My opinion: Why.
I said like mid-2012 that this game would end up being very counterpick-heavy, and here we are. Seems like I’m mostly right aside from Morridoom which doesn’t seem to have any major holes.
I personally would sacrifice the damage for a better neutral assist/anchor since TAC infinites are in the mix. You might not get them all the time, but it’s a worthy trade. Hell if your TAC is broken it’s not even that huge a loss. But maybe you’d feel more comfortable making your hits count all the time, in which case Nova/Spencer is the right route.
Team Marvelo is the best because Strider is obviously way cooler than Spencer.
So…is a beam assist really required to play Nova (Im not using Vajra either). Could something like Nova / Akuma work just as well? Or maybe something else?
But Spencer can’t lose, he’s got a bionic waifu.
Oh hell yeah. Spencer is lame as hell I have no idea why so many people play him lol
Zero: Arrows work too.
Beam assist really helps his long range game out and is incredibly recommended. Unlike characters like Wolverine where their neutral game is solely rushdown based. Nova is very versatile. A beam assist helps his zoning game and his rushdown game. Tatsu will help his close range game, but it won’t help him full screen and it might net you vulnerable to zoning. Even though I use Vajra, he still needs a beam assist. Hence why Nova/Doom/Strider is such a complete team. Having a beam helps his zoning and it helps his rushdown, which then makes Nova a major threat anywhere on the screen.
Not to mention many characters who provide him with a beam assist can be rawtagged in after airthrows for lots of damage. Doom, Ironman, MODOK, etc.
Spencer gives Nova “Insaynne” amounts of damage. Even without hardtagging into character “X” they still do amazing damage. Hell hardtagging into Spencer after crumple can be optimal on the right team. Nova without Spencer is a whole other dynamic for Nova.
Hi Centurions, few questions: With Nova/Doom/Vergil is rocks a viable alternative to beam (since beam scales combos so hard) or is it too slow/bad durability etc.?
Also with Nova/Frank/Vergil what’s the best order? I know Nova can DHC into an easy level 4 Frank but if you lose Nova you’re basically playing for anchor Vergil. There’s a video of Justin Wong playing Nova/Vergil/Frank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P5ZzcRgMkA but we’re not all Justin. So any ideas? Thanks.
Nova/Vergil/Frank is better. You can still do the same easy Level Up by DHCing Nova Force to Devil Trigger and raw tagging Frank, plus you have a ton more options and Lv.1 Frank doesn’t get exposed as easily.
Nova/Vergil/Frank also does pretty good damage while levelling up Frank. You can either DHC into Devil Trigger and raw tag into Frank or DHC into Spiral Swords and set up a raw tag off of Round Trip (see Justin’s vids) into Level 4/5 Frank. You can still use the Nova assist after taking a photo as well to get more damage.
It also gives you better DHCs -> better pressure. All of Frank’s hypers are unsafe. Spiral Swords makes your DHCs much safer.
Only problems with this team are:
It’s weaker against zoning
It’s very good at levelling up Frank, but not that good at making him effective on point, even when levelled up. Frank’s assist is more useful to Vergil and Nova but Nova’s and Vergil’s assist are not that useful for Frank. Unblockables or bullying people in the corner.
Anchor Frank 
These are the issues with Frank teams that people don’t seem to acknowledge and/or attempt to remedy. That said the team only has that flaw if people actually leverage it against you. Higher level it’ll get you in trouble though.
Nova/Vergil/Frank sucks ass.
From a team building perspective at least. I mean it has Vergil on it so it ain’t half bad right? But Nova doesn’t utilize shopping cart that well and Frank once leveled has no assists.
Replacing Frank with any valid support character will net you a much better team.
Yeah, it’s not a good Nova team or a good Frank team in any order.
Now that part I’ll disagree with you on. The scaling sucks, I’ll admit that outright. But it’s a hit confirm from an any range slide (into a H rocket punch no less if you feel so inclined), and on block it gives you free reign to setup or rush down. Great mid to close range assist for Nova. That said, it does nothing for the long range which is why an anchor that provides the long range is needed to fully round out Nova’s game.
Cart’s alright for Nova but he definitely needs something full screen to go with it. Not a lot of chars who offer a level up mechanic to go with that, just Rocky and MODOK I guess.
He really doesn’t. It’s only decent for Nova. It’s not cent rush confirmable, doesn’t help his overall neutral, and pushes them way too far back to get multiple mixups off of. On a scale of 1-10 for Nova, it’s about a 7 (at best). That’s my opinion, where like Daggers are a 10. There are much better assists for Nova, but its still an overall strong assist.
For Vergil, Spencer, Wolvie, etc it’s like a 10.
It gives a free pulse at close range off a slide on block and still hit confirms on hit; not many assists can do that.
Plus, something I really enjoy doing at mid-range is cart plus Light Nova Strike. If they block you’re completely safe and even have enough time to go for a high/low mix-up and if they get hit you can quickly pick them up with st.L into a full combo. Think of it like Dante’s Stinger, basically. Nova definitely needs something fullscreen to be fully effective but at mid range Cart is definitely very good. Not being Centurion Rush confirmable doesn’t hurt it all that much, plus if you catch them on the ground you can definitely use Medium Cent Rush + Cart and get a full combo. You miiight be able to get full combos if you get them on the air as well but I’m not completely sure about the move’s recovery for you to be able to get a st.L after it the same way you do with light Nova Strike.
I didn’t say it wasn’t usable. I said it was only decent. There are better assists overall for Nova that cover up more holes in Nova’s gameplay. Plasma Beam/Spitfire for example. My opinion.