Round 1 Sam Tuel(Mill)
Game 1: He started out strong with 2 World of fire and started ripping my deck apart, however I started dominating with hand presence and started gaining battle rewards. I have 8 battle rewards, however his Obito seals the deal for him.
Game 2: I was dreading for this match-up, however I was prepared so I side in 7 cards and hope for the best. Unfortunately for me, he starts out with Kiba. Then I reinforce into Kidomaru state 2 and start to lock him by continuously using Partial Expansion jutsu and using Kidomaru to prevent Kiba from being on the battlefield.
Game 3: We're pressed for time, so I take a tempo approach to this match. After securing early battle rewards, time is called and I take the win.
1-0
Round 2 Local Girl (Earth/Wind)
Game 1: She starts out with a match loss so we move onto game two.
Game 2: We both start out with decent curves, but she explodes on her turn 3 by growthing her Sakura childhood into Sakura tp4 and deploys Shikamaru adaptability. She keeps pressing with her team of Sakura and Shikamaru paired with Chiriku to gain field presence and eventually gets to 6 battle rewards. On my turn, I play Anko and Great Naruto Bridge targeting her Chiriku which she Secret Books. I draw 6 cards(one obviously being Great Naruto Bridge) and play it again targeting her Chiriku. I swing out with 3 teams and rip her board apart with Dragon Flame and 9pd.
2-0
Round 3 Johhny (Team Allies)
Game 1: I start and he mulls. I take advantage of this by playing back to back Byakugans. He scoops.
Game 2: He starts off differently by starting very aggressively, getting 8 battle rewards by turn 4. Then I play Sasuke and reinforce my Kidomaru to gain some field presence. Slowly, but surely I make a comeback with the help of Dragon Flame and Byakugan.
3-0
Round 4 Destin (Fire/Lighting NVS)
Game 1: I win the dice roll and start off strong. He tries the no attack theory, which leaves my field untouched and him with 0 battle rewards. Turn 3 rolls by and I Warhawk, drawing massive amounts of cards along with Anko. Double Byakugan rips his hand to shreds. He lingers on for quite a while longer, however I had too much for him to handle.
Game 2: Our game 1 left us with about 12 minutes to play our game so I was fairly sure this was going to be a draw. He starts out strong, now seeing Warhawk, and gains control early on. Turns go on and just as I thought time expired, forcing the draw (my 2 brs to his 8/9).
3-0-1
Round 5 Local Player Andrew (Standard Fire/Lightning)
Game 1: I power shuffle his deck and notice he has 51 cards. GG
Game 2: At one point, He plays 4th and Hydropumps my field, his 7 Battle rewards to my 2. I ambush Sasuke IA and take Ink Fish/Temari WS. I Anko's Memory 9PD/Ink fish/Dragon flame and proceed to make a comeback.
4-0-1
Round 6 Tony Denning (Void)
Draw
4-0-2
2nd Seed
Top 8 Valentine Guerero (Fire/Lightning tech)
Game 1: I win the dice roll and start slow, but by turn 3 it all comes together. Byakugan, 9pd, Dragon Flame ftw.
Game 2: I mull, he keeps. His strong curve is too much for me to deal with and I concede on turn 6.
Game 3: Similar to game 1. Turn 4 Kidomaru State 2, Nine Phantoms, and 2 Dragon Flames. Good Game.
Top 4 George Tripplet (Wind/Water 9pd)
Game 1: He wins the dice roll and I mull to 5. We're matching each other until he plays Naruto Attunement and attaches dome which devastates my chakra. I am almost about to deck out and try going for battle rewards, but it's too late and I couldn't win.
Game 2: I like this hand a lot, however a lack of missions makes me inferior to his resources and he gains the advantage. By turn 7 its clear I'm not winning(almost no cards in hand and no field to his 10 ninjas) and he has game next turn. I intentionally mill myself out. Good stuff Mr. Tripplet
Reasoning: After my top 8 match at Mass against Thomas Veazie, I felt the major flaw of the deck was the lack of battle reward control as your opponent dictated the amount of battle rewards they gave you in that version. I added Warhawks to contest that, which still massively plused and added to my mission curve which previously did not have a consistent turn 3 mission(only 1 Anko's Memory). The wind theme was completely dropped for Ninjas such as Gama, Shima, extra Kisukes at the expense of previously used Hanares, Naruto Attunement, and Temari Wind Scythe.
Reflection: I think I made the right choice overall. My sideboard was perfect, my main board was solid, and I feel I played pretty well despite my lack of sleep (coming off a 24 hour bus ride). The Fire was a really good change to make the deck more hand control oriented and I thought I had a pretty decent chance of winning, however George played a great game and took advantage of my lack of resources. Besides the event itself, this tournament has forced me into the realization that the game is truly on a fast decline. Only 36 people should send a big message to Bandai that they are doing something wrong and something needs to change. Whether it's their marketing, their prizing, or whatever, they need to identify their flaws and fix them or frankly we will see the end of Naruto very soon. Although Bandai did miss it's opportunity to capitalize on the game (back in 2009 or 2010), there is still an extreme interest in the game that they can captivate and expand upon if they make the right moves.
Pros:
My 9th top (4th consecutive)
A fun weekend
Cons:
Busing sucks period
The event was not what I expected (36 people is a joke)
The prizing was an even bigger joke. How do you expect people to travel only to receive a video game and a mat for placing in top 8. There were no boxes, no foil/full sets, or anything extra whatsoever for the top 8.
I went to this event on the predication that prizing would be up to par with previous events, however I was sadly disappointed. I'd also like to point out this was entirely Bandai's decision and not the venue's as he showed me the piece of paper clearly stating not to give foil sets to the players in top.
<3Eisenbuddy<3
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