A few days ago the newest update gave the Xenoverse 2 community an amazing gift of a new mini game that's the Dragonball equivalent of the Gwent game in The Witcher 3. It's not only fun, it's also ridiculously challenging to play even. Here's what you should know and which tactics you should use to feel less frustrated when facing the Story Mode opponents.

Rule 1: Get better figures.

Once you're done with the tutorial fight against Trunks and Goten, you can access the Colosseum store and spend TP medals on stuff. You also get one figurine for free a day for logging in. The stuff you want to go for, though are the Super Rare figures, that you can get for spending 20 TP medals to get a random high quality figurine. Make sure you have your medals stocked up, and if you don't have too many of them, you can get reasonable amounts from doing the Krillin and Yamcha special events, as well as from Expert Mission. 

Rule 2: Utilise the special ability fields.

This is a game changer for some matches, as you don't only get attack and defense bonuses this way - some figures have ridiculously overpowered abilities. You might want to get Adult Gohan (fig. no. 88) as soon as possible and keep placing him on the correct fields to get a staggering 30% fill to the ultimate attack gauge each turn you've placed him on the field. Another notable example would be Virginia's +1000 attack bonus for being place on the upper middle field, the same one that's being used to launch the ultimate attack.

Rule 3: Speed is key.

Figuring out when to hit the key to stop at 300% speed bonus is rather easy, but the bonus means nothing if your figures give you a very low base speed to start with. Being the second to attack often means that some if not all of your figures can get annihilated, while the same applies to the opponent. Be sure to have at least one figure that's not really powerful but has a staggering speed, that you put on the field in strategical moments. For example, if both of the players have their ultimate attack loaded up, you seriously want to be the first player to launch it, and a supporter figure with a high speed parameter can grant you an easy win in this situation, as opposed to a crushing defeat.

Rule 4: Early bird gets the worm.

The retry button from the esc menu is your friend, especially as you progress through the few introductional fights and learn that from now on the opponent's layout is secret to you until you end your turn. Some of the Story Mode adversaries have ridiculously powerful figures, so the best way to win would be to use the gaps in defense. Keep using a power attack pattern with two heavy damage figures in one row, another in a different row, and one empty row. Keep using retry until you get a first round attack that lets the two power figures hit the opponent's avatar directly. You should drop the opponent's base HP to the point where even one of your attackers that passes through from that point could grant you the win.

Rule 5: Your opponents have a flaw in their tactics.

The early matches even give you hints about what the flaw is and what you should focus on doing to win. Later on, you should try to find out which strategy to use to win. For example, in the battles against ridiculously overpowered figures the opponents would often leave out a window in their defense, so you get a free hit in every round, as long as you have figures to keep stopping the oncoming attacks from your adversary in their round.

Rule 6: Eliminate the enemy speed boosters.

If you know which field activates the speed booster ability for your opponent, you have a 50-50 chance of knowing where that figure is going to be placed. It's sometimes worth to focus your attack on that point to make sure that you'll be having the initiative on your side from that moment. 

Rule 7: Stats are key.

Some characters have different versions of their figure where one has a ridiculously small HP but a high attack score, where others have it more balanced. Remember that glass cannons don't serve much purpose if they get killed early in the match, while a high defense makes even the strongest attacks go in vain against your blocker. Be sure to have a balance in your deck that lets you control the field to a neccessary extent.

Rule 8: Just go with the story mode.

You might think that the insane stats your opponents have compared to yours mean that you should level up first, but there's no point in grinding levels on online opponents. The story mode opponents can be defeated by using a strategy, not necessarily the figurine power. Learn what your opponent's weaknesses are and what makes them so powerful. For example Tien would deprive you of an early ultimate attack with his debuffs in the second and third rounds, so just ignore getting the attack to load and pick a team made out of attackers only to take him out with basic attacks.

Rule 9: Genki Dama is great against a live opponent where you know how to place your figures beforehand.

The sooner you place them, the faster the Spirit Bomb is going to load to 100%, but that generally works for live online matches. As for Story Mode and going against AI, you might want to think through the moves and don't hurry so much.

Rule 10: You can limit break some of the Super Rare figures into Ultra Rare sigures.

The option isn't available early in the game as you don't have access to the required components but you might want to focus on levelling up a certain figure only instead of dividing the EXP points between them. As you reach the max level of a figure, you can use the option to limit break and then they are turned into their more powerful version.

Rule 11: Keep a look out for special figure events outside the Dome

They are marked with a light blue icon on the map, and give access to extra duels that can net you new items. Sometimes even new figures.

That's generally it. If you're still having trouble winning the fights, try to get those TP medals stacked up and use them for the Special Capsule Machine until you get a decent amount of attackers, and try to find the right balance for your deck and what works best for you. Go at them and have fun playing!