Purple Black Monkey D. Luffy is an OP09 Ramp Leader that heavily relies on deramp cards to activate his effect. You are able to add Characters that deramp 2 or more Don and not have to worry about falling behind on Don.
This deck combines Purple’s Ramp tools with Black’s value tools to create a powerful combination, trying to build up a strong late-game and start dominating the game from there. The list I’ll share here if for OP11 and OP10 formats, having 6-cost Luffy as the EB02 card which will later release in the West.
Leader
Attaching a Don to Monkey D. Luffy will give all your Characters a +1 cost, making them harder to KO for certain decks. It also allows you to activate Character effects that are tied to Character cost conditions, like 5-cost Sanji.
Leader Luffy’s second effect activates whenever you return two or more Don, giving you back two Don cards—one active and one rested. This lets us play powerful cards with deramp drawbacks without worrying about the cost. In fact, with Luffy’s effect, we can actually turn that drawback into an advantage.
Black Purple Luffy Decklist
How to Play
The Purple Black Monkey D. Luffy deck has multiple Deramp cards with powerful effects. These Deramp characters will put you low on Don, struggling to keep up with opponents on future turns. However, Leader’s effect will ramp you by 2 Don if he sees 2 or more deramped.
So we’re activating those Character effects while maintaining our Don, working slowly to hit the late game and start throwing our high-cost carry characters. The list has Characters that ramp us up, getting to our high-cost plays a turn earlier to start pressuring the opposing player.
Trafalgar Law looks at the top 5 cards of our deck to add a 2 cost or more {Straw Hat Crew} or {Heart Pirates} Character to our hand. We have multiple cards to choose from, so we’ll choose a card depending on what we’re missing.
Ramp Characters
When playing Roronoa Zoro, we can return 1 Don or more to activate his effect, allowing us to ramp 1 Active Don. So we have 2 return exactly 2 Don with Roronoa Zoro, trigger out Leader effect to gain 2 Don in the process. So in one turn, we’re gaining 2 Active Don and 1 rested Don while returning 2 Don, putting us at 1 extra Don.
Roronoa Zoro is best played on turn 2 if you’re going first, but we also have Bon Clay as another option that can be played on turn if you’re going second. When played, Bony Clay gives you 1 Active Don and can later copy the power of an opponent’s Character when he attack. However, Bony Clay is weak during your turn, and you usually won’t protect him when the opposing player attacks him.
Sanji Control
With the Leader effect giving all your characters +1 cost, you can play 5-cost Sanji on Don 6 after you’ve attached a Don to your Leader to use his On Play effect. 5-cost Sanji can KO a 5-cost or less character, removing an attacker from the field, and helping you maintain control of the field. If we’re at 7+ Don, we can use Tsuru to reduce the cost of an opponent’s Character by 2, allowing us to KO up to 7-cost Character with Sanji.
As for the 7-cost Sanji, he maintains control of the field through other means. Through his effect, you can return 1 or more Don (We’ll be returning 2 Don) to gain Rush on Sanji and rest a 6-cost or less character. We’re creating an opportunity for Sanji to attack that rested character and KO it or at least force Counter cards from the opposing player.
Aggressive Rush
6-cost Luffy is a Rush attacker with 7,000 Power. His main objective is to add aggression on the turn he’s played, but also can go for a second attack when you return 2 Active Don through your effect. This will trigger your Leader’s effect, so the deramping won’t put you behind on the upcoming turn.
It can be difficult for the opposing player to counter two of Luffy’s attacks, so he’s great for aggression and forcing them to find a way to remove him.
Late Game
9-cost Kaido synergizes with your Leader’s ramp effect. Returning 5 Don can be costly, so with Leader giving you back two of those returned Don, we’re putting a lot of aggression with Kaido and still capable of setting up powerful plays on the upcoming turn. Kaido can KO a 6-cost or less Character through hsi effect and then goes for a Rush attack, allowing you to either control the opponent’s side of the field by removing two Characters or at least removing one Character and attacking their Leader to take a Life card.
At 10 Don, you can combo Tsuru with Kaido to KO an 8-cost Character.
10-cost Monkey D. Luffy is a powerful play but comes with a massive drawback. Typically, you’ll want to set up your winning turn when you play him. Before playing Luffy, make sure to attack with all your Characters, as his On Play effect will remove them all from the field. Once they’ve attacked, you can play Luffy, return all 10 Don, and send all other Characters to the bottom of the deck.
When we’ve returned all our Don, our Leader will give us back Don, one of them being active, so we can use it to activate 10-cost Luffy’s effect to ramp 1 Active Don and then attach it to Leader Luffy and go for a 6,000 Power attack before ending our turn.
When your turn ends, you’ll immediately start a new one. Since you ramped and used Luffy’s effect, you’ll have 3 Don, plus the 2 Don you gain at the start of your turn, giving you 5 Don. We now have two attacks lines up, one with Leader Luffy and the other with 10-cost Luffy, presenting a threat to either win the game on the spot or put them low enough to win the game on the upcoming turn.
If we’re not trying to close out the game, we can use the 5 Don to develop a Character instead of increasing the Power of our attacks. Black Maria can ramp us back up to 10 Don, ensuring we can play another 10-cost Luffy or a 9-cost Kaido. We can also play 4-cost Franky to block an opponent’s attack, defending us, and making sure we can go for an upcoming attack turn to win the game.
Events
Gum Gum Giant is an insanely good Counter for the late-game, returning 2 Don and trashing a card from your hand to gain +4,000 Power on your Leader or one of your characters and drawing two cards.
Gum Gum Lightning is a control Event, KOing a 6,000 Power or less character. It requires you to return 2 Don to activate it, but that’ll trigger our Leader Luffy’s effect, gaining back the 2 Don. We can use Gum Gum Lightning to remove a threat or to KO a blocker standing in our way from winning the game.
Mulligan
- Going First: Trafalgar Law, 3-cost Roronoa Zoro.
- Going Second: Trafalgar Law, 3-cost Roronoa Zoro or Bon Clay.
Other Cards to Include
- 4-cost Zorojuro is a great addition to the deck for the draw effect and can be played from the trash through 8-cost Gecko Moria. However, Franky is a way better play than Zorojuro.
- Kaido & Linlin is an investment, you play it on Don 10 and wait a full turn to activate a strong effect when it attacks. When Kaido & Linlin attacks, you’ll return 10 Don and KO all other characters. You’ll also gain a life card and trash an opponent’s life card, creating an insane shift of value.
- As for Tony Tony Chopper, he’s a 6,000 Power blocker, capable of shutting down an attack more easily. What makes Tony Tony Chopper unique is his “End of Your Turn” effect, allowing you to use Tony Tony Chopper as an attacker and then restanding him to act as a blocker by returning Don.
- 9-cost Luffy returns Don to draw you 1 card and gain Rush, posing a threat on the turn he’s played. You can either attack a rested character or go for the aggressive plan and attack their Leader.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): 1-cost Trafalgar Law
- Turn 2 (3 Don): 3-cost Roronoa Zoro
- Turn 3 (5 Don 6 Don): Attach Don to Leader and play 5-cost Sanji or 6-cost Luffy. If you didn’t ramp, play Bon Clay or Franky.
- Turn 4 (7 Don 8 Don): 7-cost Sanji or 6-cost Luffy.
- Turn 5 (9 Don 10 Don): 9-cost Kaido, 7-cost Sanji, 6-cost Luffy.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): 9-cost Kaido or 10-cost Luffy.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): 1-cost Trafalgar Law.
- Turn 2 (4 Don): 3-cost Roronoa Zoro or 4-cost Bon Clay.
- Turn 3 (6 Don 7 Don): Attach Don to Leader and play 5-cost Sanji, 6-cost Luffy, 7-cost Sanji.
- Turn 4 (8 Don 9 Don): 9-cost Kaido, 7-cost Sanji, 6-cost Luffy.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): 9-cost Kaido or 10-cost Luffy.
