How to Play One Piece Card Game

How to Play One Piece Card Game

New to the One Piece Card Game and not sure where to start? Here's everything you need to know to build your first deck, set up the table, and play your first match.

What You Need to Play

Every player needs three things:

  • 1 Leader Card
  • A 50-card Deck
  • 10 DON!! Cards

Your deck has to match the color(s) of your Leader Card, and you can run up to 4 copies of any single card number.

The Five Card Types

Leader Card This is the heart of your deck. Your Leader determines your deck's strategy, can attack, and often brings powerful effects into play. It also sets your starting Life total — the number printed in the bottom right tells you how many Life cards you'll set aside.

DON!! Cards Think of these as your resource cards. You use them to pay for other cards, or attach them to your Leader or Characters to boost their power. You gain 2 new DON!! cards every turn, up to a maximum of 10 — except the very first player, who only gets 1 DON!! on turn one.

Character Cards These are played from your hand by spending DON!!, and they form the backbone of most strategies. Characters can attack your opponent's Leader or their Characters, and many carry useful abilities.

Event Cards One-time effects that you pay for with DON!! and play from your hand. Some Events are especially strong when saved for the right moment — a number of them can even be played during your opponent's attack to swing a battle in your favor.

Stage Cards Stage cards stick around on the field and provide an ongoing effect that supports your Leader and Characters. You can only have one Stage card in play at a time.

Setting Up the Playmat

Your play area is broken into a few key zones:

  1. Character Area – where your Character cards live; you can have up to 5 on the field at once
  2. Leader Zone – home for your Leader card
  3. Stage Zone – holds your single active Stage card, if you have one
  4. Deck – your draw pile
  5. Trash – where K.O.'d Characters and used cards go
  6. Cost Area – where your available DON!! cards sit, ready to be spent
  7. DON!! Deck – a separate 10-card deck used only for DON!! cards
  8. Life Cards – your face-down Life cards, set aside at the start of the game

Starting a Game

  1. Shuffle your deck, then place your Leader card (face-up), Deck, and DON!! deck into their zones.
  2. Play rock-paper-scissors to see who goes first — the winner picks whether to go first or second.
  3. Draw 5 cards. If you're not happy with your hand, you can mulligan once for a fresh 5.
  4. Take cards from the top of your deck equal to your Leader's Life value and place them face-down as your Life cards.
  5. The first player begins the game.

How to Win

There are two ways to take the match:

  1. Win a battle against your opponent's Leader while they have 0 Life cards remaining.
  2. Your opponent runs out of cards in their deck.

The Flow of a Turn

Every turn follows the same five phases, in order:

  • Refresh Phase – Untap (make active) all your rested cards, and return any attached DON!! cards back to your Cost Area.
  • Draw Phase – Draw 1 card from your deck.
  • DON!! Phase – Add 2 cards from your DON!! deck into your Cost Area.
  • Main Phase – Play cards from your hand and attack with your Leader or Characters.
  • End Phase – Your turn wraps up, and play passes to your opponent.

Ready to Play?

That's the core rundown — Leader, DON!!, Characters, Events, and Stages, all cycling through five phases each turn until someone runs their opponent's Life total to zero (or their deck) out. The best way to really get comfortable is to sit down and play a few rounds, so don't be afraid to jump in and learn as you go.

Looking to build your first deck or add to your collection? Check out our One Piece Card Game selection in store and online.