Table of Contents
Blue Donquixote Doflamingo has seen a rise in play rate in OP07 meta, with the list changing exceptionally compared to what we're used to. Blue Doffy is a great choice for tournaments as a Tier 2 deck and many players have been able to top cut with it. This deck adopts a defensive playstyle and gradually builds a strong board to unleash multiple attacks on the opponent.
Gameplan
The Blue Doffy deck thrives on synergy with characters from "The Seven Warlords of the Sea" archetype, complementing Leader Donquixote Doflimaingo's ability. By using 3 Don!!! you'll get to look at the top of your deck if it's a 4-cost or less {The Seven Warlords of the Sea} type Character and play it rested on the board. Utilizing cards like EB01-023-edward-weevil, ST03-004-gecko-moria, and OP07-045-jinbe, you can create threats that the opponent can't ignore.
If you think about it, Donquixote Doflimaingo's ability could get you a 4-cost character for 3 Don!!!, provide card value, and push a +2000 Power attack with your leader.
This deck aims to win the board presence, ensure the opponent doesn't get to freely develop characters, and use low-cost blockers to protect Leader and key characters. The value generation from Leader Doflamingo is needed so you don't run out of resources in the game's later stages.
Managing to drop 4 cost Characters for 3 Don!!! allows you to use that extra Don!!! on either empowering your attacks or developing an additional character. Along with OP07-045-jinbe, we're not creating a more threatening field without multiple Character development, forcing players to take a defensive approach to clear out our attackers. The list includes control Events like OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc and OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger to clear out threats and slow down the opponent's game plan. OP05-118-kaido is this deck's strongest play, drawing 3 cards and setting up a big body that can be troublesome for the opponent after two or three turns.
Deck Sorters
Gaining information on the top cards in our deck is valuable knowledge to set up our game plan. Ideally, you want the second card to be one of {The Seven Warlords of the Sea} Characters, allowing you to play it on the field with OP01-060-donquixote-doflamingo's Leader effect on the upcoming turn.
OP01-077-perona and OP01-073-donquixote-doflamingo grant knowledge into the 5 upcoming draws, from there you'll decide whether you want to keep those cards at the top of the deck and change their order or put them at the bottom to find better cards.
When rearranging cards at the top of our deck, we need to consider the game's situation. Are we activating Leader effect now? Then we want a valuable "The Seven Warlords of the Sea" Character at the top of the deck. Are we activating Leader effect on the upcoming turn? Then the "The Seven Warlords of the Sea" Character needs to be the second card on the top. We also need to keep in mind future turns, arranging the other three cards accordingly so that we ensure we can still activate Leader effect.
If you don't find anything that Leader Donquixote Doflamingo can play on your upcoming turn, you might put them all at the bottom of your deck, hoping you find better cards. This does leave you in the unknown, but that could be better than whatever cards you had.
Doflamingo's Best Targets
Leader Doflamingo's ability plays a Character in a rested state, making them vulnerable to attacks. While this diverts attention from your Leader, it may force you to sacrifice Counter cards to prevent rested characters from being KO'ed.
OP07-045-jinbe is the best target to cheat out through Leader effect but is also a great option to play from hand. He's letting you play one of your 4-cost or less Characters from hand for free, allowing you to develop two Characters in one turn. This creates an aggressive field that forces players to take a defensive approach.
EB01-023-edward-weevil is the go-to play when we don't have OP07-045-jinbe available. We want to play EB01-023-edward-weevil as early as possible for multiple reasons. He's a 6,000 Power Character that can be bothersome for opponents, draws you a card, and doesn't have a Counter effect, so he's not useful to us in our hand.
Lastly, ST03-004-gecko-moria is a value card, drawing us a card from trash. The card we choose from the trash will depend on the state of the game. We can either go for aggression with OP07-045-jinbe. draw value with EB01-023-edward-weevil, a defensive blocker with OP01-073-donquixote-doflamingo, or a +2,000 Counter card.
Other Seven Warlords of the Sea
If for some reason we don't have any of the three {The Seven Warlords of the Sea} I just talked about, we still have other options to play on the field, Both ST03-005-dracule-mihawk and OP07-040-crocodile are 5,000 Power attackers, capable of presenting a threat to the opponent. Attaching 1 Don to ST03-005-dracule-mihawk and attacking with him lets us draw two cards and trash two. This lets us filter our hand.
We rarely will feel the need to activate OP07-040-crocodile's effect, but in the scenario where we're trying to return a 2-cost blocker, then it could come to use.
Control Cards
The Doffy list has access to tools to keep the opponent's field in check, either to remove their cards entirely from the field, or shut them down from attacking, buying you more time to shift the game in your favor.
OP07-051-boa-hancock stops one of the opponent's Characters from attacking and places a 1-cost Character at the bottom of the opponent's deck. This slows down the opponent's upcoming aggression, relieving some of the pressure. OP07-051-boa-hancock isn't a Character that can be ignored, she's an 8,000-power attacker, capable of KOing a rested Character or threatening to damage the opponent's Leader.
OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc and OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger are control events that place the opponent's Characters at the bottom of their deck. The fact that they remove cards rather than KO means it can bypass KO immunity effects like OP02-114-borsalino and OP04-083-sabo.
OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger is played against two Characters with a cost of 6 or less. So in the mid-game, you're destroying the opponent's field and slowing them down exceptionally. This puts you ahead in the game and takes thinks to the late game.
As for OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc, it's perfect for high-cost threats that we want to remove immediately. For 6 Don, we can remove any Character off the field, regardless of its cost. We're usually playing this in the late-game, so we'll have Don to spare that we can use to activate the Leader effect and potentially develop a Character or if we're at 10 Don, we can play one of our 4-cost Characters from hand.
Heavy Hitters
We're trying to play OP05-118-kaido the turn we hit 10 Don, gaining 4 card draw and developing a big body that can be a nightmare for some decks. The card draw we gain puts us ahead in value and can be used to protect our Leader since the OP05-118-kaido play doesn't offer any field control on the turn he's played.
A 12,000 Power attacker is difficult to defend from, allowing you to KO-rested Characters or target their Leader directly. If you get a couple of attacks from OP05-118-kaido, you're likely setting the stage to win the game.
Events
OP02-068-gum-gum-rain is a defensive Event to protect your Leader or key Characters. Since the list has a couple of cards with no Counter effects like EB01-023-edward-weevil, OP07-051-boa-hancock, and OP05-118-kaido, we might find ourselves having to trash them with OP02-068-gum-gum-rain to gain that Power boost. There are situations where OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc and OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger don't find much use, so we can trash those. The decision on which card to trash will come down to the matchup and the state of the game.
OP07-057-perfume-femur is a setup for a finisher play. If the opponent is at 0 Life cards and they have a blocker standing in the way,OP07-057-perfume-femur lets one of your attackers ignore that blocker. It's also giving you a +2,000 Power boost, so you're not losing on aggressiveness when spending 2 Don to play it.
Techs and Options
OP01-070-dracule-mihawk is one of your strongest plays, immediately shifting the board's presence in your favor with his removal ability.
OP06-119-sanji playing the top card in your deck allows you to go wide on the board and present an offensive threat. Managing to play cards like OP01-070-dracule-mihawk can be a game swinger.
This is where deck information comes in handy, you can play Sanji when you know you can drop a valuable card like OP01-070-dracule-mihawk, EB01-023-edward-weevil, or ST03-004-gecko-moria.
We want to play a deck sorting card on turns 5 or 7, giving us information and the Sanji setup.
A {The Seven Warlords of the Sea} blocker that offers draw value.
General Tips
- Keep track of the cards at the top of your deck. If you look at your top cards and decide to keep them, it's important to know your options and which card Leader Doflamingo will play. This makes it easier to decide whether you want to activate his effect or develop a card from hand.
- In some cases, you might need to draw first before activating Leader Doflamingo's effect. If you know you don't have a {The Seven Warlords of the Sea} type Character at the top of your deck, you can draw first with EB01-023-edward-weevil to have a chance of finding one.
- Play for the late game since you can outvalue opponents thanks to Leader effect. Keep their field under check and eventually, you should dominate the field and start threatening aggressive turns.
Mulligan Tips
- Early cards that give you information like OP01-077-perona and OP01-073-donquixote-doflamingo.
- OP07-045-jinbe and EB01-023-edward-weevil are the best cards to develop as early as possible.
Matchups
Red Purple Law
- You're up against a deck that can set up aggressive attacks with their leader's ability and at the same time can remove your threats.
- Immediately deal with cards that give them Don like ST10-012-bepo and OP05-074-eustasscaptainkid with OP03-057-three-thousand-worlds. You want to shut down their Don value and slow down their pace.
- Blockers will be important to keep your Leader safe and prolong the game.
- OP06-076-hitokiri-kamazo can KO your 1-2 cost blockers.
Black Rob Lucci
- We're up against a deck that can KO our Characters and weaken our attacks.
- Use OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger to put OP05-093-rob-lucci at the bottom of the opponent's deck. This prevents them from playing him from Trash. We can also remove blocker Sabo, paving the way for our attackers to connect with their Leader or rested Characters.
- OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc is for their high-cost threats, most importantly Isshou.
Green Jewelry Bonney
- OP07-021-urouge and EB01-012-cavendish are giving the opponent additional Don that strengthens their defensive plans. We want to remove them as soon as possible and OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger is the best answer to deal with them.
- If the opponent has an active Don on their defensive turn it means they can rest one of your attackers with OP07-019-jewelry-bonney. If we're planning to activate Leader Doflamingo's effect, we should attack with him first. If not, we should attack with our strongest Character first.
- The opponent will be too busy controlling the field rather than attacking our Leader, so we won't feel aggressively pressured in this matchup.
- OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc is a nightmare for the opponent, removing Characters like OP01-051-eustasscaptainkid-701 or OP06-118-roronoa-zoro from the field. The ability to place those Characters at the bottom of the opponent's deck instead of KOing them renders OP05-030-donquixote-rosinante useless.
Yellow Enel
- You're playing a slow matchup, relying on outvaluing the opponent. Charlotte Pudding is crucial to cutting their resources and potentially shutting down their late game.
- Avoid attacking their Leader whenever possible. You don't want to attack with your Characters, instead, we want to keep them from dropping below 2 Life Cards until we've developed multiple Characters on the field. This shuts them down from gaining a Life card from Yamato and Ace early into the game.
- Ensuring the Enel player doesn't win the field presence is important. Attack their rested Characters and force Counter cards from them. OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc is a reliable answer to Yamato or Ace.
- We have to identify which turn we'll switch on the aggro mode, going full force on their Leader and forcing Counter plays. The goal here is to either win the game or force as many Counter cards as possible.
Black Gecko Moria
- They have the tools with OP05-093-rob-lucci and OP06-081-absalom to remove your characters/blockers.
- Difficult to run this deck out of resources. You want to ensure you keep their board in check as you take it to the late game and start dropping Kaidos.
- OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc is a solid answer to remove Gecko Moria or Isshou off the field.
Yellow Katakuri
- Watch out for Gedatdu KOing one of your 4-cost characters. You might opt to take the early hits and drop down to 3 Life cards.
- Keep in mind that with every attack on their Leader, you're risking a board development on their side by using the Trigger effect of cards like OP03-113-charlotte-perospero, OP04-104-sanji, and OP05-105-satori.
- Prioritize dealing with their board development. You don't want them to win the board and start freely swinging with multiple Characters.
- OP03-114-charlotte-linlin will be problematic as she takes away your Life Card. OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc is a great answer to remove her on the spot.
Closing Words
Blue Donquixote Doflamingo revolves around developing multiple Characters, prolonging games, and using your heavy hitters as game finishers. It can adopt a defensive playstyle, as it slowly takes over the field with its control tools and shifts the game in its favor. This is one of the strongest Blue decks in the OP07 meta and will continue to perform in OP08.
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