Bandai Namco’s One Piece Card Game boasts a veritable pirates’ horde when it comes to Starter Decks (and deck variants), with more than a dozen already hitting shelves in the time between Romance Dawn and today.
Because there are so many One Piece decks, it’s important to make sure you’re buying the best ones, whether it’s sealed packs that can be played straight out of the box or older Starter packets that carry competitive staples. While you can always collect other strong cards, starting off right can be enough to survive the Grand Line.
Here’s all the best One Piece Starter Decks and their 50-card decklists.
One Piece Card Game starter decks, ranked
I’ve broken all 14 One Piece decks on offer into four easy ranks: Competitive Out Of The Box, Easy To Upgrade, Some Solid Staples, and Not Worth Buying. What’s written in each Starter deck ranking is exactly what you’d expect—no tricks here.
If you’re looking to join the One Piece competitive scene through tournaments or local play, you’ll want to prioritize finding Tier One and Tier Two decks where possible.
| Ranking | Decks |
|---|---|
| Tier One — Competitive out of the box | The Three Brothers (ST13) The Three Captains (ST10) 3D2Y (ST14) Uta (ST11) |
| Tier Two — Easy to upgrade | The Seven Warlords of the Sea (ST03) Worst Generation (ST02) Animal Kingdom Pirates (ST04) Big Mom Pirates (ST07) Zoro & Sanji (ST12) |
| Tier Three — Some solid staples | Straw Hat Pirates (ST01) Absolute Justice (ST06) FILM Edition (ST05) |
| Tier Four — Not worth buying | Monkey D. Luffy (ST08) Yamato (ST09) |
Tier 1 — Competitive out of the box
ST13 — The Three Brothers
Verdict: The best One Piece Card Game deck to buy right now. Luffy’s Yellow/Black Leader card is one of the very strongest builds in the Two Legends metagame and many of the cards used in that strategy are in this box. With just a few additions—eight-cost Gecko Moria and blocker Sabo among them—this deck will have you winning locals in no time.
Best cards: Monkey D. Luffy (Leader and character), all the Three Brothers’ “little kid” versions.
ST10 — The Three Captains
Verdict: As the other Ultimate deck in the One Piece Card Game, it’s unsurprising that this sealed box is also stuffed full of competitively-viable cards. Some of the Red cards here are reprints, including Nami and Zoro, but they’re both played in top meta decks built around Straw Hat strategies. Luffy’s Red/Purple Leader card also sees play.
It’s also worth picking up The Three Captains pack just in case Trafalgar Law’s Leader card is ever taken off the ban list. His Red/Purple Leader edition was so strong it warped the whole Eastern OP-08 metagame until it was shelved.
Best cards: Trafalgar Law (character), Monkey D. Luffy (Leader), Nami, Zoro.
ST14 — 3D2Y
Verdict: The new 3D2Y deck has given rise to a boost-cost strategy in Black that has had some early success in the East. It’s expected to translate well to the English metagame too, making this a deck you can pick up and play to success.
You’ll eventually want to add Black staples like Sabo and Rebecca from Kingdoms of Intrigue and Gecko Moria from Wings of the Captain, but this list gives you a perfect place to start.
Best cards: Luffy (Leader), Sanji, Thousand Sunny.
ST11 — Uta
Verdict: The very best option among all the decks if you want to simply peel back the packet and start playing. FILM-themed Uta has fallen away a little after the release of Two Legends, but when it comes to gameplay and cohesion, this Uta deck is simple and easy to understand. A perfect place to start if you want to play competitively.
Best cards: Uta (Leader and character), I’m Invincible, New Genesis.
Tier 2 — Easy to upgrade
ST03 — The Seven Warlords of the Sea
Verdict: While many of the cards out of the box here are decent in their own right, the Seven Warlords of the Sea set is a must-buy for a better reason: The more Warlords-themed characters you add, the stronger it becomes. If you add the Donquxiote Doflamingo Leader from Romance Dawn, this deck even becomes tier one.
As for what cards you want to collect to upgrade, I’d recommend picking up 5,000 Years in the Future packs. In there, you’re looking for Jinbe, Trafalgar Law, and Crocodile (all four-costs). The 7,000 Power Boa Hancock in 5,000 is also another strong top-end character.
Best cards: Gecko Moria, Dracule Mihawk, Love Love Beam.
ST02 — Worst Generation
Verdict: Many of the Green cards in this deck have stayed relevant for more than three years, especially the Bonney searcher; she sees play in Bonney’s powerful Supernovas build. It’s worth picking up this deck just for how powerful the Eustass “Captain” Kid Leader is in any One Piece prerelease tourney.
Best cards: Kid (Leader), Capone “Gang” Bege blocker, Jewelry Bonney searcher.
ST04 — Animal Kingdom Pirates
Verdict: This deck birthed one of the first tier zero strategies themed around Kaido ramping hard and deleting enemy Life with abilities. Now, in 2024, all signs point to Kaido enjoying a resurgence alongside the Black Maria utility card released in Two Legends; a good pickup just to prepare for that metagame shift. There are several still-expensive Purple staples played in most decks in the color, including Queen and Kaido.
Best cards: Queen blocker, Kaido (Leader, character), King, Blast Breath.
ST07 — Big Mom Pirates
Verdict: This deck’s Leader, Pirate Emperor Charlotte Linlin, has always been overshadowed by her son Katakuri’s ever-present Leader card from Pillars of Strength, but the characters and events in this list are strong Yellow staples.
Because Big Mom Pirates remains a competitively viable theme for decks all the way through to the OP-10 metagame and beyond (if Eastern testing is to be believed), many of these stronger characters have stayed powerful and expensive. The Brulee blocker card is well-statted and boasts a great Trigger, while Linlin’s character card is always an incredible turn-four play.
Best cards: Seven-cost Charlotte Linlin, Charlotte Brulee blocker.
ST12 — Zoro & Sanji
Verdict: You won’t win every locals with this Zoro & Sanji decklist, but the synergy built into the cardlist is really quite great. The heart of the deck is the 2,000 Counter power Dracule Mihawk, who summons cards rested. You then use your dual Blue/Green Leader to bring them into a standing mode (and safety) early.
Other strong cards include the Roronoa Zoro character card with 6,000 power and the Emporio Ivankov character that floods the battlefield with warriors. Just be careful facing any decks that bring out really big enemies; this deck doesn’t crack past 6,000 Power.
Best cards: Dracule Mihawk with 2,000 Counter power.
Tier 3 — Some solid staples
ST01 — Straw Hat Crew
Verdict: The iconic first Starter deck was themed completely around One Piece‘s heroes, the Straw Hats. Because this deck came out in 2022, some strategies have eventually replaced the cards that were used from this deck, but many others have stood the test of time. Luffy’s Rush-centric character card is considered for nearly every aggro Red deck, while Guard Point is an incredible defensive event.
There’s definitely some cards you’d want to upgrade as soon as possible, with characters like Usopp, Jinbe, Nefertari Vivi, and Karoo among the first to go.
Best cards: Luffy (character), Jet Pistol, Guard Point, Diable Jambe.
ST06 — Absolute Justice
Verdict: Several months ago the Absolute Justice deck was the hardest packet to find, with resold releases running up to $150. Following the Sakazuki Leader ban, however, many of these Navy staples—especially Marineford, Great Eruption (itself once a $50 card), and the 2,000 Counter power Tashigi—have fallen away from top-level play.
Best cards: Great Eruption, Hina, Tashigi with 2,000 Counter, Smoker.
ST05 — FILM Edition
Verdict: Most of the FILM cards in this set have been passed power-wise by newer One Piece card releases, but some work in certain builds. The Leader, Purple-colored Shanks, is definitely one you’ll want to replace immediately.
Best cards: Douglass Bullet, Ain, Uta.
Tier 4 — Not worth buying
ST09 — Yamato
Verdict: This Yamato-themed deck is the first of two “side” packs released together in mid-2023 at the height of the One Piece game’s supply issues. Bandai heavily printed this and a Monkey D. Luffy deck (below) to make sure beginners could get find decks on the shelves; the very low power-level of the decks represents that original goal.
Best cards: Yamato (Leader), Yamato card with 2,000 Counter power.
ST08 — Monkey D. Luffy
Verdict: As above, this Luffy deck is designed more for absolute beginners to get a feel for the game. That has it’s value, but unless you’re just wanting to rule the kitchen table with a friend in the early days, avoid this one.
Best cards: Luffy Leader (for collectors).
