As I'm sitting here waiting for Bandai's next Void preview to show up to verify if the rumors are true, I decided I'd upload my own Void preview.

Continuing with the "Money Style" theme, we have a card that's sure to make a much bigger splash in Unlimited and Pre-Rotation than Post-Rotation, that's fore sure. It also helps answer some of the outcries in recent months about the game not having any real solid Client support. So with that in mind, here is

"Money Style: 'Help Me' Jutsu!"

For what it does, it's pretty good, but it really only shines in Lightning, Earth, and Wind...the elements that don't already have a turn 1 Tutor in Makeout Tactics. I like that it draws a card for each client in play but realistically, the game has so few clients that are good, especially block clients, it's hard to justify playing this and reliably draw 2 or 3.

The obvious combo is to use the Tournament Pack 1 Iruka to tutor the Client you really want and then break even next turn by grabbing a second client. As I said, perhaps the best use of this card would be in Unlimited in perhaps something like Animals where Emi, Hikaru, and Michiru are likely to be played in the same deck.

Perhaps the best thing about this card is probably that since this is a relatively new card that supports clients, it means that perhaps that client support will be around the corner in relative sets. Tylar did say something about Set 24 or Set 25 reviving an old mechanic in a new way so perhaps Clients will finally be a big deal. Or maybe not. Who knows?

I'm really curious as to what people do with this card, especially in the Unlimited tournament for GenCon this year. The card reads as good but in actuality, there's very little that can be done with it. Get cracking boys and girls! I wanna see some innovation!

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, previews, Tournament Pack 3, tsu

So, as Pat mentioned in his blog post yesterday, we actually recieved previews... He just never saw them until last night. While none of our four preview cards are particularly amazing at first glance, I happen to see a lot of combo potential in our first Preview:

While you probably aren't going to be playing this card in conventional decks, I can easily see this card acting as an instant speed variant of substitute, a card that saw a ton of play during the time it was legal. Sure, it isn't exactly the same as substitute in that it only digs six cards deep, creating potential whifs, and it can't be used during the mission phase to set up squading and other cool plays, however it does have some pretty cool upsides that Substitute never had. The ability to jump a drop is nothing to scoff at, especially with all the anbu and mist anbu in format that could easily jump into Naruto (Clone) or Konohamaru Ninja Squad while also triggering their put in play effects, generating card advantage.

Another cool option this card has is the ability to grab the same ninja you discarded for the effect of the card. While most often you would be less inclined to try and hit the same ninja off of this card, there are situations where going back to back Hinata [Reserved Character] or another ninja with a powerful put in play effect might win you the game.

Lastly, this card is awesome against Nick Brady's Shonen Jump winning Combo Deck. Not blocking, while a good strategy isn't perfect because he runs magnetic force and all it does is try to stall until you can access Sasuke [Freezing Eyes] and high powered removal. Using Money Style Shadow Clone actually just makes his entire deck whif, provided you actually play the card at the right time. After you opt not to block, if the player using the combo deck can win he will mag force one of your ninjas, then once opposed he will eight inner gates, dumping his hand to try and OTK you. After he dumps his hand, start a new chain and Money style Shadow Clone your ninja out of there, leaving the opponent with no hand and only two battle Rewards for all of his efforts. Not to mention, if you have Sakura ADP, you can easily set up Sasuke [Freezing Eyes] blow outs on turn three.

Check back later this week for the rest of our Tournament three Preview!

-Andrew

Labels: previews, Tournament Pack 3, Zero

Here are some pictures I took at East Coast Throwdown 3 this past weekend. These photos are from the same location as this tournament right here that we're hosting on July 23rd.

If you have any doubts that the venue will be bad, small, or just plain won't hold up to your expectations, I hope I can quell that a little with these:

A view from the outside of the Hyatt. It's a pretty nice looking building. There's a parking garage to the left of the building. It cost me $20 even to park there from 10 AM to Midnight so plan accordingly.

As you can see the venue is pretty damn big. It can hold a lot of people. I can assure you that we probably won't be playing in a room nearly as crowded as this.

Just another room at the venue. Shout outs to "iloveu" Joe in pink.

That's right, there's a movie theater in this venue. How do you feel about this guys?

Even better than that, there's a bar that serves not only coffee & espresso but alcohol as well for our 21+ guests and it's open all day. Be sure to tip well! :)

And lastly for those of you who actually care, I got to play Street Fighter x Tekken early.

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, tournament, tsu

Andy sent us TP3 previews.

They got lost in our email.

I just now discovered them.

You know what that means?

With the set launching in 4 days and us having 4 previews, prepare for super fast preview time over the next couple of days as we approach the release of Tournament Pack 3 this Friday!

Wahoo! Andrew will be posting up the first one tonight or tomorrow so keep your eyes pealed folks!

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, previews, Tournament Pack 3, tsu

Want to test your skills for GenCon against some of the best? Want to win a decent amount of cash and prizes on the side as well? Then what you need to do is get to Morristown, NJ on July 23rd, 2 weeks before Gencon, and test your skills in The Perfect Curve's first sponsored tournament

What It Is?
Squee and Andrew came across a gentlemen who noticed them play testing for GenCon at a remote location and asked if the game was a good tournament game and offered his services to lend us use a venue if we ever wanted to host a tournament. Considering there aren't many high caliber tournaments anymore for this game, we decided this is the perfect idea and opportunity to not only provide great play testing experience for GenCon to the player base, but start a series of tournaments that may be run quarterly, to provide high level competition for new players wanting to get into the game competitively as well as test the skills of even the most hardened veterans of the game.

What It Is Not
It is not a scam. The man runs a legit business and you can find his information at the following link.

The venue is also a pretty established one.

How do I know it's not a scam? This is the same venue that is used to run East Coast Throwdown, a professional fighting game tournament that's backed by Evolution. Good enough for pro organizations to run their tournaments at? Good enough for us.

This is also not a money grab. The venue fee is standard for most high level events for any game that is played competitively/seriously. In addition, prize structure is set to be favorable to players and not the people running the event.

Date & Location

July 23rd
Hyatt Headquarters Plaza (Terrace Ballroom)
3 Speedwell Ave
Morristown NJ, 07960

As I said before, this is the location used for East Coast Throwdown, a fighting game tournament I will be attending this weekend. I will upload pictures for everyone at weekend's end so you can actually see what the venue looks like where we will be hosting this event.

Start time has not yet been discussed but you can expect signups to start between 9 AM and 10 AM (depending on when the venue opens). If it opens before 9, start ups will start at 9 and round 1 will start at 10 AM. Otherwise, round 1 starts at 11 AM. Please make sure you are on time. Deck lists will be required and checked.

Entry Fees, Format, & Prizing
$10 Venue Fee. This is the minimum amount of money to enter the venue...so if you want to spectate games, this is the minimum you will be paying.

$10 Entry Fee. This is the amount of money you will be paying to actually play in the tournament. This money is used as as the "Pot" for payouts to the winners.

Format: Block Format, Swiss Tournament, with a Top 8 Cut. A Top 16 cut will be prepared if the amount of people requires it.

Prizing: At the moment, the prizing is set as such and is subject to change and open to debate

-1st Place: 50% of the pot
-2nd Place: 20% of the pot
-3rd Place: 10% of the pot
-4th Place: 10% of the pot

The last 10% is used to compensate judges for their time and effort. Asking them to judge the entire floor for a whole day and compensate them with a decent lunch/dinner seems pretty fair.

Additional Prizing: TBD

There are talks of Chunin level prize support from Bandai in the works. In addition, there may be uncut sheets as well.

Closing Comments
We are really hoping that this tournament takes off, is run smoothly, and has a lot of players so that we may host another one in Q4 of 2011 (maybe). With your support this can be a huge success and we can do more of these in the future.

In order for this tournament to be run smoothly we need a minimum of 32 Players. There is no maximum. Please confirm if you are coming to this in the following thread or at least express interest:

Bandai Thread

If this venue has Wi-Fi, there will be a live stream hosted by TPC.

Lastly, the following people are not allowed to participate in this event as players:
Patrick O'Neill (Tsu Kiyo Me)
Eric Melone (Squee)
Andrew Kardis (Zero)

We're hosting it. Who else is going to run it?

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Gencon, tournament, tsu, We Sitting Here I'm Supposed To Be the Franchise Player and We In Here Talkin Bout Practice

Long time community member and former playtester Zbkillaz a.k.a. Saul has received conformation from Yuya @ Bandai that there will be something done in the coming days/weeks about the Anbu situation.

Exactly when, what it effects (Origins? AX? GenCon?), or how the cards will be changed I have no idea but as soon as we know, we'll be sure to post more here.

In the meantime you can read about the topic over at Bandai:

Bandai on Anbu (Official)

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, errata, Rogue list, tsu

Another call to arms over someone crying foul. Same day, different "stuff" right? Well not really. Actually, the annoyance factor is only minor for this in comparison to things I've spoke out against in the past (State 2, Hydro Pump, Block Format, etc.)

For those who want to get up to speed, Scotty has made a pretty solid post on Bandai:

Bandai Rant: First Blood (Part 1)

My points are pretty much littered throughout the thread. In a nutshell though, Paradise is fine. Tactics is fine. Drift is fine. Shion is fine. Just restrict the two Anbus to 1 until rotation starts and see if it's any better without Fear/Shion/Drift. You try to kill the cancer, you try not to kill the healthy cells around it. There's no reason as to why Fire has to suffer when the only real problems are the two Anbu ninja. That way Dogs is still a deck type, and people can attempt to play other strategies like Mill and Susano'o without having to lose their best missions.

My $0.02

What are your thoughts? Post in the thread or post 'em up here.

So it seems this time for Tournament Pack 3 we've been passed over for previews. I'm not exactly too upset or worried about it as I have some confidence that for Set 22 we'll get some previews to make up for it. Hopefully a super rare, a good one this time, right Bandai? :)

The Live Stream I promised for GenCon seems like it will be for sure happening if I get approval from Bandai & GenCon. Tylar already seems pretty keen to the idea, so here's hoping. It just requires me to straighten out some audio problems and remote internet connections. After that, all I need Nick to do is help me make some nice banners and to help people run it at the actual event.

Speaking of GenCon, how are many of you getting there? 12 hour road trip seems nice and all but I've been wondering lately if I should fly instead to save time. Thoughts?

What are you thoughts on the format and such? Good? Bad?

Lastly, Bandai, I urge you to make the next iteration of the Rogue List promptly after TP3's release and make it legal for GenCon. As many of you know, Set 22 releases the day before GenCon and as with every set release, a new rogue list. Since Set 22 cards cannot be on a new rogue list and only Set 21 and TP3 cards would be able to be hit, I urge them to make this decision before the 3 week dead line to GenCon so that way we can have a very enjoyable format.

As for the quality of cards coming out of TP3, I really like some of the cards that Fire has previewed thus far but everything shown in Water has been very ... iffy. Sasuke Uchiha (State 2) was a pretty massive let down and makes me wonder what the point of his effect is. He'll still be played in many Water decks but only because it's an option, not because of how good it is. At least he could have had the Fire symbol, right?

Oh well~

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Gencon, Livestream, Tournament Pack 3, tsu

At some point tonight or tomorrow, I'm going to be testing the Live Stream setup I intend to use for GenCon.

It will be on my Justin.tv account which you can find here. I want to see with my current setup how well it works and if I need to make adjustments, whether it be the camera or the actual connection itself.

If this works, then the only things left to do is get approval from Bandai (as in, they'll let me do this, provide me with a spot + extension chord, and an able body, preferably Andy or Tylar, to watch the setup in between rounds to make sure no one swipes it) and get approval from GenCon also as they have a policy that says I have to go through them and get approval for any live on site filming or streaming.

Wish me luck and hope this works correctly the first time. If it works, you can expect to see this setup work at any event I go to from here on out.

Edit: Okay so everything except the bit rate is good and I'm not 100% sure the audio is working but what we do have that works is pretty good. I have a really nice dual camera setup where people are able to see the players and the people sitting behind the laptop. Text overlay works. Need someone to help me make some backgrounds as well as some banners (That means you Nick). Once we know for sure that works, all that's left is to get one of those fun wireless cards from Verizon to use at GenCon. Shouldn't be too hard.

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Gencon, Livestream, tsu