I had the urge to play Naruto again the other week... lo and behold, there was a Chunin a few hours away and my good buddy and local hero Mike Alpers was willing to drive... so...

Perfect Circle Circus

3 Sasuke Uchiha
3 Kiba Inuzaka [+1/+1 to Animals]
3 Naruto Uzumaki [Guard of the Prince]
3 Giant Tiger

3 Shion (Awakened)
3 Rock Lee [Guard of the Prince]
3 Tortoise Ninja [+1/+1 to Taijtusu]
1 Kikki
1 Cham

1 Akamaru (3/2)
1 Shikamaru Nara [Unwillingness]

2 Hinata Hyuga [Reserved Character]
1 Ninja Dog Squad (All Gathered) [Howl]

2 Baki [Able Brain]

3 Hikaru Tsuki (Lightsworn Animal Summoner)

3 The One Who Lives Within
3 Communication
3 Naruto vs. Sasuke
2 Long-Awaited Reinforcements
2 Just Like Drifting Clouds
2 Being a Fool

1 Paper Bomb
1 Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu (2F for 1 damage to any ninja)

Sideboard:
3 Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu (kill mission/client)
2 Apology
2 Paper Bomb
2 Sakura Haruno [Nonstop Attacks] (This card is actually awful vs. Puppets... but it lets me swing through with Wonderful Days in play while getting value. It also wrecks Kank/BA randomly.)
1 Temari [Wind Scythe]

Reinforcement Deck:
3 Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga
3 Naruto Uzumaki and Shion

The point of the deck is to swarm early with Animals, then break through for the last few BRs with NVS, Shion, Baki, or Being a Fool. Tortoise Ninja + Lee/Sasuke helps you win the 4 BRs you usually need from NVS. Being a Fool is particularly helpful against Water but will also turn games into blowouts occasionally. Hinata is there to help form the Naruto/Hinata squad. Everything else should be fairly self-explanatory.

That is also why I played it... because it's self-explanatory. Thinking or testing optional!

Round 1: Ferdie - Monofire

Game 1 I stall out and slowly pick up a few BRs. Eventually he uses Sasuke STB to start trying to push through - I swarm to get up to 8 BRs while losing most of my ninjas, then play NVS for the win on the next turn.

Game 2 goes to time while I'm up by 4 BRs. Right before time is called, Ferdie plays Wonderful Days. I chump block to victory.

Round 2: Mason - Monowind Puppets (Kank/BA)

Game 1 he plays Sakura ADP as his 0 drop while I ht Sasuke, Lee, and Tortoise swinging at him on 1. I win that game. (Shion on his Kank helped)

Game 2 he plays more than just Sakura ADP but dies again when I Shion his Kank.

You know the great part about playing Circus? Every match is over in 10 minutes... or if it goes to time you have the advantage BR-wise.

Round 3: Laurent - Snake Waves

Game 1 I have no action at all - he Wind Scythes me and sees I have 2 NVS and a LAR, then Kabutos up a Sealing Barrier. I think he's going to SB my NVSs but he just holds on to it. I eventually play 1 NVS for 4 BRs and another for 6 BRs to win.

Game 2 he plays a Sasuke CTS, misses a drop, then gets greedy and plays a Sakura ADP instead of the Shimon he's holding. I go crazy with a bunch of dumb animals and he dies.

Round 4: Donovan - Monowater
I don't remember too much about this match - he was playing Baby Haku so both games Being a Fool wiped out his whole Haku into Kabuto start. And when the opponent has no early game, Animals tends to do its thing quite well.

Round 5: Fidel - Monowater - Intentional Draw

Round 6: George - Snake Waves - Concession
I scoop to George since he is Mike Alpers' tiebreaker... and then Mike proceeds to lose.

We play for fun and I win 2-0.

Top 8: Fidel - Monowater
Game 1 he mulligans to 4, misses his 0, and I swing for 5 BRs on turn 1. Not much else to say.

Game 2 he plays turn 0 Buying Time, turn 1 Crying in Vain, turn 4 Secret Meeting on even, turn 5 Secret Meeting on odd (yes that's right... no one can be sent out to battle)... and I still win. I believe this is what is termed a "bad matchup" for Monowater.

Top 4: Amir - Monofire
Game 1 I keep a risky hand - if Amir plays two ninjas with mental power, I should be able to blow him out with Being a Fool into Baki. He does in fact do that... however, my deck neglects to flip over any animals in three TOWLW activations. At one point in the game he plays Surprise to put me up to 5 BRs - this is with him having 1 ninja in play, me having a Baki, a Lee, a Kiba in play. If I had one animal in my graveyard, chakra, or hand I would have won on the spot... except my deck apparently chose to wrong time to get a horrible draw. He stabilizes with Sasuke STB and plays a bunch of Trigrams (didn't even need mastery!)

Game 2 I keep a decent hand with a 0, 1, and 2 drop, some missions, and a Hikaru. I then proceed to draw Hikaru, Hikaru, another copy of my 1 drop, another copy of my 0 drop, and then I am forced to use the "Being a Fool/chump block all my MP ninjas" strategy just to try and stabilize. Protip: Animals doesn't win when it's trying to stabilize.

Even better protip: when you use Hikaru 0 times total in a match, odds are you didn't win that match. I knew I was due for some bad draws... they just aren't supposed to happen all at once!

I open up a foil Tonton, foil Miroku, foil Giant Tiger, Yamato CBF, Sasuke [Finishing (the) Blow], and 4th Kazekage in my pity packs.

Not the worst, and had loads of fun chilling with everyone from the BA and Fresno.

+
ChuninChillin' With Mike Alpers Episode 3
Sasuke Finishing the Low (and MLow losing to this card multiple times!)
Stealing the WOBMOB's chicken sandwiches
Finishing up playsets of all the good set 15 SRs/Sasuke STB
Being a Fool

-
Losing to Amir
Vit/Akatsuki not playing
Nasty Denny's at midnight
Bad draws
Mike Alpers not listening to my deck advice
Not beating Laurent with Being a Fool
Wonderful Days

Thanks for reading. I'll try to have something less cursory next time.

Labels: decklists, josh, reports