The 10 Cards Everybody Wants from One Piece TCG's Royal Blood (OP-10)

The newest main set — Royal Blood (OP-10) — is here! With release events coming to a close and the set officially releasing, nakamas everywhere are scrambling to gather up some of the best cards from the set for their decks and collections. 

Looking at the set, there's a little bit for everyone! There are a decent number of cards that will make a solid impact on the meta, along with a ton of SP reprints for the ardent collectors. Let's look through some of the most significant cards in the set that people will be trying to get!

#10 Tashigi (032) and Smoker (030)

One of the funniest parts about the Punk Hazard arc of One Piece is when Trafalgar Law forces a good chunk of the Straw Hat Crew to swap bodies. It gets even funnier when he does this to the Navy Officers on the island as well! The result is this:

Tashigi and Smoker are two of the strongest new characters for Green decks! Tashigi provides an extra layer of protection to your Green characters and also serves as a +2000 counter, making it doubly good for any Green strategy. Smoker, on the other hand, serves as a more offensive card. It is a 5-cost 7000 power character with Banish that can ready a rested DON!! Card once per turn. That's wild for Green strategies, especially for decks like Green Bonney, which always needs an active Don at the end of the turn. 

These SR cards also have fantastic Parallel Alternate Arts that show the two Navy soldiers once they've gotten much more comfortable in their body swap and ready for action. Simply for the lore of what's going on at Punk Hazard, these cards are sure to be popular with collectors!

#9 Kuzan (082)

One of the newest members of the Blackbeard Pirates was missing from the initial wave of support in Emperors in the New World. However, Kuzan makes his debut in Royal Blood (OP-10) as one of the strongest new support cards for the Blackbeard deck!

This new Kuzan card is fantastic because it will stick around until you want to get rid of it with its own effect. The great thing about Kuzan is that he can hit for some decent damage and then tag out for a copy of Jesus Burgess OP09 from your trash! This means the deck's biggest beater keeps sticking around even if your opponent manages to get rid of it!

#8 Sanji (005)

The other big-money result of Law's body-swapping technique is Sanji (OP-10 005), which has Sanji's mind inside the body of his beloved Nami. Lewd jokes aside, Sanji got to business and started kicking everyone around the best he could. 

This card is really strong for Red decks. It is a 3-cost 6000 power character on your turn, going down to 3000 when you're defending. But honestly? That's alright because this card also nets you a free card when it is KO'd, which will cause your opponent to question whether or not they want to deal with it or anything else on your field. It is a strong card for maintaining a good card economy in Red. 

#7 Rebecca (058) and Kyros (046)

To go with the new Black/Blue Usopp Leader is a brand-new Rebecca card! Featuring the fan-favorite princess of Dressrosa, who's ready to take on Diamante and defend her kingdom. 

This new Rebecca is excellent for Dressrosa decks because it serves as a pseudo-Moria. The only thing that makes it balanced compared to Moria is that it plays characters from your hand rather than your trash. So, in that sense, this functions more like a Luffy-Tarou (ST18) since you play it on the 7-cost curve. This card will be a staple 4-of in Usopp decks as it will typically bring itself and a Kyros out onto the field at the same. 

Once Kyros hits the field, it will return any Cost 5 or lower character to the owner's hand. You should be able to hit quite a few things when you combo it with One-Legged Toy Soldier. Playability aside, both cards will be super popular, similar to the Tashigi and Smoker combo. Rebecca and Kyros are two central characters in one of the show's most popular story arcs, so it is nice to see them in the spotlight once again. 

#6 Trafalgar Law (119)

One of the two Secret Rares from this set is the new 7-cost Trafalgar Law for Yellow Supernova decks.

This card actually is really good in the new Yellow Supernovas decks, and whether you are playing the new Green/Yellow Law or the pure-Yellow Kid deck, there's nothing about gaining an extra life. This card not only has a crazy On Play effect, but it also boasts a whopping 9000 power for a 7-cost? That's going to give a crazy swing in tempo. 

#5 Charlotte Flempe (SP)

This card you'll be lucky if you pull! The SP Rare Charlotte Flampe is a reprint of one of the best rares from Extra Booster: Memorial Collection. The regular rare of this card is still around $5 as I write this, but it was higher than that for quite some time.

This new SP Rare shows Flampe rushing towards her older brother, Charlotte Katakuri, for a big hug from his little sister. While this card isn't necessarily "new" with Royal Blood (OP-10), it's an SP printing of a super popular card for Yellow decks. Plus, if you pull one, you pretty much paid for your box!

#4 The Parallel Leaders 

The parallel leader cards are always some of the notable chase cards in new sets, and Royal Blood (OP-10) is no exception! Four of the six Leaders are expected to make a scene in the OP-10 metagame, so these Leaders are certainly chase cards for some people cracking open this set.

In my opinion, these top three are probably going to see the most play with Red/Green Smoker in the same combination as the OP01 Trafalgar Law, so it is bound to be really good. Green decks have a lot of cards that simplify the field, and Red decks are known for their aggression and removal. Put them together, and it's a strong combo!

Usopp is finally getting his own leader card, and the Yellow Kid deck is ridiculous. So, both of those will see play because they're fan-favorite characters!

I think the Yellow/Green Law will see a decent amount of play alongside the above three, its ability lets you play characters from the top of your Life cards. It feels very much like a toned-down version of Black/Yellow Luffy in that sense. 

As for Sugar and Caesar Clown? They won't see much play at the top tables anytime soon, but the decks are super fun for their themes, and who doesn't like the villains who are committing horrible crimes and erasing people from existence? 

Anyway… Alternate Art Leaders are awesome! I know I'm always happy if I pull one, even if it is a repeat.

#3 Edward.Newgate (SP)

The last few cards we're going to look at will be some of the hardest cards to pull, they're all on the same level as that Flampe we've already talked about, or even more difficult to pull from boosters!

First of all, the SP Rare Edward.Newgate from ST15! This card is a crazy strong SR from the recent batch of Starter Decks. This card is probably one of the strongest for Red Decks like Shanks. The thing that makes the SP so expensive is the artwork! It shows Newgate with the one thing he valued more than anything else: his family.

For those who don't know or remember Whitebeard's backstory, he grew up without a family. For him, he considered those on his crew as his family, to the point where he called his crew his sons and daughters. In return, they all called him Pops. Having a card that portrays the strong familial bond between the Whitebeard Pirates is wonderful.

#2 Uso-Hachi (SP)

Next is another card from the recent set of Starter Decks, Uso-Hachi from ST18. This card is a staple in Purple decks right now, and this artwork is absolutely breathtaking! It showcases an undercover Usopp in the Land of Wano as a Toad Oil Salesman named "Uso-Hachi". This SP perfectly pairs with the OP07 SP of O-Nami. The playability of this card, along with the gorgeous artwork from the Land of Wano cements it as one of the most sought-after cards from Royal Blood (OP-10).

#1 Trafalgar Law (Manga)

It wouldn't be a list for One Piece TCG without the set's Manga Rare card!

The Secret Rare Trafalgar Law that we talked about earlier also appears as the Manga Rare in the set. Manga Rares are always the top chase card in any One Piece TCG set, and for good reason! They're (usually) one of the more playable cards in the set and feature some phenomenal artwork from the creator of the series. 

Manga Rares are some of the rarest cards to pull, where people can open boxes upon boxes and never pull one. There is no official ratio of how rare they are, but I've seen people open more than 25 boxes without pulling a Manga Rare. Needless to say, if you get one, you throw it in a sleeve (and maybe a toploader) right away!

Not everybody is a fan of Royal Blood (OP-10), but I absolutely love this set. The alternate arts on so many cards are amazing, I've been happy to see new cards to play in my decks with each pack I've opened of the set. While the set isn't as meta-defining as OP-09 was, it is still a nice change of pace in terms of what decks will see play and the new support for existing decks!

The real question is: how much will this set impact our metagame? Especially after the new announcement of cards being banned… Who knows! We'll have to see at the regionals in April to find out!