If I had to name my second favorite character (guess who’s my first), it would have to be Gotenks. That little guy was just the right mix of talk and walk to back it up that I love. And those ghost clones? Hysterical. Not to mention my very first deck after learning this game was Gotenks Red CS. And yes, I actually got up and did the fusion dance each time I fused. I didn’t have many friends. Greetings Dragon Ballers, Didier here with what I hope to be a conjoining of ideas. Having started and wishing to continue my Cyber Crusade, I’ve spent a lot of time playing with Retro’s 2012 Virtual Set. Tapion was simple to build and understand how to play effectively, but other decks take some time to develop and test completely. I’ve sent Fusion Reborn through the gauntlet and the results weren’t good. I gave it my best shot folks and in the end fusion just ran short. Gotenks needs justice. Let’s make him actually be able to back up that smack talk.
Fusion is bad?
Yea it is. Sorry to those seeing Vegito as the ultimate warrior of the series. Fusion rests somewhere between useful gimmick and terrible noob trap. The decks I created that ended up being the best (‘best’ being used lightly) were Gotenks Orange WGS and Vegito Saiyan CS. The Gotenks deck offered two free 9 power stage physicals once fused and only became better with Joint Restraint Drill or some buffs from the mastery active. Of course it used Orange Vegeta’s Assault and select drills like Speaking with the King to combo into Gotenks Fast Action and Raditz Flying Kick. The Vegito deck’s concept was super fun, I just wish ‘fun’ meant good. Its final version probably ended up as the worst deck I’ve ever built as it was crushed whenever fusion was disrupted. Since Vegito stands as the most powerful personality in the game, it would only make sense to play him Saiyan style and utilize free card advantage with attacks that really boost base damage like Saiyan Clothesline, Saiyan Prepared Smash, and Stupendous Strike and double attacks like Saiyan Destiny and Saiyan Hurricane Kick. Too bad being stuck unfused meant praying to get out Goku’s Farewell to have somewhat of a useful base damage.
So what’s the problem with fusion? Where do I begin…
1) You are forced to play South Kai
South Kai isn’t a necessarily bad choice for a Sensei. Lots of decks can make use of first turn allies such as Android 14, Bojack, and some of the more sexy ones. The problem here is twofold. If you want to build a fusion deck (rather than a deck with fusion in it), you must play South Kai. You need to be able to fuse as fast as possible, since that is what you are designing the deck around. Having your fusion buddy out is the first and most important step. First turn South Kai lets you not worry about one piece of this complicated puzzle you have to build to pull fusion off. So instead of drawing into your fusion card and ally, you only need your fusion card. That is of course assuming the ally sticks around long enough. Being that you must play South Kai, you can’t play any of the other great Sensei’s like North Kai or Roshi. That alone puts a big crutch on the deck. Even further, any fusion personality cards have to be included in the Sensei. Adding in HUH??? and You’re Invited, the 5 card limit gets used up quick. Sensei deck only cards are nigh impossible to fit and you can just forget it if you’re trying to pull off a higher level fusion.
2) The “Setup” Combat
‘First turn blow up’ is a term often thrown around in this card game. When you have decks like Broly Saiyan and Bojack Black that can enter on the first turn and take half or more of your life deck away, it’s easy to see the importance of a single combat. One of the huge problems with fusion is ultimately you must be in combat to set fusion up. Other decks that require setup or certain combo cards can usually do this outside of combat (Orange) or have free tutoring abilities (Freestyle). Not true for fusion. You essentially have to dedicate an entire combat to fusing, using several cards (ally/combat/non-combat tutors) to get the correct combination in play. Know what your opponent is going to be doing phase after phase while you set up? Not sitting idly, that much is true.
3) Easy to counter
It’s bad enough decks that revolve around fusion are already a combat behind. Each phase you spend trying to fuse using cards like Energy Lob and Heroes Lucky Break only gives your opponent more and more opportunities to counter your fusion. And there are so many! Any single card that discards or removes an ally in play just ruins your day. Want to use that Krillin’s Concentration or any of the fusion triggers? Majin Buu’s Fury has something to say about that. Getting Aura Clashed makes fusion permanently impossible. City in Turmoil takes the deck from having a ~41% chance to draw into a Fusion Reborn or tutor each turn to a ~13% chance. Being forced into South Kai, that 5 card limit lets Red style decks use a single Red Aerial Force offering a 60-80% chance to shatter your world. The problem is the same that Earth Spirit Bomb has. Take one piece of the puzzle away and it all crumbles kind of quickly. If I’m entering into my setup combat to fuse and I get disrupted, this just prolongs my deck from being effective. It makes the next combat a setup combat as well and gives my opponent turn after free turn to crush me. At least Spirit Bomb gets to remove close to the opponent’s entire deck, whereas I’m getting out a personality that makes my energies free. Oh joy.
4) Your deck must revolve around it.
Now I know you can pull off some shenanigans with allies and fusion, just as you can throw fusion into a deck that happens to play both personalities requiring it. These are not the decks I’m talking about. Being currently the only personalities that rival Buu in terms of raw power (Ok, Gohan may have had his day too), you would think they would be useful as the main focus in SOME capacity. Because fusion is so easy to counter, it needs to be done as fast as possible. This means playing pretty much every card that can result in a fusion – about 11 or 12 cards dedicated for this purpose. But what about if your ally gets removed? Better play multiple versions of your fusion mate and Gathering of Heroes just in case. Hey, at least it’s somewhat useful after fusing. But what about if you get Aura Clashed? Should you be playing Supreme Kai’s Ki Push as well? You can see where this is going. So much of the deck ends up being dedicated to make fusion happen that the whole deck becomes clunky. Even if, Shenron help you, you pull the feat that is fusion off, you’re left with all these cards in your deck that have little to no effect.
5) It just isn’t worth it
At the end of the day we wouldn’t be having this discussion if it was worth it. But alas, fusion in its current state just isn’t worth the trouble to build around. Being so easy to counter makes the early turns of the game as stressful as defusing a ticking time bomb. You know the ally hate is coming. When…where…how?? The Gotenks deck was far superior to the Vegito both because Gotenks has better powers than Vegito and Goten has a very useful level one power to sit on if fusion gets trumped. Saying it isn’t worth it doesn’t mean I was never able to fuse however. With Gotenks I fused quite often; about 30-40% of games. Pretty good with all those hoops. The glaring issue is that even when fused it wasn’t like a win was guaranteed. Sure, I felt comfortable sitting on my two free physicals per combat, but just like any deck you don’t always draw the right cards. Especially when a large chunk is dedicated to actually pulling fusion off.
Rise of the Fusion
At this point you should see where I’m going with this. Fusion is just ‘off’ in terms of viability and I am aiming to fix that. My first attempt at reincarnating fusion was, like most everything that pops into my head, extremely radical and overly complicated. My initial thoughts were to rebuild fusion from the ground up, including making it ‘Main Personality only’ and removing the whole ‘Can fuse only with the same personality level’ thing. Knowing myself to be constantly in left field, I saved myself writing a 12 page thesis and humiliation by dropping this idea. Self-awareness FTW.
Retro introducing Fusion Reborn into the game put a good foot forward to making fusion playable. It lessened some of the issues and made it slightly easier. You could draw into this card as the defender and actually fuse. It increased the chances of first turn fusing by being targetable with more tutors; Krillin’s Concentration and Piccolo and Heroes Gather. It even made fusion permanent, which is very much needed when defusing causes your hero to be forever lost. One thing that never settled well with me was that this virtual card basically replaced it’s two predecessors The Fusion Dance and Potara Earrings. There’s really no reason to play a fusion card that is limited in so many ways and has a negative effect attached to it. Knowing that fusion needed a boost and that these cards are nearly unplayable, I see an opportunity here. So let’s start out with some MRPs:
Being forced to play South Kai is the one thing I probably hated the most about playing fusion. It was just so limiting and detrimental to only have 5 cards in your Sensei Deck when at least 1 (your fusion personality) was being taken up already. The obvious choice is to give a fusion card a built in ally tutor. I didn’t want to give this ability to Vegito for three reasons. First, because he is much higher on the chart than Gotenks. Getting him out first turn is scary. Second, Gotenks has more levels than Vegito. If you want to attempt to reach the infamous Gotenks L3 (Crowned the second worse personality in the game), that’s a few more cards gone from your Sensei Deck space. And lastly, Vegito already has a personality that can protect your fusion ally. No reason to buff something needlessly. Gotenks having an all-in-one fusion card allows him to jump over many hurdles that he had before. Not only are other Sensei’s possible to play with, but fusion is safer and smoother when you can let your allies sit in your Life Deck. It goes without question that Gotenks L3 is insanely difficult to reach. This card in no way makes it easy, but rather makes it possible. Build a snazzy Kid Trunks Saiyan MBS or Blue WGS leveling deck with this and he may actually see the light of day.
I knew that giving something this powerful to Gotenks couldn’t come without backlash. This card makes it really easy to fuse, no doubt about that. It needed a negative effect. I ran through a lot of possibilities. Discarding your cards in play, from your hand, etc. The one that made the most sense to me was the one that ended up on the card. If you search for the ally, you must pass in your next phase. Not only does it make sense thematically since The Fusion Dance is complicated to perform, as the East Kai attendees understand, but it also gives the card’s built in timer more impact. Being pitted against Gotenks on turn one is a scary thought. Passing gives your opponent a ‘get out of jail free card’ inside the combat he appears. So it becomes the opponent’s choice; if he’s in a bad place ending combat is as simple as uttering “pass”. Many would agree this game doesn’t last that many turns and some would even argue it lasts two or less. The five turn, or ten declare step, timer on The Fusion Dance really didn’t feel like a restriction. I guess if you were pitted against stasis control it would, but then why are you trying to fuse anyway? Giving your opponent the option to leave combat the first turn you fuse not only kills the momentum you gain by fusing quickly, but also starts the timer at one. Better not mess around Gotenks and finish this battle quickly.
The original Potara Earrings is just laughable in my opinion; at least The Fusion Dance was playable. Not only did you need to place it into play on your turn, have the two fusion partners in play, and use it inside combat but as soon as your opponent used any effect to discard it from play, you immediately defused and could never fuse into that personality again. Way too restrictive. Because of this I feel Potara could use a straight buff and quite a good one. You can use this card at any time: During your Non-Combat step, your opponent’s turn, when entering combat, etc. This card being able to be used at any time will at least get you SOME use out of your fusion hero even if your opponent is holding non-combat hate in his hand. I wanted to be really careful about buffing Vegito too much because I didn’t want to create the next Majin Buu. I feel this card hits the mark as it takes away a bunch of problems for Vegito while still making him fragile. Now instead of filling your deck with Fusion Reborn and Combat tutors you have a choice. The speed of this with its unstableness, the clunky Fusion Reborn with its security, or a combination of both. I mean seriously, how long does it take to put on earrings anyway?
These two MRPs that I’m suggesting are enough to bring fusion up from its pitiful state as a main focus to somewhere closer to where it needs to be. However, I just wouldn’t be me if I left it at that no sir. I would be ecstatic if these two MRPs were adopted, but I just have to take this a step further and have a little fun. This is my first set of virtual cards I’m proposing after all. Have to let a bit of my outlandishness seep out 😉
I never understood why you couldn’t level with fusion personalities. Ok, well actually I did. It would be insane to level jump with anger when fused as Gotenks; all those double attacks and that devastating level three. But as far as the show is concerned, not being able to accomplish this doesn’t make sense. So if I fuse while not a Super Saiyan I cannot transform into a Super Saiyan? Poppycock. This card allows you to do just that with some heavy restrictions. It basically turns anger into a counter for the combat, counting the number of attacks you perform. If you perform five separate attacks (double attacks like Gotenks’ personality powers only count once), you level up! Given that you only have a four card hand and your opponent can still lower your anger, you can see how difficult this will be. It does replenish your hand with a named card like Gotenks Fast Action or Vegito’s Dropkick to make accomplishing 5 anger possible. This card would make the elusive Gotenks L3 even more in reach and Vegito L2 obtainable.
To me it seems like Vegito’s current powers in the game were overcompensating for his insane power level and PUR. Not paying any costs and having your Goku and Vegeta named cards do +3 life cards of damage just screams “play me in Freestyle”. And I would have. That is if the MBS Freestyle Mastery wasn’t totally useless once you completed fusion. If not for this, Vegito’s original power would have been…respectable. Without it stands as a slap in the face. Gotenks boasts two 7 power stage physicals that you have the option to make focused and only gets better from there. What does Vegito have? Discarding the top 7 cards? From the most powerful personality in the game I expected better. I wanted to make him usable in Freestyle. Not because of my undying love for this style, but rather because it’s something Goku and Vegeta have in common. They both have respectable Freestyle decks. Plus giving Vegito some universal power may be too strong when combined with the MRPs above – especially in Saiyan. Vegito, Warrior with Attitude allows for some super cool combos in Freestyle such as actually using the mastery, allowing Vegeta is Lurking to get three Goku, Vegeta, or Vegito cards, and enabling some insane rejuvenation with Vegeta’s Energy Thrust. This power can only be used once per combat so you can’t search out these cards and simultaneously boost them with his power. So the choice becomes use the mastery or draw into cards that can take advantage of him. It also doesn’t work with the removed from game pile, limiting your rejuvenation and not allowing you to shuffle all your Energy Thrusts back in with Goku’s Relentless Spirit.
With how hard it is to reach a higher level fusion, you should be rewarded. Don’t get me wrong; discarding the top 7 cards is certainly better than his level one. Free unmitigated damage. However it just doesn’t hit hard enough with how difficult it is to reach. Gotenks L3 may be unattainable, but at least if you get there your opponent will be crying. Vegito, Rivals United packs one big punch just like he does in the show. Being flat damage does tone it down a tad, but it still stands as easily being able to do 10, 20, or even 30 damage in a single blow. I think something that powerful is justified since Super Vegito was able to rip Majin Buu into shreds without breaking a sweat. This card compliments Warrior with Attitude by getting boosted from all the cards you can’t effect with his power and gives Vegito the attack he always wished to have.
So there you have it, my first attempt at my own virtual set. Fusion has the potential to be a large part of the game just as it was in the show. It offers a unique flavor and method of play different from traditional beatdown and would give Goten and Kid Trunks more presence in the game. I tried hard not to push the envelope too far and always kept the essence of the show and how my fusion decks played during testing in mind. Until next time. I may have a few more tricks up this sleeve. 🙂
Great article! +1
I can dig it. Gotenks is one of my favorite characters in the show and fusion just fell so flat in the game. I would vote to see these changes made, but while we’re on the topic, I think a fat/skinny Gotenks should get personality levels, for comedic effect 😀
i feel the same way about Fat/skinny gotenks i made a failed fusion card and their personality cards but fusion was still a little week
It’s really a cute idea to say the least. I wouldn’t even know where to begin, as I would say you would want these guys to support very narrow arch types rather than be a weaker version of Gotenks.
The fat Gotenks got exhausted after doing anything, maybe you could play off that and have a way for him to drop power stages so allies can take over (ally decks already have a couple of tools that you could use for fusion). There would need to be a bit more to his power obviously. It might be a little wierd though, Gotenks doesn’t come off as someone who should work well with allies.
He definitely doesn’t. He seems like a character who would father right alone. More flashy that way. But I love your idea for lowering stages since he got exhausted due to his overweight self. Hilariously accurate.
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of any of the Virtual Set Except the Personalities. While some of them would be really cool, I think it has that whole “If we only had a card like this, we could make any deck OP” feel to it. I will say that I love the fact that Virtual Personalities like Recoome and King Piccolo were created and even some re-creates of Vegeta and others… Those are the characters we wish to see, but I don’t think everyone wants to see OP decks with cards that were never cannon in the first place. But that’s a guy with an opinion and nothing more 🙂
That’s also why I never liked GT lol most of those cards seem OP in just the same fashion 🙂
It’s very true that GT was OP when you compare it to Z. All the cards in that game were inflated in everything. But at the same time, GTs ‘OPness’ is the reason these virtual sets are so great. It would have been impossible to balance Expanded with respect to the old personalities and deck arch types. Especially when you talk about something like fusion; these personalities didn’t exist in GT. The virtual sets are tying up the many loose ends in Z. The bar has already been set by KBS so it’s not ‘over’ powered if you’re just bringing things up to that level. Right now in Retro’s format, Zarbon, Meta Cooler, Frieza, Videl, and many others are all fairing better than fusion. But hey, that’s just another guy with an opinion and not much more 😀
I agree the virtual cards have made a lot of weak characters playable, not to say that there wasn’t a card or two that I thought didn’t need to be made. Plus dbz is still alive with the new movie as well as characters who never had a chance to see play because the game ended.
You raise a good point, Didier. I suppose I can see how they’re trying to bring about balance in a way that’d still be somewhat fair. I suppose my point of view was that by making a lot of these virtual cards, it would help specific types become even stronger against others while leaving weak types still weak. In the Fusion case… never saw it very playable, so maybe it did need help after all. I appreciate your article and comment making me see the balance side of it, too and not just the ‘OPness’. 🙂 I will say that I am happy people still care about this game to make attempts at making it better, even if they happen to make somethings OP in the process.
Wait… Black Bojack can blow you up on turn one? Would somebody explain how?
By getting all his allies out first turn and doing 7-8 attacks.
Broly can also do it more reliably by getting to level 3 first turn and doing about 10-12 attacks.
They can both deal 85 life first turn. Broly about 60% of the time.
So where were you when I was looking for help making a new set?
Probably somewhere I didn’t want to be doing something I didn’t want to do :/
Do you guys know How do you put up a post on here? Or post pictures?
glad that after 14 years of me telling you fusion just wasn’t gonna work you finally listened to me (and wrote this article)…good article, solid points…glad that warrior is spelled right and that vegito has a constant combat power…inside jokes rule…and personally I would like to see more den-goku and hercule-goku decks at gencon imo
Hey now, if we were keeping score in the game of ‘proving Ryan wrong’, I think I would be winning. Most times I have an idea the first words out of your mouth are how obscene or terrible it is lol. But yea, I’ll give you this one. You have to admit the Gotenks deck wasn’t THAT bad. It won a bunch of games. It was just very inconsistent and clunky.
I actually have some neat ideas for a remade Den-goku and Hercule-goku personalities. But similarly to what I said about Fat/skinny Gotenks, they fill very niche roles that I would want to test before pitching them.
14 years? Game had just come out, and fusion hadn’t even hit the US yet! =P
See how easy this game is? I tell ya.
alright Geoff…dda’s the math-i-magician and i’m the grammar expert…you’re right we haven’t even known each other for 14 years let alone played the game together…whont whont
*Grammar expert*
*Doesn’t capitalize “I”*
Good show, ole bean~