a large bang fills the room. A cloud of smoke and dirt spreads over you as /u/Letsdothisbro emerges coughing. His hair and eyebrows are charred and hes caked in ash.

"Uh, stupid time-machine. Where did I end up….oh. The Secret of Mana banner. Damn, I was aiming for Orlandu." He mutters bitterly to himself, wiping his soot-covered face on his sleeve. "Ah well, I guess I can still do the thing. But I have to tell them about the disa-"

Greeting and welcome, Redditors, lurkers, and sentient-acorns! I’m /u/Letsdothisbro and this is my Should You Pull! The presumably fair and esteemed /u/DefiantHermit contacted me about giving this one a try and so you get two Should You Pulls this time! Aren’t you lucky? ^{Also my attempts to assassinate them failed.}

I’m messing with the formating a little bit, so please tell me if this is better or worse then last time. Therefore, henceforth, ergo, etcetera, and in conclusion, let us begin!

Primm

Global Party Rating: 6.5/10

Primm....is something. When she's not being Katniss' sister, she pretends to be a mixed damage attacker but is not-so-secretly more of an awkward mage with support upside. She has a good amount of utility but, like most hybrid characters, she is frustratingly torn between two different damage types and thus is only-ok in both. Her Hybrid damage moves also lack the multiplier that could make them usable (i.e. Like Noctis).

For passives, Primm brings 20% Mag, 20% Attack, 20% Spr, and then 15% Mag/Atk/Spr with 3% Mp recovery/turn. So thats 35% in each, which is a very respectable amount of boosts. Also, mana refresh is never a bad thing.

First, her damage. Primm is, unfortunately, centered around Hybrid damage. In case you don't know, forgot, or are the aforementioned recently-sentient acorn, Hybrid damage uses both your Attack and Magic versus the targets Defence and Spirit.

For the more mathematically inclined, the formula is ( (Unit MAG2 / Enemy SPR) * Skill Modifier * Level Correction (Unit ATK2 / Enemy DEF) * Killer Effects * Skill Modifier * Level Correction ) / 2 ^{Credit to the wiki} The easier way to think about Hybrid Damage is to use the Average of your Atk/Mag versus the targets Average of Def/Spr. All in all though, Hybrid Damage requires a much larger multiplier to be close to non-hybrid skills. Tl:dr It sucks unless you're Noctis with a 400% multiplier.

So, Primm's damage. She comes with a cycle of Elemental hybrid Saber moves (Fire, Thunder, Ice, Earth, Holy, and a non-elemental Drain). All are 1.55x with the exception of the Holy which is 1.8x. These are bad. There is an argument for elemental coverage if you're desperate but that doesn't not make them bad. For NON-terrible moves, she has Saintly Beam (AoE Magic 3x Holy) for 60 Mana, Molotov (Aoe Magic, 1.4x Fire) that breaks opponents Atk by 20% for 3 turns, and Flaming Wall (Aoe Magic 1.4x Fire) that reduces enemies Fire Resist by 20% for 3 turns. Saintly Beam is strong and the other two aren't bad not slam-dunks.

For utility, Primm pulls her weight a little better. She comes with Refresh for 8 Mp to cure an ally of Sleep, Blind, Confuse, or Poison. Our little lady also has Invigorate, a raise for 12 MP, and Rush to increase allies Atk/Mag by 40% for 3 turns at the cost of 48 MP. Last, but not least, she has Healing Waters as a team heal (700, 3.4x) for 14 mana. The heal is nice and Raises are never to be sniffed at. Also, they're all fairly light on Mana requirements, making her a bit more sustainable.

Japanese Altema Rating: 88/100

** Global Trust Mastery Rating:** Deep Thoughts - 30% MP, 10% Mag/Spr - 6.5/10

It's a strict upgrade over Tellah's TM, but overall its not necessary. 10% isn't a lot but if you ever find yourself lacking another unit to farm for she isn't the worst as its good on healers.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): A Rank

Why would you want Primm? She's cute and you're a Secret of Mana fan? Because she'll probably have a higher currency boost for the Secret of Mana event? Overall she is ok and has a niche place in Fire/Holy chaining teams or if you lack a mediocre or greater healer, but until she gets enhancements many, many, MANY moons from now I can't justify pulling for her.

Is she Future Proof? Aye, that she is. Her heal will become Curaja-level (1000, 5x), her raise becomes Full Raise, and Saintly Beam becomes a 4x modifier and reduces enemies Holy resist by 50%. These are all good things, and the upgraded Beam goes well with Orlandu / Agrias as a powerful Holy finisher.

^{jesus that was longer then it should have been. Ramuh guide me.}

Popoi

Global Party Rating: 3/10

Popoi's specialty is being fairly useless and not worth your time. If I was rating on that he'd be a 15/10. But I'm not. What he actually specializes in is single-target magic damage. Yup. Single target. He has a fairly wide variety of elemental coverage with horrid multipliers and a few AoE spells with equally horrid multipliers. Math isn't always fun. Sometimes it just makes you sad. Just like when I do my monthly food budget or look at my bank account.

For passives, our little sprite friend comes with 20% Mag and 10% MP. End of sentence. I don't think you need me to tell you this is bad.

For his actual skills, he has a number of single target elemental attacks with varying multipliers from 120% (Ice, Earth, Wind, Fire) to a max of 190% (Dark) with a few others in the middle. He also has a non-elemental move called Burst (240% Single Target, Mag, Ignore 25% Spr) which normalizes to 3.2x. These aren't impressive at all, especially in the age of Dual-Cast or -Agas. Only Burst is even decent.

For AoE he comes with Earthquake (180% Aoe Mag, Earth), Lava Wave (140% Aoe Mag, Fire, 15% chance for 3 turn Stop), and Acid Storm (140% Aoe Mag, Water, 20% Def Break for 3 turns). These are all ok but hardly anything to write home about.

And that's it. Oh, he has Dispel, I guess. But he's still not good by any standard.

Japanese Altema Rating: 75/100

Global Trust Master Rating: Fairy Wisdom - MP 5% Mag 25% - 6/10

This is ok, but more often then not I'd rather have Ace's or (more practically) Shantotto's TM. 5% MP isn't worth 5% Mag in my opinion, and mages usually pale in comparison to their physical counterparts in key areas like chaining. Would not prioritize, even with rice.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): A rank.

Why would you want Popoi? You're a masochist. Hey, I'm not judging what you're into. Overall, there is no real reason to want Popoi other then sentimental value or a presumed currency bonus for the event.

Is he future-proof?

Sure, we can call it that. He has no 6* upgrade in Japan but he has received enhancements. Acid Storm gets better (300% Aoe Mag, Water, 40% Attack/Defence Break for 3 turns) and Burst becomes a powerful move in itself (300% Aoe Mag, Ignore 25% Spr, 40% Mag/Spr Break for 3 turns) as it normalizes out to 400% Aoe. Both get decent utility and good moves but are still on a unit that can't take a hit. If you're interested in playing the very long Con of waiting for enhancements that are very far away then all power too you.

Randi

Global Party Rating: 8.5/10

Its everyone some people's favourite bullied child hero, its Randi! trumpets blare in the background A lot of people weren't even sure we were going to get the Secret of Mana colab, so I'm happy we did. Spoilers: Its a good game! Now, Randi is primarily a Physical damage dealer who takes advantage of various Killer passives to bring the beat-down.

For passives, Randi comes with 20% Def, 20% HP, 10% Atk, 15% Dodge Physical Chance, and 25% Ailments resistance These are all good things. I would have personally liked another base attack passive to really round him off. Oh, wait, he has one! Randi gets 35% Atk and 20% Def/Spr when equipped with a Sword, AND the global exclusive 20% Atk. So 40% Def and 65% Atk combined with his other passives. Thats really really good for a physical DPS and in line for a 5* base.

For the icing, he comes with four Killer Passives. Spirit, Beast, Undead, and Dragon. In Global only, he also gets an ADDITIONAL 75% versus Beast, Dragon, Spirit, and Undead. Thats a lot of bonus damage. The Undead killer is fairly meh as you can just Raise to one shot, but the 125% against Beasts and Dragons is certainly good.

Randi's equipment is good. He is able to equip all the relevant physical DPS weapons except dagger, and can equip Clothes, Light Armor, Hats, and Helms. His Limit Burst is also fairly useful in my personal opinion. 290%-410% Physical Single Target with 11 hits is great for chaining against bosses (Disclaimer: I don't know its framerate so I'm willing to be wrong here) and he charges it fairly easily with his inbuilt version of Jacks TM. There is also Power Charge (5 turn 200% LB Fill rate) but taking a turn off of dps for this might be too costly.

For moves, Randi has less then you'd like. His only real damaging move out-of-the-box is Triple Slash (215% ST, -35% Def for 3 turns). This is a good move but he lacks anything else. For this reason, if you do get Randi I highly recommend you pick up his Full Moon Slash from the event. It's not amazing (140%, Ignore 15% Def, Normalizes to 1.64%) but it does have the upside of being a slightly weaker Full Break (-25% Atk/Def/Mag/Spr for 3 Turns).

Japanese Altema Rating: 98/100 ^{this includes enhancements}

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Mana Blade - Atk 101, Def/Mag/Spr 8 - 8.5/10

The non-Atk boosts are fairly eh, but the Mana Blade is the strongest non-elemental Sword in Global. Its the Save the Queen of normal swords, so to speak, and I wouldn't put it on my first TM party but if you have a unit who can take advantage of Swords (like, I dunno....Randi?) then its worth the resources.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): S Rank

Why would you want Randi?: He is a 5* base and comes with all the perks that said title includes. He has very high passives and attack with a bit of added utility and chaining to help his cause. His lack of move-diversity hurts his rating for me, but if I got him on a Daily I'd put him in my team.

Is he Future-Proof?: Yes indeed-y he sure is. There's a lot to cover here so hold on.

• His LB/Turn Bonus goes up to 8 and his 5 Turn LB Buff also buffs his stats by 100% for 2 turns. Yup, 100%. The 2-turn part hurts the power of this but its not useless at all. It also grants him 3 new moves. They are all fairly nuts and I'm not gonna type them all out here. Short version: A strong Aoe Attack, a VERY strong Single Target attack that reduces wind resistance and give you wind in your attacks, and a strong 10 hit move.

• His Ailment resist goes to 100% and gives him Auto-Refresh.

• His bonus attack-with-a-sword Passive soars to a very sexy 100% Atk, 35�f/Spr, and give him 100% Weapon's Attack when equipped with a Sword. The latter passive requires you to be single wielding though. Its basically innate doublehand.

• Triple Slash goes to 400% and reduces Defence by 50% for 3 turns.

Jiminy-Cricket that's a lot. While there's no guarantee that he'll get these in Global, these Enhancements bring reasoning to his massive Altema rating.

Note: Part of his power in Japan is that Doublehand stacks. It does not do so in Global. While he is still strong in his own right, do not expect Japan's 1500 Atk Randi's. I still think he's a fine unit on his own.

Should You Pull? Probably not. I'm assuming there will be some currency bonuses so consider the Daily Pulls until you have a multiplier you can live with. Randi is good now and presumably amazing in the future, but I can't advocate pulling for a good 5* base when the other banner units are so awful.

/u/Letsdothisbro lets out a long sigh. "Well, there you have it. Way wordier then I would have liked though. Now, I knew there was a reason I came back....Oh right! When the Orland-" Suddenly, his watch starts beeping loudly and flashing ominous colours. "No...nononono...I have to go! Too much fluctuation in the time-stream! But be careful! When Orlandu comes there'll be a mass-" A flowing purple rift appears in thin air. With a loud bang and a flash of light, he is gone. You slowly look around and notice a worn leather journal on the ground and pick it up. What secrets could it contain?