Takashi Kato

Overview
Takashi's constant combat playstyle allows you to stay in your opponent's face, with very reactive stats, and tactics that reward you for taking damage. His deck also strongly focuses on boosting damage and die rolls.

Backstory
Takashi could never turn down a fight—even when it wasn’t being offered to him. Though he tried to stay out of trouble for the sake of his Aunt, his violent nature never allowed them to stay in one place for long. Each new town they moved to and each new school Takashi attended presented a new roster of bullies that Takashi couldn’t wait to take down. As he got older, his scope of targets widened. His noble intentions took a backseat to his drive to fight stronger and stronger opponents. Everything came to a head when Takashi decided the next logical step was to challenge the local Yakuza.

The police found him standing atop a pile of unconscious bodies, raining blow after blow into the bloodied face of a low-level thug. When his Aunt came to get him, she burst into tears. As Takashi left the station, he caught his reflection: splattered with blood, knuckles raw and swollen. He looked monstrous. He promised himself then and there that he’d never make his Aunt cry again.

An outlet was needed, though, and Takashi poured himself into every avenue he could. Boxing, gung-fu, judo, jui-jitsu—Takashi began to successfully focus his instincts into athletics and discipline, challenging opponents in organized competition rather than street fights, and allowing his family to settle. For a time, things were quiet and content. His Aunt even came to see him in competition on occasion. And while a fury continued to bubble beneath the surface, Takashi was able to keep it in check.

This brief glimpse of a peaceful future was decimated when the invading Zoider Armada stormed Earth. Amidst the fiery chaos, the Zoiders abducted thousands, and within days of their arrival, their lead force had made its way to Takashi's hometown.

Takashi witnessed his Aunt being torn from the rubble that was once their home by Zoider Mer’drar footsoldiers. His violent nature overflowing and unsated, Takashi charged into battle, taking down one soldier after another, scrambling to save his only family, before gaining the attention of a Zoider robot pilot.

The pilot descended from his titanic machine and stood before Takashi. His armor gleamed with an impeccable shine, its polished surface punctuated by a lattice of weathered artifacts and relics from all over the galaxy. He introduced himself as Terroch Arkan, the “Spear of The Armada” and the first to make glorious landfall on Earth. The Mer'drars all crossed an arm over their chests in recognition. Takashi delivered one last punch to the dazed soldier he held by the neck, and stood to face the decorated Zoider.

Arkan was so fascinated by Takashi’s ferocity that he called off the Mer’drars and offered Takashi a chance to rescue his Aunt—by defeating him in robot combat. Arkan began to explain the incredible technology at Zoiders' fingertips, the power of the Giga-Shards. Takashi simply told him to shut up and fight.

The full-dive control system in the Zoider robot meant that Takashi didn’t need to learn how to pilot the robot. It scanned his body and suddenly became responsive to his movements. Takashi couldn’t quell his excitement. He stepped forward and a car flattened and exploded under his robot's foot, sending smoke and shrapnel bouncing off of the pavement around him. He sprinted towards Arkan, laughing maniacally, as the incredible power of the machine obeyed his every motion. This was what Takashi had craved all along.

The battle raged. Takashi poured all of his honed technique and wild instinct into each attack, but Arkan was able to find the weaknesses in Takashi's tactics. He began deflecting Takashi's strikes, then avoiding them and countering perfectly. Even with all of his skill, Takashi was no match for the extreme finesse of the Zoider’s machine.

A final attack from Arkan sent Takashi’s robot flying through a high-rise, sending a deafening impact in all directions as fire and smoke poured from the building’s ruins. Takashi’s monitors lit up with Arkan’s rictus of superiority. The fight, Arkan explained, was fixed from the beginning—he controlled a Giga-Core, one of only 8 in the universe, the result of hundreds of Giga-Shards harvested from humans and fused together into a font of unstoppable power. Laying waste to humanity was his spirit-given right as 1 of the 8 Terrochs. No one human stood a chance.

Arkan’s revelation was drowned out in Takashi’s mind as he saw his Aunt being loaded onto a Zoider drop ship, along with dozens of other humans. Takashi tried as hard as he could to right his robot, to stop Arkan and save his Aunt, but the machine was too far gone. He screamed until he felt blood in his throat, and pounded on the glass monitors with all his might as the drop ship took off into the sky.

Takashi watched as the ship’s vapor trail dissipated, and then turned to Arkan’s gloating visage on the now-cracked monitors. In that moment, Takashi made an oath: He would gather every Giga-Shard he could. He would save his Aunt. He would kill every Zoider cursed to cross his path.

Playstyle
Takashi Kato's deck focuses on staying in your opponent's face and never letting up, taking full advantage of his 8 Rage and 3 Power. Never Back Down can be played to nullify forced movement from your opponent's attack, Head On embraces your opponent's attack by giving it 2 successes while you gain Rage twice, and Hot-Blooded reduces the cost of your Attack cards by 2 in exchange for losing all Defense for a turn. You can also easily flip the script on your opponent, taking hits for a couple turns then springing Channel Rage, which allows your next attack to inflict extra damage equal to your Rage instead of gaining it for a turn.

Once your Fighting Spirit has spiked from taking a few hits, switch to Power Token gain and dedicate them fully towards your rolls. Unstoppable allows you to regain Power Tokens after spending them, and Channel Spirit allows you to roll Power Dice to gain Fighting Spirit. Round this approach out with 2 forced re-rolls and the powerful High Stakes, which allows you to perform a Recovery Roll to play any 1 other Instant for free, whether it's from your pilot or your robot.

Takashi's Pilot Abilities play into his ferocious nature and keep you toe-to-toe with your opponent. Think You Can Stop Me?! Reduces Collision damage by 1/2, dismantling the reliability of Forced Movement builds. Honorable Defeat sets up a win condition for your opponent where they can only defeat you if their last attack inflicts 4 or more damage. Lastly, Born To Fight can round out any build by adding +1 damage to all Melee Attacks.

Players who want to never back down from their opponent and build a pilot/robot combo that's all about infighting will find no better option than Takashi.