Post by keith0913832 on Nov 23, 2015 0:47:00 GMT 8
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to another revo article! Thus far we have covered topics on corners (link) and factions (link). Today we are exploring another type of Pre-match: Ring Psychology (RP) cards. Overall, there are 9 different RP cards: Throw, Assault, Hold, Head, Neck, Arm, Back, Chest and Leg. Each card has its own unique effects and are cumulative. Most importantly, the effects can be activated as many times as possible as long as its conditions are satisfied. For easier digestion, I broke down each card to its pros and cons and 1 or 2 SS recommendations. Hopefully this would help you in exploring RP cards! Do note that these are all just my personal opinion and there are always other tactics for you to explore.
Before we go into each RP card, let's look at the core of a Ring Psychology tactic: Man Of A Thousand Moves (MO1KM).
Although this card does not reduce the requirements on your RP cards like the classic version, it allows you to grab a free F:0 hold from your Arsenal. This will play an important role for some RP cards. The +2 Pre-match slot is a bonus which covers the 2 slots that were used for the RP cards. A common tactic would be to run 2 RP card, 1 MO1KM, 1 Too Extreme For Your Own Good, and 2 other cards since this set-up would grant you a +3 Pre-match in total.
There are 2 types of RP cards: 3 based on types, and 6 based on targets. The 3 based on types are simple and straight forward, while the 6 based on targets are harder to satisfy but the effects are worth the effort. With that said, let's get it on!
Ring Psychology: Assault
Pros: This card suits aggro type decks as it allows you to constantly pull another maneuver from your ringside to play. This also helps to ensure that you will never eat the aggression rule as long as you have playable maneuvers in your ringside. I would rather you play a Slap to deal 1D to your opponent than eat 6D yourself from the aggression rule.
Cons: That said, this tactic does not suit all decks. Decks that run mono types like Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar would find this to be useless as they wouldn’t have enough space to run multiple types or it would risk losing out on their ability. Also, this card can be argued to work better with the 1st reversal style where the core hybrid reversals can be retrieved by this card. Decks that run the 2nd and 3rd reversal styles will see less use in this card.
Recommendations: A good superstar to try this RP card would be Rey Mysterio, with or without his storyline. Without his storyline, he is able to discard 1 Hold or Throw and search his arsenal for 1 Assault. Once that assault is successful, he can activate RP: Assault to retrieve that Throw or Hold that he discarded. If you are running storyline, it only further fuels your ability to retrieve cards from your ringside. Alternatively, you can use it to retrieve means or colossals as your storyline ability only allows you to pull cores.
Pros: This card serves as a mini-recovery source for decks since antics are currently not seeing much play and thus, recovery cards are hard to come by. This source of recovery would play an important part especially when the cards recovered are hybrid reversals. Coupled with an ability to shuffle your deck, you are able to constantly play maneuvers while being able to reverse opponent’s maneuvers from your arsenal.
Cons: Cards are constantly put at the bottom of the arsenal. Unless you are able to shuffle your arsenal constantly via search or other recovery means, you might face instances that all your maneuvers eventually end up at the bottom of your arsenal and you keep drawing reversals and eating the aggression rule.
Recommendations: The first superstar that comes to mind would obviously be Brock Lesnar that revolves his maneuvers around Throws and Holds. Being able to recover those maneuvers means that he would eventually draw into them. Coupled with his ability to constantly draw cards, it definitely increases his chances of drawing them.
The second superstar that comes to mind is not very popular, but could benefit from RP:Hold. Great Khali, both with or without storyline, is able to make good use of RP: Hold. In his non-storyline version, he is able to search his arsenal for 1 non-unique, non-hybrid maneuver per turn. This allows him to both search his arsenal for the card that his just played, or be able to shuffle his arsenal if he chooses not to pick up those cards that he recovered. His storyline version would require more work and experience, but the gist would be that he is able to reverse from his arsenal more through his ability and through RP: Hold. It benefits long-term when your opponent eventually runs out of maneuvers to play since you are able to constantly reverse via overturn and recycling those reversals.
Ring Psychology: Throw
Pros: Possibly the most played out of the 3 due to the drawing power. A sizable hand is very important for most decks as it means that you have higher possibility of reversing and playing maneuvers to avoid the aggression rule. Therefore, this card is important on many levels. Moreover, it is not very difficult to satisfy its effects. You can sort of get the Hold that you want via MO1KM. Coupled with another assault, you would be able to start using the effects of RP: Throw as early as the first turn.
Con: There isn’t much ‘cons’ for this card. Probably just the fact that it’s harder to satisfy than the previous few RP cards.
Recommendations: Right of the bat, a Non-Storyline Batista would benefit from this card. His deck would definitely revolve around Throw, so a minor tweak to ensure that you get the assault and hold early in the game means you have yourself a drawing machanism. Another superstar that could possibly benefit from this card is Sheamus. Since drawing is the basis of his ability to force opponent to overturn 1 card, this card suits him well and would maximise his ability to the fullest.
That would cover the basis of the 3 basic RP cards. Overall, they are good cards for new players to work with as they are easily understandable. However, they work much better with the 1st reversal style as they give players more reasons to pack more than 1 type of maneuver. Also, superstars that use extreme maneuvers do not benefit from them as well. That would not be the case as we look at the other 6 RP cards that revolve around targets.
Ring Psychology: Leg
Pros: This is easiest RP card to use as there is no prior conditions to fulfill before playing the 'Leg' maneuver. Therefore, this card can activate as early as the first turn of the game where you can start launching Means through the 4F discount. Do take note that the effect is culmulative. Therefore, if you have 3 RP: Leg in you ring, your next ‘Leg’ maneuver would be minus 12F. More than enough to hit even colossals on your first turn.
Cons: Offhand, I can’t identify any ‘cons’ for this card, but just that to maximise its effect, you might need to find ways to get more leg maneuvers in your ringside to constantly be able to retrieve them.
Recommendations: Number one option is non-storyline Ric Flair. With his ability to retrieve a ‘Leg’ maneuver from your ringside per turn, you are in a better position to retrieve cards that you can play to smoothen the Fort curve and hit means and colossals early in the game. Another good superstar to make use of RP: Leg is storyline Batista, where he gets a bonus -6F from his new ability. Coupled with 2 RP: Leg, you are able to get off colossals (which are -14F in total) on the first turn of the game. If your opponent did not pack Slow The Match Down in his backlash or Masochist Of The Heart, then you are on your way to a OTK.
Ring Psychology: Arm
Pros: Relatively easy to satisfy the criteria to have 2 ‘Arm’s in your ring. Very useful late game when you can hit a 15D or more wrist lock (originally 2D). With MO1KM, you can easily get the ‘Arm’ maneuver in your hand from the search effect.
Cons: As much as the effect adds on to the damage, non-unique ‘Arm’ maneuvers are ALL cores, less 1 Hold Colossal, Super Hold. Other than that, it is difficult to mount heavy damage unless you are late in the game. You would absolutely be at disadvantage if you go against The Rock whose ability will make ALL cores do only 1D.
Recommendations: William Regal can be a potential superstar to abuse this card. His Pre-match allows him to search for 2 holds which could be retrieved on the first turn of the game. Plus with 95% of all ‘Arm’ maneuvers being Holds, your ability would be put to good use. Superstars that have cards that make your next maneuver gain momentum like The Rock or Brock Lesnar are some examples that are ideal for this tactic as well. I once ate a 54D momentum-ed Superhold from Rated-(R)oy after he played 'It All Led To This' (mid-match antic). Needless to say I was trashed in that game.
Ring Psychology: Chest
Pros: Once again, this card allows recovery, something that is hard to come by in Revo. Works well even if you decide to run this card on its own without MO1KM.
Cons: ‘Chest’ maneuvers are not very common, and are mostly core or mean maneuvers. Therefore, it might be difficult to satisfy the criteria of having 3 ‘chest’ maneuvers in your ring. You will most probably activate the effect mid-game after you manage to successfully play some ‘chest’ cards.
Recommendations: A good superstar that would sponge really well from RP: Chest is the Sandman with his ability to recover 2 cards as well. SS aside, Edge FX is an amazing ‘Chest’ card as mentioned in my previous article where it could be reused over and over again from ring or ringside. Coupled with 1 or 2 RP: Chest, you shouldn’t have much ringside at the end of every turn. Extremists can also benefit from this card. Extreme: Follow-ups like Flying Tope and Suicide Plancha can be played at very low Fort after enjoying discount for being an extremist. Plus, they are Follow-up cards, which means you can pack as many copies as you want in your deck.
The last 3 RP cards have similar pros and cons so I will be comment on them in general. Here are the card texts:
Pros: Take note that all their effects are activated when your opponent PLAYS a certain maneuver. Therefore, the effect takes place before you choose whether to reverse it or not. RP: Neck works wonders for superstars that require drawing power to fuel their ability like Sabu or Kofi Kingston. Similarly, the extra draw power could generate more chances of offense or wider variety of reversals for you to choose from. RP: Back and RP: Head works in roughly the same manner. By reducing their handsize, you are increasing your chance of him not being able to reverse your maneuver while he has a higher chance of running out of maneuvers to play on his turn.
Cons: Although the effects are good, they are difficult to satisfy as they can only be activated when your opponent plays a certain type of maneuver. Therefore if you are running a deck based on RP: Head but your opponent doesn’t play any Throws, you would have wasted your slots.
Recommendations: In general, there is only 1 superstar that I would recommend for playing these 3 RP cards. That almighty superstar is non-other than our YES! Man, Daniel Bryan. Here’s his ability:
Therefore, it would help to solve the problem of taking your chances on what type of maneuver your opponent might be playing. Here's a sample of a RP: Back Daniel Bryan that I ran awhile back. In general, Kurt Angle could also work with for RP cards as his Pre-match has all 6 targets on it. That means you are one step closer to satisfying those criteria on the 6 target-based RP cards.
CONCLUSION
Ring Psychology cards are able to give any deck a proper boost if used correctly. They are all good starting Pre-match cards for beginners as they will help teach them the logic of ‘satisfying’ conditions in order to achieve certain benefits. MO1KM can also help to get their 1st 0F maneuver in their hand. There are many other ways to make full use of RP cards and those that I stated are just the tip of the iceberg! Feel free to explore and you will definitely find more tactics and ideas. With that, we have come to the end of the introduction to Ring Psychology cards. As usual, feel free to leave your feedback or queries in the comments section below or PM me and I will try my best to revert as soon as possible!
Until next time, Happy Revolutionizing!