Like you said
Nova needs a beam assist
Doom is pretty good. Taskmaster also works
I feel that Nova and Deadpool should switch if you ever want to rock both of them
Damn, on a whim I just played a set running Nova Frank Plasma, and it was pretty sick! Seems like a pretty obvious idea, I’m surprised I hadn’t thought to try it before. And it follows all of Sottle’s laws:
Sottle’s law of Nova- Nova wants one assist to get him in, one assist to lock down once he’s there.
Sottle’s law of Frank- Frank wants an assist to help convert off a max range sM
Sottle’s law of Doom- Doom should not, under any circumstances, do a move that isn’t Foot Dive.
Jk about the Doom one. The main downsides to this team, imo, are that Frank is 2nd (my main frank team, Mag Vergil Frank, spoiled me with Frank in the back which is way preferable so long as your point hitting still assures a levelup), and that Doom is an underwhelming anchor. I think he’s underrated as an anchor, but that’s basically saying, “he’s not a 2, he’s a 5!” when a host of 8s thru 10s exist.
Questions:
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What do you guys think of the team overall? Like I said, its kind of an obvious construction. I’m surprised I’ve never seen it before. And apologies to anyone who’s got it in his sig and I’m forgetting about it.
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I never really played with the 'using dp+L vs dp+M with assist mixups till I saw them revered in this forum. Anyone know of any tight sequences using shopping cart to accomplish these safely? Or is it not enough stun to convert?
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Any good incoming mixups I should know about when none of your assists touch max neutral jump height? Jam session, rapid slash, vajra, etc give nova stuff to play with, but the few things I tried with meaty hits into assist calls were all mis-timed thus far. Ill experiment on my own, but might as well ask. If I recall, sottle once told me about adf+H into assist as they fall stuff, but the trick is getting them all the way to the ground and still stunned so hi/lo stuff is forced. Like, does a sequence exist with cart and/or plasma that forces a hi/lo 50 50 if not pushblocked? Or is hi/lo not even the best goal?
Just thinkin out loud for now. Adios muchachos!
ApologyMan, but better. Nuff said lol
The team becomes very meter-expensive when trying to get Frank leveled via doom. 2 to DHC him in, 2 to level up Frank. Beyond that it’s good but not outstanding imo.
Nah Tenderizer is part of what makes ApologyMan’s team so broken.
So this may be kind of a personal thing, but I think Doom’s really not a great anchor for Frank because of the leveling limitations that Zansam pointed out. I’m also very rarely impressed when I see even top tier players anchor him (although Apologyman’s is just ridiculously good IMO). I think plasma beam’s a great assist, but I also think you’re stacking your horizontal game really heavily by pairing it with Shopping Cart. You mentioned in the Frank forums (glad to help btw!) that you might try Akuma (Tatsu) in anchor; that’d be kind of a more extreme version of the same thing. Cart and Tatsu overlap so heavily that Nova’s getting deprived of a valuable assist asset. Beam offers more (in relation to Cart) than Tatsu, but I think Cart is strong enough as a dual horizontal/lockdown assist that you’d be better anchoring an assist with 1) some kind of vertical control or 2) at least some kind of useful but unusual property (like Cent Rush). Frank’s horizontal game is so amazing already (and, again, Cart’s great for Nova’s) that a beam just kind of seems like a waste. I don’t really like missiles that much as an assist because it feels kind of awkward to me (totally personal preference, it’s obviously beastly), but if you really want to anchor Doom I’d almost use that instead. There isn’t really a perfect anchor here (at least not that I know of), but just going by your criteria (and your sig) you could definitely give Dante a try in case you like him. Since you already anchor him on your Morridoom team, you have a head start on his XF3 game, and if you’re not impressed by Doom’s anchor possibilities you might not find it that big a step down. Jam Session also lets Frank confirm from max range with s.M (the sequence being s.M+Dante f.H), and it’s generally dirty for combos, mixups (incoming and non), space control, etc. Obviously you’d be hard pressed to find a better anchor for Frank in terms of leveling and that’d plug a big hole in the Nova/Frank/Doom composition.
I use Nova/Frank/Dante myself and absolutely love it, and you might enjoy giving it a try especially since you have experience with anchor Dante (which some people can’t stand 
).
I’ve never been able to get dp.M to work with shopping cart myself. It doesn’t seem to cause enough hitstun for a followup confirm, but someone else might have a more effective method. Following up on my Dante suggetsion, you can confirm off a cr.M+Jam Session into dp.M easily, though.
Wish I could help here, but I don’t have much since I have different assists. I do try to put out pulses when I get the chance to force them to land (or just box them in), though. With time/spacing that can help, but it’s not gonna be meaty for those characters with air mobility.
And just to be clear, I don’t think Nova/Frank/Doom is bad…I just don’t think it’s fantastic, and, especially with respect to leveling Frank, it has some issues I’d generally want to steer clear of. But whatever I prefer, Beam is a great assist, and if you enjoy it and make it work it’s worth doing 
I’m quite set on running Nova/IM (already got the infinites down so…)
But it’s quite hard for me to pick my 3rd. I mean, sure, lockdown, amy, sentinal etc… but I really don’t feel for any of those…
I really would like to run Hawkeye as I always wanted to learn him (we are talking secondary team here), but to horizontal assists seems like a bad idea. From what I read here (just finish going all over the thread) switching UB for RB is a crime (in IM forums they also claim this is the best thing with him for almost any point).
So idk about that. Also, I’ve saw somewhere you can hard tag IM in after throw but I couldn’t replicate that in the lab:
throw add, j.H, hard tag, dash smart bomb M
it’s just not fast enough so idk…
My other option is Dante (jam?), which I’m quite familiar with (my main is Wesker/Dante/Strange), I can get the hard tags just fine, but I just don’t feel like running him in that team too (although, after I get Nova and IM down better, I can quite freely switch between the teams for Nova/Dante/Strange, Dante/IM(b)/Strange, Wesker/Dante/IM, etc etc etc…)
I can see myself running Dante(weasel) and call it lockdown (and not horizontal).
What I’m looking for is for you to tell me that Nova/Hawkeye is quite good, and IM with RB is great lockdown and not such a crime.
And also, how to get that hardtag thing, I just couldn’t do it.
Nova/Taskmaster is better. If you’re running Taskmaster/Hawkeye/Strange or w/e, I guess RB is probably best. UB is good since it clears the field and allows you to get in on their ass
I think the raw tag is done by TKing smart bomb shrugs
I don’t so much mind the horizontal redundancy because they have different ranges, and different stun effects. That said, though, if jam gives a max range sM confirm that could be the way to go. Anchor dante is excellent. Not as good as vergil, imo, but better than most of the cast (also imo).
Even if the horizontals were redundant for nova (which again, I don’t think is so severe), once frank is on point, you’re then lacking that coverage. So I don’t much mind it for nova, especially since you get the ‘one gets you on, one locks them down’ interplay. Honestly I think my Mag Vergil Frank is quite a bit stronger (and could make a case for best frank team, or close… but that may be a more controversial statement). I just play primarily online, unfortunately, and all the mag combos I can do with my eyes closed offline give me unwanted tacs and other inexplicable shit that drives me insane. Nova is basically undroppable, and I enjoy playing him just as much.
Anyway, I figured nova frank doom was a B tier team, but id probably add a + to that. Its fun, its easy, and plasma-frank is pretty bad ass. Jam session is absolutely worth a shot tho. Thanks for all the replies, guys
First of all…nothing pisses me off more than an accidental TAC lol. Pain felt
But yeah, there’s nothing wrong with plasma there at all and it definitely gives Nova advantages that shopping cart can’t. I was just thinking more that it’s easier for characters with good vertical game to take away frank’s ability to control space. Nova’s got more options vs. superjump than Frank, but even so he’s still strong horizontally with Grav Pulse H, ridiculous slides, etc. Frank just controls the ground/normal jump range so well he doesn’t need help–even if help is awesome. But the main point was that Dante fits your assist criteria and strengthens Nova’s incoming (since you said that was a concern) while giving a huge boost to your ability to level Frank (even when Nova’s on point)–probably the most important part of your team composition.
Something to think about, but it’s partly playstyle that’s getting factored in there. If plasma beam works well for your gameplan it’s a beastly assist for sure
Also, I bet Mag/Frank/Vergil is a lot of fun, I like that idea. I bet that once you get used to Nova/Frank you won’t be able to go back, though. Cent Rush M is by far my favorite assist in the game for Frank; it’s just ridiculous lol.
Well see that’s interesting you say that. Do you think it’s good enough for Frank to be a primary assist for him? Here’s why I ask: I’ve always felt (well, ‘always’ meaning from the moment I learned it was possible) Frank was ideal in the 3rd spot given that a team can still level him on a hit from the point. And thus when I learned this could be accomplished via DHC to corner swords, which I’d been using a lot anyway (see all the Nova Vergil xxx stuff, not to mention other teams I play), that’s where I came up with Mag Vergil Frank.
Now I would absolutely adore to do this with Nova instead of Mag, but the main problem is that once Frank is leveled and fighting as point, I didn’t think M Cent Rush held a candle to Disruptor (or any beam, really) as a neutral assist. Plus neither it nor Rapid Slash gives smooth sM confirms, especially midscreen (RS kinda can in or near the corner). So basically the only reason I hadn’t been doing Nova Vergil Frank was just not thinking Cent M + RS were all that hot for Fr4nk We5t’s neutral. If you’re making a case otherwise, I’m definitely intrigued.
I actually logged in here at work (shh!) revisting the ol ‘who should go behind Nova Vergil xxx’ discussion, since Plasma Beam just annoys me with Nova. I can’t stand when I want to go low, cM sliding right under it on hit, GRRR!
-Hawkeye arrows are what I had been using, and I adore Hawk, but the Arrows just don’t seem to carry the weight (literally or figuratively) that a nice fat beam does for a lockdown. Hawk’s one of my best chars, so if my answer ends up being to stick w/ Hawk, I won’t be horribly disappointed.
-Task would be good but I actually can’t use him due to a controller issue (my issue, not Marvel theory’s), though also has an assist much smaller than a beam.
-Plasma is still a top choice, and you get raw tag stuff off air grabs, etc etc. I just get pissed off, as noted above, by the intermittant incompatibility between the beam and Nova’s normals.
-Iron Man is pretty much the ideal assist, but is attached to, you know, Iron Man.
-Arthur daggers would be kinda sick, but Arthur anchor wants to use meter and XF, and it’s kind of hard for him to win an argument over resources with Vergil.
-Dante could certainly work, but I feel like Weasel Shot is probably better for Nova Vergil xxx than Jammy-Jam (correct me if I’m wrong).
-Drones are very nice for Nova, but less so for Vergil. Though I’d posit if someone gave it some thought and practice, Drones are probably actually awesome for Vergil. Thing is, ‘Wackbot’ anchor doesn’t really deserve that sort of research.
-Bolts could certainly work, but the moment you fight a character who can stand still and watch the Bolts whiff above them, you really start to second guess the idea (or at least I do).
-So then that leaves the ol’ cart, which I above explained my hesitance. Assist wise it’s certainly good enough for Nova, and fantastic for Vergil, but do Nova and Vergil return the favor is the burning question.
They don’t; neither helps Frank get in when he needs it.
Exactly as I figured, sadly.
Haha, no unfortunately I’m not. Cent Rush M is my favorite assist for Frank, but that’s not because it solves his neutral game problems. I just find comboing with it a true pleasure; getting ~950k for 1 bar off an air throw is pretty satisfying haha (Not that I’m trying to airthrow all the time with Frank, but it’s the principle that counts!) I think it’s great for helping Frank rip through teams once he’s in control, but it’s not going to give you the upper hand in the way you’re looking for. If you really want to use Nova/Vergil I just wouldn’t recommend putting Frank on the back end there.
Yeah, I figured. And haven’t been. But like a dog, when you said that, my ears perked
Just letting you all know, Nova with Taskmaster’s diagonal arrows is REALLY GOOD. That assist allows you to cover the air while you make your approach on the ground. That assist with Plasma Beam or something else can make Nova a problem. I personally love the fact that it allows me to play in reverse…instead of arrows and go in the air, I can let arrows stay in the air for me. Plus it can force some blocking on incoming.
Last night I fought a friend who was toying w/ Mag Strange Wesker but struggling, so then I ran Mag Strange Hawkeye just to kinda show him some basic stuff (and I didn’t really like Wesk in back, he only had em for the XF3 comebacks, which to me is kinda scrubby and a waste of a slot). But I enjoyed it very much and decided to replace Mag w/ Nova in front. So I had a lot of fun w/ Nova Strange Hawk (as opposed to my usual Nova team, Nova Vergil Hawk). So I figured I’d come on here and write a little diddy about it and see what you guys thought. I also PM’d a Dr Strange-maining buddy about it cause I had a question for him about Strange. So I figure I’ll just copy/paste what I wrote there since I’m at work right now. Lemme know what you guys think :
"As for the team, first and foremost: I will not use Spencer. So yeah I know about team Nemo, blah blah blah. NOPE lol The main thing is I use Nova Vergil xxx (usually with Hawk as x) a LOT, so to replace Vergil w/ Strange seems like kind of a step down. BUT… there is some justification, namely that Bolts is a far superior neutral weapon for Nova (and Mag) to Rapid Slash. Also, and this is minor, but Strange can get into his XF free kill combo from literally anywhere (SoV xx xfc, H tele, Palm, etc etc) where as Vergil has to helm break. Not saying this isn’t mind-numbingly easy for Vergil to achieve, but hey, it’s something. In partic when Strange pops this from, like, sj height or something, you get a keen appreciation for the ability.
Ultimately Vergil may just prove better in the slot. It is Vergil, after all. But just for funsies, Strange is a sweet option that works. Now I can see one counter-argument to the team is that Bolts and Arrows are redundant horizontal for Nova. While technically true: a. I don’t mind this ‘problem’ as much as most, especially when the 2 assists have different speeds, functions, stuns, uses, etc. Hell if anything, it just means faster cool off times. b. The arrows actually aren’t for Nova so much in this build as opposed to Nova Vergil Hawk, where it’s Nova’s primary assist. Bolts would be the primary assist for Nova on this team, w/ arrows actually hard-solving my biggest problem w/ Bolts: namely, smaller characters being able to crouch or stand under it. So when you fight a team of Wolvie Morri Rocket (and who isn’t playing that team nowadays?) (joke), the 2 assists feel far less redundant lol
And then lastly, Hawk Arrows are just GORGEOUS for Strange. In fact, depending what you’re looking to do, I think a case could easily be made it’s his best assist. (and what I’m looking to do is set up teleport crossups). So it’s Nova w/ Bolts primary, arrows 2ndary, Strange w/ arrows, Hawk w/ Bolts which is also siqq, and either Hawk or Strange as anchor depending how the game goes. I think you get the idea. lol"
Hey, what do you guys think about Nova backed by disruptah? Obviously its not his preference as far as lockdown, though it does seem a tad more agreeable than plasma as far as confirming.
Reason I ask: one of my fav duos/shells is xxx dorm mag, and I’m always on the lookout for other disruptor (or darkhole) abusers such as wesker and dante to run point. And if Nova could work as the point for this shell, we could be looking at, "my best team"material.
Plus Nova has TODs via TAC to dorm so that could work nice. Could run it w/ plasma over disruptor, but if any of you run much dorm, you know nothing is quite the same as that pretty pink disruptor
actually
I like doom dorm
hard tags for dayz
As I said, dorm doom certainly isn’t BAD. In fact its quite good. But if you’ve ever played with dorms disruptahport game, you’ll know its just not quite the same w/ plasma.
I just wanna know if nova is a decent point for that shell. I’m sure disruptor nova isn’t awful, but since I assume its a step down from other projectile/beams, I’m wondering how badly of a step down and if its worth it.