Category: DeckReview

[JP-OP5] I won 4 Flagship with this Purple Luffy Deck

Good day, nakamas!

I am Jude Macaranas of Team Asiong from the Philippines. I won the Flagship Serial Shanks during the 1st week of September and won again for 3 consecutive days during the last week of September using [Purple] Luffy.

I really enjoy playing OPCG because I am able to play competitively against my close friends especially on this current meta.

I prioritize going first on every match-up and I always use my leader's effect on my turn 2 and turn 3 so I can set-up big body on my board like Urashima and Kaido 9-cost [ST04-003]. My main strategy is to delay the game phase of the opponent using Magellan's effect while getting DON!!! advantage using the effect of my leader and Kid 5-cost [OP05-074].

Since I build my deck to go first, I mostly mull for Scratchmen Apoo [OP01-103] or Page One [ST04-012] and a good follow-up for it such as Urashima, Paulie or Magellan if I'm playing against [Blue/Black] Sakazuki, [Yellow] Katakuri or [Yellow] Enel.

Click into image for decklist

Matchups in Flagship

September 9, 2023 [ 32 Players ]

Forge Hobby Place – Flagship – Serial Shanks

Round 1 – [Yellow] Katakuri – WIN

Round 2 – [Green/Black] Issho – WIN

Round 3 – [Purple] Luffy – WIN

Round 4 – [Black/Blue] Sakazuki – WIN

Round 5 – [Yellow] Katakuri – WIN

September 23, 2023 [ 32 Players ]

GamersShop GS – Flagship – Serial Shanks

Round 1 – [Yellow] Katakuri – WIN

Round 2 – [Yellow] Enel – WIN

Round 3 – [Yellow] Enel – WIN

Round 4 – [Purple] Luffy – WIN

Round 5 – [Purple] Luffy – WIN

September 24, 2023 [ 32 Players ]

Roll Play Game Lounge – Flagship – Serial Shanks

Round 1 – [Purple] Luffy – WIN

Round 2 – [Red/Green] Law – WIN

Round 3 – [Red/Green] Law – WIN

Round 4 – [Purple] Luffy – WIN

Round 5 – [Yellow] Katakuri – WIN

September 25, 2023 [ 32 Players ]

PopCulture Community – Flagship – Serial Shanks

Round 1 – [Purple] Luffy – WIN

Round 2 – [Blue/Yellow] Queen – WIN

Round 3 – [Purple] Luffy – WIN

Round 4 – [Purple] Luffy – WIN

Round 5 – [Purple] Luffy – WIN

My hardest match-up would be [Red] Zoro because I don't play Kid 7-cost [ST10-013] or Uta 4-cost blocker [ST05-004] to lessen the opponent's aggression. And I think my easiest match-up would be [Yellow] Katakuri and [Yellow] Enel since I specifically built my deck to counter it. I prioritize playing Magellan because several of the locals that I'm playing with have tons of [Purple] Luffy, [Blue-Black] Sakazuki, [Yellow] Enel, and [Yellow] Katakuri, and Magellan puts a decent pressure against them.

I mostly counter other decks with the help of Magellan. It interrupts a lot of decks and is very useful during mirror matches.

When against Sakazuki, always play 2 characters like on your turn 2, Play Ulti [ST04-002] and use it's effect to play Page One [ST04-012] if you can. On your 3rd turn, Prioritize playing Paulie over Magellan even if there's nothing to K.O, you just need the +1 DON!!! so on your 4th turn you can play 2 characters with 5-cost. Protect all your characters from attacks as much as you can.

Against mirror matches of [Purple] Luffy, Always choose to go first so you can play Urashima on your 3rd turn and play Kaido 9-cost [ST04-003] on your 4th turn. With that board state, you have the upperhand on the game.

And against Enel or Katakuri, I still choose to go first so when I play Magellan on my 3rd or 4th turn, their DONS!!! will become odd numbers. In this match-up, Magellan is a God card. Seeing Magellan on your first five handcards can guarantee you the win.

Message

I managed to improve my skills and win a lot of flagship with the help of my friends that's why I would like to thank Team Union Armado for deck building knowlegde, to Team Asiong for late night and bloody practice, to Gerald Mercado for supporting me and providing what I need. I would also like to thank Emmanuel Lazarte for introducing me to this awesome game and for his support and practice assistances.

[JP-OP5] Red Zoro Rush

Hi !! 
I would like to share a deck recipe that was champion in a meetup battle yesterday here in Madcap Gaming Philippines.

Red Zoro Rush 

I want to share some tips and tricks using this deck.
The 4copies in top left is 1-cost searcher Nami.

Matchups

1st match up – Blue Black Sakazuki

In this fight I put pressure on my opponent.
My goal here is to gradually deplete his life and handcards on turn 5.
Because of the searchers that I put down, he did not reduce my life and he defended himself because of the pressure.

Diable Jambe that I got from Buggy's effect was the answer to my fight.

2nd Match up – Belo Betty 

I know that Belo Betty can consume my life or characters because of the effect of this leader.
Although I was the first turn, I play Buggy, my next turn I play Dadan and Sanji c1. Small characters with 3000 power is a big deal because it can be easily increased due to zoro leader's effect.
My opponent managed to drain my life, but I was saved by Jet Pistol and Firefist cost 3 due to their trigger effects from my life. And because he focused on my life and I have many little characters who can attack, I won.
 

3rd Match up – Purple Luffy (Finals)

In this fight I am aware of Purple Luffy that can add Don and accumulate in a few turns.
That's why I play small characters on my turn so that on turn 5 I could put pressure on my opponent.
He knows how quickly I can decrease his life so he was careful in using the effect of his leader.
And with the exhaustion of his life, as well as his hand cards, I finally play Luffy Rush and made it Unblockable because of his Effect and attacked with 11000 Power and I won.

Zoro Deck in OP5 meta.

In this build I use StrawHat Engine.
12 Searchers is good for the Consistency of deck and adding the cards that I need. These are the pointer cards i want to mention.
 
Sanji Cost 1 and Buggy , 
Cost 1 characters with a 3000 power and 1000 counter is a good. I can manage easily my Dons ang use it for other purposes.
 
Brook cost 2,
I am using Sanji Cost 2 before but i decided to change it with Brook, Sanji is good for early game but what about mid and late game ?
Brook is a good card due to its effect that can boost 2000 power to my leaders and characters, plus it has a Body with a 3000 power for the next turn.
 
Magra,
This card is sooo Good,
same with Brook, I can boost my characters like Buggy or Sanji with 3000 Power, and can swing with 7000 power. Plus it has a Body with 2000 Power. 
16 cost 1 characters including this card in the deck is good for consistency.
 
Dadan,
I'm using this card in turn 3 to search a cost 1 with a 3000 body. And i'm holding it for mid and late game to search for Magra and Makino.
Dadan is a good searcher for this deck with having 3000 power and 1000 counter.
 
Makino,
I'm holding Makino in my hand for 5 to 7 turns. Some players ignores Nami or Magra on the field to swing with a big body i'm holding 2 Makino's in my hand or using it for 2000 counters.
It is not okay to use it in early because of lacking 2000 counters int his deck.
 
Bad Manners Kick Course, 
Such a good card to use.
Making your Opponent Anticipate what cards you can't use in their turn.
Mostly I left 1 Active Don in my opponent's turn to use it for Radical Beam.
They Always Surprised by this card and because of this i always survived.
 
Jet Pistol and Fire fist cost 3.
Such a good event cards to get rid of those blockers and other characters with a combo in their plays. I also use their trigger effects that i mentioned in my Belo Betty Match ups.
 
Diable Jambe
 
I only use 1 because it is a dead card in my hand in early games. Having a Nami and Buggy to search this in my deck is good and using it for final blow.
 
 
Holding up your seachers in late game is a must. It's a situational to have answers to your opponent. Remember, Consistency is one of the Key. 

[EN-OP3.5] Antonino: WB took 1st Place Europe Treasure Cup (Post-Restriction).

Introduction

Hello to everyone, I am Antonino Borzi from Italy, living in Barcelona(Spain). First of all, I wanna thank the whole OP Top Decks team for giving me this opportunity to share my list and my experience with that in the last European Treasure Cup organised by Raid’n’Trade with 1024 participants. 

I started playing One piece Card game since the start here in Europe but initially I was also interested in collecting the cards as I’m a huge fan of One piece in general. After playing a few local tournaments to get the promo cards I started to really like the game and decided to continue playing it. Here in Barcelona the level is very high and I'm not afraid to say it's one of the strongest communities in Europe, for this reason and for my desire to get every promo card to collect I decided to play it more serious and became quite competitive giving a lot of efforts and patience to get better every day believing always in myself. 

In the last two months I managed to make top 8 at Treasure Cup Barcelona with Red Luffy, top 16 at Regionals of Bologna with Black Lucci CP, and I recently achieved the 1st place at the 1024 players Online Treasure Cup with Red Whitebeard. 

The reason why I decided to bring WhiteBeard was because post restrictions my friends and I decided to test the deck to see how it performed and to make people understand how WB wasn’t dead at all. After the first tests we quickly realised how the deck was stronger than before. Just look at the pre and post restrictions tops in European tournaments to see how much WB instead of being nerfed, had improved. This is because the Zoro matchup which pre restrictions was a very bad matchup now has become a much easier matchup. 

Also, I am well known for being bad with dice rolling and for this reason before a tournament I test my deck thousands of times with the most unfavourable curve, which at the Bologna regional rewarded me considering that I won only 2 out of 9 dice with Lucci CP, a deck that is very dependent on going second, but fortunately I was already prepared. With WB this is not relevant since the deck going first or second has a very strong curve anyway and winning or losing the die is not that important except at most in mirrors, but even there you play in two different ways depending on going first or second and a good part of the post restrictions mirror is skill gap. 

Finally, I never liked playing overly broken decks and taking "the easy way" to make a top but the idea of being able to do well with a deck that everyone expected to be dead or generally suffered a big nerf tempted me. 

Decklist

This was the “V2” of the first list that me and my two Italian friends (Alessandro Magni and Matteo Longhin), also well known for their results in other tournaments, builded after limitations as our “V1” did already amazingly good the week before with a 2nd place(9-1) and 4 8-2 of our friends at regionals. I did very few changes only to try to counter mirror, adding a 9c WB, one more blocker searchable by Nami (Chopper) and Red Hawk. 

Click into the image for the decklist in One Piece Top Decks

Mulligan/Turn order

I usually mulligan for searchers so that I can adjust my hand according to the curve I’m playing (First or Second) but there are also few exceptions such as when you already have your hand adjusted with the plays on curve. Talking about turn order as I have already mentioned before you choose to go second or first depending on the MU you face, so if your opponent’s deck is better going second you want to go second and vice-versa. 

Matchups (Treasure Cup)

Won 4 dierolls out of 10 / Final result 10-0 

R1 – Whitebeard – Win

R2 – Kinemon – Win

R3 – Magellan – Win

R4 – Katakuri – Win

R5 – Zoro – Win

R6 – Whitebeard – Win

R7 – Katakuri – Win

R8 – Whitebard – Win

R9 – Whitebeard – Win

R10 – Whitebeard – Win

Now I will go through every matchup I faced explaining how to face it, key cards etc. 

Whitebeard

Mirror is possibly your worst matchup but fortunately it is quite skill-based. Basically, you need to test this matchup a hundred or a thousand times to understand and face all the different scenarios you may face and how to deal with them otherwise you will find this matchup very overwhelming if the opponent knows already how to play it. 

  • Set the field with your 6k+ bodies and don’t attack with them if your opponent in the next turn is able to play ace because you will lose all of your board, and this will mean instant loss. 
  • Ace as mentioned above Is a very strong card because he is the only card that allow you to clean the board and go there instead of lives
  • 9C WB is one of the cards that even if restricted to 1 I decided to put into the deck because I felt that in mirror was strong. I’m still not sure if it’s true or not as I won two mirrors without playing it and the opponent yes. It only carried me once in the first mirror as it was the answer to my opponent 9c and without that 2k+ more I remember that I wouldn’t be able to counter the 20k swing next turn. My recommendation is to never commit too much for playing it, then if you can play it, it’s only a plus and mostly of the times not game changing. 

Kinemon

In this matchup you clearly want to go second as Kinemon has a better second curve. It wasn't a matchup I expected to encounter, which is why I hadn't tested it before, but as in op2 it continues to suffer a lot from Whitebeard. 

  • Go second and try to put as much pressure as possible because you don't want that Kinemon arrives in the late game with enough lives to play Oden safely. 
  • Oden is the only threat you can face in this matchup so try or hope to have blockers on the turn he starts attacking or enough counters to counter the double swing. Most of the times he doesn’t have also the tempo to play it and even if it does in the next turn you are also able to menace lethal 

I remember that this was one of the two matchups where I only played 9c WB and I risked that for playing it impulsively because I wasn’t able to counter the double swing of Oden(I didn’t draw neither blockers nor events) two turns after, so I went lethal in my next turn and fortunately Kinemon is a deck that many times find itself with no-counter cards so I ended up winning with a perfect calculation of the attacks.

Magellan

This is possibly one of the worst matchups of Whitebeard as it has access to cards that can break your curve and plays many counters and blockers. Whitebeard being a deck dependent on playing on curve could see his gameplan ruined if going against a Magellan. 

  • Go first so you start to pressure first and avoid his double 5c Magellan on curve.
  • 5c Marco is strong in this matchup as it can’t be killed by 6c King and if 9c Kaido kills it you may revive him trashing an event.
  • 5c Luffy Rush is a card that you want to see or search for most of the times when playing against Magellan and Purple in general as it is the only card that allows you to play around blockers.

Katakuri

This is your free matchup, the easiest one. It doesn’t matter if you go first or second, if you play the matchup perfectly is not possible to lose this even if yellow triggers everything such as two thunderbolts, two Brulee and three Shirahoshi (that’s also a reference to my round 7). 

  • Put as much pressure as possible in the early or mid-game and always attack with your characters. 7k attacks are always appreciated if you have enough dons to go for them as you don’t want to let Katakuri breath every turn. 
  • This is one of those matchups where seeing 2c Sanji on curve makes you very happy. Saying so, if you go first and you can search it with Nami take him, so you are able to play it in your next turn. If you go second, and you have him in your firsthand always play it at T1. 
  • Blockers are the key cards in this matchup, Fossa is better as it cannot be killed by Streusen such as Chopper and only Thunderbolt can remove it. Most of the times Katakuri arrives even with 0 lives in late game so it cannot remove that in any way.

Zoro

Both with mirror this is one of the popular worst matchups you may face but me and my friends are still not sure if it’s so bad because during testing if you play against Zoro even with an anti-whitebeard list without making any misplays you never lose. Going first or second it doesn’t make much difference. Some Zoro players prefer to go first while others prefer to go second depending on each personal build. 

  • One of the few matchups when you may counter his attacks in the early/mid-game more than once. You just have to calculate and think after each of its attacks whether taking that life bearing in mind that the next turn you will go to X lives with Y don. By testing the matchup many times, you will realise yourself that this action will become almost automatic and let you understand more when taking that life or not is correct. 
  • 5c Marco is the key card of this game as being your only removal it allows you to pop off their 1C characters, especially buggy, and if he is killed by one of the many removals that Zoro plays, he can be resurrected by trashing an event card.
  • You want to see as many searchers as possible in your firsthand as they are your only answer to Zoro’s ones if he tries to buff them with Magura/Makinos
  • Never rest your characters until you are at zero lives and unless it is 5c Marco because Zoro in the next turn can remove it with their 1c or 2c playing an Otama or Gordon to reduce their power. If your characters remain active, you will force him to Use an expensive event such as pistol or fire fist.
  • Red hawk is one of the cards I added in this last version of the deck mainly for this matchup and the law matchup because I felt it was strong against these two matchups and having a +4k counter in your deck was really good.

Conclusion

In summary, I think that WB is a very strong and stable deck and even with the restrictions the deck became stronger than before. As the round progressed, I felt the deck was really dominant and consistent and my performance during the tournament helped to prove that as I never did any misplay or miscalculations and took always my time for every play, especially in the late game when the decision was difficult(except for that Kinemon play) . I would say also that WB is the best deck in the format but at the same time I would not say it’s an overly broken deck as it’s not brainless as before because you need to calculate every play you do to avoid misplays that can cost you the entire match and it’s more difficult to be piloted well. This version I builded is so aggressive that put so much pressure early and even matchups such as black which were tough before became easier. Hope you found the article interesting and may help you in your journey with this awesome game. Thank you for reading and good luck in your next tournaments. 

SHOUTOUTS

I will take this space to mention the guys from my group of testing in Italy (I Sassofonisti) which are one of the best players I ever knew, and I wish them the best in their next tournaments; my closest friends and players from Italy such as Luca de Luisa, Mattia Bano, Armando Baci and Riccardo Angeli. The whole Spanish community from Barcelona and my closest friends such as Juan Mendez(Law Master), David Melendo(Best Yonkou in the world), Marc, Monaru, Victor and the whole Zoro Farming Group. 

[EN-OP3] Interview Garrett: Bring Whitebeard back in OP3.5 (post-restriction)

Garrett is a member of the Worst Generation (https://twitter.com/WorstGenOPTCG) from USA. When Bandai released the restriction list for the OP3 English format, many of us thought WB was dead. But for Garrett it is like "okay, challenge accepted, I will bring him back", let hear him out.

Click into the deck image for the decklist view in OnePieceTopDecks

1. Tell us something about yourself and your team, how do you enjoy this game so far?

What’s up everybody! It’s Garrett from the Worst Generation. Some of you may already know me, but for those who don’t, I grew up playing pokemon tcg competitively. I stopped playing around the time I was 15 and in high school. Then many years later, I saw the One Piece Card game was coming out and knew I had to give it a try! 

I love One Piece and through this card game I have made so many friends and a lot of them happen to be a part of what we are doing over at Worst Generation. We just want to be a positive influence on the community and help it grow! As far as why I was asked to do this interview, I was fortunate enough to win the first 1024 regional at max capacity, Core’s online regional on July 29th!

2. Before this tournament, did you have any achievements with the One Piece card game that you want to share:

Before this event, I had already found success in Pokemon and One piece. In Pokemon, I was fortunate enough to get 2nd at nats and 5th at worlds. Having this experience has definitely helped me succeed in the game of One Piece! As far as One piece goes, my accomplishments are:

9th in DLB (512 people)

19th Miami Treasure Cup (512)

5th Peoria regionals (512)

1st Core Online regionals (1024)

19th Gen Con Treasure Cup



3. Now let's talk about your WB deck, how did you think of this decklist after the restriction rule?

So I’m kinda known as a whitebeard player. Back in Op02 I built this deck, “GarrettBeard”, titled that because I suck at naming decks, obviously. But it focused on playing Moby dick with the Straw Hat engine to get you reliable defense. After this deck rotated due to the ban list at the beginning of Op03, I knew I had to try something different with whitebeard. 

It wasn’t until the next restriction list that I found a fun way for myself to play the deck. The restriction list limited radical beam, blocker Marco, and Edward Newgate (9 drop) all to 1 copy. So it made sense in my mind to try to create a WB list that focused on control and winning the board state. This is where my idea of Nico Robin and rush Luffy’s come from, along with the combination of whitebeard pirate cards like Marco and Cross fire. These cards all help win the board and also apply pressure at your opponent’s life. And of course we had to run both Nami and Izou to accomplish these goals in a consistent manner. 


4. What is the deck's strategy? How was the cards (those replaces the ban/limited cards) perform so far, and do you plan to optimise it more after this tournament (CoreTCG Online Regional)?

I started to outline the deck’s strategy on the previous question, but it boils down to applying pressure. Whether that is accomplished by pressuring life or controlling the board, or even doing both at the same time. There are cards like Nico Robin, that forces your opponent to deal with it. If it is not removed by the time I play down ace, or can combo with crossfire, it can mean the removal of a substantial character. This build has felt great so far.

  The new cards that and the way you’re forced to play now, post-restriction, is a lot of fun. My current list went undefeated at the core regional and went 7-2 at the treasure cup (19th). And at that tournament, I even started 6-0. So it’s had some good runs and definitely plays well into the current meta.

5. Could you share the matchups result of the deck in this tournament, how was it performed or countered the other decks

Now time for the matchups. I don’t remember them all exactly but will try to remember them in order to the best of my ability. 

R1- Rob Lucci

R2- Katakuri

R3- Law

R4- Zoro

R5- Law

R6- WB

R7- Big Mom

R8- WB

R9- WB

R10- Zoro

As you can see I played the mirror A LOT. The biggest thing that helped me in the mirror was my decks ability to curve out whether I was going 1st  or 2nd. For example if I got first, ideally my turns would look like so:

T1: Tap 1 don, play searcher.

T2: Tap 3 don play Nico robin, or searcher and attach to wb, or go all in on wb, or leave up for an early game red hawk.

T3: Tap 5 don play Luffy or Marco

T4: Tap 7 don play Ace, or Thatch, or even a Luffy and leave remaining don up for defense. 

So that’s the idea going first. Going 2nd it looks like:

T1: tap don for searchers.

T2: tap 4 don, play Atmos or Luffy vanilla. You can also play down Nico Robin and drop a don on Newgate Leader to swing for an early 7k. Swing before you play Robin though.

T3: tap 6 don play thatch, luffy or Marco, even a vanilla is fine, and leave up for defense and put remaining don on leader. 

Being able to consistently do the above was what I believe is the advantage to my deck.

6. Do you have any tips for WB post-restriction players?

My biggest tip is get the reps in. The only thing I believe that separates WBeard players is instincts. The 7-8 don curve is SUPER important. You have to choose the right play for board state/opponent’s number of life left. These instincts develop over time with more reps. You start to get an idea of what the vast majority of players will do. If I have a nine card hand but only three have counter, chances are my opponent still won’t swing for game. Sometimes it comes down to making bets like this with yourself, throughout the game.

7. Is there any message for the team or the local OP community you want to say?

Lastly, none of this would be possible without the awesome people around me that I get to playtest with. You all Know who you are! Also thanks to OrangeSamuraiD. If you don’t follow him, go mash that button on every social. He’s the man. Lastly, thanks again to all the support we have received from this awesome community. Till next time!

I’m Out!

You also can check out the Youtube video where Garrett talked about his deck.

[EN-OP3] Interview Chris Sok, the winner of North America PPG Online Regional (1024 players)

Chris Sok is a player from USA, recently he won the Online Regional hosted by PPG with 1024 players participated. He used Whitebeard deck for the tournament.

1. Tell us something about yourself and how do you enjoy this game so far?

Hi, I'm Chris Sok. I'm from NYC. I have won championships in several TCGs such as Vanguard, Dragonball Super, Digimon, and now One Piece. The games I am currently playing are One Piece and Digimon.

2. Before this tournament, did you have any achievements with the One Piece card game that you want to share
One Piece achievements:

2nd PPG Deck Limited Battles
Top 4 Ohio Regional
Top 8 Top Cut Events Online Regional
1st PPG Online Regional

3. Why did you decide to bring WB to the Regional, were you very confident with the deck?
I ended up choosing WB because it is the easiest deck to play among the top decks. Being the easiest, I was confident in my plays but I wasn't too sure how well I would perform believing that the difference in skill among WB players is minimal.

4. Do you have any tips, and what do you mulligan for?
I usually mulligan for at least 2 cards which contain at least 1 card that I can play on my 4-7 don curve and 9 cost WB. If you don't have 9 cost WB, you should take every life so you don't lose cards on defense. When playing 9 cost WB, it is sometimes best to not attack with your 6-7k attackers giving your opponent easier targets to attack and mitigate your plus 2k on leader skill but this mainly depends on the base power of your opponent's characters.

5. Could you share the matchups result of the deck in this tournament, how was it performed or countered the other decks
Record: 10-0
Matchups:
3 WB
2 Zoro
2 Lucci
1 Law
1 Big Mom
1 Film Kid

Vs. WB
Going second is even more important in the matchup and I was very lucky to win the die roll against all my WB opponents. Key cards in this matchup would be Thatch, Otama, WB, Marco blocker, and Ace (mostly when going second). Thatch just being bigger makes it easier to beat over other characters or take out more cards in hand. Otama is important to break through blocker Marco defenses along with your 9 cost WB skill when going for game. 9 cost WB is the strongest character in your deck letting you whittle your opponent's defenses down and eventually winning you the game. Blocker Marco lets you mitigate your opponents strongest attacks every turn. Ace can be a key card when going second to kill 2 characters to give you the control. However, when going first with ace, you can only clear 1 character and can lead to your opponent playing ace back the following turn.

Vs. Zoro
It is harder on the Zoro player to chip away at your life due to you being a 6k leader. The Zoro player has to make all the best moves and you just have to play normally and anticipate multiple Makinos/Magra when they go for game.

Vs. Lucci
This is WB's hardest matchup among the top decks in the meta. My 2 games against Lucci were the closest by far and it's no surprise. Depending on the variant, they can clear your threats as you play them on curve. WB is also the only deck that can't play around Issho. Defending against a Lucci leader also requires more than just 1 blocker. My take on the matchup is hoping your Thatch and 9 cost WB stick which are not exactly the easiest to kill and just race your opponent's life or buy enough time to eventually kill your opponent.

Vs. Law
It may be impossible to beat Law without any 9 cost WB if they draw well. Otama is their best friend to keep your board cleared so Thatch is also good at making it more difficult to keep control.

Vs. Big Mom
Against yellow, you want to drop to 0 life by turns 4-6 so that their Big Mom characters do not gain max value. You do need to be cautious in aggressively taking life because it may give your opponent a window to all in you when defenses are down. Also, be cautious of Thunderbolting Marco blocker and all inning.

Vs. Film kid
Their best card against you is probably Kid leader. Marco blocker makes it difficult for them to go for game but they can leave up Don for Punk Gibson to tap down Marco for the all in. I've only ever played this matchup this one time but I believe this to be in WB's favor since all of your bigger characters are good against the matchup and you have the defenses for Kid leader.

6. WB will have limited power with Bandai new restrictions, what is your plan for OP3 format, are you going to work with other leaders or would you optimize your WB deck?
I think it is safe to assume that WB is dead. The next easiest deck to play would be yellow so I may be on yellow.

7. Is there any message for the team or the local OP community you want to say?
Yes! I want to give a shoutout to my team "Luxury Gaming" and our sponsors "Metamats" and "Dueling Guard". I also want to say thank you to everyone who congratulated me and thank you to the Digimon/One Piece Top Decks Team for having me.

[EN] Interview Shannon Cole, the winner of Oceania Online Regional with Law

First of all, congratulations to Shannon from TeamPx3 (Australia) who recently won 1st place at TAK Regional. He used Law leader in this tournament and today he will share with us his experiences with the deck in this tournament.

Q: Tell us something about yourself and how do you enjoy this game so far?

A: Hey, I’m Shannon from PX3. I started following the One Piece TCG before the game was released and have been addicted ever since. This is my first TCG and I joined because it’s One Piece! 

Q: Before this tournament, did you have any achievements with the One Piece card game that you want to share?

I’m really proud of how I’ve performed at all the large events I’ve played, and doing so with different leaders. 

Kaido – DLB: 6th (played in finals)

Kaido – Treasure Cup: Top 64

Zoro – Regionals: 5th

Film Kid – Treasure Cup: 5th (Played in finals)

R/G Law – Regionals: 1st (Won finals)

I’m also proud of going undefeated for 8 different prerelease events in a row.

Q: Why did you decide to bring Law to the Regional, were you very confident with the deck? 

A: Law is a deck that I’ve tried to pick up from 01 but never felt I was personally the best at it. However, I think picking it up every now-and-again has helped me build the needed skills to play the deck to a high level.

I chose to play Law 5 days before the event. Here is why I went with Law:

-He is fun (I don’t like the current playstyle of Zoro/WB)

-I don’t like playing mirrors, and I didn’t think there would be many Law

-He has a favoured matchup into WB + Katakuri

-Even though he has a hard time against Zoro, Law has the capacity to beat it if it draws correctly

-I really liked the lists I was seeing from 04 where they run no events and about 2 Basil Hawkins

Q: Do you have any tips for Law, and what do you mulligan for?

A:

Here is what I mulligan for:

As a soft rule, look for 1x red searcher or more (Nami or Dadan) and 1x Bonnie (or a blocker law).

The rest of your hand should be mostly small characters that you can fill the board with. There are also key cards for different matchups you will be happy to see, refer to matchups below.

Tips:

Bonnie – She is your engine, so value keeping her in hand. Save her for when you can swap her back to hand with 5c Law or 5c Luffy. Don’t leave her on field if you only have one of her. If you do have multiple Bonnies and your opponent has no mini characters, then you can leave one rested on field and on in hand. The one on field will act as a blocker, or if they go for your other characters then you get a lot of value.

Opponent Triggers – A trigger of life removing one of your characters can disrupt your ability to use law effect. If you have a 1c character in hand, sometimes it is beneficial to save 3 don for leader effect instead of 2 to make sure you get leader effect off.

3k Attackers – Please value attacking with these guys, it’s only a 2 don investment for a card out of your opponents hand. A lot of the time people will then swing at these characters so they double as sudo-blocker.

There are countless combos you can do on law, here are some examples:

Otama + Vista + Blocker Law combo. If you have these 3 cards in hand and 3 characters on field, for 6 don you can clear a 3k and a 5k whilst also getting your blocker law out. Otama the 5k, vista the 5k, swap to blocker law and replay your vista popping the 3k.

Brook + Luffy + Re-stand Law combo. If you have these 3 cards in hand and 3 characters on field, you can do 2x 9k Unblockable attacks (from hand!). Play Luffy for 5don, play brook for 2don (giving the 2 rested don to Luffy), give 1 more don to Luffy and attack. Then, pay 2 to swap into re-stand law to attack again.

Q: Could you share the matchups result of the deck in this tournament, how did it perform or counter the other decks?
  1. Win: Doffy – Past Top 20
  2. Win: Katakuri
  3. Win: WB – Past 1st place serial Luffy winner 
  4. Win: Katakuri – Past 1st place serial Luffy winner 
  5. Win: WB
  6. Win: WB
  7. Win: Katakuri – Past top 16
  8. Win: Zoro

Blue – Yellow – Purple – Black

These decks should all be good matchups for you. You ideally want to go wide against these decks and put on pressure before they get to their more late-game threats out. Look to push through attacks with your 3k characters. 

Doffy

Pick first to throw off their curve.

Otamas are great at filling the board and dealing with their rested 5ks. They almost have to let it die on first swing or they need to counter all your 3k attacks. You have to put pressure on them before they get out 9c Mihawk. Beware of three thousand swords bot-decking in the mid game, so look for other avenues to get attacks through like your 3k’s and rush Zoros.

Katakuri/Big Mum

Pick second to throw off their curve.

Take life from 7c Mum, place blockers, go aggressive. Watch out for triggers! (This should be an easy matchup, just focus on getting them as low life as possible whilst clearing their small characters so that they are punished on the turns they drop their boss monsters)

Lucci/Smoker

Pick second to throw off their curve.

Go wide and aggressive. When searching, pick up more 5c characters as back up as they will start getting killed by effects. If they are at 8don next turn, consider throwing more cards so you don’t have 6 in hand for when they drop Issho.

Magellan 

Magellan can curve either way, so I would pick first.

Can be a little difficult as they flood the board and its dangerous to clear their 5c Magellans. They also have a lot of defence if you choose to go aggressive. I would still suggest going aggressive with 5k attacks, so you don’t give them value of taking life or using events. If they get low on hand and are high on life you can switch to clearing board.

White Beard

Pick second to throw off their curve.

IMO this is a favoured matchup, but you must know what you are doing.

1c Blockers: Place this before turns you know they won’t be able to pop it. EG: if they are at 9don next turn they will play WB and can’t pop it. Even if they have a WB on field, a lot of the time they want to double or triple drop WB, which means they can’t put 2x Don on the one on field.

5c Blocker Law: Getting multiples of these down helps you feel comfortable in waiting an extra turn in case they were to try to lethal you next turn. The 6k body is great for doing multiple swings into characters or for game.

Basil Hawkins: If you get this card out and use it correctly it wins you the matchup. Kills characters in the mid game, re-stands on Marco blocker in the late game. Be careful of the turns they can play 7c Ace, either have enough blockers or choose to leave Basil active.

5c Luffy: Great at going through Marcos, especially with re-stand law!

Restand Law: Great at getting a little bit of extra damage through early, or great at closing out against all of WB’s counters. 

Brook: Great for filling board early while still attacking WB, reducing his hand size.

Otama: Great at getting characters in range for you smaller characters to attack.

Zoro

Pick first so you can get your 5c characters out early, as well as you can use leader effect before they can drop 5c marco.

One of the harder matchups. Multiple 5k attacks hurts. 5c Marco hurts. Fire Fist hurts. Buggy can’t be killed by slash (90% of laws attackers are slash…).

Look for as many searchers + vistas as you can. Zoro and Nico also help. Getting 5c Law out is a must, to win the matchup you need to replay vistas or searchers whilst giving yourself that bit of safety. Watch out for Gordon + 5c Marco/Fire Fist popping your 6ks.

If they have buggies on field, prioritise getting out characters without slash – Sunny Kun, Nico, Luffy, Nami.

Ace

Pick first to throw off their curve.

A lot of what I said for Zoro Applies here. The main difference being they may put on less pressure with attacks, but Ace will have more ability to clear board. Look for searchers to refill and put as much pressure on as you can. Use multiple blockers on turns they might drop 7c Ace or 7c Flame emperor. If they have already used a few 2k counters, start abusing 6k attacks since they don’t run too many 2ks. 

Film Kid

I think first or second is fine against Film Kid. I would pick second so that they have a lower chance of seeing their combos like Brook + Nami. At 4don you can also Otama + Vista a Nami if they play that at 3don.

Should be a good matchup for you. Otamas help clear their characters. Basil is another great drop to clear their characters. Keep clearing board and placing your 5c. When they start running out of cards, they will go aggressive with leader effect. This is where all your blockers come in handy. Most Film Kid decks run 4x Punk Gibson, so if you see 2x don open, know something will get rested.

Q: Will you continue to play Law in this OP3 format or you are going to work with other leaders?

Now that I’ve won with Law, I think I will try out other leaders. Maybe something more off-meta, like Arlong or Garp! If the meta swings more to WB and Katakuri then I might pick Law up for another event. If Zoro and Ace become more prevalent then I don’t think I will.

Q. Is there any message for the team or the local OPl community you want to say?

I’d like to give a big thankyou to everyone I’ve played against as well as anyone who has sent messages of support. I have only felt positivity from everyone in the OP community. A big shout-out to the PX3 team for supporting me and thankyou to OP Top Decks for this interview.

Check out the decklist video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5R0PSfGHCI&t=258s&ab_channel=TeamPX3

[JP] Interview "Galvin & Friends" team, won the OP Championship 2023 Prelim Round in Asia 3on3

Introduction the winning team

Today we would like to share the interview with the team that recently won the One Piece Championship 2023 Preliminary Round in Asia (3on3 format), "Galvin & Friends" Derek, Alvin and Norvyn. They earn their invites to Asia Area Final -1st season. 

There is total 60 teams (180 players).

First of all, we will share the decklist of all the members. (you also can find them in OP4 decklist)

1. Tell us something about yourself? and before this tournament, do you guys have some other (personal) achievements

Derek: Hello friends, Derek here. Unless mentioned, I’ll be the one to provide my insight for most of the article on my team’s behalf. I’ve been playing TCG for almost a decade, with some competitive experience in Cardfight Vanguard, Pokemon, and Digimon in the past. I’ve had a good amount of top cut achievements in the past, with a steady record of going home after the 1st round of top cut for most cases. This article is meant for One Piece, so I’m not going to go into detail about my insignificant achievements in other games. I’ve been playing OPCG since the game’s release and have been playing long enough to know that I’m not a terrible player at the very least. Here are a couple of my minor achievements in the game:

– Multiple 1st place wins at local flagship battles

– Top 16 Malaysia One Piece Card Game Championship Qualifier 2022

– Top 16 Malaysia One Piece Card Game Championship Qualifier 1v1 June 2023

– 1st place team Malaysia One Piece Card Game Championship Qualifier 3v3 July 2023

Alvin: I have been playing TCG for over 10 years now and have played OPCG since the very beginning as the gameplay was very interesting to me. It is also thanks to our best friend, Joshua's recommendation that we found ourselves in OPCG. 

– Cardfight Vanguard 3v3 Daivanguard festival 2023 Malaysia Qualifier (2nd Place)

– Multiple 1st place wins at local flagship battles

– Top 16 Malaysia One Piece Card Game Championship Qualifier

– 1st place team July 2023 Malaysia One Piece Card Game Championship Qualifier 3v3

Norvyn: I found myself in OPCG because I've been playing TCG for a long time and the game mechanic looks very fun. I’ve been competing in TCG since 12 years old, the major tournaments I won since then were :
– Match Attax 2011 World Champion
– Cardfight Vanguard Team League Malaysia 2014 Champion
– SEAO Shadowverse Open Omen of Storm 2022 Champion (in-game name as Crisome) 
– Various tops in Shadowverse Open and Cardfight Vanguard BCS/WGP

– 1st place team July 2023 Malaysia One Piece Card Game Championship Qualifier 3v3

2. Will you share with us about the strategy of the team, deck choice before the tournament?

Before I get into further on how we decided on our deck choices, something important to note is that before we had Norvyn on the team, our initial team lineup was supposed to be me (Derek), Alvin, and Malaysian Cardfight Vanguard Idol, Joshua Rakesh. He will be mentioned a couple of times throughout this article, so for simplicity’s sake, we will refer to him as Dosh. Based on the metagame up til the tournament and also based on the decks that we knew how to pilot, we decided between Whitebeard, Law, Ace, Zoro, & G/P Doffy. It was just a case of picking 3/5. Between me, Alvin and Dosh, all 3 of us were quite proficient Whitebeard players as we have been playing it throughout the flagship tournaments since OP03. Best deck before and still best deck now, so the best deck was the obvious pick. Easy right? To decide on the other 2 decks, we conducted some testing for a couple of days and made 2 discoveries; 

1.There were too many existing variants of Zoro and ain’t none of us got the time to figure out the optimal list. 

2. G/P Doffy as a deck can be absolutely oppressive with good draws, or a piece of trash with bad draws. We felt like the searchers were unreliable and the consistency of the deck was junk, so we left the deck in the junk as well. 

So, our picks were quite set. Alvin could only play WB, Zoro, or Doffy, so it was a given for him to play WB. And I was best at WB, Law or Doffy, so I was stuck with Law, not that I was complaining since I played it for the 1v1 the week before. That left Dosh with Ace. 

Well, that was the initial plan at least. A day before the tournament, Dosh had some stomach issues and started a short-term relationship with his toilet. And in comes our sub, Norvyn, who didn’t need to think too much and decided on Katakuri, since it was the deck that he was playing the most during the OP03-OP04 season. 

*Long story short: Our final lineup was WB, Law, & Katakuri. Decks were picked based on what didn’t suck at the moment, what we knew how to pilot, and what we had available given Dosh’s defection to Team Toilet.

3. How was the matchups result for each deck?

Our swiss rounds on day 1 didn’t run so hot. We actually started to lose some hope after round 4 when our team was 2-2, since we each had to deal with our own individual dumb problems. Alvin had to take on some pretty unfavorable matchups, and was constantly ranting about how much he missed Dosh. Norvyn had the neverending problem of “I was short 1k shield to guard”. And I was suffering from emotional damage since I was playing with shitty draws throughout the day. It felt like I was playing Zoro instead of Law (My turn 1 power play was dropping Brook and shoving 2 don to my leader for ⅚ games, not like I had much choice). But well, we managed to end the rounds with 4-2 and squeeze into the top cut, so hooray I guess? 

After the top cut, it was just a simple case of having the right players win at the right times. Personally, I was just thankful that I was actually playing Law instead of Zoro in my top cut games, or else a certain deck would have been unsleeved that day. Matchups are as below for each player.

 (T: for Team result)

Alvin
G/P Doffy: ☑ T ☑

Blue Crocodile: ☑ T ☑

WB: ☒T ☒

Lucci: ☒ T ☒

Katakuri:☑ T ☑

Zoro: ☑ T ☑

Top 16: WB ☒ T ☑ 

Top 8: Katakuri ☑ T ☑

Top 4: WB ☑ T☑

Final: WB ☒ T ☑

Norvyn
Katakuri: ☒T ☑

Katakuri: ☑ T ☑

Rebecca: ☑ T ☒

Zoro: ☒ T ☒

WB: ☒ T ☑

Law: ☑ T ☑

Top 16: G/P Doffy ☑ T ☑

Top 8: G/P Doffy ☑ T ☑

Top 4: G/P Doffy ☒T ☑

Final ‘G/P Doffy ☑ T ☑

Derek
Law: ☑ T ☑

Kid: ☑ T ☑

Katakuri: ☒ T ☒

WB: ☒T ☒

G/P Doffy:☑T ☑

Ivankov:☑T ☑

Top 16: Law ☑T ☑

Top 8: WB ☑T ☑

Top 4: Katakuri ☑ T ☑

Final: Law ☑ T ☑

4. Share with us the experiences, tips and hints to the players/team who will participate in the 3on3 event in the future?.

Well, just like any card game, you gotta put in enough effort to learn the game. No, not your tutorial mode to learn the ABCD’s on how to turn your card sideways and declare an attack. Learn how to play optimally, how to manage your resources, your attack pattern, your guarding sequence. Learn how to pilot your own deck, learn how to beat your matchups, know the decks you expect to see in your metagame, and the things you can change about your deck build to adapt to the expected metagame. The usual card game stuff I guess? 

For a team event, be mindful that your teammates should be reliable. If you’re better than them, teach them. If they are better, get them to teach you. If you’re all good players, learn from each other. If all 3 of you are questionable players, learn from another source together, or just pay a visit to your local church/temple/mosque/etc and hope for the best. 

Lastly, you gotta put in the time to improve at the game, but don’t spend too much time. We all got our own lives to live, and there are more productive things to do than to be playing cards all day. “A true Pirate King wouldn’t be spending 5 days a week playing card games all day” – Monkey D Luffy (One Piece, Episode 214.5)

5. So now you guys will head for the final, any plan to practice or deeper training?

No intense training arc planned at the moment. Will just go about our lives as we usually do. Joining flagship tournaments on the weekends gets us a good amount of practice. Besides that, we just have our occasional playtest sessions at Starbucks or McDonalds maybe once a week, and watch Dosh or some other friends play on the OPCG simulator online and point out all the questionable plays that people make. Will turn it up a notch once the actual date of the event is getting close.

5. So now you guys will head for the final, any plan to practice or deeper training?

Alvin: I would like to thank Dosh for introducing me to OPCG. If not for him, I wouldn't be here. And thank you to my friends who always playtest with me. 

Norvyn: I did not expect to even be in Malaysia during that day because I was planning to go to Singapore, but fate had other plans for me I guess. I would like to thank my teammates for carrying me and Dosh for being supportive despite puking rainbows. I would also like to thank today’s sponsor, McDonalds for giving me continuous emotional support *(This is a joke, not actually sponsored by McD).

Derek: I would like to thank my teammates, Alvin and Norvyn for making themselves useful when it mattered. Even though he couldn't make it, special thanks to Dosh because he is my favourite Indian and without him, our entire circle might not have started OPCG. Shoutout to the group of donkeys that I call my friends, whose names I am too lazy to list. Lastly, special mention to the card shops that I frequent; Little Akiba, Cardinals Hobby Store, Deckout Trading, & Toysbar (Shameless promotion).

[JP] Dickson: 3rd place in OP Championship 2023 Preliminary Round in Malaysia with a R/G Law

Invited Author: Dickson Goh

Country: Malaysia

Introduction

Hello, I am Dickson Goh from Malaysia. First, I would like to express gratitude to the OP Top Decks team for providing me with this opportunity to share my list via this platform. I started playing One Piece card game after watching One Piece FILM: Red and fell in love with the character "Uta".

I started playing since OP-01 and I recently achieved 3rd place in One Piece Championship 2023 Preliminary Round in Malaysia with a R/G Law deck.

Decklist

Click into the image for decklist in One Piece Top Decks

Strength/Weakness

The reason why I brought Law deck to this tournament is because I believe Law is a very versatile deck that has answers to most of the meta decks.

The strength of this deck lies in its versatility and the ability to reuse your cards by utilizing the leader skill and OP-01 blocker Law’s ability.

The weakness is that it is sometimes very piece reliant, for instance when you bottom-deck all your blocker Laws, the match will be a lot harder to play (not impossible). This deck is also vulnerable against decks that can effectively control your field (Ace, Black decks).

Tournament Result

Here are all the matches I fought during the championship, and I will break down all the matchups in details.

Day 1
R1 – Ace (Second) – Win
R2 – DoFILMingo (First) – Lose
R3 – Whitebeard (Second) – Win
R4 – Blue Crocodile (Second) – Win
R5 – Charlotte Linlin (Second) – Win
R6 – Blue Crocodile (Second) – Win
R7 – Rob Lucci (Second) – Win

Day 2
Top 16 – R/G Law (Second) – Win
Top 8 – Whitebeard (Second) – Win

Top 4 – R/G Law (Second) – Lose
Contest for 3rd place – Katakuri (Second) – Win
Now, I will go through all the matchups starting from the hardest to what I think is the easiest.

Whitebeard

IMO, this is the hardest matchup for Law deck due to the fact that Whitebeard deck has 6k base power and also a lot of firepower. Below I will share a few tips that helped me win against Whitebeard decks.

  • Don’t care so much about setting up fields for leader skill, focus on chipping down opponent’s hand cards as much as possible early on. Being able to use leader skill is a bonus.

  • ST1 Brook is your best friend, it allows you to pump 2 rested dons to your leader so you can poke early game while setting up your field for your leader skill.

    • Utilize Basil Hawkins and/or Luffy whenever possible, Hawkins can effectively get rid of opponent’s characters whereas Luffy can bypass blockers.

  • ST Law is probably the second most important card in this matchup, it allows you to swing with your blocker Law then restand it for defensive next turn. ST Law is also a very strong card that can help you finish off the game.

TL;DR – Try to reduce WB’s hand size in the early game and finish him off with big attacks when his hand size is small.

DoFILMingo

The reason why I put this deck as the second hardest matchup is simply because this deck is super annoying to deal with. However, the cards and tips below should help you have an easier time against this deck.

  • Otama can -2000 power to any characters, so she will make the FILM blocker Luffy less annoying to deal with.

  •  Similar to the Whitebeard matchups, Hawkins and Luffy are very effective against this deck.

  • When opponent is nearing their 10 dons turn, it is wise to play a bit more defensively to avoid the 10 cost Doflamingo stun-locking your characters/leader.

Removal decks (Ace/Lucci)

Against these decks, I usually play a bit more offensively since I know my characters will eventually get KO’ed by their cards’ effect. I pay close attention to the number of dons they have and try to guess the cards that they will play e.g. Fire Fist, Kaku, Sakazuki, Garp, etc. Therefore, I don’t usually fill my board early on and just try to rush down my opponent using the rush Zoro. Also, you should also reserve some dons in case your opponent triggered an event from life that removes one of your characters, you can still play more to use your leader skill.

Blue Crocodile

I don’t actually have much experience against Blue Crocodile. But from what I know, they will try to control your board early game until they spawn their big attackers (10 cost Kaido and 9 cost Mihawk). So, my advice is to end the game as fast as possible before they can spawn these units. Additionally, you should also beware of these cards.

    • The Ulti returns a cost 2 or below character back to the owner’s bottom deck, which is very effective against Law since the deck plays a lot of low-cost characters.

    • The event card’s secondary effect returns a cost 1 or below character back to bottom deck which is also good when used defensively.

    Yellow decks (Linlin/Katakuri)

    Lastly, we have the yellow decks which I think are the easiest matchups for Law. Below are the strategies that I always use when fighting against yellow decks.

    • Just take your life – Yellow decks are known to spawn 7 cost or 10 cost Big Mom to burn your life, so just take them early on and use the small blockers (Chopper/Bege) or defensive event cards to guard against their big attacks.

      • Play with the assumption that Raitei/Bege is in their life and plan your moves accordingly.

Additional notes

  • The reason why I include one copy of X-Drake in my deck is because it is sometimes useful when dealing with opponent’s cost 4 or below characters.

    • I included 2 copies of Radical Beam so that I don’t always have to commit my blockers to guard against big attacks.

      • Hand size in Law deck is very important, so it is crucial to know when you should guard with hand and when you should guard with blockers.

Conclusion

In summary, I think Law is a really fun and a super strong deck that reflects the player’s style. You can adjust the deck however you want as long as you are comfortable with it. However, I would say Law is not really a beginner friendly deck as it requires a lot of experience to know what to do in different matchups. But at the end of the day, just have fun with whatever you play, and I hope you find this guide useful. Thank you for reading.

[EN-OP2] Zach Meader: 1st Place Carta Magica Treasure Cup with Edward Whitebeard

Invited Author: Zach Meader

Country: North America

About me


Greetings everyone. My name is Zach Meader from Cedar Rapids, IA. I would consider the One Piece TCG to be my main TCG that I compete seriously in. The card game is great fun, and being able to meet players at tournaments and have sound conversations with them always brings great memories. I do have experience with other TCG’s but nothing at the competitive level until this TCG. I picked up the game seriously at the start of OP-02. I recently won the Carta Magic TC, hosted on June 17th in NA.

Edward Newgate Leader

If you play the TCG you are likely well aware of this leader, which was released with the launch of OP-02. Players immediately began playing Newgate in NA with a very explosive start Newgate was everywhere to be seen. For good reason, this leader is very strong. Coupled with the leader being red, it had every tool at its disposal to succeed. However, if you notice Newgate had never won a big tournament in NA such as a TC or Regional event until my win. 

Why is that? 

Lack of consistency alongside the fact, players discovered different ways to play against the leader, two other leaders stood out as decks that could deal with Newgate on even footing or better.. Zoro, and Law, the latter of which I believe to be the best leader in this game. But you may say, but Newgate had so many tops. Which is very true! Early on Newgate dominated the tops but that is simply a numbers game, if most people play Newgate then a lot of Newgates will top. However at the end of OP-02’s life within NA the top spread was more evenly dispersed with Law, Zoro, Newgate, and Kid also showing up. 

Lastly, heading into OP-03 I believe Newgate is only getting stronger. Even with Moby Dick getting banned. Reason being, Newgate gets more consistent with access to powerful cards like Izou and the new 5 drop Marco. Expect to see Newgate for a while with dedicated players topping and winning tournaments. 

Click into the image for decklist in One Piece Top Decks

The Deck

I am going to keep this section short, since we are headed into the start of OP-03 and Moby Dick being banned there is no reason to go too in depth with this section.

I chose to run the Whitebeard Pirates package as my heavy hitters, being top heavy with Ace and Newgate as my game closers. Having these two on the field with Moby was always a guaranteed win. In games where I didn’t have time to play Newgate or Ace, the key was pressuring early with bodies like Kingdew and Atmos. Or playing very defensive with a wall of Marco blockers. Once you get 2 or 3 Marco's down that is usually enough to shut out your opponent. Also when closing for games Marco was fantastic coupled with Moby.

For counters, I decide to run the Strawhat package as they have Nami as a searcher to pull 2k’s or events. Straightforward and to the point with counters nothing insane there.  Heading into OP-03 Newgate completely drops the Strawhat package and runs strictly with Whitebeard pirates, which I love as a thematic element. I will be playing Newgate and Ace into OP-03

Tournaments Matchups

For this section I will cover what leaders I went up against. 

Smoker (1)

Kid (1)

Kinemon (1)

Zoro (2)

Newgate (1)

Law (2)

Smoker can be a tough opponent depending on their draws and if they can get the 4 drop and 10 drop Kuzan to stick it is a tough game to win. But on average you can close games out quicker than they can develop. Ace is key to this matchup.

Kid also can be a tough matchup depending on how defensive they are able to get. In this match, always and I mean always have Ace on hand to deal with their big bodies like Yamato and 8 drop Kid. Also you NEED to play around Punk Gibson if you have a Marco blocker up. Best way todo this is honestly just having 2 blockers out if you can. Or not over committing on swings and swinging at equal value so they have to either pitch 1 or 2ks or use a big counter on an equal swing leaving their big bodies exposed for later swings.

Kinemon is a leader I have never struggled with. This leader does not have the toolset to deal with Newgate and his big bodies like Atmos and Kingdew. Just be careful of Punk Gibson.

Zoro this matchup is typically one I also don’t struggle with often, depending on how they pressure you. If they are throwing out rush zoro after rush zoro each turn it can be challenging. But if they play small bodies I typically am able to deal with them easily. Gordon can be a troublesome card.. Other than that I would say swing 7k at Zoro at every opportunity you can.

Law is the matchup that feels hardest, sometimes unbeatable honestly. Law with the proper draws is a tier 0 deck and pressure insanely well while also being the most defensive leader in the game. This matchup is better suited for leaders like Luffy or Smoker. The best way to play this is to always kill their search engines like Nami, Bonnie, Dadan. Once they bounce them back with the Law leader and character they have the resources to win. In this matchup you need Ace and Newgate for a chance of winning. Newgate especially if you are able to play as many as you can back to back making it hard for them to swing into you. Then popping small blockers like Chopper and Beige while dealing with the Law blocker.

Conclusion and Acknowledgments

Newgate remains a powerhouse in this game, and moving into OP-03 I do not see this changing in any regard. As mentioned previously I believe Newgate only gets stronger. Expect to see him at locals, and any other tournaments of course. With the introduction of Ace into OP-03 we might see less Law players as the meta smooths out. As Ace is a hard matchup for Law players. But back to Newgate. If you are a Newgate main as I am, fear not the leader shall continue to succeed and perform very well.

Good luck and thanks for reading!

[JP] Shyam Gasper: Rebecca controls the opponent's board.

Invited Author: Shyam Gasper 

Country: Brunei

Introduction

Hi, I am Shyam Gasper from Brunei. 

I won an event recently at Gamer’s Tavern on 4th June 2023.

The deck I chose to play that day was Blue/Black Rebecca. I was just testing out different variations of the deck to see which variation suits my playstyle. The deck list that I used that day is shown below. This deck list is more towards controlling the opponent’s board.

Decklist

Click into the image for decklist in One Piece Top Decks

Card Choice

Orlumbus & Hajrudin

  • Helps reducing the cost of the opponent’s characters and synergizes well with Kyros’s on play ability and other event cards such as Trueno Bastardo and Three Thousand Worlds

Kyros

  • One of the key pieces in deck that helps with controlling the opponent’s field
  • Due to his ability to just rest the leader/stage when he would be KO, he would be staying on the field most of the time
  • On play, he could kill any 5 cost or less when synergized with Orlumbus/Hajrudin

He could also be used as the target to be K.O.’d when using Orlumbus’s Ability and then the stage could be rested to prevent him from being KO

Luffy

  • Helps recycling cards from trash and prevents decking out
  • Due to his ability to attack active characters and when synergized with the stage, he could help remove blockers and other units from the opponent’s field

Gum-gum King Kong Gun

  • As the whole deck revolves around controlling the opponent’s board, this event helps with reducing opponent’s life and even act as a finisher
  • Most of the time, this event would be used on Luffy as he could restand
  • Personally, I would only use this event on luffy when opponent is down to 2 life and when I know I could finish the game, unless I have 2 or more copies in hand

Sabo

  • Synergizes well with Orlumbus
  • Good for fixing cards in hand
  • very good against black matchups

Cavendish

  • More options for attacking active characters 

Trueno Bastardo/Three Thousand Worlds/Gum-Gum Red Roc

    • Helps removing big cost units from the opponents field such as 8 cost Kid and others

Tournament Matchups

  1. Win Zoro
  2. Win Arlong
  3. Win Smoker
  4. Win Green/Purple (G/P) Doflamingo

Mulligan/Turn Order

I would usually go second so I could use the leader’s skill and play either the stage or the 1 cost Rebecca searcher. I would mulligan so that I would have either the stage card or the Rebecca searcher in hand.

Game plan against each match up

Zoro – This is one of the easiest matchups as it is really easy to control their board. I would prioritize killing the characters on board before attacking life. I would just counter early and not take any life in the early few turns so I could use the leaders ability to search the top 2 for more 2k counters or key pieces that I would need. Once I have 7 dons available, I would play Luffy so I could setup for a Gum-Gum King Kong Gun + Luffy in the following turn only if the opponent is at 2 life. If the opponent is not down to 2 life or if they still have a lot of units on board, I would continue to attack their characters on board. Once their board is clear, start attacking their life until they are down to 2 life so you could use Gum-Gum King Kong Gun + Luffy combo to end the game. Since they usually do not play any blockers in their deck, the combo would pretty much secure the win. 

Arlong – This deck was quite annoying and interesting to face as the deck is filled with plenty of trigger cards. The gameplan was just to control their board as much as I could which was working. However, when they started triggering blockers such as Sanji and Brulee, it slowly gave them board advantage. Moreover, cards like Cracker could get triggered as a surprise. I would usually play blocker when I am at 2 life. During the event, the opponent triggered cracker with double attack ability being active when I was at 3 life and I had no open dons to play a blocker. During the opponent’s turn, they attacked my life with cracker with 8 k power with double attack which forced two 2k counters from my hand. The following turn, I played Luffy to clear out the blockers from the field so I could go for the Gum-Gum King Kong Gun + Luffy combo in the following turns for game. This matchup was pretty interesting and almost caught me off guard.

Smoker – This matchup can be difficult as they have a lot of KO effects. Hence, one of the important cards for this matchup is Sabo due to his ability to not let any of your units get K.O.’d by effect. However, I only managed to stall 1 turn as I only drew into 1 Sabo. Another key card in this matchup is Kyros due to his ability to prevent himself from getting K.O.’d by either resting the leader or the stage. My gameplan for this matchup was to fully control the board and not attack their life at all until I could clear their board as they have no way to add cards to their hand other than 4 cost Kuzan. From early to mid-game, it felt like my plan was failing as I was not able to control their board at all and was down to 2 life while my opponent stayed at 5. However, eventually the opponent’s cards in hand decreased and I was able to wipe out the whole board as I was able to draw into Trueno Bastardo and Three Thousand Worlds. Once I cleared their field, I took their life down to 2 and setup Luffy for the following turn to go for kill with Gum-Gum King Kong Gun. One unexpected moment that happened during this game was that the opponent played an event to destroy the stage which did affect my game plan quite a bit. Hence, it would be better to keep another stage in hand just in case against black matchups.

G/P Doflamingo – This matchup could be difficult for Rebecca as this deck plays a lot of blockers and they are very defensive with a lot of counter events. Moreover, they could also easily add cards to their hand using 3 cost Nami’s ability. Hence, my first priority was to K.O. Nami as soon as possible using Trueno Bastardo or bottom deck using Three Thousand Worlds. However, during the tournament, I did not manage to draw into them or the stage which really messed up the game plan. Once the opponent reached 7 dons, he managed to have full board with 2 Nami, 1 Luffy blocker and 1 Uta blocker. One of the turning point of this game was me triggering three thousand worlds from my life which helped me to bottom deck one of the Nami. Then, in the beginning of the next turn I drew into another Three Thousand Worlds which I used to bottom deck another Nami. My next plan was to try reducing the opponents hand size by attacking into their active blockers with Luffy. Since I did not have the stage, it was even more difficult. Eventually, the cards in opponent’s hand decreased and I managed to chip down their life to 2. Then, the opponent played 8 cost Kid and had no blockers on field. I used Red Roc to bottom deck the Kid and go for game with Gum-Gum King Kong Gun + Luffy combo. This matchup would have been much easier if I was able to K.O. Nami and draw into the stage early. Then, my aim would be to just reduce my opponent’s hand size slowly and slowly chip away at their life to 2.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The tournament that I joined is a small event and had about 14 players in total. I had also tested this deck against whitebeard and was doing quite good. There isn’t really much changes I would do to the deck. I would probably play 4 copies of stage to maximize my chances of drawing into it. I would probably test out with the 10 cost Kuzan as well, as he has a continuous ability to reduce all the opponent’s character cost by 5 which really goes well with my playstyle. I am looking forward to use Rebecca in upcoming events and I see it as a pretty strong and consistent deck due to its search engine and the ability to attack active characters together with the rush ability from the stage.

I would like to thank my friends Zei, Yuzu, Syon, Jerry, Haziq, Ami, Badzli and Dane for helping me playtesting the deck. 

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