Welcome back to another edition of Character "Gems" Corner and today we do a preview/review of a new character in the game as well as that characters set. Today we look at my favorite character from the SCIV franchise, Chai Xianghua; this is the 4th version of her so far and the first one to kinda stray away from the speed and damage bonus tricks of her previous versions as we will see in a minute, unfortunately i don't have the space on my cpu to d/l the pics and upload them, so until 2HD gets the cards up we'll do this the old fashioned way and I'll give you text of the cards and review them first up, the character.

Xianghua4

[Air, Life, Water]
Hand: 7
Vitality: 18
F: Add 1 attack with a printed difficulty of 4 or less from your discard pile to your card pool. Only playable once per turn.
R(X+): After your attack deals damage, add 1 foundation with a difficulty of X or less from your hand to your staging area ready. X equals the damage dealt.

Now she has 3 very good symbols; Water has a lot of good tricks thanks to this set, Life got 50 cards this current set and already was 'A tier', and Air has been a sleeper for a while. A 7 hand with 18 vitality is average but still a good ratio. Her abilites are just dumb for her. The first ability allows you to add an attack from your discard pile to your card pool, now why is this good as you'll see in a few minutes her cards have static abilites that can do VERY good things for you OR very BAD things for your opponent. It also helps you get certain combo pieces into play so you can play your combo abilities easier. Her other ability is one that is gonna probably cause a LOT of headaches, for dealing damage you get to place a foundation of equal or less difficulty than the damage dealt to your staging area READY. Now what's good about this... note the lack of the words "That you could NORMALLY PLAY" meaning if you really wanted to you could pack For the Money and other pain cards to set up a first or 2nd turn kill if you REALLY wish to do so.

Acrobatic[UR](Action)

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +1L
If this card blocks a card with the multiple keyword, all of it's multiple copies are discarded.
E: Switch this attack's Speed and Damage Values.
Diff: 2 Control: 5

Silent Xia Sheng Stance[U](Action)

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +1M
While this card is in your card pool, your block modifiers get -2.
E: Your attack gets +3 Speed.
Diff: 2 Control: 5

Her actions are 2 very good cards, the first one Acrobatic is a good reprint of Idylic Kamui Kotan from SNK set one, with the added ability of removing your opponents multiple copies from their card pool, an ability that will be more and more needed as people start relying on Spinning Demon or Minuette Dance for kill conditions. Acrobatic's ONLY Drawback is that it is an Ultra Rare... something that still has me puzzled but I guess thats why I didn't design the set, i would have had it as an uncommon or a rare, UR is a little too steep. Silent Xia Sheng Stance is an amazing defense trick card, as you will probably notice no that is NO typo as it doesn't say "to a min of +0" this may be the first card that legally sets up NEGATIVE block modifiers, it also has a nice +3 speed enhance on it which for 2 difficulty can be a god send.

Hall of the Warrior God[R](Asset)[Terrain]

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +2H
While this card is in your staging area, after an attack gets a speed bonus, that bonus gets an additional +1.
E: Commit: Discard 1 attack with a difficulty of 4 or less from your card pool.
Diff: 3 Control: 5

X's Sword of No Name2[UR](Asset)[Unique][Weapon]

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +2M
E: Commit, discard 1 card: If your attack deals damage, add 1 foundation from your hand to your staging area, ready.
X F: Destroy this asset: Take 1 card with a printed difficulty of 4 or less from your discard pile and add it to your card pool.
Diff: 2 Control: 5

Her Assets are rather unique in what they do, Hall of the Warrior God is the first Terrain we've seen that kinda does and kinda does not benefit your opponent, if your opponent is giving huge speed pumps to their attacks though... you'd probably NOT wanna play this card as a form. Even if you use the other ability to discard an attack from your card pool and keep your combos going, the ability still works as it's not a "While Ready" ability. Krita-Yuga(As it should be named) is an amazing asset as it basically gives you her abilties to use a second time, also notice the same lack of "normally play" on the Enhance, the Form is actually BETTER than her Form, as it allows you to place ANY 4 diff CARD into your card pool, even actions, or even another Krita-Yuga to get a [Combo: Weapon] attack to use it's enhance.

Playful Slice[UR](Weapon)[Combo: Weapon, Action]

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +2L
SZD: 3M5
While this card is in your card pool, your attacks get -2 Difficulty.
Combo E: If this attack deals damage, add 1 foundation with a printed difficulty of 2 or less from your hand to your staging area, ready.
Diff: 4 Control: 2

Pointing Thrust[U](Weapon)[Combo: Action]

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +2H
SZD: 4H4
Combo E: If this attack deals damage, take 1 action card in your card pool and add it to your hand.
Diff: 5 Control: 3

Rhythm Halt[R](Attack)[Powerful: 1]

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +2M
SZD: 3M4
While this card is in your card pool, after another attack is played, switch it's speed and damage values.
Diff: 4 Control: 3

Tiao Wu kick[C](Kick)[Stun: 1]

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +1M
SZD: 3H3
After this card is added to your card pool, your opponent must reveal 1 random card in their hand and play with it revealed for the rest of the turn.
Diff: 3 Control: 3

Twisting Lotus Flow[UR](Weapon)[Combo: High Attack, Mid Weapon]

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +2L
SZD: 3M4
While this card is in your card pool, all other attacks you play get +1 Speed.

Combo E: If this attack deals damage, each player adds all cards in their card pool to their hands.
Diff: 5 Control: 2

Waterfall[R](Attack)[Multiple: 1][Combo: Weapon, Weapon]

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +2M
SZD: 4L6
While this card is in your card pool, multiple copies of an attack get -3 Damage.
Combo E: This attack gets +X damage. X equals this attack's speed.
Diff: 6 Control: 3

Her attacks are much better than what they were in her first incarnation, as most of her cards from her first incarnation NEVER saw play, you can see pretty much all of her attacks will see play in some deck or another, lets start off with Playful Slice, 3M5 with Combo and the static text of your attacks get -2Diff, yes please sign me up for that, yes it has a 2cc but that is negligible, as notice it is a 4 diff attack, easilly playable by X's form, and a +2L block is just icing on a all around good attack. Pointing Thrust, hmm i think this was an attack name last time but oh well, a [Combo: Action] attack that allows you to loop your actions so you can keep combos going, and EASILLY leads into playing the action again and playing Pointing Thrust as a combo attack and have fun. Rhythm Halt, while not an amazing attack on it's own, it's static is where it shines as any time an attack is played afterwards, you switch the speed and damage values of the attack, you know those low speed high damage attacks your opponent plays, they just become small high speed attacks, and you can start to reduce the damage all you want at that point. Taio Wu Kick, again not a great card on it's own as an attack, but it causes your opponent to reveal cards from their hand and thus is a good utility card. Twisting Lotus Flow, gives speed bonuses to other attacks you play and if you use it's combo enhance or can set it up right, you can loop your card pool over and over and over again till your opponent dies. Waterfall is an amazing attack with any speed pumps you can give it, if you can set it up and play it at 8 or if you have a Trained Far and Wide in your staging area a 6cc is necessary, it also has an amazing static that though it deters you from playing it's multiple it keeps your opponent's multiples from dealing MASSIVE damage to you.

Carefree[C](Foundation)

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +1M
Diff: 1 Control: 5

Deceptively Quick[C](Foundation)

[Air, Life, Water]
E: Commit: Choose 1 foundation. This attack gets +1 Speed for each copy of the chosen card in each player's staging area.
Diff: 2 Control: 5

Finding Happiness[U](Foundation)

[Air, Life, Water]
E: Commit, discard 1 attack from your card pool: Your next non-attack this turn gets -X difficulty. X equals the control value of the discarded attack.
Diff: 2 Control: 4

Just Kidding[C](Foundation)

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +3L
E: Commit: Both players reveal 1 card from their hand. If the revealed cards are of the same card type, this attack gets +3 Speed. Only playable while both players have at least 1 card in their hand.
Diff: 2 Control: 5

Lost Partner[R](Foundation)

[Air, Life, Water]
E: Destroy this foundation: Ready any 2 foundations that have not been readied this combat phase.
Diff: 3 Control: 4

Playfull[U](Foundation)

[Air, Life, Water]
Block: +3H
E: Commit: Switch your attack's speed and damage. Only playable if you have at least 3 attacks in your card pool.
Diff: 2 Control: 5

Pure Hearted[U](Foundation)

[Good, Life, Water]
R: After 1 of your foundations is destroyed due to your opponent's card effect, add 1 foundation with difficulty of 2 or less from your hand to your staging area ready. Playable while commited.
Diff: 2 Control: 4

Carefree looks to be nothing more than a 1/5 with a +1M but really try to find a +1M or better block on a 1/5 in the current block, artwork does look horrible though. Deceptively Quick, makes your opponent playing the same foundations that you do stare down HUGE Speed attacks, as it gives speed bonuses equal to the number of a chosen foundation in BOTH players staging area. Finding Happiness allows you to play your Actions or high difficulty foundations for basically no difficulty if you can time it right. Just Kidding if your opponent can reveal the same card type as you gives your attacks a very nice +3 Speed pump. Lost Partner gives you a use of her Promo's ability as you can ready 2 foundations you haven't readied this combat phase, a nice card. Playful, is a reprint of Idylic Kamui Kotan with a cost this time of you having 3 attacks in your card pool and has a block on it, +3H isn't optimal, but it's better than IKK itself. Pure Hearted is good anti destruction, as it allows you to place foundations into your staging area after your opponent destroys your other foundations and it's playable while committed, i like it.

Now lets see if we can make a playable deck with her, I'm leaning towards an Air or Life build with her but i'll see what i can come up with for everyone

Character: X4 7/18 Air, Life, Water

Actions(8)
Silent Xia Sheng Stance x4 2/5 +1M

Teih Lei, Iron Thunder x4 2/5 +1H

Assets(6)
X's Sword of No Name2 x3 2/5 Unique +2M
Eiserne Drossel x3 3/5 Unique +2M

Attacks(24)
Execution Technique First Rite x4 4/3 3L3 Stun: 2 Weapon +2L
Lowdown Neb x4 4/3 5L1 Weapon
Playfull Slice x4 4/2 3M5 Weapon Combo(Weapon, Action) +2L
Pointing Thrust x4 5/3 4H4 Weapon Combo(Action) +2H
Rhythm Halt x4 4/3 3M4 Pow: 1 +2M
Waterfall x4 6/3 4L6 Combo(Weapon, Weapon)

Foundations(28)
Carefree x4 1/5 +1M
Deceptively Quick x4 2/5
*Financial Troubles x4 2/5
*For the Money x4 2/5 +3M
*Hope for One's People x4 0/5 +3H
Just Kidding x4 2/5 +3L
Playfull x4 2/5 +3H


Now do note the cards with the asterisk next to them cannot be played as forms or as blocks due to not sharing any symbols with her but also note that you can drop them to your staging area with X's ability, and the fact that they are 5 checks helps the deck A LOT. Hopefully this deck inspires more people to play her, Until my next article this is Nathan "NJBrock22" Spade signing off.