Leo Cup

LeoCup, or the 16th Champions Meeting (CM16), takes place on the Nakayama 1200m Track. This CM is based on the Sprinters Stakes.

Acceleration

This Sprint CM is very different from the previous Sprint CM: The Late-Race Accel Zone starts halfway through the Final Corner making previously effective Straight Acceleration Skills, such as Straightaway Acceleration/Rushing Gale!, Victoria por plancha ☆, and Give Mummy a Hug ♡, now ineffective Skills.

Instead, Budding Blossom and Shooting for Victory! are the most desirable Acceleration Skills for this track. These Skills will provide guaranteed value for all Uma in 3rd and 4th - they are so reliable, it would not be unusual for players to strategise entirely around fighting for these positions. This is best done with Pace Chasers equipped with a wide arsenal of Mid-Race Velocity Skills .

Other guaranteed positional Accels are Angling and Scheming for Front Runners or Pace Chasers, and Let's Pump Some Iron! for Late Surgers and End Closers. While it is not improbable for a Pace Chaser to activate Let's Pump Some Iron! due to the tense competition for 3rd and 4th, it is not recommended to have this Skill on Pace Chasers because a Pace Chaser in 6th has already lost the Race.

Securing the positional Accels will be the primary objective for all Uma, but there are a lot of secondary choices for Acceleration which can either make up for missing the positionals, or complement them well. For Pace Chasers competing for 3rd and 4th, these secondary Accels will be necessary to tie break against the other Uma.

Front Runners have access to Final Push/Unrestrained. Although this skill is usually unreliable on other tracks, it is very likely to provide value on Nakayama 1200.

INFO

The July 1st patch has also made Second Wind a viable Skill as complementary Accel for Front RUnners. However this should only be considered after other options are exhausted, since the probability of Second Wind activating outside the Accel Zone is fairly high.

TIP

Follow this link to read more about the Skill Adjustments made on the July 1st patch

Pace Chasers have access to Head-On/Neck and Neck, which now reliably provides value with the July 1st update.

Late Surgers have many options. The most accessible is Slick Surge/On Your Left! which was made reliable after the July 1st update. Preferably, Late Surgers should also have Leap Forward, a new Skill which provides Acceleration if an Uma passes another from the back half of the pack. This Skill is immensely valuable and will consistently put Late Surgeres in a winning position.

WARNING

As a recently introduced Skill with no respective Support Card, there is currently no way to obtain Leap Forward outside of lucky random Race hints in Trackblazer, or Parents that got it from lucky random Race hints in Trackblazer. Although Leap Forward is not strictly necessary, players who put in this effort will be greatly rewarded.

INFO

​Red Shift/LP1211-M on its own has little to no value as an Accel. However, players can consider buying it as an extension to Let's Pump Some Iron!. This can be considerably expensive, especially since Maruzensky infamously has weak affinity with many Uma; This route is generally not recommended, but nonetheless it is a valid build if players can train their Late Surger with enough Mid-Race Skills to overcome the abundant Pace Chasers before Late-Race.

End Closers have the same tools as Late Surgers, minus Slick Surge/On Your Left!.

Other secondary Accels universally available to most Uma include:

• Corner Acceleration ○/Corner Connoisseur,
• Nimble Navigator/No Stopping Me!,
• Sprinting Gear/Turbo Sprint,
• Ignited Spirit PWR,
• and Countermeasure.

Although universal, these Skills are less reliable due to their increased chances of activating outside of the Accel Zone. Nonetheless, they are valid secondary options to complement existing Accel. Meticulous Measures and Tactical Tweak are last resort, ill-advised Skills a player could purchase with Spare SP.

WARNING

Because Nimble Navigator and No Stopping Me! are given for free in the Unity Cup Scenario, players may be tempted into purchasing them first. It must be noted that these Skills are weak and not often effective on tracks that start Late-Race on or after the Final Corner. Nakayama 1200 is one of these tracks. Nimble Navigator could still be considered with Spare SP, but No Stopping Me! is often too expensive an opportunity cost for other Velocity Skills or Accels.

Velocity Skills

Nakayama 1200 has specific features which lay out the track in an interesting manner. The first 300 metres is neither a Straight nor a Corner, and the only Straight on the track is the Final Straight well into the Late-Race.

This allows us to split Velocity skills cleanly into two categories:

Corner Skills/Mid-Race

Corner Skills are almost always Mid-Race Skills. Generally speaking, Mid-Race Skills are of higher priority than Late-Race skills. Skills such as Professor of Curvature, Sprint Corners, and Style Corners will be necessary for Uma to fight for crucial Acceleration positions leading up to the Late-Race. Generically useful Mid-Race Skills such as In High Spirits, Burning Spirit SPD, It's On!, etc. also serve this purpose.

INFO

With how tight the pack in this CM is likely to be, Skills that activate on Overtake, in Overtake Mode when Challenged, or when being Overtaken are very effective in gaining or maintaining leads. These Skills include Leader's Pride/Top Runner, Ramp Up/It's On!, and Shadow Break.

Straight Skills/Late-Race Skills

Straight Skills are always Late-Race Skills. While they technically always provide Lengths and are very much key Skills for closing out the Race, they are only effective if the Uma has enough Acceleration to compete. These Skills should be considered only after purchasing enough Acceleration and Mid-Race Skills.

A unique exception to the above lies in Smart Falcon's SPARKLY☆STARDOM. Despite the Skill description saying it activates on a Straight, the actual in-game logic checks if Smart Falcon is “not-on-a-Corner”. This nuance allows SPARKLY☆STARDOM to be one of the only “Straight” Skills in the game to activate in the Mid-Race.

Recommended Stats

Speed

1300

Stamina

400

Power

1100+

Guts

600+

Wit

1200+

As with any CM, Speed, Power, and Wit are the primary Stats that should be focused and pushed as close to 1200 as possible.

Objectively speaking, Guts is secondary compared to the other Stats: however, with the newly added Unity Cup Scenario Upgrade, it would not be unusual to encounter many players with the primary Stats maxed out. Thus, Guts will be an important tie breaker as dueling frequently occurs on the Final Straight.

Recommended Decks and Support Cards

With the changes introduced in the July 1st update, it is recommended to train Uma in the updated Unity Cup Scenario. Unity Cup allows players to train Uma without Mile or Medium aptitude easily. It also opens up the possibility for players to complete secret training events for extra Stats, Skill Points and Skill Hints.

Example Decks

Speed Wit Budget

Speed Wit Dolphin

Speed Wit Whale

A 2SPD, 3WIT deck with one Flex is recommended. The Unity Cup Scenario mechanics favour the utility value of WIT Cards, so running at least 3WIT will allow any career to be smooth. 2SPD is the baseline for most runs, but Uma with Speed growth can consider running only 1SPD Card for an extra Flex slot.

Said Flex slots will be occupied with GUT Cards, more WIT Cards, or Cards taken specifically for Gold Skills. Players will need to consider the tradeoffs between Stats and Skills in each case.

Since Guts will be a common tie breaking factor in many Races, it isn’t a bad idea to bring at least one or two GUTS cards to reach 600+ Guts. The most desirable option is Sakura Bakushin O, which has strong Stat gains, the very valuable Gold Skill In High Spirits, and a variety of Sprint hints; it is recommended for all Pace Chasers and Front Runners to run this Card. Other options include Yukino Bijin for both Stats and Corner Connoisseur or Playtime's Over!, or Haru Urara for a more significant Stat boost.

There are many WIT Cards available for this Sprint CM which can provide both great Stats and good Skills. Nice Nature for On Your Left!, Nakayama Festa for Nothing Ventured, and Curren Chan for Playtime's Over! and a variety of Sprint hints are solid options.

A number of SPD Cards come with useful Skills as well, such as Maruzensky for Top Runner, Narita Top Road for Firm Course Menace, and Sakura Bakushin O for Turbo Sprint and a variety of Sprint hints.

If players have no issues hitting Stat goals, Cards taken specifically for their skills are worth considering. These cards include Daiwa Scarlet for Neck and Neck or Marvelous Sunday for Fast & Furious.

INFO

For Uma that need to clear Tenno Sho (Spring), Riko Kashimoto can be taken to acquire enough Stamina to pass the Career.

Recommended Uma

WIth how easily available Shooting for Victory! and Budding Blossom are, Pace Chasers will be the most competitive Style in their ease to build and also their performance. Taiki Shuttle and Nishino Flower themselves will be the most common Uma played in this CM.

There are many other Uma who have the same potential to Accelerate on the Final Corner, but have extra conditionals to meet and aren’t as convenient as Taiki Shuttle or Nishino Flower. These are Uma like Fuji Kiseki (Ballroom), Gold City (Festival), Mayano Top Gun, and Daiwa Scarlet - each of them have powerful Hybrid Unique Skills which can Carryover from the Mid-Race to Late-Race.

Although Pace Chasers are dominant, Front Runners can stay in the running under the right conditions, especially since there will be fewer competition fighting for Angling and Scheming. Silence Suzuka's access to Unrestrained lets her escape from the pack with the lead, whilst Mihono Bourbon (Valentine) and Smart Falcon have the potential to build immense momentum earlier in the Race and run away without competition to the finish.

Late Surgers have the potential to unleash a massive burst of Speed to overtake all the Uma ahead of them, but this will be difficult to realise. Even with the July 1st changes to On Your Left!, the Skill by itself is insufficient for Late Surgers to even reach the podium. Fighting for 6th to activate Let's Pump Some Iron! is important, but also difficult due to the abundance of Pace Chasers. The critical Skill Leap Forward is also difficult to acquire without immense effort. A player will need proper forethought, and possibly a lot of career attempts, to train a strong Late Surger.