Context: In the Hot Dog Hacks video, Babby claims that he "did the math" and proved that spiralyzing the hotdog increases its surface area by 15,000%. Taking off from this r/math post, Matt Parker looks at the truth.
Gundam NT-1 Full Armor (ST14-002/C)
Full Armor Unicorn Gundam (Unicorn Mode) (ST14-007/C)
Duel Gundam Assault Shroud (ST14-009/C)
Perfect Strike Gundam (ST14-010/C)
Gryphios 2 (ST14-016/C)
GX-Bit (ST13-004/C)
Gundam Throne Zwei (ST13-008/C)
Final Duty (ST13-014/C)
Operation to Intercept Solomon (ST13-015/C)
Efreet Schneid (ST12-008/C)
Slash ZAKU Phantom (ST12-010/C)
Two Unicorns (ST12-015/C)
Libra (ST12-016)
ZnO (ST11-004/C)
ASH (ST11-005/C)
Daughseat (ST11-008/C)
GooHN (T-028)
GFred Traits are (Zeon) (Alphacide)
Nyaan traits are the same plus (Newtype)
We'll be doing an unboxing of [ST11] - [ST14], which are all releasing on September 25!
Also, we're showing off cards from the new booster pack Stardust Trails [GD06], releasing October 30!
▽Start Time
September 4, 4:00 AM PDT/11:00 AM UTC
dammit, less than a day in and my predictions already belong to r/agedlikemilk
Only 10 days left until we get the full set release for ST11 to ST14, and we are still missing key pieces to give us insights as to how these decks will eventually work.
ST11 is the most complete of the sets so far, only missing three Units (and a Unit Token) by the time of writing.
We know that at least one of the missing Blue Units will be Marco Morassim's ride, which would very likely be a ZnO. Now, whether the ZnO takes the -004 or the -005 card number is important, since it will determine which will be the last Blue Marine Unit; if ZnO is -005, then -004 could be another Zeon Marine Unit, and could be the Token generator.
While there is precedent for repeat Units, I want to think that we are getting something which doesn't have a preexisting card yet. A (regular) Z'Gok which can generate Z'Gok tokens would make sense, and has a sort-of precedent with the GD03 HyGogg.
If the ZnO however is -004, then that opens a different side of the timeline. However, I'd stick closer to home and predict that if this is the case, then it will be another Cosmic Era Marine Unit, which leaves us with the mainstay aquatic MS of either side during the events of DESTINY: the ASH for ZAFT, and the Forbidden Vortex for the Earth Alliance.
The Purple Unit is at a pretty narrow position timeline-wise, and the only Unit that would make sense here would be either the Daughseat or the Daughseat III from the Orcs arc of Gundam X (aka the same arc where the torpedo launcher-wielding Gundam Leopard came from, aka the >!Newtype Dolphin!< arc). As much as I want to meme that this will be filled by caped Turn A Gundam, I don't think it qualifies as (Marine) enough.
ST12 has the dubious honor of being the only Starter of the set with an un-revealed LR. We know that it's gonna be the Gundam Epyon, that its card ID will be ST12-001, that it's Red, and we have seen what its Pilot Milliardo does.
-002 is interesting. As far as close-quarter Units before Endless Waltz timeline-wise comes along, I want to think that this (or -008 in Purple) will be a Zeon/Neo-Zeon related Unit. I'm personally thinking of something from the Gouf lineage. (Not Gouf Custom, that's got to wait) So either the vanilla Gouf, the Gouf Heavy Arms Type (in its perpetually-lost Unicorn appearance), or a very slight chance of a Galluss-J or K.
A Mobile Fighter could also fit in the -002 or -010 slots, but since they just debuted in GD05, I think it's quite unlikely.
I don't usually make predictions for Commands (unless they're Command Pilots, which is already known for all four sets), so let's proceed to Bases. The existing Unit pool that we have gives us several potential options for Bases (since the Base doesn't have to be connected only with the LRs; see ST13): Libra for Epyon, Torrington for Banshee and Texas Colony for Gyan, among others. From these three I am most inclined to think of Texas Colony; as the Gundam vs Gyan fight held there was probably the most "close-combat"-heavy fight among these.
This is definitely the most controversial among the four sets, with its dependence on (Long-Range Weapon) Tokens and not much payoff (so far).
The first thing to note is something that I haven't brought up yet: every Pilot (not Command-Pilot) in each deck Links to at least two unique Units in the same deck. To wit:
For ST13, Haman can link to her Qubeley, the Gyunei Jagd Doga with its generic (Neo Zeon) Link, and the Red Gundam with its generic (Newtype) Link. Meanwhile, Suletta... only has Aerial. Which all but confirms that she will get another Link, either named (which means either the Aerial Rebuild or the Calibarn) or a generic (Academy) Link.
Also, note that most MS from the second half of WfM has appeared already in the regular sets, either on GD04 or GD05. That includes the mid-season upgrades for two of the three "miniboss" Units (the Pharact in GD04, the Michaelis in GD05)... which leaves the S2 Darilbalde, which among the three has the most wireless weapon-based combat style.
Long story short, that's my prediction for Suletta's second Unit in this set. It will fit in either color too.
As for the others... ehh, toss an Alpha Azieru in there, maybe Chaos in Green since Abyss already made it in over at ST11.
Back when these sets were announced, we were promised that ST14 would contain at least three keyword effects: [Blocker], [Suppression], and [Breach]. We have [Blocker]... well, a Level 1 Blocker, but still. We have [Suppression]... well, at the other end of the resource area at Level 9.
So where's the [Breach]?
It's bound to be there, but how will it show up?
First off, Base. Unicorn, Banagher, Zimmerman... this all but says that Garencieres will likely have its Base debut in ST14. Will it give your Units [Breach]? Who knows?!
As for what will fill the rest of the Units, I'll just spitball some ideas:
Just to note: I added placeholders for the unique Resource/EX Base/EX Resource that each deck will have (as we've begun seeing in ST09 and ST10), but we won't get any visuals of these until set reveals. I hope they're good.
This will probably be the only update post like this that I will make for the Starter Quartet until set release day on the 11th, but maybe by then a GD06 update/prediction post may have been posted already. Until then we'll have ten more days of reveals to go, so just keep waiting (and coping) I guess.
JP NTC Season 3/4 and Store Area Qualifier Season 1 Deck Colors Usage Rate
| Color Combo | Kanji | 23-Aug | 30-Aug | Week-on-Week % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue/Green | 青緑 | 25.1% | 24.8% | -1.2% |
| Blue/White | 青白 | 17.2% | 16.6% | -3.5% |
| Red/White | 赤白 | 10.4% | 14.5% | 39.4% |
| Green/Purple | 緑紫 | 12.2% | 12.1% | -0.8% |
| Blue/Purple | 青紫 | 14.0% | 10.8% | -22.9% |
| Blue/Red | 青赤 | 8.3% | 10.0% | 20.5% |
| Green/Red | 緑赤 | 3.7% | 3.1% | -16.2% |
| Green/White | 緑白 | 3.1% | 2.9% | -6.5% |
| Red/Purple | 赤紫 | 3.8% | 2.7% | -28.9% |
| Purple/White | 紫白 | 2.1% | 2.3% | 9.5% |
| Other | その他 | 0.1% | 0.2% | 100.0% |
See here for the previous week's results.
The units featured in the graphic does not represent one specific deck; they are just representative of commonly-used top-end Units across all decks with that color combination.
The first half of this NTC season has come and gone, and at this halfway point, it seems like things are still in flux, but overall moving to a semblance of stability.
Blue/Green and Blue/White have kept the top spots for the second week in a row, with Blue/Purple and Red/White essentially trading places, swapping between third and fifth, which (as we shall see later on) is also reflected in this week's win rates.
Looking at Decks
34 NTC events were held in Japan during the week of 24 to 30 August, adding 321 decks to the GD05 database total, which is now at 2,419 decks across 260 events.
JP NTC Week 4 First Place - Win Rate vs Usage Rate (34 Events Total)
JP NTC Week 4 Top 4 - Win Rate vs Usage Rate (34 Events Total)
JP NTC Week 4 Top 1 vs Top 4 - Win Rate vs Usage Rate (34 Events Total)
| Deck Color | Deck Archetype | Count |
|---|---|---|
| B/G | Londo Bell | 8 |
| OYW | 1 | |
| W/R | MF | 6 |
| MF Academy | 1 | |
| B/R | SF Marida | 5 |
| G/P | GP Aggro | 4 |
| B/P | SF Barbatos | 4 |
| B/W | SF Blockers | 3 |
| SF LM | 1 | |
| G/W | GW Wing^(1) | 1 |
| Grand Total | 34 |
^(1) This is the same guy who also won last week, though with a slightly tweaked deck compared to last time (swapping one Lfrith for another Wing Zero).
Looking at Decks: Beta Edition
Starting this NTC Season, the Upper Rank Prize (at least for the English format) has been expanded to Top 6 instead of Top 4 (which was the reason that I use Top 4 in the graphs above). So to see if there is any difference, here are comparisons of Top 6 and Top 4 results, both for this week and month-to-date.
Final Words
While the NTC season is over for EN formats in favor of the 1st Anniversary/Serial events, this NTC will chug on for another month in JP/Asia, so we will continue getting more data if this current meta we are in will eventually settle down or continue evolving in unforeseen ways.
