The OP16 Red Portgas D. Ace takes the Whitebeard Pirates on a new journey, bringing in powerful synergy with none other than Monkey D. Luffy. The deck revolves around Ace’s ability to support Whitebeard Pirates and Luffy characters with 8,000 Power or more, naturally shaping the build around these heavy hitters.
Despite running a high number of costly Characters, the deck is far from slow. Once it begins to assemble its core pieces, Red Ace can apply strong pressure and quickly shift into an aggressive playstyle. By consistently developing its board and making use of its high-power threats, the deck aims to overwhelm opponents and close out games with explosive turns.
This deck runs multiple cards that can boost your Leader’s Power, which can come in handy when going for aggressive attacks, but is also useful on defensive turns to protect your Life cards.
Leader
Red Ace is a 5 Life card Leader with an effect that gives the Rush keyword to one of your Characters. However, there are conditions for Ace’s effect, as it only gives Rush to a Whitebeard Pirates type Character or Monkey D.Luffy with 8,000 Power or more. So, we’ll be running as many of those high-power Characters as possible, developing them later in the game and attacking with them immediately on the turn they’re played. This makes use of your heavy hitters immediately, forcing the opposing player to expend resources to protect their Characters or Life cards.
Since Ace’s effect doesn’t state “base power”, attaching Don to your Character and getting it up to 8,000 or more will allow you to target it with your Leader’s effect to give it the Rush keyword.
Red Ace Decklist
How to Play
Early 1-Don
Monkey.D.Garp is the perfect searcher for this deck, letting you look at the top 4 cards of your deck and add a 3-cost or more card to your hand. He’s perfect for shaping up our hand and finding the pieces we need for the later stages of the game.
As for Moby Dick, the Stage lets you look at the top 3 cards of your deck and add 1 card to your hand. There are no restrictions on the card you can choose, so it can be useful for early and late-game play. You can then trash Moby Dick to attach a rested Don to your Leader or one of your Characters, which means you’re not losing the 1 Don you’ve used to play Moby Dick, especially in the early game, since you can later on use it to go for a higher-power attack.
Sanji becomes a 6,000 Power Character during your turn, making him a great play on the early turns to get an attack through and force the opponent to commit an attack on him. When Sanji is KO’ed, you’re getting a card draw out of him, so you’re technically not losing on card resources.
4-cost Plays
The 4-cost Luffy is a massive play regardless of the turn you draw it. You’re developing a 4-cost Character with 6,000 Power that can be played for 2 Don only if you have 6 Don or more on your field. For only 2 Don, you can develop Luffy alongside another Character, or even have the leftover Don to attach it to Luffy, push him to 8,000 Power, and give him the Rush keyword through your Leader’s effect to go for an attack on the spot.
While Luffy is in play, when your opponent goes for the attack, you can trash one of your 8,000 Power Characters from your hand to boost the base Power of both Luffy and your Leader to 7,000 for the whole turn. This makes it exceptionally harder for the opposing player to get their attacks through, as you’ll now need fewer Counter resources to protect yourself from their attacks.
As for LittleOars Jr., he’s an 8,000 Power Character with the blocker keyword, meaning he can act as a wall to protect us from attacks or even go for swings when we want to add more pressure on the opposing player. However, LittleOars Jr. loses 4,000 Power if there’s no Whitebeard Pirates-type character with a cost of 8 or more in play. This means that for LittleOars Jr. to become a threat, we need to have Edward.Newgate or Thatch in play, removing the shackles on LittleOars Jr. If we play LittleOars Jr. in the early stages of the game, we’ll hold off on attacking or defending with him if possible and wait until one of our big characters drops to unlock LittleOars Jr.’s full potential.
Having a base Power of 8,000 means we can use LittleOars Jr. to activate certain effects like Marco, Luffy, and Edward Newgate.
Ace Mid-Game
The 5-cost Ace synergizes with your 8,000 Power Characters, turning them into +2,000 Counter cards while in your hand. This means while Ace is in play, cards like Vista, Marco, and Newgate can be used as a +2k Counter if you’re not planning on playing them. You’re basically turning dead cards in your hand into a resource, which can give you an edge in the matchup. Even +1,000 Counter cards like Thatch will benefit from Ace’s effect.
On Play and On KO, Ace looks at the top 5 cards of your deck and lets you add a Monkey D.Luffy or a card with a type including White Beard Pirates. He’s the perfect mid-game play that helps protect you with the additional Counter and gives you access to more card draw. If you’re at 7 Don, you can develop Ace alongside Luffy, setting the stage for a strong turn to overwhelm the opposing player.
6-cost Plays
Vista is a 6-cost, 8,000 Power Character with an On Play effect that lets you reveal an 8,000 Power Character in your hand to your opponent in order to draw a card. Ideally, we’ll reveal a card that our opponent already has information on, or at least a card we aren’t too worried about our opponent knowing about.
You can attach a Don to Vista and go for an attack, letting you KO 2 of the opponent’s Characters with 2,000 Power or less. If your opponent has low-power, pesky blockers, Vista is perfect for dealing with them, paving the way for your attackers to hit the target.
As for Marco, he’s another 6-cost, 8,000 Power Character, acting more as a defensive card to keep your tempo on the field. If one of your characters would be KO’d, you can instead KO Marco to keep them in play. This might be counter-intuitive since Marco is a heavy hitter that we don’t want to easily get rid of, but Marco’s On KO effect lets you trash an 8,000 Power Character from your hand to replay Marco from trash. So, basically, you’d be giving up a card in your hand to keep your threats in play, making sure you have attackers ready for the upcoming turn.
Defensive Zoro
Unlike your other Characters, Roronoa Zoro is not a Whitebeard Pirate type card, but he is a 7-cost 9,000 Power Character that’s too good to pass on. So although he’s a heavy hitter, your Leader Ace cannot give him the Rush keyword to attack the opponent’s Leader on the turn he’s played. Additionally, with a 5-cost Ace, you can still use Zoro as a +2,000 Counter card if need be.
Zoro can be a massive play to shift the game in your favor, especially if your opponent has a Character in play with 8,000 Power or more. When played, Zoro lets you choose your Leader to give a +2,000 Power boost until the opponent’s next turn. This adds more punch to your Leader attack, forcing the opposing player to expend more resources to counter it. On top of that, since the Power boost sticks until the end of the opponent’s upcoming turn, it will be harder for them to attack your Leader, forcing them to go for higher-power attacks and saving you a lot of Counter resources.
Keep in mind that you can still use your Luffy Power boost with Zoro, so you can push your Leader to 9,000 Power, making it almost impossible for attacks to go through.
If your opponent has an 8,000 Power Character or more in play, you can activate Zoro’s Main effect to gain the Rush: Character keyword, allowing you to attack a Character immediately to help keep control of the field and weaken the opponent’s upcoming turn.
Blocker Thatch
Thatch is an 8,000 Power Blocker with a +1,000 Counter, so he can never be a dead card in our hand. If you have an 8,000 Power or more Character with the type Whitebeard Pirates, Thatch’s cost is reduced by 3, making him a 5-cost play. This allows you to develop Thatch and still have Don left to play another Character alongside him or go for stronger attacks. So we need Characters like Vista and Marco in play to get access to Thatch for 3 less cost. With Leader Ace’s effect, you can attack with Thatch immediately if you want to play more aggressively, but if you value the Blocker keyword, you might want to skip attacking with Thatch.
Thatch can act as a heavy hitter, putting pressure with his attacks, but can also be used for his Blocker keyword, especially on the turn he’s played. He shifts the game in your favor when developing a 5-cost, 8,000 Power Character to put another win condition on the field.
Late Game Newgate
Edward Newgate is our strongest play, dropping on the field with 10,000 Power to act as a heavy hitter immediately thanks to Leader Ace’s effect. During your turn, while Newgate is in play, your Leader gains +2,000 Power and the Double Attack keyword. This makes your Leader Ace a massive threat, and we’ll want to use our attack on their Leader, threatening to take two of their Life cards. In most cases, your opponent will opt to counter your Double Attack, which means they’ll be using up a lot of Counter resources, making it easier for your other attacks to go through.
Additionally, when played, Newgate lets you reveal two 8,000 Power Characters in your hand to give one of the opponent’s Characters a -6,000 Power reduction. This makes it easier for you to attack and kill one of their units or even put them in range for Vista to KO.
Events
If you have an 8,000 Power or more Character in play, Time for the Counterattack gives your Leader or one of your Characters a +4,000 Power boost, protecting you from one of the opponent’s attacks.
+2,000 Counters
Namule can KO a Character with 2,000 base Power or less. He can come in handy for removing a pesky Character like a Blocker.
Sanji can target one of your high-power Characters, preventing the opposing player from activating their Blockers against that Character when it goes for the attack.
If you have a 10,000 Power or more Character in play, you can play Uta for only 2 Don, basically developing a low-cost Blocker to protect you from an attack.
Curiel is a +2k 8,000 Power Character that can be used to activate certain effects in your deck.
Other Cards to Include
- Ace & Sabo & Luffy is a +2,000 Counter that you can play for the -3,000 Power reduction to make it easier for you to KO the Character or put it in range for Vista to KO with his effect.
- Izo is a Whitebeard Pirate synergy card, and being a 7,000 Power Character that can attach a Don to himself means we can use our Leader effect to give him the Rush keyword. Izo is also a defensive play, letting you trash a Whitebeard Pirates type card to give the opponent’s attacker a -2,000 Power reduction.
- Can You Still Fight is a Counter card that gives your Leader or one of your Characters a +3,000 Power boost. It’s worth including if you have a Luffy or Ace in play since you get a draw out of it.
Mulligan Tips
Going First: Monkey.D.Garp or Moby Dick, Sanji, Ace, Roronoa Zoro.
Going Second: Monkey.D.Garp or Moby Dick, LittleOars Jr., Monkey D.Luffy, Vista or Marco.
General Tips
- Don attachment increases you Power. For Characters like Luffy and Ace, attaching 2 Don to them will turn them into 8,000-Power characters, which means your Leader can give them the Rush keyword. Similarly, if you’re trying to play Uta, you can 2 attach Don to your 8,000 Power Character and fulfill her -4 cost reduction effect.
- Protect your high-power attackers when possible. It can be difficult for the opponent to deal with your heavy hitters, especially through sheer combat. If they attempt to KO one of your rested Characters with an attack, we can, if possible, protect them with our Counters.
- Value your blockers. We have multiple blockers in this list, so if we feel we can’t close out the game just yet and we need to buy some time, we can avoid attaching with a blocker to keep it active to halt an attack for us.
Closing Words
The Red Ace is all about developing your heavy hitters, setting the board for massive win conditions that can be challenging for the opponent to deal with. With your multiple blockers and Power boosts, it can be difficult for your opponent to get through your Life cards and put you in a tough spot. Forcing Counter resources from your heavy attacks will be your opponent’s defenses, and eventually you’ll be able to line up the winning turn.
