Invited Author: Kendo Matsuda
Country: Philippines
About me
Hello, I am Kendo Matsuda from the Philippines, who recently won the TopDeck Games and Hobbies One Piece Flagship battle. Held here in Cagayan de Oro City, a southern island in the Philippines. I am using an aggressive Zoro deck for the event.
I will be sharing with you guys my thoughts and this deck-building process as they work for me. I've already won three straight tournaments with this build. I just adjusted a few cards for tournaments with this list.
The Zoro Leader
I have been a Zoro main since OP02 and now into the OP03 meta, and the first reason I chose Zoro as a leader is that he is my favorite character in OP and also because of his ability to give plus 1K to all characters, which is very simple and powerful, and achieving the 5K power is a big deal and hitting the opponent's leader is very easy to achieve.
Why Play this Deck?
The Zoro deck is very simple to use, as its leader skill gives plus 1K to all characters. So basically, your goal is just to keep on attacking and hitting that 5K or 6K power without spending an extra don. When building a Zoro deck, I have a lot of choices on what to prioritize in this build. I can go super aggro, mid-range aggro, or defensive.
There are a lot of different builds that are topping right now. But personally, I prefer my super aggro build for Zoro. The goal of this deck is very simple: build a board while adding cards in hand for guarding and extra attack. End the game quickly and attack everything at the leader so that they can discard their key cards for guarding, and when they try to build a board and attack your character, you can easily replace them and do a counterattack.
Key cards
Buggy – We call it better sunny because it has the same attack and cost and can also search any event card on the top 5. I run 8 events in my deck, so I am pretty sure I can get one when doing his skill. You cannot afford to rely on Nami alone. On adding an important event card such as diable jambe, radical beam, or a jet pistol. There are times when using Nami
You will prioritize getting Zoro Rush, Luffy Rush, or Brook for the 2K shield. With Buggy, you can add more cards to the deck. Buggy also has a second skill that everyone seems to forget or ignore. It is also immune to the slash attribute, which is a very powerful skill.
especially when you are facing slash attribute cards.
Vista – This card is perfectly here for the reason that I might face a Zoro mirror match, and as for the recent Zoro build. They are dropping Vista and putting in the Marco 5 Drop for a more midrange tank build. Vista helps me a lot, especially in mirror matches. We all know it can KO 3000 power on play. It helps me kill blockers against yellow, R/G, and WB when they have marco blockers.
I just use otama and vista to ko them and attack their marco when they decide to revive it. This card shines in mirror matches. While the opponents' zoro are setting up their field for the next turn, attack. They can't do that like I usually do. I attack their chara and play vista for that easy 1 unit kill.
Sanji Rare – This card exists for two reasons: it is an extra 2K shield and a perfect card to counter Nami in this format. Nami doesn't swing to the leader, so you cannot gain any hand cards from your life, but Sanji fixes that problem. You play Sanji.
Take 1 card from your life and attach rested Dons to him. This is what I usually do. I won't attack Sanji. I will just keep on spamming.
He takes one life skill and gets extra cards for my onslaught on Nami With this tech they can't deny your life. If you are not facing a nami
It is just a simple extra 2K shield that can help you survive attacks.
In two years at sabaody archipelago – An event that can add a straw hat character. The combo for this is very simple. If you have no Nami and you have Buggy, play Buggy, and check the top 5. If the Sabaody is there, get that event and use it, then check the top 5 for Nami. Now you have a nami in hand, ready to search, and a buggy on the field.
Uta – If you get this midgame, then you can easily recover your field and hand cards. the combo of this card would be. Play Uta, get Dadan in the trash, play Dadan add nami, then play Nami add any strawhats. The chain combo of searching begins with uta.
You easily rebuilt your board and got a 1 card from the Nami skill.
Radical Beam – Since buggy is in the deck right now we can easily get radical and it helps us defend big attacks.
Diable Jambe – No blockers allowed
Zoro, Sanji,Luffy – Rush we need more rush characters for the super aggressive build.
Mulligan rule
The ideal hand in this deck is that you must have either Nami or Dadan. If you cannot get one of them, then mulligan right away.
If you get both, then for me, that's the perfect hand card. If you are going first, Nami is the perfect play. If Turn 2 Dadan is the perfect Play the priority These two must be among your starting hands. The other keycards will come with you.
Tournaments Matchups
Top Deck Games and Hobbies Flagship Battle Matchup
R1 Sanji Win going second: in these matchups, I am well aware that I have an advantage; they start at 4 lives while I am at 5, and I can aggro them — which is the key to winning. This game is killing their film Nami. I searched for the pistol right away and waited for him to play the film nami before I use it. Just keep on aggroing, but in this matchup you should focus on killing. their characters before going for the leader when they have no hand cards anymore to guard your attacks. That's how I won.
R2 Katakuri Win going 1st: In this match, my main focus is just building my board. Nami will search for Chara that has rush for extra attacks later in the game, and Buggy will search for a radical beam for a defensive counter. I just keep on attacking the leader and ignoring his characters. My goal is to aggro him as much as I can before he reaches 10. Once he is able to play Big Mom 10 twice, I already lose the game. So I did not wait for that and focused everything on the leader.
R3 Zoro Win going 2nd: This one is a game of who can build the board first and can aggro first. These were back-and-forth battles. The game-changing moment for this game was when I triggered a radical beam in my life by adding the plus 1k to my leader.
So it is now a 6K leader during his turn. Now his other character cannot hit my Zoro; there was one attack he tried; I took it and got a 2K counter; and for his next attack, it was 7K; good thing I got the 2K counter; so I guarded, and he ended his turn with 5 active dons.
He has no attackers left. I am thinking he might have a lot of events in his hand, so in my turn, I just hit with magic numbers 5K and 6K; he used both of his radical beams, so I already know he doesn't have a 1K or 2K counter in his hand, so I went all in on my last attack and won it.
R4 Zoro: Win going 1st I am facing a different build of Zoro here; he uses the Zoro with Marco SR and Fiery Doll events. The same build as what the Zoro champ is using in the Singapore one piece event. I already knew his deck's build, so I know his deck has a lot of events and is strong in the mid- and late-game. I managed to go first and got my Nami buggy in my starting hand, so I just built my board right away.
I know he runs Marco 5 and he can use it midgame, but I also run Vista, which I can play right away in turn 3. I kept my vista in hand. Once he plays his 1 cost unit and tries to build a board, that's the time I play vista and kill it right away. So in the game, I was able to attack and aggro him first. I just keep on killing his character first before attacking the leader.
R5 Nami: Win going 1st, Honestly, this is the easiest matchup for me in the tournament. The keycard in this matchup is my Sanji, but I was not able to get him. But still, Sanji is just an option. I haven't lost to a Nami player once while I am using Zoro so I am really confident of the matchup. Just doing my usual thing, keep on attacking. Swinging for 6K or 7K.
Nami was not able to catch up with the aggressor, and he cannot guard the rest of my attack.
Summary
Zoro is still one of the best decks in the current format, and the addition of the Buggy to the deck improves its performance by making it easier to access event cards and having a better Sunny in deck. You can adjust your deck build depending on your playstyle and the current meta in your locale. Though for me, Zoro really shines as a super aggressive deck. I am currently on a three-week winning streak right now, winning two standard battles and one flagship battle this month. I am very satisfied and confident in my build.
You can follow me in twitter @MatsudaKendo
You can also subscribe to my youtube channel https://youtube.com/@dragkendo5871
I am uploading OPTCG Finals on my channel.
— messages
I would like to thank Myles for introducing me to this game. I am really enjoying this card game.
TopDeck Games and Hobbies for supporting the game and giving us a place to play.
To my discord friends who I playtest with.
The most important thing is that I wanna thank God for the skills and guidance.