Heya everyone! Today, we’re going to talk about the Red Purple OP13 Gol D.Roger deck! Gol.D.Roger is our first 7,000 Power Leader, but it can take a couple of steps for us to get to that 7,000 Power.
This is a ramp deck, trying to accelerate in its early to mid-game until you can get to 10 Don as early as possible to remove the Power reduction on your Leader and start playing high-cost win conditions. If you’re a fan of dropping big bodies a turn or two earlier than usual, then RP Gol D. Roger is the deck to pick up in the OP13 meta!
Leader
Gol D. Roger is a 5 Life, 7,000 Power Leader. However, at the start of the game, your Leader’s Power is reduced by -2,000, making Gol.D.Roger a 5,000 Power Leader. This reduction stays in effect until you have more than 9 Don on your field. The faster you reach 10 Don, the sooner the reduction is removed and Gol.D.Roger returns to 7,000 Power. This is why ramp cards are so important—they speed up your strategy to get to 10 Don and let you start going for heavier attacks earlier.
Gol D. Roger also changes how you add Don to your field. If you already have any DON!! cards on your field, the 1 DON!! you place during your DON!! Phase is automatically attached to your Leader. The only times this doesn’t happen are on turn 1, when you don’t have any Don yet, and when you’re already at 10 Don with no more to add.
Attaching Don to your Leader gives you stronger attacks and even activates certain effects, but it comes at the cost of developing Characters. This makes mid-game development harder, which is why we run multiple ramp cards that cost as little as 2 Don, increasing the chances of ramping early and balancing this drawback.
Decklist
How to Play
Early Searcher
1-cost Shanks looks at the top 5 cards of our deck to add 1 {Roger Pirates} type card other than [Shanks] to your hand. This means we get to add cards like Buggy for the 2,000 Power, Douglas Bullet for the Ramp, and Silvers Rayleigh or Gol.D.Roger as late game win conditions.
Ramp Cards
This deck wants to ramp as early as possible to start dropping meaningful Characters and remove the -2,000 Power reduction on your Leader. The list is heavy on ramp options, letting you play them as early as turn 1.
Guess We’ll Have Another Scrap. You Can Only Risk Death While You’re Still Alive!! is an early ramp Event, letting us rest 1 Don to add a rested Don. In the later stages of the game, it’ll become useless as a ramp card, but it remains useful for its Counter effect, giving our Leader a +3,000 Power boost.
Buggy is a +2,000 Counter Character with no real offensive or defensive value on the field. However, his ramp effect can be worth it if you don’t have any other ramp card in hand.
Douglas Bullet is our strongest early ramp option, playable on turn 2 if you’re doing second, giving us a rested Don. Douglas Bullet is a 4,000 Power Character, but gains a +2,000 Power boost when you have 8 or more Don. This turns him into an offensive Character, capable of dishing out damage and becoming harder to remove.
Bon Clay is another ramp option we can play when we’re at Don 5 or more. He’s giving you an Active Don, so you can use it to go for a heavier attack, and Bon Clay is nice to copy the power of one of the opponent’s Characters when he goes for an attack, capable of threatening a heavy swing. When rested, he’s pretty vulnerable, and you’ll almost always let the opposing player KO him.
6-cost Scopper Gaban is another ramp option, but possesses a bigger offensive threat on the field with his 7,000 Power. When played, you get to draw 2 cards and trash 1, adding more resources to your hand.
8-cost Silvers Rayleigh is a Rush attacker, putting immediate pressure with his 9,000 Power. If we have any Don cards given, we can rest one of the opponent’s 5-cost or less Characters. Since Leader Gol D. Roger will have an attached Don, Silvers Rayleigh gets to rest a 5-cost or less Character, which can be useful for board control, as your Leader or Rayleigh can attack it, or we can remove a blocker from the equation, letting us go for a more aggressive turn without a blocker standing in our way.
Roger Power Boost
For 8-cost Roger to be useful, you or your opponent needs to have a total of 10 Don cards. If you do, Roger will give your Leader a +2,000 Power boost until the end of the opponent’s turn. Gol D. Roger is a 10,000 Power Character, capable of going for heavy attacks to pressure the opposing player, but with your Leader gaining a +2,000 Power boost, you’re turning him into a 9,000 Power Leader.
Leader Roger, with 9,000 Power, means he’s going for a massive swing and can be tough for attacks to go through during your defensive turn, forcing the opposing player to shift their strategy, either focusing only on developing the board or sacrificing board development to boost their attacks and threaten your Leader.
Rush Win Condition
10-cost Shanks reduces the Power of the opponent’s Characters by 1,000, making it harder for them to deal damage to your 7,000 Power Leader, and it will become more vulnerable to attacks or removal effects. Shanks also has the Rush keyword, meaning we get to put the 12,000 Power to use on the turn he’s played. We can either attack the opponent’s Leader to take a Life card or go for board control by targeting a rested Character instead.
The 10-cost Gol D.Roger is a game-winning play, especially if you or your opponent are down to 0 Life cards and they’re heavily relying on blockers to protect them. Shutting down their ability to activate the Blocker keyword means high-power win conditions like Rayleigh, Shanks, and Gol D.Roger can attack the opponent’s Leader without worrying about a Blocker standing in their way. This forces them to rely on Counter cards to protect their Leader, and they’ll be needing a lot of them to counter your heavy attacks.
Event
Divine Departure can be used for the Power reduction, giving a Character -8,000 Power to make it vulnerable to your attacks or have a removal card like Edward Newgate deal with it. It can also be used for its Counter effect, trashing a card you don’t need to give your Leader or one of your Characters a +3,000 Power boost.
+2,000 Counters
I already talked about Buggy, so I won’t bring him up again. These are primarily +2,000 Counter cards that might find use for their effects.
2-cost Sanji can damage your Leader to gain a +2,000 Power and attach 2 rested Don, becoming a 7,000 Power attack to go for a heavy attack and help you win the game. He’s usually useful in matchups where the opponent is trying to starve you and play the long game.
Uta is a 6-cost blocker that becomes a 2-cost if you have a 10,000 Power Character in play. For 2 Don, we can develop her as a Blocker to protect our Leader, making it harder for the opponent to set a winning turn. We can even go for the 8-cost Roger + Uta, creating a strong defensive turn.
General Tips
- Ramp is the plan. We need to get to 10 Don as early as possible to remove the -2,000 Power reduction. If we’re at 9 Don and you’re planning to play one of your ramp cards like Silvers Rayleigh, make sure you go for them first before you attack with your Leader to make use of his 7,000 Power attack.
- High-cost Characters are invaluable. Characters like Roger and Shanks are extremely important to keep in play and can be tough to remove. If your opponent attempts to attack and KO them, we want to protect them to keep heavy attackers in play.
Mulligan Tips
- Going First: 1-cost Shanks, 1-cost Guess We’ll Have Another Scrap. You Can Only Risk Death While You’re Still Alive!!, 4-cost Bon Clay.
- Going Second: 1-cost Guess We’ll Have Another Scrap. You Can Only Risk Death While You’re Still Alive!!, Douglas Bullet, Scopper Gaban.
Other Cards to Include
- Uso-Hachi is a consideration to add to your list as he’s a +2,000 Counter that can be played to rest a 5-cost or less Character, ideal for resting a Blocker.
- Kouzuki Oden is a 6,000 Power blocker to protect you from an attack and is capable of becoming an attacker. He can ramp you for 1 rested Don, but Kouzuki Oden requires you to attach 1 Don to your Leader or a Character, which is automatically fulfilled with your Leader Gold D. Roger attaching a Don to himself.
- 8-cost Charlotte Katakrui and 8-cost Silvers Rayleigh are late-game ramp cards that usually find use for their Ramp when you’re at 9 Don. They push you to 10 Don, removing the -2,000 Power reduction on your Leader Gol D.Roger during your turn and your defensive turn, and ensuring you don’t attach a Don to your Leader on the start of your upcoming turn. This is useful if you’re planning to drop a 10-cost Character like Shanks. 8-cost Charlotte Katakrui is a defensive blocker, capable of protecting us from an opponent’s attack, but still can go on the offense thanks to his effect. At the end of your turn, you can set Charlotte Katakrui as Active. This means we get to attack with him and still have him Active on the defensive turn to block an opponent’s attack.
- If we’re just hitting 10 Don, 1 Don will attach to our Leader automatically, so we can still play the 9-cost Edward Newgate as a win condition. He’s a 10,000 Power Character that gives your Leader a +2,000 Power boost. This allows us to for a heavier Leader attack, and since the Power boost will stick until the end of the opponent’s upcoming turn, it’ll make it harder on them to get attacks through. You can attach 2 Don to Newgate and attack with him to activate his effect, letting you KO a 3,000 Power or less Character. If you have a Power reduction effect like Divine Departure to KO higher-power Characters.
Closing Words
If you’re a fan of Red Purple decks, then Gol D.Roger is definitely the Leader to explore in OP13. He’s managed to top tournaments and go toe-to-toe with the top performers in the meta. Ramping is a key part of this deck’s game plan, letting you drop bigger bodies on the field a turn earlier to start going for heavy attacks and overwhelming the opponent.
