One Piece TCG: Extra Grand Battle - Krieg from OP15

In today's article, we'll explore Krieg OP15-001, a red/green leader from OP15 that is quite unusual for One Piece TCG. Instead of just gaining value by attaching DON!! to your characters, it forces the opponent to deal with you attaching DON!! to their side of the board. It's a pretty unusual way to control the game.

Today's list showed up at an Extra Grand Battle event in the United States. This is important because it means it can play older tools, like Nami OP03-030 and Jango OP03-028, which makes it a lot better.

Krieg OP15-001 is a red/green East Blue/Krieg Pirates Slash leader with 5000 power and 4 life. Its first effect works in the opponent's turn for DON!! x1. If the only characters on your side of the board are East Blue characters, all enemy characters get -2000 power. It's a simple yet actually pretty impactful ability.

This nerf turns small attacks into straight-up bad attacks, makes it easier for you to trade cards, and also fits defensive game plans really well. The only detail is that you need to build your board with only East Blue characters to use it, which is a real deckbuilding restriction. This is not just another good-stuff red/green list. To make this strategy work, everything in play needs to interact with the leader's first effect.

Its second effect has more to do with Krieg. Once per turn, in the main phase, you can use this effect to tap an enemy character that has 2 or more DON!! attached. So, this entire strategy centers around attaching DON!! to enemy characters so that you can target them with your leader and then punish them with attacks, nerfs, or anything that prevents them from untapping.

The list we'll explore today, which was built by a player called Mike Stocks, centers quite heavily around this game plan. They used an East Blue base so that the leader's defensive effect stays active at all times. It's also not fast, like other traditional strategies like this are. Instead, it will build a board that is pretty inconvenient for the opponent.

Here it is:

Initial Setup

Early on, you'll need your searchers. Jango OP15-026 lets you look at the top 3 cards in your deck and get an East Blue card from there, which fits the main game plan. Furthermore, later on you can sacrifice it to attach a rested enemy DON!! to an enemy character, so, instead of a dead consistency card, it will progress your main game plan. The Outcome Will Tell Us Who's Strong and Who's Weak OP15-037 is another searcher as well as a 1-cost event. It lets you look at the top five cards in your deck and get an East Blue card that isn't it.

Nami OP03-030 is one of the best things about playing the Extra Grand Battle format. It lets you look at the top 5 cards in your deck and get a green East Blue card that isn't it. As most of the important green pieces in this deck are East Blue cards, Nami is pretty helpful. She'll set up your following turns, particularly if you use her to get Arlong OP15-023, Kuro OP15-025, and Dracule Mihawk OP15-027.

Attaching DON!! to Enemy Cards

Meowban Brothers OP15-028 is small but critical. When it enters play, if you're playing an East Blue leader, it attaches 1 enemy DON!! to an enemy character. This will set up targets for your leader and also disrupt how your opponent wanted to spend their DON!! that turn.

Alvida OP15-003 and Morgan OP15-017 also attach DON!! to enemy characters. Morgan is a blocker as well, so it's particularly useful when you need to buy some time to set up your board. Alvida, in turn, can protect itself from being knocked out. All you need to do to keep it in play is discard a character that has 6000 power or less. These two cards are essential in the main engine and will keep it going even though it relies on something that usually only the opponent can use.

The Mid Game

Gin OP15-007 is one of the best ways to set up great turns in this deck. It costs 6, has 7000 power, and, when it comes in, if you're playing an East Blue leader, it lets you play from your hand a character that costs 5 or less. You can put in play Morgan OP15-017, Alvida OP15-003, Arlong OP15-023, or Pearl OP15-011 with this card, which is great.

Jango OP03-028 is an old card that is actually quite valuable in this strategy. It lets you reactivate your leader or an East Blue character that costs 6 or less, or tap Jango itself and another enemy character. Like so, you can use this card to attack with Gin, Arlong, or Morgan, and then set them up as active again. It's also another way to tap an enemy piece, which is great because the idea behind this list is controlling the board.

Dracule Mihawk OP15-027 has Counter +2000. When it enters play, it taps an enemy character that has a DON!! attached. As this deck naturally attaches enemy DON!! to enemy characters, Mihawk is a pretty honest tempo tool. It will open the way for your attacks or help you remove an important body through combat.

Expensive Cards

Kuro OP15-025 is one of the best green "payoff" cards. It is a blocker, has 7000 power, and, when it comes in, it attaches up to 2 enemy DON!! to an enemy character. Afterward, at the end of the turn, if there is a tapped character with 3 or more DON!! attached in play, that character can't untap in the opponent's next turn. This goes perfectly with the leader, as it can tap a target with 2 or more DON!! attached.

Krieg OP15-008 is the aggressive finisher. When it enters play, it attaches up to 3 rested enemy DON!! to an enemy character and gains Rush that turn. Afterward, if you played it that turn, you can nerf all enemy characters by -1000 power for each DON!! attached to that character. It's a perfect attacker, particularly if you have already played Arlong, Morgan, Alvida, or Meowban Brothers.

Electrical Luna OP08-036, a popular card among green players, completes this deck. It prevents tapped enemy characters that cost 7 or less from untapping the next turn. As Krieg naturally taps characters, Electrical Luna is a "Stasis" effect for any board with small/average bodies that you have already tapped or that the opponent tapped for one reason or another.

Early on, you want to fix your hand with Jango OP15-026, Nami OP03-030, and The Outcome Will Tell Us Who's Strong and Who's Weak OP15-037. Ideally, you want to find something that attaches enemy DON!! to enemy cards because your leader will only start putting pressure with its abilities when enemy characters have 2 or more DON!!.

In the mid-game, your engine will gain some traction. Arlong OP15-023, Morgan OP15-017, Alvida OP15-003, and Meowban Brothers OP15-028 will attach enemy DON!! to enemy cards, while Krieg OP15-001 will tap the right characters. At this moment, the most important thing is not using your leader's effect just because. This effect gets better the more careful you are with it, not how often you use it.

In the late game, Kuro OP15-025, Krieg OP15-008, It's an Order! Do Not Defy Me!!! OP15-038, and Electrical Luna OP08-036 will get you ahead in tempo and eventually win the game. The opponent will have characters that can't attack or untap, lose power on their turn, and that have DON!! attached in a way that benefits you. When all of this starts happening all the time, this deck will look less like an aggro list and more like a tempo midrange strategy. You'll win because you'll make the opponent's turns worse and worse.

Krieg OP15-001 is pretty interesting because it uses DON!! in a very unusual way. Instead of using this resource just to get ahead in tempo or get more power, it turns enemy DON!! into a bad thing. They'll lose time and get stuck, as well as become weaker. Like so, this deck is pretty unique for a green/red strategy.

Furthermore, the list we saw today is a good example of how the Extra Grand Battle format works and how it can benefit new leaders. The OP15 pieces are the core of the archetype, but the old cards that already rotated out of other formats make it a lot more consistent. Because of these cards, this archetype can work in this format in a way that it can't in other formats.

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Thank you for reading, and see you next time!