Welcome all to another edition of Preview Season. The next set looms large and today we kick off Series 9 with a color combination a lot of us have really been waiting for, in Red/Blue aka Izzet in Magic. Universe 7 is back which means it’s time for more price spiking of a certain Secret Rare! Frieza Clan, also back and let’s see if more than just Frieza can get some nice cards this set. Maybe Cooler finally jumps to the forefront. A lot to go over today, let’s get to it.

Frieza/Frieza, the Planet Wrecker

We start off with the next in Red Frieza Leaders. So far all of them have had a sort of archetype gimmick and this one is no different, being all about the Frieza Clan rather than the Army. A simple Top 3 searcher for a Frieza Clan on the Front Side with a Hybrid Awaken. Not bad, not fantastic as it means you really have to stick close to the Frieza Clan to gain guaranteed advantage.

On the Awakened Side, he can give his Frieza Clan Battle Cards Critical at a not-Once Per Turn pace which is nice. Nice and not great being the term because really there isn’t much that this breaks wide open. It costs Energy and mostly amounts to a cute trick. To the point that I think the ability could’ve costed nothing and still be fine. I’ll say I’m not enamored with this Frieza, it’s relatively underwhelming in power and because there’s already other Frieza Leads in the color it doesn’t have a unique market share unless you really want to be in on the entire Frieza Clan. But even then, it comes down to Frieza’s brethren being powerful and not Frieza himself because Frieza’s Army already has a good amount of support in the color. Idk, personally I’m not sold here.

Cooler/Cooler, Revenge Transformed

Now this one I’m a lot more jazzed for. A Leader that really goes in on supporting the Power Decrease focus that Red has been building for quite a long while now. Trust me, take a look back and you’ll find a lot of potential support just waiting for something like Cooler to show up. Cooler even has a milling sub-theme though be warned, Cooler is not Janemba unless the opponent goes absurdly wide. Milling the opponent out is not the main win condition but more a nice clock to put some pressure on the opponent. He even has more potential card draw if he’s able to decrease some power on the opponent’s turn.

On his Awakened Side, he’s almost exactly the same except now he’s able to get Draw for decreasing power on either player’s turn. I foresee him being able to rip through his own deck pretty well while removing or neutering threats. Either a solid tempo build, or maybe just a Mighty Glacier that will force the opponent along with mills until they make a mistake. A lot of potential here that I’m excited for.

Frieza, Death’s Embrace

We’re just gonna start here because…well this card needs to be talked about. If there’s a card that may allow the potential “Mighty Glacier” style of Cooler, this is it. But I expect this to be a Red Staple for ages to come. At its worse, it’s a 1 Drop Cantrip which can always see a bit of play especially in a world with Arrival. But that ability…it’s just wow. Place this Frieza on board and if the opponent does not deal with it in some capacity it ruins their ability to do any sort of attacking. It acts as a no (hand) cost 10K shield at worst for each Energy. At his best, anything without Barrier coming across will get killed. I could see a resurgence of Crisis Crusher just to deal with this card if it takes off in popularity because in general not having an out to this in most decks (or at least Barrier Battle Cards to ignore it) could mean instant death. Having an out to it doesn’t feel great either because again, it’s now a 1 Drop Cantrip you have to waste resources on to kill. Death’s Embrace is the perfect name for the card.

Clan Commander Frieza

Despite being a Rare this is just a very simple Top 5 Searcher for Frieza’s Clan Battle Cards, albeit on a 2 Drop. Honestly being a 2 Drop probably makes this unplayable or close to it in Constructed. Just costs too much for too little impact. Should be a solid playable for Limited though, good body and good value.

King Cold, Imminent Invasion

This card on the other hand has boatloads of potential. A 10K 2 Drop Blocker isn’t anything to write home about but his effect has a lot of upside. Self-Awaken is nice, but hitting with this card is massive value. This is probably the one place where the above Frieza Lead is at its best since he sets up his daddy for the value play. If you’re all in on Frieza Clan, I feel this is probably the best reason to be because of the massive upside of this card. The only downside I see is that I’d rather he have Barrier than Blocker since the opponent is already has incentive to remove him from the board so chances are he won’t be Blocking much of anything. But that’s basically a nitpick. Solid card.

Meta-Cooler, Metallic Genesis

First off, I have no clue what happened to this image so I apologize for it looking funky. Anyway, this is another card I consider a solid Limited card. In Constructed there isn’t a ton of value you can glean from this, especially as a 3 Drop. I think he needed to be a 2 Drop to really take advantage of that effect, usually to bring back Death’s Embrace. In Limited though he’s just great value bringing back more and more Battle Cards if you’re in Frieza Clan enough.

Meta-Cooler Core, Titanic Glare

Now this card is something that doesn’t look good for the set it’s actually in at the moment. After all there’s no Big Gete Star and no other Meta-Cooler Core to my knowledge. However, remember that this is also the set where the Reworked Leaders are coming and Set 2 Meta-Cooler is one of them so that is likely the cause. If we assume the deck will be similar to how it is now, the goal of this is simply to go into the ole Set 2 SR an Energy sooner while also not costing you your Big Gete Star if you don’t want it lost. As a 4 Drop 20K that’s a risky proposition because he’s counter bait all day. Idk, we’ll see for certain but I’m not overwhelmed.

Chilled, Pirate’s Bounty

Now this card I like a lot, albeit not in any of the above decks. This is just a pure tempo card through and through. A 2 Drop 15K Crit is nothing new, but he protects himself from attacks which is outright fantastic and makes him a consistent menace on the board. If the opponent gets cute and tries to off him another way you potentially have an Untap in Energy. Just great value, good attacker and makes sure the opponent has to pay the price for getting rid of him. Tempo desperately need a boost and this helps.

Full-Power Frost

I usually don’t talk much about the Vanillas but Frost may deserve a bit of mention. Relevant traits all across the board will definitely put him over some of his compatriots. Never hurts to keep an eye on him.

Chaos Beam Frost

Okay so this card is mainly for Cooler as he appreciates having a consistent way to decrease power without much effort. The goal of this card is to just sit on board doing that and if the opponent gets rid of him, getting a free 30K in the process. I think this will be good…in Limited. This will probably be potent enough in that environment to cause havoc with mill and card draw. In Constructed we have more than enough ways to decrease power, Frost is very unneeded.

Frost, Before the Storm

Again, another in this line of consistent value getters that punish the opponent for getting rid of them. Again, I feel this is an easy Limited presence as having an Energy sink to draw cards throughout the game is pretty solid. In Constructed you’ll have more than enough card draw and he doesn’t tip the scale in any particular way.

Frieza, Unending Onslaught

Onto the Blue Cards for the Clan, this one…is okay. Being Activate Battle is nice to help protect any Clan members from dying, and he can also reclaim fallen members for some resiliency. This would be really great if we had some abusive Put in Play triggers to work with, but as of now…not really so that lowers the potential of this card. Still doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on as Bounce abilities can always have a future when as cheap as this one.

Combo Attack Cooler

Blue’s theme is definitely about bouncing the Clan to protect them and to bring out cards on the cheap. This one I like though for the main reason of his actual effect. To be able to get a free combo is always great since it means he’s a free Arrival trigger. We like free Arrival triggers around here. Enough Clan presence in the deck might bring this into the fray, I like it a lot.

King Cold, Astral Tyrant

In Limited this has potential to be great. Mill out is a legitimate threat in that format and this can steal a win if dropped at the right time. In Constructed uh…yeah, no… Just no. Way too slow, way too costly, doesn’t mill nearly enough to make it worthwhile.

Chilled, Intergalactic Marauder

Uh, this card is at the very least neat. He does a whole lot of nothing for a while, but then he’s crashing in for a huge number and Triple Strike while also not being terrible committal since the pump comes in an Activate:Battle. I think he’s a Limited powerhouse but likely just a hair too slow in Constructed. Like the concept a lot though.

Frieza, Undying Emperor

So basically a Gohan that doesn’t require a Multi-Color Energy but without the upside of hitting 4 Drops or untapping Energy. Might actually be more U7 relevant than Frieza Clan relevant honestly but in most cases if you have the Energy you should just be on Gohan.

Frieza, No Introductions

Now this card has an outright obvious contemporary in Toppo, Righteous Aid which is arguably one of the best cards in the entire game. The question becomes, what does this have that beats that? Well besides not needing a Discard, which is relevant at times, the goal of this isn’t to end turns but to setup your following turn. Mainly to immediately go into a 5 Drop Frieza. Now we’ll get to the option in this set in a second, but this card actually has two other relevant options. One you likely did notice immediately, and one probably not discussed all that much. The obvious one, Final Showdown Frieza. This is a much easier way of playing that card and if you have the FA Leader to back it up (this set’s Frieza is also FA) you can start Bloodlusting people to hell and back without worrying about that pesky Deflect. At a high life total this can be game ending all on its own and I think will see some experimentation.

The other card you may not remember? Returning Evil Golden Frieza, as this does specify Red or Blue Friezas. Now sadly it plays the Frieza on top of this, so no absurd looping shenanigans but it’s good removal at 3. Not as good as what we’ll come to, but there may be some kind of bounce deck that it’d be a perfect fit for. Ultimately I think this card may actually be good enough to see play over Toppo in decks that would really like those 5 Drops. Now for the final and likely best target.

Full Power Frieza, 100% Overdrive

This card is just…wow. Comes on board the opponent might as well kiss their entire field goodbye because it’s gone and god forbid if they went wide because this will mill for about 400 if they do. Still this card comes on board, potentially for 3, as a Triple Striker that nukes a board and causes some mill mayhem. This is actually a good enough play on 5 Energy, let alone 3 and will pair well with Final Showdown Frieza’s defense. Make a board, this punishes it. Don’t make a board, Final Showdown will make sure that anything you put in play after won’t do anything. A potent combination.

Mecha Frieza, Energy Blight

The Check Land for Red/Blue that has synergy with Cooler if need be. Not much to say, 4 of in a Red/Blue deck as expected.

Cooler, Tyrannical Assault

The Arrival card for Red/Blue and what can I say, Cooler is solid. Cheap Arrival cost, 20K Double Strike is always nice to see, triggers Cooler Leader for all its worth as well. He’s not amazingly flashy like other Arrival cards but he’s solid and will help get the job done, no complaints.

Cease to Exist

This is technically a generic card, but it ties in really well to what Cooler is doing at the very least so I saw fit to add it here. First off, it’s a new cycle of Extra Card that basically let’s it be a 0/5K Combo card when you don’t want to use its actual effect which is fantastic on its own right. The biggest weakness for Extra Cards in general is being relatively weak during combat and this fixes that immediately. And while I say it’s like a combo card, it adds the power immediately which is immensely beneficial.

As for the actual card, it’s basically killing 2 Battle Cards on the board ignoring Barrier. You know what loves this immediately? Frieza Prison, as it struggled majorly to deal with established Barrier Battle Cards on board, now they’re basically a non-issue while also being more Extra Cards for the drop. I see this getting plenty of tech either in Main or Side Boards for sure.

Thought I Was Finished?

Now this card…eh… I mean two of these I guess kills a fair amount of things. Good for Limited. In Constructed, Transcendent Strike couldn’t see play so I don’t see this breaking through either.

You’re Mine!

This card…requires a VERY specific meta to be good in for the most part. That being a meta in which a lot of weenies are getting put on board, in which case this is an absolute blowout. Outside of that I don’t see it, yes this triggers Cooler but so does Galick Cannon. Just spend the extra cash and get that rather than use this. I don’t even have much faith in this card in Limited unless everyone is pulling Death’s Embrace.

Chaos Beam Volley

The Final Clan based card and…eh. You have Red Leaders, thus you have Denial of Hope. Use Denial of Hope. Use Gohan. Don’t use this just to get cute with extra milling. Once again, fine for Limited though where Counters are at a premium.

Android 17/Android 17, Universal Guardian

Finally the MVP gets his own true Leader and doesn’t have to share with his sister. Unsurprisingly it’s all about Universe 7. His front side is pretty standard, swing on Leader for a draw and he gets to cycle off a U7 card which is good card filtering that happens to set up a much bigger payoff later. Now do note, unlike a majority of U7 Leaders that are based around the archetype he does not have the Warrior of Universe 7 Keyword which means he has to actually pay attention to colors so be forewarned.

His Awakened Side does a fantastic job at really tying his potential deck together, something I wish more Leaders did rather than just being mild upgrades as it gives a good flow and gameplan to strive for. First off, besides the Draw Swing, is paying two energy to both bounce an opponent’s card while getting something back from the Drop. This isn’t a catch all removal because bouncing Battle Cards for your opponent can be risky, but it’s very useful when you need it. The upside though is that you don’t have to bounce something in order to recur a U7 card from Drop and vice versa so there’s a lot of utility to this effect.

His other effect is what you’re really reaching towards though. If you have 9+ U7 and/or Multicolor (interestingly enough NOT just Red/Blue) in the Drop, he’s a consistent 20K Double Strike/Crit on your turn which is just absurd for pressure over the course of a game. Getting 9+ in the Drop I don’t think will be too difficult between things like comboing, Arrival and his own abilities on top of the natural course of the game playing out. This becomes a must defend attack every turn which really eats on resources. I really like this Leader, he has a solid gameplan throughout that leads to great payoff. The MVP finally gets some shine.

Son Goku/Ultra Instinct Son Goku, Limits Surpassed

Now onto the Red/Blue Surge Leader of the set which we have seen ahead of time. His Front Side is…curious to say the least. The design up to this point for Surge Leaders have been to give very powerful Front Side abilities, almost deck centric in order to give incentive to players to remain on that side for as long as possible. This isn’t that type of ability. Now it’s a solid ability, pitching an Extra Card to Draw, get +5K and potentially take a Life in Battle while also not being Once Per Turn (though it is Once Per Battle). It gives him fantastic longevity assuming he has the Extra Cards to pitch and he can modulate Life so he’s ready to go when he finally Awakens. But as mentioned, this isn’t the type of “Man I want to flip at the last moment” abilities we’ve gotten but moreso keeping you alive until you are ready to flip. It is interesting to get a different variant of the design.

His Awaken is a Draw 3/Untap 1 which is okay, though considering the Extra Card focus I would’ve liked to see a 2/2 split instead. His Surge Abilities are at a 5 Life gate, which again plays into his Front Side being very defensive in nature so you want to be at a high life total. His first Surge ability, as long as you have a U7 in play you can rip out basically any card from your opponent’s hand outside of most Secret Rares and draw a card. Very powerful ability when used properly. Hand Knowledge is supreme in this game, and taking care of the best card in the opponent’s hand wins games. His second just gives you back 3 multicolor Extra Cards at any time, thankfully with different names (you’ll see why it’s thankfully later in this article). I mean it’s just pure value, setting up an iron clad defense or just outright winning the game. Interestingly enough unlike most Leaders, he doesn’t get a ton out of his abilities at Activate:Battle speed. Generally you’ll want to use both of these on your own turn (not the same turn obviously) to set up a winning line.

I think this Leader has a lot of potential power, and as we’ll see a LOT of tools to flex said power. I expect to see him in the meta at large.

Son Gohan, Swift Reinforcement

With Gohan we see more of the goal of getting a bunch of Extra Cards in the Drop. As a 4 Drop this card is not very good but as a 1 Drop this has some amount of potential. In Constructed though I don’t think this is very good, it’ll still take a bit of time to get enough cards in the Drop to make Gohan a 1 Drop and past a certain point it’s not very good. In Limited if you’re on Goku this may be worth a play to remove pesky Battle Cards.

SS Vegeta, Blast Barrage

This is another card I’m not particularly high on. Again, at its full cost it’s pretty bad, so you need to get that 4 Extra Cards into the Drop quickly to turn him on. But even at his best, I feel you’d rather be on Is That All You’ve Got in Constructed since it’s more consistent, has more power and is an Extra Card itself which is a good thing for the deck. In Limited though this is probably good enough at either cost but obviously fantastic if you get it down to a 1 Drop.

Tien Shinhan, Spirit Vanisher

Now this card I can get into. First off, we like playing Battle Cards without paying Energy for sure. Secondly, this feeds the Drop Area very quickly for synergies. Lastly, he comes in to give something -20K ignoring Barrier which is pretty good all around. Constructed will probably play a couple of these. Limited, you play as many as possible because the effect is good enough to pay 3 Energy for anyway.

Android 17, Spirit Vanisher

This card however I’m not so high on. Yes, you can play him for free like Tien but he doesn’t do anything when he hits the board. Instead he requires a fair bit of opponent input to do anything, either killing him or him killing something. A Vanilla 15K otherwise isn’t really that dangerous. Maybe it’s okay enough just as a poking option the opponent has to be wary of getting rid of, but there are also ways to remove him without triggering his effect. I think he’s a hard pass in Constructed, maybe tech him in Limited where he’s much trickier to remove without triggering him and the poking matters.

Ultra Instinct Son Goku, Battle Mastery

This card I’m similarly down on as I am for Clan Commander Frieza…but I think he has some upsides that put him over Frieza and might make him see a modicum of play (though I still don’t expect it due to costing 2). For one, finding Extra Cards I feel is more valuable. Two, he gets to rearrange the Top 3 as he wants after the fact which is rare and pretty good. Three, unlike 17, the opponent getting rid of him in any way does trigger his effect which makes him much trickier to remove. I think he’ll be fantastic in Limited at the very least. In Constructed, we’ll see.

We Are Universe 7

We’re gonna skip ahead to some Extra Cards due to being named in some other cards. We Are Universe 7 is pretty straightforward. Either get back a U7 or search for any U7 that’s a 4 Drop or less. Not much to say, very good card for the deck no matter which Leader you’re using.

Tournament of Power Arena

This card…is a lot to take in. First off, turning all of your Red/Blue cards into Untapped Energy is absolutely insane as it makes it much easier to smooth out your turns. Alone though it wouldn’t be enough since you’d really need to land this on Turn 1 or 2 to make an impact. It’s second effect helps provide more value, by being a Super Scry every turn. Consistency boosts are always appreciated. Goku likes this the most since he can ditch unneeded copies, but it’s a good card in general. It also breaks the usual play of going Turn 1 Tap Land by playing this on Turn 1 instead and never having to skip a turn to play an Energy. It’s a good play.

Krillin, Battle Mastery

This is a reason we listed them first. He searches either of the above or any Multicolor Extra Card. Great for Limited, probably still good enough for Constructed considering how important it is to get to certain Extra Cards.

Piccolo, Namekian Lineage

This one comes down to a simple question. How good is a 1 Drop 15K Blocker that recurs Extra Cards? I think this may actually be good enough to see play in Constructed. Helps defense which the deck wants more than anything, and he’s very easy to trigger to get back key Extra Cards. Like him a lot.

Master Roshi

SKIP!

Android 18, Steadfast Technique

This card is very neat. She essentially turns any Extra Card into effectively a 10K Combo on defense (remember in most cases 11K on Defense = 15K) while also making use of potential dead Extra Cards and loading up the Drop Area. I think this actually sees play in Constructed, it has a lot of defensive value and it’s not even all that bad on offense. I like her.

Majin Buu, Innocent Trickster

Buu is hilarious, as befits his character. He’s an on-board negate when needed, but if the opponent gets cute and gets rid of him before you’re ready to send him off you’ll get a free 2 cards. Still probably too heavy costed for Constructed, spending 2 Energy to have Buu sit on board doing nothing isn’t great. In Limited however this should be pretty good.

Whis, Tournament Spectator

Unlike Krillin, Whis looks specifically for the Arena. I think the Arena is very powerful and it might be worth it to go that deep, but I feel you’d just rather be on Krillin to get anything rather than Whis who is dead the second you have your Arena.

SSB Vegeta, Inspired Technique

Time to Evolve past Super Saiyan Blue. Let’s talk about the other new Keyword of Set 9, Invoker. It essentially turns the cost of any of your Red/Blue Extra Cards into 1 Energy assuming that 1 Energy is a Red/Blue Multicolor Energy. Obviously in concept that’s absurd, but I admit I was hesitant on how powerful it would turn out to be. It’s a Keyword that absolutely needs great Battle Cards to make the most of it. Putting it on a 6 Drop Vanilla for example would be terrible. It needs something to really turn Invoker into something great.

Vegeta is about as close as I can think of as a “vanilla” card that can take advantage of it. I feel Barrier is a near absolute must for Invoker to get repeated value and Deflect helps as well. The goal is to get Vegeta on board, and keep him there while you fire away with Extra Cards. I feel if you’re able to Untap with Vegeta you are very likely to win the game as it’ll be very difficult for the opponent to overcome all the extremely powerful Extra Cards you’ll be sitting on. Due to Deflect and Barrier, it’ll be very easy to get Vegeta to land on board. The only thing is…Bandai has printed a bunch of removal that goes through Barrier in this very set, almost as if they are afraid of this Vegeta getting out of hand. If not for those I’d be very confident in this card but because of that I’m hesitant to believe how good this is. Nothing will feel worse than spending the 3 Energy to board this, only for the opponent to turn around and drop Tien for free and make your hard work for nothing. I suggest waiting until Turn 4 to drop Vegeta so you at least have one Energy ready, or having an Awaken ready.

Golden Frieza, Sovereign Technique

This is probably the other way Invoker has to go, which is having a great effect on play so if the opponent deals with the Invoker Battle Card you don’t lose a ton for it. Frieza’s effect is solid, again allowing a rearrangement of the Top 5 which is always good ESPECIALLY considering how the Red/Blue Extra Cards will work. However ultimately I think it’s not great specifically because he’s very easy Counter bait and that’s even more relevant now. Probably worth teching but you’d rather be playing Vegeta when possible.

Beerus, Divine Obliterator

It finally happened, we have ourselves a Dual Color Super Combo. It’s U7 as well, so it goes here. Now we do get a different effect from the norm. It also only works on the Opponent’s Turn to avoid absurd abuse, but he allows you to Untap an Energy when used on the opponent’s turn. That’s actually insanely powerful when combined with Arrival (looking at you Cooler). The opponent feeling safe attacking against your tapped out board and then suddenly dropping this Beerus, getting some Energy and then having Arrival fulfilled and Cooler comes out. Even on offense, while you don’t get the untap, fulfilling Arrival conditions is just absurd. Keep in mind, Hit and Raditz are good for doing just that and this does it in Super Combo form. Bandai, get on giving the other color combos their own Super Combo asap.

Royal Condemnation

The second ever SR Extra Card (third past Rare besides the Secret Rare) and man, with Invoker this is an absolute beating. Unless you have Deflect, this Counters basically everything. As of this writing there are only 12 Battle Cards in existence that are 9+ and only two or three of those cards actually see any modicum of play. This plus Invoker means the opponent pretty much has nothing they can play outside of Deflect. Then it even has an effect in the Drop that allows you to potentially add more Extra Cards to hand, though only do it if you know you have something on top. Like this may even be good enough to play on 4 Energy if you could somehow manage it (and of course if the card being played dodges your other Counters). Card is fantastic.

Ultra Instinct Son Goku, Energy Explosion : Catastrophic Blow

The last U7 Cards to really talk about and yeah I saved the best for last. These two are listed together because you’re playing both of these with each other. Goku shows how to abuse Invoker in another way. Basically to immediately win the goddamn game. So when he hits board, he essentially gets to refund 3 Energy right off the back. Now do note, he does not have Deflect so if you’re facing a deck that does have Royal Condemnation or even a Cold Bloodlust, be wary about tapping out for him but if you see the shields are down he’s a very easy drop that gets back 3 Energy. But it’s all about that second effect. When will that effect come into play?

Catastrophic Blow is the answer. Just immediate burn, no way to interact with it whatsoever. With Goku’s ability, the first shot itself is 2 Damage, no interaction. Let’s be clear, if you make it to 6 Energy it’s incredibly likely you win the game that turn unless the opponent can counter Goku. Thankfully Bandai put in the clause that if you don’t have a Red/Blue Goku on board, your board has to be Empty so you have to play this Goku in order to pay for this on the cheap. Otherwise you’re paying 5 and you still need a Red/Blue Goku or an empty board to even use it, so a lot of restrictions but for good reason. Bandai has gotten looser with burn as time has gone on, but this is strict burn that the opponent can do nothing about so it makes sense to put a leash on it. But honestly the combo looks so powerful.

Now of course there are downsides. The main one is that 6 Energy is a lot of Energy. That’s pretty late in the game and is also hoping the opponent has no interaction for the Goku. If they do, you’re tapped out (it’s extremely unlikely you aren’t already Awakened by the time he’s played) and you’re fried. But I find it incredibly unlikely that people aren’t already brewing a deck to immediately get into this to win. I have high hopes.

Kale, Universe 6 Protector

Now onto a few of the miscellaneous cards, which compared to before are a lot less. Kale is just random U6 support. It’s okay, pretty solid with the new Kefla Leader just to reuse some strong abilities. Bringing it on Board on Turn 1 as a 20K Crit is frightening as well. I think it can see some play just because of that.

Barrier of Hope

Unlike Cease to Exist, this doesn’t necessarily fit into U7 so I put it here. It’s pretty similar to the card though, in that it’s a 3 Cost Removal Card that also acts as Combo Power if needed. But instead of killing things, it bounces and it only bounces one instead of two. The upside being that you Draw 2 cards afterwards. I don’t think this will see much play though. Bouncing is much worse, compared to just erasing two cards on board. Yes you Draw 2, but attached to a 3 Energy move it’s not great. I think it’s Sideboard tech against things you absolutely have to get rid of without any interaction.

Tyranny’s Cost

This card…I guess is fine. Drawing 2 is nice and limiting the opponent’s hand size a bit can come in handy. Might be an okay tech for Goku and help out Vegeta. Draw 2 for 1 has seen play, this would be no different. Frieza Prison I feel would especially like this card as it desperately needed more ways to proactively use Extra Cards.

Emperor’s Death Beam

The final card of the day (thank Zen’o…) and it’s an all-star of its own right. -30K on anything, during Main or Battle which is fantastic and being Red/Blue means it’s extremely powerful with Invoker. I feel this card is so good that we’ll see it outside of U7. It’s cheap enough to be used in other strategies and flexible enough to kill basically anything. Barrier is NOT safe ladies and gentlemen.

Final Thoughts:

Whew…I’ll never get used to the new way they launch previews, it’s a lot of stuff to go over. But U7 has a lot of great stuff and Frieza Clan…well some of it is good. I feel Cooler has great potential and the SRs are definite value. I expect another meta shakeup to be sure.