The Blue Purple Sanji is one of our newest leaders in the OP12 format, bringing a unique playstyle to the game that heavily relies on low-cost events to get the most out of your Leader effect.
Unlike most decks, Blue Purple Sanji prioritizes adding events to the list, either to get resources into your hand or to help you control the field. You’re relying on your Leader attacks and a couple of Characters to present offensive pressure while trying to slow your opponent’s pace until you can win the game.
Leader
Blue Purple Sanji is a 4 Life card Leader with two effects that synergize with one another. His first effect is an Activate: Main, which you can use once per turn. You’ll have to return 1 Don to play a {Straw Hat Crew} type Event with an original cost of 3 or less. This allows you to make more plays during your turns, trying to get ahead of the opposing player. The list has multiple 3-cost cards that aid you in controlling the field, pushing you to win the board, or at least slow down the opposing player until you can win the game.
Using your Leader effect means you’ll fall behind on Don; however, Leader Sanji‘s second effect lets us ramp when he goes for the attack, which means we can start going for the free Event plays as early as turn 2. The ramp effect only triggers when Leader Sanji attacks, but the number of your Don cards has to be equal to or less than the number on your opponent’s. This means we have to activate the -1 Don effect first, drop on Don, and then attack with Sanji to ramp.
Blue Purple Sanji Decklist
How to Play
1-cost Plays
The 1-cost Charlotte Pudding is a searcher card that looks at the top 4 cards of your deck and lets you add 1 [Sanji] or an Event card to your hand. This means she can draw us the 3-cost Sanji, which we’ll heavily rely on to put offensive pressure on the opposing player, or we can go for one of our Events, depending on what we need for the game.
Carne is a 1-cost blocker, perfect to protect your Leader’s Life cards in the mid and late-game, helping you push the game for an additional turn or two to set up your winning line. Carne only gains the Blocker keyword when you have 4 or more Events in your trash, which shouldn’t be difficult for this deck to achieve, and on the upside, Carne has a +1,000 Counter.
Characters
The 3-cost Sanji is the main attacker in this deck, and the longer the game stretches out, the heavier the attacks he’ll go for. 3-cost Sanji is a 5,000 Power Character who gains +1,000 Power for every 5 Events in your trash. This means the more Events you play, the more Power Sanji will gain, making him a stronger attacker and a tougher target for the opponent to remove through attacks. You should be getting Sanji up to 7,000 Power in most of your games, and if the game prolongs, you’ll turn Sanji into an 8,000 Power attacker.
Additionally, if your opponent tries to remove Sanji through an effect, you can return 1 Don to your Don deck instead, preventing the removal effect from going through. This forces the opposing player to rely on their attacks to remove him, which we’ll try to protect whenever possible to keep our offensive pressure online.
As for the 4-cost Vinsmoke Reiju, she’s a 5,000 Power blocker who gains +2,000 Power when you have 4 or more Events in your trash. She’ll be a 7,000 Power Blocker, protecting your Leader from attacks and can be used offensively to pressure the opposing player.
Low-cost Events
These are 1-cost Searcher Events that find you the cards you need, adding more consistency to your game plan. They’ll also add more Events in your trash, which benefits your 3-cost Sanji.
Let’s Crash This Wedding!!! looks at the top 5 cards of your deck and lets you add 1 {Straw Hat Crew} type card to your hand. So, you can draw your 3-cost Sanji or a {Straw Hat Crew} type event.
As for Luffy Is the Man Who Will Be King of the Pirates!!!, it looks at the top 3 cards of your deck and lets you add whatever card you want to your hand, removing any restrictions. This is useful if you’re looking for Vinsmoke Reiju.
These are 3-cost Events that can help you control the field or add more resources to your hand. We’ll prioritize playing these Events through our Leader’s effect, saving Don to make other plays.
Gum-Gum Jet Culverin places one of the opponent’s 4-cost or less Characters at the bottom of their deck, removing a potential attacker or a blocker from play. Its trigger effect lets you place a 1-cost or less Character at the bottom of the deck, which likely won’t come into play, but it’s a consideration to remove a 1-cost Blocker or if you want to add more Events in your trash to boost your Sanji‘s Power and go for a finisher turn.
Boeuf Burst can be used to return a 4-cost Character to the opponent’s hand or to draw 2 cards if you have 6 cards or less in your hand. Both effects can be strong depending on the state of the game. If you need more resources, you’ll go for the draw effect, but if you want to remove a blocker or put your opponent behind on the field, you’ll return their Character to their hand.
Brochette Blow draws you a card if the number of Don cards on your field is equal to or less than the number on your opponent’s field. You can then reduce the Power of an opponent’s Character by 3,000, making it easier for you to attack and KO it.
These are Counter Effects to protect your Leader or Characters from an attack through the Power boost they give.
Gum-Gum Rain is a 0-cost Event that trashes a card from your hand to give your Leader or a Character a +3,000 Power boost.
Concasser can be played during your turn to draw a card, but it can also be used for its Counter effect, giving your Leader a +4,000 Power boost only if you have 4 or more Events in your trash.
Gum Gum Giant is usually played in the late game, so you don’t fall too far behind in the game. To activate it, you have to return 2 Don and trash a card from your hand, giving your Leader or one of your Characters a +4,000 Power boost and drawing 2 cards. So you’re protecting yourself from an attack and adding more resources to your hand by playing Gum Gum Giant.
High-cost Control Events
Three Thousand Worlds can place a 5-cost or less Character at the bottom of the opponent’s deck, helping you keep control of the field in the mid-game.
Gum Gum Red Roc is for the high-cost Characters, placing a Character at the bottom of the opponent’s deck regardless of its cost. It’s best played when your opponent has a win condition in play that you can’t remove through your attacks.
+2,000 Counters
Uso-Hachi can be played for the resting effect, letting you rest a 5-cost or less Character, perfect if there’s a blocker in your way preventing you from targeting the opponent’s Leader.
Unlikely you’ll need her, but Vinsmoke Sora can ramp you 1 Don and draw you a card.
General Tips
- Protect your Characters. We only have Sanji and Reiju as attackers, and Sanji is a tough Character to remove outside of attacks. So, when possible, prioritize protecting Sanji to keep the offensive pressure.
- Get Events in the trash before you attack. We want to play our events and activate Leader effect before we attack with 3-cost Sanji and the Leader. The more events we have in the trash, the heavier 3-cost Sanji‘s attack will be, so we want to make the most out of his attack. As for the Leader Sanji, we need to make sure we don’t have more Don than the opposing player to get the ramp effect.
- Don Management. We have a lot of Counter Events and a limited number of Counter Characters, so we need to bank Don for the defensive turn to play our Counter Events when needed.
Mulligan Tips
Going First: 1-cost Searcher, 3-cost Sanji, Gum-Gum Jet Culverin.
Going Second: 1-cost Searcher, 4-cost Reiju, 3-cost Sanji. 4-cost Three Thousand Worlds.
Other Cards to Include
- Kaya is a +2,000 Counter who can be played to draw you two cards and trash two. This filters your hand for better cards and adds more Events to your trash.
- 6-cost Sanji is a +2,000 Counter Character, but can be used for his Blocker keyword. If you have at least 2 less Don on the field than your opponent, you can play Sanji for 3 Don only.
- Kouzuki Oden is a consideration in the list to put pressure on the opposing player through his two attacks. He can be tough to remove and can return one of your low-cost Characters to your hand.
- Gravity Blade Raging Tiger is a control event to place 2 of the opponents’ 6-cost or less Characters at the bottom of their deck.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): 1-cost Searcher.
- Turn 2 (3 Don): 3-cost Sanji + Leader effect to play an event.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): 4-cost Vinsmoke Reiju or 3-cost Sanji + Leader effect to play an event.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): Continue developing Reiju or Sanji and activating your Leader’s effect.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): If you can win the attrition war, you can focus down their rested Characters. If not, you should prioritize the opponent’s Leader.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): Start planning a winning turn, you might need Gum-Gum Jet Culverin or Boeuf Burst to remove a blocker.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): 1-cost Searcher.
- Turn 2 (4 Don): 3-cost Sanji or 4-cost Reiju + Leader effect to play an event.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): 3-cost Sanji or 4-cost Reiju + Leader effect to play an event or 4-cost Three Thousand Worlds.
- Turn 4 (8 Don): Continue developing Reiju or Sanji and activating your Leader’s effect.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): If you can win the attrition war, you can focus down their rested Characters. If not, you should prioritize the opponent’s Leader.
Closing Words
The Blue Purple Sanji heavily relies on the low-cost spells as part of his game plan, enabling your 3-cost Sanji and 4-cost Reiju to put more pressure on the opposing player. It’s a unique deck with a different playstyle than what we’re usually used to.
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