The EB02 expansion brings us the fresh Green Purple Monkey D. Luffy and loads of cards that upgrade your favorite old decks, boosting the current meta.
This is a fresh new meta since the East still had Blue Doflamingo and Black Yellow Luffy dominating the scene. Green Purple Luffy will undoubtedly be on top of the EB02 meta, but will we see the other top meta decks rival it for first place?
In this article, we’ll chat about how the EB02 meta is evolving and spotlight the decks you should keep an eye on if you’re gearing up for competitive play.
Green Purple Monkey D.Luffy
The new Green Purple Monkey D.Luffy quickly made a name for itself in OP10/EB02 meta, beating almost anything in its path and becoming the best deck to play!
Lists look different among players, but as they experimented with the Leader’s capabilities, more players have been shifting to a more aggressive playstyle, trying to win games quickly.
Leader Luffy deramps 2 Don to give you 2 Active Don, which creates a powerful turn to either play more than one Character or go for aggressive attacks, trying to put your opponent in a tough spot.
5-cost Sanji & Pudding is a core part of this deck, ramping you for 1 Don whenever you deramp, which should allow you to activate your Leader effect without falling behind in the game.
6-cost Monkey D.Luffy is the strongest Character in this list, and it’s the main reason why this deck is so good. When played, you can go for a Rush attack, keeping an aggressive strategy, however, its true strength is its ability to attack a second time, which can be difficult for your opponent to deal with if it has Don attached to it.
Red Shanks
Red Shanks uses his power-reduction effect to slow down opponents’ aggression and extend games until his heavy hitters can take control.
While Red decks are usually known for their aggressive playstyle, relying on Rush attackers for quick wins, Shanks takes a more control-oriented approach. His strategy focuses on KOing opponent Characters to remove threats and protect your board and Leader.
Key cards like 7-cost Benn Beckman, 7-cost Edward Newgate, and 8-cost Silvers Rayleigh excel at removing opposing Characters, helping you regain control. Meanwhile, 10-cost Shanks reduces the power of all opposing Characters by 1,000, making it easier to survive your opponent’s next turn and turn the game in your favor. Shanks is the strongest Rush attacker, but he’s not alone. 5-cost Monkey D.Luffy can back up the aggression, giving your Leader or one of your Characters 1 rested Don when he attacks.
Black Marshall D. Teach
Black Marshall D. Teach shuts down all On Play effects, so you’ll need to build the deck differently. We avoid cards with On Play abilities and instead rely on Finger Pistol, Black Hole, and Doc Q to KO opposing Characters. Marshall D. Teach’s effect prevents opponents from using their On Play abilities, but you must trash a card to activate it. You’ll usually trigger this on key turns when your opponent is most likely to play On Play cards, completely disrupting their strategy and setting up a strong follow-up turn. If they rely on On Play effects to remove your Characters, it can leave them in an awkward position.
The deck runs Van Augur for the cost reduction, putting opposing Characters into KO range. For raw offense, Jesus Burgess is a powerhouse. He can’t be KO’d by effects and gains +1,000 Power for every 4 cards in your trash.
Your strongest play is 10-cost Marshall D. Teach, which negates the effects of your opponent’s Leader and one of their Characters. On top of that, he’s a high-power blocker, forming a defensive wall to absorb one attack and protect your Leader.
Black Rob Lucci
Although Black Rob Lucci lost Gecko Moria, he remained a solid choice in the West meta. The list changed a lot over the weeks, but the main game plan of controlling the field by removing the opposing player’s Characters remained the same.
4-cost Lucci is your answer to KOing two of the opponent’s Characters, and with cost reduction plays, you can put them in range for Lucci to remove. In the late game, we’re relying on Kaido to trash higher-cost targets and forcing the opponent to trash a card from their hand.
Yellow Enel
This deck heavily relies on your Leader effect, giving you a Life Card once per turn when your opponent drops you to 0 Life cards. This makes it a challenge for the opposing player to set up the winning turn, and forces them to have multiple attackers lined up to threaten a winning attack. On top of that, 9-cost Yamato,10-cost Ace and 10-cost Enel are there to give you Life Cards, making sure your Leader is safe from opponents’ attacks and are capable of going for a Rush attack.
Ideally, you’ll target rested Characters to make it even harder for the opponent to close out the game. However, if you’re ahead in the game, you can shift your focus to their Leader and start setting up for your winning turn.
Green Jewelry Bonney
Green Bonney can be a frustrating Leader to go up against, thanks to her ability to rest one of the opponent’s attackers. While this effect requires 1 Active Don, it’s highly effective at slowing down the opponent’s offense and preserving Bonney’s Counter resources.
This deck thrives on a defensive strategy, stalling games until high-cost Characters can take over. Blockers and 5-cost Carrot help reinforce this game plan, giving you time to either clear the opponent’s board or transition into an aggressive push against their Leader.
In the OP10 meta, many players are using the Fortress strategy with Eustass “Captain” Kid, forcing opponents to find an answer or risk losing the game.
9-cost Shanks is a key removal option, KOing a rested Character without needing to attack it. 10-cost Doflamingo keeps three opposing attackers rested, preventing them from attacking you on the upcoming turn, significantly lowering your opponent’s aggression.
Your main aggressor is 7-cost Hody Jones, who enters the field, rests two Characters, and immediately attacks with Rush. Whether you focus on clearing the board or attacking the opponent’s Leader will depend on the game state.
Red Green Smoker
Red Green Smoker won first place in Japan’s World Championship, bringing more attention its way! The deck had a great start in OP10 meta, but it slowly lost popularity against the popular decks.
Leader Smoker gives your {Punk Hazard} and {Navy} Characters +1,000 Power during your opponent’s turn, making them difficult to KO. Additionally, your Leader can give you 2 Active Don during your turn, allowing you to make more plays and go for aggressive attacks.
It also lets you set up the Eustass”Captain”Kid fortress strategy way more easily, creating a wall that forces your opponent to use their resources to go through it if they wish to win the game.
Hody Jones can go for aggressive attacks, resting two of the opponent’s Characters and attacking immediately with Rush. You’ll have to choose whether you want to focus your attacks on the opponent’s Leader or attack their rested Character to weaken their presence on the field.
This list is also running Gum-Gum Mole Pistol as a control event, reducing the Power of one of the opponent’s Characters by -5,000, and if you have a Character with 6,000 Power or more, you get to KO a 2,000 Power or less Character.
Purple Monkey D.Luffy
Looks like Purple Monkey D.Luffy is still in this race, using its Life cards as a resource to ramp up Don and start dropping higher-cost Characters a turn earlier.
This deck is full of {Straw Hat Crew} type Characters, mainly because Zoro-Juuro can draw one of them and Luffy-Tarou can cheat one with a cost of 5 or less on the field. With Luffy-Tarou, you’re creating a strong mid-game, presenting two Characters that put the opposing player behind.
Alongside 9-cost Monkey D.Luffy, you can go for an aggressive strategy, pushing your opponents to their limits, eventually overwhelming them with the pressure of your attackers.
9-cost Charlotte Linlin plays differently, removing one of the opponent’s 6-cost or less Characters from play, and giving you a Life card, making your opponent do extra work to win the game.
Green Purple Lim
The aggressive version of Green Purple Lim cuts out high-cost Characters and focuses solely on flooding the field with multiple attackers, while making it difficult for the opposing player to remove Characters. When playing a Character, Lim forces you to rest then, and although this can allow your opponent to attack and threaten to KO them, it does play into your strategy, letting you activate your Characters’ effects.
5-cost Sabo and Enel give you additional card draw while acting as attackers to keep pressuring the opponent. 5-cost Mihawk, Newgate, and 6-cost Sakazuki are your control Characters, helping you remove Characters from play and put your opponent behind on the field.
With Lim’s ramp effect and ability to cheat out a 5-cost or less {ODESSY} type Character, you’re capable of playing aggressively with this list and most decks won’t be able to catch up.
Red Yellow Belo Betty
We’re seeing more players pick up the Red Yellow Belo Betty, overtaking the likes of Blue Black Usopp and Blue Doflamingo.
This is an aggressive deck that wants to develop multiple bodies on the field and boost their Power using Leader effect. Emporio Ivankov enables the go wide strategy, with Karasu reducing the Power of the opponent’s Leader and forcing them to use more Counter cards to protect their Life cards.
Yellow Vegapunk
This deck uses Leader effect to put Egghead cards in your Life Area or cheat Characters on the field. The Yellow Vegapunk deck transitioned from a slow-paced, controllish playstyle to an aggressive one, trying to overwhelm opponents with attackers and closing out games as early as possible.
Since most of your Eggheads can be played on the field through their Trigger effect, it can deter opponents from attacking your Leader. This list has one of the highest win rates on the ranked ladder, using Eustass”Captain”Kid to trash an opponent’s Life card, helping you drop them down to 0 Life Cards and plan your winning turn.
