Invited Author: Wong Tien Kai
Country: Malaysia
Introduction
Hello all, my name is Wong Tien Kai. I am an active OPTCG player from Malaysia. Today, I would like to share the decks that I used and helped me to win 3 times Zoro Flagship Main Event in Feb and March 2023. Before I begin, I would like to show my gratitude towards the author for giving me the opportunity to share my deck ideas & playstyle via this platform.
My Flagship results in OP3 meta:
- 13th Feb 2023 (Apex Bladers) – Deck used: CP9 [Score 5-0]
- 11th Mar 2023 (Dueling Nexus) – Deck used: CP9 [Score 5-0]
- 12th Mar 2023 (Pichubros) – Deck used: Nami [Score 5-0]
- 17th Mar 2023 (Armory TCG) – Deck used: CP9 [Score 4-1]
Decklist sharing and analysis
First of all, I would like to introduce my favourite deck, which is CP9 Lucci Deck. I have made some adjustments to the list in between three games.
i) 13th Feb 2023（Apex Bladers Flagship Main Event）
ii) 11th Mar 2023（Dueling Nexus Flagship Main Event）
Adjustments to the deck are as follow:
- Increase amount in 2k counter card
The 2k counter card help me to strengthen my defensive ability in the early game which allows me to play 8C-Issho / 10C-Kuzan during late game with healthy life. If you can't keep your life healthy in the early stage, you will have no way to land these characters to build your advantage later on.
- Adding “10C-Kuzan”
10-C Kuzan can further strengthen your advantage especially during late game.
Landing 10C-Kuzan after the effect of 4C-Kuzan, allows you to easily KO one of your opponent’s 9-cost character while building up your field. Hence, if you don’t have Issho during 8-cost turn, you can consider to play 4C-Kuzan + Borsalino / Air Door.
- Removing “Tempest Kick Sky Slicer”
I realize that this event card is only effective against Whitebeard deck. Most of the deck, it just stays in my hand without much usage so I have decided to remove it from the build.
- Adding “2C-Brannew”
“Brannew” greatly increases the consistency of the deck as many cards are his search targets. This allows you to smoothly landing correct characters every turn, especially if you go second.
Ideal play if going second:
Why CP9?
The reason why I would choose this deck to fight in this environment is because Lucci is in a certain way much favorable against Whitebeard deck. Early on, 4C-Borsalino with a 6k power is essential to block leader’s attack. 6C-Akainu can KO any 4-cost vanilla. 8C-Issho is always guarantee to drop 2 hand cards from all Whitebeard players. Most importantly, Lucci's powerful leader effect can always close the game effectively with 2-hits combo. Personally, I am very confident against any Whitebeard matchup. Even if I am given first to go, I can use CP cards to get through early game. For example, 5C-Blueno who excel in both offensive and offensive, as well as 3C-Fukurou who is literally an indestructible blocker.
Lastly, let me share with you the recently adjusted deck build which also helped me to score 4-1 in this Flagship Main Event.
iii) 17th Mar 2023（Armory TCG Flagship Main Event）
You will realize that I replaced both copies of “Impact Wave” with one 2k counter and one “6C-Rob Lucci”. This deck is unfavorable against yellow deck. To gain advantage early on, I would much prefer to use 6C-Lucci to rush opponent’s life instead of 6C-Akainu’s KO effect.
When playing against yellow deck, reducing their life early on and keep pressuring them is one of the ways to prevent them from playing big cost character during late game. And most of the time we do not really have enough Dons to use Impact Wave from hand. We will just pray that it can be triggered from life…..
To wrap up, I think CP9 deck is a very strong and versatile deck. The deck build could vary flexibly based on the environment. I always scored at least 4-1 using it in Flagship Main Event.
OP3 Nami Deck
Above is my deck build. You can see that I didn’t use “Mohji” and “Cabaji” duo.
Well, initially I did put them into the deck. But it just doesn’t feel right as most of the time, I always find myself in a situation that the duo always missing one another which caused hand brick and delaying the deck speed. Hence, I decided to play more “Bell-mere”, “Nojiko” and “Death Wink”.
“Nojiko”（OP03-048）
This is a highly disruptive card. Spending only 2 Dons to remove a 5-cost character will make your opponent hard-spent Dons goes to vain and it is very cost-effective to stop an opponent's attack with only 2 cost.
“Bell-mere”（OP03-051）
Playing 2 copies of “Bell-mere” helps a lot in matchup against yellow deck. Yellow deck players often choose to pass turn during early-mid game until they have enough Dons to land 10C-Big Mum to burn my life and launching final attack. To avoid such situation, I will choose to go offensive by having “Bell-mere” attacking opponent’s life. This will force opponent to drop their hands to block the attack, else I will benefit from Bell-mere’s milling effect and pressuring their life.
Why Nami?
I chose to play this deck because this deck could go up against Whitebeard deck, and also I found out that Whitebeard players decrease significantly in recent tournaments, so I would love to try out Nami in Flagship Main Event.
Piloting the deck:
Early game to Mid game – Mill deck as fast as possible by utilizing “Kaya”, “Pilaf” and “Zeff”.
Late game – Utilize various event cards to protect yourself and thinning out deck at the same time.
Here’s a little tip to share with you guys. Say if you have only 1 life left, and opponent attack you with very high BP. You can actually activate event card to thin your deck and take that life afterwards. This results to the thinning of your deck and saving some Dons to activate event cards next turn.
My thoughts on next environment:
Following the announcement of ban list, we can foresee a significant drop in Whitebeard deck. I personally think that the below decks have potential to be the meta decks:
– Yellow Katakuri
– Red Zoro
– Red/Green Law
Summary
Before wrapping up, I would like to once again bidding my gratitude towards this platform which allows me to share my thoughts and ideas. And a big shoutout to all of my friends who always play with me and motivating me from time to time. And not forgetting my local shop, Apex Bladers who provides players with all kinds of tournaments and encouraging us to test out different decks and it is a great community to meet different friends and players.
Hereby, I would like to take this opportunity to promote my FB page and YouTube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe to get more interesting contents of OPTCG! All your supports are greatly appreciated!
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@_tkwong6064
FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083946010397&mibextid=ZbWKw
Apex Bladers FB Page:
https://www.facebook.com/apexbladers?mibextid=ZbWKwL
Lastly, thanks to Chris for helping me to amend and edit this articles which make it easier to read and follow. Cheers!