Red Leader & Deck Guide: Son Goku (Mini) : DA (FB05)

Being the star of New Adventure's theme alongside a beginner's friendly deck made FB05-001, and by extension FS06-01, a popular pick early in this new set. Unfortunately, the red color has struggled to get going, and the emergence of other leaders has limited the popularity of both Son Goku Daima leaders.

In my opinion, the reason for those struggle is the lack of energy cheating patterns in the color, while every other color now has a way to do so. Indeed, since FB02-013 was limited, every other color got a way to play other cards for free, gain some energy, or discount the cost of a card. As such, amongst the five colors in Dragon Ball Fusion World, Red is only allowed one copy when the others happily play four of such cards.

Even with this limitation, I don't think it is fair to count red leaders out entirely. Indeed, not only I consider the color the best way to learn the game, both Daima leaders have arguments of their own, either the ability to bring immense pressure, or swing the board back in their favor.

Gameplan

Early in a match, both leaders look to accomplish the same thing, which is building a lead on the board through red's signature power affliction. It doesn't have to be how we deal with every card, but just FB01-004 removing all those cheap 5,000 combo cards will go a long way into giving us initiative in battle.

This phase is particularly important as it will determine how comfortably we will be able to awaken. Indeed, although we should be good card wise thanks to FB05-015 and the ability to pick our own health if the opponent would focus on our battle cards, we don't want our leader to be an easy target once awakened.

For both leaders, the sweet spot to awaken is turn four, as it means FB05-006 will lower the opposing leader to 15.000 and bring a ton of pressure. If we were unable to focus on the opposing leader at that moment, we can use FB04-012 to awaken, paired with FB03-023 or FB03-026 to swing the board in our favor.

The pick of each card is simply due to each leader's ability. FB05-001 cannot lower 30,000 power cards to 25,000 for FB03-023, while FS06-01 doesn't have the same aggressive ability, so would rather clear more cards than take health from their opponent.
Obviously FB02-013 summoning FB02-018 will also represent a strong play at that moment.

Once we managed to grab the lead, either before or right after awakening, each leader will follow their own path.

As the better finisher of the two, FB05-001 tends to be able to let the opponent control the board more, especially once they are in the 2,3 health danger zone. From there, the deck is able to push quite a lot of damage with FB05-006 or FS06-06. Because of the pressure brought by these two, the opponent has to deal with all battle cards we put out unless they bet they can finish us that turn.

This typically could lead them to be a little more defensive than they should be, and give us an extra turn at times. FB02-029 is great in those scenarios, as it allows to both remove a threat to our health, while still having the choice of what to do with our 30,000 attacker.

With more of a midrange playstyle, the slower FS06-01 tends to win the game through locking out the opponent from being able to come for the kill because of FB04-129, or simply because they don't have enough combo in hand. This doesn't mean we can't make a push for the win if our opponent gives us an opening. Instead, consider FS06-01 to be more adaptable to the situation. For example, we'll pressure our opponent if they decided not to defend against FB05-006. However, we are completely fine if they depleted their hand to stay high on health as well.

FB05-001 has to go for the win around turn five or six, or it risks the opponent beating them to the punch. That often is a winning bet, because the leader is built to succeed at doing so. FS06-01 on the other end, has a bit more card draw, and a better ability to answer the opponent's board, meaning there is less of a hurry as long as we keep initiative. Typically, this leader will be fine with each leaders staying high on health and wrestling for the card advantage. The other has to make a push eventually, explaining the slight differences in how each deck is built.

Other Cards to Consider

As the more aggressive leader, FB05-001 wants more stability, so more cards will be included at four copies, just to maximize our odds to find them in time and follow our intended agenda. FS06-01 is more flexible due to its midrange playstyle. Here, cards able to swing the board make more sense, and our leader ability will also help us control the opponent's cards more efficiently.

In a way, the pick of which leader you would rather play is already a statement as the playstyle you pursue. It is very possible that switching for the other Goku will net better results rather than build FS06-01 with the intent to pressure, or FB05-001 to control your opponent's cards.

You need to attack to get the rewards from this card, which tends to put it at risk while also enticing your opponent to not take life you often want to lose during the early turns. However, the ability to inflict -5,000 power in a future turn can be very valuable to pair with FB03-023, FB02-018 or FB03-026. Fair replacement to FS06-05 depending what you value most.

I like to control my opponent's on board combo, hence why I picked FS06-05 as the other 2-cost in the deck. Yet, you could also value the critical key word more, and that would be totally fine. Also, this is a solid replacement if you were missing a Super Rare 2-cost card.

We are in the fifth set of the game and I'm still fine whenever I see this card included in a red deck. It pairs really well with FB01-004 and often gives us the lead heading into turn four, one of the most important when playing these leaders.

A solid placeholder if you were on a budget, able to remove all the cheap cards your opponent could use as combo, or set up bigger cards for removal.

Mulligan and Energy

Both decks features three types of cards : draw cards with 5,000 combo, power cards with no combo, and various with 10,000. Considering we are either trying to push for damage, or control the flow of the game, I value the 10,000 combos a lot and would rarely use them as energy. Then, my pick will almost be a power card I can't envision to play in the near future to maximize combo. Or a support one I can't fit in my next turns, as the power cards require all my energy.

As for the mulligan, I will typically look for a 1-cost plus FB05-015 ideally. The 2-cost is at her best early on, as she can be dealt with without being KO'd later on by multiple opponents. Red is the color most likely to be able to do it early on, so you could prioritize another card in those match-ups. FB01-004 plus FB02-018 with the energy marker is perfect to remove the opposing FB05-015 for example. If first, I will aim to find either FB05-011 or FS06-07, while FB01-004 is often great when second.

Tips and Tricks

• FB05-001 has decent single target removal through FB03-026 while FS06-01 can swing the board back with FB03-023. We never want to fall behind intentionally but if we have to, let's at least make it so we have a comeback mechanism.

• The early turns will often be crucial to play our power card in optimal conditions later on. FB05-006 isn't that scary if your opponent isn't awakened yet, and can afford to simply accept the hits.

• Turn four often is the most important turn for a red deck, as we have plenty of power plays. Whether it is two FB04-012, one plus FB03-023, FB02-013 or simply FB05-006, we often want to have that specific turn in mind, and build around the power spike we'll have at the moment.

• Taking our own health away should come at the service of tempo and keeping the pressure up. We want to awaken in order to keep pounding, and use our leader ability and 20,000 power so the opponent cannot gain too much tempo from our leader not contributing much at 15,000. If we awaken while behind, we are just going to spend the cards we drew to stay alive.

• When you craft your turns, especially with FB05-001, ask yourself whether this is something the opponent can ignore or not. If they can, it probably means you aren't pressuring them enough, and you might want to deal with their board at the moment.

• Our leader ability typically allows us to create annoying power thresholds for our opponent. In order to determine its best use, it is crucial to know whether we are trying to take health away from their leader or cards from their hand. This will determine what we want to attack into and the threshold we should aim to reach as a result.

• Building tempo will go through keeping some battle cards alive from a turn to another, which naturally will require us to spend some cards from our hand to defend them at time. Always compare the cost of keeping your card alive and what the opponent might have to spend to defend against it next turn to know if it is worth spending cards from your hand to protect the one on the board or not.
  
• If in doubt whether your double strike will close the game, and investing all your combo means losing if the opponent can defend that hit. You can instead swing with FB05-006 plus FB03-022's On Play ability attached. It is a 45,000 or 40,000 attacker depending on your leader, able to hit twice. If the opponent accepts the first blow, you can still swing for the game. If they spend two to three cards to defend it, you can ask for the same amount to defend one of their battle cards. Or swing into their leader again, and then invest your hand onto FB03-022 if that second blow was a hit.

Matchups

• Leaders with 25,000 power when awakened aren't as weak to FB05-006 as the other because they change the threshold. Then, one super combo can be enough to tank the 35,000 power attack after we buffed with FB05-001. If you see a lot of them, FS06-01 might make more sense as you draw more card, thus scaling better into the late game.

• It is crucial to know from how far your opponent can try to kill you, especially when playing FB05-001. For example, FB04-077 can mount up to five attacks, one of those being a double strike through FB04-094 summoning FB04-095 on turn five. This information will tell you how many hits you can take just for the sake of getting another card in your hand, or when to start using a bit of combo defensively so you aren't forced to use a lot more later on.

• It is fine to take on a reactive stance early on against other aggressive leaders. Through FB01-004 or FB02-018, we can deal efficiently with opposing battle card while we develop our own side of the board. Obviously, FS06-01 is a little better at dealing with those match-ups.

• Keeping a battle card active is fine early in the match if it leads to a better situation the following turn. However, most colors except green can deal with 3-cost cards well whether they are rested or not. Then, it is often better to use our cards and spend some combo to keep them alive from future attacks, rather than let our opponent develop theirs and either ignore, or deal with ours using an ability or extra card.

• Keeping your energy marker against a black opponent for a turn five FB04-129 or back to back FB05-006 is not worth having to deal with FB04-105 and our opponent getting a card. Back to back FB05-015 is just as good and won't lead to any disaster tempo wise.

• Don't draw too much against Yellow opponents early on, as they will typically discard you anyway. Instead, focus on building tempo and remove their key cards. Your hand will be around 5 or 6 cards one way or another, might as well use them. FB05-015 can be a great refill in those match-ups once we seized the lead.

Closing Words

I feel like red leaders unfortunately can't get away with as much as the other colors. Sure, there are ways to swing the board, but they are either more expensive, situational or don't develop our side of the board like other can. Then, it is crucial to get a good start, and focus on building tempo as soon as possible. Once it is time to play our power cards, their efficiency will be mostly determined by how effective our previous turns were.

I definitely believe the Daima duo is good enough to compete, it will just not get away with as much as other leaders might. If you are just getting started in Dragon Ball Fusion World however, this is a great starting point for sure.

I hope this guide was helpful, and may you have as much fun as I do on Dragon Ball Super Card Game Fusion World. If you had a question, or would be looking for coaching, you can hit me on Discord (@den_ccg).

Good Game Everyone.