Capricorn Cup (CM9)

Capricorn Cup, or the 9th Champions Meeting (CM9), takes place on the Chukyo 1200m (Takamatsunomiya Kinen) Track.

Tier List

CM9 Tier List

CM9 Conditions

Acceleration

Unlike previous iterations of CM, few Inherited Acceleration Skills are viable on this Track. The Final Corner lies entirely outside of the late-race, rendering traditional Corner-based Acceleration such as Let's Pump Some Iron, Angling and Scheming, and Shooting for Victory ineffective.

Instead, Final Straight Acceleration Skills become viable. Two examples are Victoria por plancha ☆ and Give Mummy a Hug ♡: Although these Skills are traditionally poor inherits due to their Hybrid nature, there are no better Accel Unique Inherits for this Track. As these Skills have front positional requirements, they can be difficult to properly utilize on Backliners.

A possible alternative for Backliners is Red Shift/LP1211-M. While this Skill activates when positioned 5th or better on the Final Corner and beyond, Backliners can delay the activation timing of Red Shift by moving up into 5th at or after the 4th Corner using Corner and Final Corner Velocity Skills.

Another possible consideration are non-Inherited Acceleration Skills. As the late-race starts immediately on a straight, Straightaway Spurt is a viable option for End Closers. Phase_random==2 Skills, such as Head-On for Pace Chasers and Ignited Spirit: PWR are mostly consistent due to the long time it takes to accelerate to Top Speed. As the only Uphill on the Track occurs during the Accel Zone, Highlander is a viable Accel Skill.

Often, Skills that activate later in the Accel Zone will contribute fully to Accelerating in Chukyo 1200m.

All that remains are Gambling Accels, such as Turbo Sprint, Rushing Gale, On Your Left! and Plan X. While On Your Left! is not as recommended due to positional requirements making it even more inconsistent, White versions of the other Skills can be taken: For example, Straightaway Acceleration is a semi-consistent Skill that can be taken to provide another win condition. It is generally not recommended to purchase the full Gold Skill as it is too SP-intensive.

Recommended Velocity Skills

Velocity Skills that trigger in the mid-race are desirable in any CM to help fight for positions, minimise losses, and widen leads. Some types of Skills are better than others this CM.

Any Corner Velocity Skills are highly desirable on this track. Skills such as Professor of Curvature, Style Corners, or Distance Corners will help secure positional requirements for the two key Acceleration Skills, Victoria por plancha ☆ and Give Mummy a Hug ♡. They can also potentially Speed Carryover, and will never lose effectiveness from activating in the Accel Zone.

Corner Velocity Skills

Skills that trigger on the Final Corner are especially effective as they will trigger after Position Keep, ensuring that the Skill is fully effective. These Skills are also more likely to Carryover. Some examples are Prepared to Pass, Outer Swell, or inherits such as Shadow Break, The Duty of Dignity Calls, and Nemesis. While Acceleration Uniques should be prioritized over Final Corner ones, they are good secondary options.

Straight Velocity Skills are far lower priority than Corner Skills. This is because Straight Skills are highly likely to trigger during either the early-race Acceleration or the late-race Accel Zone, rendering them ineffective.

Any other generic Target Speed increase remains effective.

Recommended Stats

As Capricorn Cup is a Sprint CM, Stamina can be completely disregarded as long as it is not necessary for the Uma’s Career. The general Statline is as follows:

Recommended Stats

Power is very important in CM9 due to the limited availability of Acceleration Skills, while Wit is important as entering Downhill Mode is crucial on the 775m Downhill. Meanwhile, some Speed can be sacrificed due to the limited time spent at Top Speed.

In a similar line of reasoning, Turf S is more valuable than Sprint S in CM9.

Recommended Decks

While Deck composition wildly varies based on the Legacies used, the general framework used in CM9 is 2 SPD 4 WIT, with exclusively Power Sparks. A Wit Card can be flexibly replaced with a SPD or PWR Card, depending on individual needs. Riko can also be used for Umas such as Mayano Top Gun and Narita Taishin, who need to race in the Tenno Sho (Spring) as a part of their Career. Tazuna can also be used as an alternative to a Wit Card.

WARNING

As everyone's account is different, an all-encompassing recommendation cannot be made. The recommendations given in this section are general frameworks, and players should use what works for their account.

A few recommended Cards are Fine Motion WIT, Mayano Top Gun SPD, Tokai Teio SPD, Sakura Bakushin O SPD, and Curren Chan WIT. These cards provide a variety of Skill hints and Gold Skills that are viable in CM9, while being generally good Cards for hitting Stats.

Recommended Uma

The layout of the Track favours Umas with either or both of these qualities:

1. They have Target Speed increases on the Final Corner
2. They have Acceleration immediately triggering on the Final Straight

Uma with Final Corner Velocity Uniques

Examples:

Umas with Final Corner Velocity Uniques have an advantage in contesting positional requirements for Accel Skills. Because they come built in with a Velocity Unique, they can choose to redistribute SP into additional Acceleration Skills, or more Corner Velocity Skills for consistency: If an Uma enters the final Straight with enough Speed Carryover, Victoria por plancha ☆ and Give Mummy a Hug ♡ is often sufficient for Accels. Even without Speed Carryover, securing 1st and 2nd denies opponents the opportunity to activate key Acceleration Skills.

Uma with Final Straight Acceleration

Examples:

In an environment without sufficient consistent Acceleration Skills, Umas with Acceleration Uniques are very valuable. Since their Uniques alone provide enough Acceleration, it is recommended to invest heavily into mid-race to secure positional requirements.

For El Condor Pasa, Groundwork can be considered to secure 1st place in the early-race. While the headstart can secure wins, sufficient mid-race Skills must still be taken to defend this lead.

A special case is Smart Falcon and SPARKLY☆STARDOM. While this Skill generally wastes its Acceleration component due to only activating on a Straight in the mid-race, Falco's Unique can also activate immediately as the late-race starts in CM9. While this Unique can never Carryover, it still provides another win condition.

Uma with Hybrid Skills

Examples:

Some Uma have Uniques which grant both Velocity and Acceleration. In the worst case scenario, they will perform slightly worse than an Uma with a mid-race Velocity Unique. In the best case scenario, they will perform better than both of the previously mentioned categories thanks to Speed Carryover.

These Umas are built similar to those with mid-race Velocity Uniques: Victoria por plancha ☆ and Give Mummy a Hug ♡ are taken, along with as many mid-race Velocity Skills as possible. This is especially relevant on Curren Chan, who can only activate her Unique if she successfully overtakes an opponent.

Other notable Uma

Examples:

Umas with late-race Velocity Uniques can also perform given they have enough Acceleration. Without enough Acceleration, their Uniques will activate while the Uma is still accelerating and lose effectiveness.

Oshi-only Picks

Uma with Acceleration Uniques on Corners are ill-advised. There are a select few of these Uma with circumstances where they could work but would require a disproportionate amount of effort. Umas with Velocity Uniques that immediately activate on the Final Straight are the weakest, as their Unique is completely ineffective.

Example Build

Considering everything in this guide, a consistent performer in CM9 would look something like this:

Example Build

It has:

• A Primary Win Condition: Activate the Unique for Velocity and Acceleration Carryover
• 4 Key Corner Skills to give us as many chances as possible to trigger the Unique.
• 2 consistent Acceleration Skills, Victoria por plancha ☆ and Give Mummy a Hug ♡. Even if #LookatCurren misses, these Accel Skills still have a chance to win the Race.
• Playtime's Over and It's On!, two strong mid-race Skills to help Curren Chan hold the position she gained with her Corner Skills.
• 2 additional gambling Acceleration Skills, Meticulous Measures and Countermeasure. These were purchased with spare SP for additional win conditions.
• High Power and high Wit: High Power provides more innate acceleration at the start and also increases late-race acceleration. High Wit increases the chance of activating her skills, downhill speed-ups and Pace-up mode if she falls behind.

With Sprint erring on the inconsistent side, we cannot assume this build will win all the time. However, these attributes will provide enough of a baseline to achieve a competent floor while providing opportunities to achieve a high ceiling.