The meta of the Naruto TCG has changed a lot in the past few months and one of the oddest, but surprising successful deck types to emerge from this change has been a combination deck including Earth and Lightning. This deck works well due to the fact that Lightning has good low turn well rounded ninja, like the ninja toads, and Earth has a set and stable selection of tricky support ninja, like Shikamaru and Ino. Aside from the ninja Earth and Lightning have a wide variety of control mission and jutsu, so forcing a fusion between the two makes for a wonderfully simple, yet very playable deck.
Turn 0
Sasuke (Analysis of Competition) x2
Naruto (Legacy from the Fourth Hokage) x1
Choji (Formation) x2
Ino (Formation) x3
For ninja this deck will use the dominant turn 0 ninja Sasuke (Analysis of Competition) and Naruto (Legacy form the Fourth Hokage) These two ninja add cards to your hand and have some major beat down potential. Along side them using Ino (Formation is always a good idea to manipulate your opponents side of the field and to keep them frustrated. Choji just works well with Shikamaru later in taking out high powered ninja.
Turn 1
Rock Lee (High Speed Move) x3
Shikamaru (Formation) x2
Temari (Wind Scythe) x2
Rock Lee is an amazing ninja with the ability to have all of his jutsu hit no matter what, and he can’t be taken out of play by jutsu or mission cards! This means all your paper bombs are going to hit and when powering him up you can be stopped. Shikamaru adds some much needed support to this deck, and stops your opponents head ninjas power. Temari is just thrown in for added support/tech getting rid of any annoying jutsu an opponent may have up his sleeve.
Gama is just good for having a well rounded lightning ninja that always gives 2 support, aside from that just charge him for jutsus. Iruka is a really great ninja, healing your injured ninja right off the bat when he comes into play. This ability even makes him useful in the late game, and he has a decent 3 attack. Neji just annoys the crud out of an opponent by eliminating their chakra area.
Turn 3
Ibiki Moreno (First Proctor) x1
Ibiki is not normally run in a beat down deck such as this, but playing him might really throw an opponent for a loop. Ibiki sends the fight to a mental power battle each time he attacks. So placing Ibiki on the same team as Shikamaru makes them an automatic 5, and then throw in Temari or Iruka and you have a very power mental team of 6. If you opponent blacks they get killed by mental power, they don’t block and you get two free battle rewards. A win win situation for you.
Turn 4
Inochi (Reunion of the Trio) x1
Asuma (BBQ) x1
Inochi is just a great turn 4 ninja in terms of being well rounded and stable, keeping massive support even when injured. Asuma is more of a leader, but has a really nifty effect. When any Genin squad is defeated or ties then you get to draw a card, which this deck loves to do!
Turn 5
Might Guy (Backup) x1
Might Guy (Countermeasures against the Sharingan) x1
Guy is Lightning best attacking ninja up to this point and in his Backup form he gets to come out a turn early if there is a fire or water ninja on your opponent’s side of the field. This will almost be an assured thing since most every deck will be playing with Sasuke Uchiha in one form or another. Speaking of the Uchiha clan that’s where the other Might Guy comes into play. He gains an extra attack if an opponent’s ninja has Sharingan eye as an attribute, again this is almost an assured thing so Might Guy will have a missive 7 attack almost all the time!
The Fourth Hokage (Hero of the Village) x1
The First Hokage (Great Founder of the Leaf) x1
Here we have a Hokage representing each element in this deck. The Fourth Hokage has amazing stats, and gets stronger when injured. Also you have the option of injuring the Fourth Hokage in order to heal every ninja in your village! The First Hokage is also great, being called “broken” because of his ability. When he is placed into play your opponent is forced to give you back the cards they have one as battle rewards (placing these in the discard pile) until they have only four battle rewards left. This means even if they had nine battle rewards going into turn 6 they will be forced back down to 4 as soon as The First Hokage shows up, and his stats are pretty good too.
Jutsu commonly used in this deck are Paper Bomb to deal direct damage, Disguise Jutsu to protect your ninja squads, Kunai for a quick power-up, and escape jutsu to stop an opponent from getting to strong. Missions commonly include, Forbidden Word to knock out annoying missions/jutsu in an opponents hand and it works well with Temari’s effect, Reunion with a Former Teacher for some great draw power + chakra control, Unprecedented Clue to get your jutsu faster, and After the Battle to heal you ninja when you need to.
Also variations of the deck include adding Jiraiya and Rasengan for an overwhelming victory, and also cards to make the deck Taijutsu based, like Leaf Hurricane and Leaf Whirlwind. Also by working in Noodle Shop and a few Hinata’s you could make the deck very formidable in terms of healing you ninja constantly!
