I’ll be honest with you all… this was a lot easier last year when we covered Android 17. He had a small pool of cards, barely two personality cards per level in most case, and only a few oddities to cover.
Android 18 on the other hand was a dominant personality in the tournament scene with several very usable personality cards. While she has a lot of jank named cards in the game (seriously, can you even tell me what Android 18’s Pressure Routine does?), she also has what is arguably the best named card in the game.
So, I can spend all the time talking about how absolutely bonkers Cell Saga Lv. 1, that actually inspired a whole game mechanic in Dragon Ball GT… But why don’t we spend some time talking about her unsung personality levels.
We can start by talking about her first appearance in the Androids Saga. If there’s one thing that Android 18 has going against her, it was that she never had a usable ally level (and no, Lv. 2s and 3s don’t count in my book) until the Kid Buu Saga. For years, this was the closest you got for a competent Android 18 ally, but being a Defense Shield made it pretty icky.
Honestly this is a pretty good Lv. 1 Main Personality power, and would shine on nearly any other personality, but it’s just so outclassed by her Change the Future Lv. 1. It was also hampered in usefulness by the sheer amount of stasis/ball decks in the environment of her era, but at least she made the random Backlash that much more difficult. Oddly, it did get it’s own support card, so that’s something.
Her hi-tech Lv. 1 isn’t really worth mentioning, so let’s go right to my personal favorite: Android 18 the Mom. I use her in one of my personal favorite decks that uses the same principle of boosting an unstoppable attack as Vinegar decks, but Android 18 just has so much more going for her in terms of named cards and access to a few Android themed cards. I still have this deck built and it’s a ton of fun to play, so check it out!
Moving into Lv. 2 territory, Android 18 still has some of the more interesting Lv. 2 personality cards in the game. It’s just too bad the old game never had a card like Blue Dominance, because it would’ve worked well with… Android 18 the Mom (yes, she has two personality cards with this title). Again, nothing that could really compete with Cell Saga Lv. 1 but this would’ve been a really fun deck to make if this were a Lv. 1 ability. Could you just imagine the rush if you pulled this off with three Devastation Drills in play?
Next we have kind of a niche Android 18 with “The Model” (and yet again, there are two personality cards with this name). Again, this is probably something that would’ve fit better on a Lv. 1 personality, though even then it would be more of a meta choice if you were encountering a lot of Cell Saga Red Style decks or Saiyan beats for some reason. On a Lv. 2 it’s pretty much a “that’s nice I guess” power.
Here’s the other “Model”, which pretty much represents all Android 18’s remaining personalities in that it’s some kind of attack that gets “better” with The Car in play (results vary depending on the personality level we’re talking about). The Model is on the higher end of that spectrum with a very respectable attack, somewhat mimicked by her good Lv. 4 from the wrapper redemption.
And that’s probably all we need to cover. If you’re playing Android 18 and you’re reaching her Lv. 3 or 4, you’re probably in real bad shape. There’s also only so much I can say about a series of personality powers that are attacks but if you have The Car in play they are more of an attack.
That’s it from me, BroZ. Hope you all had a good 2018 and I hope you look forward to 2019!
Later, BroZ!
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Nice article! Android 18 was definitely a dominant personality as you said. I immediately thinking of Staredown when Android 18 is mentioned.
I reread Pressure Routine and was thinking about the wording. I always thought it was kinda like a defensive version of Majin Buu’s Fury, where instead of attacking punishes you by skipping, its instead defending which then means your attacks should be doing some heavy hitting forcing your opponent to either take the damage or skip. Only combos I can think of is a Saiyan Trunks Mastery idea, keep your opponent low on power stages so its a guarantee hard damage or Expanded GT with Saiyan Blitz Mastery, attack hard with skipping the opponents attack phase then end combat. Other than that, no idea lol.
Wow… ignore my Majin Buu Fury’s comment, apparently I could not convey my thought lol. I guess if anything its a Pressure Routine is a poor man’s version of Buu’s Fury.
That whole “The car” thing was really weird, especially given that the payoff was never really that good. Perhaps it wasn’t that hard to keep the car in play, I honestly never tried.
It’s not super hard to keep in play, but it is hard to find deck space for on top of adding in things to tutor it out so your deck goes off without a hitch.
My favorite Retro format deck was Orange MBS A18. I used the Mom for a big unstoppable attack, had allies to assist with the beats (the new Retro Cell in particular was great) and also could OVA. Stupid deck that would only be possible in a game like old Z hahahaha
Man I wish these articles would come back.