About The Deck
I have never played Saiyan in any sanctioned event before, both standard and TE. I did know Broly was probably the most powerful choice, especially with Broly, The Electrified. So, I cobbled together a proto-version of this deck on OCTGN and was fortunate enough to playtest a few games. I definitely wanted to keep it endurance and regeneration focused, so I opted for the once-per-game Level 4. I did add some lower-tier attacks that have high endurance. You might say it’s a waste of a card slot, but when you discard a vanilla attack like Saiyan Direct Strike, it’s almost a no-brainer to remove it for its monster endurance.
After a game of playtesting vs. Josh Merckle right after arriving at Gencon, I realized I needed more physical defense in this deck. The original version did not run Saiyan Sweeping Defense or Saiyan Wrist Block, and had more energy blocks and locations. Josh recommended those cards and I made the cuts (Saiyan Push for Saiyan Sweeping Strike, City in Turmoil for Saiyan Wrist Block). The changes paid off, increased my Styled card count and let me attack more comfortably. It also helped remove even more of the ‘glass cannon’ reputation that Broly has.
Broly Lv. 1 (MBS)
Broly, The Electrified Lv. 2 (KBS)
Broly, Super Saiyan Lv. 3 (MBS)
Broly, the Legendary Saiyan Lv. 4 (MBS)
Broly, The Unstoppable Lv. 5 (MBS)
Saiyan Style Mastery (CS)
North Kai Sensei
You’re Invited
Saiyan Headshot
Super Saiyan Effect
Stunned x2
Trunks Swiftly Moving x3
Saiyan Planet Explosion x2
Are You Tuff Enuff??? X3
Saiyan Hand Swipe x3
Saiyan Stop x3
Saiyan Brace x3
Time Is A Warrior’s Tool
Saiyan Perfect Defense
Saiyan Sweeping Defense x3
Saiyan Wrist Block x3
Saiyan Direct Strike x3
Saiyan Broly Smash x4
Saiyan Gut Kick x3
Last Ditch Effort x3
Saiyan Desperation x3
Saiyan Youth Bruise x3
Saiyan Ki Ball x2
Saiyan Power Beam x3
Saiyan Strength Blast x2
Saiyan Dashing Kick x3
Saiyan Energy Bullet x3
Saiyan Acute Rapid Slam x3
Saiyan Beef x3
Majin Buu’s Fury x3
Gohan’s Kick x3
Cosmic Ascension x3
Saiyan Escape x3
Saiyan Destiny x3
Saiyan Truce Card
Android 18’s Stare Down x3
Earth Dragon Ball 5
Alt. Earth Dragon Ball 3
The Tournament
Round 1 – Broly Saiyan CS (Josh Merckle)
Josh was running a slimmer Broly deck, with the aggressive level 4. I knew I needed to make use of the new defense cards I added. However, he got off a huge combat early in the game and ended it with Kid Buu’s Prepped Crash. This decimated me, since I was not removing some of the better attacks with endurance as I was taking damage. I learned my lesson though, and came back the next combat and hit him with some big attacks. We kept trading hits back and forth but in the end his smaller card count was his undoing.
Round 2 – Future Gohan Saiyan TS
I sensei’ed out both my Dragon Balls here, which was really annoying considering I got all 3 gut kicks in the first 2 turns. I was able to use them to draw blocks, and was ready to go in for the kill with a Saiyan Truce Card + You’re Invited combo. My opponent drew a City In Turmoil to play that turn, and ended that threat. However, I still had Truce on, and defeated him next combat with a Saiyan Energy Bullet-powered slaughter.
Round 3 – Krillin Freestyle MBS
Finally, a chance to use Stunned! I entered turn 1, not thinking to need to use North Kai, but he drew a Krillin named card and used it to get Krillin’s Surprise from his deck. He also connected with a Krillin’s Solar Flare, letting him get some good hits on me with his hand and level 2 HT power. I was able to fight back hard, though, and we used Aura Clash/Are You Tuff Enuff to get our characters to their higher levels. He opted to use a Krillin’s Face Slap BEFORE we went to Level 3, so luckily he had no named cards in his discard pile for the beefy Krillin, The Great. I ended the game that turn with a very lopsided beatdown session.
Round 4 – Baba Black CS (Darryl Fisher)
I was not very optimistic about this matchup. Sensei’ed in Are You Tuff Enuff??? which was a mistake in hindsight, but did not really cost me much as my sensei was all blocks. I did what I could, but Darryl is a smart player and even though his Land In Pain whiffed (no battlegrounds), he was able to analyze my deck and work his way to a “mill your entire deck” turn when I got him down to about 20 life.
Round 5 – Baba Black CS (Kevin Bock)
I was feeling only slightly better about this matchup, simply because Kevin admitted he forgot Black Scout Maneuvers in his TE deck. Whoops! I had a slightly better handle on things after facing a Baba deck already, and got much more aggressive around using You’re Invited and searching out cards like Saiyan Ki Ball and Saiyan Acute Rapid Slam. A couple of hot draws and I crushed his life deck – but could not pull off an overkill that I desperately wanted. It would’ve been very good for me to not have to face Baba again in top cut.
Top 8 – Broly Saiyan CS (Josh Merckle)
I was not happy about having to play my friend again, and so early in Top Cut. Josh and I had played in the finals of both last year’s Gencon and this year’s East Kai event. Knowing that he was packing those Prepped Crashes really helped, and I used endurance every single time I could early in the game. I drew extremely hot with Alt Dragon Ball 3 and leveraged a strong first turn + North Kai Sensei to put him in too big of a hole to climb out.
Top 4 – Baba Black CS (Kevin Bock)
Here we go again. Fortunately the match went even better than the previous one, and I won it in 2 combats. Overkill, too!
Finals – Black Baba CS (Darryl Fisher)
By this point I had figured out that winning the die roll was really important, since I had lost it to Darryl in Swiss and won it against Kevin both times we played – and my Win/Loss record matched those die rolls perfectly. When I lost the die roll, I thought that was the deciding factor for the finals, but I managed to work around some early control attempts and pull off a monster combat with Gohan’s Kick and Saiyan Energy Bullet. I figured, even if I couldn’t kill him that turn, Energy Bullet would be enough to put him in an unrecoverable position. Much to my surprise, I was able to output enough damage to win the game and the tournament.
The Verdict
I’m very happy with how the deck performed, especially with such an inexperienced Saiyan player at the helm. I would’ve liked to get more overkills, but it’s harder than it seems with all the endurance running around these days. Cosmic Ascension is an amazing card and major props to RetroDBZ for putting it out for Tuff Enuff.
What would you guys cut for Broly’s Might? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Congratulations on the hard fought win.
I make Saiyan decks all the time (easily one of my favorite types) and I must say, it looks pretty solid. Also, Saiyan Direct Strike is one of my favorite cards! It may not look like much, but it’s a pretty decent physical attack and the Endurance is worth it.
Oh, and since you’re running Broly, I personally wouldn’t remove it unless you have a better 6 LC Energy Combat with a better secondary effect in mind… lol 🙂
I’d recommend dropping the Escapes because there are usually other cards your combos will prompt you to play first and one of the Ascensions because, while it got a nod, it wasn’t a keystone to victory in any of you round breakdowns.
Yea but I think the big thing about this deck is taking advantage of the format (no Dball/MPPV), Broly’s general powerful combos and combats, and endurance/last ditch effort. Escapes aren’t amazing, but they have like 3-5 endurance. I’d love to know how many clutch last ditch efforts you pulled off DBM.
Also with all the endurance, why no Neckbreaker?
I pulled off a couple, nothing was clutch. Honestly none of my games were very close. Neckbreaker’s effect is just not that good. Maybe if it had more endurance on it’s own it would be worth an inclusion, but the combination of a tricky to use effect and low endurance didn’t really get it into the list.
Hey Guys, I have a questions and I didn’t now where to post it, so I’ll post it here.
About the Gohan LV1 CS:
I just looked up the Score Rulings and it says: “This power is used during an “Attacker Attacks” phase of a Combat that his opponent
declared against him.”
Is this true or does his effect activate when entering combat?
Greets from Berlin, Germany!
Your opponent declared combat, but it is now your Attack phase.
So can I use his effect even as ally?
Can I get some clarification about the saiyan energy bullet card? After you use this card your attacks cannot be blocked??
Incorrect. Prevention refers to effects that reduce damage. For instance, one of the HiTech cards of Majin Buu Lv. 1 from the Starters of the Buu Saga expansion has a power that “Prevents 2 Life Cards” from attacks. Saiyan Energy Bullet would negate that effect. Furthermore, it would also negate damage prevention through Endurance.