Introduction
Hello everyone, I’m Majin (https://www.youtube.com/@M4J1N), an Italian content creator and competitive player in Dragon Ball Fusion World! I recently won the latest Store Battle in my area, which had 18 participants, finishing with a 5-0 record using a leader that I believe is highly underrated in the current meta: Zamasu.
My pairings were: Round 1 against Son Goku FB03, Round 2 against 17/18 FB01, Round 3 against Jiren FB03, Round 4 against Beerus FB01, and finally, Round 5 again against Son Goku FB03.
In this article, I want to explain why I chose Zamasu as my leader and why I consider him a potentially excellent choice in FB03!
Why Zamasu?
Zamasu has been one of my favorite leaders in FB02 until the arrival of the banlist. He was one of the few capable of standing against TopKu, but unfortunately, with the rise of Android in FB2.5, I had to bench him—until now.
Zamasu’s deck type is pure control: once the leader is awakened, he becomes a 25k, and like all 25k leaders, he loses the ability to draw cards. However, thanks to some cards introduced in FB03, like Son Goten or Videl, this issue is almost entirely resolved. In fact, these cards allow you to reach the late game with an incredible advantage compared to most other decks.
Typically, I tend to drop to 3 life points as late as possible, around 6-7 energy, before starting to play cost 6 cards like Zen-Oh to completely reset the opponent's board, followed by Goku Black to apply pressure and recover important cards from the drop.
Now, let's look at the pros and cons:
Pros
- Being a base 25k once awakened allows you to block your opponent’s 30k attacks (which are quite common in this meta) with just one card. It makes it difficult for opposing leaders to attack you directly, as they would need to invest resources. Consequently, it’s also harder to defend against when you attack.
- The leader’s skill in the late game gives you the option to absorb the opponent’s last attack, or their biggest attack, and then recover that life in the next turn simply by investing one energy and a card from your hand. Energy in the late game will never be a problem, and cards can be easily recovered from the drop. Your opponent will need to continually invest resources to try to deal damage while also dealing with an increasingly dangerous board that generates cards and combo value constantly. Meanwhile, you can safely chip away at the opposing leader’s life, one point at a time. To secure the win, your opponent would need to eliminate 3 life points in a single turn; otherwise, you’ll keep recovering them.
- Blue is generally limited by the 7-card hand limit, so it has many ways to recover cards from the drop. By prolonging the match as long as possible and relying on small recovery plays and board control rather than always playing the biggest card in your hand, as many other decks do, you’ll maintain card advantage and put your opponent in a difficult position as they will have fewer and fewer cards each turn.
Cons
- I believe the worst matchup for Zamasu is Android. It’s not impossible to win, but it is quite challenging. Fortunately, Android is almost a free win for Jiren, so there are fewer of them than before. Other green leaders, however, are quite manageable.
Key Cards:
Here’s a list of the most important cards in the deck:
- Zen-Oh is devastating for practically any opponent! If you don’t have Goku Black on the field, you can play Zen-Oh without hesitation to reset both players’ boards. After that, you can either use Zen-Oh to attack the opposing leader or keep him as a 10k combo value for defense in the next turn.
- Goku Black is your boss monster par excellence. Upon entering the field, you can recover any card, including extra cards, from the drop as long as it costs 4 or less. Then, on attack, he allows you to play a Battle Card costing 4 or less from your hand. The two main targets are always Fused Zamasu 4c and Gotenks 4c, both of which can generate extra cards.
- Vegeta FB03 is a great addition for the green matchup and against the meta in general, as no one likes taking Critical damage. His presence guarantees discarded cards for your opponent and diverts attacks in the next turn.
PS: Never take life with him; it’s not worth it! - Sinister Sickle and Absolute Lightning are crucial for board control. Once you reach 9 energy, it’s not uncommon to recover them with Goku Black and use them in the same turn. Additionally, Sinister Sickle in combination with Mai FB02 helps deal with potential 5-cost Double Strikes.
- Videl FB03 and Son Goten FB03 are other additions that will help you cycle cards from the drop and draw more. Additionally, Goten synergizes excellently with Gotenks. Once on the board, besides giving you an extra card, he can also be used to attack the opposing leader pre-awaken.
Matchups
As mentioned earlier, during the tournament, I faced 2 DeadKu, Android, Jiren, and Beerus:
- DeadKu is generally a favorable matchup. Unlike other blue leaders, it wants to awaken quickly, which works to our advantage. Moreover, the more classic builds struggle to deal with Goku Black, often requiring an entire turn and 2 Hercule and Gohan 4c to remove him. Their board is always filled with small but essential pieces for the deck’s economy, making Zen-Oh even more devastating than usual as it forces them to start from scratch. It’s not guaranteed that they’ll have the cards in hand to do so, as the fields they draw after the first one often end up in their energy.
- Android is, as already mentioned, a tough matchup if it gets a good start. It will play big pieces that are hard to deal with using Sinister Sickle. You’ll need to hope to see as many Vegeta 2c as possible to make them waste resources and redirect attacks to Vegeta instead of the leader. Fused Zamasu is also very useful in this matchup due to green’s difficulty in removing him. The other crucial cards, of course, are the 4 Zen-Oh and 2 Absolute Lightning!
- Jiren is another favorable matchup, in my opinion, because he wants to close the game as quickly as possible. However, due to Zamasu’s playstyle, it won’t be easy, as we usually defend against all early attacks directed at the leader. The 4-cost Jirens are easily removable, and against blue, they often end up being charged into energy. Once awakened, the only way for Jiren to draw cards is through 1-drops, while we will consistently have 6 to 8 cards in hand.
- Beerus can be problematic due to Critical damage, so it will be essential to cycle 10ks for defense or leave one energy for Galick Gun. Again, Vegeta 2c is crucial for the early game since pre-awaken Beerus cannot draw, making Critical pressure very uncomfortable. Additionally, Beerus will be forced to attack with his Battle Cards, allowing us to use Zamasu and non-Critical Battle Cards to attack his pieces and keep him from awakening for as long as possible.
Final Thoughts
Overall, from this tournament and various tests, I find that Zamasu is an excellent Meta Call for the FB03 meta, where almost all decks rely primarily on 4/5-cost Battle Cards that are easily removable with our Extra cards. Additionally, green is much less common due to the extreme difficulty it has against Jiren.
I didn’t encounter any black leaders during the tournament, but based on tests, I can tell you that the matchup is, at worst, a 50/50, as black also focuses heavily on 4-cost cards like Goku: GT SCR. Perhaps to better prepare against Goku: GT and Bardock, you could increase the number of Sinister Sickle by 1 or 2 to guarantee seeing them when needed.
Thank you all for reading! I hope I’ve been clear and thorough in explaining every decision and choice I made.
Thanks also to TCG Top Decks for giving me this opportunity to perhaps make you reconsider a leader that I’ve always seen ranked at the lower end of most of the new Tier Lists.
Finally, thanks to Hunter Games and all its top-level players—practicing with you is like training in the Tiger’s Den!
Keep following me on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@M4J1N) for updates and new deck lists!