The 10 Cards Everybody Wants from Wings of the Captain

The One Piece Card Game's first year saw it explode in popularity at a near unprecedented level. If the game's second year keeps the same pace, we may need to start talking about the "Big 4" in the TCG space for the first time ever.

Lucky for us, Wings of the Captain looks like it's up to the task with such a high density of awesome cards that I actually had to cheat a bit to fit all of the cards I felt are worth mentioning into this list. We have a lot to talk about, so let's get right into the list of most sought-after One Piece cards in OP06: Wings of the Captain.    

#10 Hody Jones (Character, Alternate Art)

Sometime early in the game's lifespan I remember joking with a friend about how the One Piece Card Game had done a good job with giving the most popular characters the best cards and we didn't have to deal with the dynamic some other card games had where a C-list antagonist was a format staple. Well now some people might be able to say that OPCG has quite literally jumped the shark in that regard with the introduction of Hody Jones.

This card is an exceptionally powerful and greatly welcome addition to many green decks that have been struggling to compete since the introduction of Sakasuki in OP05. In fact, there might not be a card better suited at immediately ending the game, due to Hody Jones's combination of rush on a massive body alongside the ability to rest two Characters or DON!! unconditionally. It's important to note that this card does have the downside of forcing you to draw one of your life cards when it's played, but that is easy to mitigate by either playing it with the Hody Leader card, or simply waiting until the end of the game to use it as a finisher. I expect this card to show up quite a bit, especially alongside a certain Leader further down our list.  

#9 The Kouzuki Siblings (Alternate Art)

The Land of Wano has been featured as a subtheme in several sets starting as early as OP01, but it's never quite come together as a fully coherent archetype. I believe that has a strong chance to change with the addition of Momonosuke and Hiyori Kouzuki to the yellow versions of the deck. Both of these cards do incredibly powerful things on their own while also getting better when played alongside one another.

Hiyori is now the only non-Leader way to stack a trigger card from your hand on top of your life. That's already an exceptionally powerful effect, but she's also a 2k counter making her one of the most versatile cards in the game. Likewise, Momonosuke gives you the potential to gain life for the exceptionally low cost of 5 DON!! if you already have a Wano card, like Hiyori, on board. OP03 Charlotte Katakuri has been a staple in yellow largely for his ability to do what Momonosuke does, and that card costs 8. Yellow is already a very strong color, but it stands to get even better with additions like this.          

#8 Vinsmoke Reiju (Character, Alternate Art)

The Vinsmoke Family is finally coming into the game in Wings of the Captain, and the character that I'm sure people will be most excited to see is Reiju. Not only is she the one member of her family who (at least for the most part) isn't a sadistic fascist, but she also happens to have been given one of the more powerful cards in the set.

While this card may have been primarily designed to be played alongside her Leader card and 2-drop version of herself, there are certainly more decks that would be happy to include this card. The most relevant example is RP Law which benefits massively from this addition, but even some more niche decks like Zephyr could see a bit of a resurgence with the help of Reiju. Aside from the card's broad playability, this being the first depiction of Reiju in the game will drive a great deal of collector interest, further increasing the card's desirability.      

#7 Perona (Leader & Character, Alternate Art)

Perona's Negative Hollow might have the ability to make people depressed in the story, but I'm willing to bet that anyone who opens this Leader card, or her Character counterpart, will be very happy. While Perona's cards likely would've garnered a fair amount of interest regardless of their playability, both of these cards have the benefit of being quite powerful.

Perona's Leader card is one of the stronger ones being added to the game with this Wings of the Captain and will almost certainly be the base for some highly competitive decks. Older cards like OP01 X Drake could see a resurgence within the context of Perona due to her ability to rest a wide array of Character cards. Her Character card is a 2k counter that has a great deal of versatility in how it can be utilized as either a way to disrupt the opponent's hand or improve your own removal by lowering a Character's cost. While these are not the first iterations of Perona in the card game, they will still certainly be the most sought-after.  

#6 O-Nami (Alternate Art)

It wouldn't be a One Piece Card Game Top 10 list without at least one iteration of Nami, but as a change of pace, this time it's a depiction of her Wano alter ego, O-Nami. This card is actually a very interesting addition to yellow as it fills a couple of different roles. The first is her ability to give a Leader or Character banish, which is one of the most scarce and powerful keywords in the game, especially considering the popularity of yellow in general. That would likely be attractive enough even under normal circumstances, but this can start to get crazy if you're able to target a Leader or Character that has Double Strike or can attack multiple times a turn. Swings like that can often win the game straight up.

If that wasn't enough, O-Nami also has the same Trigger as Thunder Bolt, a card most yellow decks have been playing despite it being very close to dead if ever actually drawn. This one not only has relevant game text while in hand, but it also has counter value! The only "downside" is that this card does not have the Wano type, so it cannot be put back into your Life with Momonosuke—so don't get tricked by the card's aesthetics.    

#5 Gecko Moria (Leader & Character, Alternate Art)

We mentioned C-list antagonists earlier, and another one that you're likely going to have to get used to looking at is Gecko Moria. One of the subthemes of this set is Thriller Bark pirates, which focus on filling the trash to use those cards as resources or bring them back into play with various reanimation effects. Both the Leader and Character version of Gecko Moria show off his Shadow Shadow Fruit power to make zombies by bringing Characters back from the trash, albeit in slightly different ways. The Leader functions in a similar capacity to OP01 Donquixote Doflamingo, but instead of needing to set up the top of your deck, you need to set up your trash. You are limited to bringing back only Thriller Bark cards, but there are still several different options depending on how you want to play. You could be more aggressive with Oars, or more value-oriented with Dr. Hogback and Absalom.

The Gecko Moria Character has much more broad applications because the types of Characters it can bring back are only limited by cost, not type. That versatility is so great I think you'll be hard-pressed to find a black deck that doesn't want to play this card for quite some time. In particular, the way the card interacts with OP05 Rebecca is incredibly powerful, to the point that it's a nontrivial part of the reason that OP05 Sakasuki was banned in Japan recently.

While Gecko Moria is certainly not a popular character, I believe the competitive strength of these cards will keep them in high demand for the foreseeable future.      

#4 Yamato (Leader)

Now we have the pleasure of getting to my favorite, and what I believe to be the strongest, Leader coming into the game for OP06: Yamato. When this card was first revealed in Japan, my friends and I were convinced that printing this card was a mistake. Giving a Leader baseline Double Attack with some upside seemed like an overstep in the same realm as Whitebeard's Leader card, but as things played out it became clear that this Leader wasn't broken in the ways we had feared. Overcommitting to a large Double Attack swing early can actually put you behind on both tempo and cards in a way that allows your opponent to stabilize and recover from the life deficit, so the strategy requires a bit more nuance.

That said, it is still a very powerful Leader that I expect to also be fairly popular through at least the early weeks or the format. This archetype went through various iterations during its time in Asia without players arriving at a real consensus, so I'm very interested to see what people in the rest of the world come up with.  

#3 Special Rares

The special rares have become a mainstay of One Piece sets that add even more value to the box opening experience, and in Wings of the Captain we have a strong roster of characters that I'm sure people will want to get their hands on. This time we have yet another art template, with this one probably being the most "normal" we've gotten so far, but I don't expect that to lower the desirability of these cards at all. In fact, it may help in at least one case.

There was a fairly mixed reception to the original parallel art for Charlotte Linlin, so the people that didn't like that depiction now have a more traditional chase card to bling their decks with. Similarly, Buggy was a card that only existed in non-foil up until now, so any Zoro players still keeping the dream alive now have the ability to upgrade that slot. Rebecca and Ms. All Sunday are both strong cards featuring popular characters, so they will also likely garner a substantial amount of demand.

The odd one out might end up being Sugar. It's a bit of a niche card that already has one of the best parallel arts in the game, so I don't know how many people who have interest in that card would prefer this version. That said, the value floor on any of these cards is quite high, so it would still be a huge boon to open any of them.    

#2 English-Exclusive Nami

We may already have one chase Nami in Wings of the Captain, but Bandai saw fit to add a second one at a special rarity tier exclusive to the English printing of the set! I was actually one of the first people into the venue at Bandai card fest in LA where the existence of this card was subtly revealed on a sheet displaying all of the rare cards in OP06.

Any card that only exists in one printing is always going to be highly valuable, but the fact that it's also a played version of Nami will multiply that appeal by quite a bit. I don't expect this card to be on the same level as the last card on our list, but it will certainly be a notable step in rarity above the special rares, so this will easily be the second-most sought-after card in the set.  

#1 Manga Zoro

As always, our list will conclude with the set's manga rare, and while it was going to be impossible for any card to really compete with Gear 5 Luffy from the previous set, I think this one will come as close as it reasonably could. As a member of the original crew, Zoro has a special place in the One Piece fandom alongside Luffy and Nami, so there will be no shortage of interest in Manga Zoro, the most collectable depiction of him that exists so far.

It also doesn't hurt that this iteration of Zoro is also the Secret Rare in this set, and quite strong on top of that. Being able to attack three times in the same turn for at least 9k each is going to end the game outright in most spots, and makes Zoro the finisher that Green was sorely lacking. While that matters more for the base parallel art, which could certainly carve out a spot on the list in its own right, I've seen enough Manga Sabo cards played in feature matches to know that there are people who are willing to put these cards in their constructed decks on purpose. I think there is a strong chance this Manga Rare will eventually become the second most valuable one behind G5 Luffy.