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.
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.