[OP04] Red Whitebeard COMPREHENSIVE Guide (Patreon)

My Misconception about Whitebeard

Up until recently, I believed that Whitebeard is a deck that just had power in numbers. I understood that Whitebeard is a S Tier deck, but I thought it was clearlyweaker than the other top decks that I viewed to be "skillful." I assumed that the good Law, Zoro, etc., players got unlucky, and that Whitebeard had an overwhelmingly higher conversion rate due to how easy and consistent it was. And while this is partially true...

Whitebeard is undoubtedly one of the strongest decks in the game. Not only is it consistent, but it truly boasts uncomparable power. The decks turns are relatively linear, but regardless of if you know the only options are 5Marco, 7Ace, and 5Luffy, you can generally only play around one of these, but not all three. This deck is also a defensive juggernaut. The opponent is required to do complex math to attempt to win, but they may just never breakthrough anyways...

Incentives to Play Red Whitebeard

• Easier than Law/Zoro to perform extremely well with
• Strong against Yellow, which appears to be rising in popularity
• It's difficult to consistently beat Whitebeard. Even if you have a plan, Whitebeard will always draw well enough, while the opponent might not draw well enough. Whitebeard may also draw too well, to where it's defense is impenetrable
• The 9Beard restriction has actually buffed the deck! Four 9Beard is no longer possible to completely dominate the mirror, so now Whitebeard can focus more on beating other decks. Bad match-ups like Black & Blue, have become a lot more beatable thanks to the inclusion of more rush units, and less 9Beard, which was easy for these decks to counter...
• The deck is so consistent, that you can map out a gameplan for every matchup! The highs and the lows of your gameplan will primarily be dependent on your opponent's draws, and how much defense you draw

Red Whitebeard in the Meta

Against Most Players

Advantageous: Yellow, Law, Zoro

Slightly Advantageous:  Everything else

50/50:

Disadvantageous:

Whitebeard is a deck that will stomp out 90% of players by simply being Whitebeard. There's not enough top players established, nor good enough players, to stop Whitebeard from being able to cook most people.

It's not a matter of people being bad, but it's a matter of people being good enough to know how to respond to Whitebeard's potential plays, the plays Whitebeard actively does, and do the proper math in order to do do Whitebeard. The reality of the situation is that Whitebeard plays always score 90 to 100 points in whatever action they take, but it's very easy to misplay, or make a slightly unoptimal play, when playing against Whitebeard.

Against Anti-Whitebeard Experts (People who know how to fight Whitebeard)

Advantageous: Yellow

Slightly Advantageous:  Everything else

Good 50/50s: Law, Red Zoro, Gurple Doflamingo, Crocodile, Queen

Disadvantageous: Rebecca

My argument against Whitebeard is that once you get to a high enough level, the deck arguably becomes slightly weaker. But this is only a half-truth. While I can't say that most matchups are clearly advantageous against experienced players, I would still define them as "good" 50/50s. A 50/50, by nature can't be good or bad, it's just up to God. But in Whitebeard's case, while matchups are theoretically a 50/50...

In actuality as games get played, the Whitebeard player has a better chance of winning than any opponent. Whitebeard players can consistently perform at 90-100%, while decks with more lines of play have to worry about fatigue, responding incorrectly, taking the wrong gamble against Whitebeard's options, math right every turn, etc.

Decks already have a common gameplan, but Whitebeard being 6K requires the opponent to change up their common gameplan, and adapt on the go when there's strange decisions to make. Due to Whitebeard being able to consistently play properly, and other decks having potential environmental factors & mistakes, makes it have "good" 50/50s rather than neutral.

Whitebeard Deckbuilding in OP04

Standard Strawbeard

| 4 Thatch is mirror awareness

Strawbeard is the version of the deck that focuses on rushing the opponent & defense, rather than the quality of units. This version of the deck allows us to conveniently connect to 5Luffy which is a key to defeating control matchups like Crocodile, Queen, Lucci, etc.

Standard Purebeard

| Based on Kevin Zhao and Chris Sok's Top @ Knoxville

This is the version of Whitebeard that focuses on searching for key or highroll units, rather than taking the plan of rushing the opponent. 16 2K counters makes up for defense not being searchable, but it comes at the expense of less rush units. This list also has more highroll potential than the Nami version, also thanks to the amount of 2Ks ran.

I'm very interested in using this version of Whitebeard, but I am concerned about the lack of rush units into the meta, at the very minimum, I would liker to see 4 Ace or 3 Rush Luffy. I do think this version has the potential to be the scariest if it highrolls, thanks to both 9Beard & Marco being searchable, on top of 16 2ks.

This version of Whitebeard is the strongest against the mirror and Red/Green Law.

Standard Hybrid

| Third place from EU Online Regionals

I hate Hybrid Whitebeard, the decklist seemed like the best in theory, until I had thought enough about it. If you go second you struggle to confirm a Turn 2 play because you don't know whether to gamble between Nami and Izou. The space to run units becomes less, and all of a sudden there's only 6 events in the list, which nerfs our defensive power and 5Marco's ability.

Even though we have a high search probability of 16+, the potential to whiff becomes much higher, which takes away Whitebeard's advantage of being ultra-consistent.

In my opinion, the only way Hybrid Beard will work is if there's a way to make all the 4-Drops(aside from 4Marco) either Whitebeard or Strawhat, and if on top of that

Cross' Whitebeard Copium V1

This is the next version of Whitebeard I'm testing, and I like it so far. Purebeard Base was chosen because it is stronger against law, thanks to 5Marco being searchable. Crossfire is adopted, because it can be combo'd with 5Marco to destroy Rebecca's 7 Cost Luffy, or Law's 5 Cost Hawkins! It's also worth noting that crossfire can be very strong against Hawkins, and Restand Law.

The current re-considerations for this decklist are -1 Sanji for +1 4/6000 Unit.

Impact's Whitebeard

Impact has been cooking with Whitebeard recently, and this is his current list! The inclusion of Whitebeard Pirates helps guarantee 5Marco on curve, and is extra consistency for Thatch/Ace & the 1-Ofs! 12 Events also means that 5Marco will never die.

Thoughts on these Lists

My recommendations would be my Copium list & Impact's Whitebeard. If you want to test the standard lists or base your lists off one of those concepts, I would only consider Strawbeard & Purebeard atm. Strawbeard is good for all the sketchier matchups, while Purebeard thrives in the mirror, and against Red/Green Law.

How to Play + Matchups

Basic Playing

• Take all the life early on. Blockers function as "extra life," in the late-game, and decks like Law that have restand Law, spend their earlier turns setting up(don't have 10 don yet), instead of going for a huge restand.
• Always protect your units if you can defend it with 1 card. If it takes more than 1 card, then consider the situation. If you're card gets debuffed by Otama, it's generally worth letting go, as it will be the target of too many attacks(we waste defense for no reason)
• Don't bother attacking units who's power is under 6K, unless their effect is too strong. The reason for this is that the opponent always has to use at least one don to attack us with cards that are below 6K. The only time we get punished for 5K attackers existing, is if we defend attacks, and our life is more than 0.
• Clear units that have power 6k+ with Ace. If there's no Ace it may be more wirth just assaulting the opponent's face. Attacking an opponent's 6000 power unit, is giving them a temporary "6k power," leader.

General Mulligan

• Going First: 5 Drop + 5 Drop/7 Drop
• Going Second: 4 Drop Unit + 5 Drop
• Going first we want to guarantee a turn 3 and turn 4 play, while going second we would like to guarantee a turn 2 and turn 3 play

VS Whitebeard (Mirror)

First: Slightly Disadvantageous | Second: Slightly Advantageous

Choose Second.

Mulligan: Thatch, Luffy(when going first)

Overpowering Cards: Thatch - Ace only reduces it to 5K, and it naturally swings 2K above the opposing leader

General Gameplan:

• Curve Out - In this matchup it's super important to have a turn 2 play going second, and a turn 3 play going first. Each attack is either minus 1 card to the opposing Whitebeard player's hand, or it's the sooner they get to 0
• Attack wide in the early game - Until the opponent reaches 0 life, it's better to attack with multiple units, rather than doing one big attack
• Attack tall in the late-game - Once the opponent has reached 0 life, it's better to attack as big as we can with a single unit, and poke for 6K with all other units. If the opponent has a blocker, either destroy the blocker or create the biggest swing you can between 2 units(EX: 11K, 11K with Two 6K units when there's a blocker versus. 16K when there's no blocker)
• Luffy is strong - Luffy is one of the strongest T3 plays going first, because it punishes their Thatch turn. It's also generally strong for closing out games, as it can ignore blockers.
• Thatch is strong - Thatch is crazy in this match-up because Ace can only make it 5K, which is easy to defend, and swings 2000 above Whitebeard with no don commitment
• Beware of Ace - Ace is weaker in this matchup than other matchups, if both players are conscious of playing around it. In order to counter Ace, I will generally be conscious of having at least one unit standing, or more than 2 units. (EX: If I'm going second I would attack with my 4/6000 on turn 2, and play a Thatch/Marco, instead of a Luffy to rush attack with). Once you're opponent reaches 0 life, you can be less concerned with Ace, as 7 don is a risky commitment in the late-game. As long as you can maintain at least one unit, Ace is not a big deal. Also, generally defend a Thatch that has been Ace'd
• Count your defense - In the late-stages of the game, I would focus on leaving up only as much don as you need in order to survive. This allows us to maximize pressure, while also ensuring that we don't randomly lose the game.
• Leave Luffy Standing - If the opponent presents too many blockers, a strong play is to play Luffy and leave it standing. This will allow us to threaten a 16K unblockable attack

Going FIrst Curve:

• T1 - Searcher
• T2 - Swing at least 8K. It's not worth playing a 2K counter since it gets no value, and it's more aggressive to swing 8K, instead of double searcher
• T3 - Luffy Swing 6K is the most ideal play. This is because our opponents ideal Turn 3 play is Thatch, so Luffy gets free value. Even if you don't play Luffy this turn, I would recommend guarding these attacks on the opponent's next turn, so we don't go to 0 life too quickly.
• T4 - On this turn you're opponent should already be at 1 life. I would attack the opponent for 6K, which they will/should always guard. From there I would focus on clearing the board. The logic here is that if they take the 6K attack, then we can go for a huge attack. But if they don't defend it, then we should focus on board, since they will naturally go to 0 life the following turn anyways. If the opponent has more than 1 life, then I would focus on draining the opponent's hand. Rather than forcing them down to 1 life, I would calmly attack the opponent's life with Luffy & Leader, and hard play another unit standing(ideally Thatch). It's possible to play Ace on this turn, but I would like to save Ace to attempt to clear Thatch on the following turn.
• T5+ - Ace Thatch, if you have enough defense to stay alive. If not focus on pressuring the opponents life, while leaving enough don to stay alive. From here onwards, you want to apply enough pressure as possible, while leaving up enough don to stay alive.

Going Second Curve:

• T1 - Searcher
• T2 - 4/6000 Unit
• T3 - Ideal play is Thatch
• T4 - On this turn your opponent should be anywhere from 0 to 2 life. If they have 2 life, I would clear their Luffy, and attempt to set them to 1 life. If they have 1 life, I would attack their life with Thatch, if they take it, then add a bunch of don to leader and leave up don for events/blockers. If they don't take it, then don up and destroy Luffy while leaving enough don up for events/blockers.
• T5 - From here onwards just focus on maximizing pressure, while leaving up enough don to stay alive...

VS Katakuri

First: 55/45 ~ 60/40 | Second: 70/30

Choose Second.

Mulligan: Luffy, Ace

Important Cards: Rush Units

General Gameplan:

• 7K is the magic number - Try to swing 7K as much as humanly possible,
• Rush, Rush, Rush - I think it's strong to play rush units as much as humanly possible. The only exception is that I may play a 4/6000 on turn 3, if I have less than 3 rush units. But if I have 3+ rush units, I prefer to rush every single turn
• Take all life - Make sure you take all the hits, so you don't get punished by 7Mom/10Mom
• Blockers - Blockers are a great way to defend us towards the end of the game! Remember Yellow has to use at least 1 don to clear chopper, at least 2 don to clear Fossa, and they can only use 2-Don to clear Marco.
• I'd rather use Ace to aggro the opponent, rather than save it to clear a vanilla unit.

VS Red Zoro

First: 50/50 | Second: Slightly Advantageous

Choose Second. Some players like to go first, but I think Zoro requires much more resources to pop off in this matchup, when going first.

Mulligan: Luffy, 5Marco, 4/6000 (When going second)

Important Cards: Rush Units, 5Marco

General Gameplan:

• 7K is the magic number (This applies to pretty much any 5K leader lol)
• Marco is one of the strongest, as the opponent can't clear it
• Luffy is very strong , I personally like to 5Marco first, and then play Luffy the following turn, but I think there's an argument to using Luffy first
• When going first make to sure to leave up 2 don on Turn 2, in order to either use or bluff red hawk! This is important to do against Zoro & Law specifically
• When going second, if the opponent has Gordon, I would still play the 4/6000 Unit, especially if 5Marco isn't confirmed. This forces them to have 5Marco, and is another 1-Drop from the board. There's an argument to not playing the 4/6000 at all, that way Gordon can be red-hawked or 5Marco, but I like the idea of forcing them to have the sauce, and it's also 1 less 1-Drop I have to remove.
• Remember to ignore attacking 1 drops with big units, try to remove them with 5Marcos & Red Hawks primarily. On lethal turns, evaluate if it's better to clear a 1-Drop with Nami/Izou, or if you should keep Nami/Izou standing. Threatening a Makino push by having a Nami/Izou present is very strong.

VS Red/Green Law

First: 50/50 | Second: Slightly Advantageous

Choose Second. Law loses stability, and requires more to come back.

Mulligan: Luffy, 5Marco, 4/6000 (When going second)

Important Cards: 5Marco, Rush Luffy, Makino

General Gameplan:

• When going first, make sure to leave up 2-Don for Red Hawk. Popping a unit will set back Law's shambles turn, especially if we have 5Marco on curve.
• When going second, if you have the cards you need for Turn 2 & 3, I would also leave up 2-Don for Red Hawk instead of playing a searcher
• I think it's better to prioritize Blockers & Starter Nami with 5Marco. The idea of denying them of looping resource advantage is great. But from a Law player's perspective, I'm always more worried when my blockers & starter Nami's get destroyed.
• Ace is a very strong punish card in this matchup, and a lot of Law players play into it
• 7K is still the magic number! Law hates to use more than 1 card to defend early, they'd prefer to consume blockers or use one 2K counter. If you attack with too many 7Ks early, Law may be forced to discard searchers or Restand Law
• Crossfire is very good, when Law commits at least 4 Don to an attacker. Crossfire can also be combined with 5Marco to destroy Hawkins
• Make sure you're conscious of placing blockers, and leaving up enough don, or else you will get clowned by Restand Law

VS Crocodile

First: Slightly Advantageous | Second: 50/50

Choose First. Take away Crocodiles broken curve

Mulligan: 5Luffy, Ace

Important Cards: Rush Units, Makino

General Gameplan:

• Croc has too much removal, which means we either need to play Rush units, or establish 2 units in one turn. On the 8-Don turn, it's common to establish two 4-Cost units
• Use Luffy/Ace as soon as possible, Ace is broken on curve when going first, because it forces them to have Red Roc
• Don't play Thatch on turn 3 of going second & Turn 4 of going first, because they will just Sogeking it on the following turn.
• On turn 3 of going first play Luffy, turn 4 play Luffy/Ace, Turn 5 play two 4-drops, or a 4 drop & and 5 drop
• On turn 3 of going second play Luffy, on turn 4 of going second play two 4 drops or a Rush unit, on turn 5 play two units if possible as well, if not then rush
• When using blockers in the late-game remember that it requires at least 4-Don to get rid of 1 blocker, and they can remove 4 don with leader skill to remove another one

VS Blue/Yellow Queen

First: Slightly Advantageous | Second: 50/50

Choose First. Most Blue decks in general have very strong going first curves.

Mulligan: 5Luffy, Ace

Important Cards: Rush Units, Makino

General Gameplan:

• 7K the magic number
• Queen only plays 8 2Ks, so I would play Luffy on Turn 3, instead of Swing 7K + Play 4 Drop
• On our 9 Don turn going first, it's possible to swing 7K and play double 4/6000, Queen will only be able to remove one at this stage of the game
• Rush Units are the key since this deck has an absurd amount of removal
• Unlike the Croc matchup, prioritizing using Luffys first, and then Ace. I would use Ace if there's no other rush unit, but it's worth trying to stall the use of ace, to do -3K to 8K power big guys in the late-game
• You gotta do math at the end of the game, don't forget about Yellow Bege/Trigger Blockers.
• Remember that Luffy can ignore blockers at the end of the game

VS Blue/Black Rebecca

First: Disadvantageous | Second: Slightly DIsadvantageous

Choose Second.

Mulligan: Luffy, Thatch, Ace

Important Cards: Luffy(to close out the game), Ace, Thatch

General Gameplan:

• Ace is strong to play in the later-stages of the game, as it reduces Sabo's value
• Thatch is good in the early-to-late stages of the game, because it requires an established Orlombus to remove

Going First

• Swing 9K on turn 2 of going first. Rebecca thrives off of having 6 or less in their hand, because they get a free draw every turn. If we attack for 9K they will be forced to take the damage to life, and they will be over 6+ Cards in hand.
• Focus on swinging 7K as much as possible, on turn 3 of going first I would rather swing 7K and play a 4/6000, rather than play a Rush Luffy. Similarly, on turn 4, I would rather swing 7K with Luffy, and 7K with leader, than with Ace

Going Second

• On Turn 2 of going second, play a 4/6000 unit, and don't bother attacking (that way Rebecca will have more than 6 cards in hand)

On turn 3 of going second, if the 4/6000 from T2 lives, then swing 7K twice and play another 4/6000. If it doesn't live, then play Thatch, as it will requires Orlombus + a removal spell to remove.

VS Gurple Doflamingo

First: 50/50 | Second: Slightly Advantageous

Choose Second.

Mulligan: Luffy, Thatch, Ace

Important Cards: Rush Units, 5Marco

General Gameplan:

• Doffy has no removal, so Rush Units are very hard for them to deal with
• Thatch/Ace are strong because they can't be rested by Uta/Gibson nor removed
• Save 5Marco to deal with Sugar
• Going first it's a race to win the game as fast as possible. Make sure you have some attackers standing going into their 10 Cost Doffy turn, so you don't get walled out of the game
• Going second, you can win the game by curving out. 4/6000 > Thatch > Luffy/Ace, will generally cook. Be cautious of Thunder Bagua allowing them to ramp into 10 Cost Doffy though.

-------

This is for the article. My Whitebeard cope era has been a beautiful one, and there is a real chance that I take this deck to a future tournament! As always if you liked this article, please like it, share it with your friends, family, & loved ones. And with that being said Il will catch y'all in the nxt one, peace.