I know I talk about it a bunch, but I genuinely take a lot of pride in essentially inventing one of the game’s final Ultra Rare cards, Earth’s Spirit Bomb. When we first arrived for Kid Buu Saga playtesting, ESB was very different than the card it is today. Those funny non-Tokui Waza drills in the set, like Orange Discharge Drill and Saiyan Aggression Drill, were actually the condition needed to access ESB. You needed to have a drill of every style in play, and then you could pull it from your Sensei Deck and smash your opponent.
What I disliked about this was how it had nothing to do with allies. I’m a big fan of making cards match flavor (in any license – this was one of the things I loved about VS System), so I petitioned Chippy and the gang for a change. They had me propose the card, and they accepted it! We added in the fact that the allies get removed after the effect triggers in order to prevent abuse, as well as to symbolize their lack of energy after the Bomb.
Sadly, like many cards in Kid Buu Saga, there was no environment for them to ever shine, as Dragon Ball GT and its infamous power creep came out less than a year later and changed the rules, and the metagame, extensively.
This is a fun deck that I’ve put together while preparing for Gen Con. It’s not bulletproof, but it allows for a true ‘triple-victory’ environment while unlocking one of the coolest, and unused cards in the game.
Your strategy is simple: activate EDQ while building a control board with Allies. Either win by Dragon Ball victory or crush your opponent with Allies and/or Spirit Bomb.
Some things to keep in mind:
-Your allies/drills will get discarded and/or removed by your opponent’s cards. This is not an Orange SWK deck. It’s okay, as Black offers the best control in the game without needing a board. Also, there are tons of ways to get your stuff back from the discard pile.
-You need to be flexible on how you are going to win the game. Your strategy can get blown up by one bad combat, or an untimely tech card like Caught Off Guard Drill/Cell’s Presence. The nature of Dragon Balls really helps here, as you can always eke out a victory, even with a slim life deck.
-Don’t be afraid to enter combat. One mistake a lot of rookie control players make is not wanting to enter combat, because their deck ‘feels better’ when you’re shutting down your opponent’s initiatives. Not only can you enter combat, wreck up their random hand, and do some control work (EDQ, Ally searching, etc), but you have the ability to do some serious damage with cards like Black Physical Focus.
-Please provide input. This deck is far from perfect (I for one never played Hero Ally of any type) so please speak up. I’m very curious to hear your input.
Sensei Deck:
–Black Scout Maneuver x2
–Earth’s Spirit Bomb x2
–Black Pivot Kick x2
Dragon Balls:
Namek Dragon Ball 1
Namek Dragon Ball 2
Alt Namek Dragon Ball 3
Alt Namek Dragon Ball 4
Alt Namek Dragon Ball 5
Alt Namek Dragon Ball 6
Alt Namek Dragon Ball 7
Non-Combats
Watching From Afar x3
Black Searching Technique x3
Z Warrior’s Gather x2
Hero’s Lucky Break
The Eternal Dragon’s Quest x2
The Help of Earth x3
Energy Gathering x2
Releasing The Sword
Hercule’s Dream Sequence x2
Drills
Black Smoothness Drill x2
Caught Off Guard Drill x2
Black Mischievous Drill
Combat
Confrontation x3
Trunks Energy Sphere x3
Pure Defense
Stop! x3
The Power of the Dragon
Super Saiyan Effect
Dazed
Land In Pain x2
Gathering of Heroes x3
Attacks
Black Body Destruction x3
Black Physical Focus x3
Black Face Slap x2
Earth Dragon Ball Capture x3
Energy Lob
Defense
Time Is A Warrior’s Tool
Black Buffer Block x3
Black Recovery x3
Frieza’s Force Bubble
Nappa’s Physical Resistance
Allies
Yamcha, the Friend
Krillin, the Friend
King Kai, Earth’s Mentor
Yajirobe, Retired
Kid Trunks, Teenager
Oolong
Jewel
Personally, I think the deck may benefit more from Black Power Up and Goku’s Quick Save over Stop.
Also, I’d flip out Yamcha for Nail.
Great call on the Yamcha/Nail swap, I forgot Nail even existed.
I like Black Power Up, except it becomes pretty lame once EDQ is activated. Quick Save should definitely be worked in, but perhaps not over Stop! as I do love dropping Stop! post EDQ to run the board for a bit.
Thanks for the input.
On second thought, also flip Krillin the Friend for Krillin the Father. That power is way too good to pass up with a Yajirobe/Oolong engine going.
Actually, the first version of Earth’s Spirit Bomb was “This attack does +X Life Cards of Damage, where X = the Number Of Players In This Tournament”. Buuuut people didn’t like my idea of making a card effect based on the turn-out of a tournament as it could range from puny to it’s own victory condition. And even though I wanted them to test it like a victory condition, nobody ever came over to my side.
So after arguing and losing that battle (I really wish it would have kept original text =p), the Drill idea was put into place. But in hindsight, your Ally idea is much better. =)
Chippy
That card would’ve never been used at a Canadian event lol
Cmon now shane, you know Gamersource woulda ran a Spirit Bomb Deck. And he would have hired random people off the street to enter the tourney just so he could win with 1 attack. – Hawk for the win. – gg.
I’d say use the regular namek ball 7 sense ur not playing cap drill. Just a personal preference for me bc w/ edq u can put it into play whenever u want & possibly get ur ball back from the opponent for game. Also i don’t remember when black weakness drill got baned, I think after baby saga came out, but if it’s legal for the event I’d play it. (actually thinking about playing black for gencon so if it’s legal for the tourney, Lmk thanks) but looks solid other than that.
it should be legal as it wasn’t banned during focused z. also, it’s definitely a preference with ball 7, but I prefer the alt for the ability to shut off masteries that mess with my control game, like Saiyan cs or namekian wgs
but great call on weakness drill…definitely going in
Oh and put in a FA! Lol
I’d throw in a Vic Drill – potential for 1st turn Lob to get ZWG plus it’s great anti-anger.
Also, only 7 Allies, not sure if that is enough. I’d add one or two more. Android 18 from KBS is a good one – Energy for 6.
Lastly, you need some Locations/Battlegrounds. Winter Countryside would probably be your best bet.
not really sure that piccolo sensei is worth it. sure, you can sensei in pivot kicks and scout maneuvers, but i’d much rather have north/south kai’s powers at my disposal. i’m surprised you aren’t maxing out on z warriors gather and energy gathering and i’d probably run a couple more allies just to get the maximum effect out of those ZWGs by the time you draw them. personally i’d be running yajirobe to prevent 1-3 anger victories as well as south kai for krillin the father so if you’re ever at 0 you’d be bringing out a zwg. but perhaps i’m thinking about this deck in more ally-oriented terms as opposed to a triple victory deck. speaking of which, where is the “triple” coming from? you aren’t winning any games by anger :p
not to say i’m not a big fan of this deck, i like it a lot :] one last random note: you could also run it with gohan, using the level 1 buu saga so you don’t have to discard a card for your mastery along with 3x aura clash so if you get yourself to level 2 you can search out physical focus every combat. ahhh, the possibilities!
triple victory:
1) dragon balls
2) beats (with attacks + allies)
3) spirit bomb
…anger would be quadruple victory 🙂
I personally think you should take out Land in Pain for Dimension Scream. It can not be sphered and it stops Namekian Door Explosion. Also, if someone did decide to play Gohan over Roshi, then you could search it out with his lvl 2 power (CS).