Exceed Customs Check Character Thoughts

- Jesse's Wobbuffet
[Played Against, Watched]

Very fun UA and Ultras, and I like how the specials complement their general gameplan; the implementation of Encore is incredible as well. They probably want to be exceeding as soon as possible though, and they become a bit more annoying to play against with permanent +2 armor (which often gets stacked up to +4 or +6 with boosts). Didn't see their synchro burst get used at all, probably because at least one Ultra is being held over the opponent's head at all times (probably fine).


- Rosa's Serperior
[Created, Played As, Watched]

Pretty happy with how they seem to function; they might be on the weaker side overall (Wrap should probably actually beat at least one normal), but I feel like there are a good amount of interesting decisions to make when managing their Gauge, which is most of what I was going for. Ironically, I think the majority of their losses were me trying to play them into Rose.


- Rocket's Marowak
[Played As, Played Against]

I enjoyed playing them a lot; their face attack is sadly probably a trap the majority of the time (though it's very funny when it works), but they have very strong Ultras, scary specials in Headbutt and Bonemerang, and mixups/boosts that complement playing around those things nicely. Thick Club is kind of crazy as well, though I'm personally kind of bad at planning ahead far enough to keep it around; as demonstrated by D it's probably possible to essentially declare checkmate with it several turns in advance.

- Samus
[Watched]

Don't have strong thoughts on her since I didn't interact with them directly much, but they definitely feel like they have solid tools; I feel like I never really saw a match where she got to properly got to use her "Zoner Tools", but on paper her range 2-3 game feels like it should be solid. It might partially be that most of her specials that push don't really buy her much additional range, which is probably healthy but means there aren't too many chances for her to really make big use of her UA; she still has good cancels and ultras to make use of the Gauge, though.

- Dennis
[Watched]

I don't have strong memories of this character in bracket; I do remember him feeling less scary than his UA would imply -- he does seem to have a decent amount of Advantage in his kit, but I don't think I really saw him pull off any huge chains since two of those are on boosts the opponent can respond to (probably healthy).

- Davis
[Played As, Watched]

I don't think I played him to his full potential, but he still felt pretty intuitive; all of his specials are pretty reliable at their appropriate ranges, so you can just mix in your favorite power boost and throw in some charge to set up an EX down the line. Windmill Descension feels like a bit of a trap unless you're in a matchup where you really need another assault (though I guess the EX is a nice power confirmer), and Dragon Blast is probably better served as its boost; True Dragon Punch is cool and funny, but a decent amount of your Gauge is probably spoken for by Exceeding and paying for charges (you can build up to it eventually but the opponent's probably already dead by then).

- Maxima
[Played Against, Watched]

A pretty inspirational grappler; I've been thinking of trying to design one myself and I really appreciate seeing what one without an explicit "at Range 1" UA looks like (in fact I thought his frontside UA didn't really exist until that finals match). Blitz Cannon existing basically as an anti-dive button is pretty cool, Maxima Press is a suitably scary command grab, and the defenses on the rest of his specials are tricky to avoid trading with (at least with the kinds of characters I play), which helps his Ultras be real threats despite their high costs and good boosts. The matches I watched other people play him in involved smarter counterplay around the Ultras, meaning they didn't get played as much; I'm surprised I never saw Maxima exceed because of this, but I guess it's still important for him to keep the threat alive (secret 8 Gauge exceed cost?).

- K'
[Played As, Watched]

Another character that felt pretty intuitive on some level; his special kit is a bit more mixup-based than someone like Davis, but with a bit of Gauge you can generally set up a cancel chain that makes them decently reliable and very punishing. I don't think I remember him feeling super starved for Gauge (mostly thanks to KoF normals), but both of his Ultras are very tempting to play (which is why I didn't really exceed), and even though they're worth it they can leave you a bit dry for a few turns after if they don't kill. Probably the kind of character you have to wait to burn out of options before you can really pressure, which might be a hard weakness to figure out and capitalize on in this kind of format.

- Djeeta
[Played Against, Watched]

Feels like a very straightforward but very scary character; if she gets you in the corner and builds gauge you die. Her UA and Special shapes/push effects feel consistent enough that she will eventually set up this scenario; the counterplay of moving past her is pretty obvious, so it's good that it feels like her UA is very real despite this. Overdrive Surge is a terrifying card (probably fine overall, she has a general Assault weakness without Gauge).

- Vira
[Played As, Played Against, Watched]

In the category of "felt strong even though I couldn't really play her properly", though I am very satisfied with getting Blade of Light and her Exceed mode off in one game. Her card quality is universally pretty great (or at least extremely funny), but it's balanced out by a pretty tough economy if you want to make use of her UA and crits (a large part of why I was pretty bad at playing her). Affection Abyss does feel like it has a bit of the Dare Glacial thing going on where it's her secret third UA; raising its cost might not stop people from using it, but it would pose more of a competition with her Ultras which is probably healthy.

- Gotenks
[Played As, Played Against]

Another character I couldn't personally wrap my head around how to play, though fighting against him definitely confirmed that he can be pretty strong. They have some really interesting tools in Miracle Super Punch and Great Rolling Kick, and Kamikaze Ghosts are a cool way of doing Lightning Rods (note that I have no idea how to play as or against Rachel). This is another character I'm surprised I didn't see exceed much; his backside and installable +3 power are both terrifying, and while the power of his specials are balanced around them very silly things happen if you can set up the Ghosts with one or both of them active.

- Goku
[Watched]

Not much personal experience with this character, but they seem cool; lots of things he wants to keep Gauge around to both use and threaten, despite the fact that he can print it. Having like 6 Assaults feels like it can have some pretty big matchup-dependent effects, but everyone probably blows up all the same once he has 6 Gauge and some Ultra-or-overdrive-specific positioning.

- Naoto
[Played As, Played Against, Watched]

A pretty intuitive character; the frontside UA is probably kind of fake unless you're really hungry for Gauge, but once you get it you just exceed and things Just Start Working. Not sure he has quite as much corner carry as Divine Reaper and Edge of Eternity imply he wants, but he definitely still has the mixup game to be scary at the proper ranges midscreen. Backside Inferno Crusader may be my favorite special in the game and I don't care how telegraphed it is.

- Susano'o
[Watched]

Not much personal experience again; when I was testing characters out it felt like he took a long time to get going, but I've seen he can do some pretty big things once he has his seals set up; there's a bit of a pseudo-grappler dynamic to him in that sense (sounds pretty faithful to the game). The dynamic of basically needing to pay his seal debt before getting to use any Gauge is also pretty interesting. Fully parsing the shapes of his unsealed specials seemed to be difficult for opponents, which may be a concern.

- Izanami
[Played As, Watched]

She feels both pretty intuitive and very strong; the boosts are universally pretty great, the EXs she can set up with her UA or Yomotsuhirasaka are all pretty terrifying, and Flaming Dome is an attack. She has a ton of really interesting outlets for her Gauge; the DP is cool, the command grab is extremely funny, shield of dreams enables a lot of things, and the Exceed mode is surprisingly low on my list of priorities despite how good it seems (probably another instance of wanting to keep Ultra threats live). It does feel possible to burn out with her in a similar way to K', though it feels like it's a mistake on my own end a bit more often than it feels like a straight mixup loss.

- Eustace
[Played Against, Watched]

I don't know anything about Eustace in his source material, but it feels like his personality exudes from each of his cards in an extremely admirable way. His Ultra Boosts, things like "Mind Your Form" and "Share The Wealth", and his "opponent initiated" effects are really thematic while having real use cases. The dynamic of his UA and exceed side make also his Gauge flow really interesting for both sides (backside Rime Blitzer my beloved).

- Elster
[Watched]

From afar, she seems like a bit of a more extreme member of the Vira and Izanami class, in that she has very strong options but will probably crash pretty hard if you don't understand how to manage her economy. One or two people I saw on her might have been fooled into thinking she was a zoner because of the guns, but she definitely seems like a solid Range 2-3 fighter. I was personally terrified to use her boosts and UA during testing, but both are pretty strong and a lot of problems can be solved with enough stats.

- Yang
[Played As, Watched]

Feels like she should be a similar kind of straightforward and effective as Djeeta, but for some reason I personally have trouble getting a grasp of her on either side. She has good ways to get in and a strong mixup triangle once you're there; I guess the main trick from there is figuring out how to spend her Gauge, especially if people are making you burn force to stay in. Her decisions in that regard do seem interesting between her Overdrive, Ultras, and Cancels, but I don't think I really got far enough to worry about that in the game I played; winning mixups is hard.

- Gun Knight
[Watched]

Feels like a very tricky character to figure out how to play effectively, but I really like the gameplay aesthetic of their 6-card conditions and UA. Has scary specials at Range, and still seems strong up close just by virtue of probably having a bunch of Normals in hand. Although the ultra cost reduction conditions probably telegraph them a fair bit, there are clear checkmate situations you can save them for, which I found interesting when testing him. Definitely feels like he has to work to make the space for his scarier attacks, which gives the opponent time to move back in while he reloads (which is part of why I like the dynamic of his UA, but probably becomes a pretty big struggle in more rushdown-heavy matchups).

- Dreadwyrm Heir
[Created, Played As, Watched]

As discussed I believe she's a fair bit stronger than her results indicate; on paper she's reliant on somewhat risky mixups on top of her weak economy, so it's easy to end up stranded if you make the wrong callouts. Certain specials are probably inordinately stronger than others, though; Novi fire is extremely rewarding in its ideal situations, EX Dragon's Eye is essentially her main win condition, and things like Breath Weapon and Supernova are probably just used for their boosts unless you desperately need to threaten a projectile. Have several changes for her in mind now that the tournament is over, but glad to see people were interested in playing her in her current state.

- Superman
[Watched]

Another design really saturated in personality; it's really interesting to see how fundamentally his UA changes how both players have to approach the game, and I think framing matches in terms of why Superman would be fighting a given opponent adds even further to that. His attacks are deservedly strong but mostly have pretty solid counters, so it becomes a question of whether the opponent has remembered to keep those counters around. His boost game is strong (even though it's mostly just extra fierce and extra light), but that only feels problematic in Certain Matchups Where The Opponent May Not Want To Strike Into Him; speaking of which, his exceed side is another one that feels pretty useful in the right situations, but it's not quite as overwhelming for the opponent because it requires him doing his face-up initiation (and also because everyone wants to play World of Cardboard instead).