Spend or Give: Managing DON!! in the One Piece Card Game

Most trading card games make you gamble on your resources. The One Piece Card Game does not. Your DON!! deck adds the same number of cards every turn, so you always know what next turn will bring. That makes DON!! the easiest part of the game to plan, and the easiest place to gain an edge on a player who does not.

All rules here follow the official Comprehensive Rules, version 1.2.1.

Your budget, turn by turn

In your DON!! Phase you add 2 DON!! to your cost area. The player going first adds only 1 on their first turn. You have 10 in all, so the count stops at 10.

That table assumes nothing has sent DON!! back to your DON!! deck. Learn it once and you can plan two turns ahead: a 5-cost card you draw now is a turn 3 play if you went first, and a turn 3 play with 1 DON!! to spare if you went second.

Spend first, give second

Each active DON!! does one of two jobs. You rest it to pay a cost, or you give it to your Leader or a Character for 1000 power during your turn. You can do both in the same Main Phase, in any order.

A simple habit for early turns: decide what you will play, pay for it, and only then give what is left. A Character on the table keeps working next turn. A given DON!! returns to your cost area at your next Refresh, so its power lasts only this turn.

That does not make giving a waste. A given DON!! is often the difference between an attack that forces a Counter and one the defender ignores. The attack math lesson at Level 3 shows how to count it.

Use them all

An unspent DON!! does nothing for your board. On most turns, the strongest play uses all of your DON!!: play a 3-cost and a 2-cost with 5, or a 4-cost and give 1 to your Leader. When a hand does not fit your budget exactly, look for the give.

Some cards care about DON!! given to them. A card with [DON!! x1] in its text only has that effect while at least 1 DON!! is given to it. Those cards turn a give into an effect as well as power, which is why many decks give to Characters before the Leader.

Leaving DON!! standing

Here is the exception to “use them all.” Rested DON!! stay rested until your next Refresh. Active DON!! stay active through your opponent’s turn.

That matters because [Counter] Events cost DON!!. If you hold a Counter Event in your hand, you need active DON!! on your opponent’s turn to pay for it. So the full budget question is: spend, give, or keep some standing for defense.

It also works as a signal. A player who ends their turn with 2 active DON!! might be holding a Counter Event, or might want you to think so. The reading opponents lesson comes back to this.

The price of DON!! minus

Some cards have a cost written as DON!! −1 or higher. You pay it by returning that many DON!! from your field (your cost area, Leader, or Characters) to your DON!! deck.

How much that hurts depends on the turn:

• Early, while your DON!! deck still has cards, you add 2 each turn no matter what. A returned DON!! puts you one behind the table above on every turn until you reach 10.
• Late, with all 10 out, a returned DON!! goes back to an otherwise empty DON!! deck, and your next DON!! Phase adds it right back. The price is about one DON!! for one turn.

So DON!! minus effects tend to be cheaper the longer the game goes. Read them with the turn in mind.

Three budget habits

1. Plan the turn before you touch a card. Count DON!!, then decide.
2. Know your next two turns. “Next turn I have 7” tells you whether to play the 4-cost now or hold it.
3. Check what you leave standing. If you are holding a Counter Event, keep its cost active. If you are not, spend everything.