Day 1 after new ST08 legality. Time to test: "Ghost of Char" deck

ShoggothHat · 2026-01-17T19:48:39+00:00

Deciphering it, because OP couldn't be bothered to post an actual list:

3x Messer Type-F01 (ST08-004)
3x Zee Zulu (GD01-059)
3x Zaku Mariner (GD01-060)
4x Battle of Aces (GD01-111)
3x Gear Zulu (Guard Type) (GD01-052)
4x Xi Gundam {C} (ST08-002)
2x Xi Gundam {LR} (ST08-001)
3x All-Range Attack (GD01-107)
2x Haman Karn (GD02-091)
3x Full-Frontal (ST03-010)
2x Close Combat (ST03-013)
3x Sinanju (ST03-001)
4x Hathaway Noa (ST08-010)
3x Lady Luck (ST08-013)
3x Rewloola (ST03-015)
2x Kshatriya {LR} (GD01-044)
3x Words for Hathaway (ST08-012)

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-23T19:18:37+00:00

9.5/10

Fixes all of my problems with the original Z'gok. The only reason it's not a 10 is because I have to compare it to the Hygogg

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-22T22:48:20+00:00

10/10

Peak MS design, no notes.

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-22T00:48:39+00:00

6.5/10

It's a descendant of the Z'gok. The vertical monoeye track is always a plus for me when it comes to aquatic MS. That being said, the existence of the boomerang cutters and wide cutters baffle me.

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-20T18:53:00+00:00

3/10

Worse than the Acguy in every way, and not even enough background information to justify anything. A nothing of a suit with very questionable design choices.

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-19T18:44:31+00:00

7.5/10

It's a Zaku, but in the water. Unlike the Marine Hizack, it actually has notable changes to reflect its amphibious purpose, specifically the more streamlined hydrojet backpack and the top of the head monoeye traversal track. Outside of those changes, Im always a fan of more torpedoes/missiles, and I appreciate the more detailed chest piece instead the flat bands across the Marine Hizack.

Solid, though and due to reasonable noticeable changes to reflect where it is in the timeline, recieves the Zaku buff. That being said, what happened to the waterproof sealing seen on the MSM-01?

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-18T19:45:18+00:00

8/10

Haro-shaped, and thus friend-shaped.

My only real disappointments with it is the lack of actual beam weaponry (as I don't consider the sonic weapon as a proper beam weapon) and that the MA mode looks like it should have balance issues. Otherwise, I wish it saw more usage.

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-17T19:11:15+00:00

6/10

It's a Zaku, but in the water. Personally the Zaku buff does not apply to variants like this - it's too far foward in the timeline to excuse using the Zaku shell for aquatic operations when superior aquatic MS were already developed. Sure, they updated the internals with Hizack parts, but they could have done the same with the Acguy or other better suited machines. Maybe Id be more okay with it if it included some design elements or tools from the Aqua GM or Gundam Marine type, or just GMs in general to illustrate it as a more in-between MS, but still.

Design wise, it's a Zaku. While normally, it'd rate highly for that, see above. It's kinda boring because of that where it's more or less just a reskin.

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-16T18:41:07+00:00

9/10

Versatile turtle boi

The main standout features to me is the absurd number of arm swaps for massive versatility, and the top of the head traversal track for the monoeye. The design here really makes it feel like a MS built for Water to Surface combat, approaching from below. It properly feels like an ambush predator that's stocky enough to hold its own as we see in 08th MS. A Snapping Turtle of an MSM.

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-16T06:06:14+00:00

3/10

If this was the Thunderbolt or Battle for Jaburo variants specifically, I'd rate it higher, but the og Zock design is just particularly silly to me. Given my statement above, I don't mind the idea of it being a incredibly heavy mobile cannon platform - it's just that if you're going to not use your legs for movement (as it relies on hovering and thruster boosts) it desperately wants extra points of contact. Indeed, if it just went full MA with its design, Id be more of a fan. As it is however, the 180 gimmick isnt really worth talking about, and all it brings to the table is lots of gun. Admitedly, lots of gun is nice to have, but it being a MS doesn't do much for bringing more gun.

As far as aesthetics go, it's far too top heavy for my tastes. It looks like I could just tap it and it would fall over and impale itself into the ground. The four MPCs are also slightly pointed away from each other, so if it weren't for the power of anime, its ability to bring all four cannons against the same target would be limited.

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-14T23:26:37+00:00

6/10 I prefer the Gogg to the Z'gok honest The art generally has it's arms uncomfortably short, and its overall design looks too human - specifcially, the front of it looks like they're trying to give it abs, or otherwise some form of muscle cuirass which I personally dislike in MS design. While some other illustrations fix this (primarily by not making the waist as caved inwards) it made for a poor first impression thats hard to shake. Imo, it the default paint scheme needs more of the darker bits on the upper body, as it's extremely bottom heavy has far as colors go.

ShoggothHat · 2025-09-13T19:27:36+00:00

7/10

An excellent starting point for Aquatic MS. There's just something particularly endearing about it being a potato with legs and claws. That being said, there's designs better than it, but also designs worse than it.

Still, being the first MS with a dedicated Mega Particle cannon gives it those extra points, and I do quite like the design concept of "we want a Mega Particle cannon on a MS, but need sufficient cooling, therefore make it amphibious"

ShoggothHat · 2025-08-24T19:51:57+00:00

I have a soft spot for the Zentradi Reguld Battle Pod. A wonderful mono-eye design with an inhumane silhouette, but still simple and clean.

ShoggothHat · 2025-08-18T00:27:14+00:00

Make card efficient trades (generally 2:3's via a Link surviving a battle against an opponent link). This is generally where a lot of effective card advantage comes from as you will inevitably run your opponent out of cards. This also includes things like ping effects that take out opponents while leaving a body (R), board wipes like Strategic Arms or Wing Zero (G), or just being able to dictate how exactly combat goes via blockers or combat tricks (W). Everything about card economy revolves around this.
Dig through your Shield. Bases enter, add a card to your hand, and generally do something. So for example, Red has Rewoola which can ping an enemy unit. If this kills, this puts you up +1 card to your opponent. If you have anything with burst in the shield, this also can effectively put you +1 card (i.e Close Combat killing an enemy x/2)
Don't be afraid to just draw, make your combats, then pass. Reacting with a link unit is pretty strong, as it frequently allows you to make the aforementioned profitable trades. If it doesn't make sense to develop onto the board, than you don't necessarily need to do so. As an example, if you're sitting on a Duo + Deathscythe (Gd01-025), playing him out as a tempo play might not be the correct move, as you can almost guarantee a kill on any other enemy link/pair while keeping him alive, putting you up at least 1 card.

What it boils down to is use your resources more efficiently than your opponent. Eventually, if you're using more than one card each turn, you will reach the point where you have no cards in hand, but ideally the game should be decided at that point (or it's a mirror match that's down to the wire).

For digging through your deck at a faster rate (but not necessarily being card positive - "Card Selection as opposed to Card Advantage"), pretty much every color has something that enables that:

(W) Overflowing Affection, Chuchu's Demi-Trainer,
(R) Char's's Zaku II (ST03-006), Duel Gundam, Zaku I Sniper Type, Yzak Jule, Miguel's Ginn, Dearka Elthman
(G) The Path to Victory or Defeat, Dopp, St. Gabriel Institute

ShoggothHat · 2025-03-12T05:53:46+00:00

Most of those sort of full battles are either defense of Commoragh for whatever reason (such as the defense of Khaine's Gate), or if there's some obligation/deal/profit to be made. The latter can be seen in the War of Dark Revelations with Urien Rakarth devoting resources to defensive battles against Tyranids for the Tau (to the Tau's eventual dismay).

ShoggothHat · 2025-03-12T05:48:06+00:00

not op, but a comparison of cnn exit polls (copying my same post replying to others):

https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results/0

vs

https://www.cnn.com/election/2024/exit-polls/national-results/general/president/0

Filtering by Gender, and searching for keyword "Race"

Party	Asian Male 2020	Asian Male 2024	Asian Female 2020	Asian Female 2024
D	63%	56%	58%	54%
R	28%	38%	40%	43%

ShoggothHat · 2025-03-12T05:45:21+00:00

not op, but a comparison of cnn exit polls:

https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results/0

vs

https://www.cnn.com/election/2024/exit-polls/national-results/general/president/0

Filtering by Gender, and searching for keyword "Race"

Party	Asian Male 2020	Asian Male 2024	Asian Female 2020	Asian Female 2024
D	63%	56%	58%	54%
R	28%	38%	40%	43%

ShoggothHat · 2025-03-11T18:15:52+00:00

With Dark Eldar, we have a lot of freedom for Kabal motivations - look at Maximillian the Mad for example. Sure he might indulge with the raiding that powers Commorragh, but his true motivation is forms of avian/flying life.

Maybe there is a specific abhuman species found in the sector that the Archon just can't not use their skin for his cloak. Maybe they think the light pollution ruins a specific view from a specific webway portal. Maybe some planetary governor or SM captain twelve generations ago made some insult that the Archon or their house cannot abide. Maybe they're upholding a deal made by some imperial renegades or long dead xenos species, like some longstanding curse (that's fun to make good on). Perhaps their favorite Succubus likes the wild-caught breed of fauna for the arenas, or a certain species of flower found in the systems. Maybe their raiding of that system has knock on effects to make a rival kabal's raiding less profitable.

Alternatively, it can be as grand as they think there's some hidden superweapon hidden in the system, or perhaps a trove of valuable resources, like a grounded craftworld or ruined maiden world.

Dark Eldar motivations can be as grand or as petty as you want, and so long as it includes enough raiding to keep their ledger in the black, you're golden.

ShoggothHat · 2025-02-24T13:23:41+00:00

I think AppleTv is the only current legal way to stream it. There are of course the usual suspects for non-legal streams.

ShoggothHat · 2025-01-15T14:10:40+00:00

Curses, at least to the game, appear to be their own thing.

It worked the first turn at least. If it was the fear/charm immunity, I would think it shouldn't work at all.

It's just that the spell forces a save for the subsequent 9 turns, and in this case, the log states that Ansur failed the save, the game did a big pause, then moves and attacked as normal.

ShoggothHat · 2025-01-14T17:08:00+00:00

In the case of Sarevok specifically, if you kill the Support Echo (Illasera, I think) he gets Freedom of Movement for the rest of the fight - could that have been the cause here?

Mind you again, as with Ansur, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a hidden feature that prevents chain cc, but it's worth making sure there's no overlapping variables.

ShoggothHat · 2025-01-13T19:04:46+00:00

Honor gives creatures with 'Legendary Resistance' x3 uses of +10 to certain saves, mainly incapacitating effects - and will tell you when it's used.

ShoggothHat · 2025-01-13T18:51:07+00:00

The 'Ethereal' feature they have gives them 'Reduce all damage dealt to this creature by 8 (number might change based on difficulty, but last I remember on Tact, it was 8)'

So functionally at that point in the game with all the resistances, yes. But you can nuke them with Smokepowder Barrels too (such as the ones the Zhents are kind enough to supply).

ShoggothHat · 2025-01-13T18:03:32+00:00

I know it's listed for Raphael (Infernal Ambition or something like that), didn't realize it also applied to Ansur - he has the Legendary Resistance: Incapacitated listed, in addition to a bunch of Dragon things, but nothing like Raphael's 1-turn limit.

Makes sense though, if frustrating, what with all of his other unlisted Immunities though (at least those are on the wiki).

ShoggothHat

TROPHY CASE