Today we welcome guest writer Kenny Phuong Nguyen to the TAK Games blog. Kenny will report to us regularly from Sydney on the state of the game in New South Wales.

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As a 90s kid, I grew up with Dragon Ball Z. At 8.00am every weekday morning, I’d either record the magnificence of Dragon Ball Z on my video player or be late for school watching it (both viable options). It introduced me to teenager-oriented anime and it captured my imagination, as I’m sure it did many, and I’ve always fondly remembered it. Now that I’ve probably made everyone feel a bit older, I’m here today to write about my experiences with the revamped, remastered Dragon Ball Z trading card game by Panini.

My mate Michael and I had been looking forward to the sealed tournament held at Good Games Burwood from the moment it was announced. Neither of us had played the original card game by Score, so we were going in with fresh eyes. We have, however, played many a card game, so don’t think this is a newbie perspective.

When we arrived, we secured two boxes of boosters and got cracking, attempting to familiarise ourselves (well, I was at least) with the cards and the general flow of the game. As one can imagine, this bore no fruit, as without actually playing the game, one cannot actually understand how good particular cards are (I had actually played a few games on octgn beforehand; my tag is blinkkite, add me if you use it, I’m up for games pretty much whenever I’m online).

After going through the crackfest, the tournament finally began with 11 players (it may have been 12, but I swear there was a bye). Hoping to crack Frieza (the only personality from the Starters I am missing), I ended up opening Vegeta with Saiyan Mastery. I had read online that Saiyan Mastery is considered fairly weak in Sealed, yet couldn’t work out for the life of me why that was.

Until I actually read the Mastery properly.

My 3 booster packs yielded me with a Confrontation (Hooray for Heroes only. To be fair, I was pretty happy about opening it regardless), Red Observation [Woots sarcastically], and finally…

Namekian Knowledge Mastery

This was gonna be a long day.

Aside from the lack of awesome flashy rares, villainous allies, Dragon Balls and other general cool gear, I ended up with what I thought was a pretty solid deck. Plenty of awesome blocks (I ended up playing around 18 blocks), a reasonably sizable amount of anger raising attacks (in addition to around 11 Saiyan attacks, which was pretty good), topped off with a solid amount of endurance around. Suddenly I didn’t feel so bad.

I was pretty confident entering round one.

Round 1 vs Josh

Josh is a good friend of mine, and he had played the original Score game for most of its life, so I was even more ready to lose. Josh had offered me a game 5 minutes before the round started, and I had refused. Coincidentally, we ended up paired up in round one. Josh was playing Black Krillin, and with the awesome power of his printed attack combined with the insanity that is Black Mastery, I expected that Vegeta would promptly be lying dead in a gutter somewhere whilst the little bald man danced circles around my broken, battered body.

I got off to a good start, with a bunch of anger gains from both Vegeta and my mastery (I drew so many Saiyan cards). Feeling pretty happy upon hitting level 2 on my second turn, I was incredibly dismayed when Josh, smirking, dropped a Namekian Dragon Ball 2 onto the table, sending Vegeta back to his angry level one state. In the meantime, Krillin was hammering away at me with both his critical damage discard ability lowering my anger and keeping me in check, as well as eating at my life deck. A big turn came for me not long after. I had just hit level two again, and Josh had drawn a dud hand full of nothing. Leading off with Vegeta Level 2’s ability, I got Krillin to 0 stages and pumped up all of my attacks for the turn. A follow up Saiyan Energy Toss, Saiyan Multi-Blast, Saiyan Face Stomp (which levelled me), Namekian Side Kick and another Face Stomp obliterated most of Josh’s life deck, and soon a very crippled Krillin succumbed to the onslaught from the angry Saiyan prince.

Something about Vegeta belting Krillin in anger just sat so well with me. The double face stomp imagery was also incredibly satisfying.

1-0

Round 2 vs Joel

Joel had just beaten up Michael in the first round with Namekian Piccolo. Promising vengeance for my fallen comrade, and feeling pretty invigorated from face stomping Krillin into the dust, I entered Round 2 ready to rip the green man to shreds.

I left the game a broken man.

Throughout the course of the game, not only did Piccolo manage to outpace my anger gains (He hit level 4 before I hit level 3), he managed to have the block every time I tried to make a play. As I sat there trying to get Vegeta mad and unleash all the rage in a big turn, Piccolo was busy bashing his skull in, all the while rejuvenating what little damage I had managed to get through. The end game was a little closer than I had imagined, but to say I ever felt like I was winning that game would be a lie.

Vengeance would have to wait for another time.

1-1

Round 3 vs Michael

Kenny: “Hey Michael, I’m writing an article based on the Saturday tournament.”

Michael: “Oh cool, where are you up to?”

K: “Just finished round 1”

M: “Make sure when you write about my defeat, you be kind haha”

Michael was fielding Red Gohan, and tried some early aggression, destroying his own life deck just to get a piece of the Saiyan prince. Whilst Gohan put up a valiant effort, the Saiyan prince was having none of it, and turn after turn pummelled the kid into the ground and on the fourth turn, Vegeta, with a hand full of anger gaining cards, was at level 3.

Gohan really needs to learn to dodge.

I did learn an important thing about DBZ from this game though; power level REALLY matters. Keeping someone in check at the lowest of their power stages hampers their play in a huge way. Michael’s poor draws resulted in him mostly passing during our combats; energy attacks aren’t so good when you don’t have the power to use them, and physical attacks can hurt a lot more than energy ones when you run out of power and don’t draw blocks.

2-1

Round 4 vs Shane

Black Krillin yet again. The earlier stomping of Josh’s Krillin gave me hope here, leading me to believe that once again an angry Saiyan prince would be stomping a bald man into the ground.

How wrong I was.

Lacking the energy blocks necessary to hold back Krillin, and with my endurance cards always coming up on the final card, I was constantly critically damaged and found myself angerless and stuck on level 1 for ages. By the time I reached the awesome level 2, I was far behind, and despite making some progress in getting back into the game, the power of Black Mastery and the now level 2 Krillin took its toll, and Vegeta never found the opportunity to for a crazy all in wombo combo of anger attacks, and soon it was he laying on the ground, face being stomped upon by the bald man and his gracious commander Sean.

Conclusion

Despite winning only 50% of my games, I had an excellent day. Whether it was simply hanging and chatting with people, or smashing face (or getting my face smashed in), the first sealed event for Panini’s DBZ Card Game at Good Games Burwood was a roaring success. Not a frown was seen in the room, and most everyone present had an excellent time. I walked home with some new gear and a bunch of cards in hand, and proceeded to build decks and have another bazillion games with Michael at my house.

As I sit here writing this report, I am also currently flicking through Michael and I’s collection of cards and working out which rares we are missing, and thinking of tracking them down, whilst also wondering whether to build a Saiyan Vegeta or Blue Frieza deck, whilst trying to theorise on the benefits of playing Black with many of the personalities in the game.

I’m about to get on OCTGN and play some games with my Namekian Gohan deck, which so far has had a 0-5 record(I swear guys, I know what I’m doing). If all of that is not enough to convince you of how awesome this game is, go watch some Dragon Ball Z and play some more of this game.

Then you’ll probably end up where I am now.

TAK Games are pleased to announce the first season of organised play for DragonBall Z TCG within Australia. Our aim is simple – create rewards for players; no matter what your results, in events that are held by TAK Games and affiliated stores. Participation in local tournaments is critical to the success of any game and Dragon Ball Z is no exception.

The inaugural Summer Season incorporates events from December 1st, 2014 through to March 31st, 2015. Players accumulate championship and participation points with cool prizes on offer to all participants and our leading top tier players. This is just the beginning! The more these events are supported, the bigger the prize pool will grow. We hope to keep seeing you all at our events, and look forward to creating an organised play program that you will enjoy.

It’s 2015  – and that means more chances to play sealed at different locations around Melbourne. Good Games Box Hill was the first to kick off the new year with an event on the 3rd January. Ten Z Warriors braved the 41 degree Celsius heat to battle it out.

The results from the event are:

1st – Jason S., 4-0 with Black Krillin.
2nd – Kyp, 3-1 with Red Vegeta.
3rd – Kuan L., 3-1 with Black Ginyu.
4th – Daniel P., 2-2 with Blue Frieza.

Pre-event banter was focused on which personality and mastery combination would prove strongest in this sealed event. I had my fingers crossed for Krillin with Black Style Mastery or Piccolo with Namekian, but was foiled when I pulled Vegeta Saiyan out of my starter. Saiyan seems significantly weaker than other masteries in sealed, so I was actually relieved (for once) to see Red Style Mastery appear as one of my booster pack rares.

With an Angry Vegeta Red Style build completed, it was time to see how it would run…

Round 1 – Kuan with Black Ginyu – 1-0
Marvelling at the good luck that allowed Quan to pull a complete Ginyu set, it got even worse for Vegeta with Ginyu’s friends making an appearance. Some lucky draws saw me discarding three Allies in one combat thanks to critical effects and managing to banish them before they could be retrieved. Beatdown victory with perhaps 8 cards to spare – a very lucky escape!

Round 2 – Daniel with Blue Frieza – 2-0

Had to play aggressively to get any damage through multiple layers of protection that Daniel had packed in, including general blocks, drills that stopped attacks and the Blue Mastery. Managed to complete the game just as time was called with Daniel decking himself out on the additional turn provided. Another close one!

Round 3 – Al with Namekian Piccolo – 3-0

After an envious gaze at Piccolo (Al was seated next to me in deck construction – missed it by that much!), we settled in to battle. Piccolo rejuvenated, hit, and rejuvenated some more. Again, aggression paid off with two combat declarations resulting in Al drawing mostly unusable cards. Unfortunately for Al (but happily for me) that coincided with reaching Vegeta Level 3 and holding four attacks that gained anger in hand… another narrow beatdown victory!

Round 4 – Jason with Black Krillin 3-1

So close and yet so far! Krillin’s critical effect on Level 1 certainly slowed down Angry Vegeta. It was my turn to have a combat with unusable cards, and it was a tough road back from there. Despite that, I managed to get to Level 4 Vegeta and almost stole victory from the jaws of defeat. Alas, it was not to be…

A solid performance though from the angry Saiyan – it fared better against the Namekian and Black decks than I would have anticipated. The next round of tournaments will be constructed events, so check out http://store.tak-games.com.au/ if you need any singles or email us a wishlist. We’ll hunt down anything and everything Panini DBZ-related you need!

Game on,

-Kyp (@justkyp)

SDCC Promo Krillin offers a distinct advantage over the standard Krillin Lvl1.

There is no doubt that a well-made Black deck in the current environment can wreak havoc on your opponent’s best-laid plans. As I explained in our State of the Game – Black Style article, Black style is all about manipulation of a player’s cards in hand and reducing the cards potentially available to them in their Life Deck and Discard Pile. Black Krillin ramps up control another level by teaming manipulation with critical effects on a frequent basis. This is the deck I’m currently running and I find it very strong against some of the more dominant decks in the metagame.

Krillin’s Personality Cards

Krillin’s powers have great synergy with the Black Devious Mastery and compensate for areas where Black style is lacking. I currently run the San Diego Comic Con promo of Krillin’s Level 1 personality to leverage his Level 1 power as long as possible which creates a floating effect that stays active until a card is discarded from a hand. The discard can occur in any fashion, via the Mastery or other card effect. This critical effect can help discard allies or lower an opponent’s anger – anger control which is sometimes lacking within the currently available Black Style card pool.

But Krillin’s higher level powers won’t leave you at a disadvantage. If you are forced up to his higher levels, he has some great powers that disrupt your opponent’s hand.

Style of play

Black Scout Maneuver makes a welcome return in Panini DBZ to help keep your opponent’s future plans in check!

The best way to play this deck is defensively. You need to let your opponent come to you and force their hand, using your turn to regroup and set your board up to wait for the right time to push your advantage.

To play Black well, you need to understand your opponent and the style they are playing. You need to know the threats in each style so you can use cards like Black Searching Technique and Black Scout Maneuver to get rid of future headaches. This makes it very important to research other styles’ strengths and then read your opponent’s play.

Defensive Cards

As Black has a hard time utilising the help of Allies, and has no protection in the form of drills, I play nearly all the blocks available to me in my deck. Make sure you have enough defense to counter your opponent. The stand out Black blocks are Black Finger Block for physical and Black Swipe for energy attacks. Make sure you make the most of your limited defensive resources, as most secondary effects help you manipulate your opponent’s hand in some way. Weigh up your options and choose wisely!

Offensive Cards

Most Black Style attacks have cool effects to help manipulate your opponent. My favourites include Black Energy Web and Black Defensive Burst. If these attacks are successful, they prevent your opponent from performing either energy or physical attacks for the remainder of combat. Sometimes a powerful offense is the best defense!

One of the most powerful attacks in Krillin’s arsenal.

In this particular deck, you should also consider running cards like Krillin’s Solar Flare and Blinding Energy Move. If you find yourself at the losing end of a tough combat, these cards can help you get out of a jam. This deck’s objective is to hit and run, so do what you can and then leave your opponent hanging.

Without a doubt, the most effective card is Krillin’s Destructo Disc. An attack hitting for 5 life cards and 1 stage can sometimes make all the difference, particularly if you’re looking for a critical effect.

This deck shouldn’t rely offensively on physical attacks as Krillin’s power levels are too prohibitive. Aim for attacks with effects that remove cards from your opponent’s discard pile, as most top tier decks attempt to use their discard pile to their advantage.

Try and avoid energy attacks with high costs as they may eat away at valuable stages you need to absorb against a physical beatdown deck.

Rounding out the deck

Many staple cards are obvious inclusions in this deck, including Confrontation, Time is a Warrior’s Tool and Heroic Energy Sphere.

However, there are a few other cards that may help support your plans. For setups, look at Black Searching Technique which allows you to rid your opponent’s deck of two potential threats – whether those threats are attacks, or allies, or setups. Another setup to check out is Visiting the Past where you can pick and choose something from your discard pile that will help you – will an extra defensive card be what you need, or is it time to finish off your opponent with an additional energy attack?

Another fun card to look at is Black Reflection, which can add a whole new level of frustration to your opponent as their attacks are thrown back at them. Your options are limitless!

Need help?

Do you need some help tweaking your deck for your local metagame? We’d love to help you out. Feel free to send in your decklists to dbz@tak-games.com.au and we will give you some advice to maximise your potential.

If there are other decks you would like us to cover, let us know via Facebook (TAKGames.au) or Twitter (@TAKGames_au).

Game on!

– Trent (@TAKGames_Trent)

It’s been an eventful – and somewhat tough – week for Namekian aficionados. The first release of Panini’s DragonBall Z Current Rulings Document saw the first major errata of the game – the “nerf”ing of Namekian through its Mastery. It’s not all bad news – most players will agree with the change as Namekian can no longer gain “passive anger” through sitting back and passing combat each turn. If Namekian’s your game, there’s no need to fear, this change does not leave the style in a significantly weaker position.

Truthfully, Namekian style remains a strong contender in the current metagame. Most Namekian cards are geared towards helping achieve one or two of the victory conditions possible. Namekian does not have many drills or setups, so you’re not looking to gain board control. Its strengths come from omni blocks which help you roll with whatever your opponent throws at you and strong attacks which hit your opponent when they least expect it. Namekian style is best suited to absorbing whatever damage is thrown at you and work towards achieving victory in any way possible, leaving your opponent scrambling to cover all the bases: most powerful personality victory (MPPV); survival; and DragonBall victories are all possible with a well-made Namekian deck.

Does Namekian have any weaknesses? It struggles with gaining board control and doesn’t have much to interrupt opponent tactics – so you need to hold out with rejuvenation or get your anger up for a MPPV while your opponent is on the defensive to make it work.

Key Cards:

• Namekian Palm Shots
• Namekian Hybrid Defense
• Namekian Fusion

Strongest Personalities:

• Piccolo
• Gohan

Game on!

– Trent (@TAKGames_Trent)