At this point I'm sure some of you have seen the card on Troll and Toad but none the less here is our last preview:

Barrier Battle Arts

Hope you enjoyed these previews. Check back for Set 22 previews very soon!

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

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

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

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