Pop quiz! In the original 1966 Ultraman series, in the first 38 episodes, how many times did Ultraman get defeated? Zero? You’d be correct. Sure, he got roughed up a bit, but he always came out on top. But what if you include the final 39th episode? That answer increases to “one”. The beast responsible for this has come and gone over the Ultra franchise’s storied history. Its name is supposed to symbolize the end. In fact, this kaiju was supposed to permanently kill Ultraman by destroying his color timer in that final episode. It was ultimately decided that would be too violent and the ending was changed. In this updated ending, a newly revealed Ultra Hero would appear for the first time and rescue Ultraman, reviving him from near-death. You already know this enemy’s name because you clicked on the article. Let’s talk about Zetton!
We will get to the space dinosaur in the room (availability), but before we can talk about why its availability is an issue, we have to talk about what it does.
Let’s start with the top of the card and move down. Its type is Devastation, which sounds really cool… but it doesn’t mean anything at this point. Most kaiju have the Hazard type. There’s a few with other common types like Basic and Power. And there’s characters with the unique Devastation and Invasion types. But right now, Devastation is not mechanically different from Hazard in any way. Circle back to this in future sets.
This card is level 6. As of now, kaiju are available at levels 4, 5, and 6. This being 6 means this card will ALWAYS be at the top of a stack. It’s just worth pointing out that this is not a transitional card that can be leveled up later. If this comes out, it’s permanent.
The Battle Points are where we get interesting. At single, BP is only 9,000. There are 17 other kaiju cards that have a higher single BP. It seems that it’s double BP of 14,000 is below average for kaiju, but there are only 4 kaiju in the game that have both levels 5 and 6. Of those 4, only 1 kaiju (Gomora) has a higher double BP than Zetton. In short, single BP is not great. Double BP is good, partially because it’s one of the few kaiju even capable of leveling up. Here’s the level 5 Zetton we can level up on top of, in case you were curious.
Alright, back to the level 6. Let’s talk about that EX BP and ability… 20,000. Right out of the gate, that’s the highest printed BP in the game to this point. But how do you get to use the EX BP? The ability says you get to use that 20,000 BP if your opponent has exactly one name among Ultra Heroes in play. Not only does 20,000 win you the current battle, it has a ripple effect through the game. If your opponent cannot win against Zetton, they are less likely to spend cards to level up in that zone, which could really hurt their strategy. And if you did play this Zetton as a single with its EX BP, you are winning a lane using minimal cards. That lets you focus more of you resources in to winning the remaining lanes. The amount that this just overpowers decks with a single character cannot be overstated. I’m sure some of you are wondering, “How likely is it that you will face an opponent whose entire deck contains one Ultra Hero?” It is much more likely now that BP02 is released, Vortex of Crimson and Azure.
In the game’s first wave, there was really only one character who saw play in a single character deck, Ultraman Geed. It was very appealing, even if you ended up using some pretty vanilla cards. When you make a deck with just one character, you are more likely to find the character you need when you draw a card. Now, it might not be the right level, but that’s half the game. If you can guarantee that every single character card in your deck is the same character, you’re much more likely to get the cards in to play. Consistency is king. I once heard it described that game designers create engines and combinations to be achieved during game play, but intentionally make them difficult to achieve. Players are constantly trying to obtain that efficiency and consistency, and the designers are dangling it like a carrot on a string. Using a single character opposed to two (or three if you’re into pain like that) is a way to get that consistency and efficiency. All of that to say even in a wave of cards with a limited available pool, people still tried to get that consistency with Ultraman Geed, in spite of the lackluster cards available.
Enter: the second wave. We have 5 Ultra Heroes, (Arc, Blazar, Gaia, Mebius, and Zero) who are in the booster set for a second time, essentially doubling their available cards. Of these five, Ultraman Gaia is built to combo with his frenemy, Ultraman Agul. And Mebius is built to function best paired with Hikari. The other three are all primed to run in mono decks, taking advantage of the increased card pool. Ultraman Arc and Ultraman Zero are each looking especially strong at this point.
I believe Zetton is the very direct tool of the game designers to deter players who are trying to achieve the consistency and efficiency that we mentioned above. The player is trying to reach the carrot, and the designer tries to keep it just out of reach, as if to say, “Sure, make that single character deck. But there’s a risk.” It’s a fantastically designed card and a wonderful yin and yang balancing act.
The problem is that this promotional Zetton card was handed out in the very early days of the game when there was more awareness and promotional opportunities occurring outside of the United States. This means that there have only been a handful of opportunities for U.S. players to even secure a copy of the card, let alone have an entire playset of four. This has created a vicious secondary market. Many of the English versions of this card are coming from Singapore, where English versions of the cards seem to be the go-to language. If you’re lucky, you might be able to find individual sellers in pocket communities for the game. But if you’re relying on ebay, you’re going to pay at least $50 for a single Zetton card.
For the health of the game, this ability needs more widespread distribution to the players. Now, to be fair, it appears it is getting better. With the game picking up steam and more events taking place at conventions, Zetton is being handed out to US players. And some tournament organizers who help establish local play groups have been given some to offer up as prizes at small events. Expect to see a sharp rise in the popularity of single Ultra decks now that wave 2 has been released. Zettons are the answer, but are there enough in the hands of players?
This will be a very interesting point in the competitive meta, as different areas will be impacted by the scarcity differently. As I mentioned, many regions in Asia saw early distribution of this card and will likely be prepared for the rise of single character decks. Whereas the American players will have either paid high price tags to get their Zettons or were lucky enough to attend authorized events. Or just maybe there will be areas with no available Zettons, where these single character decks will reign supreme. Either way, it will be a pivotal time in this storied rivalry between Zetton and Ultraman. The battle will continue to rage on.
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