The Starters
At the same time, we have the starters being developed with the set itself. Seeing as how the market is saturated with Naruto/Sasuke starters, I did a bit of research into what characters people really liked. Then I got a light bulb that lead to the eventual creation of something old, splashed with a bit of new. Suffice to say that Squads were the focus, but we took them in an entirely different direction.
In terms of the starters themselves, we opted to go with a Wind starter and an Earth starter. Based on community feedback, we created these starters to be constructed playable straight out of the box, with a variety of fantastic cards in Series 25 that you can put in the decks to make their themes even stronger.
Earth, having a focus on Permanent Missions and the Squad itself, lends strength to (obviously) Missions and Mental Power. For all those who were looking for Mental to make a comeback, I will say that it is one of the most controlling decks I have ever played against, and with less Ninjas sporting as much smarts as in the past, this archetype is one to watch out for. The Permanent Mission side of the Deck is heavily added onto via Series 25, complete with a finisher, card draw, and more zany combos. Keeping those Naruto & Yamato squads is mandatory for this deck, ladies and gents.
The Wind deck has a focus on Puppets mainly, bringing golden oldies into the fold of the newer cards to continue the Sasori Puppet Mode rampage, adding to the number of Puppets you can have in your Discard Pile by the time the marker tolls seven. Chock full of some old school draw cards and tutors, this Deck will get you well on your way towards having your very own wooden army.
Starting next week, we will be previewing the packaging for Series 25 first, with the starter deck list to follow late in the week, and finally revealing the Starter Super Rares on Friday. We will then follow that up with our regularly scheduled previews beginning the 5 weeks after, after which we ask that you venture out to our great podcasts and websites beyond the Bandai walls to get your previews.
For those who don’t wish to read, here is a quick breakdown of our schedule preview programming:
03/12-03/16 – Packaging Previews
03/19-03/23 – Bandai Previews #1
03/26-03/30 – Bandai Previews #2
04/02-04/06 – Bandai Previews #3
04/09-04/13 – Bandai Previews #4
04/16-04/20 – Bandai Previews #5
04/23-04/27 – Website Previews
04/30-05/04 – Website Previews
May 11th: Set Release
I hope you all enjoy playing Series 25 as much as I had designing it. We’ve taken it this far, but it’s up to you to find the power to join the Kage Summit on May 11th!
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