Introduction
Hi. I am Robin from Indonesia (tw: @IKI_Azu) . I have been invited to write an article about my recent achievement which is 1st place in IKI Card shop July Ultimate battle. In this article I will write about the deck list, potential changes, and also how to approach the popular matchups.
Deck list:
I ended up playing this particular list for the Ultimate Battle which was held on Sunday, 7th July 2024. It was still early after the ban list of kefla, master roshi. People are still figuring out how to play the so called Meta 2.5. As I only have a red toolbox, I started testing out a few red lists starting with Beerus leader. I felt like Beerus lacks the punch to finish the game so I went to try SSB Goku, at least it felt like this deck better. In Japan, Android 17 deck was really popular after the ban list and I felt like SSB Goku has better matchup against it than Beerus .
General guideline to play this deck:
The idea of this deck is to be aggressively taking your life and awaken ASAP so that your Universe 7 units will get 5,000 power boost which will easily push your opponent life down to 2. The game plan of using this deck is that to push your opponent’s life to 2 and then finish your opponent off with double strike Goku. Android 18 searcher is used to balance the value so that I won’t run out of hand faster than my opponent. Always push with your 3 cost cards after awakening as they are 30,000 in power and forcing your opponent for a super combo, 2 cards, or taking life. Not to mention you will be ahead of tempo as you are removing your opponent’s cards from their board.
Core cards:
1 Cost Whis:
-5000 power every turn is very strong to stabilize the board.
Green decks often use their searcher on turn 1 going 1st and you can just answer with this. You would want this stay on your field to reduce the power of cards your opponent plays with power 20,000 power or 25,000. I will talk about this more later on.
2 Cost Hit:
-5000 power on attack every turn which was explained earlier, just like whiz, you can answer your opponent’s searcher/ mai, etc. ALWAYS drop this on turn 1 going 2nd using your energy marker as opponent usually doesn’t have anything to remove this. If this card survives. It will help to win the board and eventually your opponent needs to throw their hand to kill this.
4 Cost Kefla:
There is a reason why this card is limited to 1. It is just that strong. 25,000 power after awakening, draw 1, Dropping an extra body in 1 turn is just too strong. I know it is unsearchable, but it helps.
3 Cost Android 17:
This card is insane right now. Usually by turn 3-4 you would already awaken your leader. This card cannot be KO by opponent BATTLE CARD EFFECTS. It also helps to tank up the opponent’s 4 cost Android 17/18 which they will swarm a lot of their 20,000 power units. It is good against yellow decks as well because a lot of their attackers are 20,000 powers .
3 Cost Blue Goku SR:
Best card in the deck. 30, 000 power after leader awakened.
Able to KO opponent’s board so We will be ahead in tempo.
Consider dropping FB02 SR Gohan first if you need to KO 20,000 power or above with this effect.
5 cost Goku Double strike:
Your main finisher. Most of the time you will all in pump when your opponent is at 2 lifes. You only need 1 of this each game so consider charging to energy your 2nd copy.
Potential substitutes:
5 cost Beerus SR
You can play 2 of Beerus SR in place of 4 cost Goku Sec.
I think Beerus is better as it can help to stabilize the board when going 2nd against android and they swarm their field by turn 4.
4 cost Krillin R
You can play this in place of 2 cost blocker android. Not much difference in my opinion.
You can also play the TOP version of the searcher and the list will look like this.
The Game Plan
General Mulligan criteria:
Very simple.
Going first: whiz, hit, Blue SR Goku/ SR Gohan
Going 2nd: 2 hit, Blue SR Goku/ SR Gohan
Matchup specifics:
VS Android 17/18:
50:50
choice: going 2nd
Usually in this matchup, you must win within the first 7 turn. Prefer going 2nd with the same mulligan. Try to look for 2 hit. So you can go for turn 1 Hit, turn 2 Hit. Do make them stuck at 5 life for 1 turn if their energy will reach 6 the following turn as their 15,000 base power would need extra effort to touch Hit . Also when they awaken, 30,000 power is extremely painful so We want to avoid that. When we reach 5 energy, if opponent hand size is low, consider dropping 5 cost Goku double attack to win the game.
VS Frieza:
Slightly Favorable
Choice: 2nd
Specific mulligan: whiz, Blue Goku SR
Just remove the field and win the board. You win if you win the board.
Don’t let them awaken early. If their unit is 20,000 power and your leader is still at 15,000 in the early game, consider attacking their unit and pump 10,000 to trade hand.
Mirror Matchup:
Choice: 1st
follow general mulligan.
This matchup is all about tempo. Just drop your characters and don’t attack. Attack their character first and then leader. If your list plays Beerus SR, you can full swing on 4 energy to the enemy leader. Most likely their response is to attack your characters while expanding their board. If that happens, just let your character die and clear their board with Beerus SR effect the following turn.
VS Trunks Future:
unfavorable.
Choice: 2nd
Specific mulligan: whiz, Blue Goku SR on going 2nd.
The most popular build of trunks is the videl vanilla version. Try to shut down the combo with whiz and Blue Goku SR on going 2nd. Beware of Pilaf loop. Try to pressure them as much as possible so that they can’t loop pilaf.
Final Thoughts
I hope my explanation would be able to help you in any way. If you like this article, do follow my Twitter/X @IKI_Azu. I do updates on One Piece card game as well so do check it out. I will be using this deck more as I have yet to find the best list for SSB Goku.
Thank you very much for reading this far and I hope you enjoyed reading it.