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?
- Win: Doffy – Past Top 20
- Win: Katakuri
- Win: WB – Past 1st place serial Luffy winner
- Win: Katakuri – Past 1st place serial Luffy winner
- Win: WB
- Win: WB
- Win: Katakuri – Past top 16
- 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