Final Fantasy Record Keeper IX: Having Sworn to Whale, Must I Live My Life in Debt?

[Astrella]

Oooh, I got two 6* relics on the second Lucky Draw; Fran's Artemis Bow (XII) and Lulu's Moomba Mage (X), think those are the first Ultra Soul Breaks I got.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Alright, settling in for some banner planning.

Spoiler: Banner 1

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Dupes: 1 - Emperor BSB
Realm Coverage: Nothing for FF1, decent but old options for FF2, good-not-great options for FF3.
Verdict: Tons of upside here, definitely on track for at least 1 pull. A WoL item or Matoya BSB would plug key gaps in addition to being legit good options in and of themselves. Firion BSB would immediately be my best mBlink. OK BSB would be incredibly handy for magicite. Maria's BSB is still one of the best in the game. The only non-dupe booby prize here is Garland's, and even that would be useful synergy, especially considering that he's the go-to Omega Drive user for the realm.

Spoiler: Banner 2

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Dupes: 1 - Faris USB
Realm Coverage: FF4 is good but a little spotty, FF5 is stacked, and FF6 is kinda dodgy aside from Terra.
Verdict: This is a surprisingly strong banner for me. There are definitely characters I don't care about nostalgia-wise (hi, Ceodore!) but Gogo BSB is the only whiff mechanically. And even that could make for a fun pairing with, say, Raines BSB.

Spoiler: Banner 3

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Dupes: 5 - Cloud USB, Cloud BSB2, Sephiroth BSB, Edea BSB, Eiko BSB
Realm Coverage: Generally excellent, though 8 has a couple oldies.
Verdict: Hard pass. In addition to all the dupes, I've got a lot of overlap with what the banner's offering. Zidane's BSB1 covers a lot of the same ground as his USB (and his BSB2 is... weird). Zell's SSB2 isn't as good as his BSB, but still sets him up for excellent DPS & Omega Drive-ing. Squall & Rinoa's BSB1s... okay they're bad, but still, this is not the banner to chase their upgrades in.

Spoiler: Banner 4

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Dupes: 0. Huh.
Realm Coverage: FF10 is good, FF11 is in desperate need of help, and FF12 is so-so
Verdict: Surprisingly tempting! There are some underwhelming bursts in here - Tiny Bee, Seymour, arguably Auron - but many of these would be a character's first SB or a massive upgrade. (Vaan's unique doesn't really cut the mustard, for example.) This is a bit of a dark horse, but a reasonable option.

Spoiler: Banner 5

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Dupes: 1 - Raines BSB,
Realm Coverage: 13 is excellent, 14 is pretty okay, and 15 has nothing.
Verdict:There's more upside here than I'm giving credit for, but I've got solid SSBs for Alphinaud, Minfilia, and Papalymo, and Hope's BSB1 still stands up reasonably well against his BSB2 as well. Combine that with Raines's BSB being good enough to make his OSB seem pointless, and I'm feeling pretty okay passing on this.

Spoiler: FF6-1

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Dupes: 0
Rambling: I absolutely do not need more dark stuff, but I would love to have an SB for Shadow, especially with Seph's BSB2 katana providing a quality dark+ item for him. I'm also seriously short on quality debuff SBs, so Setzer's BSB or USB would be highly useful across the board. Flip side, that means that their LMs are completely terrible for me on their own. And Umaro... is certainly here.
Verdict: I would really like to pull on this, but I'm going to hem and haw a bit longer.

So I think that I'm leaning towards a pull on 1, 2, 4, and FF6-1, but that feels heavily subject to change on how the next couple draws play out.

[Greg_S]

3rd Anniversary has kicked off in JP as well, and two things that will be pertinent to us when it hits:

1. There will be more job motes (finally). 5 bosses in a special event, each one drops one job's mote. Machinist and Bard are skipped, but dragoon, monk, thief, knight, and spellblade are there.
2. This Orbfest is going to be our last one. For 3rd, they're just opening up all the dailies at once. It's fine, I understand it, but it feels less special.

Banner looks:

Spoiler: Banner 1

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I'm not drawing for synergy, so I'm evaluating on "would this make it into a crystal tower 220+ boss fight/magicite fight?"
Dupes:
Maria, Desch, Onion burst
Want:
Firion USB for hailstorm/fire sam/sharpshooter spamming, maybe WoL USB because assault shell is stupidly powerful... but I plan to pull on one of the tactics banners later, Firion BSB

Losing Master BSB is a big loss here, as I don't know if we're going to get another shot at it. Even the wants, outside of Firion, fall into a "nice enough to have" category.

Spoiler: Banner 2

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Dupes: Rosa BSB, Golbez BSB, Relm BSB
Want: Terra USB, Bartz USB, Celes BSB2

I'd gladly take Strago, Yang, Palom, or P. Cecil 2 if they were here, but they've been replaced, sadly. I don't want the USBs enough to risk a dud.

Spoiler: Banner 3

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Dupes: Cloud USB, BSB2, Squall BSB2, Zell BSB, Garnet BSB, Eiko BSB
Want: Seph BSB2, Rinoa BSB2, Edea BSB

Hard skip because I've gotten lucky elsewhere. Kiros & Ward will have the ice stuff I want.

Spoiler: Banner 4

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Dupes: Tiny Bee of Doom, Ayame BSB, Aphmau BSB, Vaan BSB
Want: Tidus USB, Shantotto USB, Vaan USB, Reks BSB, Rikku USB

Bunch of Dupes, but there are more wants here than anywhere else. If I pull anywhere, it's here.

Spoiler: Banner 5

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Dupes: Raines BSB, Papalymo BSB, Nabaat BSB
Want: Lightning USB, Alph BSB

Just not enough I want here.

Just disappointing all around for me, and adding 4 OSBs makes me sad.

[huttj509]

And my lucky LD 2 was followed by 3 discos on LD 3.

Yshtola's USB (Major regen and 1 phys/magic dodge)
Yuffie USB (40% party heal, and Atk/Def down)
Pecil OSB (holy/non damage)

Not sure how much I'll use the abilities, but nice stat sticks.

[Slayn82]

Nice pulls, huttj! I went 2/11, got Yuna and Shadow's Ultras. This game...

I got Bartz OSB/ Water BSB; Edge's RLM (x2!), and now Shadow's USB. It's all spread around, instead of being nicely concentrated in a single guy!

Shadow's BSB enter's my choice list (but darkness already pretty strong), and let's put Edge's BSB there too while at it (not a Imperil, but a second En element water ought to be almost as nice, then add LM). Any thoughts?

[oxybe]

Did my draw and I got Selphie's USB! Yet another medica, but finally, after all this time, I have a source of Last Stand.

[SuperPanda]

Bumbed at my final LD pull - the most awesome of LD's and I got 1/11

An OSB (unlike some I'm still unconvinced that OSBs are better than BSBs but I'm sold on USB and CSBs)

For XIII - a game I haven't played and already had a pretty strong team for.

Fang's OSB, okay so the last piece I needed to make one very strong XIII team since I have FANG's enwind SSB. It's not a bad pull at all, it boosts my options a little, but the boost is marginal.

Looking at the PS1 banner (VII, VIII, IX) I have three incredibly strong realms with some nice items that would further boost said realms. Not sure if I'll pull.

Looking st PS2 banner - I feel like all the water I'd been hoping for got stolen, I could use some X boost but not sure of anything here is what I want. Love all the XI stuff and likely to pull for that, and then XII has the same problem as X. I want want the XI stuff but banner is not looking to enticing.

For final banner - I don't want any more xiii. That team is set for a very long time. I want alph's bsb but xiv is already stupid strong. I have no xv, but I also don't yet care about that.

So of the banners - SNES is the one I'm sure I want a pull, or maybe two on... and I'm just not sure anywhere else.

[Morbis Meh]

It's like ground hog's day up in here. Another 2/11 but the first is another dupe so technically 1/11 making it 3 dupes and 3 new relics with 3 pulls.

The dupe was Zidane's OSB makinf rune tooth a tasty stat stick but the new relic was Zack's CSB, my first, meaning I knoe have to pull like there is no tomorrow on banner 3. It has everything I literally want (except Squall's USB which I have and sucks).

[Red Fel]

LD3, 1/11... Minfilia's USB.

On the one hand, it's great to actually have something for Minfilia now. She's a solid character. Also, the USB is a solid one - a Hastega with +ATK/MAG/RES, the latter of which (ID 634) is a very uncommon buff that stacks with almost anything.

On the other, there are a lot of really, really good 6-star relic SBs out there. This one is... Nice. Hastegas aren't as rare as they used to be. Boostgas and Faithgas (and Boostga/Faithgas) aren't as rare as they used to be. I mean, it's not even an instant-cast. It's a nice buff suite, sure, but it feels like missed opportunity.

Then again, it's more than I had for Minfilia.

Time to wait for Fest.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Hm, shame to see that nobody is absolutely lighting the place up with discos, but I'm glad to see that it's mostly been okay.

2/11 for me, featuring a dupe of Aeris USB and... Bartz USB! Not bad, not bad at all! I've got his en-wind to back it up, so it's probably time to R3 Snowspell Strike, huh?

And while I didn't hit any jackpots in a number-of-goodies sense, I got a good BSB, a great USB, and a pair of dupes for 75 mythril, which feels pretty decent compared to normal drawing.

[Antonok]

Well for those who go discoless, tomorrow we should get the free 30 draw with a guaranteed 6*. And odds are pretty good for 4+ discos.

May none of us go Keeper/30.

Edit: and am I the only one that wants to pull on banner 5 more than the others? I need 13 synergy, and I really want Noctis' USB.

[Maryring]

My dive into the second banner saw me come back with my third Iga Blade. That being Ramza's BSB. Unfortunately, the blade itself isn't all that hot as a stat stick, being a Katana and thus only really useful for Cyan and Whiny Brat. Almost seems like those unable to wield swords have to be bad hrm?

The second is Lion's BSB dagger which is... I mean it's XI so that's nice. And it solidly shatters the physical side of things. But I want more elemental stuff. Oh well, at least it's a new relic.

Looking forward to drawing on the 6* banner tonight.

[Astrella]

I got 3 discos on the third pull:

Force Stealer (VII) for Cloud (USB)
Faerie Bow (V) for Faris (USB)
and Chirijiraden (VII) for Sephiroth (OSB)

[spectralphoenix]

Warrior of Light's holy chain. I can't deny it's useful, though I'm a little disappointed at going 1 for 11 on this.

[Forbiddenwar]

Nice chain.
And I got a pack of cards. It's a disco, but without a realm and common events it seems useless.

I can't wrap my head around the extra draws, are there four? For a total of nine banners? Do I need to save mithril for them or can I spend all of mithril on the anniversary banners?

I want to draw for each anniversary banner, but with only 160 mithril, I have to make some hard decisions. I think I should skip the psone banner, I don't have much in ff9, but have a ton in ff8 and 7, so I might have to skip that one and one other.

[Antonok]

I can't wrap my head around the extra draws, are there four? For a total of nine banners? Do I need to save mithril for them or can I spend all of mithril on the anniversary banners?

Current fest banners (not including the current Soundtrack banner and 3 LDs we had):

30 Relic draw - Free
Fest Banner 1-5 - Full price
Crystal Tower Banner - Gem Only according to the reddit thread
30th Relic Selection - Gem Only

We'll also get VI banner 2 on Monday instead of tomorrow to prevent overlap with fest start.

[Slayn82]

There will be 2 gem, one time only Banners: the 30th selection Banner and the Crystal Tower Banner. Both are 11 pulls for 3000 gems. This is whale only territory, beware! Ready your wallet and proceed:

The pool of both include Overflow, Ultra, Limit Chain, Burst and Super Soul Break relics from all realms including Beyond and Type-0. No uniques or shared. I think we can assume the current Tactics stuff will be on both, and VI on Crystal Tower, but not sure.

On the 30th selection, in Japan, after you pull, you could choose one of these relics:

FF1: WoL, Master, Sarah, Matoya, Garland
FF2: Firion, Gordon, Maria, Minwu, Leon, Emperor
FF3: Luneth, Arc, Refia, Ingus, OK, Desch
FF4: Pecil 1, Decil, Kain, Golbez, Ceodore, Edge, Edward, Palom, Yang, Rydia, Rosa
FF5: Bartz 1, Bartz 2, Greg, Galuf, Faris, Gogo, Lenna, Exdeath
FF6: Terra, Kefka 1, Shadow, Setzer, Celes 1, Cyan, Sabin, Relm, Locke
FF7: Cloud 1, Tifa, Red XIII, Vincent, Cid, Yuffie, Sephiroth 1, Zack, Reno
FF8: Squall 1, Zell, Rinoa 1, Laguna, Quistis, Irvine, Fujin, Raijin, Selphie, Edea
FF9: Zidane 1, Dagger 1, Vivi 1, Steiner, Eiko, Quina, Amarant, Kuja, Beatrix
FF10: Tidus, Yuna 1, Wakka, Kimahri, Auron 1, Rikku, Seymour, Jecht, Paine
FF11: Shantotto, Lion, Curilla, Ayame
FF12: Vaan, Ashe, Balthier 1, Fran, Basch, Gabranth, Larsa, Vayne
FF13: Lightning 1, Snow 1, Sazh, Hope 1, Serah, Fang 1, Noel, Raines
FF14: Y'shtola, Alphinaud, Yda, Papalymo, Minfilia
FFT: Ramza, Delita, Ovelia, Rapha, Mustadio, Gaffgarion, Marach, Agrias
Core: Tyro

On the Crystal Tower, your options were:

Echo BSB1
Leila BSB
Cloud of Darkness BSB
Porom BSB
Krile BSB
Edgar BSB
Aerith BSB
Seifer BSB
Freya BSB
Lulu BSB
Prishe BSB
Penelo BSB
Vanille BSB
Thancred BSB1
Orlandeau BSB

Both Banners should go until October 12. If you plan to spend money (I do), read again the thread title (insert Tidus laugh).

[Greg_S]

PSA: The crystal tower pickup in JP was not gem-only, but was 50 mythril. In the absence of datamining that says otherwise, I think this is just a conflation of the crystal tower pickup with the giant BSB pickup.

Pulled on the lucky today, went 1/11: Vaan OSB. Very bad OSB, and the value of the stat stick is lessened by having Locke's OSB and its unlocked holy +. Master for the bonus and forget, I guess. That's 4/11 on the luckies for me, with only 1 thing I actually care about.

Then I went and pulled on the VI-1 banner. That went far better! 3/11, and quite the 3. Setzer's BSB and LMR, and Shadow's USB. BOOM. Now Shadow (one of my faves from VI) can unleash insanity, and Setzer can, once I dive him, stack five layers of breaks on an enemy's offense: FB, Atk/Mag, Atk/Def| Mag/Res, Atk/Mag/Mnd, and a single breakdown. Not great for a magicite, but instant nerf bats for hard MP or crystal tower bosses is quite nice.

[huttj509]

Then I went and pulled on the VI-1 banner. That went far better! 3/11, and quite the 3. Setzer's BSB and LMR, and Shadow's USB. BOOM. Now Shadow (one of my faves from VI) can unleash insanity, and Setzer can, once I dive him, stack five layers of breaks on an enemy's offense: FB, Atk/Mag, Atk/Def| Mag/Res, Atk/Mag/Mnd, and a single breakdown. Not great for a magicite, but instant nerf bats for hard MP or crystal tower bosses is quite nice.

Instant? Is there some trick to building that much soul gauge rapidly that I'm missing? The stuff I fight where I need the mitigation I can't afford to wait for multiple SB bubbles to fill for it.

[Greg_S]

Instant? Is there some trick to building that much soul gauge rapidly that I'm missing? The stuff I fight where I need the mitigation I can't afford to wait for multiple SB bubbles to fill for it.

Instant's the wrong term here, sorry. It does only take 1 SB gauge, though. A breakdown:
Setzer's LM2 grants a 30% chance to follow a damaging support ability with a 30% atk/mag/mnd break. With ace striker equipped, turns 1-6 are likely spent alternative FB/BD on the target. After 6 turns, there's an 89% chance that we've also stacked that extra chase on the target. Assuming we've taken a single hit by then, the SB gauge should be charged, so mostly megaflare hits and debuffs atk/mag. Now we can use the BSB commands to further break atk/def or mag/res. With Setzer's LMR, we get an extra 30% to debuff duration, so the various commands are lasting for 20 seconds instead of 5, so cycling isn't a major issue, and the boss is at either 39% of its original magic, or 41% of its original attack. That's an awful lot of mitigation on a single character. It's not flawless because of the randomness of his LM dive chase, but it's a very powerful combination.

[Slayn82]

Instant? Is there some trick to building that much soul gauge rapidly that I'm missing? The stuff I fight where I need the mitigation I can't afford to wait for multiple SB bubbles to fill for it.

Setzer

Legend Materia II: When using damaging Support abilities, 30% to also cast a single-target ranged physical attack + ATK/MAG/MND -30% (1 x 0.25)
Legend Materia I: Support Damage +15% (+9% more from complete Legend Sphere)
Relic Legend Materia: Stat Debuff Duration +30%

Yo, I heard you like support breaks, so we put a support break that stacks with all other support breaks, so you can break while you break. Yes.

[Forbiddenwar]

Quick strategy question.

Is it better to pull on a banner that could improve your realm synergy, diversifying your roster.

Or

Pull on a realm with characters that already have mastered a few soul breaks, to get new tools for the A team and, at the same time, boost their stats even more?

[huttj509]

Quick strategy question.

Is it better to pull on a banner that could improve your realm synergy, diversifying your roster.

Or

Pull on a realm with characters that already have mastered a few soul breaks, to get new tools for the A team and, at the same time, boost their stats even more?

Depends on what content wall yer at, I think.

Is it "my A-team needs to be better" or is it "I need more A-team options"?

[Forbiddenwar]

Depends on what content wall yer at, I think.

Is it "my A-team needs to be better" or is it "I need more A-team options"?

Hmm, as much as I like a stronger A team I think I do need a more diverse roster so I can take down more torments and jump starts

[huttj509]

Hmm, as much as I like a stronger A team I think I do need a more diverse roster so I can take down more torments and jump starts

I know the feeling. If it's a V event, I'm golden. Anything else? Eeeeeh...maybe?

[Maryring]

My 6* pull gave me Maria and Kuja's OSBs. Both are decent stat-sticks in realms where I have little synergy and elements for which I have little power. Maria's OSB only boosts earth damage under synergy, but it'll still be a solid weapon to equip on her. Also useful for II battles, especially if I decide to grab her BSB as part of the BSB pull banner. But I'm hoping to grab it on the banners coming up. Fingers crossed for Maria BSB on Banner I, and Celes and Mog BSBs on Banner 2.

Also, does anyone know if there's a better "turn attack to cure" RM than Vanille's Pulse Kindness?

[SuperPanda]

Looking at the fears post LD and trying to decide if I'm pulling,

B1 - mixed feelings. Some items to boost weak realms, one that would be most awesome.
FF1: Maytoya's BSB would be a mixed blessing. Would either need to kick one of my sword users off making it a side step rather than a step up or see if Echo can take over healing. Garland's BSB would actually be an upgrade for him and a massive upgrade for my team dark (my only dark burst is Edea's Ice work). O'Light already has a OSB so these others look nice but not ground shattering. I find my I synergy is good enough now and doesn't need a pull.
FF2: Firon's USB looks strong on a character I tend to replace with Leon. His burst on the other hand is one of the three items here I want. Enperor's is bad, should feel bad and his relic is a trap. Maria's is my only dupe this banner (and my only II relic). Lelia's looks interesting.
FF3: luneth's USB could replace Fang on my wind team (Fang just now replaced Cloud due to having Sky High, en-wind and a OSB versus cloud's OSB). Ingush and Desch bursts could each be a boost separately but compete with each other for use. Neither will make it into and A team. Onion burst is my last want. 2/3 wants are in III which is already very strong.

Leaning to no pull. 1 dupe. 3 Wants. 2 are st Ok clear upgrades.

B2:
IV: very Holy strong and lost of healing already. Need some magic/element love or Edward.
Cecil USB - don't care how good/bad, I want.
Ceodore and Rosa dupes. Rydia BsB - don't care how good/bad, I want (though her BSB2 is the only way she makes an A team). Golbez BSB - team dark needs. 2 dupes, want everything else.
V: already very strong.
Bartz USB is one of only two I want for its sheer power alone. Bartz bsb3 and Faris USB are dupes. I'd normally tell gogo to gogo home, but water and dark are the elements I most need.
VI: Terra's USB looks very good and I want. Relm and Locke dupes. Mog wants to replace Stezer in Vi and Yuna in magicite. Celes is a solid want. Lots of dupes but otherwise no duds. Every non dupe is an upgrade, nostalgia is high. The questions is t pull or not, it's how many pulls.

Banner 3:
VII has two Cloud relics which could put him back on team wind even above Luneth (should I get weak and lucky in banner 1). Seph's relics actually look good for once (thinking of a dark team). And Cid is just there drinking his tea.
VIII is not easy to upgrade now. Squall's ultra is mixed but his BsB2 is awesome and I want. Rinoa was my original "A" mage (first SSB, first 7* relic, first reforge) but has been on the bench a long time with Edea, Fuujin, and Quistis stealing her spots. Not sure her burst 2 changes that. Edea is a dupe and Zell is another freak monk relic but unlikely to see use.
IX: my team is pretty much pure magic now and Zidane knows he's not likely to get in there. His USB is trying to get Zack's spot on wind team. Riki and Garnet are dupes.
Overall - some amazing headliner items, but it looks more and more like a trap. Apart from bsb2's that I want but don't need and that ridiculous USB, little here is good for me. Still, strangely Seph stands out and I don't evens really like him.

B4: FFX - my team is good, mage heavy, but could be stronger.
Tidus Brings water (which I need and want), Rikku brings a very wanted relic, Yuna has one of the few relics of hers LDs haven't given me one or more of. Seymour brings dark which I need, and Auron is cool (but unlikely to get used).
FFXI - Shantoto already has gone trouble but oh hohoho do I want that staff. No dupes, and all look good.
FFXII - I love the game and RK doesn't like giving me things (unless they are got Penelo). Both Vaan's are great looking. Ashe is one I wanted a long time but no longer A team worthy. Baltheir is a dupe (I spent so much mythril hunting this last time). Reks looks good.

Few dupes, lists of want, lots of nostalgia.

B5: XIII does t need any more help.
Lightning's ultra is a dupe (and I still prefer my insanely lightning mage team).
Raines, Nabaat, and Hope all compete for that mage slot Serah just took - but two are strong dark users... curse you DeNa, can't I have nice stuff to want for games I liked (and played).
XIV - I want alph's USB. Papa is trying to take Terra's place on team fire and Yda is neat. Other two dupes.
XV - I got nothing, I also desire nothing.

Honestly probably worth a pull but likely won't do it all the same.

I have ~ 250 mythril budget... trying to make sure I don't pull on sound track chasing toto-burst yet again.

I did pre buy a gem pack a long time ago for the gem banner... will need to see what the selections are and decide between guilty but want (toto-burst) or smart (onion burst).

[Antonok]

Also, does anyone know if there's a better "turn attack to cure" RM than Vanille's Pulse Kindness?

Looking at the RM thread, Iris, Sarah, and White Mage all have one but they seem to be all the same heal strength.

And 45 minutes til Fest begins! May your adventures and pulls be profitable.

Edit: 30 draw away! 5/30 - 4 rainbows 1 disco, disco is going to tick someone off

Rainbow 1 - Seifer's Gloves (dupe)
Rainbow 2 - Sazh's SSB gun
Rainbow 3 - OK's SSB Sword (dupe)
Rainbow 4 - Snow's BSB Coat! Yay for more ice things!
Disco - Terra's OSB

[huttj509]

I thought the parade banners were half cost for first pull?

[Forbiddenwar]

The 30 draw got me four! Sounds good, right?

NOT IF ALL FOUR ARE DUPES

GAH.
*Throws phone across the room

Wait, a combined six star is a decent weapon, right?

NOT IF ITS A STUPID BOOK!

*Jumps down on phone crushing it