Ultimate Card Maker Tournament 2010

So the brackets will be up soon. I'm pretty sure everyone knows who they are going against this round...

Deadline is Sunday as usual...

Oh, no card requirements. You can make ANYTHING this round.

Looking very forward to the final cards, and hoping that, after this, one or two other tournaments will resume. Good luck to our finalists.

I hope my Top 4 hasn't forgotten about this... I'll post mine tomorrow.

Well I guess that I'll go first and post my card. I hope you guys enjoy it.



I made the Invisible Man The Second Tsuchikage. He has Earth, Wind, and Fire because he is 1 of only 2 people which has a blood line expansion, which merges 3 elements together using the dust element. This lead to me giving him Expansion which is placed similar to Senjutsu. Expansion's effect is. While this Ninja is in play, Ninja that are removed from play and/or are moved to a players Discard Pile are removed from the game. So the effect would work against both players making them think should I use that jutsu and loose potential ambushing ninja unless your Manda. As for his regular effects. He can't be targeted by your opponent's Ninja effects, because he could not be sensed by the sensory type ninja in the manga, so can't be targeted but he can still be effected. His second effect can hurt your opponent but can also be easily countered by not having a hand with a no hand water deck or by not having a jutsu in your hand making the second effect happen. He has a sacrifice because he is a ninja brought back by the impure world resurrection jutsu. I didn't think he needed a resurrection mode or something like it. I hope it puts up a good fight against you mjm, and good luck to my co-finalists.

My turn. Well considering my opponent I'm pretty darn sure this is my last round. But never the less I'm trying. Good game.

Oopsies, might've forgotten about this for a bit. Well anyways, here's my entry I suppose...



Okie dokie, he's sort of a mix of the new Karin and the old Fourth/Jiraiya squad. He represents a new direction that I would like to see Genjutsu head towards, which is indirect disruption and support. That is, this guy doesn't strictly negate anything your opponent does, he just hinders them. These sorts of subtle, debilitating effects would suit Genjutsu, I think.

His effect represents his scene in the Chunin exam when he changed the room numbers; he changes one thing into another, see?

Even though his effect is similar to the squad I mentioned, I like this one a lot more. Since you can select either player, and use elements other than lightning, it has a variety of uses. I tend to like cards that have effects that are usable in a lot of situations. I feel like he's probably too powerful, but I came up with it a little quickly, so... it's too late to change it. I'll let the judges decide. Lineart and colors by moi, as usual.

I hope you enjoy, and good luck to mendokuse.

I present, my card...



As much as I wanted to make The 2nd Mizukage, The 2nd Tsuchikage's Rival, the lack of pics and the absence of my Line Artist naruto4ever forced me to make something else...

Now on to the card itself. The card was meant to be Somewhat of a blowout, thus I had to require it to be an Entrance Cost of 5 or more. Unlike Wind's Entrance Cost boosting shenanigans, this requires a Printed Entrance Cost so that balances it. Now with a run of the mill Turn 5 Ninja it single handedly discards every opposing Ninja. However if the user is Jiraiya you discard an ADDITIONAL Ninja. If the user is Naruto, you can Injure himself to return the Jutsu to your Hand. Seems pretty solid if you have a NaruJira Squad out... Now the possible downside is the 4 cost but in Lightning, that's nothing.

Now some holes to poke through the card. I realize it gets the additional effect if used by Four Tails Naruto but hey, Sakura shouldn't be Hydro-pumping either, am I right? Now I know the card seems a little nuts but, hey, at least it doesn't mass snipe... Yes, I'm looking at you Hydro Pump.

Good luck everyone!

Lovely Ino wrote:

The art on this card is still worlds ahead of where I am at. Good job LI and good luck to all!
MJM sorry I havent been on to help you, should have shot me a PM my internet is down so I can only do so much.

I was bored, so I figured I'd do this, and it might even help the judges a smidge, but if not, oh well. This is the frame, if my memory serves:

------------------UchihaKyoji23---------------------------------------------------------MJM-----------------------



-----------------Mendokuse----------------------------------------------------------Lovely Ino--------------------

Hopefully, I got that all right. Good Luck All!!!

The Second Tsuchikage
Artwork: 5/5
This artwork is surprisingly good. I can hardly even tell that it isn’t from the anime.

Layout: 5/5
There is nothing off that I can see. It looks fine to me, though I will admit it would have been a nice touch if his arm went over the Fire symbol, but that’s just me.

Text: 3.5/5
The effect text is quite clearly off here and it’s extremely jarring. Also, as a minor note, you used the wrong kanji for dust. You used 粉 when you should have used 塵. It’s a minor infraction that would slip past most people just looking at the card, but it’s still not the proper kanji, so I felt it necessary to deduct half a point.

Spelling: 3.5/5
The first part of your effect is inherently broken, by which I mean it is inoperative, not overpowered. It does nothing because ninja effects do not technically target. This is a pretty major problem.

The second part uses “Victory or Outstanding Victory”. First of all, this wording has not been used since Coils and even the updated “Victory or an Outstanding Victory” hasn’t been used since Will of Fire. The current term is “any Victory.”

Also, while not technically mistakes, I’d still like to point out the discard from hand and deck parts of the effect. The first was impossible to mark off, since Bandai used no less than 3 wordings to discard a card at random from the opponent’s hand in Set 20 alone. The second part was also hard to judge. Technically, the wording is different from more current wordings, but those current ones have a catch to them, usually allowing you to choose a player or discard top or bottom, so in those cases, it could be argued that it might be different when it is just the top 2.

Effect: 3.5/5
I’ll start here with your mechanic, Expansion. In general, I like the idea of creating a mechanic f your own, however I have to question this one. Why would a Bloodline Expansion be such a widespread effect, not only affecting ninja the Tsuchikage isn’t battling, but even his own allies?

Next, assuming his second effect worked properly and made him unaffected by ninja effects, I would say that it is a very fitting effect for him, due to his camouflage ability.

The final part of his effect is very interesting and I like the combination of hand control and mill, but my main problem is with the mill portion. It’s too hard to hit and then it discards too little, in my opinion. Discarding 3 would easily be an acceptable amount and I would think he’d trigger off of a ninja or mission instead of a jutsu, since they are more likely to be hit and I feel they represent the situation better. To elaborate, they lose the battle, and as a result a comrade dies or they fail a mission, with the penalty there being part of their deck is lost. Also, from a purely mechanical standpoint, losing a jutsu is already pretty bad, so why not spread it out so that they either lose something vital or they lose something less vital and get milled? Considering the card is a Super Rare Kage with Sacrifice, I’d say he definitely has leeway for some more power.

Overall: 20.5/25


Ultimate Rasengan
Artwork: 5/5
This art looks really nice.

Layout: 5/5
There is nothing off that I can see. It looks perfect to me.

Text: 5/5
Everything seems to check out here too.

Spelling: 2.5/5
Cost in Entrance cost shouldn’t be capitalized. User shouldn’t be capitalized in “against the user” and “Change the user.” Target in “Discard the target” shouldn’t be capitalized. When Expert is a name, it shouldn’t be in quotes. Neither injured nor status should be capitalized. Hand in “your hand” should not be capitalized.

Effect: 4/5
At first I wasn’t particularly impressed with this jutsu, but that is usually the case with most of the jutsu I’ve reviewed here. I needed to really sit here and review it to fully appreciate it. It’s essentially the revival of Vortex, at a much more balanced cost. I always like when a jutsu doesn’t have a specific requirement, but there is one major concern. If Sasuke & Naruto uses this with any sort of reliable healing, this card becomes incredibly broken. A free team kill with auto mastery is kind of ridiculous, especially with a multi-blocker like Gamaken. If the Expert had been Naruto + Senjutsu, this wouldn’t be a problem.

Aside from that major breakage of the game, I really like it. It’s costly, but a deck like lightning wouldn’t really have trouble with it and it works really great with Jiraiya Sage Mode. The option to allow the 5 cost is questionable, but that seems to be the thing to do with jutsu these days, so I figure its fine. After all, only lightning is going be able to Mastery it.

Overall: 21.5/25


Finale
Artwork: 5/5
This art is simply magnificent in its splendor. Way back in the day, I might have marked off points for using non-anime art, but with the Students, Chibis, and Suits, here is definitely a precedent for this kind of thing. Besides, it just looks too damn good.

Layout: 5/5
There is nothing off that I can see. It looks perfect to me.

Text: 5/5
Everything seems to check out here too.

Spelling: 4.5/5
The only problem here is grammatical and comes in the flavor text. You have a comma where there should be a period or possible a semicolon. As it stands, it’s like Minato is telling his Rasengan that this is the end. While the idea is funny that he’d talk to his Rasengan like it were an ally or pet, I’m pretty sure that’s not what you were going for.
Also, just to put it out there, references to removing things from the game are still pretty spotty at best, so I’ll accept “removed from game” in this situation, but I would think “removed from the game” would be a better term.

Effect: 5/5
I love this card. What really gets me about this card is that it isn’t too powerful, even if it might seem that way at first glance. It pretty much guarantees that you will win any exchange during the turn if you use it at the right time, but it doesn’t break the game, because you are in a bad situation if you don’t win that turn, so it requires proper timing and strategy. It’s definitely a great closer.

Also, keeping your hand and not removing the deck means that you can continue the game. If you can wipe the opponent’s board that turn, it’s like a reset button too, allowing you to come back from a bad situation.

I’m going to assume that this card is meant to combo with Just Like That Hero, which is does very well and I’d really love to see the amount of damage that this combo could do.

Overall: 24.5/25


Kotetsu Hagane (Transformed)
Artwork: 5/5
Very clear and fits the situation.

Layout: 5/5
There is nothing off that I can see. It looks perfect to me.

Text: 5/5
Everything seems to check out here too.

Spelling: 5/5
I can spot no errors here.

Effect: 4/5
Despite your worries, I don’t feel like his effect is too overpowered. I think it balances just right, actually, since you are discarding from your hand and it only affects them for the turn. It also helps make multi-element decks much more viable, since you can do it to yourself. Also, it does little to nothing to a mirror match, so that also helps it stay balances, especially considering all of the multi-color stuff these days. I also like your idea of Genjutsu leaning toward indirect disruption.

Sadly, the only thing that hurt this card was its extremely underwhelming stats. I understand wanting to counterbalance with lower stats, but I think it was already balanced, so that isn’t necessary. What’s more, his stats are lower than even the original Kotetsu. Too my knowledge, transforming doesn’t lower ones power, so it isn’t necessary in that regard. These stats just hurt it to the point of making it really hard to play. If it was a turn 0 or had the stats of a regular Kotetsu, things would be different, but like this, it hurts your curve really badly.

Overall: 24/25

Wow, I'm surprised. I'll admit that I don't play the game very often, so I don't have a great understanding, but I thought my card was really too powerful. I'm happy that you think that it turned out about right. You're right about the stats - originally, he was a turn 1, which is why he had low stats. But, I felt the effect was just too good for a turn 1... so I bumped it up.

Congratulations mendokuse, I think he liked your card more than you expected!

Lovely Ino wrote:

Wow, I'm surprised. I'll admit that I don't play the game very often, so I don't have a great understanding, but I thought my card was really too powerful. I'm happy that you think that it turned out about right. You're right about the stats - originally, he was a turn 1, which is why he had low stats. But, I felt the effect was just too good for a turn 1... so I bumped it up.

Congratulations mendokuse, I think he liked your card more than you expected!

Well it certainly is powerful, but not too powerful. Since it's not constant and since a lot of new jutsu are coming out that have two costs, one of which is usually all generic chakra, it doesn't necessarily shut a person down. Plus the turn doesn't matter a great deal, since you don't see a lot of chakra getting used that early in the game anyway. It could've been turn 0 and been just fine since the effect wouldn't really seen use for quite a while.

So hahonryuu can't judge so naruto4ever is taking over for a bit.

Good evening folks, MJM wanted me to judge this round and I am more than happy to oblige. Alright, as you all know you are the top 4 which mean after this tournament you will all be receiving the new "extended" or promo templates. Alright you being in the top 4 meant you could make any type of card of any element lets see how you did:

UchihaKyoji23 vs. MJM

The Second Tsuchikage
Artwork: 4.5/5
Interesting, nice find on the picture. I like it! That being the case, I have to say that we do not know what his color scheme might be so I wont take any points away but remember trying using a ninja who's color scheme is known. The render job is a little sloppy here and there. The fade job, I like how you tried to add it into the picture but it looks rather dull. Basically, from the looks of it, the faded part just looks like you darkened it up a bit which is less than tasteful to this image.

Layout: 4.25/5
Things are where they are supposed to be, however just as a reference this wont be taken off for in this category but your text font seems to be to large in many spots, try shrinking it up a bit not only will it help you fit bigger effects but it doesnt over power the look of the card. The tsuchikage himself should have covered the fire symbol. Though not up until set 11 the symbols do get covered now. Also, the kanji use used for dust though Link did point out it is the wrong one, it is also to large shrink it up a bit. The word "Dust" is also off centered.

The cost of the Ninja kind of bothers me at the moment. 1 hand cost which seems reasonable then a Sacrifice which I dont see the point off. Granted Kabuto did need another Ninja in order to revive them but still. It would be cool if there was a Kabuto that would shut down the Sacrifice effect on certain Ninjas.

Random stats, but I like them over all not bad.

Text: 4/5
Alright, well the font isnt properly formatted thus making it appear off. In addition it is far to large as mentioned earlier. The proper things are bolded when they need to be. Other than those errors, the text seems good.


Spelling: 3.75/5
The first effect, the wording is off as it stands now it will still be affected by Ninja effects. So pretty much its useless text on the card I am afraid to say.

Wow, Link is on top of this. He is correct in saying "any Victory".

Effect: 3.25/5
Alright, the hard part. I will also start with your new ability "Expansion". I personally do not think the effect fits with the general explanation of what was given about "Expansion". Granted I do like its effect it just doesnt fit with it. Maybe if it had something to do with Ninjas that were discarded or removed from play by him then I would be a little better. I also kind of wished you would have added an effect to your card which gave a little more help to the "Expansion" ability.

The first effect, as was stated the first effect is theoretically impossible to use so its pointless. Next time just go with "This Ninja cannot be affected by the effects of your opponents Ninjas." I feel that may be a little more than you wanted but it still works.

The second effect, well as I read over it I just do not see its purpose with the card. The only element that effect really fits in is some type of milling fire deck. Other than that with an effect such as the one you provided this card probably wont see much to any play. As bandai has the game going right now, decks are "cookie cutter" get the generic cards you need put them in the deck and win with that deck. People wont be taking cards out of there deck for this card unfortunately.

Other than that I did appreciate the effort it looks like you put into the card. The card other than the pointed out issues is pretty solid, just not in what we have in the current game.
Overall: 19.75/25


Ultimate Rasengan
Artwork: 5/5
As far as Jutsu artwork goes, this is spot on. I love the screen capture you took for this picture, im really glad you can see Fukasaku's and Shima's Frog call going on while naruto is unleashing this Jutsu.

Layout: 4.5/5
Those ultra temps are really something, I never get to full appreciate them when Im using them. When I see others using them and how well they turned out I am pleased. Other than the less than prefect render on the Lightning symbol I can see nothing wrong. Oh also, after a close look your Expert effects are 1-2 pixles to the left.

Text: 5/5
Font is good, bolded where needed proper sizes cant ask for anything else.

Spelling: 2.75/5
Im just going to go straight down the card:
Flavor Text: Short and simple good.
Requirements: Should read "Printed Entrance cost of 5 or more" (take not the quotation marks are not part of the requirements they should not be there on the card)
Target: Should read "Every Ninja Battling against the user" (Same as above with the quotation marks) Im glad you didnt add a "." to the end of your target either.
Effect: Should read "Discard the target" (Same as above with the quotation marks).
Expert [Jiraiya]: That is the proper way to write an Expert.
Expert [Naruto Uzumaki]: It should read "Change the user to injured status. In that case, return this card to your hand."
A lot of capitalization errors but you had the wording all correct.

Effect: 3.75/5
I stand by what I said when you first asked me about this card. It is broken/border line broken, and Link just gave the best example. With the Naruto/Sasuke squad I can use this justu for free and recycle it. Any Ninja with an EC of 5 or more can use it so in a Wind Surge deck where I can make all of my Ninja's have a higher EC this card can be splashed especially with the "or 5" cost. I use this card with "Jiraiya (Sage Mode)" I get to bounce up to 5 Ninjas for 4 chakra. Thats looking a little to close to Hydro Pump for me. Overall, I think a quick fix on the Requirements could have kept this card from being broken but still playable.
Overall: 21/25

Mendokuse vs. Lovely Ino

Finale
Artwork: 4.5/5
The detail in the picture you used is nothing less than exceptional. However the picture isnt an anime/chibi or anything that bandai has used up until this point. I do feel it is exceptional so I wont mark off heavily but it is still not Anime.

Layout: 4.75/5
Another chance for me to appreciate the ultra templates. Thank you, everything is in proper placement. I marked off MJM for the poorly rendered Lightning symbol so I must do the same for you as well.

Text: 5/5
Yep, prefect.

Spelling: 4.5/5
Well, other than the flavor text fluke pointed out by Link which is pretty funny how he explained it. Every thing checks out. The Removed from game part I believe is the proper way it is used and has been used by Bandai this way many times before.

Effect: 4.25/5
Alright, when I first looked at this card I was like so basically if I dont win that turn its GG and Im going to lose. However on closer inspection I do see that this card is the ultimate combo with Just like that hero, granted they are both turn 4 Missions. You probably wont want to use your card until you are certain you can lock up the game.

Also, as link pointed out even if I dont win the game that turn if I can clear my opponent's field off that turn it becomes a reset of the game, however you will still end up losing due to the lack of cards in your Deck. So the card is good, just to risky for me to use.

Overall: 23/25


Kotetsu Hagana (Transformed)
Artwork: 5/5
Phenomenal, as I stated worlds ahead of where I am. However I am not sure if the original picture had a Leaf symbol on the head band such as this, but it looks a little tiny and rather distracting. (Correction, original picture posted things fixed. I dont feel right taking off unnecessary points on the top 4)

Layout: 4.75/5
Ok dont hate be because of this, but if you look at the bottom of your card you copyright logo is the wrong one. It should say Copyright 2002 Masashi Kishimoto.

Text: 5/5
I'm lucky all 3 types of cards for me to appreciate the ultra templates! Everything checks out.

Spelling: 5/5
Beautiful, perfect spelling.

Effect: 3.75/5
Ok, well you stayed up to date on Bandai's wording which is good. This card does have a "Fourth Hokage/Jiraiya" squad appeal and can crush an opponent and insure your Jutsu's are going to be going through most of the time. The problem with this card is that being early game this card can practically ensure you the game unless your playing mirror match. The fact that I can just camp him in my Village the whole game and decide what my opponent's Chakra is kind of ends the game so the lower stats don't mean much. This card is a definite splash in any deck. Unfortunately as much as I like this card it is still pretty nuts in my opinion.

Overall: 23.5/25

Alright, any concerns with my judging please point them out I am willing to make changes if needed. I dont find it fair to where if I missed something then you should still get penalized for it.

Um, sorry for being stupid, but I don't see any difference between the rarity on my card and the other entries? Sorry, but could you be any more specific?
Also, that the leaf symbol on his headband is from the original picture. If it looks weird, that's just my bad linearting, hehe.
Thank you for taking the time to judge in lieu of hahonryuu~!

Lovely Ino wrote:

Um, sorry for being stupid, but I don't see any difference between the rarity on my card and the other entries? Sorry, but could you be any more specific?
Also, that the leaf symbol on his headband is from the original picture. If it looks weird, that's just my bad linearting, hehe.
Thank you for taking the time to judge in lieu of hahonryuu~!

Sorry, if the leaf symbol was like that on the original you shouldnt be getting marked off. I will fix that. As to the rarity, I dont think I mentioned that. But, the copyright thing I was talking about was if you look at your card your using the copyright on a card such as this:Kakashi/Yamato . You should have used a copyright that looked like this: Hanabi

naruto4ever wrote:

Sorry, if the leaf symbol was like that on the original you shouldnt be getting marked off. I will fix that. As to the rarity, I dont think I mentioned that. But, the copyright thing I was talking about was if you look at your card your using the copyright on a card such as this:Kakashi/Yamato . You should have used a copyright that looked like this: Hanabi

Oh, wow~ I hadn't noticed that! Yes, you're right, that rarity's a mistake then...

Anyway, in case you're curious, here's the original picture I used...

Spoiler:

You don't have to change your score; if you think it looks weird, it looks weird, you know? My pics aren't perfect and some things just don't come out right... it's a risk I take by doing it myself.

Anyways, thank you for clarifying that for me, and thank you again for the judging.

Lovely Ino wrote:

naruto4ever wrote:

Sorry, if the leaf symbol was like that on the original you shouldnt be getting marked off. I will fix that. As to the rarity, I dont think I mentioned that. But, the copyright thing I was talking about was if you look at your card your using the copyright on a card such as this:Kakashi/Yamato . You should have used a copyright that looked like this: Hanabi

Oh, wow~ I hadn't noticed that! Yes, you're right, that rarity's a mistake then...

Anyway, in case you're curious, here's the original picture I used...

Spoiler:

You don't have to change your score; if you think it looks weird, it looks weird, you know? My pics aren't perfect and some things just don't come out right... it's a risk I take by doing it myself.

Anyways, thank you for clarifying that for me, and thank you again for the judging.

Thank you for posting the original picture, and even if I think it looks weird the original looks weird. I cannot find it in my self to take away unnecessary points this late in the tournament especially when they can make the difference of winning or not. So I fixed my judging as such. Thank you for posting the original and amazing art!

naruto4ever wrote:

Lovely Ino wrote:

naruto4ever wrote:

Sorry, if the leaf symbol was like that on the original you shouldnt be getting marked off. I will fix that. As to the rarity, I dont think I mentioned that. But, the copyright thing I was talking about was if you look at your card your using the copyright on a card such as this:Kakashi/Yamato . You should have used a copyright that looked like this: Hanabi

Oh, wow~ I hadn't noticed that! Yes, you're right, that rarity's a mistake then...

Anyway, in case you're curious, here's the original picture I used...

Spoiler:

You don't have to change your score; if you think it looks weird, it looks weird, you know? My pics aren't perfect and some things just don't come out right... it's a risk I take by doing it myself.

Anyways, thank you for clarifying that for me, and thank you again for the judging.

Thank you for posting the original picture, and even if I think it looks weird the original looks weird. I cannot find it in my self to take away unnecessary points this late in the tournament especially when they can make the difference of winning or not. So I fixed my judging as such. Thank you for posting the original and amazing art!

Well now we've got ourselves with something of a draw. I don't know what happens now. Maybe we should commiserate on the subject or something along those lines?

Hikari Link wrote:

naruto4ever wrote:

Lovely Ino wrote:

naruto4ever wrote:

Sorry, if the leaf symbol was like that on the original you shouldnt be getting marked off. I will fix that. As to the rarity, I dont think I mentioned that. But, the copyright thing I was talking about was if you look at your card your using the copyright on a card such as this:Kakashi/Yamato . You should have used a copyright that looked like this: Hanabi

Oh, wow~ I hadn't noticed that! Yes, you're right, that rarity's a mistake then...

Anyway, in case you're curious, here's the original picture I used...

Spoiler:

You don't have to change your score; if you think it looks weird, it looks weird, you know? My pics aren't perfect and some things just don't come out right... it's a risk I take by doing it myself.

Anyways, thank you for clarifying that for me, and thank you again for the judging.

Thank you for posting the original picture, and even if I think it looks weird the original looks weird. I cannot find it in my self to take away unnecessary points this late in the tournament especially when they can make the difference of winning or not. So I fixed my judging as such. Thank you for posting the original and amazing art!

Well now we've got ourselves with something of a draw. I don't know what happens now. Maybe we should commiserate on the subject or something along those lines?

Do we really have a draw..well this kind of puts us in a pickle, MJM as host what do you feel should be done?

Hi everybody,

So after talking with MJM, it was decided that naruto4ever and I would have a discussion and ultimately judge which card we felt deserved to win. We discussed the pros and cons extensively and ultimately decided on Finale as the winner. And as I'm sure you could already tell, Ultimate Rasengan was the other winner this round. Congrats to the winners.

Hikari Link wrote:

We discussed the pros and cons extensively and ultimately decided on Finale as the winner.

even from the airplane, you can tell that "finale" artwork is a fan made picture, which imo sucks.
kotetsu hagane artwork really looks like bandai/masashi kishimoto artwork.
kotetsu hagane has more useful but not overpowered effect.
kotetsu hagane has the effect that can make interesting game.
finale has "one shot-one kill" effect which really sucks.
lovely ino should win this round.

Well I am not really sure we have any need to justify ourselves, but whatever, I'm gonna put up some of my reasoning. I'm not speaking for naruto4ever at all in this response, just so we're clear.

aurelio wrote:

Hikari Link wrote:

We discussed the pros and cons extensively and ultimately decided on Finale as the winner.

even from the airplane, you can tell that "finale" artwork is a fan made picture, which imo sucks.

Well that's not completely true. Unless I'm very much mistaken, it's actually just a coloring of this page from the manga, so not technically a fan picture. I already mentioned it before and I'll mention it once again, we've seen the Samurai promos, the Student theme, and the Suit theme, all of which do not use standard anime art. Now I think that fan art is a whole different can of worms, but I personally don't see a problem with colored shots from the manga or other official sources.

aurelio wrote:

kotetsu hagane artwork really looks like bandai/masashi kishimoto artwork.

And as we all know, art is the only merit by which cards should be judged.

aurelio wrote:

kotetsu hagane has more useful but not overpowered effect.

The effect definitely has merit, which I pointed out in my review, but there are also many ways around it. Also, he's so understatted for his turn that it really hurts the player a lot too.

aurelio wrote:

kotetsu hagane has the effect that can make interesting game.

Not necessarily.

aurelio wrote:

finale has "one shot-one kill" effect which really sucks.

Now that's not a biased assessment at all. It certainly is a nice closer that Lightning could use, but it balances itself fairly well and it can also do more than just win the game, it can level an uneven playing fild and see-saw the direction of the battle. It also has some excellent combo potential with Just Like That Hero.

aurelio wrote:

lovely ino should win this round.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but I personally do not. Nothing against Lovely Ino, I just think mendokuse made a better card. Maybe you don't and that's cool too. Maybe you should talk to MJM about being a judge? Apparently people aren't exactly knocking down the door to get the job, so he asked me to do it. Now I'm no expert when it comes to this whole card making thing, but I'm an experienced player and so I'm judging the best I can based on my own experiences.That said, I welcome any criticism that will help me grow as a judge.

I'm glad that I was able to make it a little interesting, at least. Congratulations to the winners~!

Alrighty, thank you for my two Judges, Hikari Link and naruto4ever, for settling that tie. Sorry Lovely Ino, better luck next year.

Well we all know who moved on, Mendokuse and I, so congratulations to them (us)!

The Final Round will end in 2 weeks! That's right, Sunday, March 13th! The contestants will be able to make ANY card of any Element. Let the round begin!