Trying to put some personal flare on YB Luffy. I’ll be playing this list at my Locals this Friday when EB01 is released, so I’ll let you guys know how it goes, for anyone interested.

I’ve had varying degrees of success with this list on the sim. My worst matchup is RP Law with Moria being a close second. RY Sabo is kind of a neutral matchup, if not a little more in Sabos favor, just because it can get aggressive earlier. Katakuri can be difficult just because he can swap around my life, but I think it fares pretty well against him. Enel is just a slog because he hides behind blockers for decades. Everything else is pretty winnable. Of course, bad draws and poor timing on searchers can cost me the game, as with any deck, but I feel like this list has enough consistency that it fares pretty well against other Tier 1 decks.

With all of that said, I feel like the standard list is a bit lacking in the early game. I find myself typically just waiting for my opponent to swing into life or I’m just playing searchers to find my Bros. And if I’m doing neither of those, I’m just playing slow and not doing much until I get down to 0 life and 8 Don!! To get my Gecko and Bros engine going. So I’ve made some changes to try and speed things up and make it a little more aggressive.

The shell is pretty much the same — The Bros ft. Moria^tm — but I decided to go down to 2 Brother’s Bond because it’s pretty much a dead card late game. I find myself just pitching it to Luffy’s Leader ability more often than not. Garp can at least be a 1k Counter late game, so he can stay. I find having a total of 8 searchers that look for the same things to be a bit too much, honestly.

You’re the One Who Should Disappear! is a nice 3k counter, kind of just a pet card after playing YG Yamato since OP06 release. I’m sure this slot is better utilized by something else, but I’m hesitant to cut it.

Yamato is there for some early-mid game pressure and a 2k Counter late game. Not much else needs to be said there. It’s honestly a flex spot. Can toss it in life with the leader effect for a buffer in a pinch. Could also be swapped out with 5c Shirahoshi, but I find that between the searchers and Sabo, there’s enough deck thinners. Of course, there’s also Flampe.

Now, here’s the real twist, because everything up to now has just been “normal variance”; 4c Katakuri.

It lets me get a sneaky peek at my life. And since the strategy of the deck relies of getting to 0 life, I will almost always have less life than my opponent on my 4-5 Don!! turn, which allows me to get a quick 6k hit. Of course, there are some instances where I don’t want to be at less life than my opponent that early, like with RP Law. However, it’s extremely satisfying to applying putting pressure that early in the game and unless I’m playing against Katakuri, the mind games allow me to sow doubt in my opponent.

Did I bottom-life a YtOWSD? Did I keep a big bro on top? Did I put something on the bottom to protect it from a swing next turn? Find out next time, on Drago- … wait, wrong franchise.

Anyway, what do you guys think of this list?