-Justin

Labels: bandai, justin, laughing man

Bandai.

Real trolls

Labels: bandai, tsu

Lightning has always had it's time in the spotlight in nearly every recent format, as well as some older ones as well. Though the times of Sexy Gaara, Chain Lightning, and Toad Rush are in the past; Lightning has regained it's position as a Tier 1 to 1.5 deck. Recent Lightning cards such as Anko's Memory, Monster Research, Killer Bee, and The Fourth Hokage, supplemented by strong Jutsu like Lariat, Rasenshuriken, Infinite Embrace, and quick Chakra producers like Kushina Uzumaki and Tsuchigumo Style: Forbidden Jutsu Release - Big Bang made for a solid deck.

With the soon to be released Set 23: Invasion just around the corner, in combination with the newly updated Rogue List for Premiere Tournaments, many players have been looking forward to what new toys Lightning will be receiving to play with. With the restriction of both Kushina Uzumaki [Eternal Bond] as well as Tsuchigumo Style: Forbidden Jutsu Release - Big Bang being limited to 1 copy per deck, along with the outright ban of Anbu [Hidden Threat] and Anbu [Rising Threat], the early game has been slowed down quite considerably. Where a player could easily have as much as 10 chakra on Turn 1, without having to sacrifice nearly any of their hand or board presence, priming you for a rain of Infinite Embrace on your opponent's field and a very abrupt scoop from your opponent, that is no longer the case. What Lightning needs now is more aggressive early game tools in order to fill that void (not Void, mind you).

Cue the new Rasengan, which can be played by the usual any Jiraiya or Fourth Hokage, but has the added benefit of being able to be played by any Naruto Uzumaki + Clone Status or Konohamaru + Clone Status. A quick check of the card database reveals that save for Naruto Uzumaki (Taijutsu), all Naruto have Clone Status in format, from the smallest Turn 0, to the Turn 5 Tailed Beast Mode, and all Konohamaru have Clone Status as well, most importantly Konohamaru Ninja Squad, who is a near staple in many decks (all decks?).

You also have the new Rock Lee [Honor Bound]. While he is a bit tech in his use, he sports both Growth and Surge, allowing him to become a 5 or 6 combat on his own, if needed, which ties in well to his effect. He cannot be Blocked by a Team of 2 or more Ninjas. Although, he cannot be added to a Team with other Ninjas either. So that means that if your opponent wishes to stop him, they will need to send a Ninja one on one against him, leaving their field spread out. I can see this as one of the reasons that Anbu were banned, as dropping a Lee with two Anbu is a very harsh beating.

Ink Leech is an attempt to give back that early chakra gain, but at the cost of lower stats, and the inability to Growth over for even more chakra without the cost of a deploy. Despite this, it seems to be a rather popular card and just might see use anyways. Without the possibility of your opponent gathering a Team Power of 5 or higher any longer, the Leech and come down on Turn 0 and block, retaining it's 1 combat and support even when injured. Though, this would only really be advantageous if you were going first, as dropping an Ink Leech on the Draw will leave you severely lacking in Team power come your opponent's Turn 1.

There are still plenty of other Lightning cards that have not yet been previewed yet though, so this list of useful Lightning tools may increase before the Set is released on November 18th.

So by this point, you might be wondering what the point of all this up to now has been. The answer is today's preview, which is a card I feel might see some play, if only because if offers Lightning an aggressive start to the game.

First, I will tell you all that it is a Mission Card. Second, it plays on Turn 1. Early missions are always nice, but only if they do something useful, right? Well what do we seem to all want out of missions lately? Draw and Tutoring, it seems is what we all look for when assembling our mission line up. If there is an added effect to it, then all the better, right? Well then this card fits that bill perfectly.

So right away, you will notice that this card is similar in practice to Pat's preview card, but with the advantage of you being able to pick your chosen combatant. with the added benefit of being able to draw 2 cards if things go your way, which it should or else you wouldn't be playing the mission in the first place, right?

This card is Amazing if you are going first, as you will, unless playing understatted Ninjas, have a higher Team Power than your opponent, who should have a maximum Team power of 4, while you could have as much as a 7. Injuring their first Combat Ninja can be a huge advantage that you will be able to seize, plus you get 2 new cards as well!

While preparing to write this article, I took the time to search out any cards that are still legal that would give us some solid interaction with this card. Obviously, cards that aid in attaining a Victory such as The Fourth Hokage [Supremacy] come to mind, but so do cards that get effects Because we scored a Victory of some kind. Of all current Block Format Ninjas, the following activate an effect when it's Team with any kind of Victory:

Kakashi Hatake & Yamato
Itachi Uchiha
Karin
Pain (Deva Path)
Zabuza Momochi
Zabuza Momochi (Younger Days)
Uhei (accent over the U)
Rock Lee & Might Guy
Kakuzu (Soul Form)
Shukaku

With a quick pruning of some cards that just don't work well with Lightning's theme or are extremely off element, we have a new list that looks like this:

Itachi Uchiha (Set 21)
Pain (Deva Path) (Set 19)
Zabuza Momochi (Set 22)
Rock Lee & Might Guy (Set 19)

Also of note, is a reprinted Orochimaru that activates on an Outstanding Victory:

Orochimaru (Set 19 Starter Deck)

What about Jutsu cards?

Lightning Blade Single Slash (TP 1&2)
Eight Inner Gates (Set 19)
Deformable Body (TP 3)
Partial Expansion Jutsu (Set 22)
Severe Leaf Hurricane (Set 22)

Again, some quick pruning leaves us with:

Deformable Body (TP 3)
Severe Leaf Hurricane (Set 22)

Obviously, the idea of tooling our deck exclusively around a single mission card is a bad idea. But if the deck itself works well and we do not force the deck into a singular path (We need to be able to win the game without the mission, if it never comes up, afterall), then there is no reason not to try and compliment it with a few cards.

Seeing as the best cards for these situations are Lightning and Water, that would be the best place for this mission, if possible.

Obviously, a very nice, albeit very late combo comes in the form of the Rock Lee & Might Guy platoon, whom, as the target of the Mission, will continue to have to be opposed every new Combat Phase that it spawns. Pair them up with someone like Orochimaru [Eager Desire], and not only will your opponent's field be nothing, but so will their Turn Marker.

Five Minute Deck List Featuring Preview Card, Go!

Betting on a Victory

Ninjas (30):
Turn 0
x3 Rock Lee [Vanilla]
x3 Jirobo (State 1)
x3 Hotaru Katsuragi
x2 Gaara (Childhood)
Turn 1
x2 Karin [Absorption]
x2 Kidomaru (State 1)
Turn 2
x2 Konohamaru Ninja Squad
x2 Iruka Umino [Strategic Placement]
Turn 3
x1 Anko Mitarashi [Test Proctor]
x2 Naruto Uzumaki [Emerging Beast]
Turn 4
x2 Killer Bee [Da Eighth]
Turn 5
x1 Zabuza Momochi [Demon of the Mist]
Turn 6
x2 The Fourth Hokage [Supremacy]
x1 Orochimaru [Eager Desire]
x2 Might Guy & Rock Lee

Missions (11):
x3 Wager
x3 Monster Research
x3 Anko's Memory
x2 Make-Out Tactics

Jutsu (9):
x3 Chidori (Set 19)
x2 Rasengan (Set 23)
x2 Deformable Body
x1 Tsuchigumo Style: Forbidden Jutsu Release - Big Bang
x1 Infinite Embrace

Reinforcement Deck:

x3 Rock Lee & Gaara
x2 Kidomaru (State 2)
x2 Naruto Uzumaki (Nine Tails Cloak)
x2 Naruto Uzumaki (Tailed Beast Mode)
x2 Naruto Uzumaki (Four Tails)
x2 Naruto Uzumaki & The Fourth Hokage
x2 Jirobo (State 2) (We can only assume he will be good?)

Labels: bandai, previews, Set 23, Shino'sDad

Long time community member and former playtester Zbkillaz a.k.a. Saul has received conformation from Yuya @ Bandai that there will be something done in the coming days/weeks about the Anbu situation.

Exactly when, what it effects (Origins? AX? GenCon?), or how the cards will be changed I have no idea but as soon as we know, we'll be sure to post more here.

In the meantime you can read about the topic over at Bandai:

Bandai on Anbu (Official)

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, errata, Rogue list, 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

At some point tonight or tomorrow, I'm going to be testing the Live Stream setup I intend to use for GenCon.

It will be on my Justin.tv account which you can find here. I want to see with my current setup how well it works and if I need to make adjustments, whether it be the camera or the actual connection itself.

If this works, then the only things left to do is get approval from Bandai (as in, they'll let me do this, provide me with a spot + extension chord, and an able body, preferably Andy or Tylar, to watch the setup in between rounds to make sure no one swipes it) and get approval from GenCon also as they have a policy that says I have to go through them and get approval for any live on site filming or streaming.

Wish me luck and hope this works correctly the first time. If it works, you can expect to see this setup work at any event I go to from here on out.

Edit: Okay so everything except the bit rate is good and I'm not 100% sure the audio is working but what we do have that works is pretty good. I have a really nice dual camera setup where people are able to see the players and the people sitting behind the laptop. Text overlay works. Need someone to help me make some backgrounds as well as some banners (That means you Nick). Once we know for sure that works, all that's left is to get one of those fun wireless cards from Verizon to use at GenCon. Shouldn't be too hard.

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Gencon, Livestream, tsu

Title says it all. Just trying to stir up a friendly conversation via the comments section, so don't be afraid to let us know. I personally have been very busy with the PA Shonen Jump so I haven't purchased or had the time to actually play with any of the new cards.

That being said. . .

How do you guys feel Bandai did with Set 21?

Which elements do you feel will be the strongest? Weakest?

Favorite surprises from the set?

Any cards you felt where really under powered or over powered this set?

Let us know in the comments below.

-Tsu

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Set 21, tsu

Hey loyal readers, I would have posted TWO previews for you tonight, but one Mr. Andrew Kardis is being a cock smuggler and did not send me the email with the cards attached.

Instead, you will be pleasured with my now endless ranting and raving.

So what has Mr. Nick Botchis (Aka Shino'sDad) been up to? Well, aside from trolling Naruto in the newest chapter of, Naruto, I have been playing Pokemon White a lot and also testing decks for the upcoming Chunin at ATF in New Jersey. More importantly, I am smoothing out the last bit of planning for my trip to Flordia for the SJC at Fort Minor, I mean Fort Myers (omg lol ur not funny Shino'sDad). I will be accompanied by a rather exotic crew of players from New England, as compared to my normal CT Crew. Expect to see the likes of Joe Colon and possibly Eric Melone kicking it in the backseat of my car (But which seat should I take?!).

So until tomorrow when I actually have the damned cards to preview, I will drop a hint for you all. He may not be Picaso, but he has a solid foundation at least. And then another card too.

-Shino'sDad

[Insert Sig Pic Here]

Labels: Andrew Kardis dissapointed me, bandai, naruto ccg, Set 21, Shino'sDad, sjc

For a good 10 or so sets now, most of us have wanted an Akatsuki deck where we could cram all the members in and it wasn't until the introduction of Void in Set 19 that this idea became possible. Bandai has succeeded in creating what may not be the most competitive deck type ever, but certain one of the most fun as players can finally get there hands on a full-fledged Akatsuki deck without the awkward and clunky 5 colored late game only variants of yesteryear.

Here's the low down on the cards in case you missed them.

Zetsu
Zetsu is actually a really awesome zero drop. He has good stats for a turn zero, and his effect is actually more powerful than you think. Looking at your opponent's hand in tandem with the Note Taking rule allows you to know your opponent's early to midgame strategy. You'll know if there's a critical mission to stop or a surprise Jutsu or Might Guy you might run into. The best part? It's guaranteed to go off twice, meaning late game you can chump this guy and know right away whether you can sweep in for the kill.

The only downside? He's named Zetsu, meaning he has some really stiff competition with set 18's amazing sideboard card of the same name.

Tobi
I was wondering when they were going to use the Tobi artwork from our website. He's actually pretty solid and depending on the cards with "World" in the name that are to be released in later sets, he could end up being a staple. As it stands though, his only option in format is "Taking Over the World", which actually isn't terrible as a 1 of or 2 of if you run this card and are playing the right deck. Tutoring up a free BR or a free Injure isn't that bad if your deck can for sure satisfy the requirements on turn 3 every game. If that's the best "World" card he ever gets though, the card will simply be wasted potential.

As it stands, he's not really going to see much play though as Many of Mystery from Set 16 is a for sure staple. Until that rotates, no card with the name Tobi will see play (outside of the obvious Uchiha Madara).

I also find it funny that Tobi comes in the Starter deck that doesn't have any cards with "World" in the name. Unless Andy fixed the lists recently?

Deidara
Deidara is interesting to me. I don't really know how this guy is going to pan out, but if I had to take my first guess, not so good. First off, his requirements are somewhat strict to pull off and your opponent has the option to negate the damage by ramping your turn marker by 1, which they will almost always do. So he essentially is going to ramp the turn marker by 1 for 2 generic if all your Ninja are void. That can be good or bad though late game as it might put the opponent in a position where they have to choose between taking a damage or dealing with Preta Path or Deva Path's effects. To top it off, no way to play C4 also hurts him.

I like his stats though and I hope I'm just wrong on this card cause I think he has nifty design (like all the cards for Set 21 so far).

Sasori
A little birdie told me that Sasori's effect was originally every turn before it got changed. That would make the card simply absurd. As he stands now though, Sasori isn't all that bad, with some solid Sakura-esque stats on turn 3. Good stats and characteristics also help him out. In the right deck he essentially will fetch you a whole new hand and given that the extra effect on other Void cards is to draw cards off the bottom of the deck, with proper management, you can swap into/draw into some really impressive hands.

Kakuzu
while I love the flavor of Kakuzu, I think this card is the least likely of all the cards to see play in the actual void deck and the second least likely to see play at all. His stats and characteristics are good but I'm not a fan of any of his effects. In a Lightning deck, I'm gonna want to play Kakashi as my 5 drop. In a Wind deck, Sasori is my man. So that relegates him to using the last effect which is essentially a "I can trade well" or "Well I'm not totally screwed" tool. I suppose it might be useful to just pay the 1 every turn for an invincible turn 5 Ninja but in the past that hasn't worked out too well (Hidan). I just think there's better options and this guy will strictly be for Limited play.

Hidan
First off... WTF BANDAI? WHY DOES HE HAVE A HANDCOST!?

So ... he's a turn 4 Zabuza Demon of the Cloud Village, a card seeing no play right now, only instead of killing 1 to 3 Ninjas when his effect triggers...you get a -1/-1 coin. Right. Gotcha. That's so worth it.

I get that he has good synergy with Uchiha Madara, but Chibi Hidan is better for that. Speaking of Chibi Hidan, the best card to use Set 21's Hidan with is the same Chibi Hidan...which you obviously can't do. So much fail...easily the worst of the Akatsuki in this theme.

Itachi Uchiha
...but you quickly forget about how terrible Hidan is once you see this guy. Itachi may be one of the best 6 drops ever printed. Great stats, all the relevant characteristics on a card you could want, and an essentially free effect. Considering no Jutsu played costs more than 3 (except maybe Hydro Pump which may get through on a technicality), At worst you're dropping your turn marker to 4 when you use this guy...which means you're most likely still going to drop the same card you would have anyway on the following turn (Chiriku anyone?). The longer the game goes on, the more ammo Itachi has and for a free effect, negating the first Jutsu your opponent plays for free is VERY powerful.

Fun combos: You lower your turn maker to an odd turn off of Itachi to trigger Preta Path.

Gaara/Temari + Obito Uchiha + This Guy = Jutsu? Nah bro!

Kisame
As expected, Kisame is the perfect partner for Itachi. His ability is also fantastic not only for fueling the effects in the deck, but depleting opponent's resources. He's all around a very solid card with solid stats...his only drawback is that he's only playable in a deck with a sizable amount of void cards.

Pain (Deva Path)
...or as I like to call him "One Winged Angel" (bad joke!). This Deva Path is very much an improvement over the original one in Set 19. His first effect essentially locks your opponent on turn 5 if you went first and they have to block him for fear of losing the game. However the true beauty of the card is should you drop him on 6 and win a victory every turn, you will always have an even turn marker for the rest of the game, meaning his second effect is always active. His second effect can actually seal away whole games as you're able to go on the offense with your big Jutsu like C4 or Hydro Pump and your opponent simply cannot retaliate to it.

I think he's actually a very strong 6 drop, who may actually be hidden tech later on at some point. I just don't know if he'll be good enough, especially when you compare him alongside Itachi who can essentially do the same thing but far easier and without the Sacrifice.

Konan
Well this card was a bit of a disappointment to me when I read it. For once I thought we'd actually get a great Konan but alas she's only just "okay" in the Akatsuki deck. Her best play obviously is to drop in play Deva Path and then drop Kakuzu or Kisame but that's really where the awesomeness stops. Sacrifice is a requirement to put in play certain Ninja, not just deploy them. So sacrificing for Deva Path and then deciding to put in play Asura Path or what have you will also require a Sacrifice. Now this could be awesome considering it triggers Konan again, but the already small field presence the Pain deck has would just get even smaller. And considering she doesn't have too many chances to trigger, I just don't see her as being that good.

Her effect is essentially resigned to dropping into play a Giant Chameleon whenever you put in play something like Preta Path or Animal Path. Might allow you to get some field presence/rush going or fuel other sacrifices later...but I'm gonna pass on this one.

Edit: Just reread Konan cause someone said I had the effect wrong. Yeah...that makes her even worse. Nothing to see here. Move along to the preview.

Okay I assume most of you just whizzed right through most of that and stopped right around here just so you can see our first Set 21 preview, which goes along with Fire Week.

I give you...

DENKA

...Yes this adorable kitty is actually a much needed early game drop for Fire, perfectly complimenting the rush style gameplay of Anbu and Dogs. As the game progresses and your field gets larger, Denka goes from pint sized to something much bigger along the lines of his feline friend Giant Tiger. And for those non-rush oriented decks, he actually has a really useful other ability. Should Denka actually stick around to see the late game and you need options, simply sacrifice him and your deploy to pick up a guy from your discard pile and slam him onto the table (don't forget to pay the hand cost)!

For a turn 0 common, I don't think Fire could have asked for much better. He's all around incredibly solid and is sure to make a lot of you Fire players purrrrrfectly happy.

Check back tomorrow night when Andrew will have our 2nd Set 21 preview.

-Tsu

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, previews, Set 21, tsu

Hello folks and welcome to the first of The Perfect Curve's previews for Naruto Shippuden CCG Set 20: The Tales of the Gallant Sage.

We are lucky enough to bring you a full theme this week, in the form of a group of Ninjas that not only all work very well together, but supplement some other Ninjas that have already been printed in prior sets.

The first of which is everyone's favorite avenger, Sasuke Uchiha. But this time, he is dressed for success.


So the first thing you will notice is most likely the art. The Ninjas in our previews this week come from the Shippuden Anime ending #5, Gentle Rainbow. While we can't be 100% sure how it will actually look on a printed card, I have a feeling that foils of these Ninjas are going to be really nice.

Sasuke Uchiha (Suit) is your standard Turn 4 Sasuke, though he only sports a Fire Symbol in this incarnation, as opposed to a Water or both Fire and Water. This is fine due to the deck type he is designed to work in. And with a quick look at the characteristic line, we can see that the deck of choice is Leaf Academy.

As for the effect itself, he allows you to place a growth coin on any of your in play Leaf Academy Ninjas by discarding any Leaf Academy Ninja in your hand. While the effect isn't downright outstanding on it's own, it supplements the decktype in that it is a constant stream of Growth coins for your Ninjas. What appears to be a downside though, it that his effect is considered Growthing the Ninja, so you cannot use it on a Ninja that already has a Growth coin, and you cannot further Growth a Ninja with this effect if it already has a Growth coin on it. On the other hand, the fact that this effect is considered Growth works very well with the next Ninja in this preview.

From a Limited perspective, he is a solid Turn 4 Ninja with big Combat and the potential to Growth, and being a common, you may be able to pick up a couple of them. Combined with the fact that there are other Leaf Academy Ninjas this set, his effect will let you get that important Team Power up to the level where your opponent will not want to block or have to start taking heavy damage on his side of the field.

Next up is one of my favorite cards in the theme, a transfer student who has befriended those of the Leaf Academy.


Gaara of the Desert (Suit) is your standard Turn 2 Gaara, with the addition of Leaf Academy as well as Growth, a mechanic we never see on Sand Ninja. That is though, of course, because he is also technically a Leaf Ninja this time around, as shown by his second effect.

His first effect is what makes him interesting though. Similar to Advisor of the Sand, who draws you a card whenever you Surge, Gaara (Suit) draws you a card whenever you Growth a Ninja. This includes himself of course, and it also includes Sasuke (Suit)'s effect, meaning that Gaara and Sasuke become a filter engine for the deck with the bonus of getting a Growth coin as well.

As with Sasuke (Suit), Gaara (Suit) is not a card that outright screams "Play Me", but is meant to operate within the decktype that it was designed for. Combined with the rest of the theme, Leaf Academy gets a solid boost in this set. Although it won't be going out to win any large events, it still has a structure to it other than "Rush to 10 coins as fast a possible."

Be sure to check back often for new previews for the Leaf Academy theme as well as the staff's random musing on all things Naruto as well as other random banter.

Afterthought: Maybe since we got these Ninjas, we will get some Bacchikoi! afterall...

Labels: Bacchikoi, bandai, previews, Shino'sDad

Edit: As a clarification when I say "Bandai" I am referring to the people on the Bandai forums, not the actual company and it's designers.

Fun Fact: The name "The Definitive Act" comes from the last album by Tsunami Bomb upon knowing their end. It was also my hope that people would pick some of their favorites over the past year and we could come up with a "Definitive" list of "Must Reads" for newer players who wanted to get brought up to speed on certain history lessons and topics.

But who really cares. Let's get to the topic at hand: the article writing staff essentially got shit canned.

While it pains me that I no longer will get to write on the main site, "The Perfect Curve" is a fine alternative to it. Mostly because I can say whatever I want here without any real fear, as evidenced by the above statement. It's a place where I can basically be "uncensored." When writing for Bandai, you have to realize that there are certain things you can and cannot say. For example, I tried to stray away from writing articles like the last few Gary (VSA) has written because usually it winds up with someone from Bandai asking me questions as to why I did something like that.

I decided to use this space to basically be as brutally honest as I can and answer some of the people in the thread "The Definitive Act" over at Bandai.

@Soviet: Please don't use my space to try to further promote your site. We get it. You're looking for writers. You've used every space on Bandai to point this out. There's just one problem with your idea: There aren't many qualified writers. At least if that's what you're to believe from reading the thread.

@Canti: I thank you for your kind words on the thread. People don't seem to realize how stupidly difficult and time consuming this project is.

Here's the scenario: I want you to build a deck of Naruto Cards to take to a local. Your job is to try to win said local with that deck. If you don't place within the top 50% at the end of every local, you are banned from ever going to a Naruto CCG tournament again. In addition, you can never use any of the same cards in a deck twice. You cannot ever build any of the decks that someone at the tournament is using either otherwise you automatically get DQ'd. If you win a tournament, you will receive no compensation for the next 4 tournaments.

That's the Bandai writing staff in a nutshell. I'm not saying I hated it, because I loved it, but you have to realize just how difficult it is to come up with a fresh topic every week and also make sure it has never been done before. And if your article is slated for tomorrow and someone covered your topic the day before, guess what? You have 12 hours to write something new. Imagine how it feels to be in the Friday slot. If at any point someone Monday - Thursday overlaps with your article, you have to rewrite it. Think you can do it? Every week for a year? And suppose even if you could do it, could you appease the masses? Think about how many other article writers have come and gone over the last year. . . the system is set up to fail you unless you can handle it. And even then, it's so easy to step on someone's toes and screw them over, which has happened many many times.

@Bunnyslayer: Glad you'll still be reading this. I know we don't always agree eye to eye and you think I'm too nice, but my goal has always been to elevate the player base as well as the design team. If that means I have to cater towards casuals and point out the positives of cards you think will never see the light of day, so be it. If you simply shut out all but the competitive, no new players will join the game. Ripping out a designer's still beating heart rather than showing them what was good and bad with the card only leads to infuriate them and have them squander future cards simply because they had no feedback from a "positive source." There's only so many times you can attack a designer before they just go rogue and not care about anyone's input. Trust me when I say the designers know who is "naughty" and who is "nice" when it comes to judging their card design. The "naughty" group? Yeah. Those are the guys they're not listening to anymore.

@Card-Trader: There's a reason article writers don't talk about decks that much, and you only saw that kind of content rarely. Early on the entire site destroyed any and all articles that were based around deck lists or deck archetypes (for something other than furthering the design). The website basically alienated that style of writing and killed it. That's why you never saw more of that style of article. I am also impressed that you and your local try not to copy each other. Originality is key and helps create a diverse meta (assuming the cards allow for it i.e. 1 Element is clearly superior to all others).

@Itachi Uchiha 62093: Thank you for your kind words.

@Jin: Thank you for being a constant supporter of our work.

@Juggernautonroids: That's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes :/

@Amaroq: If you like it, demand that they bring it back. If enough people want it back, it'll happen. This is one battle though I'm not going to lead but I'd be willing to support.

@mwozer: Eat a dick. Seriously. Where are your credentials? It's much easier to be the one criticizing than the one being criticized. Guess what? Those players you want writing the articles: They don't care. Had a player like Joe Colon wanted to write for Bandai, he would have volunteered. There are only a handful of players in the game that are qualified to write for Bandai based on your criteria. One of those players, Bruce Jivens (Kage Winner, numerous tops), you guys voted him out. There was more than enough talent on the Writing Staff, trust me. The people who write the articles may not be the ones with all the credits but backing most of them up are Sannin, Kage, and Jonin Winners/Tops. Just cause Gary's name is on an article, don't assume that he hasn't talked to people like Eric (Squee), Andrew (Zero), or even Thomas (Pyrot). . . people with legitimate experience, tournament wins, and tops. Some of you who read this crap only take it at face value. You don't know how much time is spent sometimes verifying crap, calling up play groups and networks. It's baffling that you're so narrow sighted. To say that some of the articles where by players who didn't "grasp" the game might be true at some times but I personally take offense to that. Spreading "lamentable" ideas? Don't make me laugh. Actually read over a lot of the old articles: A few of them are actually implemented into the game now.

Those very same people you want writing the articles, do you even see them on Bandai? No. You know why? Cause they can't be bothered since no one will listen to them anyway. Come on. Name 1 GenCon winner who actually posts on Bandai frequently for something other than just "Trololololing" or telling you why you're wrong? If anything, the writers that were on Bandai write now are literally iron willed to have to deal with this crap.

@Elite: I learned to play the game from you. Attempting to perfect it with Andrew. :P

@Fuzzy-Lumpkins: Help you build your deck? We already went over this. . . people just chew you up and spit you out for these kinds of articles. Don't believe me? Read MJM's articles from that of yesteryear. Why do you think he's not on the staff anymore? Why do you think Bruce isn't on either? Cause suggesting cards that going into a deck or helping players fix decks alienates certain players, they neg you in refs, and then you're that much closer to getting thrown off the team. I know how they do things in "Magic" is different but in Naruto, a game that takes far less skill, hiding tech is very important at high level play sometimes. No high level player is going to spell it out for you. In fact, see Josh Lu's "Chidori Sabotage" from back in the Freedori meta or Joe Colon's "Shika [Flex)" power play in New York. If anything, a top player is going to tell you what NOT to do under the guise of what you should do so it makes it easier for them to win. The prizing in this game is very low in general so to make up for it, why not keep everything you know under lock in key to make it easier to win for yourself? I personally like elevating the player base, as does Andrew. I can't speak for him, but I love the thrill of a challenge. By elevating everyone else, it makes winning harder for me and I get the joy out of playing more and more difficult opponent's so that I can get better and better. It's the satisfaction of self improvement. If I were solely motivated on winning, why the fuck would I help you? It makes it harder for me to win and means my prizing is less and less. That's how the game used to be back in Sets 1~7 or so.

I think we've since evolved past that and some of us are trying to make this a more competitive and sophisticated game so that we can get the attention of high caliber players from other games, in an attempt to push it further, with better design, prizing, tournaments, and competition.

@Float Like a Bee: It's uncharacteristic of me to be so harsh, but Josh is allowed to say what ever he wants. He didn't go to a community college, he went to a pretty good university. And last I check he's got a good job that's got him set for years to come. He's done more for this game than almost anyone at this point save Andrew. And he has a ridiculous list of achievements to boot. He's earned the right to do whatever he damn well pleases since he's the reason so many of us are here in the first place. He helped raise the early generation and PlayTCG generation of the game. He is the model competitive player and is exactly what I was talking about before: someone who doesn't want to write on Bandai. He barely writes here but when he does you'll see it's one of the most insightful pieces ever written about the game or it's to prove how horribly wrong someone is.

@Yodaz: The content of the articles were useless? Care to make suggestions, as many of us writers have tried to ask for time and time again? People love to complain about what articles do lack but the second we ask what you'd like to see, everyone clams up? I don't even think some of you knew what you wanted to see. Yes some of Gary's last few articles have been awful bitch-fests, but what else is he going to post up there? The entirety of the boards is just a bitch fest over Water or Chikamatsu. . . he has nothing to drum off of. We can't repeat articles. We can't write about the state of the meta cause its just a snooze-fest. Design articles have been beaten to death. Pretty much every other idea is dead. . . or is a rehash of an old idea that people used to like (Read: Interviews).

You liked Zero's SJC article a lot. That article has also been done by several writers, but only after big events. Outside of NJ's Kage a few weeks back, there hasn't been anything big to write about. Where do you pull the material for an article like that week after week? News Flash: You can't. Our schedule is so cramped, you have to throw something out every week. . . if there's nothing going on in the game, you're often times left to do the "VSA Rant."

"Imo, articles should be about how to be a better player, how to build a better deck, or a "inside trick" to the meta that people may not see or know about (which goes under both headings). I can probably count on my fingers the amount of articles which did any of those."

All of my articles try to teach you to be a better player. There's only so many times though I can talk about playing to your outs, psyching out your opponents, or sideboard tech. The game isn't as deep as you're thinking. . . it literally is just out playing your opponent and having the best deck to help you do that. I can't teach you that in words. You need to sit down at a table, shuffle a deck, and play a game with a group of people using all sorts of variations and combinations of decks, aka PRACTICE A LOT. As for how to build a better deck, that comes through practice, too. You build the deck. If something doesn't help you win, you cut it. If something helps you win, you up the number. Deck building is literally just playing with a pile and swapping in and out cards repeatedly until you come up with a consistently working combination. Sideboarding is literally just the 10 cards that help you win matchups you can't consistently win on, an extension of deck building. And as I already said, the game is shallow...good players aren't going to give out their tricks to win the metagame. Naruto is on the complexity level of Street Fighter II. It's good enough to be competitive, but it's not nearly as complex as a game like Virtua Fighter (Magic the Gathering) or BlazBlue (L5R or whatever have you technical CCG). . . as such you need those tricks to win for yourself. If you have no interest in winning, then by all means, share your tech.

I just said in a paragraph all there is to say on such a subject. You want articles like that every week? Enjoy your snooze fest.

Oh and for the record, Zero doesn't want to write for Bandai. You know why? Putting up with this cycle. He already argues with a ton of people on Bandai and at the company already, why perpetuate the cycle and have to fight more people? See what I mean? If you want to write, you better be ready to fight. If you're already fighting or not into fighting, why bother? There's been tons of incentives for Zero to write for Bandai in the past. He's turned them all down. So sorry to see your dreams of him writing there crushed.

Re: @Fuzzy-Lumpkins: Zero doesn't know because he plays Magic. That's moronic. That's like saying "Clint Eastwood knows Comedy because he's an Actor." No. Zero knows what he's talking about because he simply has more experience playing CCGs than most of the people on the boards. It has nothing to do with what games he has or is currently playing. I could play Magic too... for like 3 weeks. By your statement that must mean I'm right. Andrew has close to 10 years experience with this stuff, where as the average Naruto player probably has maybe 1 to 3 years. He's been there. He's done that. He's seen that. That's why his opinions are usually right... he's seen the trends and knows what became of them and as such he can make the correct assessment so things don't happen again. Just from time to time, certain people don't want to listen to him for whatever reason, be it pride or what have you.

Which leads me to my final point:

@Tylar: Let me start by saying that you are my friend, but I'll be the first one to say that the writing system was flawed. Horribly flawed. And that's why I think we saw such low productivity. I know we've discussed this before and I never tried to push the issue for several reasons including not having a better solution, not wishing to anger you or place more stress upon you, and honestly me being a terrible leader in the past. The entire process, from the beginning, was flawed.

-5 Writers, each posts an article every weekday, for 5 articles a week, 20 a month, etc. The flaw comes in the fact that with this many writers and at this tempo, we've exhausted all topics on the current state of the game. This lead towards looking to the future by talking about previews and design space mechanics. Once we had exhausted that, the only thing left to do was back track into past experiences. After that, all that's left is to turn to others (interviews). The pace was far too great.

-The incentive. 1 Box a month, with more rewards based on your performance over the month, with the person receiving the most "Yes" votes getting the best prize. In addition, if your "Yes" votes fell below a certain percentage, you were ejected from the team. Considering voting wasn't initially "public", alt accounts simply allowed for easy manipulation of who was the winner and who wasn't. It allowed for who was allowed to stay and who left. I've always tried my best to monitor this and make sure everything was fair because the system is easily exploitable, which several newer members took note of as they joined, which would only further degrade the system after the already low quality of writing due to idea "exhausted" staff members.

Had the articles needed to be twice a month, the quality would have been much higher. Once a month? Even higher than that. Had a ridiculous ranking system not had us all at each others throats from day 1, that would have helped too. Finally, a vast majority of the readers not knowing what they want out of the writing (the game and/or Bandai too for that matter) and not realizing the rough position writers were actually in just lead to the whole things downfall.

I'm not saying Tylar is the reason for the death of the system (if anything, his only crime is not being to find a better system after acknowledging the current one was so damn flawed. He was at least smart enough to pull the plug). Nor am I saying the players are the reason for the death of the system. Nor am I saying it was the quality of the writing. When you combine every little piece together, bit by bit, it's very apparent to see why the thing fell apart. Compare my earlier pieces to my more recent ones. The quality is almost night and day, as I've become exhausted from the stress of work, the Bandai posters, having to rush out the articles every 2 or 3 days after barely having bounced back from the last one. . . you cannot do it. Even Matthew Low would be hard pressed to write 4 quality articles every month for a publication by Scrye.

Poor planning.

Poor writing.

Cutthroat environment.

Exhausted ideas.

A less than understanding readerbase.

That's how you kill what should have been a triumphant brainchild to elevate the game's masses.

Alas, there's always fanmade blogs.

Labels: articles, bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, tsu

Here is the Tenative Schedule for the Perfect Curve for the next month or so:

-November 15th-22nd: Discussions on Path of Pain testing, meta, and TP2 previews.
-November 24th "The Perfect Curve Thanksgiving Podcast Special"
-December 1st - 18th - "The Perfect Curve Holiday Contest!"
-December 11th-12th - "All Things Fun!" event coverage posted live from round to round via smart phone. Video coverage/live stream pending.
-December 18th-19th "The Perfect Curve Christmas Party" - Footage of casuals, video games, cubing, partying and potentially a podcast to celebrate the holiday season.

Open Forum

Just wanted to, without names, throw some things out there and get them off my chest that have been bugging me

-Water. It's not fun to play. It's not fun to play against. Sasuke (State 2) makes for an incredibly boring format.

-Void. Aside from God Realm, I haven't had much success with the deck. Basically, it just seems too mediocre.

-Earth. Will probably win a lot of matches this upcoming format. Not because it's good. No, that's not it at all. It'll win simply because most games end with the turn marker ending well past turn 30. Enjoy your 50 minute rounds.

-Lightning. Toads is a sack deck. Taijutsu is not. Toads is the obvious play for Lightning.

-Kabutops. Why are you so good in everything BUT Water? *rages*

-Tsunade from TP2. Why does everyone think this card is good? It's unique and definitely better than the other "Slug" tutor but does anyone actually think this will see play outside of them printing another "Slug" Ninja? :/

-Shizune from TP2. "When this Ninja is put in play, pick up a 'Kick of Anger' Jutsu from your discard pile because there isn't anything else worth being picked up, at least at the time of this preview."

-Haters. Why are you still posting on Bandai about how they're doing a terrible job with the game? I feel your entire existence on the website is simply to troll and nothing more. If you want to complain, go over to Thomas's Awesome Website. That way all the complaining can be consolidated into one thread rather than shitting up an entire forum. I'd say make the thread on Bandai but that would just result in a ban for the topic creator. . . so instead use Thomas's awesome playground. Regardless of what I say though, it isn't going to stop people from making the Bandai forums terrible. It isn't going to stop people from negging my articles because they think I'm some kind of Bandai White Knight. It is going to stop people from going to 2EZ Forums though.

-Josh. Negging me cause I didn't mention you in my article? Seriously? I was intended to give you your own in early December. Come on man. . . why the hate? :/

-Card Makers. Judging takes a lot longer than I thought it would. I apologize profusely if I gave you some off scores (especially in the Text Category). I'm still new at the whole judging point system . . . it really needs a better rubric. Srsly.

-TP2. If I don't get a box of this this time, I'm going to flip. There was no TP1 in my area. I'll rage if there is no TP2 in my area.

-Gary. Shotgun TP2. You had your Chibi cahds. Mah turn now.

-I haven't had a haircut in over 10 weeks.

-I haven't shaved in 2 weeks.

-I look like a hobo.

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, tsu

Title says it all. But before I go on to talk about my opinions of the event I want to say a few things.

First, I want everyone to do me a favor and get their heads out of their asses. Yes, you heard me. I'm sick and tired of people saying things like "Is ATF stupid? Why would they schedule it so early? And why did they take the Battle Spirits Core Championship over the Shonen Jump last year? Are they stupid?"

You do realize this is a business right?

Right?

If you don't understand what's fully going on, here is the basic gyst of the story. Granted it is not perfect because I only talk to Ed Evans from All Things Fun. I AM NOT his official spokesperson, nor am I him, so these details may not be set in stone. Just want to get that out there to cover my own ass.

Bandai gives All Things Fun a Shonen Jump Championship because they're the top selling/performing store in the North East for Naruto and they consistently show their support by carrying all of Bandai's products and attending their dealer shows.

Bandai decides to give the Battle Spirits Core Championship to another store besides ATF. For whatever reason, it fails. Perhaps due to the game not being supported or stores simply thinking it won't bring them much revenue/recognition by hosting it.

Bandai decides that if All Things Fun were to host the Core Championship, it would have a huge turnout and be a huge success.

All Things Fun, knowing full well that the player base for Battle Spirits is far less than Naruto (which translates to less people and less revenue), decides to ask something along the lines of "Well if we take the Core Championship, what's in it for us?"

Bandai responds with "How about you get the first Kage/Shonen Jump Championship of next season?" So after talking, that All Things Fun would take the Battle Spirits Championship in exchange for a Kage/SJC as well as a few other unnamed perks that you or I may never hear about. It was merely hinted at.

Then we, as a player base, cried foul when there wasn't going to be anymore tournaments until next spring/summer. So what did Bandai do? Try to fix it to keep their player base happy. So they decided to put an end to the off season as quickly as possible. . . and I would assume that by the time they got approval for a tournament structure to be approved for December 2010 - December 2011, we arrived at the end of October/early November.

As promised, the first Kage goes to All Things Fun. And I'm assuming December 11th was chosen simply because it is probably the only available weekend that isn't occupied by Yu-Gi-Oh (Which if you don't know All Things Fun's Saturday locals for Yu-Gi-Oh range from 60-80 players). Pretty much, the date is set in stone and there's probably no way to change it because of A) Holidays B) It'd be incredibly short notice to change it C) I'm sure they're locked into December since the tournament structure REQUIRES one a month, so if ATF doesn't take it they either lose it or pass it off to someone else and create the same scenario D) It coincides with Yu-Gi-Oh and at the end of the day YGO wins because it makes WAY more money. Their local would make more money than this Kage if they charged the same amount for an entry fee...so yeah it's very unlikely things will get changed.

So now that that's out of the way, here's the short lists of the Pros & Cons:

Pros
-My local store. I can roll out of bed 10 minutes before the event and still be there on time

-It doesn't cost me or anyone else going with me any money to crash at my place. (By the way, spots at Costa del Tsu are filling up fast. Reserve yours now!)

-New format means that the playing field is a mystery meaning if you have an incredibly bomby deck (ala Respective Dreams) you'll basically dominate the entire field

-Small field. Most people aren't expected to show which means it is much easier to take the top spots.

Cons
-Prize Support Cut. This is terrible. I realize that the prize structure has been cut down severely since events are much more frequent but they should have stayed at least the same. Seriously Viz? The game already has declining numbers because the prize support is just plain terrible. Why play Naruto when you can play Yu-Gi-Oh and win just as much at their regional events? I'm not saying you have to match YGO but if you EVER want to make a bigger kick back with this game, you need to seriously consider better prizing.

-Short notice. TERRIBLY short notice. With work, school & the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I'd expect that most of us have less than 2 actual weeks of play testing and gathering the actual cards we need. On top of this, many people aren't going to show up which not only makes it a small field (easy to top) but it gives the Jump a bad rep. No one cares that you topped or won a Jump with 30 or 40 people. That's like winning a large Chunin.

-Not knowing what deck to play. This is a question I think most of us are asking. There is nothing to look at since this has been the off season. It's incredibly difficult to figure out what to play. I expect most people to fall back on the obvious, which leaves room for someone to gut the rest of the crowd with another deck. It's just hard to assess the field right now outside of say... Water?

I want this event to succeed, but right now it just seems like it's in a shaky position.

Edit:

So after going down to the store, basically this is how the Kage got scheduled.

*Two Nights Ago*

Store Owner: Let's check the good old email... Oh look a letter from Bandai. Hmmm. . . You will be hosting a Kage. . . blah blah blah... December 11th. . . . blah blah blah. . . Wait. . . WHAT!?

And so Christmas shopping weekend had to be scraped because apparently it was already set in stone that this would be the tournament date. The store is left scratching their heads wondering what the heck happened but they're gonna suck it up and host it anyways. Poor communication? Probably.

But onto more pressing matters. Prizing. Again. I know I said the prizing was bad but if you look at it: 12 Kages now instead of 10 Shonen Jump Championships. . . that's not justification for cutting the prize support. We're missing a PSP from each event, which is about $150~200 in prizing. 2 Extra Kages does not make up for the fact that $2000 is just missing from the prize roster. Doesn't anyone seem to care about that?

I know I said a few weeks back people over react to things, but I personally don't feel this is one of them. Remember how I also said that there is a time when the community should backlash when things aren't right? Now would be that time people! :D

Bad game balance? Fine. . . it can be fixed via restrictions/bans/erratas/new sets.

Changes in game mechanics? Fine. . . I can get used to it.

Cutting the already small prize support for this game? That's where you draw the line. It was BARELY profitable to travel for this game. A round trip bus/plane/train ticket and the $10~20 entry fee, the cost to find a place to stay, and the money you spend in food is going to end up costing you like $200 no matter how you slice it. You could have just bought the PSP rather than attemping to travel to compete for it. This is a step back and I really think unless they change things or offer some kind of Top 16/Top 8 incentive like specialized mats or exclusive alternate arts, these tournaments (unless they happen to be local like this one coming up for me) are not worth it. At all.

Labels: AllThingsFun, bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Kage, Shonen Jump Championship, tsu

Happy Halloween everyone! Hopefully your teeth have all rotted from all the sweets you've been eating. Or in my case, hopefully you've recovered from a massive weekend of partying.


Anyways, here's our podcast! Sorry that there's no intro (which Andrew is going to be sad about because well. . . he worked hard on it) but Skype received some fatal error while we were recording so it's gone. No seriously. Random red screen popped up in the middle of recording and *poof* Nick got booted, I got control of the chat instead of Andrew, and the recording stopped and became corrupted. So . . . enjoy the second half! You didn't miss anything other than the sweet sounds of Andrew's voice and us screaming about how we hate people who don't realize how good The Third Hokage is.

The Perfect Curve Halloween Special!

Edit: New Podcast Link since other has exceeded bandwith

The Perfect Curve Halloween Special! (Mirror)

The Podcast Contains:
-Review of our opinions on certain Supers in the Set
-Thoughts on the new Rule Changes
-Top 10 Scariest/Creepiest Naruto Cards
-Announcing the Winner of our first mini-contest
-7 Preview Cards

Edit: Scott, shoot us an email with your contact info so I may send you your prize.

Here are our previews from the podcast (Although I realize Sakura & Kick of Anger were previewed today). Pictures now in MUCH Higher Resolution (as per request)

N-971 Naruto Uzumaki (Taijutsu)

J-758 Severe Leaf Hurricane

N-991 Sakura Haruno

J-767 Kick of Anger!

N-977 Jiraiya

N-985 Orochimaru

N-997 Tsunade

Tsunade's stats have been changed once again, this time being 8/3, 5/1.

Labels: AllThingsFun, bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Happy Halloween, Podcast, previews, tsu

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

Discuss.

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

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

The first step to revitalizing and revamping "The Perfect Curve" after our big absence this off season is to open up big.

How Big?

How about a contest for all our loyal readers.

What will the reward be?

Prizes, obviously.

What kind of Prizes?

Glad you asked.

We'll be giving away platinum promos, signed cards from "The Perfect Curve" staff, Super Rares, Playmats, Starter Decks, A WHOLE SEALED BOX OF CARDS, and possibly the new "Untouchable" tins.

Why?

Well because we love our readers. And we want to give our readers a reason to start reading us again on a daily basis.

Stay tuned for full contest details and rules in the coming week or so, as well as perhaps a new layout.

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Contest, Path of Pain, tsu

I'm sure it has been posted on Bandai but here is the effect of Naruto & Sasuke Squad. SORRY BANDAI!!! ;_;

Here's the Naruto/Sasuke squad. Sorry the picture isn't the greatest.


If you can't read it:

Turn 5, Hand Cost 0
Leaf | Sound | Rogue Ninja | Genin | Clone Status | Sharingan Eye | Squad
[The Ultimate Jutsu]
When this Ninja is put in play, name a Jutsu
Valid: Jutsu cards with the selected name can be used by this Ninja without paying it's cost. (Requirements of the Jutsu card must still be met)

7/3, 8/0

Oil/Genjutsu

Assume it will get errata'd to include "Male"

Anthony Verilli, the lucky winner, and first owner of the Squad.


NSFW-ish (Nick Botchis with his "first at NJ Chunin" face on)


Oh, and yes the title of this post is the flavor text on the card.

And yes I did win the NJ Chunin (sort of) with Exposing the Hideout (tied with Shino's Dad/Nick Botchis)

Labels: AllThingsFun, bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Chunin, previews, tsu

As some of you may or may not already know, we were tasked with covering GenCon 2010 via the Live Stream. However, sadly, GenCon does not come equipped with Wireless Internet so there was no LiveStream coverage and for that, I'm sorry. Next year, we will attempt to cover matches with a high quality camera and, if possible, wireless internet. Plenty of time in the coming year to make upgrades to our event coverage and the way we do things.

In the mean time though, enjoy some of the highlights of the trip that we took with our backup camera since we were not able to get our Live Stream up and running. Click any of the images below to see them in higher resolution.

Day 0

Our form of transportation, Nick Botchis



Myself, Patrick O'Neill, stuffing my face along side Mr. Botchis



Our Staff Writer, Andrew Kardis



Andrew and Nick, getting their game faces on to prepare for this trip



Youtube Video of our car ride there (Part 1):



Youtube Video of our car ride there (Part 2):



GenCon 2010

Matt Low, the man who made many things possible at GenCon, hanging out with Nick Botchis



Naruto Shippuden Live host Chris Kovaz @ the Bandai Booth teaching new players the basics



Gary "The Law" Lawson carrying out his work shift at the Bandai booth



Part of the Bandai Booth display, Sasuke Uchiha



Pro Player Brandon Sherlock gets into the game by dressing up as Sasuke Uchiha! (Hey! Who is that in the background trying to act all tough?)



DeMarcus and some players relaxing in between rounds at the Shonen Jump Championship



As impressive as Bandai's Booth was, the Magic The Gathering displays were a site to behold!



The Curse has been broken!!!



Now that that's all wrapped up. . . a fitting end to a terrible format



BONUS!!!

As some of you may have overheard from Mike Alpers, when the trip was all said and done, we realized there were 10 people staying in our hotel room, just like the 10 Members of Akatsuki. So we got bored and decided to assign people to be different members of Akatsuki based on the events of the weekend. Who is who? Let's find out!

Kakuzu - Thomas Cao
Reason: Thomas was carrying around a large roll of $2 bills that left a very distinguishable bulge in his pants (courtesy of Troll & Toad. Kudos for the biggest "troll"/Marketing campaign ever). Pretty much, he was in charge of all the money and was constantly making tabs of who owed who what. Money, Money, Money is all you need! (Read: Let's make some money!)

Hidan - Matthrew Low
Reason: The one with the most devout faith of everyone in the room. On top of that, his Cube deck was based around Hidan and ways so that he could never mill out, creating for tediously long games that never ended. He doesn't die. Not even when you squish him into the back of a truck and try to crush him to death. (Read: Religion mostly)

Deidara - Amir Abboushi
Reason: The over the top/loud one. More concerned with fancy/artsy things (Read: Cooking Match/Bad Combo decks) than taking seriously. His goal is to be greater than Itachi secretly, but in the end all he does is just make a huge explosion. Also "Bomb Combat Attribute" fits him perfectly. (Read: lol Semi-Joke character)

Itachi - Josh Lu
Reason: The one all the little kiddies love because he's supposedly some uber powerful ninja. Also, he's going blind. (Read: lol can't see without glasses)

Kisame - Andrew Kardis
Reason: The Troll. Think he's dead? Nah. He's just trollin' ya. Also, always wants to go get something to eat to keep his chakra full. Usually prefers Macaroni & Cheese and/or terrible hotwings.

Sasori - Patrick O'Neill
Reason: Has a flare for artsy/fancy things rather than the practical route sometimes. Also, was defeated by a little girl despite him being supposedly "powerful." (Read: In denial about losing to a 12 year old girl. . . still)

Pain - Mike Alpers
Reason: The man with the plan. Often referred to as "God." Despite being all powerful, loses for terrible reasons (Read: Alpers scrubbed at SJC)

Konan - Nick Botchis
Reason: Despite being really cool to be around, doesn't do much of anything. Follows Pain around aimlessly. (Read: Followed Alpers around all weekend and they partied together. Nick scrubbed at SJC)

Zetsu - Willie B
Reason: The most mysterious. We didn't know anything about him all weekend. . . he would disappear and reappear later with some food or drink for us. Our reconnaissance man. (Read: How does he do that?)

Tobi - Laurent Jarra
Reason: He's a good boy! He fetches things for us and is the butt of everyone's jokes. Secretly, he's probably better than half the people in the room. . . at everything. (Read: Josh and co. abused him all weekend)

Labels: bandai, Chief Tsuzumiya Haruhi, Gencon, Main Character Tsu, tsu