Sabo — Standard Strategy Guide

Archetype Overview

Sabo here is a Red/Black Elbaph midrange deck built on one rule: a Character with cost 12 or more on the field upgrades the rest of the deck. Black supplies nearly all of the list: cheap Elbaph bodies, big printed-cost Giants, and a trash engine. Red adds a small splash: Brook, the 7-cost Roronoa Zoro, and Bad Manners Kick Course. The list made Top 4 at ChinoizeCup #122 Tuesday (2026-10-13), a 64-player event, piloted by cicciopal.

The Plan

Your Characters' printed costs are not the cost you pay. Jaguar.D.Saul costs 4 to play but counts as cost 16. Loki costs 6 and counts as 18. Pirates Docking Six counts as 11, and Monkey.D.Luffy sits at a natural 8. That creates two thresholds you need to keep separate:

• Cost 8 or more: this turns on Sabo's [DON!! x1] ability, which gives your Leader and every Character +1000. Saul, Loki, Docking Six and Luffy all qualify. The 7-cost Zoro does not.
• Cost 12 or more: this turns on the Elbaph cards. Only Saul and Loki reach it. Docking Six, at 11, does not.

Once Saul or Loki is on the field, your 2-drops change completely:

• Usopp, Sanji, Nico Robin, the 2-cost Roronoa Zoro and Jinbe each go from 2000 to 5000 power.
• With a DON!! on Sabo, they reach 6000.
• Jinbe also becomes a Blocker.
• Nico Robin's On Play gives an opposing Character -3000.
• Tony Tony.Chopper's On Play gives one of your Characters Unblockable.
• Monkey.D.Luffy gains Rush.

The game plan is to land a 12-cost-or-more Character as early as your DON!! allows, then flood the board with 2-cost Characters that attack like 5- and 6-cost ones.

Why the Plan Is Strong

• Enabler density. Eight Characters reach 12 or more: 4 Saul and 4 Loki. Saul is the cheap one at 4 DON!!. Saul and Usopp also look at the top three cards and add an Elbaph card, and Saul, Loki and Luffy are all Elbaph. Your searchers find your enablers.
• Removal attached to a threat. Loki's On Play K.O.s opposing Characters with a total cost of 4 or less, which can be several small bodies at once. It is then an 8000-power body that rises to 11000 on your opponent's turn.
• The trash is a resource, not a graveyard. Many cards fill your trash:
  • Sanji draws 2 and trashes 2.
  • Nami trashes an Elbaph card to draw 2.
  • Usopp and Saul trash the cards they don't take.
  • Docking Six mills 3.
  • Kick Course trashes a card from your hand.
  That trash then pays you back:
  • Pirates Docking Six and Monkey.D.Luffy each play a 2-cost Character back from the trash. Nearly every 2-drop in the list qualifies, and all of them are legal for Luffy.
  • Ground Death gives +4000 as a Counter once you have 10 or more cards in trash.
  • The 2-cost Roronoa Zoro spends 3 trash cards to stop one of your Characters being removed by an opponent's effect.
• Your enablers are protected. The obvious answer to this deck is to remove the 12-cost Character. The 2-cost Zoro answers that answer, as long as you have trash to spend. Four copies, plus recursion to bring a Zoro back, make your key Character hard to remove for good.
• A durable Leader. Sabo starts at 6000 while you have 4 or more Life. He reaches 7000 with a DON!! attached and an 8-cost Character in play. The 7-cost Roronoa Zoro's On Play adds another +2000 through your opponent's next End Phase.
• Counters stay live. Chopper, Brook and the 2-cost Zoro each give +2000 Counter. The other 2-drops give +1000. Two Kick Course and two Ground Death add more. Much of the deck can defend from hand, so you don't need to win the board on every turn to stay alive.

The Cost of That Power

The deck depends heavily on one condition. Without a Character at cost 12 or more, the Elbaph 2-drops are 2000-power bodies, Robin's On Play does nothing, Chopper's Unblockable never happens, and Luffy has no Rush.

The four big enablers (Saul, Docking Six, Loki and Luffy) have no Counter value, so a hand full of them defends poorly. Ground Death's Counter also does nothing until your trash reaches 10 cards. Your job is to set up the 12-cost condition, keep it alive with Zoro, and avoid getting caught early with a hand of uncounterable 4s and 6s.

Who Should Pick It Up

This deck suits midrange players who like counting resources. Every turn you track three numbers:

• whether a Character at cost 12 or more is on the field;
• how many cards are in your trash;
• how many DON!! you can afford to put on Sabo while still deploying.

Expect plenty of decisions about what to trash and what to recur. Players who want a linear aggro deck or a single-card combo will find it fiddly.

If you enjoy decks where careful sequencing turns a 2-cost Character into a real threat and the trash into a second hand, this list rewards that work.

Core Strategy & Game Plan

How the Deck Wins

Sabo is a go-wide midrange deck built on one switch: a Character with cost 12 or more on the field. Cheap Elbaph Straw Hats stay small until that switch flips. Then a board of 2-drops becomes a board of 5000-power attackers, and your Leader buffs all of them on top of that. You win by landing the switch early, flooding the field with efficient bodies, and pressuring Life faster than your opponent can clear the board. You finish with Monkey.D.Luffy Rush and a Tony Tony.Chopper Unblockable swing.

The Switch: Cost 12

Your two real enablers are Jaguar.D.Saul (cost 4, gains +12) and Loki (cost 6, gains +12). Once either one resolves, the payoffs come online:

• Usopp, Sanji, Nico Robin, Roronoa Zoro (OP17-095) and Jinbe each gain +3000. That makes them 5000-power Characters for 2 DON!!.
• Jinbe also gains Blocker, so your wide board can now defend.
• Nico Robin's On Play gives an opposing Character -3000 for the turn.
• Tony Tony.Chopper's On Play gives one of your Characters Unblockable for the turn.
• Monkey.D.Luffy gains Rush.

Pirates Docking Six reaches only cost 11, so it does not flip the 12 switch. Don't count it as an enabler. It does satisfy your Leader, though.

Sabo stacks on top of all this. At 4 or more Life he gains +1000. With a DON!! attached and any Character of cost 8 or more on your side, your Leader and every Character gain another +1000. Four cards meet that bar: Jaguar.D.Saul, Loki, Pirates Docking Six and Monkey.D.Luffy.

The payoff is large. Once the switch is on, each 2-drop sits at 6000 before any DON!! is attached. Sabo sits at 7000 while you hold 4+ Life. Remember that one DON!! must stay on Sabo for the Leader bonus. Brook solves this: his On Play gives up to 2 rested DON!! to your Leader. After spending your DON!! on Characters, Brook can still attach the DON!! that turns Sabo on.

Card Flow and the Trash

The deck digs constantly:

• Usopp and Jaguar.D.Saul each look at 3 cards, add an Elbaph card to hand, and trash the rest.
• Sanji draws 2 and discards 2.
• Nami turns a spare Elbaph card in hand into 2 draws.

Every one of these fills your trash, and the trash is a resource in three ways:

1. Recursion. Pirates Docking Six trashes 3 from the top, then plays a Straw Hat Crew Character of cost 2 or less from the trash. Monkey.D.Luffy draws 1 and plays any Character of cost 2 or less from the trash. Replaying Nico Robin or Tony Tony.Chopper this way fires their On Play effects again.
2. Defense. With 10 or more cards in trash, Ground Death's Counter gives +4000.
3. Protection. Roronoa Zoro (OP17-095) can stop an opponent's effect from removing your Character. You pay by placing 3 trash cards on the bottom of your deck.

Those last two pull against each other. Each Zoro replacement shrinks the trash that powers Ground Death. Decide which one matters more in the current game, and don't spend Zoro's effect on a Character you're happy to lose.

Posture

You are the proactive deck in most games. Your 2-drops are weak until the switch flips, so the early turns are about two things: setting up the switch turn and protecting your Life total.

Life matters because Sabo loses his +1000 below 4 Life. Taking hits carelessly in the first turns shrinks your Leader for the rest of the game. Pay for early Counters when they keep you at 4.

Your counter density is moderate. Brook, Tony Tony.Chopper and OP17-095 Roronoa Zoro give +2000. The other Straw Hats give +1000. Your big Characters give nothing. Bad Manners Kick Course and Ground Death fill the gaps.

Your reactive tools hit only on your terms:

• Loki's K.O. on Characters with a total cost of 4 or less.
• Nico Robin's -3000.
• Ground Death's Main effect, which negates an opposing Character of cost 5 or less.

Use them to clear blockers and threats in front of your attacks, not to trade one-for-one all game.

The Ideal Game

1. Opening turns: sculpt. Play Nami, Sanji or Usopp to dig toward Jaguar.D.Saul and start filling the trash. Brook is fine here if he carries DON!! to your Leader for an attack. Don't dump every 2-drop before the switch. They're 2000-power bodies that die easily, and they're also your counters.
2. Switch turn: Jaguar.D.Saul. Going second, you can make this play on your second turn. Going first, it comes on your third turn, with DON!! to spare for Sabo. Saul's On Play digs for another Elbaph piece. Sabo's DON!! x1 bonus is now live.
3. Develop and swing. With the switch on, every 2-drop comes down as a 6000-power attacker. Sequence Nico Robin to shrink a blocker or attacker before you swing.
4. Loki turn. Loki clears small Characters with his On Play and adds a second enabler, which matters if Saul gets removed. On your opponent's turn he gains +3000, making him a wall they must answer.
5. Close: Monkey.D.Luffy. With the switch on, Luffy comes down with Rush, draws a card, and replays a 2-drop from trash. That 2-drop could be Tony Tony.Chopper, making your biggest attacker Unblockable, or Nico Robin for one last -3000. EB04-007 Roronoa Zoro is the alternate top end. He gives your Leader +2000 through your opponent's next End Phase, and he gains Rush: Character when the opponent has an 8000-power Character to attack into.

When the game goes long, your plan is to keep the switch alive. Hold a second enabler in hand instead of playing out your whole hand. A removal effect aimed at Saul is the single answer that collapses your board's power.

Card Choices & Breakdown

Every slot in this list serves one rule: get a Character with a cost of 12 or more onto the field. Once one lands, five of your 2-cost Characters jump from 2000 to 5000, Monkey.D.Luffy gains Rush, and your Leader's DON!! x1 switch turns on. The rest of the deck digs for that Character, protects it, or cashes it in.

The Threshold Cards

Printed cost is not effective cost here. This table shows what each big body actually turns on:

Jaguar.D.Saul (4) is the most important card in the deck. At 4 DON!! it turns everything on, and its On Play digs 3 cards for another Elbaph piece. It is a 6000-power body that does every job you need, so you want all four.

Loki (4) is your second enabler and your board-clearing swing. The On Play K.O.s opposing Characters with a total cost of 4 or less, which often wipes two small bodies at once. On the opponent's turn it sits at 11000 before Sabo's buff, so it is hard to remove through battle. Four copies, no debate.

Pirates Docking Six (3) satisfies Sabo but not the Elbaph check. Read it as a recursion card: mill 3, then replay a Straw Hat Crew 2-drop from the trash. That gives you two bodies for one card. It sits at three because it can't turn on the 2-drops by itself, and its payoff needs a stocked trash.

Monkey.D.Luffy (4) draws a card and replays any 2-cost-or-less Character from the trash. Once Saul or Loki is out, Luffy also has Rush. This is your top-end turn: a fresh 5000-power 2-drop plus an 8000 attacker the turn it lands.

The Elbaph 2-Drop Package

Each of these is a 2000-power body that becomes 5000 when a 12+ cost Character is on the field. What separates them is the second line of text:

• Usopp (4): digs 3 for an Elbaph card and trashes the rest. It finds Saul and fills the trash in the same play.
• Sanji (4): draw 2, trash 2. It filters your hand and is a trash engine on its own.
• Nico Robin (4): -3000 power to an opposing Character during the turn, if a 12+ cost Character is out. Sequence it after Saul or Loki to clear a blocker or break a Leader attack math.
• Roronoa Zoro (2-cost, 4): the protection piece. When an opponent's effect would remove any of your Characters, you can place 3 trash cards on the bottom of your deck instead. That makes your Saul or Loki much harder to answer with removal. It also has a +2000 Counter.
• Jinbe (2): gains Blocker with the 12+ condition met. You only want one Blocker on board at a time, and the body does nothing defensively before Saul is out. That makes it the clearest cut down to two.
• Tony Tony.Chopper (3): makes one Character Unblockable for the turn, given a 12+ cost Character. It is a closer, not a value card, and it never gets the +3000 power. You run three because it is dead weight early, but its +2000 Counter keeps it from being a blank in hand.

Draw and Trash Fuel

Nami (4) trashes an Elbaph card from hand to draw 2. The trashed card is often a 2-drop you will replay later with Luffy or Docking Six, so the cost is closer to free than it looks. Between Nami, Sanji, Usopp, Saul and Docking Six, your trash grows every turn. That pays off three ways: it powers Ground Death's Counter half, it gives Docking Six and Luffy targets, and it pays for the 2-cost Zoro's protection.

The Red Splash

Brook (4) moves 2 rested DON!! onto your Leader or a Character. That meets Sabo's DON!! x1 requirement without spending active DON!!, and it can push an early attack through. Its +2000 Counter is why it gets four copies over a fourth Chopper.

Roronoa Zoro (7-cost, 2) does not turn on Sabo's 8+ check (its cost is 7). It is here for its On Play: +2000 Leader power through the opponent's next turn, which steadies your Life total late. It can also gain Rush: Character when the opponent has an 8000+ power Character. That is a narrow condition, so you only want two.

Events

Bad Manners Kick Course (2) is a 0-cost +3000 Counter that costs you a card from hand. Its Trigger gives an opponent's Leader or Character -3000 power. You run only two because the deck already carries plenty of Character Counters.

Ground Death (2) does two jobs:

• Main: rest 2 DON!! to negate a cost-5-or-less Character's effect for the turn.
• Counter: +4000 with 10 or more cards in your trash.

Watch the tension with the 2-cost Zoro. Each Zoro replacement pulls 3 cards out of the trash. Keep enough in the trash to protect your board and still meet the 10-card threshold when you need the big Counter.

The Decklist

Fifty cards, Red/Black, built around one question: is there a cost-12-or-more Character on your field? Jaguar.D.Saul and Loki answer yes the moment they land. Most of the 2-cost Characters grow from 2000 to 5000 behind them, and Sabo's team-wide +1000 switches on at the same time. The list runs 46 Characters and 4 Events, plus the standard 10-card DON!! deck. At TCGplayer market prices it comes to about $224 (approximate).

Leader

Characters (46)

Events (4)

Reading the List

• Enablers: 8 cards count as cost 12 or more (Jaguar.D.Saul and Loki). Seven more satisfy only Sabo's cost-8+ check (Monkey.D.Luffy and Pirates Docking Six).
• Dig density: 37 of the 50 cards are Elbaph type. Usopp and Jaguar.D.Saul whiff only rarely. The misses are Brook, Pirates Docking Six, the EB04 Roronoa Zoro, and the Events.
• Defense: 11 Characters carry a +2000 Counter and 18 carry +1000, alongside 4 Counter Events. All the counter value sits on the cheap Characters. Your big bodies have none.
• Core vs. flex: The 4-ofs are the engine. Don't touch them. The 3s and 2s are where tuning happens: Tony Tony.Chopper, Jinbe, Pirates Docking Six, the EB04 Roronoa Zoro, and both Events.

Opening Hands & Mulligan

Every mulligan decision with this list comes down to one question: can this hand put a cost-12-or-higher Character on the field on curve? Only Jaguar.D.Saul (4 cost, 16 effective) and Loki (6 cost, 18 effective) clear that bar. Until one of them lands, your 2-cost Straw Hats are 2000-power bodies, Nico Robin's debuff does nothing, Jinbe has no Blocker, and Monkey.D.Luffy has no Rush. Judge the hand by how reliably it reaches Saul by your fourth DON!!.

The Keep Test

1. Saul in hand: keep almost any hand that also has a cheap play to make before him.
2. Usopp in hand: nearly as good. He looks at 3 and grabs an Elbaph card, and most of the deck is Elbaph, so he rarely misses. He finds Saul, Loki, or Luffy. He also trashes the rest, which feeds Ground Death's 10-card condition, Pirates Docking Six, and Luffy's recursion.
3. Counter density: Saul, Loki, Docking Six, Luffy, and the 7-cost Roronoa Zoro all have no Counter value. A hand with three of them can't defend and can't curve. Send it back even if one is Saul.

Snap Keeps

• Saul + Usopp or Sanji + any counter. This is the ideal shape on either play order.
• Usopp + Nami + a spare Elbaph card. Nami trashes the spare to draw 2, so you dig twice before your Saul turn.
• Brook + Saul + 2-cost. Brook's 2 rested DON!! go onto Sabo for an early attack while you hold Saul for your fourth DON!!.

Send It Back

• No Saul and no Usopp, even if the hand has Loki. Loki at 6 DON!! is a fine follow-up but a slow first enabler.
• Hands of all 2-cost Elbaph Characters with no way to dig. They look smooth, but they're five 2000-power bodies and nothing turns them on.
• Top-heavy hands: Luffy, Docking Six, or the 7-cost Zoro with no early play.

Going First

You gain 1 DON!! on turn 1, then 2 per turn, so you have 1, 3, 5, then 7. Saul can't come down before your third turn, so your first two turns are for setup:

• Turn 1 (1 DON!!): Nami if you can trash a spare Elbaph card. Otherwise Tony Tony.Chopper as a plain body, or pass. Chopper's Unblockable grant does nothing without a cost-12 Character, so don't plan around it here.
• Turn 2 (3 DON!!): Usopp or Sanji plus a 1-cost. Alternatively, Brook with his 2 DON!! on Sabo. Sabo is already 6000 at 4+ Life, so that's an 8000-power swing.
• Turn 3 (5 DON!!): Saul. Spend the last DON!! one of two ways:
  • Attach it to Sabo. Saul counts for Sabo's cost-8 condition, so this gives your Leader and every Character +1000.
  • Play Chopper to make a Character that's already on the field Unblockable.
  Pick the +1000 when you have two or more 2-costs ready to attack.

Going first, you're more willing to keep a slow hand. Sabo's 5 Life and the +1000 at 4+ Life give you time to set up behind a 6000 Leader.

Going Second

You gain 2 DON!! on turn 1, so you have 2, 4, then 6. This is where the deck is strongest, because Saul lands on your second turn.

• Turn 1 (2 DON!!): Usopp is the best play here, since it digs for Saul. Sanji also works to sculpt the hand. Brook is fine if you already hold Saul.
• Turn 2 (4 DON!!): Saul. Your turn-1 Character immediately becomes 5000 power.
• Turn 3 (6 DON!!): Pick based on the opponent's board:
  • Loki, to K.O. Characters with a total cost of 4 or less.
  • A 2-cost plus DON!! on Sabo, to swing wide.
• Turn 4 (8 DON!!): Luffy with Rush, drawing 1 and replaying a 2-cost from trash.

Going second, a hand with Usopp but no Saul is a firm keep. You have an extra dig turn before you need him.

Matchup Adjustments

• Against aggro: raise the bar on defense. Favor keeps with Chopper, Brook, or the 2-cost Zoro, since each has a +2000 Counter. Bad Manners Kick Course adds +3000 but costs a card from hand. Hands that need you to tap out early for Saul and Loki while holding no Counters get punished. With 2+ Counter cards and Usopp, keep even without Saul.
• Against go-wide boards of cheap Characters: Loki becomes a priority keep. Its total-cost-4 K.O. can clear multiple small Characters at once.
• Against slower control or midrange: you can keep greedier. A hand of Saul, Loki, and Luffy with only one cheap play is acceptable, because the opponent isn't pressuring your Life early. Ground Death's +4000 also comes online later once Usopp, Sanji, and Docking Six have filled the trash.
• Against Characters with a dangerous effect at cost 5 or less: Ground Death's [Main] negate is worth keeping in hand. Just don't count it as an early play. It costs 1 DON!! to cast and 2 more to rest, so it competes with Saul for your turn.

Sequencing & Key Lines

The Standard Curve

Every line runs through one question: when does a cost-12-or-more Character hit the board? Jaguar.D.Saul is cost 16 and Loki is cost 18, so either one turns on the whole 2-cost suite. Either also satisfies Sabo's cost-8 check. Pirates Docking Six (cost 11) and Monkey.D.Luffy (cost 8) only satisfy the Leader. Build every turn around landing the 12+ body as early as your DON!! allows.

When the 12+ condition and Sabo's bonus are both live, each 2-cost body swings at 6000 and Jaguar.D.Saul swings at 7000. On your opponent's turn, Loki defends at 12000. This needs only one DON!! attached to Sabo, so budget that DON!! from turn 4 onward.

What to Lead With, What to Hold

• Lead with Usopp when Jaguar.D.Saul isn't in hand. Its look-3 finds an Elbaph card, and Saul is Elbaph. Sanji smooths your hand but doesn't dig as deep.
• Hold Nico Robin until a 12+ body is down. Its On Play does nothing without one. Casting it early wastes the -3000.
• Hold Tony Tony.Chopper for the same reason. Its Unblockable is the finisher on Monkey.D.Luffy. It's a 2000 body before that.
• Play Brook last in your Main Phase. It moves rested DON!!, so spend your DON!! on other cards first. Then let Brook put two of the spent DON!! on Sabo or an attacker. That covers Sabo's DON!! x1 without spending an active DON!!.

Feeding the Trash on Purpose

Every discard is a setup decision. Nami's cost, Sanji's trash 2, and Bad Manners Kick Course's cost all choose what Monkey.D.Luffy and Pirates Docking Six can bring back later. Good targets to trash are Nico Robin, Tony Tony.Chopper and Brook. Only Straw Hat Crew Characters come back off Pirates Docking Six, and every 2-cost and 1-cost in the list qualifies.

The key revive lines:

• Monkey.D.Luffy → Tony Tony.Chopper: with Saul or Loki on board, Luffy has Rush, and Chopper's On Play makes Luffy Unblockable.
• Monkey.D.Luffy or Pirates Docking Six → Nico Robin: -3000 on a blocker or a defending Character before you attack.
• Revive → Brook: two more rested DON!! placed on an attacker.

Branch Points

Jaguar.D.Saul vs. Pirates Docking Six at 5 DON!!: Saul almost always comes first, because it turns on both the 12+ suite and Sabo. Choose Six only when Saul is already on board and Nico Robin is in the trash. Then the revived Robin's -3000 fires right away.

Loki timing: its K.O. covers a total cost of 4 or less. Cast it into two 2-cost Characters or one 4-cost, not into a lone 1-drop. If the threat costs 5 or less but you don't want to K.O. it, Ground Death's Main mode negates its effect for the turn. That costs 1 DON!! to cast and 2 more rested, so it uses 3 of your DON!! in total.

Using the 2-cost Roronoa Zoro's replacement: it sends 3 trash cards to the bottom instead of losing the Character. Use it on Jaguar.D.Saul or Loki, because losing the 12+ body shuts off your whole board. Before you use it, count your trash. Ground Death's Counter needs 10 or more cards there. You choose which 3 go back, so keep your revive targets in the trash.

The 7-cost Roronoa Zoro: deploy it when you're trading Life. Its +2000 lasts through your opponent's next End Phase, so it protects your Leader on their turn. Its Rush: Character only turns on if the opponent controls an 8000+ Character. Read their board before you count on attacking with it that turn.

Playing Around Bad Manners Kick Course

Bad Manners Kick Course appears in all six Luffy & Ace Top 8 lists, at 3-4 copies (source: Limitless TCG online results, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). Its Counter adds +3000 to a defender. To beat it, attack with surplus power or make them pay a card to stop each swing. Put a Brook DON!! or a Nico Robin -3000 on the attack you most need to land.

Its Trigger is the bigger sequencing trap. When one of their Life cards flips, it can give one of your attackers that haven't swung yet -3000 for the turn. Swing first with the attackers whose numbers are tightest. Save your biggest attacker, the one with power to spare, for after the Life damage. Then a -3000 Trigger can't leave you short on lethal.

Small Edges

• Sabo loses its +1000 below 4 Life. At 4 Life, think twice before taking the hit that drops you to 3.
• The 2-cost Characters check whether "there is" a cost-12+ Character, not whether "you have" one. Check your opponent's board as well as your own.
• Jinbe only becomes a Blocker while a 12+ body is on board. If they remove Saul before attacking, Jinbe can't block that turn.
• Keep 1 DON!! open for Ground Death's +4000 Counter once your trash reaches 10. Bad Manners Kick Course costs 0 DON!!, but you must trash a card from hand to play it.

Matchup Matrix

The brief contains no head-to-head data, so these verdicts come from this list's card text measured against each opposing plan. For named decks whose card text isn't covered here, the verdict is a starting point. Within the first two turns, work out which strategy row they actually play and switch to that plan.

Rocks.D.Xebec

This is the deck to beat. It had 46 of 256 entries and made Top 8 in all four counted events (source: Limitless TCG online results, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). Every one of its eight Top 8 lists ran the same eight cards at four copies (source: Limitless TCG online results, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). That means you can learn their core exactly, and you should do it before the event.

One detail matters here. Your Elbaph 2-costs check whether there is a Character with a cost of 12 or more, not whether you control one. If any of their Characters qualifies, your Sanji, Usopp, Nico Robin and Roronoa Zoro are live off their board. Your plan is to land Jaguar.D.Saul or Loki early. Keep three cards in trash for Zoro's replacement effect, and save Ground Death for whichever of their cost-5-or-less Characters has the effect that actually swings the game.

Luffy & Ace

All six of its Top 8 lists ran 3–4 copies of Bad Manners Kick Course (source: Limitless TCG online results, 2026-10-06 to 2026-10-13). Its Trigger gives your Leader or a Character -3000 for the rest of your turn whenever you hit their Life. Order your attacks around it:

1. Make your Character-into-Character attacks first. They don't flip Life, so no Trigger can nerf them.
2. Then swing at Life, biggest threat first.
3. Build every follow-up attacker with 3000 power of surplus.

Sabo's +1000 to the whole team once you control a cost-8+ Character is your buffer here. Their Counter mode costs them a card from hand each time, so steady pressure drains them.

Monkey.D.Luffy (OP17-079) and Kalgara

Luffy had 29 entries for three Top 8 slots and one win (source: Limitless TCG online results, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). Kalgara won the event this list Top 4'd at, going 6-0 (source: Limitless TCG, ChinoizeCup #122 standings, 2026-10-13). Read each one's posture by turn 2–3 and run the matching strategy plan below. Against an unknown, default to tempo: a cost-12+ Character by midgame with a protected Zoro beside it.

Sabo Mirror

There were 18 Sabo entries in the window (source: Limitless TCG online results, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). If the opponent is on the same Elbaph package, the key turn is a nine-DON!! play:

• Pay for Ground Death's Main mode (three DON!! total) to negate their Roronoa Zoro, which switches off its removal replacement.
• Then play Loki and K.O. two of their 2-costs.

Their Jaguar.D.Saul and Loki sit at cost 16 and 18 on the field, so neither Loki nor Ground Death can touch them. Don't attack into their Loki: it gains +3000 on your turn. Pressure their Leader instead.

Wide Aggro

Loki K.O.s cheap Characters up to a total cost of 4. Nico Robin's -3000 lets your attacks finish off whatever survives. Loki then stands at 11000 or more on their turn. Your weakness is the Blocker count: only Jinbe, and only when his condition is met. Keep Brook, Tony Tony.Chopper and Zoro as counters rather than early plays. Fill your trash with Usopp and Pirates Docking Six so Ground Death's +4000 Counter is online.

Removal-Heavy Control

Roronoa Zoro (OP17-095) converts each removal effect into three trash cards on the bottom of your deck. Monkey.D.Luffy and Pirates Docking Six rebuy your 2-costs from trash. Spread your threats out, and never let your trash drop below three while Zoro is on the field.

Tall, High-Cost Boards

None of your removal reaches cost 6+. You win these games in combat:

• Use Roronoa Zoro (EB04-007) to gain Rush: Character whenever they field an 8000+ power body.
• Use Robin's -3000 to bring big Characters within reach.
• Use Tony Tony.Chopper's Unblockable to push Leader damage past their walls.

Race their Leader rather than trading into their board.

Tech Choices & Variations

The 50 splits cleanly into a locked engine and a handful of slots you can move. The engine is your cost-12 enablers, Jaguar.D.Saul and Loki; Monkey.D.Luffy as the payoff; and the four Elbaph 2-drops that gain +3000 off a cost-12 Character (Usopp, Sanji, Nico Robin, Roronoa Zoro OP17-095). Plus Nami for card flow. Cutting any of those weakens the deck's core plan. Everything below is fair game.

The Flex Slots at a Glance

Chopper vs. Jinbe: Offense or Defense

Both cards want a cost-12 Character on board, so they compete for the same role.

• Tony Tony.Chopper is a closer. Unblockable on a +3000 Elbaph 2-drop or on Monkey.D.Luffy gets lethal through a wall of Blockers. It also carries a +2000 Counter in hand.
• Jinbe is a stabilizer. With a cost-12 Character out it is a 5000-power Blocker, or 6000 with your Leader's buff active. It is a weaker Counter in hand.

Against decks that race you, move toward 3 Jinbe. Against decks that sit back behind Blockers, the fourth Tony Tony.Chopper wins more games.

Docking Six vs. EB04 Zoro: Engine or Insurance

Pirates Docking Six does more for the engine than it first appears.

• At effective cost 11 it satisfies Sabo's cost-8 condition even when you haven't found Jaguar.D.Saul or Loki.
• Its trash-3 cost feeds the 10-card threshold on Ground Death. It also stocks the trash that the OP17 Roronoa Zoro needs for its removal replacement.
• Every 2-drop in the list is Straw Hat Crew, so its recursion always has a target.

Roronoa Zoro (EB04-007) is your answer to aggressive decks.

• A Leader at +2000 through the opponent's next End Phase makes their swings far more expensive.
• Its Rush: Character only switches on when the opponent has a Character with 8000 power or more. That makes it live against big-body decks and dead weight against wide, small boards.
• It is cost 7, so it does not turn on Sabo's cost-8 condition.

If you go up on Zoro, take the slot from Jinbe or Tony Tony.Chopper, not from Docking Six.

Re-Splitting the Counter Events

Ground Death has the higher ceiling: +4000 on Counter, plus a main-phase mode that negates a cost-5-or-less Character's effect. Its Counter needs 10 cards in your trash, and this list fills trash quickly from several sources:

• Usopp and Jaguar.D.Saul trash their misses.
• Sanji trashes two.
• Nami trashes one.
• Pirates Docking Six trashes three.

Even so, the 10-card threshold is a mid-game condition. Bad Manners Kick Course works from turn one, and its Trigger gives -3000 to an attacker when it flips from your Life.

• Against fast decks: go 3 Bad Manners Kick Course / 1 Ground Death.
• Against slower decks whose plan runs through the on-field effects of cheap Characters: go 1/3 and use the main-phase negate.

The Semi-Flex: Brook

Brook is the cleanest early way to put DON!! on your Leader and switch on Sabo's DON!! x1 condition. It is also one of 13 non-Elbaph cards in the list. Each non-Elbaph card you add or keep makes Usopp and Jaguar.D.Saul more likely to miss, and gives you fewer legal discards for Nami. Trimming one Brook for a fourth Tony Tony.Chopper tightens consistency, but your Leader buff comes online less reliably in the early turns.

Looking Outside the 50

Any outside card must be red or black, at up to 4 copies per card number (source: Bandai official play guide). Weigh it against the Elbaph density the engine depends on. A non-Elbaph card has to do something no current card does, because it makes your searches and Nami worse.

Tuning for Your Local Field

In the most recent online data, Rocks.D.Xebec took 8 of 32 Top 8 slots and Luffy & Ace took 6 (source: Limitless TCG online platform, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). Kalgara won the event where this list placed Top 4 (source: Limitless TCG online platform, 2026-10-13).

Every Luffy & Ace Top 8 list ran 3-4 Bad Manners Kick Course (source: Limitless TCG online platform, 2026-10-06 to 2026-10-13). Expect -3000 Triggers to hit your attackers mid-combat. That is an argument for keeping Sabo's cost-8 buff live at all times and leaning on +3000 Elbaph bodies over raw Unblockable.

If your store skews aggressive, go up on Jinbe, EB04 Roronoa Zoro and Bad Manners Kick Course. If it skews slow and defensive, go up on Tony Tony.Chopper and Ground Death.

Budget Options

The full list runs about $224 at TCGplayer market prices (approximate). Budgeting this deck is easier than it looks, because most of the power sits in a cost-12+ engine you can't touch. The flexible cards are a few non-Elbaph slots.

Where the money likely sits

Don't trust a guide for single-card prices; check them yourself before you buy. In a list like this, the cost usually comes from the newest-set four-ofs and the specialty slots, not from the older commons:

• Likely expensive: Loki, Monkey.D.Luffy, Jaguar.D.Saul, Nami, the cost-7 Roronoa Zoro (EB04-007) and Ground Death. These are the high-impact pieces, so expect them to be most of the bill.
• Likely cheap: Brook (a ST01 starter-deck card) and Bad Manners Kick Course (OP04). Both are old printings.
• Don't assume either way: the 2-cost Elbaph Characters (Usopp, Sanji, Nico Robin, the cost-2 Roronoa Zoro). You need all sixteen, so price them as a group.

What you cannot cut

Sabo wants a Character costing 8 or more. Most of your 2-costs want a Character costing 12 or more. Only two cards reach 12: Jaguar.D.Saul (cost 16 on the field) and Loki (cost 18).

Pirates Docking Six sits at 11. That's enough for Sabo's +1000 to your whole board, but it switches on none of the +3000 bonuses, Jinbe's Blocker, Tony Tony.Chopper's Unblockable, or Monkey.D.Luffy's Rush.

Keep all eight of Saul and Loki. If Loki is pricing you out, play three, never fewer, and buy the fourth first. Loki's On Play K.O. is your only real removal, and its +3000 on your opponent's turn makes it your best defensive body.

Acceptable swaps

Every swap below uses cards already in the list, so you don't buy anything new. That matters because every replacement has to be Red or Black to match the Leader.

The Zoro swap is the cleanest. The cost-7 Zoro isn't Elbaph, so it misses Usopp and Saul's searches and can't be trashed to Nami. It also has no Counter value. Cutting it actually makes your hands smoother; what you lose is burst damage and Leader defense.

Losing Ground Death hurts more. This deck fills its trash fast through Usopp, Saul, Sanji, Nami and Docking Six, so the +4000 is often live by the mid-game. If you can only afford one of these two upgrades, buy Ground Death first.

The budget build

Apply the first two swaps and you get a straight 4-of list:

• 4 each: Nami, Tony Tony.Chopper, Brook, Usopp, Sanji, Nico Robin, Roronoa Zoro (cost 2), Jinbe, Jaguar.D.Saul, Pirates Docking Six, Loki, Monkey.D.Luffy
• 2 Bad Manners Kick Course

This plays the same game as the full list. It's more consistent at finding Elbaph pieces and better at countering. It's weaker at closing a game and at handling a single problem Character with an effect.

Keep all four Monkey.D.Luffy if you can. It's your top-end draw, it brings back a 2-cost from the trash, and it's one of your Rush threats.

Upgrade path

Buy in order of impact, not price:

1. The engine: Sabo, 4 Jaguar.D.Saul, 4 Loki, and the sixteen 2-cost Elbaph Characters. Without these the deck doesn't function.
2. The top end: 4 Monkey.D.Luffy and 4 Nami. Proxy-test with Docking Six in those slots and you'll see how much card flow you lose.
3. Ground Death: 2 Ground Death replace one Chopper and one Docking Six. This is your biggest defensive upgrade.
4. The cost-7 Zoro: 2 cost-7 Roronoa Zoro replace the third and fourth Jinbe. Do this last, because it adds speed rather than stability.

At step 3 you have the competitive core of the list. Step 4 turns it into the exact 50 that made Top 4, but it's the smallest upgrade of the four.

Common Mistakes

Most lost games with this list come from misreading thresholds. The deck runs on two numbers: cost 8 for your Leader and cost 12 for your Elbaph Characters. The mistakes below are where those numbers get miscounted.

1. Counting the wrong cards as your 12-cost enabler

The Elbaph conditions read "a Character with a cost of 12 or more." Only two cards in the list get there: Jaguar.D.Saul (printed 4 plus 12, for 16) and Loki (printed 6 plus 12, for 18). Pirates Docking Six stops at 11. Monkey.D.Luffy is 8, and Roronoa Zoro (EB04-007) is 7. Docking Six and Luffy do switch on Sabo's cost-8 clause. They do not give your cost-2s their +3000, they do not give Luffy [Rush], and they do not turn on Nico Robin, Tony Tony.Chopper or Jinbe's conditional text.

Fix: Before you plan any attack, check one thing: is Saul or Loki on the field? If neither is, your Usopp, Sanji and Roronoa Zoro (OP17-095) are 2000-power bodies, and Jinbe is not a Blocker. Plan your turn around that.

2. Playing On Play Characters before the enabler

Robin's -3000 and Chopper's [Unblockable] only check for a cost-12 Character at the moment they are played. If you play Robin first and Saul second, you get a vanilla 2000 body.

Fix: Always land the enabler first, then the On Play Characters. If the enabler is already down, both Monkey.D.Luffy and Pirates Docking Six can play Robin or Chopper from trash, and their On Plays will be live. The best replay target is a Robin you trashed earlier on purpose.

3. Leaving Sabo without a DON!!

The team-wide +1000 is a [DON!! x1] clause, so it only works while a DON!! is attached to Sabo. Players often spend every DON!! on Characters and pass with a bare Leader. Your whole board is then 1000 weaker. Sabo's other +1000 also disappears once you drop below 4 Life, which means the second hit you take costs more than a Life card.

Fix: Use Brook's On Play to move 2 rested DON!! onto Sabo after you have spent your active ones. This is effectively free power. Be willing to Counter the hit that would take you from 4 Life to 3.

4. Expecting the Elbaph engine to find non-Elbaph cards

Nami needs an {Elbaph} card in hand to trash. Usopp and Jaguar.D.Saul can only add {Elbaph} cards to your hand. None of these cards are {Elbaph}:

• Brook
• Pirates Docking Six
• Roronoa Zoro (EB04-007)
• Bad Manners Kick Course
• Ground Death

A hand of Nami, Brook and two Events has no Nami fuel. Usopp will never find you a Brook.

Fix: When you keep a hand or decide whether to play Nami, count only your Elbaph cards. When Sanji or Bad Manners Kick Course asks you to trash cards, discard cost-2 {Straw Hat Crew} Characters. That gives Docking Six and Luffy targets instead of wasting your discards.

5. Treating Ground Death as a counter before it is one

Ground Death's +4000 Counter needs 10 or more cards in your trash. Before that, it does nothing in battle. Its Main mode costs 1 DON!! to play plus resting 2 more DON!!, so it ties up three DON!! in total. Players often count it as defense on turn 3, or plan to use the negate on a turn without three spare DON!!.

Fix: Count your trash out loud whenever it changes. Usopp, Saul, Sanji and Docking Six all fill it quickly. Still, never assume you have 10 cards there until you have actually counted them.

6. Spending your trash carelessly on Zoro's replacement

Each time you use Roronoa Zoro (OP17-095) to save a Character, it moves 3 cards from your trash to the bottom of your deck. That can drop you below 10 for Ground Death. It can also remove the targets Luffy and Docking Six need. The replacement only covers removal by your opponent's effects. It does not save a Character that loses a battle.

Fix: You choose which 3 cards go back, so return Events and high-cost Characters and keep the cost-2 Straw Hats in trash. Save the replacement for Saul or Loki. Saving the enabler keeps every +3000 on your board, while saving a 2000-power Nami rarely matters. Don't expect Zoro to protect an enabler you leave exposed to an attack.

7. Using Loki at the wrong time, or attacking with the wrong enabler

Loki's On Play K.O.s Characters with a total cost of 4 or less. It is strongest when your opponent has two small Characters out. Using it on a single cost-1 wastes the card's 6 cost when Saul would have enabled your board just as well. Loki also gains +3000 during your opponent's turn, so it holds up after attacking. A rested Saul sits at only 6000 (7000 with Sabo active).

Fix: Hold Loki until the K.O. clears two Characters, or until you need a durable enabler. If one of your enablers has to attack, attack with Loki. Leave Saul active unless the attack wins the game.

Tournament Prep & Final Notes

What to Practice Before the Event

This list wins through thresholds and resources: total cost on board, cards in trash, DON!! attached to Sabo, and Life count. Most lost games come from miscounting one of these, not from bad draws. Your practice should focus on counting.

• Trash counting. Usopp, Jaguar.D.Saul, Sanji, Nami and Pirates Docking Six all fill your trash. Ground Death's Counter needs 10 or more cards there. Your Roronoa Zoro (OP17-095) pulls 3 out each time you use its replacement. Learn to know your trash count at any moment without recounting the pile.
• Recursion targets. Monkey.D.Luffy and Pirates Docking Six both replay a cost-2-or-less Character from trash. Docking Six is limited to {Straw Hat Crew}, which every 1- and 2-cost Character in this list qualifies for. Drill the choice for each board state. Take Nico Robin when you need the -3000, Tony Tony.Chopper when you need an Unblockable swing for lethal, Brook when you need DON!! moved onto an attacker, and Roronoa Zoro (OP17-095) when you expect removal.
• Deck count in long games. Look-3-trash-the-rest effects and Docking Six's mill thin your deck quickly. Zoro's replacement puts cards back on the bottom. In grindy games, check how many cards are left in your deck before you mill.
• The top of the field. Rocks.D.Xebec took 8 of 32 Top 8 slots and Luffy & Ace took 6 (source: Limitless TCG online platform, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). In this list's own event, Kalgara won and Luffy & Ace took 2nd, 4th and 8th (source: Limitless TCG, ChinoizeCup #122 standings, 2026-10-13). Spend most of your reps against those three Leaders. Every Luffy & Ace Top 8 list in that window ran 3-4 Bad Manners Kick Course (source: Limitless TCG, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). Expect its Trigger to give your Leader or a Character -3000 when you hit their Life, and leave yourself room for it when you plan an attack.

Rules Interactions to Know Cold

1. Two different cost thresholds. Sabo's board-wide +1000 needs a Character costing 8 or more and at least one DON!! attached to Sabo. The Elbaph bonuses need a cost of 12 or more.
   • Jaguar.D.Saul (16) and Loki (18) turn on both.
   • Pirates Docking Six (11) and Monkey.D.Luffy (8) turn on Sabo only.
   • Roronoa Zoro (EB04-007) at cost 7 turns on neither.
   Don't count Docking Six as an Elbaph enabler.
2. "You have" vs. "there is." Sabo's text checks whether you have the 8-cost Character. The Elbaph cards check whether there is a Character costing 12 or more. If you're unsure whether an opponent's Character satisfies that wording, ask a judge before round one, not mid-game.
3. Luffy's Rush needs the 12-cost already in play. Luffy costs 8 and you cap at 10 DON!!, so you can't add Saul in the same turn. Have Saul or Loki on board first, then play Luffy. Replay Tony Tony.Chopper or Nico Robin off its On Play while the threshold is live.
4. Zoro's replacement costs trash. Roronoa Zoro (OP17-095) protects any of your Characters from removal by an opponent's effect. Each use removes 3 cards from trash, which can drop you below 10 and switch off Ground Death's Counter. If a fresh Ground Death is your only defense for a lethal turn, declining the replacement can be correct.
5. Counter costs are real. Bad Manners Kick Course spends two cards from hand: itself plus a discard. Ground Death's Main mode costs 1 DON!! plus resting 2 more, so 3 total. Budget both before you commit your turn.
6. Loki's K.O. is total cost, and it isn't "up to." Add up the opponent's board before you play Loki so you know what you're taking. Remember Loki gains +3000 on your opponent's turn, which makes it a much harder wall than its printed 8000 suggests.
7. Sabo's 4-Life clause. Your Leader loses its 1000 bonus once you drop to 3 Life. Roronoa Zoro (EB04-007) gives +2000 through the opponent's next End Phase. Time that On Play for the turn your Life count would otherwise leave Sabo exposed.

Time Management

This deck spends a lot of time looking, revealing, drawing and trashing. A turn with Jaguar.D.Saul, a Usopp and a Luffy recursion can drag. The 2026-10-13 event ran Swiss with no separate top cut (source: Limitless TCG, ChinoizeCup #122 standings, 2026-10-13), so a draw costs you just as much as a loss.

• Decide your On Play order before you spend DON!!, not after each card resolves.
• When you look at 3, know which Elbaph card you want before you flip.
• Keep your trash pile in a fixed order so counting is instant.
• Don't spend time on Pirates Docking Six's optional mill when the trash count doesn't matter that game.

Final Assessment

Sabo is a midrange list with an unusually high floor. Cheap Elbaph bodies dig and fill the trash early. Then a single 4-cost Jaguar.D.Saul turns every 2-drop into a 5000-power attacker, gives Jinbe Blocker, and gives Monkey.D.Luffy Rush.

Its weak point is how much it depends on keeping a 12-cost on board. When the opponent can answer Saul and Loki faster than you redeploy them, your small Characters shrink back to 2000 power. That is why Roronoa Zoro (OP17-095) and the recursion pieces matter as much as the threats.

The list placed Top 4 at a 64-player ChinoizeCup on 2026-10-13. Across the window, Sabo took 2 Top 8 slots from 18 entries (source: Limitless TCG online platform, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). That is a real result, but not a dominant one.

Pick this up if you enjoy resource math and are willing to learn the threshold and trash interactions until they're automatic. Players who count accurately will get the most out of this list.

Metagame Context

Built from cicciopal's Top 4 list at ChinoizeCup #122 Tuesday (64 players, 2026-10-13), via the Limitless platform. Metagame context comes from a research brief dated 2026-10-19 covering 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19, drawn from the Limitless TCG online platform; Limitless TCG event results; Bandai (official One Piece site). Card text and prices: optcgapi.com and tcgcsv.com (TCGplayer prices).

Source: tournament results. Decklist and placements as reported by the event organizer.