Heya everyone! Bandai has just released its official OPTCG ban announcement for August 2025, targeting what many considered the “broken” deck in the game. These changes will take effect on August 30th, impacting OP12 in the West and OP13 in the East.
What makes this announcement unusual is the approach: instead of the typical card banning across the whole game, Charlotte Linlin and Charlotte Katakuri are banned only when played under the Blue Purple Monkey D.Luffy. Additionally, Bandai has decided to unban two cards for the first time ever, bringing Black Blue Sakazuki and Cabaji back to the game.
In this article, I’ll break down the winners and losers of this ban list, explore how these shifts might reshape the meta going forward, and which are the best decks in OP12 post ban announcement!
The Losers
Blue Purple Monkey D.Luffy is the biggest loser from this announcement, losing the 2 main defensive cards that gave the Leader the stall strategy until it can set up its winning turn. Being a 3 Life Card Leader meant you could easily aggro down Blue Purple Luffy and ignore its “big body” plays. However, that aggro strategy can become a bit difficult with Katakuri acting as a defensive wall and Linlin giving you an additional Life card while removing a potential attacker.
Gum Gum Giant is another strong defensive event that the majority of the playerbase were betting on it getting banned. The +4,000 Power boost, along with the draw effect, proved to be a bit too strong in Blue Purple Luffy, but it seems like Bandai decided they want to keep that card available for other Purple decks to take advantage of.
Honestly, if Blue Purple Luffy was hit with one ban, I could see the deck still existing as a tier 2 performer while keeping its same playstyle. However, now players need to go back to the drawing board and decide whether they want to continue with that late-game strategy and find other defensive tools that can protect the Leader and prolong the game, or switch to a stronger mid-game presence so they’re not easily aggroed. Regardless, the deck definitely took a massive hit with the double ban, and I don’t expect to see it played much anymore, especially with Green Purple Luffy being the much better option now.
It’s a bad day to be a Nami one-trick right now. Bandai is done with dealing with Nami’s alternative win condition and has decided to outright ban the Leader, especially with OP13 approaching, which means Nami would have access to Otama. To avoid Blue Nami becoming broken and taking over the meta, Bandai banned the Leader and released a new Promo version, which restricts you to East Blue cards only in your deck. Well, there aren’t enough East Blue cards to make a solid Blue Nami deck, at least not compared to the level she’s at today, so we can safely assume that Nami is completely out of the competitive meta.
A major reason Green Yellow Law was managing to top a couple of tournaments and a high play rate on the SIM was because of its favored matchup against the popular Blue Purple Luffy. This doesn’t necessarily mean Green Purple Law is out of the meta, but it will need those “good popular matchups” to justify bringing it to tournaments.
Right now, Green Roronoa Zoro and Red Silvers Rayleigh might continue a dominant performance, which are rough matchups for Green Yellow Law. Even the Green Purple Luffy deck is slightly unfavored for Law.
Although none of the bans hit the Purple Monkey D.Luffy, it’s a deck that was already struggling to remain relevant, and its only saving grace was its solid matchup against Blue Purple Luffy.
The Winners
Black Blue Sakazuki is unbanned! This Leader once dominated the meta, but since its ban, it has lost several key cards that were central to its strategy. So while this is a win for Sakazuki, he’s nowhere near as powerful as he was with cards like Gecko Moria, Ice Age, and Great Eruption now out of the picture.
Still, whether Sakazuki becomes a favored choice over Black Rob Lucci will heavily depend on how the meta develops. And with Black Yellow Luffy expected to see play in the OP12 PRB02 expansion, there’s another factor that might push players to consider Sakazuki as a stronger alternative to Lucci.
Also, Green Jewelry Bonney might see a rise in popularity with the ban of Blue Purple Luffy, another win for the Blue Black Sakazuki, as it historically performed well in this matchup. We also can’t forget about Black Gecko Moria receiving the 6-cost Moria in PRB02, which will give the deck a fighting chance to perform!
Looking at the matchup table, the meta might shape up to be very different from what we saw in OP12 East, especially if Green Bonney manages to break into the top 3.
Bonney only had real trouble against two popular decks: Blue Purple Luffy and Black Teach. Against everything else, like Green Purple Luffy, Green Roronoa Zoro, and Red Silvers Rayleigh, she was beating and even crushing those matchups. With only those two decks keeping her in check, we’re almost certain to see a sharp rise in Bonney’s play rate. And with that rise, decks like Black Teach, Black Lucci, and Black Blue Sakazuki will naturally carve out a spot in the meta as reliable counters to the Green stall strategy.
Blue Kuzan, backed by the Navy package, has some of the strongest synergy in the game. It feels like only a matter of time before the deck starts putting up stronger tournament results.
Its ability to trigger powerful effects while sidestepping the “trash a card” drawback gives it excellent hand value and makes high-cost with a massive drawback Navy cards shine. Unfortunately, the dominance of Blue Purple Luffy hasn’t helped Kuzan’s case, as it struggles to keep pace with plays like the 9-cost Sanji cheating out a 9-cost Linlin.
That said, Kuzan performs well into Green Roronoa Zoro and holds close matchups against Green Purple Luffy and Red Silvers Rayleigh. With that spread, we may soon see the deck making more presence in the competitive scene, but on the downside, it struggles against Green Jewelry Bonney.
Green Roronoa Zoro was dominating the early OP12 meta, even rivaling Blue Purple Luffy for the top spot. However, Blue Purple Luffy’s favored matchup against Zoro kept him in check and even pushed some players to lean toward Green Purple Luffy instead.
Looking ahead, we could see a fierce battle between Green Purple Luffy and Green Roronoa Zoro for the title of BDIF, but Green Jewelry Bonney might have something to say about that.
Red Silvers Rayleigh players have plenty to be excited about heading into the new meta. The deck performs well against Green Roronoa Zoro and Green Purple Luffy, with its main struggle being the unfavorable matchup into Blue Purple Luffy. With Blue Purple Luffy now out of the picture, Rayleigh will receive a push as the strongest Red aggressive deck to play.
Closing Words
The West OP12 meta is already looking exciting just from analyzing how it’s set to shift. Many decks stand to benefit from the Blue Purple Luffy ban, and if Green Bonney rises into the top tier, she could single-handedly reshape the entire meta, driving more Black decks into the competitive scene to counter her.
