Android Battle Rush – FanZ Set 16 Exclusive Preview!

(“FanZ” is a virtual, nonprofit continuation of the Panini Dragon Ball Z Trading Card Game. To learn more about FanZ and keep up with new releases and cards, visit The Dead Zone, the official FanZ blog site! And if you want to catch up on the rules, we have a convenient compilation of the Panini and FanZ rulings documents here on MetaManiacs!)

Welcome back Z-Warriors! Due to the long spoiler season (and large set) for the upcoming FanZ Dragon Ball Super release (releasing October 27!), we were given another chance to show you all a new card coming to our favorite dead-but-also-not TCG. The DBS release represents a great chance for curious players to join in the fold, and with the addition of a new DBS-only format to a game where full proxied decks are allowed in events, it’s the cheapest DBZ/DBS game you’ll find – and, in my opinion, the most fun! Join the eternal fans of all things retro DBZ at The Retro DBZ Facebook Group to become a part of the main community for FanZ.

With that said, no more waiting – let’s see the new card!

The first thing to note about Android Battle Rush is that it has a new style of parenthetical effect on it – those pesky effects that are always lingering to bother you with tricky rules interactions! This one, at least, is relatively straightforward: [Android Trait] only. We haven’t seen this before, but lead dev Joey diCarlo hooked me up with the breakdown on what exactly this means on the card:

“(Trait only) is also tied to the stack. In this example with Android only each one of your 4 Levels would need the Android trait to run the card.”

Most Trait interactions in the game only care if the current personality level performing the attack has the trait – so a Captain Ginyu – Frog could use a Skillfull Parry to get the Rejuvenate as well while on that level – but he can still use it on non-Namekian-traited levels to get the rest of the card. But like Named cards, these (Trait only) cards cannot even be included in your deck unless all personality levels in your MP stack contain that Trait. If you want to even put Android Battle Rush in your deck, you need to be playing Android 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, Cell, Cell Jr., Dr. Wheelo, or Mercenary Tao!

So, how about the effects? We’ve got here a freestyle physical for a decent 4 life cards – the magic number for Black Conflict Mastery or Blue Resolute Mastery decks to cause Critical Damage. The immediate effect is wide-ranged board control, destroying the majority of pesky effects, and under Desperation (a new mechanic that requires you to have zero cards in hand as the effect is resolving), you give the opponent the option to discard a card from their hand, or you hit a second setup, drill, or ally.

My first take on this is that this is clearly a new workhorse card in Android decks. Decks like Android 13 that already care about Android-titled cards would probably like this at 1 life card of damage, but dealing 4 is actually a chunk that is respectable, let alone the fact that can keep in play an Android Attack Drill can buff it to great damage regardless of style/mastery, and Android 20 – Mastermind is always an option for Android decks to get constantly unpreventable damage.

The fact is, getting flexible removal like this in a named card is sometimes reason enough to play an MP. The difference between winning and losing a game can often come down to drawing a Blue Betrayal at the right time. This hits the same targets as a Blue Betrayal, and while banishing is better than destroying, this deals more damage in many scenarios, and if sequenced to gain Desperation, can hit two threats or empty a clutch final card out of the opponent’s hand. It is banished after use, however, but that’s a small price to pay for flexible removal in any Android personality.

One last note – the Desperation effect will be tricky to have perfect timing on. I don’t think this card is broken at all, just very solid. In any TCG, when you give the opponent the choice of two options, they always pick the one that’s least good for you. You can force two board clears if your opponent has an empty hand, but many board-building decks are going to play rather defensively already and you’re not likely to get them in a scenario often where they will not have the option to discard something if their board is worth protecting more.

Board clearing is also often stronger when frontloaded in the combat, so consider this Desperation effect an extra bonus rather than the reason to play the card. The reason to play this will be as a life card-damaging Blue Betrayal in any Android deck. If you can get a little extra sauce on top when playing it last, that’s nice, but not going to be the most common use of the card.

So, what are your thoughts on Android Battle Rush? Let us know in the comments, and keep an eye out in the community for more sweet spoilers for FanZ – Premiere: Dragon Ball Super!

Until next time, Z-Warriors!

To join the online FanZ community on Facebook, join Retro DBZ CCG Official – Dragon Ball, Score & Panini Discussion Group! Join in free online OCTGN tournaments at Dragon Ball Z OCTGN League, and check out The Dead Zone blog for official news and announcements about the FanZ initiative.