47 eager Z-Warriors have braved a frosty winter’s morning to smash down in style at Guf Ballarat. Streaming is live on our Twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/takgamesau with Karl (Orange Android 20) facing off against Nikita (Black Garlic Jr) in Round 2.
As for what styles are present, it seems a shift in the meta is evident with 13 players representing Orange style, 10 Red, 9 Black, 7 Namekian, 5 Saiyan and only 3 representing Blue. Despite the shift away from Namekian style, Piccolo is well represented with 7 players, six players are playing Android 20 and Krillin, 5 players are hoping Cell’s recent CRD changes don’t nerf his chances and 4 players each representing Yamcha and Garlic. Turles, Goku, Ginyu, Roshi, Trunks, Android 18, Dr Wheelo, Tenshinhan, Android 16 and Lord Slug are also present.
After the dust settled, prizes handed out, and top cut named, it was time to sort out the wheat from the chaff for the day. And there were some match ups in top cut that no one would envy having to play.
Top 8
Undefeated in Swiss, Juliano S. piloted his Black Krillin against a threat in Saiyan Turles run by Dylan M.. This could have proved a tough game for Krillin, but in the end he showed why he has been a dominant MP since set 1, shining through to win onto the next round.
Jono C. with his trusty Red Garlic was forced into a match up that could have also posed some problems, with skillful player Jesse M. and his Orange 20 looking to Tank Barrage his opponent into submission. But it was the damage modification created by Garlic, and some deft level control by Jono C. that pushed through the victory.
One of the Red Roshi’s in top cut, Callum S., also pushed out a hard fought win against a potentially oppressive match up against Josh C.’s Blue Ginyu. And rounding out top cut, Simon N. pushed National Champion Fahad R. and came through with a win for himself as well, as Piccolo Namekian showed Red Roshi that the meta wasn’t fully in his favour just yet.
Top 4
It was further pain for Red Roshi in top 4 as well. Callum came up against Simon in the round of 4, and after coming off just playing against Fahad, Simon must have thought he had the match up figured out. Simon pulled out the win in this round, and onto the finals. His Piccolo Namekian list really shows the value in even having “1 of” tech cards in your deck, but he is also a skillful player who knows how to maximise those cards to full effect as well.
The other match in top 4 was an epic battle for supremacy. Jumping to some of the last phases of the match, Jono showed some great foresight in some of his plays. Being on level 3, and pushing himself up to level 4 was always going to be a problem. And looking at Juliano’s hand he had the cards to maximise on Garlic’s somewhat unforgiving level 4 power, with Destructo Disk and Sinister Choke in hand.
But Juliano was in a slight pickle, as Jono being back on level 3, and having used a Red Destiny, wasn’t going to be able to push enough damage through to warrant their use just yet. After another turn, and pushing through some of those attacks, Juliano fell foul of Garlic’s potent Dragon Ball Victory threat, with Jono coming out with a win.
Finals
As the two friends squared off, it was hard to see many other outcomes other than Red Garlic coming out on top. The deck, if nothing else, creates far too many headaches for even it to endure.
Simon put up a valiant effort to try and push out a win in either game, with some close calls in game 2. However, Garlic and his Dragon Ball Victories won the game and the tournament, and showed that at least for now that it can be a thorn in the side of many tier 1 decks.
We hope to see a lot of players turn out for the last two Local Championships. With Vengeance hitting shelves next week, the meta shifts again and poses a new problem to those wanting to compete in Regionals starting in August!
With Vengeance a little over a week away, the hype levels are well and truly over 9000 now. Our last previews make for some sound additions to Orange style and will hopefully see some play after release.
Orange Fierce Attack offers some really great effects for an energy attack that costs only 1 stage. The immediate effect is quite solid, in making your attacks unpreventable. This immediately shuts down endurance, Master Roshi, and other popular prevention methods. Team this with Orange Aura Drill in play, then a sequence of Orange Offensive Strikes, you are going to be leaving your opponent with at least a good chunk of damage taken.
The hit effect adds to something that can be Orange’s Achilles Heel. Both anger gain, and control your opponent’s anger are hard things to come by in Orange. Outside of Orange Devouring Drill, leveling in Orange can be a little bit harder than a lot of other styles due to the small incremental raise effects it has. Hopefully this card can add to its arsenal.
The attack also has a decent endurance attached to it, so the value of the card increases again. So hopefully this is one for Orange players to get excited about.
Next up, Orange Intimidating Drill adds a little more bite to the Orange Adept Mastery camp. Orange Intimidating Drill can team up nicely with the Adept Mastery to help leverage another potential action during combat to press advantages.
There are also clear uses with MPs like Set 1 Goku Level 3 who create effects to rejuvenate a drill during combat. It also brings back into play some cards like Orange Energy Evasion that rejuvenate drills from the discard as well.
So you can team these cards up nicely to have some great synergy with some existing cards to help push forward some potential new combinations and further your game.
The weekend saw two more Local Championship events decided, with Jono C. coming out on top on the Gold Coast with Red Garlic, and Blair S. taking out Perth with Blue Protective Ginyu. A tournament report for the Gold Coast is available on our blog here. Jono stuck with Red for his choice of preview while Blair upgraded to Saiyan. These cards definitely fit nicely with a few of the Vengeance MPs revealed thus far.
Red Android Palm Blast is bound to make some players who are keen to explore Android 13 a little bit more excited. Firstly, being a card with “Android” in the title, it fits nicely with some of his MP powers. On level 1, it will feed your anger to press for higher levels at a faster rate. On level 2, this card could be rejuvenated from the banished zone. And then finally, with his level 4, hopefully these powers and cards have maxed out your damage buff to help press home your advantage in the final stretch.
The card also has a great effect when combined with the Red Enraged Mastery, if it gets destroyed from your deck. Note that it is only destroyed and not discarded so the effect would only trigger off effects that say destroy. Generating a critical damage effect will help you generate more anger and potentially slow down your opponent. However, the Red Enraged Mastery may not obtain the full benefit of the card.
The attack itself isn’t going to push out damage for you, but when you team it with the Red Ruthless Mastery, you could combo out some nice attacks. With the damage being minimal, it’s likely that you will get close to full value for the hit effect. So that ineffective card in your hand, could turn into the best attack out of the top 3 cards of your life deck.
All in all, a nice solid card to add to potential Red Android decks.
Saiyan Terrifying Strike is going to strike some fear into opponents who were thinking they may be able to mitigate some of the damage Broly promises to mete out by gaining stages back with effects.
This card is a pure damage machine. If your opponent has tried to play around your damage output, the attack becomes unstoppable. And given the attack is AT +4 stages – the damage you can dispense will have significance.
With both masteries, you can also net yourself an anger gain of 2 from the attack hitting, so it could help you press for higher levels on those great Saiyan MPs.
There’s no tricks to this card, just straight out terrifying damage.
The last two Local Championships are due to play out this weekend, with Ballarat on Saturday (pre-register now) and Newcastle on Sunday (pre-register now). We have two more Orange style cards from Vengeance to preview this week as well as an exciting update on the Regionals scheduled for this Australian Organised Play season.
The past weekend saw 27 players turn out for the TAK Games Local Championships at Good Games Gold Coast. And with Vengeance due for release in only a couple of weeks time, it was a good time to see some of the current meta decks shine before having to jostle for position with some of the new kids on the block.
We had players from all over South East Queensland, Northern NSW, and even a lone Victorian traveler in reigning National Champion and Worlds Top 4 player, Fahad Rahman.
Champion for the day was Jono C., expertly piloting his trusty Red
Garlic in some epic battles, beating out close friend and travel buddy Simon N. in the final.
Swiss Rounds Breakdown
The break down in styles, and most used MPs were;
Blue – 7
Namekian – 5 Orange – 5
Red – 5
Black – 4
Saiyan – 1
Piccolo rounded out with the most MP stacks with 5. Closely followed by Krillin and Turles with 4 each. Android 20 and Captain Ginyu were next up with 3 each.
All in all it was interesting to see the breakdown of the styles used. With Cell Restored taking a back seat, the Red style decks have come out in force to help claim a piece of the meta.
The day kicked off with some interesting match ups straight away. Fahad (Red Roshi) kicked off against Brisbane local Adam H. (Orange 20) with Fahad picking up his first win. Local favourites Juliano S. (winner of the Gathering of Worlds Local Championship) and Damian H. also picked up wins in the first round.
At the end of the round though, an exhausting battle was taking place with Michael L. (Piccolo Namekian) taking on Simon N. (Piccolo Namekian). The match was tense all the way, with both players showing their strength in piloting the deck since Set 1. The match ended a draw, after some deft play from Simon to keep the game going.
On stream in Round 2 we had an epic battle of the Red Dragon Ball / MPPV decks, with Fahad taking on Jono C. (Red Garlic). Both players gave great accounts of themselves, with Fahad coming out on top via survival victory in the end to clinch the tough fought game.
With player posturing at a premium there were many hard fought games in round 2. Wins to Josh C., Dylan M., Juliano S., Lin H., and Callum S. left all these players with maximum points.
Through the middle rounds, the going got tough for a lot of players. Wins were harder to come by, and matches even more intense as everyone kept one eye on top cut. Arch nemesis decks Black Krillin and Blue Ginyu faced off with Juliano S. and Josh C. in Round 3 with Juliano taking the win.
Coming down the final stretch into Round 4 saw some defeats for some favourites who we pushing for top spots, and clutch victories for some looking to push those players out. Fahad had his first loss for the day at the hands of a mirror match in Callum S. which was a fantastic match to watch. Simon N. and Josh C. also were unlucky to drop games in this round, but with the calibre of play all day it was hard to begrudge any player some hard fought wins.
The final round was upon us, and Simon N. and Sam H. came up to the stream, with both players looking to take a win from the round to make sure they had a spot in top cut. A classic match up, with Simon’s Piccolo Namekian closely edging out Sam’s Black Krillin to move into a top 8 spot. Sam played some great games all day and it was hard to see her miss out on a spot in the top 8.
In the end our top 8 was rounded out by;
Juliano S. (Black Krillin) Callum S. (Red Roshi) Fahad R. (Red Roshi) Jono C. (Red Garlic) Jesse M. (Orange 20) Simon N. (Namekian Piccolo) Joshua C. (Blue Ginyu) Dylan M. (Saiyan Turles)
Check back tomorrow for more details on how Top Cut played out.