Preface: I don't like to be that guy who calls people out, especially not publicly but I feel it needs to be said cause it's irked me and a lot of other people recently. The Hidan thread was the last straw.

If Topside reviews this card or any subsequent cards on our blog in the discussion thread, I'm pulling the article, the preview, and with holding our Set 24 Super Rare preview.

Why? Because he pretty much always says the same thing that has already been said before. On top of that, it's essentially just like him summarizing our entries and just putting it in the same thread. Let people actually read our work and form an opinion for themselves. Please don't just repost what we already posted...it just detracts from our posts.

Yes, I'm being mean.

Yes, I'm serious about this.

End Preface

Okay there now that that is out of the way I can actually proceed on with the talking.

So what is today's preview about you ask?

Well it mostly has to do with this guy. Surely you remember this guy, right? Our Set 21 preview turned a lot of heads because of his powerful effect....but he had no real support.

And until this day we still have a variety of Ink creatures.

There's Ink Summon, Ink Lion, Ink Leech, and Ink Snake for those playing at home. Of course Set 24 yields another Ink Ninja, the Ink Fish which has a stellar "Draw 1" effect and good turn 1 stats...but that wasn't "officially" previewed yet (just spoilered thanks to a poster on the message boards, posting up the newest Meijin kit)

But what does the deck actually DO?

Supposedly you put in play a bunch of dorks (that's small stat ninjas for the uninformed) and then you drop Sai [Virtuoso] on turn 4 and draw a ton of cards and then...

And then...

Psst, Tylar... I just drew 12 cards off Sai...what the HELL am I supposed to do with all of these cards?

The Ink deck doesn't actually do anything. Yes it draws cards. Yes it has lots of cheap spammable 1/1s and 2/2s, and while that may help you get a lot of BRs early with your multiple teams, everyone knows spamming out small Ninja doesn't exactly win the game without something like Scouting Party or Naruto Vs. Sasuke.

So what are you implying Tsu? An NVS for Ink Ninjas!?

I wish Timmy! Wouldn't that be awesome? No instead I offer something that is rather interesting and unexpected win condition for the Ink Deck.

A Burn Ninja

Ink Eagle is interesting in that he has the highest stats out of all the Ink Ninjas thus far and isn't terribly difficult to come into play. On top of that, his multi use effect allows you to detonate your entire field for a slew of Battle Rewards all in one go.

Speaking of "Detonate", I think you can already guess that this guy has a lot of Synergy with other free Battle Reward Ninjas such as Hidan (Curse Mode) & Deidara [Fiery Wrath]. Consider Andrew's strategy from our previous preview that nets 7 Battle Rewards in 1 turn. Now imagine if you actually had the Ink Ninja rush early game...it's realistically possible to net 10 Battle Rewards in one turn with this setup.

Problem? It doesn't seem entirely practical.

When I first saw Ink Eagle a week ago, along with Hidan, I originally thought that there might be some synergy with them but the problem was would I be able to cheaply spam out the Ink Ninjas in the early game? I get the idea of the deck is now to use Sai to generate a ton of chakra and spam out more ninjas to burn with Eagle but the chakra cost makes it incredibly difficult.

The card that makes it all easier? Monkey King Enma

Well at least it was Monkey King Enma until I realized the errata. Argh... if he hadn't gotten changed I think there might actually have been something really strong on our hands here. You could theoretically have a whole deck where you could drop Enma on 3 and then Sai on 4, draw a ton of cards and possibly spam out not only 4 or 5 Ink Ninjas but say a Kiba to tutor an Akamaru to get a free Double Headed Wolf, Shima to get Fukasaku or vice versa. In essence, I guess Enma got changed not only because of some pre-existing infinites and combos but some other decks in the future like perhaps the Ink Deck. Am I saying it's strong? Who knows...it seems weak on the surface but I think Eagle gives it a little something else that might make it be "sleeper OP" down the road.

I'm really hoping someone breaks this card because I still can't make heads or tails of the deck. It just has all these random weapons that are supposedly part of a bigger picture...or at least that's why Tylar keeps hinting at ever since he first gave me Sai [Virtuoso] to preview back in Set 21.

Honestly, I feel like he might be trolling me by slipping me Eagle but... you never know. There might just be more here than meets the eye...

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, previews, Set 24, tsu