Black Gecko Moria received a huge hit with the ban of 8-cost Gecko Moria and Ice Age. Since then, we haven’t seen much of Black Moria in the meta at all. However, things might be taking a different turn with the introduction of 6-cost Gecko Moria in PRB02 expansion.
6-cost Gecko Moria offers multiple developments in one turn and the value you’ll need to keep going in the late game. The Thriller Bark Pirates deck is all about cheating out characters from your trash and going for multiple developments in the mid-game to overwhelm the opposing player.
Leader
Leader Gecko Moria requires 3 Don to activate his effect, so you can start going for it as early as turn 2. To activate Gecko Moria‘s effect, you need to attach 1 Don before attacking and then rest 2 Don. You can then trash a card from your hand, trash 2 cards from the top of your deck, and play 1 {Thriller Bark Pirates} type Character with a cost of 4 or less from your Trash.
So we must have a {Thriller Bark Pirates} type Character like Absalom, Perona, and Dr. Hogback in our trash to cheat out through the Leader effect. Since Leader Gecko Moria lets you trash a card of your choosing from your hand, you can trash the {Thriller Bark Pirates} type Character you want to cheat out on the field, giving you control over what you have in the Trash.
We also have other ways of getting cards in the trash, so we’re not only tied to the Leader effect to get cards in our trash. Each of the {Thriller Bark Pirates} type Characters has a unique effect, which we’ll choose which to play depending on the state of the game.
Black Gecko Moria Decklist
How to Play
4-cost Thriller Bark Characters
These Characters are the main reason why this deck works, allowing you to cheat them from the trash through Leader Gecko Moria‘s effect whenever you need them. Each Thriller Bark Pirate has a unique effect that you’ll make use of in different situations.
4-cost Absalom is your strongest Character in the deck, allowing you to control the opponent’s side of the field by KOing a 2-cost or less Character with him. You will have to combine Absalom with your cost-reduction cards like Tempest Kick, Tsuru, and Hina to KO higher-cost Characters.
You can cheat Absalom through Leader effect, so you have a reliable answer to remove the opponent’s Characters as long as you have the cost-reduction cards to put the target in range. Absalom is also a 5,000 Power attacker, posing a threat when he attacks and forcing opponents to KO him.
You can choose one of Perona‘s On Play effects; the first forces the opponent to trash a card from their hand, and the second gives a -3 cost reduction to one of their Characters. Your opponent has to have 5 cards or more in their hand for Perona‘s effects to activate.
Perona is a great option to cheat out through your Leader’s effect on turn 2, especially if you’re going first, forcing your opponent to trash a card from their hand and slowly bleed them out of resources. You’ll usually use Perona for her trash effect, but she can also find value for her +2,000 Counter effect.
Dr. Hogback lets you add a {Thriller Bark Pirates} type card from your trash to your hand, other than Dr. Hogback. So you can get back the likes of Perona, Absalom, Ryuma, or 6-cost Moria. Picking up Perona can be nice if you need a Counter card, whereas Ryuma is a better choice if you need to add more pressure on the field. 6-cost Moria is the best choice to keep going wide on the field and overwhelm the opposing player, especially in a slow-paced game where value matters a lot.
Absalom and Dr. Hogback will have you put 2 cards from your trash at the bottom of the deck to activate their effects, so you want to choose cards you don’t expect to need for upcoming turns. Events are a great choice to put back in the deck, or if you have multiple copies of a card that you know you won’t need, they can go to the bottom of the deck.
Ryuma is great against 5 health Leaders, gaining Double Attack if you attach 1 Don to him and forcing your opponent to play most of their Counter cards or give up on 2 of their Life cards. This can put your opponent low on Life cards, making it easier to set up a winning turn.
Cost Reduction
3-cost Hina is a great cost reducer, giving -4 cost reduction to one of the opponent’s Characters. She’s also a 5,000 Power Character, so she can attack the opponent’s Leader or a rested Character, posing offensive pressure. Hina can also be played through Rebecca, so you can pull her from the Trash when you need cost reduction.
4-cost Kuzan is your best play early into the game, giving you a draw and threatening to reduce the cost of an opponent’s Character when he goes for the attack. Your opponent is forced to remove him as early as possible to shut down the cost reduction.
Tsuru is a 1-cost Character that reduces the cost of one of the opponent’s Characters by -2. She’s also a +2,000 Counter, so you can use her to protect yourself from an attack.
Tempest Kick becomes your mid-game ace, drawing you a card while reducing the cost of an opponent’s character by -3. And hitting the condition for Tempest Kick isn’t hard with Leader Gecko Moria‘s ability to trash 2 cards on every attack. Technically, you need to be at 9 cards in Trash for the cost reduction effect to activate, since playing Tempest Kick will put it in the Trash, making the total cards in there 10.
Other Control Cards
3-cost Brook is another KO Character and synergizes with Rebecca. He can KO a 0-cost Character, but since he has a -1 cost-reduction built into his effect, you’ll need that target to be a 1-cost for Brook to KO. Brook can reactivate his effect when he attacks, giving you the cost reduction and KO effects to control the field. This means opponents will try their best to remove Brook before you get too much value out of him.
Finger Pistol is a strong removal Event, KOing a 5-cost or less Character and trashing two cards from the top of your deck. It also has a powerful trigger, activating its effect with no downside. So if your opponent has a Character on the field that falls in the range of Finger Pistol, you can KO it, which can be devastating for the opposing player if they haven’t attacked with that Character yet.
Blockers
Cerberus is a 2-cost Blocker to tank a hit for us, protecting our Leader or rested Character. We can play Cerberus through Leader Moria’s effect, which might be a lifesaver in the late game when we need that blocker to protect our Leader.
Rebecca is a star player in this deck, serving as a blocker while also fetching black characters with a cost ranging from 3 to 7 from the Trash to your hand. Plus, she can play a black character with a cost of 3 or less, allowing you to cheat out Hina for the cost reduction or Brook for the KO effect.
Gecko Moria
6-cost Gecko Moria is the strongest play in this deck. When played, 6-cost Gecko Moria lets us cheat out a 4-cost or less Character from our trash. So we can play one of our Thriller Bark Pirates Characters, Rebecca, or Kuzan. The Character will join in rested, but we’re still going wider on the field and activating a Character’s effect. Rebecca, for example, can cheat out Hina or Brook to help control the field.
6-cost Gecko Moria can also attach a rested Don to our Leader or one of our Characters. This enables us to activate our Leader’s effect when we’re at Don 8, getting to cheat out another Character to develop 3 Characters in one turn.
Gecko Moria acts as a value engine to win the late-game and ensure we don’t lose steam. If we don’t have a 6-cost Moria in hand, Dr. Hogback can pull one from the trash for us to play. Through Leader Moria‘s effect, we can play Dr. Hogback from the trash to get access to the 6-cost Moria, a combo we can make on Don 9 to develop 3 Characters in one turn, even if 6-cost Moria isn’t in our hand.
General Tips
- Going first is usually good for Gecko Moria as you’re able to cheat out a 4-cost Character on turn 2.
- If you don’t have the Thriller Bark Pirate Character you need in your trash, you can trash it through your Leader’s effect from your hand to play it from the trash. If your hand is bricked, you can play Victoria Cindry to add the top 5 cards of your deck to the trash and hopefully find the Character you need to cheat out.
- When trashing a card through Leader effect, pick the one you least need for the upcoming turns or a card you prefer having in the trash rather than in your hand. Cards like Hina or Ryuma are dead cards on defensive turns, so you can trash them and then replay them through your effects.
- Since we’re developing multiple Characters in one turn, Black Gecko Moria is capable to aggro down opponents, dropping them low on Life cards and forcing them to take a defensive approach.
Mulligan Tips
- Going First: Perona, Absalom, and Ryuma.
- Going Second: Kuzan, Perona, Absalom, and Ryuma.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don):
- Turn 2 (3 Don): Cheat out Perona with the Leader effect.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): Cheat out Perona or Ryuma with the Leader effect.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): 6-cost Gecko Moria. Or cheat out Perona or Absalom + develop a Character from hand. Absalom is usually the play to KO a Character and keep control of the field.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): 6-cost Gecko Moria + Leader effect.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): 6-cost Gecko Moria + Leader effect.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don):
- Turn 2 (4 Don): Kuzan or cheat out Perona or Ryuma with the Leader effect.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): 6-cost Gecko Moria. You can play Hina + Leader effect Absolam to KO a Character.
- Turn 4 (8 Don): 6-cost Gecko Moria + Leader effect.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): 6-cost Gecko Moria + Leader effect.
Other Cards to Include
- Sabo is a 5-cost Blocker that filters your hand for better cards by drawing you two cards and letting you trash the two cards you need the least. He’ll also give KO immunity to all your Characters until the end of the opponent’s upcoming turn, which can disrupt the opponent’s strategy.
- Issho can cut down on the opponent’s resources, trashing 2 cards from their hand if they have 6 or more cards in their hand. Additionally, giving 1 Don to Issho will activate his cost-reduction effect, lowering the cost of all opponents’ Characters by -3, which will make it easier to KO Characters on the upcoming turn.
Closing Words
With the addition of PRB02 Gecko Moria, we might see a resurgence of Black Moria in the OP12 meta. The deck received a strong value card that ensures you don’t run out of steam in the late-game. You’re now capable of developing multiple Characters in a turn to overwhelm the opposing player and still won’t easily run out of steam to continue developing threats in the later stages of the game.
