If you haven't checked yet, you bandai put up the new Block format Rogue List. Seriously? It's like despite how much better they get at designing and developing, they are still physically unable to produce a very simple list that won't cause some kind of riot, but still effectively balance the format. Don't get me wrong, I love Bandai (Admittedly it's kind of a love hate relationship) and I think they have gotten much better at designing and development, but times like this make me question if they use common sense when putting together these lists. Anyway, let's go over the new changes to the list:

-Water Style Furious Current Jutsu: In my honest opinion the card should have always been banned in my opinion, since it's pretty ridiculous in your opening hand, and very difficult to play around. Going to one was fine, since it decreased the chance of drawing it in the first few turns, but it's still a pretty obnoxious when some one sacks its in their opener, so I fully support removing a bit of the luck factor from the game by banning this card.

-Giant Ninja Toad: What. The. Ef. So this is what I was talking about when I mentioned Bandai's lack of common sense. They just restricted a card that only sees play because he gets pulled from your deck and played on turn "way to early" via Summoning Jutsu. The result: You can still play Summoning Jutsu early and wreck your opponent with Giant Ninja Toad, because you only ever needed one to begin with. Now, before Bandai responds "By restricing him, we prevent players from using Summoning jutsu twice to get Giant Ninja Toad and demolishing your field over the course of two turns." I must point out: If you had restricted Summoning Jutsu to one (You know, the problematic card) we wouldnt be able to Summoning Jutsu twice anyway.

-Sealing the Evil: So, this card probably should have hit the list last format, but never did so it's a little awkward that it's landed there now, but I think it's fine. Taking away the cheap removal in the format should make the format a little more tolerable.

-Chidori Stream: Come on. It's bad enough that you made a Sasuke that literally says "Just go get the board wipe thingy" but now that you acknowledge that stream is an issue (It wouldn't be on the list at all if you didn't feel that way) you put it to one instead of banning it. You made a card that searches it. That same card can play it. That card can also be tutored like five different ways. Seriously? What logic went behind this decision? And I don't want to hear anything like "We didn't ban it cause we were afraid the target promos would stop selling" cause thats bull in my opinion. The target promos are all playable to begin with, have amazing artwork, and come at an incredibly affordable price. On top of that, the Sasuke has a billion (Maybe not a billion) different targets he can grab, including the new water Chidori, so I highly doubt people would forget him, or even stop playing him just because Stream was banned.

-Exposing the Hideout: Is fine at one. People wont build around the concept of dropping into play Katsuyu or other random six plus drops if they only have a small chance of drawing the card early. It allows the card to be played, but not abused I think, so I'm fine with it going to one.

-Fear by Genjutsu: Why is this card NOT at three, it doesn't even see much play outside of decks located outside of california (You guys put it in everything, don't lie). I feel kind of weird arguing this, because I have no intention of ever playing the card unless I suddenly had the urge to play Dogs, but I'm just tired of Bandai encouraging the illusion that Fear is "Too good", justifying to the ridiculous price tag on online stores.

In retrospect, Bandai didn't do an "Awful" job with the list, but I just feel like this list was easy mode. There were three major cards that defined the previous format, Exposing, Stream, and Summoning. All they had to do was make them all less overwhelming by decreasing their consistency, which they did with Exposing, but completely failed to do with both Summoning Jutsu and Chidori Stream. By failing to touch two of the three best decks, all they did was widen the gap between those decks and the rest of the format. All I can say is that I'm glad the 4th quarter is going to be unlimited format.

Feel free to let me know wether you agree or disagree and why in the comments bellow.

-Andrew

Labels: Block, Rogue list, Zero