The aggressive new Leader from the Starter 21 deck Red Monkey D.Luffy is now playable in the East, giving players a new way to play their aggressive Red decks, centered around pressuring opponents in the early/mid-game and finishing the game as fast as possible.
This Red deck has multiple Rush attackers to go for aggressive attacks immediately, making it difficult for opponents to stabilize the mid-game. With Leader Luffy’s effect, you can increase the Power of your attacker, going for stronger attacks that are too difficult for opponents to Counter.
This is a Glass Cannon deck, focusing solely on aggression and lacking any defensive or control tools. However, Red Monkey D.Luffy being a 5-health Leader plays perfectly in our strategy, as it’ll be difficult for opponents to aggro us back and will instead have to shift their focus to controlling the field.
Leader
The Starter 21 Monkey D.Luffy is an aggressive Leader, giving one of your Characters up to 2 rested Don. To activate this effect, you have to attack 1 Don to your Leader and then give 2 Don to a chosen Character. This allows you to go for aggressive attacks while still developing Characters on the field for your opponent to deal with. This list has aggressive Rush attackers, so you can play and attach 2 Don to them to go for high Power attacks, forcing opponents to burn their Counter cards.
Red Monkey D.Luffy being at 5 health is perfect for this aggressive strategy, as opponents won’t be able to match your aggression and rush for the win. Instead, they’ll be forced to attack your rested Characters and try to control your field.
ST21 Red Monkey D. Luffy Decklist
How to Play
1-cost Cards
1-cost Nami and In Two Years!! At the Sabaody Archipelago!! are early searchers that look at the top 5 cards in your deck to find you the {Straw Hat Crew} type card you need for the upcoming turns. These cards are great for the early game to find what you need for the later turns.
Extra Don
Koala and Nami are 2 low-cost cards we have to have in play. We’re using them for their Activate: Main effect, letting us give our Leader or one of our Characters a rested Don, increasing their attack Power.
The longer they stick on the field, the more value we’re generating from them. The extra 1 Don is forcing more Counter cards from the opponent to counter our attack, bleeding them out of resources.
Playing them on turn 1 enables us to activate our Leader effect on turn 2 after we’ve played a Character, giving us an aggressive early start.
Early Plays
3-cost Sanji is weak during your defensive turns, but gains +3,000 Power during your attack turn, making him a great aggressive attacker. When KO’d, you get to draw a card, perfect so you don’t run out of resources.
As for 3-cost Roronoa Zoro, he’s perfect at any point in the game. You can use his Rush keyword to go for aggressive attacks and use Leader effect to increase the Power of your attack to become a threat. He can also work as a finisher when your opponent is on 0 Life cards.
4-cost Roronoa Zoro is your strongest card in this deck to make sure you have an aggressive mid-game. The 5,000 Power Character can become a Rush attacker when you attach 2 Don to him, so Leader Luffy is perfect here, giving Roronoa Zoro 2 Don through his effect. A 7,000 Power attack will force at least 2 Counter cards from the opponent to shut your attack down.
Although the 4-cost copy seems lackluster compared to the 3-cost so far, his On KO effect is why this card is one of your strongest options. When KO’d, 4-cost Roronoa Zoro lets you play a Red Character with 6,000 Power or less from your hand other than {Roronoa Zoro}. So you can play one of your 5-cost Monkey D.Luffy Characters.
5-cost Rush Attackers
Both your 5-cost Monkey D. Luffy are 6,000 Power Rush attackers, but each has different effects. The ST21 Luffy can give your Leader or one of your Characters a rested Don when he goes for the attack. This adds to the aggression of your attacks, perfect for forcing your opponent to have the Counters to block your attack.
As for the OP01 Monkey D.Luffy, he’s perfect if you’re trying to win the game and your opponent has a blocker standing in your way. Attaching 2 Don to Luffy will activate his effect, preventing the opponent from activating a Blocker when Luffy attacks. So if your opponent is at 0 Life cards, OP01 Monkey D.Luffy is the card to play to avoid a blocker and win the game.
Late-Game
8-cost Monkey D.Dragon is your strongest late-game play, a 9,000 Power Rush attack that gives 2 rested Don to your Leader or 1 of your Characters. So we can play him on Don 8 and still use Leader effect to attack 2 rested Don, going for multiple high Power attacks. The ability to attach 4 rested Don in one turn can be devastating for opponent, especially if they decide to Counter one of your attacks.
+2,000 Counters
We have multiple +2,000 Counter Characters, but they can also be used for their effects depending on the game.
Makino can increase the Power of your 1-cost Characters by +3,000. So the 1-cost Nami searcher can become a 5,000 Power attacker.
We have two 2-cost Sanji‘s in the list. The ST21 Sanji can be used for his On Play effect, letting you choose a Character with 6,000 Power or more and during this turn, that selected Character can’t be blocked. So now you have a great finisher to win you the game on the spot if your opponent is at 0 Life cards.
As for OP01 Sanji, he’s best played early into the game for extra aggression, becoming a 7,000 Power attacker if you activate his effect and self-damage your Leader. Sanji is great as an extra attacker and if your opponent is betting on keeping you at high Life cards as part of their game plan (For example, Yellow Enel). Getting those Life cards in your hand gives you more resources to work with and you won’t end up starved.
Mulligan
We usually want to go second. We want to have one of our 1-cost Characters, especially those that give extra Don. A 3-cost or a 4-cost Character, depending if you’re going first or second to ensure we have an early aggressive start.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): 1 cost card, preferably Characters that give a rested Don.
- Turn 2 (3 Don): 3-cost Sanji or 3-cost Roronoa Zoro.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): 4-cost Roronoa Zoro and attach 2 Don to him with Leader effect or 5-cost ST21 Monkey D.Luffy if you have a 1-cost ST01 Nami or 1-cost Koala.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): 5-cost ST21 Monkey D.Luffy.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): 8-cost Monkey D. Dragon.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): 8-cost Monkey D. Dragon. You can use ST01 Monkey D. Luffy or ST21 2-cost Sanji to dodge blockers and go for a finisher play.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): 1 cost card, preferably Characters that give a rested Don.
- Turn 2 (4 Don): 4-cost Roronoa Zoro if you have a 1-cost ST01 Nami or 1-cost Koala and attach 2 Don to Zoro with Leader effect. Or 3-cost Sanji or 3-cost Roronoa Zoro.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): 5-cost ST21 Monkey D.Luffy
- Turn 4 (8 Don): 8-cost Monkey D. Dragon.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): 8-cost Monkey D. Dragon. You can use ST01 Monkey D. Luffy or ST21 2-cost Sanji to dodge blockers and go for a finisher play.
Other Cards to Include
- Diablo Jambe is great if you’re trying to win the game with one attack and your opponent has a blocker in your way.
- 2-cost Sanji is another Rush attacker you can add to the list, requiring you to attach 2 Don to him to get the Rush active. He works great with your Leader since you can easily get 2 rested Don on Sanji.
- Dol.D.Roger is a late-game win condition if your opponent is at 0 Life cards and they have a blocker in the way.
