In the Retro Dragon Ball Z CCG, it was several sets before we saw a card that could level both yourself and your opponent in the Cell Games Saga with Aura Clash. While it didn’t bring about a radical change or reach staple level, it certainly had an impact in the game and at the very least gave rise to Winter Countryside as your location in most any deck that used non-combat cards. In the new Panini America release, we get an Aura Clash type card in set one, but will it have as much of an impact or will it be used in a completely different way than it’s spiritual predecessor. With IT’S OVER 9000! will you be beating your rivals or just a dead horse?
So obviously this card is a lot more conditional than Aura Clash so it’s certainly not going to be making its way into any Expanded Retro PanZ decks, but how will it fit in the regular PanZ environment? Right off the bat, it won’t do much against an opponent on Level One unless they’re Frieza, Trunks, Super Saiyan God Goku or Captain Ginyu, or at their highest power stage as Goku or Vegeta. A slim pool of characters where use is at least somewhat reliable.
Further, there are going to be two styles that you’ll need to be extremely careful and calculated when using this card against: the Red Style, for obvious reasons, and the Namekian Style, since the only way to use this card against that style will be to send your opponent up to Level 3 or Level 4. So with all the pitfalls of this card, what’re the advantages?
Unlike Aura Clash in Retro DBZ, IT’S OVER 9000! is used more on offense than defense. From what we’ve seen so far, sitting on a lower level doesn’t seem to be very advantageous and, unlike in Retro DBZ, advancing a personality level usually unlocks a more powerful character. IT’S OVER 9000! is going to be more of either an equalizer to keep your main competitive or a quick jump for a raucous beat. Like when your opponent’s leveling up is imminent (like one anger away imminent), to make sure you don’t fall too far behind your opponent’s personality, you want to access a stronger power to go for the kill or you desperately need some stages to throw energy and stronger physical beats.
I’ve talked before about how Trunks is a decent personality but might need a little help leveling up and from what we’ve seen of the Black Style, it may just need a boost to jump your anger (and at worse you can discard IT’s OVER 9000! to your Black Devious Mastery to banish two cards in your opponent’s discard pile). It might even seem counter intuitive, but you could also pack some IT’s OVER 9000! in the Red Style to focus solely on beats, as well as conveniently being able to toss any unneeded copies away with your Red Enraged Mastery effect.
So… IT’S OVER 9000!… What do you think? Worth the space? A staple to certain decks? Just plain garbage?
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Later, BroZ
