One Piece TCG: April 26th Brazilian Regional in Review!

Hello, everyone!

On April 26th, in São Paulo, Brazil, we had an One Piece TCG Regional Championship!

This event gathered 512 players in search of glory and, of course, treasures! Today, we're going to review how it all went down and check out some deckslists. Let's go!

Event Structure

The event was organized by CityClass Games and happened at the Novotel Center Norte, in São Paulo, Brazil. Similar to the Treasure Cup held in February, we had side events, store booth's with both sealed products and singles for sale, content creators and cosplayers, and a new feature which was the Prize Wall: by participating and winning in the side events, you acquired tixs, which could be exchanged at the Prize Wall for exclusive products, playmats, etc.

The main event, the Regional Championship, had 512 participants - once again, not only from Brazil, but from all over South America, which made the event even more awesome and turned it into a true celebration of the One Piece TCG for Latin America.

The Regional tournament consisted of nine rounds in the Swiss format, with no top cut. At the end of the nine rounds, Captain Andree Aaron Orbea of ​​Ecuador, with his Marshall.D.Teach (OP09-081) deck, was crowned the undefeated Regional champion!

Metagame

The brazilian Regional's metagame is a good show of the overall evolution since the release of OP-10 and the bans that were announced on March 17th.

While during the Treasure Cup in February we saw a more polarized metagame, with over 50% of the decks concentrated in just three leaders, now at Regionals we have a slightly more open meta, with the top 3 leaders corresponding to approximately 43% of the metagame.

Shanks OP09 - 20% of the meta - Best result: Top4

Shanks was the most represented leader this time, with 20.3% of the meta - roughly 1 every 5 player used the monored leader. It's not surprising, since Shanks was the second most popular deck in February's Treasure Cup, and went unscathed through March's banlist.

In addition to being popular, Shanks also proved to be a strong choice for the tournament. Although it didn't finish with an undefeated representative, it was the most present leader in the Top64.

Next, we highlight the list used by captain Leonardo Ramalho, from Brazil, which reached Top4 in the event:

The deck combines an initial defensive strategy, taking advantage of the leader's ability and thus using fewer cards from hand to protect itself, and from the 8-Don!! turn onwards, it throws haymaker after haymaker on the board, in order to overwhelm the opponent with gigantic attackers.

Monkey.D.Luffy OP05 - 9,9% of the Meta - Best result: 2nd

Purple Luffy - or Pluffy, if you're an OPTCG fan - was the third most popular deck, with nearly 10% of the meta. Interestingly, in February's Treasure Cup, Pluffy was also the third most popular deck. Once again, a deck that wasn't hit by the banlist. The list highlighted next was used by Chile's captain Marcelo Ramirez, who came in second at the event - he was on an undefeated streak until the very last round!

Again, we have a decklist that combines great defensive tools, such as Gum-Gum Giant OP09-078, with the Don!! ramp with the leader ability and other cards, thus allowing power plays one or two turns in advance, overcoming the opponent's defenses.

Marshall.D.Teach OP-09 - 13,2% of the Meta - Best result: 1st

It's time we meet the champion, and also the second most popular leader of the event. Teach, with 13% of the meta, was the only undefeated deck after nine rounds, skillfully played by captain Andree Aaron Orbea, from Ecuador.

Once again, we have a deck that was not directly affected by the banlist, and perhaps that's why it has risen so much in popularity - a good chunk of competitive players who enjoy playing Black may have switched to Teach, since within the color it has not suffered from the bans.

The winning list focuses on progressive advantages and taking out the main threats from the opponents, especially using the leader ability to cancel on-plays. This keeps the board under control until the deck's strongest characters take control of the game.

Other Leaders

As mentioned, the Top 3 Metagame comprised approximately 43% of the tournament, indicating a greater variety in the Regional's leaders.

Doflamingo, who was directly affected by the banlist, still proved to be the strongest choice among the blue leaders.

Among the green leaders, Bonney and Lim were nearly tied in popularity, with Bonney having one more representative overall.

The yellow leaders were not as popular at the event, with Eustass “Captain” Kid from OP10 being the most represented, with 14 players. The fearsome Enel, who was one of the most popular leaders in February’s Treasure Cup, only had 4 representatives at Regionals.

Finally, among the multi-colored leaders, Usopp, Belo Betty, Reiju, and Smoker stood out not only for their popularity, but for their overall results.

The Regional Champ was an awesome event for the One Piece TCG, and showed how passionate and dedicated the community is - not only in Brazil, but throughout the Americas! Although competitive, the game environment was still fun and relaxed.

As for the metagame, the Regional undoubtedly demonstrated that monocolored leaders, with their starting 5 life, are the main forces at the moment. The seven most popular leaders, in order, were monocolored, with almost all colors represented - the exception was Yellow, which was overall the least popular color of the event.

We will continue to monitor the evolution of the metagame and the upcoming releases, so that we are prepared for the next large event in Brazil: the Regional + Treasure Cup on August 2nd and 3rd!

What did you think of this April Regional? Did you participate? Did you watch the broadcast? Share it with us!

Hugs, and see you next time!