After a short break, we’re back to Preview Season, this time with Clash of Fates, Theme Booster number 3. This set is all about the Frieza Saga, alongside The History of Bardock. The Frieza Saga is arguably to this day, the most iconic Saga in the history of the entire Dragon Ball franchise and now we’re going to dive deep. The Blue cards are all about the History of Bardock. Let’s see if Bardock’s Crew will get some limelight of their own (outside of Shugesh…he’s had enough) and not be outshone by their Leader too much.

Bardock/Bardock, Hope of the Saiyans

First off, that’s just some badass art we have here. Definitely my favorite Bardock Leader art so far, if not favorite Bardock art in general. Now this is our, can you believe it, 4th Bardock Leader already which actually ties him with Vegeta for second most. However unlike Vegeta, Bardock has yet to really find a foothold as a Leader. They were often extremely generic with very middling payoff. This Bardock? Also pretty generic honestly, but he has some upside that could get him there.

First off he’s a Blue Leader and as we’ve seen in the last few sets that’s enough to already give you an edge thanks to Unyielding Spirit Trunks. The previous 3 Bardock Leaders were Yellow and got very little help from that fact. His ability is a Burst 2 Draw like we’ve seen in Miraculous Revival. Unlike those, you once again have to attack the Leader. To make up for it though it does provide a 5K pump, which is pretty helpful. Every little bit can help.

On his Awakened side the Draw is tied to Sparking 5, which you should always have and also comes with the Pump. As I’ve mentioned previously, a consistent 20K swing is often very annoying for an opponent to deal with constantly. It’s not flashy but it adds up over time. But it’s his second ability that really casts a light on what Bardock’s Crew will be about. If you have any of them in the Drop he gets an emergency Negate at the cost of a crit. Note, this is not Once Per Turn so as long as you’re at 2+ Life and sense danger, this will bail you out. This ability immediately forces the opponent to act differently. So decks that love to railroad into getting you down to 2 Life to set up a Supreme Kai kill, this really puts a slight wrench in that plan. Now the gameplan will instead be to get Bardock down to 1 Life and 0 rather than try to skip. Just by forcing your opponent to play around it, the effect will carry immediate impact even if subtle.

I think this Leader can get there, if Bardock’s Crew is decent enough to carry weight. We’ll find out pretty quick.

Gine, Mother of Hope

A new Gine, and like the past couple she’s again about defense. In this case, protecting her man by adding combo power to defend him. Essentially for this Bardock Leader, and Final Strike, she becomes a pseudo-Super Combo but without the cantrip. Considering Cabba’s Awakening has seen periodic play do not rule this card out. The main thing holding this back is that, well unlike Cabba’s Awakening where until recently Red struggled in the defense department, Blue essentially already is the Department of Defense. She’d be better if she was Bardock’s Crew but as she’s not she’ll likely miss the cut.

Kakarot, Bearer of Fate

This is interesting. We’ll also get to see the other aspect of Bardock’s Crew (even though this isn’t one) and that’s Drop Area recycling. This is something we’ve seen very little of over the course of the game, and it’s nice to finally get some shine. The question is, is he good enough? He cantrips, that’s good and then it grabs you any Blue 1 Drop Saiyan from the Drop. Problem is as of this writing, none are probably worth getting other than Awakening Talent Pan and even that is kind of a stretch. It partners okay with Gine at the very least. If you run her, might be worth it to run this. If not, then likely pass.

Prince Vegeta

Skip!

Burnished Bonds Tora

Ah yes Tora, the man, the legend. The…well most people only know him for giving Bardock his headband and kicking the bucket. This card is pretty damn good. He’s a 3 Drop 15K Barrier which would be okay, but he becomes a 2 Drop if you have any Bardock’s Crew in the drop. There are quite a few, most have cheap combos, he’s always a 2 Drop. Then, on curve mind you, you can pay 3 Blue and sac him to grab Final Strike Bardock and play him immediately. That’s absurd. Now as we’ll find out, FS Bardock isn’t the biggest offensive presence but it’s up there with one of the more annoying to deal with. Tora also has more upside in the Drop based on another card which makes him even better. His only real downside is that once FS Bardock is on board secure Tora is basically somewhat vanilla so you’re either comboing him off for future effects, or just saving him in a pinch. Good card for the deck.

Planetary Invader Tora

Another Tora, that’s great. Simple effect as well, recur any Bardock’s Crew. Not a simple cantrip as obviously you don’t get the advantage Turn 1 unless going second and you mill or combo a Crew member, but still solid. I enjoy quality control and Tora helps you mold your hand and turn the Drop into a toolbox. I love toolboxes. this Tora is solid.

Burnished Bonds Fasha

Now for Fasha’s time to shine, like Tora she has similar stats. Where Tora has Barrier though, she has Critical. 2 Drop 15K Critical is still nothing to laugh at. Her effect turns her into a free Untap for any of the crew. She has a couple of solid targets. Shugesh and FS Bardock which we’ll see later, she can even untap another copy of herself. You probably don’t play many copies of her, as it’s more important to hit Tora and she really only helps when you have somewhat of an established board, but it’s hard to overlook a character allowing any of the archetype to multiattack.

Planetary Invader Fasha

The typical cantrip archetype searcher but she’s mildly unique in that she looks at Top 5. Usually it’s 3 or 7. Meh, cantrips are good, cantrips for certain archetypes are better.

Burnished Bonds Shugesh

Oh look, Shugesh is back to haunt us again by…being an Ability Unleashed clone. Eh, it’s fine I guess. Only even mildly playable in this deck due to Fasha but even then , as good as getting Double Strike, untapping and then drawing…Fasha would almost always rather untap FS Bardock anyway. But again, hard to overlook an Ability Unleashed that’s on archetype. Jury’s out on this one.

Burnished Bonds Borgos

Another in the line of silver bullet cantrips, this specifically for Blue shenanigans. If the opponent Untaps Energy for any reason outside of Awaken they will lose an Energy. Now, this isn’t relegated solely to anti-Blue. Golden Frieza is weeping somewhere. But this is definitely blatantly aimed at Blue decks and Unyielding. Especially since Borgos doesn’t sac himself or use any Energy cost to get his ability off. He just sits there. Will most definitely see play.

Toolo, the Seer

Oh boy, back to ToP Super Combos again, fun… Though his name is actually particularly relevant so yeah, max him out in here.

Final Strike Bardock

Normally I’d wait to SR weekend, but they gave us a clear image and he’s very important to the archetype. He starts off eh, 25K with no offensive synergy was gonna hurt. He’s even restricted to only having 1 on board…but that’s for good reason. When he untaps the opponent will lose a card. Good thing Fasha is here to force multi untaps. This card is a pain to get rid of and he represents a very terrifying clock. Losing a card every turn, if not multiple turns in a row can be demoralizing. He has potential.

Future Punch

Back to the Future with one of the most interesting card designs to this date. You need to have that Bardock’s Crew Super Combo in the drop and this recycles it. On top of that, if your board is filled with Saiyans you suddenly have a lot of big, Crit threats bearing down. Forewarning though, after that turn goodbye board. Three words. Make, It, Count. We don’t have a ton of anthem effects in the game, this is a cheap one. Even with the downside I think for the deck it’s very worthwhile.

Dream the Future

This is essentially Time’s Judgment but at less of a cost and for Bardock only. But as we saw with Time’s Judgment, it plays a lot worse than it would read. Recurring negation seems insane but you’re generally on 1-2 Energy on the opponent’s turn anyway so it’s not worth the effort. Also, while it might be less of a drain than Time’s Judgment, losing an extra card in hand to bring it back is rough. Lastly, again, it’s in Blue that already has a ton of excellent defensive cards he can already play. Not a ton of use for this.

Tora’s Red Armband

To me, this is the entire reason to play the Bardock’s Crew archetype. This card reads absolutely busted. It’s extremely easy to meet the requirements and it curves out with Burnished Bonds Tora. On Turn 4, to Draw 4, rip potentially two cards out of the opponent’s hand (one for regular untap, one for this), swing for 25K and then 35K Double Strike and lastly be able to untap 1…it’s just absurd in so many ways.

Do note, you don’t even need the Final Strike Bardock for this to work. You’ll lose out on the offensive power but you still get a Draw 4/Untap 1 Energy. Imagine how good this is against Cell Chain. They Cell Chain you on 3, you go into your Turn 4 with 2-3 cards in hand. You draw for turn, play this, you immediately refill your hand and could have your Awaken untap and Leader Draw coming as well. Card’s fantastic, I’m brewing with the Crew just to abuse this.

Final Thoughts:

I like where the Crew is coming from. It hits a different angle that the game hasn’t really fully touched yet, and Tora’s Red Armband is delightfully ridiculous. I think the archetype will be a lot of fun. Next Time, we don the Black and Yellow. And hopefully I cobble together the Top 32 decklists from Nats to talk about it.