Table of Contents
Heya everyone! OP09 release is fast approaching in the West on the 13th of December, bringing 6 new Leaders and a bunch of new cards to shake up the current meta. The East has played OP09 cards for a while and refined the decks to keep up with the top meta decks. I'll share a deck list for each OP09 Leader who performed in major tournaments in the East and explain how those Leaders work.
Blue Doflamingo has dominated the OP08.5 meta, but the introduction of new Leaders like OP09-001-shanks and OP09-081-marshalldteach, who can stand up to Blue Doffy players, promises to bring greater diversity to the meta. Let's get started!
Red Shanks
OP09-001-shanks is a defensive Leader, activating his effect when the opponent attacks, reducing the Power of their Leader or one of their Characters by -1,000. You can think of it as a free +1,000 counter each turn. This helps you protect your Leader or one of your rested Characters without spending as much resources from your hand.
Having a defensive effect in our Leader means we can go for more high-cost Characters as we'll be able to stall out the game until they're ready to join. However, the list has strong mid-game plays like OP09-015-luckyroux, OP09-013-yasopp, and OP09-005-silvers-rayleigh. OP09-015-luckyroux aids in controlling the field through his On KO effect, allowing you to KO one of the opponent's Characters with 6,000 or less Power during their turn. Since OP09-015-luckyroux has the Blocker keyword, you can choose when to sacrifice him to activate his KO effect.
OP09-013-yasopp is great for your defensive strategy, giving your Leader a +1,000 Power boost through his On Play effect and can reduce the Power of one of the opponent's Characters by 1,000 whenever he attacks. This is a value Character we can activate every time we attack with OP09-013-yasopp, which forces players to find answers.
Later on in the game, we have ST15-002-edwardnewgate, OP09-009-bennbeckman, OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh to remove the opponent's Characters during our turn, helping us shift the board presence in our favor. OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh is the strongest option on Do 8, letting you reduce the Power of two of the opponent's Characters and KO one of them with 3,000 Power or less. The Power reduction sticks until the end of the opponent's upcoming turn, so even if we don't KO the second Character, it'll pose a less offensive threat.
Once we're at 10 Don, OP09-004-shanks is the usual play. The Rush attack means we get to use the 12,000 Power to KO a rested Character or take the opponent's Life card. However, OP09-004-shanks's strength lies in the -1,000 Power reduction he gives to all of the opponent's Characters as long as he's in play. This makes it easier for us to KO opponent's Characters and even defend from their attacks as we'll commit fewer Counter resources from our hand.
Black Marshal D. Teach
OP09-081-marshalldteach is tough to play correctly, but once you get the hang of the Leader and playstyle, this deck crushes most opponents it faces. It took a while for East players to get accustomed to OP09-081-marshalldteach but as the meta developed, OP09-081-marshalldteach became the most-played deck in tournaments and it's a Leader to keep an eye on in the West meta.
OP09-081-marshalldteach's effect prevents all your On Play effects from activating anymore, forcing you to build the deck differently than all other Black decks. Although this is a downside, the OP09 expansion has tons of cards that have an Active: Main effect or Events that can work with OP09-081-marshalldteach. OP09-081-marshalldteach's other effect lets you trash a card from your hand to negate all of the opponent's On Play effect during their upcoming turn. This needs to be timed correctly so you don't waste resources, so understanding the matchup plays a key role here. Our deck is designed to function without relying on the On Play effect. However, many of our opponents depend on it, so negating their On Play effect can severely disrupt their strategy and weaken their next turn.
This deck keeps control of the field with cards like OP09-090-doc-q, OP09-098-black-hole, and EB01-051-finger-pistol that can KO opponent's Characters. These cards all depend on the cost of the target to KO it, so they can't KO high-cost Characters. To deal with those Characters, we have cost-reduction cards such as EB01-048-laboon and OP09-083-van-augur to put targets in range for our removal cards with their Activate: Main effects.
OP09-093-marshalldteach is this deck's strongest play, negating the effect of the opponent's Leader and one of their Characters until the end of their next turn. This can prevent opponents from making certain plays or make it easier for you to keep control of the field. On top of that, OP09-093-marshalldteach is a 12,000 Power blocker, capable of shutting down one of the opponent's attacks.
Green Purple Lim
OP09-022-lim is a Ramp Leader. You have to rest 3 Don to activate her effect, letting you cheat out an {ODYSSEY} type Characters with a cost of 5 or less and giving you 1 rested Don. OP09-022-lim also forces you to play all your Characters rested, so this is a downside as it lets your opponent attack them, forcing you to play Counter cards to protect them. However, many of the cards in this list synergize with Characters rested, so it can play in your favor.
This list has multiple 5-cost {ODYSSEY} type Characters to cheat out on turn 2. All the 5-cost {ODYSSEY} type Characters require you to have a number of rested Characters to activate their effects. Since they join rested, they'll count themselves as a rested Character as well, making it easier to activate their effects.
OP09-036-monkeydluffy and OP09-035-portgasdace can rest an opponent's Character, allowing you to attack it and threaten to KO it. You either remove it from play, weakening their upcoming turn, or you force them to play Counter cards.
OP09-031-donquixote-doflamingo is great for added aggression while maintaining a defensive strategy. You can attack with OP09-031-donquixote-doflamingo and then turn him Active at the end of your turn if you have 2 rested Characters. This allows you to use OP09-031-donquixote-doflamingo offensively, while still having him available to defend your Leader when needed. As for OP09-027-sabo, he's a value option, drawing you a card to find the resources you need for the upcoming turn. The Character you choose to play will depend on the state of the game and which effect you'll need the most.
Since we're a ramp deck, we want to play OP06-118-roronoa-zoro as early as possible and present a win condition on the field. OP06-118-roronoa-zoro can attack 3 times in one turn, creating an opportunity to win the game on the spot or at least force enough resources that you can close out the game on the upcoming turn. Playing him a turn earlier than expected will make it harder for opponents to have the answer to deal with him.
Blue Buggy
OP09-042-buggy's effect synergizes with {Cross Guild} type Characters, letting you cheat one of them on the field from your hand regardless of their cost. However, to activate the effect, you need to rest 5 Don and trash 1 card from your hand, so the Character you play has to be worth it.
Characters like P-084-buggy and OP09-046-crocodile are great options to cheat out in the early stages of the game. Both of them allow you to cheat out another Character on the field alongside them. P-084-buggy cheats out a 6-cost or less {Cross Guild} type Character. Whereas OP09-046-crocodile cheats out a 5-cost or less {Cross Guild} or {Baroque Works} Character. Going wide on the field is part of our strategy, enabling us to play more aggressively while setting the stage for a OP09-051-buggy.
OP09-051-buggy is this deck's strongest play but requires a tough setup to make him work. On Play, OP09-051-buggy removes one of the opponent's Characters by placing it at the bottom of their deck. Then if you don't have 5 Characters with a cost of 5 or more, OP09-051-buggy removes himself from the field. You don't have to use up 10 Don to play OP09-051-buggy, instead, you can use your Leader effect to play him for 5 Don.
Remember, you can activate Leader OP09-042-buggy's effect more than once, so on 10 Don, you can activate it twice. This lets you cheat out a Character and then activate it again to cheat out OP09-051-buggy once you have 4 other Characters with a cost of 5 or more in play.
I'm not sure when Promo P-084-buggy will be released after OP09 meta, but it's an automatic inclusion in the list once it's out!
Purple Black Monkey D. Luffy
If you attach a Don to OP09-061-monkeydluffy, all your Characters gain +1 cost. This could synergize with the effects of some cards and make it more difficult for certain decks to KO your Characters. OP09-061-monkeydluffy's second effect is what we'll rely on in our strategy, whenever you return 2 or more Don, OP09-061-monkeydluffy gives us 1 rested and 1 Active Dons back. So we're basically deramping to ramp back up gain. This allows us to play Characters with strong effects but forces you to deramp to activate those effects.
This list is built around the {Straw Hat Crew} type Characters. ST18-004-zoro-juurou, ST18-002-o-nami, and ST18-003-san-gorou are draw value cards. ST18-004-zoro-juurou and ST18-003-san-gorou pose offensive pressure, while ST18-002-o-nami is used to defend our Leader or rested Character with her Blocker keyword.
OP09-065-sanji is a great play if you're trying to KO one of the opponent's Characters. OP09-065-sanji can rest a 6-cost or less Character and with his Rush attack, you can try to KO it. As for ST18-005-luffy-tarou, he's best played if you want to go wider on the field, cheating out 1 purple {Straw Hat Crew} type Character card with a cost of 5 or less from your hand.
This list is centered around winning the mid-game, so it only has OP09-119-monkeydluffy as a late-game play. OP09-119-monkeydluffy draws you a card and can attack on the turn he's played with Rush. However, you can add more late-game plays like OP08-069-charlotte-linlin and OP08-119-kaido-linlin.
Since Leader can ramp us back when we deramp, OP09-078-gum-gum-giant makes sense in this list, a -2 Don Counter Event that gives +4,000 Power boost to our Leader or a Character and draws 2 cards.
Purple Yellow Nico Robin
OP09-062-nico-robin is another Ramp Leader that combines Yellow and Purple, two colors that have strong late-game Characters. To activate OP09-062-nico-robin's ramp effect, you have to trash a card with a Trigger effect and Yellow has tons of them to add to the list! OP09-062-nico-robin also has the Banish keyword, which means we want to attack the opponent's Leader with her whenever possible, forcing them to decide between countering the attack or having one of their Life cards trashed.
The general plan is to stall out the game, using OP08-106-nami and OP09-065-sanji to keep control of the field. We're usually trying to play OP09-119-monkeydluffy as early as possible for the Rush attack and extra card draw. However, when we're down to 1 Life card or less, then OP04-112-yamato or OP07-119-portgasdace become the premium Characters to play. OP04-112-yamato can KO a Character with a cost equal to or less than the total of your and your opponent's Life cards. OP04-112-yamato will also give you a Life card, forcing more attacks out of the opponent to win the game.
As for OP07-119-portgasdace, he's the go-to choice if you want an extra Life card and a Rush attacker to target a rested Character. OP07-119-portgasdace's 10,000 Power is great to KO a rested Character or at least force multiple Counter cards to protect their rested Character.
Closing Words
I'm excited for the OP09 card's release and the new meta to experience and evolve after the data we collected from East players. I think there's still room for the meta to develop, so it'll be interesting to see what players do with the new cards. The lists I shared performed well in East tournaments, but you can tweak them to suit your preferences or adapt to changes in the meta.
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.
