Arizona Regionals Recap

Hello everyone! Last weekend, 88 competitors braved the desert sun to attend the Arizona Regionals at Play or Draw!

After winning the first three events of this Organized Play season, Blue had definitely put the metagame on notice. Leading up to Arizona, we saw a marked shift towards Orange and Black decks in an attempt to out-control some of the more plodding Blue builds. At Arizona, we saw another dynamic shift, with Blue representing just 20% of the field (down from 24% at Virgina and 27% at Gen-Con).

After a grueling battle through Swiss, the finals came down to James Howe (Orange Goku) against Noel Valles (Black Ginyu). In the end, it was Goku pulling out the win – giving Orange its first Regional win of the season!

Top 4 Deck Lists:

• James Howe* – Orange Goku
• Noel Valles* – Black Ginyu
• Matt Wichman – Black Nappa
• Kelly Cartwright – Blue Piccolo

In an environment with less Blue, it seems that Namekian, Red, and Saiyan stand to benefit the most. Was this simply an aberration, or will we see another new contender emerge this weekend at the Kansas Regional? Orange Goku has cemented itself as a top tier contender, and it was a relatively unplayed deck as recently as last month. Perhaps there are other contenders, lurking in the shadows – make your mark at Collector’s Cache!

Note: With the increase in Orange usage, there have been some common questions about certain interactions with Goku Level 4:

• If you activate Goku Level 4’s Power and search out Orange Torching Drill, your opponent does not destroy any cards from the effect of Orange Torching Drill.
• If you activate Goku Level 4’s Power (for all five Drills) and Orange Torching Drill is already in play, your opponent destroys the top five cards of his Life Deck. This is considered five instances of “destroy 1” – meaning Lookout Drill would only “block” the fist destroy effect. Your opponent would then destroy four more cards from the top of his Life Deck.

Please take note of these definitive rulings moving forward, and apologies to anyone who may have been impacted by conflicting information.