Red Green Smoker is still standing strong in OP11 meta, remaining a popular pick for tournaments and competitive play. This Leader synergizes with {Navy} and {Punk Hazard} type Characters and can gain additional Don to make more plays and even go for high Power attacks.
The extra Don you’re gaining through your effects enables you to make stronger plays, pressuring the opposing player and even aggroing them down to win the game. The list hasn’t changed too much compared to the OP10 version, but you do gain a couple of new cards you can add to your arsenal.
Leader
Red Green Smoker is a 4 health Leader with two effects. Smoker‘s first effect activates during your opponent’s turn, giving your {Navy} or {Punk Hazard} type Characters +1,000 Power. This makes it harder for your opponent to attack and KO your {Navy} and {Punk Hazard} type Characters.
Smoker‘s second effect can be activated once during your turn, setting 2 Don as Active only if you have a Character with 7,000 or more in play. This is your strongest effect, allowing you to make more plays in one turn or use the extra Don to increase the Power of your attacks.
RG Smoker Decklist
How to Play
Early Searcher
Vergo and Peacock are your 1-cost searchers, adding more consistency to the deck’s strategy.
Vergo‘s On Play effect looks at the top 5 cards of your deck and lets you pick 1 {Punk Hazard} type card. You can draw Characters like 3-cost Sanji, 5-cost Smoker, and 3-cost Tashigi.
As for Peacock, she can search for {Navy} type cards, adding cards like 5-cost Smoker, 3-cost Tashigi, and X-Drake. You can later trash a Peacock on the field to give one of your Characters +1,000 Power, adding more punch to your attack.
Punk Hazard Characters to Play
3-cost Sanji is a 3,000 Power Character but gains +3,000 Power during your turn, becoming a 6,000 Power attack. He acts as an aggressive Character, but during your defensive turns, he’s pretty weak to the opponent’s attacks. Being a 6,000 Power Character, you can attach 1 Don on 3-cost Sanji to get him up to 7,000 Power and activate Leader effect to stand 2 Don as Active. So if you’re going second, you can attach a Don to Sanji, gain +2 Don from your Leader effect, and use the Don to play a 2-cost Character or attack for 7,000 Power with your Leader.
Since 3-cost Sanji is a {Punk Hazard} type Character, he’ll gain +1,000 Power from Leader Smoker, making it easier for you to protect him at 4,000 Power.
4-cost Tony Tony Chopper is a +2,000 Counter card but we can make use of his Blocker keyword. Chopper can protect us from an attack, especially since he gains +2,000 Power during your opponent’s turn, turning him into a 6,000 Power Character. Additionally, since Chopper is a {Punk Hazard} type Character, he’ll gain +1,000 Power from your Leader’s effect, becoming a 7,000 Power Blocker during your opponent’s turn.
5-cost Smoker adds to your aggressive strategy. Using the 7,000 Power and Banish keyword, you usually want to target the opponent’s Leader to try to trash one of their life cards. This will usually force opponents to counter your attack since they don’t want one of their cards trashed, but at times, countering a high-power Smoker attack might not be worth it or possible for them.
5-cost Smoker‘s Activate: Main sets 1 of your Don as Active, which you can use to attach on a Character for added aggression or help develop more Characters. However, you need to activate the Leader’s effect first, set 2 Active Don, and then activate the 5-cost Smoker’s effect for the extra 1 Don.
You’re gaining 3 Active Dons in one turn, enabling you to develop more on the field or use that Don aggressively.
Rush Attackers
The 5-cost Monkey D.Luffy adds to your aggressive strategy, going for a 6,000 Power Rush attack on the turn he’s played to keep pressuring the opposing player. When attacking, Luffy lets you attach a rested Don to your Leader or a Character, giving them extra +1,000 Power to their attack.
Hody Jones‘ Rush attack + ability to rest two Characters enables an aggressive turn, stopping opponents from using their blockers to tank hits targeted toward the leader. However, you can use Hody Jones‘ rest effect to attack the rested Characters, potentially KOing them and weakening opponents’ board.
Hody Jones can also rest 2 of the opponent’s Active Don, preventing them from activating their Counter Event.
Fortress Strategy
Eustass”Captain”Kid enables your Fortress strategy, also known as “Bird Cage”. On Don 8+, we can play Eustass”Captain”Kid rest him, and cheat out a low-cost blocker, Donquixote Rosinante. Using Leader effect, we can stand 2 Don as Active (so you can play Kid on Don8) and attach 1 Don to Eustass”Captain”Kid to activate his effect, preventing the opposing player from attacking any card other than Eustass”Captain”Kid. An 8,000 Power Character isn’t easy to KO through attacks, especially with blockers in play that can protect him from high-power attacks.
This could shut down the opponent’s aggressive turn and force them to attach more Don to their attackers instead of playing Characters on the field. Donquixote Rosinante is the better choice to accompany Eustass”Captain”Kid since he can keep him safe from KO effects.
You can play Eustass”Captain”Kid on Don 8 thanks to Leader Smoker‘s effect, gaining 2 extra Don, which you can attach one of them to Eustass”Captain”Kid and rest him, forcing opponents to deal with him if they wish to target your Leader or other Characters.
Donquixote Rosinante is a 2-cost blockers that add to your defensive game plan. Donquixote Rosinante is a key card in this list since when one of your rested Characters is KO’d, Donquixote Rosinante activates his effect to sacrifice himself and keep that Character in play.
Baccarat is another Blocker we can have on the field early in the game or cheat out through Eustass”Captain”Kid. Baccarat’s ability allows you to trash a card from your hand to give +2,000 Power to your Leader or a Character. So you can trash the least important card in your hand to gain the +2,000 Power to protect your Character or Leader.
3-cost Tashigi is a +2,000 Counter card which we might find ourselves playing through Eustass”Captain”Kid to protect our Fortress strategy. If we’re worried the opponent might remove Eustass”Captain”Kid though an effect and 2-cost Donquixote Rosinante is nowhere to be seen, Tashigi can fill its place. Tashigi‘s effect activates when one of your Green Characters would be removed due to the opponent’s effect, instead, you can rest Tashigi and keep that Character in play.
Keep in mind that 2-cost Donquixote Rosinante is limited to KO effects/attacks, whereas 3-cost Tashigi protects Eustass”Captain”Kid from any type of removal effects (effects that place your Character in your hand or deck).
Events
Gum-Gum Mole Pistol reduces the Power of one of the opponent’s Characters by 5,000, and if you have a 6,000 Power or more Character in play, you can KO a 2,000 Power Character. So with Gum-Gum Mole Pistol, you can KO a Character with up to 7,000 Power.
Since Leader Smoker gives you 2 Active Dons, we can afford to have Ten-Layer Igloo on the list as a Counter event. Ten-Layer Igloo gives your Leader or a Character +3,000 Power, and then one of your opponent’s Leader or Characters gets -2,000 Power. This is perfect for countering 2 attackers or 1 high-power attacker.
Mulligan
- Going First: 1-cost searcher, 3-cost Sanji, and 5-cost Smoker.
- Going Second: 1-cost searcher, 3-cost Sanji, 4-cost Sanji, and 5-cost Smoker.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): 1-cost Vergo or Peacock.
- Turn 2 (3 Don): 3-cost Sanji or Baccarat.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): 5-cost Smoker. Gain 3 Don to play a 3-cost or less Character.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): Hody Jones or 5-cost Smoker more development from the extra Don.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): Eustass”Captain”Kid + Donquixote Rosinante. If you want to play aggressively, you can go for Hody Jones or Luffy.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): Eustass”Captain”Kid + Donquixote Rosinante.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): 1-cost Vergo Peacock.
- Turn 2 (4 Don): 4-cost Tony Tony Chopper or 3-cost Sanji, attach 1 Don to Sanji, and gain 2 Active Don.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): 5-cost Smoker, gain 3 Don, and play Tony Tony Chopper, Sanji, or Baccarat.
- Turn 4 (8 Don): Eustass”Captain”Kid + Donquixote Rosinante. If you want to play aggressively, you can go for Hody Jones.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): Eustass”Captain”Kid + Donquixote Rosinante.
Other Cards to Include
- Because The Side of Justice Will Be Whichever Side Wins!! is a 0-cost +3000 Power Counter that forces you to trash a card from your hand. This is usually to protect your leader or keep the Fortress up. The list has a lot of Characters with no Counter effect, so Because The Side of Justice Will Be Whichever Side Wins!! can be used to trash dead cards we won’t need.
- You have to rest Monet to activate her effect, giving your Leader or one of your Characters 2 rested Don, then giving one of your opponent’s Characters -1,000 Power. So we’re setting up a stronger attack while weakening an opponent’s Character.
- Honesty Impact reduces the Power of an opponent’s Character by 4,000, then KO’s a Character with 6,000 Power or less. So you could use it on a high-power Character to KO it, or you can use it on two Characters, KO a 6,000 Power character and reduce the Power of a rested Character for your attackers to KO.
- 9-cost Roronoa Zoro is a win condition you often want to play as early as possible. If he remains on the field, Zoro can attack 3 times in one turn, creating a devastating turn for the opponent.
- 9-cost Shanks is a strong option in the late game, joining the battle and KOing a rested Character.
- 10-cost Donquixote Doflamingo is best played to slow down the opposing player, keeping three rested Leader and Character cards from becoming active on the upcoming turn.
Matchups
Against Blue Purple Monkey D.Luffy, we’re mainly focusing on aggroing down the opponent’s Leader. They will use Charlotte Katakuri as a blocker, but with Hody Jones, we can rest them in the late game to directly attack the Leader.
They have ramp cards to speed up their strategy and start getting their high-cost Characters in play as early as possible. We can’t afford to attack their high-cost Characters, so most of our focus will be on their Leader and bleeding them from Counter resources.
Green Purple Monkey D.Luffy can play aggressively, trying to drop you low on Life cards and have their 6-cost Monkey D.Luffy finish the job. Try to stay above 1 Life card and KO the 6-cost Monkey D.Luffy immediately. The ability to attack twice in one turn is too much aggression to deal with. Blockers and Fortress strategy will be important in this matchup to buy you enough time to win the game.
We can use Gum Gum Mole Pistole to KO Sanji & Pudding, shutting down the opponent’s Ramp effect.
They can trash your Life cards with 6-cost Charlotte Linlin and 8-cost Eustass”Captain”Kid and drop you low enough to win the games, so blockers and Fortress strategy will be important in the late game to buy you an extra turn or two to win the game. Blue Yellow Nami keeps gaining resources and will try to drop a Pudding to put you way behind her in resources, making it harder for you to counter their attacks. Try to counter their early attacks so you don’t find yourself with a hand full of cards that Pudding can return to your hand.
8-cost Luffy will be a problem since he’s a Rush attack that can remove one of your blockers, making it easier for the opposing player to aggro you down.
Red Zoro plays aggressively, going wide on the field and setting up multiple attacks to aggro you down. We can’t afford to leave OP08 Tony Tony Chopper in play for too long. The ability to cheat out Characters from the top of their deck is too valuable, so we want to KO him through Gum Gum Mole Pistole.
The Fortress strategy can protect us in the late game, creating a wall that can be tough for them to break through. You will want a blocker to protect Kid, keeping him in play for as long as possible until you start shifting the game in your favor.
