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Feb 20 at 9:11pm

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Masterfully Meta-Gaming Las Vegas
One of the most hyped weekends in Dragon Ball’s history is finally upon us. We have in front of us two marquee events all focused around, arguably, the best format this game has ever seen. By the time this comes out there won’t be too much time to adjust, but trust that the information here is important to your development not only over the weekend, but even more so as you approach future set releases and week 1 meta games.

The Narrative

The narrative is truly everything when it comes to deck selection. The narrative is created from the machine, content creators, and any data that can be discovered between spoiler season and the tournament to follow. If we were to construct the narrative for this weekend based off all of the information out there we would stumble upon a few truths:

Level 1 – Majin Buu, Gohan, and Android 13

Arguably the three most hyped decks to come from series 9, and the most accessible, Majin Buu, Gohan, and Android 13 make up our level of linear, aggressive strategies that the rest of the meta game is forced to adapt to. Establishing this truth immediately begins to shape how you test, what decks you’re testing, what your sideboard plans are, and of course your overall card and tech selection.

Level 2 – Surgeku and Cooler (to a lesser extent Janemba, Hacthhyack, Broly, and Cell)

Our level 2 is seemingly made up of “gatekeepers” within series 9. These are strategies that prey on hyper aggression and use the existence of aggro to post solid tournament results. These decks are all on the “more fair” spectrum when it comes to DBS and are a highly popular pick for those who enjoy grindy matchups where they are in almost every game. Cooler adds a new dynamic by having access to a realistic secondary win condition that comes along with some powerhouse cards from series 9. Rumor has it that even Surgeku builds are beginning to adopt the same premise.

Level 3 – Invoker and Piccolo Control

Level 3 of this format is the new control archetype, Invoker. The deck is powerful, but of course has its own demons that come in the form of hyper aggression and disruption. Invoker’s place is solidified this weekend due to how popular level 2 actually is going to be. For those trying to play a more fair game Invoker turns this against them and drags the game out until they can deliver a plethora of Catastrophic Blows to close it out.

Piccolo also represents a few decks that make up this tier. Between goodstuff.dec, “8 Beam” Hand Destruction Builds, and Hero Revived, Piccolo is the most well-rounded control leader in the game. The hand destruction archetypes are making the most noise at the moment, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore builds centered around King Vegeta 6 from Draft Box 4.

Break It or Buy In?

As you can see your testing ahead of this weekend should have included all of the archetypes listed above. The next thing you would have had to tackle is to then choose to “break” the format or buy in to all of the hype of the different levels and settle on one of the above archetypes. Both methodologies are proven to be successful in different ways, but each come with a level of variance.

Attempting to break, or guess right on a meta call, is a huge risk because you could ultimately just get it wrong, ruining your entire tournament. On the other side if you choose to play something already established you run into the risk of playing mirror matches or just much closer games in general if you don’t run into a string of your more favorable matchups.

My Choice for “Buying In”

Main Deck



Sideboard



It can’t be stated enough how powerful hand control is now that Tao is gone. There are so many variants, but ultimately Piccolo is going to do it the best. The leader sees almost every card in the deck which allows for more flexibility in deck building, and of course the surge abilities are both snapped in their own way. This deck list is a true 65 meant to cover a large majority of matchup spreads.

2/1x UI -Sign- Son Goku – a late addition that was covered in our last YouTube video, UI -Sign- truly is a messed-up card when combined with hand destruction. Since you’re always taxing the opponent it makes it hard for the opponent to hold onto their counters; this means you’re going to be able to resolve this card. Also, the card serves as an answer to SSB Vegeta, along with Jiren’s band of bros.

3x Bionic/1x Zamasu Super Combo Split – easiest way to add a main deck out to Gohan in game 1.

1/1x Artificial Impact – premium barrier removal

1/1x UI Goku (DB4) – some threats need to be countered by Cryptic Command

1/1x Piccolo, Assimilated Ability – card is clutch against fair, red based decks

3x Sacrifice/1x Dimension Magic – 4x more negates for our hardest matchups

3x Arena Wrecker/1x Close Quarters/1x Artificial Impact – earning as much percentage as possible against Invoker

2x Fu, Shrouded in Mystery – best finisher in the game against decks that force the game to go long, but don’t have access to Crusher Ball or Deadly Poison

My Choice for “Breaking It”



Main Deck



Sideboard



Everyone: How does this “Break It”?

Me: AVG Converted Energy Cost Turns 1 – 3 = 0.66 per card

Actual Converted Energy Cost (Not Counting free activation and combos) = 1.54 per card

Jiren’s front side plus the additional components granted by series 9 creates an archetype that generates free resources in the form of battle cards that allow you to scale as the game goes on. Original takes on the archetype were hyper focused on using only U11 successor targets and playing more defensive; this variant does the opposite. This deck centers around absolutely abusing the resources granted by Jiren, Promo Jiren, Kahseral, Belmod, Promo Toppo, etc. to access absurd board states and overpowered finishers. The true reason this deck is “broken” is because it operates outside of the normal constructs in DBS; Jiren gets to go all out with no risk of consequences. This leads to games where you’re consistently presenting new threats within phone booth while your opponent’s hands are virtually tied behind their back.

Does the deck have weaknesses? Of course. Are the weaknesses worth the risk? Most definitely, especially this weekend.

1x Zoiray – answer to 1 drop tech cards like Dark Power Black Masked Saiyan

3x Crusher Ball – answer to 100% Overdrive Frieza

2x Close Quarters – ability to kill SSB Vegeta

2x That’s What You Get – in matchups where your board is susceptible, this card allows you to rebuild on their turn

1x Saiyan Instincts – against hand destruction you’ll want to have the second copy just in case the game drags on

2x Arena Wrecker – killing ToP early, getting a 3 cost Battle Card for 1 Energy, and then delaying Invoker a turn is so huge

2x All-Out Assault – creates removal chains with Toppo 6 in more grindy matchups, also dodges a lot of counters and removal to enable successor

1x Toppo 6 – best removal we have

1x Fu, Shrouded in Mystery – best closer against non-yellow decks where we expect the games to go longer

Top Cut Predictions for ToP

64 total players

14x Piccolo

10x Surgeku

8x Invoker

6x Majin Buu

6x Gohan

6x Jiren

4x Cooler

4x Janemba

3x Hatchhyack

3x Android 13

Potentially copies of Cell and Broly Surge in top as well ;)

Conclusion

This weekend is shaping up to be the biggest that this game has ever seen, and I am truly excited to see how ToP and the Regional shakes out. Additionally, it will be awesome to see the different meta games from day to day so we can see if any adjustments are made based off of the previous day’s results. DBS is truly taking off and series 9 is shaping up to be the best format this game has ever seen. Comment below your predictions along with what you are bringing or would bring!

#scrubfamisbestfam KTHXBAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

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Teague Woodcock
So I have to ask, no surge Cell in the article? It seems like a mistake to not go into the weekend at least respecting the deck. It packs a ton of consistency as well as easy access to versatile removal.


1
5h
Lanze Gerard
Awesome article, I wish I was there to play at regionals and TOP but good luck to the scouter report boys at the event!


1
4h
3xG Productions
It isn't  a matter of not respecting the deck, in testing Cell itself seems like a lesser version of other mid-range and hand control strategies. I could see it being somewhere between level 1 and level 2, but ultimately is a deck that is rather easy to play around and in comparison to other decks within the same range, is definitely the lesser of them. I do enjoy Cell as an archetype tho, so don't get it twisted lol I do think it is good.


1
4h
Teague Woodcock
Yeah just wondering lol. Personally I’ll be surprised if it isn’t t in the top 64 at least. What about surge Broly? Do you think it’s just been outclassed by the newer stuff?


4h
3xG Productions
Not at all, I still think the deck is great. I do feel that an increase in hand disruption makes the deck a lot worse, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few copies in top 64


4h
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