Hey guys! Tsu here with another preview from Naruto CCG's Series 25 "Kage Summit"! We here at "The Perfect Curve" typically rotate who gets to write about which previews each set, to give each person a chance to write about a super rare because honestly, those are the most fun cards to write about and talk about. As the corner stones of the set and the "value" you'll be getting out of your boxes, the "Super Rare" card is obviously going to be widely talked about. Sadly the card I'm going to show you is NOT a Super Rare.

"Then why tell us about Super Rares at all Tsu?"

Glad you asked, Jimmy! You see normally I get dumped into one of two camps: Super Rare ... or unplayable card. I'm very pleased to announce though that our 2nd preview is actually a very good and very playable rare... so without further explanation, here is Lightning Style: Emotion Wave!






What Can I Do For You?
So at first glance, we can see that this is a late game Jutsu, primarily used by Darui in the anime and manga series. A turn 5 Jutsu with a symbol requirement isn't so bad but whenever we talk about Turn 5+ Jutsu the card has to hold some weight because it's going to be instantly compared to cards like Hydro Pump, Snake Sword, and of course Almighty Push!

So the question is, does Emotion Wave hold up? Well considering that most of the above removal cost at least 3 or more chakra to remove 2 to 3 Ninjas, we'll have to just see if it is a good value in comparison. But before that, we have to actually look at how the card works.

When we play Emotion Wave, we obviously have to pay the cost of X chakra...X can be as little or as much as we want. Note that paying 0 chakra for Emotion Wave does absolutely nothing. For each card you pay with the Lightning Symbol, you'll get a simple damage spell along the lines of an old school Fireball Jutsu. For each Water symbol you pay, you'll net an additional target on the card. So what does this all mean? Here's a quick table for you:

1 Lightning Chakra + 0 Water Chakra = 1 Damage to 1 Opposing Ninja
2 Lightning Chakra + 0 Water Chakra = 2 Damage to 1 Opposing Ninja
1 Lightning Chakra + 1 Water Chakra = 1 Damage to 2 Opposing Ninja
2 Lightning Chakra + 1 Water Chakra = 2 Damage to 2 Opposing Ninja
1 Lightning Chakra + 2 Water Chakra = 1 Damage to 3 Opposing Ninja
2 Lightning Chakra + 2 Water Chakra = 2 Damage to 3 Opposing Ninja
... And so on and so forth.

So 4 Chakra nets you a team wipe, which is actually less valuable than Snake Sword in this case which isn't really good value.

"But Tsu! I thought you said this was a good card!"

Well it is! The secret lies in a theme that's being pushed in Series 25 "Kage Summit" and that's multi-colored decks. By paying the cost of Emotion Wave with a single card like ...oh I dunno...the most played card in the format Monster Research, the Jutsu becomes way more efficient. If you were to pay the cost of emotion wave with only cards with the Water & Lightning Symbol together, the numbers for the card start to look more like this:

1 Water/Lightning Chakra = 1 Damage to 2 Opposing Ninjas
2 Water/Lightning Chakra = 2 Damage to 3 Opposing Ninjas

So for the low cost of that Monster Research in your chakra area, this card can cause some serious damage!




Double Trouble!
Here is a list of every Lightning/Water dual element card in Block format for your reference. This should give you an idea of just how many cards in the format are playable and can easily provide the double cost requirement for Lightning Style: Emotion Wave! Please keep in mind, this list does not include any cards from "Series 25" but you should note that many powerful cards such as Raikage, Darui and even Emotion Wave itself are capable of efficiently activating Emotion Wave.

Ninja
Anko Mitarashi - An already highly played card.
Anko Mitarashi - This 2 drop Common has no real use when you consider the 3 drop counterpart. Even though it can make every card in your chakra area able to be more efficient with Emotion Wave, I still don't see it making a huge splash.
Five Tails  - 7 Combat 4 drop is pretty good. Especially since he gets a draw for every victory he wins.
Gamaken - Thomas Veazie popularized this as a sideboard option against Ink Ninjas in Lightning & Water decks.

Mission
Great Naruto Bridge - Already sees play in 9 Phantom Dragons decks, which are already primarily Water/Lightning to begin with.
Anko's Memories - Restricted to 1 but still played in pretty much every Lightning or Water deck
Monster Research - The BIG ONE! 3 of in almost every single SJC Winning deck, a single Monster Research in your chakra area makes Emotion Wave something to fear.

 Jutsu
Chidori Lance - Decent Jutsu
Blade of the Thunder God - Not too great

So considering that only 2 of the cards on our list are actually unplayable (T2 Anko & Blade of the Thunder God), it's safe to say that this card will have a lot of synergy with a lot of very playable and powerful cards.

The Thunder God Tech
So I feel that this is something that needs to be pointed out and it's probably one of the main reasons I feel that Emotion Wave will make a big "splash" (get it?) in Lightning Decks this season... all thanks to this guy:





On turn 2 you can play Monster Research and board press with your field. If your opponent blocks you can play The 4th Hokage and have him use Emotion Wave for the cost of the 1 Monster Research in your chakra. This + the 4th's Effect all but guarantees you discard any opposing team as early as turn 2. Using the 4th Hokage's Mastery effect, you can keep not only the 4th Hokage but Emotion Wave to set this play up again later in the game. You killed 3 Ninjas for 2 cards in hand and 1 chakra. Talk about value!!!

I hope you enjoyed our second preview for Series 25 "Kage Summit"! Please check back next week for our 3rd preview!

-Tsu

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, previews, Set 25, tsu