Hello all and welcome to a very special day on Preview Season. We’ve known about this product for a while and now we finally get to dig in and see what Bandai is giving us, the Anniversary Box! This is supposed to be the big product that boosts a lot of toiling archetypes. Can it bring some old favorites back to the spotlight? Some suffering decks to glory? Or is this all one big, shiny waste of time? Let’s find out.

Trunks, Surge of Energy

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Caulifla, Pan, Pilaf

First up we got ourselves Trunks. As a GT card the obvious thinking would be this is a Pan buff, and I could see it. Play it into Pan Lead and draw yourself 2 cards, fantastic value. The only issue is that beyond that play turn he’s just a vanilla 15K Body. The value may be worth it though especially if you’re able to continue to proc his skill. If you’re able to get Combination Attack Pan into play, that’s even more draw power every turn and with no Cell Chain to ruin her life for doing so I think there’s a lot of game to it. I don’t think it stops at Pan though. Caulifla was the next one up, and that’s certainly interesting but I don’t think draw power was ever her issue, moreso wanting more pressure. I think a big winner is actually Pilaf, who gets a ton of repeatable value from Trunks before he flips. I like this card a lot as a card to really push certain synergies, and a good way to get things started.

Vegito, Polymorphic Potara

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: …Vegito

Vegito is the next one up. I’m not nearly as jazzed about this one as Trunks. I will say that he’s actually pretty good at getting Vegito, Powers Combined into the board for the immediate Draw 2, though it’s only really a break even in this instance. But a 2 Energy Powers Combined is pretty damn good and can start some tempo plays. Beyond that though, this card is generally just an additional energy to try and guarantee your Vegito plays which isn’t great when beyond Powers Combined they’re all slow. If you’re running the tempo Vegito deck this can be solid, it doesn’t help the bigger payoffs though.

Almighty Technique Vados

Decks/Leaders Helped: Vados, Champa

Yes, yes. More ways to Awaken early for these early Leaders is extremely helpful. Now Champa admittedly doesn’t get a ton of value out of this, he’s one of the few early Leaders who already has repeatable Pre-Awaken draw and his Awakened Side is generally better late game anyway. VADOS however, this is the card she’s been waiting for. Her biggest issue is that her Front Side is just terrible way too fast, with no advantage. She really needed to get to her Awakened Side fast, but she isn’t a pressure based Leader so it was often contradictory to speed to 4 Life and then try to slow the game down. This solves both issues. Get into this and Awaken on Turn 2, possibly at 8 Life, and start smacking any Battle Card in sight with 20K Power and draw. I don’t think this will make Vados a major player or anything, but this is something she should’ve had sets ago. May the brewing begin once more.

Hit, Spacetime Transcended

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Lightning-Fast Hit

Why is it that 90% of Hit design seems to be based on how to get Lightning-Fast Hit onto the board? At least that’s how it seems to me. Anyway I’m not a fan of this card at all. The hefty price is understandable considering Burn 2 Life is still a very precious ability in this game. However this isn’t the biggest use of the strategy. I guess there could be a Wish Leader strategy bringing him back with World Peace then going for the kill, but most opponents will see that from a mile away. Personally, I think if you want to use LF Hit, you just use the superior Foreseeing Hit and surprise the opponent with a hidden LF Hit in hand.

Innocence Cannon Majin Buu

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Buu Leads, Babid…hahahahah

This one is generally for Evolve Fodder for Buu. It’s uh…it’s okay in that respect. Definitely the safest way to get it going. Just pretty much another stoke in the Buu Chain shenanigans.

General Rilldo, Leader of Planet M-2

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Machine Mutants

*sigh*. You really know what Machine Mutants apparently needed? An extremely conditional Planet M-2 tutor. Now yes, it’s meant to go into Form Perfected a lot faster AND set up his ability but Form Perfected generally isn’t worth this effort. Now if there were a way to recur Planet then I’d be about that but for now, definitely a bit of a whiff.

Mutant Genesis

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Dr. Myuu

What we’ll see out of the Box is that every color gets a “Special Attack” card, and all of them are pretty damn solid. This one is no exception. Pretty much free value which I greatly enjoy. It’s not exactly Revenge Death Ball, but it does give Myuu his own niche which is great. Myuu has always been more about the value train compared to Baby’s control so it fits him well.

Son Goku, Path to the Infinite

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Ultra Instinct -Sign- Son Goku, Uub

My first thought was that this card was bad. You needed to bounce a 4 drop to play this, just to set up UI? Feels like we could do so much better. But then I remembered…

A free 4 Drop that can be immediately replayed, another that can be played on 2, the last that will be doing more attacks and drawing more cards. This is an absolutely PERFECT fit in Uub to the point he doesn’t even NEED to tech UI Sign Goku if he doesn’t want, because this just provides immense value however it still may be worth it because UI Sign Goku is still an absolute house of a card. I already gotta go back to the brewing board with Uub, because I think this card provides too much value to ignore.

Vegeta, Energy Absorber

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Uh…Blue in general?

This seems to be part of a cycle, showing off what Blue is about which is of course, untapping energy. My issue with this Vegeta is that he seems incredibly win more. Solid for using a lot of your defensive options and replacing themselves, but idk if it’s really worth establishing the Vegeta in the first place to do so.

Trunks, Hope Renewed

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Future Trunks Package, Blue Dende

This is another card that gets a bit better the more you delve into synergies. A popular fun build people have been doing lately is working around a Future Trunks package and this slots in very nicely but ESPECIALLY in Blue Dende. This gives him another Fount of Spirit target and this is a pretty damn good one as a good defensive option in case you already have all your pieces. A great piece.

Whis, Destruction’s Aid

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Beerus

I mean, this card is the emphasis of what this Box is about. This does everything that Beerus wants and needs. Whis is a God, check. Whis draws cards, check. Whis ramps, check. Instead of being a -1 ramp, he just ramps with ease and it’s just fantastic. I mean I don’t think this will bring Beerus to relevance, but this is a great step in the right direction.

Goku Black, Countdown to Destruction

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Goku Black, Zamasu

This one, I’m not very sold on. He’s really bad until you hit 5 Energy and Goku Black Lead only provides temp ramp and Zamasu doesn’t really want to ramp all that much at all. He’s supposed to be a very easy way into a Union-Absorb or Evolve but I don’t think he ultimately helps many of either lead’s issues.

Fused Zamasu, Fusion Refined

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Zamasu

This card annoys me. His first ability is such a misunderstanding of what Zamasu wants to be doing. It does you no good to Awaken early in Zamasu, because you’re leaving card advantage on the table. You NEED to Awaken at 1 Life, 2 only in desperation. You can Self-Awaken as well, so it’s not like the opponent is going to leave you stranded either. For all the early Leaders that really needed the ability to Awaken early you chose one of the extreme few that not only doesn’t need to, but in no way WANTS to. His second ability…let’s be real, if you’re that far in the tank you might as well be going for the ZamaFu strategy instead. Like I said, this card annoys the hell out of me. Someone get me the design team’s phone number because they have a rogue element.

Plan for Destruction

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Goku Black, Zamasu

This on the other hand, is a very good card. Not that hard to set up, it’s Turn 4 at the latest but any ramp will turn this on sooner and just turns itself into a pseudo-Super Combo that ramps instead of drawing. I wish they gave this to Beerus as well honestly, I think it would’ve been more than fair and it’s my only gripe. Plus I mean Destruction is in the card name, come on now! But still, good card.

Son Goku, in Close Quarters

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Uh…Green Sideboards

Okay, this is the other card that really doesn’t have a specific deck purpose. Yeah he needs a condition but I imagine we’ll get plenty multicolored cards in the upcoming block so that’s somewhat moot. He’s pretty much there to deal with strategies that rely on setting up with a Barrier card. Solid in the Sideboard if ever necessary in a format.

Son Gohan, Display of Strength

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Piercing Super Saiyan 2 Son Gohan

…SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Finally the day has arrived…

His time, has arrived. I mean this is just great. Draw 2 and then play the Hero of Destiny on 4 for free? If you have any setup board prior the opponent can go from zero to dead out of nowhere since comboing is pretty much a non-starter. As for what Green Leader, idk, idc, we’ll figure it out!

Krillin, Calling for Help

Decks/Leader/Cards Helped: Green Son Goku Leads (preferably The Legendary Super Saiyan), Krillin Dies.dec

So uh yeah. He’s both good and bad in one. This Krillin REALLY needs you to board as many as you can pre-Awaken as post Awaken a 4 Drop 4K Blocker is horrid. But if you’re able to get these on board early, getting a bunch of cantrips that immediately turn around into FS Goku enablers is very strong. Has definite potential, keep a look out.

Paragus, Quelling the Beast

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: OG Broly

So basically we have redundancy with Caulifla to make sure OG Broly stays as one-sided as possible for as long as possible. It certainly helps, though idk if it’s enough as OG Broly has a lot of problems outside of making his symmetrical ability asymmetrical.

Android 13, the Brilliant

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Android 13, Android Leaders

Now this card…THIS card, is really damn good. He’s actually really similar to HF17, somewhat better and worse. Better in that he gets to the main show off the top, but you can’t grab your UA target from the Drop Area, which I’m actually thankful for because this might be too much if it could do that. Card’s just insane, really easy turn 3 7 Drop that will start a very fast chain reaction. This might actually be enough to get Android 13 to see some play for sure.

Android Troop – 14 & 15

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Android 13

Well…this is the other big reason. I love free cantrips. I love free cantrips that actually do something within the archetype. This card is fantastic and arguably solves Android 13‘s biggest issue. It was just a pain in the ass to get these two in the Drop Area with any sort of efficiency. This does it for absolutely free which is fantastic which means 13‘s early Awaken is now much easier to grasp and it’s easier to set up the Union-Absorb. I think 13 is on the map fellas.

Blazing Technique

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Green Vegito

Another great Special Attack card, though again it’s one of those things where I think it could’ve been more open ended. In this case I think the Red Vegito could’ve used this far more than Green, but it’s still good and appreciated in here. We like 1 Energy kill spells. Won’t put that Leader on the map but it’s nice to have.

Bardock, the Enlightened

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Insert “Tap Down” Yellow Leader here…

So another one of this apparent cycle that does something that identifies with a Color identity. This one is probably the easiest to trigger if you’re in the right Leaders. I don’t think he puts any of them on the map, but he’s nice to have, good way to get a bit more advantage in those Leaders, especially his own.

Son Goku, Unbreakable Will

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Explosive Spirit Son Goku

I mean, it’s pretty obvious what this is supposed to be. The “fair” version of Shugesh into ES Goku. Doesn’t interrupt battles or anything, but can still be quite a scary interaction. Boarding this puts the opponent into a spot where he has to consider whether an attack is worthwhile or not, and may even get the opponent to hold back on establishing boards out of fear. For decks that really want to slow the pace down I can see this duo finding some slots.

Frieza, Malicious Streak

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Golden Frieza

I wish we had this card a bit sooner honestly. This card is still pretty damn good for Frieza, Self-Awaken and replacing itself is really helpful and can lead to some very fun turns. Deck space however has gotten a bit tight in the list so it may be a bit rough to find room for a card that is “only” a GF enabler and nothing else.

Ginyu, Helix Strike

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Ginyu

He’s pretty straight forward. One energy to essentially grab something from top 3 and can even board something immediately. I think the digging is more important though, to find your pieces to land the combo win, the board creation is just a bit of a nice bonus. Not bad.

Meta-Cooler Core, Ultimate Form

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Meta-Cooler

This card is something that does it all for its archetype. Draws cards, replaces any used up Big Gete Stars (though that’s a niche usage), allows you to Awaken on Turn 2, gets back 2 Coolers, and can even be re-used constantly. I don’t think it’s quite enough to get Meta-Cooler to where it wants to be, but it does a damn good attempt nonetheless.

Swift Retaliation Cooler

Decks/Cards/Leaders Helped: Uh…

Well, this is essentially a very expensive Bad Ring Laser but in place of having to discard, you draw a card or two and get a body on board. Worth it? …probably not. 3 Energy is a LOT and the card isn’t really good beyond that effect, even as a 3 Drop Draw 2. Not a fan.

Malevolent Revenge

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Meta-Cooler

Uh, a free 15K Shield as long as you have a used Big Gete Star on board? Yeah…just yeah, I think this is the best of the revealed Special Attack cards in the box. The card is just free 99% of the time. It’s good defensively, good offensively to get another usage out of the Star. I like everything about it.

Towa/Towa, Chaosbringer

No “help” portion since she’s really there to build her own deck. She’s very different, different Awakening restriction and comes in at different angles. She has a lot of good things going for her, card selection and the ability to shut off Keywords is absolutely nutty. No Triple Strike for you, no Critical for you, and so on. There is just one problem holding Towa back. No Card Advantage on her Awakened side. That is a MASSIVE issue considering pretty much every Leader in the game has some kind of card advantage engine of some kind on their Awakened side. It’s especially notable considering she has an ability that demands cards out of your hand. That one thing I think keeps her pretty low in usability, though her Awakened restriction might’ve also been a problem.

Bardock, Awakened Instincts

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Generic help

This is a pretty good card in general. Cheap OR, brings in some card advantage. He’s not the payoff that Scientist Fu is, but he’s a great bridge OR card to help dig for pieces in certain decks. If you really need to find something, this may be the OR for you.

Supreme Kai of Time, Time Disruptor

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Generic Helper

The usual 1 Drop Cantrip, but I really like this one above many others. At first glance it’s just a Storm Killer after Storm already died, but I think it’s more than that. One of the best strategies in any resource TCG is the ole “Draw, Pass”, leaving up Energy to do something on the opponent’s turn. While this isn’t AS good as what that usually is about, the ability to leave up energy and cantrip on the opponent’s turn rather than have to simply commit to it on your own has legitimate potential where you can decide exactly what you need for defense on each turn. Against Storm-like strategies, fantastic. Against anything else, still pretty good. I can see this getting a lot of play honestly.

Demigra, Over Realm Unleashed

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Small Demigra Package

This card…I’m not really sold on. This is only the second card to receive the Wormhole keyword which is interesting. For those who don’t remember (I’m one of them, I actually had to go back and look), Wormhole allows you an extra OR per turn. Unfortunately it’s a bit moot here because it requires you to use up one of those ORs for the turn and doesn’t really set up much in the realm of plays. He’s definitely meant for the last ability, where he grabs you a 4 drop or less Demigra to use and keep on board since they’ll be played outside of OR. The main question is, is this better than the SR Demigra package, or even worth running alongside it. And…jury’s out. It does give you a tempo play early on. A pure Demigra deck could in theory get there with this with a lot of hand pressure and ability to continuously reuse your small Demigras. I was down on this initially but I’m talking myself back into it.

Mira, Self Reformation

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Towa, Mira

I was down on this when I first read it, then I warmed up to it…slightly. I don’t think this card is honestly very good, but for those running Mira Chain it involves something it arguably needed and that’s redundancy. In a deck that often relies on random milling, redundancy is very crucial to making sure your strategies actually pay off. I think Dark Absorption Mira is actually better than this card unless you’re terrified of CBL, since it costs the same to put Creator Absorbed onto the board. This applies more pressure but has more of a restriction and needs a Mira in the deck. I think it gets used for people still on that deck, but only out of necessity.

Masked Saiyan, Beguiled Warrior

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Masked cards

I was down, then really up, then immensely down on the card. Mainly, at first I thought “why would you ever want to do this instead of just ORing the actual card?” Then I remembered the Black Masked Saiyans and all the abilities that don’t require OR which made this seem great…until you realize a majority of those cards require a Drop Area which you’ll be getting rid of by using this. Unless you wanna live the Forced Ejection dream again, right now this card is just simply bad and arguably the worst preview.

Fu, the Dark Banisher

Decks/Leaders/Cards Helped: Nothing specific

In the vein of his SR brother, this card seeks to be the big finisher in a deck. Problem is, while cheaper, he doesn’t do it nearly as well. Opponents will be very willing to give up a card if it means protecting themselves and 1-2 cards won’t be the end of the opponent in most cases. Where the money of this card could be in the future, is if we can somehow board this card permanently. If this can stay on board this is just a nasty control piece that will cause the opponent to go through hell. As of now though most of the ways to do that are limited and very slow. Still, I wouldn’t ignore this. You never know…

A Crack in Spacetime

The last card for today, and in terms of Special Attack cards it’s pretty simple. Punch things hard with Masked Saiyan, the end. I don’t think an extra +5K is gonna move the needle much for Masked Saiyan compared to where it was at, but sure why not?

Final Thoughts:

A LOT of cards to cover in here, but mostly good stuff, some with legitimate meta potential but if nothing else a lot of fun stuff to brew and toy around with, which should be the goal of any set.