It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally returning to Sky Island, one of my favourite arks from the anime and manga. Which means we’ll be seeing a lot of familiar faces and I might be able to play the Yellow Enel leader again with all the yellow support that’s being included.
In this review I’ll be exploring what you can expect to find when you open your booster packs, and which characters will be making an appearance throughout the different rarities.
The Skypiea’s the limit
The fan focus in this set so far has been transfixed on Purple Enel and Yellow Luffy, both of which share the Sky Island keyword. However, all is not as it seems with the purple Enel leader, as it introduces a game first rule change as part of its leader ability and only runs 6 don in the don deck!
And although this may seem like it puts the leader at a disadvantage from the get go, it has quickly become a very powerful leader in the current meta. With different regions using long forgotten cards to tech in better card draw and removal.
And with yellow Luffy, we find a reliable mid range deck which utilises life gain to sit on 2 life and make the most of its leader ability. Plus with all the larger yellow bombs, it’s very reliable when you get to late game.
Unlocking the power within
So, what can you expect to find in a double pack? Well, each box contains 2 booster packs of OP16, and 1 don pack. The don pack can contain 1 of 2 different DON!! cards, both of which are themed around events that happen in the relevant arc.
Each booster pack contains 12 unique cards which can include DON!!, commons, uncommons, and rares. However, each pack has a ‘hit’ slot which has the chance to include either a rare, leader card, SR, SEC, alt art, treasure card or a manga rare.
But what are these ‘better cards’, I hear you ask. Well, you may luck into anything from a gold border DON!!, stunning SP cards with devil fruit background or the coveted Enel Manga rare which features art taken directly from the manga panel.
It all boils down to luck as to what you’ll find, however, if you’re chasing the hits from the set; booster boxes are definitely the best way to expand your collection. Each box has an average hit rate of 3 treasure cards, and a manga rare is usually 1 in 24 boxes. So you have every right to freak out a little bit with excitement if you manage to find one.
However double packs aren't mapped, which means they have the chance to include any of the possible treasure cards, including a manga rare!
Familiar faces
Although this set places a lot of focus on the Sky Island keyword, we also see a variety of leaders that have been taken from other arcs, such as Kreig, Lucy, Rebecca, and our Yoho-hero Brook!
Out of all the new non-sky island leaders, Lucy is the one that seems to have stuck around the most, but it’s also one of the most technical from the set. It utilises a variety of events to answer any threats from the opponent as they appear. It has great removal, consistent card draw, and the ability to flood the board with characters off your 7 cost Sabo character.
Unfortunately, that does mean that Brook hasn’t had the entry into the game that he truly deserves. It has a really interesting leader ability which toes the line by going to zero cards whilst playing an all out attack at the same time to clutch the win. Hopefully, we’ll see a lot more support for this leader in future sets.
Ain’t no spike like a power spike!
With every new set, comes a variety of cards that push the power for each colour to a whole new level. This set is no different, and I’ve included a few of the bit hitters below:
Enel (OP15-118)
A huge monster of a character for the new purple Enel deck. Because this leader is restricted to a maximum of 6 DON!! cards, this character has a whopping 10k power and can’t be removed from the field by effects. Making it a real boos card for this deck.
Monkey D. Luffy (OP15-119)
This character pairs beautifully with the new yellow Luffy Leader. Given that yellow can consistently manipulate the cards in their life, this works a charm along with this character and ensures you get the most value from its passive ability. A nice bonus is the fact that its passive can also trigger on your opponent's turn which can make this character harder for them to remove.
Final thoughts
So there we have it, a real game changer of a set, with leaders exploring new ways of using the core game mechanics. I look forward to seeing what else Bandai has in mind going forward.
I always recommend picking up a booster box if you’re looking to get staples for a new leader from this set, and then pick up any missing singles from there. You get the excitement of opening booster packs and you have a new deck to play with at the same time!
As always, with the hype for this game at its highest, it can be very hard to find booster packs nowadays. However, if you do manage to open any packs, be sure to share your pulls with us on all our social media platforms. Just use the @zatugames tag.
