Illustrated excellence
For the first time in the UK, us One Piece Card Game players can finally get our hooks on the illustration packs and their exciting promo cards. Although packs one and two were exclusive to America, we can rejoice as all future illustration products will be coming our way too.
Which means I have the exciting job of exploring this newest product to find out what’s inside and whether it’s worth buying. So without further ado, let’s get started!
Here there be treasure rares!
Taking on a form that Pokémon players may be familiar with, the illustration box offers players a couple of playable promos along with 4 exciting packs. But what exactly can you expect to find:
● 1 x OP-08 Booster Pack
● 1 x OP-11 Booster Pack
● 2 x OP-12 Booster Pack
● Perona OP09-034 promo
● Dracule Mihawk ST12-003 promo
Starting with the promo cards, Perona is a really useful searcher that can look for either a Dracule Mihawk or Triller Bark type card. Unfortunately, the green archetype isn’t really known for its thriller bark leaders, and so this card slips under the radar in comparison to the other promo we get.
Which just so happens to be Dracule Mihawk, one of the most underrated cards from the ST12 starter deck until recently. With the power to play another strike character for free, this card fits perfectly into Uta and Yamato decks without any hesitation. A must have staple, and a promo that will be highly sought after,
And then we have the booster packs. The most recent release is OP12, so it’s nice to have two packs. in this set. It features the new Green Zoro leader and some crazy powerful cards that have quickly become staples in their colours.
OP11 has a large amount of relevant cards that are staples in the meta, and some of the nicest treasure rares and SP’s that Bandai have printed to date. And with the unseeded packs, you’re more likely to strike lucky than you would with the booster box.
On the other hand, I have to say that OP08 is a strange choice to have in this product as it’s quite an old set at this point. The selection of cards that it contains and the lack of playable treasure cards makes it one of the weakest sets as far as meta staples go.
That being said, as these packs are loose, they aren’t restricted to the usual booster box ratios. Meaning that one lucky pirate out there could find themselves pulling four manga rares from one innocent looking box. Just imagine!
Perfectly pirate
Aside from the beautiful looking promos and the booster packs full of potential; there’s not much else to this product. It’s a fantastic way to bolster your collection with some hard to find promotional cards, but the booster packs are where the box may or may not pay off. Whilst there’s the chance at a treasure card, you might also find four leader packs waiting for you, and it doesn’t get ,ore disappoint than that.
Nonetheless, I would definitely say it’s worth pick up two or more of these if you can find them (four if you’re after a playset of the promo’s). They’re not going to be around for long, and once they’re gone the promotional cards will be highly sought after.
As always, if you do treat yourself to one of these exciting boxes, be sure to let us know what you get in the packs. You can tag us on all social media using the @zatugames tag. We can’t wait to see what you get!
