The OPTCG EU Finals is one of the biggest competitive stages for European players, and a chance to qualify for the World Championship in Japan. The top 2 players will move on to Worlds, so everyone brought their best deck to try and make it.
After a series of intense games, Kevin and Angelo secured the top 2 spots and qualified for Worlds, with Kevin taking first place at the EU Finals using his Black Marshal D. Teach deck.
1st Place Black Marshal D.Teach
Black Teach wins first place in EU Finals Season 1, beating Red Yellow Belo Betty in the finals! Teach is one of the hardest decks to master, as timing your Leader effect correctly depends on the matchup you’re playing, which can preserve crucial resources and prevent your opponent from making certain plays on key turns.
Teach can’t activate On Play effect, so the deck-building process for this Black deck goes a little differently than the norm. However, you get to prevent your opponent from activating their own On Play effects as well by trashing one of your cards. This can shut down powerful plays for your opponent and force them into awkward turns.
The Black deck relies heavily on 7-cost Teach as a control card, allowing you to KO a 3-cost or less Character to weaken the opponent’s side of the field. Combined with Van Augur and Tempest Kick, you get to KO higher-cost Characters and shift the field presence in your favor.
Jesus Burgess is the star of the show, gaining Power and becoming a powerhouse in the late-game to go for heavy attacks. His Power boost, combined with the KO effect immunity, makes him a difficult target to remove, and often, your opponent will opt to ignore him and try rushing you down.
This is where Blockers play a major role, protecting your Leader and buying you enough time until you can line up the winning turn. 10-cost Teach is the strongest play in this deck, shutting down one of the opponent’s Characters from attacking on the upcoming turn and acting as a massive wall to block one of the opponent’s attacks. If you can set up a winning turn or need to remove a rested Character, you can attack with 10-cost Teach.
Red Yellow Belo Betty
We had two Belo Betty decks make it into the top 4, with both players using the same exact lists.
Red Yellow Betty has crushed it this week in the competitive tournaments, managing to outperform the top competitive decks. The Revolutionary Army deck aims to play aggressively, dropping multiple Characters in one turn and boosting their Power through your Leader’s effect.
4-cost and 5-cost Emporio Ivankov is how we cheat out an additional Character to go wider on the field. 6-cost Koala is another method, but we are taking a Life card to activate her effect, so it can put us in a vulnerable spot on our upcoming turn. Many of our Characters need to be at 7,000 Power to activate their effects, so having the +3,000 Power boost from Belo Betty’s effect makes it easier without being forced to commit Don attachments and sacrificing board development.
4-cost Karasu is another strong play in this deck, especially if you have multiple attacks ready to capitalize on his Power reduction effect. When played or when attacking, Karasu can reduce the Power of the opponent’s Leader or one of their Characters by 1,000 until the end of your turn. This can be exceptionally useful when used on the opponent’s Leader, reducing their Power and going for multiple attacks to force more counter cards from the opposing player to protect their Leader.
Inazuma’s Rush keyword plays a vital role in keeping the pressure and can benefit from Belo Betty’s Power boost if you don’t have a 3rd Character to boost.
3rd Place Red Yellow Belo Betty
Red Green Smoker
Red Green Smoker has made a comeback in OP11 meta, mainly because it has a good matchup against multiple top performers in the current meta.
Hoshi brought an interesting list to the EU finals, running 3 Honest Impact to counter the popular Blue Purple Monkey D.Luffy. Additionally, they also included Issho and Sakazuki into the list, two cards we never saw in Red Green Smoker. Issho gets to rest two of the opponent’s 5-cost or less Characters, which can be useful to shut down blockers, paving the way for an aggressive turn to target the opponent’s Leader, or it can be used to control the board, resting Characters and allowing your attackers to target and potentially KO them.
As for the Sakazuki, he can KO one of the opponent’s 5-cost or less Characters, but you need to have 2 rested Characters in play. His condition is usually easier to meet in the Green Purple Lim deck, but you can rest your low-cost Characters like Vergo and Monet to activate Sakazuki’s KO effect.
Red Green Smoker synergizes with Punk Hazard characters, giving them a +1,000 Power boost during the defensive turn, making it harder for the opposing player to KO them. If you have a 7,000 Power or more Character in play, Leader Smoker can set 2 of your Don as Active. Combined with 5-cost Smoker, you get to set up 3 Don as Active, creating an opportunity for stronger plays, by either developing an additional Character or going for heavier attacks.
Hody Jones is your strongest aggressor, resting two of the opponent’s Characters or Don and going for an immediate Rush attack. He can shut down blockers or Counter Events, making it tough for the opponent to defend from your attacks.
To buy yourself more time, you have the bird cage strategy with Eustass”Captain”Kid. Interestingly, this list is running the 3-cost Borsalino as a low-cost blocker. If you need to attack a certain Active Character, you can rest Borsalino to allow {Navy} type Leader or Characters to target Active Characters.
