Today's guide will feature ST13-003-monkeydluffy, a combo-oriented Leader that has a great performance in OP09 meta. This is arguably one of the toughest decks to get the hang of and pilot correctly, so I'll do my best to explain things as simply as possible.
To learn to play the other brothers' decks:
Gameplan
ST13-003-monkeydluffy's ability allows you to add two 5-cost cards from hand or trash to your Life Area face up. This can only be activated once you've hit 0 Life Cards. By playing ST13-003-monkeydluffy, the rules of the game are bent, and from now on, when your leader is damaged, face-up cards will go directly to the bottom of your deck instead of your hand.
ST13-003-monkeydluffy doesn't offer anything in the early/mid-game, so you'll have to prolong games until you can take advantage of his ability.
This is a combo-oriented deck that doesn't mind dropping to 0 Life Cards and activating ST13-003-monkeydluffy's ability. The kid three brothers, ST13-014-monkeydluffy, ST13-010-portgasdace, and ST13-007-sabo can use the two face-up cards we put in the Life Area, to play their adult versions and create more board threats. At the same time, you'll gain +2000 Power on your Leader for each Kid, giving you an offensive and defensive boost.
You'll willingly take early damage to your Leader to start activating ST13-003-monkeydluffy ability and create that board pressure by cheating out Characters on the field.
Since we have access to Black cards and are using the Trash as part of our game plan, OP06-086-gecko-moria is a must in this deck for the late-game value. Getting to bring back two of the kids and reactivating their abilities can be a massive game-swinger.
I'll go through the cards and expand on their role in the deck! Most lists in OP09 meta are cutting out ST13-010-portgasdace and ST13-011-portgasdace, favoring a slower paced strategy.
Finding the Right Pieces
ST13-013-monkeydgarp and ST13-019-the-three-brothers-bond are important to look in the deck and find the right pieces to start setting up your game plan. We'll be looking for cards we're missing.
We want to find cards that complement our combo, so if we have the kid version of a card, we'll look for its adult version, and vice versa. This sets the stage for the late game, letting us take advantage of the kid + adult combo.
The Kids
The three brothers are a crucial part of this deck's late-game plan, which means we don't want to throw them on the board randomly and risk losing them to removal cards.
Once we start putting 5-cost characters on the top of our Life Area with our Leader ability, we can activate our kids' effect, and play their adult versions on the board. The top card in our deck has to be the same name as the kid we're activating. so sequencing matters a lot here.
This gives our Leader a +2000 Power boost for each Kid we activate, adding a layer of protection for the upcoming turn since we'll likely have 1 or 0 Life cards.
The Adults
Your board pressure cards, which you'll rely on to slam the opponent's Leader and force out Counter cards.
ST13-015-monkeydluffy stands out in the mid-game and late-game, self-damaging your Leader to closer to 0 Life cards, and at the same time it'll draw you a card, adding more resources to your hand. On top of that, ST13-015-monkeydluffy becomes an 8,000 Power Character, capable of putting pressure on opponents when it goes for the attack.
ST13-015-monkeydluffy is a key card in this deck since its effect enables our strategy and can be used in different scenarios. If we have 0 Life Cards, activating ST13-015-monkeydluffy's ability will give you the +2000 Power without trashing any Life Cards. Or if we want to drop down to 0 Life Cards to activate Leader ST13-003-monkeydluffy's ability to place two 5-cost cards from the trash in the Life Area.
As for OP04-083-sabo, he's a valuable blocker offering a defensive tool against the opponent's attack and KO effects, while also drawing two cards and trashing two. The ability to Trash cards is handy when we're setting up Leader ST13-003-monkeydluffy or OP06-086-gecko-moria.
This depends on what we're missing in our Trash that we can bring back into the game. Leader ST13-003-monkeydluffy can bring back the adult version of three brothers to your Life Area. On the other hand, OP06-086-gecko-moria can bring back the kid version of the three brothers.
Since our Leader will be at 0 Life cards in the late game, one massive attack can win the opponent the game, even with the +4,000 Power boost on our Leader. This is where OP04-083-sabo shines the most, forcing the opponent to attack multiple times, weakening their attacks, or putting Don resources into removing the Sabo, which also weakens their attack.
This list has two control options OP07-109-monkeydluffy and ST13-008-sabo to KO an opponent's Character and slow them down.
OP07-109-monkeydluffy can KO a 4-cost or less Character and draw you a card. This puts you ahead of the opponent in value and when combined with a cost reduction card like OP02-117-ice-age or OP02-096-kuzan, you can KO higher cost targets.
ST13-008-sabo can be a stronger option, capable of KOing a 5-cost or less Character. However, activating ST13-008-sabo's effect means you have to take a Life card and add it to your hand. Although in normal cases, this is seen as a downside, for the Black Yellow Luffy Leader, this speeds up your strategy to getting to 0 Life cards.
Life Takers
Since we're reliant on dropping down to 0 Life Cards and getting access to our 5-cost Characters in trash, players might avoid going for a hit that drops you to 0 Life Cards, leaving you with 1 Life Card, and shutting you from activating your ability.
However, the deck runs cards that can damage us other than ST13-015-monkeydluffy and ST13-008-sabo, letting us drop to 0 Life Cards and ensure we stay on track with our gameplan.
Our low-cost life takers can also be used as a +2000 Counter. However, OP06-106-kouzuki-hiyori can be played at 4 Don!!! to put one of the adult three brothers at the top of our Life Area and follow it up with a kid three brothers to activate his ability. This lets us have cards like ST13-011-portgasdace or ST13-015-monkeydluffy early into the game.
EB01-056-charlotte-flampe is our easiest self-damage card to play. She's not only self-damaging our Leader but also drawing us a card, helping us find the pieces we need to start our game plan.
We want to have ST13-015-monkeydluffy on the field as early as possible to start the self-damage plan. This accelerates our game plan and ensures we can start using Leader effect even when opponent avoids attacking our Leader.
ST13-008-sabo is another option to self-damage, and since we're KOing one of the opponent's Characters, we're shifting the field presence in our favor.
Cost-Reduction
This deck has awkward turn 2 if you're going second, but having OP02-096-kuzan in hand makes sure you are developing a Character on the field that can pose offensive pressure. Additionally, OP02-096-kuzan will draw you a card on play, adding more resources to your hand and helping you find the cards you need. When attacking, OP02-096-kuzan can reduce the cost of one of the opponent's Characters by -4, which allows you to KO a high-cost Character with either ST13-015-monkeydluffy or ST13-008-sabo.
ST08-006-shirahoshi can also be used for her -4 cost-reduction when played, but she'll also remain on the field as a Blocker, protecting your Leader from one of the opponent's attacks.
The Carry
OP06-086-gecko-moria is your late-game value card that you'll be aiming to play on 10 Don!!!
The plan is to use 2 Don!!! on your Leader, activate their ability, and put two 5-cost cards in your Life Area. OP06-086-gecko-moria can then drop on the board and play two of the kid three brothers from the trash.
Make sure the kids you play are those with their adult versions in the Life Area. This will solidify your board presence and put more pressure on the opponent while also giving your Leader a +4000 Power boost.
The board state will be difficult for opponents to keep up with and with the power boost on your Leader, it can be challenging for them to get a hit through. Having a OP04-083-sabo blocker on the board is essential to ensure you have an extra layer of protection.
Control Events
A high-cost control Event to KO one of the opponent's Characters, regardless of its cost. It's a perfect play to remove a win condition on the opponent's side of the field, slowing them down from winning the game.
However, activating EB01-059-kingdom-come will trash cards from your Life Area until you're down to 1 Life card, but since you're typically low on Life cards, you won't have to worry about it much.
Techs and Options
Lists have been cut out ST13-011-portgasdace for more control options, but he remains an aggressive card that synergizes with your strategy to add depending on the meta.
Acts as a blocker to protect your Leader with an effect that synergizes with your strategy. ST13-005-emporioivankov lets you trash a Life card and add a 5-cost Character from your hand to the top of your Life card, making it easier for you to cheat it on the field.
OP07-091-monkeydluffy can work with your Kid Luffy and is a great answer for the mirror matchup, allowing you to trash OP04-083-sabo, making it easier to attack their Leader. Additionally, since it's a "When Attacking" effect, it can be a good option against OP09-081-marshalldteach's effect.
A 1-cost Event to reduce the cost of one of the opponent's Characters by 5. It's best used on high-cost Characters to put them in range for your ST13-015-monkeydluffy or ST13-008-sabo to remove.
General Tips
- You can use adult cards like ST13-015-monkeydluffy for their +1000 counter. You can later pull them from the trash and onto your Life Area.
- Understand when you're able to take damage. You're playing a deck that wants to drop down to 0 Life Cards and start taking advantage of Leader's ability. This might put you in rough situations where the opponent could close out the game. Knowing different matchups, keeping an eye on the opponent's Don!!!, and what they're capable of is essential to surviving those turns.
- Although we're gaining a lot of Power through the kid three brothers, your opponent can still set up one heavy swing with all their Don!!! to end the game. This is where blockers are crucial to survive on the defensive turn. A blocker or two on the board will force the opponent to commit their Don!!! on two or three attackers to damage your leader. This makes it easier for you to Counter any attack that might go through. They could have removal tools to deal with your blocker, but it still requires them to use up Don!!!, weakening their attack.
- If you've activated Leader ability and put two of your 5-cost cards face-up in your Life Area, but couldn't play them on the board, you'll want to avoid taking damage. If opponent damages your Leader while there's a face-up card, that card will go to the bottom of the deck, preventing you from getting access to it through Leader ability.
- Make sure you've activated your Kids' abilities and gained the Power boost before you go for the attack with your Leader. You're able to threaten. 9,000 or 11,000 Power attack with your Leader.
Mulligan Tips
- OP06-086-gecko-moria is a key card to have since you don't have any searchers to find it, and we don't want to end up trashing it.
- ST13-013-monkeydgarp and ST13-019-the-three-brothers-bond are cards you want to have in the early game to start looking for the right pieces.
- ST13-015-monkeydluffy is great for the early turns to start self-damaging your Leader and get closer to your combo plays.
- OP04-083-sabo is good to have to cycle cards, look for OP06-086-gecko-moria and trash cards you can get value from.
Important Matchups
Blue Doflamingo
- Your opponent can develop a wide board and go for aggressive attacks. Our goal is to control their side of the field and make it to the late game. All of their Characters are at 5,000 or 6,000 Power, so your opponent will have a rough time trying to go through your 9,000 Power Leader.
- OP06-047-charlotte-pudding can cut down on your resources, so try to keep your hand size below 7 cards.
- ST13-015-monkeydluffy and ST13-008-sabo are great options to lower the opponent's threat.
- We're mostly worried about OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger since it removes two of our 5-cost Characters and places them at the bottom of our deck. This means we won't have access to them from the trash anymore.
- Eventually, with Gecko Moria's help, you'll become the aggressor, as your opponent will struggle to deal the finishing blow as long as you have a Blocker in play.
Red Shanks
- You're up against a deck that can KO one of your Characters each turn, using Characters like OP09-009-bennbeckman and OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh.
- OP09-009-bennbeckman trashes one of your Characters, so he can bypass the Sabo KO immunity.
- ST13-015-monkeydluffy's +2,000 Power will put him out of range from your opponent's removal Characters, forcing them to use OP09-008-building-snake to reduce his Power.
- Your opponent will try to develop multiple OP09-004-shanks and try to go for high Power attacks to win the game. This sets them up to go for multiple high-power attacks in one turn, to go through your blockers. We will need EB01-059-kingdom-come here to KO OP09-004-shanks.
- OP09-118-goldroger prevents you from using your Blockers, so you'll need to have the Counter Power to stop its attack. We have to close out the game on the upcoming turn or risk losing the game.
Black Marshal D. Teach
- Although Black Yellow Luffy is known to be a strong option against Black control decks, it has a rough time against Teach due to his effect. Through Leader effect, Teach can prevent you from activating Gecko Moria On Play effect, shutting down the BY Luffy strategy completely.
- We'll have to run them out of resources, try to stretch out the game, and hope they get to a point where they can't activate Leader effect.
- You might be forced to play Gecko Moria without its effect, just to have a high-power Character in play.
- We can still KO their Characters using OP07-109-monkeydluffy to remove cost reducers like EB01-048-laboon from play.
Black Rob Lucci
- We're relying on OP04-083-sabo to carry this matchup for us. Shutting them down from KOing our characters through OP05-093-rob-lucci can be a nightmare for them.
- Continuously playing OP04-083-sabo buys us a lot of time, while we slowly start slamming their Leader with our high Power Leader and Gecko Moria. Leader and Gecko Moria attacks should be enough of a threat to the opponent, so playing two OP04-083-sabo is worth it for the protection.
- Watch out for Isshou trashing two of your cards if you're holding 6 or more. We don't want to lose our Gecko Moria since they'll carry the game for us.
- OP09-086-jesus-burgess can become a nightmare in the later stages, so we want to try and KO him early on. This will force opponent to commit their Counter resources to protect him.
Green Jewelry Bonney
- This is a tough matchup since we don't have a reliable way to deal with their Fortress or OP06-118-roronoa-zoro.
- We could use Ice Age + OP07-109-monkeydluffy to KO OP06-118-roronoa-zoro or OP01-051-eustasscaptainkid-701. However, if they have a OP05-030-donquixote-rosinante, then your KO effect will not go through.
- Gecko Moria is a heavy hitter, so having him on the field to put pressure is important.
- OP06-118-roronoa-zoro can solo win the matchup for them with his triple attack.
Yellow Enel
- OP05-102-gedatsu won't find value for them against you.
- They're going to avoid attacking your Leader and take things to the late game, playing their high-cost Characters to win the game.
- Leave them at 2 Life cards and try to go wide on the field. We're trying to set up one powerful turn with multiple attacks to win to either in the game or force counter plays.
- OP03-123-charlotte-katakuri can mess up your plans, giving you a Life card and shutting down your Leader effect.
Red Purple Law
- Activate 5c Luffy's effect even on the turn you play him. Although we can't attack with him, the +2000 Power boost protects him from -3000 Power + RP Law's removal effect. This forces more resources out of opponent or will be forced to ignore the Luffy for the turn.
- They'll likely try to starve you, leaving you at 1 or 2 health as they continue to develop the board for one powerful turn. If they do that, we want to use our self-damage cards to get access to Leader's effect.
- Most of their attackers are at 5000 Power, so any Power boost will force a lot of Don out of them to damage your Leader. This will also mean they'll focus their attacks on one or two characters instead of attacking with everything.
- Some lists are running OP06-009-shuraiya which can match your Leader's Power. This lets opponents use OP06-009-shuraiya aggressively for one big swing to win the game regardless of your Leader boost.
Black Gecko Moria
- The longer the game takes, the better the chances of winning the game are for you.
- Prioritize attacking their Leader and putting them low on health. This will be useful for the late game when you activate your Leader ability and start going for heavy hits.
- OP06-093-perona can be bothersome, making you trash cards from hand. Pick cards you'll be able to replay from Trash, like Adult Three Brothers.
- Once you start boosting your leader's power to 9,000, it'll be difficult for opponents to get an attack through with their 5,000 Power Characters. They'll rely on OP06-086-gecko-moria for the heavy hit, and this is where blocker OP04-083-sabo is valuable. We'll keep replaying OP04-083-sabo every turn, creating a wall that they have to go through.
Purple Blue Vinsmoke Reiju
- You're up against a deck capable of drawing a lot of resources with OP06-042-vinsmoke-reiju and OP06-069-vinsmoke-reiju.
- Some lists are including OP06-047-charlotte-pudding so be wary and don't hog cards in your hand.
- Once you start gaining a Power boost on your leader, the only attackers that can easily threaten to damage your leader are OP06-061-vinsmoke-ichiji and OP06-062-vinsmoke-judge.
- If you don't feel like you can close out the game, shift your focus on KOing OP06-062-vinsmoke-judge with your Leader attack and OP06-061-vinsmoke-ichiji with ST13-011-portgasdace or ST13-015-monkeydluffy.
Yellow Katakuri
- OP03-099-charlotte-katakuri can threaten big 7000 attacks. You want to put lots of pressure on them and try to close out the game before OP03-114-charlotte-linlin becomes a problem.
- OP05-102-gedatsu won't find value for them against you.
- Be ready to activate a trigger card for them whenever you go for the attack.
- It's fine to take early damage. You want to drop down to 0 Life as early as possible before they play ST07-010-charlotte-linlin and OP03-114-charlotte-linlin. You can choose to trash a card from your Life Area, and if you have none, you'll at least deny the opponent from gaining an extra Life Card.
- Developing multiple Characters on the board is important. This makes it awkward for them to play OP03-114-charlotte-linlin and will have to deal with multiple attacks.
- OP05-115-two-hundred-million-volts-amaru is useless against Sabo but can rest Borsalino.
- You want to keep putting blockers on the board to take the big OP03-114-charlotte-linlin attack.
Closing Words
Black Yellow Luffy is a challenging deck to fully master, and it requires deep understanding of both, your deck and your opponent's deck. The value it creates while remaining at 0 Life Cards will eventually shift the game in your favor, turning you into the aggressor.
If you're looking to play something with a different playstyle, then Black Yellow Luffy is the deck for you! If you enjoy the content, consider following me on twitter!
