Once again, welcome back to a very special Preview Season. Now we’re on our Fourth Draft Box, but Bandai is doing something a bit different this time. Instead of just simply making 4 New Leaders and using older sets, instead they’re just making an entire new “set” with the Draft Box to play around with. Today we start with Red. Let’s see what’s in store.

Son Goku, Might of Many

This card is pretty good for both a Draft Format and even Constructed. In Draft the usual Vanilla bodies are particularly valuable to have as not many cards can usually deal with them well. In Constructed this gives the Red KidKu variant some great payoff. He scales up pretty well. In general you want at least 3 Vanillas in the Drop to get him to be a minimum 3 Drop 25K Crit which is very above the kale. Oh and he’s a 5 Drop GT Goku so hello there Triple Flash. Like the card a lot, I expect to see it around.

SS Vegeta, Exploiting Weakness

So…yeah, if there was any doubt before, now Red has become the official “Counter” color of DBS. Which makes some amount of sense when you consider that it did have the proactive Control cards to begin with. A recent strategy that’s been catching on is a Control variant of Pan who took advantage of most Counters being Battle Cards to draw off of them while maintaining solid tempo. This just adds a nuke to that strategy. Yes he’ll cost 3, but it’s worth it to be a potential Instant Speed Board Wipe that also adds extra durability to your Leader. It’s already plenty tough to land threats against Counter based decks, this makes it even tougher. You can also play it proactively as a 3 Drop Board Wipe that draws a card (in Pan). It’s literally a better Saiyan Strength Baby in every way but actual body. Great in Constructed, absurd in Draft since this likely kills most of a board. Pick these up asap.

Trunks, Deluge of Power

This is kind of a more offensive version of Cabba’s Awakening. I say offensive because you were much less likely to use them to protect one of your Red Battle Cards, though in Draft that possibility will be even more important. Good filler card.

Giru

Mostly a skip, but hey, another 1 Drop Machine Mutant. …go Dr. Myuu?

Majin Buu, the Reincarnator

Hey, some reincarnation strategy! This Buu is…mostly okay. Essentially you’re paying for a 1 Drop 15K on top of reusing a 3 Drop in most cases, which isn’t bad. Again, Red also has very potent 3 Drops to mess around with as well. Being able to abuse Body Change Ginyu with this for example could be very fun. Has potential.

Champa, Destruction Perfected

Now we see something that we really haven’t seen since Set 1. Red Alien support. One of the better decks in that format was a deck built around Bewitching God Vados just pouring out a ton of value with the few Red Aliens we had. This seeks to continue it, or at least pair with it. 5 Drop 25K Critical/Double Strike is insane. Keep in mind that periodically Final Showdown Frieza is played for those specific stats even when his effect is unusable (though it’s usually being paired with his full Swap support). Instead of being able to be played on the cheap, Champa just gets to kill something, even through Barrier which is good. In Constructed, if we can build a legit Red God/Alien deck I think he’s strong but otherwise he’s probably a hair too slow (also gets wrecked by Denial of Hope). In Draft he can be a house with even just a couple of Gods/Aliens to lean on.

Champa, Destruction Augmented

Again, goes back to that strategy. This card expects you to have a wide board, and then push in for the kill. In Constructed…it might only see play due to being a Red God because otherwise Fearless Pan is just generally better. This is only better if you can get this on board for free (which is possible as we’ll see) but even then it might be just not good enough. In Draft, where we won’t have access to Fearless Pan, this is pretty damn good as a finisher.

Vados, Assembled Might

The card to tie things together, and it makes sense that it would be an upgraded version of Bewitching God Vados. The ability to freeroll 3 Aliens is strong and protect yourself afterwards. Even better if you’re able to get out the above Champa with it or even set up with it on a previous turn. In Draft this card will make people cry. In Constructed…well it can’t be Denial of Hope’d so that’s good, but 7 Energy is a lot to ask for. Yes you’ll get back 3 of it by the opponent’s turn but 7 is a LOT to wait for. I imagine the dream is, you play a very passive and reactive Counter Heavy deck and just go “Charge, go” until Turn 7 and then you get Vados putting out a ton of bodies while sitting on a Counter every turn. My only issue would be having enough room to make a Vados package work on top of also having enough room to have Counters available at every pass alongside R/G support so you can reliably have Vegeta the Cruel ready to go. Worth brewing with. Even in Draft I’m skeptical, most of my experience with it and Limited formats don’t have a ton of games going past 7 Energy. It might be strong enough to attempt though.

Cabba, Surging Forward

I’d say this is only filler and really only should be used if you’re HEAVY into the Red God/Alien package.

Caulifla, Frenzied Sister

Now this card is neat. Works specifically from the Drop Area. It’s a simple pump and one that must be committed to, but it’s still neat design. Hope to see more like it in the future. Debatable how good it is now though.

Kale, Frenzied Sister

A pretty simple Blocker. Swing with a 15K, get a 20K Blocker for the opponent’s turn. Not Constructed playable but a good nuisance in a Limited/Draft format.

Kefla, Roar of Destruction

This card gets more interesting the more you read it. At its core, a 2 Drop 20K Double Strike that kills something is pretty strong. But then you have to bounce Aliens to use this, which is fine as you get to reuse some fun stuff. Any Color Aliens too, not just Red which is fantastic. Seriously, go look up the Alien Trait subtype. Red gets some fun stuff, hell I could see this being used in U6 even with it being off color to reuse some of your best Battle Cards. Just on these merits it’d be great in both formats. But then you see that effect is Activate:Battle…and the rich get richer. This thing can be played at Instant Speed. I feel like it’s a perfect fit in U6 despite being off-color. Should be great in Draft too. Love this card.

Botamo and Magetta

You know the sad part? This card actually has too much power to be played with either Vados. So yeah, skip.

Toppo, Righteous Aid

A new angle on Pride and Justice Toppo. Whereas that card really tries to clean up the board the next turn, this one goes to stop wide attacks from the start. This does have the benefit of being played before anyone Awakens (or pumps), albeit at the cost of an extra card and this is better when you’re further behind. Should make the cut in Draft. In Constructed, probably not as now we’re gonna be inundated with Counters. Maybe coming out of the Sideboard could be in his future.

Jiren, Shackled of the Past

Like Spirit Forger Goku, this card is hilarious to build around. Sadly ALSO like Spirit Forger Goku, it takes forever to turn him on and he’s a sitting duck until you do even with Barrier. Unlike Spirit Forger Goku, he doesn’t keep his power into the opponent’s turn so he’s an even bigger sitting duck to attacks. He also requires far more deck dedication. Funny meme card, but not good in any format.

Moginan, the Savage Strongman : Moginan, Alien Bonds : Moginan Underling, Relentless Horde

I’ll just list these together. Big Moginan tries to make a board of 15Ks for free, though at the cost of deck fidelity…also a board too wide will start killing yourself. Honestly the only reason this isn’t a skip is because of little Moginan. He specifies that he gives one of your Red Aliens in Battle +10K until End of Turn. Why is this distinction important? It says “cards in Battle” not “Battle Cards” or “cards in your Battle Area”. So Red Alien Leaders are fair play and having two of these on board could turn your Red Alien Leaders untouchable. Caulifla, Kale and Kefla Leaders suddenly gain absurd defensive power while it can also provide absurd offensive power. In Draft though it won’t be very good outside of heavy Alien decks.

Niagara Drop

For a move so violent, ironic that it ends up as such a defensive card. Sure you can use this on offense but…2 Energy for +5K for the turn is really bad. The money is defensively as it’s essentially a mini-Senzu that also draws a card. The draw is important as otherwise Unending Awakening is simply better unless you just really want to protect a Battle Card. Should be great for Draft, probably just outside the realm of playable for Constructed.

Galick Cannon

We end today with the first EVER Super Rare Extra Card! We’ve gotten a few Rares (and I mean a few, even those are…rare) but this is history. This card has to be something to be SR…and it is. A new 1 Energy Counter:Play that immediately -15Ks. Early game this is an absolute nightmare. Even late game this can put a hurting on any attempt at winning the game. Red gets even more Counters to really drag a game out. Fantastic card.

Final Thoughts:

Well, Drafting with this box will be fun it looks like but this Box is going to be extremely influential to the meta at large no doubt. Red Control got an absurd amount of tools this set, and even some other decks like U6 got some tricks. Makes me excited for the rest of the Box.