Posted in: Card Games, Dragon Ball Super, Games, Tabletop | Tagged: cross spirits, dragon ball, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Super Card Game, Saiyan Showdown

Dragon Ball Super Card Game 2021: A Retrospective Of The Year

In 2021, I began covering Dragon Ball Super Card Game for Bleeding Cool. I'd previously been a fan of the hobby as a casual collector, with my main goal being building full sets of my favorite expansions. As I began covering the hobby, though, writing spotlight pieces, news, and more, I fell deeper in love with this card game based on one of my all-time favorite franchises. Let's take a look at how the Dragon Ball Super Card Game evolved in 2021 from a collector's perspective.

2021 saw the release of a whopping seven Dragon Ball Super Card Game sets. This included four main series sets under the Unison Warrior Series banner including Vicious Rejuvenation, Supreme Rivalry, Cross Spirits, and Saiyan Showdown. The special sets included Battle Evolution Booster which included some reprints and some new cards, the Super Saiyan 4-themed 2021 Anniversary Set, and the final release of the year, the reprint and Alternate Art-focused set, Mythic Booster. In addition to all of this, we also got the first DBSCG Collector's Selection, which featured a mix of developer-picked and fan-selected cards which got the premium treatment with new art on immaculately textured foil.

2021 has seen Bandai release some of the most sought-after SCRs in the game. The chase card of Cross Spirits, "SS Son Goku & Frieza, Miraculous Conclusion," remains among the top hits in the entire hobby, as does "Supreme Kai of Time, Spacetime Unraveler" from Vicious Rejuvenation. Functioning quite the opposite way are the SCRs from Mythic Booster, which saw earlier SCRs tank in value as this set introduced new, more accessible versions.

What I personally noticed about Dragon Ball Super Card Game in 2021 is Bandai refocusing the hobby a bit. The second half of the year saw sets begin to focus less on Xenoverse and Super Dragon Ball Heroes characters, especially in the promos and SCRs, and more on characters that are familiar to fans of the main series anime and manga. This seems to be continuing into 2022 in a big way with the March 2022 set Realm of the Gods promising to use cards to recreate iconic scenes from the anime.

I think 2021 was a transformative year for DBSCG. It was the year that saw me go from casual collector to obsessed fan with a binder for every set in print. I can't wait to see what 2022 brings to this awesome hobby.

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