My Final? OP03 Zoro Deck (+ How to Play Against Yamato) (Patreon)

As OP03 comes to a close, I would like to post my iteration(s) of some of the OP03 meta decks, and the first one we will look at is Zoro. I recently played GenCon in an Arizona 3 v 3 Olympus Tournament(Olympus is the locals that Egman streams every week), and I performed very well, the only game I dropped was to my regional-winning Zoro list. I also just participated in the Florida regional and did horrible. I made a few changes to the deck, but the results were inconclusive, as I was just whiffing literally every thing. I did double Izou back to back(at the very start of the game) AND STILL WHIFFED.

[It's all good now though, I've apparently learned how to shuffle]

With the knowledge of my regional winning list, and the two new Zoro builds I've recently tested, I have now made a new Zoro list that I am quite fond of.

The New Zoro List

This is my new Zoro deck, and it resembles my regional winning list, but you will notice that there are significantly less events. The reasoning for reducing the event count to 12 (13 is also fine, if you want to remove a Vista or something) is because:

• Buggy is the searcher we care least about consistently hitting, because it's a generically strong attacker and we already run enough good events
• Too many events can get cloggy, I noticed there were a lot of times where i was BRICKED UP(pause) on events when playing the 15 version build
• The only deck I view as a fairly difficult matchup is yellow, and none of the events(aside from Fire Fist and Pistol) have really helped with this problem, so I figured it was strong to include 0-3 Magura(significantly helps with killing Yellow on lethal turns) and 0-1 Vista(have you ever been in a situation where you only have 1 unit to kill with Fire-Fist ESPECIALLY against Yellow(and sometimes Kuzan against Black), this is where Vista clutches up
• I decided to go down to 1 WB Pirates, in favor of more utility, I really liked 2, because I wanted to increase my odds of seeing 5Marco on curve, but if the other Zoro players can just hard draw 20, maybe I can too haha. I think 5 searchers is pretty smooth for finding 5Marco, the reality is that WB Pirates is significantly nerfed, due to only having one 4Marco, so I accept the idea of only having 0-1 copies.

TL;DR: We don't need Buggy to hit searchers as consistently as Izou AND more events doesn't help the Yellow matchup(which is basically the hardest matchup), so instead we run Maguras and Vistas.

The rest of the list is more or less standard to my last list, but I will talk about a few cards for the people who missed my OP03 Zoro guide:

Blamenco has been one of the saving graces against Yellow. It allows my 2K attackers(mainly Izou) to get active from the start of the game. I typically swing at my opponents leader with 5K, make the Yellow player's Pero/Cracker 3K power, and then attack into the Pero/Cracker with Izou! It also combos extremely well with Vista and Fire Fist.

This card is absolutely goated in the Yellow matchup, and can also be used for pressure/lethal turns against both Law and Zoro. After I got trashed by an Arizona player's Katakuri deck, I had to adjust and put Magura in, and it has made a significant difference. Games against Yellow always come down to the wire`, it's basically "Does the Yellow player have enough counter?," so buffing a 1 drop by 3K power for only 1 don is unbelievable value on those lethal turns.

I think 1 Zoro and 1 Luffy is still overall the better lineup, as it sees more matchups. But I decided on 2 Rush Zoro because of it's value in the Yellow and Zoro mirror match. It's important to be as don efficient as possible against Yellow, so the difference between 3 cost and 5 cost is fairly significant. Rush Zoro is also one of the few ways to salvage the Zoro mirror when going second. Either they only swing 5K into Zoro and it stays alive, or they commit a bunch of don to clearing Zoro, and then you get to play your 5Marco before them.

Flex Spot

My main flex spot right now is the 4th Fire Fist(but Magra and Vista are technically flex spots as well, I just really like them). It's also popular to do 3 Gordon, 3 Otama, instead of 4 Gordon, I just value Gordon 10x more against Yellow and Whitebeard.

Honestly I am very unsure on Magura, it feels very strong against Yellow when it hits, but feels mediocre against mostly everything. Izou also only has 18 targets, which is fairly solid. But I would feel a lot more comfortable with 20.

Instead of the 4th Fire Fist, I think it's possible to either run a 3rd Whitebeard Pirates, a 5th Counter Event, or Diable Jambe(Pistol's also a possibility, but Fire Fist consistently performs better against Yellow, if you don't run 4 Gordon then that would be better incentive to do Pistol and 3 Fist, instead of 4 Fist).

The Yamato Matchup

[Reminder: This leader can not use 10 Cost Yellow Mom]

Yamato is the new deck in town, and it's shaping up to be a fairly powerful deck! Yamato did pretty mediocre in Japan(Yellow Katakuri and Yellow Mom were more popular), but due to the new restrictions of 9Beard, Radical Beam and 4Marco, this could potentially be the strongest yellow deck!

Due to Marco's defense taking a significant nerf(due to 4MarcoABD Rad Beam being hit), chaining 7Moms, along with leaving up 3 don to use Narikabura Arrow and Ikoku Sovereingty is unbelievably powerful.

I honestly don't know too much about Yamato vs Whitebeard, but my friend Chesley(an Arizona player), beat a bunch of Whitebeards this weekend using Yamato. It seems that the 6K base, and extra defensive events helps even out the matchup against Whitebeard. In the past Yellow would need the 12K body(and potentially life burn) from 10 Cost Mom, but nowadays it's better to jam don and swing at the opponent, since they're already at 0 life, and they can't stack multiple Marcos to protect their life.

With that being said I will discuss my current perspective on the Yamato matchup.

Yamato Matchup

First Attack: Slight Advantage

Second Attack: 50/50 ~ Slight Disadvantage

Mulligan(First): 5Marco(Top Priority), 3Zoro, Blamenco/Gordon, Searchers, Fire Fist

Mulligan(Second): Blamenco/Gordon, Fire Fist(Top priority), 5Marco, Searchers, 3Zoro

Unlike the Katakuri matchup, Yellow Yamato can't burn your life, WHILE also recovering, so there is more time to field 5 drop Marcos. 5 Drop Marcos are also more essential due to the leader becoming 6K base at 2 life.

General Gameplan:

• When going first, I almost always start attacking with characters on Turn 4. I use turn 3 to establish 5Marco even if there's nothing to pop. Establishing that 5 Cost Marco on curve is simply too important, I'll even establish another Marco the turn afterwards, if I can afford to.
• When going second, I either start attacking with characters on Turn 3 or Turn 4, if the opponent has a slow start, I'll play 5 Cost Marco, but typically I'm doing debuff tricks;

Example: Opponent has rested Prospero and 5 Drop 7K. I attack leader with Blamenco for 5K and make Perospero 4K power, then they hit a trigger, I attack Perospeor with Searchers(Perospeora is 3K) and clear Perospeor. Then I gordon the 7K unit, and Fire Fist that unit and the trigger unit they got out of life!

• I like to clear bodies when I can, the only turn where I'm fine with not clearing a body is turn 3 going first(Marco turn), because I'd rather save my Gordon for a potential 7K uniit, and I can normally guard out of the units attack because they're just swinging 5K with it. (Removal events are key)
• Once the opponent gets down to 2 life, if they have a lot of cards in hand, I like to swing 8Ks to force them to either discard 2 cards or force them closer to 0. Alternatively if there hand has less cards, then I will swing for 6K twenty times
• If you're at 2 life, and you're opponent does their 2nd 7Mom and you can't kill them next turn, just give them the life. Their leader will become 5K again, so they generally take one of our first 5K chips, so we don't swing twenty 5Ks.

Example Going FIrst Curve:

• T1 Zoro (1 Don) - Izou (Grab Marco)
• T1 Yamato (2 Don) - Pudding, Pass
• T2 Zoro (3 Don) - Swing Leader, Dadan + Gordon
• T2 Yamato (4 Don) - Swing Leader, Play Cracker/Pero
• T3 Zoro (5 Don) - Swing leader. If they have two 5K attackers(due to hitting a trigger), I would use Gordon's effect and pop one of the attackers with 5Marco, if not, then I would just hard play Marco and kill Pudding
• T3 Yamato (6 Don) - Swing Leader, Swing Trigger Play 5 Drop 7K.
• T4 Zoro(Leave Up 3-4 Don while considering plays, you should have 7 Don Total) - Use Gordon to tag the 7 Drop(don't want to risk thunderbolt). Swing 5K at leader(1 Don), Swing 5K at leader(2 don with Izou), Swing 6K Leader, Swing 7K leader, use the remaining 3 son to pop the 7K and 5K with Fire Fist!

The rest of the game from here just turns into Yamato playing 7Moms, and us deciding if we trash/give life. I always trash life on the first 7Mom(I should have 3 life if I guarded properly, so I would be going down to 2). And then I'll only trash on the second 7Mom if I know I can lethal next turn OR I know that I can live them attacking 11, 11.

Example Going Second Curve:

• T1 Yamato (1 Don) - Pudding Pass
• T1 Zoro (2 Don) - Play Dadan, Grab Gordon
• T2 Yamato (3 Don) - Swing 5K leader, play Perospero, pass turn
• T2 Zoro (4 Don) - Swing 5K leader, Play Izou Grab Fire Fist, Play Buggy, Play Blamenco
• T3 Yamato (5 Don) Swing 5K Leader, Swing 5K Perospeor, play 5 Drop 7000
• T3 Zoro (6 Don) - Attatch Don to Leader, Attach Don to Blamenco, Attack Yamato Leader with Blamenco for 5K and minus 2K to Perospero(This attack here could also be 5K at Perospeor, and do -2K to the 5 Drop, but I imagine they'd defend Perospero), Attack Perospero with Izou(they'll let it die, because Buggy can also attack Perospero). Attack their leader for 6K with Zoro. Use Gordon to tag the 7K unit, and then fire fist Pudding and the 5 Drop(if they hit a trigger out of life on the 7K Zoro swing, then pop the trigger and 5 drop)

The rest of the game from here just turns into Yamato playing 7Moms and 8Katas. In my experience so far, it's strong to swing 6Ks and establish a 5Marco even if it's later on in the game. Yamato being 6K base goes a really long way. Makino is also a crazy blocker in this matchup, if you use Makino on turns where you clear the opponent's board, it is an unbelievable amount of value.

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Y'all may have seen on Twitter that I got clapped up on my first games against Yamato, but since then I have won a bunch of games! I also won 3 times in a row on the last day and technically won a box(I say technically, because me and Chesley made it to the finals but decided to split and play it out back at the AirBNB, where he lost 3 times in a row on Yamato).

That's it for the article for now, best of luck to the Zoro players in their last tournaments. I heard there was only one Zoro player in top 16 at Florida, so maybe there's no mirror matches to worry about 👀. 

OP04 Content coming soon, the main deck I have looked into so far is Rebecca, but Yellow and RG Law are also on my radar.