Going First or Second in the One Piece Card Game

Welcome to Level 2. Every game of One Piece starts with a decision that most new players make by habit. Whoever wins rock-paper-scissors, or the coin flip at a store event, chooses whether to go first or second. It is the only choice you make before seeing a card, and it shapes the first five turns.

The official rules are simple. What they add up to takes a little counting.

What the rules give each player

From the Comprehensive Rules, version 1.2.1:

• The player going first skips their draw on their first turn, and adds only 1 DON!! that turn instead of 2.
• Neither player can battle on their own first turn.
• Everyone else draws 1 card and adds 2 DON!! every turn.

Set those side by side for the opening turns, assuming nothing changes the counts:

“Cards drawn” counts the opening hand plus draws, not what is left in hand.

What going first buys

The first attack. The first player is the first one allowed to battle, on turn 3 of the game. The second player cannot attack until turn 4.

The first board. Whatever the first player plays on their opening turn is on the table before the second player does anything. A Character played on turn 1 can attack on turn 3, and the second player has to answer it.

What going second buys

One more card. The second player draws on their first turn. Over the whole game, at any point, they have drawn one card more than the first player had drawn at the same stage of their own turns.

One more DON!!. On each of their turns, the second player has one more DON!! than the first player had on the matching turn, until both reach 10.

Full DON!! sooner. The second player reaches 10 DON!! on their fifth turn, which is turn 10 of the game. The first player gets there on their sixth turn, turn 11.

Information. The second player sees the first player’s opening play before making their own.

How to choose

There is no answer that is right for every deck, and the best choice changes as new sets arrive. Ask what your deck needs.

• Decks that want to hit early and pressure Life tend to like going first. Their plan is to be ahead on the board before the opponent can answer.
• Decks with expensive key cards or a plan that wins late often like going second. The extra DON!! puts their big turn one turn earlier on their own count, and the extra card helps them survive.
• Your Leader can change it. Some Leaders have effects that start the game or care about DON!!. Read yours with this question in mind.

The best data is your own. Keep a simple tally of wins going first and going second with your deck. After twenty games you will have a much better answer than any rule of thumb. If you can find recent top-cut deck lists for your Leader, notice what strong players with that deck tend to choose and why.

At an event

Bandai’s Tournament Rules Manual sets who chooses:

• Swiss rounds: a random method, such as a die, coin, or rock-paper-scissors. The winner chooses who goes first.
• Top cut: the player with the higher Swiss standing chooses for game one.
• Best of three: the loser of the previous game chooses for the next one.

Make the choice before you get to the table. Then it costs you no time on the clock, and you will not make it by habit.