Table of Contents
Heya everyone! With OP08 finally out in the West, we get new Leaders that'll have their impact on the meta. Red Blue Marco, is one of the new OP08 Leaders that combines draw value and board control as part of its game plan. Since he's a {Whitebeard Pirates} type Leader, we can include {Whitebeard Pirates} cards that synergize with his strategy.
With the Red Blue Marco deck, you're trying to maintain control of the field using your cards' KO effects, while building up for your late-game, developing high-cost threats to win you games.
Gameplan
To activate his effects, you must attach a Don to OP08-002-marco. You can draw a card from your deck and place a card from your hand to the top or bottom of the deck, filtering your hand for better cards and finding the key cards you'll need for the matchup. Additionally,
In the early game, we have OP03-003-izo to draw us a {Whitebeard Pirates} card and Leader's cycle effect to help us shape up our later stages of the game. This deck can maintain control of the field in the mid-game, using the Leader effect, you can reduce the power of characters, allowing you to KO threats and slow down the opponent's aggression until you develop your win conditions. In the late game, we can start playing our high-cost Characters, OP06-119-sanji being the strongest play, capable of cheating out a character from the top of your deck.
The double Marcos are difficult for opponents to remove off the field thanks to their effects. OP02-018-marco is a blocker who can protect your Leader or key characters, but if he gets KO'd, you can trash 1 {Whitebeard Pirates} card from your hand to replay him from the trash rested, You have to have 2 or Less life cards for this effect to activate.
As for OP03-013-marco, he can KO a 3,000 Power or less Character through his On Play effect. So combined with Leader Marco's -2,000 Power reduction effect, you can KO up to 5,000 Power characters. So we're usually opting to play OP03-013-marco on Don 6, activating Leader effect and removing one of the opponent's Characters to weaken their presence on the field.
If OP03-013-marco is KO'd, you can trash an Event to replay him on the field. He will also be rested, but at 6,000 Power, he's bothersome for the opponent to find another way to remove it.
It's usually worth trashing a card to replay those Characters on the field if we're confident we can keep them there. This maintains our presence on the field, allowing us to have attackers for our upcoming turn to either go aggressively on their Leader or focus on KOing rested Characters.
Since we're usually aiming to play OP03-013-marco on Don 6, OP07-053-portgasdace is perfect as a Don 5 play, capable of filtering your hand and finding the key cards you'll need for your late game and acting as a 6,000 Power blocker to protect your Leader.
OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh is a strong late-game play we aim to play on Don 8 or 9. When played, OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh reduces the power of two of the opponent's characters by -3,000 and -2,000 until the end of the opponent's upcoming turn. One of the characters we targeted can be KO'd through OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh's effect, the other if it's rested, will be vulnerable to attackers. If the second character can't be KO'd the power-reduction will stick on your defensive turn, lowering the threat of that specific character.
So technically, we can KO a 6,000 Power Character with OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh, but if we play him on Don 9, we can activate the Leader effect, to KO up to 8,000 Power Character.
OP02-004-edwardnewgate-511 has the highest Power in this deck, a massive threat when goes for the attack. When he's played, he'll give your Leader a +2,000 Power boost, that will stick until the end of the opponent's turn. Since we're gaining a Power boost on our Leader, we want to hold off our Leader attack until OP02-004-edwardnewgate-511 is played, going for a 7,000 Power attack (if we're on Don 9) and forcing more Counter cards from the opponent.
The +2,000 Power boost sticking on our defensive turn means we have an extra layer of protection, forcing opponents to commit more Don on their Characters to damage our Leader. It'll also be easier to Counter attacks, demanding fewer resources.
Moreover, attaching 2 Don to OP02-004-edwardnewgate-511 and going for the attack lets you KO a 3,000 Power Character. Combined with Leader Marco's cost reduction, you're now KOing a 5,000 Power Character, perfect to remove a certain threat or a blocker preventing you from targeting their Leader.
On 10 Don, we're looking to play OP06-119-sanji combined with the Leader effect. We'll first activate the Leader effect to place a high-cost character at the top of our deck. So OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh or OP02-004-edwardnewgate-511 are the usual characters we want to cheat out with OP06-119-sanji, developing two high-cost Characters in one turn.
This is setting the stage for a powerful upcoming turn, with two high-power attachers that could close out the game or put the opponent low enough for an extra turn to win the game.
Events
Since we have multiple cards with no Counter effect, OP04-016-bad-manners-kick-course makes sense as an inclusion in the deck, allowing you to have a protection Event to protect your Leader and prolong the game.
As for OP02-021-seaquake, it's a low-cost Event to KO a 3,000 Power Character. Combined with Leader Marco or OP01-006-otama's Power reduction effect, you can KO higher-cost Characters.
OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger is the strongest removal card in this deck, placing two of the opponent's characters with a 6-cost or less at the bottom of their deck. This is usually a great play on Don 7 if the opponent has two Characters capable of damaging your Leader. The fact that we're placing them at the bottom of the deck instead of KO means we can bypass KO immunity effects like OP02-114-borsalino or OP04-083-sabo.
Its trigger effect is also extremely useful, allowing you to place a 5-cost or less Character at the bottom of the opponent's deck without having to worry about using up Don. This could potentially shut down an aggressive turn for the opponent.
Techs and Options
These are two popular Events players are including in their lists. OP03-018-fire-fist trashes a card from your hand and KO's two Characters, giving you control over the field. Combined with your Leader's Power reduction, you're capable of dealing with higher Power threats.
OP03-056-sanjis-pilaf is for draw value, you're the happiest player if you activate its trigger effect, getting 2 draws without having to use up any Don.
OP02-013-portgasdace reduces the Power of two of the opponent's Characters, making it easier for you to KO them. Along with his Rush attack, he's adding tons of pressure on the turn he's played.
ST15 Cards
One of the best additions to Red Blue Marco deck once Starter 15 cards are out. ST15-002-edwardnewgate can be played on Don 7 and KO's a 5,000 Power or less Character if you rest him. Since ST15-002-edwardnewgate is attaching 1 Don to Leader Marco, we're now able to KO a 7,000 Power Character.
This is a Rush attacker that remains on the field if it's removed the first time. It will lose 2,000 Power, so removing it a second time should be easier for the opponent, but we're still expending valuable resources from them.
A +2,000 Counter card that can reduce the Power of one of the opponent's Characters by 2,000 and self-damage your leader. He could find use if you're trying to KO a high-cost threat or need those Life card resources in hand.
General Tips
- Use the Leader effect on early turns even when you're not attacking. You can filter your hand by drawing a card and placing a card you don't need at the bottom of the deck.
- We have a lot of cards with no Counter effects, so if we end up with too many of them in our hand, we have to use Leader draw effect to fix up our hand and find Counter cards.
- Preserve your Life cards when possible. We want to hit the late game and go for the OP06-119-sanji + High-cost Character play. The longer the game stretches out, the better our odds of winning will be.
Mulligan Tips
- OP03-003-izo searcher is always good at helping shape up our future turns.
- OP02-018-marco and OP03-013-marco are solid keeps for the mid-game.
- Having a OP06-119-sanji guarantees a powerful late-game. If we have multiple of them and don't expect to play all of them, we can place them at the bottom of the deck with Leader effect.
- If you're up against a matchup where you know the opponent will be holding a lot of cards in their hand, then mulligan for /OP06-047-charlotte-pudding since she can be a game changer, cutting down on their resources.
Important Matchups
Black Rob Lucci
- You're up against a control deck with multiple cards that can KO your characters. The plan here is to attack their Leader whenever possible while relying on your removal tools to keep their field in check.
- The 4-cost and 5-cost Marcos are great in this matchup since when KO'd you can bring them back in play, maintaining attackers for your upcoming turn.
- We can't let OP08-084-jack stick on the field for too long. He's a removal tool for the opponent that is also filtering their hand. On Don 9, we can use Leader effect + OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh to KO him.
Black Yellow Luffy
- Leader Black Yellow Luffy wants to take the early hits and drop down to 0 Life cards as early as possible to start activating the Leader effect, cheating out the adult brothers on the field and boosting the Power of their Leader.
- Sabo will shut down our KO effects.
- OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger is a premium card in this matchup, placing two of the opponent's characters at the bottom of their deck. This prevents them from replaying those Characters from the Trash.
- In the late game, they'll use Gecko Moria for the value he provides and they'll gain a +4,000 Power boost on their Leader. So our plan is to develop the high-power characters and start swinging multiple times, forcing them to use their blocker Sabo and bleed them out of Counter resources.
- Blockers can be valuable in this matchup to protect our Leader. The longer this game takes, the more of a threat our high-cost Characters will be.
Green Bonney
- We're up against a deck that can stall out the game by preventing a character or Leader from attacking. If they have a Don to use on their defensive turn, make sure to attack with your strongest Character first to present more of a threat and not have it rested by Leader Bonney.
- OP07-021-urouge, EB01-012-cavendish, and OP08-023-carrot are characters we can't afford to leave on the field for too long. We can KO OP07-021-urouge through Leader effect + OP03-013-marco or OP02-021-seaquake. EB01-012-cavendish and OP08-023-carrot are 6,000 Power so we can rely on OP06-058-gravity-blade-raging-tiger or OP08-118-silvers-rayleigh.
- Roronoa Zoro is the main threat with his triple attack turn. We don't have a reliable way to remove him.
Closing Words
Red Blue Marco is a powerful deck in the OP08 meta and will gain a boost in performance when the Starter 15 cards are released in the West. The control aspect of this deck slows down the opponent's pace, buying you enough time to shift the game in your favor with the Sanji + high-cost Character play.
