Heya everyone! The EB02 ranked ladder has been live for a while now, and I’ve been eagerly watching OPBounty as the data rolls in. It’s finally time to get a glimpse of what the West Meta is looking like.
This will be a fresh, unexplored meta thanks to the recent bans to Jinbe, Gecko Moria, Kingdom Come, and Ice Age. While the East had its own version of the EB02 meta, with Blue Doflamingo, Black Rob Lucci, and Black Yellow Luffy on top, things are about to change.
All three of those decks were hit hard. BY Luffy is officially out of the meta, while Blue Doffy and Black Lucci managed to stay strong into OP10. But the big question now is: can they still compete in EB02?
Let’s dive in and see how things are shaping up so far!
The Top Dogs
Green Purple Monkey D.Luffy
Games Played: 37272 Win Rate: 53.5%
Favored: Black Teach, Purple Luffy, Black Blue Usopp, Blue Doflamingo, Yellow Enel.
Close Matchup: Yellow Vegapunk and Red Shanks.
Unfavored: Black Rob Lucci, Green Bonney, Red Green Smoker.
The newest addition to EB02 meta is Green Purple Monkey D. Luffy, quickly climbing through the ranks and claiming first place on the SIM!
The Green Purple Luffy relies on sheer aggression, using its deramp effect to gain 2 Active Don and +1,000 Power. You can go for heavier attacks or develop more on the field. This effect synergizes with Sanji & Pudding, triggering its ramp effect to gain an Active Don. So, instead of gaining 2 Active Don, you’re not gaining 3 and ramping for one to not fall behind in Don later in the game.
The longer Sanji & Pudding sticks on the field, the more aggression you’re capable of putting on the opponent, especially if you manage to play multiple Sanji & Pudding. 6-cost Luffy is the win condition, going for a Rush attack and can re-stand himself by returning 2 Active Don and taking a Life Card. It’s a heavy price to pay, but the additional attack can get you closer to winning the game.
Luffy-Tarou allows you to cheat out 1 Purple {Straw Hat Crew} type Character with a cost of 5 or less, enabling the aggressive strategy by going wider on the field. However, I’ve seen many lists cutting it out entirely and relying solely and the 6-cost Luffy to carry the game.
Since this deck is mostly a glass cannon, it needs tools to prolong games, giving it an extra turn or two to set up the winning play. This is where Events like Gum Gum Jet Gatling and Gum-Gum Giant will come into play, offering a huge Power boost to keep your Leader or a key Character in play. The most frustrating card to play against is none other than Electrical Luna, preventing all of the opponent’s Characters with a cost of 7 or less from becoming Active on the upcoming turn. Electrical Luna allows you to ignore board control and focus solely on aggroing down the opponent’s Leader.
Other Cards to Include
- Tony Tony Chopper is a low-cost Blocker to protect you from one of the opponent’s attacks. He’ll also ramp 1 Don so you don’t fall behind in the game when you activate your Leader effect.
- Zoro-Juuro isn’t too popular, but I’ve seen a couple of lists include him for the early Ramp effect.
- Franky is a ramp card that continues to ramp when he attacks, forcing the opposing player to remove him.
Red Shanks
Games Played: 28695 Win Rate: 53.3%
Favored: Yellow Vegapunk, Blue Doflamingo, Purple Luffy, Green Purple Lim, Red Green Smoker, Blue Black Usopp.
Close Matchup: Green Purple Luffy, Green Bonney, Black Rob Lucci, and Red Zoro.
Unfavored: Black Teach.
Red Shanks drops to second place in terms of popularity, losing his first place to Green Purple Luffy. If we take a look at EB02 pre-bans, Shanks was less popular than Blue Doffy, Yellow Enel, and Rob Lucci. So the bans have definitely benefited Red Shanks, keeping him on top of the meta, at least for now.
Red Shanks can reduce the Power of one of the opponent’s attackers, making it easier to defend your Leader or rested Characters and prolonging the game. The list is heavy on removal cards, using Ben.Beckman, Silvers Rayleigh, and Divine Departure to remove Characters and weaken the opponent’s board.
OP09 10-cost Shanks is the late-game carry, going for an aggressive Rush attack while reducing the Power of all the opponent’s Characters, making it even harder for them to get their attacks through.
Speaking of Rush attacks, we also have access to Luffy and Dragon to back up an aggressive strategy with their Rush attacks and extra Don attachment.
Other Cards to Include
- Marco is an answer for the low-cost blockers, removing them from play and allowing you to push for stronger attacks. You could combo him with a Power reduction card to remove higher Power Characters.
- Yassop’s +1,000 Power for the turn adds more offensive Power and makes it difficult for the opponent to get a hit through on the upcoming turn. He can then reduce the Power of an opponent’s Character when he attacks, enabling you to remove a 7,000 Power Character with Ben.Beckman or Silvers Rayleigh.
- Newgate’s KO effect can be activated once per turn, so you can continue using his control effect throughout the game and force your opponent to remove him.
- Gum-Gum Fire-Fist Pistol Red Hawk is a Counter Event to protect you from an attack, but combined with your Leader effect, you can also KO up to 5,000 Power Characters.
Black Marshall D.Teach
Games Played: 19685 Win Rate: 50.7%
Favored: Red Shanks, Black Rob Lucci, Green Bonney, Black Blue Usopp.
Close Matchup: Green Purple Lim.
Unfavored: Green Purple Luffy, Yellow Vegapunk, Blue Doflamingo, Red Green Smoker, Red Roronoa Zoro.
Black Teach is holding strong and remains one of the strongest choices in EB02 meta. Matchup knowledge is crucial when playing this deck, shutting your opponent’s On Play effects at the right time to disrupt their strategy and prevent them from removing your win conditions.
You have a couple of removal plays like Doc Q, Finger Pistol, Black Hole, and Liberation to keep the board under control. However, when it comes to winning, you’re relying on Jesus Burgess and 10-cost Teach to set up the win condition on the field. Jesus Burgess will gain Power the more cards are in your trash, eventually becoming a heavy hitter, too difficult for most decks to remove.
As for 10-cost Teach, he’s preventing one of the opponent’s Characters from attacking on the upcoming turn and standing firm as a 12,000 Power blocker to halt an attack.
Other Cards to Include
- I Bid 500 Million is mostly in this list for the Trigger effect, letting you KO or return a 6-cost or less Character to the opponent’s hand. If you happen to draw it, you can trash it using Fullalead to draw a better card or to activate your Leader effect.
- Laboon reduces the cost of one of the opponent’s Characters by 4, allowing you to remove a high-cost Character through your effects.
- Shiryu is a popular inclusion to KO a 3-cost or less Character while remaining on the field as a tough Character to KO thanks to the Power boost he gains.
Black Rob Lucci
Games Played: 18037 Win Rate: 51.4%
Favored: Green Purple Luffy, Green Bonney, Blue Doflamingo, Red Green Smoker, Red Zoro.
Close Matchup: Red Shanks.
Unfavored: Black Teach, Yellow Vegapunk, and Blue Black Usopp.
Although Lucci lost Gecko Moria and Ice Age, he remained one of the best competitive decks throughout OP10, and he’s still sticking around in EB02. This deck thrives on KOing opponents’ Characters and weakening their upcoming attack turns. Brook, Lucci, and Jack can KO Characters, and with the help of cost-reduction cards like Laboon, Hina, and Tempest Kick, you can target higher-cost threats and bleed opponents out of their win conditions.
On the SIM, players seem to be torn between 9-cost Kaido or 8-cost Sabo, both being control Characters with different purposes. Kaido trashes a 7-cost or less Character and forces the opposing player to trash a card from their hand. As for 8-cost Sabo, he’s a better choice to KO two of the opponent’s Characters, a great choice if you’re worried about getting aggroed down.
Other Cards to Include
- One-Legged Soldier and Tashigi are tech cards against Black Teach to bypass his Leader effect. You’re aiming to remove their Jesus Burgess with Tashigi’s trash effect.
- Finger Pistol is a powerful control event to KO a 5-cost or less Character. The Trigger effect can be a game changer!
- 8-cost Sabo is seeing play again in a couple of lists, trying to control decks that go wide on the field.
Lurking Behind
Yellow Vegapunk
Games Played: 9268 Win Rate: 51.2%
Favored: Black Teach, Black Rob Lucci, Blue Doflamingo, Purple Luffy, Green Purple Lim,
Close Matchup: Green Purple Luffy, Red Green Smoker, Blue Black Usopp.
Unfavored: Red Shanks, Green Bonney, and Yellow Enel.
Look who showed up to the party! Yellow Vegapunk is on a roll with the addition of EB02 5-cost Vegapunk! This deck uses Leader effect to put Egghead cards in your Life Area or cheat Characters on the field. The Yellow Vegapunk deck transitioned from a slow-paced, controllish playstyle to an aggressive one, trying to overwhelm opponents with attackers and closing out games as early as possible.
Since most of your Eggheads can be played on the field through their Trigger effect, it can deter opponents from attacking your Leader. This list has one of the highest win rates on the ranked ladder, using Eustass”Captain”Kid to trash an opponent’s Life card, helping you drop them down to 0 Life Cards and plan your winning turn.
Other Cards to Include
- Egghead stage allows you to set one of your Eggheads as Active at the end of your turn, preventing the opposing player from attacking it. It can also be great along with Shaka, letting you use Shaka aggressively and still have him as a blocker.
- 5-cost Ace has been a popular choice in this deck. He’s a 7,000 Power attacker, who gains Rush if your Leader is 2 Life cards or less. Since Vegapunk can’t attack, Ace’s Rush attack can be extremely useful.
- S-Snake can prevent a 5-cost or less other than Luffy from attacking you on the upcoming turn. This could protect your Leader or make it challenging for the opponent to control the board.
Green Jewelry Bonney
Games Played: 9153 Win Rate: 52.9%
Favored: Green Purple Luffy, Yellow Vegapunk, Red Green Smoker, Yellow Enel.
Close Matchup: Red Shanks, Purple Luffy, Blue Doflamingo.
Unfavored: Black Teach, Black Rob Lucci, Green Purple Lim, Black Blue Usopp.
The Green Bonney deck is standing strong in the meta, capable of taking on multiple top meta decks like the popular Green Purple Luffy. This is a stall deck that uses Leader effect to rest one of the opponent’s attackers, slowing down their aggression and buying you more time until your win conditions start dropping.
8-cost Kid enables the fortress strategy, further pushing for a stall game plan and creating a wall that can be tough for most decks to break through. 10-cost Doflamgino is right there to help out Kid in keeping that wall up, keeping 3 of the opponent’s Characters rested and slowing their upcoming turn immensely.
A couple of decks have high-power win conditions like 10-cost Shanks and 9-cost Luffy, who can attack immediately with their Rush keyword. 9-cost Shanks is a great answer for those Characters, KOing them on the spot and helping shift the game in your favor.
Other Cards to Include
- Bartolomoeo is a low-cost blocker to use alongside your Fortress strategy. He can be used to filter your hand for better cards.
- I’ve seen a couple of decks using Donquixote Rosinante in their lists, offering a way to go wider on the field, and can make it a challenge for the opposing player to control your board. If you’re adding Rosinante, you’ll likely want to add the 5-cost Bonney as well to better its consistency.
- 9-cost Roronoa Zoro is a late-game win condition that can solo win you the game if your opponent doesn’t remove him.
Purple Monkey D.Luffy
Games Played: 7925 Win Rate: 49.5%
Favored: Yellow Enel, Black Blue Usopp.
Close Matchup: Red Shanks, Black Teach, Black Rob Lucci, Green Bonney, Red Green Smoker.
Unfavored: Green Purple Luffy, Yellow Vegapunk, Green Purple Lim, Blue Doflamingo.
Purple Monkey D.Luffy is a ramp deck using Leader effect to take a Life card and gain 1 Active Don. This allows you to play higher-cost Characters a turn earlier, enabling a stronger field presence. 7-cost Luffy-Tarou lets you cheat out the likes of Zoro-Juurou or San-Gorou, creating a wider field presence and forcing the opposing player to take a defensive approach to the game.
You usually want to play 9-cost Luffy as early as possible, gaining a card draw and putting the 10,000 Power to use with his Rush attack. As for 9-cost Charlotte Linlin, she gets to remove a 6-cost or less Character from play, disrupting the opponent’s strategy while giving you a Life card to force them to commit more attacks to win the game.
Other Cards to Include
- 4-cost Law is a blocker to protect you from an attack, but you’re mainly including him in this list to trash 2 cards from the opponent’s hand and cut down on their resources.
Green Purple Lim
Games Played: 7578 Win Rate: 52.3%
Favored: Black Teach, Green Bonney, Purple Luffy, Red Green Smoker, Blue Black Usopp.
Close Matchup: Green Purple Luffy, Black Rob Lucci, Blue Doflamingo.
Unfavored: Red Shanks, Yellow Enel, Yellow Vegapunk
Green Purple Lim forces you to play your Characters rested, and although this can seem like a disadvantage, for the {ODESSY} Characters, it’s part of the strategy. Using Lim’s effect, you can cheat out an {ODESSY} Character with a cost of 5 or less and ramp 1 Don, allowing you to go wide on the field and line up multiple attacks.
Most lists have cut out high-cost carries and adopted the aggressive version, focusing on developing two Characters in one turn and going for multiple attacks to pressure the opposing player.
Newgate, Sakazuki, and Top Knot can weaken the opponent’s field presence, making it even harder for them to control your aggression and stabilize the game.
Other Cards to Include
- 4-cost Adio is a +2,000 Counter card that can be played through your Leader effect.
- 9-cost Roronoa Zoro is a late-game win condition that can solo win you the game if your opponent doesn’t remove him.
- 9-cost Adio’ gives ‘s On Play effect sets 3 Don as Active, allowing you to activate your Leader effect to cheat out a Character. Once during your opponent’s turn, you can gain a +2,000 Power boost on your Leader or one of your Characters to protect them from an attack.
- 9-cost Shanks is a control option to deal with a high-cost win condition that you can’t remove through attacks.
Fighting Through
Red Green Smoker
Games Played: 7563 Win Rate: 47.8%
Favored: Green Purple Luffy.
Close Matchup: Black Teach, Yellow Vegapunk, Purple Luffy, Blue Black Usopp.
Unfavored: Red Shanks, Black Rob Lucci, Green Bonney, Green Purple Lim, Yellow Enel, Blue Doffy.
A lot of different lists for Red Green Smoker, this one, though, had one of the highest win rates, using Ben Beckmann, Silvers Rayleigh, and Gum Gum Mole Pistol as control tools to keep the board in check.
Leader Smoker + 5-cost Smoker will give you 3 Active Don every turn, setting you up to make stronger plays, which can end up overwhelming the opposing player. You’re able to focus down the opponent’s Leader and have an 8-cost Kid protecting you from getting aggroed down, buying you enough time to win the game.
Other Cards to Include
- 5-cost Luffy and 5-cost Carrot showed up in multiple lists. Luffy enables an aggressive strategy with his Rush attack +1 Don attachment. As for Carrot, she can keep one of the opponent’s Characters rested, allowing you to ignore that Character and focus on the opponent’s Leader.
- 10-cost Shanks is a late-game Rush attacker that lowers the Power of all of the opponent’s Characters, making it harder for them to get attacks through. He’s not a popular inclusion, but some lists will add a copy or two.
- Ten-layer Igloo is a strong Counter Event to protect your Leader or a rested character. The +3,000 Power boost, along with the -2,000 Power reduction on one of the opponent’s attackers, means you can shut down a high-power attack or two attacks.
Yellow Enel
Games Played: 7168 Win Rate: 54.7%
Favored: Black Rob Lucci, Yellow Vegapunk, Green Purple Lim, Red Green Smoker, Black Purple Usopp, Blue Doffy.
Close Matchup: Red Shanks.
Unfavored: Green Purple Luffy, Black Teach, Green Bonney, Purple Luffy,
Yellow Enel is making a comeback in EB02. The deck lost Kingdom Come, a powerful removal play to deal with high-cost win conditions. However, with the addition of 10-cost Enel in EB02, players have been picking up Yellow Enel on the SIM, and so far it’s performing well. Although Yellow Enel has a high win rate and beats most decks in the meta, it’s struggling against the top 3 most-played decks.
This deck heavily relies on your Leader effect, giving you a Life Card once per turn when your opponent drops you to 0 Life cards. This makes it a challenge for the opposing player to set up the winning turn, and forces them to have multiple attackers lined up to threaten a winning attack. On top of that, 10-cost Ace and 10-cost Enel are there to give you Life Cards, making sure your Leader is safe from opponents’ attacks and are capable of going for a Rush attack.
Ideally, you’ll target rested Characters to make it even harder for the opponent to close out the game. However, if you’re ahead in the game, you can shift your focus to their Leader and start setting up for your winning turn.
The list has multiple Characters that can trash the opponent’s Life cards. Basil Hawkins, Nico Robin, and Eustass”Captain”Kid will trash Life cards, cutting down on the opponent’s resources and making it even easier to set up a winning turn.
Other Cards to Include
- Kikunojo is an early attacker that can put pressure and challenging for the opponent to remove. They usually aren’t happy to give you an additional Life card and will have to remove her through other means.
- Sanji is a mid-game blocker to protect you from an attack and will add more cards to your hand through his effect.
- 9-cost Yamato used to be the popular win condition in this deck. However, most lists have been cutting her out entirely or running 1 or 2 copies.
Black Blue Usopp
Games Played: 7023 Win Rate: 47.9%
Blue Black Usopp synergized with {Dresrossa} type Characters, giving the +1 cost, and if one of them gets KO’d during the opponent’s turn, you can draw a card.
Roronoa Zoro and Kyros are there for the board control, which you can cheat out both through Rebecca’s effect. You also have Cavendish or Franky as options to cheat through Rebecca and go wide on the field. Corrida Coliseum enables your {Dresrossa} type Characters to attack rested Characters on the turn they’re played, further increasing your control power.
The win condition usually revolved around 7-cost Luffy + Gum-Gum King Kong Gun, going for two high-power attacks to potentially win the game.
Other Cards to Include
- Gum Gum Red Roc and Gravity Blade Raging Tiger are control Events to remove the opponent’s win conditions. They’re great additions if you’re trying to beat Teach.
Blue Doflamingo
Games Played: 6946 Win Rate: 49.1%
Blue Doflamingo saw a huge drop in popularity on the SIM. Remember, this deck was rivaling Green Purple Luffy for first place back in the East’s EB02.
Dolfamingo can cheat out 4-cost or less {The Seven Warlords of the Sea} type Characters, and with 2-cost Teach, you can choose which Character to cheat out and have additional Don to work with. This will enable you to go wider on the field and adopt a more aggressive strategy.
However, with the ban of Jinbe, most lists are going for more control cards like Gum Gum Red Roc, Gravity Blade Raging Tiger, and 7-cost Doflamingo to remove Characters from the field and keep the opposing player behind in the game. 4-cost Law and 6-cost Jinbe work similarly, too, making sure your opponent struggles to match your board.
Other Cards to Include
- Perfume Femur is a finisher set up giving your Leader or one of your {The Seven Warlords of the Sea} type Characters +2,000 Power and the ability to ignore blockers. It’s great to strike down the opponent’s Leader when they’re down to 0 Life cards.
Red Yellow Belo Betty
Games Played: 5887 Win Rate: 49.6%
The aggressive Revolutionary Army deck is lingering around, waiting for OP11 to drop. This is an aggressive deck that wants to develop multiple bodies on the field and boost their Power using Leader effect. Emporio Ivankov enables the go wide strategy, with Karasu reducing the Power of the opponent’s Leader and forcing them to use more Counter cards to protect their Life cards.
Blue Purple Reiju
Games Played: 5729 Win Rate: 50%
Blue Purple Reiju uses Porche to set up an aggressive early start, developing either 2-cost Reiju or 4-cost Ichiji and cheating out their higher-cost versions. You don’t easily run out of resources in this deck thanks to your Leader effect and 4-cost Reiju, keeping the engine running with their draw effects.
Ichiji is the main aggressor, the 7,000 Power Rush attacker + the cost reduction effect can be tough for opponents to deal with, especially early into the game.
Other Cards to Include
- Niji is a control card letting you choose between KOing a 2-cost or less Character or returning a 4-cost or less Character to the owner’s hand.
- Judge is a late-game play to go wide on the field. If you do want to run Judge in your list, you’ll want to go for 1 or 2 copies only.
Yellow Eustass”Captain”Kid
Games Played: 5181 Win Rate: 51.2%
The Yellow Leader Eustass”Captain”Kid has a powerful defensive effect that activates at the end of your turn. You can switch one of your {Supernova} type Characters to Active and give them the Blocker keyword. This gives you a blocker on the field to protect your Leader or a rested Character, but it also can prevent opponents from attacking a Character you just attacked with.
We have {Supernova} Characters like 4-cost Basil Hawkins, 6-cost Cavendish, 7-cost Trafalgar Law, and 8-cost Eustass”Captain”Kid that can be used with your Leader effect. If the opposing player KO’s 4-cost Basil Hawkins, they’re forced to trash a Life card, cutting down on their resources and making it easier for you to win the game. 8-cost Eustass”Captain”Kid can also trash the opponent’s top Life card when played on the field, but you’ll have to rest him to activate the effect. However, with our Leader effect, we can turn him back to Active and give him the Blocker keyword to use the 9,000 Power to block one of the opponent’s attacks.
This list has 10-cost Portagas.D.Ace to give you a Life card and ensure you don’t lose the game too easily. The Rush attack can be used to target a rested Character and weaken opponent’s upcoming turn, or go for their Leader and put them low enough to potentially win the game on the upcoming turn.
Red Purple Luffy
Games Played: 5176 Winrate: 48.1%
Each list I look at looks completely different than the other! This is one list with a high win rate that is using the new EB02 Luffy. This is a ramp deck that aims to play higher-cost Characters a turn earlier and start going for heavy attacks.
Other Cards to Include
Red Roronoa Zoro
Games Played: 5123 Win Rate: 53.1%
The Zoo Roronoa Zoro deck tanked in popularity! At early OP10 meta, it was one of the most-played decks, but with Black Rob Lucci regaining his popularity and keeping Zoro in his place, players slowly dropped the deck. Despite that, Red Zoro is still maintaining a high win rate.
This is an aggressive deck trying to go wide on the field with the help of Just Shut up and Come with Us and OP08 Tony Tony Chopper, allowing you to go for multiple attacks to drop your opponent low on Life cards. 3-cost Zoro and 5-cost Luffy keep the aggression coming with their Rush attack, and if you manage to drop them to 0 Life cards, then Gold D.Roger is there to close out the game, dodging their blockers.
Other Cards to Include
- Kid & Killer is a heavy hitter late in the game, going for a 7,000 Power Rush attack.
- Diable Jambe is a finisher Event to bypass a blocker and deal the finishing attack.
Closing Words
This is still an early Meta Report based on stats from SIM play to give you an idea of what to expect! Things might change once tournaments start and players get to seriously experiment and figure out how to beat the best performers.
This is it from me! If you want to keep up with my card game shinganingans, consider following me on Twitter.
