Ken

The "original" Ken.

Overview

Ken Masters, a user of the Shotokan Martial Arts.

There are currently 5 different versions of Ken. All of which contain the symbol Void. Void is known for it's control, and when you start reading some of his effects, you'll see which ones rock with Void. The theme of most of his decks is to deplete the opponent's hand so you don't have to worry about any of your attacks being blocked. And at the same time having huge card advantage (having more cards in your hand than your opponent).

He has a total of 7 different symbols. All, Chaos, Earth, Fire, Good, Void, and Water. Like I mentioned earlier, Void is on every single version, but the other symbols can still play just as competitive.

*Ken*

Ultra Rare from the first set of Street Fighter.
6 Handsize, 25 Life.
All, Fire, and Void
E Commit: Your All attack gets +2 speed.
E Discard 1 momentum: Draw 1 card. Only playable if you have an attack in your card pool.
Collector number SF01 37/143

So let's look at this card. It has a good draw engine. Ditch a momentum, draw a card. But of course, you can only do this as long as you momentum, making this effect target Fire. His other ability is just a filler to me. Commit your character to give your attack +2 speed. Woopee. Not that amazing.

**Ken**

Starter deck rare from the first set of Street Fighter, and later league foiled.
7 Handsize, 22 Life.
All, Good, and Void
Once F Commit: Reveal your hand to your opponent and then draw X cards. X equals the number of attack cards revealed.
R Discard 1 momentum: When you are taking damage, reduce that damage by 1 (to a minimum of 1).
Collector number SF01 38/143.

So stupidly good he had to get an errata (see bold text). But also because he was a starter deck character. It would be kinda bad if a starter deck character was banned now wouldn't it? No matter how many different Ken versions come out, if one doesn't surpass this one, it's not a "good enough" Ken. The abilities and stats of this version is so solid. Commit to draw a lot of cards, or stay ready and reduce damage. Paired up with a couple of the Void damage reduction, he can almost never die.

***Ken***

The very first promo version of Ken.
7 Handsize, 21 Life.
Good, Void, and Water
(Passive): All of your attacks with difficulty X or less get the Reversal keyword. X equals your momentum.
E Commit: If this attack deals damage, your opponent discards 2 cards.
Collector number SF3P 13/23.

You see Reversals and you automatically think Good or Water, as that's what they're good at, but Void could have some fun here too. Give all attacks in your hand with difficulty equal to or less than your momentum the Reversal keyword? That'll keep your opponent guessing which attack may come at him on his turn! His "E:" ability is also really good as the text does not read "your attack", but instead "this attack." If your opponent sends a throw at you, commit him, block the attack, make your opponent discard 2, then throw a reversal at him. Who would like a Shadow Banishment played on them on their turn?

****Ken****

The latest Ultra Rare version from the Extreme Rivals set.
7 Handsize, 24 Life.
Earth, Fire, and Void
E Discard X momentum: Your attack gets +X speed.
R Commit, discard 3 cards: After you fail to play a card, draw X cards. X equals the failed card's control.
Collector number SF05 55/90

The first ability looks a lot like the original Ultra Rare's ability. Speed boost to your attack, except without a commit. Making it a little better, giving you that extra ready card, while still being able to boost your other attacks. The second ability is kinda situational. If you're spamming out foundations, and you fail, if you have at least 3 cards left in your hand, discard 3, commit and draw the control check to end your turn. Or if you're blocking with a character card, draw those 6 cards.

*****Ken*****

The latest Rare from the Extreme Rivals set.
6 Handsize, 25 Life.
Chaos, Fire, and Void
R Discard 2 cards: After you draw a card, you may take any number of cards from your hand and add them to your momentum.
F Commit, commit X foundations: Your opponent commits X foundations of their foundations. Each player draws X cards.
Collector number SF05 56/90.

The best momentum gain version of Ken. If stacked with the promo, things may get ugly. This version works wonders with all 3 symbols. Put those attacks in your momentum and play that Material Advantage, or Multiple attack. Put anything in your momentum to pump that huge Powerful Fire attack. And get momentum for the Void recursion with Unorthodox Style or Yoga Roundhouse Kick.

Strategy and Decks

Here are some of the decks that have come out using Ken as its character.

• Maelstrom Divide (attack)

First of, let's see what this card does.
4 Difficulty, 3 Control check, 3 Speed mid, 4 Damage.
Earth, Evil, and Void
Powerful:1 Weapon
(Passive): You may only play this card if you have at least 1 other card in your card pool.
E: If you use this attack's Powerful ability, you may discard cards from your hand as well as your momentum to pay its cost.
So as you can see here, the "E:" ability lets you discard cards from your hand to pump the attack. With combination with the Starter Ken and his awesome card drawing ability, you can easily make this attack 20 damage.

• Physically Fit (foundation)

5 Difficulty, 4 Control check
Earth, Fire, and Void
E Commit, discard 1 attack: Your attack gets +X damage. X equals the damage of the discarded attack. Only playable if the attack and the discarded card share a resource symbol.
I loved this card. I would throw out a small Ken's Seoi Nage. Then use Physically Fit and discard a Shadow Banishment to +9 or a Tiamat's Rampage to +12 the attack.

• Emptiness (Foundation of Power)

1 Difficulty, 5 Control check.
Void
Each player's character gets -1 hand size, (to a minimum of 3).
Paired up with Starter Ken (once more). As long as you have attacks in hand, you can keep drawing and drawing.

• Genkotsu Stamp (attack)

3 Difficulty, 2 Control check, +2 low block, 2 speed high, 4 damage.
Fire, Void, and Water
Kick, Reversal
E Destory 1 foundation: This card gets +X damage. X equals the number of cards you have drawn since the beginning of your Combat Phase.
Once again with Starter Ken (see the theme here?). You draw lots of cards, play this out, make it easily deal 20+ damage. With it's 3 Difficulty, you can play it last, to get your opponent's blocks out of their hand. But watch out for it's low Control Check!

• Combination of Blows (action)

1 Difficulty, 4 Control check.
All, Chaos, and Evil
F: Until the end of the turn, punch attacks do not add to the difficulty of other cards.
Woah! A card without Void! But it's still paired up with the Starter Ken. The theme here is build up a whole bunch of (punch) attacks in your hand, then play them all in one turn.

• Boxing Ring (asset)

3 Difficulty, 3 Control check.
All, Evil, and Void
R: After you pass a control check, place 1 Smash token on this card.
F Commit, remove 1 smash token from this card: Ready any other card.
Pre-errata of Ken**, with this card made card draw ridiculous. This along with other cards (Signature Style and World Warriors) made the errata come into place.

• Defender of the Empire (foudation)

2 Difficulty, 5 Control check
Air, All, and Fire
E Commit: If you completely block this attack, draw 1 card.
R: After your opponent plays a card or ability and if you have no cards in your hand, draw cards up to your opponent's hand size. Playable while committed.
This one is usually coupled with Ken***** for some crazy momentum generation. Make sure you have no cards in hand at the end of the turn (shouldn't be too hard to do), then, on your opponent's turn, the first thing they play, draw back up. Then, use Ken to put your opponent's handsize - 2 in your momenutm. Rinse, lather, repeat. With an average handsize being 6-7, that means you add 4-5 cards to your momentum for everything your opponent does. Careful of deck out, though!

Support and Signiture cards

This is a complete list of Ken's support from both his sets:

From The Street Fighter base set (SF01):

• Fierce Determination - Action (SF01, 39/143)
• Ready For You - Action (SF01, 40/143)
• Flaming Shoryuken - Attack Ken Only) (SF01, 41/143)
• Fumikomi Mae Geri - Attack (SF01, 42/143)
• Hiza Geri - Attack (SF01, 43/143)
• Hold for a Second Overhead Kick - Attack (SF01, 44/143)
• Inazuma Kakato Wari - Attack (SF01, 45/143)
• Jigoku Guruma - Attack (SF01, 46/143)
• Ken's Hadoken - Attack (SF01, 47/143)
• Ken's Seoi Nage - Attack (SF01, 48/143)
• Ken's Tatsumaki - Attack (SF01, 49/143)
• Shinden Kakato Otoshi - Attack (SF01, 50/143)
• Shoryureppa - Attack (Ken Only) (SF01, 51/143)
• Charisma - Foundation (SF01, 52/143)
• Shotokan Master - Foundation (SF01, 53/143)
• Shotokan Training - Foundation (SF01, 54/143)

From the Extreme Rivals set (SF05):

• I Wish You Good Luck - Action (SF05, 57/90)
• Shotokan Knowledge - Action (SF05, 58/90)
• Red Gi - Asset (SF05, 59/90)
• Ken's Close Fierce Punch - Attack (SF05, 60/90)
• Ken's Close Strong Punch - Attack (SF06, 61/90)
• Ken's Hadoken EXTRA - Attack (SF05, 62/90)
• Ken's Jab - Attack (SF05, 63/90)
• Ken's Low Roundhouse - Attack (SF05, 64/90)
• Ken's Shoryuken - Attack (SF05, 65/90)
• Ken's Tatsumaki Senpu Kyaku EXTRA - Attack (SF05, 66/90)
• Ken's Shinden Kakato Otoshi - Attack (SF05. 67/90)
• Shinryuken - Attack (SF05, 68/90)
• Art of Shotokan - Foundation (69/90)
• Martial Arts Champion - Foundation (SF05, 70/90)
• Show-Off - Foundation (SF05, 71/90)
• Vast Resources - Foundation (SF05, 72/90)

Of special notice are:

• Red Gi (asset)

3 Difficulty, 4 Control check, +2 High block.
Earth, Fire, and Void
E Commit: Look at your opponent's hand and choose 1 card. Your opponent may not play or block with that card until the end of the turn.
E Commit: Your attack gets +3 speed. Your opponent may draw 2 cards.
Second ability, never used. First ability on the other hand, BROKEN! If you can't somehow discard that last card out of their hand, or if they have a Defender of the Empire in play, here is the answer to that. With the card not unique, and playable offensively and defensively, there's nothing wrong with this card.

• Ken's Shoryuken (attack)

5 Difficulty, 2 Control check, +2 High block, 3 speed mid, 6 damage.
Fire, Life, and Void
Punch
E: Commit any 2 foundations. Each player may draw 2 cards.
Ken E Discard 1 momentum: This attack gets +1 speed. Change t he zone of this attack to high.
Now, you may think, why would I want my opponent to draw 2 cards? Well if you didn't notice, the first part of the effect can target either player's foundations, while at the same time be a free "E:". But of course now your opponent has at least 2 cards in their hand, now is your chance to use Red Gi on them. The second ability is pretty good with Ken, +1 speed and make it off zone. Nothing wrong with that at all. The only down side to this card, it's 2 Control check.

• Kens's Hadoken EXTRA (attack)

5 Difficulty, 2 Control check, 4 speed mind, 5 Damage
Earth, Fire, and Void
Desperation: 2 **Ranged
This attack may be played as a block against any ranged attack as though this card had a mid block of +0.
E Discard X momentum: This attack gets powerful: X It's a good thing this attack doesn't have chaos or wind. Otherwise, it'd be really, REALLY broken. However, Ken makes the best use of this card with the insance momentum he builds up. This card essentially has a powerful of half your momentum squared. Lets say your opponent has 25 life on average. You only need 14 momentum (which shouldnt be hard at all to get with Ken + Defender of the Empire) then it goes off at 53 damage! This might seem excessive, but considering the ease of blocking this attack, hitting them with a penetrating lunge will still kill them. If you can make it unblockable (with Too Fast to See or irresistible force, both which have fire), you only need 9 momentum!

Battling With Him

coming soon.

Battling Against Him

coming soon.

--Chris (Mr.HomieC), the Asian one of Team AZ.

--Edited by PaperLink