I've been thinking about what the oracle said, and I am pretty sure that
Marina is MY best option over
Alexei. Lets think about some situations:
Roots,
GHEIST, and other stops like
Wendel,
Qubik,
Bogdan,
Bryan :
Marina has one more power, no deal for
Alexei.
Sob clans with power reducing are better for
Alexei,
Edwin and
Tula are easy targets. Buf if you plan to bluff,
Marina can really take damage down.
Skeelz are still making fun of
Alexei either.
Power protection cards can also be matched by
Alexei, but only
Melanie is not afraid of
Marina dmg reduction, while
Heitachi will not always want to fight for "only" 4 life gap.
+- life dudes:
Moses,
Ector are very efective against
Marina, but lots of others have more than 4 damage (like
Diana), so its not really a worry.
Nakata,
Karen,
Flinch and other stops are just waiting for
Alexei to play first. With only one SOA, its easy to avoid, but you still dont want to be threatened.
Putting in the balance, having only one defeat card, i just preffer
Marina, 'cause there are more situations where she is better, but its personal. Losing 1 power to come with a totally different ability, with totally different weak and strong spots is really players choice. Thanks for the sugestion, anyway.