The champ returns to the T.O.P. with hopes of returning to the top FanZ spot. Set 13 brought 4 new powerhouse MPs to the mix (and Yajirobe), so I knew I’d have my work cut out for me. After a decent amount of testing, not nearly as much as I would have liked, I decided to go with my gut and bet on the Slug man.

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The List

Attacks (23)

Events and Blocks (22)

Setups & Dragon Balls (15)

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Road to T.O.P.

This time around I was automatically entered into the Tournament of Power from being the champion last year. Before preview season started game play opportunities were really slowing down for me. Once I started see the power of the new cards, I know I had to be on my game. I had several decks I was testing to counter the Vegito matchup:

• Orange Adaptive Android 20
• Namekian Knowledge Gohan (I was heavily testing this even before Mystic reveal)
• Black Mischievous:
  • Goten
  • Buu
  • Yamcha
  • Supreme Kai
  • Frieza
  • Gotenks
  • Broly
  • Cell
• Blue Resolute Buu
• Blue Mimicry Buu

Eventually, I decided I wanted to play a different Style than Black–I like to be different when I can, I just really like Black. I couldn’t test all of these decks as much as I wanted to. A few I just had to let go of for the moment due to time constraints. My top performers ended up being Enlightened Slug, Resolute Buu, and Mischievous Yamcha. That Buu deck will surely be in the Set 13 Meta. It’s the Villainous version of Resolute Drawku, but probably more powerful.

With time being of the essence, I wanted to make sure that whatever I picked that I knew the ins and outs of the deck completely. Since I’ve been playing Enlightened Slug for a little over a year, I knew I could pilot it well. The deck does its own thing (Unleash to 4, DBV) and has enough tech, mostly from Dragon Balls, to keep up and counter most opponents. So I bet on the Namek Dragon Balls and Slug’s ability to abuse them heading into the biggest tournament of the year. No regrets.

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Round 1: Tommy D (Scheibel)–Orange Energetic Vegito

Vegito goes first, entering combat immediately. My opening hand had Unleashed, Namekian Malicious Intent, and Namekian Dragon Clan (note, Malicious Intent was not actually in my hand, but I drew it with Mastery, I just don’t remember what I discarded). Vegito throws an Orange Power Point. Side bar, Tommy was a fantastic opponent. I don’t think either of us made any mistakes, per se, but I will say that he used some Evolution Starter versions of cards… He grabs Orange Captivity Drill with Power Point and starts his anger race. With 3 attacks from his original draw and his attacks on levels 1, 2, and 3, Vegito did about 30 life cards of damage in the first combat.

At Level 2, turn 2, with half my deck gone, I start trying to build board. I drop Malicious Intent knowing that I’ll use it to search out Ball 2 or Ball 7 if he enters combat against me. We exchange turns before Vegito enters again. After some deliberation, I opt to grab Ball 7. After stacking my deck I have the following in hand: Namekian Buffer, Unleashed, Time is a Warrior’s Tool, and Namekian Maximum Will. I wasn’t 100% certain that the Max Will alone would be enough to halt all of the anger that Vegito could pack into one turn, but I made my choice, I had to mitigate the damage I was taking and try to get to level 4.

He throws an attack, and luckily I am able to get sphere to land without being sphered–it turns out Tommy wasn’t even running spheres, this matters later… I Unleash to 4 and with 26 cards in deck, including all 3 Namekian Hunts, I opt to try to draw one with Mastery. I get the draw! Cue turnaround music. I Hunt for ball 2 to drop him and feel things start to go my way.

End of my next turn, I shuffle in Ball 7. The plan is simple, keep Ball 7 in the deck so that every time Vegito enters, I stack my deck, banish 3 of his cards with 7+Whack, and get Time into my hand. At some point, I used Ball 2 again to drop him to Level 1 and clear his board.

Pretty soon, I do just that. He enters, I grab 7 with my Power and stack Time is a Warrior’s Tool, Sphere, and Namekian Thrust (mine had been banished from Orange Investigation Drill). He opens with Unleashed. I did not know he was running Unleashed until this moment. Without Thrust attached, he would be able to drop me to level 3, but I decided to protect my Time and not sphere the Unleashed. At Level 3, I was able to gain a lot of damage back: Buffer for 6 that turn, Hybrid for 6 the following, but by the time I got back to Level 4, the game was getting out of my control.

Vegito enters again, I’m still on Level 3. My Time had been banished from the attach Quick Blast on Vegito, so I was left to hope to blind draw some energy blocks. Vegito includes Orange Fierce Attack in his barraged assault against the regenerating Lord Slug. I bottom decked an Overhead Blast to try to protect my Dragon Balls if damage got heavy, but it was too little too late. He deals some damage, steals ball 1. I crit it back. He deals some more damage, I banished Overhead Blast. I have 7 cards left, 3 of which are balls. As long as he doesn’t have another attack, balling out becomes highly probable. Of course, his final card in hand is an attack.

Again, I don’t think either of us really made any mistakes. If I would have sphered that Unleashed, things definitely would have been different, but I didn’t have enough knowledge of his deck to know that my Time would have been safe.

Great game, Tommy! I look forward to our next bout.

More Collision Content:

FanZ Limited Formats: Set 13 Starter Deck Tournament

Set 13 Masteries: A Unifying Theory

Triad 2: The End