Here we are with another Leader Guide. Yeah I’m knocking them out pretty fast but I do have a lot to cover. Today we’re going with what a lot of people suspect to be the best Leader shown in Tournament of Power, Gohan. Will Gohan finally live up to his potential…or will he continue to just stay a family man. Let’s find out.

Son Gohan/Son Gohan, Leader of Universe 7

Unique Cards:

Results of Training Son Gohan (sort of)

Strengths:

+ OBSCENE card advantage when he gets rolling.

+ Extremely hard to break down Gohan’s defense without specific tech.

+ Awakened Continuous Ability means he is extremely strong at just leaning on the opponent in the end game and running him out of any action while he continues to maintain an absurd hand.

Weaknesses:

– If he doesn’t open a U7 1 drop he’s very slow to get started up.

– Another Deck that gets worked hard by Active Battle Card attackers (mark my words, Jiren will get to the same price bracket as the Veggie Package and possibly further with this trend).

– Immensely susceptible to Chain Attack/Zen-Oh, almost bordering on an auto loss.

Leader Overview:

Gohan I had figured to be a pretty easy build. Draw a bunch of cards, win with your card advantage. It turned out that…it’s not that simple. Chain Attack Zen-Oh continues to gain steam and it just outright annihilates Gohan due to him needing to reestablish just to draw cards. I imagine that the Cell Chain will leave similar results (though most Cell Chain variants do it early enough that you can recover). While Gohan gains absurd card advantage…it’s over the course of multiple turns, not usually all at once. If left down to a low hand size in the mid to late game, he will lose and there’s nothing much that can be done about it.

He also reveals another symptom of the Universe 7 archetype as a whole. I’ll be frank…it’s not good in the least. Not so much Gohan’s deck itself as I feel the deck lives in extremes. Some matchups he absolutely dominates, other matchups he might as well be a welcome mat. But the archetype itself is really lacking. No legitimate removal of any sort outside of Krillin, and it lacks a lot of small, payoff cards. This is a problem for Gohan as he needs to board something to get his draws. Sending off Goku and Roshi is usually fine, Krillin to a lesser extent. Beyond that you are usually just paying extra for a vanilla Draw 2 outside of Awaken. In good matchups this is usually irrelevant, in bad matchups this shows up in absolute force. The archetype is inundated with 3 Drops and most of them have niche utility at best outside of Focused Mind Gohan and Infinite Energy 18 (who doesn’t even count as a 3 drop honestly). The 2 and 4 drop slots are also terrible. You only have Agony of Hell Frieza (only good obviously in heavy Frieza decks) and Gale Strike Vegeta (while a solid card…not usually as much in most U7 decks, his best stuff is actually outside the archetype) at 2, and Multi-Form Tien-Shinhan at 4. This leads to a clunky feeling deck.

Gohan was a lot more of a struggle than I anticipated. Ultimately I got to a deck build I believe is solid but I know this one will have quite a few controversial choices.

Deck Build:

Universe 7 Son Gohan

4 Ready to Fight Son Goku

4 Master Roshi, Forged of Will

4 Youthful Bulma

4 Backbone of Universe 7, Son Goku

4 Focused Mind Son Gohan

3 Focused Mind Piccolo

3 Destructo Disk Krillin

4 Infinite Energy Android 18

4 Mecha-Frieza, the Returning Terror

4 Full Power Spirit Bomb Son Goku

2 Son Goku, Hope of Universe 7

2 Increasing Evil Masked Saiyan

4 Flying Nimbus

4 Planet Vegeta

Deck Overview:

After my first couple of excursions with a more “expected” version of this deck, there were a lot of glaring flaws that needed to be addressed. You were often left tight on Energy, the early game was a nightmare unless you had Ready to Fight Goku or Roshi to start drawing cards (and I really did not like having to waste a Roshi negate just to draw cards), it lacked any sort of decent removal, Chain Attack Zen-Oh instantly won the game and cards like Jiren, Fist of Justice just wrecked your board before you could use it effectively. So I slimmed the deck down, I took out some cards I’ll mention soon and went with a more Yellow build. It works well. It still struggles with the weaknesses that it has, but it’s not auto-lose central anymore when running into them. Onto the choices.

Discussion Points:

Okay, where’s Results of Training Son Gohan?

He was in here initially. I mean most saw my review on the card, I believed it to be strong. However two problems ended up rearing its head. One, the card selection for him is…lacking. Krillin forces you to take life, Piccolo and 17 are ok, Ready to Fight Goku, Roshi and 18 are wastes to drop with him. He’s also very easy to negate so his Triple Strike doesn’t come up all that much. Two, he doesn’t help the bad matchups Gohan has…if anything he makes them worse because of his necessity to Evolving. So in most cases he felt to be win-more…and not much more. It was one of the most disappointing cards in testing even when it won me games.

Why Son Goku, Hope of Universe 7? You know he doesn’t get his effect right?

I was asked this a few times during testing. Yes, I’m aware he doesn’t get his effect. But as I brought up in his card review, I suspected that he may be strong enough just as an easy to board 35K Triple Attack/Critical bomb. This has proven to be the case. Now I wouldn’t call him a “necessity”, you certainly can run whatever the hell you want over him, I don’t think the deck’s success hinges on his inclusion. But he was absolutely strong. He won games that simply boarding FPSB Goku would not have won, usually because negates are a thing. He’s really easy to draw into because Gohan draws a majority of the deck, so you only need 2. I enjoy him a lot in the deck, never regretted having him.

Planet Vegeta with only two real targets?

Yes…but those are pretty damn important targets. As I said, Ready to Fight Son Goku is really the engine start of the deck, you need to see him early to really get going. It also searches Gohan, another important engine piece. It’s enough to earn its slot.

No Multi-Form Tien Shinhan?

As I wrote in my review of these cards previously, I felt Tien would be a slam dunk in the Gohan deck. He certainly can be…but mostly I found him underwhelming even when I got all 4 out at once. He really only serves as extra draws. You are spending four energy (which I mentioned before can get tight in here) and a card in hand to have extra draw fodder, and if the other 3 aren’t in the deck you’re losing more advantage. His ONLY purpose is to sack him for draws and he’s inconsistent and pricey for it. Not good enough.

Mecha-Frieza/Increasing Evil Masked Saiyan?

I’ll put these together as I put them in for pretty much the same reason. Removal. You can choose Masked Saiyan, the Mysterious Warrior over Increasing Evil (and I did flirt with the idea). I just felt that the self-awaken help in a pinch (or at least, getting you to Super Combo range) plus being a cheaper combo cost (the deck was feeling slightly heavy about it with the 1/10k’s) helped me lean towards Increasing Evil a bit more. I think either is a fine option though. Mecha-Frieza, it’s fast, efficient removal in a deck that has more than enough cards to toss to the ether. It’s not the best, but it’s what we got to work with I feel.

Tips:

If you have to send Roshi to the ether Turn 1 just to start drawing…just do it.

This seems contradictory to my arguments with Golden Frieza but here me out. For one…Gohan is always card advantage anyway, so you aren’t just breaking even. Two…he REALLY needs to start drawing in order to kickstart his engine. Unless you have the Planet Vegeta to find Goku for next turn just take the L and send Roshi away. Though if you’re facing what you expect to be an aggressive deck at least you can just hold Roshi for the negate and send him away then.

Don’t be afraid to just pass turn with a bunch of unused energy.

This is not a deck that seeks to tap out every turn or come close to it and smash into the opponent. You can take it slow with your energy. Look for your opportunities. Sometimes it’s right to just jam something in (usually when you feel there’s very little possible danger around the corner) but otherwise just take it nice and easy. In the end you’ll be the one on the giant hand while the opponent is whittling away.

That being said, if facing against a potential Chain Attack/Zen-Oh player, GET AGGRESSIVE.

This is an anthem for a lot of decks but ESPECIALLY Gohan. If you play the passive game against a Chain Attack/Zen-Oh user you will lose the game 99% of the time. You have to get aggressive and get them down to lower life totals. You accomplish one of two things. You either make it very awkward for them to Zen-Oh at the cost of their hand and defense, or they do so anyway and you can steal a win on the crackback. This is the reasoning as well for cards like Mecha-Frieza and FPSB Son Goku. They’re strong on their own and don’t need prior setup so you can draw them after the reset and smash in potentially for game while the opponent is on a weaker hand. Also avoid sacking your Roshis unless absolutely necessary, you’ll want to see them after a reset to immediately defend and restock.

Try to attack the opponent’s Leader once a turn with something, usually Gohan.

The reason is this. Gohan dominates the Card Advantage game. It’s a lot less terrifying to put your opponent up to 10+ cards in hand when you’re STILL beating them with your hand size. Thus, while Gohan certainly likes long games, he also has no reason to allow your opponent a high life total either. Just whittle them down with a bunch of pokes. They’ll take them early and they’ll regret doing so later.

If you’re facing an opponent with lacking removal…enjoy the free win?

If the opponent has no decent removal, then it’s just a matter of eventually Awakening and watching as no matter what kind of bombs the opponent has…it simply won’t matter against your absurd card advantage. I’ve gotten hit by Ultra Instinct 3 times in one game and still won without ever having to Awaken. And yes I consider Ultra Instinct “lacking removal” because he’s giving you cards back to use, like Roshi. Strategies like Trunks and Masked Saiyan just punch themselves out against a brick wall. The only way to lose at that point is deck out…seriously, watch your deck count it can happen.

Final Thoughts:

Gohan turned out to be a bit more complicated than I had expected coming in. As I said, he lives in a land of extremes. Some matchups you just kick back, crack open a drink and watch your opponent run themselves out of gas. Others you just curse your soul and wonder why you’re playing 80% dead cards. I’ll say he’s certainly not for everyone. He’s not a “Turn the Corner” type the Leader where you get to a certain turn and just start enforcing your will (and that’s even with Hope of Universe 7). He requires absolute patience. Win Game 1, watch as your opponent has no chance at winning Game 2 in a reasonable time frame. Just take it nice and easy and ultimately you’ll get to the destination you seek.

Next Time, by the Power of the Moon I Beseech You…yeah, Maiden time.