Cell, The Ultimate Lifeform

~ The Forgotten Leader Series ~

- A look at a deck tech with this forgotten leader -

If I was to tell you that there was a leader that:

- Could pop a 3 power or less each turn just like a Crisis Crusher on steroids!

- Once awakened could pop any power across the board

- Could +1 card every turn once awakened without attacking

- Could voluntarily Spark every 2nd turn for 2 cards

Sound pretty good right?

Then why aren't we seeing this forgotten pillar of a Leader played so much anymore?

Firstly let me state I love this leader and have played him to death. Tried mono green, U/G, and Y/G combinations. His strength on turns where he awakens with a Tien or if you are lucky, 2xGotens on the board are pretty devastating and you can find yourself +5 (or more) cards in hand before the opponent knows what is happening.... so what is the issue? Well there are a few it seems...

1. He is the wrong colour. No not being racist here. Being Green in this current meta (May 2019) and not having inbuilt crit/hand destruction or Wish ability puts you as one of the weakest leaders in the game. Green has so many great cards with the majority of them being too slow for the current meta
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2. They limited his 3-drop Cell evolve to a 1 of in any deck. While this also effected the Android leader, it was pretty much the last nail for Cell as a viable and consistent leader. The ratios are just too hard to play with and where you could ramp into the 7 drop by turn 3, you are now limited to a 4th turn play (if you are lucky) if not a 5th turn. That is not healthy in a meta that ends on the 4th turn.

So where does that leave us with Cell Leader?

Personally I believe the leader works best with a hand destruction philosophy.

Apart from the awakening stage, Cell leader struggles with card draw (his ability and the recent inclusion of Paragus Super Combo does help this) and he needs card advantage if he is going to close out games. With that in mind, when looking at the cards available in a mono green set up (to keep it consistent) we see cards like Cheelai, Broly and the Super 17 chain.

Trying to get everything to meld together for a consistent performance is tough.

Having energy available is also not a strong point for Cell on games ending turn 4.

There are variations with the Veggie package (inconsistent without the Cabba in hand) and Broly package (can also suffer from hand advantage). 

This has led me to the deck below.

The object is to get as much value as possible from every turn.

If fortunate enough to pop your opponent's battle cards you have both Friezas and Cheelais to drop to give more on-board pressure and defence.

You have a cell chain (of sorts) and you can even replace the Preemptives with 7 drop Cell if you feel lucky enough. I personally use the cells as part of the Super 17 chain and if desperate, to gain more combo power and card draw.

You have the Gohans, Infernal Friezas and Tiens to help awaken (you need to awaken!)

The finishers are obviously Super 17 or just further pressure with the Champa and Paragus if you can get them working in tandem with a Critical attack.

Let's not also forget about Infernal Messenger which nets you a +1 card advantage for up to 2 battle/combo cards that you will either use for the Super 17 evolve, or just to get more cards in hand. 

Overall the deck is quite consistent with its operation. Aggro decks will give it a hard time.

If you have a Cell Leader deck that is going well, throw us a message. Would love to see this guy making an impact again somewhere down the line.

Until then... POW!