4 SERIAL LUFFYS! My Top 4 Law Experience (+ Rebecca/Croc Matchups) (Patreon)

Last weekend, I went X-1 with Red/Green Law and managed to get third place in Swiss, locking me in for Top 32 of day 2! After going through an insanely stacked bracket...

3 Players in the top 10 rankings were in my bracket!! ( https://onepiece.limitlesstcg.com/players )

My bracket was stacked asf, but we managed to pull it through and make it top Top 4. I wish I could have put up more of a fight against Will. I definitely didn't see how far I could go in either Game or Game 2, due to miscounting haha. Next time I'll try not to be on 2-3 hours of sleep both days...

My List

No Film Brook(Or Vista)?!

A lot of y'all may be wondering why I am not including Film Brook, and the main reason is I was not expecting much Zoro. The night before the tournament I realized that the Whitebeard mu was much more more 50/50 than I realized(Strawbeard + 5Marco is so nasty), and it is certainly a bad match-up for the average Law player. In order to better compete against Whitebeard, without making huge last minute changes, I decided to add in more defense to the deck.

This ended up working out very well, and defintely helped me win most of my games against Whitebeard.

Vista

This card sucks against Whitebeard. I noticed that whenever Vista was in my deck, it was 10x harder for me to beat Whitebeard. After playing against a bunch of Whitebeards this tournament and last tournament, I can confirm that Vista is bad against Whitebeard because:

• Useless effect in the Whitebeard match-up
• 3-4 Copies feels required due to not being searchable, and it's normally ran instead of additional 2Ks/Blockers/Events

Vista did not feel necessary in the meta, and I literally didn't miss it in any matchup(it wouldn't have even come up in the mirror match I lost, except for turn 2 lol). For these reasons I decided to not include Vista.

List Explanation

ST Nami

This card is too f**king good. This card is absolutely broken due to:

• Being the strongest card against Whitebeard
• Comboing with Restand Law
• Extra copies of 1 drops for early shambles
• Not Strike(can attack Buggy)

This card was goated all weekend, and was the main reason I was able to stand up to so many Whitebeard without having Hawkins!

Sanji

This card did not put in work in this particular event, but I would never run less than 3-4 this format. This card is incredible against Queen(due to grabbing life and becoming a 7K attacker), amazing against Zoro(can attack into Buggy, sometimes we use the skill in order to forcefully clear a buggy), and gives us a real fighting chance against Rebecca.

I promise it’s more valuable to have Sanji for when you need it, rather than having too many Brooks for comfort sake(especially when we have ST nami in the list). That’s just me though…

Rush Zoro

Zoro is the king against control decks. I personally think this card is much more necessary than Starter Zoro this format! Without Rush Zoro, the Rebecca matchup becomes a lot more worse, the potential to lose to Crocodile becomes a little too real, and you lose one of the best ways to pressure decks that run a lot of bricks.

Starter Zoro

This card is one of the cards that confuses me the most in Red/Green Law. On one hand the ability to call a 6K attacker off Blocker Laws ability is broken, and it helps with the fire-fist problem against Red Zoro. But on the other hand, the lack of rush is very weak against popular control decks(Rebecca, Crocodile).

I have currenly decided that 3 Rush Zoro is the lowest amount of Rush I will use this format, so Starter Zoro will likely be a 1-2 Of MAX for now.

Starter Law (aka Restand Law)

Everyone knows this card is good, but many players(including myself), have considered cutting this card to 3, or even 2 copies. Today I am here to say that this card is almost 100% a 4-Of! The biggest issue with Red/Green Law has always been not seeing Blocker Law, but restand Law gives us an extremely strong combo for when we don't see enough Blocker Law. Whitebeard is also still the most popular/best deck, and this is one of the strongest cards against it.

People use less than 4 of this card becayse it's searchable from Bonney, but the reason I use 4 is so I can expect to naturally draw into it. I would rather search for Blocker Law and Luffy from Bonney.

Red Luffy

This was easily one of the strongest cards of the weekend, I even made a tweet about it mid-tournament: https://x.com/Cross_Aii/status/1705652875026649376?s=20 . Being searchable off both Nami and Bonney is too strong, and it is a very strong card against Rebecca/Zoro, which are this deck's worst matchups! I describe this in my previous Law article, but I used Luffy instead of Hawkins because I thought Hawkins wasn't necessary to win, while Luffy was necessary to win(due to being strong in our bad matchups, and being genercially strong)

Being able to return Bonney to hand, and play Luffy(when we miss blocker Law) is one of the greatest treasures.

Radical Beam(and Guard Point)

This is a card I started using back in OP02, once I removed Jet Pistol from my deck. I consider these events as "blockers from hand," and I think they have been incredibly strong inclusions to the deck. Unlike jet pistol, which was often a brick against Red Zoro and don-inefficient against Whitebeard, red defensive events have offered EVEN MORE defense to a deck that already has very strong defense.

This card has also been ridiculously good against unblockable rush units, like Luffy. People complained about losing to Red Luffy all the time in OP02, but I always beat that deck, and this card is a huge reason why.

The New Law List?

| I don't use the 1-Of ST Zoro, because Hawkins added to the amount of bricks I have, while subtracting from the amount of rush characters I had...

Whitebeard was a lot more difficult than expected, so I decided to try Hawkins in the deck again!

This card isn't bad by any means, but it's generally never seen in Law because it's arguably winmore in the good matchups, and bad in the good matchups. This is still my current take, but due to the sheer popularity of Whitebeard, I think Hawkins may be worth including for the boosted win-rate. Hawkins also has a lot of potential in the mirror match, and since I currently value more defense & 1-Drops over FIlm Brook/Vista, Hawkins will be convenient mirror-tech.

About Vista

The most important Law questions to me, that I keep struggling to find answers to is whether I should use Vista. Last time I used Vista, it felt terrible in the Whitebeard matchup, and I felt like I wasn't running enough defense.

My issues with Vista in the Whitebeard matchup:

• Takes away from extra defense I could be using
• Rush Zoro is already an ineffective attacker(due to being 5K base), having 3+ more bricks on top of Rush Zoro feels wild
• Reduces my 1 drop count(makes it harder to shambles on time against Whitebeard)

I'm almost positive that the reason that me and many of the JP Law players chose to not run Vista, is due to the Whitebeard matchup! As I've mentioned in my youtube video and this article, Whitebeard is not as easy to defeat as Strawbeard(I think this is due to 9Beard running so many bricks), and Vista being THE most dead card in the matchup was not helpful. Even Film Brook, which is also arguably dead in the matchup, could at least function as an attacker.

Hawkins is so incredibly strong against Whitebeard, that I think running 2 Hawkins would justify using 2-3 copies of Vista. This is currently only a theory, but if Whitebeard is the reason me and other players had to remove Vista, then using a card that single-handedly takes down Whitebeard, should justify using a card like Vista that sucks in the most popular matchup. If Whitebeard wasn't as popular/dominating as it was, then whether to use Vista or not would hardly be a question, but having a card that sucks against the most popular matchup is rough...

About Film Brook

The Film Brook journey has been a long journey, it's still somewhat inconclusive, but I still think Film Brook can be included.

I originally used Film Brook as a way to combat Red Zoro's Fire Fist, but starter Zoro has solved these issues. If you play a Starter Zoro on curve and attach a don to it, or if you shambles in a Starter Zoro from Blocker Law, Zoro is put in a very awkward position independent of Film Brook.

Outside of the Zoro matchup, Film Brook has been a nice consistency piece for when we don't draw Blocker Law, and it's searchable from Nami, but it overall didn't feel feel necessary which is why I chose to exclude it

HOWEVER, I think running 3-4 ST Nami makes Film Brook more impactful than not having it in the Whitebeard matchup. Film Brook still makes a difference in the Zoro matchup, even if it's not as signicant as ST Zoro. And Film Brook, overall, makes the deck flow better.

My current goal is to make Whitebeard better than a 55/45, without damaging other matchups, so my conclusion is to either use Hawkins or Film Brook.

The Future of My Law Builds for OP04

I already presented the list I'm going to be testing next, but I want to clarify, that I likely wouldn't take the list I took for Knoxville to another regional.

I currently have 4 different Law decks that I would take to tournament:

Generic

• Hawkins
• Film brook(+ ST Nami)

Anti-Zoro

• Hawkins + Vista
• Film Brook(+ST Nami) + ST Zoro

At the very least, I would like to take a Law deck with either Hawkins or Film Brook, as I feel those are the most impactful cards against Whitebeard. I don't know which is overall better in the meta between Film Brook and Hawkins, so I'll have to wait and see.

I do want to caution that I am not a fan of using Film Brook and Vista because Film Brook isn't nearly as dominant as Hawkins against Whitebeard. The only reason I am reconsidering Vista is because I believe Hawkins is enough to make up for Vista being dead against Whitebeard.

The Crocodile Matchup

First: Advantageous | Second: Advantageous

I personally prefer to go second(because I am afraid of getting exodia'd by 10 Cost Kaido + Leader skill). But I understand that Croc ideally wants to go first in pretty much all of their matchups, so you may have to personally decide which way you prefer fighting.

Mulligan: Blocker Law + Searchers, Restand Law + Supernova

General Gameplan

• Be Aggressive - There is no timing to play slow cards like Hawkins, we want to actively rush them down and kill them by their 9/10 don turn, or shortly after! Rush Units are key in this matchup. Also don't wait until the end of the game to use Restand Law, use it as soon as possible. A lot of people misuse Restand Law, cuz they think they must save it for when they're going for game, but establishing a 6K body while double attacking is a great tempo swing
• 2 Cost Sanji - Funnily enough, 2 Cost Sanji is actually powerful in this matchup! Since Blue aims to beat Law by exodiaing them out-the-game(by getting rid of units while establishing their own), rather than by applying too much pressure. It is actually fine to take our own life with Sanji and attack for 7K!
• The way we lose this match up is by being too slow, so literally just rush them down with all your might.

The Rebecca Matchup

First: Disadvantageous | Second: Slightly less disadvantageous than going first

I would choose to go second, as it gives you the best opportunity to win. Being able to play a 2-Drop as soon as turn 1 is important. And making them have to wait until 5-Don, to play Orlombus, is huge for the status of the economy.

Mulligan: 2 Cost Sanji, 2 drops in general

General Gameplan

• Only Play 2 Drops - Leading up to the first shambles turn, you only want to play 2 drops in the early game. This is because Rebecca struggles to kill 2 drops conveniently, they have to use an event or combo it with Orlombus
• 2 Cost Sanji - Slam down 2 Cost Sanji, and use it's effect immediately. Sanji helps make up for Rebecca starving our life, I would generally use Sanji until about 1 life. It's possible to only go down 2 life, since it forces them to have Luffy and King-Kong Gun. But since Luffy is generally establsihed in this matchup, we may as well go down to 1 life. Sanji can be used as a 7K attacker if the timing is right, but I would not attack with it until shambles turn, and I would make sure to use its effect immediately.
• Deny Rebecca's Leader Skill - Either swing for 7K+ in the early game, or don't swing at all. By denying Leader skill, we reduce the chances of Rebecca getting Orlombus and Luffy on curve!
• Flood the Board During Shambles Turn - During shambles turn, go ahead and flood the board with 1 drops. Rebecca can still remove these 1-drops, but they have to decide between clearing 1 drops or clearing big units with Luffy/Events
• Return Searchers to Hand - Rebecca already denies us card advantage the whole game, if they remove our searchers as well then it's impossible to win! It's fine to play Dadan in the early stages, but make sure to return Nami/Bonney whenever you play them...
• Play Blockers before 7 Cost Luffy Turn - It's generally good to play 2+ 1-Cost blockers the turn before the opponent's turn 4. This is because they generally want to establish Luffy, and being able to conveniently protect our attackers
• Swing 7K+ - I generally wouldn't attack with any of my units, unless they are attacking for 7K+ . If you swing 5K with a unit for no reason, then you are allowing your opponent to clear one of your attackers for no reason.
• Close out the game with Rush Luffy - Save Rush Luffy for the very end of the game, so you can make Rebecca's 20,000 blockers useless and comfortably go for game!
• Vista - If you play Vista, it is worth playing Vista + Otama on curve in order to clear Orlombus

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This is it for now, please leave a like if the article was helpful, and with that being said I will catch y'all in the next one, peace.