"Temari, your curves are so perfect."

I believe Josh used this quote once to describe a preview of Temari of ours. While I wouldn't say our final preview has "perfect" curves (I'm one who doesn't always subscribe to the philosophy of "bigger is better"), she definitely has more bounce in her step than most, if not all the females, in the Naruto universe.

It should be obvious by all the bad jokes by now that I'm talking about Tsunade.

Yes, for one reason or another, I seem to have happened into another version of the Fifth Hokage. In Set 19 we had Leaf's Elite, which was pretty amazing with the stat buffs and a pretty decent effect although not strong enough for a 6 drop. Later in Set 22, I showed you Tsunade (Kimono) and promised you that she would see tons of play as a Wind version of Jiraiya...not to mention the already stellar version of The 5th Hokage in the same set.

I like Tsunade. I really do. She's one of my favorite characters to play in the Clash of Ninja games due to her slow but powerful (both in terms of physical power and mixups) fighting style. As a character I like her violent temper yet caring nature for that of her comrades. All around, she's definitely one of the more interesting females in the show for sure. But the problem lies in the fact that there's simply no good Tsunade... as awesome as Kimono was there wasn't any real jutsu threats to recursively play besides those that are banned or limited. And the "Infinite" heal effects don't really do anything unless tricked into play early ... drawing cards? Well Wind already does a ton of that so this isn't going to be anything new that breaks the mold.

Every other Hokage gets strong, unique effects that are game ending. Tsunade keeps getting the same rehash set in and set out and it's really disappointing.

Question: How do we make Tsunade good?
Shortest possible answer and Bandai's most convincing argument yet that Tsunade's strength is unrivaled

MAKE HER "OVERFLOWING"

Simply put: Make her unaffected by your opponent's cards.

This Tsunade, for lack of a better phrase, is a "Master Baiter" (or if you prefer a kiddy friendlier name: A "Lightning Rod"). She forces the chain by saying "Not only am I huge but if you don't play first Jutsu, I will rain down an ungodly (efffing) firestorm upon you! You're gonna have to call the United Nations and get a (what a beaver builds) binding resolution to keep me from (what mommy and daddy do) destroying you. I am talking scorched-earth, (motherlover)! I will massacre you! I will (expletive deleted) you up!"

*ahem*

So you may be saying "Well that's all well and good Tsu, but Wind still sucks. I can't rain down the fancy pants Jutsu in that deck!"

Did you notice she has the Lightning Symbol?
Surprisingly enough, this Tsunade is more effective in a Lightning deck than in a Wind deck. Not only do they have the Jutsu to back it up, but they also have the large team powers and aggression for this to be a perfect fit.

My only real gripe with the card?
Protection from Missions but only EOJ timing? What gives Tylar!?

Oh and one more thing cause I know you'll all ask this. I talked to Tylar about this card. "Cannot be the target" means if she's already targeted and then her combat becomes 10 or higher, she no longer becomes a legal target, thus causes her to be unaffected by all of those jutsu.

We hope you enjoyed our Set 24 previews! Please stay tuned for Set 25 previews when they come out. Oh, and for our 2 year anniversary this month, I think I might smell a contest... we'll see.

Catch ya later Bandai!

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Oppai Are OP, previews, Set 24, tsu