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Top 10 Cards of 2009: #7:

Sakura Haruno & Sai - [Strange Team Work]

#N-639   
 

Review Date: Jan. 7, 2009

Average Card Rating

Constructed: 4.67
Limited: 3.33

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale.
1 being the worst.
3 = average.
5 is the highest rating.


Beastly Mage

Sakura Haruno and Sai

Today's card is one that has seen a lot of play since it came out. The Saku/Sai squad is one of those cards that deserves a spot on this list. Effect negation is good, but forcing the no-effect Ninja to go out and get its face smacked is even better. If you get the chance to run it, do it. It's great in constructed, and sure to bring on the pain.

Ratings:

Limited: 2/5
Constructed: 4/5
Art: Uhhh... Whoa!/5


N. Jolly

#7 Sakura Haruno & Sai [STRANGE TEAM WORK]

Hello again for one of my fav cards on the list. This card right here has been a driving reason why Sai is even run in decks that can't really use him (read: most decks), and really one of the squads I love the most (and we haven't even hit the best squad on the list yet!)

Again, I have to say that there's a lot to love about this card, as it's singlehandedly one me games. But enough about just talking about it, let's check out it's stats, shall we:

T4 HC0 Wind/Lightning
Leaf/Female/Male/Chunin/The Foundation/Anbu/Medical/Mental Power: 5/Squad
6/4 5/3 CA: Medicine/Brush
Set 14 Rare

Wow, that's a lot of key words! First of all, Leaf is getting to be a good village to come from for certain cards, as well as having either gender which can be helpful (but it can be Sexy Jutsu'd...something to think about...), and while most decks running this won't care too much that it's from The Foundation, Anbu is nice to have, as well as this guy being a pretty big part of the new Anbu deck. With Medical, this guy fits perfectly into the Med decks as a T4 (a bit tight, but he's a good fit for it), and his five mental is incredible! It allows him to set off Shikamaru [SHARPNESS], a card I like, as well as abuse Wind's best draw card, Sakura's Decision to the same level as Shika/Tem! Brush CA gives this guy access to all of Sai's jutsu. And their stats are just awesome for the turn, equaling Orochimaru's two turns earlier. Even without it's awesome effect, this would be a solid card to throw into most decks that needed to run either one or the other. But now, let's check out the effect that shuts down strategies and wrecks fields, shall we:

[STRANGE TEAM WORK]

During your opponent's Mission Phase, you can select 1 of your opponent's Ninjas. In that case, negate the effect texts of that selected Ninja during this turn and the next turn. Additionally, that selected Ninja must be sent out to battle this turn, if possible.

First you negate them, and then you force them out to battle...wow...this ninja doesn't even limit you on the turn cost of the ninja you can negate, which means it works on any ninja; that's really impressive. Being able to negate any ninja effect you want as well as forcing it out to fight when it's not at it's best can be a huge swing in your favor. And being able to chain this effect (that has no cost!) to your opponent activating their effect is just beautiful. Chain it to come into play effects and just smile, seeing how they lost their ninja's only special ability. This effect is massive and game changing, and I'm glad to see it on this list.

I have to say, this squad is probably my favorite even including the next one on the list, as it doesn't create an instant win, but rather allows a player to come back from a bad situation and turn it around, as well as fitting into both medical and anbu decks, which makes it quite versatile. I just hope the block keeps on giving us a low turn Sakura, because even as muc has I love this squad, losing a T3 and T4 to bring this out would make me a bit sad. It's being able to drop your T0 Sakura [GOTP or ADP] and then work your way into Sai on T4 to squad that makes this amazing, and I feel that if I were losing both my T3 and T4 for this card, it'd be a bit of a harder loss. But as it is now, this card has really made an impact on the meta, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out in block.

Limited: 4/5 Again, don't like losing both T3 and T4 to play it, but if you get it out, it'll probably win the game itself.
Constructed: 5/5 Fav squad, hands down.
Block: 5/5 Nothing has made it worse, so keep on playing it as you still have a good Sakura to play early game.
Art: Sakura is gonna sucker punch you, just like every other woman you meet in your life...women suck punch people, it's a fact.../5

Stick around for tomorrow's card, yet another wind card that seems like it was destined to be limited. Until then, this is N. Jolly giving a friendly hello to the new reviewers who have recently joined the review crew! Look forward to seeing what you guys have to say, and maybe seeing if you want to collab on an article or two! Look forward to a special article by Friday (I hope :P) about the block, a new block legal deck, and a few other things in N.'s End!

Josh

While we continue this countdown to the best Naruto card we go by a couple who you would think hate each other, but in fact work out as a great squad. Sakura Haruno & Sai [Strange Team Work] simply have everything it takes to be a must card in a deck that wants to aggressively take the field. Its ability to shut down one ninja’s effect and then force an attack supplies you with at least two chances of causing damage to head ninja’s and their support. Add in the factor that jutsu’s of the wind element tend to be strong in field manipulation and negation, and you’ve got an incredibly playable and powerful turn 4. Just looking at the card you can see all the attributes it has, and quite a lot: 5 mental, anbu, leaf, above average stats…..heck it’s even two genders! Honestly, I see no reason to not at least play one, unless your separate Sakura or Sai is more important.

Limited: 4/5
Constructed: 5/5 (Ya, at its level it’s that playable)
Art: Why do I feel that Sakura really wants to be punching in another direction.....hmmm?

 


 

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