Which One Piece Cards Will Bandai Ban on Monday?

As the power spike established in Carrying On His Will (OP-13) continues to ripple through The Azure Sea's Seven (OP14-EB04) and Heroines Edition (EB-03), the One Piece Card Game finds itself in a state of flux. While Imu, Ace, and Mihawk still mostly rule the competitive meta, contenders like Purple Yellow Rosinante and Blue Yellow Nami are asserting new dominance.

Over in Japan, where OP-15 is already live, things are looking even more chaotic, as yellow has all but taken over the meta. 

To help even out the game's balance and (presumably) bring other colors back into the competitive spotlight as we head into a synchronized global release, Bandai is set to introduce new changes to the One Piece Card Game ban list on March 16, 2026. 

Pre-banlist windows are always strange. Without a guarantee that today's best deck in format (BDIF) will survive the week, committing to a build feels like a gamble, especially with a massive card rotation just a month away. To help you prepare (and because we love a good bit of speculation), here's what we think might get hit, what might return, and a touch of what we're secretly wishing for.

One Piece Cards that Will Likely Get Banned on March 16

Before we get started, a bit of context on the thought process here: historically, when Bandai bans a card, that card—or the deck it's from—is already a bit past its prime. If your reaction to any of the following is, "that card isn't even that strong anymore!", we're with you! 

Unfortunately, it doesn't reduce the card's likelihood of getting banned.

I Re-Quasar Helllp! + UY Boa Hancock (Pair Ban)

If this ban prediction seems random, that's because it actually doesn't affect the western metagame at all at the moment.

• Borsalino (EB04-058)
• Egghead/Navy
• <Blocker>
• [On Play] If you have 2 or less Life cards, add up to 1 card from the top of your deck to the top of your Life cards.

The problem is, in OP-15, yellow gets a new SR Borsalino: a 4-cost, 6000-power Blocker with +1000 Counter that heals you for 1 Life if you're at 2 or less. That is extremely powerful on its own, but even more broken when you consider that it's an Egghead-type Character.

Pair it with the trigger of the OP-07 Event I Re-Quasar Helllp!, which summons a 5-cost or less Egghead Character, and you can basically go from 0 Life to 1 Life with a Blocker from a single trigger.

This combo has been extremely problematic for the eastern metagame, with most of the meta now consisting of yellow decks that run the combo whether or not the Egghead archetype even fits their flavor in the first place.

Since Bandai usually doesn't ban SRs, we expect to see Re-Quasar pair-banned with some of its most notorious abusers like Blue Yellow Boa, meaning you won't be able to use this card in a Boa deck specifically, but it'll still be usable by other decks like Vegapunk—the deck it was originally intended for.

Of course, it's entirely possible that the pair ban will go to Borsalino and Re-Quasar, although that would result in quite a bit of damage to the OP-07 Vegapunk Leader.

Never Existed... in the First Place...

Imu is allegedly the final boss of One Piece, so he was always meant to feel meta-breaking, but an unconditional 1-cost +4000 Counter Event that also destroys Stages? That's a bit too far. 

Because Imu has been such a powerful force in the meta for such a long time, many players expect him to take some kind of hit—especially if Bandai is going to release any support for him in upcoming sets. 

While many expect a hit to Imu's Stage, The Empty Throne, we think a hit to Never Existed is more plausible. Imu already has access to OP-14's Ground Death: a newer, more balanced Counter Event that also offers effect negation. Banning Never Existed removes the oppressive counter efficiency while still allowing Imu to function as a high-tier threat.

The troublesome thing about banning Never Existed is that it'd also do away with the card's Stage destruction effect, which serves as a main nuance of the mirror. But Bandai can always print a new Stage-destroyer. 

I Am Whitebeard!!

Blue Red Ace's 6000-power statline, combined with his ability to draw an absurd amount of cards and counter out of massive attacks thanks to his Leader effect, makes him an evergreen Leader that'll be strong pretty much no matter what the meta throws at him (although that looks like that's beginning to change with OP-15's power creep).

What he doesn't need on top of all that, is the ability to ramp via I Am Whitebeard!!, something that's supposed to be reserved for purple decks. For eight DON!!, the Event allows Ace to summon any 10-cost Whitebeard card, allowing him to play his boss monsters a turn early. That combo alone, combined with the fact that this usually summons the 10-cost OP-13 Blocker Edward.Newgate that can all but lock opponents out of the game, has made Ace an absolute menace of the last couple sets.

Now again, as Ace begins to fall out of favor in the face of all the new decks being released, it's possible we'll see a less impactful ban—maybe a pair ban of this card with the 10-cost Blocker Edward.Newgate. But for now, we think there's a ton of space to make Ace a meta-defining Leader even without access to this card.

Cards We'd Like to See Get Banned (and Unbanned) on March 16

Banned: Pudding

If you've played the One Piece Card Game at all in the last year and a half, you've heard people clamoring for the criminalization of blue 4-cost Charlotte Pudding, which makes your opponent shuffle their hand into their deck and draw 5. Now that the game has shifted toward favoring late-game Counter Events for survivability, that effect has become even more game-breaking, as Pudding is more likely than ever to screw over an opponent's ability to counter out of a big swing in the late game.

The fact that Bandai hasn't gotten rid of this card despite its controversial position in the meta tells me that it'll continue to remain legal. Still, it does result in some unfun play patterns that are ban-worthy even if they're not ban-demanding.

Unbanned: Jinbe

Blue is currently in a great spot with Boa and Nami, plus Blue Rebecca and Blue Red Lucy on the horizon. Still, the 4-cost SR Jinbe brought some much-needed aggression to the color, and we'd absolutely love to have it back. 

Bring back Warlords builds (RIP to the soon-to-be-rotated Blue Doflamingo). Bring back insane tempo swings. Screw it, make the blue Jinbe Leader BDIF. We're willing to put up with the chaos that ensues.

Stay Banned: Gecko Moria

Black players often argue that Moria has been power-crept enough to return to the game. We respectfully disagree. 

Look at any 8-cost card that summons another body and you'll see it's been specifically designed not to be anywhere close to this power level. Bandai, if you're reading this, please keep this guy on the list for at least another six months.