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With SB01-001 and SB01-029 untouchable during SB01, alongside the new FB07-097 synergy both hyping and scaring players regarding how early FB07-122 could come down. There was a lot to wonder about the face of the early metagame in this new set.
Looking at many early Tier Lists shared online, most players had SB01-001 and SB01-029 still at the top of the game. They might reclaim that position once it is time for the first tournaments. However, looking at the early race back to the God rank and the decks shared by the best ranked players, FB07-049 and FB07-025 might have a say in that.
Let's explore how these two have been the most efficient leaders so far in the Wish for Shenron metagame.
Piccolo : SH is the total package.
With very few 0 combo cards (10 total) alongside the ability to fetch Super-Combos with FB07-063, FB07-049 isn't your average green deck filled with useless cards on defense. Plus, before you get to force those cards out of its hand to protect its health, you likely will have to hit into FB07-066 at least once.
Combined, these two traits make the new green leader quite difficult to pressure, often making the match about building a solid board first and foremost.
In that department, FB07-121 is the new king, allowing to both place whatever opposing battle card in their drop, while effectively being a 3-cost 50,000 power card. With FB07-058 in the deck, the 8-cost typically comes at the perfect time to remove the opponent's first big threat. When paired with FB07-066 thanks to the five energy we just restored, FB07-049 both swings the board and prevents most attempts at a lethal the following turn.
The card is in part responsible for FB07-122 not being the huge threat we expected it to be.
Those new additions, combined with the already great FB05-119 to close matches, immediately made FB07-049 a well-rounded leader, and propelled green to be a menace early in FB07.
Syn Shenron is the new Satan City.
The new blue synergy is quite the opposite of what we just discussed with FB07-049. The deck does not rely on obvious synergies, and is actually fairly weak to a very aggressive opponent able to force cards out of its hand early on.
However, whenever you give FB07-025 enough time to get settled, it is like facing Prime Satan City all over again :
- One card per turn is free through the leader ability
- The deck is flexible, able to draw, control opposing battle cards, or develop its side of the battlefield.
- The same cards (typically FB07-026) are coming back over and over as they keep being shuffled back into the deck.
Plus, compared to the old blue juggernaut, this one can awaken at 6 health, meaning it is not punished by playing defensively early on to stay high on health. Another big difference, FB07-025 won't go easy on you once it starts coming for the kill, attacking with cheap cards buffed by FB01-066. This time, we got FB07-027 and FB07-035 coming one after another for big hits, and an even bigger one when FB07-047 joins the party.
Let's note a few weaknesses though. First, just like Satan City, the deck is very difficult to pilot, meaning the first impression often will be terrible, alongside a few losses as part of the learning curve. Then, the deck packs 13 extra cards, on top of 8 cards with no combo attached, meaning almost half the deck is useless during an attack.
I have no doubt the build will improve in the future. For example, I find the early very volatile, with just FB07-030 and FB07-041 as our sole cards on turn one and two. Yet, until more players get through that learning phase, and the refined decks appear, the way to beat FB07-025 seems to simply pressure it, and end the game before it can start cheating a ton of energy for too long.
Edit on September 22nd : Syn Shenron won the first Regional tournament in Japan, so I updated the deck with the winner's deck. As expected, the deck now packs more 2-cost cards to bolster its early game.
Let's give it up for FB07
Before we end this piece, I wanted to note how Wish for Shenron seems to have managed the impossible to get us out of the stalemate created by SB01-001 and SB01-029 without resorting to bans and limitations.
With this new set, plenty of leaders feel improved. Of course, the metagame will start to focus around certain strategy once it is time to be competitive. Yet, until that time comes, we have seen the likes of FB01-105, FS03-01 or FB06-001 make sense to explore one more time.
Not only it is great to have more diversity, it also represents an opportunity for those unable to collect many Secret or Super Rare cards to build a deck with card they got from previous sets. FB07-025 and FB07-049 are pretty cool, but they lean almost exclusively on getting all the FB07 blue or green cards.
I'll make sure to write a piece with a round-up of decks soon, covering all the leaders with a decent deck to climb up the digital ranks, or take to store tournament nearby. Until then, here's my own craft I'm having fun with until I can collect all the cards I need to play the greatest decks.
