The OP11 Fist of Divine Speed expansion is fast approaching for the West meta! We’ve seen how this meta plays out in the East, but this time around, we have the new Starter decks coming into the game, aiming to change things up. I grabbed one of the top-performing East lists for each Leader to present it here, and we’ll talk more about how the new Leaders play.
Each of these Leaders introduces a unique playstyle and strategy, adding more variety to the game. Blue Purple Luffy is the strongest out of the six Leaders, and will be the BDIF unless the Starter expansion changes things drastically. The Blue Yellow Nami and Purple Luffy have unique playstyles and have had multiple accomplishments in the East!
Blue Yellow Nami
Blue Yellow Nami is a value-focused Leader, drawing you a card whenever you or your opponent takes a Life card, provided you have 7 or less cards in hand. Additionally, during your opponent’s turn, you can trash a card from your hand to give Nami +2,000 Power for the turn, making it much harder for your opponent to land attacks. This ability shapes how we build the deck, allowing us to include more no-Counter cards with powerful effects that can be trashed for that +2,000 Power boost when needed.
We’re not solely relying on direct attacks to chip away at our opponent’s Life. Instead, we use cards like Kikunojo, Trafalgar Law, and Eustass “Captain” Kid to take Life cards, focusing on outvaluing the opponent over time. Eventually, big attackers like 8-cost Luffy and Kid will become problematic for our opponent, closing out the game.
- Kozuki Oden can be a tough Character to remove because you can trash 2 cards from your hand to keep him in play when he would otherwise be banished. Additionally, Oden can rest 3 Don!! to return one of your Characters to your hand and re-stand himself, giving you the chance to launch a second attack in the same turn.
- Katakuri can remove one of the opponent’s Characters from play and add it to their Life Area, helping you shift the field presence in your favor. You can also use it on your own Characters, giving you a Life card and forcing the opponent to commit an additional attack.
Red Black Koby
Red Black Koby acts as a pseudo-Rush enabler for your {SWORD} type Characters, letting them attack an opponent’s Character the same turn they’re played. This makes cards like Helmeppo and Koby themselves valuable tools for controlling the field.
Leader Koby’s second effect offers protection for your {Navy} type Characters with 7,000 Power or less. Instead of being removed by an effect, you can place 3 cards from your trash at the bottom of your deck to keep them in play, preserving threats like Hina, Helmeppo, and Sengoku from easy removal.
Your game plan revolves around controlling the board through attacks. Helmeppo is a standout mid-game play, letting you cheat out the 8-cost Koby from the trash for a turn to leverage his powerful effect. Koby can have one of your Characters (or himself) attack an Active Character, helping you remove key threats while also giving your Leader or another Character +1,000 Power until the end of your opponent’s next turn.
Monkey D. Dragon provides aggressive pressure by going for Rush attacks that either chip away at your opponent’s Life cards or KO a rested Character.
- Hibari reduces the Power of one of the opponent’s Characters by 2,000, making it easier for you to attack and KO it. When she attacks, she gains +1,000 Power and allows your Leader to attack an Active Character.
- Boagrd is a Navy +2,000 Counter.
Blue Purple Monkey D.Luffy
Blue Purple Monkey D. Luffy is a draw engine, letting you look at the top 5 cards of your deck at the start of your turn (if you have 8 Don or more) and add a {Straw Hat Crew} card to your hand. This means your deck wants to include plenty of {Straw Hat Crew} cards and ramp options to reach 8 Don as quickly as possible.
Similar to Red Purple Monkey D. Luffy, this Leader has 6,000 Power and 3 Life cards. Early ramp cards like Zoro-Juuro and Bon Clay are crucial for accelerating to 9+ Don. The core of the deck leans towards high-cost Characters that can dominate the board. Using Leader Luffy’s effect, you can set up a Sanji combo to play a high-cost Character directly from the top of your deck, getting two big threats on the board in one turn and overwhelming your opponent.
8-cost Charlotte Katakuri acts as a blocker that can set himself as Active at the end of your turn, letting you attack and still have a blocker. 9-cost Charlotte Linlin is essential for controlling the field and gaining a Life card while removing an opponent’s 6-cost or less Character.
For the aggression, 9-cost Luffy delivers a 10,000 Power Rush attack while also drawing you a card, keeping your resources flowing. Counter Events like Gum Gum Giant and Gear Two help you survive longer and protect your setup until you’re ready to close out the game.
- Thunder Bagua is a counter-event to protect your Leader or a Character while also ramping you a Don.
- 8-cost Luffy is a Rush attacker and can return a 4-cost or less Character to its owner’s hand, slowing down the opponent’s aggression.
Green Yellow Shirahoshi
Green Yellow Shirahoshi can’t attack, but for 1 Don she can cheat out {Neptunian} type Character card or [Megalo] with a cost equal to or less than the number of DON!! cards on your field from your hand. So you’re cheating out Characters like Lord of the Coast, Spotted Neptunian, and Bird Neptunian for only 1 Don as long as you have a total of Don cards equal to their costs.
On most of your turns, you’ll be playing two Characters in one turn and building a frightening field presence that shifts your opponent’s strategy to a defensive one, trying to remove your attackers from play.
Purple Charlotte Katakuri
Purple Charlotte Katakuri has an interesting effect, having you return a Don to activate. Once per turn, when attacking or during your opponent’s turn, you can look at the top card in the opponent’s deck, giving you information on their next draw, and your Leader gains +1,000 during this battle.
So you’ll hold off from activating it until you’re at a point where deramping doesn’t put you behind, the +1,000 Power can save you from committing to many Counter cards, and you’re going for stronger attacks, getting more Counter cards from your opponent.
The information we’re gaining from Leader Charlotte Katakuri will play a role when going for 5-cost Charlotte Perospero and 10-cost Charlotte Linlin’s effects. To activate their effects, you need to “guess” the cost of the opponent’s top card in their deck, and since we can look at the opponent’s top card through Leader Katakuri’s effect, we’re not really guessing that card, are we?
Charlotte Perospero trashing a card to activate his main effect, but will ramp back 1 Don, so we won’t fall behind by activating the Leader effect, and we’ll get to draw a card. We’ll trash the worst card in our hand to hopefully draw a better one.
As for Charlotte Linlin, she’s a Rush attacker, and 12,000 Power attack is no laughing matter. Her “guessing” effect activates during your opponent’s turn, but forces you to deramp 5 Don to give your Leader +2,000 Power during this turn. It’s a huge defensive play to survive a turn, but will put you low on Don for the upcoming turn since you’re using your Leader + Charlotte Linlin’s deramp effects.
Green Jinbe
The Green Jinbe synergizes with {Fish-Man} or {Merfolk} type Characters. If you have 6 or fewer cards in your hand, you can ready up to 1 of your {Fish-Man} or {Merfolk} type Characters and up to 1 of your DON!! cards. This effect can save one of your Characters from an attack, eliminating the need to play Counter cards to protect them.
It’s also a great way to keep 1-cost Shirahoshi on the board for multiple turns, letting you draw extra cards with her Activate: Main ability. Fish Tiger and 6-cost Jinbe are great for controlling the board in the mid-game, attacking Characters, and forcing the opposing player to use their Counters if they wish to keep their Characters in play.
7-cost Arlong is another powerful piece of the deck, which you can play for just 4 Don if you have 3 or fewer Life cards and your opponent has 5 or more rested cards. A 7,000 Power Character for 4 Don is a huge boost to your board and well worth setting up early. The Hody Jones is your strongest aggressor, resting 2 of the opponent’s Characters or their Don before going for an 8,000 Power Rush attack.
Closing Words
Blue Purple Luffy will be the strongest deck in OP11 format, forcing the meta to adapt to his playstyle. In the East meta, we saw multiple anti-meta decks rise in popularity, trying to counter the Blue Purple Luffy Leader. Blue Yellow Nami and Purple Katakuri also delivered strong performances in the East, establishing themselves as serious contenders. These are decks to watch out for as you prepare for tournaments.
This is it from me, I wish the best for your event, good luck! If you want to keep up with my content, consider following me on Twitter or BlueSky.
