Shonen Jump Magazine's Picks for Best Bleach TCG Cards

[Justmcnew]

If anyone has read the latest issue of Shonen Jump for August 2007, they have a section for what they think are the best Bleach TCG cards right now. IMO they're halfway right, they're missing Balance of Souls. Here's their list:

1. Ichigo - Confident Soul Reaper

I can see why he was picked, despite that he costs 8 Body to play his stats are amazing but he's best to run If your Guardian is Ichigo since you get a Body Energy advantage at the start of the game with his effect. He's solid against Hollow Swarm, and his stats are amazing!

2. Reality Check

It's a no-brainer why this card was picked, it's the counterspell for the Bleach TCG that can stop any Event or Activated Ability on the spot.

3. Passing Over

This card is just as good as Balance of Souls except your Opponent gains 2 Power for the cost of their depleted character getting destroyed. Still BoS is cheaper by only 1 Spirit.

4. Byakuya - Squad 6 Captain

He's a solid pick for Soul Reaper/Soldier decks which will get a better boost in the next expansion, but you can't go wrong for what he does. He gives all your Soldiers +2 to all Stats including himself, giving him 9 QCK, 8 SPP, and 6 STR.

5. Acidwire - Over Possessive

One of the best Hollow's in the game, no questions asked.

6. Chad - Top 50 Student

Solid in Student Decks.

7. The Mr. Kan'onji Challenge

Card Advantage for 1 Body? Count me in.

8. Tsubaki - Shunshunrikka Member

Good in a Shunshunrikka deck though.

9. Flower Hairpin

The Engine for Rukia Reanimation Beats and the key card to get most high costed Characters in the game.

10. Underground Training Facility

Good for Energy Advantage.

[Gordon Gekko]

I agree that about half of these cards are right, but then again, some of them aren't right.

Ichigo should not be number one, he costs too much energy to try and get out. Reality Check, Passing Over, and Byakuya are fine. Balancing of Souls should be in there. The Kan'onji Challenge is fine as well, but cards like Underground Training Facility and Chad, I don't think make it into the Top 10...

[Turonik]

I should probably step up to the plate and lay down my top ten.I've read this list before but honestly. A lot of these choices are just "what were they thinking" But honestly the person who wrote it must not have been going by tournaments and playability but by what's cool and what the kiddies would like.

[Justmcnew]

The best way to get out Ichigo, Confident Soul Reaper is using the Ayame/Shun'o combo with Flower Hairpin to put him into play from your Discard Pile depleted so that you can bypass his Energy Cost of 8 Body.

Same with Rukia, Battle Ready although she got nerfed to where she's balanced.

I'm starting to like Reality Check but out of all the game's of Bleach I've played hardly anyone has played good Events worth countering besides abilities but it's an ok card IMO.

Passing Over is such a solid card it's not even funny, just wait for your Opponent to attack with a character and then play Passing Over to get rid of them, simple. You mainly want to use it against Characters with huge Stats like Byakuya, Squad 6 Captain especially Rukia, Battle Ready.

[Turonik]

Of course there's other ways to get ichigo out but soul reaper glove and the re-animator combo doesn't not make him an auto play since you gotta have those in your deck in order for them to be played. He's good but he's not the best.

[soviet prince]

I don't get why confident soul reaper is the best :D

[Shady]

Mizuiro [Smooth Operator] should definitely be on this list.

[chibi_ninja]

I don't get why confident soul reaper is the best :D

i think battle ready is better

[Gordon Gekko]

I like Rukia as well... She's easier to get out without using some kind of ability like Ayame and Shun'o combo or something like that.

[Stegy]

They're missing the most broken card in the entire game, and nobody on this board as mentioned it yet. It seriously wins games.

Passing Over was over hyped, IMO. Balance of Souls is so much better and costs one less Spirit Energy to play. Don't get me wrong; I think Passing Over is a good card, but not Top 10 material.

Acidwire is a lol for me. Maybe in Reanimator (Hollow or Ayame/Shun'o) but I don't really like it any other way.

Tsubaki and Underground Training Facility.. I don't even begin to see why.

And I don't think Byakuya gives himself +2 stats as well. He'd be nuts if that was the case, but I'm pretty sure I saw a ruling where he does NOT get the +2 stats.

[Turonik]

Passing Over was over hyped, IMO. Balance of Souls is so much better and costs one less Spirit Energy to play. Don't get me wrong; I think Passing Over is a good card, but not Top 10 material.

Both balance of Souls and Passing Over are great cards. However Passing Over beats it out in the end. Yes Balance costs one less and it can auto kill anything, while passing costs one more spirit and the character needs to be depleted plus your opponent gains 2 power. So why does passing beat out balance?, balance needs you to discard one of yours to use. This isn't much of a loss to a swarm deck or a blitz deck that ones low cost people but not every deck uses a swarm tactic. in a few decks running around the deck only has a few characters in play at a time and most are not expendable.. Passing kills an attacker without you losing someone you need to win with for the low cost of 3 spirit and your opponent gaining 2 worthless power.

And I don't think Byakuya gives himself +2 stats as well. He'd be nuts if that was the case, but I'm pretty sure I saw a ruling where he does NOT get the +2 stats.

Byakuya does indeed boost himself under his current wording and it hasn't been errata'd so it stands as is.

[Gordon Gekko]

Tsubaki... I don't even begin to see why.

And I don't think Byakuya gives himself +2 stats as well. He'd be nuts if that was the case, but I'm pretty sure I saw a ruling where he does NOT get the +2 stats.

Tsubaki has incredible stats for his low cost considering. Byakuya DOES give +2 to all stats for himself according to many players that are out there. There has been no Errata for him on Score either otherwise they would've made him Menos Grande[Lurker] where all Other Soldiers get +2 to all stats, but it says +2 to all stats regardless. So he is deserving of a top spot.

[Joshman]

Byakuya does indeed affect himself.

[Stegy]

Wow, I am so sorry that I thought that Byakuya did NOT give himself +2 to all stats. =(

Now I like him more. =D He's, what, 9/8/6 or something? Holy-freaking-crap. I guess it makes sense since he IS the strongest person in set one (like, where the Anime was at that point).

Anyway, I'm just giving my opinion on cards based off of my recent Origins experience (I Top 8'd with Ichigo Rush). I will say that I DID see Tsubaki during the side event on Friday but it was handedly dealt with. I had much too many Characters for Tsubaki to really have done anything effective.

And Balance of Souls > Passing Over by a lot. Passing Over wasn't played in multiples in ANY of the Top 8 decks at Origins (I could be wrong, but I really think nobody had more than one, and that player only used it as a filler for Challenge). It's like, you have 3 Life left. I attack with a Character at 3 AGI and you block. I Passing Over, you gain 2 life, and I hit you for 3. Great, I just spent 3 Spirit Energy to have you lose a Character and one life, whereas I could have done Balance of Souls and won.

In the last match of swiss, Balance of Souls won the game. The undefeated player only had TWO characters on the field, whereas his opponent had, like, 8-10 easy. The undefeated player attacked, used Balance of Souls with his already spent attacker, and won the game. If he had used Passing Over then he would have lost.

I mean, I respect everyone's opinions. I really like Passing Over but I just feel that Balance of Souls is much better.

[Gordon Gekko]

Yeah, I see your point. Balance is nice since if you don't have to have a depleted character than you're not in much luck plus extra life is nice. :)

[Justmcnew]

Balance of Souls (BoS) is a better card than Passing Over because it's only 1 Spirit Energy cheaper to play than it's counterpart.

I'd run 3's or 4's of both BoS and Passing Over IMO, you gotta have some form of board control somehow am I right?

Look Out! is only good If you're against an Opponent that boosts their Characters alot since it's only good against Character's that Boost their Stats for an Attack. But it's nowhere near as good as BoS and Passing Over.

[Turonik]

Balance of Souls and Passing over are almost equal in my eye and it really depends on your play style. I don't play blitz so running 4 copies of balance is bit hard for me to do. Passing over is better for me since if my opponent attacks they are depleted i can use passing. If I attack and they block, I can use passing on it and the guardian will take the full damage. I do realize it costs 3 spirit energy but I never have a desperate need to kill something turn 1 unless theres 2 1 drops on the field and I have bopping them on the head.

As I said it all depends on your play style but my vote still goes to PO, sealed, draft, or constructed I must say it's all around better than BoS if only by a small margin.

[NavyCherub]

I think it's half right because they were probably only half-trying when they wrote it.

[Joshman]

Cause it wouldn't look as good if the list were eight events and two characters.

[yourpapi]

geez with all the decks that have um you would think leech spitter would have popped up