TCG Match Making
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Free OP08 Black Yellow Luffy Guide
🕑 Added 2024-10-02 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
Hi, I'm James Neumann, known as "Twisted" on Discord. With over 20 years of experience in trading card games, I've always leaned toward a competitive approach. While I enjoy the casual side of TCGs, my focus is on refining strategies and building decks that excel in competitive play. Today, I’ll be diving into a guide on Black/Yellow Luffy, breaking down its key cards, strategies, and how to maximize its potential in the current meta. Let’s get started!
Objective of the Deck:
The main goal of this deck is to reduce your life to zero and activate your leader's ability every turn. Once you reach zero life, the strategy is to keep using Gecko Moria to maintain momentum. If you can’t do that, using two Baby cards is another option. This setup makes the most of your leader’s effect, giving you high power and making it hard for your opponent to win against you.
Pros of the Deck:
Strong Defense: With the ability to be at 9,000 power for several turns, 0-1 life left, and a blocker, you can defend against most decks.
High Draw and Search Power: The deck provides a lot of ways to draw cards and search for the ones you need.
Rewards Skilled Players: This deck is difficult to master, but once you do, you can win a lot. The effort you put in will pay off.
Stays Strong in OP08: We believe this deck will stay powerful in OP08, especially with new cards like Jack. Players might switch to Lucci or Black Luffy, and this deck performs well against them.
Cons of the Deck:
Weak Against Nami Decks: The deck doesn’t include Ace, which makes it hard to beat Nami decks.
Mistakes Can Be Costly: One mistake with this deck can lose you the game.
The Decklist
Here’s the current decklist. We’ll explain some of the card choices later on, but feel free to experiment with different options. It’s also a good idea to check the OPBounty high-rank deck lists each week to see what’s working best.
Card Choices
4C Kuzan is a key card, especially on your fourth Don turn when you’re going second. It draws a card, replacing itself while helping you find important pieces like Gecko Moria. It also has a reduction effect, which makes the Bonney matchup easier, turning it from tough to winnable. With 4C Kuzan and Ice Age, dealing with big threats like 9C Zoro becomes much simpler, making this card a game-changer.
Ice Age is used mainly to counter Bonney’s 9C Zoro and 8C Kidd, which can be difficult to deal with. This card helps you handle them right away. You can also use it against Gecko Moria or Issho in black matchups to deal with their 9k power characters. It’s also useful against non-meta decks, making it a versatile card.
Finger Pistol is good for dealing with Bonney’s Cavendish and can also be useful in mirror matches to take out Adult Luffy. The card hasn’t been exceptional, but it hasn’t disappointed either. Often, it’s discarded by the leader’s or Sabo’s ability. Sometimes, you might get lucky with its trigger, but it’s not something to rely on. We’re keeping it as a potential addition for now.
At first, we didn’t include Yellow Sabo (Thunderbolt Sabo) in the deck because we were using a 1-1 Ace package. But Ace wasn’t used much, so we wanted more reliable search targets. After trying one copy of Yellow Sabo, we quickly saw its value and added it to the deck. The card has exceeded our expectations. It’s great against Bonney for removing Cavendish and helpful in mirror matches for dealing with 4C Kuzan & 5C Luffy. It’s usually used in the midgame to remove a threat while advancing your strategy. Since it’s searchable, it makes finding key cards easier.
When to take life?
Most of the time, when your opponent attacks, you’ll want to take life immediately. However, a common situation is when you’re left with 2 life and your opponent has 3 characters that haven’t attacked yet. They’ll usually attack with their leader for 5k first. You should counter this attack. If you don’t, they might follow up with bigger attacks (like 9k) which would force you to use more cards from your hand, because we might not have any blockers deployed at this stage of the game. Be careful—this mistake can lose you the game.
Early Game Strategy:
At the start of the game, focus on finding any key cards you’re missing. The most important part of your deck is the Sabo engine first, followed by the Luffy engine. This deck plays best when you go second, so if you win the dice roll, choose to go second.
Reducing Life Points: To lower your life early (especially if your opponent isn’t attacking), use Adult Luffy and ST-13 Adult Sabo. Later, you can switch to Hiyori and Flampe to activate your leader’s ability more efficiently.
Search Priority List (General Guideline):
Blocker Sabo
Baby Sabo
Baby Luffy
Adult Luffy
Rocket Luffy
Thunderbolt Sabo
Best Curve Going Second:
2 Don: Double Garp
4 Don: Kuzan
6 Don: Any 5-drop (preferably Adult Luffy if they aren’t attacking your life)
8 Don: Double Baby + leader effect, or Gecko + leader effect
10 Don: Gecko Moria + Leader Effect
Best Curve Going First:
1 Don: Play Garp, Brothersbond, or Flampe (only use Flampe against Bonney or mono-black decks).
3 Don: Put 3 Don on Garp and attack for 5k twice, or use more searchers and put the remaining Don on your leader.
5 Don: Choose the best 5-drop for your situation:
Adult Luffy to take life
Thunderbolt Sabo to pop a character (usually Kuzan)
Blocker Sabo to cycle more cards if your hand is bad
Adult Luffy is usually the best choice.
7 Don: If your opponent is aggressive, use your leader effect with Babies. Aim to go to 1 life with a 7k leader. You usually won’t need to go to 9k yet since your opponent is likely preparing to go to 8 Don and hasn’t played anything too big.
9 Don: Use double Baby and set up chain Geckos.
10 Don: Either chain Geckos or, if you haven’t drawn one, use another two Babies.
Matchups Overview:
In this section, we’ll look at strategies and tips for dealing with the most common decks in the metagame. This deck is challenging to master and requires strategic thinking and practice. Learning to adjust your strategy for each matchup and staying calm during games will give you the advantage. By understanding how to handle different opponents, you’ll improve your chances of winning.
