Mull to Four Gaming

As the release of Set 27: Hero's Ascension approaches, I'm sure many players are excited about the new cards found within the set. However, let's not forget about the cards we already have. Many players have dismissed anything that's not Fire or Lightning. The better players have noticed that out of the four other elements, one of them is superior to the others: Earth.

Are you trolling again MJM?

Not at all. And to contribute to your skepticism let me add, Permanent Earth is the deck I am specifically referring to.

You are trolling MJM, I'm done reading Mull to Four.

If you say so, but let's continue anyways. Many of those who have attempted building Permanent Earth probably made very, very poor builds. This is apparent in the recent efforts of a certain BandaiCG forum member who shall remain unnamed. The handful of players who believe they succeeded with the deck are so very wrong. Permanent Earth is a deck that took much more than just cards to make, it required patience and skill.

Permanent Earth, or Perm Earth for short, is a very unique deck that requires a specific balance of cards to make it viable for competitive play. In addition, the deck itself is much different than a standard deck, yet it still retains the distinct aspects of Earth. Yes, Perm Earth is a stall deck. This means the deck will avoid initiating a battle at all costs; it DOES NOT mean the user of the deck should play slow (truth be told, the deck has a decent amount of moves taken every turn which in turn results in somewhat slow play).

Enough introduction, let's get into the specifics. I'm not positive how the majority of players who attempted Perm Earth handled it, but the most efficient way to win is through the use of alternate Battle Reward gain. This means you play cards such as Deidara and Hidan, the latter of which turns into Hidan (Curse Mode). For most, this part was obvious when they saw the main Mission of the Deck, Determination to Protect.

Determination to Protect, Determination for short, makes it so Ninjas cannot be sent out to Battle, the catch is it's only Permanent (1) meaning it will last only one rotation of turns. The trick is to increase the number of coins on it, making it impossible for Ninjas to be sent out to Battle. This is easier said than done, however, there are two cards that make this task relatively easy to do, Hinata Hyuga and Zetsu.

Many players, upon first reading Hinata, dismissed her immediately. This was fair, I did it as well, considering that she has mediocre stats, isn't Valid, and only places one coin on a Mission. Not to mention there is an incarnation of her that has better stats and discards a card from your opponent's hand. Before the usage of Hinata is justified, let's examine Zetsu. Zetsu is easily the core Ninja of the Perm Earth deck; he distributes, in theory, an infinite amount of coins to your Mission(s). No one dismissed Zetsu like they did Hinata, but to be fair, there was no good Zetsu.

The three cards discussed so far, Determination, Hinata, and Zetsu,, work extremely well together. The key is to hold Determination until your Turn 2, when you drop Hinata first then drop itself. This generates an extra coin on Determination which gives you enough to cease Battles until Turn 3 when you drop Zetsu and start manipulating the coins on Determination as well as other Missions. Now, I'm the last person to support an extremely specific combo, but this combination of cards occurs much more often than you think.

This holy trinity, if you will, can be acquired through the use of various draw and search methods. You have your standard search, Shikamaru's Decision, which allows you tutor out either Hinata or Zetsu depending on the Target. Then there's your standard draw; this includes the newly reprinted BBQ. BBQ creates a lot of synergy in the Perm Earth deck due to its production of 2 coins, 3 with Hinata, and quick draw. The coins can be manipulated with Zetsu to feed Determination or bottom decked with Choji for a quick +1 in Power.

In addition to BBQ, we have Student and Sensei, a card that was dismissed by many due to the creation of Decoding the Message. Decoding theMessage, as far as I am concerned, is a horrible card that generates little advantage over a period of six turns and is only consistent with cards such as Shiho, even in the Perm Earth deck. Student and Sensei is much better in that it quickly generates 2 new cards to your Hand while the Battle Reward is beneficial to two other cards in the Deck. Both of which are off element but the first one being very unexpected.

No one saw this coming, right? Before your previously established skepticism skyrockets, read the card. This card is perfect for the Perm Earth deck. Not only does it refill your hand, but it also generates coins. This Turn 0 Mission, meaning it's not that bad missing a 0 Drop when you hit it and it's even better when you hit both, works off of Battle Rewards which, in play testing, proved to be very mind wracking for the opponent. Do they swing in early and let you pull off an early Inherits or do they sit back and hold tight? The former allowing you to refill your hand, which is much needed after dropping many Ninjas and Missions that do not grant immediate card advantage, and the latter being a prelude to the Determination/Hinata/Zetsu in the turns to come.

In other situations, Awakening becomes a coin bank, gaining coins as Battle Rewards are won by your opponent or forfeited through cards such as Student and Sensei or Hidan (Curse Mode). These coins can then be redistributed to your other Permanent Missions, especially Determination to Protect.

The other off element card that can benefit from Battle Rewards is the newly reprinted promo Naruto Uzumaki. The reasoning behind him is both obvious and hidden. The main reasons are to bring back Battle Rewards that were won or given early in the game and to Squad into the Naruto Uzumaki& Yamato Squad. The secondary reason is that the deck has the potential to utilize Naruto Uzumaki (Sage Mode). Although the chances are slim, the option is always there. My current build has 6 Hand Costs for Sage Mode, 2 of which are Naruto himself, however, when the opportunity arises, you'll have the ability to take advantage of it.

There are two more cards that endow hand advantage, one a Permanent Mission and the other a Ninja. The Mission is none other than Messengers. This card generates SO MUCH card advantage, and on both turns too. During testing, it seemed that this card never left the board.; Zetsu kept placing coins on it, as if its initial four coins weren't enough (two from itself, one from its effect, and one from Hinata). This card was actually a double-edged sword; it drew TOO much. Later in the game, when you're digging for a Hand Cost for Hidan (Curse Mode) or the Deidara to finish off the opponent, this card can potentially deck you out. The safety measure is BBQ which disables any draw during the Start Phase. Don't forget, Zetsu can move coins off it which triggers a draw. I found myself moving a coin off of it during my turn and placing it back on it during my opponent's turn.

The Ninja is none other than Ink Fish. This card is very useful in this Deck in that not only does it draw you a card, but it's a potential Hand Cost for Sage Mode. Before you count this card out, think about this: What are you really going to use all that Chakra for? You don't go out to Battle, meaning you don't use Jutsu. It seems very logical to pay a small portion of that pile of Chakra to gain field presence, which doesn't matter much when you're stalling, and net a card. This brings us to our next card that utilizes your useless Chakra, Intriguing Story.

I'm not quite sure how the reactions to this card were, however I do recall it being dismissed to some extent. This card is basically a tutor for any Permanent Mission in your Deck. Were you missing that Determination? Just pay one Chakra and it's yours. Need to draw? Grab a BBQ or Messengers. Want to pull of some shenanigans? Fetch out Awakening. The best part about this card is that it supports tech. When I played it, I would usually tutor out the next card we'll discuss, sometimes even a turn earlier than the card was supposed to be played.

Untold Destruction, I must admit, was a card I dismissed immediately. This might have been because it bared relation to Exhaustion, a card that is very bad and should not be played under any circumstances. The reason why I changed my mind on Untold Destruction was because I didn't realize how easily it could be up kept through Hinata and Zetsu. You can easily remove one late game Ninja or two or three mid to early game Ninjas with it. There were times where I was forced to remove The 5th Mizukage in order to make Zetsu effective again. That's the main reason why it's so good, not just because it generates five to six coins; it's an out to most Ninjas. If you remove a Squad or Reinforcement, you don't even have to worry about keeping it alive, the removed Ninja will almost never come back.

In regards to using Chakra, I should note that this deck does play Jutsu despite the tendency not to Battle. Battles usually occur early in the game or late in the game when playing this deck. Early Battles occur because you didn't hit Determination yet, late Battles occur because they hit your Determination. In either case, it's handy to have some responses during the Exchange of Jutsu. I myself have four.

Running three Formation! and a one-of Spontaneous Tree Summoning seems to be the best way to go. The reasoning behind Formation! should be obvious; dealing Damage, negating Jutsu, or removing an opposing Ninja from game at the cost of two Chakra is too good to pass up, not to mention it's on element. The Spontaneous Tree Summoning is ran as a one-of for two reasons. The first being, as stated before, the deck can get pretty small, especially later in the game. Having it as a one-of Revitalize card allows you to stall out even more. The second being that, if you are forced into a Battle situation, you can get aggressive with it. Also, considering that your deck whittles down, this card can be a never-ending out.

The User of Spontaneous Tree Summoning is Yamato, of course, and, in certain situations, the Naruto/Yamato Squad. Yamato, sporting a Water Symbol, meaning you can play him with Karin as a cost, allows you to tutor out an Earth Permanent Mission from your deck with an Entrance Cost equal to or less than the number of Permanent Missions you already control. After that, you can squad out for Naruto/Yamato and get two more Permanent Missions from your Deck. If you decide to keep him you get to recycle Permanent Missions with his second effect and draw off of that as well.

There are only a few more cards that haven't been covered yet, all of which are Ninjas and my personal choices in the deck, yours can be different of course.

You're far too deep into this article to go back now so just hear me out on Sasuke Uchiha. Originally I was running [SOLO ATTITUDE], who wasn't too bad, but he slowed me down more than my opponent, especially since I prefer curving into a Turn 1 Support Ninja. But after you get through [SOLO ATTITUDE]'s beefy stats, there's nothing else to him. [PEERLESS GENIUS], on the other hand, has average Turn 0 stats but slows down your opponent more than he does yourself. Many Ninjas that are played between Turn 0 and Turn 2, in the current format at least, do not have Taijutsu, meaning they cannot be sent out to Battle. This will surely hold your opponent off until you get the Determination engine rolling. Plus, he's a Fire Hand Cost for Hidan (Curse Mode) and, if need be, Deidara. In addition, he can turn into a Danzo if necessary.

These are the last two cards in the Perm Earth deck, well my build anyway. Shikamaru isn't just the optimal target for Shikamaru's Decision, but he helps stall early in the game through Mental Power Battles. Then there's Tenten. Tenten allows you to filter through your Deck with ease, as early as Turn 1, to get all the pieces to the Determination engine. All this set up leads to your impending victory through Hidan (Curse Mode) and Deidara.

I'm sure most players are aware of the Hidan/Deidara combo. Hidan (Curse Mode) activates its effect giving both players one Battle Reward. Then, Deidara discards Curse Mode to win two Battle Rewards. Afterwards, Hidan comes back from the Discard Pile and turns into another Curse Mode. The new Curse Mode then uses its effect to have both players get one Battle Reward. Although the combo is pricey, a total of five Chakra, which you don't use much of, and three Battle Rewards to your opponent, it does result in four Battle Rewards for you. However, this isn't a combo that should be aimed for when utilizing the Deck; if the opportunity presents itself, take it, otherwise leave it alone.

The last bit of advice I can leave to you before closing is the deck list. I don't really mind if it gets net-decked, which I doubt will happen, especially considering there are much more outs to the deck with the release of Set 27: Hero's Ascension.

3 Sasuke Uchiha

3 Shikamaru Nara

2 Choji Akimichi

2 Tenten

2 Karin

2 Ink Fish

3 Hinata Hyuga

3 Zetsu

2 Naruto Uzumaki

2 Hidan

2 Deidara

2 Yamato

3 Formation!

1 Spontaneous Tree Summoning

3 Awakening

3 Determination to Protect

3 Messengers

2 BBQ

2 Shikamaru's Decision

2 Student and Sensei

2 Intriguing Story

1 Untold Destruction

I'll leave the Reinforcement Deck and Side Board to your imagination. I really hope you guys enjoyed and learned from this article; it's our, well my, very first Deck Review as Mull to Four. I certainly hope the depth of it did not make it a boring read, I realize it's a very long article. In addition to the article, we thought it'd be fitting if we included a video showing the deck in action. This video will be up later in the week so you can check it out on our YouTube Channel.

P.S. If you can tell me the origin of the second part of the title of this Deck Review, I'll do a little something special for you guys. Post on our thread on Bandai or send a PM to me, MJM, on Bandai. I would very much enjoy to hear back from you guys so please do the following.

Please leave comments, questions, and concerns either below or in our thread on Bandai.