Hello and welcome back to Preview Season. Thanks to Cross Worlds TCG, they received the Previews for the Revised Leaders and made a video about it which I highly suggest anyone check out. For those who don’t have the Youtube Channel, I’ll link it here. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXiHwfJobjAuVDjaPpCw55w. Please give that channel as much support as you can, he does fantastic work and deserves every bit. But for those who can’t watch videos or prefer written based articles I will do my own review for the Leaders. Let’s see how things have changed.

Hit/Assassin Hit (Returns)

Why Was the Leader Bad?

It’s no secret that Hit was arguably the worst Leader from Set 1 and has remained a Bottom 5 Leader since. His design was the epitome of Bandai being like most TCG developers creating a new game. Not really knowing what was really “good” in the game yet and just messing with a bunch of different designs to see what worked. Unfortunately for Hit he got saddled with a bunch of things that just turned out to be bad. He had no access to any sort of relevant effect. Power alone is a good bonus, but not enough to carry a Leader. They also vastly overestimated how much Blocker may be used. Even at its height Blocker is generally just a niche play and certainly not enough of one to build a Leader around killing. So mostly Hit is just a Vanilla Leader that can hit 15/20K. That was bad no matter what state the game was in, just truly and utterly awful.

What Has Changed?

A lot in fact. Pretty much everything that made it bad got made better and he got new things so he keeps what they were trying to do with him while forging a new playstyle as well. He gets crucial card advantage on his front side which puts him on par with most Leaders, and he gets a Hybrid Awaken which is a vast improvement over before.

Also now where his Awakened Side was one of the most awfully designed in the game’s history, now it’s by far a massive strength. His first ability alone would be more than playable. 20K Swing with a Draw putting him on par with a few Leaders but then getting to play a 2 Drop (or less) Vanilla for free. That’s just absolutely fantastic value and there’s many ways to make use of it. The most obvious at a glance is just simple tempo and value, bringing out 20K Beaters to consistently swing with. The sheer value of two 20K swings a turn for free cannot be underestimated. Then there’s the other “obvious” interaction. Finally an actually feasible way to play Lightning-Fast Hit. Turn 5 bring out the Vanilla for free, then Evolve into it. Before, you had to commit at least one previous turn to setting up an Evolve Target which left you vulnerable and even more vulnerable once Counters came out. Now the opponent is forced to stay on high alert immediately. If the opponent doesn’t have something akin to Frost’s Deadly Poison they lose on the spot, or they have to make a really unfavorable play by trying to counter or kill the Vanilla Hit beforehand. No matter the game, having to expend resources to stop a completely free play is never great. The last thing is setting up things like Union:Potara or just certain plays that require certain characters to be out. There are many possibilities, all of them seem pretty good.

That’s just the first effect. His second effect is also just outright fantastic. The ability to pitch a card for free to kill a Double Strike, Critical or Blocker Battle Card on Main or Battle speed is absurd. It answers some of the best cards in the game on its own, though thankfully not everything as he’d be broken. He also stops Champa plays (Once Per Turn at least). Opponent wants to Mira/Champa? Too bad, Mira will die on the spot which means if the opponent doesn’t put Champa on a Barrier Battle Card he has to commit to two Double Strikers if he wants to fit in that last 2 Damage. Also killing Blockers is a nice call back to his old ability (ironically enough it’s actually worse at clearing Blockers out of the way but obviously it’s worth the price) and actually has hilarious implications (for example in the Baby matchup he can kill Pan before she untaps A Heartfelt Plea because she has Blocker).

Were the Changes Enough to See Legitimate Play?

Absolutely. At worst Hit will compete with Pan to be the best Mono-Red Leader and might actually take a bit of a time share from SurgeKu to be the best overall Red Leader. His abilities aren’t as overall insane as SurgeKu however he also isn’t required to put Yellow in the deck which does help open up deck design space overall. Not to mention having a far easier path to “Burn 2 for Game” cannot be overstated. I expect to see him in the meta without a single doubt.

Beerus/Beerus, God of Destruction (Returns)

Why Was the Leader Bad?

Well he wasn’t initially at least. He slotted pretty well into an Anti-Meta shell being able to take out cheap Battle Cards that generally ruled the meta after Set 2 dropped. But his stock faded fast. Again, lack of card advantage on the Front Side really hurt with no Self-Awaken. If you tried to play defensively in order to get to Whis, Judge of the Gods (or the Win Condition) you’d run out of hand well before you got close. He didn’t do much to actually protect himself and just ended up fading away as did most Leaders with no good card advantage engine. His ability to kill Battle Cards just wasn’t as helpful when you were getting punched in the face by a bunch of them, and it did nothing when we fell into a more Midrange meta.

What Has Changed?

Not as much as Hit, that’s for sure. He does get a draw but now he has to choose between the Draw or killing something. Well at least the kill isn’t gated behind an arbitrary “minimum energy requirement” (another showing of Bandai overestimating the ability early) so it’s again a bit annoying. He receives a Hybrid Awaken as well which is fine, gives him draw and Blue generally only needs 1 Energy open to have Energy open the rest of a turn.

His Awakened Side is where things get weird though. Now if he hits an enemy Leader instead of dealing damage he ramps himself ahead. For those who like his “ramp into Whis/WinCon” style this is an actual boon as now you’ll no longer be giving your opponent unneeded card advantage when you have to swing with Beerus. Unfortunately for those who wanted to use Beerus for…literally anything else this just outright sucks since you lose a consistent source of pressure for nothing. Also once again he has to choose between killing something and getting a KO…I guess the people in charge of Beerus had nothing to do with Hit because that’s one wide gap of power. Also his WinCon no longer needs to tap down the Beerus itself to win the game…hurray? That would mean something if the Energy you got with Beerus attacking didn’t come into play tapped as now you need to do this weird okey doke of swinging with something else to untap it with another source.

Were the Changes Enough to See Legitimate Play?

I’d argue no. As a matter of fact my opinion on this card has soured over time. It’s just ridiculous how different Hit and Beerus were designed. Where Hit got a ton more power and much more freedom in design, Beerus had his freedom outright neutered to the point he’s tunneled into his “Ramp to Whis/WinCon” with nothing else being worthwhile. On top of that Objection just got recently banned which takes away a massive source of actual ramp. Who knows, maybe Blue/Green is just enough to get there but this once again seems to be nothing more than a fun, casual Leader.

Son Gohan/Father-Son Kamehameha Goku & Gohan (Return)

Why Was the Leader Bad?

Well it did see a modicum of success but for the most part it just didn’t do enough. He had a worse Hit effect on his Front Side which was damn near a death knell as it was and on his Awakened Side it was even worse, being a Vanilla Leader outside of his Final Turn declaration to try and steal games from out of nowhere. The only upside is that at least his final push was in the Battle Step so you wouldn’t just die from a simple Negate or Blocker. Also a 20K Triple Strike is nowhere near powerful enough to risk losing the game outright.

What Has Changed?

Even less than Beerus really, as Gohan had a really clear vision and design template to begin with. It was just a matter of filling it out a bit more. His Front Side does two things he wants. Self-Awaken so he can quickly Awaken and try to win the game, and extra aggro by untapping himself. We see with Baby Vegeta how powerful this effect can be and he can even take an extra life to get going quicker if need be. In return, his Awaken Gate goes down to 3 Life instead of 4 but he also now Untaps an Energy alongside the Draw 2 which is great.

On his Awakened Side his plan is far better kitted. First off he can get the Triple Strike (and a +10K rather than +5K, big upgrade) by just losing a Life rather than risking the game and it’s still non-committal in the Battle Step. This is huge as it means even if the Triple Strike fails initially if he feels the rest of the onslaught won’t make it through he’ll still have the chance to run it back the following turn. Now his Final Turn declaration has him untap himself. This one is Activate:Main so you will have to prostrate yourself to Blockers and Negates but obviously if you see the potential for either you can just avoid doing it and not lose out on much. This is much better designed and now a lot more threatening.

Were the Changes Enough to See Legitimate Play?

In the reverse of Beerus where I soured on him over time, my opinion of Gohan has improved over time to the point where I think that yes, he will see legitimate play. Theoretically he has the potential to be a better version of the Baby combo deck. Yes, you lose out on the free Dr.Myuu play which is massive, but you also no longer need the Great Ape Baby (Gohan can get down to a low enough life total on his own and Parasitic Menace meets the Heartfelt Plea requirement by itself) and you actually have a way to win the game outside of the Goku in Gohan himself that SurgeKu can’t immediately answer (he can only negate Battle Cards). Maybe there’s a world where the deck just uses Dr. Gero to dump Ape Gokus to help draw into the combo. I won’t rule it out.

At his worst though he’s still probably the best generic Green Leader we have at this point. A Self-Awaken Dual Attack into potential immense pressure on his Awakened side has a lot of game to it. He might also be the best chance for the Successor Gohan Combo deck to also find life as again, another two attacks of 25K Triple Strike can end the game outright. I don’t know if he’ll be a top meta play but I wouldn’t be shocked if he picks up some tournaments here or there.

Meta-Cooler/Nucleus of Evil Meta-Cooler Core (Returns)

Why Was the Leader Bad?

This one is a little more complicated than the above. For one, I don’t believe he was terribly ruined by the lack of card draw on his Front Side because he could play a Battle Card from the Drop every turn which helps. He also had a way to Awaken early without the expense of Life that fed into a solid winning vision. I’d argue his issues were that it was way too easy to lose his board and he didn’t really have anything to make up the ground once he did beyond his SR which basically only does it once before getting inevitably killed off. Plus you know, having to fill your deck with a bunch of 15K Vanillas didn’t help.

What Has Changed?

Well for one they kept his penchant for an Early Awaken by saying screw it, we’ll just Awaken on Turn 1. I saw people complaining about the lack of Front Side card draw but you Awaken so early that having anything else on his Front Side would basically be wasted.

On his Awakened Side his “card advantage” has stayed exactly the same but it’s better off as now the deck has far better targets to actually go retrieve. His tap down effect now freezes the Battle Card in question which makes the ability actually relevant compared to before. Lastly he can pump one of his legion by +5K a turn which is…you know, nice I guess.

Basically overall Bandai seems to feel that Meta-Cooler didn’t need a ton for his Leader. He Awakens faster (though he could already Awaken early with 2 different cards which is incredibly awkward though thankfully both have relevant functions outside of that) and has a bit more oomph behind what he did. Really the biggest change for Meta-Cooler is that he just has more support in general that’s come out in the last year or so and Bandai is hoping that is enough.

Were the Changes Enough to See Legitimate Play?

I’d say no, though this is probably the most “average” of the 5 Leaders. It’s generally because it’s still too much of a pain to put The Infinite Force on board and the deck still expects you to do so. But I think a R/Y build has an outside chance of seeing fringe play, but I don’t expect much in the way of threatening top tables.

Son Goku/Heightened Evolution SS3 Son Goku (Returns)

Why Was the Leader Broken?

Yep, the one we’ve ALL been waiting for. For those who weren’t around, yes SS3 wasn’t bad. He was absolutely absurd and still holds the fine accomplishment of being the only Leader in the game’s history to be banned. He was actually intended to be brought back after a certain point but the designers quickly realized that things were just far better without him around. It’s pretty easy to see why. Easy Self-Awaken, starts 1-2 Energy ahead of your opponent and then just ignores the covenants of the game. He allowed you to tap out for whatever you wanted while leaving up an ridiculous amount of Energy at the end of the turn, forging a near ironclad defense. The only downside was that he was capped to 6 Energy and by downside, I mean that it was the only thing that even mildly prevented him from taking a 100% Leader Share of the entire game. An absurd number of decks were just better with him as the Leader, invalidating Leader choice almost entirely. Since he got banned we’ve only received more things that would make him broken, between Dual Colored Energy he could untap at will, to actual Counter: Play cards he could abuse at will, to Arrival.

What Has Changed?

I remember saying that there was very little way to actually Errata or change SS3 Goku without either changing the entire philosophy, or him staying broken. Let’s see if that theory holds.

His Front Side is vastly changed (outside of maintaining the 6 Energy cap). Instead of pitching one card to get 2 Energy from the Life right off the bat, instead you give up a card (to the bottom of the deck to avoid abusing Drop Area synergies) to get one Energy from the Life and it comes in rested. Most of it nerfs, slower start, no way to abuse the Drop and you get the Energy rested but there actually is one sneaky buff in there. Two actually. One, this Goku actually has the potential to ramp you further ahead. The original only let you use the ability once (and in place of your Charge) whereas this has no limit besides the obvious cap. That means on Turn 2 you’ll be on 4 Energy rather than 3, and on Turn 3 you’ll be on 6. Yeah, he’s technically a slower start but that changes REAL fast. Two, this Goku allows full Self-Awaken ability. Previously if you wanted to get down to the money side you had to make some space for some Self-Awaken tools if the opponent didn’t feel like getting you there themselves. It was a bit awkward as you only wanted to use the cards once, but had to play enough to see them early so you could get to your Awakened Side faster. Now Goku can Self-Awaken all by his lonesome and that’s a big deal, saving precious deck space.

Awakened Side actually starts out with a small buff of all things, giving his attack an extra +5K power. Don’t exactly know why they felt that necessary but sure. But that last ability was one we were all throwing around. He can now only untap Mono-Blue Energy. This is key when referring back to some of my older arguments. My feelings back then were that even if Goku only untapped Blue Energy he’d still be stupid because Blue was the best color in the game, and had access to Senzu Bean and Whis’ Coercion which could just untap whatever other Energy you want. Things have certainly changed since then. First, Blue is no longer the best color in the game. That belongs to Red and they even have the best defense in the game. Second, the existence of Dual Color cards. They are by and large the best cards most can be playing right now so Goku only untapping 3 Mono-Blue cards means he needs to make legitimate sacrifices somewhere in building.

Now I know what a lot of people are thinking. “You can play around that restriction, just make sure to charge 3 Mono-Blue and the rest some Dual Color of your choice and Bean/Beerus will take care of the rest”. Problem is that it relies on chance with what Energy you get from Life (the one weakness SS3 Goku already had to begin with) and relies on your opponent entering Battle too early along with you wasting the cards to get up different defense. You can still potentially mess around with Dual Colored cards, but in small doses just to get other cards potentially online.

Will this Leader Continue to See Legitimate Play?

I’d say yeah. The Leader is still damn good, but it’s definitely powered down enough to be an actual choice you have to make. But in terms of Mono-Blue Leaders it’s likely a slam dunk. You ramp really far ahead, have the Self-Awaken and people have forgotten that Mono-Blue actually has a really strong finisher outside of Gogeta, Hero Revived (which SS3 Goku can still and probably will play). UI Sign is very easy to make in this deck and can still end the game on the spot and being able to wipe a board ignoring Barrier is very relevant even now. He also has access to an old friend in Dragon Fist Goku which can be very potent and still leave the door open for UI the Unstoppable which is 50x easier to use in this deck since you’ll immediately have 3 Energy left open. If you have the ability and can fit some Dual Color in here, there’s even potential for some Dual Colored finishers to take the game over. I absolutely think we’ll see SS3 Goku in the top tables, but thankfully he isn’t the only choice for Leaders anymore.

Final Thoughts:



If I were to condense this all down I’d say this experience has left us with 3 extremely viable Leaders, 1 fringe Leader and 1 that is likely in the same exact spot where he started. All in all though, a positive experience that I hope Bandai re-introduces in the very near future. I know I’m gonna have a blast with most of these guys.