Deck Guide: Kalgara - The King of Budget Decks!

Overall, we can tell how great a TCG meta is from how well-positioned aggro decks are in it. Ideally, they should act as "sheriffs": they shouldn't be extremely punitive or toxic and end matches in just a few turns before opponents can even answer, but they should perform well against sophisticated strategies that often become more problematic if aggro decks aren't there to stop them. It's a delicate, natural balance.

In today's article, we'll discuss an extremely aggressive and incredibly cheap deck. It has also performed really well in many tournaments featuring the new One Piece TCG set, OP09 - Emperors in the New World.

Our star today is Kalgara OP08-098, who has 5000 power, 5 life, and the Slash attribute. He also has the Jaya, Sky Island, and Shandian Warrior types. What really makes him stand out is his ability. To activate it, first you need to attach one DON!! to him and attack with him. Then, this ability will let you put in play up to 1 Shandian Warrior card from your hand that costs the same or less than how many DON!! you have in play. If you use this ability, you'll also have to add to your hand 1 card from your life pile. Basically, it gives you a free character in exchange for 1 HP.

When you use this effect, you can simply ignore how much a card costs. For instance, if you have 8 DON!! in play, you can attach one of them to your leader, attack, and put a Kalgara OP08-099 in play without spending 6 DON!! to do so. This way, you can use your other DON!! to make other plays.

Keep in mind that drawing 1 card from your life pile isn't exactly a cost. It is simply the last thing you need to do once this effect resolves. This means you can use this effect even if you have no cards left in your life pile.

As a leader, Kalgara OP08-098 is great in strategies that focus on putting many bodies on the board, and creating many threats at the same time. You must manage your life pile well to play him; otherwise, you'll be vulnerable to decisive attacks. Nonetheless, creating an aggressive battlefield can be quite efficient if you execute it well. And Kalgara, as we mentioned, is a great leader for this type of strategy.

This deck usually focuses on Sky Island cards because they go really well with Shandian Warriors. In turn, Shandian Warriors are precisely the cards you want in your hand when you play Kalgara OP08-098 because of his effect.

One of this deck's greatest strengths is how cheap it is. The most important Shandian Warriors are rare cards, which means you can build this deck without any super rare cards if this works for you. Furthermore, one of the best Shandian Warriors is Kalgara OP08-099, which is a very aggressive common card.

This deck is better when you go second, as this way you can get a lot from the even-numbered DON!! progression.

We built the deck we'll discuss today from a list by Benjamin W, who recently got to top 16 at an online tournament with it.

Searchers

This list includes several cards that search for and get you other cards. Some get you a broad variety of cards, like Upper Yard OP05-117, which gets you Sky Island cards, and others get you specific cards, like Ohm OP05-101, which gets you Holly OP05-110.

When you play these cards, try to put the rest of the cards (the ones you didn't add to your hand) at the bottom of your deck from least important to most important. You don't need to do this as meticulously as you do when you play Nami OP03-040, for instance, but you will still win many matches when you do, considering this deck is quite fast.

Upper Yard OP05-117 and Shura OP05-106 will get you Sky Island cards for very cheap, and will be this deck's main searchers. You can also play Shura directly from your life pile because of its Trigger.

Wyper OP08-110 lets you get an Upper Yard OP05-117 from the top 5 cards in your deck, and lets you play one from your hand for free right afterward. Meanwhile, Wyper OP06-114 lets you put a 1-cost Stage at the bottom of your deck - in this case, this card will always be an Upper Yard. Then, this card lets you look at the top 5 cards in your deck and add one to your hand. You should use this to get an Upper Yard OP05-117 or a Shandian Warrior.

Ohm OP05-101 lets you get a Holly OP05-110 from the top 5 cards in your deck, add it to your hand, and then it lets you play a Holly from your hand right afterward. It works really well when you can't find a Holly with it but have one in your hand.

Shandian Warriors

All the main characters in this deck are Shandian Warriors, so you'll be able to take full advantage of Kalgara's ability. They are not that expensive and give you useful payoffs that will help you control the game. They're either incredibly strong with no abilities, or have abilities that will put a lot of pressure on the game and develop your board and game plan. These are the characters we want when we use our leader's ability.

Finally, let's discuss both Wypers in this deck: Wyper OP08-110 and Wyper OP06-114.

First, let's discuss Wyper OP06-114: this card has 7000 power and costs 5 DON!!. To use its On Play ability, you need to send a 1-cost Stage to the bottom of your deck - in this case, we'll send Upper Yard OP05-117. After that, you can get another copy of this Stage, or another Shandian Warrior, which is perfect when we need to refill our hand. Furthermore, this Wyper is very powerful and isn't a Counter, so it is the perfect card to just put in play and wait until it's time to answer our opponent.

Meanwhile, Wyper OP08-110 costs 4 DON!! and has 5000 power, but is a +2000 Counter while it is in your hand. At times, you'll even have to think twice before putting it in play. It is a great Searcher for Upper Yard OP05-117, or a way to play it for free if it is in your hand and you can't find it when you're shifting through your deck with other cards. Still, it is a great option for this deck, as it is also quite aggressive.

Finally, we have Kalgara OP08-099, which is the number 1 character we want to put in play with our leader's ability, even if he doesn't have an ability himself. This Shandian Warrior has 8000 power, so it will quickly become a problem for our opponents.

Main Interactions

There are three main interactions in this deck, and they are all similar to small combos:

Ohm + Holly

Ohm OP05-101 lets you get Holly OP05-110 from the top 5 cards in your deck and add it to your hand. Then, it lets you play a Holly from your hand. However, you don't need to play the same Holly you added to your hand with this effect, so you can put a Holly in play even if you can't find a Holly among the top 5 cards in your deck.

If you can put two characters with 5000 power on the board early on, you'll be set for the rest of the game. These characters, besides perfect for aggressive plays, are perfect targets for enemy characters, which, naturally, will buy you time until you can put your other plans in motion. Furthermore, when you don't have a lot of life, Ohm OP05-101 becomes more powerful: it gets to 6000 power, in fact.

Kalgara + Noland

This is a great interaction when you get to 6 DON!!. If your leader has one DON!! attached, you can bring Kalgara OP08-099 on the board for free. This card doesn't have any abilities, but its stats are great.

With the other 5 DON!! you still have, you can, then, play Mont Blanc Noland OP08-109, which gives you 1 HP when Kalgara OP08-099 is in play. This essentially means that you'll be able to mitigate the HP you lost to put this Shandian Warrior in play, or simply get 1 HP when you have none.

Wyper + Upper Yard

Wyper OP08-110 is similar to the Ohm OP05-101 Holly OP05-110 combo, but, with it, you'll use Upper Yard OP05-117 instead of Holly. This dynamic is less aggressive and the goal is just getting specific cards from your deck that you might need right then. On top of it all, if you play this card when you have 5 DON!!, you can use both Wypers in this deck, get an Upper Yard OP05-117, play it, and then discard it right afterward with Wyper OP06-114. This way, you'll be able to shift through 15 cards in your deck, and shuffle them back.

Finishers

Finally, we use 3 Portgas.D.Ace ST13-011 as finishers. They're perfect when your opponent thinks they're safe and can win on their turn. Considering your leader usually draws two cards from your life pile, you can easily use Luffy's older brother as an incredibly powerful attacker.

You can use Blaze Slice OP07-116 on any turn, which is rare in this TCG. With it, you'll get +1000 power, and, if your opponent only has 2 HP or less, you can also rest a character that costs 4. Against extremely aggressive decks, like Roronoa Zoro OP01-001, you can both use this card to disable a key attacker on your opponent's turn and tap one of their blockers on your turn to attack more freely.

Kalgara OP08-098 is the best budget leader right now, and became incredibly relevant in many Japanese tournaments during this new OP09 format. This deck doesn't include many rare cards and proves the best removal in a card game is always the one that removes your opponent.

What did you think of this deck? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!