Looking to get started with One Piece?! Fortunately the latest round of Starter Decks provide you the perfect place to start. These will let you hop into playing in local events right away. Let’s check out the six news Starter Decks (#23-28) that are now available at Owl Central Games!

Red Shanks (ST-23)

Leader: Shanks (OP09-001)

As of the OP11 meta, Red Shanks is still a considerable powerhouse. Red in the One Piece TCG is about hitting hard and fast. Red Shanks and the Red-Haired Pirates want to dash out and slam opponents for big damage before retreating behind their strong defense.

While Red Shanks starts at 5k like most Leaders, his once-per-turn ability gives one of your opponent’s Leader or Character cards -1000 power during this turn; he’s on the attack but far from defenseless.

Uta and Lucky Roux are outright blockers. Limejuice can be used as a +2000 counter for your Leader or played to prevent your opponent from activating 1 blocker Character with power 4000 or less this turn. Monster may only be a +1000 counter, but it can be used to chump block for Bonk Punch, preventing BP from being K.O.’d and allowing you to attack with him using his DON!!x1 for +2000 power.

Yasopp buffs Shanks and can debuff 1 of your opponent’s Characters -1000 power during this turn for DON!!x1.1-cost Yasopp gives up to 1 rested DON!! to your Leader or 1 of your characters. A small combo that only loops once, but a good introduction to longer combos.

Upgrade recommendations:

Bad Manners Kick Course costs a whopping 0, letting you trash 1 card from your hand to give up to 1 of your Leader or Character cards gains +3000 during this battle. Though it can only be activated as a counter, it’s a good trick to have up your sleeve. Tony Tony Chopper is a blocker, +2000 counter, and he gains +2000 power during your opponent’s turn. With a cost of 4 and a base 4000 power, Tony Tony is a cost-effective addition.

Though he’s a very costly option, 10-cost 12000-power Shanks can swing big at your opponent’s just as powerful characters, K.O.’ing one that’s 10000 power or less merely on-play. Divine Departure presents a better early-game version at 1-cost to counter with +3000 power to your Leader, or as a Main Phase action to rest 5 DON!! cards to K.O. up to 1 of your opponent’s characters with 8000 power or less. If your opponent is also playing Red and is getting lots of powerful Characters out quickly, such as Belo Betty’s on-play ability, having a way to shut it down before it becomes overwhelming is priceless.

Green Jewelry Bonney (ST-24)

Leader: Jewelry Bonney (OP07-019)

Bonney wants to ally with fellow Supernovas type cards, working with Basil Hawkins, and X-Drake to manipulate your DON!! and manipulate your opponent’s Characters to become attackable by heavy hitters like Monkey D. Luffy , Urouge, Caribou, the latter two doubling as Blockers.

More Pizza!!, a reference to Bonney’s first appearance in the series, is a 1-cost searcher event allowing you to search 5, reveal a Supernovas type character other than More Pizza!!, and add it to your hand. Using this ability gives you a higher chance to happen upon useful early-game Characters like Capone “Gang” Bege, Bartolomeo, or additional Supernovas searcher Kid & Killer.

Upgrade recommendations:

Cavendish, when played alone (no other Cavendish cards),  can activate both on play and when attacking, synching with Bonney’s Supernovas type to set up to 2 rested DON!! cards as active. Getting rested DON!! back allows for the play of the 1-cost Jewelry Bonney searcher or 1-cost Scratchmen Apoo to rest your Opponent’s characters on play.

For one DON!!, Eustass “Captain” Kid can be rested during your opponent’s turn to render them unable to attack any card other than Kid. And while Kid’s already busy drawing all your opponent’s ire, once per turn on your turn, he can be rested to play up to 1 character card with cost 3 or less from your hand. For a cost of 2, Scratchmen Apoo can rest up to 1 of your opponent’s DON!! Cards for 1 DON!!.

Blue Buggy (ST-25)

Leader: Buggy (OP09-042)

Blue Buggy is all about flooding your board with powerful Cross Guild characters. During your main phase, Buggy’s leader ability allows you to rest 5 DON!! cards, trash 1 card from your hand to play 1 character with the Cross Guild type from your hand. This is an expensive ability for the first few turns, but once you have the DON!! You’re able to cheat out characters like the 10 cost 12k Buggy. Additionally, characters like Alvida , Mr. 3(Galdino), and Crocodile & Mihawk also let you play characters with the Cross Guild type from your hand without paying their cost.

 

Characters like Alvida and Cross Guild’s abilities allow you to draw additional cards, helping to offset the cost of trashing cards from your hand.

Crocodile & Mihawk’s once-per-turn ability gives you the chance to trash a card from your hand instead of one of your Cross Guild characters being K.O.’d, giving you extra protection from your opponent trying to get rid of your best characters.

Upgrade recommendations:

Crocodile lets you play a card with Cross Guild and Baroque Works type from your hand, while Mihawk functions as a strong blocker with 7k base power in addition to allowing you to draw 2 cards and trash one when you play it.

For even more card draw, you can run Sanji’s Pilaf, an event that allows you to draw 2 cards. Keep in mind that because Sanji’s Pilaf does not have the Cross Guild or Baroque Works type, you can’t cheat it out using Buggy or other Cross Guild characters with similar abilities.

Purple/Black Monkey D. Luffy (ST-26)

Leader: Monkey D. Luffy (OP09-061)

Monkey D. Luffy is the DON!! manipulation starter deck with a one-per-turn ability that activates when 2 or more DON!! cards from your field are returned to your DON!! Deck and adds 2 DON!! From your DON!! deck, 1 active, 1 rested. For a cost of 1 DON!!, Luffy also gives your character +1 cost, buffing lower cost characters like Tony Tony.Chopper enough to prevent them from being K.O.’d or rested by opponent’s cards such as Van Augur.

Characters like Nami, Nico Robin, and Roronoa Zoro also help bounce DON!! from your field to your DON!! deck and back. Fra-Nosuke and Jinbe both rely on you having DON!! on your field (rested or active) to trigger their respective Rush and extra power abilities.

Gum-Gum Giant is incredibly powerful, just like Luffy’s Gear 5 in the anime/manga. A 1-cost Counter that requires you to sacrifice 2 DON!! and trash 1 card from your hand, Gum-Gum Giant more than repays you with a +4000 buff during this turn to 1 of your Leader or Character cards and the ability to draw 2 cards. Another Gum-Gum card, Gum-Gum Lightning has a DON!!-2 ability letting you K.O. 1 of your opponent’s 6000 power or less Characters, helping clear their board. Additionally, Gum-Gum Lightning has a Trigger ability that, if played from your Life Deck, lets you add 1 card from your DON!! deck setting it as active.

Upgrade recommendations:

Like Fra-Nosuke and Jinbe, Uso-Hachi wants lots of DON!! on your field (8 specifically) to be able to rest up to 1 of your opponent’s Characters with a cost of 5 or less. Once that character is rested, they’re open for attack from cards like Monkey D. Luffy and Sanji. Sanji also lets you return 1 or more DON!! cards from your field, triggering Leader Luffy’s abilities while giving Sanji Rush and resting up to 1 of your opponent’s 6-cost or less Characters.

Black Maria is a +2000 power counter, but more importantly, has an ability activated if she’s your only Black Maria character. This ability lets you add up to 5 DON!! cards from your deck rested. Use your other DON!! manipulation cards to move rested DON!! around before avt the end of the turn, returning DON!! cards from your field until you have the same number as your opponent.

When You’re at Sea You Fight Against Pirates!! lets you search the top 3 cards of your deck for up to 1 Straw Hat Crew, Kid Pirates, or Heart Pirates type card, adding it to your hand. On play, Heart Pirates type Trafalgar Law lets you search 4 to reveal up to 1 Straw Hat Crew or Heart Pirates type card with a cost of 2 or more and add it to your hand, letting you cheat out powerful cards for later turns.

Black Marshall D. Teach (ST-27)

Leader: Marshall D. Teach (OP09-01)

In the anime and manga, Marshall D. Teach is the user of the Yami Yami no Mi (Dark-Dark Fruit), a Devil Fruit that allows him to do a multitude of terrifying things, including nullifying another Devil Fruit user’s powers. In this vein, Teach’s leader ability negates all of your “on-play” effects. Teach’s other ability can be activated during your main phase– trash one card from your hand and negate all of your opponent’s “on-play” effects. This is especially helpful against cards like Nami and Zoro from the Black/Purple Luffy Starter Deck, whose on-play abilities allow your opponent to manipulate their DON!!, adding rested DON!! to characters already in play, or additional DON!! From their DON!! deck.

Teach can shut down your opponent’s potential combos before they have the chance to make the first move. Filling your trash helps power up cards like Jesus Burgess, who gains +1000 power for every 4 cards in your trash, while Kuzan and Marshall D. Teach let you play a card from your trash when they’re KO’d. Van Augur, Avalo Pizzaro, and Catarina Devon allow you to draw cards on K.O., helping to ensure that you don’t find yourself top-decking.

Upgrade recommendations:

Finger Pistol is an event that puts cards in your graveyard while also letting you K.O. 1 of your opponent’s characters that costs 5 or less. Similarly, My Era…Begins!! allows you to search 3 and reveal a Blackbeard Pirates type card (other than another My Era…Begins!!) that you can add to your hand, trashing the other two cards. Marshall D. Teach is not only a blocker with 12k power, it has a once-per-turn ability activated during your main phase that lets you negate up to 1 effect of your opponent’s Leader during this turn, in addition to letting you negate the effect of one of your opponent’s Characters and making them unable to attack until the end of your opponent’s next turn. This Teach card has a cost of 10, meaning it won’t make it out on your field until late game unless you can cheat extra DON!! or play it from your trash, but being able to cripple one of your opponent’s Characters for both your turn and their next turn is more than worth it.

Green/Yellow Yamato (ST-28)

Leader: Yamato (OP06-022)

Yamato’s biggest advantage is that he has double attack, allowing you to deal 2 damage to your opponent’s leader. Additionally, Yamato has a leader ability that activates once per turn when your opponent has 3 or less Life cards, giving up to 2 rested DON!! To 1 of your Characters.

While Yamato only has 4 life, if your opponent has 3 or less Life cards, Kikunojo (OP06-104) can add 1 card from the top of your deck to the top of your Life cards when K.O.’d, giving you an extra chance to stay in the game. Kikunojo is relatively low-cost, at only 4, and if the card ends up in your life deck, it has a trigger effect that allows you to play the card directly without paying the cost. Yamato (ST13-016) has Rush and acts as a searcher for your Life cards, letting you place 1 at the top of your deck while you place the rest back in your Life area in any order, allowing for better planning of your next moves.

Similarly, on attack, Kawamatsu lets you trash 2 cards from your hand to add up to 1 Character with 0 power to the top or bottom of your Life cards face-up. Yamato is a 0-power 1-cost searcher for 1 Land of Wano type cards. And this Yamato has a DON!!x2 ability giving the card +3000 power.

For 6-cost, Kozuki Momonosuke is the most expensive card in the deck, but he more than makes up for the cost with a base power of 7k, and a +1000 power buff to your Leader if your opponent has 2 or less Life cards. Combined with Leader Yamato’s double attack ability, by the time you can play Kozuki Momonosuke, you should be able to activate this ability. Additionally, this card allows you once per turn to return 2 DON!! Cards you’ve given to other Characters to your cost area rested to give Momonosuke Rush and +1000 power during this turn. This card provides you with an effective, decisive way to swing hard and potentially finish the game quickly.

Upgrade recommendations:

When O-Nami comes into play, she gives up to 1 of your Leader or Character cards “Banish” during the turn, allowing them to K.O. a Character and send it to the trash without its trigger ability activating. Yamato also has “Banish” with the added benefit of being a double attack character. If your opponent lacks blockers or counters, you could potentially deal 4 damage to their Leader in one turn by attacking with Leader Yamato and this Yamato.

You’re the One Who Should Disappear is a 0-cost counter that lets you trash 1 card from your hand to give up to 1 of your Leader or Character cards +3000 power during this battle, helping you to keep from taking late-game damage when you might not have any other counters left.

Kozuki Hiyori can be trashed to play up to 1 Land of Wano type card with a cost of 5 or less from your hand (other than Hiyori), and then draw 1 card. Kozuki Momonosuke is a 5-cost Land of Wano type card with Blocker and an on-play ability to add another Land of Wano type Character (other than Kozuki Momonosuke) to the top or bottom of your Life cards face-up.

To Wrap Up

While a straight-out-of-the-box Starter Deck won’t be powerful enough for you to win a tournament like a Regional or a Treasure Cup, they’re a great power level for playing weekly locals. And with a selection of characters printed in previous sets as well as support printed specifically for the starter deck, when your play level moves past Starter Decks, they can be upgraded or taken apart to build new decks.