As most of you know SJC Pennsylvania is this weekend, and Pat and I are doing what we can to set up the best coverage possible at the event (Given that we can't do a live stream without wifi). We hope to get top eight interviews, as well as commentary from some of the players on the current format as well as the upcoming one. SJC Pennsylvania is the first event with the tournament pack legal and is looking to have a pretty big turn out, so be sure to follow us for updates on the event, because you don't want to miss out on any new decks or tech cards before Gencon.

Anyway, I'm currently at Pat's place working on decks and stuff while he is at work. We have Shino's Dad and several of the Connecticut players driving down tonight for the event, so I'm getting ready a bunch of decks for testing, because while we are pretty sure on what we are running, we still need to test out different match ups so we can come up with a balanced and effective sideboard, as well as gain some match up experience so we don't just lose to being ignorant to what our opponent's deck is capable of. For those of you who are also putting together a "Gauntlet" of decks to test against, I would suggest you put together the following:

1. Respective Dreams Mono Earth (Probably the strongest deck in the format, and certainly one of the most popular)
2. Aggressive Lightning builds such as Taijutsu or NVS(Lots of card draw to get around hand discard and quick powerful plays)
3. Generic Monofire with/without Boyhood (Honestly, these are just bound to show up at any event, regardless of the format)
4. Mono Water or Fire/Water abusing Demon of Cloud Village (While I don't think it's on the same level as the other decks in the format, I do believe there will be many players looking to resurrect the Demon in PA)
5. Some kind of Mono Wind or Wind/X A New Squad deck (Mass card draw + Powerful Ninja effects)
6. The anti-meta super hate deck (Iruka [Origin of the Leaf headband, Miroku, Shino [Silence], Ino [Easy going] etc.)

If your deck can't beat most of these lists in testing, I would suggest scrapping it, because even though you do have a sideboard that might increase your match up percentage, your opponent will most likely use his sideboard as well.

Anyway, before I leave you guys and return to sorting cards and stuff I figured I would just put up some pictures I took, as well as a random preview from Fang's of the Snake that none of us feel like writing an article on. Until next time!

This is what real preparation for an event looks like.

Pat's compensation for being the best writer on Bandai.

I went out and bought this for when the Connecticut crew get here, cause Mac & cheese is the greatest playtesting food ever.

so... Bad...

Why yes, yes that is a preview card in that last one! And yes, yes it is inferior to every other version of that card. ~Tsu

-Andrew

Labels: Blurbs, Fangs of the Snake, Pennsylvania, Playtesting, Shonen Jump Championship, Tournament Pack 1, Zero

So, we started play testing for the PA Shonen Jump and we're hoping to meet many of you there.

But in all honesty, I'm not really all that into it right now. Why?

Well I'll be blunt and I'll let Andrew explain some of the finer points in a later post but in all honesty, I think this is shaping up to be the worst format in the game's history. I'm serious. As broken as some things have been in the past (APW, Ino, Gaara TN, Inherits) I can't really remember a time when the game was this well... unfun.

And it's all really thanks to a few cards that were released in Tournament Pack 1.

Okay well the main source of my anguish comes from the new Yamato. Have you guys actually played with it or played against it yet? Seriously, have you? Seriously...have you? No, seriously. . .HAVE YOU?

It's not fun to play with. It's not fun to play against.

The game is just not fun with that card in the format, along with a few other cards.

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Tournament Pack 1, tsu, You're Boring the Crap Out of Me

So a lot has happened since we last posted here on the blog and many of you might be wondering why we haven't talked about the new Rogue list or the inclusion of banned cards on the list. The reason for this is because all the points are pretty much out there. Pat, Josh, Myself, and many other individuals have talked about the positive impact banning cards can have. Everyone here on the perfect curve supports the ban list, and for those of you who don't or are worried that it might create a slippery slope of bannings, all I can say is that you should just give it time and see.

What I really want to talk about today is bad decisions. What do I mean? The decision I'm referring to is the inclusion of a reprint in the new tournament pack, which happens to be a potentially format warping card.

Bad Decision #1- Reprinting Zabuza [Demon of Cloud Village]

Why was this a bad decision exactly? Because Zabuza is the perfect wrench to **** up the gears of the block rotation system. Prior to the news of Zabuza being reprinted it was very obvious that Bandai was doing their best to cool down the game through rotation. Most of the fan favorite ninja would return as reprints, while over-efficient Jutsu cards such as 8 trigram, Giant Vortex, and Four Pillar Prison would leave the format, forcing players to use the slightly powered down jutsus Bandai has been printing. By reprinting Zabuza, every damage Jutsu in the format becomes removal, every victory becomes like a mini OV, and every OV is a scoop and go to game two.

Im not saying Zabuza is for sure going to ruin the format, because historically water is the weakest element when it comes to performance in major events (most likely due to it's linear play style), I'm just saying that Zabuza has the potential to completely ruin what otherwise appeared to be a cooled down format for next season. I don't really understand the logic behind reprinting him, and I now have to wonder if any thought really did go into the reprint choices, or if it was all just picking card names at random. I have a few other issues with the Tournament pack, but I'll share those another day. Until next time!

-Andrew

Labels: Blurbs, Tournament Pack 1, Zero

Our (final?) preview for Tournament Pack #1 is Shizune [Medical Kunoichi]. I wish I had an image but I never got one so just go to that Bandai card list and look it up if you've forgotten what she does...

In any case, Shizune is one of those cards that's nearly always going to be playable. In most cases, she's going to be a solid but unspectacular 1-of bringing threat diversity to that 4 drop slot. However, decks playing multiple copies of Sakura [Reliance] are going to love having Shizune in the format - while not quite as good as Haku/Futaba, Shizune/Sakura will create incremental advantage over time.

And she's not chibi, if anyone cares.

Tsu Edit to the Rescue~!

-Josh

Labels: josh, previews, Tournament Pack 1

It's effect is very interesting, and it might mean that there will be a Manda who reduces your turn marker in the near future. Let us know what you think of the Bunta in the comments bellow! Until next time.

-Andrew

Labels: previews, Tournament Pack 1, Zero

Since I'm busy tonight and I'm out of town for Shonen Jump Goergia the rest of the week, Christmas comes early for you guys...sort of. Just in time for those guys over at Naruto Shippuden Live to talk about for their podcast, we'll throw up the next part of our 3 part Super Rare slow spoil.

Congrats to all of those of you who guessed MOST POWAHFUL GIANT TOOOOAAAADDDDD!



So now the question is, what does he do? Seriously, I still don't know. I get this card in pieces, just like all of you. <.<;;

Thanks to Tylar for providing us with the preview.

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, previews, Tournament Pack 1, tsu, Tylar

I don't understand why our preview card images don't load correctly but okay. Hahaha.



Nawaki is kind of an underwhelming choice to reprint for Tournament Pack 1. It's not exactly a competitive card however I believe that the reason the card was reprinted is because of some form of combo deck. For those of you who may or may not remember, Nawaki was one of the driving forces behind the Jonin's Intervention deck as well as the dreaded Five Prong Seal.

Only time, and previews, will tell if Nawaki really deserved to get the reprint nod.

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, previews, Tournament Pack 1, tsu

Time for our first Preview:

As you can see, the image I was sent was cut off a bit, but that is in fact Ino [Pressing]! I for one am really happy about this, as Ino is a card I try to fit into just about every deck. She has strong stats, relevant characteristics, and a very helpful effect on an early game ninja. Sure, she isn't busted like another Chibi two drop ninja I know *Cough* Hinata *Cough*, but Ino is a very good card, and one I expect to see more of next format when both Shikamaru [Unwillingness] and Yoroi [Unique Talent] cycle out.

We have two more regular previews (Thanks to Andy), as well as the slow spoil Super rare card (Thanks to Tylar) so be sure to check back next week for more previews, as well as updates on our adventure to Georgia for the Atlanta Shonen Jump Championship. Until Next time!

-Andrew

Labels: previews, Tournament Pack 1, Zero

I won't be here tomorrow until Sunday night. In the mean time, enjoy part 1 of a slow spoil of our exclusive Super Rare preview from the Chibi set.

I wonder what it could be *shrugs*

No seriously, even I don't know what it does.

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, previews, Tournament Pack 1, tsu