One Piece TCG: Deck Tech - The New Donquixote Rosinante

When new sets come out, most of us want to check out and play the new archetypes. However, when an older deck that never performed well becomes a viable option out of nowhere, we should always stop what we're doing and try to understand what it does in the meta and learn how to pilot it.

In today's article, we'll see how the weakest OP12 deck became such a great option in the current meta!

Donquixote Rosinante OP12-061 is a Special Navy/Donquixote Pirates purple/yellow leader with 5000 power and 4 life. This leader centers around two very straightforward abilities. You can use the first one once per turn in both turns: it states that, if one of your "Trafalgar Law" characters is knocked out, you may get the top card in your life pile and put it in your hand instead. Like so, you'll protect one of your units in exchange for a life point. In practice, this will force the opponent to pay a weird price to remove your cards. They'll try to remove a Law from the board, and you'll convert this into resources. Your hand will get bigger, while your life pile will get smaller. Considering this is a yellow leader, we can play many interesting tools to refill anything we lose.

His second ability allows you to dominate the game in terms of pacing. Once during your turn, you may return a DON!! in play to your DON!! deck and discount the cost of the next "Trafalgar Law" you play from your hand that costs 4 or more by 2. This is a shortcut for this deck, but for a specific character. You'll put big Laws in play earlier than usual with it, and still have DON for other strategies. Donquixote Rosinante OP12-061 is about that: putting relevant Trafalgar Laws in play, forcing the opponent to answer, and protecting your board as you control your life points.

Today's list was created by krullzorz, who finished first at the ChinoizeCup without ever losing a game on OPTCGsim. Sixty-four players competed at this event.

This Pink/Yellow Rosinante list is pretty straightforward, as it centers around making the leader's text as relevant as possible throughout the match. It is essentially a Trafalgar Law tribal that plays a second support kit for two things: find the Laws and keep them in play.

The list we'll discuss today is the following:

The Initial Setup

Early on, this deck does not center around playing the perfect curve more than it centers around making sure you get a proper hand before the mid game. This list plays twelve 1-cost options that, each in their own way, filter through the top cards in your deck and increase your odds of finding what you need. That means either the Laws that make the leader's text make sense and other bodies that allow you to keep up the pace until this deck starts working properly. Trafalgar Law OP09-069 is the most obvious example in that sense because it gets you your main follow-up cards from your deck. Donquixote Rosinante OP12-108 does something similar, considering that, most of the time, these two searches will give you more Trafalgar Laws.

Sugar OP10-065 is not a searcher with an On Play effect that you'll only use once. Instead, you can use its effect several times as long as you pay a DON!! and tap it. Then, you can look at the top five cards in your deck and get a Donquixote Pirates from among them. It becomes vulnerable right after you do that, as it becomes the perfect target for enemy attacks, but you can still easily reuse it many times if your opponent ignores it.

In the end, like any deck that leans heavily into a specific trait, this base has space for utility slots and will remain consistent even if you use different cards in them. You'll be able to access the Law kit early on and play the support cards that make this deck work like it should.

Ramp and Acceleration

This Donquixote Rosinante OP12-061 list feels like it is always one turn ahead, which isn't unusual for purple lists, but it does not do that because it plays ramp, like other purple decks. Instead, it gets ahead bit by bit, manipulating DON!! to gain a few extra resources.

Besides the leader's ability itself, this list plays cards like Trafalgar Law OP12-073. It is both a body on the board and returns a DON to you, so you won't be that behind even after you spend a lot of resources to put it in play. It also buffs your characters by +1000 until the end of the opponent's turn. Unfortunately, it doesn't buff your leader.

Rosinante & Law EB04-038 does something similar. It draws a card instead of buffing and then ramps one active DON!!. It is also a blocker. Overall, their effects are quite similar, and you'll mostly use these cards during the mid-game.

There is only one copy of Shachi & Penguin ST10-008 in this deck. It works as a +2000 Counter and helps you when you need to set up DON!! for a specific turn, particularly if you need to set up the board to play a big Law.

In the end, you won't rush to accelerate resources with this deck, but rather get ahead bit by bit at the right times. This means this deck will get to its critical pieces earlier than usual, but, at the same time, you'll still defend yourself and stay one step ahead of the game. If you play Donquixote Rosinante OP12-061 in the right curve, you'll spend less than what you should to put relevant threats in play. You'll also have ways to recover active DON!! so that you can follow up whenever possible.

Trafalgar Law

Finally, let's go over these Law cards! This might seem a bit overboard, but, considering this deck leans heavily into them, so much that it was named after them, we simply must do it. Any Trafalgar Law you put in play will be an attacker and interact with the leader's text box. You'll always have targets in hand to discount and, most importantly, your opponent will have to answer them more than once. So, each Law plays a specific role in their curve and in this game plan.

We've already discussed Trafalgar Law OP09-069, a 1-cost character that gets you more Laws. This list plays less copies of Trafalgar Law OP05-069 because it only costs 3 resources, and we can't discount this cost with the leader. However, this Law is a middle-ground, as it has a great body for attacks, and enters play early. When it attacks, it also lets you filter through the top cards in your deck so that you can find {Heart Pirates} when you're behind in DON. Like so, you won't run out of resources even if you can't play your 1-cost searchers, as they don't do much in the mid to late game besides working as Counters.

This is the first 4-cost Law in this list, and the first card we can discount with the leader's effect. It is also a 4-cost blocker that forces the opponent to discard their cards if they have seven or more of them in hand. It is great against decks that hoard resources, and, when you discount its cost with the leader, you can play it close to the end of the game to destroy enemy defenses. In the following turn, it also works as protection, if the game isn't finished by then.

As for Trafalgar Law P-093, it is, at the time, the only problem this deck struggles with because it is hard to find in the West. For now, there is only one AA version of it available, and it comes in single copies as a bonus in a sealed product. It is a 4-cost blocker with 6000 power that helps you keep up the pace with this deck. Its On Play ability ramps one tapped DON!! if you have the same or less DON!! than your opponent.

It is pretty important in this list because it makes up for all the speed you lose when you use the leader's ability, and this deck struggles a bit without it. Trafalgar Law P-088 also sees play in this list, but it usually works as a Counter in your hand or as another body for the board when you get it from your life pile.

The most expensive card in this kit is often Trafalgar Law OP12-073, which makes this deck quite valuable. Besides ramping a bit, it also buffs your Donquixote Rosinante characters and your {Heart Pirates} characters globally. Rosinante & Law EB04-038 also counts as a "Trafalgar Law", so it's also a great card to play for less resources.

In the early game, you need to set up your hand, so you should focus on filtering through your deck and getting the cards you need - namely Laws and other utility cards. Don't spend Counters at a whim. The leader's ability, the one that turns knockouts into life cards, is still relevant, but you'll typically use it more in the mid game instead of using it whenever possible with all Law characters.

In the mid game, 4-cost Law characters will come into play to stabilize the board, and this is when you'll start discounting their costs. At this point, the opponent will also try to trade resources by playing removals or attacking your characters. You'll essentially force them to lose these trades as you keep your Laws in play and get through the match with blockers and events. You can also use I Love You!! OP12-115 at this point, as it works as a +2000 counter, and, if you have 2 life points or less, you can also get a Trafalgar Law from your trash pile and put it in your hand.

In the late game, try to build a board that can attack and defend at the same time, with at least one big Law in play. This is the hardest part of the game for this deck: you'll have to manage your life points and learn when you should draw from your life pile and when you should keep playing. Avoid putting yourself in vulnerable situations, that is, without any blockers in play. When this deck works, you'll win bit by bit, forcing the opponent to spend more turns and more cards in their hand to go through your defenses, which you'll rebuild constantly.

This deck will get even better once EB03 comes out, as it will bring us a new Law, and this makes me really happy. It's always nice to see a meme deck becoming a real thing, particularly when this happens because a good player optimized a rogue list.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!