It’s time for Yomi to get some love/talk. To start it off I wanted to share some thoughts about the only character in Yomi I want to play anymore. And that character is, the lovable bot, BBB.
BBB is an interesting character to start. When new to him and especially if you’re new to the game you’ll go through four phases with him (there are more but no one I know of has reached the fifth phase). The first phase is the OMG! this character is so complicated. Phase two is pfffft, this character is so basic. Phase three is Aaaaah! this character is so hard to play (in a different way from phase two). And the phase I think I find myself currently in is How do I stop my brain from melting when playing tournament sets?
I’ll go through the the phases in greater detail:
Phase 1 - OMG! this character is so complicated
BBB has some of the largest text boxes on his abilities. His innate warps the game more than any other innate in the game. For players new to the game and casual players it can be difficult to wrap their mind around what is even going on at range. My irl opponent is a casual player and we used to play Midori vs Valeria all the time. Now that I only want to play BBB (because he’s indisputably best) I haven’t even wanted to try and explain BBB’s range and overdrive to her. In addition I always feel pretty bad when playing BBB in QM and I get paired up with a new player. The first time I acquire range and that wall of text takes up the screen all I can say is, Showy (sorry). However, once you complete this phase you can enter into the phase of Bot snobbery.
It is a bummer for me that I can’t play BBB irl. If I could I would have a real shot at phase 5 (for better or worse).
Phase 2 - pfffft, this character is so basic
So by this point you’ve got range and Overdrive internalized (maybe not Overdrive though) and it becomes second nature to you. BBB sets the game to range and it’s “yeah, I know how that works”. In this phase of BBB experience the friendly bot might seem boring to you. He doesn’t have the “flash” of some of the rushdown characters. He blocks for cards, he plays them. He gets to range and plays the same card 5+ turns in a row. Yeah nothing to see hear, move along.
Phase 3 - Aaaaah! this character is so hard to play (in a different way from phase 1)
If you haven’t moved along from BBB by the time you get to this phase you’re either dedicated to BBB or you have unfortunately quit on the indisputably best character in the game. After you’ve acquire the needed BBB knowledge to really start playing him (phases 1 and 2) you will see that BBB is an incredibly deep and fun character to play. He’s like a slower DeGrey but instead of being awarded with furthering your win condition (DeGramage) you are rewarded with safety and a much more powerful bot (efficient BBBamage?). If you stick with BBB through this phase it can pay off. Just need to learn the ins and outs of the mus and dedicate some serious time to BBB.
Phase 4 - How do I stop my brain from melting in tournament sets?
Despite what you snobs in phase 2 think, those losers, BBB is a very mentally demanding character to play. There is so much patience and reads required to play BBB well that it can snap the mind. I find my tournament play with BBB can really start to degrade over a set.
Early games can go like this “yeah I’ll block 5+ turns in a row, what of it?”. Then by the middle of the set the nerves can start to fray a little bit. Maybe you call out the throw and smash them with BBB’s Pilebunker (6 poke) and then you’re on top of the world. But then the set goes into the late game and you’re going mad because you’re thinking “I blocked so much in the early games he’s got to be onto me. He just has to be on to me. He’s going to throw me, he’s going to throw… it’s definitely a throw. I’ll get him with a normal.” then you lose combat to an attack/dodge then the thinking goes “okay, okay, okay the poke didn’t work that time but he’s got to be running low on fast stuff, certainly he needs to block I’ll get him with the normal this time.” then it’s another attack/dodge “alright, alright he’s got a lot of stuff he can do but certainly this time it will be a throw, it’s got to be a throw. I just have to get to range, please be a throw.” then you die and your brain turns to mush and you’re a frantic lunatic for the rest of the set.
It turns out that continuously blocking for long strings of time through out 5 or more games is a really hard thing to do. Even if it’s the correct thing to do it is still super hard. The nerves just go bad and you want to start getting aggressive with your super slow attacks and you just get smashed. You have to give your opponent a reason to throw you and to do that you need to block a lot. Things of course depend on the opponent and the mu but erring on the side of blocking too much is better imo then not blocking enough. At least if the opponent throws your block you’ve now made them willing to throw. “Okay, okay, okay, okay, he threw me once he must be willing to throw again I’ll just play normals until it wins combat.” (this quote is taken from a BBB mush brain player don’t follow the advice of this quote).
In order to help players get out of phase 4 (because I believe there is a phase 5) let me leave you with some quotes from the best Yomi character BBB:
“Mastery comes from within”
“You must master yourself before you can truly compete”
Phase 5 - Madness or Transcendence
Depending on how you deal with phase 4 and your level of mental toughness phase 5 could be one of two things. Either phase 4 has defeated you and you are reduce to a quivery mass of hysteria and need to be taken away in a straight jacket where you are heard mumbling in your sleep “he just has to throw here, there is no way he isn’t throwing” or “0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0” or many other things that have been defeating hopeful BBB champions for centuries.
The other possible outcome for phase 5 is the one I hope to achieve. This version of phase 5 has you reach a level of mental toughness so high that you never snap and keep a level head for the whole set. At this level you continue to block a good amount through out all games of the set and you never chase the throw rabbit. To achieve this level it requires many hours of dedication to BBB but if you can pull it off you can defeat any foe while playing mono BBB. Indeed, if you can reach Bot Transcendence you will be an unstoppable force. In order to become this unstoppable force you must do as BBB said and “realize the inner mysteries of Yoga”.
Those are the phases of BBB play that I believe exist. I hope you enjoyed this because this write up is going to keep me in phase 4 for a long while “I told every one I want to block a bunch, the throw must be coming, it has to be coming”
Going to throw out my current BBB mu chart to get as much BBB talk as possible, keep in mind this is from a self proclaimed phase 4 BBB player:
4.75
5.0
6.5
4.25
6.5
4.75
4.0
4.75
3.75
4.75
5.25
4.75
5.25
4.25
6.0
4.0
5.0
4.5
4.25
I expect for a Transcendent BBB player all those numbers will be at least 9.0