One Piece TCG: Deck Tech - Gecko Moria (OP15 - Adventure on Kami's Island)

In today's article, we'll see how one of the OP14 wildcards became a viable strategy with OP15. Gecko Moria OP14-080 got a few new tools from OP15 and became a great choice in the current meta, as well as quite accessible to new players.

Let's go over this vampire, how you can build him, how to pilot him, and the best strategies with him for every moment of the game.

Gecko Moria OP14-080 is a black/yellow leader with 4 HP and 5000 power. His main text states, "Once per turn, you may knock out one of your own Thriller Bark Pirates characters to give your leader and your entire board +1000 power this turn." When he attacks, you may discard 3 cards from your hand to put the top card in your deck in your life pile.

Like so, this leader interacts a lot with the graveyard as well. With him, you'll reuse characters that you "lost" and get into combat with global buffs. You'll also be able to "refill" your HP throughout the match.

He is not as linear as other yellow leaders. You'll need to manage and think everything through before you set up your turns: which cards you'll put in your hand, which will go to your trash pile, which will go to your life pile, and which ones you'll sacrifice at the right time.

The list we'll see today was built by a player called Wesley, who brought it to a U.S.A. tournament. It plays an old, black Thriller Bark base centered around filling the graveyard with cards and recycling value and an OP14 / OP15 yellow kit with a lot of triggers. Finally, it also plays lots of disruption for enemy attacks and lots of ways to gain HP.

It is more than a midrange list, as it forces you to plan out everything with pinpoint precision. In return, you'll be able to control what's in your life pile and take advantage of the triggers in it, all while turning every card you sacrifice into speed.

Here's our list:

Initial Setup

First, we'll set up our trash pile and our hand at the same time. Victoria Cindry OP06-091 is still one of the best ways to do that because it enters play early and instantly sends cards to your trash pile, which is great in this archetype.

Lilith OP13-113 lets you look at the top four cards in your deck and get a card with a trigger from there. As for Dr. Hogback OP15-084, it also helps you set up your graveyard, but you can sacrifice it with your leader to draw another card.

Furthermore, as your leader heals no matter how much HP you have, you can discard three cards to sacrifice another with him early on to fill your graveyard with the cards you want. Many of your cards interact with the cards that are in your trash pile, so keep an eye out for that.

The Thriller Bark Engine

You'll spend your first turns filling your trash pile, but, in the mid-game, you'll turn it into a decent board. Kumacy OP14-102 is quite relevant in this sense because its trigger puts in play, from the graveyard, a Thriller Bark Pirates card that costs 4 or less. Absalom OP14-100 does something similar when it is knocked out. It lets you look at the top cards in your deck for more Thriller Bark cards. Its trigger also brings back into play a character that costs 4 or less, rested.

As for Dr. Hogback OP14-110, it is perhaps the one card that makes the yellow game plan work. Its On K.O. effect puts in play another character that costs 4 or less with a trigger, except for itself. This means that your opponent often won't be able to deal with you by dealing with your board. When they knock out this character, for instance, you'll just refill your board with different cards.

Considering this deck is full of triggers, you shouldn't set up small attacks. They might trigger many effects, including On K.O. effects, that end up rebuilding the enemy board. That's why sacrificing cards with your leader is so important. Knocking out Dr. Hogback OP14-110 or Perona OP14-111 yourself to pump your entire board and protect it is a real strategy that great players often use. We aren't exaggerating when we say that several combats will be terrible for your opponent by definition because this deck will always give you something back when your characters leave play - it was built for that.

Pacing and Recycling Resources

The black part of this list is also critical. Dr. Hogback OP06-090 is still efficient nowadays because it recycles cards in your trash pile into your deck and puts another Thriller Bark piece in your hand. Like so, you won't risk exhausting all your resources at once. After all, this list discards lots of cards.

Perona OP06-093 is great against heavy hands and also lets you change the cost of enemy characters. It is both a tempo tool and a way to put pressure on the opponent. As for Perona OP14-111, it is one of the most annoying cards in this archetype, technically speaking. Its On Play and On K.O. effects prevent an enemy character that costs 6 or less from attacking until the end of the opponent's next end phase. As its trigger also lets you put in play another character from the trash pile, this card is just all around terrible for anyone facing you.

This is the most simple/passive part of this list. It doesn't need a single flashy turn to get ahead. All it needs is several Peronas preventing attacks, a small body coming back from the graveyard, something to sacrifice with your leader to make your board more powerful, and that's it. When your opponent finally realizes what you're doing, you'll be too far ahead of them. Instead of playing around numbers, this Moria list wins through exhaustion. It destroys opportunities, disrupts entire strategies, and, in several situations, even prevents opponents from dealing any damage at all.

The Top of the Curve

The most expensive cards in this list still align with the main game plan. Gecko Moria PRB02-013 brings back a character that costs 4 or less from the trash pile (like many other cards in this list) and also attaches a rested DON!! to your leader. Gecko Moria OP14-104 goes a bit beyond. Its On Play effect lets you choose between putting a Thriller Bark Pirates character that costs 4 or less into play from the graveyard or putting this card on the top of your life pile, face up. This is excellent because, like so, you'll be able to choose what's best for you in that moment - being aggressive or stabilizing. For instance, you can put a dangerous trigger in your life pile and activate it in the next combat. This card's trigger also makes sense in this list because it also brings back a character that costs 4 or less from your trash pile.

The other non-Thriller Bark yellow cards are also great. Roronoa Zoro OP15-113's On Play effect puts a card in your hand in your life pile. Boa Hancock OP14-112, in turn, puts the top card in your deck in your life pile and also buys you some time because it lets you get the top card in the opponent's life pile and put it in their hand, effectively making them more vulnerable to you. This list doesn't play finishers that have nothing to do with the main strategy. These cards might not be Thriller Bark Pirates, but they'll still work with the same game plan you've been following since the start: life pile, graveyard, board. That's how you'll win.

In the early game, your priority is filling your trash pile, activating triggers, and putting lots of options in your graveyard. The first times you attack with your leader will often seem "passive" because you'll mostly do this to set up your HP and graveyard instead of dealing damage. But, without the right trash pile, all your next plays become bad.

In the mid-game, you want cards like Perona OP14-111, Dr. Hogback OP14-110, Absalom OP14-100, and Kumacy OP14-102 to create a lot of value with each combat and create a natural advantage. You'll need to focus a lot to make the right decisions, particularly when you should sacrifice something with your leader's effect and when you should simply take an enemy attack to activate each effect on your board. Managing how much damage you can take is essential, and you'll have to invest a lot of hours into learning this skill.

In the late game, the big Morias, Roronoa Zoro OP15-113 and Boa Hancock OP14-112, will make your opponent's life very difficult. This deck can recycle resources from the graveyard, refill HP, and also attack with a board that does a lot when it dies. So, the opponent will always have to deal more damage than usual, deal with blockers or other bodies reappearing out of nowhere, and exhaust all their resources, particularly when they think they can come back into the game.

Gecko Moria OP14-080 was, for a long time, underestimated, particularly considering its OP14 yellow core, as it is quite strong and interacts really well with practically any yellow deck. Seeing it perform well with just a few new cards from OP15 and being respected for its own strengths, not the rest of the deck, is quite cool.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!