One Piece TCG - Deck Tech: Rocks D. Xebec (OP17)

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In this article, we'll explore the most fun One Piece characters from recent years: Rocks D. Xebec and his crew.

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Revised byJoey | Let

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Introduction

In today’s article, we’ll keep exploring OP17 - The World’s Strongest Warriors, this time with a leader from the most recent saga in the anime and the manga.

Rocks.D.Xebec OP17-039 is a past character who brings together names well-known in the One Piece lore. In One Piece TCG, this leader is perfect for a blue build that draws a lot of cards, controls enemy attacks, and uses your own hand to keep your characters alive. Let’s see how to pilot it.

Rocks.D.Xebec from OP17, The Leader

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Rocks.D.Xebec OP17-039 is a blue Rocks Pirates leader with 5000 power and 5 life. When attacking, you can discard a card from your hand to reveal the top card in your deck. If the card you reveal is a Rocks Pirates card, you'll draw 2 cards, including the one you just revealed.

You do not need to attach a DON!! to your leader or do anything else to use this ability, and it will leave you with one extra card in hand when it works. It is not difficult to get 10 or more cards in hand as you activate it and your other characters in this build. It plays 49 Rocks Pirates and just 1 single non-Rock Pirates card, including Buckin, who is a Former Rocks Pirate. The only exception is a single copy of an EB02 event that we’ll go over later.

The Deck

A player called Udon used this list to win a Flagship event held at Tsutaya in Japan on September 13, 2026, beating 22 other players in the process. It plays 41 characters and 9 events and focuses almost entirely on the new blue cards from OP17.

As we recently saw in One Piece, the Rocks crew is made up of extremely selfish people with no sense of camaraderie. This is reflected in their designs in One Piece TCG: none of them have Counter. Instead, they either nerf enemy characters or give you a small defensive advantage. With this deck, you’ll draw cards, make enemy attacks more difficult, and keep the characters that keep your defense intact in play. Meanwhile, your larger attackers will give you a chance to finish the game.

Here it is:

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Setting Up Your Hand

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Let’s start with Buckin OP08-051. Firstly, this list plays 4 copies of it because it has Counter +1000, and it is a Former Rocks Pirate, so it enables your leader. Its effect interacts with characters named Edward Weevil, which this list doesn't play, so you'll mostly use it to defend yourself or discard with other cards later on. It makes sense, considering this deck doesn't play many defensive options.

Streusen OP17-050 costs 1, and when you play it, it lets you look at the top 2 cards in your deck and put both back on top or both on the bottom before drawing a card. It will help you rearrange your hand and, in theory, set up the next Rocks you reveal, though that will not be that relevant most of the time.

The First Line of Defense

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Captain John OP17-044 costs 4 and has 6000 power. If you're playing a Rocks Pirates leader, while John is rested, the opponent can only attack characters named Captain John. Its ability lets you rest it to draw a card and discard another. So you can already tap it and use its first effect on the turn you play it. It will also fill your hand at the same time.

The rest of the crew will be protected from enemy attacks this way, but you'll still need to watch out for other types of removal. Kyo OP17-045 costs 2, draws a card when you play it, and lets you discard two cards to prevent one of your characters from leaving the field through an enemy effect, including itself.

For combat, this list plays a single copy of And That's When Somebody Makes Fun of Their Friend's Dream!!!! EB02-030. For two DON!!, this Counter lets you discard a card whenever one of your characters would be K.O.’d in battle and keep them in play instead.

If you play this event while John is tapped, you'll essentially disable entire enemy attacks. Meanwhile, Kyo stops other types of removals. You'll need enough cards to set this up, though, as none of these protections are free.

Controlling Enemy Characters

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Miss Buckingham Stussy OP17-054 costs 3, and when you play it, it prevents an enemy character with a base cost of 6 or less from attacking until the end of the opponent’s next turn. You can also rest Stussy and three DON!! to apply this restriction to any enemy character, regardless of its cost.

This will hold back threats your removals can't, particularly when you want to save the resources in your hand to protect John or if you don't have a lot of life points. You can use its activated ability on the same turn Stussy enters play and lock down two different characters if you have enough resources as well.

Wang Zhi OP17-041 is a 4-cost Blocker with 6000 power. When you play it, you can discard a card to put all enemy characters with a base cost of 1 at the bottom of their owner’s deck. Like so, you can remove searchers and other small support pieces relatively easily.

Gloriosa OP17-046 also costs 4 and has Blocker, but she only has 1000 power, so you need to be more careful when blocking. When you play her, she lets you put a character that costs 5 or less at the bottom of its owner’s deck. This will remove large targets without triggering any K.O. effects.

Old-School Monsters

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This list plays a younger version of Big Mom. Charlotte Linlin OP17-049 costs 5 and has 7000 power. When you play her, the opponent has to choose between letting you draw two cards or discarding two cards from their own hand. You should not count on drawing cards this way because your opponent will often choose whichever option hurts their game plan less.

Even if they have less than 2 cards in hand, they can choose to discard what they do have. So you really shouldn't consider this card a "card draw" option, not even when the opponent has already run out of resources.

Once per turn, when the opponent attacks, Linlin lets you discard a card to give your leader or one of your Characters +1000 power for that battle. Like so, you can still use cards without a Counter to defend John or save a few life points.

Edward.Newgate OP17-040 is your best way to deal with direct attacks. He costs 6, has 8000 power, and draws a card when you play him. Once per turn, when your leader attacks or is attacked, this card lets you discard a card to give it +3000 power for that battle. Whitebeard is great in the defense and offense.

Shiki OP17-048 costs 7 and has 9000 power and Rush: Character. This means it can attack tapped enemy characters immediately. It cannot enter play and then attack the enemy leader right away, though.

Once per turn, when attacking or when the opponent attacks, Shiki lets you discard a Rocks Pirates card to give an enemy character -3000 power for that turn. On your turn, this will battle easier, while on the opponent’s turn, it will nerf an attacker before it hits John.

Rocks D. Xebec

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Rocks.D.Xebec OP17-118 costs 10 and has 12000 power. When you play it, it draws a card and lets you play up to two Rocks Pirates cards with different names from your hand with a total cost of 9 or less.

You can use it to play Linlin and Gloriosa, combining a 7000-power attacker with removal and a Blocker, or Newgate and Stussy to draw another card and stop an attack. Shiki and Kyo also fit that number. This combination will allow you to set up an attack against the enemy board and protect your pieces against effects straight away.

In hand, Rocks gains Counter +2000 if there is at least one allied character in play and if neither of your characters has Counter. You'll break this when you play Buckins, which is another reason to keep her in your hand. If your board is empty, this card doesn't work either.

Rocks Events

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Both of these events offer Counter +2000 to your leader or Rock Pirates characters and don't force you to spend DON!! on defense. On your turn, There's No Authority in the World That Lasts Forever!!! OP17-055 lets you rest a DON!! to give a Rocks Unblockable, including your leader. Rocks Pirates OP17-056 lets you rest five DON!! to return a character that costs 6 or less to its owner’s hand.

How to Play

Early on, you should look for cheap characters and start drawing with your leader. Kyo sets up your first line of defense, while Stussy can delay an attacker. When you mulligan, try to look for these pieces as well as John, and avoid the most expensive cards in your list.

In the midgame, you must find a balance between attacking and saving the resources you need to keep John alive. You need to save two DON!! if you want to use the EB02 event, as well as save a few cards to discard later on.

You can also attack with Rocks before deciding all the cards you'll discard next, considering you'll still draw more as you play, and this could change our options. An extra copy of an expensive character is great discard fodder, while a defensive event could be relevant later on.

In the late game, you'll develop several characters, but you should look at the board carefully before playing all of them at once. Once they survive the opponent’s turn, you can put pressure with them and use Unblockable to get past Blockers. This is one of the main ways to end the game with this list.

If you use 10 DON!! for the Secret Rare Rocks, you won't be able to play the EB02 event in the opponent’s turn. Before doing that, you need to make sure that your Blockers, attack restrictions, and free Counters will be enough for you to survive the following turn.

Final Thoughts

I was extremely happy to see Rocks in this set. Oda has tried to make many unremarkable characters popular, but Rocks was one of the first great choices in many years.

I don’t need to explain why this is the deck I chose for myself from this set, especially since it has a great matchup against almost every deck in the format. The top deck in the meta, Dracule Mihawk OP14-020, is its worst matchup, unfortunately. But it is still a great choice!

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!

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