Purple Monkey D. Luffy received new cards in the Starter 18 deck and it’s looking like the ramp deck is performing better in the OP08 meta. Thanks to its ramping abilities, you can drop high-cost Characters earlier than usual, setting up a formidable field presence. This build leans heavily on {Straw Hat Crew} Characters, which work perfectly with your searchers and the 7-cost Monkey D. Luffy, helping you cheat them into play.
Decklist
2xEB01-061
2xOP03-072
1xOP05-060
2xOP05-066
4xOP05-070
3xOP05-076
2xOP05-119
4xOP07-064
4xOP08-069
4xST04-005
4xST10-010
4xST18-001
3xST18-002
4xST18-003
4xST18-004
4xST18-005How to Play
Leader
Monkey D. Luffy’s ramping ability is a key part of accelerating your game plan. By placing 1 Life card into your hand, you activate his ramp effect, ramp effect, but only if you have 0 or 3 or more Don. This means that by turn 2, you can start ramping up to drop bigger Characters. Just remember, since you’re self-damaging to ramp, you’ll need to protect your Life cards from attacks to avoid getting too low on health and handing your opponent the win.
On turn 2, whether you’re going first or second, you can start ramping to put a Character on the board. If you’re first, you can ramp on Don 3 to play a 4-cost Character; if you’re second and have 4 Don, you can ramp to play a 5-cost. This early ramping also sets you up to play your high-cost Characters more easily in later turns.
The deck is packed with {Straw Hat Crew} cards, giving you plenty of draw options and extra resources.
If you’re going first, these are the best plays on turn 2. You’ll have 3 Don, so ramping with your Leader’s effect lets you drop a 4-cost Character. Bon Clay is usually the best choice, as he ramps you up to 5 Don, setting you up for better plays next turn, capable of reaching 8 Don with your Leader’s effect. Bon Clay’s Power depends on what your opponent has on the field, but he’s vulnerable on defense while rested, his 1,000 Power is easy for attackers to KO.
At Don 4, Zorojuro is your strongest option. His 6,000 Power attack is tough for opponents to deal with early on. Plus, Zorojuro draws you a {Straw Hat Crew} card, which could be the missing piece for your next turn, or a +2,000 Counter for extra protection.
Lastly, Trafalgar Law shines in slower matchups. If your opponent is sitting on 7 cards in their hand, play Trafalgar Law, deramp, and force them to trash two of those cards. This cuts their resources and potentially trashes key cards, disrupting their strategy.
When going second, you can ramp on turn 2 to reach 5 Don, allowing you to play one of these Characters.
Sangoro is your best early play. With 6,000 Power, he also draws you a card when he attacks. However, his effect only kicks in when you have 8 Don or more. If you play him on Don 5, you’ll have 7 Don on your next turn, and by ramping with your Leader, you’ll hit 8 Don. This gives you extra card value and forces your opponent to focus on taking out Sangoro instead of attacking your Leader.
Jinbe and Queen are strong 5-cost blockers to protect your Leader. Jinbe’s effect activates at 10 Don, giving him a 1,000 Power boost during defensive turns, similar to 4-cost Borsalino. This makes him a stronger blocker, meaning you’ll need to spend fewer Counter cards to keep him alive.
Queen draws two cards and trashes one, giving you draw value while discarding a card you don’t plan to use. Since activating Queen’s effect requires deramping, you’ll need to consider your next turn’s plays carefully.
You’re not locked into playing a 5-cost Character on Don 5—your 4-cost Characters can still provide good value on the field.
Onami is a 4-cost blocker with just 2,000 Power, making her less effective in the early game. She’s better suited for the late game when you have 8 or more Don to activate her effect and draw an extra card. Onami helps protect your Leader and valuable cards, allowing you to trash a card you don’t need. As a {Straw Hat Crew} Character, she’s also searchable with your searcher cards.
She could be played on the field through 7-cost Monkey D.Luffy‘s Play effect.
7-cost Monkey D. Luffy is one of your strongest plays, and you’ll want to get him on the field as early as possible. His On Play effect lets you return 1 Don to play a 5-cost or less {Straw Hat Crew} Character from your hand. This gives you the option to bring out Characters like Zorojuro, Sangoro, Jinbe, Onami, or Franky.
Developing two Characters at once shifts the field in your favor, opening up opportunities for more aggressive plays.
9-cost Charlotte Linlin provides an extra Life card and removes a 6-cost Character from your opponent’s field, placing it on the top or bottom of their Life Area. This disrupts their next attack turn and gives you more time to set up your winning play. To activate her effect, you’ll need to return 1 Don and trash a card from your hand.
10-cost Monkey D. Luffy is a powerful play but comes with a massive drawback. Typically, you’ll want to set up your winning turn when you play him. Before playing Luffy, make sure to attack with all your Characters, as his On Play effect will remove them all from the field. Once they’ve attacked, you can play Luffy, return all 10 Don, and send all other Characters to the bottom of the deck.
With 0 Don left, you can use your Leader’s effect to gain 1 Don, then activate Luffy’s effect to gain an Active Don. While this may not seem impactful at first, it sets you up with more Don for the next turn. You can attach a Don to your Leader for a 6,000 Power attack before ending your turn.
When your turn ends, you’ll immediately start a new one. Since you ramped and used Luffy’s effect, you’ll have 2 Don, plus the 2 Don you gain at the start of your turn, giving you 4 Don. You can either ramp again with Leader for more Don or hold onto that Life card. Your Leader can attack again, and with 4 Don available, you can either boost his Power or play another Character. 10-cost Luffy can also attack, so you can go for the winning blow if your opponent has 0 Life cards.
Don’t forget to reactivate Luffy’s +1 Don effect at the start of your new turn.
Events
When You’re at Sea You Fight Against Pirates!! is a search card that works great in the early game to find {Staw Hat Crew}, {Kid Pirates}, or {Heart Pirates} type cards. Since the list has a majority of {Staw Hat Crew}, you’ll almost always find something to draw. Also, you can draw a 4-cost Trafalgar Law since he’s a {Heart Pirates}.
Gum-Gum Jet Gatling is a Counter Event that trashes one of your cards to give a +3,000 Power boost to your Leader or one of your Characters.
Other Cards to Include
- Magellan‘s On Play deramps for both players, which can prevent certain plays your opponent is planning. If the opponent KO’s Magellan, they’ll have to deramp 2 Don, which can be awful for them in the mid-game.
- Kaido is powerful late-game play, KOing a 6-cost or less Character and gaining Rush. You have to return 5 Don to activate Kaido‘s effect, so your upcoming turn will be slower.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): Sea You Fight Against Pirates!!
- Turn 2 (3 Don): Ramp Leader and play a 4-cost Character
- Turn 3 (5 Don 6 Don): Ramp with Leader and play 7-cost Monkey D. Luffy. Even if you’ve played Bon Clay on the last turn, you might want to ramp now since you’re still deramping with 7-cost Luffy. Or a 5-cost Character.
- Turn 4 (7 Don 8 Don): Three plays: Another 7-cost Monkey D. Luffy or two 4-cost Characters or a 5-cost Character.
- Turn 5 (9 Don 10 Don): If you didn’t deramp the past turn, you should be at 10 Don, you’ll have to decide if playing 10-cost Luffy is worth it or not. In most cases, it might be too early for 10-cost Luffy, so a 9-cost Charlotte Linlin could be the best choice, which is playable even if you deramped.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): Potentially a 10-cost Luffy turn or 9-cost Charlotte Linlin.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): Sea You Fight Against Pirates!!
- Turn 2 (4 Don): Ramp Leader and play a 5-cost or 4-cost.
- Turn 3 (6 Don 7 Don): Three plays: Another 7-cost Monkey D. Luffy or two 4-cost Characters (Ramp with Leader) or a 5-cost Character.
- Turn 4 (8 Don 9 Don): If you’ve ramped with Leader on the previous turn, you should be on 9 Don even if you returned a Don with one of your Characters. You can play Charlotte Linlin or Monkey D. Luffy.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): Charlotte Linlin is an option. Potentially a 10-cost Luffy or save till the upcoming turn.