Alright, after a little break again we’re back with a new article which may lead to a new series depending on how this one is received. I asked r/DBS_CardGame what they feel are problematic cards currently in the format that may need to be addressed, on top of possibly bringing back some that already were. With their input on choices and reasoning, and a couple of my own, it’s time to take a bit of an in-depth look at cards that need further examination.

A Child’s Wish

This was without a doubt the big one brought up in nearly every discussion and it’s really not hard to see why considering currently it’s the central point in the Unholy Offspring of Speed and Death that is Super Shenron Storm. Let’s look into this further.

The Problem:

A lot of things wrapped into one. Being a Black Desire card makes it easily abused by every Wish Leader in existence. Its extreme efficiency for its cost makes it strong on its own merits, and then there’s the absurd interaction it has with Explorer Bulma (though admittedly that interaction wasn’t a big deal until Super Shenron was revealed). Whenever a Wish Leader is doing work you can expect to see ACW along for the ride, usually at 3-4 Copies. It’s insanely easy to find, recur and abuse over the course of any and every turn thanks to the mechanics made to support Desire cards and carries a very minimal commitment risk thanks to most variants of Wish being able to easily untap energy for continued usage. It turns a lot of turns into very non-interactive play even without Super Shenron and with Super Shenron…well, you just lose within a turn or two unless extremely prepared. Not many decks can withstand ACW being used 2-4 times within a single turn, let alone that happening every single turn (for however few turns there ends up being).

The Rebuttal:

While ACW has obscene value and has arguably been problematic since Day 1, one can argue that the issue generally lies on the entire Wish Leader mechanic to begin with, or the two headlining Wish Leaders being both Shenrons. Another way to put it is, while the card has extremely value it’s usually the supporting player. It’s also true that it hasn’t been abused as hard as it has since Super Shenron has released into the wild. It’s just the wheelman to the robbers committing the actual crime (though obviously the getaway driver is just as culpable).

What Could Be Done if Necessary?

The main solutions brought out are of course an outright ban, a restriction to 1, or being Errata’d to Once Per Turn. Obviously we should avoid bans when we absolutely can, but let’s look to see the other two solutions. The main thing a lot of people say is that it’s not the first ACW activation that hurts, it’s the successive and excessive usage of ACW that just breaks opponents down. Both solutions would potentially avoid that, though the Errata would be the most guaranteed way since ACW could be recurred at 1. Now personally I hate Restrictions to 1 even more than bannings because it often turns games into more luck based affairs. Who draws the 1-of gets the absurd advantage, who doesn’t falls behind quite fast. Sometimes it’s fine though if the card is sincerely fine and is only broken in multiples to where whoever draws the 1-of isn’t put immensely far ahead. The problem is I think ACW does fall into the category of providing a crazy advantage as a 1-of so to me that’s out. The Once Per Turn clause is intriguing though.

Verdict:

Will be saved for a bit later as it can’t be talked about without bringing up its other partners in crime.

Super Dragon Balls/Super Shenron, the Almighty

If I ever do end up doing “Cards I Got Wrong in Destroyer Kings”, this would probably shoot to the very top of the list or close to it. I suspected that maybe it would get there if someone was able to get to the Ultimate super fast…I just didn’t think it would be THIS fast.

The Problem:

I mean, the problem is pretty damn simple, you’re Time Walking people on Turn 2 or 3 and killing them immediately afterwards. Most decks struggle against a normal assault against Storm, though it would be at least manageable now. But 2 straight turns in which you’re unable to Untap energy or draw in-between outside of Awaken help is demonic. The combination of Explorer Bulma, ACW and about 5,000 Draw Cards that either cost 0 Energy or replace their Energy on usage makes it a nigh formality that you will hit your Ultimate by Turn 3 at the latest. On top of that he carries the usual baggage of being a Wish Leader which includes all those cantrips bringing unmatched consistency on top of said Win Condition which is even more absurd than his predecessor. Let’s be clear, there is no stopping Super Shenron from getting off its Extra Turn. It’s just a matter of if you’re able to survive it on Turns 2-3 and it’s even less fun to play against than normal Storm and unlike normal Storm before it, the mirror is also pure cancer as there’s no careful ebb and flow of resources to try and sneak in lethal damage but just a race to who gets the Ultimate first.

The Rebuttal:

That’s all well and good but let’s ask something. If not for the ACW/Explorer Bulma interaction and arguably just ACW in general, how often are you actually going to manage to make it to 27 cards in the Drop Area with any sort of speed WHILE putting on pressure? One can argue that without ACW the deck fills the Drop too slow in most cases. On top of that even with the interaction and being considered Best Deck in Format (I don’t believe it is, but I’ll defer to community sentiment on this) its results have been…almost disappointing. Not Androids disappointing mind you, or Thunder Dragons in Yugioh disappointing (they just racked up their 6th 2nd place finish at a YCS with no wins) but for a deck so feared it hasn’t won nearly as much as expected. VanillaKu and Broly are really holding their own and not just getting blown back and other challengers are punching their way into the format. It may be a degenerate deck, but not so degenerate as to completely take over the format.

What Can Be Done?

Well this one is pretty cut and dry. Either ban it, hit other cards (mainly ACW) in belief it’s fair without them, or weather the storm hoping the deck isn’t as bad as we fear for a long period of time. There is also the possibility of making ALL Desire Cards only usable Once Per Turn which would nerf this and nerf a lot of Wish Leaders.

Verdict (alongside A Child’s Wish):

This one is tough. Like the original Storm before it, it’s plain that the SS Storm deck is just way too degenerate and just not fun to play against without the redeeming qualities that the original Storm’s mirror had. Also like the original Storm, it realistically shouldn’t take much to make sure the deck just…stops existing. Storm really was dead in the water until Super Shenron came along after all. One of the main questions to me is, while we know that ACW was very strong before Super Shenron, would Super Shenron continue to be strong without ACW? My answer as of now would probably be no, but with the caveat that any consistent self-mill will throw it back into the crosshairs which is irksome and does restrict future card design a little. Ultimately I think ACW restricts future card design even more though. Self-Mill is much less broad than EVERY BATTLE CARD 3 DROP OR LESS AND 15K OR LOWER. Touching ACW while monitoring both Super Shenron and the entire Wish Mechanic is a good path. It is definitely still possible that Super Shenron is still broken even with a hit to ACW, but it deserves the chance to breathe a little without ACW looming. Still I think banning ACW is a bit too harsh and reduxing the entire Desire Card archetype over one card is a bit much.

Errata A Child’s Wish to have the clause “You may only use the Activate:Main ability of [A Child’s Wish] once per turn.”

Reasoning:

I truly believe the main issue with ACW is how you can abuse it multiple times in a turn, for extremely cheap if not free. It was causing problems even prior to Super Shenron’s arrival and SS just made everything boil over. I believe the card isn’t that insane used once per turn however, compared to something like World Peace. Super Shenron may still be the issue but it needs to be monitored over a greater time period than one month.

Dragon Radar

Oh you thought we were done with Wish Related cards huh? You thought wrong! I initially was going to throw it in with the other two but I feel the “problems” Radar has is independent of the issue with SS Storm as a whole and is more indicative of the problems with the Wish mechanic.

The Problem:

The problems are pretty plain to see. Generally its floor is 1 Energy to Draw 2. If that were all it did, it’d be fine. But it does far more than that. The fact that it helps to abuse Desire cards is a BIG deal, a far bigger one than I think most of us had pegged to start. Reusing ACW, World Peace, Revival of the Emperor, Personal Ambition, even now A Kind Wish. That’s a lot of power it can get back on top of the ability to just simply draw cards or go digging for specific pieces. It does nearly everything outside of being a body with very minimal drawback. It’s one of, if not the predominant reason, the Shenrons have so much insane consistency.

The Rebuttal:

It draws and searches a lot sure but…that’s all it does. It’s almost never seen at more than 2 copies in a deck because using Energy to not develop a board or protect yourself is legitimately a big deal in this game, even if it’s only 1 Energy. It can be almost mortifying to draw into Dragon Radar on defense, knowing that you lost out on more defensive help. It’s weird to say just because of it being a departure, but despite being such a strong draw/recursion/tutor card…not being on a Leader or a body is a legitimate downside that cannot and should not be overlooked. The game just does not give many real opportunities to use resources to draw cards. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with having a couple of slots devoted to some extra draw/recursion.

What Could Be Done?

Well due to how many copies are usually played a Restriction is definitely out. An Errata seems like overkill in most cases so it’s either ban or let it be.

The Verdict:



To me this is a bit of an easy one. Dragon Radar can certainly be a strong card yes, but really in most cases it’s just a Draw 2 or recurring ACW for abuse. ACW is its own problem that I will not lay at the feet of the Radar for no reason. This one is clear.

Dragon Radar should remain untouched.

Reasoning:

The card isn’t that big a deal. A crap ton of advantage and consistency, but the main issue is recurring ACW which is ACW’s fault far more than Radar’s. It’s not a card that really turns the tide of the game, just consistency which is a GOOD thing.

Son Goku, the Adventure Begins

Well I didn’t expect this to get mentioned, but here we are. VanillaKu is definitely seen as one of the top, if not THE top deck of the format so it makes a bit of sense to talk about the centerpiece.

The Problem:

Simply put this Goku puts out absurd value in one card that’s repeatable. Most one drops need to commit more resources than Goku does, or leave themselves vulnerable in the process. Goku always grabs a 4 Star, without fail. Goku can grab a 30K every turn. If you don’t stop him from as early as Turn 1 he will start steamrolling you, which can lead to centralization of certain deck techs as you must have some commitment to getting him off the board. Failure to do so will mean that Goku will outvalue and out advantage you REALLY fast which can be frustrating for a lot of decks. On top of that Power Burst can easily recur Goku even when he’s gone, and Android 8/Goku leaves an absurd defense and removal package for little to no cost.

The Rebuttal:

Android 8 aside, yes Goku is great. Fantastic. But “problem card”? That seems to be a bit much. Outside of Turn 1 his ability to fetch a Four-Star is really just deck thinning and even that lasts only a couple of turns before you’re just recurring from the Drop. At that point, yes he’s adding a 5-10K Combo every turn but it’s certainly not the most insane effect out there. Maybe if we had power effects that need discards that Goku could abuse but otherwise…nothing too insane. As for dropping 30Ks every turn, while it is only 2 Energy, 2 Energy isn’t nothing either. It’s also that fact that makes stacking multiple Gokus on board pretty meh outside of having Android 8 ready to go. On top of that, touching him in any way REALLY neuters VanillaKu and that deck while value city, is for the most part a very fair deck.

What Can Be Done?

Again, limiting this card would definitely be in the realm of turning games into a lucksack mode. Facing the mirror and only one player lands the Goku? That’s an instant win, especially thanks to Power Burst. There’s nothing worth doing an Errata on either, his 4 Star snag isn’t that busted and his Vanilla fetch is a pretty fair cost considering you have to play Vanillas.

The Verdict:

The Adventure Begins is a great card. A fantastic card. There’s a reason I picked it as the best SR of Destroyer Kings and I still believe it is. But it’s not breaking anything in the game right now. It’s great, but it’s fair in its greatness. That being said…that doesn’t mean something shouldn’t be done. There is one DEFINITE thing that should be done…or in this case, reversed.

Son Goku, the Adventure Begins should remain untouched…but Bonds of Friendship Android 8 should be re-ruled to not work when a Son Goku: Childhood is sent from the Battle Area to the Combo Area.

Reasoning:

Seriously, when I saw the updated Q&A, all I could say even as a VanillaKu player myself is “What the hell is Bandai thinking?!”. The ability to kill, at Instant Speed, anything at very little to no cost is just absurd. In any game really, but especially this one. You don’t need any setup or grand design, just playing a fantastic 1 Drop and another 1 Drop that could’ve seen play anyway. It’s far too much of an absurd defense and removal package for a deck that already has fantastic defense due to its absurd cantripping, the early Awaken AND essentially giving you an extra Super Combo per turn. Bandai, really, change your mind on this ruling.

Son Goku, Path to Greatness

This is my choice when it comes to current cards to talk about. This card has not only had a big meta impact…but an economical one as well. A very dangerous one.

The Problem:

Turn 4 Victory Strike. Turn 4 Victory Strike that can potentially attack 2 Times. It is not fun to play against, it is not fun to see. It’s terrifying. Turn 4 Victory Strike that guarantees you have no Energy active is even worse. This card with Height of Mastery was supposed to be a strong combo play, but ultimately fair. Now we have a nearly degenerate combo, that can go in ANY Mono-Yellow deck with no restriction that can just randomly win the game on Turn 4 with just one turn of setup (or 0 if you’re using a Wish Leader and bring him back with World Peace). Also nearly every peace of it is searchable. The only reason we’re not seeing it everywhere is because not everyone has the obscene amount of money laying around just to buy Son Goku, the Awakened Power. Which by the way, doubled in price the second this card was printed. It’s fine for Combo Decks to be a thing, but the sheer inevitability this combo has even without necessarily drawing into Victory Strike makes it difficult to go against. It says something that you can run it in a package alongside Storm with little to no clunk (hence why it even finds its way into SS Storm lists).

The Rebuttal:

Okay okay, so it has a really busted win on Turn 4…but it can be played around. If they aren’t on the Wish build they WILL need to establish Path to Greatness for at least one turn before going off. That’s enough time to get at him even with his Barrier. At the very least it gives you a big warning signal to have all your Energy ready, preferably with an available blocker. If they are on the Wish build, the World Peace is vulnerable to Counter:Play shenanigans. Getting energy back up can lead to more defense. It’s a really tough combo, but can be played around. Of course the last part is that they simply might not have all the pieces. Without Victory Strike, this can definitely be defended against and even with all the draw power in the world there’s no guarantee you can draw the Awakened Power.

What Can Be Done?

All options on the table for this one. Limiting would work, no one is banking on 2 one-ofs in order to win by combo. Ban obviously. There are effective Errata routes as well. Restricting the Leader, not allowing another Swap that turn and so on.

The Verdict:

The Path to Greatness package is getting more streamlined and seeing more play by the day…for those who can actually afford it. It’s not particularly interactive unless you have very specific techs (or are playing Bardock Leader). It’s just kind of grimy all the way around. That being said, wanna avoid bans where we can. I think a decent way to help things out for now is to make it obvious that the combo is coming the second you see the Leader. So with that being said…

Errata Son Goku, Path to Greatness to require a Goku’s Lineage Leader for his Swap effect.

Reasoning:

For the most part a lot of what made the card busted is the Leaders it could be used under. Promo Broly allowing multiple attacks, shutting down a potential Blocker, a quick Awaken and more was insane. Super Shenron Storm, enough said. We even had a Cheelai/Lemo deck top by teching the package in because it’s only 9 cards deep and it has a bunch of filtering power. Other than essentially needing a Mono-Yellow deck the PtG package was far too generic for the immense power it provides. Forcing it into a Goku’s Lineage Leader gives those Leaders a bit more reason to be used, on top of immediately alerting an opponent to the combo being present. Considering the power level of winning the game nigh guaranteed on Turn 4, I think it’s more than a fair trade-off.

Growing Evil Lifeform Cell

Now onto a couple of cards that were already hit. This being the most infamous of them all. Let’s talk about some Cell Chain again like old times.

The Problem:

It may have been a couple of months but the impact that Cell Chain left is still felt. Being able to draw cards safely again is like seeing colors for the first time! Sure Gogeta can pop up and drop me to 3 but at least it shuffles the cards back in, you aren’t just losing everything and will usually require the opponent going -2 as well compared to Cell Chain only forcing a -1, two turns earlier. I still remember the eye rolls the second you saw any type of Android Leader across from you. You knew what was happening on Turn 3, chances are you weren’t stopping it. It may have been the Ultimate Bridesmaid but it seems a lot of players are still relieved to never have to deal with it again.

The Rebuttal:

Yeah, Cell Chain bad, whatever. But as mentioned, it was the Ultimate Bridesmaid. Only one Regional win to its name and that was its very first Regional. Past that only a road of desolation and enough second place finishes to make the Buffalo Bills weep. It never controlled the top spots and right now with the rampant draw power getting out of control we need a check. Gogeta isn’t a check as his hand shuffle is about finishing the game that turn. On top of that losing Growing Evil decimated what was a very cool idea they were building in a Cell Toolbox. Now any Cell that isn’t Infernal Villainy isn’t worth using. Let’s even point out the elephant in the room. This may accelerate the game plan and cause Cell Chain to exist, but the real antagonist is Perfect Force Cell. He’s the one dropping the hand size. Better to have Growing Evil allowed a fun niche than allow Perfect Force to exist doing nothing while Growing Evil also does nothing.

What Can Be Done?

Well the card is already limited and is doing nothing so I think we can take a Ban off the table. So the real question is what can be done to allow the card to come back, if it isn’t already worthy to come back. Two options. An Errata that says you may not Union-Absorb for the rest of the turn, or make Perfect Force Cell take Growing Evil’s place if not outright banning Perfect Force.

The Verdict:

I’ll admit when Growing Evil was hit I was both surprised and not surprised. Surprised because as mentioned, Cell Chain hadn’t put in any sort of dominating performance since its very first outing a long while back. Unsurprised because most people only met the deck with venom in their words. I’ll admit though, Cell Chain being gone has most certainly allowed decks that could not exist before some room to breathe. This includes value decks…as well as combo decks. It was a Gatekeeper deck. Whatever deck you built had to be able to live with Cell Chain resolving on you. That has both positive and negative effects. I’ll say this, it’s obvious that ultimately Growing Evil should’ve never been placed on the list. The REAL question is whether Cell Chain is an overall positive influence on the game, because if not it will be Perfect Force’s head on the block. Considering the state of the game right now and the cards that have been released since the hit…I know my personal answer and it honestly surprises me as I write it.

Growing Evil Lifeform Cell back to 4, Perfect Force Cell…Untouched. Cell Chain should return to full power.

Reasoning:

Ultimately I do believe the Cell Chain to be a net positive to the game. The decks that currently get by on value and draw power can still draw their way out of Cell Chain and fire back. Having Cell Chain around to limit especially greedy combos I think is more helpful to the game than hurtful. Yes it can be annoying to have to deal with Cell Chain every so often, but it does provide a different way to think through a matchup rather than going ahead the same way every time. Understanding resource conservation I think is more of a boon than anything.

Son Goku/Heightened Evolution Super Saiyan 3 Son Goku

Okay, put down the pitch forks for a second and hear me out. The main reason this is getting talked about is…well I wanted two “could this come off” cards to talk about. We have 5, already talked about Cell, and well…Goten and Trunks were immediate HELL NOs so it left this and Flute and…honestly I think this is more interesting to talk about.

The Problem:

Do we really need to remember this? The invalidation of Leader Choice? The ramp? The overly long dragged out games? The invalidation of Energy Conservation? This Leader was 500 ways of frustrating to see and deal with and even though it allowed a few decks into fruition that wouldn’t exist otherwise, the fact that a ton of Leaders were made useless in the process was terrible. A huge portion of the player base breathed a sigh of relief when he got temp banned and a celebration was held when Bandai decided to make it permanent instead. Is it wise to re-open this old wound? It’s been a couple of sets and there are certainly even more broken possibilities that this card could trigger. Some demons should probably stay dead.

The Rebuttal:

That being said while this Leader caused…so much pain, maybe the time has actually come where the pain isn’t as bad as it seems? We now have cards that legitimately affect the Leader and aren’t really bad misguided attempts like Dende. More Leaders have early card advantage that Heightened Evolution can’t match. More Leaders are getting Unique Cards and abilities that Heightened Evolution doesn’t have. With the Sparking Counters untapping defensive energy isn’t that special anymore. Hell the big Midrange deck is arguably being done better by Veku Ramp. It may be almost blasphemous to say, but maybe we’re letting our past hurt cloud our judgment on this card…if anyone has even thought about it in recent memory.

What Can Be Done?

Well Bandai has already decided that Banning it was better than an Errata, a stance that I had taken myself prior to the ban being announced. So really it’s just two options here, stay in the deepest depths of hell or be let out on parole.

The Verdict:

When I initially even decided on writing about Heightened Evolution I already had it in my head that it was just “for funsies” and it would obviously stay banned. As I actually wrote about it a bit…it’s nowhere as cut and dry as I thought. To the point that this is actually a tough call. Without a doubt the pain of SS3 Goku is still burned into my soul and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if within a week we could find some way to break him again. At the same time though there’s a part of me that believes that the landscape may have truly changed enough to make a case to bring him back. This isn’t a decision I make lightly but…

Heightened Evolution Super Saiyan 3 Son Goku should remain banned…for now.

Reasoning:

Honestly the main reason I have for keeping him banned isn’t even related to anything I posted above. It’s because of Infinite Unity. Dual Colored cards are coming, whose downside is supposed to be coming in tapped. SS3 would undo half the downside by untapping them at EoT. While it might not be busted now, as the Block goes on I imagine it would become a problem really fast. If not for Infinite Unity though…I think I legitimately could’ve been persuaded to bring him back. There might be enough new things in the wild to not make him an instantaneous choice. But for now let the demon lay where he rest.

Final Thoughts:

This was a pretty busy article, but I enjoyed doing it. It’s pretty fun to take a look at things from multiple angles. I encourage every player to do the same. If you have a hard opinion on something, take a breath and truly think of it from the other perspective. You may find a whole new line of thought.