Table of Contents
- Liverpool Finals Tournament Report
- First Place Black Yellow Luffy
- Second Place Rob Lucci
- Top 8 Nami
- Top 8 Vinsmoke Reiju
- Top 8 Green Bonney
- Top 16 Black Luffy
- SIM Top-Played Decks
- Black Yellow Luffy
- Black Rob Lucci
- Green Bonney
- Blue Purple Vinsmoke Reiju
- Blue Nami
- Yellow Katakuri
- Blue Donquixote Doflamingo
- Black Luffy
- Yellow Enel
- Black Gecko Moria
- Closing Word
Heya everyone, welcome to the OPTCG Ranked Meta Report! We're going to do things a little differently this week. Instead of starting with the Ranked ladder meta report, we'll break down the Organized Play Event’s Liverpool Finals that happened this past weekend. Although OP08 cards are releasing on the 13th of September, we're still playing in OP07.5 meta this weekend.
The decklists I’ll share from the SIM have high play and win rates, but they aren't necessarily the ones you should play. Your choice should depend on your preference, locals, and the shifting meta. I’ll highlight the different cards that players on the ladder are using. I'll also share matchup data, but please keep in mind that I can't filter through 'rank,' so these data might not be accurate. Take it with a pinch of salt.
Liverpool Finals Tournament Report
We had the Liverpool OP07.5 finals this past weekend, the first competitive tournament in a meta with no ST10-001-trafalgar-law and OP03-098-enies-lobby. Since the upcoming weekend will still be in OP07.5 format, it's helpful to look at how this tournament went for players and which decks performed the best.
We had a total of 969 players participating in this event and thanks to Limitless data, we can break down the top 32 decks and see the lists players were on.
Deck distribution
| Deck Name | Number of decks |
| Rob Lucci | 136 |
| Jewelry Bonney | 131 |
| Black Yellow Luffy | 108 |
| Vinsmoke Reiju | 95 |
| Enel | 86 |
| Gecko Moria | 78 |
| Blue Doflamingo | 65 |
| Nami | 56 |
| Katakuri | 40 |
| Perona | 22 |
| ST14 Black Luffy | 19 |
| Other | 133 |
- Rob Lucci remains on top of the tournament meta, with 136 players bringing the back leader. Despite the Enies Lobby ban, Rob Lucci continues to perform in OP07.5, and we expected the Leader to be in the top 3 most-played decks.
- Followed closely by Green Bonney, this deck has a better meta experience with the ban or R/P Law, and it gained a lot of popularity on both the SIM and tournament scene.
- In this place, Black Yellow Luffy had 108 players, a deck that grabbed the "most-played deck" title on the SIM, beating most of the meta field and only truly struggling against the Green Bonney players.
- Although we continue to see Katakuri outperform Enel on the ranked SIM week after week, players still preferred Yellow Enel over Katakuri in this tournament.
- The new ST14 Black Luffy showed up, with only 19 players going for the risky bring to this tournament.
Top 32
| Deck Name | Number of decks |
| Rob Lucci | 8 |
| ST14 Black Luffy | 5 |
| Black Yellow Luffy | 4 |
| Jewelry Bonney | 4 |
| Nami | 4 |
| Katakuri | 2 |
| Vinsmoke Reiju | 2 |
| Gecko Moria | 1 |
| Enel | 1 |
| Blue Doflamingo | 1 |
Rob Lucci has the most showing in the top 8, which makes sense with the high number of players that brought the archetype to the tournament. What's interesting though is that ST14 Black Luffy is the second-best performer in the top 32! Only 19 players brought the deck and 5 of them managed to make the top cut, an incredible showing for the new Leader. The popularity of Rob Lucci definitely helped ST14 Black Luffy perform better since its cost increase makes it rough for Lucci players to KO characters.
All three decks: Jewelry Bonney, Black Yellow Luffy, and Blue Nami were tied for third place, each having 4 players in the top 32.
Despite Enel having twice the number of players than Katakuri in the whole tourney, only 1 Enel player managed to sneak into the top 32, whereas 2 Katakuri players made it into the top 32. The SIM stats have shown Katakuri is an overall better Yellow Leader right now, so we'll see if things change this weekend in the tournament scene.
Top 8
| Deck Name | Number of decks |
| Rob Lucci | 4 |
| Black Yellow Luffy | 1 |
| Nami | 1 |
| Vinsmoke Reiju | 1 |
| Green Bonney | 1 |
Rob Lucci crushed it, taking up half of the top 8! Unfortunately, none of the ST14 Black Luffy decks managed to get past the top 16. Two players lost in the top 32, and the remaining three players lost in the top 16. With 4 Rob Lucci in the top 8, ST14 Black Luffy could have had a great chance at winning it all.
Top 4
| First | Second | Third | Fourth |
| Black Yellow Luffy | Rob Lucci | Rob Lucci | Rob Lucci |
Three of the 4 Rob Lucci players ended up in the top 4, but it was Black Yellow Luffy who won it all. The perfect deck to beat on Rob Lucci players.
First Place Black Yellow Luffy
We talked last week about Black Yellow Luffy players cutting both ST13-010-portgasdace and ST13-011-portgasdace from their lists on the SIM, and the first place BY Luffy players did just that! They opted for a more control play style, using ST13-008-sabo, EB01-051-finger-pistol, and OP02-121-kuzan to KO Characters and OP02-096-kuzan and OP02-117-ice-age for the cost-reduction.
Second Place Rob Lucci
The second place Rob Lucci list is packed with cards to counter the Black Yellow Luffy matchup. OP07-091-monkeydluffy and OP06-092-brook can bypass the OP04-083-sabo KO immunity, so they can still remove threats off the field. Despite the teched list for the matchup, the Rob Lucci player fell short in the finals and ended up losing to Black Yellow Luffy.
The other two Rob Lucci lists in 3rd and 4th place weren't on OP07-091-monkeydluffy, but still had OP06-092-brook as an answer for those two popular matchups.
Top 8 Nami
Top 8 Vinsmoke Reiju
Top 8 Green Bonney
Top 16 Black Luffy
The three Black Luffy players that made it to the top 16 were on the same list. This version goes with the {Navy} type route, adding Brannew for the early draw and cards like Tashigi and T-Bone so you have high odds of finding a Navy.
EB01-046-brook, ST14-003-sanji, and OP07-118-sabo are the control Characters this deck relies on. Gecko Moria can bring back Rebecca from the trash which in turn can play out a Brook to KO a Character.
With the cost increase from Leader ST14-001-monkeydluffy and ST14-017-thousand-sunny, many decks can end up struggling to control the board. Rob Lucci for instance will need to commit more resources to put Characters in range for removal, Yellow decks might find their Gedatsu useless, and even BY Luffy might find themselves in awkward situations if they're trying to KO Characters with OP07-109-monkeydluffy or EB01-051-finger-pistol.
SIM Top-Played Decks
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Black Yellow Luffy
Although Black Yellow Luffy has been crushing the tournament scene, its win rate on the ranked ladder remains low, sitting at 47.5% win rate over 9416 games played this past week. This proves that the BY Luffy has a high skill ceiling, and only players who have mastered the deck are capable of performing with it. Most lists on the SIM have moved away from running Ace, a trend we've talked about since the start of OP07.5, the control approach is netting players better consistency and interaction with the opponent's side of the field.
This deck wants to drop to 0 Life cards and start activating Leader effect to cheat out the Adult brothers on the field. Gecko Moria is a crucial part of Black Yellow Luffy's game plan, as you'll often need to cheat out the kid brothers from the Trash and develop multiple Characters per turn to threaten more aggression.
Players are moving away from Ace and going for a more control approach, adding cards like OP02-121-kuzan and EB01-051-finger-pistol to KO opponent's Characters.
Here is the standard list with Ace, but many of the lists favor control tools and the winner of the Liverpool event was heavy on KO cards with no Ace cards in their list/
With Black Rob Lucci's popularity, Black Yellow Luffy is a great choice to bring to tournaments. By continuously playing OP04-083-sabo and shutting down Rob Lucci's KO effects, you'll force them into awkward plays where they'll rely on tech cards to have a chance at winning.
Good Against: Black Rob Lucci, Black Gecko Moria, Blue Purple Reiju.
Bad Against: Green Bonney, Yellow Enel, Blue Doffy, Blue Nami, Black Luffy.
Tech Cards
- OP03-078-issho is becoming a more popular addition to Black Yellow Luffy. Players aren't scared of getting aggroed down, and would rather add cards that better their matchup against slow-paced decks. Trashing two of the opponent's cards in hand can ruin their strategy, especially if we snipe key cards they're planning to play.
- OP03-121-thunder-bolt KO's a 5-cost or less character and synergizes with Black Yellow Luffy's strategy by putting it closer to 0 Life cards.
- ST13-008-sabo is a control card capable of KOing a 5-cost or less Character and self damages your Leader, getting you a step closer to your combo play.
Black Rob Lucci
Although Rob Lucci was gaining back its popularity quickly, heading to reclaim its first spot in play rate, it ended up remaining in second place. The deck dropped in win rate from 56.5% to 53.6% over 7868 games.
Black Rob Lucci is the strongest deck at controlling the opponent's side of the board, the main objective is to KO threats before they get the chance to attack. The deck uses OP05-093-rob-lucci to KO two targets and replays OP05-093-rob-lucci from the trash with cards like EB01-043-spandine and OP06-086-gecko-moria. It has cost-reduction cards to put targets in range for your removal cards to deal with.
OP07-091-monkeydluffy and OP06-092-brook are counters to the OP04-083-sabo play in decks like BY Luffy, Black Lucci, and Black Gecko Moria. Additionally, it's a solid approach against Green Bonney, who relies on OP05-030-donquixote-rosinante to protect their key Characters.
Rob Lucci is one of the most consistent decks in the OP07.5 meta, beating the majority of the meta field and only truly struggling against Black Yellow Luffy.
Good Against: Green Bonney, Blue Doffy, Purple Luffy, Blue Purple Reiju, Gecko Moria.
Bad Against: Black Yellow Luffy.
Tech Cards
- OP02-096-kuzan is best played on Don 4, offering a card draw and remaining as a cost-reduction resource if opponent doesn't remove him.
- OP03-095-soap-sheep is a consideration to add, allowing you to reduce the cost of two Characters, making it easier for you to KO two targets with Rob Lucci.
- Although many lists have dropped OP07-118-sabo, it's still a powerful card that some players are making use of in their lists. KOing two targets can shift the game in your favor, but unlike OP07-085-stussy, you need to back up OP07-118-sabo with cost reducers.
Green Bonney
Green Bonney remains in third place in terms of play rate, holding a 54.6% win rate over 6702 games.
Green Bonney had a rough time against RP Law's ability to remove key Characters like OP07-021-urouge and OP01-051-eustasscaptainkid-701. With Law out of the meta, it has had a better performance, especially with it beating Black Yellow Luffy, one of the most-played decks in the meta.
The Green Bonney deck excels at stalling the game using the Leader's rest effect, slowing down opponent aggression, and buying time to set up your late game. The strategy revolves around the Fortress game plan, where you protect your leader by setting up OP01-051-eustasscaptainkid-701 and protecting him with blockers. This makes it exceptionally difficult for opponents to go through while giving you the time to gradually set up attacks that bleed them out of Counter resources.
OP06-035-hody-jones is the main aggressor, joining the field, resting two of the opponent's Characters, and creating an aggressive 8,000-power attack. OP06-118-roronoa-zoro is another win condition, where the triple attack can destroy the opponent in one turn. Some decks don't have reliable tools to deal with him on the spot, so he shines in those matchups.
With the meta slowing down after R/P Law ban, players feel more comfortable adding more copies of OP06-118-roronoa-zoro, relying on him to win games. Multiple lists have started including OP04-119-donquixote-rosinante, giving them the ability to go wider on the field by cheating out a 5-cost Character.
Green Bonney is another top performer in the OP07.5 meta, it's a great choice if you're looking to beat Black Yellow Luffy players. Its main weakness is the Rob Lucci matchup, keeping the Green Bonney in check from fully dominating the scene.
Good Against: Yellow Enel, Black Yellow Luffy, Blue Purple Reiju, Purple Luffy.
Bad Against: Black Rob Lucci, Blue Doffy, Black Luffy.
Tech Cards
- Since you're resting a Character with Leader effect, OP01-054-xdrake could come in handy to KO a 4-cost Character.
- A couple of lists are including OP02-029-carrot in their lists along with OP04-119-donquixote-rosinante. She's a +2,000 Counter card and works similarly to OP07-021-urouge, giving you an Active Don to use on your defensive turn.
Blue Purple Vinsmoke Reiju
The main reason we weren't seeing much of OP06-042-vinsmoke-reiju in the meta was due to ST10-001-trafalgar-law ability to return Don, completely shutting down the OP06-042-vinsmoke-reiju player's game plan. The first week on the SIM after the ST10-001-trafalgar-law ban, OP06-042-vinsmoke-reiju skyrocketed in play rate, going from 8th most-played deck first place! However, after the first week, the frenzy slowly faded, and the deck kept dropping in popularity, now sitting at 4th place with 5476 games played and a 49.9% win rate.
Despite the drop in popularity, OP06-042-vinsmoke-reiju remains one of the most-played decks in OP07.5 meta and should remain on your radar when going into a tournament.
This deck relies on low-cost Vinsmoke Characters to cheat out their higher-cost versions. This enables a powerful field development but you'll have to return Don, slowing down your upcoming turns. Returning Don activates your Leader effect to draw a card, basically having a draw engine to keep the pressure going.
OP07-072-porche has given the archetype the ability to adopt a more aggressive game plan, especially if you're able to cheat out OP06-061-vinsmoke-ichiji early into the game. Returning 2 Don can keep you equal or below the R/P Law's total Don, giving you a fighting chance against the difficult matchup.
OP06-062-vinsmoke-judge is the strongest play in this deck, developing multiple Characters on the field, and setting the stage for one powerful turn to close out the game.
Vinsmoke Reiju's matchup table isn't looking the best. Although R/P Law isn't in the meta to bully Reiju players anymore, the deck is struggling against the top 3 performers, not a great sign for the deck's meta experience.
Good Against: Blue Nami, Blue Doffy, Green Black Perona.
Bad Against: Green Bonney, Black Yellow Luffy, Purple Luffy.
Tech Cards
- One Reiju list is running 1 copy of OP06-077-black-bug as a removal tool to a 5-cost or less Character by placing it at the bottom of the opponent's deck. So 5-cost Sabo can't stop it.
Blue Nami
If you like playing One Piece with different rules, Blue Nami is the deck for you. You're not looking to control the field or attack the opponent's Leader, instead, the main goal is to survive and mill yourself. Nami changes the game's rules, turning the mill game plan into a win condition. If you fall to 0 cards in your deck, you automatically win the game. This forces the opponent to approach the matchup aggressively, trying to close out the game before you drop to 0 cards in the deck.
The Blue Nami deck jumped from 7th place last week to 5th place, having 4475 games played and a win rate of 50.2%. The thing with Blue Nami is that it's capable of crushing certain matchups, but has an awful experience against some decks. Who you go up against extremely matters for the Blue Nami players and will dictate your tournament experience.
The R/P Law ban was the best thing that happened to Nami, removing one of its biggest counters from the meta. The rise of Reiju kept Blue Nami players in check, and with more players uping the number of OP06-118-roronoa-zoro copies in their Green Bonney lists, Blue Nami's performance in this matchup has declined.
Performing with Nami will heavily depend on which decks you go up against. The Blue deck can crush certain matchups, with almost nothing opponents can do to shut down your plan. However, decks that can play multiple Characters in one turn create an aggressive game plan that puts Nami in an awkward spot.
Good Against: Yellow Enel, BY Luffy, Black Luffy.
Bad Against: Blue Doflamingo, Blue Purple Reiju, Purple Luffy.
Yellow Katakuri
Katakuri continues to perform on the Ranked SIM for the 4th week in a row. On the first week of OP07.5, OP03-099-charlotte-katakuri barely held 10th place, on the third week, OP03-099-charlotte-katakuri jumped to 5th place! This past week, Katakuri fell to 6th place with 4370 games played but maintains a high win rate of 55%.
The Yellow Leader, OP03-099-charlotte-katakuri, pushes heavy attacks with his +1,000 effect and manipulates the Life area, increasing the odds of finding your Trigger cards on the right turns. The heavy attacks can be difficult for opponents to counter and will force more resources from them.
7-cost ST07-010-charlotte-linlin and 10-cost OP03-114-charlotte-linlin are the main win conditions for this deck, creating high power threats on the field and offering value through their Life card effects.
This list includes the 8-cost OP03-123-charlotte-katakuri, which can either add a Life card or remove one of your opponent's Characters from the field. It also opts to run more {Big Mom Pirates} type cards over OP04-104-sanji and OP05-105-satori.
With Katakuri's continuous rise in popularity week after week, the archetype still has a great matchup table, beating some of the popular meta decks and having a close-to-even matchup experience against decks like Green Bonney, Blue Purple Reiju, and Blue Nami. Its worst matchup is Black Yellow Luffy, which still is a close call, having a 48.4% win rate against it.
Good Against: Black Rob Lucci, Yellow Enel, Blue Doffy, Purple Luffy, Black Luffy.
Bad Against: BY Luffy.
Tech Cards
- OP04-104-sanji and OP05-105-satori are powerful and popular options in Yellow Katakuri because you can cheat them out on the field through their Trigger effects. OP05-105-satori can also be played as a +2,000 Counter if he's in your hand.
- OP05-115-two-hundred-million-volts-amaru is an offensive event, allowing you to rest a blocker and boost your attacker's Power by 3,000, allowing you to attack the opponent's Leader and potentially win the game. It also has a powerful trigger effect, trashing 2 cards from hand and giving you a Life card.
- OP04-107-charlotte-perospero is a Don 6 Vanilla card that sticks on the field as a heavy attacker. Players typically include one copy in their lists, with a maximum of two
Blue Donquixote Doflamingo
The Blue Doffy deck had 3642 games played and a 48.4% win rate this past week. This deck uses {The Seven Warlords of the Sea} type Characters as part of its gameplan, capable of cheating out Characters with Leader OP01-060-donquixote-doflamingo and OP07-045-jinbe.
The list has the control tools to keep opponents' aggression under check, using cards like OP04-056-gum-gum-red-roc and OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger to remove threats.
Blue Doffy is sort of a hit or miss, either you match against decks like Nami, Green Bonney, and B/Y Luffy and have a great tournament experience, or you end up crushed against Yellow Enel, Black Rob Lucci, or Yellow Katakuri.
Good Against: BY Luffy, Blue Nami, Green Bonney.
Bad Against: Yellow Enel, Black Gecko Moria, Black Rob Lucci, Blue Purple Reiju, Yellow Katakuri, Black Luffy.
Tech Cards
- An alternative win condition that develops two big bodies on the field. OP06-119-sanji can cheat out OP01-070-dracule-mihawk on the field, which in turn OP01-070-dracule-mihawk removes a 7-cost or less threat off the field. This is the strongest play in the deck that should put you ahead on the field.
Black Luffy
For the first time, Black Luffy has broken into the top 10 most-played decks on the ranked ladder. It currently sits at 8th place, less than 15 games away from overtaking Blue Doflamingo. It has 3629 games played and a 53.3% win rate. With the deck's success in Liverpool, and so far holding up well on the ranked ladder, it's a matter of time until we see it overtake more decks in the top 10.
Black Luffy is a control deck that KO's opponent's characters using Brook, Sanji, and 8-cost Sabo. With Leader and ST14-017-thousand-sunny increasing the cost of your characters, it makes it more difficult for some decks to control your side of the field. Characters like Rob Lucci, Gedatsu, and OP07-109-monkeydluffy will have a harder time finding value with their KO effects.
Black Luffy is beating the two popular decks Green Bonney and BY Luffy on the ranked ladder. However, it has a close matchup against Rob Lucci, having a 46.5% win.
Good Against: Green Bonney, Blue Doffy, BY Luffy.
Bad Against: Yellow Katakuri, Blue Nami, Rob Lucci.
Yellow Enel
Yellow Enel continues to lose popularity, falling to 9th place in week 4 of OP07.5. Despite the loss in popularity, the deck still holds a positive win rate of 52.9 with 2645 games played.
This deck can adopt a slow game plan, keeping the field in check until its high-cost Characters join the battlefield. OP05-102-gedatsu is usually the go-to play for the mid-game control before relying on other control cards like OP07-109-monkeydluffy, EB01-059-kingdom-come, and OP04-112-yamato.
With its ability to gain Life cards through OP05-098-enel, OP04-112-yamato, and OP07-119-portgasdace, it can be tough for opponents to set up a winning turn, eventually running them out of steam.
Yellow Enel losing to Green Bonney and Rob Lucci, while also getting completely decimated by Blue Nami is dropping this deck's popularity week after week. Its only saving grace is the Black Yellow Luffy matchup, which has kept the deck relevant in tournaments so far.
Good Against: Blue Doflamingo, BY Luffy, Purple Luffy, Rob Lucci.
Bad Against: Green Bonney, Blue Nami, Yellow Katakuri.
Tech Cards
- ST13-008-sabo and OP03-121-thunder-bolt are field control cards that KO mid-game threats to slow down the opponent's pace. ST13-008-sabo is being included in one of the most popular lists played on the ladder.
Black Gecko Moria
Gecko Moria overtook Rob Lucci on the first week of OP07.5, but that didn't last long. The archetype has been losing popularity, now barely remaining in the top 10 most-played decks. Gecko Moria has a 50.7% win rate over 2534 games played.
This deck highly relies on Leader Gecko Moria's ability to cheat out {Thriller Bark Pirates} characters, each with unique effects contributing to the game plan. OP06-086-gecko-moria is a central part of this deck's game plan, offering value from the Trash and creating opportunities to KO threats.
The majority of the lists now include OP02-099-sakazuki-404 as a powerful mid-game control tool that sticks on the field as a high-power attacker.
I don't see a reason to go with Black Gecko Moria over Black Rob Lucci. Moria's matchup table isn't looking the best, struggling against Rob Lucci and BY Luffy. If you're going into a tournament knowing you'll have a rough time against BY Luffy, you might as well increase your chances of beating Rob Lucci and Green Bonney.
Good Against: Purple Luffy, Blue Doffy.
Bad Against: BY Luffy, Black Rob Lucci.
Tech Cards
- OP02-099-sakazuki-404 has a strong KO effect to control the field, it's also a high Power attacker. The downside is that it forces you to trash a card from hand to activate the KO effect.
- OP02-114-borsalino is a blocker to protect your Leader or key Characters that can't be KO'd through effects.
Closing Word
The ranked stats aren't always definitive metrics to use for the tournament competitive scene, but they give you a general idea of which decks are most popular and the cards people are experimenting with. It's an extra method to help you prepare for regional tournaments.
To start your ladder climb, join TCG Match Making's Discord server. This is it from me, if you want to keep up with my content, consider following me on Twitter!
