One Piece TCG: Precon Decks Review and Ranking

Today, we'll discuss a new card game which is becoming very popular: the One Piece card game. The game was released a little less than a year ago, and has already won the hearts of players around the world, as a card game based on one of the most popular anime of all time. The new TCG united people from other card games who aren't One Piece fans, One Piece fans who already played other TCGs and collectors alike.

The special factor about this TCG is that it is a mixture of Pokémon, Digimon and Flesh and Blood. Just like Flesh and Blood, you have a hero, which here we call Leader, just like in Pokémon and Digimon. Your "health points" are made of cards which, unlike these two latter card games, go into your hand when lost, giving you resources to try and come back into the game.

Currently, we have 9 precon decks available, with 1 Red, 1 Blue, 1 Green, 2 Purple, 2 Black e 2 Yellow.

The 9 precon decks were released to stores somewhat close together and have a similar level. All of them have "vanilla" cards which have a standard power for their cost, besides having at least one blocker card and one card with a +2000 counter. All lists have a foil version of the leader and two other cards (each with two copies).

Before moving on to the important part, I'll initially discuss how I ranked these decks. I used 3 criteria:

Useful cards: Cards which are important for a color pool.

Upgrade possibility: If the deck offers or not the possibility of using it as a base to build a deck present in the meta.

Strength: How strong is the deck when compared to other starter decks.

Considering these three criteria, I ranked the lists from first place (best) to ninth (worst), and many of them got their placement due to a very slight difference regarding other lists close to it in the ranking.

9 - One Piece Film Edition

Archetype: Aggro/Midrange

Decklist

The Shanks deck is one of the most popular among players. That isn't due to its power, but rather because of Uta, as she can perform as a very powerful 2-for-1 by blocking a creature and turning into another.

The list interacts well with DON!s, and there are two cards which add DON!s - one of them only if you have less DON!s than your opponent.

Unlike the Straw Hat deck, Shanks' list doesn't have cards with Rush to attack on the turn they come in, but, it has in its leader a Lord effect for all other creatures with the Film type (all cards in the deck), besides having stronger cards for endgame, such as Douglas Bullet ST05-011.

This deck has a way worse early game than Luffy's deck to try and have a good late game, something it doesn't manage to do in the end. There are just a few situations it stands out when facing another precon. The biggest problem with the list is that Shanks' ability is based on the concept of "high-risk, high-reward". If you use it and don't win, it is very likely this will hand over the game to your opponent, as your creatures will become unprotected, and they'll be able to overwhelm your board.

But, even with all these points, if you want to keep this deck as a Film deck, there are just a few cards in the game made for that currently - considering this deck came out alongside the Film set, the great majority of cards are purple (only 4 of them are in the precon list, and one of them is a Leader). This deck, outside the environment of precons, ends up only being useful to get copies of Union Armada ST05-017 and Uta ST05-004.

Good Cards in the List

8 - Straw Hat Crew

Archetype: Aggro

Decklist

This deck performs really well as an Aggro deck, with a very good mechanic in its Leader and some cards which can use tapped DON!s for creatures. Which means, besides playing the creatures, it is possible to recycle the dons to attack.

The deck has many good cards for early game, but it is very hard for it to remain strong in the middle and end of the game. The highest base power of the cards is 6000, and the highest cost in the deck is 5, which shows well what the weakness in this deck is. It can still grab a few wins against other decks in this list, but it isn't something frequent.

Even if red decks are dominating the meta in the constructed and competitive scenes, this one, playing against other precons, isn't enough.

It is possible to get a Zoro list from it, the main Mono Red deck in the meta after the bans focused on Whitebeard. Guard Point ST01-014 is a very strong Event, and is present in basically any red deck.

Good Cards in the List

7 - Monkey.D.Luffy

Archetype: Midrange

Decklist

As a very strong deck, this one can create value as it deals with the opponent's board. The leader is similar to its red version, only this Luffy gets one of its tapped DON!s any time a creature dies on your turn, be them your creature or the opponent's, and that interacts really well with Mr.2.Bon.Kurei(Bentham) ST08-013, which can destroy a creature at the cost of destroying itself, triggering the Leader twice.

We also have Shanks ST08-005, which can end up clearing your opponent's board if well-played with some Utas and a Higuma.

This list complements the Absolute Justice list we'll discuss later on really well.

Good Cards in the List

6 - Animal Kingdom Pirates

Archetype: Ramp / Control

Decklist

This deck is so low-ranked here not because it is bad, but because it behaves in two different ways. If you find Onigashima Island ST04-017 on turn 2 or 3, the deck can really pick up the pace well enough to overwhelm most decks. But when it doesn't, it has tremendous difficulty even just staying alive.

The only tool we have to guarantee an extra DON! every turn is Onigashima Island, but other than that, the deck has Jack ST04-008, which makes it possible for you to discard a card to add an active DON! .

There are other two cards besides the Island which add DON!s, but they come in tapped. These effects both help the deck set up threats and help it keep a balance with the cards which return DON!s back into their decks.

Even when getting the Onigashima on the correct turn, the deck is still quite fragile to opponents which are more Aggro-focused, and, as the starter lists don't have many removals, this precon ends up having trouble keeping itself healthy.

Good Cards in the List

5 - Yamato

Archetype: Tempo / Midrange

Decklist

Yamato is only higher in this list due to its Leader ability. Like every yellow deck, this one flirts with health loss, however, unlike Big Mom, we only have one card that adds cards to our Life pile, and it does so with its trigger, without removing it first. Many of them only remove Life cards to have additional effects, creating value - and this strategy isn't bad, particularly when you have 2 or less Life cards, because when that happens your commander becomes Whitebeard, with a 6000 base power on your opponent's turn, which makes it really hard for your opponent to keep removing Life cards from you.

Another very striking trait in this deck is its great triggers, which have small effects and even add cards to the hand.

However, your power will only increase by 1000, and that isn't a guarantee that you won't receive attacks. If your opponent manages to build a very wide board, they can even eliminate you without you getting to this extra 1000 power.

Good Cards in the List

4 - Absolute Justice

Archetype: Tempo / Control

Decklist

It is a deck for those who want to be on the World Government side. The goal is to bring justice to all your opponents, and, for that, the deck has some tools which enable the removal of opponent creatures when they are on board.

Your leader is Sakazuki ST06-001, which has the ability of destroying a 0-cost opponent creature at the cost of you paying 3 and discarding a card. So, you need to keep the balance of cards in hand and establish your continuous cost reduction tools, such as Sengoku, Tashigi and Navy HQ, which can reduce the cost of your opponent's characters every turn.

The list also has high-impact events with important triggers. This deck stops on curve 5, which allows it to be able to play its characters on your turn, and still have DON!s to use the Leader ability and events on your opponent's turn.

Good Cards in the List

3 - Big Mom Pirates

Archetype: Midrange

Decklist

This leader is an introduction to the yellow color with many trigger effects, as the basis of Katakuri's deck. Which means, considering we're putting these precons against each other, you'll already have the basis for a very strong meta deck, and, unlike Yamato's precon, it wants to keep itself with around 3 Life cards to guarantee you can rearrange your own Life pile and have good effects instead of cards which don't have trigger effects.

Cards such as Charlotte Katakuri ST07-003 and Charlotte Snack ST07-004 can establish the mid-game really well, all that as Charlotte Linlin ST07-010 forces your opponent to make the wrong decisions.

Good Cards in the List

2 - The Seven Warlords Of The Sea

Archetype: Control / Tempo

Decklist

This deck is really great, with tools to deal with opponent's threats. It is the most reactive list, with the highest number of blockers among the starter decks.

This deck's mid/late game is excellent, and its game plan will be to put yourself forward as you delay your opponent. We have cards such as Marshall.D.Teach ST03-014, which is a body which returns an opponent's body, and Sentomaru ST03-007, which can place 6000-power creatures directly on board bit by bit.

The most complicated point for this deck is that it depends on its pilot understanding exactly how the opponent will play to deal with their threats, and it even has an emergency button with Crocodile ST03-003's ability, which delays by two turns in terms of available DON!s an opponent's development by returning one of their creatures to their deck. This is a very versatile ability, which can be used to hold off a possible attack or remove some obstacles on your way to victory, but, just like the main villain Leader of this deck, you need to know the right moment to use it, so you don't get too far behind and end up losing the game.

Good Cards in the List

1 - Worst Generation

Archetype: Midrange

Decklist

This deck has the best commander, and the fact it can perform 2 attacks per turn makes us have a certain ease when removing the last few Life cards from our opponents.

Just like the Big Mom starter, we have cards here which are very important for a meta deck which uses Kid as its Leader. We can build a green Film version from it, or even a version more focused on Supernovas.

The list is quite flexible, and, as every Midrange, we have tools to create value with Jewelry Bonney ST02-007 and to be able to do 2-per-1 plays with Killer ST02-005. Urouge is a card which, if your opponent can't remove your creatures, becomes a 2-cost which with one DON! becomes a 6000-power card. Trafalgar Law ST02-009 has potential both when defending a creature you need to attack and when you need to guarantee just one more attack.

The endgame tools to close your matches which complement the leader itself are Basil Hawkins ST02-010, which can attack your opponent's tapped characters and then attack one more time, and Eustass"Captain"Kid ST02-001 itself, in its 7-cost version, which is capable of attacking then blocking, preventing it from being the target of attacks unless you want to.

Even if this list is at the top of the precon decks, this doesn't mean it always wins. Just like any other list, it has its inconsistencies, and it ends up having trouble when dealing with a board full of blockers, being able to be overwhelmed by decks which can deal with its creatures.

Good Cards in the List

All precons have strong and weak points. Some of them end up suffering more than others, but all have cards which are used today in important meta decks or cards which are important for that color's pool of cards.

I believe that, if you want to build a certain color's pool, or some combination, it's worth it to get at least one starter deck of that color.

As there are more sets and starter decks to come, the meta can change drastically, and cards which saw no play in any of the colors can start to see some.

See you later!