A Brewer’s Guide to Jetburn: Plus Ultra (Rares)!
- hwangtwigg
- Sep 27, 2023
- 11 min read
Another day, another Brewer’s guide to the upcoming set Jetburn, this time we will be focusing on the revealed Ultra Rares being introduced within Jetburn. For non-character discussion I will be abandoning the Power/Playrate/Sauce scale to allow for me to simply talk and discuss these upcoming cards. Of course these are my opinions and insights, and if you disagree feel free to sound off in the comments below! We will be starting with the full kit cards then transition to the backpage URs, so without further adieu, let’s get brewing!
Plus Ultra Ultra Rares
As with any new release, the most splashy and eye-catching cards exist and the premium rarity, and boy howdy do we have some incredible moves this time around. Easily the most notable is Shoot Style: St. Louis Smash, Deku’s newest dunk, being a lateral version of Recipro Acceleration Kick, but now allowing you to discard Charge attacks from your card pool for your Powerful: 3 rating. It also self charges a momentum if you are at a deficit compared to your rival, which gives further fuel to the fire that is the Charge keyword when it gets some momentum. Funnily enough I believe this card will be outclassed by Home Run Comet in most lists as a turn ending dunk, as the true use of this card is extension. The biggest draw to this card compared to Home Run Comet is that this allows you to keep swinging, whereas HRC is usually your final attack. To get the most use out of it, I’d suggest pairing it with plenty of draw effects in order for this card to not only become a big dunk, but a facilitator of ridiculous strings, similar to how the Kick package works under Order with Recipro Acceleration Kick.
The other most notable Ultra Rare belongs to Dabi III, one of the worst characters of the set. Thankfully to redeem himself, he brought along the monster that is Blueflame Torment. This card is one of the biggest stat-sticks of the set, and spiritual big brother to Double Jab Pummel, one of the best Ultra Rares from Crimson Rampage. This card is a tempo monster, having fair stats for the cost while also having one of the best enhances on an attack this set so far. Forcing your rival to check a six or it gets bigger and your next move gets easier to play, this card varies from being a 5-Low-5 with Stun: 2, to a 5-Low-7 that gives your next check +2. On top of that, it has additional offensive and defensive utility with the check hack, allowing you to push damage on another move through, or halting your rival on their turn after you block with it. The only thing holding this card back is a lack of relevant keywords, and while it has Fury, the only symbol that usually matters on is Fire, and although there is support for Fury under the evil symbol, it has to compete with the other generic staples on those symbols such as Tongue Whip and Chronostasis Trigger. This means it will likely fill a generic “goodstuff” slot in decks, similar to Back Alley Haymaker. While I don’t foresee it being as universal as that, it will be a top contender for slots on all of its symbols.
Man, I Hate Dis-Card!
While not entirely related, both Gently Theft and Explosive Rebuke suggest a playstyle that hasn’t yet manifested in the MHA format of UVS; discarding the rivals hand. This potentially terrifying theme hasn’t received many cards, the notable ones being Chainsaw Nomu, Blood Moon Rending, Binding Cloth Capture, and Villainous Waylay, all which barely relate to each other, other than a small weapon synergy between the first three. Ripping cards from your rival's hand is one of the most effective ways to prevent them from blocking, and historically has been a theme that has teetered on the edges of being broken in previous iterations of this game. Six sets into this version and we have plenty of answers to discard, such as Seal Of Approval, Recovery Time, and Villains Defeated, combined with new answers with Hot Pursuit and #3 Pro Hero means that should this theme ever become meta relevant players are able to prepare. This will naturally create waves in a metagame where the viability of the strategy surges and wanes based on how many people prepare for it. If you intend on trying this theme, I would suggest not doing so right after it does well in an event, as players will be teching specifically to beat it. While I don’t know how competitive it will end up being, it is something to keep in mind while exploring the new set.
Situationally Exceptional
Of course not every ultra rare can be generically good, so we move onto the attacks that will shine when built around. The most clear cut example is Hood’s ultra rare, Stretching Slam, which directly synergizes with 6+ difficulty attacks by not only lowering their cost, but getting big speed when milling them with the bottom enhance. This card is made for the all 6-difficulty attack deck, which when combined with More…Power… will create an interesting high difficulty themed deck. Ultimately I am unsure how this will pan out competitively, but it certainly will be a blast to sling the biggest moves at my rival.
Fiber Web Combo is also a tricky move to build around, with the double Ranged combo requirement, however the payoff is incredibly scary, being able to turn it into a throw mid-enhance step. This allows you to slap on all of your “non-throw” effects before turning it into one to slam the rival. A simple combo I could see would be combining Navel Laser Beam, Twisting Azure Inferno, and Fiber Web Combo as a trinity of Ranged attacks, and with a deck lead by a character with reliable damage pump, such as Todoroki IV, Dabi I, or Aoyama I, can lead to having massive attacks strung out at you consistently while remaining incredibly threatening. I was to specifically call out Dabi I, as he is not only able to pump the damage significantly, he can also turn one of the other moves into a Throw, making his kill turns incredibly difficult to survive.
Charring Flurry and Feather Storm both exist in this sort of limbo where they are perfectly serviceable on their own, but their true potential is unlocked by building around their theme, sealing foundations and feathers respectively. Even without the rest of their “package” however, both of these can easily be slotted into decks just fine, with Charring Flurry giving a potent offensive momentum outlet, while Feather Storm provides +1 speed to the rest of your attack turn, reminiscent of cards such as Tongue Whip and Cavalry Chariot Advance. Ultimately these cards will mostly stay within their associated archetype, however they can and will find occasional outside homes when needed.
Lastly on our situationally significant list, we have PLUS ULTRA: Prominence Burn (yes you have to yell that first part). Easily the most niche of all full-kit ultra rares, this card is blank most of the time. Yes it has potentially Stun: 3, however you have to tune your whole deck in order to make it consistent. Yes it also can be 10 damage (more if you load up on set-up effects), but it requires not only being the first thing you do, an easy ask, but also requiring you to have cycled as well, a much more monumental task. This further limits the decks this can slot into, keeping it to self-mill decks. Of the potential characters, I see it only really having a home in Endeavor III, All Might VI, and All Might II. You could force it in other characters, such as Fat Gum, Rikiya Katsukame, and Tokoyami I, however it would require so much of a deckbuilding restriction that it isn’t worth it. Unfortunately that leaves it as the least impactful ultra rare so far, though I seem to have missed a few…
Terrifying Utility
So far we have primarily discussed the cards in relation to how effective they are as attacks. Well these next two break that convention, with both Tasty Riff and Dragon Impact leaning more towards utility then offense. Both are 4-difficulty 2-checks, with Tasty Riff being a massive draw or filter tool, while also adding insane consistency to the Applause counter archetype, meanwhile Dragon Impact is here primarily for its middle enhance giving the Somnambulism effect to a much wider cast of characters. I discussed the combos with Tasty Riff previously and how it can be used to chain many attacks in a turn to sprint towards your win condition in Jiro II, so if you want the lowdown go check out this article. The one I didn’t give attention to is Dragon Impact. Given that most of the text on this card won’t be relevant most of the time, the Pro Hero enhance has to carry a lot of power, which it certainly does. Committing your rivals character is one of the most powerful things you can do in this game, so putting that effect on an otherwise niche card gives it a much more refined purpose. Bloodcurdle was/is a common sideboard due to the ability for it to single handedly win games, and I expect this card to exist in a similar space. I wouldn’t expect it to be a common sideboard option, however in places it fits it could easily turn the tables on specific matchups you are targeting with your sideboard.
Turning to the Back Page
Of the revealed back page cards, we have eight more ultra rares, split between an action, an asset, five attacks, and a foundation. Starting with the singletons, Eri Smiles is a new defensive action that should show up in decks in a similar style to Showdown. While Eri Smiles is usually more effective at shutting down turns, it lacks the backswing opportunity Showdown has, and as such was given slightly better stats, such as a better block and check. The enhance on the card lets you soft stack your deck, however doing so is incredibly inefficient, so you should primarily view this as a defensive blocking action. Due to Showdown’s prevalence I would expect this to find homes, though it will fluctuate based on how important both high blocks and turn stopping cards are needed based on the meta.
Pro Hero Rankings comes with two unique effects, the initial one allowing you to shuffle removed attacks into your deck post-cycle, while the other gives your attack damage based on how many foundations you’re holding. The first effect shouldn’t be why you consider it, as the cycle condition is rarely seen, let alone usually impactful enough to cause you to want to run this. The enhance is also awkward, being an offensive enhance that is stronger based on how many non-offensive cards you are holding. It accumulates into a card that doesn’t really have a place in our game. Something else to consider is that you have to show the rival your entire hand for the enhance, meaning they know exactly what to play around going into their turn, such as what block zones you have or any defensive from-hand tricks you might be pocketing. I wouldn’t expect this to see play except for asset-reliant characters such as Mimic, Mei, and Momo, and even then it is a tough sell to get it included in those decks (aside from Mimic as it is a 1-difficulty asset).
The ultra rare foundation we have is Incredible Display, an incredibly awesome card. The top effect is a repeatable response cancel, assuming you have momentum, whereas the bottom response is repeatable block looping, assuming it is a foundation. Combined with only being a 2-difficulty non-unique card, I expect this card to see a ton of play and reach near staple status a la Excited For Blood. While the response cancel is the eye catching effect of the card, being able to pick up your block is a massive boon to the Chaos and Earth symbols that can struggle with having card advantage. It also carries the benefit of allowing you to use on-block responses and effects, such as Surprise Interception, Evade And Copy, and Harden gives further utility to this incredible foundation.
Onto the attacks, the most noteworthy backpage ultra rare is Dramatic Slash, a rehashed version of the banned Unwavering Slash. The cost is more acceptable, requiring a momentum to build an asset, while the second effect allows more top deck manipulation compared to straight advantage. This has weakened the card significantly to where it won’t be as insane as the previous iteration, but sits nicely as a unique option for a specific purpose. I don’t expect this to make waves, but in the decks that like it, it will be one of the best cards available.
The other more generic backpage attack is High Key Mirage, a 3-difficulty attack with pitiful stats alongside several powerful effects. It snags a momentum and replaces itself with a draw if it hits, as well as banking “3 speed” for later in the turn with its card pool response. Notably it cannot be used to check hack your rival on their turn as it is limited to checks made to block an attack, limiting this to a resource converter with offensive utility. While I don’t expect the card to see much play outside of Camie, the character it was intended for, I could envision decks where they simply set up towards a single big dunk, with High Key Mirage becoming effectively an “action” in those, decks, a parallel iteration of Seizing The Advantage.
The next two cards are slightly related, in that they both incorporate the Lurkers’ theme of reviewing cards into them. Foldabody Skewer is a large 6-difficulty move that lets you filter on every future attack, letting you sculpt the perfect offensive hand. These additional filters also have the bonus of being considered “reviews”, which enables each member of the gang to facilitate their game plan. It also allows you to discard a momentum in order to remove it if completely blocked, which is likely given it’s puny 3-speed and massive 7-damage. This has potential to turn up in various decks that would like to sculpt very specific hands such as combo decks, though I believe it will mostly be relegated to being a signature card of the Lurkers.
Lacquered Chain prison is Kamui’s new ultra rare attack, with less of a theme based on reviewing. It gives you a sizable bonus for reviewing it, forcing your rival to commit a foundation and flip another, this combines perfectly with Kamui’s ability to review on the rivals turn, starting off with a huge tempo swing before the turn has even begun. The combo enhance is the primary draw of the move, letting you turn off the enhance step at will and buffing the damage by almost double. This lets it exist as both a “flash” attack as well as a way to get off a key enhance or few without letting your rival respond. The biggest thing holding this card back is the combo requirement being more awkward then more generic ones, as tailoring your deck to being able to consistently activate it will lead you with limited options. It is certainly the most unusual cards we have gotten, and I am unsure where it can slot in, but will be a fun puzzle to optimize within deckbuilding.
Last on our list, and potentially least, is The Haunting of Hitoshi Shinso, a 5-difficulty attack with a very unique concept. It offers incredibly powerful effects while giving your rival the option of picking a lesser of two evils based on their current situation. While I love the design of this card, I don’t envision it seeing much play due to the inconsistent nature of it. The biggest part of this card is the tremendous buff it gives to Shinso, one of the worst characters in the game. Allowing him to echo this move allows him to force the rival to choose for each effect twice, leading to incredible tempo and resource swings. Unfortunately Shinso is still a poor character, and this is unlikely to make him meta relevant, though I would hold onto copies in the off chance that Shinso II comes out and is relatively playable.
What’s Next On The Menu?
Thank you for tuning into this Brewer’s Guide on the ultra rares of Jetburn, overall I am mostly content with the state of this sets URs, and though some may be much more niche then others, overall I would only be disappointed in opening only a few of the ones revealed so far. Be sure to check out the previous articles where I discuss the characters of Jetburn, and tune in next time where I go over all the other cards within the full kits of the set!
Do you have any articles you’d like to see? Any topics you wish were discussed more? Any questions, comments, or feedback on this article? Well let me know down below! And if you enjoyed the article, feel free to leave a tip at my Ko-fi.
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