Welcome all to a nice, compact edition of Preview Season. It’s time for a preview for the next set and the next mechanics. Which means it’s Expansion Pack time. What will be in store for us in the coming future? Let’s find out.

Saiyan Surge

Super Saiyan Son Goku/SSG Son Goku, Surge of Divinity

Okay so we have two things to unpack right away. The first is the fact that we now have Multi-Color Leaders. This is a massive deal because it opens them up to getting the best of a ton of abilities that require certain Leader colors. The best Negates, the best Counters, certain cards (*cough*Bardock*cough*). That alone will help push the quality of this Leader up, and Red/Yellow has some solid stuff to play around with in that combination.

The second, and what the next sets will likely focus on is Awaken Surge. Previously for all Leaders you had to meet a certain requirement gate in order to Awaken and you could not Awaken until that requirement was filled outside of some outlier cards that allowed it. Certain Life Totals, having X amount of Energy, having a card on the board, having 7 Dragonballs in the Drop (though that’s Wish, not Awaken but same concept). Awaken Surge is different in that you can Awaken at essentially any time from the word go, as long as you can put the right cards under the Surge Leader. On top of that, it provides an insane effect on Awaken to the tune of a lot of drawn cards and untapping which is immediately stronger than anything we’ve gotten on that end.

Of course this comes with a couple of drawbacks. One, since you need certain color cards in order to flip it will constrain deck building a little bit so it’ll be tough to go off the beaten color path. Secondly, the abilities seem to be consistently locked behind a Life Total so while you can flip at any time you still have incentive to wait. Three, while the abilities you gain (which I guess I’ll call Surge Abilities) are obscenely powerful…as of now you only get two shots. As the only cards off the top of my head that can put cards under Leaders are essentially specific to Majin Buu, you’ll only get the two cards you Awaken with as tools. You use them both up you’ll be stuck with a Vanilla Leader for the rest of the game as they have no ability beyond the Surge Abilities.

I like Surge because it provides an extra level of skill and careful management to the game. You can Awaken at any time, but when can you afford to lose your card advantage skill on your front side? You have two immensely powerful abilities on your Awakened Side but use them wrong and you’re screwed and will be outvalued by pretty much every other Leader for the rest of the game. These Leaders will be able to test your abilities.

Now after all of that fluff, onto the actual Leader itself. Goku has an absurd ability right from the word go. Every attack you get to Draw 2, Discard 1. Keep in mind that Leaders like Hirudegarn and Beerus got played for similar abilities, but Discard Last is pretty much always better than Discard First so for the most part he’s above those two in card filtering. Bandai seems to want to give players a very good reason to remain on their Front Side and feel the pain of losing it when they ultimately do Awaken.

As for his Awakened Side, 5 Life for his Surge ability is pretty lenient. It should allow him to Awaken quite early relatively safely if need be. His second ability I think is actually his weakest. 25K and Crit on any timing is pretty good don’t get me wrong. Good on offense and is solid on Defense, but when you only have two chances at his abilities you probably don’t want to use it outside of a final turn scenario where he’s the last swing and you really want to get in that last bit of damage. No I believe the money is in his first ability as it REALLY makes it difficult for many decks to kill him if he’s above a certain life total. Being able to turn off all skills for a turn makes him nigh untouchable at certain times. Not too bad on offense either, if you really need to turn off Barrier or push for lethal against Blockers but I think this card is all about defense. Draw and filter as much as possible on the front side then when forced to flip sitting on two abilities that will make it very hard for the opponent to sequence their turns but can also turn around and help win the game if need be. A very good Leader.

Son Goku, Nimbus Voyager

Onto the normal cards, this one is interesting. Essentially this card is a 1 Drop Kill Spell against any Battle Card 25K or less ignoring Barrier…assuming he’s able to attack it. I think this can very realistically see play, especially having a relevant name and trait. Yamcha especially loves him as he’s a 1 Drop Kill Spell on anything he wants which means he can use his SR or Gohan to try and win the game instead of having to split the difference. But I do see this getting play in a lot of Red decks potentially, do not sleep on this card.

Vegeta, Time for Vacation

Next we have a card I think will be overlooked but has great potential. 3 Drop 20K Crit is already solid value (crazy we got to the point where we’re printing 3 Drop 20K Crit with upside now) but the ability is quite nice. The ability to play a 2 Drop or less Goku that’s Red or Yellow at basically any speed? Fantastic. Now the targets are not insane usually, but on the list. The above Goku, a couple of Super Combos, Path to Godhood (likely the intended home), and I guess Negating Fist though most people aren’t playing that. Still it’s a card that will only increase in value so keep an eye on it.

Son Gohan & Videl, Power Couple

This is probably the card I’m least sold on in Saiyan Surge, possibly both Expansion Packs. I mean, it’s a 1 Yellow Cantrip which is fine, can potentially take out some weenies but generally isn’t doing much to impact the board. Potentially okay in Path to Godhood style decks, that’s about all I’m seeing it for though.

Son Goten & Trunks, Back to Back

Crusher Ball on a body? Uh…yeah sure. This is pretty much exactly that, so the question is how much do we value an extra Red to put on board a 15K Vanilla? I’m leaning toward the side of probably not good enough but for any decks that really want Goten and Trunks this should be a great fit.

Almighty Resistance

The last card for Saiyan Surge and…oh hi Bad Ring Laser. This is basically a “fairer” Bad Ring Laser. Far more restrictive, requiring an extra Red Energy on top of needing a Red Leader and only works against Attack Negation specifically. However…it dodges the one weakness Bad Ring Laser had. Other Bad Ring Lasers. This comes down, your attack is going through. Now the Mira/Champa/BRL combo is back, though requiring one more Energy and Broly can’t use this. Still more than good enough in any deck that would want to play Mira/Champa anyway. Prepare to die at 2 Life all over again.

Namekian Surge

Piccolo/Son Gohan & Piccolo, Surge of Consciousness

Finally we have son and father united on a Leader! Anyway, we’ve seen Blue/Green get to the apex already but let’s see if a non-Broly Leader takes it over the top. His front side ability is a simple Scry ability before a draw. It’s very understated compared to Goku but still quite powerful. He doesn’t have to attack, a huge deal since he can do it on the play Turn 1 and doesn’t risk giving the opponent advantage. And scrying is just great in general.

On his Awakened side his Surge Abilities are behind a more restrictive Life Requirement at 3 Life. But it’s understandable why. Forcing cards out of the opponent’s hand at the right time can be devastating but by their own admission, it’s about the second ability. It’s free ramp, in a combination that already has a good amount of it. However…at 3 Life it may be too restrictive (though that’s for the best). By that point unless you’re aggressively damaging yourself, you probably already have a hefty amount of Energy from Android 16 at the very least. At that point the ramp is kind of superfluous, and at that point the hand control aspect is probably better. But if you don’t get into your early ramp maybe he helps you get back into shape.

Ultimately it’s a bit hard to predict how good Piccolo will be, he is more understated than Goku but I can see his abilities and card quality control being good enough to get there with Blue/Green.

Heavy Kick Krillin

Onto the normal cards and Krillin is pretty simple. He’s a pseudo-Super Combo for Blue Leaders. I’m just assuming any non-Black deck is running Dual Color cards because there’s almost no reason not to. But yeah, free pseudo-Super Combo, easy to run if you don’t need a ton of synergy in your list.

Master Roshi, Kamehameha Origins

A card that will only get better as we receive more and more good Green Extra Cards. One Energy to rebuy your best Green Extra Card from the drop? I’m in for certain.

Kaio-Ken Son Goku Returns

This card is essentially at least one Negate every single turn if need be, or two Negates in one turn. This card is absolutely bonkers, especially in Set 8 Kaio Ken Goku. That Leader’s issue (which I’ll go into now since I never got the chance to preview him) is that he had no consistent way to trigger the plus off of Revive since it required your opponent to be a moron most of the time. If it was triggering it usually meant they had a surefire out to the card after the Revive. This gives you a guaranteed way to trigger it every single turn unless the opponent just…never attacks with anything but their Leader which is to your advantage anyway. This card turns that Leader into a defensive monster and honestly it may be my choice for Blue/Green going forward due to that. This card I feel is that good.

Dr. Uiro, Cybernetic Rebirth

This card was essentially made to combo with the above card. Trigger the easy Revive, get this on board for free. This combo will be fantastic in KK Goku and ironically enough not great in Dr. Wheelo himself simply because it’s rare he’s triggering Revive in his deck. Also a hilarious Side Deck card for any deck against something running any sort of hand control that discards. They attack with the Gohan/Piccolo card, you reveal this and watch the opponent despair. This will be a Side Deck staple for sure, but only Main Deckable for KK Goku (even if you run the above Goku in other decks I don’t think you’re abusing him as much, making this a bit worse, could be wrong though).

Hidden Potential

The last card for today. It’s better Preemptive Strike. I guess Bandai took issue with Denial of Hope becoming the Counter Spell of choice, because this card is bonkers. Preemptive Strike that lets you keep Energy open I mean…what more can I say? I’m playing at least 3 in any Green Leader running Blue/Green, easily.

Final Thoughts:

I think this is a great pack that will have a definite effect on the meta. The Leaders are good to great, most of the cards have immediate applications or will find some very soon. KK Goku should be the happiest from these reveals for sure, but I can see Red Leaders also being pretty happy about getting Bad Ring Laser back essentially. Some strong stuff here.