Dandadan – Gold Ball Run (Y/R) [04/05/2025]

Breaking news! Local nerd can now hit the dash. It was supposed to be a day like no other for our local loner Ken Takakura, but everything changed when he had an otherworldly encounter with a human female (the mythical “woman”) and I guess a ghost there as well. From that day forward, staying true to his new nickname, Okarun gained the ability to run really, really, fast.

At full throttle, Okarun bursts onto the scene and hits the ground running. When played from hand or through FUSION, Okarun allows you to draw and discard two cards and blindstock the top card of your deck. At the end of Okarun’s attack, you may pay his costs; once done, he’ll discard all his markers and muster up his leftover energy for his final gambit. In his spot, Okarun can summon either “執念の追撃 オカルン” or “本気の追撃 オカルン” from waiting room. Afterwards, Okarun’s previous finisher will marker itself beneath his newly spawned card, and at the end of the turn, he’ll revert back to his original finisher.

The Okarun shown above is one of the aforementioned spawn targets and has the innate effect to trigger twice, which can help generate extra hand or stock if the choice effect is triggered. Okarun’s finishing effect allows you to pay a hefty hand cost to perform a high speed lunge, dealing three damage. Though, there is a small caveat to this Okarun’s finishing effect; if Momo’s level two assist is not on field, Okarun’s ghastly powers will go berserk, resulting in him sending the top three cards of your deck to clock.

Okarun with Momo in tow is the other aforementioned spawn option. When played from hand or by the effect of the initial Okarun, a vanilla heal effect is performed. When this Okarun’s damage is cancelled, Okarun calls upon Momo’s psychic abilities to help him perform a nimble retaliatory tackle, dealing an immense five damage. While this effect doesn’t have a cost, it does have a small field requirement.

From beyond the grave, ol’ ghost granny here gave Okarun quite the haunt which resulted in him gaining his spectral transformation. Through her FUSION effect, Turbo Granny acts both as a means of early playing Okarun’s ghostly level three and spawning him for a reduced cost. Turbo Granny’s on-play effect allows you to pay a hefty cost to refresh your deck without the damage penalty. Her act effect markers a level zero naked Okarun from stage while searching and spawning level three ghost Okarun from the deck and markering both her and naked Okarun, under ghostly Okarun.

The human Okarun needed for Turbo Granny’s FUSION is a backrow support that can rest himself to pump immense burst power. Momo can cheaply fetch naked Okarun by bonding him from deck. Additionally, when she reverses her opponent, she allows you to salvage a character at the cost of ditching a card from hand afterwards.

After his otherworldly encounter, Okarun remain dumbfounded and ponders the existence of the great beyond and the fact that he lost his balls. Okarun’s on-play effect gives him immense burst power and a level boost for the turn. His combo allows you to discard a card to check the top three cards of the deck and add either a character or the “神聖な玉!?” event twice. The golden ball event allows you to salvage a character from clock and gives one of your characters a twin-drive effect, and afterwards, the event is then sent to clock. While you can run four copies of the event in alignment with Okarun’s current biology, you should only run one for canon purposes.

Further assisting in Okarun’s quest for his missing balls, Momo has a couple of cards that provide some specific synergistic effects. Momo on the left is an on-reverse Koume profile that only targets climaxes with a choice trigger. Momo on the right is an Riko-esque profile where the level of her salvage target must be equal to or less than the total number of copies of Okarun’s level one combo that are in your waiting room.

As a last bit of assistance, Momo’s backup comes with the added effect of milling the bottom cards of your opponent’s deck; the total cards milled is equal to the number of characters on your stage.

While he may have lost his golden treasures, Okarun’s ghostly power has gifted him with a slew of tricks up his sleeve. Okarun with his nerdy pose, can potentially bounce back to hand when he’s reversed. The condition for this is to have four or more hand and to reveal a level one or higher card from the top of your deck. Okarun holding milk cartons is a search brainstormer that also pumps power whenever you trigger a climax. When blushing Okarun attacks, he can stock a level one or higher card from the top of your deck, gaining this effect and burst power when an ACT effect is used. This can be paired nicely with naked Okarun as his ACT effect is free. Okarun adjusting his glasses is a search Riki profile, helping us set up our early-game combo. Okarun making a dumb face is a stock bomb that targets costless characters, and, at the cost of hand, he can be spawned from the waiting room at the start of your climax phase into your front row. Okarun covering his face has an on-play search ability, and for a hand cost, he can bounce himself back to hand. Additionally, he can be early played if you fulfill his climax condition. Finally, the sketch of Turbo Granny, is a Fukaziroh profile that occurs when it attacks.

With ghostly powers and a potential love interest at his side, it’s time for Okarun to hit the road and continue his quest for the one thing he holds dear. As the sun sets after a day of searching, the golden rays of sunlight act as a reminder of the golden glint of the treasure Okarun has lost.

Editor’s Note: This card was released after the author had made the article.

One final suggestion to add is this promotional card of Okarun in his transformed state. This card gains choice trigger in any zone should you have a choice climax in play. Furthermore, while it is a beater on stage, it’s more important ability is that it can sacrifice itself while it is standing on your stage to cheaply spawn the finisher Okarun from hand.