I missed this yesterday so here’s one more entry into Preview Season. The Black Cards this set are minimal, but will they make a big impact? Let’s see if they can.

Son Goku, Dimensional Defender

A new Xeno Goku which does a bit. Self-Damage and doing some Drop Area reloading for Over-Realm that goes well with the Infinite Rare Goku. Anything with Wormhole will enjoy the combo but otherwise not too great.

Son Goku, Making an Entrance

A new Battle Card Negate, but unlike the others you don’t get the benefit of getting a combo body on board after the fact. That severely limits the usefulness of this card as he’s just a Vanilla Negate unless you Xeno-Evolve off of him. Only use this if you’re running the Infinite Rare.

Vegeta, Making an Entrance

This card…is really interesting. I don’t know about good, but interesting yes. He’s a Counter: Counter…but doesn’t actually negate anything. He’s basically made to recycle cards from the Drop Area (this isn’t something you’ll use in OR decks) for 1 Energy but it’s only when the opponent Counters something. Idk, he’s very narrow and that will probably harm his play.

Super Saiyan Trunks

Yeah…skip!

Trunks, Time Regulator

This card seems generically good at first glance. A typical +1 (at least temporarily) as a lot of OR3 cards are. He doesn’t dig as deep but getting two fresh cards to hand may be more important if your hand isn’t molded well. I think where he’s really decent is Warping a card from hand. In certain decks that is a toolbox and Trunks can facilitate it pretty well. His floor though is just another solid OR3 choice for any deck.

Supreme Kai of Time, Time Regulator

Now this, THIS is something Blockers have desperately needed for a long time. I’ve always said (or tried to at least) that Blockers need to be both independently good outside of being a Blocker and not offensively tilted to make the Keyword useless. This checks those boxes. 1 Drop Cantrips always see play and will always see play. She is one of the best of the bunch though because she’s ALWAYS relevant. Either the opponent will have to expend some kind of resource to eliminate her or she gets to sit on board to Block a crucial attack later. Card is low-key fantastic and I do expect her to be run, arguably as the premier “generic” cantrip.

Demigra, the Sorcerer

Eh…just eh. If you need self-awaken Black Masked Saiyan is still simply better in Black. Demigra many times does nothing relevant. 12 Cards in hand is still a massive amount to sit on so he doesn’t really help.

Towa, Dimension Leaper

Now Towa is pretty interesting and can really screw with certain strategies. They play something big, Towa comes down after them and now their turn may just be outright ruined. The fact that she can get around Deflect is also great, and her floor is at least “annoying Blocker the opponent will have to deal with”. This is one of those cards though that needs Blocker to be good and she’s fantastic.

Time Transmission G

So a new Dark Plot. It only grabs Black Battle Cards now and only untaps 2 but can work with Dark Over Realm cards. I mean…I don’t think the thing holding Dark Plot back was being unable to untap with Dark Over Realm so… Idk we’ll see, there are some solid Dark Over Realm cards that fit the bill these days so maybe Towa or Demigra can get some use out of this.

Tokitoki City

Hey, remember when I said that Fu, the Dark Banisher would become really damn good if given a way to stay on the board for more than one turn? Yeah, didn’t take Bandai long to work on that. Turn 4 Fu, the Dark Banisher is going to be a thing and it’s gonna be painful to deal with. It wouldn’t take long for Demigra to reload this either if the first Fu is taken out because of the increased Drop Area reload and Wormhole. Idk if Dark Banisher Turbo will be a thing but I wouldn’t rule it out, that effect is powerful and Tokitoki makes it a reality.

An Unexpected Turn

Okay now this card is weird. It’s floor is board wiping a bunch of weenies, but it’s ceiling is doing that AND being a 1 Mana Essence Scatter which is absurd…but of course if the opponent actually meets the requirements you might be in a fair bit of trouble anyway. This card is at its best against a board of 2 Drops where you get the Counter and wipe the board but that’s pretty narrow in a world without Storm. I am afraid of overlooking this card, I think it needs heavy testing.

Assembling the Squad

Okay, the last card and the card that everyone’s talking about for obvious reasons. A Child’s Wish was banned not too long ago. This is A Child’s Wish that while only hitting 2 Drops or less, GRABS STRAIGHT FROM THE DECK! Yes, the crazy recycle shenanigans won’t be as much of a thing…oh wait, that’s right we have a Recycle Cycle in this very set so that theory is immediately out. Yes you don’t get a discount on 3 Energy Battle Cards but who cares? This card can only end badly and I would not be shocked to see it end up right next to A Child’s Wish. This is just asking to be easily broken. This card is a mistake and not an innocent one like A Child’s Wish where you can see the good intentions but certain interactions put it over the top. This is just a bad idea all around.

Final Thoughts:

There’s some decent stuff here, and of course one very gamebreaking card. …I’m just going to hope by some miracle it’s somehow balanced or Bandai realizes their uh-oh and moves to immediately Errata it. Literally anything but allowing it to exist as it is now.