The problem with the Yan Huo duo is not necessarily the raw burst that the neurocinetics profile brings to the table, but the extra versatility that comes with it. HRMC Yan Huo is IMO probably the least interesting one to bring to the table regarding the combination. With all the potent wildcards that IA now has available to them, the ability to take some scary active turn rambos and support pieces and turn them into full fledged defensive monsters as well is where the problem really starts to develop. It's not too difficult to take troopers that would already be useful filling out other links and tailoring your defenses to their specific strengths depending on the situation. While any one specific combination might have its counters, that versatility is a potential Pandora's box.
I agree with everything you're saying, but all this still comes with a 45pt 1.5SWC "tax" (not that the Yan Huo ML is a slouch, but it's still an expensive mod-less Courage-less ARO piece with very little active turn impact). I think I'd generally rather a Zhanshi team with Haidao MSV2+Son-Bae than a Haidao/Yan Huo duo because of core bonuses and extra orders. If you wanted the Yan Huo to move up and turn something scary into an ARO monster, you're basically just turning it into a really expensive brick at those rangebands. I dunno, I can't think of anything particularly OP that could be done with this (which doesn't mean it doesn't exist), I just think this is an option that would have been interesting to explore.
