Dear Matthew,

First things first, I love your advice and knowledge of the game, I would love to sit down and have a good conversation about the game with you sometime.  I think I could hold my own with you.  I'm sending you this deck for your personal opinion on the thing.  I'm good at building decks for Dragon Ball Z, and in my local area I'm referred to as God, simply because unless I'm experimenting or working out bugs on an idea, I win.  I always help the new players, and I am always willing to do what I can to help someone with decks and in getting cards.  I run a local league, nothing official, since the official scene seems to skip this area, tourneys and leagues.

Figured you would have a few questions about the deck, so I will answer at least one of them.  TES is not in there because as hard as I tried, I couldn't fit it in without taking away from the general strategy of the deck.  Before I typed it up and sent it to you though, I made some alterations, and found I had a few holes open, I was thinking 2 to 3 of them, but perhaps you could find something to fill the space as well while I read over my cards and try to decide.

Main Personality:

Super Sayian Trunks [M23], Trunks, The Swordsmen [T186], Trunks, Times Hero [C195HT], Trunks, The Powerful [C127]

Saiyan Style Mastery [Buu146], North Kai Sensai [WG140]

In Sensai Deck:  Saiyan Head Shot [B120], Saiyan Pressure Technique (2) [Buu145], Sayian Overcharged Blast (2) [Fus119]

Combat Cards:  Time is a Warriors Tool [T30], Super Sayian Effect [TPreview4], Brothers in Training [WGPreview5], Dazed [Fus98], Overcharged (2) [Fus70], Up Close and Personal (2) [Fus27], Reserves (2) [CCPP4]

Non-combat/Locations/Battlegrounds: Saiyan Inspection (2) [A36], Hero's Lucky Break [T119], Blasted Land [A7], Majin Buu's Stomach [Fus61]

Physical Combat: Saiyan Perfect Defense [Fus85], Saiyan Snap Kick (2) [Buu34], Saiyan Neutralization (2) [Fus20], Saiyan Destiny (2) [A81], Saiyan Light Jab (3) [WG112], Saiyan Flying Kick (2) [C60], Saiyan Defensive Sphere [WG32], Saiyan Wrist Block (2) [A80], Saiyan Lightning Dodge (2) [A111], Saiyan Knee Block (3) [CG27], Saiyan Left Kick (2) [A79], Saiyan Hand Swipe (2) [Buu33], Trunks Swiftly Moving (3) [T99], Saiyan Face Smash (2) [CG 96], Saiyan Escape (2) (BPreview2), Saiyan Power Block (2) [B29]

Energy Combat: Supreme Kai Ki Push (3) [Buu148], Saiyan Triple Blast (3) [CG29], Saiyan Jump Shot (2) [WG110], Saiyan Energy Suprise (2) [CG25], Saiyan Might (2) [B28], Saiyan Explosion (2) [Fus82], Gohans Left Energy Release (2) [Fus53], Heroic Effort (2) [Fus9], Saiyan Strength Blast (2) [Buu109], Saiyan Energy Ball (2) [WG33], The Luck of Trunks [FPreview5], Good Advice [FPreview4], Saiyan Focus [A77], Saiyan Power Beam (3) [Buu108]

The general stratigy is patience and energy assualt.  There isn't much in the way of Dragon Ball Defense, but there are open spaces in which I can put some stuff, on top of that, this thing takes dragon balls easily with its energy barrage.  Its all about timing the cards just right.  Experienced plays will appreicate the amount of thought this deck requires to play.  Passing on combat is key to surviving a game.  This isn't a head to head deck.  The Ki Pushes are there for massive damage.  You will usually have enough defense draining cards to pull that one off, and using the buu saiyan master, you advance stages quickly.  The only real weakness of the deck is Trunks doesn't have a good stage 2.  I've been considering replacing the Trunks Saga one with the Cell Saga one, but it falls out of the defensive pattern no matter which one I use.

Now I will leave you with one note.  If you would like to see more of my deck ideas, just let me know, and I'm always willing to reveiw decks as well.  Basically, I look at it as other people will see things that you missed, and its best to go to those with more knowledge of the game, for they are usually more helpful, but sometimes a new player will pick up on something that even the best players miss.

Thanks for your time,

Robert Evans

I personally would use the FS HT Level 1 (all energies are capped at 2 life) just because it is just broke against energy. Oh, and add the level 5 if you can. I honestly would go with... HT Level 1 CS Level 2 CS Level 3 (you can argue the level 3 HT, more on this later) CS Level 4 CGS Level 5 Now this is interesting. Buu Saga Mastery. Speeding up them levels eh. Problem is Namekian energy kills you before you get to level 4. You need to worry about freestyle physical beats as well. In your case, I'd really attempt to run the level 5 and some even quicker ways to get there, because that's honestly the only real way you are going to win against a well rounded deck.

I mean, if you do get to level 4, energy decks, or good ones, will have a way to shut you down. Sensei Deck... this needs work. See, you notice North has a size of 13. I don't see Trunks using all the slots now do I. So use them. Now. Before I get mad. LOL. Run HUH??? as the ultimate DB tech, 2x Black Scout Manuever because they are that good, and... maybe some stuff like A Hero's Heart is Strong. There are a ton of Sensei Deck cards you can easily throw in that can help against random archtypes. Use the space. I'm looking at your Combat section... this needs the most work. You need to run the staple Combats to be somewhat competitive (Confrontation x3, TES x3, POTD, Dazed, Time, SSE, etc). Now... other cards I would recommend are Drills are for the Weak (anti freestyle/orange), Unlocked Potential (think Super Saiyan Effect on energy, why you might just run the CS 3), Aura Clashes (to level faster), and Saiyan Truce Card (broke card).

I bet there's more too. You are running quite a few extraneous cards you are better off just running more attacks or tech cards. Reserves is nice but without setting up your discard you can draw junk. Up Close and Personal is decent if you want to draw random stuff. I don't think Overcharge fits. Brothers does nothing if you have no Drills... Nons... well, you need a little work here. You don't run that many, and while that's a good idea for Saiyan, I would still run Expectant Trunks and the URs if you have them. Hero's Lucky Break doesn't need to be run with barely any to fetch. Goku's Ready is the poor man's Fatherly, and it is not even worth trying if you ask me. And yes you need City In Turmoil, more like 3. Hmm... well reading your strategy, you are kinda missing the point. Dragon Ball decks know how to deal with people who think they are just going to energy and energy and steal balls. They run Drills like Android 20 Absorbing Drill and Goku's Capturing Drill to keep the Drills. They run Combat enders to completely avoid your energy assault. And so forth. In your case, you need you run Gohan's Kicks for sure. An energy/physical hybrid is really what I would go for in this case. I probably wouldn't run SKKP, but you could run a couple if you really want to go down levels (you really should be gunning for that level 5, 4 against energy decks).

You've got some random bad cards like Saiyan Defensive Sphere and Saiyan Knee Block that really have no point. Usually I recommend Cross Punch, Destiny, Power Beam, Ki Ball, maybe Strength Blast, and many of the Broly inserts as the good attacks. Flying Kick and Power Kick are decent. As for blocks, I usually say Power Block, Ricochet, Neutralization, Planet Explosion, Wrist Block, maybe Focus, some omni blocks (Goku's Flight), and of course Goku's Energy Absorption, NEA, FFB (prob not you), GRD, etc. You should cut some of the randomness like Trunks Swiftly Moving and just run the solid stuff. Saiyan Might and Triple Blast are decent. Good Advice is good, Luck of Trunks is weak. Try out Trunks Makes Himself Clear if you are desperate.

Well... that took a while. Oh, you need EDB7. I bet there are some things that will make this better, but the biggest key is you really need to figure out what to go with this. Saiyan Energy is not an archtype that's really good. But big card advantage is. So with that, I'm going to leave judgement up to you. Have fun with this. -- matthewlow@franceslow.com "You will not be allowed to do this to anyone else!" - Gohan --