TCG Budget Alternatives for One Piece The Time of Battle (OP-16) Competitive Play

Sakazuki OP16-065 (Super Rare)

If you are building the Sengoku Navy, the seven-cost Sakazuki is the Admiral that earns your money.

His repeatable ramp, which is when you rest a DON!! you can set two more active while your Leader is a Navy type. This is the engine that powers Sengoku’s drop three Admirals at once payoff, and his On Play -6000 can switch off a blocker or set up a knockout.

He is so versatile he has leaked into Donquixote Rosinante decks too, where that repeatable ramp discounts Law cards with no downside.

Sakazuki comes in three prints, base Super Rare, Alternate Art, and the stunning Manga Rare collectors are chasing.

They all play identically. Buy the base SR, put your DON!! deck to work, and let the completionists fight over the manga.

*Buy Sakazuki OP16-065 cards on TCGPlayer or eBay

Prisoner of Impel Down OP16-042 (Rare)

This is the card that tears up the rulebook by letting you run as many copies as you want. A six-cost, 6000 power body with Counter +2000, the Prisoner is the refill on demand engine behind the new Buggy swarm.

Early lists pack anywhere from 10 to 19 of them, and Blue-Green Luffy decks load up on a stack as their premium 2000 counter.

Needing that many copies does add up, but each one is only a base Rare, which makes it the cheapest staple per card in the entire set.

It is the backbone of two aggressive archetypes and about as far from a chase card as you can get.

*Buy Prisoner of Impel Down OP16-042 cards on TCGPlayer or eBay

Koby OP16-064 (Rare)

Consistency is the unglamorous half of competitive play, and Koby delivers it for pocket change.

For a single cost, this Navy body looks at the top five cards of your deck and pulls any Navy card you need, like Admirals, support, or whatever the matchup is begging for.

He is the glue that keeps Sengoku’s top-heavy curve humming, and he turned up in the Sakazuki powered Rosinante list that went 5-0 at a recent event.

Premium decks are built on cards exactly like this, a one cost Rare doing the work of a tutor.

Grab a playset and never think about it again.

*Buy Koby OP16-064 cards on TCGPlayer or eBay

Buggy OP16-041 (Leader)

The new Buggy Leader turns the Impel Down prison break into a numbers game. Once per turn, whenever one of your Impel Down characters is removed from the field, you drop a Prisoner of Impel Down straight from your hand for free.

Paired with the engine above, it is one of the most entertaining, and most affordable, decks in the set to assemble.

Like every Leader in OP-16, Buggy comes in a plain base printing and a pricier alternate art treatment, and they are the same card.

Sleeve the base Leader, spend your savings on the rest of the crew, and let the alt-art stay a want rather than a need.

*Buy Buggy OP16-041 cards on TCGPlayer or eBay

Portgas.D.Ace OP16-001 (Leader)

Red Ace is the deck everyone is talking about, and it is also where newer players make their most expensive mistake.

The Ace card commanding wild prices is the OP16-118 Secret Rare, a breathtaking Marineford collector piece, but a character card, not the Leader you pilot.

The deck runs the base OP16-001 Ace Leader, the one that hands Rush to your big Whitebeard Pirates so they swing the turn they land.

That Leader is cheap. Build around it and the workhorse Whitebeard value cards. Admire the SEC in someone else’s binder until the day you decide to splurge.

*Buy Portgas.D.Ace OP16-001 cards on TCGPlayer or eBay