The Dragon Ball franchise is one of the most popular and easily recognized anime-manga adaptations of all time. Largely considered one of the biggest pioneers to bring Japanese animation to the west, the franchise has brought endless media and merchandise along with it, including movies, video games, toys, models, clothes, card and board games. With its recent incarnation in Dragon Ball Super, the series has been revitalized and is once again one of the most popular anime to date. Bringing new characters and stories to the series feels fresh, while bringing back old classics with several nods and references to its predecessors.
After the unsuccessful revival of the original Dragon Ball Z card game with Panini, Bandai took time to reflect and took a different approach with Super. The result was a much more streamlined card game unlike that of its forefathers. Without the hassle of having to keep track of power levels, an invisible game mechanic that had no physical representation, the game plays much smoother from the very beginning. The game takes inspiration from several other card games, the most notable being the Pokemon TCG and Magic The Gathering. Players coming from these games will find learning the mechanics easier than those from games like Yu-Gi-Oh. Players from any of the previously mentioned games will have to learn to adapt though, as some of Bandai’s rulings are a little less than logical.
To start, each deck consists of a Leader, Battle cards, and Extra cards. Each card is either red, blue, green, yellow, or black. Players start off by choosing their Leader first. The Leader card stays separate from the deck and is one of the main focal points in deck construction. Leaders span many characters throughout the series, including classic heroes like Trunks, Goku, and Vegeta, as well as iconic villains such as Majin Buu, Cell, and Frieza. Fans will also recognize popular characters from the movies such as the defiant Bardock and the ruthless Cooler. Once chosen, players will then decide on which cards to build their deck around, with the majority being Battle cards and Extra cards used for support.
Both card types have their own energy costs to play them as well as unique abilities called Skills. Every Battle card is based on a character in the series and carries their own trait, whereas each Extra card is based on things varying from attacks, abilities, items, and even planets. Battle cards also have their own power level as well, referred to simply as their power. A card’s power determines its offensive capabilities when attacking, while also deciding whether or not a card survives a battle after being attacked. Extra cards on the other hand are played similar to Items and Instant cards in Pokemon and Magic respectively. To play them, a player must first pay the cost by “tapping” or putting energy into “rest” mode, indicated by turning the card sideways. Most cards require a certain number of energy of their own color be used to play them, referred to as the specified cost and shown as colored dots next to the energy cost.
Each color of a set represents an individual saga from the series. In Set 1: Galactic Battle, red represents the Universe 6 arc of Dragon Ball Super, blue represents characters from the Resurrection “F” movie, green represents characters from the Battle of Gods movie, and yellow represents the Frieza saga. In Set 2: Union Force, red represents the Majin Buu Saga, blue represents the Future Trunks arc in Super, green represents the Android and Cell sagas, and yellow represents Cooler from his respective movies. In Set 3: Cross Worlds, red represents Dragon Ball GT, blue represents the end of the Majin Buu saga, green represents the Android 13 movie, yellow represents the Bardock movie along with the original Dragon Ball series, and the black color introduced in Set 3 represents the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games. The newest set is a themed booster revolving solely around the final arc of Dragon Ball Super, the Tournament of Power, with red representing Universe 6, blue representing Universe 9, green representing Universe 2, and yellow representing Universe 11, with Universe 7, the universe the series takes place in, being represented by all four colors.
Each color has its own play style as well. Red is primarily about attacking and making aggressive plays to deal as much damage as possible. Blue on the other hand is the polar opposite, focusing more on energy manipulation and versatility. Green relies on hand and card destruction, with effects that make the opponent discard or KOs their Battle cards. Yellow is all about counter cards, this is your stun style control deck. Black is the most unique, and specializes in playing cards via the warp mechanic similar to banishing cards in Yu-Gi-Oh. After choosing a leader, deck building can be done in two ways. The first is to choose a primary card color, usually corresponding with the Leader’s color. Several cards have certain color requirements that limit them to certain Leaders, just as some of the Leaders abilities limit which Battle and Extra cards their abilities pertain to, so this is the more common form of construction. The alternative option is to build a deck centered around a specific archtype of Battle Cards, some of which don’t have specific color requirements other than their cost, allowing additional flexibility with Leader choice and deck building.
Once a deck has been built, the rules are pretty straightforward and set up is simple. Each player starts with a 50 card deck. At the start of each game, both players draw 6 cards. After looking at their cards, either player can choose to mulligan, meaning they can return any unwanted cards to their respective decks and then draw the same number of cards. Magic players will appreciate this, as well as not losing a card due to the mulligan. However, this can only be done once. After both players have drawn their cards and shuffled each other’s decks, the starting player is then determined by a die roll, with the player who rolled the highest going first. Unlike other TCGs, players do not have an option in during the first game.
Once a deck has been built, the rules are pretty straightforward and set up is simple. Each player starts with a 50 card deck. At the start of each game, both players draw 6 cards. After looking at their cards, either player can choose to mulligan, meaning they can return any unwanted cards to their respective decks and then draw the same number of cards. Magic players will appreciate this, as well as not losing a card due to the mulligan. However, this can only be done once. After both players have drawn their cards and shuffled each other’s decks, the starting player is then determined by a die roll, with the player who rolled the highest going first. Unlike other TCGs, players do not have an option in during the first game.
Now that the player’s fields are set up, the game begins. At the beginning of every turn, the turn player draws the top card from their deck. The player who goes first, however, is not allowed to draw on their first turn and is not allowed to attack. After the draw phase is the charge phase, where a player is allowed to lay down any card in their hand as energy. Unlike other card games that have an energy or mana system, any card can be used as energy. When played, it generates one energy of the card’s color. This energy is then used to pay the cost of Battle and Extra cards. Energy can only be played during this phase and only once per turn. This then leads into the main phase. During the main phase, any card can be played in any order and all attacks occur during this phase as well. Unlike the aforementioned TCGs, there is no specific order to which this can be done. Both Leaders and Battle cards can attack, with Leader and Battle cards being valid targets. Leaders can be attacked at any time, while Battle cards may only be attacked while in rest mode. Like Energy, when a Battle card attacks it is switched to rest mode until your untap phase, which happens at the start of every turn.
Perhaps one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game is the immense variety with which deck building can be done. Due to being able to play any card as energy, endless combinations can be made between the Leader and the deck itself, and although every card game has an established “meta” at some point, any deck can be competitive in the hands of a skilled pilot. Some decks and Leaders will still have an advantage over the others, meaning players using a different deck might have a hard time winning against certain matchups. This also means that players can build a successful deck without having to invest in the more expensive cards, allowing newer or more casual players the chance to still win and have a good time without getting completely overpowered by those with more money or who have played for a longer time.
Perhaps one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game is the immense variety with which deck building can be done. Due to being able to play any card as energy, endless combinations can be made between the Leader and the deck itself, and although every card game has an established “meta” at some point, any deck can be competitive in the hands of a skilled pilot. Some decks and Leaders will still have an advantage over the others, meaning players using a different deck might have a hard time winning against certain matchups. This also means that players can build a successful deck without having to invest in the more expensive cards, allowing newer or more casual players the chance to still win and have a good time without getting completely overpowered by those with more money or who have played for a longer time.
Since the game is still relatively new, having only come out less than a year ago, competitive tournament play isn’t as supported in some areas. Some local game stores are unwilling to support such a new TCG with so many other more established card games around, while other stores struggle to get product and tournament kits, which consists of prize support and other incentives to play competitively. Large scale events have been sponsored by Bandai through ARG, however, they aren’t as numerous as regionals and other big tournaments for the older, more successful card games. Bandai is working on getting more events set up, but until that happens many players will be left out due to the sparse locations for these events, resulting in long travel distances and high travel costs.
Stores can also have a harder time drawing players without product or if they are in a smaller area. Larger game shops rarely have this problem though. Due to distributor’s product placement, game stores are the only physical locations at which product can be bought without buying online. Target is currently the only large chain that carries product, however finding one that regularly has it available is easier said than done. Gamestop is said to be carrying product in the future, but a definitive date has yet to be set.
When it comes down to it, the Dragon Ball Super card game is one of the most refreshing takes on a card game to happen in a long time. It’s familiar yet unique in its own way, and both fans of the series and fans of card games in general can enjoy it alike. The art is first-rate, the rules are simple and easy to learn, and the lore of the series is perfectly represented. The game is in no way perfect, but when it comes to Dragon Ball this is as close as it gets. Hard core fans will enjoy the game despite its flaws, whether they play casually with friends or aim to place at the top tables of competitive events.
