Pilaf Gang Take 2 - Series 10 Reveals #17
Holy S%$t this is a massive reveal. What looks like all of the commons and uncommons from both red and yellow were revealed today, so let's get into it!
Naturally we'll start with the red cards. Son Goku, Savagery Awakened is the boss monster for the Yamcha deck. Initially I looked at this card and thought it was terrible. I thought there must be a way to play it more cheaply, until I saw the 5 spec red energy cost. But then I realised, this card is meant for the Yamcha leader. When you play him with that leader, he deals 2 damage (leader skill deals one), it sucks in any other deck. That, and the deflect keyword, make him a formidible finisher for the deck. Now we already have a 5 energy burn 2 in the game that is worth using; SS3 Scramble. This is a different take. I don't mind it, but it isn't some amazing finisher.
The Pilaf gang is back in red again to try and make a second go of it since the last time was a bit of a flop.
Pilaf, Plotting World Domination is a top 5 spec cost of 4 unison searcher that doubles as a red earthling searcher as long as they have a cost of 4 or less. Good to search Burncha in the burn deck, but can't search Burnhan sadly.
The OG God - Shu, Pilaf's Admirer - comes out for 1, then sacks himself to play a Pilaf or Mai with a cost of 2 or less for free. Good start to getting the chain going. Worth mentioning that he can play any of those cards not just these next 3.
Mai, the Gang's Femme Fatale, is just a worse version of Pilaf, given that it only searches an earthling, not a unison. I'm not sure why they did that...
These are the guys that Shu can play (other than himself). Now you may be thinking "hold on a minute, I've got that card right here" and you would be forgiven for thinking that. These guys are very VERY similar looking to the set 5 Pilaf Gang cards. They all play off each other, so they aren't half bad at all. If you play a 1 cost Shu when you have 3 mono red energy (pushing mono hard Bandai!), you can play a Pilaf/Mai, Dragon Ball Chaser, and then play Shu and the other one from your hand. Sadly (and probably a smart choice) they are unique, so you cant spam the board, but that is a potential 3 15k beaters for 1 energy (potentially zero energy if you use the Bulma supercombo We'll look at later in the article). Nice.
This time the fat mech actually seems decent! Pilaf Machine, the Master Bot is a 25k triple attacker that comes out for 3 energy when you warp one of each Pilaf, Mai and Shu card from your drop. This goes for the 1 drops or even the older cards as well as the two drops above.
When he's removed by an opponent's skill or KO'd, you can play a Pilaf Machine, Ostrich Form from any area (bar energy/life/warp). Now this is likely a rare or SR (it would be cool if it was an scr haha) that we haven't seen yet.
The final support card for the Pilaf Gang is a field card, Pilaf's Castle. When you play it, you can discard 2 cards in order to draw 3. Great for deck filtering, and also good to get your pieces in the drop for the chain above.
The activate main is okay. You can sack a battle card to boost another battle card by 5k. That can really play into the archetype, and if you board it early enough, can start generating advantage pretty quickly.
All in all this archetype seems like a lot of fun.
Puar and Oolong make another appearance here, and this time Oolong is finally showing off a transformation in game!
Puar, Yamcha's Sidekick is a very specific card, and I don't see it being used much considering there are similar cards that only require red battle cards. She is a 10k combo on your turn if you're comboing on a Red Yamcha's attack.
Oolong, the Many Faced is a 1 drop 10k blocker that allows you to draw and buff a unison 5k when it is KO'd. Not bad at all.
The Father and Daughter team are here.
Normally I wouldn't say anything about a skill less card, but Ox-King is majestic as fuck. I'm glad we now have his beast mode OG DB version in the game. What a tank.
Innocent Presence Chi-Chi is a free blocker if you have a red unison card with 3 or more markers on it. Not anything spesh, and probably won't be very popular.
Two martial masters join us with Master Roshi and Mercenary Tao.
Master Roshi, Martial Virtuoso is a very cool Counter: Attack card. It stops your oppponent from attacking with any battle cards that have 25k or more for the turn and gives you a combo piece. Really cool if your opponent has an established board that you can stop. Like a less powerful nimbus, but could be a side board option for red.
Mercenary Tao, Unequaled Assassin means Tao joins us again after getting banned a while back. Welcome back my friend. This time though, he's not nearly as useful, although he does provide some nice extra pressure in a wide board red deck. He comes out for free if you have 3 or more battle cards in play, and then get's crit for the turn. He's actually great, I'm just missing any answer for hand destruction :(
For the last of the red reveals, we have the Super Combos.
Bulma, Out Adventuring is the new special SC for red. It allows you to draw a card, and play a 1 cost red earthling if it's your turn assuming the total life between you and your opponent is 8 or less. A very specific cost to use this card, but I guess they were afraid of another Shugesh style SC. This can be used to play the Shu 1 drop for free in order to board 3 15ks for zero energy. There will be other fun applications though, like playing Fortuneteller Baba to buff an earthling 5k, then draw another card and neg an opponent's card.
She has an activate main that allows you to buff a mono-red battle card or unison card by 5k once per turn. Probably not worth using much unless your opponent doesn't mainboard removal.
Some players were concerned with seeing Time Control Chronoa in the black starter deck. Will Shugesh be unbanned? Now they have their answer. It stops this card.
Chi-Chi, Ox-King's Daughter is just a standard super combo.
The Shadow Dragons start us off for yellow. The negative energy Dragon Balls are making another appearance this set, but now they're battle cards! I for one love that these cards are a thing, they're really cool and unlike anything else we have so far.
Negative Energy One-Star and Two-Star Balls are 1 cost battle cards with 1 power. They can't be affected by your opponent's skills (but they can be attacked, so be careful of those burn decks!) or attack. Once they're on the field, you can tap one to play their respective Shadow Dragon by sacking the ball. Interesting that they have a range for the energy cost of the dragon you can play, meaning there will likely be multiple of each dragon.
These are the two cards revealed that you can play off the above balls.
Syn Shenron, Shadow Dragon Leader is a 19k blocker that automatically plays his ball from the drop and draws a card if he is removed by a skill. He also stuns a 4 or less rest mode battle card or your opponent's rest mode leader card when he's played. I like the concept, it seems difficult to deal with considering you wont really want to be removing him, so he'll be blocking your attacks.
Haze Shenron, the Poisonmancer is a 15k crit that adds a shadow dragon from the drop to your hand when you play him. Pretty good for 2 energy.
With the new Gotenks leader neading Union Fusion to activate his auto, we knew there would be some new cards coming to support that.
Trunks and Son Goten the Eager can be discarded from your hand to find their 3 cost counterpart. Just a nice way to get the right pieces in your hand. You can then use them to fuse into the four drop Gotenks we'll show soon.
Son Goten & Trunks, Flash of Brilliance can add themselves to your hand if you drop a yellow card. You really won't have issues having the fusion pieces in your hand with this deck.
Gotenks, Overwhelming Might is a 2 (yellow) cost fusion for a 20k critical that negates the skills of an opponent's battle card, and also draws you a card. It's decent, but not amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw another big Gotenks to evolve on top of this guy or fuse into seperately. He can also be sacked from the battle are to the deck to put the cards back in your hand, essentially netting you even cards from when you started the combo.
Continuing the GT theme, we have Pan and Pan the Earnest.
Pan is a skill less 10k.
Pan the Earnest is a 1 cost searcher that allows you to add two cards to hand, one Son Goten: GT & one Trunks: GT. You then drop a card if you drew 2. Great for even more consistency in the Yellow Gotenks deck.
Vegeta the Impregnable and Giru, the Dragon Ball Discoverer are the yellow unison searchers. Giru also searches for any yellow battle card with an energy cost of 1, whereas Vegeta searches for a yellow Saiyan with 3 or less.
Two Goku: GT cards this reveal.
The first, Son Goku, Adventure into the Unknown is a crit self awakener like Krillin, but with a better trait.
Technique Chain Son Goku comes out for 1 if your opponent has 3 or more energy, then can play Son Goku, Absolute Annihilation for 2 energy once he's out. That is likely a big SR or rare boss card. Can't say much about this guy until we see it.
The supercombos are next for yellow.
Counterblast Son Gohan is the special SC. He lets you either draw a card, or ko an opponent's rest mode battle card with an energy cost of 5 or less, if they have 5 or more cards in rest mode. That's awesome! This guy could really be one of the best supercombos out there in certain situations! You can also play him for 1 to rest an opponent's battle card, potentially setting up his first auto.
Vegeta, Earthbound Pride is a standard supercombo.
Burning Kamehameha is a 2 cost extra card that can be activated for 1 if o have a yellow unison card in play and a yellow leader. It allows you to KO one of your opponent's battle cards if they have 4 or more cards in rest mode. Not bad at all.
Two-Star Ball Parasitic Darkness is the same as the One Star ball we saw with the green reveals. It allows you to play a Cell: Xeno with an energy cost of 9 on top of a Cell with 7 or 9 for free. We won't know if it's any good until we see the Cell cards, so I'll leave it at that.
Those are the final cards of this hefty reveal. I really appreciate how they have done sort of a throw back to set 5, five sets on, it's really cool! I need a rest now before Bandai drop all the rares on us! I hope you enjoyed reading this!
~ Sam Russell
As always, keep an eye on our Youtube, Facebook and Twitch for more content and updates.