As of late there has been a lot of discussion on exactly how Water should be effected by the next rogue list. Gary (VSA) even went as far to make an "Official" thread about it in Gendis, in order to stop the plethora of threads being made every 10 minutes, located here. Since our Holiday party here at TPC has come to an end, I figured I would be the first to get back to work and let you all know what I feel should be done, and why.

Banned:

Sasuke Uchiha (State 2): This one is pretty much unanimous at this point. Protection from everything is stupid. Giving all of your ninja's said protection from everything is stupid. The fact that it can be reinforced off of any turn 4 Sasuke is stupid. Being a turn 6 8/4 with mastery on top of everything is stupid. Nothing about this card is balanced, and if anything, he might aswell be one of the dumbest cards ever printed, as he has no down side, while having a bigger upside than pretty much any card in the game.

I firmly believe that Sasuke (State 2) is the biggest problem in the metagame, because he allows Water to make unrealistically large teams, and keeps combat for your opponent strictly physical. We tried him at one, and it was a little better, but at some point you need to put your foot down and say "This card is not healthy for the game in it's current state, and will only undermine future development, as such it should be banned". Banning it now also gives Bandai the oppurtunity to print another Sasuke (State 2), with a much more balanced effect, that can be used in it's place for the remainder of the year. State 2 appears in both the Sasuke Deidara fight, as well as the Sasuke Itachi fight, so we do in fact have some wiggle room for design here.

Chidori Stream: This is a card that should just be banned on principle. Board wipes, specifically tutorable board wipes, shouldn't exist in a curve based game. While it isn't nearly as busted as Ten Thousand Snake Waves was, it still has a nasty habit of completely wrecking a player who either missed their 4 drop, or simply down dropped a Zetsu or Kigiri to try and deal with your opponents card effects before they get out of hand. With the introduction of the new Sasuke from TP2, I feel the Chidori stream might end up seeing a bit less play, but I still feel it's deserving of a ban.

Limited to 1:

Kabuto [Database]: Strictly on Principle. You can't have Naruto [Reliance] at one, while Wind is at the bottom of the barrel and Lightning is smack dab in the middle, but Kabuto at 2 while Water is the most powerful deck in the format. Right now, Water has the best missions in the game, in that they have 5 or 6 strong options, that also have great synergy with the goals of the deck. Giving them the ability to consistently search out those missions is just unfair in my eyes.

Makeout Tactics: Searching Kabuto, to search for another copy to then search for your next drop is obnoxious. I really feel that Makeout Tactics is a "fair" card, but with the way Water plays in the current format, Tactics suddenly reads "Search your deck for one ninja or client" which is just too powerful for a turn 1 mission.

Unlisted Cards:

Suigetsu's Joy: This card is still incredibly overated. It's a good card, infact it's a very solid card... but it isn't the source of the problem. People seem to think that this card wins games by itself, when in reality not only is every deck more than able to recooperate from it easily, they also are capable of benefitting from it. Lets not forget that the card is terrible in the mirror, a match up you will most likely face multiple times at any major event this season, seeing as Water happens to be the most played element. Another factor that needs to be taken into consideration is the restriction of Kabuto [Database] to 1, making playing this card multiple times in a match much less likely.

Striking Shadow Snake: This card is unlisted because I'm actually not 100% sure what should be done with this card. It's clear in testing, and in results that the card is just too strong to be untouched, but not strong enough to be banned. Normally that would imply thast limiting the card would do the trick, but realistically restricting a replayable jutsu that gets tutored by the new sasuke just doesnt seem like it will be effective. Because of this I would probably prefer to see some kind of errata like "If used from your chakra area, Discard this card after use", but thats just a thought.

Chidori: I don't think this card is that over the top, without all of your ninjas being immune to jutsus. Injure effects seldom saw play before, so a reusable one isn't exactly game breaking, especially since barring the use of Sasuke [Eyes of the Serpent] in conjunction with it, Chidori isn't capable of winning the chain. Lets not forget it's also capable of being played around by being conservative with your combat tricks. 3 is fine for this card.

Well, those are my opinions on what should be done, so please feel free to comment bellow and let me know if you agree or dissagree. Until next time!

-Andrew

Labels: Rogue list, Water, Zero