Table of Contents
Heya everyone! Red OP09-001-shanks is one of the strongest Leaders in OP09 meta and has a strong showing in competitive tournaments. This Leader has a defensive effect, allowing you to defend yourself from certain attacks and slow down your opponent from landing the finishing blow. With that in mind, the Red OP09-001-shanks wants to be built for the late-game, having the cards that ensure you win games the longer they stretch out.
This deck has multiple control Characters to keep the opponent's field in check, preventing them from dominating the game. Removing one of the opponent's Characters will slowly shift the game in your favor, making it difficult for opponents to make a comeback.
Gameplan
During your defensive turn, when the opponent attacks, OP09-001-shanks can give a -1,000 Power reduction to the opponent's Leader or one of their Characters. You can think of it as a free +1,000 Counter you can use one per turn, helping you shut down an attack or make it easier for you to Counter it with your cards.
Throughout the game, you'll activate OP09-001-shanks's effect to protect your Leader or rested Characters, saving you from playing too many of your resources defensively. This goes a long way in the late game, as the cards saved up can come to use in the last few turns to ensure you win the game.
1-cost Searcher
OP09-002-uta is great for the early game, letting you add 1 {Red Haired Pirates} card to your hand from the top 5 cards in your deck. This helps you shape up your later turns, finding you a card that plays into your strategy. The card you choose will depend on your current hand, if you're missing a removal option, you can go for OP09-009-bennbeckman. OP09-004-shanks is an option to pick up if you're missing a late game Character.
Early Characters
OP09-015-luckyroux is your best early play when doing second. He doesn't pose much offensive pressure but is useful to control the field. On KO, OP09-015-luckyroux can KO one of the opponent's Characters with a base power of 6,000 or less. This can remove a threat from the field without having to commit resources into KOing it and if the opponent has 2 Characters with 6,000 Power or less, you can ensure that at least one of them won't get to attack.
The Blocker keyword on OP09-015-luckyroux gives you control over when you want to activate the On KO effect. Whenever you see fit, you can block with OP09-015-luckyroux, shut down one of the opponent's attacks, and then let OP09-015-luckyroux get KO'd for his effect to activate.
OP09-005-silvers-rayleigh is another blocker to protect us from attacks. The 6,000 Power makes it easier to block an attack, combined with your Leader effect. His On Play effect lets you draw 2 cards and trash 1, giving you additional resources and fixing your hand in the process. However, to activate OP09-005-silvers-rayleigh's draw effect, your opponent has to have 2 Characters with 5,000 Power or more in play.
OP09-013-yasopp is a better option for added aggression and helping you control the field. When played, OP09-013-yasopp gives your Leader +1,000 Power, boosting the Power of your attack and forcing your opponent to commit more Counter cards. It also makes it harder for opponent to get their attacks through on the upcoming turn.
However, OP09-013-yasopp's second effect can make him an annoying Character for opponents. Attaching a Don to OP09-013-yasopp and going for an attack lets you reduce the Power of one of the opponent's Characters by -1,000. This makes it easier to KO a rested Character with your attacks or put a Character in range for one of your removal Characters.
Removal Characters
The Red Shanks deck has two removal options that cost 7 Don, each has their purpose and the Character you play will depend on the opponent's deck and the state of the game.
ST15-002-edwardnewgate's Activate: Main lets you KO one of your opponent's Characters with 5,000 Power or less. However, to activate ST15-002-edwardnewgate's effect, you have to rest him. We can activate ST15-002-edwardnewgate's KO effect on the turn he's played, but this will make him vulnerable to opponents attacks. The 8,000 Power on ST15-002-edwardnewgate makes him tough to KO through attacks, and if the opponent attempts to, you should protect him when possible to continue making use of his KO effect on the upcoming turn or use the 8,000 Power offensively.
As for OP09-009-bennbeckman, his On Play effect lets you Trash one of the opponent's Characters with 6,000 Power or less. He's a better choice for higher Power targets or those with a KO immunity. OP09-009-bennbeckman also poses less of an offensive threat with his 7,000 Power compared to ST15-002-edwardnewgate.
Your go-to play on Don 8 if your opponent has a 6,000 Power Character or less. OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh reduces the Power of two of the opponent's Characters, giving -3,000 and -2,000 power reduction. He then KO's a 3,000 Power Character, weakening the opponent's presence on the field. So OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh is KOing one of the Characters we reduced their Power, and we can use the other Power reduction to weaken a rested Character and make it easier to attack it.
The Power reduction from OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh will stick on the Character until the end of the opponent's upcoming turn. This could shut down the Character's offensive pressure or at least make it easier for us to Counter its attack.
We have 3 options to reduce the Power of the opponent's Characters, which we'll use to either put targets in range for Characters with removal effects or to weaken rested Characters before attacking them.
OP09-008-building-snake and OP01-006-otama are 1-cost Power reduction cards, so they're easy to combo with Characters like OP09-009-bennbeckman and ST15-002-edwardnewgate. Although OP01-006-otama has a weaker power reduction effect, she is a +2,000 Counter, so she's not a dead card in our hand during defensive turns.
OP09-011-hongo is a tough one to make use of his Power reduction. Our control Characters are all high-cost, so we usually don't have much Don to spare. OP09-011-hongo being a 3-cost means we have to play him early in the game and leave him there until his effect is needed, or wait until Don 10 to combo him with OP09-009-bennbeckman or ST15-002-edwardnewgate.
Rush Carries
If there's no Active Character to KO with OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh, then OP07-015-monkeyddragon is another play to go for, putting pressure on the opponent with the Rush attack. The 9,000 Power Rush attack can threaten to KO most Characters on the opponent's side, combined with the 2 rested Don OP07-015-monkeyddragon attached to your Leader or another Character, you'll have another powerful attack to go for, forcing opponent to expend Counter resources.
Once we're at 10 Don, OP09-004-shanks is usually the immediate play, lowering the Power of all the opponent's Characters by -1,000 as long as he's on the field. The power reduction also sticks during the opponent's turn, which means not only is OP09-004-shanks making it easier for us to control the field but also lowers the opponent's offensive pressure, saving us from playing as many Counter cards to block attacks.
The 12,000 Power Character is tough to remove and with his Rush attack, you immediately find value from OP09-004-shanks, enabling you to attack a rested Character and KO it or shift your focus on their Leader and try to aggro them down.
OP09-118-goldroger is a finisher play when the opponent is down to 0 Life cards. Usually, attaching all your Don to your Leader and going for the final blow is a better line to close out the game. However, if the opponent has a blocker in play, then OP09-118-goldroger is the alternative win condition, preventing the opponent from activating the blocker if they're at 0 Life cards.
Events
Since the list has multiple Characters with no Counter effect, OP04-016-bad-manners-kick-course can come in handy during defensive turns when you need to block certain attacks. Trashing one of your dead cards for a +3,000 Power boost can be just what you need to survive the turn and set up the upcoming winning play.
Other Cards to Include
OP03-013-marco's On Play effect lets you KO one of the opponent's Characters with 3000 Power or less. Combined with your Power reduction cards, you can KO higher Power threats. OP03-013-marco can also be tough to remove from play, when KO'd you can trash an Event from your hand to OP03-013-marco from the trash rested.
Can KO a Character with 10,000 Power or less, perfect for removing a high-cost win condition for the opponent.
1-cost Counter Events to protect your Leader or key Characters with the Power boost they give. OP01-029-radical-beam is better if you're planning to play the event in the late-game when you're low on Life cards. As for ST01-014-guard-point, it's not tied to a condition so you'll always gain +3,000 Power. If you're adding OP03-013-marco to the list you can consider adding more Events to make use of his On KO effect.
General Tips
- Use Leader effect whenever possible to lower your need for Counter cards. It's important to keep our rested Characters in play so we don't lose control of the field. Expending resources to protect our Characters when possible is crucial.
- The list has multiple cards with no Counter effect that can end up dead cards in the late game. We want to use cards like OP09-005-silvers-rayleigh to filter our hand for the cards we need.
- We need to identify when is the right time to ignore the field control and go for aggressive attacks. We have the resources to defend ourselves from the opponent's aggression, so we're more than capable of shifting our focus on their Leader and trying to close out the game in a turn or two.
Mulligan Tips
- OP09-002-uta is a great card to have in the early game as it enables us to search for the card we need for future turns.
- One of your 7 Don Characters for the mid-game removal option.
- Having 1 OP09-004-shanks is nice to ensure a strong late-game, but if you don't have anything to play in the early stages, it's best to mulligan the hand.
Important Matchups
Blue Doflamingo
- We're up against a deck that can play multiple Characters in one turn and go for aggressive attacks.
- The goal is to control the field and win the late game. OP09-015-luckyroux is a great option to KO one of the opponent's Characters before it gets to attack.
- The -1,000 Power from OP09-004-shanks can be devastating for the Doffy play. If they don't have OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc, they won't have an answer for OP09-004-shanks.
- Watch out for OP06-047-charlotte-pudding. You don't want to lose early Life cards and end up losing cards from your hand, so try to keep your hand size below 7 cards.
Black Marshall D.Teach
- This is a close matchup, and your biggest weakness is OP09-081-marshalldteach shutting you off from activating your On Play effects.
- OP09-090-doc-q an annoying Character that you want to get rid of as early as possible. It enables opponents to KO one of your Characters if they reduce its cost. When it activates its effect, the opponent will have to rest it, so you can then attack and KO it. If you're playing OP03-013-marco in the list, you have an easy way to deal with it.
- On your Don 7/8, your opponent will likely activate their Leader effect to prevent you from using On Play effects. ST15-002-edwardnewgate will be the saving grace here, allowing you to KO a Character through his Activate: Main effect. EB01-048-laboon is usually the target of KO to prevent them from getting too much value from the cost reduction.
- P09-086-jesus-burgess is their carry card, gaining Power as they get more cards in their Trash. Its KO immunity shuts us down from removing it through OP09-015-luckyroux or ST15-002-edwardnewgate. The best approach is to ignore it if we can't remove it and focus our attacks on their Leader, shifting our strategy into an aggressive one and racing them down.
- OP09-093-marshalldteach can slow us down, preventing one of our Characters from attacking and acting as a wall to block an attack. If we manage to drop the opponent to 0 Life cards, OP09-118-goldroger can join in to finish the game.
Purple Monkey D.Luffy
- You're up against a Ramp deck that sacrifices Life cards for extra Don. You can be aggressive on their Leader in the early turns, forcing them to protect their Life cards as they'll self-damage for the ramp.
- Many PLuffy lists are on OP08-069-charlotte-linlin and ST04-003-kaido-400, which can't deal with your 7 Don+ Characters. You can reduce the Power of OP08-069-charlotte-linlin to 6,000 using OP09-008-building-snake, putting it in range for OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh or OP09-009-bennbeckman to remove. ST04-003-kaido-400 will need extra resources to remove, or you can reduce his Power and try attacking him with high Power Characters.
- Protect your rested Characters from attackers whenever possible. Your opponent is trying to win the field and then start unleashing attacks on your Leader.
- Some lists run ST10-010-trafalgar-law, so try to stay below 7 cards in hand.
- ST18-005-luffy-tarou is their way of going wide in the mid-game. However, using our control Characters, we can keep them from taking over the game through their 2 Character development.
- KO ST18-003-san-gorou as early as possible. We can't afford to allow them to draw cards. The plan is to bleed them out of resources and win the late-game with our high-cost Characters.
Red Shanks
- This matchup is heavily dependent on who plays more OP09-004-shanks. You want to control the field until you can throw the OP09-004-shanks in play and try to win from there. So going second is better so you can have OP09-004-shanks in play before the opponent.
- Play OP09-013-yasopp first before attacking with Leader to force Counter cards.
- You can clear their 7 Don and 8 Don Characters with the help of your power reduction cards. From there you'll mainly focus on attacking their Leader and trying to aggro them down. Having them at 0 Life cards enables you to win the game with OP09-118-goldroger.
Closing Words
Red Shanks is one of the strongest decks to pick up in OP09 meta. It mixes field control and aggression in one deck, allowing you to play slowly and go for the late game or focus your attacks on the opponent's Leader. However, the deck's overall strategy feels straightforward and it's a great choice for beginners.
This is it from me, I wish the best for your event, good luck! If you want to keep up with my content, consider following me on Twitter or BlueSky.
