One Piece TCG: How to Counter the OP-16 Meta

One Piece's new OP-16 meta is still in flux as the set continues to settle in, but its general shape is already clear, and it's looking pretty triangular (or maybe rectangular, depending on who you ask).

The major contenders this set are Blue Green Luffy, OP-16's new board-swarming king; Black Yellow Teach, which can outlast nearly every other deck in the game; and Blue Yellow Nami, who everyone's probably already sick of. Purple Enel, the top deck of the previous meta, still lurks in that mix, but he's clearly no longer the undisputed best deck in the game.

Whatever you're playing, these contenders can be rough the first time you face them, as they often take advantage of new mechanics or playstyles to score wins. Here's a rundown of how to beat the decks of OP-16, with tips and deck picks for each.

How to Counter Blue Green Luffy

Blue Green Luffy is freakishly good at developing a wide board at nearly no cost to its own hand, as most of its bodies draw cards after being played. This is already hard enough to keep up with, but if its small bodies are able to get in multiple turns of swings (extracting value from your hand every time), it can be nearly impossible to keep up.

The solution? Play searchers galore. If you're Teach, don't be afraid to drop an extra 1-drop. Character combat is absolutely crucial in this matchup, and the more swings you have access to, the less likely you are to fall behind. If you have access to actual removal, even better. Wherever possible, look to clear their board.

Also be mindful of how you use Blockers and big bodies in the matchup. Since the deck runs the new 4-cost SR Luffy from ST-30, which has Rush and can rest any Blocker when it attacks, you're often better off swinging with your Blocker if you only have one and it's just going to get rested anyway.

Buffing your Leader also works well in this matchup; it's much easier to defend against a wide board when you're a 7000-power Leader. If you've got a Yellow deck, consider running Wyper from OP-15, as it can clear their entire board.

The good news is that if you're playing one of the top decks in the meta that isn't Black Yellow Teach, you're likely favored. Both Nami and Enel have great matchups into Blue Green Luffy—Nami with her buffing ability, card draw, and stall capabilities, and Enel with his raw aggression, removal, and board-combat options.

If you don't feel like playing those, there's always Don Krieg, a solid budget deck that debuffs Luffy's entire board and can rest the threatening characters to deal with them before they even attack. 

How to Counter Black Yellow Teach

Black Yellow Teach's survivability is hard to believe at times. On an obvious note, he has multiple ways to heal. But on top of that, his Leader ability lets him negate at least one of your attacks per turn by redirecting it into targets that make your other bodies less efficient.

Aggro him down, and use blocker resting or negation to bypass his late game defense. Think carefully about sequencing—their triggers can disrupt your game plan in countless ways if you're not cautious. Remember: if you try playing the greedy long-term value game against Teach, you'll probably have a hard time winning.

Another tip is to try to take second from them. Since most of Teach's strongest plays are on even-DON!! turns, denying them their curve can take a ton of wind out of their sails.

Besides that, your best bet here is to generate as many attacks as possible, whether that's by building a wide board, or using characters with Rush to maintain as much pressure as possible. They can't use their Leader effect forever, after all, and once they run out of resources, they're in trouble.

Blue Green Luffy is the obvious choice here, and the natural counter to Teach especially with its ability to rest the 10-cost Blocker Teach every turn. But Black Yamato is also a great choice. His ability to overwhelm the opponent with swings makes it difficult for Teach to stay in the game.

How to Counter Blue Yellow Nami

Nami is (unfortunately) still a top threat in the metagame who can easily beat otherwise-aggressive decks simply by playing on curve, buffing her Leader to 7000 power on the opponent's turn, and healing up to stay out of range. Now that she has OP-16's 8-cost SEC Teach, she can stack her Life even higher and choose what goes there. Nami players are also adapting to the new field, picking up the 5-cost SEC Rush Luffy from OP-15 to pile on pressure.

The same rules apply as before: whittle down her hand with persistent swings at Life, remove her board when it actually makes sense (for instance, when she has a face-up card at the top of Life, you can K.O. a 5-cost Nami without triggering its effect), and poke, poke, poke.

As in OP-15, bottom-decking effects are especially strong against Nami, as they can remove her board without triggering nasty on-K.O. effects like Nami and Robin's. Red Blue Lucy remains a great pick for this, even though his matchup spread is potentially even tougher now.

Black Yellow Teach, with its powerful stalling and heal tools, can outlast Nami over the long term. If you're the Teach, just make sure you're getting as much value out of every play as possible, and you can often simply grind down the Nami until they deck out.