Welcome to the first of many previews of Set 5: Undaunted Raid. Over the next 3 weeks leading up to the release, I’ll be previewing all the cards in Set 5 by Character & Kit. Today, we start with Lemillion himself, Mirio Togata.

Simple. Tough. Relentless.

Mirio has FINALLY arrived on the tables and he’s clearly got his eyes set on carving out his own spot in the meta. His effect is simple and powerful, great for newer players to pilot when they grab a Rival Deck. His damage boost takes mid range attacks and makes them a need to block. Taking Sero‘s “Choose Your Zone” ability is also a clever way to add to his aggressive prowess because if you think your opponent doesn’t have a certain block zone in hand, everything is hitting that weak spot all of the sudden.

Playing on the Good symbol gives him access to some of the best punches in the game (Back Alley Haymaker, Texas Smash, Reverse Throw, Hardened Jab, etc.) and he doesn’t stop there! Several of the attacks in his kit boost their speed and/or damage when their zone is changed, launching attacks that would take down some characters in as little as 3 hits. Add in his access to One with Nature and Lemillion is gonna be a hard attack chain to stop. Repel Strike into Texas Smash into Phantom Charge is a line that doesn’t ask you to check more than a 5 and sends 24 damage your Rival’s way without sinking a bunch of resources to the cause. With access to Passing the Torch, the discard costs of One With Nature and Texas Smash become much easier to swallow.

When you take a look at the Foundation lineup you’ll notice a difference from previous Rival decks. These effects aren’t tailor made just to fight the other Rival deck. Instead of “This Fury attack gets -3 damage”, we’re seeing more self-strategy affirming effects. Thanks to Jasco for that change. It makes recommending a Starter Deck much easier.

Most of these Foundations are on the Started Deck power level, so I don’t expect them to be splashed in many decks in the format. However, I do love seeing cards like Combat Decisions, that can punish characters that string several attacks together similar to a card like Challenging The Fakes. I can’t wait to see these cards and the rest of Set 5 added the the card pool. Check back daily for more Undaunted Raid updates, and until next time I’ll see you on the tables!