Introduction

The JP 7 Year Anniversary Stream took place early this morning and will set the tone for content being released in the upcoming months.

Due to the fact that the JP server tends to be about 2 months ahead of North America, we can use this information to make informed decisions for our PAD life and Monster Box.

This article/video will be highlighting the major upcoming buffs, evolutions, and Collabs that are on the near horizon. As such, one should use this information on where they plan to spend their Magic Stones as we will be seeing a return of Monster Hunter and Yu Yu Hashusho (YYH) Collab.

Video commentary

–video coming soon–

Returning Collabs

The JP Stream announced 4 returning/new Collabs with Monster Hunter and YYH having already occurred in North America. This means there should be no reason why we would not experience them once again.

At this point in time, no information has been released outside of their return but it is not a far stretch to expect buffs for existing cards (most notably Limit Break/Super Awakenings) along with new top rarity monsters.

Monster Hunter

Even if Monster Hunter received 0 buffs/changes it would still be a desirable Collab to roll in. This is because this 10-Magic Stone event contains some of the best Weapon Assist evolutions in the game at the lowest rarity. This means players have an exceptionally high chance of rolling something of value as many feature the highly desired triple resists   (60% chance to block).

With this in mind, it is well worth rolling in for these cards alone with the top prizes most likely gaining meaningful buffs to encourage further rolling. When this comes to North America I plan to roll for at least 1 Raithian and his sweet Weapon Assist .

YYH Collab

Yu Yu Hashusho Collab might as well be called the Yusuke Collab as he is the only prize from this entire REM and was also the first event to feature the Monster Exchange System. As a result, Yusuke is probably the most owned high-end leader for North American players as many traded in for him instead of rolling in the Collab.

Despite the fact that Yusuke has lost his edge compared to current options, he is still a wonderfully strong card and will likely receive meaningful buffs to keep this Collab alive. Things that would push him over the top would be a Damage Reduction component to his Leader Skill while Limit Breaking might yield 7 Combo or VDP . Either way, gaining higher effective health would improve his overall viability.

Shaman King & Devil May Cry 5 (DMC) Collab

These two Collabs were announced but there is no guarantee we will receive these.

Zela won survey

JP has a server wide survey to determine which GFE will be featured in the Monster Exchange system. This differs from the previous event where cards could be acquired via Monster Points.

Unfortunately, she will require 5:1 ratio of GFE/Seasonals or Black Event Medals (which are created by trading 5:1 Rainbow Event Medals ).

As a whole, this is too expensive for the average player and with Super Reincarnated Evolutions (explained later) requiring 1 Event Medal, players may find themselves running out of this currency unless we are showered with numerous additional places to acquire them.

Card buffs

Numerous card buffs have gone out to farmable monsters but many do little to salvage their current usage. With that being said, there are a few stand out winners:

Azathoth

Azathoth has gained Guard Break and >80% ATK now achieving 1,530 weighted stats at level 110. Furthermore, he features 3,252 ATK at level 110 along with a Coop Boost awakenings which makes him one of the stronger Button bases.

Rushana

Rushana gained Limit Break and Super Awakenings and can now become fully bind immune along with enjoying 1,164 weighted stats.

Light Hera Dragon

Gained a higher ATK multiplier along with her Active going from 9 -> 8 turns. Furthermore, she has gained Limit Break/Super Awakenings but sadly remains a 5o1e leader. This type of Leader Skill is far less valuable compared to 5-match leaders as ATK is only boosted for the 5-matched colour and it has to have on orb being enhanced.

Hexazeon

Hexazeon has insanely high weighted stats and will now provide an additional 20% vs Blinds, Jammers, and Poisons via   . This can help teams naturally achieve 100% resistance and gives more justification to use him as a sub.

Noah Dragon

Noah Dragon now gains a second Skill Boost and functions as a full Water board + Poison. This can instantly kill Resolve spawns with no Status Void for Water farming teams.

Dark Ra Dragon available

Dark Ra Dragon will be available for 3 Black Event Medals which trade 5:1 with Rainbow Event Medals. This gives players a new place to spend what is possibly an overflowing currency but the card itself is underwhelming.

With that being said, this opens the door to the possibility of acquiring Blue Athena and Light Bastet in the future.

New evolutions

Greco-Roman 3

The Greco-Roman 3 pantheon has received the split evolution treatment which enables their base forms to retain their active skill in a form that has more usage as a sub/leader. With that being said, their ability to cancel Colour Absorb for a single turn has low applications as this type of mechanic is rarely dangerous.

In terms of their Leader Skills, all 5 cards share the same [1 / 225 / 1 / 75%] Leader Skill where players have to match any 6 or more connected orbs and then 3 specific colours. Sadly, the Damage Reduction is tied to the 3 colour match which will lead to activation inconsistencies overall.

At this point in time, Hestia is often used as an Enhanced Heal Orb and FUA card while Cronus and Uranus are often Damage sticks for their respective colours.

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Super Reincarnated Haku (Dark/x)

Active: Change all orbs to Fire, Water, and Dark orbs; Charge allies’ skill by 1 turn (9 turn Cooldown)

Leader Skill: 1.5x HP for Dark Att.; 5x ATK when above 50% HP; 3x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching Fire+Water+Dark [2.25/225/1/43.75%]

Awakenings:  
Super Awakenings: 
Typing: God / Healer / Attacker
Weighted Stats: 1200 (1380)
HP 4034 (4639) / ATK 2595 (2984) / RCV 833 (958)

Haku is the first card to gain a special new type of evolution that changes her Leader Skill and awakenings (retains the same active as Reincarnated). This process will require an absurd amount of Enhance Materials as players have to level various different forms and will lose their Limit Break/Super Awakening on the Reincarnated form as the level is set back to 1. Furthermore, Super Reincarnated Haku will require 50 Million experience to reach level 99 and another 50 Million to achieve 110.

As a whole, she is a reasonable card, but does not feel justified for the resource sink. Furthermore, Haku and all future SRevos will require 1 Rainbow Event Medal to complete.

This sets an interesting tone moving forward as it could give older pantheon cards a chance to become truly viable again. Haku has massive weighted stats and the potential to be strong if TPA becomes relevant again.

In terms of her Leader Skill, the multipliers are strong but having the Damage Reduction tied behind 3 specific colour matches can be problematic.

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Gemstone Weapon Assists     

All of the Gemstone Princesses can now become Weapon Assists that all provide and their respective colour Resist. The additional 500 HP and 50 RCV is small but an additional bonus overall while also requiring less Tamadras to fully awaken.

For the most part, this is a small buff but 100% HP teams may find issues if the owning card becomes bound and the bind clear does not heal after removing said bind. If the heal occurs first, the team will be left with 500 less HP as awakenings were disabled during the bind.

Godfest Exclusives – Mega Awoken

Mega Awoken evolutions for 6-star Godfest Exclusives (GFE) usually improve their viability as it revamps their Active skill, Leader Skill, and awakenings which greatly alters how we utilize them. Generally speaking, this form tends to be superior to their prior forms as they have been adjusted to fit in today’s current meta.

Dantalion (Fire/Water)

Active: Create 3 Fire, Heal orbs at random; For 1 turn, increase combo count by 1 (6 turn Cooldown)

Leader Skill: 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when 7 or more combos; 3.5x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 2+ Heal combos [1/196/1/68.36%]

Awakenings:   
Typing: Devil / Balance
Weighted Stats: 1101
HP 4224 / ATK 2287 / RCV 666

Dantalion’s Leader Skill features two distinct components that both offer ATK and Damage Reduction. The first part only requires players to reach 7 Combos which should be doable from almost every given board. As such, his team will enjoy a relatively consistent 43.75% Damage Reduction but a tiny 16x ATK.

Sadly, the second component requires 2 Heart Combos for the remaining multiplier and will not always be available from a given board. This can lead to awkward moments of stalling as players may often have to clear the entire board to hit 7 combos which may require a single Heart match. Furthermore, this is not exactly a new play style and does not eclipse current Combo leaders.

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Paimon (Light/Dark)

Active: Create cross of Light orbs with center at 2nd row from top and 2nd column from right; Create cross of Dark orbs with center at 2nd row from top and 2nd column from left (11 turn Cooldown)

Leader Skill: 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 35% when above 50% HP; 3.5x ATK for each cross of 5 Light, Dark orbs [1/29419/1/ 57.75%]

Awakenings:     
Typing: Devil / Balance
Weighted Stats: 1103
HP 4902 / ATK 2445 / RCV 372

Paimon becomes an outrageously hard hitting Colour Cross leader who also enjoys the same Damage Reduction mechanic as Edward . Paimon teams must remain above 50% HP to tap into their additional damage along but more importantly, their Damage Reduction component. This sizable shield will enable teams to stall if required while also lessening the burden of constant active skills.

While having a nice passive multiplier is nice, it is when Paimon starts forming Colour Crosses that his damage truly explodes. At a single Light or Dark Cross, Paimon will enjoy 196x ATK which is on par with many other leaders yet nothing really compares to his outrageous 2,401x ATK with 2 Dark/Light crosses.

With 2,401x ATK, few spawns will actually survive (3 Crosses is excessive and rarely needed) and the problem now becomes squeezing in FUA or VDP along with high combo shields.

Regardless, Paimon has become an exciting card and the fact that his active instantly generates 2 crosses makes life much easier.

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Ilm (Light/Fire)

Active: Change all orbs to Fire, and Light orbs; For 1 turn, 2x ATK for Devil type (13 turn Cooldown)

Leader Skill: 2x HP for Devil type; 6x ATK on the turn a skill is used; 2x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 4 or more connected Light orbs [4/144/1/ 43.75%]

Awakenings:
Typing: Devil
Weighted Stats: 1099
HP 4875 / ATK 2159 / RCV 541

Ilm’s Mega Awoken Evolution gives us another card with the glorious 4x HP and 43.75% Damage Reduction that Dark Metatron currently enjoys. This incredibly high amount of effective HP ensures these types of teams can survive any preemptive and most executions along with the lethal Gravity+hit combo.

Unfortunately, Mega Awoken Ilm has a restrictive sub pool and must use an active skill every turn for her full multiplier. This means players are only able to bring in 5 usable active skills for a given dungeon but thankfully, the 4-match Light condition is relatively easy to achieve. Thankfully, Halloween Myne can be used but may have less synergy due to differing colours.

From my initial impression, Ilm will most likely not surpass Dark Metatron due to the lower ATK, restrictive sub pool, lower personal damage due to situational awakenings, and even less Time Extend.

With that being said, Ilm can be used in farming builds as she has 6 Skill Boosts between both leaders, a bi colour board, and will fully activate from 1 combo swipe boards.

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Typhon (Dark/Fire)

Active: Change all orbs to Fire, Water, Dark, and Heal orbs; For 1 turn, 2x ATK for Dragon type (9 turn Cooldown)

Leader Skill: 2x HP for Dragon type; 6x ATK when 6 or more combos; 2x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 4 or more connected Heal orbs [4/144/1/ 43.75%]

Awakenings:  
Typing: Dragon
Weighted Stats: 1102
HP 4613 / ATK 2746 / RCV 276

Typhon shares the same Leader Skill multipliers as Ilm but does not have an active skill clause. This greatly eases his team building and activation requirements along with utility that can be brought into a dungeon. Furthermore, he can utilize other coloured subs with greatly ease as his main activation requirement is matching 4 or more connected Heart Orbs.

For the most part, high HP / low RCV teams always try to match 4-connected Heart Orbs to capitalize on Enhnaced Heart Orb awakenings. With that being said, Typhon can abuse a Halloween Myne with Kuroyuri system

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7* GFE Assists

Valkyrie Ciel , Zeus Giga , and Athena Non continue the trend of 7* GFE receiving Weapon Assists. For the most part, these are luxurious and should not be done unless duplicates are owned as the process is irreversible.

Valkyrie

By far the most powerful Weapon Assist as it can grant the owning card a potential 9x personal damage against a Balance Attacker spawn. This will open up new doors for farming and Ranking dungeons and I am truly surprised GungHo gave two Killer awakenings.

Zeus  

Zeus’s Weapon Assist is able to grant full bind immunity while also boasting a long base cooldown. This is important for when you do not wish for your base active to be overwritten and the 4 additional rows can add significant damage for Light Row teams.

Athena  

A single TPA as an equip is okay but is modestly common along with lower overall applications. With that being said, the 40% Blind Resist can supplement a 60% card along with Athena having active skill for Light teams. Overall, I feel this is far too expensive to justify as Athena is a powerful card in her own right.

Conclusion

The 7 Year JP Anniversary paves the way for new content being released with Super Reincarnated evolutions leading the way. This new evolution path may hopefully give older Pantheon cards more viability or maybe they will follow the Gemstone Princesses and become Weapon Assists.

In terms of Magic Stone saving/spending, Monster Hunter should come back to NA as JP will be receiving it once again along with YYH Collab. As a whole, it is worthwhile to roll in Monster Hunter due to the power of their 5-star cards while YYH only contains Yusuke.

Let me know what you think about all these new changes and what excites you the most.

Happy Puzzling!

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