Staying Sharp in One Piece: New Sets, Rotation, and Bans

Every trading card game changes. New sets add cards, old cards leave the main format, and a few cards get banned when they prove too strong. The One Piece Card Game does all three on a schedule you can learn. This last lesson is about keeping up without starting over every year.

The block system

Every card has a block symbol, a number in its lower right corner. Bandai groups booster sets into blocks: sets 1 to 4 form block 1, sets 5 to 8 form block 2, and so on, as Bandai’s block number announcement explains.

Standard, the format most official events use, gives you about three years of recent cards:

• April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027: blocks 2 to 5 are legal. Block 1 is not.
• From April 1, 2027: blocks 3 to 6 are legal. Block 2 leaves.

Some cards get updated block numbers when they are reprinted, so a card from an old set can stay legal. Bandai keeps a list of those cards. When in doubt, check the block number on the card and the official list.

Extra is the format for nearly everything: block 1 through the newest set. It is used for special events, such as Bandai’s Extra Grand Battle.

What rotation means for you

Each April, the oldest legal block leaves Standard. If your deck leans on cards from that block, it changes. Three habits help:

• Know your blocks. Glance at the block symbol on your key cards today. If several are from the next block to leave, plan for it.
• Buy with the calendar. A card from a block about to rotate is worth less to a Standard player. Buy it if you love it or play Extra; skip it if you only need it for six months.
• Trade before April. Cards leaving Standard still matter to Extra players and collectors. Our guide to trading and selling games covers passing on what you no longer use.

The banned list

Bandai’s Banned/Restricted Card List applies to official and sanctioned tournaments. It has three kinds of entries:

• Banned cards, which no deck may include.
• Banned pairs, two cards that cannot be in the same deck, though each is fine alone.
• Restricted cards, a category that is empty as of October 2026.

The most recent update was announced September 24, 2026, and took effect October 12, 2026. Bandai says it usually revises the list twice a year, after Japan’s Championship Season 1 and after the World Championship, and can add a card sooner if needed. Check the list whenever Bandai posts news, and again before any event. Bandai also keeps an errata page for cards whose text has been corrected; the corrected text is the one you play.

Reading a new set

New sets arrive several times a year. The next main set, OP-18 The Dominance of God, releases November 20, 2026. New cards are legal at store events on release day and at competitive events 7 days later.

When a set’s card list goes up on Bandai’s card list, read it with three questions:

1. Does anything do a job in my deck better? Use the jobs from the deck building lesson.
2. Does anything beat my deck? A new removal card or a new Leader can change a matchup.
3. Does anything change the field? A strong new Leader will show up at events within weeks. The metagame lesson tells you how to watch for it.

Then let the first few weeks of store events show you which new cards matter. Early reads are often wrong, for everyone.

Keep playing, keep teaching

The best way to stay sharp is to keep playing with people. Two more ways to grow:

• Teach. Every new player you teach makes you explain the rules clearly again, and makes your local scene bigger. The teaching lesson is still the place to start.
• Build a group. Our guide on how to start a play group shows how to keep one going between store nights.

Near Indianapolis? Join the Indianapolis list for first word on local learn-to-play nights as The Ludarium grows.

The end of the course

You started at Level 0 with a starter deck and a question about which box to buy. Since then you have learned the turn, read a card, taught a friend, budgeted DON!!, defended with Blockers and Counters, played store events and sealed, counted lethal, put odds on your draws, built a deck from scratch, learned the tournament rules, and mapped the road to Regionals and beyond.

Whether you stop at Friday nights or chase an invite, the game stays the same at heart: a Leader, a crew, and a person across the table. The game is the reason. The people are the point.