Pojo's Naruto Card of the Day
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Beastly Mage
Shikamaru Nara
Today's card is a new Super Rare from the new set.
This version of Shikamaru has an effect that only
activates when he attacks by himself. Now, for a
Ninja with 0/3 this doesn't sound like a good idea.
But, when you check out what he can do, then you may
want to use this guy. When he goes out to attack,
you select one of your opponent's Ninjas. That
Ninja's team must block Shikamaru (if possible).
Then comes the fun part: Mental Power Battle! With
the usual 4 Mental, he could do some damage. For a
turn 2 Ninja he's pretty good, though the Hand Cost
kinda hurts him a bit in Limited. Though you can get
around that with Growth.
Today's card is the mandatory super rare Shikamaru
that we get every few sets. I rather like this
version of Shika since I find him rather balanced
with his hand cost. He's good since he can force
ninjas into battling in him in a mental power battle
when he attacks by himself, which can wreck decks
with no mental ninjas. His problem is that
afterwards, he becomes a dud since he'll be by
himself, but it can be worked around via the
[Moving] ninjas.
I really like this Shikamaru, but I prefer
[Unwillingness], however, there is no reason not to
run both in an Earth deck. Additionally, he is the
best Shikamaru after the rotation, so he'll be even
more invaluable then.
Limited: 2.5/5 Very good here if you can get around
his hand cost.
Constructed: 3.5/5
Block: 3.5/5
Nick
2008 Stone
Village Kage
Shikamaru Nara
[Quick Wit]
N-791
Shika, you get too many good cards. Seriously.
This is one of my favorite cards in the set. (If I
recall correctly, wasn't this card almost verbatim
from a card designed by Mendo on the forums?)
Shika here is nasty to drop on turn 2, especially
if your opponent doesn't have the mental to compete
with him. He has a hand cost, but since he's earth,
that is no problem at all. Almost every deck
splashes some earth or has dual element
missions/ninja with the earth symbol. What makes him
so nasty is that he can seriously harass your
opponents ninja throughout the entire game. They
will need to watch that they have a least 4 mental
per team. The nice part is that they HAVE to block
him when he attacks. They can't let him through.
Shika will make playing Fuijin/Raijin dangerous,
since he can OV them with ease.
One of my favorite combos with this Shika is The
Fourth Hokage [Space Ninjutsu]. Have the Fourth mark
up a team, send out Shika and force that team to
battle. Jump the Fourth to him and ping with his
effect. Now it's still mental, and your team mental
is 6. Pretty fun when you get it going.
What keeps Shika from being totally busted is
that he only works on the attack, and he isn't
valid. Run two of this and 1 [Unwillingness] in my
opinion. Good luck getting a copy of this though,
people seem to want to hold on to him.
Limited: 5/5 He smashes tons of ninja in limited.
Block: 4.5/5 Still very useful. Great to growth into
late game once your Shika U has reached the end of
its usefulness.
Unlimited: 4.5/5 Same as above.
