[PAD] JP Stream, Awoken Sakuya

So JP had their big stream this weekend, the usual one where all the PAD celebrities gather to tease some information on what's to come in the JP version of PAD. Max Murai and co. go and clear some dungeons, netting the JP players sweet sweet stones and pys (RIP NA), and then we get to learn about awesome new content. The highlights for this one? Tons and tons of new ult evos. Where do I even begin?

The most hyped up news was definitely the reveal of Awoken Sakuya. A fan favorite and commonly complained about, Sakuya is a card that GungHo frankly can't afford to mess up. But honestly, the reveal was a bit underwhelming. If it were any other card, people would be really excited about a powerful, bind clearing, unbindable leader. For Sakuya though, this just didn't cut it. The community reaction was so negative in fact, that GungHo has said that they're going to tweak Sakuya again to make her more acceptable for the community.

Is the revealed Awoken Sakuya so bad that it warrants a change? Let's take a look at Super Ult Sakuya as a comparison.

Awoken Sakuya - L/B
Active - Gravity + Bind Clear
Leader Skill - 5x with a 1.3x boost for 7+ combos

Ult Ult Sakuya - L/G
Active - Gravity
Leader Skill - 5x with a 1.2x boost on active use

Stats: Awoken Sakuya trades 650 HP for 200 Attack and 120 RCV
Awakenings: Awoken Sakuya trades 1 Enhanced Light Orbs and 1 Poison Resist for 2 Bind Resist

What does this all mean? Well in a nutshell, Awoken Sakuya makes her team very resilient against binds and features higher and more consistent (assuming player skill isn't an issue) damage than L/G Sakuya. Personally, I would consider her stronger - but definitely not by much. L/G Sakuya already had very convenient access to on-color reliable bind clearing in the form of L. Meta and the jump from L/G's 36x to Awoken's 42.25x while not insignificant, is definitely not game changing (not to mention it's not the easiest combo threshold to pull off consistently). Bind clear and gravity also don't make too much sense to put into the same active. There will hardly be any situations when both will be useful on the same turn, making it an awkward active in the sense that the two components have very little synergy.

There are a few other little things: Awoken Sakuya trades orb enhance (damage) and poison resist (pretty good utility) for unbindability. While unbindability on a leader is huge, she definitely would've benefited more from giving up her blind resist or jammer resist awakenings instead. Losing out on HP and gaining attack also goes against Sakuya's identity as the "tank, safe, utility-based quadcolor lead". While she does gain RCV to compensate, it's not like L/G Sakuya has any shortage of RCV with access to most of the games light healers as subs.

Overall, I think Awoken Sakuya, while definitely powerful, just didn't have as much impact as people were hoping for. People wanted something to rival Awoken Ra and the MP dragons. Instead, they got a slightly buffed Sakuya. Here's to hoping that the tweaks do Awoken Sakuya justice.