The Intricacies of the One Piece Card Game

Introduction

Hello and nice to meet you. My name is TsukiUsagi (@MdaTaePraty). 
Hey guys, Kai (@ikailakai) here with the translation to English.

This article is for those who feel they have become relatively familiar with card games, but either tend to fall short of the finish line or feel like even if they use the same deck as someone else, they can’t win in the same way. This article will not pertain exclusively to the One Piece Card Game, but cover this topic from a broader scope of any competitive game, card or not.

Are Your Draws Bad, or Are You Playing Bad?

“I used a winning decklist, but lost because I couldn’t draw what I needed”
“I’m unlucky with my draws so I can’t use ___ deck”
Have you ever heard, or said this kind of phrase?
If you have ever said or thought it, it’s time to reframe your thinking.
To preface, the chance of drawing the same card from the same deck will be the same no matter who utilizes it.
* Disregard deck-stacking
As such, I believe that there is no such thing as a player who always has ‘bad draws.’

That said, I’m sure numerous people have seen someone with 'good draws,' and thought, 'man, my draws are so bad,' so let’s analyze the mechanism behind this

To rephrase what people mean when they say they drew badly, it essentially means that they ‘could not draw the card they wanted when they wanted it,’ or ‘they didn’t have the card to do the play they wanted to.’
It is entirely possible that on a game-by-game, or draw-by-draw basis, players won’t be able to always draw the specific card that they want. However, if this happens every game, the problem is not that they ‘could not draw the card they wanted when they wanted it,’ but rather that they’re putting themselves in a situation where they’re in trouble if they don’t draw the card they want.
To give an extreme example, if you are in a situation where you can spread your Don among your characters and win, there are no cards that you ‘need to draw’ nor ‘have issues if you draw.’ In this situation, no matter how weak of a card you draw, you wouldn’t think of it as a ‘bad draw,’ and no matter how strong a card you draw, you wouldn’t think of it as a ‘good draw.’
Counting backward from this scenario to the turn before, or the turn before that one, a player with ‘bad draws’ will create situations through their plays that require them to have specific cards. As a result, they create this perception that they just do not ‘draw well.’
Those who have played Poker will know this well but even in card games, the skill factor comes from leaving your hand with the most options. The cards you draw are the luck factor on top of this foundation. People who would be considered advanced players play the game in a way that gives them multiple options, reducing the need for a specific card in the coming turns.

The Trap of a ‘Winning Decklist’

A scenario that often occurs when using a ‘tournament-winning decklist’ is the thought: 
“This deck feels so unstable. If I draw well I can win, but that only happens about 40% of the time.”
“I guess the winner of that tournament is really good so they’re able to play out of bad spots even with bad draws.”
This train of thought is only partially true.
It may not be an issue of skill, but that the decklist is simply ‘peaky’ or high risk, high reward.

Firstly, as mentioned earlier, the tournament champion and similar high-level players tend to play in a way that minimizes situations where they have bad draws. As a result, from the outside, it will look as if they always have ‘good draws.’ However, this is not the whole story.
In One Piece Card Game terms, a deck that’s easy to understand what ‘good draws’ looks like is Purple Kaido from OP01. 
*This section was written with the current card pool and meta at the time in mind
Purple Kaido, if it manages to play the cards that it wants to, is an extremely powerful deck. However, your key card in Onigashima Island and your board foundation in King and Kaido are all not searchable. Due to this, there will be situations where even advanced players will only draw Onigashima Island, and no top end, or only top end, and no Onigashima Island.

So how do players in top cut win? The simple answer is that they make no mistakes, and have good luck. It’s not that the player will always have good draws, but rather that the ones who had good draws without mistakes on that day end up placing high.
Beginners can find themselves with really good luck on the day, but lose due to small mistakes such as spreading Don incorrectly or countering in the wrong order. In top cut matches of tournaments, where these types of players have been weeded out, ‘luck’ becomes a major factor in deciding the victor.
To use OP01 Kaido again as an extreme example, it’s not terrible to go into the tournament with the mindset of:

1. I will always draw Onigashima

2. I will never hit a rush deck

Then, if things don’t go as planned, still play with the mindset of “I’ll try my best and will capitalize on all of my opponent’s mistakes, but it’s okay if I lose.”
If you’re aiming for high placement repeatedly throughout 100 tournaments, then ‘consistency’ is important. However, in a single tournament, you can win by winning about 5-10 games in a row.
Returning to the main point, ‘tournament winning decklists’ may not be a deck that ‘consistently wins 70% of its matches,’ but rather ‘wins 90% of its matches if your starting hand is good.’ The champion may have also built the deck with strong resolve that they will never settle for anything less than the best starting hand.
Don’t blindly believe in lists with results, but rather, think about what kind of logic the player used to make and bring the deck.

Don’t Give Up Until The End

Have you ever played a game and thought, “Ahhhh, there’s no way I can win with this hand?” By the way, I have often. In a game where you can attach your Active Don to characters, it’s not unusual for no cards to be played on the lethal turn. Therefore, it’s likely that you will know if you will lose on your opponent’s next turn.
However, even if you know that you have no cards with counter in your hand, or that there are no cards with trigger in your deck and therefore you’re guaranteed to lose, the opponent doesn’t necessarily know this fact.
From your point of view, you may think, “I only have 5 cards but only 2000 counter, I don’t run any trigger that can save me either, it’s over.”
However, from your opponent’s point of view, they might think, “They have 5 cards in their hand so that’s a maximum of 10000, at worst 5000 counter. A trigger Jet Pistol or Red Hawk can also prevent lethal.”
Even in situations where, from your perspective, attacking without any thought will guarantee a win, your opponent is forced to consider using resources to potentially set up defense if the attempt at lethal is unsuccessful. In this scenario, if you concede or play recklessly, effectively giving up through the way that you play, your chance of winning becomes 0. If instead, you refuse to give up and play in a way that makes your opponent ‘want to play defensively,’ your chance of winning revives slightly.
No matter how hopeless the state of the game may seem, look at the game from your opponent’s perspective. If you see a scenario where your opponent can lose, that is your glimmer of hope in the game.
No matter what, keep a straight face that says “I won’t lose this one,” and your chance of winning will bud from there.

Can You Love a Deck, Even if it Can’t Win?

Who’s your favorite character in ONE PIECE? Are they in the One Piece Card Game?
This card game is unique in its roots where the characters already have a story and characteristics. For that reason, there will be a disproportionate number of people who want to use their favorite character or refuse to use characters they dislike compared to other card games.
That passion for the source material translates to motivation in the game, so I think it’s important to an extent. However, if you are reading this article, that means you are not a beginner and want to win. You already know that the love for a character is not enough to carry you to victory.
When you feel like you can’t win anymore using your favorite character, what’s important is to not ‘give up and switch to another deck,’ or to ‘mindlessly keep using a losing deck,’ but rather to think about why the deck with your favorite character isn’t winning.
In card games, there is a ‘meta.’ The term ‘meta’ originates from the Greek word meaning ‘beyond,’ and refers to the most effective strategies or tactics that emerge from players analyzing and optimizing the game's mechanics beyond what the developers had intended. The meta is not always static, but ‘cycles.’ If Deck ‘A’ becomes popular, then Deck ‘B’ with an advantageous matchup against Deck ‘A’ will become popular. Then, Deck ‘C,’ who can beat Deck ‘B’ is now an option, etc. The meta will cycle just like time does around a clock.
In context, this is to say that the reason why you lose with a deck using your favorite character isn’t exclusively due to the card being weak, or you playing the deck poorly, but rather, that it doesn’t suit the meta.
When your favorite card is weak, sometimes you can mend the situation by conversing and sharing information with others who use the same deck. However, this can sometimes prove challenging. Many of the leaders are relatively well-balanced. Though we only tend to see 5-6 leaders in tournaments of the over 100 that exist now, these leaders all have their strengths (for the most part), and ‘the card is bad’ is most likely not the only reason why you are struggling to win with it.
If the reason is that you are bad a using the deck, this is solved best by playing more games. Listen to the explanations of people around who are good at the game, watch explanation/discussion videos, or even try solving lethal puzzles when you see them online.
The final, and most important factor is the possibility that the deck doesn’t match the meta. Using the example earlier, Deck ‘B’ is amazing in a meta where Deck ‘A’ is popular, but weak in a meta where Deck ‘C’ is popular. Deck ‘B’s strength would come down solely to which other decks are in the meta. In this way, even if the deck doesn’t change at all, if the meta changes, then it can suddenly stop earning you results.
If your favorite deck isn’t meta, this could be an opportunity as it’s a deck that is underresearched, and others will be ill-prepared for it in terms of deck-building and playing. Therefore, as long as you understand what kind of meta your favorite deck thrives in, you might be able to get ahead of other’s thinking.
This isn’t to say that the thought of changing decks if your favorite deck doesn’t work out is bad, or that you shouldn’t use your favorite deck if it’s not good in the meta. However, if you take the time to think about why you’re not winning before changing a deck, you create a chance for retribution and bliss when you finally reach a situation that enables you to win with your favorite card. Before switching decks, take that extra step to catalog your old deck as an option for the future.

Closing

Thank you for reading up to this point. What did you think about this next step from the previous article on the game’s fundamentals? Compared to the ‘Fundamentals Guide,’ I’ve focused more on the application of theory within the card game that happens outside of the game's many aspects, rather than the techniques in game. Unlike the previous guide, which can be applied immediately after reading, this article may have felt a bit more abstract in its application. However, I believe it will help with overcoming some obstacles people inevitably encounter when playing card games long-term. There are still many things I want to write about, but writing too much in a single article can make it harder to read, so I’ll save it for another time.
I plan to continue writing articles like this, as well as deck profile articles, so if you enjoyed this one, please consider leaving a like and follow me on Twitter (@MdaTaePraty).
For now, let’s leave it at that!