Sword Art Online Collab Review and Analysis – January 2019

January 6, 2019 Mantastic 31 Comments

Introduction

The Sword Art Online (SAO) Collab makes a debut to North America on January 7th, 2019 and follows the recent trend of 5-Stone machines having Weapon Assist forms at the top rarity. This is valuable because it can open up team building compositions along with expanding the value a 6-star card can bring. Furthermore, all 6-star cards will be available through the Monster Exchange system but tend to fall short as a whole.

The main problem with the Sword Art Online Collab is that most of the cards are not meta changing despite being reasonable overall. Furthermore, the 5-star pool is quite lacking which means players will mostly be chasing for the top rarity cards. Thankfully, the event has a valuable event dungeon which can yield lucrative rewards and cards with Eugeo being a must have.

This article will examine each of the Egg Machine cards featured in the SAO Collab to give players an idea of what to expect and whether or not they should spend their Magic Stones.

As always, the decision of whether to roll or not to roll will still come down to individual preference and how much you value the cards or franchise.

On a positive note, all of the Voice Awakenings will be in Japanese and there will be no option to convert to English.

Video commentary

—video coming soon (when I get over this cold/sore throat)—

Overview

Sword Art Online REM
6 Star base
5 Star base

Sword Art Online Rankings – January 3, 2018
S
A
B
C
D

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

Continue reading Sword Art Online Collab Review and Analysis – January 2019 →

Events

REMDra Descended Returns to NA!

January 2, 2019 Mantastic 17 Comments

Introduction

Starting on Wednesday, January 2, the North American server will enjoy another Gatcha-Dragon event in which players can participate for lucrative individual and server-wide rewards.

The event lasts for a week and comes in two difficulties with each one having a chance for an Egg MachineDra to spawn. Each successful clear with an Egg MachineDra appearance will count towards your personal progression as well as the server total and once certain thresholds have been met, rewards will be distributed.

This is a wonderful event as it gives players of various levels of progression the chance to grind towards something meaningful.

With that being said, there is the chance that players will receive 2 free pull in the Heroine REM which means one should hold off on using the Monster Exchange system in case fortune smiles upon you.

Just be aware that the dungeon follows a Limited Time Dungeon (LTD) format so one must check each day to see their play times. This can be done in game via the LTD tab.

Video commentary

–video coming soon–

How it works

The Descended functions like the previous REMDra event North America had last October in that players have the opportunity to play for both personal and server-wide rewards. Continue reading REMDra Descended Returns to NA! →

Monster Points

Monster Point Spending Advice – January 2019 + Dark Meimei Commentary

January 1, 2019 Mantastic 36 Comments

Introduction

The New Year kicks off with a bang through the generosity of GungHo North America in both Magic Stones, new Challenge dungeons, and Monster Points (MP). In fact, just logging in once during the month of January will give all players 700,000 Monster Points through their in-game mail.

For newer players, this will be the most they have ever had and the temptation to spend them immediately will be great. With that being said, I want to caution players from making ill-informed decisions and wasting this amazing gift.

This article will explain how the Monster Point system works, basic do’s and don’ts, a review of the new Dark Meimei , and an overview of the best MP cards to purchase at this point in time

Video commentary

–video coming soon–

Monster Point system

The Monster Point system has been around for a couple of years and over time has become more user friendly in the sense that players are able to acquire MP more easily. The Monster Point Shop can be accessed via Shop -> Purchase Monster. Continue reading Monster Point Spending Advice – January 2019 + Dark Meimei Commentary →

Question Time

Question Time with Mantastic – January 2019

January 1, 2019 Mantastic 61 Comments

Introduction

The general gist of Question Time posts are for players to ask various PAD-related questions that do not have a simple/Google-able answer or related article on my website. I do play other games and have often found myself having specific/unique questions about it but have no where to go and can imagine this may hold true for some of my readers.

With that being said, there will be some restrictions on the types of questions I will be answering.

Do’s and Don’t

For the most part, almost any question will be answered, even some non-invasive Off-Topic ones; however, it is best to ask questions that require explanation/why/my personal opinion. The following examples are Fantastic types of questions to ask:

Of these options, what is the best Yusuke team I can make for Arena 3?
What direction do you think GungHo will take with the 4x HP leads?
Can Heart Cross teams be revived and if so, how?

The following types of questions will not be answered by me either because it has a simple Google-able answer or shows a lack of effort on the reader’s part: