Six Starter decks are coming to the One Piece Card Game, each bringing new, unique cards to upgrade multiple decks in the meta and help boost their performance.
As with all Starter decks, there are good cards and bad cards in there, but we can’t afford to miss out on them, as they can be great to push your favorite deck to the next level!
Starter Decks:
STARTER DECK -RED Shanks- [ST-23]
STARTER DECK -GREEN Jewelry Bonney- [ST-24]
STARTER DECK -BLUE Buggy- [ST-25]
STARTER DECK -PURPLE/BLACK Monkey.D.Luffy- [ST-26]
STARTER DECK -BLACK Marshall.D.Teach- [ST-27]
STARTER DECK -GREEN/YELLOW Yamato- [ST-28]
In this article, we’ll explore leaders who benefit from these new cards, providing them with a better, more consistent game plan, which may help them rise higher in the tier list. You can check out the full cards in each Starter deck here.
Blue Buggy
Blue Buggy is getting tons of support in the Starter 25 deck and will likely get the biggest push among all the decks in this list! This Leader synergizes with {Cross Guild} type Characters, allowing you to cheat out high-cost Characters for 5 Don and a trashed card.
The usual plan is to flood the board with Characters and try to have a 10-cost Buggy stick on the field, but regardless, the removal effect was strong enough that many opted to play the 10-cost Buggy just to remove a win condition on the opponent’s side.
The Starter 25 deck brings Cabaji, 4-cost Buggy, Mohji, Alvida, and Crocodile & Mihawk to improve the deck’s consistency! The 4-cost Buggy lets you cheat out a 6-cost or less {Cross Guild} type Character, so you can play 6-cost Dracule Mihawk a turn earlier, enabling you to pressure the opposing player. You can even cheat out the buggy through 7-cost Crocodile or 8-cost Crocodile & Mihawk before then playing your 6-cost Mihawk.
Crocodile & Mihawk add more resources to your hand and allow you to cheat out a 4-cost Character, acting as another tool for you to develop multiple Characters in one turn. He also prevents your opponent from easily KOing your Characters through your effect, forcing them to use other means to control your board.
Black Purple Monkey D.Luffy
Another Leader that players are excited about is Black Purple Luffy, who gains a significant consistency boost from the Starter 26 deck! This Leader can increase the cost of all Characters in play, and once per turn, when you return 2 Don, he ramps back that 2 Don. This allows you to activate extremely strong effects without falling behind on Don.
Starter 26 adds powerful cards like Nico Robin, Tony Tony Chopper, and Luffy himself. The 6-cost Luffy is the standout addition: he returns 2 Don to your Don deck and boosts your Leader’s Power by 2,000 until the end of your opponent’s next turn. This effectively turns Black Purple Luffy into a 7,000 Power Leader, making him much harder for your opponent to deal with and enabling heavier attacks. Plus, the 6-cost Luffy can reactivate his effect whenever he attacks, putting your opponent in a tough spot if they don’t remove him quickly.
The deck also features high-cost win conditions like the 9-cost Luffy and 10-cost Luffy, which can carry the game thanks to their powerful effects. Most of your Characters return Don, but thanks to your Leader’s effect, you can bypass that drawback and continue to develop high-cost Characters each turn.
Red Shanks
Red Shanks has been struggling in the OP11 meta, but with the addition of the new 9-cost Shanks, we’ll see if things change. The 9-cost Shanks can be played as a 6-cost Character if your opponent has an 8,000 Power Character in play, reducing the Don commitment needed. His On Play effect boosts your Leader’s Power by 2,000 until the end of your opponent’s upcoming turn. This makes it harder for your opponent to damage your Leader, potentially slowing them down and giving you enough time to set up your winning turn.
Black Teach
Black Teach is getting the 6-cost Kuzan and 7-cost Teach in Starter 27. There has been a lot of debate about whether they’re worth including, especially the 6-cost Kuzan, since there are many strong alternatives to consider. As players experiment more, we’ll see which list they end up favoring based on the meta they play in.
The 6-cost Kuzan is a 6,000 Power blocker with a KO effect that lets you play a 5-cost or lower {Blackbeard Pirates} type Character for free. This allows you to cheat out cards like the 4-cost Jesus Burgess or the 5-cost Kuzan.
As for the 7-cost Teach, he can KO a 3-cost or lower Character through his Activate Main effect, and he can keep activating it throughout the game. With cost-reduction cards like Tempest Kick, you can KO higher-cost Characters to help control the field. On KO, Teach also adds a {Blackbeard Pirates} type card from your trash to your hand.
Green Yellow Yamato
Another Leader gaining multiple strong cards to add to their list is the Green Yellow Yamato! The 2-cost Izo can become a Blocker if you attach 2 Don to her, but she also can give your Leader the Banish keyword. Green Yellow Yamato with Banish + Double Attack is deadly, forcing the opposing player to expend their Counter resources or have two of the Life cards go straight to the Trash.
Ashura Doji gives the deck mid-game control, a great play to KO a 5-cost or less Character, especially if it’s a Blocker preventing your Leader from threatening 2 Life cards.
Kouzuki Momonosuke boosts your aggression on the turn he’s played, giving your Leader a +1,000 Power boost while going for a Rush attack to create multiple threats in one turn.
Yellow Yamato
Yellow Yamato is another deck that players have been theorycrafting with, incorporating the new Starter 28 cards to see if they can bring it into the meta. If you have 2 or less Life cards, Yellow Yamato gains +1,000 Power during your opponent’s turn, making her a tougher target for opponents to damage.
The 3-cost Ashura Doji acts as a strong mid-game control piece, KOing a 5-cost or lower Character to help swing the board in your favor. Meanwhile, the 6-cost Kouzuki Momonosuke boosts your Leader’s Power by +1,000 during your turn, turning Yamato into a 6,000 Power Leader on both turns.
Kouzuki Momonosuke can also gain the Rush keyword and an additional +1,000 Power, enabling an immediate 8,000 Power attack to pressure your opponent.
Red Purple Uta
Red Purple Uta trashes a card from your hand to reduce the Power of an opponent’s Character by 2,000 and ramps you for 1 rested Don. This helps you remove opponents’ Characters and keep control of the board while speeding up the turn your high-cost Characters drop into play.
We’ve also got Ain and Bon Clay for their ramp effect, accelerating the Shanks turns. 6-cost Uta and 9-cost Shanks can be played for less Don, allowing you make stronger plays on specific turns to overwhelm the opposing player.
Green Carrot
Green Carrot is all about resting Characters and controlling the board, and with the addition of 10-cost Law & Bepo, you get to rest an opponent’s Character and prevent it from becoming Active on the upcoming turn. Additionally, if your opponent has two rested Characters, Law & Bepo gives your Leader a +2,000 Power boost until the end of the opponent’s upcoming turn, making it harder for the opponent to land blows on your Leader.
Green Bonney
Bonney receives Kid & Killer, a Supernova searcher card that can give you an Active Don to activate your Leader’s effect. Basil Hawkins is a +2,000 Counter card with the Supernova type, so he adds more consistency to your searchers and can be played if you need to develop a Character and have an Active Don every turn.
Green Yellow Law
Nothing game-changing for Green Yellow Law, but the Kid & Killer and X.Drake are Supernova cards to consider including in the list.
Closing Words
I’m excited to see how the meta develops with the addition of the new Starter decks. They’ll definitely push a few Leaders into the spotlight, giving players the opportunity to play their favorite decks in a competitive setting.
This is it from me! If you want to keep up with my content, consider following me on Twitter or BlueSky.
