Invited Author: Diego Loayza
Country: Peru
About me
Hello everyone, my name is Diego Loayza from Peru. I’ve had my fair share of TCG experience with the competitive circuit of Magic: the Gathering, Pokemon, Digimon and now dedicating mostly to One Piece TCG.
The Leader
At this stage of the OP01 meta it should be no surprise for anyone that Kid is the best green leader, and one of the best leaders over all. Its ability to hit twice per turn can be a menace for any opponent, as it lets the deck play aggressively or in a more control or midrange style, either way it is extremely consistent.
Why did I choose Kid for the Treasure Cup
As I stated previously, Kid is a powerhouse of a leader. However, for the Treasure Cup, I needed a specific version of Kid. I was expecting a lot of Kid and Zoro/Luffy players, so I needed a list that could guarantee the upper hand in mirrors, while not losing to red rush strategies. I was also expecting some Purple Kaido players, but Kid overall has a good match up against purple, so I did not worry too much about that. Here is the list I ended up using:
It is also important to mention that this list was not optimized for playing against Doflamingo or blue decks in general, but I wasn’t expecting much of those… and boy was I wrong.
Key cards and Combos
- x4 – Basil Hawkins:
The mirror-defining card. The first Kid player to play this 5-cost has a ton of advantage over the game, since the mirror is solely defined by who gets the better board presence (Not necessarily the widest). This card makes your opponent’s 8-cost Kid a card they won’t be eager to play. Running four of these made the deck tappers (Neko, Izou, Okiku and Straw Sword) extremely valuable.
- x4 – 7 cost Eustass Kid:
The anti-Hawkins. As stated earlier, Hawking can turn the tables on a mirror match, but 7-cost Kid can turn that again. As Kid untaps every single turn, their Hawkins won’t be able to do its shenanigans, and you can keep hitting with a 8K power for life. This card is another reason why opponent’s 8-cost Kid were almost always dead cards in hand.
It is important to notice that this list has a fewer quantity of counters, as you are running 4 Hawkins and 4 7-cost Kid, so you have to be very careful in managing the resources in your hand, translating in taking hits early that you could otherwise easily counter in order to have more counters for late game. As I said, mirror is all about board presence.
- x4 – Trigger Killer:
The Rush Killer. Get it? Okay, sorry. Trigger Killer helped a lot against Zoro, and with less frequency it also helped against Luffy and Doflamingo. Not only was it great coming out from Life as trigger, but It also helped getting rid of characters I previously attacked with my leader, forcing my opponents to waste counters from their hand. Especially good against a defended Robin, Zoro or Okiku.
- x3 – Paradise Waterfall:
The option of choice in this decklist. This option helped protect my life with its 2K counter, but mostly helped protect my characters untapping them, a tapped Hawkins or Okiku saved by this card was almost game. It is also important to mention that having 2 blocker Trafalgar Law and 4 7-cost Kid, this card allowed blocking twice with the same card very frequently. Overall Paradise Waterfall was almost the MVP of the event, if it wasn’t for the next card.
- x1 – Straw Sword:
Lastly, the hidden gem of the deck. I enjoyed very much watching the face of the opponents as I play this Starter Deck Option. This card allowed me to finish games tapping big blockers, or getting rid of big characters that my opponents thought were safe because of their high cost. Having a full set of Basil Hawkins in this list just made this single card in the deck the real MVP. As a side note, remember that this card is searchable from your Bonneys, as it is a supernova event.
I want to clarify some of the decisions in the deckbuilding. As I was expecting a lot of green players, I had to make room for Hawkins and 7-cost Kid, so I decided to took out the Wano package of Momo+Raizo. I tested a lot of different lists, and somehow I always ended up using Momo’s ability and not finding anything. In a similar manner, whenever I found Raizo, it was just a 1K counter, and with a cost of 3, that was replaced with the Trigger Killers.
Seeing as I had more high-cost characters, I decided to take out 1 of the 8-cost Kids, and having just two of them made Punk Gibson much less relevant, so I decided to take out all of them and prioritize Paradise Waterfall.
Lastly, X.Drake, even though I run only two-of, proved to be a valuable asset in the match up against Doffy and its army of 4-cost or less warlords.
Treasure Cup Day: Match Ups
Round 1 – Green Kid – Win
This was the first big event of One Piece TCG I was participating in, so naturally I was nervous. Fortunately, my opponent was a great guy who also used to play Pokemon, so we shared a talk before beginning. As for the match, I drew 2 Hawkins and played them on turn 3 and 4, the game was pretty much decided there.
Round 2 – Red Zoro – Win
This game I was really unlucky, didn’t get to see any Killer and got 2 Jet Pistols out of my opponent’s life. I was rushed pretty fast, but I managed to stabilize the board with my opponent with no hand and play an 8-cost Kid.
Round 3 – Blue Doflamingo – Win
This was my worst nightmare. My deck was not optimized for the blue match-up. Luckily, I mulliganed into an 8-cost Kid and later got another one searching with Bonney. This was the longest game I had in the day and we almost got into time. My opponent played really good, but the second 8-cost Kid sealed up my win.
Round 4 – Blue Doflamingo – Win
Doflamingo… again… However I imagine my opponent bricked, the game was really quick and I didn’t actually feel pressure from its side of the field. He put tons of blockers, but Okiku+Hawkins just got rid of everything.
Round 5 – Red Zoro – Lose
Up to this moment I was feeling very comfortable with my performance, almost securing the Top-64 Chopper. My opponent played early threats with Vivi and rush Zoro. I managed to wipe his board, but it cost me most of my resources and I left him with just one card in his hand. However, on his turn he played a Ben Beckman, next turn Shanks and finished me with an unblockable Luffy. I was not expecting such high costs on the list, as it seemed really low-cost invested with the Vivis, but my opponent played really well making me feel that way, and when I realized the gimmick of the deck it was too late.
Round 6 – Red Zoro – Win
Not too much to say about this match. This time I did get a Killer and a Paradise Waterfall from Life, so I got rid of its board without spending Don. Kid and a Hawkins sealed the victory.
Round 7 – Green Kid – Lose
This was probably the most frustrating match of the day. Remember how I many times stated that my deck is optimized for the mirror? Well, sometimes you just don’t draw what you need. I never got to see a single Hawkins, or neither 7-cost or 8-cost Kid. He managed to finish me off with his 8-cost Kid, a Raizo and multiple Punk Gibsons.
Round 8 – Green Kid – Win
At this point, I was extremely nervous. This was the match that would define if I had a chance to crawl my way up into the Top 16 and play the Day 2, or finish my journey in the Treasure Cup. My confidence in my match up against green Kid was just demolished by the previous match.
But in spite of my doubts, the deck decided to shine its brightest as I managed to play a Hawkins turn 3 in an empty board, followed by a 7-cost Kid played by my opponent and tapping out all his Don. Next I played Straw Sword into the Kid, put three Don on my Hawkins and proceeded to hit for 9K the Kid. My opponent had to let its Kid go into the trash securing my board and winning the game.
Top 16 – Green Kid – 2-0 – Win
I got paired against another Peruvian player, great couple of games, but as I said, my decklist was optimized for mirror match.
Top 8 – Green Kid – 2-1 – Win
Another Green Kid player. First game I bricked and the next two I got to see early Hawkins+Okiku.
Top4 – Red Luffy – 1-2 – Lose
These were some intense games, my opponent played really well rushing me in the first game. I managed to establish an 8-cost Kid to win in the second game. Lastly, I started slow in the third game, and Jet Pistol on my opponent's life sealed the deal.
Conclusion
Overall I had a great experience, got to meet a lot of amazing people and high-skilled players. Got nice prize cards and the drive to keep on playing this great game. Shoutout to all the peruvian community and thank you for reading my report on the Treasure Cup of Santiago de Chile.
I hope Bandai makes an event such as this in Peru too!