Table of Contents
Heya everyone! We don't see much talk about Blue Red Nefeltari Vivi Leader, which has built-in draw potential. Vivi is an off-meta leader who won a couple of tournaments in Japan. She's great in slow-paced matchups, wanting to drop big bodies on the board that can be difficult for opponents to remove.
In this guide, I'll explain how to pilot this deck, the key cards we're reliant on, and how to approach different popular matchups. Let's get started!
Gameplan
Leader OP04-001-nefeltari-vivi is a 5-health leader that can't attack, this is a downside that might feel frustrating at times when there's a rested Character you'd want to attack. However, her effect somewhat compensates for her inability to attack, giving Rush to a Character you just played, allowing it to attack the same turn you've played it.
The effect costs 2 Don to activate, so it's not viable to activate every single turn, but we'll try to do so whenever possible, getting our high-power Characters to swing on a rested Character for board control or go for an aggressive plan and strike the opponent's Leader. Additionally, activating the effect will draw you a card, so we can use it on the early turns when we don't have anything to play as well, to benefit from the draw.
The Red Blue OP04-001-nefeltari-vivi deck wants the game to stretch out and it has the control tools to ensure you can slow down the opponent's pace. Cards like OP07-051-boa-hancock, OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger, and OP06-007-shanks play a pivotal role in maintaining that board control. With a couple of high-power cards on the board, we'll use them as our heavy hitters to pressure the opponent, while trying to protect them from any attackers.
Early Turns
We're not really looking to develop on the early turns, we're more so aiming to activate Leader ability for the card draw. However, if we're going first, OP06-009-shuraiya is a play on turn 2, offering a blocker to protect our Leader, while also can be used for offensive pressure.
On the other hand, OP05-043-ulti can be played on turn 2 if we're going second. OP05-043-ulti lets us look at the top 3 cards in our deck and draws us one card of our choice. Additionally, we can change the order of the other two cards and place them either at the top or bottom of the deck. This gives us some control over what we'll draw for the upcoming turn, shaping up our mid and late-game.
We mostly want to play OP06-047-charlotte-pudding if the opponent is holding onto at least 7 cards in hand, getting rid of two cards and messing up their hand with different draws will disrupt their future turns.
Slow Them Down
OP07-051-boa-hancock is one of our strongest plays to join the field, shutting one of the opponent's Characters from attacking. This slows down the opponent on the upcoming turn and buys you more time to start setting up your win conditions. OP07-051-boa-hancock's 8,000 Power is no laughing matter, presenting a threat, especially when played on Don 8, as you'll be able to give her Rush through Leader effect.
OP03-013-marco is a character that sticks on the board and can be difficult to remove. We run a lot of Events, so we can trash them in order to keep OP03-013-marco on the board. OP03-013-marco's on-play effect can KO a Character with 3,000 Power. This is strong against specific matchups like R/P Law with EB01-061-mr2bonkurei-bentham or Black Lucci with OP05-091-rebecca.
We could combo him with OP01-006-otama's Power reduction, putting 5,000 Power characters in range for OP03-013-marco to KO.
Strong Removal
Removal cards are a crucial part of our game plan, solidifying our control on the board and ensuring the opponent doesn't overtake the board and threaten aggressive attacks on our Leader.
OP05-051-borsalino is suited for specific matchups where opponent has a 4-cost Character on the board. We want to play OP05-051-borsalino as early as possible when there's something for us to remove.
OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger is an alternate play, which we'll rely on if there are multiple threats on the board that OP05-051-borsalino is just not enough to keep up with. Getting to remove two 6-cost or less characters can be a huge blow for the opponent, giving you a breather until the carries start dropping.
As for OP06-007-shanks, he's our strongest Character, immediately KOing a 10,000 Power Character the turn he's played. So against decks that develop heavy bodies, OP06-007-shanks is perfect to shut it down. He's also a 12,000 Power attacker, difficult for most decks to remove, and will be forced to ignore him. The only downside is that OP06-007-shanks is a 10-cost, which means we won't be able to activate Leader OP04-001-nefeltari-vivi to give him Rush.
Defensive Events
Protection events will come in handy to protect our Leader or key cards. Since Leader is at 5 health, we're not too stressed about protecting our Life Cards, but more importantly, protecting our mid-game Characters like OP07-051-boa-hancock from attackers trying to remove her.
OP01-029-radical-beam is our strongest event, giving +2,000 Power to a Leader or Character, but that +2,000 becomes +4,000 if you're down to 2 Life Cards. Basically shutting down one of the opponent's attacks.
Another 1-cost event we're running is OP04-017-happiness-punch that only finds maximum value if our Leader is Active, and since OP04-001-nefeltari-vivi can't attack, the card is perfect for this deck.
We need to identify which turns we'll play those events and bank 1 Don for the upcoming turn to play them. We're extremely tight on Don, so setting up those Events at the right time is important.
OP04-016-bad-manners-kick-course is a 0-cost +3000 Power Counter event requiring you to trade a card. Sometimes, you'll hold dead cards that you don't want to play nor can you use as a counter, so trashing them works best here.
Gameplay Video
Techs and Options
OP06-044-gion: Will mostly be used as a +2000 Counter, but she can still present a threat with a 5,000 Power attack. Her effect is extremely situational, and it'll depend on the matchup if you see any value from it.
ST03-009-donquixote-doflamingo-675: Has a great effect of bouncing one of the opponent's characters with 7-cost or less, weakening the opponent's board.
OP01-013-sanji: is a 2,000 Counter that can replace OP04-009-super-spot-billed-duck-troops. We could use him for one final swing to end the game. OP01-013-sanji is technically a 7,000 Power attacker if you damage your Leader, giving him Rush through Vivi's effect, we get a solid attack and still have 6 Don to boost him up.
OP02-068-gum-gum-rain: A 0-cost +3,000 Power Counter Event to protect Leader or a key character.
OP05-010-nico-robin: A tech card depending on the meta. It finds use in KOing cards like EB01-061-mr2bonkurei-bentham and OP05-091-rebecca.
General Tips
- We're playing for the board presence in the early-mid game. Keep opponents from taking over using your removal tools until your heavy hitters join the battle.
- Since our Leader has 5 health and we have a lot of defensive cards, we need to identify when is the best time to ignore the board and start slamming their Leader. This will force two outcomes from opponent, go all out on your Leader and try to rush you down or control the board. Controlling the board would be in our best interest especially if they decided to attack our rested characters, we want to try to protect them as much as possible.
- Try to activate Leader ability whenever possible. We want to gain that card advantage over the opponent.
- OP04-009-super-spot-billed-duck-troops is a +2,000 Counter but can be played on the board if you're looking for one big hit to close out the game. The plan is to drop OP04-009-super-spot-billed-duck-troops, give it Rush through Leader effect, go for a big swing, and bounce it back to our hand to be used as a Counter if needed.
Important Matchups
Red Purple Law
- It's challenging for them to remove 7,000+ Power characters, forcing them to commit to Power-reduction cards to put them in range for Law's effect.
- Some lits are running ST10-010-trafalgar-law. It's difficult to stay below 7 cards with Vivi, but if possible try to not give them an easy Law play.
- OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger is your best board control tool, removing two of their characters. We want to prioritize OP05-074-eustasscaptainkid to shut down the Don generation. Borsalino can also be useful in this matchup since he can hit almost all their characters.
Yellow Enel
- This will be a sweaty game where we'll rely on OP06-007-shanks to remove their big threats. He's pretty tough for them to remove unless they have a EB01-059-kingdom-come.
- Try to drop them to 2 health and leave them there. Also, you want your life to drop to at least 3. This is important so Yamato doesn't join the battle and KO's OP07-051-boa-hancock.
- Once we set up a couple of attackers on the board, we can try going for the final attack to win the game. Even if we can't win here, getting to force resources would be worth it.
Black Yellow Luffy
- OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger is an extremely valuable card for this matchup, removing two of their threats. Since it's putting the Characters are the bottom of the opponent's deck instead of KOing, we don't have to worry about opponent replaying them from trash through Leader ability. Also, it's a great card to remove things even if OP04-083-sabo was played.
- Avoid striking their Leader and dropping them low. We want to prolong the game and slow down their access to Leader ability, forcing them into playing their self-damage cards to get close to Leader ability.
- High-power characters are a nightmare for them and difficult to deal with. OP07-051-boa-hancock and OP06-007-shanks are premium attackers and we want to protect them as much as possible.
Closing Words
The Red Blue Vivi deck has been a fun deck to play, especially against slower-paced matchups like BY Luffy and Enel! I found myself relying on OP06-007-shanks a lot to win games. The removal + 12,000 Power threat is just too annoying for most decks to deal with.
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