Shanks — Standard Strategy Guide

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Archetype Overview

Shanks is a green tempo-control deck built around one idea: your opponent's Characters should spend the game rested. Nearly every card in the list either rests something on the other side of the table, keeps it rested, punishes it for being rested, or finds the cards that do. The list here took 1st Place at Win a Box - Aegean Pirate Cup #6 (2026-10-22, 33 players), played by Limitless user Vasilispatralis. It is a 42-Character, 8-Event build that commits almost entirely to that rest-and-punish plan.

The Plan: Rest, Lock, Convert

The deck works in three steps, and each card slots into at least one of them.

• Rest. Your On Play effects tap down the opposing board. Hongo rests up to two cost-2-or-less Characters. Yasopp rests a single target up to cost 8. Fisher Tiger rests one with no cost limit, and Benn.Beckman rests two while drawing a card. At the top end, the cost-10 Shanks rests all of your opponent's Characters and refunds 2 DON!! as active.
• Lock. Your Leader's once-per-turn ability costs either one card from hand or one rested DON!!. It keeps a rested opposing Character from standing up in their next Refresh Phase. Jewelry Bonney does the same and can also hit a rested DON!!, which cuts into their next turn's resources. A Character that stays rested can't attack, can't block, and stays a legal attack target for you.
• Convert. Rested Characters turn into card advantage. The cost-9 Shanks K.O.s a rested Character on play. Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face rests one more target, then K.O.s up to two rested Characters of cost 6 or less. Between those effects, you clear boards in chunks instead of trading one-for-one in combat.

Kouzuki Oden covers the opposite case. Instead of resting a threat, it keeps a Character with base cost 6 or less from being rested through your opponent's next turn, so that Character can't be rested to attack or block. It also draws a card. Treat Oden as a soft answer to the one body your rest effects shouldn't touch. Remember that the restriction also stops your own rest effects from hitting that target.

Why the Plan Is Strong

The effects stack. A single rest effect is a minor tempo swing. A rest effect followed by your Leader's lock takes a Character out of the game for a full turn cycle. Once the lock lands, a K.O.-on-rested effect removes that Character for good. The Leader's ability fires every turn, so the deck gets value every turn without spending a card slot on it.

Your best On Play effects come back. Trafalgar Law returns one of your Characters to hand and plays a cost-5-or-less Character from hand rested. That lets you replay Yasopp, Kouzuki Oden, Jewelry Bonney, Hongo, or Lucky.Roux for another round of rests, draws, or locks. Yasopp's end-of-turn effect can then set a Red-Haired Pirates Character back to active, so a rested body or a Hongo Blocker is ready on defense.

Consistency is built in. Limejuice, Lucky.Roux, and Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! all dig for Red-Haired Pirates cards, and most of the list carries that type. Yasopp, Kouzuki Oden, and Benn.Beckman each draw a card on play. You see your important pieces often, and your hand rarely runs dry in the midgame.

The defense is sturdier than it looks. Crone Oli protects your Red-Haired Pirates Characters from your opponent's removal: when one would be removed by an opponent's effect, you may rest one of your cards instead. It also counters for +2000, as do Limejuice and Hongo. On defense:

• Lucky.Roux can trash itself during your opponent's attack to rest their Leader or a Character.
• Both Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! and I Think He's Seen an Ugly Future... can act as +3000 Counter Events.
• Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face's Counter gives +4000 to any card named Shanks, and that includes your Leader.

The top end ends games. The cost-10 Shanks has Rush, 12000 power, rests the opponent's entire board, and hands back 2 active DON!!. You can spend those DON!! on your Leader ability, a Counter, or extra power for the swing. A turn where your opponent's whole board is rested and locked, and your 12000 Rush body attacks into an open Leader, is how this deck closes.

Who Should Pick It Up

This deck rewards players who think one turn ahead of the board. Your real decision each turn is rarely "what do I attack?" It is "which Character do I lock, and what does my opponent's next turn look like once it's gone?" If you like control decks that win through tempo rather than racing, Shanks fits you.

The flip side is that the deck punishes autopilot play. The rest costs on your Events, your Leader, and Crone Oli all draw from the same pool of cards and DON!!. Overspend on offense, and you can't pay for protection or Counters on your opponent's turn. Expect a learning curve around budgeting those rests.

At an estimated $75, the full list is an accessible entry point into a competitive deck. That makes it a reasonable pickup if you want a proactive, interaction-heavy deck for locals without a large up-front spend.

Core Strategy & Game Plan

This deck wins by taking your opponent's board out of the game without having to remove most of it. You rest their Characters, use your Leader to keep them rested through their next turn, then K.O. the ones that matter and attack through a board that can't block. Every turn should take away the opponent's next turn while you add pressure.

The Rest-and-Lock Loop

The whole deck runs on one sequence during your Main Phase:

1. Rest a target. Yasopp rests a cost-8-or-lower Character. Benn.Beckman rests two Characters. Hongo rests two cheap ones, and Fisher Tiger rests any one.
2. Lock it. Activate your Leader by trashing 1 card from hand or resting 1 DON!!. That rested Character won't become active in their next Refresh Phase. Jewelry Bonney gives you a second lock, and it can lock a DON!! instead to cut their mana.
3. Cash it in. A locked Character is still rested when your next turn starts. The 9-cost Shanks K.O.s it, Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face rests one more and K.O.s two rested Characters at cost 6 or less, or you simply attack it.

Resting and locking the same target in one turn is the key play. That Character can't attack or block for the opponent's whole turn, and it's still a sitting target when you untap. Opponents also rest their own Characters when they attack, so the Leader lock is live even on turns when you have nothing to rest with. Only lock what they attacked with if it actually threatens you.

Choosing the Leader's cost matters. Rest a DON!! when your hand is thin. Trash a card when you're one DON!! short of a key play. Don't spend your last Counter on a lock unless the locked Character is their main threat.

Supporting Engines

• Card flow: Limejuice, Lucky.Roux and Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! dig for Red-Haired Pirates pieces. Yasopp, Kouzuki Oden and Benn.Beckman draw while they disrupt. That card flow is what pays for trashing cards to your Leader.
• Rebuys: Trafalgar Law returns one of your Characters to hand and plays a cost-5-or-lower Character from hand rested. That can be the card you just returned. Bouncing and replaying Yasopp or Jewelry Bonney gets you a second rest or lock off one card.
• Tempo: Hongo makes 1 DON!! active again, so it effectively costs 3. The 10-cost Shanks makes 2 DON!! active again after it resolves.
• Protection: Crone Oli lets you rest 1 of your cards instead of losing a Red-Haired Pirates Character to an opponent's effect. That keeps your Shanks and Benn.Beckman on the board. It does nothing for Jewelry Bonney, Trafalgar Law, Kouzuki Oden or Fisher Tiger.
• Standing back up: Yasopp's End of Your Turn ability sets a Red-Haired Pirates Character active. You can attack with Hongo and still have it ready as a Blocker on their turn.

Kouzuki Oden works differently from the rest of the deck. Its target can't be rested until the end of the opponent's next End Phase. Attacking and blocking both require resting, so that Character can't do either on their turn. Use it on an active threat you can't otherwise reach. Never use it on something you plan to rest yourself.

Posture

You are a proactive tempo-control deck. Early on you develop and dig. In the midgame you make the opponent's board useless. Late, you close fast. Your defense is mostly preventing attacks, not absorbing them. A locked Character never swings.

When you do get attacked, you still have options:

• Lucky.Roux can trash itself to rest one of their Characters that hasn't attacked yet.
• The three Events double as Counters.
• Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face gives +4000 to a Shanks, and your Leader counts.

Leave a DON!! active going into their turn when you can. It pays for the 1-cost Counter on Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!!.

The Ideal Game, by DON!! Count

• 1–3 DON!!: Play Limejuice, Crone Oli or a Main-Phase Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!!. Sculpt toward your curve and don't spend Counters to protect early Life.
• 4 DON!!: Play Hongo if they have cheap Characters to rest. Play Lucky.Roux if you need to dig. Start locking anything that attacked you.
• 5–6 DON!!: The loop begins. Yasopp or Jewelry Bonney plus a Leader activation takes a Character out for a full turn cycle. At 6, Trafalgar Law into a replayed Yasopp gives you two rests and a draw.
• 7–8 DON!!: Benn.Beckman rests two, draws, and can attack a rested Character immediately. Alternatively, Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face trades seven DON!! for up to two K.O.s.
• 9 DON!!: The 9-cost Shanks K.O.s whatever you locked last turn and leaves an 11000-power body.
• 10 DON!!: The 10-cost Shanks rests every opposing Character and has Rush. Swing at the Leader with Shanks and your whole board while they have no Blockers. Spend the 2 DON!! it makes active on power or a Counter.

The finish is the payoff for everything before it. If your midgame locks thinned their board and drained their hand, the 10-cost Shanks turn ends the game. If you reach 10 DON!! facing a full hand of Counters, rest their board and pressure with what you have, then set up the next swing.

Card Choices & Breakdown

Every slot does one of three jobs: rest opposing Characters, punish rested Characters (keep them down or K.O. them), or find and protect the pieces doing the first two.

Search and Early Board

• Limejuice (4): A 1-cost look-at-three for any Red-Haired Pirates card. It also carries a +2000 Counter, so a copy you don't want to play still defends.
• Lucky.Roux (4): The same search on a 5000 body. The second ability is the real reason it's a four-of. When your opponent attacks, you can trash it to rest their Leader or a Character. That stops an attacker that is still active, and it sets up a target for your rested-Character punishers next turn.
• Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! (4): Your deepest dig at five cards. When you don't need to dig, its Counter gives +3000 for resting 1 of your cards. That costs you no hand, so it's one of the more efficient defensive cards in the list.

Twelve search effects make the Red-Haired Pirates package consistent. They can't find Kouzuki Oden, Jewelry Bonney, Trafalgar Law or Fisher Tiger, so those slots are capped for a reason.

The Rest Engine

• Hongo (4): Rests up to two Characters of cost 2 or less and untaps one of your DON!!, so it effectively costs 3. It's also a Blocker with a +2000 Counter, the best defensive body you have.
• Yasopp (4): Draws a card and rests a Character of cost 8 or less, which covers nearly anything. Its End of Your Turn effect sets a Red-Haired Pirates Character active. You can swing with a key attacker and still have it standing on defense.
• Benn.Beckman (4): With your Shanks Leader it draws and rests two Characters. As a Rush Character it can then attack one of the Characters it just rested in the same turn. It has no Counter value, which is the cost of playing four.
• Fisher Tiger (2): A 7000-power body that rests one Character. Its K.O. clause plays a Fish-Man or Merfolk Character of cost 4 or less, and this list has none, so treat it as a plain 6-cost rester. It sits at two because it isn't Red-Haired Pirates. Your searches can't find it and Crone Oli doesn't protect it.

Locks

• Leader Shanks: Once per turn, you trash a card or rest a DON!!, and one rested opposing Character skips its next Refresh. Every rest effect above becomes a full turn of denial.
• Jewelry Bonney (2): Bonney can lock a rested DON!! as well as a Character. That option cuts into your opponent's next turn of resources in a way nothing else in the list does. Run it at two because it's off-type.
• Kouzuki Oden (4): Draws a card and stops a Character of base cost 6 or less from being rested until the end of your opponent's next End Phase. Attacking requires resting, so the target can't swing. The catch: you can't rest it either. Point Oden at the threat you plan to ignore, never at the one you plan to rest and K.O.

Protection

• Crone Oli (4): When your opponent's effect would remove one of your Red-Haired Pirates Characters, you can rest one of your active cards instead. It also protects itself, and its +2000 Counter means it's never a dead draw. Keep it in mind when deciding what to leave active at end of turn.

Value Loop

• Trafalgar Law (4): Return one of your Characters to hand, then play a cost-5-or-less Character from hand rested. Returning a Hongo or Yasopp and replaying one of them gives you their On Play effect again. A Yasopp already on board can then set a replayed Red-Haired Pirates Character active at end of turn. Law has no Counter, but he gains Blocker at 1 or fewer Life, so he defends late.

Top End: Six Shanks

The list runs six Shanks Characters across two printings, split 4/2.

• Cost-9 Shanks: 11000 power, and its On Play K.O.s a rested Character. Your rest effects make that removal reliable.
• Cost-10 Shanks: The finisher. It has Rush, sets 2 DON!! active, and rests all opposing Characters. Spend one of those two refreshed DON!! on your Leader to lock the biggest rested Character through their next Refresh.

Six copies make sure you hit one of them by the late game. The two effects stack naturally: rest the board, then remove what's resting.

Events

• Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face (3): Its Main effect needs DON!! to cast plus six more to rest. For that it rests a Character and then K.O.s up to two rested Characters of cost 6 or less, a two-for-one sweep. Its Counter gives +4000 to a Shanks, and your Leader counts, so the Counter is live from turn 1. It sits at three because the sweep is a late-game card and four would clog early hands.
• I Think He's Seen an Ugly Future... (1): Free to cast. Its Main rests a Character, but you pay by resting four of your cards. Its Counter costs a card from hand. Both halves are expensive, so it's a single copy that fills gaps rather than a core card.

Counter density is the quiet trade-off. Trafalgar Law, Benn.Beckman and all six Shanks add zero, which is fourteen cards. The +2000 bodies and the three Counter Events carry your defense, so budget them before you commit to a big turn.

The Decklist

The full 50 is below, grouped as registered for the 1st-place finish at Win a Box - Aegean Pirate Cup #6 (33 players). The estimated build cost is about $75 at TCGplayer market prices, which is approximate. Run the standard 10-card DON!! deck alongside it.

Leader

Characters (42)

Events (8)

Reading the list

• Shanks printings: The registration lists two separate Character Shanks lines without card numbers. The two printings are the cost-9 version, which K.O.s a rested Character, and the cost-10 version with Rush, which untaps 2 DON!! and rests every opposing Character. Confirm which printing gets four copies before you sleeve up.
• Search density: Limejuice, Lucky.Roux and Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! only find Red-Haired Pirates cards. Kouzuki Oden, Jewelry Bonney, Trafalgar Law and Fisher Tiger are the 12 cards they miss.
• Counter profile: The deck has 12 Characters with +2000 and 16 with +1000. All 8 Events carry a Counter mode. Trafalgar Law, Benn.Beckman and both Shanks lines have no Counter value, so hands heavy with top-end defend poorly.
• Curve: There are 8 one-drops and nothing at costs 2 or 3. The 4-drop pair is your first real board turn, and the 5- through 10-cost range holds 26 cards.

Opening Hands & Mulligan

What a Keep Looks Like

Your hand needs to do three things: make an early play, reach a 4- or 5-cost play on curve, and hold enough Counter value to survive until your rest-and-lock turns come online. A five-card hand that covers all three is a snap keep. A hand that covers two is usually fine if one of the cards is a searcher.

The searchers are Limejuice, Lucky.Roux and Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!!. Each one finds a card with a type including "Red-Haired Pirates." That covers Hongo, Yasopp, Benn.Beckman, both Character Shanks, and the Events. It does not cover Kouzuki Oden, Jewelry Bonney, Trafalgar Law or Fisher Tiger. If your plan depends on one of those four, it has to be in your hand already. Don't count on digging for it.

Count your Counters before you keep. Limejuice and Hongo each give +2000. Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! gives +3000 by resting 1 of your cards. I Think He's Seen an Ugly Future... gives +3000 but costs you a card from hand. Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face gives +4000, but only to a Shanks, which includes your Leader. A hand full of 7-cost-plus Characters has none of this and will bleed Life before it does anything.

Going First

The first player gains only 1 DON!! on turn 1, then 2 per turn. That gives you 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 DON!!, reaching 10 on turn 6.

• Turn 1 (1 DON!!): Play Limejuice over Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! when you have both. The Character gives you a body, a search, and a +2000 Counter you no longer need to hold.
• Turn 2 (3 DON!!): This is your awkward turn because you can't cast a 4-cost.
  • Fire the remaining 1-cost searchers.
  • If the opponent has a rested Character, spend a DON!! on your Leader's lock.
  • Otherwise, keep DON!! back and protect your hand.
• Turn 3 (5 DON!!): This is your first real turn. Yasopp rests a Character with cost 8 or less. Then your Leader keeps it rested through their Refresh Phase. Alternatively, play Hongo and spend the DON!! it sets active on a 1-cost.
• Turn 4 (7 DON!!): This turn opens up Benn.Beckman or Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face. The 9-cost Shanks comes the turn after.

Going first, you can keep slightly slower hands. The awkward turn 2 matters less when the opponent hasn't developed much yet.

Going Second

Going second gives you 2, 4, 6, 8, then 10 DON!!. That curve is better for this list.

• Turn 1 (2 DON!!): Play Limejuice plus Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!!, or two 1-cost plays.
• Turn 2 (4 DON!!): Hongo sets 1 DON!! active, leaving you a spare DON!!. Spend it on a 1-cost, or on your Leader's lock against a Character Hongo just rested. Against small attackers, this turn swings the board.
• Turn 3 (6 DON!!): Play Trafalgar Law and return your Limejuice or Hongo to hand. Then play Yasopp, Kouzuki Oden or Jewelry Bonney from hand rested to get its On Play. Without Trafalgar Law, play a 5-cost plus a 1-drop.
• Turn 5 (10 DON!!): The 10-cost Shanks lands on curve. It rests their entire board, sets 2 DON!! active, and attacks with Rush.

Going second, prioritize hands with a 4-cost. Hongo is the card that turns the extra DON!! into tempo. A hand with Hongo and Trafalgar Law plus a 5-cost is your best possible opener.

Budgeting the Leader

Your Leader costs either a card from hand or a rested DON!!. Early on, pay with DON!!, because your hand is your Counter supply. Only trash a card to pay when you have a dead top-end card you won't reach for several turns.

The lock only works on a Character that is already rested. In the openers, your resters are Hongo, Yasopp and Benn.Beckman, plus Fisher Tiger later. Plan your first lock turn around when you can cast one of them.

Matchups That Change the Keep

• Aggro and go-wide decks with cheap Characters: Mulligan any hand without Hongo or a searcher that can find it. Hongo rests two Characters with cost 2 or less, which is exactly this matchup's opening board. Weight toward +2000 Counters and keep top-end light. A hand of Hongo, Limejuice and two Counters beats a hand holding the 10-cost Shanks here.
• Midrange and control decks with big single threats: Low-cost resters matter less here. You can keep hands with one searcher plus Yasopp or Jewelry Bonney and the 9-cost Shanks.
  • Yasopp rests up to cost 8 and the Leader holds it down.
  • Jewelry Bonney can also hold a rested DON!! down.
  • The 9-cost Shanks then K.O.s the locked Character.
  Kouzuki Oden stops a base-cost 6-or-less Character from being rested. Value it whenever the opponent relies on resting your Characters or their own Characters to function.
• Removal-heavy decks: Crone Oli lets you rest a card instead of losing a Red-Haired Pirates Character to opponent effects. Against decks built around removal effects, keep it as a 1-drop over a second Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!!.

Sequencing & Key Lines

Turns 1–2: Dig, Don't Commit

Your first DON!! goes into finding the curve. Going first, turn 1 is Limejuice or a Main-timing Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!!. Both dig for Red-Haired Pirates pieces, and you aren't attacking anyway. Going second with 2 DON!!, play both. On turn 2 of either seat, chain the remaining 1-cost pieces. Your Leader ability does nothing yet without an opposing rested Character. Don't trash a card to it just to "use" it.

Keep every Event in hand for now. The search Event at Main timing is fine early. Fire it while DON!! is cheap rather than as a Counter you'd have to save for later.

Turns 3–4: Start the Lock

From here, every turn follows the same order:

1. Rest something with an On Play: Hongo, Yasopp, Fisher Tiger or Benn.Beckman.
2. Activate the Leader on the most dangerous rested Character so it stays down through their Refresh Phase.
3. Attack.

A locked Character can't attack or block on their turn. It is still rested on your next turn, so it is a legal target for Shanks (cost 9), Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face, or a plain attack.

Hongo effectively costs 3 because it sets 1 DON!! active. Spend that DON!! on the Leader ability or a 1-drop. On 6 or 7 DON!!, Trafalgar Law is your value turn. Bounce a spent Limejuice or Hongo and drop Yasopp from hand for free. That gets you a draw and a rest, and you replay the bounced On Play later. Benn.Beckman at 7 rests two, draws, and can swing into one of them the same turn as a Rush Character.

When you have Yasopp on board, attack with Hongo first. The Yasopp end-of-turn effect stands Hongo back up as a Blocker.

Turns 5+: The Payoff Turns

Ten DON!! board-clear line. Play Hongo to rest two small Characters and get 1 DON!! back. Then cast Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face: pay 1, rest 6. It rests one more Character and K.O.s two rested Characters of cost 6 or less. That's 10 DON!! exactly.

Cost-9 Shanks. It needs a rested target already on the field. Sequence the rest effect or the Leader lock first. Your best target is one you locked last turn.

Cost-10 Shanks. This is your closing turn, not a tempo play. It rests their whole board, so nothing blocks for the rest of your turn. It has Rush, and it hands back 2 DON!!. Use those for the Leader lock plus a Counter reserve, or attach them for lethal. Cast it only when the unblocked swing ends the game, or when the follow-up cost-9 Shanks or Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face is already in hand.

Branch Points

• Leader cost: trash or DON!!? Rest DON!! when you have a spare one that you won't need for Counters. Trash a card when DON!! is tight. Good discards are a second Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! late, or a 1-drop you won't play.
• Kouzuki Oden versus your rest effects. Kouzuki Oden stops a Character from being rested, so it can't attack or block. It also blocks your own rest effects on that Character. Point it at the one active threat you can't rest or lock this turn. Never point it at something you plan to rest and K.O.
• Jewelry Bonney: Character or DON!!? If your Leader already locks their key Character, hit a rested DON!! to shrink their next turn. If they have two must-lock Characters, double up.

Small Edges

• Leave cards active on purpose. Three things need active cards on their turn:
  • The Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! Counter costs 1 DON!! and resting 1 of your cards.
  • Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face as a Counter costs 1 DON!! and gives +4000 to a card named Shanks, including your Leader.
  • Your 1-cost Red-Haired Pirates protection Character can save a Red-Haired Pirates Character from opposing removal by resting 1 of your cards instead.
  If everything is rested at end of turn, none of these work. Decide your defensive budget before you spend the last DON!!.
• I Think He's Seen an Ugly Future... is a zero-DON!! Counter for a dead card in hand. Keep it for the turn your DON!! is fully committed.
• Lucky.Roux trigger timing. Don't trash it to the first attack by reflex. The attacker is already rested. Use the trigger to rest their Leader or a big Character that hasn't swung yet, which cancels an attack. Anything you rest on their turn stays rested into your turn, giving you a free target for the cost-9 Shanks or Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face.
• Know your removal coverage. Your protection only covers Red-Haired Pirates Characters. Trafalgar Law, Kouzuki Oden, Jewelry Bonney and Fisher Tiger aren't covered. Against removal-heavy decks, put your best attacks on the Red-Haired bodies.
• Trafalgar Law at low Life. It has no Counter value. At 1 Life or less it gains Blocker, so it is a fine bounce-and-replay body late even when it is dead in hand early.
• Blockers. Your rest effects answer opposing Blockers before combat. Rest the Blocker first, then attack. Don't spend a K.O. on a Blocker you could simply rest for the turn.

Matchup Matrix

The field below comes from the brief's online data only, and the brief contains no head-to-head results. Every verdict for a named Leader is a read of how your rest-and-lock tools line up against what you can see, not a measured number. Strategy rows cover everything else.

Rocks.D.Xebec

This is the deck to prepare for. It had 46 of 256 entries, 8 of 32 Top 8 slots, and a Top 8 in all four counted events (source: Limitless TCG online events, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). Its Top 8 lists are standardized, with the same eight cards at four copies in all eight lists (source: Limitless TCG online events, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19).

• Learn their list: read those eight cards before the event, and count copies as they appear.
• Lock with intent: spend your Leader lock and Jewelry Bonney on the Character that threatens you next turn, not the biggest body.
• Close with Withdraw: save Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face for a turn when you can pay its cost plus six DON!! and K.O. two rested Characters of cost 6 or less.

Luffy & Ace

It had 31 entries and 6 Top 8 slots, but no wins (source: Limitless TCG online events, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). Its lists are also stable: seven cards at four copies in all six Top 8 lists (source: Limitless TCG online events, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19).

• Keep a Counter up: hold Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! as a +3000 Counter, rather than firing every copy as a Main-phase search.
• Re-use your bodies: Yasopp's End of Your Turn effect sets a Red-Haired Pirates Character active again. That lets an attacker double as a defender.

For that side of the matchup, see our Luffy & Ace Standard guide.

Monkey.D.Luffy

The OP17-079 Leader had 29 entries and one win, and OP13-001 also won an event (source: Limitless TCG online events, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). Treat them as separate decks.

• Read their damage source early: if it comes from Characters, your lock suite does its job.
• If it comes from the Leader, Lucky.Roux is your tool. Trash it when they attack with a Character, and rest their still-active Leader before it can swing.

For that side of the matchup, see our Monkey.D.Luffy Standard guide.

Kalgara

It had only 9 entries but took 3 Top 8 slots, including a win on 2026-10-13 (source: Limitless TCG online events, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19).

• Don't race blindly: keep at least one Counter event or a +2000 Counter Character in hand rather than dumping your hand for board.
• Draw while you develop: Kouzuki Oden and Yasopp each draw on play, so you can build a board without emptying your hand.

For that side of the matchup, see our Kalgara Standard guide.

Sabo

It had 18 entries for 2 Top 8 slots (source: Limitless TCG online events, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19).

• Turn rests into K.O.s: resting their board is only half the plan. Time Benn.Beckman or Fisher Tiger the turn before Shanks (ST16-004) or Withdraw, so the targets are already rested when the K.O. lands.

For that side of the matchup, see our Sabo Standard guide.

Go-wide aggro

• Hongo rests two Characters of cost 2 or less and refunds a DON!!.
• Shanks (OP17-022) rests their entire board with Rush, and Withdraw cleans up afterward.
• Keep +2000 Counter Characters (Crone Oli, Limejuice, Hongo) in hand early. Your job is to arrive at those turns with Life to spare.

Big-body midrange

Know your caps before you pick a tool:

• Capped: Yasopp rests cost 8 or less. Kouzuki Oden and Withdraw stop at cost 6.
• Uncapped: Fisher Tiger, Benn.Beckman, Lucky.Roux and the 10-cost Shanks. Save these for 9-cost and up.
• Oden conflict: its target cannot be rested by your effects either. Never Oden a Character you plan to rest and K.O.

Removal-heavy control

• Crone Oli lets a Red-Haired Pirates Character survive removal by resting one of your cards instead, so keep it on board before committing Beckman or Shanks.
• Kouzuki Oden, Jewelry Bonney and Fisher Tiger lack the Red-Haired Pirates type, so Crone Oli doesn't cover them.
• Trafalgar Law can re-buy a Yasopp or Kouzuki Oden On Play for a second draw.

Leader-centric pressure

This is your weak spot. Nearly every lock and K.O. in the list targets Characters, so against a deck that wins with Leader attacks you are leaning on Lucky.Roux and Counters.

• Race instead: push damage with the 10-cost Shanks's Rush.
• Stay healthy: keep your Life high enough that Trafalgar Law's Blocker clause at 1 or less Life is a backstop, not your plan.

Tech Choices & Variations

The Fixed Core

Most of this list is locked. The Red-Haired Pirates search package (Limejuice, Lucky.Roux, Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!!), Hongo, Yasopp, Benn.Beckman and the Shanks top end are the engine. Cutting any of them weakens both your searches and your rest-then-punish plan. The real decisions are in six places: Kouzuki Oden, Trafalgar Law, Jewelry Bonney, Fisher Tiger, Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face and I Think He's Seen an Ugly Future....

Slot-by-Slot Trade-offs

• Kouzuki Oden (4): This is the most cuttable four-of. It isn't a Red-Haired Pirates card, so your searches can't find it, Crone Oli can't protect it, and Yasopp can't untap it at end of turn. What it gives you is a card draw plus a lock: the target can't be rested, so it can't attack or pay rest costs through your opponent's next turn. The lock also stops your own rest effects on that Character. Point it at a different threat than the one you plan to rest. Trimming to 2 or 3 makes your searches hit more often but costs you that defensive lock.
• Trafalgar Law (4): Law has no Counter value. Its job is value: return Hongo, Yasopp or Jewelry Bonney and replay one cost 5 or less from hand to reuse an On Play. The replayed Character comes in rested, so this is a tempo play, not a defensive one. Going to 3 frees a slot for counter density if your field is fast. The Blocker it gains at 1 or less Life is a bonus, not a reason to play four.
• Jewelry Bonney (2): Bonney is the only card here that can keep an opponent's rested DON!! from becoming active. That makes it your best tool against decks that need a big turn. Moving to 3 or 4 is the right tune if your field is full of expensive single threats. It isn't searchable, so each extra copy slightly dilutes your search hits.
• Fisher Tiger (2): In this list it's a 7000-power body that rests 1 Character. Its K.O. clause plays a Fish-Man or Merfolk, and the list has none, so ignore that line. It overlaps with Yasopp at a higher cost. It's the first card to cut when you want a fourth Withdraw or a third Bonney.
• Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face (3): This is your best answer to a wide board. It rests 1 Character and then K.O.s up to 2 rested Characters with a cost of 6 or less, but the cost is resting 6 DON!!. That limits it to mid-to-late turns where you aren't also landing a big Character. The Counter mode gives +4000 to a card named Shanks, and that includes your Leader. Go to 4 against Character-heavy fields. Stay at 3 if you're already struggling to fit DON!! for your threats.
• I Think He's Seen an Ugly Future... (1): At 0 cost, this is a cheap Counter (+3000 for trashing a card) with a Main mode for spare-resource turns. A second copy raises counter density without costing DON!!, but every use costs a card from hand. Add it only if you're cutting a non-Counter body like Trafalgar Law.

Counter Density Check

Trafalgar Law, Benn.Beckman and both Shanks Characters carry no Counter value. Crone Oli, Limejuice and Hongo give +2000, and every other Character gives +1000. Each swap that removes a +2000 card for a top-end body makes your Life harder to defend, so make swaps that keep Counter values stable unless you expect a slow field.

Tuning for Your Local Field

The only metagame data available is online. Rocks.D.Xebec took 8 of 32 Top 8 slots and Luffy & Ace took 6 (source: Limitless TCG online events, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). Each of the other Leaders took 3 or fewer. If your store mirrors that, expect those two Leaders most often. Don't assume it does, though. Scout your local and tune by what the decks actually do.

The Shanks Split

The two Shanks Characters have different card numbers, so you can run up to 4 of each. The cost-10 Shanks rests the whole opposing board, has Rush, and returns 2 DON!!. The cost-9 Shanks K.O.s a rested Character, which works best after your rest effects have set it up.

Six top-end cards with no Counter value is already a lot. If you want to change the ratio, keep the total at six rather than adding a seventh. In tempo-heavy fields, lean toward the cost-10 version for its board-wide rest. In grindy fields, lean toward the cost-9 version for its cleaner removal.

Budget Options

The full list runs about $75 at TCGplayer market prices (approximate), so this is already a modest buy. On a budget, the goal is to get a working build on the table now and fill the last slots later, without rebuilding the deck. Single-card prices move, so check current market before you buy. What follows sorts the list by how replaceable each slot is, which tells you where a cut costs you the least.

Where to look first

Before buying, price-check the top end (Benn.Beckman and both Shanks Characters) and the four Characters that aren't Red-Haired Pirates: Trafalgar Law, Kouzuki Oden, Jewelry Bonney and Fisher Tiger. Those are the slots where one card's price is most likely to swing your total. Skip parallel arts and premium DON!! entirely. Base prints play identically.

The core you don't cut

The Shanks Leader, Limejuice, Lucky.Roux and Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! are the search engine. All three searchers only find Red-Haired Pirates cards, so the rest of the engine has to stay at full count for them to hit. Crone Oli protects that same type from opposing removal. Hongo, Yasopp, Benn.Beckman and the cost-10 Shanks are your rest effects and your finish. The cost-9 Shanks and Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face are the K.O. half of the plan. Withdraw's Counter only boosts a card named Shanks, which your Leader satisfies. Don't trim the 1-costs to save money. They are what keep your early turns from bricking.

Acceptable swaps

Every budget swap below cuts a non-Red-Haired Pirates card and replaces it with something already in the list. Each cut also raises your Red-Haired Pirates density, so your searchers whiff less often. That is a real upside to set against what you lose.

Two cautions:

• Fisher Tiger is a stopgap. Its K.O. clause wants a Fish-Man or Merfolk card with cost 4 or less in hand, and this list has none. In this deck it is a 7000-power body that rests one Character, which still fills the cost-6 slot.
• Don't stack all three swaps. Cutting Trafalgar Law and Kouzuki Oden together strips most of your mid-curve card advantage. Make the cheapest cut first and stop once the build fits your budget.

Upgrade path

1. Engine at full counts. Leader, Crone Oli, Limejuice, Lucky.Roux, Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!!, Hongo and Yasopp. Without these, nothing else works.
2. Top end. Four Benn.Beckman and both Shanks Characters at their listed counts. This gives you the rest-everything turn and the K.O. follow-up.
3. Removal events. Bring Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face to three and I Think He's Seen an Ugly Future... to one. Both are cheap to cast and double as Counters.
4. Trafalgar Law. This is the highest-impact non-core slot, because it turns your best On Plays into repeatable ones.
5. Kouzuki Oden. It gives you a draw plus an attack lock on the opponent's biggest threat.
6. Last two Jewelry Bonney and two Fisher Tiger. These finish the list. Until you own them, the swaps above cover these slots with little lost.

Once you reach the full list, stop spending. Nothing beyond the registered cards improves the deck, and alternate prints are purely cosmetic.

Common Mistakes

1. Firing the Leader before anything is rested

Your Shanks Leader only targets an opponent's rested Character. Activating it early in your Main Phase, or on a board where the only rested Characters are ones you don't care about, wastes your once-per-turn lock. Rest first with Hongo, Yasopp, Benn.Beckman, Fisher Tiger or the 10-cost Shanks, then lock the most dangerous one. Pay attention to the cost as well. If you have one DON!! left over at the end of your Main Phase, rest that instead of trashing a card. Only trash from hand when the lock is worth more than a Counter card.

2. Dropping removal into an active board

The 9-cost Shanks only K.O.s rested Characters. Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face only K.O.s rested Characters with cost 6 or less. If the opponent's board is fully active, the 9-cost Shanks is just a big body. Set up the target the turn before:

• Use your Leader lock to keep a Character rested into your turn.
• Trash Lucky.Roux on their turn to rest a Character.
• Hold the 9-cost Shanks for a turn when you can rest something first.

Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face rests a target before it K.O.s, so it can create one of its own two targets. It also needs 7 DON!! in total: 1 to play it and 6 more to rest. Count your DON!! before you commit, and check the cost cap on whatever you plan to K.O.

3. Using Kouzuki Oden on the wrong target

Kouzuki Oden stops a Character from being rested until the end of the opponent's next End Phase. That blocks your own rest effects too. If you Oden a Character, you can't rest it with Yasopp, your Leader can't lock it, and your rested-only removal can't touch it. Use Oden on a threat you don't plan to rest and remove this turn cycle. A Character that can't be rested can't attack or block, so Oden shuts that threat down without removing it. Never Oden the Character you're setting up for Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face.

4. Tapping out and turning off your defense

Several of your defensive cards need you to rest one of your own cards:

• Crone Oli's replacement effect.
• The Counter mode of Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!!.

DON!! you spend on your turn stays rested through the opponent's turn. If you attack with everything and spend every DON!!, you have nothing to rest. Crone Oli does nothing, and the Afraid Counter can't be paid. End most turns with at least one active DON!! or Character.

When you're fully rested, your Counter options are:

• I Think He's Seen an Ugly Future..., which pays its cost by trashing a card instead.
• Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face, which has no extra cost. Its +4000 only applies to a Shanks, but your Leader counts.

5. Spending Lucky.Roux on the current attacker

A Character that is attacking is already rested, so trashing Lucky.Roux to rest it does nothing. Rest an opposing Character that hasn't attacked yet. You can also rest their Leader before it swings. The best use sets up your turn: the Character you rest stays rested into your Main Phase. That gives the 9-cost Shanks or Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face a target, or gives your Leader something to lock.

6. Wasting Yasopp's End-of-Turn untap

Yasopp sets one of your Red-Haired Pirates Characters active at the end of your turn. It's free value only if something actually attacked. The standard pattern is:

1. Attack with Hongo.
2. Let Yasopp set it active at end of turn.
3. Hongo is back up as a Blocker for the opponent's turn.

Yasopp can also target itself. After Trafalgar Law replays Yasopp rested, Yasopp's own trigger can set it active again. Before you decide who attacks, decide who gets the untap.

7. Assuming every card is a Red-Haired Pirate

Kouzuki Oden, Jewelry Bonney, Trafalgar Law and Fisher Tiger are not Red-Haired Pirates. This has two consequences:

• Crone Oli can't save them from removal.
• Limejuice, Lucky.Roux and Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! can't find them.

Don't plan a turn around a search hitting Law. Don't leave Law as your only big body against removal and expect Crone Oli to cover it. Fisher Tiger's K.O. clause plays a Fish-Man or Merfolk Character, and this list runs none. Treat that clause as blank and value Fisher Tiger only for its On Play rest.

8. Playing Law without the pieces

Trafalgar Law's On Play needs two things:

• A Character of yours on the field to return to hand.
• A Character with cost 5 or less in your hand to play.

Without both, you've paid 6 for a vanilla 6000 that has no Counter value. The line that justifies Law is returning a spent On Play Character such as Hongo, Lucky.Roux or Yasopp. You then replay a cost-5 On Play Character from hand, and you can recast the returned card next turn. Check your hand before you commit the DON!!.

9. Ending the 10-cost Shanks turn early

The 10-cost Shanks sets 2 DON!! active and rests every opposing Character, and it has Rush. Players often swing and pass with those 2 DON!! unused. Spend at least one of them on your Leader lock so the best rested Character stays down. The opponent then starts their turn short a piece. On your next turn, the 9-cost Shanks or Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face has a rested target waiting.

Tournament Prep & Final Notes

What to Practice Before the Event

• The rest-then-lock order. Your Leader only locks a Character that is already rested, so it always comes after the rest effect, never before. Drill the full turn until it's automatic: rest with Hongo, Yasopp, Benn.Beckman, Fisher Tiger or the 10-cost Shanks. Then pay the Leader cost (trash a card or rest a DON!!) on the most important rested target. That target stays down through their turn and is still rested on yours, ready for the 9-cost Shanks or Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face.
• Opponent's-turn budgeting. Decide before you pass what you're holding up. Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! needs 1 DON!! plus an active card to rest. I Think He's Seen an Ugly Future... costs nothing but a card from hand. Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face costs 1 and only pumps a Shanks. Crone Oli's protection also needs an active card to rest. If you spend everything on your turn, all four go dead.
• Trafalgar Law targeting. Practice picking the bounce-and-replay pair quickly: which Character comes back to hand, and which cost-5-or-less On Play you re-trigger. Remember the replayed Character comes in rested.
• The two most-represented Leaders in the researched data. Rocks.D.Xebec took 8 of 32 Top 8 slots and Luffy & Ace took 6 (source: Limitless online events, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19). That data is online-only, so it may not match your room. Still, those are the two pilots to find for test games.

Rules Interactions to Know Cold

• Locks hit the next Refresh Phase. Both the Leader and Jewelry Bonney act on the opponent's next Refresh Phase. Jewelry Bonney can lock a rested DON!! instead of a Character. When the opponent has few Characters worth locking, taking away a DON!! for their next turn is often the stronger choice.
• Kouzuki Oden cuts both ways. "Cannot be rested" also stops your rest effects. A Character hit by Kouzuki Oden can't be set up for the 9-cost Shanks or for Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face until the effect ends. Use it on the threat you want to stop attacking, not the one you plan to remove.
• Crone Oli only covers Red-Haired Pirates. Kouzuki Oden, Trafalgar Law, Jewelry Bonney and Fisher Tiger don't have the type, so they get no protection. The same type gap means Limejuice, Lucky.Roux and Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! can't search them either.
• Fisher Tiger's K.O. clause is empty here. The list has no Fish-Man or Merfolk Character with cost 4 or less, so decline the DON!! rest when he's K.O.'d.
• Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face can remove the Character it rests. The rest happens first, so that Character can be one of the two K.O.s if its cost is 6 or less. Its Main costs 1 plus resting 6 DON!!, so you need 7 DON!! available.
• Rush versus Rush Character. The 10-cost Shanks can attack the Leader the turn it's played. Benn.Beckman can only attack Characters that turn. After the 10-cost Shanks rests the opponent's whole board, its two refreshed DON!! can pay your Leader cost to lock the best rested target.
• Lucky.Roux timing. It triggers on the opponent's attack. You can rest a Character that hasn't attacked yet, which denies that attack and leaves it rested for your turn. You can also rest their Leader.
• Range limits. Know these without reading the card:
  • Hongo rests only cost 2 or less.
  • Yasopp rests cost 8 or less.
  • Kouzuki Oden checks base cost 6 or less.
  • Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face K.O.s cost 6 or less.
  • The 9-cost Shanks K.O.s any rested Character.

Time Management

This deck isn't slow because games run long. It's slow because single turns stack many decisions. Limejuice, Lucky.Roux and Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! each ask you to choose a card and order the bottom of your deck. Big turns then chain three or four rest and lock effects. To keep the clock moving:

• Plan your search priority before you look, so you pick and bottom in seconds.
• Announce every lock out loud and mark it, for example with a die on the locked card. Opponents forget what stays rested, and a disputed board state costs more time than any search.
• Track Kouzuki Oden's duration the same way. It lasts until the end of the opponent's next End Phase.

Final Assessment

This is a disciplined Green rest-control list that paid off with a 1st place finish in a 33-player field. Its strength is redundancy. Rest effects run from cost 1 through cost 10, and every one of them feeds a Leader that turns a temporary rest into a lost turn for the opponent's best Character. The top end, the two Shanks Characters and Benn.Beckman, converts those locked boards into card advantage and damage.

The costs are real:

• The off-type Characters leave holes in both your search and your protection.
• The Leader has nothing to lock against an opponent who keeps few Characters on board.
• Every misplayed DON!! on your own turn weakens your defense on theirs.

Bring it if you're willing to count resources precisely every turn. The deck rewards that precision more than any single card choice.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the Shanks deck win games?

It rests opposing Characters, uses the Leader to keep them rested through the opponent's next Refresh Phase, then K.O.s the ones that matter and attacks through a board that can't block. The cost-10 Shanks closes by resting the whole opposing board and swinging with Rush and 12000 power.

What does the Shanks Leader ability do and how should I pay for it?

Once per turn, you trash a card or rest a DON!! to keep one rested opposing Character from untapping in their next Refresh Phase. Early on, pay with DON!! because your hand is your Counter supply. Trash a card when DON!! is tight or you hold a dead card.

What are the key cards in the Shanks Standard deck?

Hongo, Yasopp, Benn.Beckman and Fisher Tiger rest targets. The cost-9 Shanks and Withdraw Now and Allow Me to Save Face K.O. rested Characters. Trafalgar Law replays On Play effects, and Limejuice, Lucky.Roux and Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! search for Red-Haired Pirates cards.

What is the hardest matchup for Shanks?

Leader-centric pressure is the weak spot, because nearly every lock and K.O. in the list targets Characters. Against those decks you lean on Lucky.Roux and Counters, race with the 10-cost Shanks's Rush, and keep your Life high.

When should I use Kouzuki Oden?

Use Kouzuki Oden on an active threat you don't plan to rest and remove. It stops that Character from being rested, so it can't attack or block, but it also blocks your own rest effects. Never Oden a Character you are setting up for a K.O.

What cards can the searchers not find?

Limejuice, Lucky.Roux and Are You That Afraid of the New Era?!! only find Red-Haired Pirates cards. They miss Kouzuki Oden, Jewelry Bonney, Trafalgar Law and Fisher Tiger. Crone Oli also can't protect those four.

What are good budget swaps for the Shanks deck?

The full list runs about $75. The cheapest cut is trading Jewelry Bonney for two I Think He's Seen an Ugly Future.... You can also trim Kouzuki Oden or Trafalgar Law for cards already in the list, but don't stack all three swaps.

What should I practice before a tournament with Shanks?

Drill the rest-then-lock order until it's automatic, and decide before you pass what you're holding up on the opponent's turn. Practice picking Trafalgar Law's bounce-and-replay pair quickly, and get test games in against Rocks.D.Xebec and Luffy & Ace.

Metagame Context

Built from Vasilispatralis's 1st Place list at Win a Box - Aegean Pirate Cup #6 (33 players, 2026-10-22), 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.