I'm Andrew!

Okay, no I'm not. Andrew was supposed to have the privilege of unveiling our last, and arguably best, preview for Set 19 "Path of Pain."

However, because this week is Midterms for him @ college, he's been booked up and has been unable to get around to talking about all the fun findings and combos with the card.

BUT FRET NOT!

I'm here to deliver the last preview, just in time for the final Taijutsu theme preview to hit Bandai in today's featured article (also written by me).

BAM!

There's your finale for the combo! Interesting, no? The entire combo relies on drawing a bunch of Jutsu cards into your hand, then sending the whole hand to the bottom of the deck to win 10+ Battle Rewards in one shot. The only problem now is trying to figure out what's the best way to accomplish this.

Rather than rehash and rewrite several pages of work, I'll go into more depth over the card in today's Bandai article "The Lotus Loop", which features the last Set 19 Taijutsu card.

Oh and one last thing. The contest advertised at the end of "The Lotus Loop" is coming soon. I know it says that it'll be up by today but the staff has hit a snag and won't be able to get to it for a few days. It was my understanding that we'd be able to give the go ahead for our second contest but we haven't yet figured out what we want to do for it. I can assure you though that the prize is most definitely a "Sakura Haruno Meijin Mat" as well as a 1st Edition copy of "Hirkuo [Impatient]"

Stay tuned for details on how to win our second Mini-Contest here at The Perfect Curve! Until then, please keep submitting your entries for our "Create a Sakura Haruno & Ino Yamanaka Squad/Reinforcement" contest. We'll choose one lucky winner before Halloween to win an entire set of Target promos!

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Path of Pain, previews, tsu, Tylar

Who's This Guy?

So, for those of you out there who don't know who I am, (Which I find completely impossible since I am, after all, one of the most important people in the Naruto CCG Community) my name is Nicholas Botchis, and I go by the handle Shino'sDad in pretty much any forum or site that has to do with the Naruto CCG.

I have been a sort of court advisor in the shadows to The Perfect Curve since it's creation, and up until now, have only been mentioned in context to discussions or tales of whimsy by the other members of the staff. Starting today though, I begin my “internship” as a writer for the blog itself. Zero feels that I require some sort of trial, a rite of passage if you will, to prove I am up to snuff, though he fails to realize that I pretty much write all of Tsukiyomi's content for him (Haha, joking.. I think.)

Back to the point, though, I have been playing the Naruto CCG since it's launch with Path to Hokage. Those halcyon days of believing that a Hand cost could be paid with any Element Symbol and that Zabuza Momochi [Demon of the Cloud Village] belonged in every single deck are long since over, and I now play competitively, playing in many Chunin level tournaments (multiple Top 8's and a “win”) in my time, as well as the Mist Kage in '09 (7th Place) and the Sannin Event at Gencon for the past two years (Moving on...). I am also a Meijin for my local game shop, if you call a 45 minute drive local that is. Forum wise, I am an active member or the Bandai Forum Community, as well as one of the founding members of my Team's forum, CT Crew Gamming (Shameless Plug-no-Jutsu!).

On a less Naruto-esque note, I am an avid gamer of all fields. I have at least tried nearly every MMO game to date, save for the more obscure Korean and Japanese exclusives (and even a lot of those), and was a full time player of both Everquest and Everquest 2 up until about two years ago. Table top RPGs are also another area of expertise of mine, ranging from Dungeons and Dragons to Vampire: The Requiem. And of course, I have shuffled and cut a deck of dozens of CCGs, including but most certainly not limited to: Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, Magi Nation, Star Wars (Decipher), Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, Legend of the Five Rings, Dragon Ball (Score and Bandai), Bleach, and of course, Naruto (both the English game as well as the Japanese Shippuden CCG).

Less Talky, More Previewy

Now that introductions are out of the way, I am proud to have the pleasure of revealing and reviewing one of The Perfect Curve's previews for the week. Fitting in with our Taijutsu theme, I present to you the Raging Blue Beast himself, Might Guy!



So, right from the get go, we notice a few key things that make this Might Guy different from the rest. Sporting the addition of both Surge as well as Growth on his characteristic line this time, as well as a support value of 3 in his Healthy Status, along with maintaining his monstrous 6 Combat even when injured.

This Might Guy can play the role of both Head Ninja as well as Support, given that 3 is the golden number we look for in support Ninjas, as well as the fact that with Growth and Surge, he can be either a 6/3 6/0 (normally), 7/4 7/1 (growthed), or a 8/5 8/2 (surged). With the existence of Might Guy (Afro), he has plenty of backup copies to Growth from, or better yet to Surge with, and his effect makes all those extra copies even more useful. A valid effect that turns Surge into a reusable effect is not exactly game breaking, but with the right cards, you can produce some positive results.

Rock Lee (N-913) – Pro: Surge him multiple times with a plethora of useable cards in hand for that key Outstanding Victory. Con: Late game tech for a early game Ninja.

Leaf Hurricane (J-755 ) – Pro: Surge a Ninja multiple times and then pick them up with this Jutsu card to do it again or conserve Hand advantage. Con: Requires you to go relatively unharassed during the Exchange of Jutsu for maximum effectiveness (if you want to use the combination effect in tandem with a copy of this card in your chakra or discard already).

Advisor of the Sand (N-939) – Pro: Turn every copy of a Ninja you have in play already in your hand into a new card from your Deck. Con: As with Leaf Hurricane, this can be interrupted during the Exchange of Jutsu by your opponent, though...

Chiyo (N-942) – Pro: Gives much more flexible defensive control in case you need to surge off of the same Ninja in order to block a jutsu or two. Con: Another non-Taijutsu Ninja for what it seems it supposed to be a near Taijutsu pure decktype.

Overall, Might Guy [Gate of Joy] may not be the most incredible Might Guy ever printed, but he fits in as a key component of the Taijutsu deck for Path of Pain, as you will see once Zero posts his own preview in a day or two. Keep in mind both Leaf Hurricane as well as Advisor or the Sand for that one.

Labels: Might Guy, naruto ccg, Path of Pain, previews, Shino'sDad, Tylar

Just like last week, today's preview card from Naruto CCG's set 19 "Path of Pain" is part of an all new combo based Taijutsu deck designed by Mr. Tylar Allinder himself.

So, like most of you, I'm not really sure what to think of the card itself. Without knowing how the combo works, it's very hard to judge this card, especially with it being a super rare. I remember when Just Like That Hero was previewed, and everyone had the same thought "It's either going to be ridiculous, or it will suck." Unfortunately we all know how that ended up, but who's to say that Primary lotus will share the same fate? Speaking of Just like that Hero, Primary lotus does happen to combo with it. Dump your deck, Primary lotus to pick up all your Hurricanes and other jutsus, then play them all and send them to the bottom of your deck so you don't deck out. Obviously this isn't a great strategy now, as there is no real win conditon, but maybe it will incorporate itself into the Taijutsu deck? Tylar was the one who mentioned to me the synergy between Lotus and JLTH. I really would like to talk more about this card, but without knowing what the deck is trying to do, it's hard for me to pass judgement on a card like this. I guess only time will tell how good Primary Lotus will be. Until next time.

-Andrew

Labels: Path of Pain, previews, Tylar, Zero

Right from the flavor text, you know our second preview for "Path of Pain" is something special.

"Now. . . Explode!"

"YES SIR!"

. . .

Pause.

In all seriousness, the change of having Taijutsu be a Combo deck starting with Set 19 has been a much welcomed change, and something I've been hoping for for a long time. When I first started to watch this series, I wasn't really a big fan of Rock Lee but after his selfless actions when fighting Dosu I sat and thought about it. "He really whooped on Sasuke so that alone gets him cool points. I might actually end up liking this guy after all!" Then after the Gaara fight, I was sold. I don't often show it much anymore, since he seems to be taking a back seat to my obsession with tsundere (See: Sakura), but Rock Lee really is my favorite character in Naruto. I feel he is one of the most likable characters and really carries my spirit and motto in life very well: You can overcome it with hard work. If you really try, you can do it.

And the character is actually flawed. He has weaknesses. He's not over powered like Sasuke. He's not just handed incredible powers like Naruto or Ichigo or any other main character in a Shonen series. He works for it...and it pays off (sometimes). So why isn't this reflected in the card game? You work hard to make a Rock Lee deck and it under performs. As Andrew said, chance removals and pumps don't work well AT ALL in a removal based format. Now that removal is gone and entire elements are being reevaluated, Lee finally has his chance to shine.

Yesterday, we showed you the first piece in the Rock Lee combo for Set 19, which is basically the beginning of the combo. Today, we'll be showing you the centerpiece of the combo. It doesn't tie everything together but you will soon realize just what it is the deck is supposed to be doing:



Yes, it's a Platoon. When Tylar first showed me the card, I protested saying it should have been a Squad because typically Platoons without Shikamaru or Temari just don't make the cut. Some of those fears, however, are quickly dispelled by a few of the cards highlights.

Card Overview
Pros
-9/3, 8/0 stats are absolutely bonkers. The card is HUGE.
-No Hand cost, something that has been needed for platoons to be competitive for a while
-Commonly played Ninja in Lightning
-Effect allows for near infinite Battle Phases if you are able to force blocks. The effect IS MANDITORY, so yes, it is indeed an infinite combo that auto-wins the game if your opponent must block the team every time and cannot remove it from play.
-Valid effect means injuring it does not stop the infinite lock
-Jonin Rank and a solid combat attribute in "Taijutsu"
-Not a squad meaning you don't need to cram both Ninja into the deck

Cons
-Not a squad meaning its probably more difficult to play and thus risks seeing no competitive play
-No mental power
-Takes up deck space
-Only 1 symbol
-Turn 6 Platoon makes it very difficult to play
-Competes with other Might Guys (Dynamic Entrance, Unstoppable Blue Beast) and the Rock Lee & Gaara Squad which are both incredibly powerful in the Taijutsu Deck already.

Will the card see play? I don't really know. But the effect looks EXTREMELY promising and if someone can find a way to break it, it could be the start of a very fun deck type, finally earning Rock Lee some much earned recognition.

Thanks again to Tylar for giving us such a fantastic preview for set 19. Check back early in the week for our "The Perfect Curve Contest" prizing structure as well as how to enter for your chance to win one of several prizes, as well as more previews from Set 19, "Path of Pain."

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Path of Pain, previews, tsu, Tylar

Labels: Path of Pain, previews, Tylar, Zero

For our final preview for Set 18, we have for you another Super Rare.



Well here's that +1/+1 for Toads Naruto I jokingly was asking for before. Sadly, it isn't on a turn 0 body, instead on a turn 3 body. This card is a most interesting one for the Toad deck indeed. Most toads have 2 support, so dropping him on 3 will most likely net you a bunch of 3 supporters as well as give your Gama 5 combat. While I would have liked for the card to add the Combination jutsu to your hand (and then force you to discard a card from your hand after you use it) I guess that would be too much to ask for since you could bombard the field with Jutsu in one EOJ. As of right now, like Gamariki, the card probably won't see any play upon release but with Set 19 and other future sets, this card has SERIOUS potential based on the Combination jutsu in those sets. Just imagine playing a team wiping Combination Jutsu on the block, resolving it, and your opponent knowing full well that you'll just draw into another one next turn. This card's design is nice in that respect because depending on what other cards come out for the deck, it can have some nice combo potential.

Here's to hoping it actually makes the cut one day.

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Fangs of the Snake, previews, tsu, Tylar

Andrew came over last week. And Otakon happened. And we partied hard. And amongst the partying we got a phone call that was like "So when are you going to post the previews?" And I looked at Andrew and was like ". . . You never sent them to me."

And he looked at me and was like "Well you never asked nor did you water mark them."

Then there was silence for about 30 seconds.

Then we threw our hands up in the air and ran around in circles screaming for we had no way to access the internet to provide you with these previews.

My good friend Adam then offered us his laptop to get the job done. And then we had a brief snaffu that almost got us all in trouble due to other's incompetence. And then it happened again. And again. So please forgive us for being idiots and not getting this to you on time. At least we're delivering from home though, rather than jail. *grumbles*



This one is for all you Efficient Training nuts. The card effect and chakra cost are rather cheap but I will tell ya though, not being able to change the target is kind of aggravating. What holds the card back is the "Clone Status" requirement. Once again, please see the Efficient Training article posted on Bandai for necessary improvements to that deck type... I fear without some of those changes this card might get tossed by the way side, which is a shame because this seems like a fun combo card where you could string together multiple Jutsu. Byakugan spam anyone?

And for our other preview, we provide you again with yet another Toad~



Isn't it just beautiful? :D

Seriously though, Gamiriki is a strange fella. The stats aren't particularly outstanding but the effect more than makes up for it. When it comes into play . . . well you can read the card. Being able to pick up a Combination Jutsu with his effect is pretty good because for the most part, the Combination Jutsu are worth playing post rotation. The problem? There's not that many, and they're only for the Toad arch type. As time goes on, depending on the quantity, quality, and types of Combination Jutsu we'll see I can definitely see Gamiriki being a highly played card. For right now he probably ain't gonna see much play ... but he has amazing potential depending on what else is in Set 18 and/or Set 19 and beyond.

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Fangs of the Snake, previews, tsu, Tylar

I think it's safe to say that back in Curse of Sand when the very first Summoning Jutsu for toads was introduced, everyone who followed the series had a fangasm and spent an entire week playing a deck with the jutsu and that awful Naruto, just to try and trick into play a pretty much unplayable five drop. Needless to say, every single one of us soon came to realize (much to our dismay) how terrible that deck actually was. Despite how heart broken we were, many of us looked to the future with hope, that one day a summoning Jutsu that didn't completely suck would come out, and we would get to win games off the of back of over sized, ninja themed, Battle Toads.

And then our our prayers were answered... Or not. "Wait, what the hell? You need to have the freaking toad in your hand for this to do anything, and it doesn't even stick? It's like a terrible Chidori."... Was pretty much the thought going through all of our minds when we read the text of the card we thought was going to help us build a deck with the newly printed version of the Boss Toad. We felt cheated and lied to, and sure we eventually got to play Toads using the Gamakichi platoon, but it wasn't the same thing, because we weren't actually summoning anything, and it sure as hell didn't make up for the two mediocre summoning jutsus we got afterward either.

Well friends, today is the day when we can finally dust off the old Narutoccg check list and check off "Summoned a Toad, and I didn't hate myself for it afterward", which is located bellow "Got to play with the correct Zabuza Momochi [Demon of the Mist village] that Bandai promised to print". Here is today's preview:

I know, it's amazing. After Tylar sent me this card I instantaneously began referring to it as Shadow Clone Jutsu, because in my mind thats what it was. "Costs two lightning? Check. Can be used early to surprise wreck a team? Check. It must be SCJ" was pretty much my entire thought process. The beauty of this card is that while it can't be used by everyone, it's benefits are higher than Shadow Clone jutsu could ever be, by getting to stick a toad in the late game.

There are some pretty sick things you can do with this card, aside from summoning Gamabunta on turn two and wrecking their team. Grabbing our favorite sword wielding snake smasher in response to an opponent's Jutsu is pretty much like using a removal jutsu, which is incredibly sick. Another tricky play you can do if you happen to draw into two copies of the card is as follows:

1) Naruto uses summoning jutsu to Fetch Gamabunta (Optional Victory Dance)

2) Gamabunta's effect to charge 2+ cards and draw 2+ cards.

3) Gamabunta plays other summoning jutsu to get Giant Ninja Toad, Mastery the Jutsu.

4) Bounce a dude with Giant Ninja toad, wreck the team.

5) End of turn Bunta bounces to your hand, but Giant Ninja Toad sticks because Bunta summoned him. Next turn you can summon another Gamabunta with Giant ninja toad via the Mastery'd copy of summoning Jutsu.

Credit goes to Tylar for that sick play, which isn't all that hard to pull off thanks to Bunta's draw and charge effect. This Summoning jutsu is incredibly powerful as well as flavorful, and I can't wait to actually get to try it out! I hope you liked our preview, and check back later in the week for more of our previews from Fangs of the Snake! Until next time.

-Andrew

Labels: Fangs of the Snake, previews, Tylar, Zero

Welcome to another awesome preview card from Set 18 "Fangs of the Snake." As usual, the previews come courtesy of Tylar (Hungry_Ninja). Today we have a real doozy of a preview for you guys.

As you remember in the "Reboot" series of articles I showed you all a fictional Sexy Jutsu Naruto that would pump all "Females." Pretty cool right? Well what if we applied the same concept to a different characteristic? Say, Ninja Toads?

Well then you definitely wouldn't arrive at today's preview card because it has nothing to do with that.



Yes originally I read the card wrong and thought it did something else! But I was wrong! Regardless, this Naruto is I guess. . . kind of interesting. It has Clone Status on turn 0, which is always a plus for the early game Rasengan.

But its real power shines in the flavor text, for you see he's not holding a Rasengan... it's actually a TOADSENGAN!

Naruto: HERE COMES.... THE BIG ONE

GIANT TOADSENGAN!!!

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Fangs of the Snake, previews, tsu, Tylar

Before I reveal todays preview card I wanted to remind you all of a card that came out almost four years ago; Sasuke [Flowering Ability] from Curse of the Sand. While this guy never saw a ton of mainstream play, most likely due to his awkward stats for his entrance cost, toppled by the fact that Sasuke [Analysis of Competence] was a staple in every deck during his release, he did however make it into a few decks over the years as a one or a two of due to his unorthodox ability to grab relevant characteristics on the fly. The power to grab a Shikamaru's "Mental power: 4" in or against Mental Power decks was pretty huge, along with grabbing "Jonin" while chump block and using a Water style: Giant Vortex Jutsu, baiting out a response from your opponent, while your big team is safe on the sidelines.

-Andrew

Labels: Fangs of the Snake, previews, Tylar, Zero

Going right along with our Rock Lee theme from the other day we have MAITO GAI!

The first things you'll notice about Gai is he has retained his new "upgraded" stats of 6/0, 6/0. What you may or may not have noticed though is that he now has the SURGE ability as well as the Fire element, both welcome additions for a Ninja dealing with Pumps and an aggressive gameplay style. And on top of all of that he has a pretty awesome effect to boot. The problem? There's no real competitive way to get it to trigger all the time, thus making it almost a dead thing. At most, you'll get 5 surges off of Might Guy (2 other ones and 3 Afros). . . sadly if only he had the same effect text as Rock Lee tacked on.

However, I still remain confident that this Gai could see play if there's some mission support for him or other Ninja support for Taijutsu. I mean, having Sakura [Reliance] already makes him a 7, so you're halfway there.

Thank you once again Tylar for the preview.

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Fangs of the Snake, previews, tsu, Tylar

Hello all!

Thanks to Hungry Ninja/Tylar, I'm very pleased to be able to bring you the first preview of the newest set for the Naruto CCG, Fangs of the Snake. The set is supposed to be designed to promote synergy for mono-colored decks as well as those with specific themes, and our preview card does just that.

For all you Taijutsu lovers, I give you Rock Lee!



Finally after months of asking, there's a Ninja that ties the SURGE mechanic into the effect, and it's my favorite character no less! Ha ha! Now I know a lot of people are probably thinking Eight Inner Gates might be better than this guy, in a Taijutsu deck this guy might be a little better for two reasons:

1. You can always count on when you'll get the 5/2 stats off of Rock, not just by fulfilling a condition

2. His effect allows him to be 5/2 on your opponent's turn which makes them incredibly reluctant to attack into you with something like Tracking Ninja turn 0.

While he's not the best card ever made, for a common, he's reasonably powerful. I think his playability depends largely on what other Taijutsu Ninja are in this set, any potentially new Jutsu (*crosses fingers for a GOOD Hidden Lotus*), and of course the effect of the upcoming Rock Lee & Gaara of the Desert squad. All in all, incredibly solid and I don't think many people will find too many problems with this guy...it now becomes a question of will everything around him fall into place to give him the chance to shine or will his training have been in vain, Guy-sensei?

Labels: Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Fangs of the Snake, previews, tsu, Tylar

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

Hello all! As promised, now that "Naruto Shippuden Live!" is over, I will be unveiling our 3rd as well as our 4th preview cards for "The Perfect Curve" Blog, again courtesy of Tylar aka Hungry Ninja. Thank you Tylar! You're the best!

First, for all of those people who are complaining about Hidan burning 4 cards a deck per turn cycle, we have answer for you:



Giant Eagle is a wonderful client, especially in decks that utilize cards like "Hidan" and "The One Who Lives Within." Make no mistake, it's no Emina, but it is certain a powerful card that will allow you to filter your hand to make sure you get exactly what you need. Coupled with the new Client Rulings in Set 17, running him along side your trusty Prince Clients will be no problem. I expect him to be a 1 or 2 of in almost every deck that plays the Lightning Symbol. Genma making a comeback anyone?

Now class, before we begin discussing the final preview, I think it's time we stretch out those brains and do a little review session. To motivate where this is going, let's take a look back at "Design Space" on the Bandai CG Forums. Over the course of the article, I, with some assistance, fleshed out some ideas which I was hoping would flesh out the game, including things such as Dual Colored Jutsu, which while they're not as great as I would've liked them to be at the moment, we're clearly moving in the right direction.

For the longest time, I recall Tylar was a big advocate of the Reinforcement Deck doing more than just being "The Squad Deck," which was confirmed later on when talking with other play testers too. I know Tylar and I were on the same page here in our love for alternate states for key ninja in the series. As such, the following idea was developed:



...
But what happens if all the State 2 ninja didn’t have to take up deck space? What would happen if I could just play each of the 3 drop Sound 4 Ninja or a 4 drop Kimimaro and call upon the “State 2” ninja whenever it was relevant? Well with the Reinforcement Deck, couldn’t that be made possible? Much like Squads, there could be some sort of “Transformation” card that allows for more decks like the “State 2” deck to thrive by giving them extra leeway in deck construction. However, they need to be handled in such a way that not just every deck can play the card and it needs to have some sort of inherit drawback. The draw back to Squads is you’re essentially turning 2 ninja into 1 ninja, which results in a loss of field presence. If a “One Man Squad” type of card was introduced, there has to be a drawback to just turning your “average” ninja into a super powerful one. The most obvious design choice would be to slap a hand cost on it or perhaps only allow it to come into play under very specific cir****tances (Such as having “Power of State 2” in play perhaps?). Alternatively, the could have a drawback to it, rewarding those players brave enough to try the “Transformed” Ninja that go in the deck rather than the Ninja that come out of the Reinforcement Deck.

Let’s take a closer look at one of these fictional “Transformation” cards:

Edit: The Following Card Is Not Real!!!



A Naruto like this would add more consistency to the “Tailed Beast Form” deck by not handicapping the player who has to sacrifice the deck’s best early game ninja to play a later game version of it. As you can see though, this Naruto has a number of drawbacks that make him worse than his 5 drop “Emerging Alliance” counterpart including lower stats, coming out a turn later, vulnerability to card effects, and an effect that can potentially lose you the game if you aren’t careful. You have effectively gained a much more flexible deck by using a card like this but it doesn’t give you the same benefits as if you had played “The Real Thing” in your actual deck. It is important to note that the design of this card is set up in such a way that the card has plenty of drawbacks but still provides the players with the centerpiece they need as well as providing an alternate win condition in the form of mill. Transformations, or any card for that matter, need not just be tools to assist a win condition but rather can create ones, allowing for diverse decks that have multiple outs and backup plans, thus making it a game more of intelligence and skill than one of luck.

After this article and the follow up "Going In(to) Depth" where posted, Tylar shot me a message telling me "Good Job." I never really knew why he praised me on those two articles in particular until the other day,
when Tylar gave me today's Preview. And contrary to what I posted, it is actually... NOT A SQUAD.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the "Transformation" topic is indeed a reality. It is with great pride that I'm proud to introduce to you all the Game's First "REINFORCEMENT" Type Card (At least going by the card number):



Tylar had been planning this idea all along, and the support from the article I assumed only added fuel to the fire. This is the first Ninja Transformation state that you will be able to play in your Reinforcement Decks (Hence the Squad Type Slow Spoil). Now, let's look a look at what he does shall, we?

With all the same characteristics as the normal Hidan, you're not "sacrificing" anything by putting him into play. In fact, you're getting an upgrade of 7/3, 7/0 stats rather than 6/2, 6/0. However, unlike his regular counter part, Curse Mode does not discard cards off the top of the deck every turn, rather opting to discard when he takes damage. Combo this with the Giant Eagle card above and Hidan is a draw/filter engine almost by himself. Keep in mind the fact that he still can't die. Oh and did I mention it has Name: Hidan? That means you theoretically should be able to "Squad" him into himself again to get back to Healthy stats.
If he ever gets removed from play, since normal Hidan returns to your hand when removed from play, you should easily be able to put him into play again. And again.

But going back to the "Squadding", how do you put him into play? Tylar said already that you can't straight up "Squad" or rather "Reinforce" this guy into play like you would a normal "Squad." You need to meet a special requirement for this card to come into play. So the question now is... how does he come into play? And what is the point of Three Bladed Scythe's second effect?

Perhaps we'll find out later this week?

I want to again thank Tylar immensely for these previews and giving me the wonderful honor of being the first to show you all the "Reinforcement" Card Type. (Designated by it's "Red" Squad border, rather than the Purple I showed you yesterday. It's like a Squad...but it's not :P)

Labels: hidan, previews, tsu, Tylar, Will of Fire

And here is the second Preview Card we all promised you that we unveiled last week in the Interview with Tylar:



Now I'm still slightly confused why all the bad rap on this card? It's a monster in draft and even in Constructed post GenCon rotation, it is hardly a bad card. A Snipe Injure for 2 Fire without having any real requirements to speak of is pretty nice if you ask me. You get the Bonus Effect of giving yourself a damage if Hidan was the user. Sounds strange? Well Hidan can't die by damage, so why worry anyway?

While Andrew may have spoiled some surprises (and my fun) for you all, I think I'll have to find some other way to amuse myself. How about I slow spoil one of our many preview cards to come?



And yes, that is indeed a Squad Border.

What could it be?

I'll unveil the preview card tomorrow night, immediately after the airing of "Naruto Shippuden Live"

Until then!

~Ja ne

Labels: previews, tsu, Tylar, Will of Fire

So, last week in an interview with Tylar, one of the game's designers, we revealed the effect text of the first ever Hidan card, as well as one of his jutsus. As a follow up, we thought we would discuss our opinions of each of the cards, as well as include the pictures Tylar sent to us, so that those of you dying to see the card image could finally stop messaging us begging for pics. So here's the man you've all been waiting for:

Before I go into the card itself, yes we actually water marked the card to prevent the usual image leeching. Anyway, first off I wish it had a lightning background, as it looks really meh with the fire background in my opinion. Secondly, I really like the care that went into the card. As a player who also follows the series religiously (Get it?), having an effect that truly follows the story line, while also being really solid is a big deal. As a veteran of the game, it also makes me happy working with brand new card effects, such as Hidan's inability to die by damage, to see how I can "Break" them. I've already found some cool combos, and I'm sure some of you have as well.

All in all I think Hidan is a really solid card. On his own he isn't amazing, but with the help of some other cards he might turn out to be a pretty big contender in the upcoming format. Check back later this week for more Hidan previews, including the much talked about Cursed mode Hidan! Also a big thanks to Tylar for providing us with these previews!

-Andrew

Labels: hidan, previews, Tylar, Will of Fire, Zero

Question 1: Who are you, and what do you do at Bandai?

Tylar: I go by Hungry_Ninja on the forums, which I plan on changing soon I just don't know to what, and my real name is Tylar. I do: Q&A, lead Q&A at this point, I design, test, uhh edit for errors. Pretty much everything. I'm in charge of article writing, I keep the article writers in check, which Pat can attest to. umm I don't think there's a single thing I haven't done. I've even compared marketing numbers before.

Question 2: Ice breaker! If you could have one Super power, what would it be and why?

Tylar: The power to grant myself any power I want? Nah, but seriously seeing the future seems like the best thing ever. You'd be the ultimate at everything. "I'm going to put a thousand dollars down on double zero" "Why?" "Because it's going to be double zero." Then again, you'd probably go to jail because they would think you were cheating. Maybe I'll have to rethink that, or just do sports bets. But yeah seeing the future seems good.

Question 3: How exactly does the design process work?

Tylar: We are still in the experimental stages, but I can tell you what we did for set 17. We actually met in the room I'm sitting in now. There were six of us and we were told to start from scratch and come up with basic effects. Then James Takenaka came in and gave us two to three marketing goals for the set, and said "Every card must reflect these goals". Next we took the five elements and made kind of a pie chart out of them, and we divvied up the special niches between each element and then tryed to make those diametrically opposed, much like people would know from Magic: the Gathering. No offense to anyone who dislikes Magic, but a game going on for that long means it has to be doing something right.

Anyway, after that we took out a bunch of scrap paper and we calculated the total number of ninjas we need to on average get a good curve in draft. We then split them up so that each element has an equal number of zeros, each element has the same number of ones, twos, threes, and so on. After this we started giving the cards names and effects. Effects are really a kind of down the road thing, thats the thing that takes the most time. I distinctly remember the very first day working on this was fifteen hours long, because James was going to be like "Hey guys, it's been eight hours, it's time to go", but were were on such a huge roll that he didn't want to stop us. Each day after that we would come in and work on the effect text, wether we wanted to scrap them and start over, or wether we wanted to keep them because they were basic enough.

In the end we came down to a few problem cards that we wanted to balance the story line with the actual game, though I'm sure you know which ones I'm talking about. Hidan was a big problem, as I think he started out with five valid effects. We eventually broke him down to to the point where both sides of the group were happy, cause Brian and I are big on the story line, and Andy and Alex are big on the game play. In the end I'm pretty satisfied with set 17, we put a lot of work into it.

Question 4: What specific types of effects do you prefer to put on cards when designing?

Tylar: I don't really think of cards as a single entity. I don't stare at a card and say "Hey this card is good". When designing I tend to think "if I was making a deck, what would I need to make this type of deck playable?" and then I go from there and have cards bounce off from each other in one way or another so that it still feels like you are playing Naruto, but the way that you are playing it is more in tune to the character or the mechanic you are attempting to play with. It's more fun that way and it adds variety to the game if you ask me.

Question 5: So about that Hidan guy. Since you had full design over him, what can you tell us about him?

Tylar: Well, he originally started as a smattering of valid effects, you know there were a few things from the story line side and a few things from the game play side. From the game play side we wanted him to be playable in the current format um, in this right he couldn't be a stand alone stupidly good card. I'm okay with his regular version being a good stand alone card, but the curse mode had to be separated or something he transformed into. There were lots of card ideas and new mechanics floating around for cursed mode Hidan.

For story line purposes, Hidan had to be an idiot, he had to lose to shikamaru, and we reflected it no problem. The other thing we wanted to show, which was the biggest hurdle is him never dying. Without being over powered, that's a really hard thing to touch on, especially in a game with so much removal. It was really hard to get this card to really show the story without it being busted. I had some trouble when I first started working on him, and eventually had to give somewhat of a presentation of the card to try and prove my point about him. But eventually we came to a nice middle ground with the cards, including the weakness of Hidan and how he never dies.

Question 6: What decks do you think will do well with the introduction of set 17?

Tylar: Set 17 was shortly done, as we only had something like three weeks to build this set from scratch. it was very difficult when adding in getting license approval, asking Bandai japan for approval, and the artist working on the cards. We had something like three PDFs going back and forth in a mater of a week, which was impressive. For what little time we had though, I think this is a really well made set.

For what it will do to the meta, I know the Hidan deck might show up as it has a wickedly good combo to it, I don't really think any other new deck types were developed aside from Hidan and Kakuzu cause they were central to the set. Still, other decks will get stuff cause Shikamaru is going to beat Hidan he's going to need some mental power stuff, so that will be there too. I'm not really sure with the meta, as my head has been buried in the sand in set 18 as of late, but I expect a lot of these cards to make a splash. There shouldn't be anything completely busted, as we are trying to slow the game down, but yeah I expect to see some intresting developments with set 17.

Question 7: For future sets, what do you plan to work on in particular?

Tylar: For set 18 we started off three months ahead of time, sat down at the table and asked who wants what element, what characters do we want to make, and where do we really want to go. And I'm not thinking set by set I'm thinking block by block. were going to need a pain deck soon, as he is close at hand in the story line. Pain goes hand in hand with sage mode, and toads. As for elements, I ended up getting stuck with an element I didn't like at first. It wasn't exactly my flavor but I turned it into my kind of flavor. Everyone has been working on specific deck ideas, and since we are trying to think block by block we can actually plan out cards ahead of time so that by the end of the block, the deck is fully complete. It makes sense. I kind of ignored your original question, didn't I?

Andrew: Kind of. What element were you stuck with?

Tylar: Lightning. Keep in mind though, it's lightning as a first element. Things having two elements is still not out of the question. I will say that right now, there are three different deck types I'm working on for this next block (sets 18-21).

Question 8: In the current format, what card do you feel is the most problematic, and why?

Tylar: Tobi. He is playable in everything which is one of the things I'm deeply against. I'm for cards being playable in everything but they shouldn't be that good in everything or the best in everything. There should have been some kind of cost associated with it to try and slim it down. In the end that card should have never been printed. I have a small fear the new Might guy might turn out to be the same thing, but I don't think so.

Question 9: The tournament pack. What exactly went into it?

Tylar: We started with a huge list of characters and we thought: 1. What do we need for our set 17 archetypes? 2. What do we need for our set 18 archetypes? And 3. what would look really cool as a chibi?

Pat: Lots of Sakura Haruno?

Andrew: Ino Megamilk in Chibi? Both her head and her breasts would be huge!

Tylar: *Laughs* There are some really awkward picks in this pack, but number one priority was for draft ability so any effects that would affect making drafting easier, we would definitely put in the pack. Market and designing always seem to be at ends, last week we had a couple of cards James said we couldn't have the set so we had to cut them. Luckily we just got it finished up before this. So I feel pretty happy about this too.

Question 10: That cool Sakura Chick who is clearly three cards in one. How did that come about?

Tylar: Let's put hokage rocks on a body. It's still kind of bad, what do we do? Futaba is rotating out and the Chicago players love Futaba, lets put it on her. It's getting there, but how does it work in medical? Well, it needs to heal. Bam, Done. We put all three decent effects together and thats what came out. Why fire? I think it should have been Wind/Earth to fit in Kunoichi butas Fire it fit with the other "Reliance" Ninja cards. Story wise Sakura's personality and Inner sakura are always angry and have angry flames.

Question 11: What are your plans for the Taijutsu archtype?

I will tell you that that has been one of the decks on my mind for awhile. It's been away from the spot light too long, in fact it never had it to begin with. It's one of those decks that exemplified lightning in what it does and I really think they deserve a pump up. The question is what does Taijutsu do? "I get big and kick your ass". Thats the obvious answer anyway, but to exemplify that answer in teh card game I have a few Ideas but nothing is concrete just yet.

Question 12: Platoons with Hand costs... Why?

Tylar: It's dependent on what effect is on it. We start without a hand cost, and look at the effect and if the consensus is that the card is too good and splashable, then we add a hand cost or some kind of restriction. This is why Tenzo requires two earth chakra instead of one for his effect. If it has a hand cost, the hand cost has a place... Well now anyway.

Question 13: Sasori and Zabuza are rotating out, plans to reprint them?

Tylar: We watch ninja that are cycling out and in. We are already aware of the things that are leaving, and with Sasori and the puppets leaving it isn't beyond us to revisit puppets. Just next time without Lifeless Warrior and without that Kankuro guy.

Question 14: Is Sasuke BTL being reprinted?

No. We were sitting at the table when it was brought up. Three of us said instantly said "Not Sasuke BTL" A couple of people looked up at us. We stared them down. Then they were like "Okay, were not." The only way Sasuke BTL comes back is if the Chidoris in format were really balanced, like lightning blade from set 1, and you couldn't recur it.

Andrew: I like lightning blade from set 1...

Question 15: Have you tried out EDH?

No, haven't had enough time to try it.

Previews:

Three Bladed Scythe
Cost: Fire Fire
Requirement: Printed Entrance cost of 3 or more
Target: 1 Ninja
Effect: Injure the Target. Then, if the User is Hidan, you may give 1 damage to the user.

Tylar: This card Originally started off as a blanket one damage. Pay this give one damage. We thought it was too bland, too stupid, and didn't fit really well with Hidan. It's based on when Hidan swings his scythe at Asuma, and Asuma ducks and it hits Hidan. It's generically okay, when you play it in a deck it's meant to be played in it's good.

Hidan
Fire/Lightning
T5 HC:1
Characteristics: Akatsuki l Rogue Ninja l Male l Jonin l Mental Power: -1
[Immortal]
Valid: This Ninja cannot be removed from play due to damage.
Valid: When this Ninja is removed from play, return it to the owners hand instead.
Valid: Discard the top two cards of your deck at the start of your turn.
Stats: 6/2 Healthy, 6/0 Injured
Combat attribute: Curse/Weapon
Super rare

Tylar: Hidan started with four or five valid effects and was boiled down to three effects on this card, and two effects on the cursed mode card. I gave Hidan the milling effect because I was out hanging with a friend who was eating a burrito. After awhile my friend said "This burrito is to big, I can't finish it" and then it clicked. Even though he wont die, he will eventually run out of steam.

Hope you guys enjoyed the interview, as well as the previews (Pics will be up later in the week when we get them). Thanks again Tylar for letting us Interview you!

-Andrew

Labels: hidan, Interview, previews, Tylar, Will of Fire, Zero