After all that fun momentum I had with the Blue Leaders, and the fun I’ve been having on the side with the other colors…coming to Green…I have been immensely disappointed. So disappointed that I don’t think I could do legitimate Leader Guides for either Brianne or Goku in good faith. While I will still do a mini one with Goku in this guide, especially on the reveal of the SCR, I figured instead I would talk about my issues with the design of Green Leaders (and to a lesser extent, the Maidens in general).

My Immense Frustration With Brianne and the Maiden Squadron:

Now during my initial analysis of Brianne and the Maidens back when they were previewed I did mention my thoughts were that they would not be any good. They were a pain to get on board all at once, their effects really weren’t good on their own and they were really easy to deal with. Even after seeing the SR Ribrianne, who is a very solid card in her own rights (to the point that I really could see a Brianne package being teched periodically), I wasn’t impressed with what they could do. …I’ll go into more detail about my issues during testing both playing her and playing against the Maidens.

Brianne Leader is absolutely terrible on her own rights.

I remember being somewhat happy with Brianne’s front side. Digging for her actual pieces seemed solid and I was still on the “Draw 2 Awaken is best Awaken” train. Usually it IS the best Awaken. But for a deck like Maidens she really wanted the Untap so it’d be a lot more efficient to put her on board, especially in a color like Green which has a tendency to tap out as it is. As for her “draw” ability, there was just one problem with it. It’s not guaranteed. Every time she swings and it whiffs you’re falling further and further behind. With only 16 targets in the deck, and the fact that Brianne 2 Drop is already pulling targets out (at a better pace I might add) AND the likelihood of the player to hoard Maidens in hand as it is…the chances of you hitting Brianne are actually downright abysmal. Avenging Frieza actually has a better chance of hitting a target in most cases. What this leads to is a Front Side Leader that does nothing, which is the worst thing a Front Side Leader could be doing. Her Awakened Side isn’t much better and once again goes to show how much better the Untap 2 Awaken would’ve been.

She needs the other two Maidens in order to shoot something on board. Now like I said in analysis, shooting any BC for free is a very strong effect. The chances of you actually getting this effect off in any reasonable time frame…is not good. Your best hope is continuously using Maiden Transformation and you’ll find that…it’s much easier said than done and you’re ultimately down in card advantage and board advantage constantly. As a Leader she provides nothing to the strategy, which is a death knell since the strategy is all she has! Now if the strategy the very least was strong enough, maybe she’d still find a little merit even if other Leaders do it better but…

The Maiden Squadron as a whole is terrible.

Again, outside of the 2 Drop Brianne and the SR Ribrianne who I really like…the other two members are terrible. They are extremely bland and generally poor cards without the help of the other Maiden Squadron members. But even WITH the Squadron they aren’t that particularly good. The reason I like Ribrianne so much is that on her own, she’s a good card. 25K Barrier that kills something. Yes she needs to Evolve, but her Evolve Target also has Barrier which gives it great resiliency AND she can fetch Ribrianne. WITH the rest of the Squadron she’s even better, becoming a walking discard 2. That’s good design. A card that’s good on its own but, meeting strict requirements, becomes even better and worthwhile. This is not the case with the other two who are overpriced for what they do, and even with the full effect aren’t great.

Kakunsa is the better of the two, just because Crit Dual Attack is solid enough…but it’s not worth the price of admission and a simple 4 Drop 20K Crit attacker is not good enough, ESPECIALLY in Green who has a wealth of 4 Drop options. Rozie is even worse. A 4 Drop 20K Blocker with no abilities is awful. With her abilities…it still isn’t good. Untapping at EoT is fine…but she’s still overpriced. Hell why play her, when Android 17 is in the same set and does the same thing but cheaper and with no requirement? Sure he loses 5K in the process but ultimately isn’t that big a deal. Kakunsa and Rozie are just downright awful. No, using other Leaders does not help. Mira, SS3 Goku…it’s just not worth it in the end. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just an experiment but…

The Maiden Squadron is in the same exact set as the Trio De Dangers.

The Trio is in the set, with an extremely similar concept, but are designed so much better I legitimately wonder if there’s a quality control team that actually checks what each color designer (assuming there is a separate one for each color) is actually doing. If it’s a more consolidated effort than it’s even a bigger failure. The Trio is designed perfectly. The two sidekicks are cheaper (naturally at that, no Jimeze needed) and only need one of the actual archetype, rather than needing two specific other cards. So you can drop two Lavender and still get somewhere. They don’t do anything on their own BUT their requirements are easy enough to turn on that it’s not a huge deal. At the same time the requirement still exists to promote careful gameplay on when to play them and when to swing with them to get the best use of their effects.

Bergamo, like Ribrianne, is a very strong card on his own rights and also like Ribrianne, gets a massive benefit when the full specific squad is on board. I want to believe that the SRs at the very least had the same designer because a great majority of them were designed very well. Ribrianne and Bergamo look like they’re cut from the same cloth. But Bergamo actually has a well designed archetype around him making him even stronger and a Leader that, while unassuming, gives a great boost to the archetype. Ribrianne has crap around her. On top of that, Universe 9 has better support than Universe 2! Kai Roh is a far better card than Jimeze since it sets up your board for the rest of the game rather than needing constant overseeing like Jimeze (and unlike Jimeze can actually set up the full Trio on the very next turn). They also get good cycling effects and Chappil is solid as well alongside Bergamo lead and Kai Roh and they even have a better Negate (though that’s not to discount Maiden Charge which can be solid). You never feel like you’re doing nothing if the Trio isn’t on board. Also, the few cards that do require that you have the specific Trio De Dangers on board reward you fantastically. SR Bergamo protects your entire board, UC Bergamo stops the opponent from playing Energy out (it’s still too slow but it’s still more powerful than the Squadron), Bergamo Leader makes it much tougher on the opponent’s attacking sequence and of course, Dangers Triangle just craps on 80% of the cards played right now. That’s how you reward players who do want to go that extra mile to put up a very specific board.

The worst part is, the rest of Green in Tournament of Power is actually pretty good. Bodyguards for Green as a whole and U7 Leaders, a consistent 3 Drop Removal BC to replace Broly outside of Cell Chain matchups (and even an Evolve for it, if you really wanted to go the extra mile), Krillin provides helpful U7 utility where they have very little and 17 could see potential niche play elsewhere. Not to mention Son Goku, Hope of the Universe and the Awakened Power. The Maiden Squadron is just an abject failure in every way.

…now onto Goku.

The Issues With Goku

Now let me make this clear, Goku might actually be an okay Leader. He’s definitely not on the “Babidi-tier” trash heap that Brianne is on. He’s certainly blown me out a couple of times. But what I want to take a moment to discuss before going into a mini Guide is the concept of “restrictive deck building” that we see in games like Magic the Gathering or more recently, Hearthstone.

Intentionally Restricting Deck Building For A Reward

This concept isn’t really new to TCGs in general. Magic the Gathering does it periodically, especially during the Devotion days but it’s probably most well known in Hearthstone simply because a great majority of those “rewards” end up pushing a deck to top tier status. Essentially you’re forced to build your deck in a specific way in order to use specific cards, but those cards are generally extremely strong and often game-winning. For two examples in Hearthstone, Reno Jackson and Raza, the Unchained. Both basically forced you to play a Highlander deck (for those out of the MtG loop, essentially a deck that only plays single-ton copies of all their cards, no multiples whatsoever). The reward for Raza was that your Hero Power (an ability granted to specific characters that could be used once per turn) goes from costing 2 Mana to 0 (then errata’d to 1) and Reno Jackson would heal your character to full health no matter what on play. Both forced a restriction but gave you a massive payoff for it. Both lead to top tier decks and the best decks in their format (especially Raza who was infamous for allowing pretty much a guaranteed kill no matter what the opponent’s health is with Shadowreaper Anduin). Now in Hearthstone we have cards that look for you not using a specific cost of card or not using even or odd cards.

So the things to keep in mind as to how to decide whether it’s worth the restriction or not are…

How bad is the restriction into deckbuilding.

Is the card (or cards) powerful enough that it can win regardless of restriction?

So let’s look at Goku in both ways.

The Restriction

Goku may only use Universe 7 cards in his deck.

This is a massive restriction. For those who would like to do a count there’s around 480 usable non-Leader cards in the game at the time of this writing. Goku can use a grand total of 23 to actually deck build with. A little under 5%. That’s immensely restrictive and he can’t get around that in any way. The only hope is that U7 continues to get support down the line.

On top of that, a lot of the U7 cards…aren’t particularly good. Inundated with 3 Drops and 5 Drops you just spend a lot of turns Leader Swinging, digging and passing until your Turn 5. It lacks any sort of consistent removal as well outside of Hope of Universe 7 so the opponent never really has to worry about their bigger threats sticking. They’re good as niche picks, not as an entire archetype unto themselves. You’ll quite often find that about half your deck does nothing. The only goal is to survive until Turn 5 but otherwise is not a coherent deck in any sense of the word. Which leads to the second point.

Goku Leader, and Son Goku, Hope of Universe 7 Effect

Those are what you get basically for such a terrible restriction. Now…these cards are actually pretty solid. Goku Leader provides plenty of pressure. It’s essentially a reverse Masked Saiyan. +5k and instead of lowering the opponent’s ceiling, you raise your own with draw power. Also doesn’t require milling. It’s strong. His Negation effect, good for emergencies but not something to be relied upon. In most cases though, this Leader is not worth the heavy restriction though can become absurd with better support.

Thus leading us to Hope of Universe 7. Pretty much this is the only reason to play Goku, in my honest opinion (and of course, as of this writing, this could change with more U7 support). Simply put, the entire goal of the deck is to wait until Turn 5, and EX-Evolve into 2-3 of these and just win. Simply put, if unchecked, this play does win the game no matter what. Your hitting for 5-7 Critical Damage and ripping 5-7 cards out of the hand and maybe taking out a card on board instead if you feel you aren’t outright ending the game that turn. In most cases, even if the opponent lives that turn, they’ll have absolutely nothing to crack back with and obviously if Hope of Universe 7 lives the turn…they’re dead the next anyway. This is the entire gameplan and nothing else. It’s potent for sure, I’ve won games with it, I’ve lost games to it even with a solid board and hand state. It’s that powerful. There’s just…an issue. It’s REALLY easily countered if you know it’s coming (and if you see U7 Goku as Leader, it’s coming). Multiple Revenge Blockers (has to be multiple otherwise he’ll just out the one before Blocker can be declared), Shugesh/Kid Goku, Enraged Gohan Awakening, Crusher Ball, Flying Nimbus, Barrier Blocker into King Vegeta’s Surprise Attack, Mafuba, Frieza Emperor of U7 (if the opponent is at 2 life or less), even Pilaf… While some of these are just niche cards, others are played plenty and will just end the turn for you and then you just lose.

Again, like U7 Gohan, some matchups this deck absolutely dominates because they simply don’t have an answer, others you wonder why you’re even there. Only I think this deck has more bad matchups than Gohan. It’s all or nothing, and honestly the deck is really tedious. At least with Gohan there are a lot of decisions you do have to make within the game to find your winning path, with Goku you swing with him every turn and wait until Turn 5. The mirror match is especially terrible. It’s literally whoever wins the die roll wins the game. I’m not joking. Whoever wins the die roll gets to board Hope first, and at that point it’s over because the deck has no out to itself. Not even Hope itself since you won’t have a hand to board it. It’s the most mind-numbing mirror match I’ve ever seen in any TCG. This is not good design, and that has more to do with U7 Goku’s restriction than it does with the power of Hope of Universe 7. Now…that’s not the end of the story…we should probably get into the SCR Reveal.

Son Goku, the Awakened Power

I had a feeling that the Mastered Ultra Instinct would be the SCR but it was really a tossup between that and Kefla. I think this makes sense, Red already had a SCR last set and SSB Vegito might as well be Red as well. Green getting some SCR love makes some sense. As for the card itself, we have the second Win Condition card in the game. Is it any good? …technically yes. Just ironically not in U7 Goku. In U7 Goku, just board Hopes continuously, that ends the game already just fine. I actually think the best place to put this is in U7 Gohan. The deck is immensely defensive as it is and draws a bunch of cards, so seeing the SCR is not out of the question and this can win no matter what the opponent’s life total, allowing you to take even more time. Now the downside to this card is…take most of those Hope counters I mentioned above (outside of like Flying Nimbus and Frieza and Pilaf) and add literally every blocker in the game. If the attack goes through you certainly win but good luck with that. I don’t see many scenarios where Awakened Power wins games that Hope of Universe 7 does not. Still it’s one card that’s easily put into a deck that draws most of it, honestly not much of a reason not to play it. In U7 Goku though it is pointless because Hope either WILL win the game, or it won’t and Awakened Power wouldn’t as well (or would be overkill at that point). Still…as for the same reason as U7 Gohan…even moreso actually, you might as well play it because half the deck doesn’t do anything.

Let’s just show a U7 Goku List quick.

Deck Build:

4 Ready to Fight Son Goku

4 Master Roshi, Forged of Will

4 Backbone of Universe 7, Son Goku

4 Focused Mind Son Gohan

4 Infinite Energy Android 18

4 Destructo Disk Krillin

4 Full Power Spirit Bomb Son Goku

4 Son Goku, Hope of Universe 7

1 Son Goku, the Awakened Power

4 Universe 7 Representative

13 Universe 7 Cards of your choosing

Deck Overview:

I mean yeah…I didn’t give a full list because the last 13 cards really do not matter in the slightest. Use whatever you want, more blockers, more attackers, it legitimately doesn’t matter. You will not board a majority of those cards. The goal is simple. Dig, don’t go to too low a life total, win on Turn 5 with multiple Hopes. You never deviate from this. If you do, you’re probably going to lose because the archetype simply isn’t made to work all on its own all that well. Krillin is probably the only tech choice I’m adamant about because on top of Self-Awaken help, it clears weenies that may cause issues for you like Yaj or the Veggie Package being generally annoying.

Final Thoughts:

…I’m just glad to be done with ToP Green. I’m just really frustrated with the design of both Universe 7 as a whole and of course the Maiden Squadron. Now…for those who do really want to make the Maiden Squadron work, I would suggest looking at Pat’s list for it, which I”ll link…here.

It’s a solid list, and he’s a great player. I would definitely subscribe to his Youtube channel, I’ve known him off and on for years and generally trust his insight.

But for next time…it’s time for Justice.