It’s Because You’re Weak, Krillin!

Ever notice nearly everything Krillin says can be followed by this line? Me too. Greetings Dragon Ballers, Didier here with the second installment of “Freestylin’ with a Frenchman” where I’m taking a constructive look at some of the lower tiered freestyle decks. Last time the most powerful character in the game got his turn; in my heart I knew that would be the easiest one.

I’m not going to lie, bringing Krillin up to par to the rest of the fighters was difficult and involved me bashing his shiny head against Broly and Buu many a time. Did I accomplish it? The title of this article may give that away. So let’s jump right in, or in this case, get smacked around:

Why Krillin?

Boy did I ask myself this question a lot. Let’s face it, if you’re playing Krillin it’s because you have a soft spot for this underdog. I get it. I met Sonny Strait. There’s something special about a man who will pick up a mic unprompted and improv raps in his Krillin voice.

The Good:

• Strong against Dragonball decks
• Quick leveling
• Deals massive damage with proper setup
• Unstoppable attacks
• Good utility

The Bad

• Slow setup
• Only one poor named defense
• Very easy to counter
• Combos are based on field control

The Ugly

• He’s bald

Hey that’s a decent list of advantages to playing this character! Dragon Ball decks beware as not only does Krillin have two named attacks that are unstoppable but also has his own Earth Dragon Ball Capture inside Krillin’s Trick. One of the main reasons Krillin freestyle is even possible is because of his consistent, fast leveling through Krillin’s Surprise! This only helps get to level two but more on that later.

I know, a lot of decks deal “TONS OF DAMAGE”. But this is something Krillin excels at. His setup is slow and this is a big problem, but with a little time this guy dishes out +20 damage attacks, +30, sometimes even more. His utility for freestyle is no sword, but it is decent. He has named cards that lower anger, discard non-combats, and perform a wide array of effects that are very powerful. Some things however just seemed out of place. Krillin Takes A Shot? Please tell me that was a joke.

His lengthy setup makes all his other problems so much worse. Having Krillin Is Ready as your only named card that blocks damage is a huge problem with his long ramp time; that card is barely useful (I don’t use it). He does have an interesting defense card in Krillin’s Physical Defense. This card is neat and worth it, but I’ve always ended up cutting it. I get that Krillin takes lots of ‘shots’ but I can’t bring myself to play a defense that lets an attack hit for full damage.

My expectations for this deck were as low as yours are right now. It has a niche win condition that is really fun, but often lacks in execution. Don’t let that stop you! There’s just something about knowing you have the ability to do more damage per attack than nearly every deck out there. You also get the satisfaction of saying “You just got owned by Krillin…” and that never gets old.

The Setup

This being “Freestylin’ with a Frenchman”, I don’t need to tell you we’ll be using the MBS Freestyle Mastery right? Good.

Unfortunately Krillin has a limited pool of Main Personality levels to chose from. The entire goal of this deck is to bum rush to Krillin, The Great while “allowing” your opponent to naturally damage you, slowly (Don’t you mean quickly?) filling your Discard Pile with named cards that empower your energy attacks. That being said, you shouldn’t be on your level one for very long – absolutely no longer than two combats. Level one choices don’t have too much of an impact because of this but are important nonetheless. With double power rule, the Saiyan Saga Krillin HT offers nearly a guaranteed first turn with card advantage making the jump to level 2 all that easier. My choice is the Capsule Corp Power Pack Krillin for the sole purpose of it helping you survive a first or second turn onslaught by your opponent.

The go to level two personalities, Krillin, the Hero and Krillin, the Husband, are nearly identical. The only difference being you lose 1 damage from the Husband to lock in the second use of his power with the Hero. Sounds good to me. Uub’s Energy Drill along with PUR increasers combos with Krillin, Z-Warrior making him nearly viable. I personally don’t like putting too much weight on Drills in my decks, especially one that’s limit one per deck. However, if Krillin ever say…got a higher level with a massive PUR buff, why I bet Advanced Basics would be just plain sick. Oh and don’t forget to throw in the Sayian Saga P6 Krillin to stop any speed 1-3 anger deck. The last thing you need is Broly to have another one up on you.

For your Sensei Deck there are a bunch of strong options with one clear victor in my opinion. The standard North Kai Sensei is never a bad choice; I’d argue that it’s the strongest Sensei in the game so you really can’t go wrong by using it.  However in this case, Krillin’s long ramp time makes him selectively aggressive and there may be better options. South Kai Sensei would be another one I’d consider. Given that Krillin’s main method of damage is Energy Attacks from both his powers and named cards, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start the game with a helper. Shenron knows he needs it.

The winner in Sensei for me is Master Roshi Sensei. Not only is it thematic since he actually did train Krillin, but it meshes so well with the goal of this deck. Since you want attacks to hit in order to have a ton of named cards in your discard pile, it is a good idea to curve this damage as much as possible. Reduce the spikes of damage so you can actually retaliate after taking a beating. Roshi also empowers all your energy attacks even further, making this deck’s focus all that stronger and dragon ball decks fear you even more.

 The Attacks

Krillin’s Heat Seeking Blast

Leading the charge as you might expect: Heat seeking. I’m not sure why Krillin got one of the most accurate attacks in the game based on the above, but regardless this card has been a staple in a wide variety of decks since its release. The only cards that can alter Heat Seeking’s damage are modifiers like Master Roshi Sensei and caps like the Frieza Saga Wrapper P14 Trunks. Past that, bar none this attack will be railing your opponent for a good chunk of damage based on your setup. This card makes decks that use dragon balls both aggressively or as a victory condition think twice. As stated above, playing your own Roshi Sensei empowers this attack, making it do 5 unpreventable life cards and stealing a dragon ball every time outside of very specific situations. Add in the fact that you can have one of these bad boys in your hand inside any combat and you start to see why Krillin was only ever good at finding Dragon Balls.

Heat seeking is not the only unstoppable attack Krillin has up his sleeve. Krillin’s Overhead Smack is worth an honorable mention and even opens the possibility up for Krillin to focus on physical attacks. This card is just hard to use with Krillin’s level three only affecting energies and his useful personalities having such high power levels. I bet you never thought you’d hear that one. You would be forced to use levels with far inferior powers or have to hold this card until you’re at zero or close to it. The usability of this card being low along with all his great energy support made Overhead Smack one of the first Krillin named I cut.

Krillin’s Quick Kicks

Even though it’s not an energy attack and mostly will be hitting for very little damage, Quick Kicks enters number two on my list. It stands as giving you (only you) the most anger in the entire game: A single card netting you three anger. Don’t forget it also lowers their anger! You may be tempted to run Devastation Drills in your deck to beef these guys up, quickly sending their total damage off the charts. It really depends on how you are building this deck. If you, like me, focus on all the great energies Krillin has in arsenal then Devastation Drills have very low impact in your gameplay. Even though this would triple dip into those drills, we do already play some that can potentially increase this attack’s damage greatly. Quick Kicks stands as the most reliable way for Krillin to make the jump to his level three after using Surprise. Two of these and correct timing make Krillin, the Great and his insane damage modifier all but guaranteed.

Krillin’s Energy Attack

Who ever said the Saiyan Saga set was useless? It makes sense that Krillin had a few good cards in this set as it was the closest he ever got to accomplishing anything. You have to give the guy props for killing three Saibamen in one shot – a single one did kill Yamcha after all. This attack is great for Krillin. While paying four stages for only four life cards of damage may not sound like a good idea, any modifiers you have on the field blow up with this card. I’ve beaten opponents more with this on my level three than with Heat Seeking. Two energies are better than one.

Krillin’s Destructo Disc

This card is beautiful. First because it is a great card for this deck and is one of the only useful named non-combat tech cards outside of Gohan’s Sword Thrust. Besides that, what sells this card for me is how true it is to the anime. Destructo Disc is difficult to translate; in the show it cut through almost anything. How to do this in card form? You cut through the defender’s stages. This makes Destructo Disc a great opener to bait blocks with and brings devastating synergy with your level three. Send them to zero and just start adding in the extra life cards from your discard pile. It also gives an anger! Quick Kicks needs a little support to push you up a level.

Other attacks worth mentioning? Krillin Unleashed gives a solid energy attack with the option of replenishing your hand. Nice! I couldn’t find the room for it, but it would have been next on my list if I needed or wanted any more Krillin named attacks. Krillin’s Sacrifice has a hefty price for making your attacks do +3 life cards, empowering your opponent’s energy attacks to a base of 8 life cards at least and doubling the PAT chart for him. If you felt you weren’t getting smashed in fast or often enough, you could just play this card. Really its use comes in when Krillin starts stacking allies in play. There aren’t too many cards that buff the attacks of your allies (Even Cell’s Style was errata’d). And if Krillin, say, ever was given a level five personality level, why then Krillin ally may become an entire deck in itself. 😉

The Utility

Krillin’s Power Tap

Krillin certainly has some fun cards and Power Tap is no exception. This card is a little difficult to understand, but the basics are it is only active during combat. Meaning you can’t use it in combination with any drills that activate “When entering combat.” You’re entering combat, not inside combat.You can use the card outside of combat (it is use when needed) but the effect only lasts during that turn’s combat. If you pass without entering the effect is lost.

That’s a lot of restrictions! Rightfully so for such a powerful card with high usability. So what’s it good for? Anything that you would want an extra one of. Any drill that adds damage like Uub’s Energy Drill or Evil Presence Drill or that can be activated like Speaking with the King Drill or Champion Drill. Your opponent just removed your Android 20 Absorbing Drill? Power Tap so you can use its effect this combat. You can also choose your opponent’s drills to copy. This is a big reason most orange players think twice before running Orange Lifting Drill. Your advantage becomes mine!

Krillin Asks for Help / Krillin’s Flight

Every freestyle has its own schtick. Krillin not being excluded in this, I’ve already talked pretty extensively about the massive damage he can output. But it doesn’t stop there. Let’s face it, this puny human needs help. He’s asked for help so many times in the show that a card was made for it! These two go hand in hand to pick up the slack Krillin Freestyle seemed to have in my play. You want to take damage, but you need to have stages to do any attacks. Counter intuitive. His level two being an instant four stage drain and the need to control the ways you take damage makes playing allies both a great solution and advantage. So what if he can’t do anything by himself? The ability to play any ally from your deck at max stages is massively powerful.

Who helps Krillin the most? Why, Piccolo, Gohan, and Trunks of course! Goku also but he’s usually too busy being dead. Future Gohan, Nightfall offers a focused energy costing only one stage that gives a hefty two anger. In my play I often found that I couldn’t reach level three fast enough. Even with all the Quick Kicks and anger from other sources like Goku’s Flight, games ended so quickly I just beat them down with my level two or lost before doing what the deck was designed to do. Kid Trunks, the Boastful can also help with this; two energies with the option of giving two anger. One well placed Asks For Help alone could shoot you up a level! Allies only powering up one stage and the desire to make as much use of that juicy level three as possible may leave you hungry for more stages. Piccolo, the Mentor has something to say about that. His attack even does a whopping eight life cards! Don’t forget Piccolo, the Trained for those pesky Trunks decks.

I wonder what would happen if Krillin ever got a level five? Well, it would open up the possibility of playing level three allies like Kid Trunks, the Young Saiyan, Goten, the Young Saiyan and Goku, the Proud. Remember, you can always overlay allies with Asks For Help. And like stated above, this deck and article is designed around a energy beatdown version of Krillin Freestyle. Giving Krillin a level five may just be what he needs to make him have two ‘dominating’ freestyle decks. Or just two mediocre ones.

Krillin’s Solar Flare / Krillin’s Power Block

I know these are both attacks, but they have just such devastating and unique effects that I had to list them in utility. I can’t begin to describe how useful and game changing these can be, but I will try. Countless times I have been saved by these against Broly. Those guys just sometimes don’t play enough blocks. 😉 That’s a nice 10 card hand you have there, too bad now it’s mostly useless. My deck’s focus makes the choice between these two obvious. Why not play both? If you can find the room, go for it and more power to you. I don’t really like playing two cards that fill a similar role, especially when one has advantages over another and being freestyle gives you the ability to search for whatever you need in most situations.

Solar Flare is much stronger between the two for several reasons. First, it gets empowered by your level three which is nothing to overlook. Even alone it does much more damage than Power Block will do. Second, Power Block only stops physical attacks and is removed from the game after use whereas Solar Flare prevents physical combats and is discarded instead. This makes Solar Flare an energy attack that blanks both physical attacks and most physical blocks in your opponent’s hand. Ouch. The only downside to Solar Flare is there are a select few non-physical combat physical attacks in the game with the most significant being Goku’s Power Strike. Way worth it in my opinion.

The Combos

Now we’re getting to my favorite section of these articles and one that holds a special place for good ol’e Krillin in my heart: Combos. In the beginning of this article, I listed Krillin as being able to generate the most damaging attacks in the game under advantages. Notice how I never said it was only his level three doing this? I eluded to this several times, but Krillin’s Smoothness Drill has always been an overlooked force in Krillin Freestyle. Sunglasses indoors? Crampin’ my style? I get it buddy. Smoothness drill empowers all of your Krillin named attacks, making it affect any Krillin named physical attack (Quick Kicks) that wouldn’t otherwise be empowered by your level three and sending your energies into ludicrous speed. It’s important to note that Krillin himself counts as a Krillin named in play so you are automatically doing +1 stage with only one of these in play. Krillin’s personality powers are also considered Krillin named attacks thereby being buffed by these drills. Food for thought.

Smoothness buffing your attacks based on the number of Krillin named in play gives incredible synergy to anything that stays on the field multiple times as shown above. Simply use any of these cards for a single use and have it safely sit in play thereby strengthening all other attacks. It’s important to note that when playing a Krillin named attack from your hand that doesn’t stay in play for multiple uses, it is considered in play until after its damage resolves.

Example: I have 1 Krillin’s Smoothness Drill in play and use Krillin’s Heat Seaking Blast from my hand. This attack hits for 4 life cards and 2 power stages of damage, 4 life cards from it’s base damage and +1 power stage for both your Krillin personality card and Krillin’s Heat Seeking Blast currently in play.

As you can imagine, having multiples of these drills in play can make your damage go quite nuts. Easily comparable to the modifier from your level three. How much so?

So having four of these drills in play automatically buffs any Krillin named attack played from your hand by 20 power stages and just explodes from there on. Whoa boy! Granted, these drills aren’t very useful when you only have one or two out, making it add more to the long ramp time of Krillin. However I do think it’s safe to say that the potential of these drills outweighs their slow startup. They just need some support!

Tree of Might, Brothers in Training, and Goku’s Power Strike all are great options to help you speed up the playing of these drills. I even would suggest Long Journey, which I don’t usually play in any beat down deck. Plopping three of these down at once may be just what you need to turn the tides of a game.

You may be tempted to play four Krillin’s Drill as this card would not only add a life card of damage to your attacks, but also add power stages for each Smoothness Drill in play. I mentioned about the impact of cards previously when talking about Devastation Drills and this decision falls into the same category. A mistake I often see players make is playing too many non-combats in decks that are built around them like Freestyle, Orange, or some Black decks. In a game where you are drawing three random cards a turn and drawing non-combats when defending can be devastating, it’s important to make sure the non-combats you do play change the game and give you a substantial advantage. When building a deck, ask yourself the following: “If I drew this non-combat first turn and played it, will it help me in the first or second combat?” If you’re playing a non-combat that you don’t really want to play first turn or one that you know your opponent will just overlook with his discard effects, chances are you shouldn’t be playing it.

These cards and their use have been mentioned throughout this article but I just wanted to draw some attention to how well they mesh. Krillin decks, especially Freestyle, can pretty much rest assured that you will be hitting level two every single game and fairly quickly. This makes any card that plays off of you being a higher level like Narrow Escape or playing allies much easier when you are automatically level two.

The Verdict

This was a long process to make Krillin work. Not because he was particularly much worse than the former mentioned Freestyle decks, but rather because his play style was not something I was used to building or playing. My first two versions of the deck were really, really good at filling the discard pile with named cards. A little too good actually. Once I broke down and started playing a few allies, the added consistency with extra stages, redirection of damage, and added anger were exactly what this deck needed. After that, I was surprised (as were my opponents) when I was able to not only stand up to but often be victorious over both Buu and Broly. I even started using this deck as a standard in my own testing. “Well if it can’t beat my Krillin deck then I really don’t think there’s a point in continuing on with this.”

How well this deck along with the last Buu deck ending up working in combination with how these decks are received is starting to make me wonder. Maybe these lower tiered freestyle decks are better than I thought? There’s no question that Goku and Trunks stand tall above the rest and dominate the style, but maybe the gaps between these decks are much tighter than I originally estimated.

So if you feel you’re too cool for school and find yourself wearing sunglasses in the rain, pick up Krillin freestyle and give it a go. He may ‘Surprise’ you.