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.