Purple Kaido is making waves in the East OP08 meta, winning two tournaments recently! The Starter 04 Leader is one of the oldest Leaders in the One Piece card game, and with new OP07 and OP08 cards added to its list, it’s seeing more success in tournaments.
The decklist in this article recently won first place in a tournament in Malaysia.
1xST04-001
4xEB01-061
2xOP01-094
4xOP01-106
4xOP01-114
4xOP05-074
4xOP07-064
4xOP08-060
4xOP08-074
2xST04-003
4xST04-004
4xST04-005
2xOP03-072
4xOP07-077
4xST04-017How to Play
Purple Kaido focuses on quickly ramping up your Don to play high-cost Characters on earlier turns. With many cards returning Don, your game plan involves consistently generating more Don, particularly through the Onigashima Island Stage or Black Maria. This stage card provides a Rested Don each turn, accelerating your strategy and compensating for the Don returned by other cards.
The objective is to play the 9c and 10c Kaido and dominate the board with their high Power. They’re difficult for most decks to remove and although they return a lot of our Don, we can quickly Ramp up again and play other big plays a turn later.
Kaido‘s ability requires you to return 7 Don cards to the deck, allowing you to trash one of your opponent’s Life Cards. While this is a costly move that can slow your next turn, removing an opponent’s Life Card can set you up for a decisive attack, especially if you have a Rush attacker ready. At the same time, trashing a card puts the opponent behind in terms of resource value.
Given its high cost, it’s best to use Kaido‘s ability only when you’re in a position to secure a win. Make sure to utilize your Don cards for development or Power Boosts before returning them to activate the effect.
Our deck includes several Ramp tools, so recovering the Don won’t be a major concern. You’ll face one slow turn, but after that, you can resume your strategy with strong plays.
However, with Black Maria joining the game in OP08, we can ignore the “It’s best to use Kaido‘s ability only when you’re in a position to secure a win” rule and activate it on earlier turns since she’s going to give us back Don and ensure we don’t fall behind.
Ramp Cards
Ramp cards are essential for accelerating our strategy and recovering after returning Don cards due to one of our card effects.
Onigashima Island is crucial for our Ramp game plan. Finding it early is key, as it grants us a rested Don each turn, boosting our subsequent turns.
4c Bon Clay can copy the power of an opponent’s Character. Though it becomes vulnerable and easily KO’d when rested, its value comes from gaining an Active Don and attacking. After attacking, we can leave it unprotected to get KO’d.
Eustass “Captain” Kid is valuable for our deck, especially with our multiple Don-returning cards. He compensates for the Don return by providing an Active Don, ensuring we can continue setting up plays in the next turn.
Basil Hawkins is a Ramp card that, while not particularly strong, is valuable because it can be searched through the {Animal Kingdom Pirates} type. Its greatest strength lies in its Trigger effect: if Basil Hawkins is in your Life Card, you gain an extra Don without having to spend any Don to play it.
Black Maria is the reason Kaido has had a huge impact in OP08 meta. By providing 5 Don for Ramp, she enables us to use our Leader effect in the mid-game without worrying about lagging behind. Opponents must deal with Black Maria quickly; otherwise, your Leader will consistently Trash one of their Life Cards each turn. This reduces their resources, weakens their late game, and makes them more vulnerable to your attacks.
The ideal scenario is to start using the Leader effect at turn 4 and through Black Moria‘s Ramp effect, we gain back the returned Don, making sure we continue the pressure on upcoming turns.
Blockers
We’ve discussed Eustass “Captain” Kid as a Ramp card, but he also serves as a blocker to protect our Leader. In the late game, Kid can provide crucial defense, giving us the extra turn needed to secure the win.
Queen is a value card for drawing 2 cards and trashing 1. This helps cycle out any additional copies of Onigashima Island, which are otherwise dead cards, for more useful options.
Sanji acts as a 2k Counter and can be played as a blocker. We aim to play Sanji only if we can activate his cost-reducing effect, lowering his cost from 6 to 3. A 3-cost blocker Sanji is more manageable and effectively shields your Leader or other rested Characters.
Removal Cards
Removal cards help you maintain board control and hinder your opponent’s plans. King is our earliest removal option, KOing a Character with a cost of 4 or less. We have to – 1 Don to activate King‘s effect. Our ramp strategy allows us to play King earlier, presenting a significant threat for the opponent to handle.
9c Kaido is a stronger removal card compared to King, hitting Characters with a cost of 6 or less and also gaining Rush in the process. We’ll have to decide whether we prefer attacking the opponent’s Leader or a rested Character. In most cases, we want to target the opponent’s Leader, either ending the game or putting us one step closer to setting up the winning attack. To activate Kaido‘s removal effect and Rush, we’ll have to return 5 Don, but with our Ramp cards, we’re still able to play cards like 6c King or 7c King.
9-cost Kaido offers stronger removal by hitting Characters with a cost of 6 or less, while also gaining Rush. This flexibility lets us decide whether to attack the opponent’s Leader or a rested Character. Typically, we target the Leader to either end the game or put us a step ahead towards that. Activating Kaido’s removal and Rush requires returning 5 Don, but our Ramp cards enable us to still play powerful cards like 6-Cost King or 7-Cost King on the upcoming turn.
10-cost Kaido changes the game by KOing all Characters except himself. Since this includes your own Characters, you should attack with your other Characters before deploying 10-cost Kaido. This card is best used when the opponent has multiple threats or in slow-paced matchups where a high-power Character can dominate the late game. If you already control the board, avoid playing 10-Cost Kaido to prevent unnecessary loss of your own Characters.
Aggro Rushers
7c King serves as our primary aggressor with his powerful 8,000 Power Rush attack. When aiming to finish the game, we play 7c King, activate his -1 Don effect to gain Rush, activate Onigashima Island to regain the returned Don, and then activate Leader Kaido‘s effect to trash a Life Card.
9c Kaido is another Rush attacker capable of ending the game with his formidable 10,000 Power attack. It’s important to note that playing 9c Kaido prevents us from activating the Leader’s effect.
Events
We’re going to claim the One Piece!!! allows you to look at the top 5 cards of your deck and draw an {Animal Kingdom Pirates} type card. This ability is crucial for finding the pieces necessary to execute our game plan effectively.
Gum-Gum Jet Gatling is a Counter Event to protect your Leader by granting them +3k Power. Trash a card that you don’t anticipate needing in later turns when using this event.
How to Mulligan
Our top priority card in the starting hand is Onigashima Island. It provides an additional Don every turn, which is invaluable as the game progresses.
We’re going to claim the One Piece!!! is also crucial to have early on, since it can find us Onigashima Island.
Black Maria is essential for the mid-game due to her powerful Ramp ability. Opponents must address her quickly, as her ability to provide extra Don is significant and can’t be ignored.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): We’re going to claim the One Piece!!!
- Turn 2 (3 Don): Onigashima Island. Black Maria is we don’t have Onigashima Island
- Turn 3 (6 Don): 6c King if there’s a target for us to KO. If not we can go with one of our blockers or Black Maria. Bon Clay is another option for the Active Don.
- Turn 4 (~ Don): Depending on our turn 3 play, our Don will be different on turn 4. We’re mostly planning to play 6c King or one of our blockers. If we play Black Maria we can activate Leader effect.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): We want to play our high-cost Characters like 9c or 10c Kaido.
- Turn 6 (~ Don): 7c King Rush attack. Only activate Leader effect here if there’s a Black Maria on the board or you can set up the winning attack, otherwise save up your Don for the upcoming attack turn.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): We’re going to claim the One Piece!!!
- Turn 2 (4 Don): Onigashima Island, Bon Clay, or Basil Hawkins. Black Maria
- Turn 3 (7 Don): 6c King, Black Maria, or a blocker. Kid is also an option to play this turn.
- Turn 4 (~ Don): Depending on our turn 3 play, our Don will be different on turn 4. We’re mostly planning to play 6c King or one of our blockers. If we play Black Maria we can activate Leader effect.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): We want to play our high-cost Characters like 9c or 10c Kaido.
- Turn 6 (~ Don): 7c King Rush attack. Only activate Leader effect here if there’s a Black Maria on the board or you can set up the winning attack, otherwise save up your Don for the upcoming attack turn.
Other Cards to Include
Sasaki functions as a +2k Counter and can also be played on the board to activate its Ramp effect.
Arbel cheats out a 6c or 7c King for just 4 Don. When choosing to play 7c King for his Rush attack, any remaining Don can be used to boost the Power of our attackers, making it exceptionally difficult for the opponent to Counter.
Brachio Bomber serves as a control Event, allowing you to KO a Character with a cost of 6 or less. Additionally, it provides Ramp by gaining 1 Active Don.
