The “Clean Cut” or Kasumi Profile

The “clean cut” effect is a much wanted profile present for every deck in their early game. A simple effect of resting another character on reverse and sending another one of your front row characters to the back is amazing for a plethora of reasons we’ll explore in this article.

Rumors are that the original profile belonged to the Persona common shown above in the Persona 4 TV Anime set released in 2012. This “Clean Cut” Yukiko rests another one of your characters and sends it an empty backrow slot (if you have three or more stock).

Fun fact: The “Clean Cut” name is an interesting interpretation of the Yukiko’s card name. The card name translates to more of a single decisive cut, not to deny this sort of translation by any means.

Since then, multiple revised versions have been made. Newer clones of the profile have removed the original conditions and have changed to simply “when this character reverses another character, you may choose one of your other trait or characters and place them into an empty back row slot”. You will have to place the chosen card from the effect in your back row (generally a good thing in the early game due to lack of available resources) due to the rule of fulfilling an ability as much as possible.

The other common name of Kasumi comes from the Kantai Collection set and is represented by the destroyer shown in the center, Kasumi. Likely the name was used due to the popularity of the set at the time of its release. Regardless, either “Clean Cut” or Kasumi are relatively used names for the profile.

The profile itself is a very versatile utility option that enables you to save board. Keep in mind that the effect forcibly rests the targeted character chosen by the effect (this is not an optional ability). This means that you would need to swing second at the very minimum in order to make full use of its effect or you would effectively lose out on an attack. This restriction also works in your favour due to its ability to essentially “resurrect” fallen characters. A reversed character can be “placed back in rest”, essentially stopping it from entering the waiting room at the encore step. This is extremely useful in recycling resources for another turn.

Keep in mind that the effect text does not contain the terms “during your turn” usually, meaning the effect can proc during your opponent’s turn as well if you can get the reverse. This makes the card a difficult profile to play around as simply crashing into the card or failing to get a reverse can allow your opponent to generate another resource for their turn.

Due to the ability’s condition, the “best” clean-cut profiles usually have a large amount of base power or burst power. This would help them in fulfilling their reverse requirements. Alternatively, you can use this profile to snipe some lowered powered utility cards which are the normal mainstay of most decks nowadays. Plan accordingly and make use of this powerful battle oriented effect!