Deck Profile: Manipulative Hero Android 18

When you build a deck, what's the first thing you think of? A big appeal of a franchise game like DBZ is the concept of playing as a character from such an iconic series. Many players approach deckbuilding by starting with their favorite character, and trying to build a strategy around them. Pic unrelated.

    But how do you come up with a new deck idea? The most common advice is to begin with an MP and Mastery, as it informs the other 60 cards, but choosing one of the many possible combinations can be daunting. Do you pick a strategy first, like stage beats, and then a combination to suit it? Or do you ask further questions before even beginning, like "What is the meta?" and "What counters that?" For me, I found inspiration from doing the unthinkable: I read a card.

    Black Confident Shot is an oft-forgotten attack that I loved dearly upon its release. It doubled the modifiers gained from Black Devious Mastery and was one of the few cards that granted true card advantage before Awakening. Unfortunately, it never really had a home throughout Pan Z's lifespan. While scrolling through the OCTGN deckbuilder, I stumbled upon my old friend and was jolted out of my between-sets stupor. Immediately this card reminded me of Namekian Right Kick and Namekian Knockback, cards that were devastating in Namekian Gohan. Ordinarily cards without immediate value are anathema to me, but Imposing Gohan had proven that having "must-block" attacks was an effective strategy. So how could I make Confident Shot as, pun intended, imposing as possible? What was the best Named attack to get with its effect?

    Android 18's Toss came to mind, as it grabbed a third attack to keep the onslaught going. Three cards out of one is a tremendous amount of advantage. But Toss didn't do stage damage, which was key to making Confident Shot good. There were other Android cards worth grabbing, but nothing that really made the combo pop off the way I was hoping. Then I read another card.

    Black Judgement Rush is considered Named, which makes it a valid target for Toss. Hero Android 18 also removes the stage cost. This means for the price of two power stages, Hero 18 can throw Confident Shot into Toss into Judgement Rush. With no mods but Black Manipulative Mastery in play, that potentially adds up to 27 cards of damage on a stage-locked opponent, taking out almost half their deck with a single attack hitting. I added every stage mod I could and took my creation into the wild. Initially the deck was fairly weak, doing almost nothing outside of the turns were the combo went off. Yes, I did win when that happened, but it was inconsistent and clunky. I shelved the deck and didn't think much of it for some time.

    After ToP, I returned to the deck in my quest to find something interesting and off-meta to play. I was once again disappointed with how the deck performed, but this time I did not give up. The combo was so devastating! There had to be a way to make the deck at least playable. I asked myself "What does this deck REALLY want to do?" I vetted every card in the list, and changed over a dozen of them. The result is what you see below:

Starting

Black Manipulative Mastery

Android 18 - Settled Down

Android 18 - Aggressive

Android 18 - Finalist

Android 18 - Runner Up

Planning: 10

Super Dragon Ball 2

Android 17 - Ranger

Krillin - Protective

Black Smoothness Drill

Black Erasing Drill

Black Chopping Drill

Android Attack Drill

2x Gravity Training Drill

Heroic Plan

Events: 6

3x Confrontation

Time Is A Warrior's Tool

2x On The Move!

Energy Attacks: 15

3x Android 18's Toss

3x Android 18's Destructo Disk

2x Blinding Energy Move

3x Black Confident Shot

3x Black Trick Shot

Black Capture

Physical Attacks: 17

3x Andriod Battle Rush

2x Android Arm Breaker

3x I'll Dig Your Grave

3x Black Judgment Rush

3x Black Face Crush

2x Black Dive

Black Vehicle Toss

Blocks: 12

3x Black Swipe

3x Black Flinch

3x Skillful Parry

3x Black Upward Dodge

    I removed almost every tech card from the list in order to focus on only making the combo happen. The planning cards are essentially just every single stage mod I had access to to help stage lock my opponent, along with busted 1-ofs Black Smoothness Drill and Black Erasing Drill. Super Dragon Ball 2 is a new addition, but has been extremely impactful. Heroic Plan acts as a second copy of my Drills. On the Move is powerful against many relevant MPs and can get me a surprise stage lock. Black Face Crush for Black Vehicle Toss is one of the funniest and yet most powerful combos in the deck, and Black Capture provides a secondary target if Vehicle Toss is already attached or gone. Android Arm Breaker prevents my opponent from Unleashing to avoid a stage-lock while also doing flat damage to help me get there. Black Dive has been a last-minute addition to help ensure Confident Shot will hit. The only other cards worth noting are the blocks; the classic Black Upward Dodge returns, along with its cousin Black Flinch, to buff my attacks further. Since Confident Shot doubles mods, a single one of these will add a whopping 8 life cards to it. Either of them into Disk is also devastating. And Skillful Parry is just a better Black Finger Block.

    This deck is critically weak to ally decks, as they prevent me from locking my opponent and I'm not running Black Chin Kick out of fear of leveling and turning my own allies off. It could easily go in over Dive if needed. Black Mischievous Mastery is also difficult to overcome as it can force you to level and clear your board, or randomly discard your combo pieces. Krillin is also nearly unbeatable, because this deck attacks. The surprise factor is huge for this deck, and if your opponent knows the combo you will have a harder time than against unsuspecting victims.

    The new build was much more effective, putting up strong results even against some meta decks. However, I couldn't help but feel a certain dismay. What made the deck better was focusing on turbo-ing out my own gameplan as much as possible, building the deck without considering my opponents. I've found that to be the case with many recent builds, which robs some of the joy from deckbuilding for me. Is it even worth it to run tech anymore?

    Oh well. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

-Seth