So I realized today that I haven't post up anything in awhile, and rather than make you guys think I hate you (Hate is a strong word..) I figured I would just post up a random blurb to talk about stuffs going on in the life of Andrew Kardis, Card Game Extraordinaire!... This sounded way more awesome in my head at 2:30 in the morning while taking an online exam for my Biopsychology course, so forgive me if that came off a bit corny.

I recently (about 3 weeks ago) participated in the Magic: the Gathering Grand Prix Torronto event. Being the only one in my group without any byes (Most players walk in to major events with anywhere from 1-3 byes) and the format being Scars of Mirrodin Limited, a limited format I didn't have particularly amazing results with, I wasn't particularly confident in myself. Despite opening a very unusual, bomb-lacking pool, I ended up going 9-1 day one... to then go 1-5 day two in the draft portion of the event. I made some decisions in the drafts on day two that, in retrospect were poor, and as a result, I walked away without any money. I still ended up getting in the top 100 players, out of over 1400, and with any luck next time I'll do even better.

I actually managed to start testing with Path of Pain stuff this past week. I've tested against Water, Earth, and Lightning the most, and I've got to say that Sasuke (State 2) is obnoxious as a card. Chiriku, while good, avoids being over powered by being affected by the number of powerful non-Jutsu effects in the game, only protecting his team, and not being Valid. Sasuke on the other hand is unaffected by everything, Protects every Water Ninja you control, and might as well be valid, since you can just reinforce over an injured Sasuke (State 2). I'm not saying that Sasuke is the end all be all, but he's just too hard to get rid of in my eyes and would be better off banned. I dislike calling for a card to be banned, but I just feel that untouchable Ninjas are just bad for the game.

After talking to Tylar, he confirmed that we will be getting 1-2 Preview(s) for Tournament Pack 2, which is great because I wasn't sure if they were intending on giving out any previews for such a small set (only 30 new cards). Since Pat has his own preview on Bandai for his articles, I will probably be doing a write up for our preview here. Heres to hoping we don't get a completely useless card *Fingers crossed*

I also haven't really had a chance to put out a list of what I feel to be the top cards in the set like I usually do, so here is a quick list of the cards I feel to be Over/Underrated after playing with the set for a bit:

-Overrated-
-Sasuke [Eyes of the Serpeant]: While not a bad card, I would much rather my opponent drop down this guy than his Target exclusive counterpart any day of the week.
-Pledge Under a Setting Sun: Every time this card has been used against me, it's just been a worse version of Water Style: Waterfall Basin Jutsu.
-Pain (Deva Path): Don't get me wrong, he's a good card. He is just nowhere near what the hype made him out to be. I'd probably only play him in a one or two decks as a one of.
-Deidara [Dangerous Artist]: He just doesn't fit in ANYTHING. As expected (By me) his effect is also pretty irrelivant most of the time unless you already happen to be winning.
-Kabuto(Possesed Mode): I really like this card, but I knew he just wasn't good enough to make it into the big leagues (for now). It's just too much effort for a card that actually works against your decks theme (Chakra burn) in a slot with much better ninja.

-Unrrated-
-Kakuzu (Soul form): Testing has shown that he's as powerful as I thought he would be. I lost a few games to him, and brining him out, even in an even board position never caused the one using him to lose, or even be put in a worse position.
-Chiriku: Card is good. I happened to overlook him, but I have to say that I'm fairly impressed by the guy after watching him in action.
-Striking Shadow Snake: With Chakra Generation at an all time high, this card is alot better than most (Including myself) thought it would be.

I still haven't got a chance to play around with the Lee/Guy Platoon, or Third Hokage, but unfortunately, with the way the format is skewed, I don't have high hopes for them. I'm also really looking forward to trying out the new tsunade, who seems to interact fairly well with other new cards like coordination and barrier prep. When I've done a bit more testing I'll put up another one of these. Until next time.

-Andrew

Labels: Blurbs, Broken Cards, Path of Pain, Zero