The Top One Piece Decks From Treasure Cup Miami

We are now starting to see the game played on a much bigger stage, with Treasure Cups taking place across the world. This gives us the opportunity to start narrowing in on what the metagame looks like and how the decks at the top of it can be built.

We're going to look at the decks from the most recent Treasure Cup that took place in Miami this past weekend. This event is coming off the heels of multiple other Treasure Cups that served as the first big competitive events for the One Piece Card Game.

As one would expect, the metagames for those tournaments were wildly divergent given how little information everyone had going in, making it very difficult to draw conclusions about the results we saw there. Miami is the first event people went into with at least some prior information, so things should start to coalesce into a more coherent picture.

Let's see what the metagame looked like going into the tournament, according to the event organizer Pro-Play Games.

This first thing that jumps out to me is how open this field still is. Five separate archetypes with over 10% representation, and a 6th (Doflamingo) just under that threshold shows just how much diversity this OP1 format has.

It's not surprising to see Kid as the most-played deck as this is roughly how the metagame started in Japan as well. Most people's first assessment of the format is that OP01-051 Eustass"Captain"Kid is the strongest card in the game, so a lot of people gravitate to the Kid archetype. The Kid deck is also incredibly flexible in the game plans it's able to deploy, so skilled players that want more agency over their games are also drawn to it.

Despite all of the reasons to play Kid, there are edges to be gained against it if you're gunning for it. One of the best decks to do that is Red Luffy. We saw this dynamic play out in Long Beach last weekend where Kid was actually played a bit more than in Miami—134 copies vs 129—but was trounced by Luffy in the winners' metagame which had six representatives in the Top 16 off of only 55 total copies, including the eventual winner.

You would think that would scare people off playing Kid, but the Niagara Falls Treasure Cup on the same weekend had five Kid in Top 16, including the eventual winner vs a lonely single Luffy player. Given two almost contradictory results, it makes sense that people mostly returned to the default and started from scratch.

Law, Kaido, Zoro, and to a lesser extent Doflamingo have all sent players to the top cut of these events, and could be poised for a breakout if things go a certain way. Each of these decks has the tools and power level to win Treasure Cup-sized events—it just all depends on what they are tuned to beat, and what the metagame looks like on any given week. In particular, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kaido and Law find success as we proceed further into the OP1 format.

Maybe that starts now? Let's take a look at the Treasure Cup Miami Top 16, as reported by PPG.

I will note that there is an error in this graphic. Kid actually put nine players into the Top 16, with Luffy only getting two. That is a massive winners' metagame share on the part of Kid and a disappointing performance for Red in general, especially Zoro, who was completely shut out after starting with 17% representation. Most builds of Kid are exceptionally good at clearing the board of small and medium-sized characters through things like Nekomamushi and Basil Hawkins so it makes sense Zoro decks that are trying to go wide would struggle against such a large field of green.

I'm a bit surprised to see Luffy with such little representation given the success it can have against Kid, but that success does require both an intentionally targeted build and a deep understanding of the matchup. I expect we will see more Luffy pilots acquire both of those things as time goes on, but for now, it's Kid's time to shine.

Green Kid by Andrew Dovale

• 1 ST02-001 Eustass"Captain"Kid
• 3 OP01-041 Kouzuki Momonosuke
• 3 ST02-004 Capone"Gang"Bege
• 4 ST02-007 Jewelry Bonney
• 4 OP01-039 Killer
• 4 OP01-048 Nekomamushi
• 4 ST02-008 Scratchmen Apoo
• 4 OP01-033 Izo
• 3 OP01-052 Raizo
• 4 OP01-035 Okiku
• 4 OP01-047 Trafalgar Law
• 2 OP01-054 X.Drake
• 2 ST02-010 Basil Hawkins
• 2 ST02-013 Eustass"Captain"Kid
• 3 OP01-051 Eustass"Captain"Kid
• 2 OP01-057 Paradise Waterfall
• 2 OP01-058 Punk Gibson

This is the decklist of the sole undefeated Swiss player, and eventual Treasure Cup winner, Andrew Dovale, who had to navigate many mirror matches among a smattering of other decks to get to that point and go 13-0.

This is a fairly standard double-searcher build, but I appreciate how clean the numbers on every card seem. Only three Momo may seem awkward initially, but when it's making space for all of those niche two-of cards, I understand why Andrew was willing to make the sacrifice. Having access to Paradise Waterfall alongside the two Eustass"Captain"Kid and four Trafalgar Law can be very powerful in a wide array of situations, alongside giving you solid bluff credibility by leaving 1 DON!! open on the opposing turn.

Basil Hawkins is also a very important tool for both clearing more aggressive boards and fighting against Eustass"Captain"Kid in the mirror. Because of Basil's lack of counter value, it's hard to run too many, so two seems like a very reasonable number. This is a build I would be very comfortable recommending as a starting point for anyone interested in picking up the Kid archetype.

While Kid may have had a spectacular weekend, there are several other decks that came close to dethroning it that I would like to talk about, especially my personal favorite archetype, RG Law.

RG Law by Caban Schwartzentruber

• 1 OP01-002 Trafalgar Law
• 4 OP01-006 Otama
• 4 ST01-006 Tony Tony.Chopper
• 3 ST02-004 Capone"Gang"Bege
• 4 ST02-007 Jewelry Bonney
• 4 OP01-016 Nami
• 2 P-013 Gordon
• 3 OP01-048 Nekomamushi
• 2 ST01-011 Brook
• 2 OP01-033 Izo
• 2 ST02-005 Killer
• 4 OP01-017 Nico Robin
• 2 OP01-025 Roronoa Zoro
• 4 OP01-047 Trafalgar Law
• 2 ST01-012 Monkey.D.Luffy
• 2 OP01-051 Eustass"Captain"Kid
• 3 OP01-029 Radical Beam!!
• 3 ST01-015 Gum-Gum Jet Pistol

This is Caban Schwartzentruber's iteration of RG Law, which led them to an 8-1 record in Swiss where their only loss was to the player above. Here we see the normal two-searcher core with a lot of spice around the edges.

The thing I appreciate most from Caban's build is how deliberately it maximizes their own OP01-051 Eustass"Captain"Kid as well as beating any opposing ones. The inclusion of three Radical Beam makes protecting Kid a lot easier by greatly complicating the math for your opponent, and two copies of Gordon act as two additional Otama effects to pair with three Jet Pistol.

Kid can be so strong in the Law deck because it protects your board while you continue to get value from your leader ability, eventually burying your opponent in cards. There are even many occasions where it is correct to return something like a Nami to your hand with the Law ability, play nothing, and then replay the Nami from your hand for value as Caban did multiple times on the weekend.

Red Luffy: Kyle Waple

• 4 OP01-006 Otama
• 4 ST01-006 Tony Tony.Chopper
• 4 OP01-016 Nami
• 2 OP01-019 Bartolomeo
• 4 OP01-011 Gordon
• 4 OP01-013 Sanji
• 4 OP01-017 Nico Robin
• 4 OP01-025 Roronoa Zoro
• 4 ST01-012 Monkey.D.Luffy
• 3 P-021 Benn.Beckman
• 4 OP01-120 Shanks
• 3 OP01-029 Radical Beam!!
• 2 OP01-026 Gum-Gum Fire-Fist Pistol Red Hawk
• 4 ST01-015 Gum-Gum Jet Pistol

I also want to showcase Kyle Waple's iteration of mono Red Luffy, not just because it's exceptionally nice to look at (being near full max rarity), but because I expect it to be very close to the stock build moving forward into next week.

Kyle also finished 8-1, with a sole loss to Kid on camera in a match that I would very much recommend watching when it is up on YouTube if you're interested in learning how to pilot this archetype. Both players played exceptionally well, and despite the result, I believe the match showcased why this iteration can have a very strong matchup against Kid and will be the go-to for the coming weeks with Kid now having a massive target on its back.

It's possible people go a step further by finding room for cards like one OP01-022 Brook, who can solo Eustass"Captain"Kid, but I still expect Benn.Beckman to be a mainstay in these decks for at least a bit longer.

Purple Kaido: Kevin Le

• 1 ST04-001 Kaido
• 4 ST04-011 Black Maria
• 4 OP01-100 Kurozumi Higurashi
• 4 OP01-101 Sasaki
• 4 ST04-008 Jack
• 3 ST04-002 Ulti
• 4 OP01-114 X.Drake
• 4 ST04-005 Queen
• 4 OP01-107 Babanuki
• 4 ST04-004 King
• 1 OP01-096 King
• 2 OP01-092 Urashima
• 2 ST04-003 Kaido
• 3 OP01-094 Kaido
• 3 ST04-016 Blast Breath
• 4 ST04-017 Onigashima Island

The last deck I'd like to showcase is Kevin Le's iteration of Kaido. There are a couple things going on with this list that I believe are noteworthy, and it also gives me an opportunity to talk about the state of Kaido in general.

As you can see, Kevin's list has a focus on large vanilla characters like Babanuki and Urashima to try and maintain a strong board presence at an earlier stage of the game than Kaido would normally be able to do. Babanuki gives the deck a much higher floor in games where you don't find Onigashima, which helps alleviate the most common complaint people have about the deck's higher-than-normal variance.

Urashima is also noteworthy because it's part of a game plan that more and more Kaido players are opting for recently: choosing to go second. If you go second, instead of only having your starting five cards plus one additional draw to find Onigashima, you get two additional draws plus a lifecard from your opponent's first attack. That dramatically increases the odds of you seeing either Onigashama or Jack by your second turn, but it also changes your ramp curve from 6 on turn three to 7, and that is where Urashima comes in.

It's also worth noting that if your first ramp card was Onigashima, this line sets you up with 10 DON!! on turn four to play Kaido, which is generally going to be far too early for most opponents to deal with. Building and playing in ways to mitigate Kaido's inherent variance makes it far more viable, and I'm very interested to see how this strategy evolves as more players start to adopt it and build decks around it.

There are certainly a lot of other cool decks in the Top 16 and if you would like to see them all they can all be found on PPG's website.

The Treasure Cups are giving players their first opportunity to showcase their wit and creativity within the One Piece Card Game, and so far I've been very impressed by what I've seen. Now the question becomes whether any of these other archetypes will find a way to push Kid off of his throne, and if so, which one will it be? I guess we'll have to wait until the next Treasure Cup to find out.