Every set of theOne Piece Card Gameincludes a set of new leaders to pair with the waves of new support. OP-05 Awakening Of The New Era includes six different leaders with various abilities. From early game ramp in purple Monkey.D.Luffy to the first leader with a keyword like Donquixote Rosinante, the first-anniversary set of the popular pirate card game includes some of the strongest leaders in the game.
Not every leader in a set can be a winner, but that shouldn’t stop you from figuring out a way to stomp your opponents with an underused leader card. It will feel even better than winning aTreasure Cup event.
The Flame Emperor Enters The Battle
The first appearance of the Flame Emperor in OP-05 Awakening Of The New Era fell a bit short. Although Sabo’s effect can be a great way to protect your Revolutionary Army characters from being K.O.’d, this color combination lends itself to be quite problematic.
Red and Black each have different gameplay goals. While Red tends to be extra aggressive while removing cards based on their power, black focuses its removal on the card’s play cost, making the deck have conflicting game plans.
Luckily, OP-04 Sabo is an excellent Revolutionary Army card that can prevent your characters from being K.O.’d for the turn, but other than that, OP-05 did not give any outstanding cards to make this leader shine.
Protect Your Characters With This Leader
Rosinante is the first leader in the One Piece Card Game with a specific keyword rather than an effect. It may seem a bit counterintuitive to block attacks with your leader since a leader cannot be K.O.’d, but rather, you’ll take damage from your life cards. But this leader can be a great way to protect your weak searcher cards that your opponent can easily take out.
Being a Blue and Green leader gives this deck access to the entire Donquixote Pirates pool of cards and one of the best engines in the game, Jewelry Bonney and the Supernovas.
Pump Up Your Characters With Her Effect
Betty is one of the more interesting leaders in the booster set. This leader can buff up three of your Revolutionary Army characters by 3,000 power for the turn. you may activate her effect by trashing one Revolutionary Army card, so the effect is quite costly, but it can turn the tide of the game quickly.
Belo Betty brings a new playstyle to aggressive decks with an interesting combination of colors. With her being Red and Yellow, it gives you access to some powerful trigger cards that can be buffed by Betty’s banner effect.
This Leader Cannot Be Defeated
Although Katakuri is still a great leader for yellow decks, Enel is giving it a run for its money. Enel’s effect lets you heal one life whenever you hit zero. If you want to defeat this leader, you need to have at least two attacks lined up since he’ll never be in a lethal or checkmate state.
Not only does this deck feel unkillable, but the multiple triggers that can appear in Enel’s life can slow down the pace of the game even more, giving the leader a chance to strike once you’re ready. Yellow, in general, has a ton of great generic staples, so whether you choose to build your deck around the OP-05 Sky Island cards or you’re hung up on that Big Mom pack, Enel will still perform excellently.
One Of The Best Purple Leaders
Most of the purple game plan in the One Piece Card Game revolves around quickly ramping up your DON!! card count to play your higher-cost characters way before the game rules allow you to. This Monkey.D.Luffy is arguably one of the best leaders in the game. Not only is the ramp effect of this leader generic enough to work with just about any purple card in the game, but being the captain of theStraw Hat Crewgives Luffy access to the biggest card pool in the game.
As of OP-05, Purple Straw Hats is already a huge enough card pool to build an entire deck around it, but combining them with Kid or Heart Pirates might be a little more effective at ramping up to your 10-cost Luffy or Rush Kaido.
The Best Leader Of OP-05
There is no denying the power that this leader brought in OP-05. Extra card draw every turn on top of black’s powerful cost reduction makes Sakazuki a menace on the board. The source of Sakazuki’s power comes mostly from its color combination and the cards found in theAbsolute Justice starter deckand OP-05 Awakening Of The New Era.
Sakazuki’s power level is high enough as it is, but when combined with powerful removal cards like OP-05 Rob Lucci, Rebecca, and the blue Navy event card Hound Blaze, this leader can maintain a healthy state and hand size while controlling your opponent’s. Also, being a Navy admiral means support for the deck will never run out.
