The Fishman Green Hody Jones is an underplayed deck, struggling to find its footing in the OPTCG meta. However, there was a running meme among the community, where Hody Jones was pretty much winning everything, which led to more players picking up the deck for the meme.
Until now, whenever Hody Jones goes far in a tournament, be it a local or major event, players are quick to hype up the deck gain!
OP06 Hody Jones has a different playstyle than most leaders, running cards with powerful effects but with a high drawback of damaging your Leader. Hody Jones‘ unique effect prevents that self-damage from happening, letting you take advantage of those powerful effects while dodging the drawback.
Leader
Hody Jones is a 5-health Leader with an Activate Main: Effect that forces you to rest your Leader to activate it, this means we won’t be able to attack with Hody Jones on certain turns. Hody Jones‘ effect can rest one of the opponent’s Don or a 3-cost or less Character. Then, you cannot add Life cards to your hand using your own effects during this turn.
The ability to rest a Character helps us remove a low-cost blocker from the equation or target a valuable Character for the opponent’s strategy. As for the ability to prevent self-damage, it’ll be a key part of our strategy since we have many Characters in the list that require to damage your Leader to activate their effects like Daruma and Ikaros Much. Preventing the self-damage from going through gives you more survivability so you don’t end up in a vulnerable spot against aggressive attacks.
There are scenarios where you value the Hody Jones attack, deciding that losing a Life card is a better option than not attacking with your Leader to either KO an opponent’s Character or go for more aggression on their Leader.
Green Hody Jones Decklist
How to Play
Early Characters
Camie looks at the top 4 cards in your deck and lets you add 1 {Fish-man} or {Merfolk} type Character to your hand. Ideally, Camie is played in the early turns to find the card you’re missing and make sure you can execute your mid and late-game strategy.
Dosun and Daruma are two strong options to play on turn 2, both damaging your Leader to activate their effects. You’ll activate their effects when attacking, so you can hold off on using Leader effect until the upcoming turn.
Dosun damages your Leader to gain +2,000 Power until the start of your next turn, becoming a 6,000 Power attacker. Additionally, Dosun gains immunity to attacks, preventing opponent from KOing through any of their attacks. This forces them to rely on removal or KO effects to deal with Dosun.
As for Daruma, you need to attach a Don to it before attacking, allowing you to set it as Active after you attack and gain +1,000 Power during this turn. The ability to set Daruma as Active gives you two options: go for another attack or leave Daruma Active so your opponent doesn’t attack it.
Daruma is great for putting pressure with his two attacks a turn, especially if you’re shifting your attacks on their Leader and trying to win the game. You can attach Don to Daruma and go for two high-power attacks.
Resting Effects
Hody & Hyouzou can rest an opponent’s Character with a cost of 4 or less and will then gain +1,000 Power, becoming a 7,000 Power Character. A tough attack for opponents to Counter and can help you remove one of their Characters from play.
As for Fisher Tiger, he can rest a 6-cost character, so he’s best for bigger threats. Although you don’t gain +1,000 Power like Hody & Hyouzou, Fisher Tiger can attack a Character on the turn he’s played, allowing you to threaten a KO immediately.
On Play, Arlong trashes a card from your hand to prevent your opponent’s Leader from attacking on the upcoming turn. This slows down the offensive pressure, and can even play a massive role in surviving specific turns. Some Leaders rely on attacking to activate their effects, so Arlong‘s effect can shut that down.
Strong Value Turns
Ikarus Much is your strongest play on Don 5/6, letting cheat out a 4-cost or less {Fish-Man} type Character, going for two Characters in one turn. Hody & Hyouzou, Arlong, Daruma, and Dosun are the Characters you want to play on the field through Ikarus Much, putting multiple threats for the opposing player to deal with.
Smoker’s Banish attack can be a problem for your opponent when you go for an attack on their Leader, forcing them into playing Counter cards so they don’t trash their Life card. Smoker’s effect lets you set one of your rested Don as Active, enabling more aggression or at least developing two Characters in one turn.
Carry Jones
7-cost Hody Jones is the strongest play in this deck, resting two of your opponent’s and using Rush to go for an attack on the turn he’s played. Depending on the game, you’ll decide whether you prefer attacking the opponent’s Leader and rushing opponent down or focusing your attacks on the rested Characters to control the field.
Alternatively, Hody Jones can rest one of the opponent’s Don instead of 2 Characters, which can be beneficial against decks like Green Bonney or Blue Nami that rely on Don during defensive turns.
KO Rested Characters
Vander Decken IX is a control option, capable of KOing one of the opponent’s rested Characters after trashing a {Fish-Man} type Character from your hand. The list has multiple Characters that can rest an opponent’s Character, making Vander Decken IX a great follow-up play.
Events
Because The Side of Justice Will Be Whichever Side Wins!! is a 0-cost +3000 Power Counter that forces you to trash a card from your hand. This is usually to protect your Characters or Leader. The list has a lot of Characters with no Counter effect, so Because The Side of Justice Will Be Whichever Side Wins!! can be used to trash dead cards we won’t need.
Mulligan
Camie for the early searcher. Ikarus Much is the number one card to have in your hand early into the game, making sure you can set up an aggressive mid-game.
If you’re going first, having one of your 3-costs, Dosun or Daruma on turn 2, makes sure you’re developing an attacker every turn.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): Camie.
- Turn 2 (3 Don): Dosun or Daruma.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): Ikarus Much + Hody & Hyouzou, Fisher Tiger, or Smoker.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): Hody Jones.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): Hody Jones + Vander Decken IX or go wide on the field.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): Hody Jones + Vander Decken IX or go wide on the field.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): Camie.
- Turn 2 (4 Don): Hody & Hyouzou, Dosun, or Daruma.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): Ikarus Much + Hody & Hyouzou, Fisher Tiger, or Smoker.
- Turn 4 (8 Don): Hody Jones.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): Hody Jones + Vander Decken IX or go wide on the field.
