So I figure I’ve been to enough events to start contributing to the community too. Fourth is the charm I suppose. After North Kai, Jacob Shrum, Matt Gette, and I talked a fair amount about what we may run at the Cell Games. Jake talked some about going all in, hardcore, in it to win it from now on. Planning on running Red Anger Gohan beats of his own fashion. Gette on the other hand talked running a for fun/trolling Hercule deck. I figured I would bring back Saiyan beats with Goku, or go back to my old mainstay of Broly. I do have a Broly built right now…
Come tourney time, Jake ran Blue Captain Ginyu, Gette ran Trunks Freestyle Sword, I ran Red Tapion Sword. Ummm…. Yeah. Not as planned. I have a Broly, not perfected yet, but likely more consistent than my red Tapion. That said, I don’t know I want to play Broly anymore, and I really enjoy playing Tapion. So after testing an Orange version with less than stellar results, I ran red and found it a lot more reliable for my play. And like my little brother, I ran with my personal project over what seemed the more likely win. So without further ado:
Tapion lvl 1-4
Red Style Mastery (Trunks Saga)
North Kai Sensei
You’re Invited
Energy Lob
Straining Jump Kick Move
Kid Buu’s Prepped Crash
Vegeta’s Protective Aura
Gohan’s Kick
Red Mouth Cannon
Red Sniping Shot
Huh???
Just Saiyan x2
Black Scout Maneuver x2
Non-Combat/Drills: 10
Vegeta’s Quickness Drill
Champion Drill
Victorious Drill
Tapion’s Swordplay Drill x2
Gohan’s Swordplay Drill x3
The Sword of Trunks x2
Battleground: 3
Tree of Might x3
Combat: 11
Super Saiyan Effect
Hercule’s Amazing Techniques x3
Trunks Energy Sphere x3
Stop! X2
Pure Defense
Dazed
Physical Attacks: 34
Sword cards: 21
Gohan’s Sword Thrust x3
Trunks Sword Slice X3
Gohan’s Sword Sweep x3
Gohan’s Sword Slash x3
Focused Sword Strike x3
King Cold’s Sword Trick x3
Red Sword Cleave x3
Not Swords: 13
Gohan’s Kick x2
Red Axe Heel Kick x3
Red Whiplash
Vegeta’s Protective Aura x2
Red Overbearing Attack x3
Red Face Slap x2
Energy Attacks: 3
Red Left Bolt x3
Physical Blocks: 6
Nappa’s Physical Resistance
Vegeta’s Physical Stance
Gohan’s Elbow Block x2
Tien’s Block x2
Energy Blocks: 5
Nappa’s Energy Aura
Goku’s Running Defense
Red Rapid Deflection
Red Energy Defensive Stance x2
Omni Blocks: 4
Goku’s Flight x3
Time is a Warrior’s Tool
82 Card Total
76 Card Life Deck
So the deck itself is admittedly a little bigger than I’d like for it. I want to drop some non-sword attacks, but I really could use the double anger cards and the extra red cards for mastery anger. Especially once I’m stuck on level 2 Tapion. Gotta get outta that fast! Also found in the games I played that the Swordplay drills, while extremely useful still, don’t seem as all important for Tapion as they do for Trunks. The layout of the defensive cards also feels a bit all over the place, but that combination has done the best so far. If only Heroic Sword Catch was an omni-block (stop both). *sigh, wink wink* Anyway, how did it play?
1st match Chris: Vinegar Orange MB Mastery Dragon Ball
For the openers, I fought the man whom would achieve second place. I was actually caught off guard by HT Vinegar’s Unstoppable power, but this match was not in his favor. Sword holds up pretty well against ball and I rushed him down. Game ended a little tight, as only one dragon ball was left at the end. The attack before I would have reached level 4 for MPPV victory killed him. This just went my way. Funny enough, talked to Chris again after the tournament, the only people to beat him were Matt Gette, my brother Jacob, and I. Don’t really understand it myself, guessing it is just the way we smell. 1-0
2nd match Kevin: Jenemba Blue MB Mastery Beatdown
This likely ended being my favorite game as we ended up being extremely evenly matched; more than I would have thought. This is a game that honestly one card decided, Blue Head Charge. Yeah, I know, right? He locked me at zero anger twice with that card. One combat, he hit me with that, then I hit him with Red Face Slap, and we just stopped as we really couldn’t do much of anything. Tapion’s Swordplay drill held him from getting is best plays for a while, but he kept me from reaching level 4. He beat me and we agreed Blue Head Charge was MVP. I’d have hit level five+ by the time he had killed me without it. Really fun back and forth game. Next time I’ll sensei the Black Scouts for Head Charge. 1-1
3rd Match Jordan: Broly Saiyan CS Mastery Beatdown
I have a Broly deck. Broly is likely the character I have played the longest in this game in some form or another. I came into this match with a strong sense of how it would play. I was wrong. Not only did this deck run 1-5, it had a very strong energy presence, so I didn’t keep the right kinds of blocks. He got a turn 1 or 2 Saiyan Brace into Saiyan Truce that didn’t quite kill me, but gave him a substantial lead. I made a pretty good comeback reaching level 4 and taking half of his deck back, but it just wasn’t enough to make up the difference. This loss hurt some cause I felt my deck could win it, but it didn’t go my way. Jordan made good plays and took me out. 1-2
4th Match Korey: Future Gohan Namekian WGS Mastery Beatdown
I’ve been to three tourneys prior, played Korey at two of them; he’s beaten me both times. But this time, I had a hugely favorable match-up. Anger just eats Namekian. The one time he would have really gotten momentum on me, I played Stop! and just got out. Once I reached three and 4 anger, he hit me Straining Jump Kick Move to lose on his own terms. I respect it. Really though, everything just went smoothly for me and yeah. Not a whole lot to be done about it. 2-2
5th Match Trent: Android 19 Orange CS Mastery Energy Beats
This was the round Jake and Gette were assigned to fight. I wanted to watch that. In my infinite wisdom(read: idiocy) I thought my 2-2 wasn’t top cut eligible. So I played like a rushed, blind, idiot for most of this match. On top of that, Trent’s deck was a HUGE counter pick to mine, so all my mistakes cost me dearly. We both made some bad calls, but his weren’t nearly as detrimental or as numerous as mine were. MPPV was a very viable option for me to win with, but I entered fights with no energy defense or North Kai activation which completely shut me down. I got myself stuck at level 2 for the loss. Kicking myself for this one still, but a very well put together deck that ate me (and the other sword deck) alive. Good stuff. 2-3
And that was my run at The Cell Games. In retrospect, went a lot better than I thought. Tapion actually held his own and only one of the games I lost ended up being one sided. Got some cool ideas and I’m looking forward to next time. Of course, thank you to everyone who ran the event. You’ve been cool to us every time we’ve met and I’ve been very glad to have seen you all again.
As for me, I think I’ll keep experimenting with Tapion. While I still feel the best sword is easily Trunks the Weaponmaster freestyle, and Tapion could use a little love (I have some ideas, but level 2 something new would be fantastic at the least), he can do well. This may end up being my character project. So I’ve done Orange and Red, next time you may see Tapion Blue or Black on the field! Until then.
