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Hello, dear nakamas. After some time in other seas (including many articles for Magic: The Gathering) we are back, and in what way! OP-06 Wings of the Captain is close to its release in the West and with it, the pre-release event is close to happening.
The pre-release events will take place between March 8 and 14 of this year. The format is the organizer's choice. It can be a constructed format event, meaning it would be a tournament in the traditional format or a sealed format. The latter is what matters to us for this article.
This format is quite well known for events of this type for almost any card game. If you have never attended a pre-release of a new collection, whether in One Piece or any other game, in this guide I am going to explain how it works in detail, including the important details that differentiate the sealed format of One Piece from another card game.
This includes the rules of the format, tips for getting the best possible result at the event at your local store, the prizes, and how to prepare and practice for it. Shall we begin?
The Rules
- Players open a set number of booster packs from specified sets and build their decks using only the cards they open.
- Unlike the standard play, you can ignore the normal deck-building color restrictions based on your leader and can include cards of any color in your deck. There are additional special rules for deck building.
- 6 Packs is the suggested number of packs. Each participant should use the same number of packs.
- You may bring your leader (including those from previous sets) to use in the event.
- Bring 10x DON!! cards.
Deck Construction Rules
After opening 6 packs, players build a 40-card deck, and a 10 DON!! card deck. There are no banned or restricted cards, and players can include as many copies of cards with the same card number as they like. (There is no 4-card limit and 5 or more copies of a card with the same card number can be included in decks.) Any cards left over from deck construction are treated as sideboard cards.
Suggested Match Format
Use a Swiss draw format to match players with the closest win rates.
Sideboard
Cards not used in decks are treated as sideboard cards. In between games, players can exchange cards in their deck with cards in their sideboard. Players can exchange as many cards between deck and sideboard as they like, so long as they have a legal number of cards in their deck.
Special Game Rules
In sealed format games, players can ignore deck color requirements based on their leader. For example: If you are playing with the Red starter deck ST01-001-monkey.d.luffy as your leader, you would be restricted to only having red cards in your deck. However, in sealed you can use cards of any color in your deck, even though your leader is only Red.
All other card restrictions still apply as normal, including effects listed on leaders that specify names or colors.
Example 1: With your leader as OP01-060-donquixote-doflamingo, you may search for [The Seven Warlords of the Sea] type of Character cards when triggering his ability.
Example 2: When using the ability of OP01-067-crocodile "Blue Event cards in your hand cost 1 less to play" would only apply to Blue Event cards - This would not apply to Event cards of other colors.
Prizes
Participation
P-045 Roronoa Zoro
OP-06 Pre-Release Pack
- 2 cards per pack
- 75 types in total
- Pre-Release Gold Stamped cards are from Wings of the Captain [OP-06] Common and Uncommon cards.
Winner
P-045 Roronoa Zoro (Silver Foil + Gold Stamp)
Now that we have the details of the event clearer, let's move on to the tips and tricks and more detailed knowledge about the format.
Leaders
There are several leaders who throughout the pre-releases of previous collections have positioned themselves as the best choices for this type of event. Other ones are good options because of some Wings of the Captains cards. Let's look at them one by one and the reason for it.
Eustass "Captain" Kid
One of the most popular choices for this type of event is the Kid from ST02. Having the ability to attack a second time with the leader is something that makes a significant difference in this format.
In addition, it's important to note that when choosing our leader it's key to choose one whose ability does not require any very specific cost or condition to meet.
Roronoa Zoro
A genetic effect, at a low cost, and that enhances the attack. Without a doubt an exceptional leader if in your opening you get many characters who can quickly fill the table and swarm your opponent.
Charlotte Katakuri
7K swings for only 1 DON!! is something that cannot be ignored, especially in this type of event.
Furthermore, the extra information that Katakuri can give us is very important in Wings of the Captain. In OP06 there are many triggers. Controlling them will give you an exceptional advantage.
Crocodile
Blue Croc is another leader that can take advantage of the OP06 format. Although it is usually chosen in these types of events for the definitive factor of returning a character to the hand and closing games at key moments, in The Wings of the Captain some cards give us additional effects if we have less DON!! than our opponent.
Have both eyes wide open when cracking your booster packs. If you get these cards in your boosters, don't hesitate to opt for Croc.
Monkey. D. Luffy
I have already mentioned the importance and usefulness of leaders with generic and simple effects. Red Luffy enters this classification without a doubt.
I will take advantage of this leader's space to point out that in these types of events, it's also very important to play generally with leaders with 5 lives. While some with fewer lives are situational options, generally you're going to want to play with as many lives as possible.
Arlong
Let's talk a little about specific leaders and what you can play based on the cards you get from your boosters.
Green Yellow Arlong is an excellent option for OP06 if you get a lot of trigger cards in your opening. Wings of the Captain is a set with more Trigger cards than usual, so having a copy of this leader on hand can be quite beneficial.
Rob Lucci
An alternative to ST02-001-eustasscaptainkid is Rob Lucci. It's important to know that in this format removal is usually rare, however, Wings of the Captain is an exception.
There is a relevant number of cards that can allow us to K.O. an opponent's character. If you open multiple copies of cards with these effects, playing Rob Lucci instead of Eustass is a real option.
Yamato
If I have to choose one of the new leaders, Green Yellow Yamato is the best choice. Having the chance of attacking twice is something very relevant in sealed. This Yamato can't attack twice but it has Double Attack which deals two damage. This is in some cases better than two swings.
Also, having the ability to pressure dying opponents giving 2 rested DON!! to 1 of our characters is great in a format when we want to close the game as soon as possible.
2K Counters
Having as many 2K counters as possible is a priority. In my case, I would play every copy I get of these cards in my deck. It may sound extreme, but the reality is that there will not be too many of them and that is why it's important to prioritize them. This is because only two of these cards are common. The rest are uncommon or higher.
Some of these cards have interesting effects and you may find yourself needing to play them, however, the 3 that I consider to have the least flashy effects and that I would play almost exclusively as 2K counters would be Sora, Cindry, and Zeo.
Blockers
Like the 2K counters, you must play as many blockers as possible. Generally, you will hear that people recommend playing between 4 and 8. However, I think we must point out that the correct thing to do is to play all the ones that come out of your boosters because it will be difficult for you to have many, due to the rarity of the cards.
2 cost blockers are very important, usually a bit more than expensive blockers. Keep it in mind.
Do you remember what I pointed out regarding the beneficial effects of having equal or less DON!! than the opponent? I pointed this out above in the reasons to play ST03-001-crocodile. OP06-067-vinsmoke-yonji is an example of this.
OP06-072-cosette would be the exception to the rule. For it to be able to function as a blocker you would have to have opened a Reiju and also decided to choose it as your leader, something that I do not think is highly recommended given the options indicated above in this article.
Vanillas
If you don't know what a character is called Vanilla, this is a way to call any character, creature, or similar that has no effect in any card game.
One of the main reasons for its existence is precisely these types of formats. This is why they are the cream of the crop in your deck in a One Piece pre-release. Try to play all the ones you have at your disposal.
In the sealed formats of One Piece, it is not common for there to be too much removal so bodies with good attack with an efficient cost are important. The 3-5000, and the 4-6000 are usually the most important.
In OP06 there is a curiosity that there are no 2-cost vanilla characters, keep this in mind when building your deck and when anticipating early play by your opponents.
Counter Events
There are several useful events in this format. However, the three that I present here seem undoubtedly the most relevant to me, the Counter ones.
Getting the additional effect of OP06-038-the-billion-fold-world-trichiliocosm is not easy. Either way, +2K for 1 DON!! It seems quite efficient to me.
As for OP06-096-nothingat-all, it works as global protection since it's highly likely that all the characters you have on the field when you decide to use this card are of cost 7 or lower. Without a doubt, a card is capable of changing the course of a game on its own.
OP06-115-youre-the-one-who-should-disappear It's really important to maintain the pressure since it allows us to give +3,000 for 0. This means that we can continue using our resources to develop the board and still be able to increase the power of our leader or one of our characters. The Trigger is also widely relevant.
OP06-059-white-snake would be a Counter event that I would play if I don't get enough of the aforementioned Counter Events. +1K is not that much but the fact that this card auto-replaces itself is good enough for considering it.
Removal Events
All these cards are to take care of the enemy characters. Some of these events K.O., and others return characters to the bottom of the deck or rest them. Whatever the case, having removal whenever possible is a priority to have control of the field.
OP06-018-gum-gum-king-kong-gatling would only work as Removal per se if it came out as a trigger. However, the +3K or potential +4 is also relevant enough to be played from hand without any problem.
Must Run Characters
All of these characters have abilities that make them powerful enough that I would consider playing them as long as I have them available in my card pool. Even played all their copies if I were lucky enough to open more than one copy of any of them.
Some are SR and not only are you unlikely to have multiples, but it will be very rare that you will be lucky enough to open one. However, if you manage to get your hands on any of them, don't hesitate for a moment to put them in your deck.
Good to Have Characters
After putting all the 2K counters, blockers, vanillas, events, and powerful characters in my deck, if I still had room which I probably do, I would consider filling the spaces with any of these characters. They are all good enough to be relevant on the curve or at least in general terms.
If after this you still have space, that is where you would have to look for fillers. If this is the case, think about separating your deck by curve, that is, by cost, and try to put characters that help you have something to play every turn. If after filling the deck with everything mentioned above you did not have characters of cost three, for example, then you would look for your filler characters to preferably be of this cost.
Go First or Go Second?
Being able to attack first is usually relevant in a sealed deck event, however, analyze your deck carefully before starting the rounds. If your curve has important characters at odd costs, i.e. 1/3/5, etc, going first may be a good option. The same is the case if your powerful cards are of even cost, 2/4/6, etc, going second would give you some advantage of putting your powerful cards on the field first.
Practice
You can use a pack opening simulator like this: https://www.optcg.gg/pack-simulator
Then, you can build a deck with the cards with our deck builder.
That would serve to practice the sealed deck-building process. Then you can import the decklist to the sim and play some private matches against your friends.
Ending
And with this, we conclude the first guide for a One Piece pre-release!
It's been exciting to take a look at the cards that will soon be part of the constructed format and what we can do with them in our sealed deck events happening in a few days. If you have any questions about this, do not hesitate to contact me:
- On Discord as bohettv
- On my Twitter
- Via email at [email protected]
- On Twitch (where I'll probably be playing Marvel Snap, although at this rate, games of the One Piece simulator are starting to be part of the regular schedule).
Ah! And of course; If you have started playing Drago Ball Super: Fusion World, Demian, a widely recognized creator in the scene of this game has also already made a guide for the DBS Fusion World Sealed Battle Celebration Event. Don't hesitate to take a look here: https://dotgg.gg/dragon-ball-super-card-game-fusion-world/
And in the meantime, dear nakamas, thanks for reading, and don’t forget to smile; I assure you that it makes a difference, see you at Egghead!
