DBS Fusion World Meta Tier List – Best Leaders and Decks (Digital Release)

Welcome to our Dragon Ball Super Card Game Fusion World Meta Tier List! In this meta report, we will look at the best Leaders and decks of the DBS Fusion World metagame.

Meta Overview

Dragon Ball Super Fusion World is now available worldwide, and only the online mode is left to release on February 29. Tournaments have already started in Japan, with a weekend packed with events, as several 64 players brackets were played.

So far, the color balance is fairly obvious. Green is on top, while blue holds the bottom spot. Yellow and Red are very close right now, with Ginyu looking like the best leader to take against a green opponent. Yet, because red has access to Frost for the match-up into Ginyu, it is able to annoy Yellow very efficiently.

Inside each color, apart from Ginyu taking the lead in the yellow race thanks to its ability to pressure Son Gohan, there usually are two leaders separating themselves from the third. Son Gohan is ranked higher than Broly in green thanks to winning their head to head, mostly on the back of a stronger leader ability. Android 17 is unfortunately useless to run if you have access to another green leader so far, the synergies around it feeling weaker.

Red has the Goku starter deck struggling a bit. It is the most balanced of the three red leaders, but we aren't particularly looking for balance right now. On the other hand, Goku Universe 7 can pressure a green leader pretty well with its ability, while Beerus is Ginyu's worst matchup so far.

As for the blue crew, Goku Black has a better closing ability, which places it on top of the color. Trunks isn't far behind, but feels like it needs a hot start to compete. Vegeta is a solid starter, but blue in general doesn't look good once deck building restrictions are lifted.

One big question remains regarding the current metagame: Are all leaders as simple to build around?

Indeed, while we knew what to do with green as soon as we saw the cards, which is ramp and play powerful cards. Blue feels like a more difficult color to master, while yellow, except for Ginyu, requires knowing which are the important cards for us and our opponent to know which ones to target or protect.
Then, one could wonder if the hot start taken by the ramp and aggressive strategies is due to their real strengths, or because they were the simplest to figure out.

We'll only figure this out in the future. Until then, let's take a look at the first ever Dragon Ball Super Card Game Fusion World Meta Tier List!

DBS Fusion World Meta Tier List

Disclaimer and Tier Explanations

The data available to craft those reports will be much easier to gather, and use, once the online mode will release. Until then, I am using the information available online, streams of tournaments and the opinion of veteran players I respect, or they share on social media.

Plus, only Japan has organized big tournaments so far, as the western world just got their products delivered.

As such, see this first in depth report of the Fusion World metagame as a glance of what it will be in the future, when the information will be easier to access.

Tier 0

Son Gohan : Childhood

Green is widely regarded as the best color so far, with Son Gohan largely ahead of every other leader when it came to popularity in the first week of organized play in Japan. So much so, it led to Ginyu rising early to punish the green leader, and winning a tournament in the process.

Broly isn't so far behind, but Son Gohan is looking favored in their head to head for now, thanks to its ability to grow to 35.000 power when attacking, while retaining the ability to draw once awakened.

Since then, the builds around Son Gohan have gotten less greedy to be less vulnerable against early aggression, which helped already. Then, Broly, and red leaders also gained popularity as they feel solid into Ginyu, providing Gohan with better match-ups to go against.

Son Gohan is the leader shaping the early metagame, and still the one to beat for now, hence its special inclusion in Tier 0.

Tier 1

Broly

Thanks to being a 25,000 power awakened leader, Broly is a little more resistant to Ginyu than Son Gohan, which allows the Legendary Saiyan to have its upside in the metagame.

If one would find a way for Broly to balance the match-up against Son Gohan, as being hit by 35,000 power and losing the ability to draw once awakened are two big obstacles. Broly could be unstoppable soon.

The Android 17/Android 18 card looks to be a strong one in that particular match-up, hitting Son Gohan for 40.000 power and Double Strike. Unfortunately, the fact it cannot contribute as a combo makes it hard to run in four copies, as it isn't as good against other leaders, especially the faster ones.

Ginyu

With green dominating the popularity contest, Ginyu has emerged as the troublemaker early in tournament play. While some people could have ranked it even higher on this list, the yellow leader still needs to solve a couple of issues before it can truly be called dominant:

• Broly awakened requires a lot of card to finish off, as you need to use a combo card for almost every attack.
• Red has a lot of ways to limit Ginyu's development on the field, and the idea to start playing Frost is also spreading around the community.

Every leader will have good and bad match-ups in a metagame, and the balance seems to be decent for Ginyu right now. However, if Son Gohan was to be a little less popular in the future, then Ginyu could lose a lot of its current upside.

For example, either Goku (Universe 7) or Beerus finding a way to be favorable into green leaders could be a disaster for Ginyu.

Goku (Universe 7)

As the red leader with the best aggressive potential, Goku (Universe 7) is doing fairly well into the green leaders, packing enough of a punch to potentially finish the game before they can stabilize. Plus, the rarest cards for red are proving to be worthy of their status, tilting the balance in favor of red against leaders looking to expand on the board.

In a sense, you could regard Goku (Universe 7) as weaker Ginyu against green, but with more flexibility against the rest of the field. Then, in this green dominated metagame, Ginyu gets the nod for best agressive build, but Goku should develop really well into a more diverse environment.

Tier 2

Beerus

If it wasn't for a surge in aggressive decks to benefit from Son Gohan dominance, Beerus would have ranked much further down the list. However, thanks to being a great leader when it comes to controling the opponent's battle cards in the mid game, Beerus managed to sneak into the top half of the rankings.

The other thing Beerus does really well is abusing the Critical key word. While I've read good feedback from several players about it so far, it probably is too early to say whether this is a foundation of the deck, or just a good key word to have if it doesn't cost your deck.

Then, compared to Son Goku (Universe 7), Beerus feels like it relies much more on which are the dominant leaders at the time. I wouldn't be surprised to see Beerus' ranking go from a tier to another on a weekly basis, based on who were the most popular leaders during that week. If green survive the aggressive decks coming for Son Gohan and Broly, Beerus might have a hard time finding good match-ups to abuse. However, if Son Goku (Universe 7) or Ginyu keep gaining ground, Beerus could be a great leader to play.

An important info about Beerus, the leader really feels like the "play strong standalone cards" kind of deck right now. As such, the God of Destruction kind of pushes for playing the rarest cards, making it a pretty expensive leader to play.

Cooler

Cooler has a better closing ability compared to Frieza thanks to that potential extra attack once awakened, which helps to finish off a green opponent, or clear more of Ginyu's battle cards.

The discard part of the ability can be difficult to leverage, and you definitely don't want to use for too long. Once you start using it every turn, you should have the finish line in mind, as you might quickly end up behind your opponent in the card department.

Frieza

Frieza is ranked last in its color, but one should really look at yellow as a solid color so far. Unfortunately for Frieza, it's control oriented ability doesn't match well with the current metagame. Indeed, you will very often end up playing against a green opponent, which is stronger than you late in the match, or an aggressive one, which will focus on your leader rather than your battle cards.

As such, Frieza shines when it manages to install sort of a stalemate, which was much easier to do in the starter decks metagame. Without any restrictions, decks are faster, more reliable in their strategy, and stronger cards are being played, which makes it difficult for Frieza to use its off-tempo play style.

Goku Black

I believe down the line, Trunks will emerge to be the best blue leader. Yet, Goku Black has posted better results, and looked easier to play in this first week of competitive play.

Particularly against green, which you have to approach with an aggressive mindset, Goku Black feels like it has a better closing ability through its leader ability.

It still isn't enough to make blue look good overall, but at least, there is something we can try to build towards.

Tier 3

Tier 3 has two leaders which could be ranked higher, Trunks and Android 17, but unfortunately did not take off so far.

I would attribute most of Trunks' early struggles to being one of the most difficult leaders to learn, and green being the color your leader ability has the least impact against. Once we figure out how to pack some more punch in a blue deck, Trunks has the ability to be tier two.

As for Android 17, the ranking is mostly due to the leader having absolutely no reason to be played when Son Gohan and Broly are available in the same color. The game is still young, and we'll get more cards dedicated to a leader in the future. Currently, the synergy around the Android special trait simply doesn't compare to what the other leaders can do. Maybe if Broly becomes the one to beat, having a leader constantly at 30.000 power during our turn could have its upsides.

As for Vegeta and Goku (SS), they filled their role as starter really well, but once we were allowed to use all the cards, their generic ability didn't really help push a specific strategy. Instead, the other leaders allowed to give our deck a more precise direction, which seems to be the way to go right now. Simply put, Vegeta feels like a bad Trunks, while Goku (SS) feels like a bad Beerus. You could argue red is stronger than blue right now, but the three leaders ranked in the bottom represent the one with little reason to see play inside their color.

Trunks : Future

Android 17/Android 18

Vegeta

Son Goku (Super Saiyan)

Closing Words

For this first week of organized play, I feel we are left with two big questions:

• How much is the current power level of Son Gohan, Broly or Ginyu due to being fairly simple to figure out?
• How much can tech cards impact the balance of the metagame ? I'm thinking of Frost for red leaders in particular, which could single-handedly win a match against Ginyu.

Depending on the answer to those question, the metagame can go in a lot of different directions. We could already have an idea of the power balance for this first expansion, and consider green to be the dominant color for the next few months. Yet, we could just as well end up with carousel of leader countering each others, with yellow pressuring green, while red packs some anti-yellow cards. Lastly, maybe we simply have not found the right way to play the blue leaders, and one of them is poised to breakthrough in the coming weeks.

I don't think anyone has a definite answer to which scenario will happen, and I love it this way. Wouldn't it be boring if we already knew what to expect from the game for the next two months?

Soon, thousands of players will get their hands on the online mode, which will generate a ton more data than what we have available so far. No doubt, this early metagame in Japan will impact the game in some way, but we are bound for some surprises as well.

I hope this report helped you get a better grasp of what Dragon Ball Super Fusion World infancy stage looks like. If you had the chance of finding a celebration event near you, I'm very jealous but hope you had a great time.

If you'd like to reach out, feel free to do so on my Twitter page.

Good Game Everyone.