Black Yellow Gecko Moria is one of our Seven Warlords of the Sea OP14 Leaders, with a unique game plan that relies on both Life card gain and the trash as part of its strategy.
BY Gecko Moria wants to go wide on the field, developing multiple Characters through your cards’ effects and setting up multiple attacks to overwhelm the opposing player.
This deck can be tough to get the hang of. Understanding which Thriller Bark Pirates Character to play depending on the state of the game, your opponent’s hand size, and the resources you have will play a big role in your decisions.
Leader
Black Gecko Moria is a 4 Life card Leader with two effects, one used offensively, while the other is a defensive effect. Gecko Moria’s Activate: Main effect lets you KO 1 one of your {Thriller Bark Pirates} type Characters to give your Leader and all your other Characters a +1,000 Power boost for the turn. This allows you to set up an aggressive turn by KOing a Character you don’t need anymore, forcing the opposing player to expend more Counter resources. A couple of your cards have an On KO effects, so using your Leader’s effect can play into your strategy of getting the effect value from them.
As for Moria’s second effect, when attacking you can choose to trash 3 cards from your hand to add the top card of your deck to your Life Area. This is an expensive effect to gain a Life card and gain more survivability, making it even harder for the opposing player to set up a winning turn. Often, you’ll activate this effect once per game, trashing the dead cards in your hand to force an additional attack from the opponent to win the game.
BY Gecko Moria Decklist
How to Play
Searcher
Hurry Up and Make Me the Pirate King! lets you look at the top 3 cards of your deck to add 1 Thriller Bark Pirates type card to your hand. This adds more consistency to your deck, helping you find the card you’re missing to make meaningful plays. The other two cards will go to the trash, which plays into your strategy since a lot of the cards in the deck rely on cards in your trash.
Thriller Bark Early Game
Absalom is a 3-cost, 5,000 Power Character with no Counter effect. We often want to play him on the field as early as possible as he’s a dead card during defensive turns. ON KO, Absalom lets you look at the top 3 cards of your deck and 1 {Thriller Bark Pirates} type card to your hand. You’re gaining resources if your opponent attacks and kills your Absalom, and if they choose to ignore it, you can still use your Leader effect to KO Absalom for the +1,000 Power boost and the On KO effect.
As for Dr. Hogback, he’s a 4-cost, 5,000 Power Character with an On KO effect that lets you play a 4-cost or less Character other than Dr Hogback with a Trigger effect from your trash. This is a great way to make sure you don’t lose presence on the field, and the Character you choose will depend on the state of the game. Remember that the Character has to have a Trigger effect, so we’re tied to Yellow Absalom or Perona.
On the other hand, Perona has an On Play and On KO effect, both preventing a 6-cost or less Character from attacking until the end of the opponent’s upcoming turn. This is a great defensive effect to slow down the opponent’s aggression, buying you more time until you reach your winning turn.
Absalom, Dr. Hogback, and Perona all have the same Trigger effect, letting you play a 4-cost or less {Thriller Bark Pirates} type Character from your trash, rested. This is an extremely strong effect to go wide on the field, setting up an aggressive upcoming turn if your opponent can’t deal with them on the spot.
Value Thriller Bark
You can choose one of Perona‘s On Play effects; the first forces the opponent to trash a card from their hand, and the second gives a -3 cost reduction to one of their Characters. Your opponent has to have 5 cards or more in their hand for Perona‘s effects to activate.
In this deck, you’ll only use Perona for her first effect, forcing the opponent to trash a card and drop down on their resources. She’s also a +2,000 Counter card, so you can always use her to protect yourself from an attack and then cheat her out through one of your Characters’ effects.
Dr. Hogback lets you add a {Thriller Bark Pirates} type card from your trash to your hand, other than Dr. Hogback. So you can get back the likes of Perona, Absalom, or Moria. Picking up the 2k Perona can be nice if you need a Counter card, whereas 6-cost Moria is the best choice to keep going wide on the field and overwhelm the opposing player, especially in a slow-paced game where value matters a lot.
Blocker Perona
The EB03 Perona is a 6,000 Power Blocker, perfect for defending you from an attack and when played, she lets you attach 1 rested Don to your Leader or one of your Character, enabling a stronger attack, especially in the early game if you’re up against a 6,000 Power Leader.
If you have 10 or more cards in your trash, Perona lets you cheat out a 2-cost or less {Thriller Bark Pirates} Character from your trash, often you’ll be going for Inuppe for the draw 2, trash 2 cards from you hand effect.
Moria Going Wide
6-cost Gecko Moria is one of the strongest plays in this deck. When played, 6-cost Gecko Moria lets us cheat out a 4-cost or less Character from our trash. So we can play one of our Thriller Bark Pirates Characters, like Perona, Dr. Hogback, or Absolam. The Character will join in rested, but we’re still going wider on the field and activating a Character’s effect.
6-cost Gecko Moria can also attach a rested Don to our Leader or one of our Characters. This enables a stronger attack to put more pressure on the opponent as we go wide on the field.
Gecko Moria acts as a value engine to win the late-game and ensure we don’t lose steam. If we don’t have a 6-cost Moria in hand, Dr. Hogback can pull one from the trash for us to play. If we don’t want to have a rested Character in play to make it harder for the opponent to control the field, we can cheat out the Yellow Dr Hogback, KO it with Leader effect, and play the likes of Yellow Perona or Absalom.
Late Game Life Card Gain
The 8-cost Gecko Moria is a 10,000 Power heavy hitter with an On Play effect that lets you choose a 4-cost or less Thriller Bark Pirates type Character from your trash to add it to the top of your Life cards. The card you choose will depend on the state of the game, if you prefer counter resources, you’ll go for a +2,000 Counter Character.
However, in most cases, you want to go wide on the field to plan multiple aggressive attacks, and this is where your Yellow Absalom, Perona, and Dr. Hogback come into play, using their Trigger effects to cheat out a 4-cost or less {Thriller Bark Pirates} type Character from your trash, rested, forcing your opponent to deal with it.
Gecko Moria also has its own Trigger effect that lets you play a 4-cost or less Character from you hand, and if you’re not too reliant on playing the Gecko Moria from hand, you want to go for the trigger effect to overwhelm the opposing player with Characters on the field.
The 9-cost Boa Hancock is how we win games. When played, Boa Hancock gives you a Life card and forces the opponent to add the top card in their Life Area to their hand. She’s making it harder for the opponent to set up a winning turn, while allowing you to close out the game with fewer attacks. Boa Hancock stays on the field as a 10,000 Power heavy hitter, capable of threatening the opponent’s Leader and forcing them to expend resources.
Boa Hancock is perfect to put opponents in a vulnerable spot. The Life card you’re taking away makes it easier for your attackers to start forcing their way through and set up a finishing blow.
Her Trigger effect lets you play a Character with 6,000 Power or less from you hand, so in specific situations where you want to have multiple attackers lined up, you’ll go for her trigger effect to plan an aggressive turn, cheating out one of your 4-cost Characters.
Counter Event
Brick Bat is a Counter event that gives your Leader or one of your Characters a +3,000 Power boost, perfect for defending yourself from an attack. It also has a similar Trigger effect to your 4-cost characters, letting you cheat out a 4-cost or less {Thriller Bark Pirates} type Character from your trash, rested.
Other Cards
Inuppe can filter your hand for better cards, drawing you 2 cards and trashing 2 from your hand. You’re also adding more cards to your trash, making it easier to play certain cards for their effect synergy with the trash. You can KO it with your Leader effect for the +1,000 Power boost and reactivate it’s effect.
Victoria Cindry is a +2,000 Counter card, which you might have to play in the early game if you need to get cards in your trash and get value from certain effects. But in most cases, she’ll server as a searchable +2,000 Counter.
Kumacy is another searchable +2,000 Character with a Trigger effect that lets you play a 4-cost or less Thriller Bark Pirates Character from your trash, rested.
Other Cards to Include
- Victoria Cindry is a Blocker with a trigger effect that complements your strategy, letting you cheat out one of your 4-cost characters from the trash.
- Ground Death is mainly for the +4,000 Power boost to protect you from an attack. It can be used to negate a Character’s effect, like shutting down a Blocker.
Mulligan Tips
Going First: Hurry Up and Make Me the Pirate King!, Absalom, 6-cost Moria, 9-cost Boa Hancock.
Going Second: Hurry Up and Make Me the Pirate King!, Absalom, Dr. Hogback, 6-cost Moria, 8-cost Gecko Moria.
General Tips
- Keep track of your trash. Your deck relies on cards in your trash, so you need to keep up and even place specific cards in your trash to get access to them.
- Protect your heavy hitters. 8-cost Gecko Moria and 9-cost Boa Hancock are your heavy hitters, and often you don’t want to let them die easily through an opponent’s attack. When possible, you want to use Counter resources to protect them.
- Don’t overuse Leader effect. Leader Moria’s Life Card gain is an expensive effect to activate, so in most of you games, you’ll only be using it once in the late-game and you’ll be trashing the cards you least need, usually dead cards with no Counter effect.
- Taking hits means we might get trigger effects. Losing Life cards means we could go wider on the field and set up multiple attacks to overwhelm the opponent.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): Hurry Up and Make Me the Pirate King!
- Turn 2 (3 Don): Absalom.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): Perona.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): 6-cost Gecko Moria.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): 9-cost Boa Hanock or 8-cost Gecko Moria.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): 9-cost Boa Hanock or 8-cost Gecko Moria.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): Hurry Up and Make Me the Pirate King! or Inuppe.
- Turn 2 (4 Don): Absalom or Dr. Hogback.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): 6-cost Gecko Moria.
- Turn 4 (8 Don): 8-cost Gecko Moria.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): 9-cost Boa Hanock or 8-cost Gecko Moria.
Closing Words
The Black Yellow Gecko Moria deck is interesting to play, using Thriller Bark Pirates’ synergy with the trash, trigger effect, and Life card gain to create a unique strategy. You’re able to prolong the game thanks to the Life card gain, and the deck has multiple resource value effects to make sure you don’t easily run out of steam.
