The Starter 22 Blue Ace & Newgate just dropped in the East, and players are experimenting with what the new Leader is capable of. This starter deck heavily relies on the {Whitebeard Pirates} synergy to get the most out of its cards. The ST22 is full of strong {Whitebeard Pirates} type cards to complement the Leader, but we will have to rely on older sets to get a stronger late game with OP08 Edward Newgate.
This is still an early list that performed in a local tournament. Let’s see how this Leader works!
Leader
Blue Portgas D.Ace & Edward Newgate is a 5 Life card Leader with an effect that activates only when you reveal a {Whitebeard Pirates} type card from your hand. Yes, you will show a card in your hand to your opponent, giving them information, to activate Leader Ace & Newgate‘s effect to draw a card. Then you must place that card you revealed at the top of your deck.
So we’re somewhat filtering out hand for the current turn, but we’re also placing a card of our choosing at the top of our deck, which will synergize with cards like OP08 Ace and I am Whitebeard event.
Blue Ace & Newgate
How to Play
Searcher
Izo is an early searcher that looks at the top 5 cards of your deck and lets you add 1 {Whitebeard Pirates} type card to your hand. During your opponent’s attack, you can trash Izo to activate her hand filter effect, letting you draw a card and place a card in your hand at the bottom of your deck.
This can be useful if you’re missing a Counter card and want the draw effect to potentially find what you need while removing the least useful card from your hand.
Whitebeard Synergy Characters
Marco is a tough one for the opposing player to remove. When he gets KO’d by an effect, you can trash a card from your hand to keep him in play, forcing the opposing player to either attach him or use a non-KO removal effect.
When attacking, you can reveal the top card of your deck, if it’s a {Whitebeard Pirates} type card, Marco gains +1,000 Power until he end of the opponent’s upcoming turn. So, he’s basically a 6,000 Power Character, and since your deck is full of {Whitebeard Pirates} type cards + your Leader effect, you’re guaranteed to gain the +1,000 Power boost.
5-cost Ace looks at the top card of your deck. If it’s a {Whitebeard Pirates} type Character with a cost of 4 or less, you can cheat it out on the field. You want to synergize Ace with your Leader effect, you’ll first activate your Leader effect to reveal and place a 4-cost {Whitebeard Pirates} type Character like Marco or Atmos at the top of your deck before dropping 5-cost Ace to cheat out.
5-cost Ace is creating a strong mid-game, allowing you to develop two Characters in one turn and start pressuring your opponent.
7-cost Jozu is a value card, revealing the top card of your deck, and if it’s a {Whitebeard Pirates} type card, you can draw 2 cards and trash 1 card from your hand. So, you’re gaining an extra card in your hand, and you get to replace 1 card with a potentially better one for the current game.
Control Characters
Atmos has to reveal 2 {Whitebeard Pirates} type cards in your hand to the opponent to activate his effect, allowing you to return a 4-cost or less Character to their hand. Returning a 4-cost means we’re removing an attacker from play, shifting the early field presence in our favor. However, we can also use Atmos to remove a pesky blocker, allowing our attacks to go through uninterrupted.
6-cost Jozu can return a 6-cost Character or less to the opponent’s hand, but you have to return one of your Characters to your hand to activate his effect. You’re usually going to return a 1-cost Character to your hand to remove a 6-cost or less Character, weakening the opponent’s side of the field while gaining a card in your hand.
Late Game
10-cost Edward Newgate is our strongest play, acting as a 12,000 Power Character that prevents all of the opponent’s current Characters on the field from attacking you on the upcoming turn unless your opponent trashes 2 cards from their hand. However, you have to have 2 Life cards or less to activate this effect, so you might be forced to take a hit just to get Newgate‘s effect online.
This puts your opponent in an awkward spot, either they don’t attack at all, or trash 2 cards from their hand and drop on resources to remove the effect. Usually, if they have multiple attackers in play, they’ll opt to trash cards from their hand. They’re still going for an aggressive turn, but at least they lost two resources, which will affect them later in the game.
We don’t have to wait till Don 10 to play 10-cost Edward Newgate, instead, we can use I Am Whitebeard!! to play him on Don 8 or 9. I Am Whitebeard!! lets you cheat out 10-cost Edward Newgate from your hand, then you can choose whether to take a Life card and gain a +2,000 Power boost on your Leader until the end of the opponent’s upcoming turn or leave the Life card in your Life Area.
You’ll have to choose whether or not you should take a Life card depending on the state of the game. If you’re at 3 Life cards and want to activate your 10-cost Edward Newgate‘s effect, then you’ll want to take a Life card to drop to 2 Life cards. If your opponent has multiple low Power attackers, then a +2,000 Power boost will be more valuable than the Life card. Lastly, if you’re trying to play more aggressively and not too worried about heavy attackers on the upcoming turn, you can go for the Power boost to force more Counter cards.
+2,000 Counters
Whitey Bay is mostly in the list for the +2,000 Counter, but if you’re lining up a finishing turn, you can play her for the +2,000 Power boost to your Leader.
Squard is actually great on the field if your opponent can’t remove him. Once per turn, you can attach a rested Don to your Leader or one of your Characters, increasing your attack’s Power.
Kingdew and ST22 Ace are potential plays if you don’t have anything else to play in the mid-game.
Counter Event
Since we know the top card of our deck is of type {Whitebeard Pirates}, we can use Take That Back!! Take Back What You Said!! to boost the Power of our Leader or one of our Characters +4,000, helping us Counter heavy attacks.
Mulligan
Going First: Izo, OP08 Ace, I am White Beard + 10-cost Edward Newgate.
Going Second: Izo, Marco, Jozu, I am Whitebeard + 10-cost Edward Newgate.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don):
- Turn 2 (3 Don): Squard, if your opponent can’t remove him easily.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): Leader effect + OP08 Ace cheat out a 4-cost Character.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): 6-cost or 7-cost Jozu.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): I am Whitebeard + 10-cost Edward Newgate.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): I am Whitebeard + 10-cost Edward Newgate.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): Izo. Squard, if your opponent can’t remove him easily.
- Turn 2 (4 Don): 4-cost Marco.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): 6-cost Jozu or OP08 Ace.
- Turn 4 (8 Don): I am Whitebeard + 10-cost Edward Newgate
- Turn 5 (10 Don): I am Whitebeard + 10-cost Edward Newgate.
