Hello all and we’re back to Preview Season right before the new year! The IU Block is almost at its end as well and it’s time to bring in the final two Color Combinations we haven’t seen yet, Green/Yellow and Blue/Red. A lot of people have been waiting on these two so it should be interesting to see how they unfold. Also finally Cell makes his long awaited return into Leader status. Let’s see if the Pinnacle of Perfection can finally get back to his throne he claimed all the way back at the first DBS Regional.

Instinct Surpassed

Son Goku/Ultra Instinct Son Goku, Hero of Universe 7

Hey an unexpected treat, the return of a U7 Leader. Besides the fact that this means that good ole Awakened Power is about to see another price spike most likely, now we get to reevaluate how U7 has evolved over their first release and see if we can get a better Red Version of a U7 Leader. First thing to notice, Critical on both sides which is immediately fantastic. It’s hard enough to get Leaders with Critical on one side, let alone inherent Critical on both so he immediately becomes a very persistent annoyance on a player’s life total. He also has the Warrior of U7 Clause, no shocker there as it’s expecting you to play U7 but you aren’t really locked into it. In fact, you could play no U7 at all with him and just use him as a generic Red Saiyan Leader which has plenty of support on its own, and point him at the opponent as a Critical Leader. The reason this is possible is with the growing use of “flexible Awakening”. Essentially these Leaders have multiple conditions they can use to Awaken rather than just one. In this case, Goku can Awaken on the traditional 4 Life or if he has a U7 card in play with 25K or more power (since it only specifies card, he should also count himself though getting himself to 25K Power is no easy task). This way you can still play him as a generic Leader, but you’re rewarded for going into U7 as you really want to flip him over asap in order to pressure with a 15K Crit and get your draw going as well.

On his Awakened Side it’s more of the same but he also pumps any U7 in play on the swing, another reward for going a bit deeper into U7. I think this Leader has some potential. Again, being a Red Saiyan does a lot for him, as does having Critical on both ends. Familial Bonds will be great with him, put into play a Burst Attack Gohan, grab some 4 Star Balls, congrats you have a guaranteed 25K U7 for your Awaken (if you really want to be hilarious, throw in A Heartfelt Plea as well). A simple Leader with a lot of area to explore, which is a design I always like.

Friendly Rival Frieza

A Foolish Burial for a Red Extra Card. It’s definitely meant to be used with the Extra Card in this deck but this is actually at its best in Prison Frieza decks. Not only does it fill the Drop with Red Extra Cards which fuels Frieza the Finisher (I’ve still yet to receive any decent reason to use the Babidi engine instead…though ironically enough this very set might be the impetus) but more importantly, it acts as a tutor with Loyal Kikono to grab any Red Extra Card you need for one energy. I think it’s an absolute staple in that deck.

Ultra Instinct Son Goku, Universal Impulse

First off, this art is fucking gorgeous. I want all the copies. Secondly for such a beautiful designed card, it’s actually very simple in nature. You play him, he’s a 26K oh lookie there, it’s Awakening time. In all seriousness, a 26K for 2 Energy is probably good enough to play in some capacity. On top of that, when the opponent plays something he bounces to hand which is nice as you can keep reusing him somewhat safely or the opponent will have to change sequence to deal with him. A fine pressure card indeed.

SSB Vegeta, Steadfast Ally

Now obviously he’s meant to work with the above Goku which is certainly nice but I think this card is great regardless. Opponent kills your Red/Blue card, you get a 25K Blocker. If we get any synergistic effects that help kill off your cards it’s even better. I think this Vegeta can definitely see play.

We’re In This Together!

The last card from the Starter Deck is your garden variety one-sided wrath. Admittedly though it’s always kind of rough to play wraths in a game with no summoning sickness. 4 Energy is a lot, though it has value in being able to be re-used. Don’t think this sees much play due to the high cost.

The Ultimate Life Form

Cell/Cell & Cell Jr., Endless Supremeity

Okay so this card we cannot 100% fully evaluate until we find out what Cell Games Arena does. Kind of a shame, but we’ll get to the rest of the Leader in the meantime. His front side is decent. Back to putting cards under him for advantage only this time we’re getting the Draw 2 to start, but it also costs you a Life that goes to Drop. If we were speeding to a Self-Awaken this would be a nice bonus but as his Awaken Skill doesn’t involve Life in the least it’s just a straight drawback instead. But okay, sure. His Awaken Condition is pretty quick. 4 Energy between you and your opponent. This means Turn 2 unless you’re on the Play and the opponent doesn’t attack. Again, no real upside for staying on the Front Side with the Draw 2 Awaken.

Awakened Side, more of the same and that’s really a shame. I do not think that the Life Loss was needed as a drawback to this ability. Especially when you consider what your “Soulblast” (for Vanguard fans) ability is. 2 Cell Jr. Tokens. That’s…pretty bad, especially in comparison to his initial Leader which allowed a KO of whatever you desired short of Barrier or Indestructible. It’s really gonna come down to what the Cell Games Arena does because as of right now I’m pretty underwhelmed but we’ll see considering the power level of recent Field Cards, it could be more than enough to put Cell over the top.

Cell, Genetic Consumption

A new Cell unsurprisingly means a new Cell Chain. Unlike his predecessor and more like the newer Chains, he wants his target in the Drop Area which is generally a lot kinder on the hand. Being a 1 Drop instead of a 3 Drop is also a big deal in a post-Counter:Play is everywhere world. If the Chain is good, this is great.

Cell, Perfection Reclaimed

The next step in the Chain and that’s pretty much all it acts as compared to the previous Chain. That’s fine since this Chain comes out a lot faster as well, which is possibly as early as Turn 2 but without the need of…certain bad Field Extra Cards (the less we talk about Cell’s Birth the better). He also has a neat second trick. If the opponent decides to cut you off in the mid/late game by killing him you still go right up the Chain anyway. A nice good bit of insurance.

Cell, Perfection Misspent

Okay, I’ll get this out of the way now. Obviously it’s nowhere near the powerhouse as Perfect Force Cell. This isn’t meant to be part of that kind of strategy, trying to finish the opponent off in one fell swoop. This Cell is definitely meant for the grind/value game which makes sense with how easily and quickly he ends up on board. He comes out to KO something, which obviously is a bit worse than even his old mid chain, but he makes up for it with the second ability. He basically detaches an 18 for a free Negation and then gets back the 4 Drop who now can immediately go back into the 8 Drop. Also one thing I haven’t been noting about the new Chain is that everything comes out in Active Mode no matter what, which provides much better tempo.

…but now it’s time to talk about the downsides. Unlike the 4 Drop, he has absolutely no protection. Which means it’s pretty easy to just dispatch at 20K Power. Also while the Chain has a little better Tempo it’s hard to not mourn over the loss of power and Double Strike. This Chain is definitely not something that’s meant to be the headliner of a deck, which is kind of a problem when it once again needs so much commitment to make work. I admit, I’m not sold on it quite yet.

Android 18, Imminent Danger

Well since we have a new Cell Chain it’s nice to have an 18 that actually does something in the Drop Area. Using an Energy to Warp her to get back a 1 Drop isn’t too bad at all. Not amazing, not awful.

Android 17, Impending Crisis

Well yeah, we take this. Any Android Chain decks should certainly love this. Super 17 Chain, this is just fantastic but even Android 13 Chain will love this. If you’re playing any sort of big boss Android Chain, chances are this is an immediate 4 of. Always good at any time.

Pernicious Progeny

The last truly Cell centered card…I have to imagine we’re getting other Cell Jr. generators because this card vastly overestimates how much you’re making them otherwise. This card can be a potential blowout if you have a critical mass of Cell. Jrs but otherwise it’s just an extremely meh tapping engine. I’m doubtful this is good even in that case honestly unless an opponent walks right into it.

SS Vegeta, Begrudging Support

If Vanillas have you down, here’s your answer! Yeah, unless you’re haunted by them this isn’t seeing play outside of Limited usage (which is kind of hard to use for that reason considering it’s an ST exclusive).

SS Son Goku, Valiant Breakthrough

The second to last card. Now the first effect we’ll get to later, but the second effect…it’s interesting. I was about to say it’s a worse Bardock, Father and Son but in this case he can be played for free regardless and can tap anything down and not just Battle Cards. Having a free way to tap down an opponent’s Energy on your turn is extremely powerful. It forces the opponent’s play out at worst or stops it entirely. Yes it requires your opponent to be at 4+ Energy and you need a 4+ Drop Cell, but honestly those are understandable requirements for a card that potentially does so much. Don’t underestimate it.

SS2 Son Gohan, Wounded Victor

The final card in this deck, and maybe it’s finally time for SS2 Teen Gohan to take over. He comes with a new Keyword, Successor. Essentially, if you “Tribute or Sacrifice” Battle Cards on your field with Costs that Add Up To his Energy Cost, you can put him in play with his Successor Cost instead. Or to be specific to Gohan, sack Battle Cards that have costs that add up to 8, put him in play for 3. Now he does specify that the cards have to be Mono-Green/Mono-Yellow/Green-Yellow so players don’t get too cute with using any Green or Yellow cars.

So the goal of this is actually incredibly similar to the A Heartfelt Plea/Pan, Great Ape Whisperer Play which is to put on board a Dual Attacking 30K Triple Striker (Dual Attack being from the above Goku). Even down to having to kill something off to get this on board. This has upsides and downsides compared to Goku/Pan. The main “downside” is obviously, you do not get to play this for free compared to A Heartfelt Plea. You have to commit a fair bit more as you generally have to sack off more things, have to use 3 Energy and you don’t get to draw cards for it…at least as of yet.

However the upsides are the fact that you don’t need to do this on your Awaken Turn. You can do it whenever you want. On top of that, you can do this as many times as you want. So nothing is stopping you from say, playing this and swinging twice…and then doing ANOTHER Successor of this overtop the previous and doing it again. You’re not stuck at a 2 Life gate to get your Dual Attack either. On top of even that, you don’t need the Goku in hand to go off which makes it much easier to really manage your hand.

Now in response to at least the deck above, this has neat plays with the Cell Chain. You can sack off two 4 Drops to Successor this out, and then get two 8 Drops to come with it, that’s pretty strong. But let’s be real. The best Leader for this will obviously be ole Broly, the Awakened Threat. Being an Untap Leader is very relevant, as is of course untapping this for free. I sense decks abusing this to immediately see play, no doubt in my mind.

Final Thoughts:

Ultimately there’s some stuff to like. I think the Goku Leader has legs, and the SS2 Gohan I think it’s gonna be a deck defining and possible meta defining card. On the other hand we have our typical Starter Deck stuff. Let’s hope Cell Games Arena is really good so Cell has a legitimate chance.