Characters / Fantasy Strike

aka: Yomi

This page covers both Fantasy Strike and Yomi since they both share the same characters.

Please put tropes that only apply to a character's Yomi or Fantasy Strike gameplay in the appropriate section.

WORK IN PROGRESS

Note to editors and confused readers: if a folder includes an "Unsorted" section with no visible tropes, it's because it does contain tropes but they're Zero Context Examples that are hard to sort due to lack of information. If you add more context and move them to the proper section, remove the Unsorted header.

---

General

• Always a Bigger Fish: Even if your move is "somewhat invulnerable," it can still be beaten by a move that is even more invulnerable.
• Blocking Stops All Damage: Normal attacks usually do no damage if blocked, while special attacks and super attacks usually do some.
• Combos: Characters have a various number of combo points with which to perform follow-up attacks. As doing so requires the expenditure of specific cards, however, optimal combos are not always available.
• Counterspell: Several characters have abilities designed to counter other abilities. All of them have some additional cost or downside to playing them except Quince's in EX-Mode, and they can never counter abilities on aces or character cards.
• Death or Glory Attack: Ace moves that require three or four aces at once to use are often this. They usually win the game or give a staggering advantage if they hit, but leave the user with poor remaining options going forward if they don't. Even if it does hit, if it doesn't finish off the foe, the user might still lack the fuel to close it out.
• Expy: Most characters are based off of characters from other games, such as Street Fighter and Guilty Gear.The game was originally going to feature the actual cast of ''Street Fighter''. Capcom considered it, but ultimately rejected the idea.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: The Stormborne siblings, Gray and Jaina, have this dynamic. Grave is a shoto who, while classified as a zoner, is a Martial Artist who's just as dancerous close, whereas Jaina is an archer who's primarily a zoner.
• Invulnerable Attack: Under normal conditions, moves cannot be made faster (have a lower speed value) than 1.0; those that are faster are said to have some amount of invincibility frames. Almost every character has at least one such move.
• Limit Break: Ace cards allow for powerful super moves. Most require multiple aces to be saved and expended at once to use.
• Resources Management Gameplay: Cards have multiple uses, and each card has limited copies. Managing both a quantity and quality of cards in hand is an essential skill for achieving victory.

First Edition Characters

Grave Stormborne

General tropes

• Blow You Away: He can control wind and clouds in combat.
• Brother–Sister Team: With Jaina.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Defeated the formerly undefeated Rook in his own tournament, paralleling the story between Ryu and Sagat.
• Expy: Of Ryu. His wind powers also bring Rachel Alucard to mind.

• I Am Not Left-Handed: Carries a sword, but was instructed to not use it unless absolutely necessary.
• Moveset Clone: In both Yomi and Fantasy Strike, many of his attacks are very similar to Jaina's, although Jaina's moveset has more of a focus on projectile attacks.
• Neutral No Longer: In his ending, he says that he does not care about Flagstone's politics, however evil they might be, and only wants to train further, which angers Rook and DeGrey. Fortunately, he is convinced to learn more about Flagstone and possibly use his influence as champion to help bring down Sirus' tyrannical regime.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue, to Jaina's Red. He primarily wears blue and is patient and disciplined.
• Rōnin: His general theme.
• Shock and Awe: Has the power of electricity-breathing dragons.
• Shotoclone: All of his special moves directly parallel those of Ryu in both Yomi and Fantasy Strike.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Goes shirtless seemingly at all times.

Yomi tropes

• Counterspell: His Mental Toughness ability can act as this, for a price.
• Jack of All Stats: Has the most balanced stats and card layout.
• Lag Cancel: In EX-Mode, he can combo Dragonheart (normally a combo-ender) into his ultimate super move, True Power of Storms, at the cost of somewhat reduced damage. This simulates the FADC combos (and damage-scaling) found in Street Fighter IV.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Grave's Lightning Cloud has such benefits when it is blocked, including substantial block damage and returning to his hand, that some players consider the victory of successfully blocking it to be more painful than the loss of just getting hit by it; at least in the latter case, it won't come back to annoy you again and again.
• Unblockable Attack: In EX-Mode, his Overhead Slice attack using his sword is unblockable.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Charged Attack: He can charge up his Lightning Cloud to create a bigger, but slower and shorter-ranged cloud.

• Shoryuken: His Dragonheart uppercut is clearly a mirror of Ryu's Shin Shoryuken, being a two-part uppercut that is invincible at startup.
• Super Mode: To some extent, his Wind Summon (Air C) works like one, since it temporarily makes his Thunderclouds bigger and faster.

Unsorted

Jaina Stormborne

General tropes

• Brother–Sister Team: With Grave.
• Desperation Attack: In both Yomi and Fantasy Strike, she has various means by which to spend her own HP to gain an aggressive edge.
• Expy: Of Ken. She's got the same basic special moves, and a similar temper to him, on top of being one of the main two characters alongside Grave.
• Playing with Fire: Has the power of fire-breathing dragons, and calls herself the Phoenix Archer.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red, to Grave's Blue. She wears red and is much more reckless compared to Grave's discipline.
• Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: By far the most modestly-dressed female character, and the sibling of the protagonist.

Yomi tropes

• Blocking Stops All Damage: Zig-zagged; while most normal attacks in the game do not do block damage, her normal attacks on red-suited cards do substantial amounts. Played straight with her black-suited cards.
• Cast from Hit Points: Can reuse cards multiple times at the cost of her own life points. In EX-Mode, she can also increase her damage or combo points in the same manner.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Cast from Hit Points: Her Dragonheart costs one life each time it's used, although it can't bring her to zero, so there's no cost once she has only one HP left.
• Charged Attack: She can charge up her Flame Arrows, but not while jumping. Charging up a bit makes the arrows pierce through enemy projectiles, and charging up a lot makes them unblockable.
• Diving Kick: Her only aerial normal attack, it is nevertheless one of the strongest examples of this trope.
• Long-Range Fighter: She has more of a focus on projectile attacks compared to her brother Grave. Three of her four special attacks are projectiles, and the other sends the enemy far from Jaina.
• Rain of Arrows: Her air C and air S shoot arrows into the air that then fall down. Of note is that unlike other projectiles in the game, she can have these and her regular arrows flying across the screen at the same time.
• Shoryuken: Her Dragonheart (ground C special) is an uppercut that makes her briefly invincible and knocks opponents away, although it's Cast from Hit Points, so using it will not directly bring you closer to victory HP-wise (unless you have only 1 HP, so you have nothing to lose, or your opponent has 1 HP and using it will KO them). Its main use is to launch the enemy farther away from Jaina, which is usually advantageous to her.

Master Ando Midori

General tropes

^{Click here for his dragon form} 

• Expy: Of Street Fighter's Gouken lore-wise, and of E. Honda with his grappling techniques.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Holds back his power by fighting in human form unless necessary.
• Old Master: The teacher of Grave and Jaina.
• Only One Name: Does not seem to have a last name, along with his brother. Averted as Fantasy Strike gave him the surname of "Ando".
• Our Dragons Are Different: A noble green dragon who can shapeshift at will.
• Poison Is Evil: Averted; he is a poison-breathing dragon, but is also extremely moral and kind.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Downplayed; he will allow his students to make their own mistakes during sparring matches, but will teach them how to improve after the fact.
  I'll be happy to teach you what you did wrong after our fight.
• Shapeshifting: Is actually a dragon who takes the form of a human. Can switch forms periodically during a fight.
• Shotoclone: Averted; despite teaching Grave and Jaina, he does not share their fighting style. He still has a form of Shoryuken, however.
• Willfully Weak: Lore-wise, he could remain in Dragon Form 100% of the time, but he wishes to fight his opponents fairly since he cares about more than just beating everyone in his way.

Yomi tropes

• Always Accurate Attack: His dragon-specific special attacks cannot be dodged, though they can still be blocked.
• Flight: During his Dragon Mountain and Final Dragon Buster techniques.
• Shoryuken: His Rising Mountain technique, though it lacks the invincibility normally given to a shoryuken. When in Dragon Form, it becomes Dragon Mountain, which does have invulnerability.
• Status Effects: Averted; while he can breath clouds of noxious poison, they do not cause any lasting effect on his opponent.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• SNK Boss: Prior to the Free To Play update, he was the final opponent. During that fight, he has 10 life points instead of 8, and his super meter is boosted so he spends more time in dragon form than human form.
• Super Mode: He can only shift into dragon form when his super meter is full, and reverts to human form once it's empty. Dragon form has some of the strongest attacks in the game.
• Tail Slap: His back+A attack in dragon form. It has extremely long range.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Time pauses while Midori transforms. His tutorial video suggests using this to check what the opponent is doing and prepare accordingly.
• Transformation Name Announcement: Yells "Dragon Form!" and "Human Form!" when switching between his two modes.

Setsuki Hiruki

General tropes

• Animal Motifs: Identifies with foxes, and wears a scarf colored like a fox tail. And she trains at a dojo called the Fox's Den, just to drive the point further.
• Expy: Of Ibuki mechanically, and of Sakura lore-wise.
• Dogged Nice Girl: Wants Grave to notice her, though he never does, paralleling the story between Ryu and Sakura.
• Hero-Worshipper: Strives to become as skilled as Grave, though believes she still has a ways to go. In EX-Mode, she believes she has finally become as powerful as Grave used to be, but now he has improved too.
• Ninja: Naturally.
• Ninja School: The Fox's Den, which is where she learns her techniques.
• Scarf of Asskicking: A fox-themed one, no less.
• Stripperiffic: Her ninja outfit lacks pants (sometimes), and generally leaves little to the imagination. Her ace artwork shows a close-up of her in a thong as she throws kunai.

Yomi tropes

• Cool, but Inefficient:
  • Can perform some of the longest combos in the game, but also has among the worst card-to-damage ratio.
  • Combos that start with Ninpo Flash can do heavy damage, but if they are negated with a Combo Breaker, they will only deal a mere one damage instead.
• Counterspell: Her Smoke Bomb ability can counter other abilities at the cost of two additional cards. Due to her desire to discard her own hand, this "cost" can be an advantage to her.
• Fragile Speedster: Her low health is backed with very fast attacks and a high number of combo points.
• Glass Cannon: Has the lowest health in the game (tied with Menelker and Gloria), but can do massive damage per combo, and can do many combos in a row without needing to stop.
• Resources Management Gameplay: Subverted; unlike with most characters, Setsuki actually wants to run out of resources as quickly as possible, which provides her with an instant refill. Doubly-Subverted in that she still only has limited copies of her best abilities, and will also eventually run out of cards in her deck if the battle goes on for long enough.
• Smoke Out: Can avoid special abilities by using smoke bombs.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Counter-Attack: Her air super is a counter attack that can block both projectiles and melee strikes by having a log take the hit instead. If hit, Setsuki will teleport behind or in front of the opponent and become invisible.
• Fragile Speedster: She has only 5 HP, tied with Valerie for lowest, but has fast attacks and great mobility.
• Invisibility Flicker: If her air super is triggered, she'll start flickering, making her attacks harder to see and react to. Enforced since having her be completely invisible would make it too hard to control her.
• Ninja Log: Her air super makes her counter an attack by having a log take the hit. The falling log can damage the opponent.

Garus Rook

General tropes

• Big Good: The leader of the Morningstar Sanctuary, which takes in the persecuted and outcast. He also organizes the Fantasy Strike tournament with the intent of gathering strong people capable of taking down Quince.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Was formerly undefeated in his own tournament, until he was beaten by Grave, paralleling the story between Ryu and Sagat. He plans on reclaiming his title in future tournaments.
  The Fantasy Strike tournament will go on, and I expect to win it.
• Expy: Of Zangief mechanically. Also shares many lore similarities to Sagat.
• Friend to All Living Things: Several birds sit peacefully on his shoulder and head, even as he fights.
• Gentle Giant: A generally peaceful being, though also a terrifying competitor in the Fantasy Strike Tournament.
• Ken Doll Anatomy: Fortunately, since he doesn't wear clothing.
• Last-Name Basis: Goes primarily by Rook.
• Nature Hero: Believes in respecting nature.
• Really 700 Years Old: He's quite old, although his exact age is unknown.
• Rock Monster: A stone golem.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: While not necessarily expected to wear clothing as a golem, he is perpetually showing off some rock-hard, chiseled abs.
• Was Once a Man: According to his Fantasy Strike spotlight video, he used to be human. It's not explained how he became a golem.

Yomi tropes

• Attack Reflector: His Stone Wall ability reflects damage back at its user.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Is the only character in the game to entirely lack a basic type of combat option, possessing no dodge cards at all.
• Death or Glory Attack: Especially true of his Checkmate Buster super move. It deals incredible damage, but requires all four aces, and can be foiled by any attack, no matter how small. Due to his Crippling Overspecialization, he cannot even use dodges to make landing it easier.
• Immune to Flinching: His Windmill Crusher move has armor against fast normal attacks. His Rock Armor ability allows him to armor through any attacks other than Super Moves and those that knock him down. In EX-Mode, his Rock Armor becomes Diamond Armor, allowing him to use its effect at will for free.
• Mighty Glacier: Has the highest life total and does powerful hits, but is slow and has limited combo ability. He is the only character unable to dodge at all.
• Spinning Piledriver: His Windmill Crusher special move, and his Checkmate Buster super move.
• Stone Wall: His archetype is between this and Mighty Glacier. It is also the direct name of one of his special abilities.
• Super-Toughness: Has the highest life of the cast (excluding boss characters found in 2v1 mode), as well as the most opportunity to use armored attacks. He and EX Bal-Bas-Beta are the only characters in the cast that the True Final Boss, EX Deathstrike Dragon, cannot defeat in a single combo.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Circling Birdies: Birds orbit around his opponent's head if he hits with his Head Crush. Given that he's often accompanied by similar birds, it's implied they're real and not just some visual effect.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: He is the only character who deals chip damage with his normal attacks (or at least, he was until Onimaru came along).
• Mighty Glacier: Has a huge lifebar, powerful attacks, but little mobility.

Jefferson DeGrey

General tropes

• Arch-Enemy: Considers Quince to be a serious threat, and strives to personally stop him.
• Big Good: Alongside Rook, he is one of the leaders in the fight against Quince. His role is to educate the people on the evils of Flagstone so they'll hopefully take the tyrant down.
• Deal with the Devil: Made a deal with dark powers to have immortality - at least until his "true task" is complete.
• Good Lawyers, Good Clients: A very upstanding and moral lawyer.
• Immortality: Was once killed and then resurrected. He will now live until he completes his earthly purpose.
• Last-Name Basis: Goes primarily by DeGrey.
• Martial Pacifist: Is equally skilled at both diplomacy and combat. Will attempt to try the former first, but is not opposed to using the latter.
  By silver tongue or mighty fists, I will get justice for all.
• Purpose-Driven Immortality: His immortality will last until he completes his "true task," which is vague and unclear. DeGrey currently believes that it might involve stopping Quince.
• Really 700 Years Old: Has lived a long time since his resurrection.
• Violence is the Only Option: He'd rather not resort to murder, but most tyrants aren't willing to give up their evil ways no matter what.
  "By silver tongue or bloodletting, I will have justice. And silver tongue hasn't worked so far."

Yomi tropes

• No Kill like Overkill: In EX-Mode, he can do the highest damage combo in the game, even in comparison to all other EX characters and the Final Boss EX Deathstrike Dragon, if the difference between his hand size and his opponent's is great enough.
• Nonchalant Dodge: His dodge artwork depicts him as calmly turning his back to his opponent while side-stepping, with one arm behind his back.
• Pile Bunker: His Pilebunker attack is an energy-based variation.
• Shoryuken: His Spirit Justice attack, in which his ghost assistant performs one on his behalf.
• Talk to the Hand: He blocks attacks in this manner.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Has slower throws and more limited combo potential than average, but does outstanding damage.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Assist Character: His ghost. He can use his C special on the ground or in the air to send her to hold his opponent in place for a moment.
• Expy: Of Slayer mechanically (his main special attack is a backstep that can be chained into several other attacks) and lore-wise (an immortal man who is accompanied by a similarly immortal woman). He even casually lies down in a relaxing pose when knocked out, just like Slayer.
• Shout-Out: His Yomi counter. He yells "OBJECTION!" and points so hard it hurts his opponent. His clothes also resemble Miles Edgeworth's, to strengthen the reference.

Valerie Rose

General tropes

• Duality Motif: Has blue-and-green heterochromia plus a strand of hair shaped like a crack between both eyes, symbolically representing her manic-depressive disorder.
• Improbable Weapon User: Fights with paint brushes of varying sizes and paint itself as her main weapons.
• Lipstick Lesbian: She's a feminine painter, and her beef with Flagstone is from their police force killing her girlfriend.

Yomi tropes

• Flash Step: Her Burst of Speed technique can allow her to increase her already respectable speed during any combat exchange.
• Fragile Speedster: Has below-average life, but has naturally fast attacks and can make them even faster with her Burst of Speed technique. Also has the most combo points in the game (tied with Setsuki, Gwen, and Deathstrike Dragon). In EX-Mode, she gains even more combo points, going up to a total of 8 in a game where 6 is normally the highest.
• Glass Cannon: Using multiple Bold Strokes (which increase her normal attacks' power) in a massive combo can certainly make her feel like this, as while it can deal grievous damage and pull most or all of her aces from the deck, she lacks the drawing capability of other large-combo characters like Setsuki, and is extremely easy to completely No-Sell with a single Joker.
• Shoryuken: Her Crimson Passion attack.
• Unblockable Attack: Her Flying Rainbow Strike penetrates blocks that are not the same color as it is.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Adaptational Modesty: Her dress doesn't have the sides cut-out like it does in Yomi, resulting in her covering up a fair bit more.
• Expy: Her Bold Stroke, which can be chained up to three times, is highly reminiscent of Fei Long's Rekkaken.
• Glass Cannon: As a rushdown, she only has five HP, but she can chain many attacks together, which add up to a significant chunk of the enemy's life bar.
• Homophobic Hate Crime: Her opening cutscene shows her girlfriend getting arrested and executed by Flagstone's police force. Needless to say, she has a bone to pick with them.

Max Geiger

General tropes

• Expy: He's basically a Clock Punk Guile, except his charge inputs are represented by a meter emptying if he steps forward.
• Last-Name Basis: Is referred to mainly as Geiger.

• Time Master: Experiments with time-traveling science, though has yet to master it. In EX-Mode, he claims to have.
• The Watchmaker: He's themed around watches, time, and gears. This is also his profession, when he's not tinkering with more dangerous forms of science.

Yomi tropes

• Ascended Glitch: His ability to throw after his Time Spiral attacks are blocked ("Tick Throw"), as well as his ability to perform "Infinite Combos" with them, are references to unintended glitches in older versions of Street Fighter II. Here, they are deliberately balanced.
• Combo Breaker: His Temporal Distortion allow his Time Spiral attacks to avoid being negated by combo breakers.
• Charged Attack: While using Temporal Distortion, he can use all of his Time Spiral attacks in a single combo. To make this devastating, however, he first needs to acquire several by building up a hand.
• No Kill like Overkill: Can deal the highest amount of damage in a single combo compared to anyone in the cast including the Final Boss Deathstrike Dragon, but not including EX DeGrey in EX-Mode, which can be made to be mostly unavoidable by combo breakers as well. It might take a while to get there, though.
• Resources Management Gameplay: Moreso than most characters, as he has the potential to place most of his special moves into a single giant combo. He has some ability to reuse these attacks, but it's limited. In EX-Mode, this limitation is lifted, returning them each turn infinitely.
• Stealth Pun: He is a watchmaker who can perform a Tick Throw.
• Unblockable Attack: His Time Spirals can be blocked, but Geiger will still get to followup with a combo even if they are.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Charge-Input Special: Played With. As an Expy of Street Fighter's Guile, he has a long-range projectile and anti-air that follow similar principles. Fantasy Strike however doesn't have classic fighting game inputs, instead tying specials to a single button press and directional input (i.e. forward plus special button), not unlike Super Smash Bros.. Geiger still evokes the charge input because his projectile is put on a cooldown every time he uses it, and the timer resets any time he moves forward, invoking the classic method of holding back to charge a move.
• Diving Kick: His jumping C attack, Drop Gear, makes him start falling shortly after activating.
• Expy: Of Guile, due to his projectile and upwards kick attack (which even has "Flash" in its name). He has a gear meter that must be full to use his special attacks and empties whenever he walks forwards, filling the purpose Guile's charge commands that prevent him from walking forwards and using his specials. Also bears a similarity to Hoenheim.
• Shoryuken: His Flash Gear, which resembles Guile's Flash Kick. It comes out quickly and gives him brief invulnerability, making it a great attack to use while cornered.
• Time Stands Still: His ground super freezes time, although he just walks forwards slowly and then uses one Flash Gear rather than doing anything devastating. He also stops time when performing a Yomi counter, and takes advantage of it to kick his opponent.

Lum Bam-Foo

General tropes

• Drunken Master: Implied Trope, since he always carries a gourd of some beverage with him into battle.
• Expy: Of Blanka due to his rolling. In Fantasy Strike, he also gains elements of Faust with his random item throws that include food that can be picked up by both players, bombs that can hurt both players, and a miniature version of Lum that crawls forwards and deals Collision Damage.
• Planet of Hats: He is defined largely by his love of gambling. His spotlight video mentions that this is true of all Pandafolk.

Yomi tropes

• Excuse Me While I Multitask: Plays Poker, dice games, and other games of chance, as well as enjoying a good drink, while engaged in combat.
• Hot Potato: In EX-Mode, one of the random items he can throw is a Crash Potato, a reference to Zane's Crash Bomb that is the literal incarnation of this trope.
• Status Effects: In EX-Mode, one of the random items he can throw is a erlenmeyer flask of Possibly Poison, which may or may not poison the enemy based on a gamble.
• The Gambler: Both thematically and mechanically. His abilities cause him to play aspects of Poker and Blackjack while also playing Yomi at the same time.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Confusion Fu: His preferred strategy is to fill up the screen with so much stuff the opponents can't process it all.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His bombs can hurt him, and his food can help the opponent.
• Hyperactive Metabolism: Some of his thrown items include cherries that restore health and cakes that restore super meter.
• Pie in the Face: In his arcade mode ending, he wins a large amount of money and uses it to hire ninja clowns to hit Grave in the face with a cake. No reason is given for this except Rule of Funny.
• Random Effect Spell: His Item Toss and Slots of Items launch random items with varied effects.
• Take That!: One of his alternate colors is called "Emperor" and has yellow fur and red clothing similar to Winnie the Pooh. Consider that emperors are associated with China, and that Chinese president Xi Jinping infamously hates being compared to Pooh...

Argagarg Garg

General tropes

• Expy: Of Dhalsim due to his stretching limbs he uses to attack. Fantasy Strike also gives him Dhalsim's downwards drill attack and slow-moving projectiles to further the resemblance.
• Fish People: From a culture of civilized fishpeople.
• Making a Splash: Attacks with water projectiles in various shapes.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: He has four arms.
• Nature Hero: Finds common ground with Rook on this matter.
• Repetitive Name: It sounds like someone screaming while drowning.
• Technical Pacifist: Preaches non-violence, but will fight if necessary or in a tournament setting. In Yomi, he does a significant part of his damage without actually hitting his foe, via ongoing damage from his Hex of Murkwood.

Yomi tropes

• Barrier Warrior: His preferred fighting style involves withdrawing into a Bubble Shield and letting his Hex of Murkwood whittle down his foe.
• Beehive Barrier: His Protective Ward is represented by a hexagon. However, his actual barrier, Bubble Shield, is not one.
• Counterspell: His Crash and Flow ability can counter many other abilities, but countered cards may get cycled back into his opponents deck instead of negated outright.

• Deflector Shield: Can surround himself in a Bubble Shield that prevents incoming damage, as well as makes his Damage Over Time even more potent.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Damage Over Time: His preferred playstyle is to poison the opponent, then keep them away to let the poison do its job.
• Kill It with Water: Noticeably averted. His water attacks deal no damage except for his poison fish.
• Long-Range Fighter: His normal and special attacks all have long range and specialize in keeping the opponent far away by slowing them or moving them away. His poison means that his opponent being too far to hit him is advantageous.
• Making a Splash: His special attacks all involve water, except Staff Drill (jumping B):
  • Flying Fish (ground B) is a fish-shaped projectile of water. It doesn't do damage since it's just water, but it still makes the opponent flinch unless it's charged up, in which case it poisons the opponent.
  • Rushing River (ground C) creates a wave of water that sweeps grounded opponents away. He can also summon a fish out of the wave.
  • Sparkling Bubble (air C) creates a bubble for Argagarg to fly in. He can pop the bubble to hurt his opponent.
  • Bubble Shield (ground super) also creates a bubble that he can pop to hurt his opponent anytime, even while he's using another attack.
  • Giant Fish (air super) summons a wave of water with a giant fish in it that attacks the opponent.
• Poisonous Person: His charged Flying Fish poisons the opponent, causing up to two points of damage. Hitting him cures the poison.
• Technicolor Toxin: Purple. His poisoned fish is purple, the opponent is purple while poisoned, and the part of the life bar that can be lost to poison is purple.

Unsorted

Shadows Expansion Characters

Sirus Quince

• Big Bad: Many of the good characters' Arcade mode cutscenes in Fantasy Strike involve them trying to stop Quince.
• Consummate Liar: Combines deceptive illusions with mundane lying to trick his opponents.
• Corrupt Politician: The leader of Flagstone City, who maintains his position of power through lies and deceit.
• Last-Name Basis: Known primarily by his last name as a sign of respect for his authority.
• Master of Illusion: Can create mirror images of himself to confuse his opponents.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He is racist against non-humans and considers homosexuality an offense worthy of execution.

Yomi tropes

• Counterspell: In EX-Mode, his Destiny card contains the most powerful counter ability in the game, being the only one to require no addition cost or have added stipulations. It still can't counter abilities on aces or character cards.
• Invulnerable Attack: One of two characters to not have any attack below the invulnerability threshold of 1.0.
• Moveset Clone: His Righteous Zeal attack is a variation of DeGrey's Pilebunker. His Flagstone Tax ability also operates on similar principle to DeGrey's Troublesome Rhetoric. These are their only real similarities, however.
• Shout-Out: Quince's art on his Ace may be a nod to Funny Valentine.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Attack Reflector: His Air C, "Alternative Facts" creates a mirror that can reflect one projectile. His ground Super, "Patriot Mirror", creates a giant mirror that can reflect multiple projectiles. Both mirrors deal no damage if the opponent touches them, but "Alternative Facts" still causes hitstun, allowing combos, while "Patriot Mirror" activates a Super Mode where all of Quince's illusions are real.
• Confusion Fu: His illusions make it hard for the opponent to know how they should defend. Is he going to attack from the front, do a cross-up, or go for a throw?
• Difficult, but Awesome: His Air Super, "Consent of the Governed", summons two illusions that perform random moves (that don't do anything and only serve to screw with your opponent) regardless of if the attack hit or not. Hitting your opponent with this attack during the startup of one of their attacks (Counter) has the unique property of immediately refilling your Super Meter. If you can then hit your opponent with your Ground Super, the two illusions will become real and actually deal damage, turning the match into three (four, if you use the illusions from your other moves) versus one.
• Doppelgänger Attack: Only possible while Two Truths is active, except for his throw, which involves tripping his enemy by pushing them over the back of a crouching clone.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Most of his attacks create illusory clones that mislead the enemy.
• Evil Counterpart: A lot of his moves are similar to DeGrey's. For example, Back A punches the ground to create a long-ranged eruption, Air B is a floating kick, and Air Super propels him across the screen and is potentially devastating if it's a counterhit.
• Money Mauling: His Back A attack, Geyser of Truth, launches coins out of the ground which damage the opponent.
• Super Mode: Called "Two Truths", and is activated by hitting your opponent with Patriot Mirror. During Two Truths, the background's colors are inverted and all attacks done by your illusions become real.
• Take That!: He's a Corrupt Politician who's related to the phrase "Alternative Facts" in a game released in 2019 by Americans, hmm.....

General Onimaru

• The Dragon: To Quince.
• Expy: Of Bishamon.
• Four-Star Badass: General of the Flagstone army, and also (assumedly) its most powerful warrior.
• Mecha-Mooks: Has an army of Clockwork Soldiers that he can command to assist him in battle.
• Mighty Glacier: Hits like a truck, but is relatively slow. Averted when using his Final Authority ability, which makes his attack outspeed any other no matter what.
• One-Man Army: Is certainly this, but he also has an actual army if things go south.
• Only One Name: Likely, as Onimaru appears to be a given name.
• Samurai: His primary theme.
• Super Prototype: His Clockwork Soldiers are an inferior, mass-produced version of Bal-Bas-Beta. Justified as Geiger defected before completing the order, and his successor was unable to produce his level of success.
• Shoryuken: His Rising Sword attack, a rising move with invincibility frames.

Yomi tropes

• Beyond the Impossible: While 0.0 is normally the lowest (fastest) speed any move can become, Onimaru's Final Authority ability can take the speed of his moves down to negative infinity.
• Combos: Subverted; is the only character in the game who cannot combo any moves together whatsoever, but he can still increase the damage of individual hits by expending additional cards.
• Counterspell: While he does not have one himself, his Final Authority ability is immune to them. It can still be negated with Vendetta's Acrobatics, however.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Lacks the ability to knock foes down unless using his costly Final Authority ability, and even then, an opponent that is defending will never be hit by it.
• Unblockable Attack: His normal attacks can break through normal blocks with his Guard Crush ability if the attack is of an equal or higher value than the block. In EX-Mode, the value becomes irrelevant.

Fantasy Strike tropes

• Bare-Handed Blade Block: Downplayed. His blade attacks can be blocked normally by enemies, but only twice before they become at risk of a Guard Break that is more devastating than taking normal block damage. Even a couple of normal attacks can potentially Guard Break.
• Charged Attack: His Ground Super, "Martial Law", can be charged up. Depending on how much you charge it up, it can deal 4 points of unblockable damage.
• Counter-Attack: One of the moves he can use from his post-Ground B stance is a parry that cancels the opponent's attack and hits them instead. This discourages opponents from punishing his Ground B if it's blocked.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: His specials (and some normals) are unique in that if they deal block damage, it counts as a full hit and puts the opponent into hitstun.
• Stance System: He enters a special stance after his Ground B where he can perform one of three different attacks: A is a quick shoulder bash, B shoots a few short-range spirit projectiles, and C is a parry that counters melee and projectile attacks.

Troq Bashar

• Ascended Meme: His ultimate super move, Beast Unleashed, is named after the invokedFan Nickname of competitive fighting-game player Daigo Umehara.
• Bullfight Boss: He can perform a charging attack in the manner of a bull. It can be dodged and punished, but no moreso than any other attack in the game.
• Dumb Muscle: Is very powerful physically, but prefers to let others do the heavy thinking.
• Expy: Of T. Hawk.
• Ground Pound: His War Stomp ability, which causes his opponent to fall down.
• Heroic RRoD: Enough sequential uses of War Stomp can cause his opponents to have no cards left to play, implying this and making them a sitting duck.
• Hulk Speak: His normal manner of speech.
  Troq is big and smashes well. You seem pretty smart, though.
• Mighty Glacier: Has high life and does powerful hits, but has slow normal attacks and has limited combo ability.
• Moveset Clone: His deck is a mixture of both Rook and Midori, the two grapplers to come out before him. His card layout is identical to Midori, while he shares his normal speed, special throw, and partial armor properties from Rook. His health is halfway between the two.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: His ultimate attack, Beast Unleashed, simply involves him grabbing and pummeling his enemy.
• Our Minotaurs Are Different: Is a minotaur of some variety.
• Power Gives You Wings: Grows wings of energy to perform Up Hawk.
• Shoryuken: His Up Hawk technique.
• Spinning Piledriver: His Lockhorn Skewer special move, in which he spins upside-down.

Bal-Bas-Beta

• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Its entire upper body can rotate independently of is bottom half, allowing it to spin rapidly.
• Blocking Stops All Damage: Averted; it is the only character in the game that does block damage with all of its normal attacks, just like Sentinel in MvC2. His Junkshot attack also does full damage when blocked.
• Boring, but Practical: In EX-Mode, it gains nothing but a stat boost to its life points and combo points (as well as the addition of a Destiny rank like everyone else). Intentionally invoked, as its character ability was already the most complicated in the game.
• Deflector Shields: In EX-Mode, his Graviton Field is this, allowing it to get to the safety of Long-Range Mode by defending.
• Expy: Of Dhalsim, like Argagarg. Also thematically similar to Sentinel.
• Flechette Storm: Its Junkshot special move. Not only does it hurl a large array of assorted bits of sharp metal at its opponent, but the card always returns to its hand, qualifying as a Spam Attack on multiple levels.
• In-Series Nickname: BBB.
• Long-Range Fighter: Has a Long-Range Mode which gives it numerous advantages. It is slower and more vulnerable while at close range, though it does do more burst damage at that range.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Often causes these to his opponents. Blocking its Junkshot technically counts as a "combat win" for its foe, but is only marginally better than getting hit by it; they still take full, heavy damage and are vulnerable to it being used again next turn.
  • Having its normal attacks blocked at close range causes it to enter Long-Range Mode. This effect is often more valuable than the damage the attack would have done.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Its Piston Hurricane super move.
• Rocket Punch: Its Beta Thrust attack. Piston Hurricane is a more extreme version, but can only be done at close-range.
• Shout-Out: His name seems to be derived from the Bal-Bas-Bow character in Virtual-ON.
• Spin Attack: Its Gyro Spin attack, which deals high but inefficient damage.
• Steampunk: Is a robot of steam punk design.
• Super Prototype: After seeing BBB, Onimaru ordered a full army of clockwork soldiers. Due to Geiger defecting and a new scientist taking over, the mass-produced versions proved inferior (or at least less charming).
• Super-Toughness: In EX-Mode, his health increases from being below average to matching Rook for the highest in the cast (excluding boss characters found in 2v1 mode).
• Time for Plan B: While its Long-Range Mode is generally considered to grant a significant advantage, being at close range does give BBB access to its highest damage moves, including Piston Hurricane, Gyro Spin, and Robo Headbutt. It will often save up these cards while at range, only to bring them to bear once its primary strategy fails.
• Unblockable Attack: Its Junkshot becomes unblockable when it revs up with Overdrive.
• Use Your Head: Its Robo Headbutt attack, which can stun enemies similar to Dhalsim's.

Master Menelker

^{Click here for his true form} 

• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Considers his true form to be more powerful than anyone can stand.
• Cain and Abel: The Cain to Midori's Abel.
• Combat Pragmatist: Will result to dirty tricks and leave you with terrible injuries if it means victory.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Word of God explains that he is willing to use "taboo tactics" to win, but is not truly evil.
• Expy: Of Akuma.
• Glass Cannon: Has the lowest health in the game (tied with Gloria and Setsuki), but does both heavy damage and has multiple techniques for making his opponent discard resources. As his true form, Deathstrike Dragon, he actually has the highest life total of any character in the game, but is still proportionately weighted toward offense, which becomes even that much more powerful.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Holds back his power unless he deems his opponents worthy of having it inflicted upon them.
• Neck Lift: His typical way of throwing opponents.
• One-Hit Kill In EX-Mode, in his true form of Deathstrike Dragon, he can deal enough damage to defeat any character in the cast in a single combo from full health, except Rook.
• Only One Name: Does not seem to have a last name, unlike his brother.
• Old Master: Similar to his brother Midori, but has not taken on any students.
• Shapeshifting: Is actually a dragon who takes the form of a human. Refuses to use his true form except against worthy opponents. In the Final Boss Mode offered as a Kickstarter reward, he does so, becoming strong enough to be a match for two EX-Mode characters at once.
  • Partial Transformation: Can transform only his feet when performing his Sweeping Claws attack.
• Shotoclone: Just like Akuma.
  • Kamehame Hadouken: His Nether Orb and Chaos Orb projectiles are like hadoukens, while his Dragon Breath super move is a beam attack. In EX-Mode, he gains Aerial Nether Orbs as well.
  • Shoryuken: His Rising Dragon uppercut.
  • Hurricane Kick: His Sweeping Claws kick.
• Stealth Mentor: While outwardly appearing cruel and villainous, he pushes his foes to exceed their limits and improve.
• True Final Boss: Can become Deathstrike Dragon via a Kickstarter bonus, transforming into by far the most powerful character in the cast. Although, he's still arguably quite easy to beat in solitaire mode.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Shares this in common with Grave.

Mistress Persephone

• Combat Stilettos: True to her Dominatrix design.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Is demonic in appearance and nature, and willing to make you suffer, but does so for your own good.
• Dominatrix: Her main theme.
• Expy: Of Morrigan.
• Mind Control: Her Mistresses' Command ability takes full control of her foe, allowing her to take their next turn for them, including wasting all their ability cards in the process. Her Do As Told ability can counter any ability by simply convincing her opponent that they don't want to do it. In EX-Mode, her mind control extends to animals, who will loyally attack at her mental command.
• Morton's Fork: Her Do As Told ability gives her opponents the painful choice: Take 10 damage, or have their own ability countered. In the worst of scenarios, both choices may lead to their defeat.
• Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Can force this situation upon her opponent with either her Mistress's Command or her Do as Told abilities.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Fights with brutal techniques, but does so such that her foe will grow from the experience.
• Shoryuken: Her Rising Pleasure attack.
• Showgirl Skirt: Her dress exposes one of her legs.
• Telepathy: She can use Bare Your Soul to know, and decide, exactly what cards her foe is drawing. She can also view their entire hand and decide what they play using Mistresses' Command.
• Weak, but Skilled: Has low health, but a multitude of abilities to control the flow of battle.

Gloria Grayson

• Beware the Nice Ones: Though Gloria's primary mechanic is healing herself and maintaining some kind of control in combat, she has a powerful super combo to backup her defense.
• Coordinated Clothes: She and her sister have the same outfit, excluding color.
  • Combat Stilettos: Their outfits include high heels. While Gloria does have slow normal attacks, her sister proves that these are not the reason.
• Heal Thyself: Can heal herself slightly each turn, provided she is standing and has the proper cards in hand to sacrifice. Can also heal herself through using various attacks.
• Sibling Team: With her sister Gwen.
• Squishy Wizard: Has the lowest health in the game (tied with Menelker and Setsuki), but makes up for it with magical healing powers.
• Vapor Wear: Her ace artwork makes it clear that she is not sporting any panties, and her skirt hangs dangerously low.
• White Mage: Is a magical healer who can heal herself (and her sister Gwen).

Gwen Grayson

• An Ice Person: Uses cryokinesis for both offense and defense. Her Chillbane ability can slow enemies for a turn.
• Cast From Hitpoints: Draws twice as many cards as other characters, but also takes constant damage for her trouble.
• Coordinated Clothes: She and her sister have the same clothing design, except for a darker palette and Clothing Damage. It is unclear if the difference in color was present before her transformation, or is a by-product of it.
  • In the Hood: Wears her hood up. It is not clear whether Gloria prefers to keep hers down, or if her version lacks one entirely.
  • Combat Stilettos: Their outfits include high heels. They don't stop her from having the fastest normal attacks in the game.
• Desperation Attack: In EX-Mode, taken very literally. Her Desperate Strike activates her Desperation ability, which prevents her from losing regardless of her life point total.
• Fragile Speedster: Has the fastest normal attacks in the game, bar none, and also draws lots of extra cards. The damage she takes over time, however, makes her surprisingly frail.
• Glass Cannon: Extremely offensive, at the cost of her own well-being.
• Heal Thyself: Can heal in battle using a remedy provided by her sister Gloria.
• In the Hood: Wears her hood up, in contrast with her sister. Does nothing to hide her bluish-gray skin.
• Last Chance Hit Point: In EX-Mode, she can continue fighting beyond zero life points for an additional turn with her Desperation ability.
• Shoryuken: Her Shadow Slice uppercut.
• Sibling Team: With her sister Gloria.
• Unblockable Attack: Her Relentless Strikes ability means that, while her main attack may be blocked, she can often follow up with an additional secondary attack that cannot.
• White Mage: Her former profession, though she may have lost the ability when she was infected.

Vendetta

• Blocking Stops All Damage: His Surgical Strike, despite dealing formidable damage if it hits, deals no block damage whatsoever.
• Combat Parkour: Bounces off of nearby walls when performing Diving Pincer Slice and Wall-dive Suplex
• Counterspell: His Acrobatics ability counters not individual abilities, but the entire combat phase. It is very expensive, however.
• Expy: Of Vega/Claw. Also shoots webs and has a move with "Maximum" in the name, similar to Spider-Man.
• Fragile Speedster: Has fast normal attacks and evasion abilities, but low-health.
• Heroic RRoD: Can use the side-effects of Acrobatics to cause his opponent to have no cards in hand in which to play, allowing him to do as he pleases to them.
• Immortal Assassin: Is an assassin, as well as some form of undead.
• Invulnerable Attack: While fast in general, he is one of two characters to not have any attack below the invulnerability threshold of 1.0.
• Loophole Abuse: While Onimaru's Final Authority is immune to being countered, Vendetta can still avoid the consequences of it with his Acrobatics ability, forcing Onimaru to expend the cost of his ability for no benefit.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Maintains his sentience and intelligence.
• Shapeshifter Weapon: Can transform his limbs into deadly blades of a variety of sizes.
• Status Effects: In EX-Mode, his claws become venomous and can inflict a poison effect.
• The Undead: Is some form of zombie, although the details are unclear.
• Weak, but Skilled: Has low health, but a versatile moveset.

Captain Zane

• Ascended Meme: In Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Wesker's hyper attack Phantom Dance was given the invokedFan Nickname of Maximum Wesker. Zane's ultimate attack has him removing his goggles in a similar fashion and is named accordingly.
• Badass Longcoat: A purple one fitted with green dragon scales.
• Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: His main theme.
• Confusion Fu: When Zane starts a combo, he reveals two cards from his deck and can use one to continue the combo. Even Zane doesn't know what he's going to do until he does it! In EX-Mode, he possesses the ability to penetrate the defenses of cards with the same suit as his attack - and also has Destiny cards that possess more than one suit at once.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Is at an even larger-than-normal advantage against foes who are knocked down. However, he has a glaring weakness when he himself is knocked down, as he is the only character who possesses no odd-numbered block cards whatsoever.
• Expy: Of M. Bison mechanically. Also bears some visual similarities to Wesker, including trenchcoat and glasses.
• Flight: In EX-Mode, he reveals that he has limited flight ability, and uses it to make his offensive even more devastating.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Wears goggles most of the time, though he removes them when performing his most powerful super move, Maximum Anarchy.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His Crash Bomb normally deals respectable damage and causes a knockdown on his foe. However, if it is blocked, it backfires, knocking him down instead and redirecting half the damage back at himself. Added insult to injury if the block in question was Rook's Stone Wall.
• In-Series Nickname: Zane the Insane.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: His gameplay style is very unusual compared to the rest of the cast.
  • His normal attack and throw speeds end in x.3 - the only moves in the game to end in an odd number.
  • His throws do not knock down, but they can be used in the middle of combos as linkers.
  • He is the only character who has three or more combo points, yet cannot perform a 3-hit combo with normal attacks (due to not having three normal attack cards in sequence).
  • He is the only character in the game to not possess any odd-numbered block cards, leaving him vulnerable when knocked down.
• Might Makes Right: Believes he can assault and rob anyone who cannot stop him from doing so.
• Shout-Out: Maximum Anarchy may also be named as a reference to Anarchy Reigns, which was called Max Anarchy in Japan.

Other Characters

G. Panda

• Moveset Clone: Similar to Panda (and Lum), with some new moves based on Pandante.
• Shoutout: Has moves based on the creator's other work, Pandante.

Panda

• Moveset Clone: Identical to Lum.
• Palette Swap: Has the same moves and abilities as Lum, but with a different art-style.