A Brewer’s Review of the Ochaco IV Starter Deck
- hwangtwigg
- Sep 27, 2023
- 8 min read
The year is 20XX. The only character that has been printed for years is Ochaco. Every move is a high, leading to a card's viability being solely based on if it has a high block or not. Air has become the only symbol as the others have slowly been removed in phases. First it was Earth, then Water, Fire, and the rest soon followed. UVS has rebranded to OVS and changed their logo to Ochaco. Everything is Ochaco now.
Ahem. Thankfully this is not our reality (though some may want it), but the Ochaco starter deck has been completely revealed as of this morning, September 27th, 2023, and welcome to a Brewer’s review of it! With the impending release of Jetburn and the reveal season in full swing, it was only a matter of time before we got reveals for the upcoming clash decks featuring Ochaco Uraraka and Himiko Toga. This will be a deep dive into Ochaco’s deck, with another coming for Toga’s deck, wherever they reveal it.
As with all characters, Ochaco will receive a Power/Playrate/Sauce rating, while I will discuss her cards freely. Something I would like to note before getting into the review is that these decks are intended to onboard new players and were designed as such, so many of the cards are very simplistic, which isn’t a bad thing! Many of these cards seem at least fringe-competitively relevant, while also being a great introduction into the game. One gripe I have with the characters revealed, is that both Ochaco IV and Toga III are… a bit complex.
While not exceedingly so, both are characters with three abilities, each with an enhance and two responses. While teaching the game to new players, I have noticed that responses are the more difficult concepts to grasp for people just learning the game, which ironically makes both characters not new-player-friendly, despite the decks being heavily tailored towards newer players. While the cards are able to convey many important mechanics to the players, Ochaco specifically has garnered a lot of discussion due to the hidden complexity within her character, the primary culprit being her bottom response to unflip 1 foundation. Not only is a new player expected to grasp the concept of face downs, but is further pressured to figure out which is the best to unflip each turn, leading to much internal deliberation and increases the margin for error significantly. Additionally Ochaco requires the player to flip their own board, leading to new players having to evaluate which of their cards is the “least useful”, which is a concept that even mid-level players can struggle to grasp. Ultimately, while the deck is catered to new players the characters are not, and while people familiar with card games should be able to grasp it, new TCG players may not.
While I wouldn’t shoo anyone away from using these decks as a starting point, I think it is something people should be aware of if they intend on introducing friends to this game through these decks, especially considering they are both headed by some of the most popular characters of the series. I would still highly recommend the Bakugo and Midoriya starter decks, the All Might VII deck (not the All For One deck though), as well as the lone Mirio starter deck to introduce players into this game.
With the pre-review discussion out of the way, let's hop into reviewing the deck in its entirety!
We All Float On…
Ochaco Uraraka IV
Power: 8/10
Playrate: 7/10
Sauce: 8/10
Ochaco descends from the heavens with her fourth iteration, packing the Air, Earth, and Water symbols. While the first has been her “key” symbol, the other two are new to her, and as such lack the support on those symbols from her other versions. That won’t hold her back though as she is a powerhouse, being able to flip a foundation for a sizable stat boost which is also flexible, allowing her to shore up whichever of her offensive stats needs it. She also is able to ready a facedown foundation after every hit, giving her incredible string potential assuming she is able to push damage through, which shouldn’t be difficult with the +3 speed gained from her enhance. Lastly she is able to unflip 1 foundation on her turn every turn, assuming she is aggressing. This last ability is easily the scariest, as well as the reason for her high sauce score. Being able to consistently reuse powerful flip effects will cause her gameplay to revolve around that as she tries to find the best flip effect in her deck and use it as much as possible. The easiest example would be Sticky Balls, allowing her to do a fantastic Mineta II impression by always clogging the rivals card pool, making it difficult to attack into her. She also gets options such as Super Regeneration as well as the newly introduced Ultra Regeneration to give her earth variations awesome staying power, while Air gets access to effects such as Latent Skill and Destined For Mainstream Success to smooth out her hands and offensive turns.
The last point I have for her is that due to being able to ready face downs and unflip cards, she can become the premier user of Pliabody, as she can use it on her first attack, ready it if it hits, then unflip on her second attack to use again. This will not only clog the rivals card pool with two cards, but will also debuild them, making early game against this character potentially infuriating. Ultimately I am unsure how she will land, but I have high hopes for her.
She Has Earth Cause She Uses Rocks
Moving onto her attacks, the primary theme of her kit is both charge and high attacks, though primarily the latter due to only giving stats to highs. Which is ironic, considering her “Ultra Rare” lacks the high zone. Zero Gravity is a 5-difficulty 5-Mid-6 move, with two pretty sweet enhances, the first allowing you to apply a significant buff to your next move, as well as being able to discard a momentum to ready two face downs. This is an awesome card to lead off a turn, or use mid-string in order to recoup some of your board. I would expect this to see a bit of play, though I am unsure how long it remains in lists with the ever growing list of powerful options.
One of the other most notable attacks introduced is her 6-difficulty Zero Gravity Rush, which sets its speed equal to its damage while also allowing you to draw two cards. This card is exceptional in any character with a huge damage buff, with the primary candidate being Nomu, allowing this to become a 10-High-10 that also regularly draws two cards. Other characters that could use it well include Muscular, Endeavor I, and Cemetos, with the last one being especially blessed with the deck being themed around flipping your own foundations. It also allows for sneaky synergies with cards such as Nitro Explosion: Ignition giving it Powerful: 2, making it one of the most efficient momentum dumps in the game.
Charge as a keyword has always excelled at putting together massive strings of attacks with cards such as Double Jab Pummel, Instant Shining Flash, and Spiral Wave Surge aiding your checks, while others such as Meteor Shower, Specialized Sound Waves, and Back Alley Haymaker providing consistent card advantage to keep the attacks coming. With this in mind, the new Close Quarters Subdual is a Heroic Strike for the charge keyword, something incredibly scary. While the upside is incredibly high, the low speed and damage should help keep this card in check, though it can easily find spots in decks relying on committing down your rival's board. You could go with a line of Back Alley Haymaker into Close Quarters Subdual to commit four of your rival’s foundations, allowing any followup a huge chance at landing. It will also combo perfectly with both Home Run Comet and Shoot Style: St. Louis Smash, stunning the opposing board and being ammo for your huge dunk at the end.
The other attacks in her kit are unlikely to see much play, or fringe play at most, along with some rather underwhelming cards. Floating Drop being an almost-blank card, along with Uravity Stunner might as well be blank. Neck Chop has potential to see play, able to grow to massive speed, and if backed up by sufficient damage pump (Cementos says hi), with Swift Redirect again being a simple stat-stick. Harpoon Vault has potential to see play as a way to unflip key foundations, though the abysmal stats hold it back. I could see it as a tech option in certain decks with powerful flip effects, though otherwise it won’t find much play.
She Has Water Cause She is Nauseous
Moving onto her foundations, the previously revealed Snap Out Of It! Remains one of the best of her kit, providing another consistent source of unflip. Unflipping foundations is an incredibly powerful effect, and I expect it to find inclusions to reuse powerful effects. It is limited to Students, though that is a solid portion of the cast, giving them a unique draw over other non-student characters.
Concern For A Friend is also a fantastic new addition, being a reliable source of card advantage for all three symbols as they have lacked consistent draw power. It also has a powerful bottom enhance, lending additional oomph to decks running a sizable enough charge package. Flustered is another source of card advantage in this kit, and while being single-use, plenty of 1-difficulty single-use foundations have seen play, such as Calling For Backup and Seasoned Brawler. This one does come with the heavy catch that you need to be running charge moves, but has additional utility allowing you to discard a rival momentum. The thing holding this card back the most however is its 4-check, adding inconsistency to your deck. That is likely to doom this card, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it does see play for both of its powerful abilities.
Her foundation base also includes several cards that ease string turns, with Weightless readying a face down and Reaching Out providing an effect similar to First Villain Encounter. Weightless is likely to see play in aggressive decks, and slots in perfectly in Asui I, while Reaching Out could form a unique core with First Villain Encounter as well as ready effects such as Freezer Burn and Sludge to make a new variation of a water string deck.
Other foundations I didn’t get to touch on include Quick Response, a way for decks focusing on high attacks to push through damage with a sizable speed buff, while Resourceful is a spin on the 1-difficulty foundation to commit for -2 speed. Resourceful specifically may see more play than expected due to being a generically good effect combined with a very solid block modifier, which hasn’t previously been present on most other variations of this card. Warm and Bubbly is a solid 0-difficulty foundation with a powerful effect, giving an attack -2 damage if you’ve already been hit this turn. Compared with the new Reluctant Role Model, this is a solid rate that is likely to find homes in decks aimed at simply eating damage and taking advantage of their natural bulk, with Hojo, Twice, and Testutestsu Tetsutetsu coming to mind as perfect users of this foundation.
Lastly is Quirk Expertise, a simple foundation that commits to make the attack a high and gives it +2 damage. This card is deceptively good, allowing you to modulate not only your attacks zone, but your rivals as well, giving you ways to sculpt block zones unexpectedly, which also pairs perfectly with Eri Smiles, guaranteeing a full block that swings tempo massively in your favor. Combined with all of this is a beautiful 6-check and a solid 2-Mid block, this card is likely to see play as a flexible offensive and defensive tool.
Coming Back To Earth
Overall I am excited at these reveals, both due to the competitive nature of several of the cards, but the additional fact that their simplicity makes them easy to understand and effective cards. As much as I love more complex and deep cards such as Unbreakable, Dignified Display, and Extend-O-Hair Strike, it also is refreshing having simple yet effective cards being added to the game. If this is anything to go by, I cannot wait for the upcoming reveal of the Toga starter deck. As always, thanks for reading and until next time!
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