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Previews dropped for Series 11 and the boys and I have of course been in the lab brewing, tuning, and testing these new archetypes trying to see the strengths, weaknesses, and exploits each of the new engines entail. We all had our early favorites – Zapp wanted to work on Gotenks, Frisco of course wanted to mess around with Red Gogeta, and I have been playing both Broly and Majin Vegeta trying to “crack the code” on the best builds featuring the intended engines.

Planet Vampa is a Trap

Broly’s front side ability to tutor a 1 cost extra card adds a fair bit of utility to the leader and the Series 11 reveals gave us a few extra cards to digest, Planet Vampa seeming like the most obvious to choose from for the deck. The card overall reads really well – you take a life, look at top 7, play a thing for free, and then discard a card. To put this into context, we can look at the hits and see that if you don’t hit a Paragus or Ba, you’re not going to accrue any actual advantage. If you hit a Broly, it is only good if you can go up the chain right away, and from there the biggest downside is honestly taking the life to enable something that just isn’t that powerful to begin with and requires you to discard a card. It may be too soon to tell because the set isn’t completely spoiled, but as of right now Planet Vampa feels like a trap in Series 11.

Two Chainz

One of the first things you’ll learn in testing Broly is that the deck is hyper reliant on the opening hand plus some number of consistency contingencies added to help enable the deck’s peak potential. When you open a single chain, the deck is decent but loses hard to opposing pressure plus removal or disruption. When you can go turn 1 – 1 drop into 3 drop, then turn 2 – 3 drop into 4 drop, then another 1 drop into 3 drop, you quickly notice that this is exactly how the deck needs to function to be successful. The goal when playing then becomes to on turn 3/4 to get as many swings in a possible while moving up each chain into the 5 drops and then the 6 drop. The first time you achieve this, you then get a true glimpse into why certain cards are so important versus other. Not only that, you get a good look into how the sequencing needs to work, the priorities you need to have, and of course when not to swing so you don’t leave a Broly stranded in rest mode.

The List

Consistency Pieces

Kale, Paragus, and New Model Scouter all serve the purpose of helping us get to the pieces we need. Due to this, we max out on Paragus and Kale, and play 2x New Model Scouter, since it can be tutored by our leader. In addition, we also max out on all of the Broly pieces to ensure that we are always hitting on something. As I eluded to above, the deck is so dependent on an ideal board state to be successful that you need to take every measure to help ensure you get there one way or another.

Kale at first glance comes of so “meh” but in reality it is a 1 drop tutor with the upside of requiring an attack to answer it or it just has the capability of going off and enabling a huge kill turn if the opponent does not respect it. This is why I have ventured down the path of Wolf Fang Fist as a way to protect the unison and get something out of its existence in the deck.

Defense and Tech

With the majority of the deck having to be focused on maximizing the engine, there are a few choices I made outside of Bardock the Resolute plus Intensifying Power Trunks that take into consideration the deck’s core weaknesses and attempts to address other powerful strategies within the format.

The first thing I want to touch on is the power of Violent Rays and its ability to potentially supplant Toppo, Righteous Aid as Red’s floodgate. The card as written is a 1 cost negate that requires you to discard a card and then enable the ability to stop all attacks from battle cards 20k or higher, or stop 20k unisons from attacking for the duration of the turn. From what we have seen so far, the power of the average threat has gradually increased over time so Violent Rays ability to capitalize on that for 1 energy feels incredibly powerful. Especially when speaking of cards like Grim Reaper of Justice, or the Buu Chain featured in the Majin Vegeta deck, Violent Rays completely shuts those strategies down. Ultimately though, it really just comes down to being a 1 cost floodgate which is why it is so appealing in this deck. Broly needs to stay on tempo and use the majority of your energy every single turn, holding up two energy usually means you’re losing. Also not to mention that God-Sealing Trunks or Android 13 counter: play just completely wreck Toppo.

Wolf Fang Fist is trying to cover the other end of the spectrum and give you a cheap/free way to play defense for your leader or unison, if necessary. We then play 2x Loyal Kikono as a way to act as another copy of each, which can also be tutored by New Model Scouter, so we always have exactly what we needed to buy us more time.

Lastly, we play Secret Identity Masked Saiyan, a card which has been getting a lot of attention in Series 10, in order to net some X for 1’s when we are behind or fend off some of the biggest threats such as the new Gogeta 6 drop, which is an absurd card that takes over the game and if not dealt with will kill you offensively and defensively.

Conclusion

As stated above it may be too early to tell the designation for this archetype but in practice so far it does feel like it is slightly below the new Red Gogeta stuff in terms of overall power level. This is mostly due to the deck being so weak to variance and the deck’s reliance on threats that create so much room for the opponent to be able to interact. None of the cards have barrier or deflect and the leader’s built-in redundancy on the awakened side only gets you so far. Overall though the deck is quite fun to play and has been a really cool deck building puzzle to work through. I am super excited for Series 11 and what the rest of the set entails and I truly hope to see more support for this archetype moving forward since its ability to go wide and tall at the same time is incredibly appealing for new wave aggressive players.

#scrubfamisbestfam #KTHXBAAAIIIIIIII

The past few days have been quite the experience in my own development within the DBSCG, and to be honest it came from a source outside of the game, but definitely won’t come as a surprise to anyone – I have been playing Magic Arena and man has it taken the blindfold off and allow me to come to grips with the truth, I am a dirty, filthy mid-range/hand destruction player.

The Deck I Have Been Playing

With limited resources and just a $50 investment, this is the list I have been tuning and using for the past few days. I started a brand new account (HandBanana) which means I was at the very bottom – Bronze Tier 4. I am now Gold and have just been playing a version of this deck the entire time. The reason why, it happens to be the deck that I was immediately drawn to and has been the most fun/rewarding to me.

Your turns in this deck require a lot of thought and adjustment on your part when approaching various match-ups. You spend the entire game grinding the edges trying to either snowball into a large advantage with Woe Strider and Kroxa coming down on curve or you’re abusing the power of Call of the Death-Dweller to buy you enough time by looping Scorpion and Mire Triton from the graveyard and trying to abuse Village Rites so you can dig further to your threats and/or answers. This is the type of strategy I love, just a ton of utility, flexibility, and the ability for me to use all areas of play to give myself enough opportunities to outplay my opponent’s through superior decision making at a small, incremental level.

The Truth

In Super I have a history of jumping off of decks I feel are well-liked by a large majority of people and I try to discredit them by saying they’re unfun, then I end up championing a deck that is its polar opposite, even if it isn’t actually my desired style of play. I just get so blinded by my ego at times that I end up creating a poor experience for myself instead of just playing the deck that is my preferred play-style.

A perfect example of this is how recently I have been trying to play these go-wide aggressive strategies in Super and I just end up getting so frustrated because of how “unplayable” they are. Even though I know this already, I just kept being ego driven and kept playing these strategies that don’t fit my preferred way of playing the game. It is so silly, because I have always known my preferred way to play, I just became so easily blinded just due to outside opinions and my own stubbornness in wanting to play something I felt was “cool/different” or prove that I was good enough to make X strategy competitively viable.

In the Panini Dragon Ball Z Trading Card Game I was successful off of the back of Black Devious Mastery and the Cooler Main Personality. My deck was always tuned for the meta game and the deck truly was a grinding machine that was built on snowballing into an advantage, or leveraging all of the available resources to stabilize and then snowball into an advantage.

My “best” tournament performance in DBS came at Origins where I went X-1 in Swiss and finished Top 4 playing my take on Traitor Dende. Again, a deck that was meant to grind opponents out through snowballing, or leveraging all available resources to stabilize and then snowball into an advantage.

My worst performances have always come when I choose to play something that isn’t my preferred way to play the game. I try to be something I am not, or get blinded by my ego and think I can win games with any deck, when the truth is I am just so much better when I play games that give me a ton opportunities to make decisions. I am so much more engaged, and have so much more fun during those grindy games – win or lose.

How to Improve?

Take sometime and find an opportunity to have a “reality check”. If you find yourself forcing it too much, or you’re getting more and more frustrated by your results it is probably time to step back and try to figure out why. Additionally, take sometime and go through the card pool and watch some games on demand. Figure out the cards and interactions you love and think about why those interactions appeal to you.

These were the cards in Arena that hooked me:

And after playing so much with this type of strategy, I realized that there happens to be some parallels to a popular archetype within our own game, and now I am hooked on playing, tuning, and making it as competitive as possible for my own enjoyment. Below I have two builds: the budget version is the one I actually have in paper and the version with promos is the version I test online when trying to be as competitive as possible.

When building these decks I became so excited by the interactions with Pod, the drop area, the Unisons, etc. all because those truly are the elements I find to be the most satisfying to play with. The idea of trying to snowball on the play with Frieza Unison and creating a huge lead early through abusing Pod and Dormant Potential loops to get you to the late game so you can windmill slam AoD Vegeta or Smoke Dragon gets me so juiced. Additionally, the play experience of being behind but then abusing the loops and free counters to help you claw back into it give me the feel of being in every game, which is always something I have valued when building/playing a deck.

Take sometime between now and Series 11 and try to find the cards and archetypes that get you excited. Preview season is an amazing time for that, and to be honest the Dark Broly Unison truly called to me. The card is an absolute dreamboat and I am so excited to start tuning this Frieza list to include it once the set drops.

Drop your comments below on what archetypes or cards you love the most, or just take time to comment/give feedback on all of the lists posted here today.

#scrubfamisbestfam #KTHXBAAAAIIIIIIII

Yep that’s right, Promo Gogeta is playable, scratch that, he’s highly competitive. To celebrate the release of the Anniversary Box I am sharing another list featuring my favorite card from the set – Jiren, Legend of Universe 11.

As you saw earlier this week, I believe this Unison is the centerpiece to Red mid-range strategies that lean a bit harder into being aggressive. Not only that, but in deck building, since Jiren’s reveal, I have drastically shifted my mentality when it comes to approaching red decks in order to make up for the two main weaknesses of the color:

1.) Energy Inefficient

2.) Inability to Accrue Virtual/Actual Hand Advantage

This version of Red Gogeta not only addresses those things, but it also offers a ton of synergy and is incredibly flexible by being able to be both the “beatdown” and the “control”.

The List – (Heartfelt Variant)

The first thing that comes to mind when looking at this list is that the large majority of our threats we are playing for 0 to 1 energy across the course of an average game. The only time we invest more than that is if we are playing Toppo, Righteous Aid on defense, Gotenks, Unison of Rage, Jiren, Legend of Universe 11, or Critical Combination. This is how I am addressing the energy inefficiency of the color. Instead of paying for actual Battle Cards, I am instead opting to make the opponent’s counters worse by going under them, and then investing my energy into, ideally, Jiren.

Turning the Corner

This deck truly plays one of the coolest games once it plays Jiren on turn 3 and your leader is awakened. You now have access to two Double Strikers each turn at all times and you’ll find quickly that your opponent’s Unisons will never stick.

Another powerful thing that occurs is that if your opponent plays anything 20k or less on your turn, it is dead. Yup, Jiren will give it minus 10k, and then your leader’s [Activate: Main] KO’s anything 10k or less. Now factor this in with Whis, Celestial Moderator as your super combo and tools like Frieza’s Death Ball and Yamcha, Merciless Barrage; your opponent will never be able to build a board without it being easily dispatched for little to no effort on your part.

Once you’re here the game starts becoming this awful experience for the opponent where your leader and Unison force them into an inevitable concession.

Upgrades

The list posted is built with all cards I actually own instead of playing the best/most expensive version of the deck. Honestly the only change I would make would be playing 3x Saiyan Instincts just because of how grindy some games can be. As for SCR’s SS4 Gogeta makes the most sense here since you’re reliant on your leader and Jiren more than anything else.

The List – (Jund-ish)

This version of the deck includes the Apes because this deck really is trying to play a more consistent, mid-range role. Again, note the average cost of the threats in the deck – we’re still following the same rules as before. The less you invest into your threats the worse your opponent’s counters and defensive measures become. This deck truly focuses on the resource exchanges with your opponent over time and doesn’t rely on any sort of KO punch, just one hundred leg kicks until eventually they can’t stand up anymore.

The biggest difference is straight up -4x Rushing Warrior Pan, -3x Heartfelt Plea for 3x Broly, Crown of Retribution (our Thoughtseize), 3x Saiyan Instincts, and 1x SS4 Gogeta SCR. If you’re looking to remain budget conscious I recommend 3x Frost, Before the Storm or some number of Final Guardian to be pitched to your Toppo’s for value. Additionally for your SCR you can opt for Frieza, Army Reborn or another copy of Critical Combination… or a copy of Foreseeing Hit which Mdolan2 from our Discord has been super high on.

Conclusion

This article started with “Yep that’s right, Movie Promo Gogeta is playable, scratch that, he’s highly competitive.”

Now that you’ve read the reasoning to why and have seen the lists, where do you stand on Jiren, Legend of Universe 11? How do you feel about this new wave of decks with such low converted energy costs? Lastly, what is your favorite card from the Anniversary Box?

#scrubfamisbestfam #KTHXBAAAIIIIIIII

From Irrelevant to Competitive

Rise of the Unison Warrior was a set that brought a ton of balance back to the Dragon Ball Super Card Game, and that is most evident in the amount of success green has seen since the set’s release. The introduction of Unisons, the free Counter: Play, and Dormant Potential Unleashed truly pushed the color to the top tier of competition, and now we have even a ton of decks leaning into green just due to the power level of Demigra, Unison of Sorcery and Frieza, Charismatic Villain.

With these truths alone, it is fairly safe to assume that the only thing really missing from green was the presence of cheap and powerful Battle Cards that were less vulnerable to Counter: Play/removal.

The Anniversary Box finally delivered in the form of Gotenks, the Grim Reaper of Justice.

Not only was Gotenks given to us, but the tools from Anniversary Box have truly removed Prodigious Strike Super Saiyan Gotenks from obscurity and has pushed it HARD into more competitive, tier 1.5/2 territory.

The New Tools

Alright, so we have Grim Reaper… now what? Well, Bandai gave us exactly what this deck needed – consistency. Gokule is a one energy tutor for Grim Reaper that also has the upside of paying an additional energy to sacrifice it and grab both [Union Fusion] targets needed in order to play your Grim Reaper… two energy for all of that seems deece. Next we were given Son Goten & Trunks, Faultless Youth which for one energy, and placing a life in the drop, you get a 15k body that can swing, then you have the ability to use the second [Activate: Main] to return it back to your hand and search the top 5 cards of your deck for a green <Gotenks> card or a 2 cost Unison and add it to your hand. This built-in value for a fusion target is again… deece.

Tying it All Together

Inb4 “deck builds itself, breh”

This deck indeed is a ton of 4 of’s and truly focuses on the resolution of Grim Reaper of Justice as many times as possible, so we built it accordingly. There are a few things to note here though:

4x Demigra, Unison of Sorcery – quickly becoming arguably the best Unison in the game, Demigra offers us the best turn one play in the game and when combined with an unchecked Zarbuto it allows to take down opposing Unisons before they have the chance to get out of hand. Not to mention, it enables your Frieza, Charismatic Villain, makes Dormant Potential Unleashed free, and acts as a lightning rod to help get you awakened much quicker than you would in the past.

2x Bardock, Paternal Unison – I was testing this secondary Unison slot as AoD Vegeta and to be blunt, I just never needed or wanted to play it. I would much rather play Bardock for his [Auto] and -3 opposed to playing AoD Vegeta on turn 4 or 5. Additionally, I like having the extra target for Son Goten & Trunks, Faultless Youth. I am still trying to find the best home for AoD Vegeta outside of the actual AoD deck, so stay tuned.

4x Paragus VS Any Other Choice – I tested Lone Prince for a bit, but it just wasn’t necessary, nor did I want to play it over a Gokule or Zarbuto at any point of any game. Paragus allows you to see much more of your deck to find your counters and that is exactly what this kind of deck needs. Even with Bardock Unison, the +1 just isn’t worth downgrading the super combo. Lastly, I found that triggering Power of Legend was so easy with just proper sequencing and the Leader skill so I felt Lone Prince really had no merit at that point.

2x For the Greater Good – this card is just always gas, and being able to pitch it with Dormant gives you just enough incremental value to be happy. Drop area negates are also clutch against Apex of Power and just great in general whenever you’re in a pinch.

Cell Xeno, Unspeakable Abomination – it is truly absurd how easily this deck abuses Cell Xeno. I understand the card has a hefty price tag, but combining the fact that you have the best floodgate in the game, arguably the best Counter: Play, arguably the best Unison, Grim Reapers, AND the best SCR – this deck truly has what it takes to steal a lot of games from a lot of decks who aren’t prepared for this archetype.

The Opener

The opening hand in Gotenks is everything, very similar to the Anniversary Box Vegito deck in that you need key cards in order to be able to do your thing. In these scenarios it is often best to determine your prioties:

Priority 1 – Resolve turn 2 Grim Reaper of Justice

This means that you’re going to be looking for Gokule and/or Grim Reaper, and some number of targets pre/post mulligan.

Priority 2 – Get Demigra, Unison of Sorcery or Zarbuto into play on turn 1

This is what it is. Demigra enables your best draws and Zarbuto is your best defense against opposing Unisons.

Ideal Sequence

Turn 1 – Demigra, Unison of Sorcery and tick up

Turn 2 – Fuse into Grim Reaper of Justice, Demigra or Leader swing based on hand sizes, swing with Grim Reaper once and then leave in active mode***.

***In testing the only way I have found myself disadvantaged is if I committed to a second swing while I was low on resources. You should be trying to keep your first Grim Reaper alive until you can play your next one and you want to force your opponent to either swing at Demigra or your life so you can Awaken faster. This is honestly the key, the longer your Grim Reapers live, the higher the likelihood that you’re going to win the card advantage war in the mid and late game.

Honestly, once you’ve accomplished that it is going to be a game of you dodging potential land mines while trying to whittle away at your opponent’s hand size and board presence until you can Awaken and then take over the game since your Leader’s draw 2 on Awaken plus Gokule leads to you swinging hand advantage heavily in your favor. You now get to defend yourself with Dormant, keep threats away with Gotenks and Frieza, Charismatic Villain, and cascade into more Reapers while also trying to find Cell Xeno to insure the game is over by turn 5.

Conclusion

It honestly has been incredibly cool testing and tuning this list over the past few days and I am so excited for the Anniversary Box to be released. Stay tuned as we continue to cover the archetypes being juiced up by the Anniversary Box and even try taking some of the AoD cards for a spin outside of the archetype – here’s to you Garlic Jr.

Definitely the least talked about card from the Anniversary Box, but arguably the most impactful card to be released due to its ability to bring Red mid-range decks back into the tier 1/1.5 discussion – Jiren, Legend of Universe 11 offers something that Red decks have been longing for: the perfect mid-game threat that mitigates the card advantage issues the color has struggled with for the entirety of the DBSCG.

The Stats

Three red energy gets you a 20k body that not only is a natural double striker with the plus one, but also has an [Auto] that triggers when your opponent plays a Battle Card or Unison. When that card is played, you have the option to choose it and give it -10k for the turn. This may seem small, but in practice this effect takes a massive toll on the opponent due to how large Jiren is and how quickly he accumulates counters. Once he hits the board and ticks up to four, in the majority of games I have played, he never leaves. This means you have a 20k double striker FOR-EV-VER.

Oh and let us not forget the additional upside of having a minus three effect that gives -25k, ignoring [Barrier]. This is obviously a powerful effect, especially because it can even take out pesky [Indestructible] threats like 5 drop Zamasu from Draft Box 4. Do not get it twisted though, the money is in the plus one.

Virtual Card Advantage

A topic we have covered a few times, but Jiren happens to be a unique example of virtual card advantage. The first and obvious is that he is a 20k body which means that standard attackers, 15k’s, will require an additional card in order to be able to force Jiren to lose a counter. Jiren’s [Auto] throws quite a wrench into that plan though, since if is able to hit a 25k body or less, it generates even more advantage for you because the opponent is either going to commit more cards to combo, or in the best case scenario – they are losing that Battle Card entirely. Then add in the fact that Jiren is a double striker on offense and now you start to see the value skyrocket due to the cards Jiren will be trading for. The fact that you’re going to be netting a super combo, a negate, or multiple cards from your opponent is huge across the course of a game, and just looking at recent deck lists there are not a lot of 1/10k combo cards out there at the moment which means that you’re always netting the most value out of your Jiren swings. And of course the obvious, you gain access to the free Yamcha Counter: Play which when combined with Jiren’s ability becomes quite disgusting.

The last point to touch on here is just how oppressive Jiren is to opposing Unisons. Not only does his [Auto] touch them, but pressuring Unisons with 20k double strike is just too good right now.

Homes for Our Hero

A deck that has been going through an identity crisis in Series 10, Surgeku, has finally found its way. There is no mistaking it, this is a Jiren deck, but the ability of Surgeku to dig so hard to find it and your highest impact cards just fits so well together. Surgeku struggled in S10 due to how powerful Unisons were and the fact that the best variants of Surgeku to date all centered around the combo step, not to mention the pool of Unisons Surgeku has access to was relatively poor making it so attacking opposing Unisons was almost impossible. Now though, Jiren has changed the game and Red/Yellow is so fetch.

Taking you through the list I want to point out the dirty secret to deck building in the DBSCG – EVERYTHING MUST BE FREE, CHEAP, or BUSTED.

This list thrives off of the fact that, on average, the most expensive card in the deck is Jiren. Then the next most expensive cards end up being Toppo, Beerus Arrival, Gotenks Unison, Saiyan Instincts, Saiyan Lineage, and Raider’s Warcry. After that, everything in the deck is free or cost one.

Pilaf gets a huge upgrade from the existence of Jiren. The deck was already so potent with its ability to generate in upwards of 15 attacks on a given turn, but now with Jiren you can activate your leader ability to have a 20k, Triple Attack, Double Strike body that the opponent is going to either lose to, or dumb a ton of cards trying to defend. There are plenty of other Pilaf variants out there, but I have really been trying to push the power level with the addition of Nappa Super Combo and Gogeta, Resonant Explosion.

Beerus goodstuff.dec has always been a fan favorite, but again Jiren just brings exactly what this kind of deck was missing in the past – a perfect mid-game threat to begin accruing advantage with and the ability to pressure opposing Unisons to the max.

Conclusion

I think we all can agree that the hype for Anniversary Box is real, but I will definitely be the most excited to jam Jiren into pretty much all of my red decks going forward. Red had a ton of tools before with Toppo, Yamcha Counter: Play, and Bardock, the Resolute but the addition of Jiren just pushes the power level of Red so much.

Drop your comments below on what you’re excited about with the Anniversary Box, and share your own takes on Jiren decks as we move forward.

#scrubfamisbestfam #KTHXBAAAIIIIII

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/40127319

By Frisco Fahs

Hey Scuba Scrubs! 

We’re back with another deck profile and my first deck profile with the new Anniversary product that’s going to be released in the coming weeks. I’m super excited to go over my Vegito Deck profile that I’ve been working since Vegito, Resolved Combined was teased. Let’s dive right into it!

What does this deck do?

The goal of this deck is to play Hyper Rush SSB Vegito on Turn 2, 3 and maybe 4. The way you do this is by using Vegito, Polymorphic Potara on turn 1 and Union-Potara with Vegito, Resolved Combined and use the Activate Main on turn 2. You can also, do this play by playing a 1 drop Goku/Vegeta on turn 1 and spend 1 energy on the 2^nd turn on the Goku/Vegeta you need with a Senzu bean to make the same play live. Also, you can achieve the same goal with a Saiyan Duo Son Goku/Vegeta Package or a turn 2 Vegito, Polymorphic Potara with a Senzu Bean. There’s a lot of nuances that I will get in with the card interactions portion of the article.

Mulligan Strategies: 

This is probably the most important section of the article because you need to know how the deck is built and functions to plan accordingly on your mulligan.

Priority 1 – You need a Vegito, Resolved Combined in your opener. If you don’t have it, mulligan all 6 back. If you do, move onto the next Priority.  

Priority 2 – You need a Polymorphic or a Senzu Bean. Since the deck requires 1 drops or playing both Goku’s and Vegeta with 1 energy, it’s best to have a Senzu Bean to if you don’t have a polymorphic since you can make your Hyper Rush turn happen more consistently.

Priority 3 – Keep a 1 drop Goku’s/Vegeta’s as the alternate way to Union-Potara so you can awaken turn 2 when you take your own life 3 times (1 life with a Goku/Vegeta and 2 life with Hyper Rush and the 4^th life will be coming from an opponent’s attack turn 1 attack)

Important Interactions to Note:

Broly, Ultimate Agent of Destruction: I think the biggest shock to the deckis the SCR choice. Well, I like free things and this card is played for free after my opponent has to deal with my threats or I can offensively trigger his auto with Belmod, Double Devastation. This deck as many ways to go to 1 life like all the 1 drops and Hyper Rush himself! There’s another cool target for Broly. Find Out below!

Son Goku, Strength of Legends: Yep, he’s back againand better than ever! There’s a lot to note on this card. If you have more then 1 in your hand in the early game, he’s not only a black energy which helps a lot. You only need 1 yellow Vegeta/Goku to fulfil the cards conditions to play him for free turn 4. Also, he say’s you can’t Evolve of him but Union-Potara is a different skill so he’s a free Union-Potara target. Once you do that, you can play another for free from your hand which is awesome. Funny thing is, I think paying 4 for his Activate Main ability is better then paying for either Vegito SCR’s since Goku SoL plays around most of the Counter Play cards in the game! Just make sure to have at least 1 yellow energy charged by turn 4. Lastly, he’s a 9 drop that’s now a green battle card that also triggers Broly, Ultimate AoD with Belmod 4 drop which is insane!

Bardock, the Resolute: Just a FYI, you can’t play him after you use Polymorphic. Therefore, try to apply pressure before committing to that line of play to apply more pressure onto your opponent. The same goes for Belmod as well.

Tutors:  When you’re looking through your deck, you need to confirm what’s in your deck. How many 7 drop Vegito’s are left?  How many Saiyan Duo Vegeta’s are left? Is my Lightning Speed Vegito in the deck? All these questions need to be answered ASAP to insure you make the right lines of play for future turns. Make sure you don’t take too long since you can get called for time on this.

Lightning Speed Vegito: This card acts as a 5^th copy of Hyper Rush Vegito. Once Hyper Rush is in your hand, you don’t really want to charge it since you need that red energy. Therefore, Saiyan Duo Son Goku makes a perfect way to pitch it out of your hand. Just make sure you have a Duo Vegeta in your drop or deck. Also, Son Goku Saiyan Reborn is a great way to get Hyper Rush out of your hand while accruing value. Also, blowing up a 3 drop or less during defense is not so bad after all!

Vegeta, resolve Renewed: If Green becomes more and more popular, you can probably max this out since it counters Frieza, Charismatic Villain!

Power Modifications: As a reminder, Senzu Bean, SSB Son Goku, Tenacious Warrior and Vegeta, Savior of the Future all transfer their power modification to their Union-Potara targets. Therefore, if you use Vegeta skills to take 1 life for 10k double strike, the Vegito, Combined Resolved would be a 35k but then you use the Activate Main, to go into Lightning Speed for a 30k Attack then into a Hyper Rush for a 35k Triple Strike.

Conclusion: 

The decks biggest weakness is itself. If you don’t see the 5 drop Vegito, you’re going to have a bad time. However, once you resolve 1 chain and awaken, you have a 10+ card hand which more often then not, it’s super easy to go in the second chain. I will be testing this deck in the gauntlet and see how it fairs against Invoker, Dredgeku, Syn Shenron and Vegeks. If I had to make an educated guess, I think the deck is definitely Tier 1.5 and has a decent shot to make an impact. I hope you enjoyed!

KKKkkkkkkkkkk, Byyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Why, hello #ScrubFam.  For those that don’t know me, I go by Brian Read (since that’s my name) – aka: hurricanegl. It is my pleasure to bring to you today, a deck list I am quite fond of and simply cannot wait to play with IRL.  First, a couple of obligatory shout-outs:  Thank you 3xG for providing me the opportunity to share this deck list and all the help you’ve provided me throughout the years of me playing DBS.  Big shout out to Richard Zapp for introducing me (and the world) to the OG Agents of Destruction deck way back with Dende AoD. Shout out to Daniel Brown for inspiring this with one simple comment to a FB post: “You should try Cell Xeno as the SCR”.  Now onto the STARS of the new Anniversary Box – the NEW Agents of Destruction.

Enter AoD by Babidi

So, this deck obviously revolves around all the new AoD cards we are getting in the new Anniversary box, starting with the leader: Babidi, Leader of the Agents of Destruction//Majin Buu, Leader of the Agents of Destruction.  For this deck I focused on the Yellow & Green AoD in order to work towards that spicy recommendation of Cell Xeno. The AoD Leader Front side we have the Permanent skill that removes all specified cost from <Agent of Destruction> cards.  It’s Auto allows you to take up to 1 life AND look at the Top 5 of your deck for a card with {Agent of Destruction} in its name.  (((Ruling Note: Bandai has ruled that Agent & Agents will be treated the same))).  This deck is HEAVY on the AoD cards so the probability of hitting one of these is VERY HIGH, especially when you add in the Extra Card AND the Unison Warrior as viable targets.  Back Side gets even better with TWO Activate: Main skills.  The first allows you to play a 2 cost or less card with <Agent of Destruction> in the name for FREE.  The 2^nd costs 3 energy and allows you to play a Unison Card with {Agent of Destruction} in its name with 3 markers.

AoD Strikes Back

Now the leader is not our only new toy in the set.  Bandai really has produced some HIGH-QUALITY cards in this archetype. Let me tackle them in order of optimal play:

1. Hatchhyack, Vengeful Agent of Destruction – the most IMPORTANT skill to get the deck going is the Activate: Main (1), discard this card from your hand : Play up to 1 <Evil Wizard Babidi> card with an energy cost of 1 from your deck…shuffle.
2. Turles, Chaotic Agent of Destruction – this card lets you dig and thin, which is super important for finding all those pieces that can overwhelm your opponent.
3. Garlic Jr, Immortal Agent of Destruction – this is our clutch Negate that when it gets played allows you to play a 2 cost or less AoD from your deck.
4. Lord Slug, Mighty Agent of Destruction – the primary target of Garlic Jr.  He’s a Super Combo with Unique and a Counter: Play deterrent for your opponent.  Once he’s established, if your opponent activates Counter: Play they have to discard 2 cards….EVERY TIME.
5. Android 13, Exterminating Agent of Destruction – Counter: Play that prevents a 3 cost or less from coming into play, play the card, and opponent discards 1. THEN it’s auto triggers and you can shuffle up to 2 AoD or Babidi back into your deck.
6. Broly, Invincible Agent of Destruction – Activate: Main is ok, but not it’s meat and potatoes.  Auto is the money maker.  When you play this card, you choose an opponent Battle Card 5 cost or less, KO it, look at up to 3 cards of deck, take ANY 1 to hand, the rest go to drop.
7. The Agents of Destruction Strike Back (Extra Card) – Permanent: The card gains <<Agent of Destruction>> in all areas. Activate: Main – look at the top 2 cards of deck, grab up to 2 that have {Agent of Destruction} in their name. Bottom deck the rest. If you took a card to hand, you may take up to 1 life.
8. Vegeta, Resolute Agent of Destruction (Unison Warrior) – Double Strike & Critical. Auto, when you play him, pitch one and nuke your opponent’s board ignoring Barrier. (+1) Give him +5K powr. (-5) If your Leader is an <<Evil Wizard>> or all your energy is mono-green: Choose 3 cards in your opponet’s hand and discard them.

Playing the Curve

I have found that my first 3 turns are pretty standard, if I can pull it off.  I am looking to start with 2 cards in my opening hand: Hatch & Turles.  These guys get this deck going so I REALLY want to see them.  If I see Cell Xeno, then it’s my lucky day.  T1 I am looking to resolve Hatch to get Babidi in play.  I want him to turn all my 2 cost AoD into 1 cost, my 3 cost AoD into 2 cost, and my 1 cost Extra Card is now FREE. The lynchpin of this deck being absurd is Babidi, Overseer of Destruction.  It is a 1 cost card with Barrier AND the Permanent that reduces the cost of all <Agent of Destruction> cards in your hand by 1.  If I have the Extra card, I am playing it here to get some of the AoDs to hand, especially if I’m missing Turles. Attacking obviously depends on if you are on the play/draw.  When you can attack with the leader, do so to dig and thin the deck.

T2 I am looking to dig and thin some more to garner more resources.  So, I’m swinging with my leader, likely taking the life, and grabbing an AoD from my Top 5.  Then I am going to tap my 1 to play Turles thanks to No Specified Cost from leader and reduced cost from Babidi Battle Card.  I am looking to swing and dig for another AoD card. Again, if I have the Extra Card…I am going to play it for FREE.  I’ll take life so I can set up a T3 Awaken.  T2.5 I’m passing to my opponent with 1 energy up.  By now I SHOULD have a Garlic Jr and/or A13 in hand.  I will use my one energy on which ever is the best play for the situation. Usually this means I’m going to Negate with Garlic Jr and free play Slug from my deck.

T3 I should be set up to Awaken just needing my opponent to attack my leader ONE time.  Once I charge, I’m going to sequence in the most optimal way for the situation. I want to dig with my leader and with Turles. I want to get value out of my 1 energy I’m going to Untap from leader Awakening. This can play out in a variety of ways.  If I need to take another life to Awaken, I’ll play DPBMS.  If I need to draw, hopefully I have a Koitsukai in the drop to allow me to dig 2 cards deeper into my deck.  If neither of those are required, I likely just play another Garlic Jr or A13.  I’d prefer the Garlic so I can bring out an A13 off of his skill. Then I’m looking to Awaken.  Here I’m going to use Leader Skill to Free Play a 3 cost AoD.  This is possible, once again, due to Babidi on board making them cost 1 less.  Primarily, I want to play Broly.  He let’s me pop a card off my opponent’s field and dig deeper into my deck (I’ve hit my Cell Xeno SOOOO MANY times off Broly).  If I still need to dig, and I have a 2^nd Broly in hand, I likely hard cast him for 2.  If not, I will play ANY of the other G/Y 3 Cost AoD.  I’m reserving my 1 energy in case I need to counter a counter: play.  This is where I start putting the real pressure. I swing like crazy using almost no combo power.  I just want to deplete my opponent’s life and/or hand. Once I’ve swung as much as I can, my opponent is likely sitting at 4 or less life.  I probably tap my last energy if I haven’t used it and play another 2 drop.  Swing one last time for another 15k base.  If my opponent still is surviving, they should have a relatively small hand.  So, my final trick is to sack 2 of my 3 Cost AoD and 3 of my 2 Cost for successor into Xeno Cell.  I’ve been able to do this so that I can swing 8-10 times for 11-14 damage on T3.  OPPRESSIVE.

The Extra Spots

The deck is obviously more than just AoD.  One of the toughest setbacks the deck has is limited natural draws. To compensate I went with a 2-2 split on Super Combos. AoD Slug for the effects and Roshi for the draw.  I also included 3 of the Goku Draw Ape to help me dig and recover if I fall behind curve. Koitsukai is a great draw engine with the added benefit of making my opponent pay if they want to Counter: Play me with a card that comes into play and has 20k or less power.

Also, in those games where my opponent is able to stall me out, I want the option to do it to them as well.  Putting Flying Nimbus in the deck can help me accomplish this.  Also, when the game goes longer, I can play out Vegeta AoD (Unison Warrior).  He works to reset my opponent’s board, apply more pressure, and gives me the opportunity to play Frieza, Charismatic Villain Counter: Play against them.

Conclusion

I LOVE THIS DECK.  It’s not Tier 0. But I think it will have a share in Tier 1.  There are “Unexpected” & “Righteous” answers to the deck. People should definitely start preparing now.  If you sleep on it, it will give you nightmares.  Can’t wait to hear feedback from all of you Scrubs like me out there.  Now grab a deck and get your game on.

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/40032842