Introduction

The Persona Collab is finally making its way to North America and would have been more exciting if we did not already have Magic: The Gathering Collab. This is because Magic: The Gathering largely sidelined many of the Persona Cards and lowers their overall value as we now have alternatives for some of their abilities.

While this may sound depressing, it also means one can save their Magic Stones for a more beneficial event (large speculation for a Super Godfest with the debut of Richie ). With that being said, the Persona Collab comes with powerful farmable Weapon Assists and cards that are worth pursuing. Full article on farmable options can be found HERE.

This article will summarize all the REM cards available in the Persona Collab by examining their strengths, weaknesses, and where one can effectively utilize them.

Video commentary

—video coming soon—

Overview

Persona Collab REM
6 Star base
5 Star base

Persona Collab REM Rankings – July 13, 2018
S
A
B
C
D

All 6-star cards are available for trade within the Monster Exchange System along with Morgana 

Order within each tier is random and not reflective of ranking.

Regardless of card’s ranking, you should always keep it if it is your very first time acquiring them.

6 Star base

Due to the fact that this is a 5-stone REM, all of the cards will have lower weighted stats compared to any reincarnated evolution or more expensive Collabs. This is not always a deal breaker, but can be a limiting factor when using any card from the Persona Collab REM.

All 6* base cards can be acquired via the Monster Exchange System.

 Makoto Yuki – S

Active: Removes  lock status on orbs. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Wood & Light & Dark & Heart orbs. Inflict Fire nuke damage equal to team Water ATK x50 to all enemies. (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x5, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Fire, Water & Light orb types at the same time. ATK x3, RCV x3 when reaching 6 combos

Awakenings:         
Worth trading for via Monster Exchange? Maybe

Pros	Cons
Flexible Leader Skill Has viable 7×6 pairings Has viable 6×5 pairings Means you do not have to own Yuki Full board changer that unlocks orbs NIche Button nuke option	Low weighted stats Tri-elemental requirement can harm VDP  boards Active is combines 2 non-synergistic effects Modest length CD Offset by Skill Charge

Yuki is an interesting and powerful card in the Persona Collab as they are able to fulfill several different roles.

Firstly, their active skill has several components which enables them to provide several types of utility for your team. Their board changer component creates all 6 elements while also unlocking orbs. This functions like Raijin  who shares the same board changer plus unlock combo but comes with an 8 turn cooldown. For the most part, many players will be using the board changing aspect for traditional content, but the 50x Water team ATK has some applications for button farming.

It is possible to deal meaningful amount of damage via Yuki’s active, but that is edging on luxurious as they are a 6-star card who have a 2.5% chance of being pulled. Regardless, the multi-purpose aspect of their active skill contributes to a longer cooldown, but thankfully, it is heavily offset by the Skill Charge  awakening.

As such, Yuki’s main appeal will be as a leader as they are able to achieve 15x ATK, 25% damage reduction, and 3x RCV all on their own. This is quite a potent multiplier, but the main downside is the fact that all components have some clauses, albeit all are easy to achieve.

Despite the fact that Yuki’s leader skill is quite potent, they tend to function best when paired with other cards (otherwise they function like Rikuu  with more team flexibility/stats/awakenings). Yuki can wonderfully pair with the new/future GFE Richie  to gain a higher multiplier and damage control/scaling along with some movement time instead of an absurd amount of RCV.

In addition to Richie, Yuki can favourably pair with Jhiora  as her colour clause activation is not an issue and removes the need to run Odin Dragon . As such, Yuki tends to pair better with Jhoira than Diablos .

As a sub, Yuki has less value as they are a low weighted stat, double 7 Combo  card with a poor active that is reliant on Skill Charge to function.

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Yu Narukami – A

Active: Reduce enemies’ defense to 0 for 1 turn. Effects carry forward on sweep. Randomly spawn 8 Light orbs from non Light orbs. (10 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Light attribute cards HP x2, ATK x2. Increases time limit of orb movement by 2 seconds. ATK x5 when simultaneously clearing 6 connected Light orbs

Awakenings:         
Worth trading for via Monster Exchange? No

Pros	Cons
Double VDP  Balance typing Can accept any Killer latent 100% DEF break Spawns 8 Light orbs	Low weighted stats Yusuke  is almost always a better VDP option Yu Narukami has lower effective damage Orb hungry Leader Skill Active has lower value in this meta Low value as a sub due to inconsistent personal damage

Yu Nakurami is a reasonable 6-star card from the Persona Collab due to the fact that stronger options exist for the niche they are trying to fulfill.

Firstly, the double Void Damage Penetration  enables Yu Narukami to pierce through spawns with the Damage Void mechanic; however, he will most likely be the only card dealing damage. This is because all other team member will most likely have their damage voided out and it is up to Yu Narukami to one shot the boss. This requires them to have high personal damage and each VDP contributes 2.5x ATK when the 3×3 box is formed. Sadly, this amounts to 6.25x personal ATK and the main issue is that Yusuke  does this better.

Yusuke has only a single VDP but also has two 7 Combo  awakenings. This pushes his personal damage to 10x ATK along with having a better active skill for forming a 3×3 box. As such, Yu Nakurami is not fulfilling a new niche as a potent light VDP option as well as being a poor sub due to no personal damage outside the Box awakenings. With that being said, Yu Nakurami can still function as a strong VDP option if lacking any of the premier cards.

As such, we need to examine him as a Leader and is unfortunately it is mediocre overall. While he does boast 4x HP, built in movement time, and some healing potential via his dual Enhanced Heart Orb  awakening, his activation requirement is modestly orb hungry along with row-based teams having less merit in this day and age. This is because row teams struggle with both their orb requirements, resolves, and combo shields. This can cause them to become more reliant on active skills to push through challenging spawns and the 100x ATK multiplier is already on the low end. Despite this, he can still be used to clear a large chunk of content as he is able to withstand repeated amounts of damage without dying.

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Ren Amamiya- S

Active: Delay 1 turn to all enemies. Full bind recovery.Awoken Bind recovery for 9999 turns. (10 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x3 when attacking with 3 of following orb types: Fire, Water, Wood, Light & Dark. All attribute cards ATK x5, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Heart and Heart combos at the same time.

Awakenings:         
Worth trading for via Monster Exchange? Maybe

Pros	Cons
Can potentially replace Odin Dragon  or Jhoira  Same amazing bind clearing active Can be inherited Double 7 Combo  Follow Up Attack  Balance typing Can accept any type of Latent	Low weighted stats Jhoira is a better inherit Leader Skill is not that potent Damage reduction is tied to having 2 Heart combos Healing/stalling is problematic Active is slightly weaker than Odin Dragon/Jhoira

Ren Amamiya would have been significantly more valuable if Magic: The Gathering Collab did not come out first as he would have been our only inheritable Odin Dragon -style active skill. When pushing through end game content, having the ability to instantly remove all turns of bind and awoken binds is invaluable and having to always rely on Odin Dragon was not always desirable.

Thus, when Jhoira  came out with her inherit-ability and Weapon Assist evolution, players were somewhat set in terms of having an inheritable Odin Dragon. While Ren Amamiya can still be used, he will not provide the additional awakenings Jhoira does. Regardless, he is still a powerful sub and a viable alternative to running Jhoira or Odin Dragon.

Ren Amamiya comes with the delightful double 7 Combo  and Follow Up Attack  awakenings which can help alleviate team building constraints if players are short on FUA options or lacking a viable bind/awoken bind clearing option. As such, by combining both stellar offensive awakenings and an invaluable active skill, Ren Amamiya can be happily used on a wide variety of teams.

Sadly, he is not without downsides and most notably is his low weighted stats and a 1 turn delay (and 1 turn additional cooldown) instead of a turn of haste for his active skill. While this may be a small issue, it is usually more universally beneficial to have a turn of haste over a 1 turn delay as the delay will often go to waste whereas the haste is always helpful.

Overall, Ren Amamyia is a wonderful card and will be a beneficial card for the vast majority of players.

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Elizabeh – B

Active: Full HP recovery. Full bind recovery. Ignores enemy attribute damage absorb effects for 1 turn (does not include combo shield, damage absorb shield, and damage void). (14 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Dark  attribute cards HP x1.5, ATK x1.5, RCV x1.5. All attribute cards ATK x3 when reaching 4 combos or above. ATK x2 when simultaneously clearing 5 connected Dark orbs.

Awakenings:         
Worth trading for via Monster Exchange?  No

Pros	Cons
Multi purpose active skill Full Hp Heal Full Bind clear Void Colour Absorb Natural Cloud Resist  Three L  awakenings	Active does not remove Awoken Binds Attribute absorb is niche Modestly long cooldown Leader Skill is average

Elizabeth tries to revive the match-5 playstyle (wording does not require enhanced orbs) but her mediocre multipliers will greatly hold her back. This is because 81x ATK does not produce enough damage for the most part and even when factoring in the L  awakenings, the damage will not be that high. As such, she will most likely be used as a stepping stone leader for less developed boxes as they can use any Dark card they currently own.

In regards to her sub potential, Elizabeth is niche for the most part as she will most likely not be contributing damage. Furthermore, the Cloud Resist  awakening has become much more readily available through Jhoira  Weapon Assists.

Finally, her active skill has some merit overall due to it’s multi component aspect. The full HP heal and bind clear can be situationally helpful, but her ability to ignore Attribute Absorbs without disrupting the board can be valuable for farming teams; however, this is effect is quite niche for the most part and players would probably be using a board/orb changer for that floor anyway.

Overall, Elizabeth is too niche to find much merit in today’s meta as she does not accomplish anything particularly well.

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5 star base

All of the 5-star cards have horrible base stats and their main focus will be on their inheritance potential; however, some exceptions apply.

 Makoto Niijima – C

Active: Inflict Fire damage equal to ATK x80 to 1 enemy. Affected by enemy element and defense. Change Light & Jammer orbs to Fire orbs. Change Dark, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Water orbs.  (10 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Fire attribute cards ATK x3. All attribute cards ATK x2.5 when reaching Fire & Water combos

Awakenings:     

Pros	Cons
Double orb changer Removes hazards	Long cooldown Full board changers are more efficient

Makoto Niijima is a double orb changer that can remove Jammer and Poison orbs while producing Fire and Water. Presently speaking, this can have merit on Jhoira  teams, but the active has an exceptionally long cooldown.

By comparison, Urd  and Weld  are both able to produce full board changers with Fire, Water, and Heart orbs. This is far more efficient as hazards are still removed, but it tends to produce a higher combo board along with the ability to heal. By comparison, Urd has a 9 turn cooldown whereas Weld has an 11 turn but Weld comes with a 1 turn delay and ability to transfer awakenings via his Weapon Assist.

All in all, Makoto Niijima will be a budget orb changing solution when faced with Jammer and Poison orbs.

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Mitsuru Kirijo – B

Active: Delay 1 turn to all enemies. Increase skyfall chance of Heart orbs by 15% for 5 turns (10 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Water attribute cards HP x1.5, ATK x3.5. ATK x2, reduce damage taken by 35% after matching Heal orbs in a cross formation

Awakenings:      

Pros	Cons
Double Devil Killer  Opens up options for Water teams Can use Devil Killer latents	Low weighted stats Lackluster active Long cooldown Low/no value without Devil  spawns

Mitsuru Kirijo has the potential to be a situationally helpful sub due to their double Devil Killers  and their ability to equip Devil Killer latents. The usage of latents pushes them above Shazel’s  damage output against Devils, but Shazel is able to still equip 3 other latents (cannot use Devil). Furthermore, Shazel has 2 Skill Boosts  (but lacks SBR ), a shorter base cooldown, and ability to be Limit Broken and Super Awoken. As such, Shazel will still be the stronger option, but Mitsuru Kirijo can still provide merit to your Monster Box as they are Water and will be significantly more effective against Fire spawns.

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Yosuke Hanamura – C

Active: Wood attribute ATK x3.5 for 1 turn. Removes lock status on orbs.  (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Wood attribute cards HP x1.5, ATK x1.5, RCV x1.5. All attribute cards ATK x3 when reaching Wood & Wood combos

Awakenings:     

Pros	Cons
Alternative to Gemstone/Wise Dragon Burst Unlocks orbs	Lower burst than Wise Dragon Possibly lower than Gemstone Only lasts 1 turn

Yosuke Hanamura combines the effects of an orb unlocker and burst damage for Wood teams. While this may seem appealing on paper, it is rare when both are actually needed.

Comparing Yosuke Hanamura to Wise Dragons , Wise Dragons provide 5x ATK without the orb unlock but provides 2 turns of Haste (15 turn CD). For the most part, haste is a universally beneficial secondary effect compared to an orb unlock.

On the other hand, Gemstone Princesses (    ) provide a scaling multiplier based on the number of awakenings on your team. This can result in varied damage, but it can exceed 3.5x along with lasting for 2 turns.

Taking this into consideration, it would almost always be better to run a Wise Dragon or Gemstone Princess for your burst unless one needed the orb unlocking effect. Presently speaking, the most notable spawn where both effects would be needed is Dark Metatron in 3P Arena/Alt Arena, but she still gives you an extra turn to set up the board.

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Goro Akechi – D

Active: Deals damage equal to 5% of enemies’ max HP. Change Water orbs to Light orbs (9 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Attacker type cards ATK x2. Increases time limit of orb movement by 4 seconds. All attribute cards ATK x3 when reaching 5 combos or above.

Awakenings:     

Pros	Cons
5% Gravity	Hardly any applications

Goro Akechi looks horrible at first glance, but the 5% gravity has one niche application: dealing low enough damage to bypass a damage absorb/void. This is most notable against the Dragon Caller Ena who requires players to hit 9 or more combos or otherwise be executed.

While there are many counters to this such as 7×6 and + combo count actives, maybe in specific dungeons where one knows Ena will spawn can Goro Akechi be useful. Otherwise, the active is horribly lackluster and would not be used under virtually any other scenario.

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 Aigis – C

Active: Deal 20 damage to 1 enemy for 5 times. Ignore enemy element and defense. (9 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Light attribute cards HP x2, RCV x2. Matched attribute ATK x3.5 when matching exactly 5 connected orbs with at least 1 enhanced orb.

Awakenings:       

Pros	Cons
Deals 100 True Damage (20 x 5) Can slide under low Damage Void spawns	Few applications

Aigis  strongly resembles Riza Hawkeye  in that both deal small amounts of True Damage several times. This enables them to slide under the Voids of Dark Metatron Tamadra and Reincarnated Zeal or execute multi floor spawns like Tamadras, PreDRAs, or Pys.

While the ability to seamlessly bypass low Damage Void spawns is sometimes valuable, the animation is slower than a traditional button against multi-floor spawns. As such, it is better to use a traditional button for floors with several enemies.

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Teddie – B

Active: 25% damage reduction for 9 turns (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Water attribute cards ATK x2, RCV x2. Water attribute cards ATK x3 on the turn a skill is used.

Awakenings:     

Pros	Cons
9 turns of 25% damage reduction 11 turn CD	Challenging to justify as a sub Inheriting dramatically lowers up time of shield

Teddie has a fantastic active skill that is sadly attached to a lackluster card. Being able to reduce all incoming damage by 25% for 9 turns on only an 11 turn cooldown is simply amazing. Sadly, Teddie makes for a poor sub due to his middling awakenings and low weighted stats. As such, they will most likely be inherited which will dramatically lower the effective up time of the shield.

Perhaps one could use Teddie as an inherit on Blue Cotton  (5+11 CD) which will transfer some stats and still provide a reasonably high up time on the shield.

Conclusion

The Persona Collab is a reasonable event overall but is lacking behind other events from a raw value point of view. This is partially attributed to the introduction of the Magic: The Gathering Collab along with the top Persona cards being pushed out by other options.

With that being said, the decision of whether or not to roll is not always based upon the potential of the card, but the fan service it provides.

Let me know what you think about the Persona event in the comments below and if you plan on rolling.

Happy Puzzling!

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