Bandai Namco has confirmed that a Ban/Restriction announcement is coming this August 2025 for the One Piece TCG!
This ban/restriction aims to address top-performing decks, specifically those that have consistently dominated competitive play and are expected to remain strong in future metas.
In OP11 and OP12, the spotlight is currently on Blue Purple Luffy and Green Purple Luffy, which are the most dominant decks in both formats.
Bandai has not yet revealed the exact date of the announcement, so for now, we’re left to speculate which cards might be hit and how these changes could shake up the meta moving forward.
The official ban announcement will be on Wednesday, August 20!
Gum Gum Giant
We’ve discussed Gum-Gum Giant multiple times already, and despite how dominant it’s become, this powerful Counter Event managed to avoid the ban hammer during the 2024–2025 season ban announcements. It’s currently a staple in both Green Purple Luffy and Blue Purple Luffy, making it one of the most impactful cards in the meta. With its widespread use and power level, it’s very likely to be on Bandai’s radar for the upcoming ban list.
While Luffy decks benefit the most, the majority of Purple decks in the format are running Gum-Gum Giant. Decks like Black Purple Luffy and Purple Luffy are also capitalizing on the value it provides. Gum-Gum Giant is a defensive Event that lets you return 2 DON!!, trash 1 card from your hand, and give your Leader or a Character +4000 Power, and draw 2 cards. You’re capable of countering a heavy attack while gaining more resources in your hand, potentially finding key cards you need.
It’s widely regarded as the strongest defensive Event in the Purple color, letting players survive longer, stall tempo, and even ignore board control entirely, knowing their opponent can’t push for a winning turn while Gum-Gum Giant is active. Although we’ve never seen Bandai restrict a card in OPTCG, but there’s a first time for everything, and GGG feels like the best candidate right now to be restricted to 1 copy.
Blue Purple Luffy Nerf
Another card that’s drawn increasing criticism from players is the 8-cost Charlotte Katakuri. As a Blocker with 8,000 Power, Katakuri serves as a massive defensive wall, protecting you from an opponent’s attack.
But what really makes Katakuri stand out is his ability to re-stand himself. This allows him to attack offensively during your turn, applying pressure, and then re-stand at the end of the turn to act as a Blocker, defending your Leader from an attack. It’s the best of both worlds: offense and defense in a single card.
Katakuri has become a core piece in Blue Purple Luffy decks, enabling the 3-Life Leader to stall the game, build up a strong board, and eventually take over with high-power Characters that are difficult to remove and even harder to push through.
The issue with hitting 8-cost Katakuri is you’re effectively killing off the Purple Katakuri deck, which might deter Bandai from going this route and considering the 9-cost Linlin ban instead.
Charlotte Linlin is another strong card in Blue Purple Luffy, removing a 6-cost or less from play while giving you a Life card. The Life card Blue Purple Luffy gains from Linlin goes a long way, especially with him being a 6,000 Power Leader and the defensive events he has access to.
We could see Bandai hit Charlotte Linlin in an attempt to weaken Blue Purple Luffy, especially since Purple Luffy has dropped Linlin for Katakuri, so it won’t be affected as much by the Linlin ban.
Green Purple Luffy Nerfs
Green Purple Luffy currently ranks just behind Blue Purple Luffy, making it one of the strongest decks in the format. A restriction or ban on Gum-Gum Giant would certainly weaken its defensive tools, but if Bandai truly wants to target Green Purple Luffy’s mid-game power spike, Sanji & Pudding is the most impactful card to hit.
Sanji & Pudding enables early ramp, allowing GP Luffy to activate his de-ramp effect as early as turn 3. This leads to stronger plays much earlier in the game while minimizing the Leader’s drawback.
Most opponents rely on quickly removing Sanji & Pudding, because if they don’t, they risk falling behind fast. Things get even more dangerous if the GP Luffy player manages to stick two copies of Sanji & Pudding. Now, they’re ramping aggressively and snowballing the board, thanks to both the Leader effect and Sanji & Pudding generating Don.
Green Bans
I don’t think Bandai will go as far as banning core Green cards, but if they do choose to do so, Hody Jones would likely be at the top of the list.
Hody Jones is another card that could catch Bandai’s attention. The aggressive 8-cost Hody has become an auto-include in most Green decks thanks to his Rush keyword and powerful effect that lets you rest two Characters or DON!!. This combination makes him one of the strongest aggressive tools in the game, often allowing players to break through defenses and set up a game-ending turn.
We consistently see Hody Jones featured in decks like Green Bonney, Green Zoro, Red Green Smoker, and Green Yellow Yamato. While these decks aren’t dominating the meta in the same way as Blue Purple Luffy, Hody has remained a stable, high-impact card since his release, and that long-term consistency could make him a potential candidate for a ban or restriction.
Current Banned Cards
We might also see some cards get unbanned! The One Piece TCG has evolved significantly since many of these cards were first banned, and it’s possible that Bandai could lift certain bans if they determine the cards are no longer meta-breaking in the current environment.
Closing Words
I don’t think Bandai will go as far as banning Green cards like Hody Jones or Kid. It’s more likely they’ll focus on addressing Blue Purple Luffy and Green Purple Luffy specifically. The most straightforward solution is hitting Gum-Gum Giant, and from there, they could take it a step further by targeting powerful cards in those decks like Charlotte Linlin or Sanji & Pudding.
