The One Piece Trading Card Game Is Taking Over
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Our regular readers know we’re big fans of Eiichiro Oda’s phenomenally popular manga and anime, One Piece. One Piece has everything – adventure, humor, fantastic artwork, and a well-built and fascinating world. Oda’s masterpiece is the best-selling manga of all time and its anime – one of the Shonen Big Three – consistently ranks as one of the best anime series. The recent Netflix live-action adaptation surprised fans and critics alike with its faithfulness to Oda’s work. To sum it all up, One Piece is one of the biggest names in the anime and manga world, and its trading card game has rapidly become a major player in the card game world.
The One Piece trading card game (TCG) was created in 2022 by Bandai and licensed by Shueisha. It’s designed for two players but some fans adapt the rules to accommodate greater numbers. In September 2023, less than a year after its debut in the Western world, it outranked established TCGs such as Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and the one that started it all, Magic: The Gathering, to become the best-selling game on the online store TCGPlayer.
The One Piece TCG consists of five card types: Leader cards, character cards, event cards, stage cards, and DON!! cards. Leader cards feature some of the most popular One Piece characters, including Monkey D. Luffy, Kaido, and Zoro, and each player selects a Leader card at the start of the game. These cards determine how many life points you have and can attack and cause effects. Leaders have specific colors and your main deck, made up of 50 cards, must be the same color as your Leader.
Your main deck is made up of character cards, event cards, and stage cards that are the same color as your Leader card. Character cards are the main cards played in the game. They feature the many One Piece characters and allow you to attack, block your opponent’s moves, and perform other actions. Event cards have a variety of effects, including increasing a character’s power or temporarily deactivating (resting) your opponent’s cards. Stage cards introduce complex mechanics that may support your other cards or change how you play your hand, for example trashing cards or drawing new ones.
DON!! cards make up the other deck. These cards all have the same effects, but varying and beautiful artwork. They are used to pay the cost of character, event, and stage cards or can be attached to character or Leader cards to boost their power. The number of DON!! cards you have will determine which cards, and how many, you can play. For example, if you have two DON!! cards, you can either play one card that costs 2 or two cards that cost 1.
The layout of the One Piece TCG is the same for each game. Between your DON!! deck and your main deck is your cost area. DON!! cards are placed here; the number of DON!! cards you have will determine which cards you can play. Above the cost area are spaces for your Leader card and Stage card. In the top left corner of the playmat are your life cards. Your Leader card has a number written in the lower left-hand corner: this is how many life points you have. Your aim is to reduce your opponent’s life points to zero.
The game’s rules are pretty simple to get to grips with. Once you have a handle on your playmat’s layout, the game follows the same sequence for each turn. Different character, event, and stage cards will affect your game strategy and how you play but these are marked clearly on the cards themselves. The cards feature vibrant artwork from the One Piece anime and manga, as well as original artwork never seen before. The characters, settings, and mechanics they depict all tie into Oda’s incredible world. The TCG feels like a true celebration of everything that is great about One Piece.
Since its release in 2022, the One Piece TCG’s popularity has exploded. It began with four Starter Decks and one Booster pack, Romance Dawn. At the time of this article, it consists of 14 Starter Decks and 8 Booster packs, the most recent of which, Two Legends, was released just this month, September 2024.
Starter Decks contain a colored Leader card, fifty character, event, and stage cards of the same color, and ten DON!! cards. Initially, all Leader cards had solid colors (e.g. red, yellow, blue, purple). Over time, however, the TCG introduced multicolored Leader cards (e.g. blue/green, yellow/red), meaning your deck can be made up of character, event, and stage cards of either color. Most fans recommend beginning with a Starter Deck and then buying Booster Packs to add to your collection. Because Booster packs contain twelve random cards of any color, it’s difficult to build an entire 50-card deck from scratch using only Booster packs. However, they also often contain rarer and more powerful cards, as well as unique and original artwork. As a result, Booster boxes are where most fans’ interest lies.
There are 24 Booster packs in a Booster box, so for fans who are serious about the game and/or card collecting, Booster boxes are where it’s at. Some of the most popular boxes include the Awakening of the New Era Booster Box (OP-05 ) and the Wings of the Captain Booster Box (OP-05). Awakening of the New Era marked the first anniversary of the One Piece TCG. It includes beautiful original artwork along with some high-powered cards and new Leaders. Wings of the Captain features stage cards for Fishman Island, Kingdom of Germa, and Thriller Bark, as well as multicolored Leader cards including Yamato (green/yellow) and Vinsmoke Reiju (blue/purple). Both boxes have produced some incredible cards and are considered to be among the better-value boxes.
The most recent release, as of September 2024, is the Two Legends Booster Box (Op-08). Two Legends contains new characters and mechanics from manga and anime arcs such as the Zou Arc and the Drum Island Arc. It introduces new Leader cards such as Tony Tony Chopper (red/green) and Marco (red/blue) and features new effects to strengthen your deck and enhance your characters’ power. As with any trading card game, booster packs are a gamble – but isn’t that part of the fun?
As we’ve mentioned, the One Piece TCG has achieved incredible popularity over the last two years. One Piece fans are active and enthusiastic and have taken the trading card game in their stride. Soon after the game’s release, one fan known as Maebatsu created an app called the OPTCGSim that allows players to connect with each other worldwide. Maebatsu’s innovation, and other fans’ appreciation and praise for his hard work, show how close-knit and dedicated the One Piece fans are. On top of this, the official One Piece Card Game website has an events page that details in-person and online tournaments and other events for TCG fans.
For some fans, enjoyment of the game comes from collecting rare and special cards, including foil, themed, or variant cards, and those with original artwork. Already, the demand for these cards is high, and many collectors expect to see the value continue to increase.
It’s hard to say if the One Piece TCG has come at the right time or if it would always have been a success thanks to Eiichiro Oda’s incredible manga and its beloved anime. The game’s engaging but straightforward mechanics make it accessible to all players, while also keeping it fresh and exciting with new characters and effects in Starter Decks and Boosters. The artwork is a wonderful mix of manga, anime, and original illustrations. And with the One Piece manga and anime still going strong, fans can look forward to seeing new characters, settings, and narratives represented in the TCG – which means there will always be more rare and special cards to collect. The One Piece TCG is without a doubt a major player in the trading card world and we’re excited to see what the future holds.
Have you played the One Piece trading card game? Do you think the game captures the creativity and spirit of Eiichiro Oda’s work? Let us know your thoughts and perspective in the comments below. And don’t forget to subscribe to our free newsletter, PopPulse Digest, for all things gaming, pop culture, online deals, and more.
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