Coming Home Again: Differences between Score and Panini

Dragon Ball Z is back!  Remember how awesome that was?  It's finally back in real card form!  The community for this game was so strong, Panini America decided to bring it back as an actual product, yet still compatible with the old game.  If you want to work the new cards in with the old stuff, the rules are basically the same as they always were.  As a fresh product, this game was definitely designed very well.  It plays mostly like the old game we always knew, with a few exceptions.  I like the idea of starting fresh, knowing the mistakes of the past so that hopefully they won't be repeated.  With any luck, this game will come to be an even better thing that its predecessor.  I'm totally not doing it because I had to sell all my old cards to fix my vehicle at one point.  That really helped make the decision, but I love the ground floor of anything.

 Deck Construction

* 3 copies of most cards, other than allies, Dragon Balls, and any cards that specifically state their quantity.
* Exactly 60 cards, not counting the mastery and MP.
* You must use a mastery, and your Main Personality must be exactly level 1-4.
* Named cards can only be included if they match your MP, and even then at the standard 3 copies (not 4)
* Gohan is allowed to run Namekian, due to his heavy training under a Namekian (and so we have more options for Namekian other than Piccolo).
The way you build your deck has changed significantly.  The biggest changes are the named card restriction and the 60-card deck.  60 cards streamlines things nicely.  We used to plug the maximum number of cards in our deck just for more health.  There were enough similar cards that this wasn't too hard.  Restricting the named cards, despite being a restriction, actually opens up much more design possibilities.  It allows the cards we actually want to be generic to be that.  For example, Captain Ginyu's Energy Attack is now Enraged Blast.  Meanwhile, we have Goku's Kamehameha.  It relies on destroying your drills to be really powerful, and Goku's abilities all reference drills in some way.  This definitely feels much better to me than the idea that this character taught you, yet we also had "X only" cards at the same time.  Gohan being allowed to play Namekian would be fine if heritage were still a thing, but it's not.  Rejuvenation is a huge thing in Namekian, so I can't really get behind it in flavor.  Gohan's definitely still busted with Namekian from a player's perspective.

A Fresh Coat of Paint

This was already the case with GT, but some of you may have skipped over that.  Card types have changed a bit.  What you knew as Combat cards are now Events.  What used to be simple Non-Combat cards are now Setups.  This is just a simpler, more flavorful way to refer to things.  Later in the game, you started to see numerous cards referencing "non-combat, non-drill cards."  Just saying "Setup" works so much better.  It means that now, if we want to affect Setups & Drills together, it's slightly more words than "Non-Combat," but it's still intuitive.

Not surprisingly, some of the cards from the old game were just straight-up reprinted.  Some things were just perfect the first time around.  These cards were given gold lettering in their names.  Since they are exact reprints of old cards, you are perfectly free to use those old cards with the new version of this game.  Unfortunately, in an admittedly shameful display of missing details, some of the cards given this gold lettering are not actually reprints.  Retro DBZ CCG put up a list of the gold cards on their site, so I'd highly advise checking there on this subject. 

Victories

The Most Powerful Personality rule still exists, but now everyone has an even shot with everyone having exactly 4 levels.  That 4th level will be used, too.  You have to reach level 4 and have 5 anger.  This means the MPPV will functionally work the same way it always did with less cards.  The 4th levels for all characters are all rather ridiculously powerful, too.  My mind would be blown on what would happen from the theoretical 5th level resulting from cards that don't let you win by MPPV.
As a side note, winning by Dragon Balls is now instant.  You don't ever have to wait after capturing the last Dragon Ball.  The old waiting rule was hardly observed in the old time anyway, and wasn't really intuitive.

Allies

Allies are now their own card type, and MPs are their own card type.  You don't get to switch the two anymore.  I'm sure some of you were wondering, with all the MP cards being heavy, thick foil.  This means that much more design space.  MPs can be designed without fear of being abused as allies in combination with other MPs.  Allies can be designed specifically as allies, so they can get abilities that wouldn't necessarily be useful for MPs.    Because of this, allies now get their own PUR, so there's no need to make an arbitrary cap of 1.  They all have a PUR of 1 right now, but the possibility exists for later.  This was actually the rule with GT, but I know a lot of you disregarded that game.
What's also changed is that allies no longer "take control of combat."  That was an unnecessarily complicated system.  It's still mostly the same as it was before, though.  Now, allies can take actions only if you're sufficiently weak.  It's not "taking over combat," it's performing actions.  This makes some subtle changes.  For one, the MP's power level is always calculated when receiving a physical attack.  For another, you can effectively switch between offensive and defensive abilities.  You can attack with Jeice, and then immediately block your opponent's next action with Guldo.  Furthermore, allies with constant powers apply constantly, regardless of your power level.  You play Nappa, and players will constantly be unable to play Setups.
One final note that isn't so much a rules change as it is an incidental accident of design: heritage doesn't exist.  It matters only for deck construction.  This means your non-Saiyan/Namekian allies can still perform those actions.

Critical Damage

There's a whole new element called "critical damage" now.  It's basically the deal where if you dealt 5 life cards of damage, you could capture a Dragon Ball.  Now there's more you can accomplish.  Instead of capturing a DB, you can instead destroy an opponent's ally, or if neither of those card types are out, reduce your opponent's anger 1 level.  There are also plenty of cards that either trigger upon critical damage or just outright allow you to apply a critical damage effect.  Anything that lets you "apply a critical damage effect" effectively reads "capture a Dragon Ball, destroy an opponent's ally, or lower your opponent's anger 1 level."  I'm sure you can see the immense power that comes from this being a mechanic now.

I think I basically got all of it.  I'm sure a lot of old veterans have gotten into the game by now, but if you find an old friend you want to reintroduce to the game, I hope this proves a helpful tool in getting them up to speed.  I know I really like how these rules work, with the exception of Namekian Gohan (I understand why, but with that much regen, it loses a lot of flavor).  Next time, I'll probably be posting a little thing regarding rarities and how they impact the game.  Thanks for reading!