The 10 Cards Everybody Wants from The World's Strongest Warriors (OP-17)

Welcome to the biggest set of the biggest year in the history of the One Piece Card Game.

Releasing in North America on August 28, The World's Strongest Warriors (OP-17) is the fourth anniversary set for the One Piece Card Game, and Bandai's pulling out all the stops. In keeping with the tradition of earlier anniversary sets like Awakening of the New Era (OP-05) and Carrying On His Will (OP-13), OP-17 sets a new benchmark for the power level of a One Piece set, while also introducing new rarities and card treatments we've never seen before.

Throw in the fact that The World's Strongest Warriors will set the stage for the 2026 Season 1 Finals and the 5000-player Flame-Flame Fruit Coliseum, and there's no question that OP-17 is the most hyped One Piece set of 2026. Maybe even of all time.

So, yeah, these cards are a big deal. But which ones are the biggest deal? Let's see which One Piece cards from OP-17 are going to be at the top of every player's wish list in September.

Note: this article focuses primarily on the most playable cards from OP-17 (all of which have gorgeous alt-art variants that collectors will also want to nab). If you're just looking for the flashiest, priciest chase cards in OP-17, check out our collector's guide to The World's Strongest Warriors.

#10 Gloriosa (OP17-046)

Most of the new cards in The World's Strongest Warriors don't have many applications outside of their respective archetypes. You're not playing a Whitebeard Pirates deck? You probably don't care about OP-17's red cards. Not a Shanks fan? You can largely skip the greens.

But one new archetype bucks that trend and is delivering a crew's worth of cards that every deck in its color will need to consider going forward: the blue Rocks Pirates package. True to the fiction, these pirates are free agents who only happen to be sailing under the Rocks flag, and could just as easily lend their strength to another captain in the right circumstances.

Which brings us to Gloriosa. For four DON!!, Gloriosa removes a threat that costs more than she does, all while dodging their [On K.O.] effects and giving you a free blocker to boot. While she can't hit cards that buff their own costs, like the black Giant cards in the new Elbaph package, she does combo with anything that can reduce the cost of opposing Characters, like Hina and Laboon. Unfortunately, her low power means you can't get extra value from her in a Boa Hancock deck, but she makes a solid upgrade to any deck hoping to control and stall out the game, like Blue Black Sakazuki or Blue Purple Luffy.

#9 Miss Buckingham Stussy (OP17-054)

In a similar vein, Miss Buckingham Stussy is a control player's dream. For six DON!!, Stussy can freeze two of your opponent's Characters, and she gets to keep freezing one of them every single turn as long as you have three DON!! to spare.

In a format where it looks like the two biggest aggro decks—Ace and Sabo—will be playing 10 and 16-cost bodies, Mr.3(Galdino) freezes fewer targets than it did in OP-16. Stussy's second mode has no restrictions, and in a pinch, she's just as good at swinging into your opponent's life as Galdino was. This card's going to be hard to pass up for any blue deck with room in its curve.

#8 Usopp (OP17-080) (And the Whole Elbaph Package)

You know how annoying it is that Blue Green Luffy gets to play two-drop Characters that swing for 5000 power and replace themselves? Well, Usopp is like that, but better. Not only does he dig deeper into your deck than Mr.1 and Mr.2, he gets to stay a 5000-power body on your opponent's turn, which means he'll be sniping counter out of your hand all game if you don't commit some serious swings his way.

All of the black two-cost Straw Hat Crew members in OP-17 share Usopp's power-up clause, but Usopp's the only searcher of the bunch, making him a mandatory four-of in any deck playing the Elbaph package. And that's a long list of decks. While only the new black Luffy Leader can make Gerd and Rodo into giant-sized Characters to power up the two-cost Straw Hat Crew Characters, Jaguar.D.Saul and Loki have proven reliable enough that players have found great success importing the whole Elbaph package into unrelated Leaders like Red Black Sabo and Black ST-14 Luffy.

#7 Charlotte Linlin (OP17-049)

Have you ever eaten a cake that had so much frosting and was so sweet it kinda made you sick? That's how I feel looking at five-cost Linlin. There's just too much value.

It's honestly hard to imagine any deck with something better to do on 5 DON!! than to develop a 7000-power body while going +2 in card advantage. And if that somehow wasn't enough, Linlin also turns your bricks into +1000 Counter once per turn, mitigating the downside of playing four copies of her so you can maximize your odds of finding her on curve.

It feels dangerous to call any new One Piece card a "staple" at the rate that Bandai keeps power-creeping old sets. But if any blue cards from OP-17 are seeing play a year from now, Linlin will be one of them.

#6 Charlotte Linlin (OP17-112)

You knew they were coming! To celebrate the One Piece Card Game's fourth anniversary, Bandai designed a 10-cost bomb for each of the original Four Emperors, each of which is getting a Manga Rare version in OP-17. A set named the "The World's Strongest Warriors" wouldn't feel complete without some Characters with big stat lines with even bigger effects.

The yellow Big Mom package in OP-17 revolves entirely around 10-cost Linlin. When you drop Charlotte Linlin with a board full of 4000-power Characters with Trigger, your board swells by an insane 28000 power, most of which is ready to start swinging immediately. This power boost is so game-winning, the Yellow Linlin deck can happily spend its first four or five turns dropping understated bodies and healing, confident that once Big Mom shows up the opponent will crumble like an over-baked cookie.

This card won't see play outside of its 4000-power Trigger archetype, but any players who enjoy triggering bodies out of Life will need four copies of Linlin as soon as OP-17 drops.

#5 Edward.Newgate (OP17-005)

Bandai has had a lot of fun in the last year with Characters that buff Leaders beyond 5000 power, and the new Edward.Newgate 10-drop takes that to the extreme by giving your Leader 8000 power for a full turn cycle. This is obviously meant to be the boss monster for the Edward.Newgate Leader in OP-17, but it works even better with the OP-16 Ace Leader, which can give Edward.Newgate Rush and stack its effect with the 8-cost Newgate to give Ace 10000 power and Double Attack.

Unfortunately, you can't cheat out Newgate for six DON!! unless your opponent has a character with 10000 or more power, which generally isn't the case when you're facing the kinds of go-wide matchups where Newgate's ability is most impactful. (Black Elbaph decks with Loki will be a major exception.) Plus, it only works with monocolored Leaders, which is going to keep Newgate from seeing as wide adoption as the similar seven-cost Zoro. But for Leaders that can utilize Newgate, it's a huge boon.

#4 Kaido (OP17-062)

Two of the most hyped decks in OP-17 are Blue Rocks and Green Mihawk. Purple Kaido stunts on both of them, as we saw in the inaugural iKailaCup last weekend, thanks to its ability to drop this monstrosity on its fourth turn.

While this Kaido is in play, the cost to playing purple staples like Mamaragan and Slow-Slow Beam Sword turns from a downside to an upside, letting you recycle and restand DON!! to power out more massive cards, like the other 10-cost Kaido in OP-17 and the new 10-cost Charlotte Linlin. It's not as explosive a bomb as those cards, but it empowers them, and stalls the game out long enough for you to make up the tempo you lose by ramping.

In many ways, that's more important. The bombs can change as the meta shifts and new archetypes get introduced, but as long as DON!! minus effects remain purple's defining feature, this Kaido will bridge you to them.

#3 Loki (OP17-119)

Alongside the original Four Emperors, OP-17 also includes two Secret Rares featuring characters with a claim to the title of the world's strongest warriors. For black, that character is the legendary giant Loki.

On his own, Loki is an impressive beat stick and removal piece, capable of wiping out a handful of chump Blockers or 2-cost 5000-power attackers just by showing up. But he's more than his raw stats, because his massive cost turns on the entire Elbaph package, while his 11000 power on your opponent's turn makes him nearly impossible to get rid of. Anyone playing the Elbaph package needs four copies of this Secret Rare immediately.

Plus, this is the OPCG debut of Loki, a character who outranked some Straw Hats in the latest One Piece popularity poll. This card's not to be missed.

#2 Rocks.D.Xebec (OP17-118)

The other Secret Rare from OP-17, Rocks.D.Xebec will only see play in dedicated Rocks Pirates decks, likely led by the Blue Rocks Leader himself. In those decks though, he's a mandatory four-of. Not only is this one of the few Rocks Pirates cards you can naturally pitch for counter, it's also the deck's win condition, letting you play down another nine cost of the highest-value Characters ever printed.

Plus, as with Loki, this is the first time we've gotten the would-be King of the World in cardboard form.

#1 Shanks (OP17-022)

When this card was first revealed at the start of the OP-17 preview season, everyone predicted that Shanks and/or Mihawk would be the deck to beat in the next format.

Now that the whole set has been revealed and brewers are busily testing the new cards, green's dominance in OP-17 appears to have been a little overhyped. But not for any fault of this card. 10-cost Shanks is an absolute beast of a boss monster, turning all of your opponent's Characters sideways so you can either clear them or swing past them, on a 12000-power body that can immediately take advantage of the opportunity he creates.

Oh, and he gives you two DON!! back. As a treat.

For almost two years, red decks have nearly always found room for at least one 10-cost Gol.D.Roger, whose ability to neutralize Blockers is simply game-winning in certain matchups. Shanks does the same trick in green, a color that goes to 10 resources more often than red, and he does it while being just as useful when you're behind as when you're ahead. All this on a card featuring a character that One Piece fans voted higher than Chopper in the last popularity poll.