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

Dragon Ball Super Card Game: Saiyan Showdown Booster Box Opening

Yesterday, Bandi released the new Dragon Ball Super Card Game set. Saiyan Showdown is the fifteenth main set and the sixth expansion under the Unison Warrior Series banner. With its full name being Unison Warrior Series BOOST – Saiyan Showdown, this expansion documents some of the anime and manga's best Saiyan vs. Saiyan battles including Goku vs. Vegeta from the Saiyan Saga, Gohan vs. Turles from the Dragon Ball Z film Tree of Might, Goku and his sons vs. Broly from the film Broly: Second Coming, and, finally, the Universe 6 Saiyans and their evolution during the Tournament of Power. The set also includes the DBSCG debut of the Majin Buu-esque character Fin from Dragon Ball Heroes. For our very first Saiyan Showdown opening on Bleeding Cool, I'm cracking open a booster box of this brand new expansion.

The first thing you'll see when cracking a booster box of Saiyan Showdown will be familiar if you opened boxes of the last few sets. Like Cross Spirits and Supreme Rivalry before it, boxes of Saiyan Showdown come with the expected 24 booster packs… and a box topper. The box topper can be either an SR (Super Rare) or SPR (Special Rare) from the set. For the box I opened for Bleeding Cool, I received the Giant Meteor SR which features Broly letting an incredibly powerful attack.

I found this to be a standard box of Dragon Ball Super Card Game. By that I mean I pulled five SRs and two SPRs outside of my box topper. This is essentially the most normal kind of box you'll open and it is also the minimum. Boxes can also include an SCR (Secret Rare) or a God Pack, which is an all-foil booster pack that culminates in extra bigger hits which would add to the overall number of major pulls. A box with both an SCR and a God Pack is referred to as a God Box and from watching multiple openings both on YouTube and in person at my local card shop, I can confirm that God Boxes of Saiyan Showdown exist. We didn't get lucky enough to pull one, but we did get a decent spread of SRs and SPRs. Here's a glimpse at what I pulled.

I'm partial to the Videl SR here which has her in that amazingly ridiculous outfit from the second Broly film.

From jump, I do feel that the SPRs in Saiyan Showdown are a bit weaker in general than other recent sets. These SPRs seem to be focused on recreating scenes rather than capturing interesting character poses, which I personally feel works better for SRs due to the lower amount of foil on the card. SPR art is better kept simple. However, I did pull an absolutely monster SPR which I'd put up there with any previously published one. This Vegeta SPR, which you can check out below, recreates the moment of him charging up his Galick Gun which culminates in one of anime's greatest beam struggles. While there are more weak SPRs in the set than Cross Spirits and other Unison Warrior Series sets, there are a few like that which stand out as beautifully illustrated, perfectly designed cards.

Overall, I'm happy with my pulls and will eagerly crack more boxes of Saiyan Showdown. I'm a bit more excited for the Saiyan focus of the set than I am some of the artwork, but that, I must admit, is likely because I've been so spoiled by sets that have leveled up the quality. I think we're seeing Bandai experiment a bit with different art styles, which is good, and the SCRs here are all terrific choices. I'd consider this a strong start to a strong set that is only slightly overshadowed by Bandai's other excellent 2021 DBSCG products.

Stay tuned for more openings of Dragon Ball Super Card Game: Unison Warrior Series BOOST – Saiyan Showdown products.

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