My predictions of how fun this weekend was going to be were right on the money. I didn’t end up making it to the Drunk Panel due to playing Krillin in the Tuff Enuff tournament (which I was told afterwards I was very, very happy about), but I top cutted in both Retro tournaments, recorded a player interview, played a bunch of Smash and Munchkin, and spent a lot of time with the character I love: Vegeta. Greetings Dragon Ballers, Didier here with my Gen Con 2013 tournament report. I know why you’re here so let’s get right to it!
Majin Vegeta Saiyan TS Stasis
Main Deck: 71, Total: 78
Majin Vegeta, the Grinch
Vegeta, Settled Down
Vegeta, the Last Prince
Vegeta, Ascendant
Vegeta, the Revitalized
Sayian TS
North Kai
You’re Invited
HUH???
S. Power Beam
S. Strength Blast
S. Ki Ball
Gohan’s Kick x2
Aura Clash x2
Android 17 Smirks
Cell’s Threatening Position
Energy Lob
Gohan’s Power Hit
Attacks
S. Lurch x3
S. Beef x3
S. Heads Up x3
S. Acute Rapid Slam x3
World Champion Punch x3
S. Youth Bruise x3
S. Destiny x3
S. Hurricane Kick x3
S. Dashing Kick x3
S. Cross Punch x3
S. Face Jab x2
S. Concentrated Blast x3
Goku’s Power Strike x3
Majin Buu’s Chokehold x3
Gohan’s Power Hit x2
Blocks
S. Perfect Defense
S. Planet Explosion x2
S. Stop x2
S. Brace x2
S. Wrist Block x3
Utility
S. Truce
Majin Lightning Hit x3
Hercules Amazing Techniques x3
Battleground
Cell’s Arena x3
Non-Combats
Victorious Drill
S. Jeering Drill x3
S. Aggression Drill x2
S. Lunar Drill
Momentum
This deck is super fun to play but painstakingly frustrating to play against. At least when it faces beatdown. The idea is to get out S. Jeering Drill or Cell’s Arena as quickly as possible while knocking the opponent’s MP to 0 power stages with a combination of the mastery lowering 4, the 12 focused attacks played (including the semi-unstoppable Power Hit), and Majin Buu’s Chokehold. Lock them at 0 with S. Beef and supplement with S. Concentrated Blast and S. Face Jab if they manage to discard my drills or get out CIT. Majin Vegeta is chosen for the MP as allies really screw the lock up because of redirection of damage. Plus Majin Lightning Hit really makes up for not playing CIT. After you lock, pump out the damage with supplemental drills and big attacks like S. Cross Punch, S. Dashing Kick, and S. Destiny. It was a meta decision to take out Majin Buu’s Fury for Chokehold instead at the last minute. I figured there would be a lot less control/dragon ball than there was and Chokehold not only helped if my attacks were stopped to initiate a lock, but also pushed out WAY more damage than Fury having nearly won me games solely. This deck is SUPER strong against beatdown (especially Broly) but much weaker than traditional Saiyan in the control match up. Because of this, the entire Sensei is dedicated to disrupting control where I am able to Amazing Techniques for Gohan’s Kick, S. Power Beam, or S. Strength Blast if I need. A quick Aura Clash could turn a game in the right match up not only discarding their drills, but also taking me to Settled Down. Other than that, HAT for Energy Lob getting S. Jeering or Momentum proved to be very useful.
After playing this deck in a major tournament, I really don’t regret the decision of removing Fury and would probably leave those out. I would likely drop Clash from the Sensei for Black Water Confusion Drill and a third Kick and trade S. Heads Up in the main deck for S. Cliff Slam. The option of allies or nons with Heads Up is nice, but it does 0 damage and the guaranteed discard is much better against control.
Round 1
Dan O’Brien
Vegeta 1-5 Red TS Anger.
I was slightly worried about this matchup since that L1 would level him regardless of lock and his TS mastery was still usable. I go first, drop Aggression, and pass. He goes and enters on me and opens with West Kai killing my Vic Drill and Aggression. It would’ve been bad if I wasn’t holding Truce, since I drew into a second Aggression and Momentum, but Truced and ended combat. Played the two nons, North Kai’d, entered with Lurch knocking him to 0 getting Jeering and the lock. I beat on him to 4 anger with his power and used Momentum. North Kai a second time, enter and smacked him. He leveled and Axe Heal Kicked fetching a Double Strike, but I followed with HAT for Power Hit, knocking him to 0 and locking with beats for the win.
Win (1-0)
Round 2
Scott Dashy
Broly Triple Victory
This match was so bittersweet. I went first and dropped both Jeering and Aggression and passed. He passed so I entered with North Kai and locked with beats along with a HAT Energy Lob for Momentum to go again. Entered with North Kai and Beef for total lockdown and pounded him that combat. He drops CIT on his turn and passes, but I was holding a Cell’s Arena from last combat just for that. He could have entered on his turn after, but Arena+Jeering+Aggression left him with only 1 power stage and already had him locked. I entered on him with beats, bringing him closer to death. He CITs again on his turn and I curse the stars for I had a second Arena but discarded it at the end of combat. He had to pass so I entered and locked with Concentrated Blast and beat him hard bringing him down to just 9 cards. Thick Broly is thick. He goes, drops Earth 5, then Earth 3, plays the other 5 balls and wins. This was probably the first time in history Broly Saiyan wins without even performing an attack. He was super modest about the win and told me he knew I would be top cutting and hoped he never faced me again. Good show guy, but you’re playing triple victory for a reason and it doesn’t get better than this.
Loss (1-1)
Round 3
Nick Wasinski
Meta Cooler Blue MBS
I was afraid of this matchup to be honest. In playtesting, this deck was 1-2 against my own Meta Cooler since I didn’t main deck Power Beams, Energy Bullets, or CIT. Meta Cooler is a beast if you give him a few turns to set up so I knew I couldn’t let him. I go first and enter, start with Lurch for Jeering, it hits and he gets locked. I also made sure I killed his Vic Drill with Lightning Hit before he got Assimilation out since not only is it cornerstone in Meta, but it’s amazing against lockdown. He was barely was able to gain stages after that with Lurch and Beef, but played two Leg Catches throughout the game allowing two attacks total before getting relocked. I dropped Arena 3rd turn to pump out massive damage. It took 5 combats with burning through his entire LD twice over with his mastery but it was a solid victory.
Win (2-1)
Round 4
Kevin Bock
Baba Black CS
This was a nail biter. I’ve never really played against Baba except once with Ryan’s ‘50 card Baba Speed Mill Spirit Bomb’ (lol) so… really I’ve never played against her. I thought MV would auto win against Baba since I can get around her power but this certainly wasn’t easy. I go first and enter and do a bit of damage. On his turn he grabs and ally and enters with Oh ho poi poi to jump to L2. I do some damage but he keeps me in check with his mastery and Black Body. I put on pressure with North Kai and continuously enter after he blows all his ally milling. He clashes us later bringing him to L3 and me to L2 and taking away my shuffle power. Dammit. I’m not sure which was worse, only netting 1 ally a turn and taking a focused energy or making ⅓ of your deck blank. He starts dropping massive allies and milling on me and catches up in damage fast while keeping me in check with his mastery and some stop alls. Late game he Earth 7’s to end combat after a HAT Ki Ball from the Sensei, allowing me to later snag it placing Threatening Position on top. I enter and start with Threatening bringing him to L1 and severely slowing his mill. I catch up in damage and with 12 LCs left I enter with HAT for Gohan’s Kick for the win. Close match and a great game.
Win (3-1)
Round 5
Eric Goodhue
Broly 1-5 Saiyan CS
He goes first and passes and I drop Aggression and pass. He enters with Broly’s Might. I hit Lurch for lock with Jeering, Choke hold, double Dashing Kick for 14 twice, and my power takes close to half his LD away. Next turn I enter with North Kai but he stops all my attacks, follows with A17 Smirks, and does some damage hitting 4 anger. He goes and passes. Next I enter with Lurch for another Jeering for the lock but he Braces it to L2. Hits me for more damage and stops all my physicals. Next combat he gets locked and beat down. He gets some power stages and stops all my physical attacks, but Lunar Drill and Aggression boosted my power and hit for 4 ps around his stop all for the lock. I push out the final bit of damage to end the game. Good clean win.
Win (4-1)
Round 6
Darryl Fisher
Baba Black CS
I was afraid of this one cause his friend did so well against me, but World Champ Punch means for the rest of the game my damage is all removed. I managed to put a lot of pressure with Lunar and Aggression drill along with Majin Lightning Hit. Add in that he never drew Oh ho poi poi or Clash and was stuck on L1, he was forced to enter on me on his turns to even hope on doing any damage. This hurt doubly as it allowed me to then enter on him with no allies in play. Solid victory with less than half of my LD remaining with baba sustaining her damage on me.
Win (5-1)
Top cut, Top 16
Shaun Hindman
Trunks Orange MBS EDQ Namek Ball
His bare Bama’ chest confused and distracted me so I never Sensei’d in HUH??? against him. I went first and put amazing early aggression on him. Took him two passes for him to finally drop an Orange drill, but I was coveting my North Kai for that moment. An early Lightning Hit snagged his only Orange Drill, Fatherly, and Vic Drill. He managed to stall a few turns with Unlocked Potential on his L4 (all physical do 1 ps) and Super Saiyan Effect. I’m not sure if he was able to even EDQ in this game as the hurt was laid on him and fast.
Win
Top cut, Top 8
Bill Skreiner
Goku Orange MBS Dende Ball
Such a close match. Putting early aggression on him with North Kai was effective much like with the last Orange MBS. Lightning Hit killed WTLTH early, so I thought the game was sealed. I was saving my North Kai as much as I could, but he drew into his last Brothers in Training for an Orange drill to start his set up earlier than I wanted him to. Once he COGD’d HUH??? he started laying down the balls and locking with drills. Dende 7 gets back WTLTH. His deck was thinning and the game was his with that card out. I drew into 2 HATs and knew this was my shot. I had two options: Kick and then Power Beam or Power Beam then Lob for HUH???. I chose the former and Kicked off combat. The last combat consisted of us trading Dende 3 back and forth after my Kick, Power Beam, and Smirks removing his 10 drills when he started pounding me with energies. With WTLTH in play, it didn’t matter that I had a 10 card hand when he only had Dragon Balls. Came down to the wire but couldn’t pull it out.
Loss
Props:
Freestyle for winning Gen Con. Woo!
Zach for playing with Meta Cooler.
Bill for playing alternate win conditions like OVA, Farewell, and beats. Loved it.
Bama’ boy for having a nemesis.
Team Baba for giving me a Baba lesson.
Orange Hat Guy for the Gutter Wallop. Last one I needed!
Joey D. for the Krillin Freestyle advice.
Slops:
My car breaking down.
Serious thanks to all the Retro guys for throwing the tournament and generally making everything possible. Just like last year I’ve already decided on what I’m playing next year. I think me and Geoff have a similar play style 😉
Just curious why Vegeta 5 over Majin Vegeta 5? I know he has more stages and his attack does 2 more damage, but MV can potentially hit harder and has a higher PL. Don’t have the chart on me to see how often it’s a higher bracket, but still. Not that it’d really matter that much.
To be honest, past the L2 and L3 I didn’t really look into the options of Majin Vegeta too much since literally the only situation this would have helped them in is if I was being Apocalyptic Battle’d up there. Looking at it, MV 5 is far superior. Not only is he always an E (Vegeta drops to D at like 10 above) but he also reaches the F bracket.
Didier, like I told you during our match – I knew that you would top (after 10+ years of playing this game, I knew that a deck like yours and a player of your skill level is pretty much guaranteed). I wouldn’t have been surprised if you won the whole event. Your deck is *that* kind of deck; it has potential to be too broken. I am glad I played in this Gencon event because I saw some tech that I plan on using next year. Good job to you (and thank you for overkilling me in tuff enuff)!
Here’s to hoping the Virtual Set 2014 has some good tech!!!
Yea if you’re not playing a lot of allies, tons of stage gain/physical blocks (here’s looking at you, A19 Orange), or Ball victory this deck is a mountain of an obstacle. You were actually the first Broly deck to ever beat this deck. I think I was 6-0 against Ryan’s with most matches being a slaughter. That 2 PUR and being in B is just devastating, especially since you build your deck based on you leveling.
You got me all excited when you started saying “T.K.O.” over and over, but then had to snatch it away lolol.
Excellent deck! Vegeta/Majin Vegeta is my favorite personality, too! Sounds like this deck was a lot of fun and I’m glad to see it do so well!
Back in the day I ran a Cell Saiyan Deck based off the Cell’s Arena lock. Unfortunately at the time cards like Saiyan Beef or Jeering drill weren’t available so I had to settle with the likes of Vinegar’s Revenge and Straining Ankle Smash. Ally wasn’t as heavily played back then as it is now. Pretty cool too see a modern version of the deck archetype.
One card I ran because I couldn’t run City in Turmoil was Knockout Drill. Not sure how it would do in the Retro meta, but back in the day it allowed me to effectively prevent a Ball player from using a good portion of their noncombats.
I want to make a variant of this deck that uses Nappa.
PLEASE restrict Krillin’s Concentration… why the [expletive] is this card at 3?!
LOL
Ive had krillins con on the watch list for awhile. Next time we do any updates to the crd ill take a look at it.
But….but…Krillin Freestyle 🙁
I stared at him for hours debating on running him. Beef is just SO devastating in this deck that he would most definitely be a strong alternative even with ally problems.
Great report, Didier. It sounds like you were very close to pulling it out there at the end of your top 8 match but just couldn’t pull through with WTLTH keeping you in check. That’s a very innovative deck and I appreciate you sharing the list. I’d really like to give it a whirl to see how it handles. I unfortunately couldn’t make it but it’s awesome to see how much diversity is in the current meta with a healthy blend of virtual cards bursting on the scene. After testing out Blue Cooler in my own group I am surprised it didn’t make a deeper run. It’s a very formidable deck. Was it not represented in numbers or did it simply get caught too often with an early Clash, Straining Jump Kick, CIT, etc to make it deep in the tournament? I could see it struggling to get past the lock you deck presented as you mentioned, Didier. But against the meta as a whole I just thought it would do much better. Overhyped?
I think I’ll take the blame for over hyping that deck. I get too excited about things a lot and let it seep out (“I’m playing Krillin!”).
But yes, it is no where near bad. Zach did well with Meta Cooler in the tournament pulling 3-3. His losses were against two Baba decks and one Non-TW Yajirobe ally. Blue just struggles against control/ally as a style since its only options for tech are physicals that do 0 damage or blocks. Its other problems (Clash, CIT, Prepped Crash, Power Beam) are actually able to be dealt with. I’ll probably do a write up on him soon.
Losing to Baba for 2 of his losses is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. Blue Betrayal essentially does nothing against Baba and having an army of meat shields to plow through isn’t exactly a walk in the park for Cooler. Clash and CIT were already major concerns for the deck but Winter Countryside always seemed to be a card for me that I could sit on fairly successfully to counter. Prepped Crash I could see as being problematic also but you still have a small window to answer to your discard pile removal but all of those things CAN happen quickly if you draw into the right counters and that’s all that matters. Once your board is mopped up that’s that. How much ally hate was being pumped in to your final lists for Cooler Blue? Blue Betrayal being one of Blue’s best and only removal cards is unfortunate but I could still see some colorless tech being thrown around to work. Gohan Spots the Imposter Drill almost fixes that problem by itself early on no?
Oh yea Spots the Impostor would certainly decimate any ally based deck. That is if you can get it out in time. Past Betrayal there’s Trapped Strike which is okay without Balls and the rest is blocks. Not much to choose from and freestyle cards are a double edged sword with Blue.
Majin Buu’s Stomach Throw is good against Baba if you can get it to land. Still don’t understand why they made Oh Hoi Hoi Hoi Poi recycle itself as it helps to further prevent any ally lockdown/ally stasis and Baba is already on auto pilot.
Stomach throw would only be useful if you can put it on bandages. Otherwise its a waste of time.
orange a19 rapes this deck 4/5 times lol…then again it auto-loses to baba so…