Chippys Crazy BFT – Analyzing Orange Captain Ginyu

Chippy’s Crazy BFT – Analyzing Orange Captain Ginyu

So another weekend has come and gone, filled with DBZ battles extraordinaire. We just recently had our first BFT, and some of the results are surprising. Over half of the field played Orange Ginyu, and over 80% of the field played some form of Ginyu. The Top 4 was totally dominated by Orange Ginyu (with 2 Black Ginyu decks losing in the final round to just miss Top Cut). So why do these players think Orange Ginyu is so good? If you were going to make Orange Ginyu, what would you pack? To answer these questions and more, let’s take a look at the 4 Orange Ginyu decks that made it into Top Cut.

Similarity Breakout

When comparing the 4 different decklists that made Top Cut, 42 cards (70%) were exactly the same. What’s even funnier is the person who won the event (Douglas Spry, Chippy’s Champion level 1) forgot to pack TIAWT and Stare Downs into his deck, and had he played those the count would have been 46 cards (76.66%) of the cards that were the same. Here’s the 42 cards that showed up in everybody’s decks:

Allies

Burter
Guildo
Jeice
Recoome
Setups
2x Visiting The Past

Drill
2x Orange Aura Drill
1x Orange Hiding Drill (Robert Lupfer played 2x)

1x Orange Steady Drill (Robert Lupfer played 2x)

Physical Attack
3x Devastating Blow
3x Orange Launcher
3x Orange Uppercut
Physical Block

2x Orange Refocus (although all but Josh Brice played 3x)
Energy Attack

3x Orange Offensive Strike
3x Orange Power Point

3x Orange Precise Shot
3x Orange Stare Down
3x Overpowering Attack

Energy Block
3x Orange Energy Catch
Events
3x Captain Ginyu’s Body Switch

Right away we see some very interesting things. Aura, Hiding, and Steady were the most important out of all of Orange’s Drills. All of the decks relied on Captain Ginyu’s Body Switch to level. And all of the decks ran 5 good energy attacks with 3x Orange Uppercut to help fish out/tool box the ones that were needed. But what’s even more interesting is what some player’s left out.

Comparison Breakout

After our initial 42 cards, there were 7 cards that 3 out of 4 Ginyu Top Cut players packed in their decks, but a 4th person did not. Here’s the 7 cards found in 75% of the Top Cut Decks.

Nappa
Namek Dragon Ball 1

Orange Burning Aura Drill
Orange Energy Absorption (Josh Brice only played 1x, 2 others played 3x)
Stare Down
TIAWT
Villainous Energy Sphere

Among the Top Cut Ginyu players, these received the majority of votes. Since the Orange Ginyu deck only packs 2-3 Setups (2x Visiting The Past and maybe 1x Villainous Visage), most felt comfortable playing with Nappa for Setup Disruption. Namek Dragon Ball 1 is very interesting because, at least in 2 of the decklists, it was the only Namek Dragon Ball in the entire deck. This means that these players valued the +1 life card to all attacks, essentially a mini “Orange Aura Drill”. Many liked Orange Burning Aura Drill to compliment Orange Steady Drill for an attack lock. They also seemed overwhelmingly to like Orange Energy Absorption better than Orange Energy Evasion, which makes sense since Absorption gets you an extra stage with no restrictions and an extra anger level, while Evasion would only let you rejuvenate 1 drill (and not gain any stages if there was no drill to rejuvenate). And lastly a majority of those players like the “standard staples” of Stare Down and TIAWT and seemed to like packing at least 2x Energy Spheres.

Of the rest, the similarities start to break down. Only 2 players played Orange Distracting Beam (and only Douglas played a full 3x), only 2 players packed Orange Energy Evasion (Kyle ran 2x and 3x Orange Energy Absorption), only 2 players felt the need to play Orange Focusing Drill to protect their drills. 2 players felt they needed extra physical defense with Orange Quick Dodge and 2 players liked the Combat Ending control of Blinding Energy Move. Only 2 players felt that the power of Villainous Visage deserved a deck slot. Namek Dragon Ball 3, Orange Energy Phasing Drill, Enraged Blast, Orange Rage, and Orange Revenge (the last 3 all played by Josh Brice)  found their way into a single Top Cut deck. Of this list, the winner played Orange Focusing Drill, Orange Quick Dodge, Orange Distracting Beam, and Blinding Energy Move – all of which could be found in at least 1 other deck that made Top Cut.

Given this consistency between decks, it looks like it could be easy to make an omnibus deck from this information. This seems to be the base consistent build between them all. If you were looking into trying out Orange Ginyu, this is probably where you should start and tweak from there:

Orange Captain Ginyu Omnibus

Allies (5)

Burter
Guildo
Jeice
Recoome

Nappa
Setups (3)
2x Visiting The Past
1x Villainous Visage

Dragonballs (1)
1x Namek Dragon Ball 1

Drill (6)
2x Orange Aura Drill
1x Orange Hiding Drill

1x Orange Steady Drill

1x Orange Burning Aura Drill

1x Orange Focusing Drill

Physical Attack (9)
3x Devastating Blow
3x Orange Launcher
3x Orange Uppercut
Physical Block (5)

3x Orange Refocus

2x Orange Quick Dodge
Energy Attack (17)

3x Orange Offensive Strike
3x Orange Power Point

3x Orange Precise Shot
3x Orange Stare Down
3x Overpowering Attack

2x Blinding Energy Move

Energy Block (5)
3x Orange Energy Catch
2x Orange Energy Absorption
Omni Block (1)
1x Time Is A Warrior’s Tool
Events (8)
3x Captain Ginyu’s Body Switch

3x Stare Down

2x Villainous Energy Sphere

Orange Ginyu Analysis
This deck focuses on setting up and hitting hard. 6 cards (Orange Adaptive Mastery, Burter, Guldo, Namek Dragon Ball 1, Orange Aura Drill, Orange Energy Catch) all focus on increasing the damage of your attacks on top of Ginyu’s higher level powers. This allows the 17 energy attacks you sling to do quite a considerable amount of damage as well as allowing (or helping) to secure crit effects, crucial for dragon ball capturing (to stop DB Victory) and anger lowering (to stop MPP Victory) since there are no other cards in the deck to do so. This is so important that Orange Aura Drill gets a 2nd copy in the deck, to get it quicker and to have another if the previous one is banished/destroyed.

This deck can be quite the powerhouse defensively once it is setup. The allies help by absorbing power stages, and Guldo can even block a physical if he can get used during Combat. On top of the 11 defenses played in the deck, it can also rely on Orange Steady Drill, Orange Burning Aura Drill, and Orange Hiding Drill in order to setup a stable defense to be reused every Combat. This gives the deck a great advantage against physical based decks, allowing you to keep any power stages that you would want to use to pay for your 15 energy attacks (Blinding Energy Move is “free”). This brings us to 15 defensive cards before counting non-Guldo allies that can soak stages and Blinding Energy Move for combat ending, rounding out a very nice defensive package.

The rest of the deck except 3x Captain Ginyu’s Body Switch are all devoted towards some form of control or tutoring. Visiting The Past, Orange Uppercut, Orange Power Point, Orange Refocus, Captain Ginyu’s level 1, and Overpowering Attack all let you tutor your life deck or discard pile for cards to give the deck good consistency. Technically you could throw Orange Offensive Strike into this list, even though it only gets other Offensive Strikes (great card advantage for your big combats when you have a ton of modifiers). Devastating Blow, Orange Launcher, Orange Stare Down, Stare Down, Nappa, Orange Precise Shot and Villanous Energy Sphere are all there to remove threats from the board or counter them from being used. Villainous Visage, Orange Focusing Drill, and Blinding Energy Move also all help control the board or the game in some way.

The amount of anger in the deck is minimal. Jeice, Ginyu’s level 2, Devastating Blow, Orange Refocus, Orange Precise Shot, Orange Energy Catch, Orange Energy Absorption all can gain you anger, but all of it is limited to 1 anger outside of Ginyu’s level 2 power and 3 are defensive, requiring your opponent to play the appropriate attack against you. This may be ok versus some decks that have minimal anger lowering, but you may find it tough to get off of your level 1 against decks more tuned against MPPV like Blue. This is why the backbone of leveling in the deck is Captain Ginyu’s Body Switch. Only Black and Bulma can keep you from playing/getting them, and against those decks your gradual anger gain may already be enough to progress levels. But even with the gradual anger gain, getting to your level 3 once a majority of your allies are out is crucial to protect them from critical effects. This forces your opponent to play very specific cards (Blue Betrayal, Orange Stare Down, Red Observation, etc) to get rid of your Allies instead of just big attacks. But if for some reason you can’t reach your level 3, it’s ok. Your level 1 and 2 both contain energy attacks (that will be modified by a majority of your damage boosts) allowing him to still be capable and have card advantage even if all of Ginyu’s Allies are obliterated.

So there you go, a full analysis of Orange Ginyu based off of last weekend’s BFT. The omnibus is not a perfect build, but a fantastic start if you are wanting to delve into the deck type. Thanks to all that participated, and special thanks to Rob Lupfer (Lupfor? Lupfir? Lupin?) and Douglas Spry (winner of a Heroic Energy Sphere) for going the distance. See you guys at the next BFT, and have a Very Ginyu Christmas!