Heya everyone! OP13 Carrying on His Will has just released in the East, and players are already getting their hands on the new expansion to start testing out the Leaders.
With this set comes a brand-new meta, especially after the recent banlist that hit Blue Purple Luffy. For the next few weeks, expect things to feel wide-open as players experiment, refine builds, and figure out which decks rise to the top.
In this article, I’ll be sharing early decklists for the six new OP13 Leaders. I’ll walk through how each Leader works, their general game plan, and what to expect when piloting these decks.
Black Imu
Black Imu changes the rules of the game, prohibiting you from adding any Event with a cost of 2 or more to your deck. Additionally, at the start of your turn, Imu lets you play 1 {Mary Geoise} type Stage card from your deck. This is exceptionally strong as we’re able to set up The Empty Throne at the start of our turn without having to search or use Don for it.
Black Imu can also generate value, letting you trash a {Celestial Dragons} type Character or 1 card from your hand to draw 1 card. So, if we have a Celestial Dragon Character on the field that isn’t needed, we can trash it for the additional draw to help find cards we need.
The Empty Throne lets us play a {Five Elders} type Character card for less Don as long as we have enough Don equal to their cost. This means we get to make stronger plays and even develop multiple Characters in one turn.
10-cost Five Elders is our strongest play, which we’ll aim to play through The Empty Throne when we hit 10 Don. Five Elders trashes all your Characters and lets you cheat out 5 {Five Elders} type Character cards with 5000 power and different card names from your trash. This means in one turn, we’re filling up our side of the field with St. Jaygarcia Saturn, St. Topman Warcury, St. Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, St. Marcus Mars, and St. Shepherd Ju Peter. They’re all 5,000 Power Characters, but St. Shepherd Ju Peter will push them to 7,000, turning them into a threat to close out the game on the upcoming turn.
Red Green Monkey D.Luffy
Red Green Monkey D.Luffy has a defensive effect, letting you give your Leader or one of your Straw Hat Crew type Characters a +2,000 Power boost when your opponent attacks. You have to rest a Don for every +2,000, so often we’ll bank Active Don or include cards that give us Active Don to enable our Leader’s effect.
4-cost Roronoa Zoro, 5-cost Sanji, and 6-cost Luffy are perfect for this deck, setting Don as Active and allowing you to use your Leader’s defensive effect without compensating on board development.
6-cost Law lets you cheat out a 5-cost or less Character like Sanji on the field, developing an additional threat to put more pressure on the opponent and force them to shift to a defensive strategy. As for the 6-cost Luffy, he can be a massive aggressor, capable of taking 2 Life cards with his Double Attack keyword. On Play, Luffy is setting up 4 of your Don as Active, but prevents you from playing a 5-cost or less Character. This is generally fine, since the Active Don can be used offensively for heavier swings or defensively for your Leader’s effect.
The 9-cost Roronoa Zoro is how we win games, offering to attack 3 times in one turn to overwhelm the opposing player and potentially close out the game.
Red Purple Gold D. Rogers
Gol.D.Roger is our first 7,000 Power Leader! However, his effect will drop him by -2,000 Power until you can hit 9 Don or more. Additionally, at the start of your turn, if you add Don, one of those Don cards will automatically attach to your Leader, which can prevent you from making certain plays.
The main mid-game strategy is to ramp to hit 9 Don as quickly as possible to remove the -2,000 Power reduction. To do that, we have Douglas Bullet, Bon Clay, and Scopper Gaban to give us that early to mid-game ramp to speed up our strategy.
Once Gol.D.Roger goes to 7,000 Power, he becomes a tough Leader to break through, and can go for heavy attacks to start threatening Life cards. This list also includes 8-cost Roger gives your Leader a +2,000 Power boost, while also reducing the Power of the opponent’s Characters by 2,000. This makes it harder for the opposing player to get attacks through on their upcoming turn, buying you more time to continue developing high-cost win conditions.
10-cost Shanks is a high-power Rush attacker that reduces the Power of all of the opponent’s Characters by 1,000, adding to your defensive strategy while also offering an offensive turn with his immediate attack.
10-cost Gol.D.Roger is more of a finisher play, preventing the opposing player from activating their blockers if you or your opponent are down to 0 Life cards. 10-cost Roger will be a core part of OP13 meta, allowing you to bypass blockers with your heavy attackers.
Red Blue Protagas.D.Ace
Red Blue Ace is a 6,000 Power Leader with a defensive effect that lets you trash a card from your hand to reduce the Power of the opponent’s Leader or one of their Characters by 2,000. This effect can be activated once per turn when your opponent attacks, but it allows you to include more non-counter cards that you can trash with your Leader effect.
Additionally, once per turn, if you have a Don attached to Ace, if he takes damage or one of your 6,000 Power or more Characters is KO’d, you get to draw a card. This means we’re gaining value with our Leader effect, aiding us in the late stages of the game so we don’t run out of steam and can keep up or even outvalue the opposing player.
This list also runs cards like Marco and Yamato, adding more resources to your hand to make sure you get to outvalue the opponent in the late game. Atmos and Jozu are control Characters, helping us weaken the opponent’s side of the field and slowing down their pace. We also have Gum Gum Red Roc as an answer for higher-cost win conditions.
The OP13 Newgate is our massive 12,000 Power Blocker, protecting us from an opponent’s attack. When played, he’s drawing 2 cards and letting us trash 1 from hand. Then, lets you attach 2 rested Don to your Leader and 1 of your Characters to go for 2 heavy attacks.
The 8-cost I Am Whitebeard!!! event lets us play one of our 10-cost Newgate a turn earlier than expected. We can then take a Life card to gain a +2,000 Power boost on our Leader and go for a heavy 8,000 Power attack.
Yellow Jewelry Bonney
Yellow Jewelry Bonney is a 5 Life card Egghead Leader. She needs Characters with a Trigger to activate her effect. When a Character with a Trigger is played, you can attach 2 Don to your Leader or one of your Characters.
The 2 Don you’re attaching allows you to go for heavier attacks that force more Counter cards from the opponent. Additionally, some Characters may require you to attach Don to them to activate certain effects, so the Leader effect allows you to do that without sacrificing board development.
This Bonney version plays aggressively, trying to consistently go for a heavy swing and having Stussy to go wider on the field and set up multiple attacks.
9-cost Bonney having Rush plays perfectly into your strategy, going for an immediate 10,000 Power attack. Bonney is also forcing your opponent to add 1 Life card to their hand, so you can potentially take 2 Life cards with Bonney or even set up the finishing play.
Red Black Sabo
Red Black Sabo is a 5,000 Power Leader with the downside of reducing his own Power by 1,000 as long as you have 4 or more Life cards. So, you’re essentially posing less threat with your attacks early in the game, and your lower power makes it easier for the opponent to take your first 2 Life cards.
However, that downside changes when you play a Character with a cost of 8 or more and attach a Don to Leader Sabo. Now, you gain a +1,000 Power boost on your Leader and all your Characters during your and your opponent’s turn until the 8-cost Character is removed. This enables heavier attacks but also makes it harder for the opposing player to get their attacks through or remove your field.
This is a Dressrosa/ Revolutionary Army type Leader, so we have access to a lot of support cards that can enable your Leader’s effect. Hack and 6-cost Sabo are perfect to get access to an 8-cost Character as early as possible to enable your Leader. 6-cost Sabo is also attaching a rested Don to your Leader, enabling his effect and allowing you to go for a heavier attack.
The 8-cost Black Dragon lets you go wider on the field, setting up a strong upcoming attack turn. Ideally, you want to cheat out the 6-cost Sabo to overwhelm the opposing player. As for the Red Dragon version, he’s best played if you need an immediate Rush attack to put some aggression on the opposing player.
Stussy is a removal play to deal with high-cost win conditions. You get to KO a low-cost Character like Monkey D.Garp and Belo Betty.
