I’d like to give a huge congratulations to Brandon Biggers for becoming the Triad 2 champion! He remained undefeated for the longest time. Then, it the final rounds, some chinks began forming in his armor. He piloted his suite of decks to perfection and had just one deck remaining at the end of it all–Saiyan Rampaging Villain Vegeta.

I learned a lot about keeping track of data for a big tournament like this. Triad 3 will have improved efforts in this department. If you’d like to view a 90% complete spreadsheet of the events of Triad 2, click here.

Final Standings–Top Eight

1. Brandon Biggers
2. Marc Bolger
3. Dmitriy Ladyko
4. Alex Stewart
5. Bryan Mardling
6. James Stadtmiller
7. Pete Blake
8. Mario Wendorf IV

Triad Champions

1. Kelly Dennis–Cross Elimination Format
2. Brandon Biggers–Survival Format
3. COULD BE YOU!

Tournament Report

Brandon Biggers was kind enough to write up a report from this 12 Round event. The tournament was long, 2 months of OCTGN matches, but Brandon nicely breaks down each of the decks he brought with him.

Without further to do, here is his report:

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Hey guys!  I just want to say that Triad 2 was an absolute pleasure.  I was disappointed last time when I brought all experimental jank and ended up facing the sauce every round, so this time I brought the three best decks I had that I was most comfortable with.  I’ve arranged them here in order of record so that you can see how each performed. I very, very seldom play decks with only one win condition, which is a theme you’ll see here. All three of these are labors of love, and all three have some suggested changes if you’d like to try them out.

#1: Red Amplified Krillin (1-1)

Wins: Black Mischievous Android 17

Losses: Combative Android 20

Krillin 1-4 (All new stack)

Planning Step (22)

Namek Dragon Balls 1-7

Dragon Radar

Red Relaxation x3

Red Destiny x3

Red Blaze x3

Red Bribe x2

Red Controlled Anger Drill x1

Red Forward Stance Drill x1

Red Speedy Drill x1

 

Attacks(21)

Krillin’s Kamehameha x3

Red Freezing Beam x2

Red Static Shot x3

Red Energy Blast x3

Red Combined Blast x2

Red Controlled Blast x3

Red Enhanced Beam x3

Red Mule Kick x2

Blocks(15)

Time is a Warrior’s Tool

Red Blocking Hand x3

Red Flee x2

Red Brace x2

Red Stop x2

Red Escape x2

Red Resourceful Block x3

Events(2)

Red Retreat x2

 

Ahh, Amplified Krillin.  The first set 10 deck I built.  This thing was a masterpiece….until Red Tactical Drill got frozen.  Honestly, for this tournament, I knew I had to grab something I knew could be passable, and so after a few changes (namely getting rid of VtP and Tactical) we were ready to go.  This is a true triple threat deck. It can ball out from nowhere, and it does a good job keeping the balls once they’re out. Red has the best setup package in the game, and Krillin gets to tutor them.  Nothing rushes you to MPPV quite as quickly as 3 Red Destinies on board. Krillin’s Kamehameha is also my favorite named card right now. It’s just so good. I know that many versions don’t run the balls, but I wanted a get out of jail free card just in case from time to time.

Often, this deck can very easily coast to victory.  You’ll never really feel like the game is out of hand. I was keeping this one as my ace in the hole, but it lost on only its second game by less than 5 cards to Marc’s Combative Android 20. Sucks. He drew the nuts at the end, too.

 

Suggested Changes:

-1 Red Enhanced Beam

-2 Red Combined Blast

+1 Red Brace

+1 Red Attitude Drill

+1 Red Freezing Beam

Another consideration is running Ascension instead—something that I often wished I had done through the course of the tournament.

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#2: Blue Protective Frieza (2-1)

Wins: Red Ascension Buu, Blue Tag Team Gohan

Losses: Namekian Radiant Kami

Frieza 1-4 (with level 2 Golden and FanZ 1)

 

Planning Step (18)

Blue Overpowering Drill x1

Blue Recuperating Drill x1

Blue Lifting Drill x1

Blue Rivalry Drill x1

King Cold, Caught Off Guard

Chilled, Cackling Tyrant

Captain Ginyu—Aggressive

Namek Dragon Ball 1-7

Dragon Radar

Blue Stylish Pose x3

Attacks (21)

Blue Slash x3

Blue Head Knock x3

Blue Decapitation x2

Blue Clash x3

Blue Betrayal x2

Sinister Choke x3

Torturous Volley x2

Frieza’s Supernova x3

 

Blocks (17)

Time Is a Warrior’s Tool

Frieza’s Arrogance x2

Blue Narrow Escape x3

Blue Deterrence x3

Blue Guard x3

Blue Security x3

Blue Shifting Maneuver x2

 

Events (4)

Overwhelming Power x2

Villainous Energy Sphere x2

 

I’ve been in love with Protective Frieza for a hot minute, and this deck really didn’t disappoint.  It lost by less than 5 cards to Radiant Kami, the Cinderella deck of the tournament, and they were honestly the worst early game draws I’ve ever seen with it.  That won’t cut it against a strong deck and a strong player, but I managed to bring it back and almost pull it out at the end.

It doesn’t really get more midrangey than this, folks.

Frieza controls the tempo of the game by doling out crits and out-actioning through King Cold and Chilled allies.  All of our attacks are absolute value—we’re rejuvenating, milling, anger controlling, board controlling, critting, and then, if the situation calls, throwing a big energy that can bring us back in the endgame.  

The balls pair nicely with Frieza 2 and Rivalry drill.  We tend to be able to play balls without a ton of fear of losing them for any real stretch of time.  We don’t lose to anger, we don’t lose to ball, and usually we can manage the aggro game very well through our mastery.  Anyone who says blue’s boring needs to give this deck a run. It’s a very high-skill list, but it’s extremely rewarding.

As far as changes, we HAVE to get Malicious Intent into this deck, as well as Blue Static Blast—because more crits seems good, yeah?  Here is a list of what I’m currently testing.

-1 Blue Overpowering Drill

– 1 Torturous Volley

-1 Overwhelming Power

-1 Blue Guard

-1 Blue Security

-1 Blue Clash

-1 Blue Deterrence

-1 Blue Lifting Drill

+3 Malicious Intent

+3 Blue Static Blast

+2 Blue Absorbtion (Just because, you know?)

+1 Porunga Ally

These changes give us more targets for level 1, and also add in my personal favorite card of the set, Malicious Intent.

[Tommy, here, I love the updates to this list for Set 12! Go Frieza!]

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#3 Saiyan Rampaging Majin Vegeta (6-0)

Vegeta 1-4 (All Majin)

Wins: Red Ascension Roshi, Black Mischievous Bardock, Orange Combative Pikkon, Blue Resourceful Majin Vegeta, Orange Combative Android 20 x2

Losses: NOTHING

Planning Step (6)

Saiyan Enraged x3

Vegeta’s Prideful Challenge x3

 

Attacks (39)

Saiyan Rapid Fire x3

Saiyan Massacre x3

Saiyan Burst x3

Saiyan Left Kick x3

Saiyan Spin Kick x3

Saiyan Face Strike x3

Saiyan Terrifying Strike x3

Saiyan Legendary Strike x3

Saiyan Grab x3

Saiyan Elbow Drop x3

Saiyan Flying Kick x3

Concussive Strike x3

Vegeta’s Final Flash x3

 

Blocks (15)

Time is a Warrior’s Tool

On the Move! x2

Saiyan Arm Catch x3

Saiyan Parry x3

Saiyan Forceful Stop x3

Saiyan Energy Deflection x3

 

So, you’ll notice that this list A) is hyper aggressive, and B) runs a TON of 3-ofs.  The reason is because we have packed all the best attacks we can into a deck and have decided to just beat face as though there is no tomorrow.  All of our attacks have insanely useful effects or gain anger, or both. We have built in anger control and board control without ever having to stop and smell the roses.  Our only planning step cards draw us more cards, gain anger, and control the board. You won’t be at a disadvantage if you have to, say, drop a Prideful and enter, because it draws cards.  Saiyan Grab draws us cards. Vegeta 3 draws cards. On the Move! draws cards (more on that in a minute). We like to draw cards, okay?!

Another factor in this particular MV deck is that our ratio of energy to physical attacks is higher than most.  It tends to trip up our opponents when we open with Majin Vegeta level 1, then throw an energy that gains us 4 anger.  I want to caution you that this list is NOT MINDLESS. Sequencing MATTERS. What you banish MATTERS. You have to play the right cards at the right times.  There is a lot of bait and switch involved.

I don’t run attach cards because they slow us down.  We are not playing the tempo game here. There is no room for this deck to be clogged with cards that aren’t pressuring our opponent.  As such, Saiyan Outrage was an easy cut. On The Move, while being non-styled (which MV really doesn’t like) does a lot of work in the meta, and, you guessed it, draws us more cards and makes the other guy lose stages.  Way too good to ignore.

The deck balances beats and MPPV quite well.  Often, you’ll find yourself on level 4 with two paths to victory.  One of my favorite things to do when my opponent has less than fifteen cards in deck is to throw Vegeta 4 to bait a block.  If they block, I throw another attack to gain some anger. If they don’t, they die. Some folks are on old level 4. I’m not one of them.  Give me Majin or nothing, baby.

The one card that really disappointed me was Saiyan Flying Kick.  I expected more, honestly. Very soon, these are going to be Saiyan Energy Outbursts [Tommy here, yes, this is the right call!].  I also sort of want to try Saiyan Sludge Bomb because I like unpreventable damage and anger (if you haven’t guessed by now).  I also felt like Saiyan Elbow Drops underwhelmed me.

Suggested Changes:

-3 Saiyan Flying Kick (Trust me, not as good as advertised)

-1 Saiyan Elbow Drop

-1 Saiyan Parry

+3 Saiyan Energy Outburst (Go die, black)

+2 Saiyan Sludge Bomb

 

Well, there it is.  The champion set of 3.  All of my opponents were wonderful people and good sports, and it was a pleasure to play them.  Thanks to Tommy for putting on this great event!

-Brandon Biggers 3/2/2019

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Thank you, Brandon, for the report. If any other participants would like to do a write-up, please do! I would be happy to archive them here!

-Tommy