Luffy & Ace ST30-001 deck: decklist and guide (November 2026)

Luffy & Ace ST30-001 is the red/green deck from Starter Deck EX ST-30 and one of the three tier 1 decks in Standard since the Mihawk ban. It had the best online record among the popular decks in the first weeks without Mihawk and is the cheapest way into competitive play. This guide covers the Leader's text, how the deck plays, a full decklist from an October 2026 tournament, the key cards, mulligans and matchups.

Data from tournaments and online games from late August to 3 November 2026. For the full meta picture, check our tier list of the best One Piece TCG decks.

What the Luffy & Ace ST30-001 Leader does

It is a red and green Leader with 4 Life and 6000 power. Its official English text reads:

"If you have a Character with 7000 base power or more, give this Leader −2000 power. [Opponent's Turn] All of your [Portgas.D.Ace] and [Monkey.D.Luffy] cards gain +3000 power."

In plain terms: if you have a Character with 7000 base power or more, the Leader loses 2000. And on your opponent's turn, all your Portgas.D.Ace and Monkey.D.Luffy cards have +3000 power. The first part doesn't affect you: no Character in current lists reaches 7000 base power, so you are playing with a 6000 Leader.

How to play Luffy & Ace ST30-001: early, mid and late game

It is an aggro deck with defence that builds itself. You run 12 Monkey.D.Luffy that go up to 9000 or 10000 power on your opponent's turn. Your opponent struggles to remove them in battle and struggles to attack through them. Meanwhile, you attack fast: Sanji and two of the three Luffy can attack the turn they come down.

Early game (turns 1 to 3)

• Turns 1 and 2: search with Nami, Jewelry Bonney, Shakuyaku or Thousand Sunny. You run 18 search cards.
• The goal is to reach turn 3 with Sanji and a Luffy in hand. First or second, it happens in the vast majority of games.
• Don't spend searchers blindly: if you already have Sanji and Luffy, keep your hand for counters.

Mid game (turns 4 to 7)

• Turn 3: Sanji ST31-001 draws 1 and plays a cost 5 or less Straw Hat Crew for free, usually a Luffy. With 2 DON!! attached, Sanji attacks that turn.
• Turns 4 and 5: more Luffy with Rush. Monkey.D.Luffy ST30-012 rests an opposing Blocker when attacking, so your attacks get through.
• On your opponent's turn your Luffy and Ace get +3000: you don't need to spend counters on them; save them for the Leader.

Late game: how to close it out

• From turn 6, close with events: I Know You're Strong... and Demon Aura keep opposing Characters from standing up, so they can't block.
• Ga Ha Ha Ha!! is a counter that also gives −2000 to an opponent: use it when they go for your last Life cards.
• If your opponent stabilises with big Blockers, don't attack blindly: rest the Blockers first, then hit the Leader.

Mistakes that cost the most games

• Keeping a hand full of events with no searchers or Luffy.
• Playing Characters with 7000 base power or more: the Leader loses 2000.
• Attacking Characters when your opponent is low on Life: this deck wins on speed.

Whether you go first or second, you reach turn 3 with Sanji and a Luffy in the vast majority of games.

Luffy & Ace decklist: 2nd at ChinoizeCup #122 (13 October 2026)

With this list, not_dev finished second out of 64 players, going 5-1, at ChinoizeCup #122, an online Limitless Play tournament played the day after the Mihawk ban.

Total: 50 cards plus the Leader. In Japan, the list that won a 24-player Flagship Battle on 3 November 2026 took the same route: the same 12 Luffy, 4 Sanji ST31-001, 12 cost 1 searchers and 4 Thousand Sunny. The most visible differences: 4 Bad Manners Kick Course, 2 Sanji ST21-003 and no Shakuyaku or Zoro.

Key cards and why they matter

• Monkey.D.Luffy ST30-012: in every list. Cost 4 and 6000 power; on play you can rest a DON!! to give it Rush, and when it attacks it rests an opposing Blocker.
• Sanji ST31-001: the engine. Draws 1 and plays a Straw Hat Crew card with a cost of 5 or less other than Sanji for free. With 2 DON!! attached it has Rush.
• Monkey.D.Luffy ST21-014: cost 5 and 6000 power, with Rush. When it attacks it can give a rested DON!! to your Leader or a Character.
• Monkey.D.Luffy OP12-015: cost 4, gains +2000 power when it has two or more DON!! attached.
• Nami OP01-016, Nami EB02-017 and Jewelry Bonney EB04-002: cost 1 searchers. They are why the turn 3 play comes together almost every time.
• I Know You're Strong... OP13-040: a +3000 Counter for the Leader or, on your turn, for 2 DON!!, stops up to two rested Characters with a cost of 7 or less from untapping.
• Ga Ha Ha Ha!! OP17-017: a cost 1 Counter Event that also gives an opposing Leader or Character -2000 power.

Flex slots and options

• Ga Ha Ha Ha!! or Bad Manners Kick Course: they compete for the same slots. Many lists run 3 and 3.
• Shakuyaku or a third Demon Aura: more search or more control.
• I Have a Plan to Take Down One of the Four Emperors!! OP14-019: in 22 of the 30 lists from online tournaments with EB-05.
• Against Rocks, add more effects that stop Characters from untapping: Demon Aura, I Know You're Strong... and Nami OP14-031.

If you want to tune the list to what people play at your local game store, we explain how in how to build a One Piece TCG deck.

Mulligan

• What you want is Sanji plus a Luffy for turn 3. A hand with Sanji and a searcher is perfect.
• Keep any hand with two searchers (Nami, Bonney, Shakuyaku or Thousand Sunny), even without Sanji.
• Mulligan if the hand is almost all Events with no searchers and no Luffy.

Matchups against the top decks

The ranked column is best-of-one simulator games as of 30 October 2026, the same data as our meta guide. The tournament column is results from online Limitless Play tournaments from 20 August to 14 October, except where stated.

The big problem is Luffy OP13-001: its active DON!! soak up your attacks and its Nami OP14-031 with Electrical Luna leaves your board rested. We explain it from their side in the Luffy OP13-001 deck guide. Against Rocks the matchup is close to a coin flip, with a slight edge to Rocks; its guide is in Rocks OP17-039 deck guide. In tournaments with EB-05 it also went 8-11 against Buggy OP09-042, which is on the rise.

What EB-05 and OP-18 change

• EB-05 adds little. In online tournaments with EB-05 (19 October to 2 November), Luffy & Ace was the sixth most played Leader, with 30 lists, and went 63-71 outside the mirror. Some lists are testing EB-05 cards, but none has settled in. Its best recent result, a 4-0 at the Grand Line Cyprus season final (1 November), came without any EB-05 cards.
• Its opponents change. Sabo OP13-004 and Buggy OP09-042 improve with EB-05, and both beat it. That is why our OP-18 meta forecast drops it to tier 2. In Japan only 3.7 % of players are on it.
• OP-18 (20 November in English): no card is confirmed for this deck. A green Monkey.D.Luffy OP18-022 Leader has been leaked that could compete for the same players, but Bandai has not confirmed it yet.

Budget: which cards are expensive

Luffy & Ace (Parallel) ST30-001One Piece Starter Deck EX: Luffy & Ace · ENView in storeMonkey.D.Luffy (Parallel) ST30-012One Piece Starter Deck EX: Luffy & Ace · ENView in storeJewelry Bonney (Alternate Art) EB04-002One Piece Egghead Crisis · ENView in store

The entry point is cheap: the Leader and Luffy ST30-012 come in the ST-30 starter deck (Starter Deck EX Luffy & Ace), on sale in English since 12 June 2026. Be aware that the full competitive list is not that cheap: in early November it came to around 230 dollars on the US market, and in mid-October it was over 290.

• Most expensive: the Nami EB02-017 and the Luffy OP12-015 and ST21-014. Together they make up almost half the price.
• Cheap: Sanji ST31-001, the Events and Thousand Sunny.
• On a tight budget: leave the Nami EB02-017 until last. The deck works with four fewer searchers while you pick them up.

Before you buy the expensive singles, test the full list for free and see how much each upgrade really changes your games.

Try it on ARENA

Luffy & Ace is the ideal deck for getting into competitive play, and the best way to find out is to play it. On our free ARENA simulator you load this meta decklist in one tap, from your phone or desktop browser.

1. Against the AI: practise the Sanji and Luffy turn 3 across the four difficulty levels.
2. Against a friend: create a private 1v1 room with a code and ask them to play Luffy OP13-001 against you, your worst matchup.
3. Competitively: climb ranked or play an online Swiss tournament with top cut.

Other options are covered in the best One Piece TCG simulators. And before you complete the list, play a few games on ARENA.

FAQ

Is the ST-30 starter deck enough to compete?

No. The starter includes the Leader and Luffy ST30-012, but the competitive list mostly uses cards from other sets: Sanji ST31-001, the searcher Nami and the other two Luffy.

Is it a good deck to start playing competitively?

Yes. The game plan is clear and repeatable: search, Sanji on turn 3 and attack. On top of that, its core is the most affordable of the three tier 1 decks.

Are any cards in this list banned?

No, all of them are legal in Standard as of 5 November 2026. Check for changes in One Piece TCG banned cards.

Keep reading

• Luffy OP13-001 deck: the red/green deck that beats it most convincingly.
• Rocks OP17-039 deck: the most played deck in the format.
• Best One Piece TCG decks: the current meta tier list.
• The meta with OP-18 and EB-05: which decks rise and which fall.

One Piece card images: © Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation. One Piece Card Game is a Bandai product; ONLYCHASES is not affiliated with Bandai.