Yellow Vegapunk received new Egghead cards in the EB02 expansion, giving the deck a better overall consistency and stronger game plan. Players are going for an aggressive playstyle when it comes to Vegapunk, choosing to cut out the high-cost Characters and use Leader effect to play out the Eggsheads on the field and start going for attacks.
This deck is on the rise in OP10/EB02 meta, and it’s not as easy to pilot as you think! Understanding your Life resources and how much aggression your opponent can do is crucial to getting the most out of your Vegapunk deck, especially since your Leader can’t attack, you’re relying on your Characters to control the field.
Leader
Vegapunk is a 2-health Leader that can’t attack. Despite the low health, his ability to place one {Egghead} type 5-cost or less card at the top of the Life Area each turn compensates for this vulnerability. Activating this effect every turn creates additional protection for your Leader, making it a challenge for opponents to win the game.
All {Egghead} Characters have a Trigger effect, so having them in your Life Area allows you to activate their effects. These effects might let you play them for free, draw cards, or control the field. When choosing which {Egghead} Character to place at the top of your Life Area, you need to decide which Trigger effect benefits you most in a specific situation.
However, you are not forced to put the {Egghead} card at the top of your Life Area. Instead, you can directly play it on the field to make sure you have a Character in play to attack with.
Why would we play a Character on the field instead of placing it in our Life Area and waiting for the trigger effect to play it? Cheating it on the field does mean we’re losing on Leader protection, but in many cases, your opponent might avoid attacking your Leader, thus preventing you from activating the Trigger effect for the Character development. This helps the opposing player prolong the game until they have their high-cost win condition, which we can’t deal with. We’ll instead play the Character directly on the field to set up a more aggressive playstyle.
Additionally, multiple cards in this deck require you to be at 2 Life cards or less to activate their effects, so you don’t want to end up with too many Life cards when you’re planning to activate these effects.
Yellow Vegapunk Decklist
How to Play
Draw Cards
He Possesses the World’s Most Brilliant Mind looks at the top 5 cards of your deck and lets you add 1 {Egghead} type card. It helps you find the card you need for a specific turn.
Dereshi is a higher cost draw card, looking at the top 5 cards of your deck and letting you add 2 cards with a Trigger effect to your hand. Since most cards in our deck have Trigger effects, we’re guaranteed to find cards to add to our hand. Unlike He Possesses the World’s Most Brilliant Mind, you can’t place Dereshi in your Life Area through Leader effect, so you either want to play it, or trash it from your hand through cards like 5-cost Nami, Edison, or 5-cost Vegapunk.
Lilith and Edison can all be played for free through their trigger effects.
Lilith is a value Character, drawing you an {Egghead} type card from the top 5 cards of your deck. She also remains on the field as a 5,000 Power attacker to force a Counter card from the opposing player. Since Lilith doesn’t have a Counter effect, we don’t want to leave her in our hand as a dead card, we’ll often play her as early as possible to get the draw value from her.
Since Lilith costs only 3 Don, you can play her from your hand on Don 4 and still use the Leader effect to place a card in the Life Area or on the field.
As for Edison, he’s a +2,000 Counter card that can be played on the field as an attacker threat and to draw 2 and trash two cards. However, he’s not the biggest threat, and you shouldn’t prioritize playing him over other Characters. If you need to fix your hand and have an additional attack, then sure, you can go for the Eidson play.
Egghead Pressure
Atlas and Pythagoras can be played on the field through Trigger effects, so you can use your Leader effect to place them in your Life Area and then cheat them out.
Atlas is a 6,000 Power attacker, and if you have less Life cards than your opponent’s, she’s a tough one to remove from the field. Atlas‘ effect prevents your opponent from KOing her in battle if you have less Life cards than they do. This means they’ll have to find another way to remove her through an effect or to ignore her completely.
As for Pythagoras, he’s similar to Atlas, having 6,000 Power and can be played from your Life Area. However, Pythagoras is somewhat of a value Character that makes sure you can keep pressuring your opponent. When KO’d, if you have 2 Life Cards or less, Pythagoras lets you play 1 {Egghead} type Character with a cost of 4 or less from your trash, so you can cheat out Characters like Lilith, Edison, or Franky. Lilith is obviously the best choice, putting a 5,000 Power Character on the field and activating her effect to add an {Egghead} type card to your hand.
Blockers
Shaka is a 6,000 Power Blocker, perfect to protect your Leader from an attack or to potentially become an aggressor. You can also place Shaka in your Life Area and cheat him out on the field through his Trigger effect, basically protecting you from two of the opponent’s attacks.
As for 5-cost Vegapunk, his effect allows you to look at the top 5 cards of your deck and to cheat out 1 {Scientist} type Character with a cost of 5 or less (it can’t be Vegapunk). So, you can play Characters like Lilith, Atlas, Pythagoras, or Shaka. Lilith is great for the draw effect. However, Shaka is the better option if you’re worried your opponent is trying to aggro you down. Developing two blockers in one turn can make things awkward for the opposing player and tough for them to close out the game.
One thing to keep in mind, if your opponent has 2 or less Characters in play, 5-cost Vegapunk‘s effect will force you to trash a card from your hand. So although you’re cheating out a Character from your deck, you’re still losing a card from your hand, but still, it’s a trade worth taking. However, if your opponent has more than 2 Characters in play, then you do not have to trash a card from your hand, removing the drawback.
Control Eggheads
Nami is a powerful removal card, capable of KOing a 5-cost or less Character with her play effect. You need to trash a card with a trigger effect to activate Nami, but if you have 3 or fewer cards in hand, you’ll draw a card, maintaining value. Her trigger effect lets you activate her play effect to KO a Character.
If you have 5 cards in your hand, playing Nami and trashing a card will drop you to 3 cards, which gives you a card draw through Nami, ensuring you don’t lose on any resources and potentially finding a better card than the one you trashed.
Monkey.D.Luffy‘s effect lets you KO a 4-cost or less Character, but he has to be trashed for the effect to activate. On the bright side, Monkey.D.Luffy draws a card, so you gain a value advantage. Monkey.D.Luffy‘s effect only activates if you have 2 or less Life cards. His trigger effect lets you KO a 4-cost Character or less, but won’t draw a card.
You can use their KO effects to remove a pesky Character and shift the field presence in your favor, or to remove a blocker preventing you from striking down the opponent’s Leader. Nami and Luffy‘s trigger effects can be great to slow your opponent’s pace by removing one of their attackers.
Rush Ace
Portgas.D.Ace gains the Rush keyword if your Leader is at 2 Life cards or less. With Yellow Vegapunk usually being on low Life cards, Ace makes sense to add to the list to make use of his Rush attack. With 7,000 Power, you want to play Ace when you’re at 6 Don or more, going for an immediate attack to pressure the opponent’s Leader or try to KO a rested Character. We often want to protect Ace from an opponent’s attack since he’s our strongest attacker.
Counter Event
I Re-Quasar Helllp!! is a Counter event to give your Leader or a Character a +3,000 Power boost. However, it can only be activated if your Leader is at 2 Life cards or less.
Additionally, you can place I Re-Quasar Helllp!! in your Life Area for its Trigger effect, allowing you to play a 5-cost or less {Egghead} type Character from your trash. This is an extremely strong Trigger effect, especially in the late game if your opponent is trying to win the game. You have control over which card you can cheat out, and you’ll usually go for the 5-cost Vegapunk, adding a Blocker on the field and developing another Character alongside him.
Other Cards to Include
- Egghead stage can set one of your rested Egghead as Active at the end of your turn. This protects them from attackers and forces the opposing player to either not attack or go for your Leader, activating your Trigger effects.
- S-Snake slows down your opponent’s aggression, preventing one Character other than Monkey D.Luffy with a cost of 6 or less from attacking on the upcoming turn.
- Eustas”Catapin”Kid is a consideration for his trash a Life card effect, dropping your opponent on Life cards and resources, and making it easier to set up the winning turn.
- Nico Robin is on the list for her Trigger effect, letting you draw 2 cards. We’re never trying to play her on the field since her 4,000 Power doesn’t pose much of a threat.
- 7-cost Charlotte Linlin puts your opponent in a tough spot, forcing them to either trash one of their Life cards or give you an additional Life card, likely creating Trigger value. Her 8,000 Power can be tough to remove.
- Charlotte Katakuri is versatile, letting you either remove one of the opponent’s Characters and place it in their Life Area or place one of your {Egghead} type Characters in your Life Area to reactivate their Trigger and provide extra protection.
- Yamato is best played at 10 Don, giving you a Life Card if you’re at 0 or 1 Life card, and you’ll still be able to activate your Leader effect for one more Life card. In one turn, you can gain 2 Life cards and potentially KO one of the opponent’s Characters.
Turn-Based Gameplay
Going First
- Turn 1 (1 Don): Activate Leader effect
- Turn 2 (3 Don): Activate Leader effect + Searcher Event.
- Turn 3 (5 Don): Activate Leader effect + Lilith.
- Turn 4 (7 Don): Activate Leader effect + Protgas.D.Ace or 5-cost Egghead.
- Turn 5 (9 Don): Activate Leader effect + Protgas.D.Ace or 5-cost Egghead. Keep developing multiple Characters.
- Turn 6 (10 Don): Activate Leader effect + Protgas.D.Ace or 5-cost Egghead. Keep developing multiple Characters or start going for heavy hits to put your opponent at 0 Life cards.
Going Second
- Turn 1 (2 Don): Activate Leader effect + Searcher Event.
- Turn 2 (4 Don): Activate Leader effect + Lilith.
- Turn 3 (6 Don): Activate Leader effect + Protgas.D.Ace or 5-cost Egghead.
- Turn 4 (8 Don): Activate Leader effect + Protgas.D.Ace or 5-cost Egghead.
- Turn 5 (10 Don): Activate Leader effect + Protgas.D.Ace or 5-cost Egghead. Keep developing multiple Characters or start going for heavy hits to put your opponent at 0 Life cards.
