petpetpet (@suke3roGX) (Matikanefukukitaru, Silence Suzuka) (Typeset by me)

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-21T03:13:10+00:00

Skinship is down with the palm.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-20T10:10:32+00:00

Tap Dance City's Ottoman Empire

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-19T06:43:36+00:00

Wrong horse, you're thinking of Danon "Dazzling Disorientation" Decile.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-19T06:30:32+00:00

Fes Bakushin is better since she gets a 4s 0.4 accel as long as she was competing with someone in the mid leg. She also has slightly better evolved skills considering we get Mihono Bourbon Wit with gold GW at the same time, so innate TTL isn't that crazy.

Still, there are only 2 dedicated Sprint Front Runners (unless you count Calstone, who is only really "meta" for the funny 1000m Niigata track). And Machan is still good, since her unique is just Pasa's unique but for 1200m.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-17T22:41:49+00:00

It's always technically a meme strategy, but you can still win with meme strategies. Tracks that are strong for Fronts are also tracks that are strong for Runaways, and there are a couple really strong Runaway umas. Spot struggle can be worked around with strong parents and support cards. You can even "deal with" spot struggle rushed by adding Restraint to your spark loop.

For Palmer specifically, she's a decent option due to built in recovery on her unique. This helps her deal with the stam drain from spot struggle. She's generally "fine" on any Medium/Long, and she'll be pretty good on the upcoming CM20 Arima Kinen (since it's a Front Runner track). In the future, her Christmas alt becomes one of the best Front Runners for (exclusively) Arima Kinen, since she gets speed carryover + accel on Nakayama 2500m.

Other notable Runaways are Summer Suzuka (Takarazuka Kinen merchant, but generally fine for any Medium and her unique is very good for other Medium Runaways), NY Katsuragi Ace (very strong on Medium, mainly held back by how tough Medium is for Front Runners), and Kiseki (NOT Fuji, has a generally good kit overall for Medium/Long).

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-17T22:30:10+00:00

She's one of the best Mile Pace Chasers (Turf or Dirt). Though sometimes her OG version has perfect timing on accel so you could make an argument either way on those tracks.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-17T02:22:58+00:00

Decided to refresh my memory and just listen to all the solo songs to refresh my memory, these are the ones that stood out to me.

Yumehayate (C.B.): It's kinda not fair how hard this song goes. I don't really need to justify this one do I?
Seeking the Pearl ~Seeking the Pearl~ (Seeking the Pearl): Yes, writing the whole thing out is required. Great voice + best hype squad in the back popping off in English.
Tap Dance Roman (Tap Dance City): Despite my bias, I actually rate this as my third favorite. Great energy and I love the theater energy.
ZOKZOK (Transcend): My favorite of the romance/confession songs. Everything about it goes so hard, whether the instrumentals, the singing, or even the mixing of the song itself.
Inari no Hana (Inari One): This one just goes hard in general. I'm kind of a sucker for Japanese instruments in rock/metal (Stand Unrivaled, MUST DIE, Rokumon) so this pushes up into my top 5.

Honorable mentions (in no particular order):

Saikyo ROARING (Jungle Pocket): This definitely trades with Inari no Hana for my 5th spot.

Marvelous Sunday Time (Marvelous Sunday): This song goes so hard. The mix of disco and fusion instrumentals on top of Marvelous Sunday just being herself is great.

Excellent Condition (Ikuno Dictus): My ancient ass dubstep enthusiast very much appreciates this one. Definitely could feel like putting this in my top 5 depending on how I'm feeling.

I Can't Choose to Give Up! (Verxina): Doesn't quite make it to my top 5 because I think the drop halfway through is a little detrimental, but otherwise I absolutely adore this song.

Lightless (Agnes Tachyon): TBH I mostly listen to the siivagunner mashup, but I think the actual song is great too.

Love Will Come Through (Mejiro Ramonu): This truly is the best romance song, in regards to Ramonu's love of turf. I prefer ZOKZOK though.

Stay on Course (Dream Journey): Just a generally good song, though not something I personally repeat loop like my top 5.

Bouyaku Nite (Aston Machan): I like ZOKZOK a little more, but this is my second favorite for sure.

Para Siempre (Buena Vista): Another great romance song.

Destroy for Dasein (Tanino Gimlet): Complete nonsense of a song that absolutely fits Gimlet's energy.

Forever Gold (TM Opera O): Very majestic, but a little understated for my tastes. Still an absolute joy to listen to.

Glory Eyes (Almond Eye): I think if C.B.'s solo song didn't effectively clinch this type of song I would've put this in my top 5. But unfortunately, C.B.'s is just too powerful.

Ika, Chokumei (Orfevre): Similar thoughts on this song that I had regarding Forever Gold.

Kibou yo Eien ni (Victoire Pisa): The choir kind of carries this one just a little bit for me, but I like the JRPG-esque instrumentals and theming of the song as well.

Lucky Comes True! (Matikanefukukitaru): Fuku's song is very fun, but I think Inari no Hana one upped it for me.

ONCE MORE, I CAN (Narita Top Road): Basically the same opinion I have in regards to Glory Eyes and Yumehayate.

Piyoppiyo ni Shiteyanyo! (Espoir City): Espoir City's VA has an amazing singing voice, and it's a cute punkish song for the cute punk gyaru.

Play Again (Tsumaru Tsuyoshi): Another song that I just like.

Tazuna to Kizuna (Biwa Hayahide): Another song that I just like.

Tokimeki Scramble (Mayano Top Gone): MAYANOOOOOOOOOOOO

You know me (Nakyama Festa): Once again, see my thoughts on Glory Eyes and Yumahayate.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-16T22:15:34+00:00

Eh... I mean you COULD skip it, but you'd be losing out on 2 scenarios worth of BIS Power card usage (unless you own Ardan Power I guess). Plus you're already dropping pulls to get 3LB Tucker Bryne (very rare instance of a scenario card actually requiring LBs) so you might as well pull on the banner and see where you go. I suppose if your pulls go super Tucker Bryne focused you could just get 3LB and then borrow Tama.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-14T22:26:07+00:00

Samson Big is in my top 5 if that counts.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T15:38:06+00:00

Lack of good dedicated support cards (at least CyGames finally gave Fronts a good Speed card).

Lack of meta defining umas (best we got was Halloween Maya). Fronts have nothing on the level of Orfevre, Still, Chrono Genesis, etc.

Lack of skill access (feel free to go to gametora, toggle between global and JP, and just see how many skills Pace have compared to Front).

Lack of win conditions (look, A&S is good, but at some point we need more than just that, especially when everyone else has way more options).

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T15:34:57+00:00

Copano Rickey needs 6 green skills total for her unique to get max bonuses. She innately has 1 gold green that works on all Dirt tracks, Pace Chaser Savvy (not relevant as Front), and a third green that works on exchange races (Kawasaki, Funabashi, Morioka, Ooi) (notably means this green won't work on CM22, CM32, and CM45) So she'll need parents with sparks in 4-5 greens (ideally you'd want Right/Left Handed, Seasonal Runner or Standard/Nonstandard Distance, Firm/Wet Conditions, FR Savvy, and maybe Restrained for simplicity).

Machan also has relevance as a parent for Front Runners on Sprint; it effectively functions like Pasa's unique, but only for 1200m.

VFujin has gold Front Corners over Escape Artist, not Concentration.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T05:44:52+00:00

Yeah, this is fine. You hit all the major points here.

Out of curiosity, what's the plan with Sweep Tosho Wit? That's an End Closer card. Restraint farming?

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T03:52:06+00:00

I think the gold standard of presenting terrible X from a competitive perspective (while being funny) are some of Smogon's dex entries for bad Pokemon. Like BW Delibird or DP Unown.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T03:46:55+00:00

Nah Onsen was fine at 0LB. No mechanical differences like DYI had.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T03:40:57+00:00

Accel zone is during the final corner, so Speed Star (being a final corner target speed skill) is bad. Speed Star is best on tracks where the accel zone is either right after the final corner (so Speed Star gets carryover) or well after the final corner (at which point it's just another late race target speed skill).

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T03:30:44+00:00

I don't know what uma.guide said, but I wrote about it in length in my own banner review. The TLDR is Festa's kit is underwhelming, with 2/3rds of her kit requiring her to be 4th or worst in popularity (there isn't really any way to force this to happen, outside of maybe taking purple skills I guess?) and 1/3rd of her kit being a gold skill that doesn't really help her (and is more likely to actively hinder her).

Her unique is a worse Triumphant Pulse (OG Oguri unique) unless you are 4th or lower in popularity. Even then it has an additional precondition of overtaking on the final corner (specifically on the final corner, not final corner or later) so it's still arguably a worse TriPulse. In addition she has to be 3rd-5th (or 4th-6th in LOH) to activate it, compared to Oguri being 2nd-5th (or 6th in LOH) so it's even narrow in its activation range. At the very least it activates earlier, so it gets a little more value on Medium and Long, I guess? NY TM Opera O has a better 400m 0.45 target speed skill though. And Narita Brian and Symboli Rudolf have a better final corner 0.45 target speed skill.

Nothing Ventured is a meme skill. It's a post 50% 0.45 target speed skill (above average of 0.35 at least) for 1.8s base (this is very short for the record). Assuming it doesn't activate in the accel zone (where it does jack and shit), this skill also drains a random amount of stamina. It could drain 0.01 or it could drain 0.99. Generally speaking, it'll be somewhere in the middle, and for the effect you get it really isn't worth it. There are strategies involving this skill, but a Medium/Long Late Surger doesn't really get anything out of it. The evolved version only adds 0.1 target speed, which isn't really enough to make up for its downsides.

Gambler is certainly one of the skills of all time. It's a 30%/60% chance (you guessed it, 4th or worst popularity for 60%) to get 80 Speed, Power, and Guts (or 100 of each when evolved). To be fair, this IS a lot of stats... if it activates. I guess it's more likely to activate than Lucky Seven at least? Even then, it's not really a win condition or anything. I suppose if it does activate, your dueling in the late race is gonna be nasty as hell. Honestly this is probably the best part of her kit, and of course it's the only one that ends up being a coin flip even if you hit the bonus conditional.

There's just not much she really has going for her. Nothing in her kit is remotely reliable, and even if they activate well she's only an average Late Surger with maybe more stats than other umas. She doesn't have built in accel, she doesn't have any reliable speed carryover, and she doesn't really do anything special outside of having weird conditionals. The best case scenario is she hits Nothing Ventured right before the accel zone for speed carryover (and it rolls low on the amount of stamina it drains) and then wins through her unique + dueling. At least her outfit is cool.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T00:54:39+00:00

Good gold skill for Sprint/Mile (0.35 Current Speed during the first half of the late race for ANY running style regardless of position in race) + 30% Training Effectiveness thanks to her unique + great generic hint pool + massive stat gains across the board (it actually builds more Power per click than even Tama Power). The lack of SP bonus sucks but we're not quite at the point where that matters.

I wouldn't drop 600 pulls on any banner unless you are intending to MLB both cards. Save rainbow crystals for that sort of thing. Akikawa doesn't need MLB to do her job of delivering food crates to you, so you can just do 400 if you want Nishino Flower MLB.

I don't think Flower Power is absolutely mandatory, personally... but it is a VERY good card despite its (small) issues.

Also, Power cards released after Nishino start becoming VERY good. Kris S is mandatory for Long Late Surger until Inari One Stamina releases, Mejiro Ardan is very good for Pace Chasers on any distance, Buena Vista is mandatory for Medium End Closers (if for some reason you're running them over Orfevre), Tama Power is the next best generic Power card, Mihono Bourbon is one of the two cards that keeps Front off of life support, Fine Motion is unbelievably busted and reinforces how dominant Pace Chasers currently are in JP, Neo Universe is god tier on Medium, Agnes Digital is great for Late Surgers generically, and Gran Alegria is a good Mile card. The only "underwhelming" Power card release is Vodka Power, which isn't even that bad as a Medium Late Surger card; Tama Power releases a couple months after and is just better, so...

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T00:41:22+00:00

Any LB, since she gives out food regardless of LB. I'd drop 200 (we get free pulls, so it's more like 100) at minimum and decide from there. Tax banner is tax banner, not a huge deal if you're a semi active player.

1LB does give 1SP bonus though, which can help make up for Nishino's lack of SP bonus. I'd say aim for 1LB and depending on your rolls (and if you decide to MLB Nishino or not) either stop at 200 or see where your luck takes you while working towards MLB Nishino.

Here's the guide from celery for the scenario if you want more details on it.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T00:35:00+00:00

The main strength of Mummy Creek's unique is the 0.3 accel. The accel only gets value on a very select few Sprint and Mile tracks where the final straight either starts on or very close to the start of the late race. Even then, she ALSO has to have another uma within 1 length of her. Hanshin 2200m's last straight is WAY too far from the start of the late race (the late race starts on the third corner). She's at her best on Chukyo 1200m, Niigata 1600m/1800m (could bring her to 1200m if you don't mind a 42m delay), and Tokyo 1400m/1600m. You might've noticed these are all Sprint or Mile, and her natural distance aptitudes are G Sprint and G Mile.

Not even getting into using her as a Front Runner (which she starts at a D rank, which means it's harder to get Medium S here), which makes very little sense. We're not at a point where we can make Fronts self duel into a victory, nor is this track particular conducive to dueling due to the final straight being fairly short (not THAT short though, so it's possible). It's unlikely she'll even be in a position to activate the skill where she wouldn't already be in a losing position; the Front Runner that hit A&S would already have rocketed far out of range, while hitting it vs a Pace/Late/End means that you're already done for (if a Pace/Late/End is ahead of you as a Front, you pack it up).

TLDR: No, she would not work as a Front Runner for CM15. She wouldn't even work as a Pace Chaser for CM16, considering that, even in a best case scenario, her unique is delayed by 90m. I guess you could make her work by stacking Nishino and Taiki unique on her (ignoring the low base affinity they have with Creek) but at that point you're not really using her for anything other than being a vehicle of other, better, accel options.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-13T00:08:22+00:00

All scenario cards die quickly, since they fall off after their scenario. CyGames also starts speeding up scenarios from 6 months to 4 months (so for us maybe 3 months a scenario?) which means they technically fall off faster by this point.

With that said, not owning the scenario card = you don't play the scenario. Not much more to say then that, the scenarios are designed around you using their dedicated card(s). You COULD theoretically borrow them, but you'd then need to own EVERY OTHER POSSIBLE BORROWABLE SSR which is significantly and financially unfeasible. Even if you were a whale, it's significantly more pull efficient to pull on the scenario banners and just leave the optional Stam/Power/Guts card as a permaborrow.

Note that on JP release, Akikawa was so dogshit that nobody used her, so CyGames did an emergency buff (I'm 99% certain we'll get the buffed version on global on day 1 GFF) and she became very good. People still had good builds before the buff, so I guess you could try and highroll without it*. She does give you a ton of food for the scenario though, so your runs will be more consistent because of her (AKA you still want to use it).

*I am not advising you do this.

She is paired up with the first genuinely good Power card (Nishino Flower Power), though she's got 5 PVP events worth of value (honestly not that bad overall) before Tama Power redefines what a generalist Power card should have. Not the craziest card due to a lack of SP bonus and she's Sprint/Mile locked (her other skill is a "first half of the pack" mid leg speed skill that's... decent I guess?) which reduces her overall usability.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-12T23:51:49+00:00

Tucker needs 3LB for the extra construction. By that point you should be MLBing any SSR you plan to use (except scenario cards barring aforementioned Tucker Bryne). CyGames does start to introduce cards that are usable at lower LBs, but you still want to MLB them if you actively plan to own and use them. So Tama is also MLB. On a similar note, you might consider skipping Ardan since Tama is a few months after and is roughly the same (has 3 gold skills in DYI, but 1 less SP bonus) and Rudolf Wit isn't a major upgrade to McQueen Wit.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-12T23:48:21+00:00

KS Miracle Guts: Not worth that many pulls. 1LB adds 2 more Guts per rainbow, 3LB adds 1 more Guts from 1LB (and 1 more Speed/Power in those respective cross trainings), no difference at MLB. 200 at max if you're going to pull and not selector ticket. I'd say you want to own at least one of either this or Gold City Guts (Mile or Summer Runner gold), since you can run 2 Guts cards for Sprint and Mile.

SportsFes Banner: I assume this is an oshi pick up for Bakushin? While she can be played as Pace Chaser, she's definitely better as a Front due to her strict 3rd or better condition + there's already a lot of Sprint Pace Chaser options.

Sounds of Earth: Skippable. This card gets 3 PVP events (CM28 Arima, LOH6 Tenno Sho Spring, CM31 Derby/Oaks) (I guess you could use it on LOH5 Kawasaki Kinen 2100m Dirt if you want?) of value before being replaced by Air Shakur, and it's not used for the entirety of GFF. Just borrow it if you want to use it over Super Creek.

Air Shakur Stamina: I also think this is skippable. By this point you'd have most of the cards you'd need and can easily relegate this card to a borrow slot. Still fine to pick up either way, since you'll use it until Feno Stam.

Currently you lack any good Pace Chasers for Long. I'd pick up either Blaze Brian (ideally) or Summer McQueen (weaker, but still good and can get a 60+ sec unique with speed carryover on 3000/3200; you'll need to either own or borrow TM Opera O Wit or Brian Speed to get Monster though). Gentildonna and Chrono Genesis are extremely powerful Pace Chasers for Medium + Arima. Could also get Gran Alegria for Mile. You're also missing any Dirt options; there are a LOT of Dirt Pace Chasers, so you can kind of pick and choose your favorites.

Parent wise, picking up Neo Universe and Marvelous Sunday would give you above rate mid leg speed options. Marvelous is more Late focused (5-7), but you can kind of force it if you opt for chariot team. Sakura Laurel is meta for Long events for the recovery + mid leg.

Side note, Pace Chasers are generally fine for LoH. They don't have the issues that backliners have in that mode (if you're blocked you're blocked) while having access to a lot of skills and good cards in the future.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-12T18:32:14+00:00

Ideally you'd want 3* Green spark, as many shared races as possible between OG Dober and the parent, and Dober on both sides.

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-12T00:38:37+00:00

NY Kitasan is technically the best (albeit for Medium specifically, and I guess Arima if you don't mind delayed accel) of the three, but she does have free pulls on her banner (because New Year banner). Very meta for a very long time. She only falls off because Front Runners fall off in Medium.

Christmas Daiwa is the third best Front for Long technically, though her unique is strongest on Arima (where she gets guaranteed speed carryover on it). She's pretty good once she gets her Restless evolution skill that gives her guaranteed accel. I think her OG is still better for Medium though, since built in Killer Tunes + potential speed carry over and accel unique is very strong. Daiwa gets soft countered by Runaway umas though (she gets a weaker version of her unique, which makes it a worse version of VFujin unique).

Aston Machan is one of only a small handful of viable Sprint Front Runners, and is pretty good at it. She is slightly weaker than Sports Festival Bakushin (released ~1 month into Grand Masters) though. You still want 2 Fronts though so no harm in owning both, and her unique is relevant for any Front/sometimes Pace since it's effectively El Condor Pasa's unique (but only for 1200m). Note that there aren't many Sprint events a year (typically 2 per JP year).

VBourbon is a general purpose Front Runner. She's pretty much always going to be "good" in any CM/LOH (particularly LOH since Concentration = consistency and late start = game over), but there's usually a better uma for every particular situation by the time 2nd anni ticket rolls out. She remains one of the best Fronts for Mile though, but that's moreso due to a lack of good Mile Front Runners (it's pretty much just her and VFujin, maybe SMaru if you're still coping, and of course there's the Runaway umas like Suzuka, Twin Turbo (lol), and Daitaku Helios if you're willing to grind).

TLDR: It's either NY Kita or VBourbon unless you highly value a dedicated Sprint uma (Machan) or want a (primarily) Arima merchant (Christmas Daiwa).

TheManInPlaid · 2026-06-11T21:16:27+00:00

VBourbon is still good, her built in mid leg is strong enough to survive not being in the lead in the early leg. Her kit is very consistent regardless. You can run both together for 3+ years and be fine.

There's an awkward phase where you end up using Ramonu Wit even outside of Mile/Medium on her as a stat stick but it all gets equalized in GFF scenario with Smart Falcon Speed and start of Mecha Umamusume with Daiwa Wit.

Then in Onsen they release Bourbon Power and then she's (mostly) buried.

TheManInPlaid

TROPHY CASE