One Piece TCG Review: OP16 Leaders - The Time of Battle

In today's article, we'll quickly go over the latest One Piece TCG set, OP16 - The Time of Battle. This entire set centers around the Impel Down arc and the Summit War of Marineford. Only one leader doesn't fit these two themes and represents the Wano arc instead.

We'll go through these leaders by their set numbers, so they aren't ranked from worst to best or similar. The idea is to understand what each of them does, the best strategies for them, and which of them have already performed well in Japan.

Portgas.D.Ace OP16-001 is a Special, red Whitebeard Pirates leader with 5000 power and 5 life. These stats are nothing unusual for a monocolored leader, but what really makes it stand out is that it is a Whitebeard Pirate, as well as its effect, which earned it a spot in the current format and the OPTCG Extra format too.

Ace's effect is pretty straightforward: once per turn, during your main phase, you can use it to give Rush to up to 1 character called Monkey.D.Luffy or up to 1 Whitebeard Pirates character with 8000 power or more. Ace rewards you for playing big characters and allows you to develop your game plan as soon as you put heavy threats in play. You can use these characters to control the board or put pressure, and it really changes the way your opponent has to play later on.

Like so, this strategy will lean quite heavily into the standard One Piece TCG red aggro game plan, but it centers around big characters instead of small ones.

It can also naturally play Luffy cards, as it can give them Rush even if they don't have 8000 power. This could inspire some unique, creative, diverse deckbuilding. So, although Ace seems quite straightforward to understand, it actually needs valuable characters to work. If you can't find great characters in the format to buff with its effect, it'll be weaker, and the contrary also applies.

Monkey.D.Luffy OP16-022 is a Strike, green/blue Impel Down/Straw Hat Crew leader with 5000 power and 4 life. Its text is pretty simple. Once per turn, during your main phase, if all your characters in play are Impel Down characters, you can use this effect to set up to 2 of your DON!! as active. Because it explicitly states "Impel Down characters", you'll have to build this list a certain way. Green lists are usually "good stuff" strategies, often playing only the best this color can offer and sometimes even undervaluing other archetypes. However, this Luffy needs a very specific core, which could make it a lot less flexible.

A deck with this leader will center around reusing resources. You'll tap your DON!! naturally throughout the match to develop the board or activate effects and then get part of this investment back to keep playing your turn or grow your characters. This type of ability tends to be quite strong because it gives you 2 extra DON!! every turn. Essentially, it will be as if your deck had 12 DON!!.

In any case, the Impel Down kit that came in this set features green and blue cards, this leader's colors, and it's quite consistent. It includes cool characters, great activated effects, and ways to really take advantage of the 2 DON!! you'll reactivate every turn, so it's a pretty functional leader. It's not difficult to understand, but it is a bit harder to play. You'll need some time to master it.

OP16 gave us a new Buggy OP16-041. It is a Slash, blue Impel Down/Buggy Pirates leader with 5000 power and 5 life. Just like the green and blue Luffy above, it centers around Impel Down cards. However, it is more reactive. Whenever your characters are removed, it gives you an opportunity to develop the board and essentially get something out of every bad situation.

To use its effect, you need to attach 1 DON!! to your leader, and you can only use it once per turn when one of your Impel Down characters is removed. If so, you may play from your hand up to 1 Prisoner of Impel Down OP16-042. This type of text will force your opponent to interact with your board differently. Removing your characters won't be that great of an idea, as it could give you a window to put another body in play.

Prisoner of Impel Down OP16-042 is not valuable because of its effect but because you can play as many copies of it as you want in your deck. It is a 6-cost character with 6000 power and Counter +2000, so it's big enough to look threatening on your board and can also defend you. As such, lists with this leader will play many copies of this card so that you can refill the board immediately whenever the opponent removes one of your Impel Down characters. It's a pretty straightforward strategy, but potentially annoying.

Sengoku OP16-060 is a Wisdom, purple Navy leader with 5000 power and 4 life. Its effect shocked everyone when it was first revealed: During your main phase, you may return 8 active DON!! to your deck and then play up to 3 Admiral characters from your hand as long as they have different names.

At first, this might seem too expensive, but it makes more sense when you look at the Admirals in this set. Kuzan OP16-063, Sakazuki OP16-065, and Borsalino OP16-073 all cost 7 and have 8000 power, and their effects interact directly with DON!!. Like so, Sengoku won't only put big characters in play but also build a board that will be quite difficult to interact with and that fits the main strategy really well.

Kuzan OP16-063 gives you up to 2 rested DON!! when it comes into play and can also prevent an enemy character from activating Blocker during that turn. Sakazuki OP16-065 nerfs an enemy character pretty heavily when it comes in, can reactivate a DON!! if you're playing a Navy leader, and also gives you up to 2 active DON!! from your deck. As for Borsalino OP16-073, it also gives you DON!! when it comes in, but also can become active at the end of the turn and gain Blocker until the opponent's next end phase. This ability is what this list centers around, and you can reuse it several times as you play.

So, Sengoku might seem pretty limited, but it's actually very cohesive. It is far from being the big bad evil guy that it seemed when it was first announced, as you need to have the right pieces in your hand to make it work and might depend too much on a strategy that the opponent can punish if they're too far ahead. Still, it's a pretty cool leader that reflects the overall theme of the set pretty well.

Yamato OP16-079 is a Strike, black Land of Wano leader with 5000 power and 5 life. Its effect is pretty straightforward and really fits black as a color: Whenever a Land of Wano character comes into play from the trash, it gains Rush during that turn.

This Yamato makes any "revive" effect a lot more useful. Instead of just getting a body back and waiting for the next turn so that you can attack, the trash pile will be an extension of your board, and a pretty aggressive one at that. Each character you bring back from the trash is a lot better because of Yamato's effect. Like so, throughout the game you'll discard your cards and set up your graveyard so that you can bring back the right pieces at the right time.

The initial problem this Yamato faced is that it relies completely on having valuable Land of Wano characters to play so that you can bring them back from the trash. However, throughout the spoiler season, we saw that OP16 actually brought us good characters that do something when they enter play and efficient ways to keep putting cards in the trash and bringing them back. As such, this deck is pretty efficient and can create long loops involving the trash.

Finally, Marshall.D.Teach OP16-080 is a Special, yellow and black The Seven Warlords of the Sea and Blackbeard Pirates leader with 5000 power and 4 life. Its first effect works in the opponent's turn and gives all your characters +1 cost, which is pretty relevant considering cost-based removals are the norm in One Piece TCG.

Its second effect, however, is more important. Once per turn, when the opponent attacks, you may discard a card with trigger from your hand to redirect that enemy attack to your leader or one of your Blackbeard Pirates characters. It's similar to Donquixote Doflamingo OP14-060, but it centers around a specific character type. So, Teach redirects enemy attacks and allows you to protect an important piece or force the opponent to attack a convenient target. After all, most of your yellow characters will have On K.O effects.

Marshall.D.Teach OP16-080 is probably the most powerful leader in this set, but lists with him will need some pretty specific cards. That means cards with triggers that are not terrible when you draw them, as well as good Blackbeard Pirates characters, particularly for when you redirect enemy attacks. The entire black kit from OP09 should be decent. This is a pretty reactive deck that will disrupt the opponent's game plan on their turn and turn your hand into a toolbox full of defensive cards.

OP16 is a pretty funny set. I wanted to build lists for all of these leaders as soon as I saw them because this is a pretty cool set theme-wise and will really change the meta, both in Standard and the Extra format.

Nonetheless, OP17, the next set, will put the West in the same schedule as Japan and feature the current arc airing in the anime, the Elbaph arc.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!