One Piece Release Events and Sealed: Build From Six Packs

When a new set comes out, stores hold events where you play with the new cards before most people have seen them. Some of those events are sealed: you open packs at the table and build a deck from only what you opened. It is the most level playing field in the game. Nobody brings a finished deck, so a new player and a veteran start the night with the same kind of pile.

Release events, and OP-18

Bandai’s next main set, OP-18, The Dominance of God, releases on November 20, 2026. Its store celebration is the 4th Anniversary Event, running at local stores from November 20 to December 17, 2026, with player applications opening in Bandai TCG+ on November 6. Each store chooses the format: constructed, sealed, or Standard Regulation. Participants receive event prizes, including a promo card.

Ask your store which format it is running before you go. If it is constructed, bring your deck. If it is sealed, read on.

New cards are legal at casual store events from release day, including any pre-release date a store holds.

How sealed works

These come from Bandai’s sealed format rules, the sheet the OP-18 event page links to:

• 6 booster packs each, as Bandai suggests. Every player opens the same number.
• Bring your own Leader. It can be from any set, including older ones.
• Bring your own 10 DON!! cards.
• Build a 40-card deck, not 50, plus your 10-card DON!! deck.
• Any colors. You can ignore the normal rule that cards must match your Leader’s colors.
• No copy limit. If you open five of the same card, you can play all five. There are no banned or restricted cards either.
• Sideboard. Cards you do not use are your sideboard. Between games you can swap cards in and out, as long as the deck stays legal.
• You keep what you open.

One rule catches people: the color freedom is about deck building only. If your Leader’s text names a color or type, it still only works on cards that match.

Pick your Leader before you open

Because you bring your Leader, you can choose one whose text helps any pile of cards. A Leader with a simple, general effect is a safer pick than one that needs a certain type. You will not know what you open, so a Leader that asks for nothing special can never be stranded.

Bring two or three Leaders if you own them. Then pick the best fit after you see your packs.

Build in five passes

1. Lay everything out by cost. Open all six packs, then sort every Character, Event, and Stage into a row from cost 1 upward.

2. Pull the clear winners. Characters that remove an opposing Character, draw cards, or are simply strong for their cost go in first. So do Events that K.O. or rest a threat.

3. Fill the low costs. You start with 1 or 2 DON!!, so you need things to do early. Aim for plenty of cards that cost 1 to 4. A hand of only expensive cards loses the first half of the game.

4. Count your Counters. In sealed, Counters do even more work than usual, because there are fewer clean answers to big attackers. Prefer the card with a Counter value when two cards are close.

5. Trim to 40. Cut the most expensive, the most situational, and anything that needs a type or partner you did not open. Keep Blockers if you have them; they buy time.

Shuffle up and play a few practice hands if there is time before round one.

Playing sealed games

• Read every card your opponent plays. You have never seen most of these cards before. Neither have they. Asking “May I read that?” is normal.
• Life matters more. Decks are slower, so each Life card you protect early can decide the end.
• Use the sideboard. If your opponent’s deck has big attackers, swap in more Counters or Blockers between games.

Drafts, too

Bandai’s tournament rules also list a draft format: players get six booster packs each, pick cards in pods of four, and build from what they drafted. Stores can choose it for official events. If you have played other drafting games, it will feel familiar, and our guide to card drafting covers the pick-and-pass basics.

After the event

You will walk home with a pile of new cards. Look through them with your constructed deck in mind. A sealed night often turns up the one or two singles your deck was missing, which is the most fun way to make the budget upgrades from Level 1.