Bandai is sure moving quick with these previews. It can be hard to believe, but Colossal Warfare’s release window is VERY quickly encroaching on us. Today we got three different points of previews today, in Red, Blue and the Dash Pack. Since the Dash Pack is only 4 cards deep I didn’t feel it necessitated its own article, so they’ll be lumped in here. Will Red continue to make the great strides it has been, or will it be stopped cold? Let’s find out.

Dash Pack

Desperate Odds Kefla

Kefla has finally arrived, about a set later than most expected. She comes with very strong Trait representation, being a U6 Saiyan is pretty good. Her stats are all on par with what you’d expect at 4 Energy, including the Double Strike Keyword. Her effect is foreshadowing what Red will once again be about in this set, and that’s low hand size. If you have 4 or less cards in hand at the end of the battle she swings, she essentially gets Dual Attack. 20K Dual Attack Double Strike is pretty strong. Her biggest issue will come in the form of the 4 Drop slot in Red being VERY hotly contested. I can still see her getting work in some U6 decks but I don’t know how hot a commodity she’ll be, outside of being Kefla.

Piccolo Jr., Driven to Fight

Essentially, what we have is another Nail, the Namekian Ace. In this case trading off the +5K for Barrier and his Bond requiring another Namekian compared to Nail who doesn’t care. Barrier is pretty important for Bond strategies but it kind of gets lost when the card needs to attack to get his abilities and thus will be left open for a crackback. However, Nail has the same issue anyway so it’s not really a big tradeoff in any case. He’s good to have, not a necessity. I don’t think you’re playing 4 of both him and Nail. Mix and match to your playstyle.

Ultimate Form Son Goku

Once again the Mastered Ultra Instinct takes up the headliner spot. Ultimate Form Son Goku fills up the one big weakness that Yellow has generally had all the way since its conception. The color simply couldn’t deal with Active Mode Battle Cards particularly well, ESPECIALLY if they were bigger than average. There were a couple of techs here and there, but they generally were not good hence why Yellow often either paired with another color or just ignored the possibility of Active Mode removal altogether. This Goku relieves that weakness, but it doesn’t eradicate it. 5 Energy is still pretty hefty, though if things are going south he does cost 4 which is nice. In most Yellow decks he’s not really a 4-of due to that, but mostly a tech card to fill up that one niche that it struggled with.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention his Traits however. Being Universe 7 is HUGE, since it also struggled immensely with any sort of consistent removal at all. He will certainly find play in U7 decks that were desperate to fill a removal slot. Goku’s Lineage also receives yet another 5 Drop to Swap into which is certainly fun, though it might get too clunky after a certain point. Ultimately, a very needed card. Welcome…probably not to people who were already getting tired of Yellow.

Desperate Onslaught Bardock

Essentially a souped up version of Mira, From the Darkness. For one more Over Realm card you get to avoid Blockers and cheap cantrips out on the board comboing. Sounds good right? Well…that one extra card does matter. Hell, OR4 had mattered enough for Mira, From the Darkness to see less and less play because you’d almost always rather play something else like Trunks, Power Overseeing Time at that slot. At 5 Bardock faces even stiffer competition like Masked Saiyan, the Mysterious Warrior. He’s definitely not a replacement for Mira and won’t be fitting into a ton of slots but that’s not to say he’s without merit for one very simple reason. His name is Bardock, which means SS3 Bardock now has more than one Xeno-Evolve target. Whenever THAT card gets more help, that’s enough to take notice.

Colossal Warfare

Son Goku/Energy Burst Son Goku

*sigh*. I’m just going to move straight to his Awakened side. Anyway, another Set, another Goku Leader. I’ll give Bandai credit, if NOTHING else they at least do their best to mix up the style of Goku’s Awakened Art so they almost always cover a different transformation or era. Anyway, his Awakened side gives way to an old identity of Red from back in Union Force. That is taking advantage of Low Hand Size. We had a bunch of cards to take advantage of it, but ultimate the strategy petered out outside of Miraculous Comeback Ultimate Gohan because it was generally annoying to keep your hand size low without risking death, especially if you didn’t have your payoff ready.

Energy Burst Son Goku doesn’t help enable the strategy, but it does provide payoff by allowing a Draw 2 and a +5 on swing. That’s obviously pretty solid. Now the downsides are that…for one, this has anti-synergy with Vegito, Here to Save the Day since you basically have to toss out what you drew with one of them, so you can draw with the other. Also more than anything I’d argue that the Low Hand Size archetype didn’t need more payoff. Vegito, Here to Save the Day, Ghost Attack SS3 Gotenks and Miraculous Comeback Ultimate Gohan are MORE than enough strong payoff for having a low hand. What the archetype needs is a better enabler that allows meaningful discarding. You know, what Soul Unleashed Son Goku was supposed to be and ultimately failed in doing. Energy Burst Son Goku…doesn’t help with that at all. At the same time though having another way to refill the hand a bit after a Gotenks or Gohan push without needing Vegito enabled can be very helpful so Energy Burst is not without merit. It’s worth brewing around with.

Baby/Rampaging Great Ape Baby

*sigh* Seriously, fuck you Bandai. This laziness is working my last nerve. I understand that you’re still a bit burned from the first couple of sets so you want to run with an easy Front Side ability that you know is solid. Sure that’s fine…but this is just ridiculous. You CAN have good Front Side Leaders without copy pasting the same damn effect 30 times over!

Okay…onto other things. The Awakened Side is Baby’s money for a bunch of reasons, and some maybe not realized immediately. His ability in complete contrast to his lazy ass front side, is very unique. To -10K not just your Opponent’s but one of your Battle Cards is interesting symmetry we haven’t seen since Broly. I’m not 100% sure if you NEED to control a Battle Card to give the opponent the -10K, but honestly it’s not too bad. Just drop something down that you’ve already attacked with since their power will just rebound at the end of the turn, and use the other -10K to help snipe something off. It’s not the best effect, but I do like the design a lot.

What may be glanced over at first as well, is his Traits. They matter more and more these days so always make sure to check them. Here, not only is he a Machine Mutant (which…well that was obvious) on his Awakened Side he is also a Saiyan! Thanks Vegeta. Due to that he does get Red Saiyan synergies, so something like Impeccable Super Saiyan Cabba could find a great home in here since he loves swinging at debuffed Battle Cards. Taking advantage of his Saiyan (and possibly in the future, Great Ape) trait is going to be where Baby sets himself apart. As a Machine Mutant Leader I believe Myuu to still be superior with his very consistent and redundant card advantage and consistency. Having the Saiyan support and not needing to fill his deck with the Gadgets will give Baby a different angle to attack from which is pretty cool. Other than the front side laziness I enjoy the card a lot and will do my best to be brewing with him and Myuu.

Untapped Power SS3 Son Goku

Well, we have our first “officially” revealed Battle Card with the Deflect ability. Deflect allows one to avoid Counter:Play Skills. I’ll go off into a small tangent about it here. I think the ability itself is pretty inoffensive, having some cards able to dodge certain things has been a hallmark of ALL TCGs and CCGs since literally the dawn of time. The issue I have with Deflect is…there’s a grand total of two relevant Counter: Play skills right now. So once again we have very narrow hatred, mainly towards Cold Bloodlust. If you want to have this type of ability I’m fine with that, but we need MORE Counter: Play cards and interaction to make it worthwhile and the game definitely can use more interaction on both players’s turns rather than just comboing, defending or being Shugesh. Now if this leads to more Counter: Play cards, I’m more than all for it but I need to see it happen Bandai.

As for this card itself, it’s a Super Saiyan Gotenks or Full Power Spirit Bomb Son Goku that can’t be Bloodlusted. Also he adds a pump for the turn. Sounds absolutely absurd…until you realize that he lacks an offensive keyword. That being said, that’s fine as his role isn’t to attack. His role is to immediately pivot into GT Goku’s EX-Evolve package. He allows immediate access to both Victorious Fist and Broken Limits, as he’s a humble 5 drop GT Goku. He outright pays for both of them himself because of the Untap and the Draw. Now they’re MUCH less annoying to get out and can be used properly rather than just being SS4 Goku fodder. Pan decks may come to definitely enjoy this card. Return of the GT Package please!

Blazing Spirit Son Goku

A Gale Strike Vegeta but for GT Goku. Pretty solid for Evolving with Untapped Power Goku. He’s nothing special but could find a niche in GT decks who want to get into Broken Limits or Victorious Fist or even SS4 Goku as fast as possible.

Blaze of Glory Son Gohan

Another one of this mill cycle. Not a ton to say about it really. Same synergy potential as always.

Extra Strike SS Son Goten

Goten is all grown up. I would say that we have ourselves a bit more Low Hand Size payoff, and this one at 4 doesn’t require three different Battle Cards in the Drop to use properly. Essentially if you’re at Low Hand Size Goten turns into Jiren, Fist of Justice. Now normally that’s nothing home to really write about since…well they share the same turn, so why not just play the ACTUAL Jiren (outside of financial cost)? Well a couple of reasons. For one, he’s a 25K on both swings rather than Jiren going for 30K and 20K. This makes him a bit better against more midranged cards compared to Jiren who’s better at smashing over bigger cards in one shot and then taking out smaller ones. Second and probably most importantly, he can Evolve which gives him so utility. I guess there’s more as well, he’s a Saiyan, he’s a GT Card so potential support down the line.

For NOW I’d say stick with Jiren, but if you don’t have him and don’t have the money he’s not a terrible budget replacement.

Charging Up Son Goten

The Evolve target. Remember when I was talking earlier about the Low Hand Size deck needing more and better enablers? This…is not it. Remember, just because a card can discard things, doesn’t make it immediately good for the deck. In this case, Goten is a LOT worse version of Rapid Spirit Ball Son Goku or Preface of Recovery Son Goku. It simply is NOT worth the discard. Maybe if it set up the Evolve, but it only does so on Turn 4 as he only Untaps 1. Turn 4, where you could just play Extra Strike or Jiren anyway. Card is a hard pass unless the GT Son family get some major benefits.

Power of Friendship Pan

My first thought was to call this card not very good at all, and to be honest it isn’t great. However…it comes to speak of some of the absurd power in the game where I have to say that. Pan looks bad…because she’s forced to compete with some absurdity like Babidi, or Chain Attack Trunks, or SS2 Caulifla, or even Bewitching God Vados. All in Red by the way. Now in fairness, even if those cards didn’t exist I don’t know if she’d see much play. I want to respect the possible strength, but it’s hard to when she has to compete with so many cards, in her color, that do similar things but better. She’s a pass.

Digging Deep Vegeta

A new Self-Awaken tool for Red. Not the best usage of Self-Awaken, as it’s basically just to grant him Dual Attack but at the very least it’s precise Self-Awakening which is great to have. It’s decent tech and being a GT Vegeta will prove to be relevant. Not a card to overlook.

Daily Training Vegeta

A Bundle of Curiosity for Red. Not the most needed thing in the world for the color, but not unwelcome. Also a GT Vegeta which again, will become important. Decent card.

Intensifying Power Trunks

And with that, Saiyan Cabba has been dethroned. Remember all the praise I piled on Gohan a couple of articles ago? Yeah, that goes on Trunks and even more. Card is stupid good and is a DEFINITE Red Staple. That being said, that doesn’t mean Saiyan Cabba just completely fades into the ether. Some decks, like for example Aggro Chain Attack Zen-Oh decks, that are just fine with hitting the opponent absurdly fast and hard will still use Saiyan Cabba as they likely won’t care about the opponent’s hand size. He still has value, but Trunks will the premier 1 drop for Red from this step forward. Plus you can just play Trunks AND Cabba if you really want to. Actually you probably will, because this is a Chain Attack Evolve target as well. Card is immensely stupid strong.

Dependable Mom Bulma

Uh okay, so we have a better version of Caring Mother Videl in the sense that Bulma is on a 1 Drop card rather than a 2 Drop? Uh yeah, sure. Not the best card since Red is now inundated with useful 1 Drops. It’s okay.

Saiyan Daughter Bulla

An oddly specific cantrip, looking specifically for ole Clan Vegeta GT essentially. Grabbing Bulma, not very relevant. Grabbing Vegeta, a bit more. Grabbing Trunks is pretty solid. Not the best card, MAYBE sees fringe play for decks that REALLY want to see Chain Attack Trunks but can’t afford to splash Yellow for Planet Vegeta.

Mr. Buu

Thank god this Vanilla is “Mr. Buu” and not just Buu, otherwise this would be no skip. BuuHan on Turn 2? NO THANKS. This is a skip I’m grateful for.

Saiyan Strength Baby

Now this is one of my favorite cards of the set. Absolutely amazing. Efficiently costed, is often a kill outlet and even cantrips. For both Myuu AND Baby, this is an absolutely amazing card at its cost. Both Leaders take advantage of him in different ways. We’ll talk about how Myuu especially takes advantage of this card in the next card, but for Baby himself…man he just kill everything. Run this out, swing, then use Baby’s ability and if the opponent has something at 30K or less you want dead, it’s dead. Being a Saiyan and a Machine Mutant also brings out a ton of potential synergy. This is the premier 4 drop for Machine Mutant Leaders without a doubt, fantastic card. Only downside for Myuu is him sharing the Sigma slot, but Sigma was never the most necessary card in history, just a good reward for Gadget play.

Baby, Vengeance Unleashed

Now when first evaluating the card, I essentially went “This is BUSTED” to “This is fine, pretty solid” and then back to “This is BUSTED” by the end of it. Let me explain.

My first evaluation, being able to Union-Absorb into a bomb as soon as Turn 1, absolutely insane in every capacity. I was legitimately afraid.

Then, I realized that (at least as of now) Saiyan Strength Baby is the only target and while it is a fantastic card, it’s not life or death if it comes out early. Most decks can recover fairly easily.

But then BACK into busted territory when you realize that Dr. Myuu can play this Baby for free. Yeah, 5k or less Machine Mutant. Which means Myuu has a FREE Saiyan Strength Baby at his finger tips at any point in the game, assuming of course that he has the requisite cards in hand. It actually even goes +1. Free cards giving a plus is just asking for bad news. Myuu has become EXTREMELY scary with this. While yes, Baby can certainly do similar things, paying 1 Energy is a lot different than paying 0 Energy. Card is snapped, Myuu is gonna become terrifying.

EDIT: Yeah, I was completely wrong. I should learn to read cards better. It requires the Battle Card on the field to Union-Absorb so this is never actually free. Still quite good in Myuu, though you will need Energy. But this makes the card relatively poor in Baby in most instances.

Vow Revenge

Wha, who thought THIS card was a good idea?! If Shugesh has taught anything, Free Things are asking for problems. This is free, non-interactable removal for Myuu and Baby! 15K is no joke, especially when you consider Planet M-2 turns that into 20K for both, or for Baby’s Awakened side he can turn that into 25K (or both Planet and Baby, 30K…for free). I mean damn, Machine Mutants were already favored against Veggie decks as it was (hence why Myuu was able to make a deep Swiss run in the midst of Mecha format), this makes the matchup hilariously one-sided. Nothing will ever stick to their board. Card is absolutely bonkers, Machine Mutants may actually rise to Tier 1 Status off the strength of this and Baby, Vengeance Unleashed giving them absurd removal potential at an insanely cheap price.

Oh and I almost forgot, Baby’s Subdual! It means that card can now steal literally ANYTHING in the game…as long as it doesn’t have Barrier of course. I’m scared, I’m literally scared.

Revenge Death Ball

Hey, remember how all the big GT villains all had their own Spirit Bomb variations because…reasons? Well here was the first one. Once again, more absurd removal though this time from Baby alone. The key is that it’s during Battle. This card is ALSO immensely stupid, though at least it isn’t goddamn free. It pretty much shuts out attacks from every battle card in the game and when you don’t need it to act like a pseudo-negate, it can snipe something on the opponent’s turn. It may not exactly be Shugesh/Explosive Spirit but it’s still an immensely strong interaction. This is definitely a big reason to use Baby over Myuu. If nothing else, I do like how both Leaders have legitimate reasons to be run and will have different style components. …don’t know how much of a fan I am of how insanely pushed their removal suite is though, it’s ridiculous.

Vengeful Onslaught

The final card for Red today and…well it’s thankfully not as absurd as the last few we looked at, but it’s still a pretty unique card. It forces extra attacks on smaller guys, which I think is very cool card design. There’s obvious potential synergy just with the usual suite of smaller stuff that get attack triggers. I think the fun of this card though, is in Baby. See, now his symmetric -10K actually has a purpose. You can intentionally debuff one of your bigger Battle Cards just to use Vengeful Onslaught on it for another attack. General Rilldo gets immense value off of that, even just a simple Scientist Fu gives you an extra 20K Double Strike swing. I don’t think this is a necessary card for the archetype, but it’s a fun as hell one. I’ll try it out in Baby, Myuu space might be a BIT too tight.

Final Thoughts:

Machine Mutants are scary. Machine Mutants are now terrifying. We haven’t even seen the SR yet and I’m confident they WILL be a contender at top tables. Their support is very pushed and the things they do…be prepared for absolute pain. Pick up your support ASAP if you haven’t already.

Until Next Time, Keep Fighting Because If You Don’t, Who Will?