The OP08 Kalgara Leader lost much of its early popularity, but it’s making a comeback in OP12 thanks to new Shandian card support. If you’re getting into OPTCG and don’t want to invest too much early on, Yellow Kalgara is still a solid, low-cost pick with an aggressive playstyle that isn’t too difficult to learn.
This Yellow deck keeps an aggressive game plan, using Kalgara’s Life Resource to develop an extra Character and go wider on the field. This allows the deck to go wider and overwhelm the opposing player.
Leader
Yellow Kalgara is a 5 Life card Leader who activates his effect when you attach a Don to him and go for an attack. Kalgara can play a {Shandorian Warriors} type Character with a cost equal to or less than the number of Don!!! you control. This allows you to play two Characters in one turn as early as Don 4, setting you up to overwhelm the opposing player through multiple attacks. However, every time you activate this effect, you have to add the top Life card to your hand, putting you in a more vulnerable spot to aggressive attacks the more you use it.
The characters to cheat out are Wyper and Kalgara. At 4 Don, you can start deploying {Shandorian Warriors} Characters for just 1 Don, while Leader Kalgara goes for heavy attacks to force the opposing player into playing Counter cards.
Yellow Kalgara Decklist
How to Play
Sky Searchers
Shura and Upper Yard are excellent for setting up your turns. They can look at the top 5 cards of your deck to add 1 Sky Island card to your hand. This adds more consistency to the deck, as you’re able to draw cards like Ohm, Wyper, and Kalgara.
Additionally, you can play Upper Yard without spending any Don through the 4-cost Wyper.
Sky Aggro Plan
Holly and Ohm work well together as you’re able to cheat out Holly through Ohm‘s effect. Ohm can search the top 5 cards of your deck, and if you find Holly, it’s a free draw and board development. If Holly is already in hand, Ohm can still play it even if it’s not among the top 5 cards of your deck. Ohm gains a +1,000 Power boost when you’re down to 2 Life cards or less, and since you’re self-damaging your Leader, you often will activate Ohm‘s Power boost effect.
You’re developing a 6,000 Power and a 5,000 Power Characters for 4 Don, and if played on Don 5, you can still cheat out a Wyper through your Leader’s effect, developing 3 Characters in one turn.
Wypers
4-cost and 5-cost Wyper can look at the top 5 cards of our deck to search for Upper Yard. This adds to the value strategy if we manage to find one, and on top of that, the 4-cost Wyper lets us play Upper Yard for free.
As for the 5-cost Wyper, he’s a better play as an offensive Character, having 7,000 Power to pressure the opposing player through his attacks. Additionally, 5-cost Wyper can remove an opponent’s 1-cost Stage, which can come in handy depending on the matchup. On top of that, 5-cost Wyper‘s search effect isn’t limited to Upper Yard only, but can also draw you a {Shandian Warrior} type card.
5-cost Wyper is always the better play over the 4-cost version, as you’d rather use the 4-cost Wyper as a +2,000 Counter play.
The OP12 6-cost Wyper is another +2,000 Counter but a vanilla Character. We almost never will cheat him out unless we don’t find anything else to play through the Leader effect.
Kalgara Norland Combo
5-cost Kalgara is the newest addition in this list, increasing the consistency of this deck and giving us an additional Kalgara Character for Montblanc Norland to combo with.
5-cost Kalgara is a 6,000 Power Character which we’ll often cheat out through Leader effect. He’s a draw engine card that activates his effect when an opponent’s Life card is removed during your turn, drawing you a card. Kalgara then stops you from drawing cards in any other method, so it’s best to save it for last. Additionally, you need to make sure you have Kalgara in play before you attack with your other Characters, as Kalgara needs to see the Life card removed to trigger his effect.
6-cost Kalgara is your heavy hitter. Despite being a Vanilla card, its synergy with Montblanc Norland boosts his value, making him a strong option in this deck, especially since we can cheat him out through Leader effect.
At Don 6 or more, we’ll use our Leader’s effect to cheat out the 5-cost or 6-cost Kalgara. You’re losing a life through your Leader’s effect, but can then go for the Montblanc Norland play. Montblanc Norland requires you to have a Kalgara Character in play to activate his effect, adding the top card of your deck to your Life Area. This means we want to cheat out Kalgara first through Leader effect, then play Montblanc Norland for the Life card.
In one turn, you establish a strong board presence and gain a Life Card with Montblanc Norland to make it harder for the opposing player to set up a winning turn.
Extra Life
Bartholomew Kuma has been a staple in many Yellow decks, and the Yellow Kalgara can definitely make use of him! We’re sacrificing Life cards to cheat out Characters, so having Kuma to give us a Life card can mitigate the drawback and force more attacks from the opposing player.
Kuma remains on the board as a 7,000 Power attacker that usually discourages players from attacking him as getting KO’d will let you add the top card of your deck to your Life Area.
Control Zeus
2-cost Zeus takes a Life card and adds it to your hand to KO a 5-cost or less Character. It’s worth playing to slow down your opponent’s pace and make it even harder for them to come back into the game. It can also be useful to remove a blocker, shutting down one of your opponent’s defensive plays.
Events
El Thor is a Counter event that gives your Leader or one of your Characters a +2,000 Power boost. Since we’re an aggressive deck, we’ll often have our opponent low on Life cards, letting us trigger its condition to get another +2,000 Counter when the opposing player is at 2 or less Life cards.
The Earth Will Not Lose! gives your Leader or one of your Characters a +3,000 Power boost. If you happen to have an Upper Yard in your hand, you can play it to search for a card you need, depending on the state of the game. The Earth Will Not Lose! has a Trigger effect, letting you draw 2 cards and trash 1, useful if you need to filter your hand for better cards.
General Tips
- Play aggressively. We want to develop two Characters per turn and overwhelm the opposing player. By doing so, we will force them to adopt a defensive strategy, trying to control our board rather than focusing down our Leader.
- Protect your high-power Characters when possible. The 6-cost Kalgara, for example, is tough to remove through attacks. If your opponent tried attacking into him, you can protect him to keep a heavy hitter in play.
Mulligan Tips
Going First: Upper Yard, Ohm, 5-cost Wyper or 5-cost Kalgara.
Going Second: Shura, Ohm, 6-cost Kalgara, Montblanc Norland.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): Upper Yard to find a {Sky Island} Card like Holly.
- Turn 2 (3 Don): If we don’t have Ohm in hand, we can play Holly to present an early attacker. If we don’t have either, Shura is an option, and we attack with Leader for 6,000 Power.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): 4-cost Ohm and give 1 Don to Leader to cheat out 5-cost Wyper or 5-cost Kalgara.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): Cheat out 6-cost Kalgara through Leader effect. Follow it up with Montblanc Norland for an extra Life Card. Kuma is another option.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): Cheat out 6-cost Kalgara through Leader effect. Follow it up with Montblanc Norland for an extra Life Card. Kuma is another option.
Going Second:
- Turn 1 (2 Don): Shura or Upper Yard.
- Turn 2 (4 Don): Ohm + Holly or Holly + 1 Don to Leader to play 4-cost Wyper if you value the early aggression.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): 1 Don to Leader and play 5-cost or 6-cost Kalgara for free. Follow it up with Montblanc Norland for an extra Life Card.
- Turn 4 (8 Don): Cheat out Kalgara through Leader effect. Follow it up with Montblanc Norland for an extra Life Card. Kuma is another option.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): Continue developing on the field.
Other Cards to Include
- 5-cost Portgas.D.Ace is a Rush attack to present a threat on the turn he’s played immediately. We have to be at 2 Life Cards for him to gain Rush.
- Raki is a 1-cost Blocker, perfect for taking a hit for us to protect our Leader, especially in the late game. However, she only gains the blocker keyword if there’s another {Shandian Warrior} Character in play.
- 5-cost Sanji can act as a blocker to protect us from attacks, but we can also turn him into an attacker to aggro the opposing player down. If you have 2 or less Life cards, we can go for the Sanji play to draw 2 cards and trash 1 from hand, adding more resources and filtering for better cards.
- During your turn, Gum-Gum Fire-Fist Pistol Red Hawk can be used to KO a 5-cost or less Character by resting 3 Don. This lets you remove an attacker or a blocker, allowing you to target the opponent’s Leader without having to worry about a blocker taking the hit. Gum-Gum Fire-Fist Pistol Red Hawk can be used as a counter event to give your Leader a +3,000 Power boost.
- Genbo is a 3-cost {Shandian Warrior}, increasing our chances of finding a {Shandian Warrior} through our searchers, and can also be played on turn 2 through Leader ability.
- Satori is primarily a Trigger card that you rarely want to spend 5 Don to play. It’s more valuable as a +2,000 Counter or for its Trigger effect.
- 10-cost Portgas.D.Ace is a carry card, giving us a Life Card, and can go for an attack with his Rush ability.
Closing Words
With Yellow Kalgara on the rise, the deck is looking stronger than ever, thanks to the 5-cost Kalgara and Kuma! The ability to cheat out Characters and go wide on the field presents an opportunity to go for aggressive attacks, overwhelming opponents, and forcing them to play defensively.
