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Vegeta was the leader I had my eyes on when they started revealing the Starter Decks for Dragon Ball Super Card Game Fusion World. It has a pretty simple game plan, various ability to use, and focus on the attack phase to dominate its opponent. In a game as fast-paced as Fusion World, where games typically don't last more than seven or eight turns, Vegeta looked like a great entry point to a type of card game I had not played yet, and it didn't disappoint.
During the first few days of the beta, Vegeta has been my favorite leader to play with, and the deck felt great as soon as I got two of the starter deck to get four copies of the important cards. From that point on, even if there were some rarer cards I wish I had, I was able to play a cohesive, well-rounded deck, focused on awakening fast and pressuring the opponent constantly.
In this presentation, I'll try to give all the tips I learned for the starting blue leader, and help you understand how to build, improve and play a Vegeta deck.
Base Deck and Immediate Improvements
Vegeta's Starter Deck easily is one of the best ones to start with, as you already have four copies of an excellent card: Son Goten (2). However, if the deck can benefit from the limits of the other starter decks to rush them down early, it is a different story once they have access to stronger cards early in the match.
As such, I would highly recommend purchasing a second copy of the Vegeta Starter Deck, so you can have four copies of the other important cards, Vegeta (5), Gotenks (4), Trunks: Youth (2) and Galick Gun.
Build With Two Starter Decks
With four copies of all cards available, the deck already packs a much bigger punch, and will be able to focus on two types of cards:
1. Those aimed at beating down the opposing leader, which is really what this deck aims to do. Both Son Goten do an amazing job until they awaken, as the 15,000 power threshold is enough to win the tie, or force some combo cards out of their hand.
Once awakened, we want to switch to cards such as Trunks: Youth (2), Son Gohan: Adolescence and cards at 25,000 power or more in general. Vegeta (5) will be our finisher, which we can drop and massively buff once the opponent has two health points remaining.
2. Cards with a 10,000 combo power, to make sure we can control the battle phase, the core of this deck's strategy. Here, Gotenks (4) is key to grab Son Goten and Trunks back in hand, providing 15,000 to 20,000 power worth of combos when played. Galick Gun will also shine in that phase, as the card can be used during both player's turns, and once we have four or five energy, it is pretty simple to keep one up, unless we went for the kill with Vegeta (5).
This is also why we have four copies of Gotenks (3) and only two of Son Goku (4), as 25,000 is often enough to pressure an awakened leader, and the saved energy can be a Galick Gun later on. If you look at the deck, the only cards with 5,000 power as combo is Trunks: Youth (1) which helps with draws plus functions with Gotenks (4), and Son Gohan Adolescence, a 35,000 power attacker for three energy. Also, that second card will typically be one of our first cuts once we collect cards from boosters to keep improving the deck.
Great Booster Pack Cards to Strengthen the Deck
FB01-047 Son Goku
25,000 power and the Blocker ability is massive to protect our cards with attacking or "Your Turn" abilities, such as Son Goten (2), Trunks: Youth (2) or Son Gohan: Adolescence. Plus, we can also use it to protect our leader in matches against another aggressive deck. The only downside is the 5,000 combo power.
FB01-052 Trunks : Youth
Another Trunks: Youth we can use alongside Gotenks, and it helps us awaken as well. This card should be a great replacement to Bulma in the deck, or to Trunks: Youth (1) if you don't feel like you need the draw and would rather awaken faster or get a 10,000 combo card instead.
FB01-067 Black Kamehameha
A good way to protect your important cards for cheap late in the match, while also scanning your deck to find the perfect card for the coming turn.
FB01-060 Vegeta
Critical is a nice ability to have in a deck looking to beat the opposing leader quickly. The combo power is lower than the vanilla Son Goku (4), but the ability should be worth it.
FB01-056 Pilaf
A cheap Gotenks (4) if you will, as it allows you to get Trunks: Youth (1) or Son Goten (1) back in hand to get more card to use for combos. Pilaf also works very well with Bulma so you have a blocker every turn to annoy your opponent, great to buy yourself time while trying to focus on the opposing leader to end the match.
Late in the match, just play this before attacking, and use it as combo to boost your card once you got the draw, or consider this a 20,000 combo card as you can just pick up another 10,000 power with it.
FB01-058 Vegeta
An aggressive deck doesn't like having its cards taken out while they rest. Well, this one solves the problem, and has enough power to pressure an awakened leader as well. Definitely would play it instead of Son Goku: Adolescence.
Game Plan
When playing with Vegeta as your leader, your goal should be to end the game around turn six to eight, with an even more aggressive mindset against a leader like Broly, with a great late game potential. Most of the time, you should aim to be pushing for the win with a Vegeta (5) on turn five or six if things went well, a turn later otherwise. Thanks to the double hit, you only have to set your opponent's leader to two health before you can go for the kill, denying them to draw one of their health cards in the process.
Energy wise, we are aiming to get to five, possibly six if we want to have a spare energy for Galick Gun or another cheap spell. Above that number, you need a specific reason, such as completely dominating your opponent in the card advantage battle, and setting up to play lots of 2 and 3-costs to push with next turn. As for cards, you should use as energy, I tend to throw Vegeta (5) early as we definitely don't need the four copies to close a game. The spells which aren't Galick Gun if I can't picture using them in the near future, or intend to save energy for spells in that match-up, can also go. Past this logic, you should drop cards you don't see as important in the match for energy. If you got to a hot start and should easily deal the early damage to your opponent, sacrifice cards will less than 20,000 or 25,000 power, which can't pressure an awakened hero. If you are still early in the match, and plan to win going wide on the board rather than having a few high power cards, then prioritize your high cost battle cards, preferably those with 5,000 combo power for energy.
Timing wise, you are trying to deal damage in chunks, rather than give your opponent cards regularly. If they don't have any Battle cards for you to attack with your leader, I like to think drawing and dealing one damage is better than the card you give them, and they might use a combo card to save the health, meaning you got a card and they lost one. Otherwise, we are trying to give them the smallest possible window with their leader awakened. Then, while it is fine to get them down to 5 health, you want to directly aim to set them at 2 past that number. This gets them in range of your Vegeta (5) or to try two big attacks with your leader and another card.
Speaking of your leader, you want to awaken as fast as possible with this deck, as Vegeta hits like a truck once flipped. Then, abuse Son Goten (2) and Trunks; Youth (2) to get your life down to four early, and let your opponent hits get through if that can help as well. Plus, you get cards to use as Combo, or to keep gaining energy.
If you manage to end the game by turn seven on average, you will have drawn around 18 cards from your starting hand, natural draw, and leader attacks. These extra four to six cards you can get from loosing health are immense to support your momentum and make sure you don't run out of steam. Don't worry about the requirement of having 7 or fewer cards in hand, you can also use cards as combo to protect your important battle cards to get cards out of your hand, or just attack with more power.
Closing Words
I would recommend Vegeta for most players with little or no card game experience, or those who enjoy a fast-paced strategy, and bringing the heat onto their opponent. On average, my games with Vegeta have ended around turn six or seven. The key revolves around taking the lead in the first three turns, pushing your opponent to use their combo cards in order to build some card advantage, and then aggressively go for the win before they can leverage their awakened leader for too long.
In that sense, Vegeta the leader feels very true to the manga character, as it tries to dominate, constantly push its opponent to be on the defensive, and capitalizes on any little mistake they could make.
I hope this guide was a nice first look at the blue starter deck. We will have similar pieces for every leader in the game, so you can make an educated choice on which you want to invest into before spending money, or in game currency. I wish you a lot of fun on Dragon Ball Super Fusion World, and feel free to reach out for any question you might have, in the comment section or through my Twitter page.
Good Game Everyone
