Two days. 83 players. 2 invites. Australia turned up the heat and players showed up in number to discover who our first National Champion would be. More importantly, which two players would represent us at the Dragon Ball Z World Championships this year? It was great to see so many old (from Score Z days) and new faces at the Celtic Club to make the weekend a smashing success.

Day One

What was evident from the outset was a fairly solid diversity in the types of decks brought. While we saw some good numbers for crowd favourites Black Krillin and Namekian Piccolo, there were also a lot of keen players wanting to show off the abilities other combinations bring to the table. It was nice to see a good splashing of Saiyan, Red and Orange in the mix, with the final break down being;

Black – 24
Blue – 13
Namekian – 22
Orange – 10
Red – 7
Saiyan – 7

The first few rounds of Swiss generated some of the closest matches over the two days, as players pushed themselves to generate the best start they could to help build a solid base to be able to attack the later rounds. And as the rounds wore on, there were a few great stories unfolding.

Daniel piloted his Black Krillin skilfully to go undefeated through the Swiss rounds to ensure himself a top cut spot. Then there was his young apprentice, Chris, who had only picked up the game a few months earlier, keeping his cool and showing he was made of the right sort of grit as well.

But the Cinderella story of the event was Tobye, who broke the meta wide open with his Saiyan Turles deck making a mockery of those who didn’t give Saiyan a chance.

The Swiss rounds went late into the evening. And in typical Melbourne fashion, an afternoon storm rolled in to add to the sense of foreboding with some tight and hard fought games taking up the final two rounds. In the end, the Top 16 was made, with some great inclusions to the exclusive group but also a few shocks as to who did not make the finals.

In no particular order, the top cut was made up of:

Fahad R. – Black Krillin
Damien H. – Blue Ginyu
David B. – Black Krillin
Tim L. – Orange Ginyu
Chris H. – Black Krillin
Daniel S. – Black Krillin
Kuan-Ju L. – Black Ginyu
Michael M. – Black Krillin
Tobye R. – Saiyan Turles
David T. – Namekian Piccolo
Jono C. – Red Garlic
Dylan F. – Namekian Piccolo
Justin T. – Orange Krillin
Juliano S. – Black Krillin
Adam S. – Black Krillin
Harry K. – Namekian Piccolo

While it were these players that would be the ones to determine who received the invites, it did not take away from the great play and sportsmanship of everyone. We rounded out the night knowing that we were in for an amazing treat the next day to see who would be crowned Champion.

Day Two

An early start for us at TAK Games, with decks to be checked and more setting up. Looking at the Top 16 we knew that there were going to be some great match ups right out of the blocks and we weren’t disappointed.

There were some amazingly close matches in Top 16. Daniel and Jono came right down the wire with the final combat going either way if not for one solitary card. Mirror matches abounded with Michael and Juliano both running Black Krillin to the wire.

But into the Top 8 marched Tobye and his unique Saiyan Turles deck against Michael, and the match up didn’t disappoint. The match ebbed and flowed, and all came down to a final hand. In something that would seem crazy to most, Tobye entered with no cards in hand, but used one of his Visiting The Pasts in play to grab a Saiyan Energy Focus to shut off Michael’s board and to try and push for a win. But Michael had the crucial block in hand that allowed him to shrug off the attack and then move in for the kill.

Our final 4 saw Adam and Fahad match up in another mirror to see who would be given the first of the two invites, and Kuan and Michael battle it out as Black Ginyu and Black Krillin respectively. Both sets of matches were hard fought, but it was Fahad and Kuan, two great friends, who would be meeting in the final and would be the lucky recipients of the two invites to worlds.

The finals started after a short break to refresh, with both players putting up a great fight. In the end, Fahad’s Black Krillin proved too much for Kuan as he won 2-0 in the best of three match up. Crucial attacks like Black Energy Web proved the difference between the two.

Congratulations to Fahad as our National Champion and Kuan as a worthy Runner Up. Good luck to you both as you do Australia proud at the World Championships in December.

We would like to thank each and every player for their support over the weekend, and we were thrilled with the level of talent we saw from all of you. We can’t wait to ramp up organised play further next year.

Game on!

– Trent (@TAKGames_Trent) and Kyp (@JustKyp).

We are less than a week away from the Australian Dragon Ball Z National Championships and determining the two players who will be earning invites to the Worlds event in December. While the main event is the big drawcard, there are fun side events happening over the entire weekend. To be fully prepared for the weekend activities, please make sure you’ve completed the following tasks.

1. Complete your Australian Dragon Ball Z National Championships Pre-Registration. Please note you can register using the form and pay on the day.

2. Grab a Deck Registration form and make sure you’re up to speed on all the important organised play documents available.

3. Prepare to HAVE FUN! This is the one weekend a year that the Australian Dragon Ball Z TCG community can come together. Make sure you enjoy it and do your best to make it an enjoyable experience for others, regardless of skill level.

Side Events

Win-A-Box Tournament (Player’s Choice of Set 1-3 or upcoming Set 4)
Saturday, 4PM
Entry $12, minimum 12 players
Single Stage, Swiss Rounds

Win-A-Box Tournament (Player’s Choice of Set 1-3 or upcoming Set 4)
Sunday, 2.30PM
Entry $12, minimum 12 players
Single Stage, Swiss Rounds

Win-A-Godku
Sunday, 12.30PM
Entry $15, minimum 12 players
Single Stage, Swiss Rounds

There will be participation prizes available in all side events as well. If you have any other questions please feel free to message us on Facebook, via the Dragon Ball Z TCG Australia group or via Twitter on @JustKyp or @TAKGames_Trent.

Game On!
– Trent and Kyp

A touchy subject for some, the meta is a source of constant conversation. While some believe it is stale and the same three decks can be viewed vying for dominance every week, others say there is massive variance in the range of viable decks. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Since Heroes and Villains and Movie Collection dropped, loud cries exclaimed the meta must shift. The usual suspects of Ginyu, Piccolo and Krillin have been winning more often than not, with all notching wins at Regional Championship events around the world. A well thought out plan and a good read of the potential field and you can have half the battle won for yourself. This is the classic Rock, Paper, Scissors situation hiding within Panini’s Dragon Ball Z TCG.

No one style of deck has an impressive match up over all others, and we have seen the ebbs and flows of this in the different types of decks winning Regional level events. While there are the usual suspects in the mix, there are some great decks that can be the rock that smashes away an opponent’s scissors.

Let’s take a look at some of the potential Big 3 decks, and their counters:

Ginyu

The focus here is on Blue Ginyu as it has the most favourable match ups against other decks. While it is strong, the deck does have vulnerabilities you can exploit. Its greatest foe is the bald man. Krillin is dangerous to Ginyu in both the favoured Black style and emerging Orange variant. With his Level 1 critical damage effect, he is a constant thorn in Ginyu’s side that the opponent must be aware of to play around. Team that with the disruption and removal possibilities in Black, or the sheer board presence of Orange and Ginyu is forced to work for every card in their deck.

However, there are other great counters outside of the Big 3. Orange Goku has shown it can be an equally annoying thorn in Ginyu’s side. With Orange Destruction a constant threat; Heroic Assistance providing targeted recursion of the discard pile and Goku’s ability to maintain board presence, Ginyu can be left with few options. Blue Piccolo running Blue Dominance is also a good choice with Piccolo’s Level 2 power, hero allies providing control and drills like Blue Positioning Drill amongst others causing Ginyu to become locked down and denied its strength in maximising combat actions.

Some other decks that can provide Ginyu with headaches are:

• Saiyan Vegeta (teched with ally hate, and running Saiyan Menace and Saiyan Rescue)
• Red Garlic (if he can remove or keep Nappa ally off the field)
• Nappa (Black or Blue style)

Krillin

Black Krillin would have to be the most consistent performer of this year’s Regional circuit. Though it has only won two Regionals in the US, it consistently makes up the largest percentage of decks within Top Cut. With his great action on level 1 with the auto critical effect generated with his power and the Black Mastery, he provides Black an answer to the biggest flaw in its arsenal, control of anger and allies.

If Organised Play was a National Geographic documentary, Black Krillin’s natural predator would be Piccolo Namekian. While the match up can be won by Krillin, it takes some great draws and much luck to help get on top of a deck that can come at you with all three victories in its kit bag. The constant anger gain and the way Namekian can generate card draw once set up can leave Krillin with little to stop an MPPV victory, or even get decked out if Namekian can chain a few nice combats with multiple energy attacks.

Anger decks like Red Tenshinhan can also give Krillin a run for his money, due to Krillin only being able to consistently deal with 1 anger each combat. Orange Goku can also be favoured in the match up if Krillin lets the opponent get set up.

Some other decks to consider:

• Black Nappa (Physical Beats)
• Orange Krillin (Fight fire with fire!)

Namekian Piccolo

Movie Collection‘s release saw players drop away from Namekian Piccolo, particularly as decks capitalising on Blue Dominance emerged. Locking down Namekian’s constant anger generation while mitigating the rejuvenation Namekian provides through Blue’s own targeted recursion with Blue Positioning Drill can help to prevent Namekian Piccolo from changing gears constantly to pull out one of its triple threat victory conditions. For this reason, Blue Piccolo matches up favourably to the Namekian style version by taking advantage of all the tools it provides – allies for control, his level 2 power, and anger slowdown from the Blue Mastery. Using Blue Positioning Drill and drawing with his power helps you cycle through cards in your hand that might not be optimal to the match up.

The pure damage output and constant threat of being able to fish out Frieza allows Ginyu of all colours to cramp Namekian Piccolo’s style. Blue tends to be more reliable than others as it has the advantage of slowing down all three victory conditions, where Orange and Black can be vulnerable to an anger victory.

Other decks you may wish to trial against Ginyu are:

• Red Garlic
• Red Tenshinhan

The main takeaway is that while the Big 3 have their advantages, with the right forethought and purposeful playtesting, you can take another deck to provide an element of surprise and counter the meta environment you expect at your next Championship level event. The more chances you give yourself to sit down to favourable match ups, the more chances you have to make Top Cut and receive awesome prizes.

Good luck and game on!

– Trent (@TAKGames_Trent) and Kyp (@justkyp).

Trent continues his regional deck analysis series with Dave’s winning Namekian Piccolo deck from the Victorian regionals.

Dave T’s Namekian Piccolo

All day I was glued to Twitch watching the Victorian Dragon Ball Z Regionals unfold. I was impressed at the meta choice of Namekian Piccolo considering the field. Namekian had strong match ups against a good majority of what was on offer to play so it wasn’t surprising to see three make it to the Top 8.

After watching South Australian players David T. and Matt B. pilot this particular deck, I was interested to see the final list. There are a number of strong choices made in both the cards utilised and the numbers in the deck. Given Matt B’s record in the Score Dragon Ball Z game, it was no surprise to see a multi-victory deck sported by Team South Australia. Having a backup victory condition helps to keep your opponent guessing with the cards they need to keep and how to best utilise them throughout the game.

The thing most people would find surprising is the amount of “1 of” cards in the deck. But such is the nature of Namekian. It can get away with this easily, giving the pilot the choice of cards they need to retrieve with searchers like Namekian Overtime, and selective rejuvenation late game to increase the chances of use. But, the flip side of this also means that should your opponent lock you down on both MPPV and DBV, you’re going to have to grind out the long game if these cards are removed either through Endurance or by other means.

The rest of the deck is fairly standard Namekian Piccolo that we have seen through Set 1 and 2. The block package is fairly standard, except for the choice of Namekian Stance as the second pure energy block. This does help in the match ups like Ginyu and other more aggressive decks, obviously to help protect your anger and Dragon Balls.

One setup present in the deck that I haven’t seen a lot of players use is Namekian Concentration. Teamed up with Namekian Growth, there is some serious rejuvenation that a lot of beatdown victory decks would find hard to overcome. Since the deck may be a little vulnerable to removal of other win conditions, this helps with the long game. Since Namekian would hardly be an aggressor, passing combat just helps feed Namekian Concentration and adds to the annoyance the deck creates for aggressive builds.

The list is very solid, without being too focused in any one direction. It will be interesting to see if a further tweaked version of this deck is played at Nationals to continue with the Namekian renaissance.

Game on!

– Trent (@TAKGames_Trent).

We are now at the halfway mark through the Australian regionals season, and with Nationals on the horizon, Trent analyses the decks that have won so far in Queensland and Victoria. Both decks showcased the strength of Ginyu and Piccolo against the vast majority of decks making up the metagame down under.

Daine B.’s Black Ginyu

This deck moved through Swiss by the barest of margins, scraping in to 8th spot. From there, Ginyu showed the way he is able to dominate other decks through sheer weight of numbers in actions per combat.

Daine played a very aggressive game in the majority of match-ups. When he was fishing out allies with his level 1 power he would continually go for allies like Jiece to keep the pressure on his opponents. In most matches, this did him little disservice overall, but against Namekian and Blue nabbing Frieza or Nappa might be better tech.

The choices in energy combat cards are very strong. You would have to go a long way to argue about dropping any of these cards. Black Swirl is a card I see too few of in many Black decks and it gives you so much for so little. Being able to deny a potential block, or prevent a crucial card being played against you can be a huge plus. Withering Fire bridges a small gap in Black’s arsenal by providing a way to deal with drills from Orange and Blue.

All in all, the deck is extremely solid. If I could pick one thing I would change about the deck is that it doesn’t have a solid way of levelling on a consistent basis. There are cards like I’ll Dig Your Grave! but sometimes it is not optimal to use the hit effect when the Black style doesn’t deal well with MPPV. With lots of decks being able to generate critical effects, being able to get to Ginyu level 2 is crucial to retaining your board control. I would really like to see the inclusion of Black Overhead Burst for extra anger. How I would fit this in, and my second improvement I would suggest, is reducing circumstantial cards like Black Scout Maneuver and Wall Breaker. Both offer some solid tech, but running three of means that you will be running into these cards more often, and sometimes they can clog up your hand when you’d rather be laying down another heavy attack.

Daine had a great deck choice and piloted it well to the end of a long day.