Asuka R# has the Heart of the Cards - First Impressions - Guilty Gear Strive

[@Rooflemonger]

Asuka is now LIVE for GG Strive and here is some thoughts I have on the character. Long story short, dude is f'n bananas lol. I watched the starter guide and my eyes started glazing over because of so much jargon, but when its actually infront of your face its actually 10x more intimidating and difficult to understand. So let me explain to the best of my ability what I think is going on, and lets talk some of the fun aspects of the character!

[@BloodSportA2]

Legend says that if you let Asuka draw enough cards, he'll cast a spell that just turns off the enemy's console. Bold designs as always, ArcSys.

[@SadikiStGeorgeangemon44]

Truly this was all foretold in the tome of Daisuke

[@aim2win83]

Who told you about that? That was our secret, dude. Not cool >:(

[@bkzander1622]

An important part about his gravity staffs: some of them also affect jump height. In the case of the gravity down staff, he jumps lower, which when coupled with his jD button, means he can do *overhead fuzzies on every character.* absolutely insane character.

[@iliakatster]

I love that his overhead is him holding out the book which summons an arm holding ANOTHER BOOK

[@Veliconis]

The overhead tome should be called the "Dome Tome" since it wallops you on your dome.

[@xravia79]

The diversity between easy and difficult characters in this game is pretty amazing

[@Aeirion]

Absolutely

[@p6mkq]

Absolutely. Define easy, though.

[@FeistyVillain]

the R# thing is how in music notation in English it's called 'sharp', in German it's called Kreuz, so R# is still pronounced R Kreutz it's just written in music notation.

[@forestcampbell8962]

Sharp is a musical thing as well.

[@Ashurion-Neonix]

sharp is called Kreuz, but the specific symbol used on asuka is # (numbersign) which is doppelkreuz. (which sounds like doppelkreutz because he's a doppelganger of asuka) so it's actually an even cooler play on words.

[@JinhC]

He takes 40% more damage with shield broken

[@happycamperds9917]

Asuka in theory: Balancing all your resources perfectly to control the battle and overwhelm the opponent. Asuka in practice: Haha 2D go wheeee

[@phdbot4483]

Here's what I gathered so far on Potemkin Matchup: 1. Asuka with his mana shield gives him enough defense to survive 3 Potemkin Busters. Not even the opposing Potemkin can do that. Without the shield, of course he can potentially die to 2 Pot Busters. 2. Potemkin CANNOT flick any of his projectiles!!! He can punch them at least, but since Asuka can chain his spells, you'll probably better off just walking and blocking in most cases till he runs low on mana/cards. Slide Head oughta help, but Asuka can still draw/play cards in the air. Needless to say, this matchup's gonna be a nightmare for Potemkin.

[@JakeInTheUK]

Idk i played some pots n they just get in ur face giving you no time to bookmark or really do anything i just got wrecked idk how to vs him. I can play him! But vs pot idk

[@mellowdarkness3344]

Me and my friend played around, he plays Pot a lot after I started getting into Goldlewis. Watch out for how many projectiles Asuka has in his hand, as the majority of his projectiles can make Hammerfall a free counter. The ice wave has I-frames during the attack, and four cards scaling down immediately fills that slot. Personally, once I get the restock buff card, I endlessly sling spells. And with enough rnjesus blessing, it can be utterly destructive if caught in the torrent of projectiles restock can provide. I'm certain this form of Restock is in his 3rd deck, so watch out for when his deck counter switches to 30, and has 3 rings around the small moon next to mana

[@sbfantom]

You can’t flick ANY of them? That’s wild.

[@VileLasagna]

Haven't played AGAINST Asuka yet but, being a Potemkin myself and having taken Asuka for a test drive for an hour or two, my impression is that a lot of Asuka's basic stuff looks very slide-headable, at least from the sort of distances Asuka would want to try and keep Potemkin at. So what I'm expecting (though, y'know, well in time to eat my own words, especially since I'm super rusty due to online having been unplayable in the past few months) is that a lot of Asukas will end up auto-piloting into that sort of situation: Get slidehead, Potemkin closes in, Asuka needs to burn resources to try and get him off and if he doesn't then he's trying to deal with ye olde strike-throw but with no access to specials

[@gillgillgillgillgill]

he's so much more fun than i could have anticipated, as a kid i always wanted to playing fighting games and TCGs "seriously" and now as an adult with the time and money and patience i have been playing both at a decent enough level for a guy with a 9 to 5...and Asuka feels like a perfect synthesis of why i love, adore, and keep trying to "git gud" at both!

[@cameronlile2931]

I learned more from this than the actual Arcsys tutorial

[@Naren25]

I mean, this is twice as long, so you'd hope so!

[@cyrus6236]

I be honest, they did give it a try, but they cant just have “the homie” explain asuka like roofle can

[@colonelpopcorn7702]

The arcsys starter guides never do more than give an overview of what the specials do, so they’re generally not super useful for anything other than seeing what the specials are

[@juliustaylor9920]

@@Naren25 just because its longer means nothing. This vid could've been an hr long, but if people are still confused whats the point?

[@VileLasagna]

Honestly mixed for me. Rooflemonger takes the time to go more detailed on the basics. With the character being as complex as it is, the official arcsys one ended up being a massive info dump. As soon as I finished watching it, I knew it was the sort of thing to see once, go play the character, and then come back to that guide when you have internalised the basics so you can actually pick up on the details, like the follow ups and etc... One example, is that in the official video they give an overview of the different decks and show an image of the spells available for each, something which both would be out of place here and also go over the head of anyone not specifically looking for that information, having grasped the basics beforehand

[@rookbranwen8047]

One important thing I found is that if he uses all of the cards in a deck it gets reshuffled, you don't just have 30 cards per deck and that's it. So you don't have to worry about running out of moves by using too many or discarding, just focus on using the right ones at the right time.

[@Rooflemonger]

Sorta sucks that Asuka is launching now, on the eve of SF6. Like, certainly better than after SF6 cause he'd be lost in the wind, but he's probably not gonna make the splash he coulda otherwise uncontested. That said I guess thats the nature of a juggernaut kinda stepping on your toes, SF6 has to release at some point lol.

[@theoamos24]

True but still gonna play strive regularly..been waiting 20 plus years for a chance

[@leithaziz2716]

We had 2 years in the spotlight now. I think that was a pretty good run, and there's still more content coming.

[@theoamos24]

​@@leithaziz2716 true

[@Zero2k0]

I think it's good he is out now so we have something to do otherwise lol. Nothing against Strive.

[@theoamos24]

@@Zero2k0 still go s3 coming Sf6 can fill the wait time

[@arco2984]

Mastering the mirror match is gonna be the big brain flex.

[@VileLasagna]

Fellow hugger here, I was playing Asuka yesterday against a friend and had a really good time, this character is SUPER satisfying to play. He's not QUITE as hard as things make it seem, imo, at least just to get the basics down. A lot of his spells are fairly straightforward projectiles, so once you learn to quickly identify those and a couple key others (the big blast in front of him IS SO KEY) you get into that groove. Where I feel he is going to struggle though, is that he has a terrible time dealing with pressure, felt way worse than Potemkin. Asuka when keeping the zone with projectiles and his very very blessed normals, just has a pretty good time IF you can manage your resources. But once he loses grip of the flow of the match, things become real hard real fast. You lose mana when blocking so your ability to both endure and counter attack get taken away. The damage he takes IS ridiculous when not shielded and even if you have mana, you need to keep drawing spells. One of his spells is a reversal but I think there might be only one copy of it (it's the ice stalagmite). So I think a lot of his matches will go more or less in this wild swing: If Asuka's winning, he'll knowledge check you harder than an Angel player from KOF at like every interaction (because although MOST of his spells feel straightforward to deal with, you DO need to know if he has his Giganter Kai on hand). However, if Asuka starts losing, keeping him under pressure will so quickly drain him of options (and hope). I'll be scared of Asuka specialists once they are well established though, they're bound to be mega-labbing nerds. Also: That new Potemkin colour so good I'm retiring the modded one I used to use. FINALLY some good pink around Strive!

[@RougeMephilesClone]

After watching this, comparing Asuka to Nine the Phantom or Touhou Hisoutensoku's card aspects feels pedestrian. Nine controls what spells she gets like Dormammu, and Touhou characters only bring one deck. Asuka is drawing cards from THREE decks, and that's not even the only unique mechanic he has to worry about. Kudos to those who pick this guy up, this may actually be the most technical fighting game character yet. EDIT: Oh gosh, the staffs are practically their own mechanic that change the whole match-up temporarily... There was no restraint here...

[@superserg4763]

It's my head canon that Asuka would be a Blue Counter Spell player in magic

[@Zzzzz-qz7qu]

Cant wait to see people pull it off in tournament

[@antonsimmons8519]

I gave up on Strive a while ago, but I still follow it due to general interest. This character is NUTS. People were calling for complex characters, I guess Daisuke went "Monkey's Paw, bitches! Careful with your wishes!"

[@juliustaylor9920]

Why'd u give up on strive?

[@antonsimmons8519]

@@juliustaylor9920 Was kinda wondering when someone was going to ask this. Basically, it's a combination of the game being VERY different from what I usually play(I'm very much a classic SF guy), and Strive not having one character who both plays how I like and is visually appealing. It's one or the other. That, plus I REALLY don't like how insanely explosive the damage is in the game.

[@juliustaylor9920]

@@antonsimmons8519 yea. I was almost caught in the same predicament til goldlewis came out. If it wasnt for goldlewis i wouldnt be playing strive. Luckily he has the highest damage output lol. Plus the rollback kept me coming back for more. Welp at least sf6 comes out soon. But sf6 just isnt for me

[@Neoxon619]

If anything, Asuka succeeded where the Dragon Quest Hero failed in Smash. Both have complex movesets based on the number of spells, but at least Asuka gives you a clear symbol as to what spell does what so that both you & your opponent can understand what is being used regardless of the language barrier. This was a major issue regarding Hero, as international tournaments basically screwed over anyone who doesn’t fluently know how to read English or whatever is the main language of the tournament. And god forbid if you’re dyslexic, because you’re basically screwed either way with Hero (but that gets into a whole other discussion regarding Nintendo’s negligence regarding accessibility, one that should be had).

[@MayHugger]

Hence why some tournaments just outright ban Hero. Nothing to do with how good he is.

[@Mene0]

Summoning exodia in the middle of battle Edit: I like how the different Asukas also have diferent "Titles"

[@CosmicRPG]

The only thing we can say is Asuka gonna be a character that gonna requiere long Work time with his amount of spells, setups, mixes and better damage options.

[@luciddre4m]

Looks even more complicated than Angel lol.

[@jacks.cosplay]

you look at asuka's gameplay and it feels like the devs wanted their own nine the phantom or something like that, as she too has a management and spells and mix and match combination thing

[@nerio1227]

I was kinda confused about how he plays but when I took my time with him, it was way easier than I thought. Def one of the characters I will be playing.

[@nkirmath8621]

This character is absolutely wild, he's a zoner, he's a setplay character, he has midrange potential, it's like holy shit I'mma break my brain trying to main him (I main anji pls help)

[@Solgeist]

ROOF I HAVE NEVER WITNESSED ANYTHING LIKE THIS CHARACTER IN FIGGTING GAMES....HE IS EFFECTIVELY LIKE 9 CHARACTERS IN ONE...some of his spells could literally be the core mechanic of other characters.

[@RuffWarl0ck]

The Shadow Wizard Money Gang is out in full force! Been meaning to find time to play Strive again. Might as well try him out before SF6 drops.

[@zenofthezealous1582]

Rooflemonger: “You, the opponent need to learn Asuka’s cards to see what’s coming” Me, A Sin Main, rushing in and trapping Asuka in the corner “How ‘BOUT No” 😂😂😂

[@Uri_Mercury]

Asuka is quite LITERALLY, Nine The Phantom, Kokonoe, and Platinum the Trinity in ONE character, and I LOVE it!

[@burakeren]

I love how spell names are taken from samplers and drum machines, dorkiest of all instruments. Low-pass filter staff, MEtron Screamer 808, SAMPLER 404 -how blatant can you be-. I'm terrible at fighting games but i WILL try to be better at this guy.

[@Ramsey276one]

Thanks for the info! XD

[@MythicMachina]

Dude, I didn't know Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories got a sequel!

[@gumdroplollipop]

2:30 i almost peed my pants😂

[@youcalledmenorm1266]

Meter MANAgement is top priority. That pot buster damage was ridiculous 😮

[@ericsimonson8002]

Health steal mana charge is a fantastic emergency option at low health since you can't die from it. The only reason to not play Asuka is the disassociation of set buttons. Remembering P=1, K=2, S=3 , and HS=4 will make using his spells much easier. Looking forward to one of your tips and tricks video. Should be your longest one yet.

[@LilyaOfTheStars]

9:57 it doesn't have any gameplay change but it does have different interactions with characters like Sol and Jack-O

[@vine6904]

Loved your video as always Roofle

[@Rooflemonger]

🙏

[@LegateSprinkles]

Playing a fighting game and a time limited deck builder together

[@_Deez]

Asuke Spell Tier List for easy engagement (and my enjoyment) hopefully coming soon. Do it Roof. Get the views.

[@Rooflemonger]

the bigger the cube, the higher the tier

[@_Deez]

@@Rooflemonger I'd expect no less from a certified big body enjoyer. (read: chad)

[@dahgameps432]

GALAXY BRAIN! I'm never gonna play him but I'm so Glad he is in the game.

[@bogbupog]

Long day at work, but I'm always happy to see your videos

[@nathadniel5790]

HIS ARCADE ROUTE EXPLICITLY REFERENCES ABA. OBVIOUSLY SHE'S IN. WE WON.

[@Ramsey276one]

How exactly?

[@nathadniel5790]

@@Ramsey276one asuka talks about artificial life, saying the valentines and "the frasco specimen" are perfect examples of synthetic life

[@Ramsey276one]

@@nathadniel5790 Cool

[@GodofGrunts]

Good lord that barrierless damage.

[@Ramsey276one]

Chipp: HELLO THERE XD

[@sa1gon1]

Won't ever get sick of hearing Rooflemonger pronounce 'cards' in his Canadian(?) accent!

[@flioink]

Well...now people can't say that ArcSys shouldn't put Venom in the game "cuz he's too complex"

[@fissilewhistle]

What in the unholy fuck is his combo notation going to look like?

[@Rooflemonger]

its the script that the cthulhu cultists use

[@fissilewhistle]

@@Rooflemonger If you read an Asuka combo out loud, it summons an eldritch demon.

[@hctaz]

The only thing I'm sad about in relation to this character is that I'm pretty sure this was the original intended playstyle (to some degree- It's hard to say for certain because we don't know for certain) for Ramlethal's concept. She was supposed to match the original Valentine's design much more closely, and would have been a spell caster like her original counterpart was. They scrapped that and decided to make Ramlethal her own unique character, but I would have killed to have a spellcaster Valentine in the game- especially if they had the same or similar design as the original Valentine from X2 BECAUSE HER DESIGN IS SO COOL But okay okay... It's for Asuka now and he's definitely a much more impactful character overall. I'm just a little jealous we never got that OG Valentine spellcaster in a *cough* "real" Guilty Gear game. Lol

[@hunterking4228]

Mom, I found my new main

[@XvShadowsvX]

Hash is called Doppelkreuz in german, Double cross. Dopple as in Doppleganger so it's a play on his name Asuka R. DoppleKreutz, so it's either an imposter Asuka or That man is controlling the clone Asuka from afar.

[@AnthanKrufix]

The damage numbers on his health bar is he has a base defence of 0.75... Note that that's the tankiest person in this game, Potemkin the next on down has a defence of 0.93. But when his mana is broken and he loses his shielding all damage he takes is doubled. So now has an effective defence of 1.5 .. Chipp has a defence of 1.26 ..

[@atjuggernaut151]

Highkey looks like he should be trying to bring forth the great cataclysm

[@blu-jay6451]

Love those new colors on Testament

[@xifond]

I love this and your channel!

[@MDN_Moon]

I’ve literally never noticed that blue shield around his health, that explains a lotttt now

[@Kwisatz-Chaderach]

Hes the Astrologian from FF14 😆

[@JakeInTheUK]

Wheres the other skin colour i dont have it but only the red new one

[@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz]

so now that nine and asuka exist is "spellcaster" an official character type?

[@sa1gon1]

Tome to the dome, LFG!

[@Butterfreeftvr]

My brain will need time to adjust to Asuka, but just today I pulled off a test case 3 bunch of summoning projectiles can't tell you how good it felt, still gotta familiarize myself with Asuka in matches, also enjoying his mana shielding health gimmick

[@Kyvel85]

Sorry for the off topic everyone, but alongside Asuka, someone had the chance to try the servers? Are they finally fixed, even a little bit?

[@tonnenpanda]

Man, this character is crazy and I love it. But there are 2 things that kinda bother me. The first is, why is releasing now and wasn't part of the starting roster. Asuka will take hundreds of matches to warm up with him and thousands to master. Those 2 years would have been really helpful for him. The other thing is playing against him. There will be a very limited amount of mains of this char because he is way too complex, making learning the matchup not worth it. But deer God will you need A LOT of matches against him to know what all the spells do, what kind of mixups he has and so on. The player playing him will have a big advantage just because of that. (in like 6 months lol) Can't wait to see him in a tourney at some point but I pity his opponents, cause they will have no idea what hit them.

[@friesen_m]

Seeing Asuka now live in action looks like he's from Touhou Hisoutensoku with the random deckbuilding elements.

[@timross5351]

Asuka D&D 5E Warlock/Sorcerer multiclass confirmed.

[@GaIIeon]

I wish Asuka would say "Ore no turn" during his "time stop/shuffle" super

[@mellowdarkness3344]

"Watch out for that extra damage without the barrier" I'll just play tank mage and cast punch

[@KoolScreen95]

11:18 O_O'.... HOLY SHIT!!!

[@chanbenyamin3527]

Finally! Got the new colors!

[@estebanacostaolivera3232]

What's best about the new colors is that it means new modded skin slots

[@tabkg5802]

FYI Sol and GL have no Risc ToD's on Asuka without blue shield so be very careful with shooting out spells

[@Y_A_Z_F]

found one for anji too. i have a feeling alot of characters are gonna have one.

[@tabkg5802]

@@Y_A_Z_F pot has meterless one lmfao

[@fissilewhistle]

Is the Goldlewis TOD just level 3 Down With the System?

[@tabkg5802]

@@fissilewhistle dunno since I don't play GL but dude used behemoth typhoon in his combo so hope this helps 👍

[@axoleton]

you can press up when selecting a color to play as R. Kreutz dos'nt change anything other that the name sadly

[@iamasnail8654]

GUILTY GEAR IS SAVED! BILLIONS MUST LAB

[@fennicfox4600]

Testament look straight out of Mario Odyssey with that color... Also I wonder how many spells Pot can F.D.B?

[@OnyxeBlade]

Great video as always Rooflemonger and yeah Asuka is too complex for my liking. I hope players who pick him up do enjoy him

[@Ramsey276one]

2:56 is that a DP??

[@patstar3808]

8 hour guide for Asuka in progress. lol

[@BankkeyAoshi]

Let’s go!💪🏾💙

[@tronixchl2004]

Use Life Mana ONLY ON EMERENGENCY SITUATION (if you're out of tension and more than half health)

[@SqallLionheart]

Honestly I don't know how good he will be because I usually enjoy FG with friends and not online, but it's the only character since Happy Chaos that I truly enjoyed playing and love at first sight. I can do complex combos, but I'm not a mechanically gifted player and I usually win with unconventional tactics. The card aspect also draws my LoR player side.

[@Finicky9]

I 8000% love this character, I immediately have found my husbando for life

[@Mcpwnt]

do the gravity effects work on the opponate's fireballs?

[@technorave555]

They finally put Oleander from Thems Fightin Herds in Strive

[@chriswright6403]

Why aren't the 25th anniversary appreciation colors available in the PlayStation Store yet?

[@theguysawaffle7997]

I'm sure they'll be unlocked at some point, but the staffs really seem like they'll be nothing but a wasted card for a good while

[@bubbles0904]

The speed and slow cards are pretty useful. The projectile gravity card is really hard to use

[@xxwallzxx4509]

Thanks Canadian dude! Kick buns!

[@AegisKHAOS]

At least I have a better grasp of Asuka R# now than I did watching the starter guide, so I appreciate this. Still would rather play someone else.

[@MaestroAlvis]

What happens if you use all the cards in the deck. Please tell me he's just boned.

[@Rooflemonger]

The game forgives you and completely refills the deck.

[@poltergeistx]

Really reminds me of Nine (from BlazBlue)

[@Ramsey276one]

He's ELEVEN XD

[@therebelliousaxel8535]

Suddenly………. Having a Yugioh FIGHTING game is makable thanks to Asuka.

[@RocketSlug]

YGO players' minds are going to melt not because they can't deal with the cards, but because they've never had to deal with mana and a resource system :P

[@Ramsey276one]

Maximum Level! *DRAW!* MONSTER CARD!!!

[@pancakes7483]

How do i get color 13 on ps4? When i look at the colors it says unavailable.

[@thikdikriky1559]

Asuka is just a dnd wizard that shoots dice, I'm here for it.

[@chriswright6403]

Why can't I get the free colors from the PlayStation Store?

[@RemixedYoshi]

Little odd he doesn't have a cinematic finish

[@thefancypeanut3604]

how do i get the new skins?? it’s not showing up after the update :(

[@kayvonclark5900]

Happy 25th anniversary guilty gear!!!🪅🎊🎂😁🎮

[@jettmanas]

Thanks for this. The 3rd vid I've watched to try & figure him out. Tried him in Arcade & couldn't use specials or supers without enough mana or cards. Then I use the card super & have no idea what I'm doing. 😶 At least I can use normals like the sweep, & throw when I try him vs low character level people at my level for him. Nice vid.

[@danzixx6]

Be careful. Yugi will come and challenger asuka for a duel of cards

[@Ramsey276one]

Asuka Vs *PHARAOH*

[@KlyosXA]

I played Fromsoft's "Lost Kingdom" this character is easy to pick up. Mastery is another thing...

[@echoesactzero5131]

Closest thing I've seen to asuka is black dhalia from skull girls

[@Y_A_Z_F]

Asuka's 2D is coded as a projectile. As an anji main this makes me sad.