An article about M1 traders

M1 traders are one of the main archetypes of characters in JJS. In the game, 5 of the 14 characters are part of this archetype: Hakari, Todo, Locust, Charles and Mechamaru (kind of)

M1 traders are named after their need for M1 trades to be played efficiently. They usually have terrible neutral and compensate it by having other stats heavily boosted in some kind of way, like damage or RDC bait (,except for Charles and Mechamaru).

One common trait is that they're never overpowered (in their base modes) when compared to the rest of the cast. Most of them reside close to or in low B tier, but some go lower.

HAKARI

Hakari was the 3rd character to be added and the 1st M1 trader in the game. He is a ragdoll combo character with high damage, under average RDC bait and extremely varied cooldowns. His gameplan is the base M1 trader's: get close, win a M1 trade, bait RDC/combo. Good contender for the best M1 trader of the game due to versatility.

TODO

Todo was the 7th character to be added and the 2nd M1 trader in the game. He is the (balanced) character with the highest damage output in the game, but he sucks at everything else. His neutral is terrible, his cooldowns are high and his RDC bait is 100% punishable. One of the most fun characters to play as and against, a community favorite.

LOTUS VRO

Locust Guy was the 8th playable character to be added, the 1st base only ever and the 3rd M1 trader in the game. He is one of the most iconic M1 traders due to his complete lack of any neutral play (except for Wing Throw). Todo has swaps, Hakari has balls, but this guy? He got nothing. However, he focuses in two attributes: RDC bait and damage (with techs), leaving his neutral and cooldowns terrible. Ko-Guy also has proficiency both in true and ragdoll combos, rendering him flexible during combos. Locust users are extremely rare nowadays, though.

CHARLES

Charles Bernard was the 12th playable character to be added, 3rd base only and 4th M1 trader. His status as a M1 trader is questionable, since he has neutral play, but it is punish-based and works better during M1 trades. He used to be a true combo character, but after the Great Gut (1.67/1.67.1), his riposte side was buffed while sacrificing his true combos. Charles is a character that easily turns opponent moves into openings and potential combos. However, his damage is too mid to compensate all his downsides and he is, as of now, considered the worst character in all of JJS.

MECHAMARU

Mechamaru was a recent addition to the game, as the 13th character, and an even more recent addition to the M1 traders, as the 5th, due to his nerfs during the Great Gut that ended up gutting his neutral heavily and turning him into a M1 trader. He has mid combo damage, mid RDC bait and mid cooldowns. To compensate his M1 trader status, he has puppet barrage, a weakened version of rabbit escape, to force a block from the opponent in order to win neutral (which requires M1 trading). He is considered to be one of the worst characters in JJS.

CONCLUSION

M1 traders are a beautiful archetype that sadly doesn't get as much recognition as it should get, mainly because playing them in Ranked is stupidly hard.