The OP11 Leader Blue Yellow Nami mixes the draw value and control into one deck, keeping the opposing player from taking over the field while continuously working the draw engines to keep having resources to play.
The Blue Yellow Nami deck thrives on damaging the opponent’s Leader for resources and has a built-in defensive effect that shines most when the opposing player is planning multiple attacks. This is a difficult deck to master, as matchup understanding, managing your Don, and your board presence play a crucial role in not falling behind in the game and failing to set up winning attack turns.
Leader
Blue Yellow Nami is a 4-Life Leader with two effects. The first is a draw engine that activates once per turn, during your turn, whenever a card is removed from either your or your opponent’s Life. If you have 7 or fewer cards in hand, you draw 1 card.
This means we want to keep our hand at 7 cards or less to maximize the effect. Since it only triggers on our turn, we’ll usually activate it when we attack the opponent’s Leader and take a Life card. But if we can’t damage the opponent for the extra draw, we can self-damage with cards like Zeus or Nico Robin to get the draw anyway.
Nami’s second effect requires attaching a Don!! to her and only activates on the opponent’s turn (once per turn). When they attack, you can trash a card from your hand to give Leader Nami +2,000 Power, making it harder for their attacks to land on a 7,000 Power Leader. This lets us play more cards with no Counter effects, since we can later trash them for the +2,000 Power to protect our Leader.
Characters without Counter effects tend to be stronger, either in raw Power or effects. Normally, the lack of Counter is a drawback, but Blue Yellow Nami removes that downside, letting us run powerful Characters that can still be used for the +2,000 Power gain on Leader Nami.
Blue Yellow Nami Decklist
How to Play
Early Plays
Will You Be My Servant? looks at the top 4 cards of your deck to add 1 card with a cost of 2 to 8 to your hand. You’re able to find any card you need, depending on your hand, either drawing a mid-game card, or going for a higher cost card for the later stages.
On play, Young Girl lets us draw a card and trash a card from our hand, basically filtering for better cards. Young Girl replaces Teach as a 2-cost Character that continues to give us Don value, attaching a rested Don to Leader Nami once per turn. This makes it easier for us to activate Leader Nami‘s defensive effect without sacrificing board development.
4-cost Plays
Kikunojo can be a strong early attacker, having 6,000 Power as a 4-cost Character. Your opponent will often avoid KOing her and will resort to other means to remove her from play if available to them. On KO, Kikunojo will give you a Life card if your opponent is at 3 or less Life cards, adding more protection to your Leader and a card resource.
If your opponent is at 3 Life cards, you can activate her trigger effect to play her on the field without using Don.
As for the 4-cost Marco, you’re developing a 6,000 Power Blocker to protect you from an attack, and you’re not too upset if he gets KO’d. When KO’d, Marco is drawing you two cards, adding more resources to your hand, which can find you the cards you need, either to develop or Counter with.
Pudding can lower the number of cards in the opponent’s hand, cutting down on their resources. You’ll often play her if your opponent is holding on to at least 6 cards in their hand, but if they have more than 6 cards, then Pudding is a premium play.
2-cost Control Cards
Nojiko and Zeus are low-cost Characters that can be used to remove a 5-cost Character from the field.
Nojiko returns a 5-cost or less Character to the opponent’s hand, so they get to keep the card, but at least it won’t be used as an attacker during their upcoming turn. Additionally, since Nojiko is returning a Character instead of KOing, it can remove the likes of 4-cost Borsalino and 5-cost Sabo with KO immunity.
As for Zeus, it adds a card from the top or bottom of your Life card to your hand to KO a 5-cost Character. So you are sacrificing a Life card to activate this effect, but KOing a Character and triggering Leader Nami‘s draw effect is usually worth it.
Control Cards
Jozu has to return one of your Characters to return an opponent’s 6-cost or less Character, so we’ll need to have a low-cost Character in play (Nojiko or Zeus) that we’re fine with bouncing back to our hand. Although your opponent gets to keep the card in their hand, they have to use Don to play it back on the field, which will slow them down and help put them behind in the game. The Character we bounced back to our hand can be used as a Counter or replayed for its effect.
We’ll save Gum-Gum Red Roc for high-cost Characters that none of our other cards can remove. This can remove an important Character for your opponent, buying enough time to plan your winning turn. Since it places the Character at the bottom of the opponent’s deck, we don’t have to worry about a KO immunity.
Life Card Plays
We usually want to go for the 5-cost Nami as early as possible, before the opponent falls below 3 Life cards. On Play, Nami attaches a rested Don to your Leader, then forces them to add the top Life card to their hand if they have 3 Life cards or more. This makes it easier for you to win the late game, as you’re essentially removing one required attack to go through to win the game.
Additionally, your opponent is usually discouraged from KOing Nami, since it’ll trigger her On KO effect to turn your Life card face-up and play a Character with 6,000 Power or less from your hand. If KO’d, you can play Kikunojo or Marco from hand, making sure you keep a threat in play. Keep in mind that if you don’t have a face-down Life card, Nami can’t cheat out a Character through her effect.
Nico Robin synergizes with our Leader’s effect. When played, she trashes the top Life card, then adds up to 2 cards from the top of your deck to the top of your Life cards. You’re triggering Leader Nami‘s effect when you trash a Life card, drawing a card while also gaining a Life card in the process.
Your opponent will likely avoid KOing Nico Robin so they don’t lose a Life card. So often, they’ll rely on a removal effect or completely ignore Nico Robin.
On Play, you can rest 8-cost Eustass “Captain” Kid to trash the opponent’s top Life card, putting them in a risky spot to lose to your attacks and bleeding them from resources. We’re also triggering Leader Nami’s effect, so if we have 7 cards or less in our hand, we’ll draw a card.
At the end of your turn, if your opponent has 2 Life cards or less, you can draw a card and then trash another from your hand with Eustass “Captain” Kid‘s effect, filtering your hand for better cards.
Counter Events
If I Bowed Down to Power can be played during your turn to prevent your opponent from activating the Blocker keyword when your Leader goes for the attack. You have to have 1 or less Life cards to activate this event, but it can be a game-winning player if they’re down to 0 Life cards.
If I Bowed Down to Power can still be played as a Counter Event to give your Leader a +3,000 Power boost, defending from one of the opponent’s attacks.
Mulligan
- Going First: Will You Be My Servant?, Young Girl, Nami, Nico Robin.
- Going Second: Will You Be My Servant?, Young Girl, Kikunojo or Marco, Jozu.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): Will You Be My Servant?.
- Turn 2 (3 Don): 2-cost Young Girl.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): 5-cost Nami.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): Nico Robin.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): Eustass”Captain”Kid.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): Eustass”Captain”Kid.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): 2-cost Young Girl.
- Turn 2 (4 Don): Kikunojo or Marco.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): Jozu or Nami.
- Turn 4 (8 Don): 7-cost Nico Robin or Eustass”Captain”Kid.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): Eustass”Captain”Kid.
Other Cards to Include
- The 7-cost Kuziki Oden can be tough for opponents to remove. If they try to KO him through an effect, you can trash 2 cards from your hand and keep him in play, and for the Blue Yellow Nami Leader, she’ll have the resources to trash and keep a win condition in play. Once per turn, Kuziki Oden can rest 3 Don and return 1 of your Characters in hand to set himself as Active, allowing you to go for a second attack with him to play more aggressively. We want to return low-cost Characters to our hand, either to replay them for their effects or keep them in hand to use as Counter cards. Kuziki Oden can become a heavy hitter with the help of 2-cost Teach. You’re able to develop a 6-cost Character and still go for two attacks with Oden, with a Power boost from Teach to make sure your opponent can’t easily Counter.
- Cavendish is another 6,000 Power attacker that acts as a resource engine. Whenever Cavendish goes for the attack, you get to draw 2 cards and trash 1 card from your hand, adding more resources and filtering your hand for better cards. Your opponent can’t afford to leave Cavendish in play for too long, so they’ll often shift their focus to try and remove him.
- 8-cost Charlotte Katakuri‘s On Play effect lets you add 1 Character with a cost of 8 or less to the top or bottom of the owner’s Life area face-up. This can remove one of the opponent’s Characters from play, and although you’re giving them a Life card, it does weaken the field presence. However, 8-cost Katakuri can also place one of your own Characters in your Life area. This gives you an extra Life card to protect your Leader, making sure your opponent can’t win the game too easily.
- Gum-Gum Fire-Fist Pistol Red Hawk can be used as a control card, allowing you to KO a 5-cost or less Character by resting 3 Don. However, the total Life of cards of you and your opponent have to be 5 or more, so you won’t be able to use it in the late-game. Instead, you can use Gum-Gum Fire-Fist Pistol Red Hawk as a Counter Event, giving your Leader a +3,000 Power boost.
- Gravity Blade Raging Tiger is perfect for removing two Characters with a cost of 6 or less from play, lowering the opponent’s presence on the field and weakening their upcoming offensive turn.
- On play, Bartholomew Kuma lets you trash a card from your hand to add the top card of your deck to your Life Area. While in play, your opponent will be discouraged from KOing him as it’ll trigger Kuma‘s effect to add another card from the top of your deck to your Life Area.
- Slave Arrow lets you return one of your 2-cost or more Characters to your hand to give your Leader or one of your Characters +4,000 Power, perfect for shutting down a high-power attack on your Leader. Since we’ll often play low-cost Characters like Nojiko and Zeus for their effect, we can return them to our hand to use them as Counter cards.
Closing Words
The Blue Yellow Nami is performing even better in EB03 thanks to the multiple support cards it received. This deck found success in multiple major tournaments, managing to perform against top contenders like Imu, Zoro, and Ace. In general, Leader Nami has two strong effects, so she was mainly just missing the right support cards to push her to the next level.
