22 points every 3 mins = 330 BP
Player C: who wins 24 points every 2.5 mins = 432 BP

as you can see, the fastest player has the advantage of scoring more points than any other player.

(b) SKILL refers to your playing style in a game.
Skill is not merely a "learned concept", rather, it is an "applied experience". You wont be able to know what the best decision is until you've experienced it before.

A simple example is when you experienced your first loss against a 1HKO card like Kolos (R). When most of you first saw Kolos (R), you didn't imagine it being used to completely wipe you out in one turn. You lost the match.

This is your BASELINE EXPERIENCE.

In another match, you encounter another Kolos (R). This time, you know what to expect. Your opponent uses Kolos (R) and now, you chose to use a reducer to avoid being killed in one turn. Some of you might say "this is a stupid example of a skill". Well, it's a skill nonetheless.

This is also where you put in the concept of pill management. Pill management simply means "Knowing when to use the right number of pills at the right moment". This is also a learned experience and cannot be taught.

and lastly...

(c) SYNERGY refer to the ability of your deck to win games and earn you battle points.

A good example is the standard T2 Montana-Uppers vs a nuke deck.

T2 Montana-Uppers

2* Prince Jr.
3* Mona
3* Ottavia
5* Vickie
3* Frankie Hi
3* Zatman
4* Dorian
4* Jackie

Nuke Deck v1.0

3* Onik
3* Xia Leming
4* Kati
5* Kinjo
5* Lennox
5* Emeth
5* Timber
5* Hikiyosan

The first deck (compared to the 2nd deck) has a lower total power and damage stats but (based on experience) has a higher chance of winning more tournaments than the 2nd deck. This is because the first deck balances efficient cards and low star count.

True, the 2nd deck has more power, but it will only give you less then 20 BPs per battle.

Conclusion:

so i hope people will finally understand how to do well in tournaments. It is the balance of these three concepts that makes the top players in tournaments remain in the top ranks. This is how you "play to win".

-breakpoint