[Updated List 09/19: Straw Zoro V2] Introduction to OP04 Straw Zoro (+ The Anti-Rebecca Plan) (Patreon)

Strawhat Zoro currently looks like Zoro's future, and may have even been the proper answer of new Zoro in OP03(post-restrictions). Going into OP04, I originally decided that if the restrictions stuck, I wasn't even going to consider playing Zoro anymore. Yellow was already difficult to win in OP03, and now they got 8 new triggers that fuck up our gameplan. More Whitebeard players are likely to be on hybrid/straw which makes it more difficult for Zoro as well.

In addition to me doubting Zoro's strength in OP04, I began to doubt if people played the most optimal version of Zoro in OP04. 4 Cost Marco was a greater nerf to OP03 Zoro than anybody will admit. Whitebeard was able to retreat to a Hybrid build. Ace still lost to Yellow. Zoro was still good enough to handle pretty much every deck, but had a more inconsistent winrate against Whitebeard (due to losing defensive power), and the Yellow matchup became much more difficult, also because it lost Blocker Marco. Whitebeard Zoro was indisputably the best version of Zoro prior to the restriction, because it had ridiculous offensive power in the form of 5Marco, while also having ridiculous defensive power(ESPECIALLY in an aggro deck) in the form of 4Marco. But given the restrictions, would this still be the best version of Zoro? I don't believe this question was explored enough(all we did was test the 4 cost Debuff Brook lmao), so I sought to begin further exploring this question in OP04.

My concerns about Zoro in OP04, and my doubts about having the right Zoro build in OP03 began my journey of exploring Strawhat Zoro in OP03!  Zoro's issue against both Yellow & Rebecca is closing out the game on time. Prior to the restriction, Zoro had more time to close out the game against Yellow thanks to 4Marco, but Whitebeard Zoro was arguably never optimized to beat Rebecca, even at full power. Another important thing to note about the Rebecca matchup, is that it's infinitely more valuable to play 2 drops early game, rather than 1 drops(same concept applies to playing Law against Rebecca). With this being said, let's look at the cards the Strawhat package offers for the Yellow & Rebecca matchups:

2 Drops(Brook, Sanji, Rush Sanji) - 2 drops are the greatest way to improve the early game against Rebecca, which overall improves the win-rate against Rebecca

Rush Units(Rush Sanji, Zoro, Luffy) - Can't establish a board against Rebecca, so playing a rush unit every turn is deal. Against Katakuri, rush units are very strong, because they help speed up the game, and the opponent has to clear them.

Diable Jambe - This card feels like a necessity for closing out games against Rebecca(also strong against Law/Gurple Doffy). This card also helps set up 2-Turn kills, by using Luffy + a Bunch of Don one one turn, and then Diable Jambe on the next.

Pistol - This card's impressive for popping Sabo(after the anti-destruction turn), and it's strong for popping Uta against Gurple Doflamingo.

We lose the searchability of 5 Cost Marco, but on the flipside, we have a much more consistent aggro plan(and our defensive events are now double searchable). Now let's look at the full decklist.

Straw Zoro Decklist

| For those who don't want to include Sanji, you can do -2 Sanji, +1 Rush Zoro +1 Magra(or 2K Counter Brook)

(Izo is Nami, image will be updated later)

This is my current version of Strawhat Zoro, and I feel like this list will still stay relatively the same, minus potential minor adjustments to the Unit and/or Event lineup. Let's go ahead and discuss certain key cards:

Gordon

I decided to include Gordon, because it is so much more efficient at clearing big units like 7 Cost Black Luffy. The difference between -2000 and -3000 might not seem like much, but for every weenie that attacks a debuffed unit, you are getting +1000 in value per attack as compared to -2000. This card is also broken in combination with Fire Fist, when playing against Gurple Doffy, Law, etc.

This card is one of the greatest incentives to use the Nami package in the first place! This card is most broken 2 drop against Rebecca, and insane when you have life left on lethal turns. Being a 7K attacker, that counters starving is absolutely incredible against Rebecca, this is the same reason I use 4 Sanji in Red/Green Law.

This is probably the most confusing inclusion to people in this Zoro deck. I use this card in order to have more copies of 2 Drops to play on turn 2 of going first, or turn 1/2 of going second! With Rush Sanji in the deck, I have a total of ten 2 drops to play against Rebecca, and as I mentioned earlier, we only want to play 2 drops early against Rebecca.

Rush Luffy is another powerful rush unit like Rush Zoro, but has less priority than Rush Zoro due to costing 5 don. Unlike Rush Zoro, this card is ridiculously strong at closing out games, due to being unblockable! It's possible to set up a 2-Turn kill, by swinging over blockers with Luffy on the first turn, then closing the game with Diable Jambe on the next turn...

This card still feels like a necessary inclusion in Zoro, due to still being strong in the mirror, and being able to combo with Gordon. At the end of the day, it's an invincible attacker in an aggro deck.

Diable Jambe is one of the most necessary inclusions to this type of deck. In order to close out games against Rebecca, Diable Jambe feels like a necessity. Even if we end up playing Whitebeard Zoro, i think Jambe will be a 1-2 of this format, unless Rebecca lacks popularity.

This is the most likely lineup to change as the format goes on. My main incentive to run jet pistol is that it's searchable off both Nami and Buggy, while Fire Fist is only searchable off Buggy. I think both of these removal events are essential for dealing with Law/Gurple Doffy, but if those decks lack popularity, it may be possible to get away with no destruction events this format.

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The Rebecca Problem

Up until now, I would have argued that there wasn't a deck that hard-countered Zoro, especially when Zoro was at full power. But the Rebecca card pool seems like it was built to counter Zoro and Law.

Leo and Kyros have warped how Zoro(and Law) normally play their early games. Luffy + Colosseum is too efficient at clearing two units at once. And Thee Thousand Worlds hard counters 5Marco.

Since it's almost impossible to maintain a board and pressure the opponent as we would in other matchup, we must adjust our decklist(EX: Playing Staw Zoro) and develop a new plan.

The Anti-Rebecca Plan

In the early game we prioritize:

A.) Playing 2 Drops

B.) Using the rest of our don to attack with our leader

People new to the Rebecca match up may not know this, but Rebecca wants to guard out of most 5K attacks, especially in the early-game. This is becase Rebecca draws 2 cards every turn, so it doesn't lose anything from guarding 5K attacks.

| A Leader that draws one

Playing 2 drops early is also ridiculous effective, because they can not be destroyed by Leo/Kyros, and Luffy is the only card that can attack standing units! Make sure to attack with your 2 drops prior to the opponent's first Luffy turn(the turn before the opponent goes to 7-8 don)!

In the mid-game we aim to take the opponents life to 0.

The longer the game goes on, the closer Rebecca gets to OTKing us, and/or the closer Rebecca gets to establishing a gazillion blockers. This means we need to decide the game as soon as possible. Since it's almost impossible to keep a board established against Rebecca, there are only 2 options...

RUSH UNITS!!

Since we can't establish a board, but we run so many rush units, we can aim to attack our opponent for at least 7K with our leader, and a rush unit, every single turn. This has been the #1 way for me to pressure Rebecca.

The 2nd option is...

5 Cost Marco!

5 Cost Marco is an invincible attacker that can't be destroyed, so there are times where this is very strong against Rebecca. The only issue is that playing 5Marco takes less priority than playing rush units, because of three-thousand worlds.

The only time I would field Marco early, is if I've seen three thousand worlds trashed from deck, or if there's a blocker I can pop with Marco.

As for the end game, we need to actually close out the game:

These cards are absolutely essential for closing out games against Rebecca. Since Rebecca tends to not play blockers in the early-game(due to establishing board), and waits until the late-game to field a bunch of blockers... We can take advantage by abusing their lack of blockers in the mid-game(by using rush units), and then invalidating their blockers in the end-game through Luffy and Diable jambe! This is the only way I beat Rebecca, without Jambe/Luffy it may not be possible (unless they don't play three-thousand worlds on your 5Marco)

Guidelines for playing against Rebecca

First: Disadvantageous

Second: Slightly Disadvantageous

Mulligan: 2K Counter Sanji(the strongest card against Rebecca), any 2 Drops(Dadan, Rush Sanji), Rush Units

General Gameplan:

• Play 2 drops early in the game, and punch the opponent's leader with the remaining don
• Spam rush units in the mid-game(or play 5Marco to pop a blocker, or if you suspect they don't have three-thousand worlds)
• Use Diable Jambe/Luffy to close out the game
• Be concious of going down to 2 life, as that's where Rebecca can OTK tou with Luffy from
• Gordon is really good for reducing Sabo's power. We don't have time to attack Sabo after it has blocked. So it's better to reduce it's power, before attacking at all, and then pop it with jet pistol the following turn if they didn't block with Sabo

Example Going First Curve:

• T1(1 Don) (Zoro) : Buggy
• T2(2 Don) (Rebecca): Leader Skill +  Nothing(They may have Leo/Colosseum, but since going first is already hard, we gonna illustrate how we can get value going first if they miss Colosseum/Leo)
• T3(3 Don) (Zoro): Leader Swing 7k, Makino + Buggy swings 7K
• T4(4 Don) (Rebecca): Colosseum + Leo clears the Zoro players board
• T5(5 Don) (Zoro): Leader swings 6K, Rush Zoro swings 7K

ETC...

Example Going Second Curve:

• T1(1 Don) (Rebecca) : Leader skill
• T2(2 Don) (Zoro): 2K Counter Sanji
• T3(3 Don) (Rebecca): Kyros
• T4(4 Don) (Zoro): 7K w Leader + 2K Counter Sanji
• T5(5 Don) (Rebecca): Attacks Leader for 5K with Kyros(I would defend, if we expect both Sanjis to live), Sabo and pass
• T6(6 Don) (Zoro) Play a 1 drop searcher, Play Rush Zoro(so 4 don total is rested). Attatch Don to leader, Swing 6K with Zoro, 7K with leader, then 8K with Sanji, then 8K with the other Sanji!!

Etc...

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This is it for the article for now, hopefully this was helpful to those who wanted to explore a new Zoro option in OP04. I don't know what the best Zoro build is yet, but i think nami-base is definitely a start(unless restrictions are lifted), and this build is certainly stronger into Rebecca and Yellow than 03 Zoro.

With that being said if y'all liked the article, please like it, and I will catch y'all in the next one, peace.

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[Update 09/19] Straw Zoro V2

It has been brought to my attention that the winrate of this version of Zoro against Law may be concerning... While the matchup is still VERY winnable, the matchup would naturally be a lot worse than Whitebeard Zoro, due to not having FireFist (FireFist is the biggest reason Law struggles against Zoro).

Based on these concerns I created a new list with 4 Fire Fist & 1 Jet pistol, there are still 18 targets for Nami, and 20 Targets for Dadan which is very strong. The change also took Buggy from 11 Targets to 12 Targets, which is very nice as well. 

Law will likely be a force in the meta, so I think it would always be nice to have 3-4 Fire Fist.

I also added in this defensive event, because +3K power for 0 don is too strong. There are many situations where we have 2 life left, but would like to use most of our don to maximize our attacks. Bad manners helps alleviate this issue by converting dead cards in hand to 3K counter at 0 cost!.

This card is very strong against Rebecca, and I still think it's an incredible T1 play against the mirror and Whitebeard, but rather than overteching for the worst matchup, I think it's overall better to include more defense(bad manners), and more utility(Fire Fist).