Subject: Re: Help a newbie if you can. - Gohan Sword

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Tyson L. Cromeens"
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 16:52:49 -0500

Ok, I am a 27 year old DBZ junkie with a wife, job, and kid. Ok now that is out of the way, I need help on my first deck. I am making a Freestyle Gohan sword deck. I really don't like Gohan's Buu per #2 or #3. #1 is great, but the other two just seem lacking. I have been reading your answers to questions on PoJo's DBZ web site. Any help would be great. Here is my deck. Also Should I include Level 5?

Thanks for any help

Tyson

DECK

Gohan (level 1)
Gohan (level 2)
Gohan, Mystic Training (level 3)
Gohan, Mystic Empowered (level 4)
Gohan, Earth's Protector (level 5)

Battleground
Arqua's Arena (x1)

Combat
Brothers in Training(x1)
Dazed (x1)
Deadly Attack (x2)

Dragonball
Alt. Dende Dragon Ball 1 (x1)
Alt. Dende Dragon Ball 2 (x1)
Alt. Dende Dragon Ball 7 (x1)
Earth Dragon Ball 3 (New Version) (x1)

Drill
Android 20 Absorbing Drill (x1)
Baba Witch Viewing Drill (x1)
Caught Off Guard Drill (x1)
Gohan's Defense Drill (x1)
Gohan's Swordplay Drill (x4)
Trunks Swordplay Drill (x2)
Vegeta's Pride Drill (x1)

Energy Combat
Energy Ricochet (x1)
Goku Swiftly Moving (x2)
Goku's Energy Absorption (x1)
Team Work Kamehameha (x1)
Trunks Sword Position 3 (x3)

Location
Protective Shelter (x1)

Mastery
Freestyle Mastery (x1) (I'm assuming this is the MBS one since you didn't specify... and the other one is just pure junk.)

Non-Combat
Energy Gathering (x1)
King Kai's Thoughts (x2)
Makyo Star (x1)
Time Chamber Training (x2)
Trunks Finds the Answer (x2)
Trunks Prepares (x1)

Physical Combat
Focused Sword Strike (x3)
Gohan's Elbow Block (x4)
Gohan's Energy Deflection (x1)
Gohan's Forearm Block (x1)
Gohan's Physical Attack (x2)
Gohan's Sword Slash (x3)
Gohan's Sword Sweep (x4)
Gohan's Sword Thrust (x4)
Goku's Flight (x1)
Heroic Sword Catch (x1)
King Cold's Sword Trick (x1)
Piccolo's Destruction Attack (x1)
Trunks Swiftly Moving (x3)
Trunks Sword Position 1 (x4)
Trunks Sword Position 2 (x3)
Trunks Sword Position 4 (x3)
Trunks' Sword Slice (x1)

Sensei
North Kai Sensei (x1)

Tyson L. Cromeens PharmD

Doctor of Pharmacy

*******
LOL this might be my first time helping someone almost a decade older than me. I feel special ^_^.

For some reason that deck is pretty much impossible to read. The links made it screwy and I couldn't read it... but when I hit reply, I get the links and I can actually see the cards... but this will take a bit of editing to attempt to read it... thus... off I go to edit...

Phew, that was a task. Now let's see what we have... and I appreciate you saying you are new, I can see that. You've got a few things to learn, but I see you have the basics down. You do need staples like Nappa's Energy Aura, Confrontation, Trunks Energy Sphere, and Time is A Warriors Tool. Hopefully you've read some of my articles and have seen some ideas on staples that you need to run.

I would attempt to obtain the Cell Saga levels 2 and 3, and yes, a level 5 would be nice to just keep in for normal purposes (opponent can't win at level 4, etc).

I would run either a few more Arqua's Arena, or try out Tree of Might. It might help you in the long run. The thing is City In Turmoil messes you up, so you need a way to get around it. Gohan's Nimbus Cloud to get a Location (should you decide to run one) will work nicely since you can Mastery for it.

You need some major work on your Combats, namely the staples and more copies of Power of the Dragon. I mentioned a few above; add those and other ones I've mentioned in other articles (gets old listing all of them every time) and you should be mostly there.

As for your Dragon Balls, you can't have two sets of DBs in the same deck. Thus, pick Earth or Dende, but not both. In your case, I'd try to make a deck and run all 7 just as a backup victory and learning tool. Earth is a very powerful set, while Dende holds Alternate 3 which will help shutdown City in Turmoil.

As for your Drills, I'd take out Baba Witch Viewing Drill; you will be playing heroes too. Vegeta's Quickness Drill, maybe another Absorbing Drill, another COGD, maybe another Trunks Swordplay Drill, 3 Devastation Drills... that's looks decent. If you are playing Tuff Enuff, 4 Gohan's Defense Drill is annoying. Also keep in mind that your drills can't be discarded, so they are extremely powerful. I would probably cut Pride Drill since Swordplays are better.

Your location is iffy... maybe.

I'd keep only Trunks Finds the Answer out of those non combats. You could use cards like Long Journey and Releasing the Sword to get some quick Drill setup. Maybe a Don't You Just Hate That will help.

In your Energy Combats, more Ricochets will work, and maybe some other energy blocks seeing you don't have many. Some stop alls like Frieza's Force Bubble and Goku's Running Defense will help.

Ok, now to the Sword cards. The key here is Trunks Sword Slice and Gohan's Swordplay Drill. Once you have it going you can pick out what physical you want and control the board with Mastery/Sword Slice. I would run 3-4 copies of all the good ones (Gohan named you can have 4, otherwise only 3). I would also run some Gohan named cards like Gohan's Kick which will help you immensely in dealing damage.

Also, put cards in your Sensei deck, like HUH??? and Black Scout Maneuver (not a black card) so you can Energy Ricochet more.

Good luck. I tried to make it sound easier than it really is, seeing that even after you fix all of that you still have more to go. Get into the game a little more and I bet you'll see a lot more things you can run. Try maximizing the best cards you can, 3 of them, so you have increased chance of drawing them.

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matthewlow@franceslow.com
"You will not be allowed to do this to anyone else!" - Gohan
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