Table of Contents
Hello everyone! OP09 is finally out in Japan! New Leaders OP09-001-shanks, OP09-022-lim, OP09-042-buggy, OP09-061-monkeydluffy, OP09-062-nico-robin, and OP09-081-marshalldteach are joining the One Piece card game!
With a Leader representing each color and each having a unique playstyle, there’s something for every type of player to enjoy. As we're just stepping into the OP09 meta, deck lists are still evolving, and the community is hard at work refining them.
In this article, I'll share some of the early lists that found success in tournaments or early builds that have the potential to perform. Let's get started!
Note: You can read the English text of an OP09 card by clicking on it.
Red Shanks
Players didn't have high expectations for the Red Leader OP09-001-shanks, but boy did he prove them wrong. OP09-001-shanks saw the most success in the early OP09 tournaments and we'll see how the East meta shapes up and if the Red Leader continues this solid performance.
The 5-health Leader has a built-in defensive mechanic, allowing you to give the opponent's Leader or one of their Characters a -1,000 Power reduction once they've gone for the attack. This stops 5,000 Power attackers from damaging your Leader or at least lowers the number of Counter cards you'll have to commit.
Using Leader effect, you can slow down the opponent's aggression and buy more time until you set up your win condition. This list has more defensive cards to empower your Leader. OP09-013-yasopp is one of this deck's strongest mid-game plays, adding to your defensive power through the +1,000 Power your Leader gains.
This Red deck has multiple control tools to remove the opponent's Characters from play. OP09-009-bennbeckman, OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh, and OP06-007-shanks can KO opponent's Characters and weaken their field. OP09-009-bennbeckman also trashes a Character instead of KO, which can be useful against Black decks with Borsalino or Sabo in play.
OP09-004-shanks is the late-game carry in this deck, which you'll want to have on the field the second you hit 10 Don. The -1,000 Power on all the opponent's Characters weakens their attacks, making it easier for you to survive and prolong the game.
The fact that OP09-004-shanks has Rush means we can put the 12,000 Power to use on the turn he's played!
G/P Lim
I'm hyped for the Green Purple OP09-022-lim Leader! She's a Ramp Leader who can cheat out a Character on the field, basically creating a threat while accelerating the late-game plan. The unique effect of OP09-022-lim forces you to rest any Character you play, which puts them in a vulnerable state, allowing opponents to attack them. However, the list has multiple cards that want to see rested Characters on the field, activating their effects and enabling this deck's strategy.
OP09-022-lim's effect reads: You may rest 3 of your DON!! cards: Add up to 1 DON!! card from your DON!! deck and rest it, and play up to 1 {ODYSSEY} type Character card with a cost of 5 or less from your hand. So we want to include {ODYSSEY} type Characters in the list that we can cheat out for 3 Don only.
OP09-036-monkeydluffy, OP09-035-portgasdace, OP09-027-sabo, and OP09-031-donquixote-doflamingo are some of the Characters you can cheat out through Leader effect as early as turn 2. They also can activate their effects if they see two other rested Characters, which could be difficult to set up in the early stages of the game. OP09-036-monkeydluffy and OP09-035-portgasdace can rest one of the opponent's Characters, allowing you to attack and KO them.
We're creating a strong mid-game thanks to the Leader effect, forcing players to focus on controlling your field rather than attacking your Leader, giving you the time to play your win condition without the fear of losing the game.
So the list has a majority of 5-cost {ODYSSEY} type Characters and uses OP06-118-roronoa-zoro as its only late-game win condition. Since opponents will be busy keeping up with our field, we'll comfortably slam OP06-118-roronoa-zoro on the field and force opponents to have the answer.
Purple Black Luffy
OP09-061-monkeydluffy gives all your Characters +1-cost if you attach a Don to him. This can be useful in many situations, making this awkward for the opponent and potentially shutting down their plays. However, his main effect enables you to deramp without losing any of your Don. When you return 2 or more Don to your Don deck, OP09-061-monkeydluffy will add 2 Dons back, 1 Active and the other rested. So we're using our powerful effects that require us to return a Don without falling behind on Don for future turns.
Many cards in this deck allow you to return 2 Don and activate Leader effect to ramp back up. We can start doing so as early as turn 2. OP09-076-roronoa-zoro is one of the strongest early game plays in this deck, capable of returning 2 Don to activate Leader effect and he then ramps you up with 1 Don, speeding up our game plan. On the other hand, OP09-072-franky is a value Character, trashing a card from your hand and drawing you two cards in return.
The mid-game is where OP09-065-sanji takes over. Similar to OP09-072-franky and OP09-076-roronoa-zoro, he can return two Don to active his effect, allowing you to gain Rush and rest one of the opponent's 6-cost or less Characters to attack and KO. OP09-119-monkeydluffy is another Rusher to put an immediate threat on the field! At the same time, he's drawing you a card, giving you more resources for the later stages.
The 10-cost OP05-119-monkeydluffy is this deck's strongest play. You want to attack with all your Characters before playing OP05-119-monkeydluffy since you'll remove all of them from play. We're returning all of our Don as well, but with Leader effect, we'll at least gain 2 Don back. OP05-119-monkeydluffy gives us an additional turn, restanding our Leader to attack another time and we can attack with OP05-119-monkeydluffy as well!
This can be a turn to close out the game or use the 4 Don we got on the second turn to develop blocker OP09-072-franky and protect us on the opponent's upcoming turn.
Blue Buggy
We've been relying on Blue Doffy and Nami to carry the Blue color in OP07 and OP08 meta, so players are hoping Leader OP09-042-buggy can have an impact on the new meta. This Leader can cheat out {Cross Guild} Characters by resting 5 Don and trashing a card from hand. So to make use of this effect, we need to run high-cost {Cross Guild} Characters that are worth trashing a card for.
Two of the {Cross Guild} Characters we want to cheat out as early as turn 3 are OP09-046-crocodile or OP09-051-buggy. We are forced to trash a card to cheat them out, but having a high-cost play this early into the game can be difficult for most decks to keep up with.
OP09-046-crocodile can go wide on the field, letting you cheat out a 5-cost or less {Cross Guild} or {Baroque Works} type character. The list runs multiple {Cross Guild} Characters that OP09-046-crocodile can play. So early in the game, we're developing two Characters that the opponent will struggle to keep up with.
Although you can play OP09-051-buggy on Don 5/6, his effect shuts you down from keeping him in play since you need to have five 5-cost on the field.
Black Marshal.D.Teach
OP09-081-marshalldteach changes the rules, stopping any of your On Play effects from activating. This means we should avoid including Characters with an On Play effect when building this deck. So popular cards like OP05-093-rob-lucci and OP06-086-gecko-moria are useless with OP09-081-marshalldteach.
Now this downside can be shared with the opponent. By trashing 1 card from your hand, you can shut your opponent down from activating their On Play effects on their upcoming turn. We don't want to activate randomly and lose resources, but knowing when the opponent will need their On Play effect the most, we'll shut that opportunity down immediately. This can be a game changer against specific decks that heavily rely on their On Play effect.
Since we can't run Characters with an "On Play" effect, this list has 4 copies of EB01-051-finger-pistol which we'll use for the control game plan. OP08-084-jack is another control option that has an "Activate Main" effect. You can activate his KO effect after you've played him on the field, so you'll have access to it despite Leader's effect.
For the late game, we're making use of OP08-079-kaido and OP09-093-marshalldteach. OP08-079-kaido is great for his control effect, letting you KO a 7-cost or less Character and force your opponent to trash 1 card from their hand. You will have to trash a card from your hand to activate this effect, so it evens out and you're further winning the field.
As for OP09-093-marshalldteach, he's a 12,000 Powe blocker, so you'll basically have a wall to protect your Leader. For one turn, he can negate the effects of the opponent's Leader and one of their Characters, the Character you choose can't attack anymore. So the turn we're playing OP09-093-marshalldteach, we're creating a strong defensive upcoming turn to help us survive and prolong the game.
P/Y Nico Robin
OP09-062-nico-robin is another Ramp Leader, but forces you to trash a card from hand to gain 1 Don. This can be taxing for your hand resources, but rewarding if you're playing high-cost Characters you want on the field as early as possible. Since the card we trash has to have a Trigger effect, Yellow offers many strong choices to include in this list with a trigger effect.
OP09-062-nico-robin also has the Banish keyword, which means we want to prioritize our Leader attacks on the opponent's Leader, threatening to trash their Life card and forcing them to commit their Counter resources.
The new OP09 card OP09-107-nico-robin is one of the strongest plays in this deck, trashing one of the opponent's Life cards, which cuts down their resources and makes it easier for you to set up the lethal turn in the later stages of the game.
The list also has the popular high-cost Yellow Characters like OP05-100-enel, ST07-010-charlotte-linlin, and OP03-123-charlotte-katakuri, each with extremely strong effects. OP03-123-charlotte-katakuri can remove one of the opponent's Characters from play or put a Trigger Character back in your Life area. He's one of the strongest plays to control the field and ensure opponents can't keep up with your developments.
Rusher OP07-119-portgasdace is this deck's strongest play, perfect to drop on the field when you're at 1 Life card. You'll gain a Life card from OP07-119-portgasdace and he can immediately go for the attacks thanks to the Rush keyword.
Although this list doesn't include OP08-069-charlotte-linlin, it's a consideration to add the 9-cost Purple Character since she has a useful effect that gives us a Life card and removes one of the opponent's 6-cost or less Character from play.
Another list that performed in a local tournament, this one looks different, taking advantage of Purple cards, unlike the other list. It runs ST05-011-douglas-bullet, OP09-119-monkeydluffy, and OP04-112-yamato as late-game win conditions.
The new OP09 OP09-119-monkeydluffy is a Rush attacker that draws you a card, giving you more draw value, and can be exceptionally useful if you draw into a Counter card for your defensive turn.
If you have less than two life cards, OP04-112-yamato is likely the best play, giving you an additional Life card and possibly KOing one of the opponent's Characters.
Closing Words
OP09 is looking great so far and each of the Leaders has strong unique effects that can exist in the new meta. We'll see how the meta develops and which of the Leaders ends up becoming a meta choice. The lists I shared have won small tournaments in Japan, but we're still in the early stages of the meta, and players are still experimenting and refining their lists.
