Howdy! Red Blue Marco is one of the new Leaders in OP08 meta and he’s been winning tournaments! Players added new cards from the Starter 15 and Starter 17 decks to improve the archetype.
I wrote this guide to help you learn how to play the deck! Follow our Twitter account if you’re enjoying the content.
Decklist
1xOP08-002
4xOP01-006
4xOP02-004
2xOP02-008
3xOP02-018
1xOP03-013
4xST15-002
4xST15-005
2xOP08-118
4xOP01-073
4xOP06-119
1xOP06-044
2xOP06-047
4xST17-003
3xOP01-029
2xOP03-018
4xOP03-056
2xOP06-058
We need to give Marco 1 Don to activate his effect, drawing us a card, but we have to put 1 card from our hand on the top or bottom of our deck. Then we get to give one of the opponent’s characters -2k, making it easier for us to attack and KO them. The Don we’re giving to Marco means we get to attack for 6,000 Power
Let’s talk about the first effect first. We’re mainly interested in Marco‘s ability to put a card at the top or bottom of the deck, giving us the ability to control our next draws. We want to run cards that can take advantage of that effect, so 5-cost Ace and 9-cost Sanji are perfect. The effect is also good to filter our hand, and put cards we don’t want at the bottom of the deck.
As for the Power reduction, it can make it can put certain characters in range for your Characters with KO removals.
Early Game
3-cost Doflamingo is an early blocker that lets you have control of your upcoming draws.
Marco is a nuisance and difficult for opponents to remove through KOing. You can bring him back on the board by trashing a “Whitebeard Pirates” from your hand, keeping you from losing board presence.
Although Jozu is a +2,000 Counter, he is still a threat if played on the field. Jozu can gain Rush if you’re down to 2 Life Cards, going for the attack on the same turn he’s played and forcing Counter plays from the opponent.
5-costs
Similar to the 4-cost Marco, the 5-cost Marco is just as annoying to remove off the board. On Play, he can KO a 3,000 Power or less character, combined with Leader effect, you can now KO a 5,000 Power character. If the opponent managed to KO Marco, you can trash 1 Event to replay him on the board rested.
5-cost Red Ace creates mid-game aggression with his Rush attack. His effect makes it difficult for decks to remove him from play through an effect. If they do play an effect, you can activate Ace’s effect to shut down the removal play. However, you can only activate it once, and will lower your Ace’s Power by -2,000. Being at 4,000 makes it easier for the opponent to attack and KO him.
Control Cards
7-cost Edward Newgate is usually the best play if there’s only one Character for you to remove. He’s an 8,000 Power Character that gives one rested Don to your Leader or Character On Play. This lets you activate Marco‘s effect on Don 7 even if you spend all your Don developing Edward Newgate. His Main effect is where his true strength lies. You can rest Edward Newgate to KO a 5,000 Power or less. Combined with Leader Marco‘s Power reduction effect, you can KO 7,000 Power Characters.
As for Gravity Blade Raging Tiger, it works best if there are two Characters to remove. Taking out two 6-cost or less Characters with one card puts you ahead on resources and you won’t have to worry about a full-out aggro turn on the opponent’s upcoming attack.
Late Game Combo
9-cost Sanji is the strongest play in this deck which we’ll be aiming to set up. We have to wait until 10 Don, give 1 Don to Leader, and put one of our high-cost Characters at the top of our deck. So cards like Silvers Rayleigh, 9-cost Edward.Newgate, or 7-cost Edward.Newgate would be ideal cards for the combo.
We then play Sanji, look at the top card in our deck (which will be the card we placed through Leader effect), and play it. In one turn, we’re developing two big bodies on the board, and we want the second body to have an On Play effect to help us survive the upcoming turn until the carries start swinging.
Carry Targets
Silvers Rayleigh is a great choice especially when combined with Leader effect’s Power reduction. On play he’ll lower one of the Power of one of the opponent’s Characters by -3k and another by -2k. Putting a 5k Power Character in range for his KO effect. If we use Leader effect, we’re now putting a 7k Power Character in range for Silvers Rayleigh to KO.
The Power Reduction by Silvers Rayleigh sticks during your opponent’s turn, potentially shutting down one of their Characters from attacking or making it easier for you to Counter the attack.
Edward.Newgate gives our Leader +2k Power until our next turn, boosting our attack and making it difficult for opponents to set up an aggressive upcoming turn. His KO effect can later find use in future turns, especially with Leader Marco‘s Power reduction effect.
Events
Radical Beam is a defensive Event, giving a +2,000 Power to your Leader or one of your Characters. It becomes a +4,000 Power if you’re at 2 or less life cards. It’s perfect for countering high-power attacks.
Fire Fist synergizes with your Leader’s cost-reduction effect, letting you KO two Characters one with 5,000 Power or less and another with 4,000 Power or less. So with the Leader effect, you can put one of their Characters in the 4,000 Power range.
As for Sanji’s Pilaf, it’s an Event that draws you two cards, best activated through its trigger effect.
Other Cards
- Blocker Ace filters our hand, drawing two cards and trashing two. We want to trash cards we don’t expect to play on the upcoming turns.
- As for our other Porgas.D.Ace, we want to play him when we have 6 Don to make use of his ability. Using Leader ability, we’ll put one of our 4-cost Characters at the top of our deck and then play 6-cost Portgas.D.Ace for his On Play effect, letting us look at the top card in our deck (Which we already know what card it’ll be) and play it on the board. We’re basically developing two Characters in one turn, going aggressive in the middle game as we set up for our later turns.
- Blue Edward Newgate is a powerhouse with his 12,000 Power attack. He can shut down all opponents’ characters from attacking unless they discard two cards.
Seaquake is for board control, with Leader Marco‘s effect we can lower the power of one of the characters and KO them with Seaquake. We can deal with higher-cost cards using 7-cost Ace.
Bad Manners Kick Course is a 0-cost event that gives a huge +3,000 Power to your Leader or Character. You have to trash one card to activate it.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don):
- Turn 2 (3 Don): 3-cost Donquixote Doflamingo.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): 5-cost Marco or 5-cost Ace.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): 7-cost Edward Newgate or Gravity Blade Raging Tiger.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): 9-cost Edward Newgate or 1 Don Leader and Silvers Rayleigh.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): 1 Don Leader + Sanji Combo.
Going Second (We want to go Second)
- Turn 1 (2 Don):
- Turn 2 (4 Don): 4-cost Character Marco or Gion.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): A 5-cost Character.
- Turn 4 (8 Don): Silvers Rayleigh, 7-cost Edward Newgate, or Gravity Blade Raging Tiger.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): 1 Don Leader + Sanji Combo.
