Green Mihawk OP17
samsansOP

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«op17 mihawk deep dive» — video di 2 ore + note ordinate — Versione Mihawk 6c + Perona 5c. Testo integrale, nelle parole dell'autore.

Note ordinate del video

Le note della sessione, sezione per sezione.

In questo capitolo · 11 sezioni
OP17 MIHAWK DEEP DIVE - SAMSANSDECK IDENTITYCORE LIST CONCEPTSMIHAWK MIRRORMIHAWK VS SABOMIHAWK VS ROCKSMIHAWK VS KAIDOMIHAWK VS YELLOW BIG MOM DECKSMIHAWK VS ACE LUFFYGENERAL MIHAWK PRINCIPLESFINAL TAKEAWAYS
Fonte
fonti/note.txt — note strutturate del video YouTube «op17 mihawk deep dive» di samsansOP (29 ago 2026, 2h00m) · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB2ejUdFAkY · Versione deck: Mihawk 6c + Perona 5c
Testo delle note verbatim (inglese). Le righe in MAIUSCOLO della fonte sono ##, i titoletti ###; il resto è riportato riga per riga.

OP17 MIHAWK DEEP DIVE - SAMSANS

Session Overview

  • Sam OP17 Mihawk session focuses on how the deck has changed from OP16.5 and why the new Shanks, Vander Decken, Luna, and stun package has reshaped both deckbuilding and matchup strategy.

Her broad conclusion is:

  • Mihawk is likely the strongest overall deck in the current OP17 environment.
  • It is not necessarily Tier 0, and Kaido, Sabo, Robin, and other decks remain valid tournament choices.
  • Mihawk’s mirror is the matchup that matters most for serious tournament preparation.
  • The deck’s main advantage is no longer only Law/Bepo endgames. It now has a Shanks plus Vander Decken plus Luna endgame that can invalidate entire boards.
  • Deck construction should prioritize strong mirror performance while retaining enough tools to beat Sabo, Rocks, Kaido, yellow Big Mom decks, and other important field decks.

DECK IDENTITY

The OP17 Mihawk Game Plan

OP17 Mihawk is still fundamentally built around the same strong Wano core:

  • Searchers
  • Samurai effects
  • Perona
  • Oden
  • Mihawk
  • Law/Bepo
  • Rad Beam
  • Efficient board development
  • Strong event-based defense

The deck still wants to:

  • Develop a 5-cost body on its first relevant curve turn.
  • Build efficient 6-cost and 5-cost combinations.
  • Use Perona and Oden to prevent the opponent’s board from converting.
  • Generate card advantage through Samurai, searchers, Mihawk filtering, and Oden.
  • Transition into a late-game bomb turn.
  • Use high leader power, Luna, Shanks, Vander Decken, or Law/Bepo to finish.
  • What has changed is the endgame.
  • In OP16.5, Mihawk mirrors often became Law/Bepo wars. Stun cards were less important because the opponent’s board frequently could not convert anyway.
  • In OP17, Shanks changes that.

When Mihawk plays Shanks:

  • Opponent’s board can be rested.
  • Luna can freeze the board.
  • Vander Decken can remove a key large body.
  • Mihawk can attack with a 12k threat on the same turn.
  • The opponent is often pushed to zero life while their board is disabled.
  • This means stuns now have much more value because Shanks creates the board state that makes Luna devastating.

CORE LIST CONCEPTS

Wano Core

  • Sam considers the Wano engine largely unchanged and non-negotiable.

The core gives Mihawk:

  • Reliable early development.
  • Card selection.
  • Samurai conversion.
  • Access to multiple 6-cost plays.
  • Perona and Oden lines.
  • Filtered access to major threats.
  • A consistent way to generate value over a long game.
  • She is very high on playing four Samurai effects. The deck wants to see several in a game, especially in the mirror where extra draws, extra filtering, and card economy are major sources of edge.
  • If Samurai becomes unusable late, it can still be pitched through Mihawk filtering. That makes it much less punishing to play four copies.

Vander Decken

  • Vander Decken has become close to standard in OP17 Mihawk.
  • Its main purpose is to improve the Sabo matchup.

Why it matters against Sabo:

  • Sabo creates a board full of Giant-enabled bodies.
  • Its big units can become difficult to contest conventionally.
  • Vander Decken lets Mihawk remove or answer an important body.
  • It gives Mihawk a cleaner way to interact with the Sabo board before it becomes overwhelming.
  • Vander Decken is also incidentally good in the mirror.
  • If the opponent plays Shanks, Mihawk can interact with the Shanks.
  • If the opponent plays a major body, Decken provides a practical answer.
  • It supports Shanks plus Luna lines by removing the character that matters most.
  • Sam does not describe Decken as the only mirror plan, but it is a major tool in the most common Shanks endgame.

Shanks

  • Shanks is the defining OP17 Mihawk bomb.
  • Its role is not merely to remove a body. Its real value is that it creates a board state where Luna becomes a mass tempo swing.

The Shanks turn often looks like:

  • Establish enough board earlier in the game.
  • Play Shanks.
  • Rest or force opposing bodies sideways.
  • Use Vander Decken to remove the most important target.
  • Use Luna to freeze the remaining board.
  • Attack with a 12k body and other existing attackers.
  • Put the opponent at zero or nearly zero.
  • Force the opponent to respond immediately without a functional board.
  • Shanks is especially strong in the mirror because it removes the old assumption that medium bodies automatically retain value into Law/Bepo turns.

Luna

  • Luna is now much more important than it was in OP16.5.
  • In the old Law/Bepo-focused Mihawk endgame, the opponent’s board often already struggled to attack into a large leader. Stuns were less necessary.

In OP17:

  • Shanks rests the opposing board.
  • Luna freezes the entire group.
  • Mihawk gets a tempo turn without taking meaningful return pressure.
  • The opponent often cannot make up the lost turn because Mihawk’s board is already attacking for large numbers.
  • Luna is not merely defensive. It is a card that converts Shanks from a strong threat into a game-ending tempo package.

Stun Bonney

  • Sam is testing Stun Bonney as mirror tech.
  • The key use is simple: Stun Bonney can take the opponent off its Shanks turn.
  • In the mirror, the player going second often has the natural advantage of playing Shanks first and then using Luna to punish the opponent’s board. Stun Bonney gives the going-first player a way to disrupt that timing.

Why Bonney is playable even in a Mihawk build:

  • Law into Bonney creates a body that often enters sideways anyway.
  • That body can be removed by Luna, combat, or other interaction.
  • The difference between Law plus Bonney and standalone Bonney on the relevant turn may be smaller than it appears.
  • The card improves the mirror and has incidental value into yellow Big Mom decks.
  • Against yellow Big Mom decks, Stun Bonney can stop their first major Big Mom turn. Those decks frequently have little productive to do if they are taken off their first important curve turn.
  • Sam is not fully certain that Bonney is mandatory. It is an active testing choice, but she has been happy with its mirror role.

Mihawk vs Law Shells

  • A major list decision is whether to play the Mihawk plus Perona shell or the Law plus Yasopp shell.

Mihawk plus Perona

  • Sam prefers Mihawk plus Perona.

Advantages:

  • Mihawk is larger.
  • Mihawk’s developed body remains standing.
  • A standing body is much harder for the opponent to contest.
  • Mihawk is better in the mirror.
  • Mihawk is better into larger-bomb decks such as Kaido.
  • Mihawk filters bricks out of hand.
  • The filtering effect can be equivalent to, or better than, Law’s extra card advantage.
  • Perona remains strong into Sabo.
  • Perona protects against KO patterns.
  • Perona can stop two relevant 6k attacks in Sabo board states.

Law plus Yasopp

  • Law plus Yasopp is a valid alternative shell.

Advantages:

  • Yasopp is strong on exactly five DON!!.
  • Yasopp attacks, rests, then stands again.
  • Law can place Yasopp without leaving the new body sideways.
  • Yasopp can attack opposing small bodies and help contest board.
  • The shell improves some Sabo scenarios.

Concerns:

  • Law is worse than Mihawk in the mirror.
  • Law relies more on a good opener and surviving one-drops.
  • Law and Samurai have anti-synergy because Samurai can expose the one-drops Law needs.
  • Law does not filter bricks.
  • Yasopp is not as valuable in all matchups as it appears.
  • Yasopp is weak into Ace Luffy because Ace’s bodies are too large for Yasopp to contest.
  • Perona has meaningful Sabo interaction that Yasopp does not replicate.
  • Sam's bottom line is that Law is mainly played to gain Yasopp access. She does not believe Yasopp is good enough to justify replacing the stronger Mihawk plus Perona package in her current build.

Law/Bepo Count

  • Sam plays Law/Bepo as a second bomb rather than the entire deck’s primary endgame.
  • She does not believe four copies are necessary.

Why:

  • The first Shanks package is difficult to replace.
  • If Shanks does not end the game, Law/Bepo is an efficient second bomb.
  • Law/Bepo can replace a complicated multi-card follow-up sequence.
  • It stuns Shanks.
  • It invalidates the rest of the board by raising the leader.
  • It can preserve enough hand to survive the turn after Shanks plus Luna.
  • It gives the player another route to put the opponent to zero.
  • In many games, one Shanks turn puts the opponent at one or zero, and the second bomb is only needed when the first Shanks turn does not end the game.

Boats

  • Sam plays fewer Boats than previous Mihawk builds.

Reasoning:

  • The current deck contains fewer events.
  • Shanks and other expensive middle-game cards naturally use more DON!!.
  • There are fewer turns where the deck simply has spare DON!! to convert an event.
  • 2k counters are often more valuable than a Boat in the mirror.
  • The major value of Boat is now its cantrip effect, not constant event conversion.
  • She could be convinced to play a third Boat, but she does not think Boat is as essential to OP17 Mihawk as it was to the event-heavier OP16.5 version.

Rad Beam

  • Rad Beam remains a core card because it defends the board.

Sam's distinction:

  • Most 3k events are mostly defensive life tools.
  • Rad Beam can defend both life and key characters.
  • The most important event turns often happen in the midgame when the opponent tries to contest a character.
  • Saving a key body can create several future attacks and prevent the opponent from regaining tempo.
  • She therefore wants multiple Rad Beams even if she is playing fewer Boats.

Why Not Stronger, For Fun, or DMG?

Stronger

  • Sam thinks Stronger is poor.

Why:

  • It does not stun enough bodies.
  • Mirror boards are often four to five wide.
  • Luna is dramatically better at stopping the board.
  • In many cases, using Stronger saves a similar number of cards as a normal counter event.
  • It does not defend key bodies in the way Rad Beam does.

For Fun

  • For Fun has become less reliable.

Why:

  • Players now play around it because they do not want to be punished by Luna.
  • Mihawk and Oden frequently freeze or remove the most appealing target.
  • Shanks no longer guarantees the same easy For Fun setup that it once did.
  • Sabo can sometimes present Zoro or other cards that do not line up well.
  • For Fun may still be playable, but Sam does not see it as a major priority in her current shell.

DMG

  • Sam thinks DMG is less necessary now.

Why:

  • The mirror often ends through zeroing the opponent with Shanks pressure.
  • Mihawk can frequently create lethal without needing a dedicated DMG finish.
  • Red-Green, the matchup where DMG mattered most, is not expected to be a major part of the format.
  • Other players are also playing fewer events, reducing the need for DMG-based lethal lines.

MIHAWK MIRROR

Matchup Identity

  • The mirror is the most important matchup in OP17 Mihawk.

Sam expects Mihawk to be:

  • The most popular deck.
  • The deck most likely to be present in top cut.
  • The deck every serious Mihawk list must prepare to face repeatedly.

The mirror is no longer just a Law/Bepo war. It is now a race to:

  • Establish board.
  • Preserve life correctly.
  • Play Shanks first.
  • Use Luna effectively.
  • Prevent the opponent’s Shanks turn with Stun Bonney.
  • Put the opponent to zero before they do the same to you.

TurnoGoing Second

  • Sam prefers going second in the mirror.

The normal going-second progression remains powerful:

  • Develop a 65-body on 6.
  • Develop another 65-body on 8.
  • Reach Shanks timing first.
  • Luna the opponent’s board before they can execute their own Shanks turn.
  • Going second gives access to the first major tempo bomb and naturally creates better curve efficiency.

The New Mirror Problem

  • The player going first has a difficult structural issue.

If both players develop optimally:

  • The going-second player reaches Shanks plus Luna first.
  • The going-first player may have a wide board.
  • Shanks rests the board.
  • Luna freezes it.
  • The going-second player attacks with a 12k Shanks plus additional bodies.
  • The going-first player can be pushed to zero.
  • Mihawk at zero has limited reliable ways to play another turn.
  • This is why leader life management has changed in OP17.

Life Management

  • Mihawk cannot casually go to zero against Shanks Mihawk.

Why zero is dangerous:

  • Mihawk has limited blocker access.
  • Law can be answered by Oden, Shanks, DMG, or other interaction.
  • The opponent can create a 12k swing on its bomb turn.
  • The opponent can freeze the board and remove the ability to defend through combat.
  • Once at zero, Mihawk may have no reliable way to survive a second large push.

Sam's guideline:

  • Try to be at least two life at the beginning of the opponent’s 10-DON!! turn.
  • Sometimes two is sufficient if Rad Beam and counter math cover their next turn.
  • In many games, this requires countering more of the one-card hits in the middle game than OP16.5 Mihawk did.

Stun Bonney as the Going-First Plan

  • Stun Bonney is the main experimental answer for the player going first.

If Bonney prevents the opponent from playing Shanks on curve:

  • Their planned Shanks plus Luna line becomes unavailable.
  • Their 9-DON!! turn becomes awkward.
  • They may only be able to Perona a body or attack a single rested character.
  • They do not establish a major bomb.
  • The going-first player becomes the first player who can Shanks plus Luna.
  • The opponent may still send several attacks, so the Mihawk player must be willing to counter enough damage to survive. However, if the opponent cannot play Shanks, the Mihawk player can often safely go to one life because the opponent’s follow-up is much weaker.

Going-First Pressure Plan

  • If Stun Bonney is unavailable, Sam recommends using the odd-DON!! turns to push life efficiently.

On 9 DON!!:

  • Do not automatically play another 6-cost body.
  • The opponent will often Shanks plus Luna the board anyway.
  • The extra body may not matter.
  • Use the available DON!! to make larger attacks.
  • Play Perona to reduce the incoming attack count.
  • Push the opponent toward one or zero life before their bomb turn.

The logic is simple:

  • If both players reach one life, the player who zeros the opponent first wins the initiative.
  • The opponent then has to kill immediately.
  • If the opponent cannot kill through your counter and leader power, you win the following turn.

Why 6-Cost on 9 Is Worse

  • The 6-cost body on 9 DON!! is less valuable than it was in OP16.5 because the opponent’s Shanks plus Luna turn can invalidate the entire board.

The player going first should often choose:

  • Perona plus larger attacks.
  • Stun Bonney plus development.
  • More aggressive face pressure.
  • A defensive event posture.

Instead of:

  • 6-cost development that is immediately frozen with the rest of the board.

Law/Bepo as the Second Bomb

  • Law/Bepo is especially useful after the first Shanks exchange.

A common sequence:

  • Opponent plays Shanks plus Luna.
  • You survive with one or two life.
  • Your board is frozen or partially invalidated.
  • You play Law/Bepo.
  • Law/Bepo stuns Shanks.
  • Your leader becomes larger.
  • Opponent’s board cannot meaningfully convert.
  • You spend one card instead of needing another Shanks, Vander Decken, and Luna combination.
  • You preserve enough hand to survive.
  • You counterattack and put the opponent at zero.
  • Law/Bepo compresses a multi-card recovery line into one card. That is why Sam still values it highly as a second bomb.

Rad Beam and Event Timing

  • The mirror has more turns where events can become stuck.

If you use:

  • Shanks
  • Vander Decken
  • Luna
  • you often spend all available DON!!.
  • That means a Rad Beam held too long can become unusable.

The practical rule:

  • Use Rad Beam on the turn before the all-in Shanks plus Luna turn if it saves a meaningful body or preserves enough life.
  • Do not hold every Rad Beam just because it looks valuable.
  • Plan one turn ahead: if the next turn uses all DON!!, convert your event now or it may remain dead in hand.

MIHAWK VS SABO

Matchup Identity

  • Sam sees Sabo as Mihawk’s worst major matchup.

The matchup is more difficult when Mihawk goes first because:

  • Mihawk reaches its pivot bomb turn one turn later.
  • Sabo can build a wider board before Mihawk gets Shanks or Law/Bepo active.
  • Sabo’s 6k attacks can repeatedly 2k-check Mihawk.
  • Sabo can use Giant lines, Saul, Loki, Luffy, and Brook to produce too many attacks.
  • Mihawk can be forced low before it gets to stabilize.
  • When Mihawk goes second, Sam believes the matchup is much easier because Mihawk reaches its bomb turn earlier relative to Sabo’s board.

Yasopp Versus Perona

  • The Law/Yasopp build has more direct value into Sabo because Yasopp can rest a 2-cost body and attack it.
  • However, Sam does not think this alone makes Law/Yasopp clearly superior.

Perona is also strong:

  • It can stun two 6k bodies.
  • It protects against removal by replacing itself.
  • It can prevent two meaningful attacks when Sabo plays two 2-cost bodies plus Saul or Docking Station.
  • It can reduce Sabo’s ability to attack in a coordinated wave.
  • The current Mihawk plus Perona build gives up some Sabo equity compared with Yasopp, but Sam does not think the sacrifice is large enough to abandon the stronger mirror shell.

Attack Versus Starve

  • Without Yasopp, Sam does not recommend fully starving Sabo.

Why not:

  • Sabo can continue developing.
  • Its cards search, replace themselves, or create board value.
  • A full starve lets Sabo construct its ideal board.
  • Mihawk loses opportunities to create two-turn lethal pressure.
  • If Mihawk gets knocked low while starving, it may have no winning route because Sabo still has a board.
  • Her default is to attack Sabo.

The preferred pattern:

  • Deal the first damage.
  • If Sabo turns a body sideways, attack that body.
  • If Sabo lets the body die, continue attacking face.
  • If Sabo defends the body, keep attacking face and let them spend their hand.
  • Transition into a race once Sabo is low.

This gives Mihawk multiple win conditions:

  • Sabo runs out of hand protecting the board.
  • Sabo takes too much life and dies to Shanks.
  • Mihawk clears enough Giant bodies to invalidate the board.
  • Law/Bepo turns the board off and enables a two-turn lethal.

When to Attack Sabo’s Board

Mihawk should attack Sabo’s board when:

  • A character is already rested.
  • The attack does not require too much extra DON!!.
  • The body is important to Sabo’s Giant engine.
  • The body is a 6k attacker that will create future pressure.
  • Killing it prevents Sabo from converting its board.

Mihawk should not attach DON!! merely to attack into Saul unless:

  • Sabo’s hand is already very small.
  • Killing Saul turns off the entire board.
  • The attack prevents immediate lethal.
  • You are removing the final Giant body that makes their next turn functional.

Why Attacking Helps Against Gravity Blade

  • Attacking Sabo throughout the game makes Gravity Blade less punishing.

If Mihawk starves Sabo and Sabo resolves Gravity Blade:

  • Mihawk may be at two life.
  • Sabo may still be at five life.
  • Mihawk’s board is reduced.
  • Mihawk has a hard time closing the life gap.

If Mihawk has already attacked Sabo:

  • Sabo is lower on life.
  • Sabo has already spent counter.
  • Mihawk’s surviving bodies still threaten life.
  • A Gravity Blade turn does not automatically erase the win condition.
  • Shanks can still create a lethal turn.

Law/Bepo in the Matchup

  • Law/Bepo is strong against Sabo because Sabo often cannot play around it.

Sabo expects Shanks and generally wants to use its board to attack. If it turns bodies:

  • Law/Bepo can stun a key Giant or Loki.
  • Mihawk gains leader power.
  • Sabo’s smaller bodies become much less effective.
  • Mihawk can push lethal over two turns while holding enough DON!! to survive.
  • The key is that Law/Bepo is poor in a full-starve game. If Sabo remains at five life, gaining one extra turn does not solve the matchup. Attacking first makes Law/Bepo a real finisher.

MIHAWK VS ROCKS

Matchup Identity

  • Sam considers Mihawk strongly favored into Rocks, particularly going second.

Rocks has trouble interacting with Mihawk’s board efficiently:

  • Mihawk can play a 6-cost and a 5-cost body.
  • Both bodies often remain standing.
  • Rocks cannot contest them except through very specific Gloriosa lines.
  • If Rocks spends a Gloriosa turn, it is often not developing its own Newgate, Shiki, or Linlin engine.
  • Mihawk’s board keeps pressuring while Rocks falls behind on tempo.

Rocks’ Main Weakness

Rocks wants to establish characters that create ongoing value:

  • Newgate
  • Shiki
  • Linlin
  • Kyo
  • Other 3k-counter and card-conversion bodies
  • Mihawk is difficult because it pressures Rocks’ bodies and freezes its board before those cards can convert.

Going second, Mihawk can often:

  • Develop a 6-cost plus 5-cost board.
  • Keep those bodies standing.
  • Force Rocks to choose between interacting and developing.
  • Play Shanks.
  • Luna the board.
  • Put Rocks at zero before it can stabilize.

Key Cards

Perona

Perona is excellent because it can:

  • Freeze multiple meaningful bodies.
  • Reduce Rocks’ ability to attack.
  • Protect the Mihawk player’s hand and board.
  • Punish narrow development turns.

Shanks Plus Luna

  • Shanks plus Luna is especially strong because many Rocks bodies are Luna victims.
  • Rocks has multiple 7-cost-or-less characters.
  • Its engines are often board-dependent.
  • If Mihawk freezes them, Rocks loses its ability to turn hand cards into defense.
  • Mihawk can then push large attacks while Rocks’ board is disabled.

Rad Beam

  • Rad Beam matters because Rocks often attempts to contest a body with Shiki.

If Rocks uses Shiki to interact with a key Mihawk body:

  • Rad Beam can save the body.
  • Mihawk untaps with more board.
  • Rocks has spent a turn trying to answer one unit.
  • Mihawk double-develops and pulls further ahead.

What to Respect

  • Sam highlights Captain John plus Usopp spell as the main thing Mihawk should be aware of.

The concern:

  • Rocks can put Mihawk at zero.
  • Captain John plus Usopp spell can create a sudden unblockable-style finish.
  • If Mihawk becomes careless at zero, it may lose to a line it assumed was not available.
  • However, she views this as rare and manageable. Mihawk can usually avoid dying by maintaining leader power, counter, Luna access, and appropriate board control.

Kyo Does Not Change the Matchup Much

  • Kyo can protect Rocks from some effect removal, but Sam does not believe it fundamentally changes Mihawk’s plan.
  • Mihawk does not need Vander Decken to win the matchup.
  • Luna can still disable the board.
  • Rad Beam can save Mihawk bodies.
  • Mihawk can attack face.
  • If Kyo matters, a 6k attack into it is acceptable because Rocks’ natural counter is heavily weighted toward 2ks.
  • Decken is nice when it is available, but not mandatory.

MIHAWK VS KAIDO

Matchup Identity

  • Sam sees Kaido as a reasonable but more difficult matchup than Rocks or yellow Big Mom decks.

Kaido is dangerous because:

  • It can interact with Mihawk’s board.
  • It can play large bodies.
  • It can remove or punish exposed characters.
  • It can make the standard Shanks plus Vander Decken plan less effective.
  • Decken has made the matchup worse than it was previously.
  • The biggest issue is that Kaido can punish the standard Mihawk bomb sequence and force Mihawk to work harder for board retention.

Key Priorities

Mihawk needs:

  • Oden on 7 and 9 DON!!.
  • Enough defense to avoid early 8k attacks.
  • Perona or other stuns to stop King.
  • Careful event use.
  • A plan for whether Shanks or Law/Bepo is the better first bomb.

Why Oden Matters

  • Oden is one of Mihawk’s best cards against Kaido because it can stop King from attacking.
  • If Kaido misses King, Sam believes Mihawk is generally heavily favored.

Why:

  • Kaido lacks enough attack instances.
  • Mihawk can develop more efficiently.
  • Mihawk can freeze the board.
  • Kaido struggles to both attack life and contest Mihawk’s board.
  • The Kaido player’s most threatening games are the ones that establish King early, then use larger attacks to pressure Mihawk before its bomb turn.

Decken Consideration

  • Vander Decken is good against Kaido, but Mihawk’s plan is not fully dependent on it.

If Mihawk cannot Decken the relevant Kaido body:

  • It can Rad Beam to protect board.
  • It can freeze King.
  • It can pressure face.
  • It can eventually Shanks/Decken a relevant body.
  • It can use Law/Bepo as a second bomb.
  • The matchup is not free, but Sam still sees Mihawk as having enough strong lines.

MIHAWK VS YELLOW BIG MOM DECKS

Matchup Identity

  • Sam believes Mihawk is favored into yellow Big Mom decks, including Robin-style shells.
  • The reason is that Mihawk devalues the ways yellow decks want to convert board.

Yellow decks want to:

  • Build wide boards.
  • Play Big Mom.
  • Heal.
  • Use trigger bodies.
  • Attack with several mid-sized characters.
  • Force the opponent to spend cards defending life.

Mihawk answers this with:

  • Perona freezes.
  • Oden freezes.
  • Shanks plus Vander Decken.
  • Luna.
  • Law/Bepo.
  • High leader power.
  • Repeated double development.

Main Plan

Mihawk should:

  • Take early damage when safe.
  • Develop bodies.
  • Freeze relevant 4k and 5k attackers.
  • Prevent Big Mom board turns from converting.
  • Push the opponent low before they establish repeated healing.
  • Use Shanks to remove the major body.
  • Use Luna to freeze triggers and smaller attackers.
  • Force the yellow player to attempt lethal from a low-counter position.

Stun Bonney Role

  • Stun Bonney is particularly useful into yellow Big Mom decks.

If Mihawk stuns the opponent on their first major Big Mom turn:

  • They may have no productive 10-DON!! play.
  • Their whole curve can become delayed.
  • Mihawk gets another turn to develop.
  • The opponent’s board is still too narrow to pressure effectively.
  • Mihawk can often take damage safely and then execute a bomb turn.
  • The main exception is Pudding, which may have alternative plays and more flexible development.

Robin-Specific Notes

Against Robin:

  • Counter banish hits more often than against many other decks because Robin’s available DON!! is constrained.
  • The banish attacks are frequently small enough that countering is efficient.
  • Taking the first damage is often fine.
  • If Stun Bonney is available, Mihawk can take damage more liberally because Robin cannot execute the first 10-DON!! turn.
  • Make Linlin discard unless the random discard can hit a card that fundamentally ruins your game plan.
  • If the opponent is low on hand, force the heal because discarding the extra card becomes a real cost.
  • Never allow a heal if you are currently presenting lethal.

Why Mihawk Wins

Mihawk can repeatedly:

  • Freeze yellow’s small attackers.
  • Survive while preserving board.
  • Prevent the Big Mom board from converting.
  • Put yellow low enough that a Shanks 12k swing becomes impossible to defend.
  • Force yellow to spend too many attacks into Mihawk’s board, leaving Mihawk healthy enough to survive a final push.

MIHAWK VS ACE LUFFY

Matchup Identity

  • Sam views Ace Luffy as generally favorable for Mihawk.

Ace Luffy often has limited counter and relies on its board to pressure. Mihawk can:

  • Freeze the board.
  • Attack life with large numbers.
  • Counter more aggressively after the first life.
  • Use Shanks and Luna to invalidate early bodies.
  • Outdevelop Ace Luffy over time.

Play Pattern

Mihawk should:

  • Take the first life when safe.
  • Counter the second life more often to avoid random double-strike lethal.
  • Use Oden to freeze a relevant attacker.
  • Attack Ace Luffy rather than overfocus on board.
  • Use Shanks and Luna against the wide early board.
  • Push life because Ace Luffy often cannot defend repeated 7k attacks.
  • Going second is favored because Mihawk’s development is ahead and the bomb turn arrives earlier.
  • Going first may require more aggressive countering on the 4-DON!! and 5-DON!! turns because those are some of the cheapest attacks Ace Luffy will make.

GENERAL MIHAWK PRINCIPLES

Build for the Mirror

  • Sam's deckbuilding priority is mirror equity.

Why:

  • Mihawk is expected to be extremely popular.
  • Mihawk is likely overrepresented among strong players.
  • Mihawk is likely overrepresented in top cut.
  • Losing the mirror repeatedly is unacceptable for a tournament deck.
  • Stun Bonney, Shanks, Luna, Vander Decken, and Law/Bepo all contribute directly or indirectly to mirror success.

Do Not Delay the Bomb Turn

  • On 10 DON!!, Mihawk should almost always play its bomb.

Why:

  • Delaying lets the opponent play their bomb first.
  • The game becomes a race to zero the opponent before they zero you.
  • Shanks creates immediate 12k pressure.
  • Law/Bepo can compress multiple interaction effects into one card.
  • Waiting generally creates no real advantage.
  • The rare exception is a Stun Bonney plus another development line that prevents the opponent’s entire bomb turn. In most games, however, Mihawk should simply play the 10-cost bomb.

Know Which Attack Matters

Before using DON!! for an attack, ask:

  • Does this swing force a real card?
  • Does this attack put the opponent at one or zero?
  • Does this remove a character that enables their board?
  • Does it create a two-turn lethal?
  • Is the DON!! better spent on Samurai, a searcher, Rad Beam, or a development?
  • Do not spend DON!! attacking merely because it is available.

Search Priority

  • Mihawk should search based on the upcoming bomb turns.

In the mirror, prioritize:

  • Shanks
  • Luna
  • Law/Bepo
  • Stun Bonney, if it matters on the next turn
  • Rad Beam, if an event needs to be converted before the all-in turn
  • Samurai, if hand size and card access are the limiting resource

Against Sabo, prioritize:

  • Perona
  • Oden
  • Shanks
  • Law/Bepo
  • Rad Beam
  • A playable curve over a greedy bomb search

Against Kaido, prioritize:

  • Oden
  • Perona
  • Rad Beam
  • Shanks
  • A plan to stop King

Against Rocks, prioritize:

  • Perona
  • Oden
  • Shanks
  • Luna
  • Rad Beam
  • Pressure over excessive reactive play

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

  • Mihawk is likely the best all-around deck in OP17, but it is not unbeatable and should not be treated as Tier 0.
  • The mirror is the deckbuilding priority, and Stun Bonney is a serious option for improving the going-first side.
  • Shanks plus Vander Decken plus Luna is the defining OP17 Mihawk endgame.
  • Mihawk plus Perona is Sam's preferred shell because it is stronger in the mirror and better at filtering bricks while retaining resilient board development.
  • Law plus Yasopp is a valid alternate shell with more Sabo equity, but it gives up mirror quality and Samurai synergy.
  • Law/Bepo remains essential as a second bomb, especially when it replaces a complicated multi-card recovery sequence after Shanks.
  • Rad Beam is more valuable than most 3k events because defending the board in the midgame is how Mihawk converts its advantage.
  • Sabo is the matchup to respect most, particularly going first. Attack rather than fully starve unless the game state gives a specific reason to starve.
  • Rocks is highly favorable, especially going second. Shanks plus Luna punishes its entire board engine.
  • Kaido is playable but less comfortable, primarily because it can interact with Mihawk’s board and punish standard bomb turns.
  • Yellow Big Mom decks are favorable because Mihawk freezes the board, delays bomb turns, and pushes them low before their healing loop stabilizes.
  • A strong OP17 Mihawk player should be able to identify the matchup’s required endgame before the first real development turn: whether the goal is to race, freeze, starve, protect board, deny Shanks, or get to the first Shanks plus Luna turn. The player who recognizes that endgame first will make cleaner searches, better counter decisions, and stronger attack sequences throughout the match.

Video vs note

Cosa c'è solo nel video, e dove video e note non coincidono.

In questo capitolo · 6 sezioni
1. Chapter index2. Decklist as read in the video3. In the video but NOT in the notes (or much thinner there)4. Disagreements / corrections5. Card names mentioned6. Frame visibile del video (miniatura YouTube) — lista «17hawklaw»

Source video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB2ejUdFAkY (2h00m). Transcript: auto-subs (typos normalised below: Law/Bepo = "lobo/lepo/beo", Bonney = "bonnie", Oden = "Odin", Luna = "Aluna", Vander Decken = "deck in/decken", Rad Beam = "red/rag beam", Docking Station = "docking" (and "their deck in" once), Kyo = "KO/Kio", Captain John = "Jon/J", Newgate = "Nate", Linlin = "Lynlin/Lman/Llin", Yasopp = "Yasup/Yas", Coffin Boat = "boat", Codex = "codeex"). Notes compared: OP/Guide OP/Mihawk/note.txt (1114 lines).

Caveat on transcript quality: Sam shares her screen and mostly points at the list ("this card", "these"), so several counts are never spoken aloud. Everything below marked (not stated) is genuinely absent from the audio, not omitted by me.

1. Chapter index

StartTopic
00:00:02Intro / housekeeping: Sam is in Orlando for the regional, may step out to let people into the hotel; the Kaido session is pushed to next week
00:00:49Positioning: Mihawk is "the most likely thing any of us play", not tier 0; Kaido is a reasonable tournament deck
00:01:38Screen share; "a lot of internal disagreement" in her group; decklist walkthrough starts
00:02:24Vander Decken is now standard (contest Sabo's board; good in the mirror "by accident")
00:03:16Wano core unchanged from 16.5; Law/Bepo still in the list
00:04:03Why stuns matter now (Shanks rests the board, Luna freezes it)
00:04:51Stun Bonney: the going-first mirror answer on the 9-DON turn; Law+Bonney vs bare Bonney
00:06:25Bonney vs yellow Big Mom / Robin; Bonney gives nothing vs Sabo; "mirror is by far the most important thing"
00:08:006c Mihawk vs 5c Law: Yasopp is the reason people play Law; why Mihawk is better (standing body, filter)
00:11:13The more common Law+Yasopp build (Josh's preference) and its problems (Law/Samurai anti-synergy)
00:13:36Perona vs Yasopp into Sabo (Gravity Blade, 2-drop + Saul + Docking hands)
00:15:11Hypothetical no-Decken build: Stun Bonney + Law/Bepo, no Shanks package
00:16:48Q: isn't Shanks/Decken better into yellow slop and Kaido?
00:18:24Why she still plays Law/Bepo: it consolidates Shanks+Decken+Luna into one card as second bomb; Bepo vs Sabo
00:21:34Q: why fewer Boats; Rad Beam vs 2k in the mirror; earlier version 2 Rad / 10 2k / 1 Boat
00:23:12Q: Robin ramps on turn 2 — Stun Bonney? (break to let "Kamera" into the hotel, answer at 00:24:12)
00:24:12The other 3k events: Stronger, For Fun, DMG — why not
00:26:35Why so many Rad Beams: it is the only event that defends the board
00:28:33Q: do you attack in every matchup? (yes, incl. Sabo with caveats)
00:29:23Bomb count: "I don't think you need five", you need to draw two; list not in Codex yet
00:30:26Q: Hody? (no — brick)
00:31:12Bonney vs Rocks not the reason it's there; why no 7c or 9c Shanks
00:32:50Q: is Mihawk+Perona purely for the mirror?
00:34:50Q: what are Elijah / Josh playing; "47 of these cards are the same"
00:35:37Q: blocker / Perona / Yasopp vs RG Luffy Ace; a Fishman session will come later
00:38:13Q: 2/2 Law-Mihawk split? Zoro 2k?
00:40:13Q: cut two events for Zoro? shape of the no-Decken list; four Samurai "for sure"
00:41:56Transition to matchups
00:42:46Mirror: early game, going second, double-six games
00:44:22Mirror: the 12k swing and life management (at least 2 life before their 10-DON turn)
00:45:59Mirror going first (a): Stun Bonney line, what the opponent can do on 9 DON, how many attacks come at you
00:49:11Mirror going first (b): use the extra DON to push damage; skip the six on 9
00:52:26Mirror: Samurai'd bodies + Luna tempo; Law/Bepo as the second bomb after Shanks-Decken-Luna
00:54:48Mirror going second (straightforward); counter-Bonney; Rad Beam DON planning
00:58:07Q: when do you not play Boat? Q: go second? Q: Decken the 7c Shanks?
01:01:25Q (voice): the odd curve — slow development to push damage? Otama on 7/9?
01:04:36Q (voice): always slam the 10 drop on 10?
01:06:23Sabo: why her approach differs (no Yasopp); attack vs starve
01:10:21Sabo: racing, blockers, Gravity Blade, counter breakpoints, Luffy on 9
01:13:32Sabo: which bodies to contest, Perona, Law/Bepo, going first vs second (~60% second)
01:16:40Q: how do you decide starve vs attack?
01:20:41Q: what if you miss pieces (Law/Bepo without Shanks, Shanks without Decken)?
01:23:59Q: does Sabo ever keep its guys standing? Q: which body should Oden freeze?
01:26:24Rocks: structural advantage, Gloriosa, Shiki + Rad Beam, Captain John / Usopp spell
01:32:51Rocks micro: attack at breakpoints (8s, not 7s)
01:33:40Q: what if Rocks plays Kyo? (Captain John + Kyo in one turn)
01:36:04Kaido: the only matchup where she picks first; Bonney off King; game flow; Luna is bad here; Oden on 7 and 9
01:43:15Yellow "slop" decks framed through Robin: Perona the 4ks, Luna the triggers, Bepo worse here
01:45:41Robin specifics: triple ramp going first → 10 on your 8; Bonney on six; Pudding exception
01:49:01Linlin deck; discipline (attack before playing Shanks/Perona vs triggers); banish hits; Linlin discard vs heal
01:52:26Q: RG Luffy Ace
01:54:57Q: how good is this list overall? ("very good vs everything except Sabo")
01:56:38Q: Jelly Beans' yellow list (9c Bonney, Robin burn)
01:57:31Black (Elbaf) Luffy plan
01:58:19Law/Bepo recap; Q: six-on-six vs Sabo; sign-off (01:59:53)

2. Decklist as read in the video

Sam never reads the list card by card. Counts below are only the ones she states or clearly implies. Everything else is (not stated).

Cards confirmed in her list

CardCountEvidence (timestamp + quote)
Leader: Mihawk (OP17)–00:00:49 "talk about Mihawk"; leader size quoted inconsistently: 01:17:37 "you're a 7k leader" (vs yellow) and 01:29:35 "you are a 6k leader against them" (vs Rocks)
Vander Decken(not stated)00:02:24 "this Vander Decken and stuff has become pretty standard for Mihawk"; 00:30:26 "you will very consistently have a thing to pitch for the Decken"
Shanks (10c)(not stated)00:04:03 "when you're playing Shanks"; 00:31:12 "you don't get to play either seven or nine Shanks" (so only the 10c)
Law/Bepo (10c)(not stated; more than 0, implied fewer than in 16.5)00:03:16 "there are still Lobos in, or a Law, in my idea of the deck"; 00:18:24 "why I'm playing any Lobos in my deck at all"; 00:29:23 "I talked about why I like the Law. I just don't think that you need five... what really matters is that you draw two" (the "five" is most likely total bombs Shanks + Law/Bepo — ambiguous)
Stun Bonney (5c)(not stated; "this slot" singular suggests 1)00:04:51 "the first thing that is a little bit different about my deck... is the stun Bonney"; 00:05:38 "playing the stun Bonney on nine"; 00:07:13 "you could put tech for that matchup in this slot"
Mihawk (6c)(not stated; a 2/2 split with Law is rejected, so likely the full count)00:05:38 "this deck list in particular is playing Mihawk"; 00:08:00 "not everyone is playing the six cost Mihawk anymore"; 00:38:13 "I don't think you would care particularly to play 2-2"
Perona(not stated; possibly 2, see note)00:32:50 "we're playing the Mihawk and the Perona"; 00:08:49 "in the same way that this deck has two bodies, you could just play two Yasopps in it" (ambiguous: could mean two Peronas or two kinds of 5-cost bodies); 01:14:18 "resilient to Gravity Blade, which can matter basically only if you play exactly two Peronas" (this is about having two on board)
Oden(not stated)00:10:24 "the Odens replace themselves"; 01:42:27 "making sure you have an Oden on seven and nine"
Luna(not stated, plural)00:31:12 "if you're Luna-ing your opponent"; 01:30:22 "if you have a lot of Lunas"
Samurai (effect card)400:41:00 "I think you should play four Samurai for sure. You really want to see multiple of them in most games and if you can't convert them you can pitch them to Mihawks"
Searchers(not stated, not named)00:22:23 "playing searchers and Samurai"; 01:03:00 "spend on searchers or Samurai"
Otama(not stated)01:03:47 "I will not do stuff like play Otama for no reason on seven or nine... the Otama is good enough of a card in your hand"
Rad Beam(not stated; more than 2 — "this many", "could cut one")00:22:23 "in earlier versions of my deck I was playing two Rad Beams and ten 2ks and one Boat... the other thing I could see happening is that you cut a Rad Beam"; 00:26:35 "most of the reason that there are this many Rads in my deck"; 00:40:13 "you do care to resolve multiple Rad Beams per game"
Coffin Boat200:21:34 "Why am I not playing as many Boats?"; 00:22:23 "I could be convinced to play a third one"
2k counters(not stated; earlier version had 10)00:22:23 "ten 2ks" (earlier version); 00:39:00 "the 2Ks that are here instead [of Zoro 2k] are too important"
Total eventsfewer than 16.500:21:34 "there are much fewer events in my deck than there had been in the past"

Other list facts: 00:35:37 "I would be sure that 47 of these cards are the same [as everyone else's]... I'm not sure what people's Stun Bonney and Bepo spots are"; 00:29:23 "The list is not in Codex yet. I will put it there after the session"; 00:41:56 "I will send an example of the list without Deckens after the session".

Cards she is NOT playing (and why)

CardReason (timestamp)
Law (5c, summons)00:08:49–00:10:24 the only incentive is Yasopp; Mihawk is "really substantially better than the Law in the mirror" and vs big-bomb decks like Kaido because the Law body ends sideways and gets contested; Mihawk's filter cycles a brick, Law's +1 keeps it. 00:12:01 Law is contingent on the rest of the opener (needs one-drops that survive) and has anti-synergy with Samurai (00:12:48). 00:33:38 "the body from the Mihawk is always standing and the Mihawk is bigger"
Yasopp00:11:13 "probably the best thing you can summon on exactly five, but that's not that important"; 00:37:13 "terrible vs Luffy Ace because their bodies are all +3"; 00:39:00 Law→Yasopp is real but Bonney is better for the mirror. She concedes it "gives up a couple points into Sabo" (01:55:43)
7c Shanks / 9c Shanks00:31:12 "you don't get to play either seven or nine Shanks because of Decken existing, they just trade too well with you. The nine is functionally interchangeable with the Decken anyway... the seven you shouldn't be willing to turn sideways"; stun events are "not a great development for the seven Shanks either" and if you're Luna-ing, a 7c Shanks doesn't matter
Stronger00:24:12 "the matchups where you care about the Luna type effects, you need to stun more things than two... in the mirror boards are four or five wide"; 00:26:35 3k events don't defend your board; 00:27:23 "you essentially never care to counter with the Stronger event"
For Fun00:25:00 "you don't get to force it to happen like you did with seven Shanks"; people play around it anyway (not wanting to get Luna'd); you Oden their Mihawk so there's no priority target; vs Sabo "they can just present Zoro and you don't get to Fun their guy"
Dead Man's Game (DMG)00:25:48 "the DMG lethal thing doesn't occur that much anymore... you zero your opponent and it's impossible for them to counter"; other people also play fewer events; the deck that demanded DMG was Red-Green, which is "unplayable in the format"
Hody00:30:26 "Hody is not terrible, but you don't really need the extra Fishman. You will very consistently have a thing to pitch for the Decken... I'm just not really willing to play the brick"
Zoro 2k00:39:00 "Zoro 2k would be good in the mirror, but the 2Ks that are here instead are too important"; 00:40:13 its upside "only really does something if your opponent has a limited number of ones"
Third Boat00:22:23 / 01:54:57 "could be convinced" (cantrip digs for the cards that matter) but not as important in the mirror as it used to be
2 Law / 2 Mihawk split00:38:13 "all of the cards in this deck are worse with Law than with Mihawk except for the stun Bonney"
SmokerNot mentioned anywhere in the video

3. In the video but NOT in the notes (or much thinner there)

Format: timestamp — summary — → note.txt section it belongs to.

Context / meta

  1. 00:00:02— Sam is in Orlando for the regional and may leave to let people into the hotel (she does at 00:23:12). The Kaido session was pushed to next week because the Mihawk material had not been covered. → Session Overview
  2. 00:00:49— Kaido is "a very reasonable deck to play for a tournament", especially for nationals; the reasons will be covered in the Kaido session. → Session Overview
  3. 00:01:38— "There is a lot of internal disagreement right now about how the deck list should look"; she will walk through all the ways the list could look. → Session Overview
  4. 00:08:00— "Stats say" Mihawk is best "by a considerable margin". Her group found some ways to win the mirror going first without tech, but they are not reliable ("if it was possible to win the mirror every time without tech you would not be picking second"). → Build for the Mirror
  5. 00:34:50–00:35:37— Group status: most of her group is on Mihawk+Perona; Josh prefers Laws; the Law/Bepo count and Stun Bonney are her own current choices, "not widely adopted". "47 of these cards are the same" across lists; the Bonney/Bepo slots are where people differ. She does not know Elijah's exact list. → Core List Concepts
  6. 00:14:23— Josh is "really high on" the Law/Yasopp list and his upcoming Mihawk content will focus on it. → Mihawk vs Law Shells
  7. 00:29:23 / 00:41:56— The list is not in Codex yet; she will post it and a sample no-Decken list after the session. → Core List Concepts
  8. 00:36:24— "There will be a Fishman session later." → Session Overview

Deck construction

  1. 00:15:11–00:16:48— No-Decken build (entirely missing from notes). Theoretical alternative: play Stun Bonneys and Law/Bepos and not the Shanks/Decken package. In the mirror you Bonney them off Shanks, then play Bepo. In non-mirrors Bepo "does a similar thing to Luna" (invalidates their board, though their board still contests yours), and a second Bepo stacks with the first. Vs Rocks the Bepo game is "for sure worse than the Shanks game" but Mihawk is so crushing it stays ahead; Bepo is "for sure very good vs Sabo". Cutting Decken frees space for more counter events / more counter / diversified fives. "Something we will explore more in the next couple of days." → Vander Decken / Law/Bepo Count
  2. 00:41:00— Shape of that no-Decken list: play more total sixes (some Laws in addition to Mihawks) so you "double summon every game" — five-drop on 5, Mihawk body, then Law→Bonney — plus more Laws and more events. → Vander Decken
  3. 00:16:48–00:18:24— Q&A: "Isn't Shanks/Decken better into yellow slop and Kaido?" For sure better into Kaido; not meaningfully into yellow: in the Bonney/Bepo build you Bonney them on their first 10-drop turn, swing your board, Bepo them the next turn, and they have essentially one turn to kill a 7k leader, "not practical". Without Decken "for sure you will lose to Kaido", but if everyone plays Decken, Kaido gets worse and less popular, so you need it less; and you'd be even or better in other matchups "if what we're saying about the mirror is true, which to be fair is a big if". → Vander Decken / Mihawk vs Kaido
  4. 00:19:57–00:20:44— Law/Bepo detail: because other people are not playing Bepo, once zeroed they have no way to survive your jam "except Law block stuff", and even without DMG you can Oden the Law; from their perspective you could also have Shanks, which interacts with anything on board. → Law/Bepo Count
  5. 00:29:23— "You need to draw two [bombs]. Sometimes you get away with one" (opponent takes to one, you Shanks, they are zeroed). Law is "a more consistently good second bomb because of how many things you need to pair with the Shanks". → Law/Bepo Count
  6. 00:22:23— Earlier version of her list: 2 Rad Beam, 10 2ks, 1 Boat. Now more Rad Beams and 2 Boats; a possible change is cutting one Rad Beam. Mirror reasoning: mid-game the opponent's one-card hits are mostly 2k-countered; they are "mostly not swinging eights at you in the middle of a game" because they are developing, searching, Samurai-ing and holding DON, so there are few spots where a Rad Beam is better than a 2k. → Boats / Rad Beam
  7. 00:58:07— Q&A: "What turns would you not play Coffin Boat?" "I would always play the Boat unless you need the DON for something else. You can always play the Boat after you refresh with your leader, so it doesn't take you off your curve." Only Luna turns prevent it. → Boats
  8. 00:27:23— The Luna trigger "has some incidental value too" (another point vs Stronger). → Luna / Why Not Stronger
  9. 00:30:26— Hody rejected (see section 2). → Core List Concepts
  10. 00:31:12— Bonney turning off Rocks' 10-drop "is good, but that's not why it's there". Full rationale for no 7c/9c Shanks (see section 2). → Shanks / Stun Bonney
  11. 00:12:48— Law/Samurai anti-synergy specifics: when you Samurai your ones they become vulnerable to your opponent's ones, and if they get cleared you can't play Law, so you don't get to resolve the Samurai; Law also picks up a body from your board, so on 6 DON you don't get to Samurai before you Law. → Law plus Yasopp — Concerns
  12. 00:08:49— Yasopp specifics: "you get to fight for their character and draw a card, it's a free rest target, and it's not an incidental stun victim"; Law→Yasopp leaves no sideways body to contest. → Law plus Yasopp
  13. 00:11:13— The common Law build = Laws instead of Mihawks and Yasopps instead of Peronas, "plus less of this" (she points at something on screen; card not audible — "I don't actually know why this was true"). → Mihawk vs Law Shells
  14. 00:13:36— Perona vs Sabo specifics: when your summons are multiple Peronas you "do not get to get Gravity Bladed"; vs one of Sabo's better hands (two-drop, then Saul, then Docking) Perona saves you two cards by freezing both 6ks. → Yasopp Versus Perona
  15. 00:35:37–00:37:13— Q&A: blocker vs RG Luffy Ace. Peronas are "insanely good" vs Red-Green Luffy Ace; the blocker helps but "not close to what Perona does"; their deck "has no 2ks, so they will die because [Mihawk] is 7k". Yasopps are "terrible" there because Ace's bodies are all +3 so you cannot contest them, so Law would only block, and they can play "the green Luffy that rests blockers". → Mihawk vs Ace Luffy / Law plus Yasopp
  16. 00:38:13–00:39:00— Q&A: 2/2 Law-Mihawk split — no: every card in the deck is worse with Law than with Mihawk except Stun Bonney, and Bonney-alone vs Law→Bonney on the 9-DON turn is not that different; Law→Yasopp is a real line but Bonney is better for the mirror. Zoro 2k would be good in the mirror but the current 2ks are too important. → Mihawk vs Law Shells
  17. 00:40:13— Q&A: cut two events for Zoro? No — she wants to resolve multiple Rad Beams per game; Zoro's upside only exists when the opponent has few ones, "chasing a lot of upside for pretty little reason". → Rad Beam
  18. 00:41:00— Four Samurai "for sure"; if you can't convert them, pitch them to Mihawk. (Notes have this; kept for completeness.) → Wano Core
  19. 01:54:57–01:55:43— Q&A: how good is the list overall? "Very good in the mirror... very good vs everything except for Sabo, and I don't feel that bad about the Sabo matchup. This is the most you can build for the mirror within reason" — the cards are generically good elsewhere; the possible exception is the third Boat. Not playing Yasopp "gives up a couple points into Sabo", but Mihawk is better than Law. → Final Takeaways

Mirror

  1. 00:43:34— Detail behind six-on-6 / six-on-8: if you assume the opponent Odens you on 7, only one of your units is sideways on 8, so the second six-drop still converts. → Going Second
  2. 00:44:22— The bomb swing is now a 12 instead of the 8–9 you got with Bepo; at zero Mihawk "does not have any way to reliably prolong the game — all you can do is counter, you do not have blockers", and Law is easily interacted with (their Shanks, Oden, DMG). → Life Management
  3. 00:45:11— Whether you need more than 2 life "depends on whether you'll be able to counter out of their lethal if they send it on their 12-DON turn (the turn after 10)"; with Rad Beams, 2 is often fine. → Life Management
  4. 00:46:46— Why Bonney hurts: the going-second player has been digging specifically to set up Shanks+Luna, not for hands that play against Bonney. → Stun Bonney as the Going-First Plan
  5. 00:47:33— Their 9-DON recourse after being Bonney'd: Perona your standing bodies, maybe attack over one sideways body; usually you have no sideways bodies because they Perona'd/Oden'd you on 8. They establish no bomb and you become the first to Shanks-Luna. → Stun Bonney as the Going-First Plan
  6. 00:48:21— Concrete math on the Bonney turn: if the second player went Mihawk→6 (or Mihawk→5), then Mihawk→another 5, only one of their characters is sideways, so with Bonney played you can contest only that one (no DON for Oden, nothing vulnerable to Luna); they will have at least three attacks. Going to 1 is fine "unless you are dead to 10k+12k or 11k+12k from the leader and the Shanks" next turn. → Stun Bonney as the Going-First Plan
  7. 00:50:00— Concrete going-first curve without Bonney: five on 5 (gets frozen); six + five on 7; they Oden or Perona; on 9 play just a Perona (skip the six, because the whole board gets Shanks-Luna'd anyway) → 7 DON to attach to whatever can attack. → Going-First Pressure Plan
  8. 00:50:50–00:51:38— After you zero them first, the expected sequence is: they Shanks-Luna you, you go Shanks-Decken(-Luna), and as long as you're not dead to their next lethal ("at best another Shanks, big number big number, like 11-12") you win. All of this "comes down to how many Samurai both of you were able to resolve". → Going-First Pressure Plan
  9. 00:52:26— If the opponent Samurai'd two bodies on that turn, Bonney + Luna freezes three and "there's no damage coming at you, they're untapping with one attacker" — the three DON spent on Luna don't become damage but buy the same tempo via your own clock. → Going-First Pressure Plan
  10. 00:54:48–00:55:35— Going second: "six on 6, six on 8, Shanks is very easy to replicate". If Bonney becomes popular, you need Perona or Perona+Luna turns of your own on 9 DON; you can also Bonney them back ("they still will not be able to play Shanks, so you are still ahead") though she hasn't seen it much. → Going Second
  11. 00:58:59–01:00:34— Q&A: should you Decken a 7c Shanks? Often yes: you're not just turning on your 6k bodies, you're killing a 9k that attacks you. Certainly going second: if they play the seven on 7, Decken it, because you're not going to Decken on 10 anyway (people don't play 9c Shanks; their 9-DON turn is a five or six+five). Going second you basically never Decken except if you need a second turn after your first Shanks and have no Bepo (then you Decken their Shanks). Going first it's also generally correct but less so if you're Luna-ing their board anyway. → Mihawk Mirror (new sub-section)
  12. 01:01:25–01:04:36— Q&A (voice): the odd curve. She always forgoes the six on 9 DON. You can't really skip the six on 7 or the five on 5. The extra DON on 7 and 9 could go to searchers/Samurai but "your hands are not going to be completely made" and you need counter, so 9 DON is the only place you reliably spend extra DON attacking; "it's really only one more DON". She will not play Otama "for no reason" on 7 or 9 unless very far behind and needing a Samurai. → Going-First Pressure Plan
  13. 01:04:36–01:05:24— Q&A (voice): always slam the 10 drop? Yes, you cannot afford to delay; the game is about zeroing them before they zero you. Maybe on 10 there are spots for Bonney + another five, but she doubts it because that requires them to have cleaned up your board, "which doesn't really happen". → Do Not Delay the Bomb Turn

Sabo

  1. 01:06:23— "Evidently the way I play the matchup is pretty different to how a lot of other people approach it", the main reason being no Yasopp. Yasopp lets you starve while contesting bodies (rest a 2-drop and attack it) and doesn't stay sideways vs Sabo's pokes; but Perona doesn't lose to pokes either because it "floats into something if it dies" (let it die, summon an Oden). → Yasopp Versus Perona
  2. 01:08:46— Leader-size detail: Sabo's leader "gains 1k when they're at three"; if they took exactly one damage they're at four so the leader swings smaller — one reason letting them counter for a body at 4 life plays out well. → Attack Versus Starve
  3. 01:09:33–01:10:21— The starve endgame described concretely: clean early bodies, Shanks them, Decken the big guy; vs Saul + Loki, Decken the Loki and Shanks-attack over the Saul so all 12-costs are gone; then Sabo is "dead in the water" — 8c Luffy has no rush, redeveloped 12-costs put no pressure, so they attack once, you counter, Shanks again, clear again. You only get this line when you starve; when you don't, they have too many cards to counter for medium bodies, so you go face. → Attack Versus Starve
  4. 01:10:21— They have blockers, but you interact with them via Shanks/Oden; vs the Jinbe blocker you Decken their Loki. Zeroing them and sending lethal "working" is not unreasonable. → Attack Versus Starve
  5. 01:11:56–01:12:45— "You can get counterfeit [counter-breakpointed] pretty easily in Mihawk" because Sabo 2k-checks constantly; if that happens while starving you have no recourse; if it happens before your pivot turn and you didn't clear everything, "they Luffy you on nine and put you to zero"; attacking, you can still Shanks and send lethal in that spot. → Attack Versus Starve
  6. 01:14:18— Perona vs Sabo mid-game: they often have a couple of 5k bodies they didn't turn or that Oden stopped, then play another from Docking, and Perona freezes those and "saves you a lot of cards". Perona's Gravity Blade resilience only matters with exactly two Peronas out. → Yasopp Versus Perona
  7. 01:14:18–01:15:54— Law/Bepo vs Sabo: "your opponent is never going to be playing around the Bepo because playing around it is a fool's errand when people are expecting Shanks"; they swing their board, you Bepo, stun the Loki/big body, the smalls can't attack well, you swing everything face, hold enough DON to not die, and lethal over two turns (with the remaining board or Shanks next turn). Bepo does nothing in a starve game because the extra turn doesn't matter at 5 life. → Law/Bepo in the Matchup
  8. 01:15:54–01:16:40— Bonneys "are generally quite bad in the matchup, they do not prevent them from doing anything"; to improve it you could play Yasopps. Everything tedious happens going first because the pivot/bomb turn comes one turn later; "when you get to play your bomb on five [going second] the matchup is quite easy"; she estimates ~60% going second. → Matchup Identity (Sabo)
  9. 01:16:40–01:20:41— Q&A: how do you decide starve vs attack? Default: attack. Exception: if they mulligan and do nothing on 2, not attacking "decreases the chances of them having Saul on four" — but she only does that when her own hand is bad and she needs them to keep missing. Also, if they counter damage at 4 life (too early), of course she stops attacking face if anything else meaningful is available. Attacking gives more win conditions (two-turn lethals) while starving "burns too much value" because any slop of 2-drops becomes 6k bodies once they have a 12-cost. → Attack Versus Starve
  10. 01:20:41–01:23:05— Q&A: what if you miss pieces (Bepo but no Shanks, Shanks but no Decken)? It's rare to miss that late because you target them with searches/Mihawk filters. Bepo "is good by itself" late, so just play it. Shanks with missing pieces means you're racing: e.g. Shanks-Luna them so the random 6ks don't untap and you only need to counter the leader and Loki swings. Early misses are more common; then play the next-best thing: Stun Bonney so they can't play Loki this turn, or Perona the one random five — "you win by making the best sum of actions". → Mihawk vs Sabo (new sub-section)
  11. 01:23:59–01:26:24— Q&A: does Sabo have incentive to keep guys standing? Attacking disincentivises that, but often they are still supposed to keep the single Saul up because so much of their board is invalidated when it dies to a Decken; once they have a Loki they can afford to turn the Saul. Follow-up: Perona only freezes weenies, Oden can freeze Saul/Loki — which? If you have the Decken, freezing the weenie is fine as long as you're willing to take the damage; freeze the bigger body only if you must not take that damage (then counter the weenie). → When to Attack Sabo's Board
  12. 01:59:05— Q&A: six-on-six vs Sabo? Yes: after one more damage their leader becomes a six anyway, so you're attacking the same size thing — "if the attack is going to resolve I would rather kill the body than deal the damage". This is Sabo-specific; vs Elbaf Luffy (which doesn't buff its full board) you just race. → When to Attack Sabo's Board

Rocks

  1. 01:27:14— Rocks can contest your standing 6+5 board only with exactly a Gloriosa, and a Gloriosa turn means no development, which is a problem for a deck that wants value engines like Newgate, Shiki or Linlin on board. → Matchup Identity (Rocks)
  2. 01:28:48–01:30:22— Captain John / Usopp spell detail: it's "basically the only thing that can lead them to winning"; you are a 6k leader vs them and on some turns they only swing 5 because they must develop on curve. Two ways it resolves: you bleed every card out of their hand (uncommon given how many extra cards they draw), or they take the Usopp turn, discard six or seven cards, you Luna their board and still don't die. → What to Respect
  3. 01:30:22— If they present something relevant like Shiki to Decken mid-game, "I like taking that spot", unless you have a lot of Lunas and it won't matter. → Mihawk vs Rocks
  4. 01:31:15–01:32:04— This is "probably the matchup where the Bepo is worst compared to the Shanks" because Luna-ing their board is so good and Shiki-type units trade well with your board; still fine, and it only matters if Bepo is your first bomb. Stun Bonney off their 10-cost turn is "probably pretty good", though she has never had it come up. → Key Cards (Rocks)
  5. 01:32:51— Micro: attack at breakpoints that demand multiple cards through Newgate/Shiki — "eights are good, or really specifically not sevens", when DON allows. → Mihawk vs Rocks
  6. 01:33:40–01:36:04— Q&A: Kyo. It basically doesn't change the plan; you're content Luna-ing the board or Rad Beaming for your unit when Shiki untaps. If Kyo matters, send a six at it: Rocks' natural counter is almost all 2ks, so you just put a 2k in their hand to make your Decken live later. Eventually you Shanks and send a six into Kyo, and at that point you also have Luna so Decken-ing specifically doesn't matter. The questioner worries about wanting to Decken Captain John; Sam: they should play John and Kyo in the same turn anyway, so you never get that option. → Kyo Does Not Change the Matchup Much

Kaido

  1. 01:37:39— "Kaido is the only matchup I can think of where you want to pick first" — you want more bodies in play before their first bomb. (Not in notes at all.) → Mihawk vs Kaido — Matchup Identity
  2. 01:37:39— You can Stun Bonney them off King, but only if they did not play a second ramp (their game very often includes Queen); "when you take them off the King turn you immediately win". → Key Priorities (Kaido)
  3. 01:38:26— You will "basically never" interact with their first bomb (only if they blocked with Kaido, then you Decken it). Game flow going first: five on 5, six + five on 7, something turns at them, after their bomb they contest that body with the leader and you Rad Beam it; even the removal Kaido leaves you untapping with two bodies, then you play two more. → Mihawk vs Kaido
  4. 01:39:15–01:40:51— Kaido "has no unfair counter tricks": only the leader giving a 2k when they can afford DON -1, and Beam Sword. The early game puts them to one or a "fake zero" (they heal to one with Lead Performers or Big Mom). At their second bomb you Shanks — "essentially no way for them to cover the 12" — and Decken one of their bombs and attach DON elsewhere: a damage, a counter demand and a bomb cleared in one turn. Their next Mom clears your Shanks (maybe another body); you play another Shanks or Law; they end up forced to send lethal from a low-counter position, while you are at high life because their attacks went into your board. → Mihawk vs Kaido
  5. 01:41:39— Without Decken it's harder (they stick bodies and present a real clock) but you usually have it by then because of card velocity. "Lunas are very uniquely bad in this matchup — you are generally trying to pitch it away"; maybe Luna just the King if needed to not die. → Decken Consideration / Luna
  6. 01:42:27–01:43:15— Oden on 7 and 9 to stun King is one of your biggest priorities because "none of the other fives you can play, especially with a Mihawk, actually do anything" there. If they miss King "you also always win" (not enough attack instances); then Stun Bonney into their 10 leaves them only Lead Performers, "a vanilla that heals someone". → Why Oden Matters

Yellow Big Mom decks / Robin / Linlin

  1. 01:44:04— Framing: "Robin is the best yellow slop deck"; what she says about Robin applies to Linlin too. Concrete lines: if their board is wide enough to bomb you, Perona some 4ks so the Mom turn does little, then clear the Mom next turn with Shanks+Decken; or send your board, Shanks, Luna all the triggers, and only the 12k body is left. → Main Plan (Yellow)
  2. 01:44:54–01:45:41— Law/Bepo is fine but "generally worse than the Luna stuff" here: elsewhere the Bepo leader buff acts like a Luna, but their bodies are still 8ks; still counterable given few swings, so Bepo can still close. → Main Plan (Yellow)
  3. 01:45:41–01:47:15— Robin is the most tedious because going first they can triple ramp (double pitch to leader + a ramp card) and hit 10 "on your eight", so a Bonney would have to come on your six, taking you off the Mihawk turn. But doing that costs them two discards and a ramper (one fewer 4k on table), so their board is narrow, Perona is a fine answer, they've done nothing to you; you double develop, Perona again, they maybe put you to one, then your bomb cleans up "essentially their entire board". → Robin-Specific Notes
  4. 01:48:02— Bonney on your six vs Robin is still perfectly fine because most of these decks have nothing else to do on 10 but Mom; the exception is Pudding, who has the normal Pudding cards ("the cow" etc.). → Stun Bonney Role
  5. 01:49:01— The Linlin deck "will essentially never do anything threatening": both players discard a card each turn when they choose, you attack a lot and Perona / Bonney / Luna them. → Mihawk vs Yellow
  6. 01:49:49— Discipline detail: don't commit Shanks (or Perona) before sending your attacks, because triggers can play bodies over your Luna/Perona and you then can't attack under them. (Notes have a shorter version.) → Main Plan (Yellow)
  7. 01:50:36— Vs Robin counter the banish hits (they're small because their DON is constrained); vs the other yellow decks take at least the first damage; with Bonney in hand take much more; otherwise counter to stay at 4 or 3. → Robin-Specific Notes
  8. 01:56:38–01:57:31— Q&A: Jelly Beans' yellow list. Not tested specifically but should be fine: you still beat them either by Bonney-ing the Mom turn or freezing enough board; one or two extra damage doesn't matter. Their alternative bomb is the 9c Bonney, but the random 4ks they set up still don't convert; the annoying part is they play Robin and burn you, "but you can still counter the seven that comes afterwards with a Rad Beam". → Mihawk vs Yellow

Other matchups

  1. 01:52:26–01:54:02— Q&A: RG Luffy Ace. "I don't have a great answer" — freeze their guy with Oden, attack, counter aggressively (not the first life, often the second, to avoid the double-strike turn). Shanks is good because their early board is Luna-able; you're ahead in the race from developing more. Favoured going second; going first "maybe problematic": you might have to counter their 5k on 4 DON and the 5k next turn (cheapest swings) because your bomb comes a turn later; expect 8k swings early, Rad Beam helps. → Mihawk vs Ace Luffy
  2. 01:57:31–01:58:19— Black (Elbaf) Luffy: same plan as Sabo but their attacks are smaller; always go face (no incentive to starve — their leader stays the same size); still attack a sideways body if offered; Shanks on their full board is fine. → new section
  3. 01:58:19— Law/Bepo recap: "good as your second bomb in most matchups." → Law/Bepo Count

Full Q&A log (question → answer)

TimeQuestion (as asked, paraphrased)Answer (summary)
00:16:48Isn't Shanks/Decken better into yellow slop and Kaido than Bonney/Bepo?Better into Kaido for sure; not meaningfully into yellow (Bonney their 10 turn, Bepo next turn, 7k leader). Without Decken you lose to Kaido, but Kaido should shrink if everyone plays Decken (item 11).
00:21:34Why not as many Boats?Without 7c/9c Shanks you easily have DON open to convert Rad Beam, and there are far fewer events; Boat's remaining merit is the cantrip; could be convinced to play a third.
00:23:12Robin played a ramp card on turn 2 going first, threatening 10 on turn 4 — Bonney?(Clarifies they'd need to double pitch.) Would probably not Bonney unless their board is wide enough to matter; if it is, Bonney is fine.
00:24:12The other 3k events?Stronger stuns too few; For Fun can't be forced and gets played around; DMG lethals don't happen and RG is unplayable; none defend the board.
00:28:33Do you attack in every matchup?Yes, including Sabo, with caveats covered in the Sabo section.
00:29:23Law/Bepo count?Don't need five; deck is tight; you need to draw two bombs, sometimes one; Law is the more consistent second bomb.
00:29:23Is the list in Codex?Not yet; after the session.
00:30:26Hody?Not terrible, but an unnecessary brick.
00:31:12Bonney turning off Rocks?Good but not why it's there.
00:31:127c / 9c Shanks?No: Decken trades too well; 9 = Decken; 7 shouldn't be turned sideways and anti-synergises with stuns/Luna.
00:32:50Mihawk+Perona just for the mirror?Mainly, but Mihawk is also just the better card (standing, bigger body).
00:34:50What are Elijah / Josh on?Doesn't know Elijah's; Josh prefers Laws; 47 cards shared; Bonney/Bepo slots vary.
00:35:37Blocker must be good (vs RG Luffy Ace)?Perona is far better; Ace has no 2ks; Yasopp is terrible there (+3 bodies); green Luffy rests blockers.
00:38:132 Law / 2 Mihawk?No — everything except Bonney is worse with Law.
00:39:00Zoro 2k?Good in the mirror but current 2ks matter more.
00:40:13Cut two events for Zoro?No — multiple Rad Beams per game matter.
00:40:13What changes if you cut Decken?More sixes (Laws + Mihawks), more Laws, more events; sample list later.
00:41:00Fewer than four Samurai?No, four for sure.
00:58:07When would you not play Boat?Only when the DON is needed (Luna turns); play it after refreshing.
00:58:07First or second in the mirror?Second, "for sure".
00:58:59Decken the 7c Shanks?Usually yes (kills a 9k); always going second; going first also fine unless you're Luna-ing anyway.
01:01:25Should the going-first player slow development to push damage?Only the six on 9 is skippable; otherwise hands aren't made enough to skip Samurai/searchers; won't Otama for nothing.
01:04:36Always slam the 10 drop on 10?Yes; delaying just delays the game; Bonney+five on 10 is theoretical.
01:16:40Decide starve vs attack before the game or from information?Default attack; exceptions: opponent mulligans and skips 2 while your hand is bad, or they counter too early at 4 life.
01:20:41What if you miss pieces (Bepo without Shanks, Shanks without Decken)?Bepo alone is fine; Shanks alone = race (Shanks-Luna, counter leader+Loki); early: Bonney off Loki, Perona the five.
01:23:59Does Sabo ever keep bodies standing?Attacking disincentivises it; with one Saul they often still should; Loki lets them turn Saul.
01:25:36Should Oden freeze the big body instead of the weenie?Freeze the weenie if you have Decken and accept the damage; freeze the big one only if you can't take the damage.
01:33:40What if Rocks plays Kyo?Basically nothing changes; six into Kyo to draw a 2k; Luna covers it; John+Kyo come the same turn anyway.
01:52:26Vs Ace?Oden their guy, attack, counter the second life; favoured second; going first counter the 5ks on 4 DON.
01:54:57Is this list good beyond the mirror?Very good vs everything but Sabo; the most mirror-built list within reason; Yasopp would add a couple of points vs Sabo.
01:56:38Tested Jelly Beans' list?Not specifically; same reasons apply; 9c Bonney is their alt bomb; Rad Beam the seven after the Robin burn.
01:57:31Plan vs black Luffy?Same as Sabo but smaller attacks; always go face.
01:59:05Vs Sabo, six-on-six or face?Six into the six (kill the body) because the leader becomes six after one more damage anyway; vs Elbaf Luffy just race.

4. Disagreements / corrections

  1. Boat reasoning is inverted. note.txt (Boats): "Shanks and other expensive middle-game cards naturally use more DON!!. There are fewer turns where the deck simply has spare DON!! to convert an event." Sam at 00:21:34: "without the more expensive cards in the middle of your game like the Shankses, the seven and nine, it is just very easy for you to have DON open for you to convert the Rad Beams" — i.e. the 7c/9c Shanks are gone, so there is more free DON and Boat's DON-cheating is less needed; the fewer-events point is the second reason.
  1. Decken and Kaido. note.txt (Kaido, Matchup Identity): "Decken has made the matchup worse than it was previously" listed under why Kaido is dangerous for Mihawk. Sam at 00:17:37: "the biggest reason why I would not play Kaido is that the Decken makes the matchup so much worse than it was before. Without it for sure you will lose to Kaido" — Decken made the matchup worse for Kaido.
  1. Kaido: pick first. note.txt never mentions it; Sam at 01:37:39: "Kaido is the only matchup I can think of where you want to pick first." (Everywhere else she takes second; vs Sabo she is ~60% second.)
  1. Kaido tone. note.txt calls it "reasonable but more difficult than Rocks or yellow" and says Kaido "can make the standard Shanks plus Vander Decken plan less effective" and lists "A plan for whether Shanks or Law/Bepo is the better first bomb". Sam (01:36:52–01:43:15) says there's "not a ton of interesting stuff to do", "it's pretty chill", "if they miss the King you always win", never discusses which bomb to play first, and says the Shanks 12 is uncoverable at their second bomb.
  1. What stops King. note.txt: "Perona or other stuns to stop King." Sam 01:42:27: it is specifically Oden on 7 and 9, because "none of the other fives you can play, especially with a Mihawk, actually do anything" there.
  1. Luna vs Kaido. note.txt does not mention it; Sam 01:41:39: Luna is "very uniquely bad" in that matchup, generally pitched.
  1. "Early 8k attacks" attributed to Kaido. note.txt (Kaido, Key Priorities): "Enough defense to avoid early 8k attacks." In the video the "8k swings very early in the game" line is at 01:54:02, inside the RG Luffy Ace answer, not Kaido.
  1. Bomb count "four" vs "five". note.txt (Law/Bepo Count): "She does not believe four copies are necessary." Sam 00:29:23: "I just don't think that you need five" (context ambiguous — likely total bombs). She never says "four".
  1. Brook. note.txt (Sabo): "Sabo can use Giant lines, Saul, Loki, Luffy, and Brook to produce too many attacks." Brook is never mentioned in the video. Cards actually named for Sabo: Saul, Loki, Gravity Blade, Docking (Station), 8c Luffy, Zoro, Jinbe blocker, 2-drops, 12-costs.
  1. Perona vs Rocks. note.txt has a "Perona is excellent [vs Rocks]" key-card block. Perona is not mentioned once in the Rocks segment (01:26:24–01:36:04); the cards she credits there are standing 6+5 boards, Rad Beam (vs Shiki), Shanks+Luna, Decken (on Shiki), and Stun Bonney off the 10.
  1. Ace Luffy section over-states. note.txt: "Sam views Ace Luffy as generally favorable... Ace Luffy often has limited counter... Push life because Ace Luffy often cannot defend repeated 7k attacks." Sam 01:52:26: "I don't have a great answer for this"; favoured going second, going first "maybe problematic". The supporting fact she does give (00:36:24) is that the deck "has no 2ks".
  1. Sections with no basis in the video. "Search Priority" (four per-matchup priority lists) and "Know Which Attack Matters" under General Mihawk Principles are not said anywhere in the 2 hours; they are the note-writer's synthesis. Same for "Mihawk can attack with a 12k threat on the same turn... The opponent is often pushed to zero life while their board is disabled" phrased as a numbered Shanks-turn recipe — the pieces are in the video, the checklist form is not.
  1. "65-body" (Going Second). note.txt: "Develop a 65-body on 6. Develop another 65-body on 8." Sam (00:43:34, 00:54:48) says "a six drop on six and then a six drop on eight"; "you see five, they see 65" (01:01:25 questioner) means five-drop / six+five. "65-body" looks like a transcription artefact.
  1. Sabo: what Perona does when poked. note.txt (Yasopp Versus Perona): Perona "protects against removal by replacing itself". Sam 01:07:10: "the Perona will float into something if it dies, so you can just let it die and summon an Oden" — same idea, but the mechanism is that its death triggers another summon, not that it protects itself.
  1. Robin / Bonney timing. note.txt (Stun Bonney Role) implies Bonney on the opponent's first Mom turn generically; Sam adds the important caveat (01:46:29) that vs a triple-ramping Robin that means Bonney on your six, which costs you the Mihawk turn — acceptable but not ideal.
  1. Leader size. note.txt never gives it; the transcript itself is inconsistent ("7k leader" at 01:17:37 vs "6k leader against them" at 01:29:35). Flagging so the guide checks the actual card.

5. Card names mentioned

Mihawk's own deck (as played or discussed)

Card (as said)Notes
Mihawk (leader, OP17)
Mihawk 6c ("the six cost Mihawk")summons a body, filters a card
Perona5c stun body
Oden ("Odin")5c stun, replaces itself
Luna ("Aluna")mass stun event, has a trigger
Samurai ("samuris")4x, Wano draw/effect card
Searchersunnamed
Otama
Rad Beam ("red/rag beam")counter event that also defends characters
Coffin Boat ("boat")2x, cantrip / event enabler
2k countersearlier version: 10
Shanks 10c12k swing, rests board
Vander Decken ("deck in")pitch a Fishman to KO
Law/Bepo 10c ("lobo/lepo/beo")stun + leader becomes 8k
Stun Bonney 5c ("stun bonnie")prevents the opponent's 10-cost
Law 5c (not played)summons Yasopp/Bonney, blocker
Yasopp (not played)best 5-DON summon, rests target, stands back up
7c Shanks / 9c Shanks (not played)
Stronger (not played)3k event, stuns two
For Fun (not played)3k event
Dead Man's Game / DMG (not played)3k event
Hody (not played)extra Fishman
Zoro 2k (not played)mirror-only upside

Opponents' cards

Card (as said)Deck (best guess)
SaulSabo (12c giant)
LokiSabo (12c giant)
Gravity Blade ("grab blade")Sabo
Docking / Docking Station ("docking", also "their deck in" at 01:14:18)Sabo
Luffy 8c ("eight cost Luffy", no rush) / "Luffy you on nine"Sabo
ZoroSabo
Jinbe blocker ("Jimbe")Sabo
2-drops that become 6k / "12-cost units"Sabo
GloriosaRocks
Newgate ("Nate")Rocks
ShikiRocks
Linlin (character)Rocks
Captain John ("Jon", "J")Rocks
Usopp spell / "Usopp turn"Rocks
Kyo ("KO", "Kio")Rocks
KingKaido
QueenKaido (ramp)
Kaido (blocker / "the removal Kaido")Kaido
Lead Performers ("league performers")Kaido (heal)
Big Mom / "mom" (heal in Kaido; 10c bomb in yellow)Kaido / yellow
Beam SwordKaido
Robin (leader; also the Robin character that burns)Yellow Robin
Big Mom 10c ("the ten mom")Yellow (Robin / Linlin / Pudding)
Linlin (leader)Yellow Linlin
Pudding (leader) and "the cow"Yellow Pudding
Ramp card / "ramper"Yellow Robin
4k trigger bodiesYellow
9c BonneyYellow (Jelly Beans' list)
Ace / "double strike turn"RG Luffy Ace
Green Luffy that rests blockersRG Luffy Ace
"Makasa" (unclear word at 00:36:24, probably "Mihawk is 7k")—
Black / Elbaf Luffy (leader)Black Luffy
Red-Black Sabo (leader)Sabo
Mihawk mirror cards (Shanks, Luna, Oden, Perona, Law, Samurai, 2ks, DMG)Mirror
Fishman (deck, future session)—

People referenced (not cards): Josh, Elijah, Kamera, Jelly Beans.

6. Frame visibile del video (miniatura YouTube) — lista «17hawklaw»

OPTCGSim, file «..17hawklaw», 51/51 con il leader. Conteggio dalle pile (img/video-frame-17hawklaw.jpg): Leader Dracule Mihawk OP14-020 · 4 Otama OP07-022 · 4 Perona OP12-034 · 4 Kin'emon ST32-001 · 4 Vander Decken IX OP06-033 · 2 Jewelry Bonney OP07-026 · 4 Kawamatsu OP12-023 · 4 Yasopp OP17-031 · 4 Kouzuki Oden ST32-002 · 4 Trafalgar Law OP13-031 · 3 Shanks OP17-022 · 1 Law & Bepo ST24-004 · 4 You Can Be My Samurai!! OP01-055 · 3 Billion-fold OP06-038 · 3 Electrical Luna OP08-036 · 2 Coffin Boat OP14-039 = 50.

È la versione Law + Yasopp (con 2 Stun Bonney, senza For Fun), non la lista personale Mihawk + Perona di Sam. Lo stream video non è scaricabile in questo ambiente (403 senza runtime JS per yt-dlp), quindi non è stato possibile leggere altri frame.

Trascrizione integrale del video

Sottotitoli automatici, a blocchi di ~45 secondi: ogni orario apre il video in quel punto.

Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB2ejUdFAkY · canale samsansOP · pubblicato 29 ago 2026 · durata 2:00:30
Sottotitoli automatici YouTube (inglese), raggruppati in blocchi da ~45 s con timestamp cliccabile. Il testo è grezzo: contiene refusi tipici dell'auto-trascrizione ("lo/lobos" = Law/Bepo, "bonnie" = Bonney, "shank" = Shanks, "Vander deck" = Vander Decken, "boat" = Coffin Boat…). Per il contenuto ordinato vedi samsans-mihawk-perona-note.md.
0h00′
▶ 00:00:02
all right. So, hi everyone. Um, sorry that this got uh delayed to this point. Uh, I know it's like pretty late for um for like this sort of Mihawk conversation. Um, also if you were expecting to see Kaido today, I also apologize. Um, I kind of didn't know that like the Mihawk stuff was not going to get covered uh by before then. So decided that it was more important that we get uh this done first. Um finally, one more thing. Um I might end up like leaving for a couple of minutes at some point during this call uh in order to let people into the hotel. Uh I am in Orlando right now for the regional. So um there are a lot of like I'm the only person here and there's a lot of people still coming. So if that happens then uh
▶ 00:00:49
I will tell you. Um but that is all of the sort of starter stuff. Um, so talk about Mihawk. Um, Mihawk, I think probably as no shock to anyone here, I think is like the the most likely thing that any of us play in a tournament. My opinion is not that it's tier zero. Um, really the reason that I wanted to talk about Kaido today originally is that I think that that is like a very reasonable deck to play for a tournament. We'll talk more about that more about why that is the case uh next week when we do the Kaido session. Um, yeah, like if you are not into Mihawk, I would not say that like you should lose all hope or anything. I think that there there are other things that are quite reasonable to play. Um, especially for nationals. Um,
▶ 00:01:38
that said, I do think that this is like the best deck, quote unquote, right? Um, and as I said, the most likely thing for any of us to play. Um there is sort of like a lot of internal disagreement right now about like some things about how the deck list should look. And so we're kind of going to go over um all of the ways that the deck list could look. But we'll start with um what I am playing right now and I'll like sort of talk through all the decisions here. Um y'all can see my screen. Okay. » Perfect. Um, okay. So, there's a lot of stuff that I think is
▶ 00:02:24
like pretty consistent across um most of what people are doing. For the most part, I think that like this um this Vander deck and stuff has become like pretty standard for Mihawk. Um I think that like the there are a couple reasons why. Um mainly in my opinion it's that like it helps you um contest board against Sabo. I think that like a lot of your other matchups would be perfectly reasonable um without that, but Sabo is like a pretty tedious matchup for this deck before and so like being able to contest their board in some more meaningful way has been really good. Um I think that like it ends up playing out well in the mirror sort of by accident. Um cuz like when people's bomb is shanks and like you are just
▶ 00:03:16
like already going to be able to like interact well with any other thing that they play. Although I don't think it is like the only way that you can approach the mirror and so like we'll talk about reasons why that's true. Um obviously like there are still lobos in or a low in like my idea of the deck and so it's not like um uh I think that's like the only way of playing out the late game that is reasonable. Um, most of the deck is exactly the same uh as it was in 16.5. Um, really there's not a lot to say about any of like this Wano core or anything. those cards are just like very good. They let you like dig through your deck and uh amass a bunch of advantage and like um you will like very consistently get to do what your deck wants to do in every game. So the parts of the deck
▶ 00:04:03
that are different are mostly uh just in like positive interactions with the shanks, right? So like I think that um in the past or in 16.5 I was like very very low on stuns in Mihawk and that sort of ended up being like the majority opinion as well. The reason why is that like when your top end was lo um the stuns were like kind of irrelevant because people's boards couldn't really convert to anything anyway. Um so in lie of that when you have when you're playing shanks uh you both want ways to interact with that board because you are not like interacting with it as favorably naturally and obviously like Shanks has a very positive interaction with Luna, right? Because like their entire board will be rested when you shank them. Um so it's sort of just like a different
▶ 00:04:51
way of playing out the end of the game for a core of the deck that is very much the same as it was before. Um, what that does mean is that like the a lot of dynamics in the mirror are different. Um, and so like that is why the sort of like first thing that is a little bit different about my deck, although I know uh some people here have been trying this as well is the stun bonnie. Um, what I think happens a lot in the mirror now is just like you will build boards at each other and then just like the per the person who goes second gets to just like shanks Luna you and jam you quite hard. Uh, and I think that that is pretty hard for you to beat as the player going first when you do not have like any sort of natural points of interaction for it. And so something that you can do is just like take them
▶ 00:05:38
off of their shanks by playing the stun bonnie on nine. Um, now even though like this deck list in particular is playing Mihawk, I still think that the Bonnie is good here. Um, a lot of why that's true is that there's fundamentally not that much of a difference between playing law Bonnie and just Bonnie on your nine down turn. because like the Bonnie that you play with the law is going to be sideways and so it's going to like incidentally be a victim of like Aluna or combat or whatever anyway. And so like you're you're kind of like not getting one of those bodies regardless if that makes sense. Um so I think that like even though you don't have a way to double summon with this Bonnie in this deck list, I think it's still like completely fine for that to be your sort of answer to the mirror. And then it's just like incidentally good in some other places
▶ 00:06:25
too. Um one of the main ones where you just like get random equity is versus um the like the yellow mom piles. like those decks kind of don't do anything when you take them off of their first mom turn. Um, so you get to like trade very very favorably with those uh when you bonnie them here. Yeah, stuff like Robin like you you kind of just like beat up for free with this card just as like an incidental upside. Um, yeah. I don't know. I think that like I'm not positive that this is supposed to be in the deck. This is something that like the rest of my group has not really played around with too much yet as far as I know. Um, but I've been pretty happy about it even in this Mihawk shell. Uh, again, mainly because of the mirror. The biggest problem with
▶ 00:07:13
the Bonnie is that I don't think it really gives you any upside versus Sabo. And I think that Sabo is like the the deck's worst m worst relevant matchup, I suppose. Um, really in that like I think that when you go first against Sabo, it's like pretty realistic for you to lose. Um, so I think that like you could put tech for bat matchup in this slot. Um, but I'm not sure that I like care that much to do that when I don't think that like your win rate in the matchup is that bad and like you're still favored when you go second and um, all this little stuff. Like I think that like basically a lot of the theory behind this deck list is that I think like the mirror is by far the most important thing for you to be winning. Um really it is like the majority of the community's opinion like what stats say
▶ 00:08:00
and everything that like Mihawk is the best deck by like a considerable margin and so like making sure you have more stuff to do in the mirror is really important. Um we have found some ways to win in the mirror like without playing tech or like some angles to win in the mirror when you go first without playing tech. But I think that they are like not super reliable obviously. Like you're not, you know, if it was just possible to win the mirror every time without playing any tech cards, then like you probably would not be picking second in the mirror, right? Because like you were just like finding repeatable play patterns that worked when you went first. But so if that's true and you're going to be playing that much mirror, I think it is good to have tech in the slot. But obviously that could change. Um something that's like kind of interesting is that not everyone is playing um the six cost Mihawk anymore. Um the reason why is mostly because of Yasup. Um like Yaspup just interacts
▶ 00:08:49
really favorably with law and then like this card is good in the just like objectively is good, right? Like it you get to like fight for their character and draw a card and it's like a free rest target. Um and it's not an incidental stun victim. Like it does a lot of stuff that is really good. Um, and so like when you law into this, um, you do not end with like the body sideways, which means that they cannot contest the body. Um, and so when you play Mihawk, you don't get to play that card in your deck, at least as easily. I do think that like in the same way that this deck has two bodies, you could just like play two Yasops in it. And that's something that we've tried doing a lot. all that said though, I think that the Mihawk is really substantially better than the law in the mirror. So, for the same reason as the Bonnie, I think that like having the Mihawks is really
▶ 00:09:36
significant. Um, I think it's also true that the Mihawk is better against like some of the sort of like big bomb matchups, stuff like Kaido. I think there's like a very real difference in having Mihawk and law. Um, because when like that type of deck gets to interact with your sideways body, so essentially whenever your body is not Yasub off of the law, uh, it is like very very very meaningfully worse. Um, so I'm like that's why I think I prefer the Mihawk. The Mihawk also does like help with your consistency in a different way than the law does, right? Like the law lets you flicker a Perona, which is good because it lets you like dig through your deck to find um, you know, more copies of whatever things are important, but Mihawk like also does that. You kind of don't need to gain the
0h10′
▶ 00:10:24
card, right? you're going to have like this deck gets so much natural advantage from either like freezing your opponent's unit or from resolving samuris or whatever the case. Uh like the Odin replace themselves to all this stuff. You just like will naturally amass a ton of cards. And so you getting like an extra plus one from the law is not really that different to you getting the filter from the Mihawk, especially because the Mihawk can filter a brick. And so like that that doesn't happen with the law, right? like the law draws you a card, but you still keep that brick in your hand. And so the Mihawk drawing you a card and cycling the brick is like essentially equivalent. Um so I don't think that you like need to have uh like the extra like incidental plus one from the law. Um again, I do think
▶ 00:11:13
like the ysup is good and there's uh like that is a fair reason to play the law. Um and to sort of segue um this is sort of like the more common uh build like with the law. Really, it's the same deck except like we're playing laws instead of um instead of Mihawks and then Yaspups instead of Peronas. Um plus like less of this incidentally. I I don't actually know why this was true to be completely honest. Um but I think that like doing this type of thing is reasonable. Um the problems I have with this are that like I think the Yossup is not that big of a deal in the mirror. It is like probably the best thing you can summon on exactly five. Uh but like it being the best thing you can summon on five is not that important, right? Um
▶ 00:12:01
you know, like it's all it's doing that's different is like standing itself up at the end of your turn, which is cool, but I think like not a huge deal. Um and then the laws I think are like pretty meaningfully worse than um than the Mihawks are in the mirror. Um, another problem with the law is that it's like it being good is kind of contingent on your the rest of your opener being good. Um, which is not something that is true of the Mihawk, right? Like you need to have one drops that stick around in order for your loss to be good. Um, and that's like weird because there's sort of an that that means there's like an anti-ynergy between law and samurai because like when you samurai your ones, they are vulnerable to your opponent's ones and then like you could not play law if they got cleared, which means that you don't
▶ 00:12:48
actually get to resolve the samurai. And then the law also picks up a body from your board. And so if you're on sixth dawn, for example, you like don't get to samurai before you law. Um, and it just turns into like the samurai being a lot worse in a deck like this. Um, which I think is a significant problem because like the the samuris are like so important to like where your advantage comes from. Especially again mirror like you are both going to be you like you both have access to all these cards in your deck. So like getting to resolve more samurai than your opponent is like a very real source of edge that I think you do like you kind of give up uh when you play laws. Um but the yasum interaction is very good. I think that like this deck is certainly better into Sabo than uh the one that I'm playing. I don't
▶ 00:13:36
think it's much better. I think like Yas is very good into Sabo. Um but Perona is often really good into Sabo as well. Um the reason why is that like one it kind of protects you from like their grab blade a bit. uh when your summons are multiple pironas um that like you do not get to get gravladed which is pretty cool. Um and then the the Pona stunts like are often relevant like some of their their better hands are like they play like a two drop and then a Saul and then a docking and like Perona gets to save you two cards when the game plays out that way because you freeze both of the the sixks. Um, so I don't think that like like for sure the Yasip is better, but I don't think that the Pona is bad at all. Um, the
▶ 00:14:23
Yasip just like enables you starving them a bit better than the Perona does, but I don't think that you starving them is like like the only way that you can play out the matchup. We'll talk more about like the Sabo matchup, you know, in depth later, but um that's why I'm sort of less high on playing this type of deck personally. Um, but for example, like Josh is really high on this type of deck list. And so like I think that when he has like Mihawk content out, it will be covering like more of why he likes this type of deck. Um, or like we'll focus more on this type of deck. Um, but that all that said, I think that um, what else should I talk about here? Oh, um, okay. I think you might not end up
▶ 00:15:11
playing deckens or it's like it's theoretically possible that you do not have to play deckens uh is like a more accurate thing to say. Um the idea is that you could play like stun bonnies and lobos and not play the shank stuff. I'm not sure if that this works, but the the way that it would work is you like you in the mirror can stun Bonnie them to take them off of the Shanks turn and then just like play Lepos. And in matchups that are not the mirror, um, the Beos are like still very good, right? like um because like the Beas kind of do a similar thing to Luna in terms of like invalidating their board. It's not exactly the same because like their board still gets to
▶ 00:15:59
contest your board. Um but in a lot of matchups like when they play the game out that way if you just like beo them again afterwards um your first Beo is still there and then like you are just like amassing a lot of pressure that is going to convert to you winning the game pretty reasonably. Um, if you look at a matchup like Rocks for example, Mihawk is so crushing in that matchup that like even if you play a game that is theoretically a bit worse versus them, which like for sure I think the Beo game is worse versus rocks than the Shanks game is, you will still be ahead in the matchup. Um, I mean like the Beos are for sure very good versus Sabo. Um, and so if you can like if you can win the mirror that way, then I think you would not have to play deckens and then that saves you like a lot of space um, in your deck to like play more counter
▶ 00:16:48
events and like or really just like more counter in general or like diversify your fives more, any of these types of things. Um, so that's something that uh that's something that like we will explore uh more in the next couple of days. Um, yeah. Uh, isn't Shanks decken better into yellow slop and Kaido? It's for sure better into Kaido. I don't think it's like that meaningfully better into the yellow slop decks because when you like if you were to build the deck in this way that we're talking about, what will actually happen is you stun Bonnie them on their first turn of the 10 drop and then they do not get to convert their board and so you're like your board just like swings at them and then the next turn you them and now it's like they essentially have
▶ 00:17:37
that turn to kill you and it's just like not really practical for them to do that because you're a 7k leader. Um, so I don't think I'd be concerned about that. It is for sure worse into Kaido. I think that like the the biggest reason why, for example, I I would not play Kaido is that like the decken makes the matchup so much worse than it was before. Um, I think that without it for sure, you will lose to Kaido. I don't know how much that matters. Um because like I I don't know how popular Kaido like can feasibly be. But um because like if the expectation is that everyone else is playing deckens then like Kaido is worse and so people will presumably play less Kaido. Um which means that like you do not need to be as good in the matchup.
▶ 00:18:24
And then I think you're like even or better into the other matchups if the if what we're saying about the mirror is true, which to be fair is a big if. I'm not sure. Um, this is sort of a good segue into like why I'm playing any Lobos in my deck at all. Um, I don't think we've talked about this yet, but basically um I think there are a lot of spots where like having um like the first Shanks combo especially like in the mirror is kind of irreplaceable. Like it is the only thing that will do what it does. But when you think about like how the mirrors devolve, um, a lot of the time like the way that they work out is that you just like you send this like Shanks combo at your opponent
▶ 00:19:10
and then you lethal them. But you do not always get to do that immediately. And that means that it's like you kind of need a lot of different things in order for you to combo them again if you do not play with a lot of EPO, right? You need like now a Shanks potentially if like depending on their setup, right? like if they're playing like this sort of Yasub deck, then like you will need a Shanks to be able to rest their Shanks and then a deck in to kill it and another Luna. And so that's like a lot of pieces that you need, but you can replace all of those pieces with one Beo if it is your your second bomb. Um because you play the Beo, it invalidates the rest of their board because it makes you an AK leader and it stuns the Shanks. Um, and so like you won't be able to play more turns of the game after this probably because your
▶ 00:19:57
opponent is going to like get to swing their board into your board, right? That like presumably got looted the turn before um or whatever. But in doing this, like you've just consolidated all of these things you need into one card. And the your leader being big means that you can still push like reasonable damage at them on this turn. And then if they get zeroed at any point, there's almost no way for them to play for another turn, right? Especially because other people are not playing Lobo. Um, if you put them to zero, they have no way to survive your jam feasibly except for like law block stuff, which really there are a lot of ways that you can interact with that too, right? like even without DMG in your deck, like you can still just play Odin to interact with the law and like your opponent's perspective is like you could have a
0h20′
▶ 00:20:44
Shanks here and then it like interacts with any of the things that um that they have on the board. So I think for that reason the Lobo is really cool just like that it replaces like it acts as so many cards in the same card on that specific turn. Um, and then outside of that, again, I think that Lobo is very good for Sabo. Um, because like they will not get to convert any of their board as well. And so like if you play out a type of game versab where a fair amount of your board sticks around um you can just like instead of doing this whole song and dance you like try to clean up their 12 cost units to like to invalidate the rest of your board, you can just like invalidate the board anyway by playing the lobo and just like send a bunch of damage face and two turn them. I think that that is like a very reasonable way to win the matchup. Um
▶ 00:21:34
there's other questions here. Okay. Why am I not playing as many boats? Um, it's because I think that like um without the more expensive cards in the middle of your game like the the Shankses, uh, like the seven and nine, it is just very easy for you to have Dawn open for you to convert the rad beams. I mean, there are much fewer events in my deck than there had been in the past. And so, there's a lot of like a lot less value that you get out of having the boat in that case, right? Um, like you used to want to convert events almost every turn of the game. And I just don't really think that's true anymore. Um, I could be convinced to play a third one. The only reason why is that the
▶ 00:22:23
boat is a cantrip and so like it digs you more for the cards that actually matter. Um, the other thing that I could see happening potentially is that you cut a rad beam. Um, I think like in sort of earlier versions of my deck, it was like I was playing two rad beams and 10 2ks and like one boat. Um, because I think that like again, if we focus on the mirror, so much of your incentive is just to like counter his like one card damage and the one card is mostly going to just be a 2k, right? is like they're mostly not going to be swinging eights at you in the middle of a game because like they still have to spend time developing and like potentially playing searchers and samuris and holding up their own dawn and all this stuff. And so there's like not that many spots throughout the game where you actually care to convert the rad beam. Um compared to a 2k because like the that damage will be sort of the same
▶ 00:23:12
regardless. Um so yeah, I I could be convinced by the book to draw the extra card, but I do not I just don't think it's as important in the mirror as it used to be. Um, Robin played a ramp card on turn two and was threatening Tendon on turn four going first. wouldn't they only be on Oh, if they double if you if they double pitch. Oh, sorry. I have to go let camera into this hotel. I'll be right back. Sorry. Did you figure out?
▶ 00:24:12
» Okay. Hello. Sorry. Um, what were we talking about? Oh, the Robin thing. Um, I would probably not play stun Bonnie there because if they play the game out that way, it is like kind of unlikely that they have wide enough of a board that I actually care to play the um to play the Bonnie. But if they do, then I think playing the Bonnie is fine. Um, okay. The other 3K events I think are really bad. Um, the main one that people play is stronger. Um, the reason I think stronger is bad is that the the matchups where you care about the Luna type effects, like you just need to stun more things than two, right? Like in the mirror boards are four or five wide and so a stronger just like does not cut it
▶ 00:25:00
compared to a Luna at all. Um, the other ones that are common are like or somewhat less common are like for fun and DMG. Um, I think that for fun interacts a lot less well now. Like you don't get to force it to happen. Um, like you did with seven shanks. Um, and people are going to be like playing around for fun still because of like them not wanting their board to get luned for free. Uh, and then like sort of the natural thing that happens where like you owe them their Mihawk or whatever. So like you don't get to have the the priority target for your for fun. Um, so between all of that stuff, I just think that like it doesn't trade that well. It's like probably fine verse Sabo. Um, but sometimes that is not
▶ 00:25:48
true. Like they can just present Zoro and you don't get to fun their guy. Um, uh, and then the other one is DMG. And I just like I just don't think that like the DMG lethal thing occurs that much anymore. the way that the mirrors play out like you are just gonna like zero your opponent as like the way that you send lethal and it's kind of impossible for them to counter. So you don't need to like send these DMG lethals where you interact with their dawn especially when other people also play less events in their deck. Um and then the other matchup that like really asked you to have DMG was red green and I think that that deck is just like unplayable in the format and so you don't really need to have that event. Um, the biggest downside to all of the 3K events
▶ 00:26:35
obviously is that they don't defend your board. Um, most of the reason that there are this many rads in my deck is that there are just like a lot of spots that come up um, in essentially every matchup where like in the middle of the game your opponent will try to contest your character and you just like get to save it with a rad beam. And that's just not true of any of the other events. Yeah, I think that like you you essentially never care to counter with the strong event because most of the spots that you're countering with events come in the middle of the game as like you defending your board. Um, and then
▶ 00:27:23
yeah, like it just doesn't stun enough things. And like also for what it's worth, like the Luna trigger has some incidental value too. Yeah. I just think that like the stronger does way too little for it to be worth the like possibility of using it as a 3k counter. like do I You're asking if I attack in every matchup
▶ 00:28:33
Uh, I attack against everything including Sabo. Um, but the Sabo one has some caveats which I'll talk about when we talk about Sabo matchup. I'll keep it to deck list questions for now and then I'll talk about the Sabo stuff when we get there. Um, so that's it. Are there any other questions on anything with the deck Uh, I talked about why I like the law. I just don't think that you need five. Um, and like the deck is pretty tight. Um, so I think that like what really matters
▶ 00:29:23
is that you draw two. Um, sometimes you get away with just one. Uh, if you have like like there are a lot of spots where like your opponent will like take to one and then you shank them and they get zeroed and you don't need any more bombs. Um, when that's not true, you need two. And then I think that like in general law is like a more consistently good second bomb because of like how many things you need to pair with the shanks. Um the list is not in codeex yet. I will put it there after the session. the stun bonnie is like good in the mirror because it turns off their shanks and it's like incidentally good verse uh the yellow mom decks. That is why.
0h30′
▶ 00:30:26
Ah, yeah. Okay. I think that um I think that Hodi is like not terrible. Um, but you don't really need the extra fishman. Like you will very consistently have a thing to pitch further the deck in. Um, and I don't really I'm just like not really willing to play the brick. It's like less that the card is bad and more that it is a brick. Yeah, I mean the the 16.5 stuff is similar. My hope is that um the stuff we talk about in this session will like show you where it is different to the 16.5 stuff. Um but yeah, I mean like the sort of like
▶ 00:31:12
the way that you play out games fundamentally is very similar. You just like have a different end game than the other deck did because of the shank I am sure that Bonnie turning off their rocks is good, but I don't think that that's like that important. It's like not why it's there. Yeah, I think you don't get to play either seven or nine shanks because of decken existing like the they just trade
▶ 00:32:02
too well with you. Um, and like the nine is like functionally interchangeable with the deck anyway, right? So like the nine just like does not have spots where it really matters and the seven you're just like shouldn't be willing to turn sideways. Also, for what it's worth, like the the stun events are like not a great development for the seven chanks either. Um like they're just like incidental victims to the rest of the board. And then like if you're Lunaing your opponent, you having a seven shanks doesn't matter because all those units are frozen anyway, right? So like there's a lot of anti-ynergy there as like you just get the the minus one and like fewer instances of combats per uh
▶ 00:32:50
per turn. Uh any other questions at all? All right, just like clarifying. So, it's like we're playing the the Mihawk and the Perona just because of um like it's better into the mirror. That's is that what I'm understanding? » Yeah, I think that um that that is why. Although to be fair, I think that they are like the Mihawk is also just a better card
▶ 00:33:38
generally. Um I think that like the incentive to play the law is really to play Yasup and then I like I don't think that Yas is good enough to merit that that card is worse. um like the fact that the body from the Mihawk is always standing and that the Mihawk is bigger uh are like pretty relevant upgrades I think. » Okay, cool. Thank you. Uh, any other questions on deck list at Um I do not know exactly what Elijah is
▶ 00:34:50
playing right this second. Um I think that there for the most part um we've been on this like sort of Mihawk plus Perona thing although not literally everyone as I said I think that like Josh's like prefers um laws. Um the law and stun body stuff are like not widely adopted. These are things that like I'm doing right now um that I think like not everyone else is, but obviously like anything could end up being true Yeah, I would say that like I could I I would be sure that like um 47 of these cards are the same. Like I'm not sure
▶ 00:35:37
what the what people's like stun Bonnie and Lepo spots are in this deck at this exact moment to be honest. We're all just trying different things. Uh, what do you mean? There will be a fishman session later. Uh, blocker must be good. Uh, I think that like the Peronas are insanely good versus red green Luffy
▶ 00:36:24
ace. Um, so like you like yes, the the blah like does help you there, but I think it's does not it's not close to what Pona does. Yeah, the deck the deck also has no 2ks. Like they will die because the Makasa is 7k, but I think that that's like less of the thing that matters than the Pona. Also, like the Yasups are terrible verse
▶ 00:37:13
Luffy ace because their bodies are too big for you to contest um in combat because they're like all plus three. So like really all that the law does is block. And then even then the law doesn't always get to block because they get play the um the the green Luffy that rests blocker. right. Uh, anything else on deck list
▶ 00:38:13
before we move on? I don't think you would care particularly to play 22 because when you do that um all of the cards that are in this deck are worse with law than with Mihawk except for the stun bunny obviously. Um but even then I like I said before I don't think that there's a big difference between playing stun bunny and playing law into stun bunny on your nine dawn turn. um in general. So I think that like when you two them two of the cards would just be worse. You could make that not true if you wanted to play Yaspups
▶ 00:39:00
instead of Bonnies. Um because like Law Yas is a real thing that you can do, but I don't really see the incentive to do that compared to like how good Bonnie is in the mirror. Um, Zoro2K would be good in the mirror, but I think that the 2Ks that are here instead are too important. It's missing something. I'm not sure
0h40′
▶ 00:40:13
Um, cut two events for the Zoro. Uh, sorry. So, I think that the I think that like you do care to resolve multiple rad beams per per game. Um, so I'm like not thrilled about playing fewer of them. Um, especially when like the upside is like pretty minimal. It's like only it only really does something for you if um if your opponent has a limited number of ones themsself, which just like is not always going to happen. And so I think that you're like chasing a lot of upside for pretty little reason. Um if you cut the deck in, I think what
▶ 00:41:00
happens is you like you play more total sixes in your deck. Um, so you play like some laws in addition to the Mihawks just to like make sure that you have sort of like double double summon every game. Um, because you'll get to go like five drop on five and then Mihawk body and then Law Bonnie. Um, and you'll play like more laws and more events. It's like probably what would happen. Um, no, I think you should play four samuris for sure. you like really want to see multiple of them in most games and like if it gets to a point where you can't convert them you can pitch them to Mihawks. So I don't really know why you would want to play less than four. Um, I will send an example of the the
▶ 00:41:56
list without decans um after a session tonight. I just didn't have one prepared right now because I'm not sure like what exactly it should look like. It's like for sure the thing that I put the least time into out of all these ideas. So, um, so I just like didn't have something I was like confident to suggest yet. right, if it is cool with everyone, I'm going to move on to talking about matchups. If more questions about the deck list come up uh as we talk, then I can still cover them. Um, we'll start with the mirror because like for sure it's the most important of all of the matchups. Um, as I said before, I think that like generally the early game
▶ 00:42:46
in the mirror is going to play out very similarly to how it did before. like you are still just trying to play like two six drops as a player going second and like you still want to go second. All this stuff is still true. Um the thing that is most different is that there are not um shanks involved anymore for the most part. Like people just do not play uh seven shanks in their deck anymore because of its poor interaction with Deken. Um, so that makes like these double six games a lot more reasonable for you because like you'll get to convert them more frequently. Um, I do think it's like less important than it was before to this is kind of a weird thing to say, but like if you assumed that there was no shanks before, double
▶ 00:43:34
six was really good. Um, I think that is slightly less true now because your board is going to get Luna anyway. Um, so as a player who's going second, like it's still very significant because like you are generally going to Luna your opponent first. And if you assume that your opponent is going to Odin you on seven, only one of your units is going to be sideways on eight, right? Um because only one of them is able to attack and like ah sorry. So if like a six drop on six and then a six drop on eight. Um, so yeah, like you that is still like very good. Um, but really as the player going first, there's a lot less incentive for you to play the the second six drop, right? So like the six drop on nine is like a lot less good than it is before because what is your opponent
▶ 00:44:22
going to do on 10? Like they're just going to go shanks at you, right? And so like you having that extra body just doesn't actually matter uh because your whole board's getting frozen all the same. Um, so that's like where the a big or really the difference in the mirror comes from. Um, the other thing is that you get a really large swing on the exact turn, but you play the bomb, which is not true before. Like before you play the beo, but like your big swing is still just like an eight or a nine, right? Um, but now that swing is a 12. And that swing being a 12 changes a lot about how you have to counter in the mirror because one of like Mihawk's sort of weaknesses is that like when you reach zero, you do not have any sort of way to reliably prolong the game, right? Like all that you can do is counter. You do
▶ 00:45:11
not have blockers. Even if you play law, law is like quite easy to be interacted with by your opponent, right? through be it their shanks or an Odin or whatever DMG if they play it like any of these things will interact with the law and so you being at zero it is like very unreliable for you to survive. Um so this 12k swing instead of the instead of the eight is like a really really big difference in terms of like how you need to be managing your life for the most part. It means that you will need to be at at least two at the start of the turn. Um where the start of your opponent's tendon turn and potentially more than two. Um whether or not you need to be at more than two depends on whether or not you'll be able to counter out of their lethal if they send it on their 12 dawn turns like the turn after
▶ 00:45:59
10 dawn. Um a lot of the time you will be able to if you have like rad beams. So it is like possible that you're comfortable at two. Um, but all this means that like you need to counter a lot more of the one card hits in the middle of the game in order to make sure that the Shanks does not put you to zero so that you will die on 12. Um, so where does your recourse come from as a player going first? Um, for the most part, I mean really we can start with the obvious one. If you get to stun bonning them off of the shanks, that is going to be like a really big deal. Um because their entire plan for how they've played out this game is they are going to, you know, establish this board, swing it all at you, and then shanks Luna your entire board. Um when
▶ 00:46:46
they do not get to shanks you there, their game gets a lot more awkward because like you have to keep in mind like your opponent is very actively like trying to set up this thing where they where they get to shanks Luna. And so like they're going through their deck like to set that up and not necessarily um trying to set up the hands that play against that. Well, um so really like let's think about it. If you're if you now have nine dawn on this turn instead of 10, what are you going to do? Well, really there's not that much that you can do. The best thing is like if they play Perona, they can Perona like some standing bodies and then if you have like multiple things sideways, they can Luna those bodies. A lot of the time they you won't have bodies sideways on that turn because like they peroned you
▶ 00:47:33
on eight or they owned you on eight, right? Um so like that's kind of not how your board is going to look. So, their recourse is mostly going to be like they prona something, maybe they attack over a sideways body. Like there's one sideways body, they attack over it. Um, but then all of that happens. They do not establish a bomb and now you're going to be the first player to shank Luna them. So, that's why like the Bonnie plays out well in the mirror as long as you are able to counter enough of the damage that they are sending at you. Um, obviously that is easier said than done. Um cuz like when you play a stun Bonnie on that turn specifically, uh it's going to be kind of hard for your opponent to like or your opponent is going to be able to like send a lot
▶ 00:48:21
of stuff at you basically, especially if they like let's say like the player going second played everything optimally this game. Like they went Mihawk into a six or Mihawk into a five and then like we throw something and they go Mihawk into another five. Uh at this point only one of their characters should be sideways which means that if you stun Bonnie a dawn really you can only contest one of the characters on their board in this spot which is like the one that is sideways. You don't have the dawn to play an Odin and like there's nothing uh vulnerable to Alumna. Um so they are going to have at least three attacks that they can send at you from their board which is significant because they can't shanks you. You're usually going to be fine to go to one in that spot because the next turn you'll shanks Luna them. And so like unless you are dead to 10k 12k from the leader and the shanks or 11k 12k from the leader and
▶ 00:49:11
the shanks um you will still be fine um to go to one there but obviously again easier said than done. This is going to be like a lot of damage that is coming at you. Um, so the other important part of like how you can win as a player going first is this whole dynamic of like Mihawk being very vulnerable at zero. We need to use our extra dawn to push a lot of damage. Um, I know that sounds like pretty trivial, but like um you just have some extra dawn in a lot of spots throughout the game to push them with, right? like we'll play a five drop on five it gets frozen. The next turn you'll play a six and a five. Um
0h50′
▶ 00:50:00
if they just Odin something really regardless if they Odin or Perona you um the next turn you'll be on nine dawn even if you let's say you don't have the stun Bonnie right because like that is going to happen a lot of the time. I think that generally the way you'll want to play at the game from there. As I said before, the six is like not that good on this turn because your whole board if you're not stun bonning them is going to get Shanks Luna, right? So like you playing the six doesn't really matter. So you just like have one extra dawn naturally because you're on nine dawn and then one more extra dawn because you're not playing the six, you're just playing a five. So say we just Perona them, right? Um to like minimize the damage that's coming at us. Now you just have seven dawn to attach to whatever is left for you to attack with and you making big attacks in those Um especially if you were able to
▶ 00:50:50
counter fairly aggressively yourself will let you get ahead of them in like the just like life parody or really like this is hard to explain. I it's like the the amount of life that the like the clock at which they will hit zero if that makes sense. Um, so like you attack them and you put them to one. Uh, and then like they'll also put you to one, but you're going to zero them first. And because you zero them first, like now the onus is on them, like they have to end the game right now. And so if you can survive them ending the game, you're going to be fine. Um, and so if you're able to counter aggressively and then you deal this damage to them, um, then like they'll shanks Luna you and you'll end up going like uh shanks deck and
▶ 00:51:38
their shanks Luna. Uh, and as long as you're not dead to whatever lethal they're sending the next turn, which is generally like at best going to be like another Shanks big number big number, uh, like 11 12 um, you will end up winning from there. um if you were able to put them to zero. Again, easier said than done. A lot of this stuff is going to just like come down to how many samurai they were able to resolve or really both of you were able to resolve because this entire game that we're describing comes down to your ability to counter in all of these spots which you know there's only so much control you have over that. However, um you will be able to get a lot more value than this cuz we are like sort of just trying sitting here trying to describe like the optimal game. A lot of the time your opponent is going to have more characters sideways than they had
▶ 00:52:26
ought to because they're like samuraiing their board or whatever. And in doing that now you're open to like a lot more ways to prolong the game than you were before because of Luna stuff, right? So like we can go back to this stun bonnie example. Like I said in in the stun Bonnie turn, um there's going to be a lot of attacks coming at you normally, but let's say that our opponent samuride two of those bodies um on that turn. Now you stun bond them and you get to Luna them for three and now there's no damage coming at you essentially like they're untapping with one attacker probably. Um, and so now you have a massive advantage in tempo because even though like those three dawn do not end up converting into damage, they prolong the game by enough of like our own clock, right? Like we're
▶ 00:53:14
just not taking the damage and so we're still going to have that same tempo advantage just like it's just going to look different because like we are both at higher life totals. Um, that sort of dynamic where you're both at higher life totals is uh where the law spot that I was talking about before comes in. Um uh let's say especially in the non- stun Bonnie game, right? Like our opponent did play a Shanks and so like we had to do quite a lot of stuff to interact with the board, right? Like I said before, you end up going like Shanks deck and Luna. That is a lot of cards and it's really hard to have that turn or can be really hard to have that turn twice in a row. Um, let's say we play this turn out and we're still at maybe two life um because we were able to like Luna a bunch of
▶ 00:54:02
their characters or whatever. Now your opponent puts you to one on the next turn and instead of having to play an entire additional like Shanks Luna decken combo or Shanks decken Luna combo, you can just lo Shanks. Uh, and when you do that now none of their board gets to convert to damage against your leader. Uh, and you still interact with the Shanks and you did all of that in one card instead of this fourc card combo. Um, and that mean like that will pretty reasonably allow you to like have enough cards in your hand to not be dead, which like might not be true if you like needed to play a bunch of different things uh in order to interact with them. But also like you know you you only have so many cards in a game and so like the fact that we have to like counter all of this damage and then send a four card combo at them. It's
▶ 00:54:48
like not that easy to have your entire four card combo again, right? So like one is a lot easier than four. Um so I know that a lot of that was a focus on the stuff that you can do when you go first. Um the reason why is that I think that like what you do going second is quite a lot more straightforward. Um, you know, like playing a six drop on six and then a six drop on eight and then a Shanks is like a very easy thing for you to replicate. Um, if the stun bonnie stuff gets popular, then you need to be cognizant of that. Um, the main way, as I said before, that you'll do that is you just need like Pona turns of your own, um, or especially like Perona Luna turns of your own to make sure that you're still doing something, um, meaningful with your turn even though
▶ 00:55:35
you only have nine dawn. Um, you can also stun body them back if you both play it. Um, because like then they still will not be able to play Shanks. Um, so like you are still ahead in that sense. Um, but that is like not really something I've seen play out that much to be fair. Um, yeah, but outside of that, I think that like the stuff that you have to do when you go second is much more much more straightforward. Um, what else is there to say? As always with the mirror, like you should be careful about how much dawn you'll be able to convert for events. So like especially this is like more true than
▶ 00:56:24
before because you are going to have both if you play a deck list like mine, you'll have both less frequently than you did before. Um and so you have to be like more intentional with the spots where you leave up dawn for the rad beam. Um, this is especially relevant because if you play the entire Shanks, deck, and Luna combo, that takes all of your mana. And so any rad beams that are left over in your hand will get stuck there. Uh, and so like if you like there are a lot of spots that can happen where like you need to convert the rad beam the turn before that because like you were able to keep it on open on that turn. Um, and if you don't, it will get stuck in your hand and then like because you gave a 2k instead of the rad beam, like you'll die, right? So, um you just have like more spots where you need to be cognizant of that than before. But other than that, the stuff when you go
▶ 00:57:11
second is pretty normal. Um so, I know there was a lot of stuff. Does anyone have any questions on any of this or anything they feel like I didn't cover about the mirror? What turns would I not play a coffin
▶ 00:58:07
I would always play the boat unless they need the dawn for something else. Like you can always play the boat after you refresh with your leader, right? So like it's not like it takes you off of your curve. So it only like you're only really prevented from doing it when um when you play uh like Luna stuff. in the mirror. You take seconds for sure. Um, is the seven se threatening enough to warrant Decken turning off a bunch of the sixk bodies? to clarify your question is is the seven
▶ 00:58:59
cost good enough that you should play it even though Deken exists? That that is what you're asking, right? Ah okay. Um, often I would say often, yes. Um, because it's also like it's not you're not just turning or turning on all of your your 6k bodies, right? You're also killing their 9k, which is like very relevant, right? Like that card attacks you. Um, so I think that's like a very good value exchange. Um, you certainly should do it when you go second. Like if they seven cost on
▶ 00:59:47
seven, you should for sure decken it because you're not going to play decken on 10 because there's like they're not playing a bomb on nine, right? Like most people do not play nine chinks. So like your expectation is that their turn is just like some five drop or like six five type of thing. Um, and so like you're not expecting to play decken there. And if you're not expecting to play deck in there for the most part, you're actually just not going to play Deken in the entire game unless what like there is a specific case where it happens where like you the game is you need to play two turns after your first Shanks turn and you don't have Lepo, then you will deck in their shanks presumably. Um but outside of that, like the decken spot just like doesn't come up that often uh as the player who's going second. So, I think that like it's
1h00′
▶ 01:00:34
very very reasonable for you to deck in the seven chinks. Um, but even when you go first, I think it's correct to do it generally because like again, you are killing a 9k and getting more damage out of your board. So, it's like I think it's a very good exchange for you. Uh, but like less for certainly less when you go first because like you might be just like lunaiing their board, right? And then um the 9k attacking you like doesn't matter that much. But that just depends on like what the rest of their board looks like. I hope that answers your question. Any other questions about the mirror?
▶ 01:01:25
» Yeah. Am I able to just like ask like » Please, please. » Okay, cool. Yeah, I was just I just just don't feel like typing. Um, obviously like the most important part that I think people are going to need here is going to be the odd curve. And when it comes to the development, if we're like expecting like a perfect like both players have their perfect game, both players see their curve. You see five, they see 65, you see 65 again, » uh, it goes back and forth on that nine dawn. I mean, your your your Bonnie gets punished by their Bonnie in response because they can go Bonnie five and then they just have the full board, but that gets punished by Luna. Would you say that it's it's better then in that case to be developing a weaker board in hopes to use Dawn to swing more aggressively because of course on the first curve if you can get them to one by by their 10 I mean you're still okay.
▶ 01:02:11
» So I'm just wondering like how how how often have you tested that scenario and is it worth turn slowing down your development in order to get your opponent's life down? » Yeah. Yeah. So, as I said before, I forgo the six on nine dawn basically always. Um I think that like that extra dawn is like very relevant and the body that you play that turn doesn't actually matter when they shanks you. Um then I think in earlier spots I think that like there's not you you can't really like not play the six on seven and that is the only place where you have another decision point right like you are going to play a five on five it like if you choose not to do that you don't get any additional damage right um so then like
▶ 01:03:00
what the real question is is like the extra dawn on your seven and nine on turns um that like you could conceivably spend on like searchers or samuris or whatever. Um and the problem is for like with completely forging doing on stuff is that for the most part like your hands are not going to be completely made, right? And like even if they are completely made, you still need to have enough counter to cover like all the things that your opponent is doing. Um, and so it's going to be hard for you to like actually forego playing samuris and playing searchers in a lot of those spots. So I think that like the only place where you can reliably like spend extra dawn on attacking them is on nine dawn. Um, I will not do stuff like play Otama for no reason on like seven or nine. Um,
▶ 01:03:47
because like the Otama is good enough of a card in your hand unless you are very far behind and like need it to find a samurai. Um, but like that that's like a dawn that like I won't spend, but some people might that you get to spend on attacking. But for the most part, you just like are more limited by like these other factors where like you need to have the counter ultimately and like you don't get to just like forego any of that stuff. Um, but yeah, there's like there's just not enough other stuff they can change about the curve for you to like meaningfully saved on in a lot of other places. Does that make sense? » Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Thanks. Yeah, I just wanted to kind of kind of uh flush out that idea for the odd curve in my
▶ 01:04:36
Yeah, it it really is just like you attach more dawn on nine, but it's really only one more dawn. » Uh, another question here. Um, so like the moment you hit your 10 dawn, you're just always dropping your like kind of whatever 10 drop you have typically, right? Like you're not going to delay it just cuz » Yeah, I think you think you cannot afford to delay it. Um because if you do your opponent will play theirs and like » this this game devolves fundamentally to » making sure you are zeroing your opponent before they zero you. Right. » Right. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think like this is like this is is not something that's come up
▶ 01:05:24
for me at all, but maybe on 10 there are spots where you're supposed to play stun Bonnie plus another five, but I really doubt it because like in order for that to be true, they would have had to like clean up some of your board, which just like doesn't really happen. So, I think that for the most part, you're just like slamming the 10 or almost always. Yeah, it just it just feels like otherwise you're kind of just like you're you're delaying the game. You're not actually kind of doing much. It just feels like very rare that uh you just like skip it. But I was just just curious. » Thank you. » No problem. » Anything else about the mayor? Okay, so we can move on to Sabo now. Um,
▶ 01:06:23
Sabo, I think, is like one of the more important matchups for you to have down because I think that it is like out of all of the the like main decks, it is the matchup that I think can be the worst. Um, and also evidently the way that I think you should play out the matchup is pretty different to how like a lot of other people approach it. Um, so I think it'll be cool to talk about. Um, the main reason why it's different to how other people approach it is that I currently do not play Yas. Um, what YasP lets you do in the matchup is like starve them while actually getting to contest bodies, right? It's like um if they do not naturally turn a body sideways for you to attack um you would not be getting to convert value from your board at all. But with Yasub, you get to like turn one of their two drops
▶ 01:07:10
sideways and attack it, right? Um and there's for sure a lot of value in that. The other thing that's nice about the Yasub is that it does not stay sideways. Um and something that can happen pretty easily for Sabo is they just like poke your board a lot. Um, so like that denies you some resources or whatever. And so like that can't happen with the ASUP. Um, that part cannot happen with Perona either though because like the Pirona will float into something if it dies. Uh, so you can just like let it die and summon an Odin or whatever. Um, so like that part of the reason I think doesn't really exist. Um, so really it is just like the the fact that the Yas lets you turn a body sideways. Um, now when you don't have that, I don't think that you can full starve them. Um, because they are just gonna like
▶ 01:08:00
continue amassing a board and like all of the cards that they're playing like replace themselves or dig deeper in their deck in some way. And so like you starving them is kind of a fool's errand a lot of the time. Um, so I prefer to attack. However, as I said before, there are a lot of caveats to this. Um, the main one is that like I like attacking them, but I am still voluntarily going to attack their board when they present it sideways for the most part. Um, so like the way that games I would say usually play out is I deal the first damage to them and then they turn a body sideways and then I bully that body, but I will keep attacking them if they let the body die. Um, I think that like when they do not let the body die, the game tends to play out really well for you because like that's just an abyss that like they have to
▶ 01:08:46
counter a lot of cards for. Um, and when they took exactly one damage, they're still at four and so their leader doesn't swing at you for as much. Um, because like it gains 1k when they're at three. Um, so I think when games play out exactly like that, it's pretty cool. Um, if instead they take, I still think that that's fine because now you can just play to race them. Um, and so what that looks like generally is like instead of playing this game where like sort of like you're sort of typical late game when you starve them is like you clean up these early bodies and then you get to like shanks them, decken their big guy. Uh or if they have like let's say a Saul and a Loki, you get to like decken their Loki and then Shanks attack over the Saul and then you've cleared
▶ 01:09:33
all of the twelves and so you can like clean up the small stuff. Um and at that point like Sabo's kind of dead in the water um if you get to that point successfully because they cannot ever like redevelop their board in a way that immediately attacks you, right? like they can play the eight cost Luffy, but if they do that, it doesn't have rush. And then they could play um they could just like redevelop 12 costs, but then again, they're not like putting any pressure on you, which means that you can like continue playing this game where you just like they attack you one time, you counter, you shank them again, and you clean their board again, right? Um you do not get to play the game out that way generally if you do not starve them because they have too many cards to counter for like medium-sized stuff on their board. Um, but instead you can just like put all of
1h10′
▶ 01:10:21
your attacks into their face. Um, and they do not have literally unlimited counter and they don't get to interact with your bombs very well in really the exact same way that is true of the Mihawk matchup. When they get zeroed, they will probably die. They do have blockers, but like you get to interact with the blockers with Shanks or with Odin or whatever. Um, or if like if they're playing like the Jimbeay blocker, you get to interact with it by like deckening their Loki. any of these things. Um, it's just like not that unreasonable for you to end up just like sending a lethal and it working. Um, also when you attack them, I think that like this is kind of weird to say, but I think like when you deal damage to them, the grabblade ends up being a lot less bad for you. Um,
▶ 01:11:10
because they are grabblading you when they've already taken more damage. Um, and so like the difference in your life totals after the grab blade is going to be like less drastic than it normally is. Um, cuz like what happens when you starve them and they gravitate you is like you're at like two and they're at five, right? And it's just like pretty hard for you to close that gap because you like don't get to bully enough cards in their hand because so much of your board is dead. Um, but when you've attacked them throughout the whole game, you've already asked them for a lot of cards and like they are already lower and the body of it still sticks around like still gets to pressure cards from their face because they are at whatever low health they are at. Um, or again they like the game is just played out in this way where like they have had to counter a lot for their board throughout
▶ 01:11:56
the game and then like then it is like pretty similar to if you did just like voluntarily choose to starve them. Um but yeah, I think you just like get a lot of equity from randomly sending the lethal at them uh with like a shanks or whatever. Um as like the games play out because a lot of the time like you can get counterfeit just like in general in Mihawk you can get counterfeit pretty easily by just like not having the right like break points of counter. Um, so especially when a deck like Sabo is like 2k checking you constantly, you can pretty easily like take way more damage than you had ought to at like sort of any point in the game. And if that happens to you when you're starving them, you have no recourse to win at all. Uh, because like they still have
▶ 01:12:45
some board and like it's not like their whole board is randomly going to die. Um, and like especially when this happens before you get to take like your sort of pivot turn with the Shanks. Um, then like if you did not clear everything, then they'll just go like Luffy you and put you to zero and there is nothing that you can do about that. Um, but if you are attacking them, you can still like send a lethal at them when that happens. So, I think you get a lot of equity from that because like let's say they like play this Luffy thing on nine and it zeros you, you still just get to go like shanks them and send lethal and sometimes they die to that, right? Um, so I think that there's a lot of value there. Um, that covers like most of what I'm doing in the matchup. Like I will try to contest a body if as as long as it's not
▶ 01:13:32
like requiring too much dawn for me to swing at it. like I'm happy to swing at the like five or I guess 6ks with the dawn on their leader. Um but I'm not going to like attach dawn in order to swing into a saw generally unless their hand is already very small. Um which is like does not normally happen because like normally that body is stunned or they will like voluntarily not turn it or whatever. Um and then yeah when they like let those things die I think that it is fine to keep attacking them. Um, I think a lot of the time the matchup will play out in ways where Perona is pretty good against them. I mentioned that before. Um, but I think that frequently like they'll just have a couple of 5k bodies on their board and like either they will not have turned it or like you will prevented them from turning it with an Odin and then they'll
▶ 01:14:18
like play another one from like their deck in or whatever and you get to Perona those things. Um, and when you do that is going to save you a lot of cards. And then like the pirona is also um resilient to gravlade which can matter basically only if you play exactly two ponas but um that is cool. Um I also mentioned this before but I think the lobo is quite good in this matchup. Um really like your opponent is never going to be playing around the lobo. Um because playing around the lob is a fool's errand when people are expecting you to shank them. So like it is very reasonable for them to just like send attacks with their board and then you get to lobbyo them and when you do uh it's like very hard for them to convert into damage with like the rest of their board. So you just like lo stun like the
▶ 01:15:06
Loki or whatever big body there is and then like all of the small things do not get to attack you well and then you just get to like try to send a lethal over two turns um because they probably cannot kill you because you played the law of efo. you just like swing your whole board face and then like hold up enough dawn to not die and then uh you can lethal them either like with whatever board is left or like shanks them as well the next turn. Um and I think that that is like a very reasonable win condition as well that you enable by attacking them. Um where like the law does not really do anything for you when you starve because you getting to take that extra turn doesn't matter when they're at five life. Um, you for sure could make the matchup better than it is for this deck list. Um, the Bonnies I think are like generally quite bad in the matchup. They
▶ 01:15:54
just like do not prevent them from doing anything. Um, so like if you wanted to improve the matchup a bit, you could play assups. Um, but I don't really think you have to do that. Um because really all of what I'm talking about in terms of like the matchup getting tedious for you happens when you go first. Um because it just takes you one turn longer to get to your pivot turn where you like play the shanks um or the log up or whatever it is like whichever bomb you are just playing it one turn later in the game and like that is significant when there are so many attacks coming at you. Uh when you get to play your bomb on five I think the matchup is quite easy for you sort of regardless. And so like that's kind of why I don't care to um to put these like extra deck cards in my deck cuz I think you're still going to be a significant favorite when you go like a a relatively significant favorite, maybe
▶ 01:16:40
like a 60% when you go second. Um and I think that like the way that the deck list is as it is already has a lot of recourse when you go first um by playing the matchup out in that way. So again, I know that was a lot of stuff. Um, does anyone have any questions on any of that or anything that I like maybe didn't cover about Zabo? » Uh, some one question on the I guess uh game plan decision of like starving versus swinging. Is that something you typically decide upon after getting some information from them at the start of the game or like you kind of go in preferring one way? I'm just curious » Sure. My » how do you Yeah. So, my default expectation um is that I'm going to
▶ 01:17:30
attack them. Um I think there are some situations where you could decide not to. The main one is if they mulligan and do nothing on two. Um you could decide to not attack them because it like decreases the chances of them having Saul on four. Um, which like I think I would only make a decision like that if my hand is bad. Um, because when your hand is bad, you like need more things to go right for you, right? Um, and so in that situation, it's like reasonable for my opponent to miss because I've like taken the mulligan and did not play a searcher or draw on two dawn. Um, and my hand is bad, so I need them to like continue missing. So like I could decide to starve there. Um, but generally like the reason that I'm deciding to attack them
▶ 01:18:19
is that I think that game plays out in a way where you have more different win conditions, right? Like I think that like making that attack against them either the game plays out in a relatively similar way where like they will just like counter for their board and they're doing that with one more card in their or yeah, one more card in their hand because they took a damage, but like that is not a very significant difference. Um, and then having dealt that damage opens you up to like a lot more two-turn lethal stuff. Uh, or you just like attack them even more than that throughout the game. Um, and like they're open to tons of like lethal possibilities. Um, so like that is like like a sort of uh, how do I say this? Like I think that you win more often by attacking them or give give yourself
▶ 01:19:06
more chances to win the game by attacking them. which means that like if I'm choosing not to do that, there have to be circumstances that make that not true. Um, so like I believe I have fewer win conditions by attacking them, which like again mostly comes from either my hand being bad or them countering in spots that are like too early for them to be countering, right? Like if they decided to counter damage when they were at four life, like of course I'm not going to keep attacking them if I have the option to attack anything else, right? Uh or like anything else meaningful to do. But for the most part, like I think you're just burning too much value uh when you starve them because like again, as I said before, like their deck is going to have like relatively meaningful stuff to do even with almost like completely fake cards, The problem with the matchup or like I guess like the thing that is good about
▶ 01:19:54
their deck you could say is that like it's very realistic for them to convert any cards into damage against you as long as they have like some 12k uh 12 cost unit on their board, right? Because like all these random two drops are 6k bodies. And so any slop assortment of cards is like still going to deal a lot of damage to you. And that's happening while you're choosing to do nothing with the board that you've established. if you just like I don't know you could just attack them and then like have a way to win the game which just like doesn't exist if you like run out of counter or like don't have enough good turns to play or anything like that. » Gotcha. Thanks. » Of course.
1h20′
▶ 01:20:41
» A question. Could you talk more about how you would approach the matchup when you don't see the ideal, you know, circumstance on curve? Like for example, say you have a lawn beo, but you don't have a Shanks or you have a Shanks, but you don't have a Vander deck in. » Uh, yeah. I mean, so I think that like ultimately like I think that those things happen so late in the game that like first of all, I think it's pretty hard for you to be s missing a significant amount of stuff that late in the game unless you like made mistakes earlier because you can be like targeting these things in your searches and your like your effects with Mihawks and whatever. Um, but if you do miss them, like
▶ 01:21:30
I it's hard to give like a very like general piece of advice for this. Um, because really like you just want to make whatever play is reasonable given the board. Um, some examples of that are like I think that Lobo is like good by itself um, in a lot of cases that late in the game. So like playing that is going to be fine. But like if you have a shanks with missing pieces then like what that will mean usually is that you are trying to race them. Now um I think about that as like just it's sort of the same thing that happens is like when other things go wrong for you in the game, you just like need to try to kill them over two turns or like push a bunch of damage while not being dead. So like the upside of your shanks ordinarily is
▶ 01:22:18
that you get to kill the character, but like now you do not get to do that. So what can we do instead? like, well, maybe you like shanks Luna them. Um, and then like the random 6K characters like don't untap. And so all you need to do is counter out of like the leader swing and the Loki swing. And if you can do that, then you're fine. Um, or like I don't know, stuff like that. Um, yeah, I don't know. It's hard to give a more specific answer than that because the question is so broad. Um I think it's a lot easier to miss things early in the game. Um because like at that point you've had a lot less time to like filter what cards are actually in your hand. Um but again when that happens like we're just
▶ 01:23:05
playing like the most reasonable cards that we do actually have. So like a lot of the time like we can say maybe Odin is best but instead you can like um stun Bonnie them so they can't play Loki this turn. Uh because like or they you can like Perona the one random five or like these things that are just like you know not the best thing for you to do but they're all like acceptable, right? Like ultimately like you're just making the the best like you win games by making the best like sum of actions throughout the game. are like if you do not have like the best thing you can do then you'll find the next best one. It's like okay » definitely. Yeah. Thank you for the » All right. Anything else about Sabo?
▶ 01:23:59
» Um yeah I one more question. I guess from the Sabos perspective, do they have incentive to not turn any of their guys sideways? Like if you're playing, I guess, a more aggressive plan, you're attacking their life, » like would would they ever consider not swinging their their guys? I know sometimes they want to leave a giant up or whatever so their weaves don't get deactivated, but » is that thing you've seen against them? Um, I think that like part of why I like attacking is that it disincentivizes them from taking that type of action because like um it's like a lot harder for them to justify like not attacking with their soul or whatever when like when they are randomly taking a bunch of damage. Um, I think that like often they are probably still supposed to not attack with it. I imagine because like their game can fall
▶ 01:24:48
apart really easily when like the single big guy that they have just like gets donated to a deck in for no reason. Um but I think that that is like often not how those games actually look. It's like they can just play like they can at some point during the game have played a Loki, right? And then like that Loki makes it so that um like they're able to turn their Saul, right? Um, but if they only have the one saw, I think a lot of the time they are still supposed to keep it up just because of like how much of their board gets invalidated when the Saul dies. » Okay, thanks. I think I was kind of asking that. I'm wondering like if we play like if we play Perona, we can only freeze the weenies. » Um, but if we play a Odin, uh, that's base cost, so we could freeze I guess a
▶ 01:25:36
Saul or a Loki. Mhm. » And so I'm kind of wondering like if we're playing the Odin, you know, should we just consider freezing or preventing from resting the um the bigger swing? » Oh, gotcha. if you do have the decken, I think that targeting the weenie is fine. Um yeah, that's kind of all I think that like as long as you're willing to take the damage. Um, like the the only time that wouldn't be true is if like you need to not take the damage for the game to play out well for you cuz then you can just like freeze the bigger body and counter a damage from the weenie. But if you're willing to take the damage regardless, then I think freezing the weenie there makes sense. » Okay, thanks. » Sorry, that is a really good call out. I
▶ 01:26:24
probably could have talked about that when I was talking about the match up the first right. Anything else about Sabo? Okay, we can move on then. Um, we'll talk pretty briefly about rocks because I think what this matchup is like pretty straightforward for Mihawk. Um, you have a really big mechanical
▶ 01:27:14
advantage in this matchup because Rocks does not really have ways to interact with your board that are particularly good. Um, again, especially when you go second. Um, because like there are just too many stats being presented on your board at any given time, right? you're playing a six drop and a five drop and like both of those cards are standing. And when that's true, like they do not get to contest any of the characters on your board except with exactly a Gloriosa. And like if they're playing Gloriosa on that turn, then they're not really developing their board at all, which is very problematic for them because like the way that their deck is like generally trying to create value is by like establishing these bodies that get value turn over turn like Nate or Shiki or whatever, even like the Lynlin. Um, so like their dawn being pressured in that way is really problematic for them.
▶ 01:28:01
And then the next turn of course you play like another six and five and like now the board is way too out of control for them generally. Um, a lot of how they will come back into the game when that happens is by like trying to contest one of your units with Shiki and I think that like rad beams make it very difficult for that to happen. Um, because like you are just actually able to counter for these units on your board in the middle of the game. Um, so that's like one of the reasons why I like playing this many of them even with fewer boats because like in matchups like that, you just get like so much value out of making that unit stay alive. Um, then as I say, a lot of their game plan is to like get value out of keeping characters on their board alive turn over turn. Um, and while those things will get value just by existing on their
▶ 01:28:48
board, like they don't actually need to attack for them to get value, um, the units are all Luna victims accidentally. And so like Shanks Luna also interacts really well with rocks. Um so it's like also pretty big. Um the main thing that you need to be wary of as Mihawk is the like Captain John Usopp spell stuff. I think that is basically the only thing that can lead them to winning the game against you. um is like if you just pushed a lot of damage uh and they like are at zero and then they like take the captain John turn um and then can kill you a turn after. Um, I think that that is a extremely rare thing to have happen.
▶ 01:29:35
Like you, it's pretty easy for you to like decide to not be dead, especially when you consider like you are a 6k leader against them, which means that there are some turns of the game where they do not get to push damage against you at all because they need to develop characters on curve, right? And like they're just going to be swinging five at you. Um, so when that's true, I think that it's like pretty chill for you, but you just need to be wary of that possibility. So either um like there's two things that can happen really. One is um you are able to pressure enough cards from their hand throughout the game, but the Captain John thing doesn't matter because you can like literally bleed every card out of their hand. Uh which I think is like relatively uncommon because of like how many extra cards they get per game, but you should watch out for it because that can happen. Or the more common thing is like
1h30′
▶ 01:30:22
they take this up spell turn, you end up discarding like six or seven cards from their hand or whatever. Uh and then you like Luna their board and you're still not going to die and it doesn't matter. Um so as long as you're like set up to do stuff like that, I think it's fine. I think that when they present things for you to decken in the middle of the game, especially if it's like relevant stuff like a shiki, I think that I like taking that spot generally. Um cuz like the Shiki is going to get a really significant value turnover turn. Um the only reason I wouldn't do that is if you have like a lot of Lunas and it is not going to matter. Um but yeah, I think generally » Oh, sorry. I was doing something else. yeah. So, I think that, um, I think that
▶ 01:31:15
cleaning up those bodies when you have like that specific option is pretty good. Um, but yeah, a lot of the time you'll just like have enough Lunas that it's fine uh to not engage with the board in that this is probably the matchup where the Beo is worst compared to the Shanks because of how good it is to just like Luna their board. Um, but I still think the Beo is like completely fine. It's just like easier for your opponent to interact with your board uh in this matchup specifically because of like the specific units being stuff like Shiki um that get to trade with you very well. so it is like if you wanted to be even
▶ 01:32:04
better in the matchup, like it is probably better for the card to be a Shanks, but I don't think it really matters. Like I think that um I think that even if you like one of your bombs is a Beo instead of a Shanks, like it only really matters if it were your first one. Um, which is kind of true of the card in general, right? Like the Beo is trying to be like our second bomb for the most part anyways. So, um, someone mentioned before that you can stun bounty them off of the the 10 cost turn. Um, that's like probably pretty good. I have not I've actually never had this bot come up, but it's probably pretty good to do that. but yeah, there's not much else to say. You just have like a really big structural advantage in the matchup because of like how much pressure you establish and like how many cards that
▶ 01:32:51
demands from your opponent. some interesting micro stuff. Oh, it's like you if you can attack at break points that like ask for multiple cards through stuff like Nate and Shiki, you should do that, right? So like eights are good uh for you to send when you can. Um, or really it's like specifically not sevens. Um, if you have the option, but it's fine if you have to do that, right? your Dawn is limited in that way and like they still have to give you cards. Just like cool when you can ask for more cards than that. other than that honestly there's like nothing else to say I think. Uh so does anyone have any questions on
▶ 01:33:40
the rocks stuff? Um, so I uh I guess one of the things since we're not playing the Yasop is if they like put a KO down, » um, then I don't think like there's much you'd be able to do against it. And so I'm curious like if they put the KO down, um, how does that change like what you're trying to do? » It basically doesn't. Like I think that the when you get to deck in a thing, it's cool, but you don't actually need to deck in a thing to be honest. Like like I said, a lot of the time you're like perfectly content just like Lunaing the board or even like like the Shiki untaps and you just get to like rad beam for your board and it's fine. I don't think it's like that big of a deal when the Kio exists. Um, if the Kio is going
▶ 01:34:28
to matter to you, then I'm also fine with sending a six at it because like um I don't know, like the natural counter in rocks is like almost all 2Ks. And so like when you send a six at that, it's like fine. Like you're all all you're doing is like putting a 2K into their hand in order to like make your deck in live later, which I think is perfectly fine. yeah, I don't know. It's okay to to do that when you need to, but for the most part, like your your plan is not like super contingent on the deck in. So, it's like not a huge deal, but they get to stick it. Um, even if it like sorry to if it comes to the point of it where you like you like eventually shanks the Kio that that is something that I like was implicit in
▶ 01:35:17
what I was saying, but like I did not actually say out loud. Like eventually you will play a shank and then you get to like send a six into the Kio and then like if they want to counter for that you're like probably fine with that because at the point that you're like playing V Shanks you'll like probably also have the option of Luna and so like specifically deckening them at that point doesn't really matter. So it's only annoying if like if you cared to decken something um in the middle of the game, but I think that there are just like other things that you can do in that specific case like you know rag beam to your to defend your board or » Thanks. Yeah, I think the I haven't run into this, but I was just kind of thinking the only place where I'd be really worried is if it they put a J down and I really wanted to like deck in the J. Um, but I Yeah, I think » the thing about the with Jon specifically is that like what they
▶ 01:36:04
should do if they're trying to do that is play the Jon and Kio in one turn anyway. And so you don't actually get to have the option. » Oh, good point. Good point. Uh, anything else about rocks? Okay. So, then we can touch on like the the next couple matchups. That's sort of like all the big three done. Um, I think the only other two that are like really relevant to talk about are um are Kaido and Robin. Uh, if more questions come up
▶ 01:36:52
about other stuff, then I can take those later or in the Discord or whatever. But, um, we can stick with those two for now. Um, Kaido is another matchup where I don't think that there's like a ton of interesting stuff for you to do. Uh, I'll talk about Lynlin sort of in the context of Robin just as like the yellow slop. I just think that like Robin is the best yellow slop deck. But a lot of the stuff I'll say about Robin will apply to Lman as well and I'll like talk about it specifically a little bit. Um, sorry. Um, okay. Yeah. So, Kaido is like the the only matchup I can think of where you
▶ 01:37:39
want to pick first. Um, the reason why is that I think like the the extra time for you to develop characters before they play their bomb is very relevant. Um, there's also like a funny thing you can do sometimes or you get to like stun Bonnie them off of playing king. Um, although that like that only happens if they do not play another ramp and I think like very often their game includes a queen and so like you don't actually get to have that option. Um, but if it does not have the queen, then you get to do that sometimes. And it's like when you when you take them off a king vat turn, you do like immediately win the game. Um, so that's pretty cool. Um, but yeah, really it's just that like I I want to um have more bodies in play before they play their first bomb. Um, you will not get to interact with the
▶ 01:38:26
first bomb basically ever. The only time that you would is if they like played a Kaido and blocked with it for some reason. Uh, and then you get to deck in it. is just like not a thing that really happens at all. Um, but it's like fine to not interact with that first bomb, I think, because generally like the pressure that you'll be sending at them is really significant, right? And so like I think the way that games generally play out if you go first is like you'll play a five on five and then a six and a five on seven. Uh, and then something will turn at them and then they'll try to contest that body with their leader after they like play their first bomb and you get to like rad beam for that body. So now you'll untap still with either two or three bodies depending on like what specific bomb they played. If they played like the um the removal Kaido, like they'll kill something, but you'll still untap with two bodies. And now you just like get to play two more and turn two more. Um
▶ 01:39:15
and because of like how limited in counter like they don't have any unfair counter tricks, right? Like the only thing that they have is like their leader effect getting them like a 2k on some turns when they're allowed to to dawn minus one. um like can't afford to do minus one is more accurate. Um so you end up like pushing a lot of damage or asking for a lot of counter from them and then when swings get really big they have like no real tricks outside of um beam sword. So what I think will happen generally is like this sort of like early game will put them quite low like either to one or zero. Um, and it's like a fake zero because they can follow that up with like lead performers or big mom um to heal back to one. But now we are at their second bomb and now you get to shanks them and there's essentially no
1h40′
▶ 01:40:02
way for them to cover the 12. Um, so like every time you play a shanks they will take a damage and then you'll also get to Vander deck in one of their bombs on this in the spot where you play the shanks and then also get to attach Dawn to like something else on your board. And so you end up asking for like you deal a damage and you ask for some counter and you clear a bomb. Um, and so when you do all of that, it's like pretty hard for your opponent to end up in a place where like they can stabilize. Let's say, but their next turn is like they play another mom to like clear the shanks. Um, well, even then they clear your shanks. Maybe they clear one of the other bodies on your board like depending on what your counter situation is like. Maybe not. Who knows? And then you play another Shanks or you play a law or whatever and like you just like put them in the same spot again. And now they are
▶ 01:40:51
kind of forced either to send lethal at you because like they are so limited in how much counter they have left that like they cannot afford to play for another turn even if they have a reasonable way to continue like another mom or like like a heal in general like even like a lead performer into queen whatever. um like they are so limited in counter but they can't afford to do that. So they have to send the lethal. Um and because the way that this game played out like that we're talking about um so many of their attacks had to go into your board um you are going to be at high enough of a life total that like it is really hard for them to lethal you in that spot. Um, so I think that is like generally what happens if you don't have Deken. It's obviously quite a lot
▶ 01:41:39
harder. Um, because like then they are sticking the bodies in these spots and then like that lets them present an actual clock against you. Um, but like as I've said a bunch of times, like it is pretty easy for you to have like this stuff in your hand by that late in the game because of like how much card selection, like how much card velocity you'll have throughout the game. Um, so I think it's like pretty chill. Um, yeah. I don't know. Um, Lunas are like very uniquely bad in this matchup. Like all of the other matchups, I think like Luna is quite good in, but this one is like one where you are generally trying to pitch it away. Um there like probably spots where it's acceptable for you to Luna just a king. But like honestly a
▶ 01:42:27
lot of the time like that is not even something that you would need to do, right? Like you you're only really doing that like if you need to Luna the king to not die. Um I don't know. I think that is basically everything. Um a lot of how you're able to stabilize in these games is that like you get to stun the king. So, like making sure you have an Odin on seven and nine is like one of your biggest priorities uh in order to make sure that that king doesn't attack you just because like none of the really none of the other fives you can play uh especially with a Mihawk actually do anything. Um so yeah, if they miss the king, I think you also like always win. Um because like they just do not have enough instances of attacks uh to contest your board or your life at all.
▶ 01:43:15
Um, uh, also if they miss the king, you can stun Bonnie them on going into their 10 and they have like very little that they can do that is productive. Like all they can do is play League Performers, which just like is a vanilla that heals someone. So, it's pretty cool. Uh, I think that's everything about Kaido. Are there any questions on any of Okay, cool. So, we can finish this by talking about the the yellow slop decks.
▶ 01:44:04
Then, um I said we're going to like I'm going to contextualize a lot of this from Robin, but I think like generally, first of all, I think Mihawk is like favored into all of these decks. Um there are a couple reasons why. I think that like um I just think that Mihawk is really good at devaluing the like possible ways that the um the yellow slop decks can convert their boards. Um what do I mean by that? Well, uh, basically like if your opponent is like has wide enough of a board that they could conceivably bomb you, like you can Perona some of the of the 4ks and then like not take a
▶ 01:44:54
lot of damage from the mom. Uh, and then like the turn after that you get to like clear the mom if you wanted um with like a shanksten type of thing. If you can't clear them all, you also have the option of just like sending your board at them and then like eventually at the end of this all like playing a Shanks and then Lunaing all of the triggers and then like all that is left is the 12k body. Um I think like both of those things are like very very favorable ways of interacting with them. Um the Lobo can interact with them fine. I think it's like generally worse than the the Luna stuff because um the like in a lot of matchups the lobe buff to your leader acts similarly to a Luna because um because like now your leader is bigger
▶ 01:45:41
than their board. In these matchups it's not true because like they are still 8ks but them being 8ks is like still an uh like fine enough for you but it's like reasonable for you to counter a lot of the time, right? because like there's not that many swings that are coming at you and so like Lavo can still be like the way that you close out the game. Um versus these sorts of like yellow slop decks. Um I think that Robin is for sure the most tedious of them because they get to play the 10 mom earlier. Um and like kind of meaningfully earlier, right? Because like they can like when they go first they can triple ramp against you um like double pitching and like playing a ramp card. Um, and so when they do that, they're going to be going to 10 um on your
▶ 01:46:29
eight, right? Or no, your six. Sorry, what's going on? No, I was out the first time. Uh, on your eight. So, you like have to take an extra turn where um you do not get to like preemptively interact like quite as well as you could. Um like you playing a Bonnie for example is like going to take you off of um like a Mihawk type of thing. Um yeah. Yeah, that that's what I thought. That that is what I was trying to say. Um so like playing a Bonnie on six is like obviously not going to be ideal for you generally. Um, the thing that is good though is that like when they play out the game in this way, first of all, they're giving up a lot of cards to do
▶ 01:47:15
it, right? Like they have to discard two cards to leader effect and they have to like develop this random ramper. Um, which is like it's kind of expensive. It also eats a lot of their dawn. So like them developing this ramper um is one more 4k that they are not putting on the table. Um, so like when they do all of that, it makes the Perona a much more reasonable uh answer to their board because like their board is just going to be relatively narrow. Um, and they will have done nothing to you at this point in the game, right? like we pirona them and they've spent all of this time like going up to 10 dawn and they play the mom and nothing happens [snorts] and then like the next turn you just get to go like another double develop and then like say it's Perona again like still very little of their board is going to convert at all
▶ 01:48:02
and then like they attack you and that attack maybe even puts you to one but you're at one and then you like play your bomb and like clean up essentially their entire board and it just like doesn't really matter. Um, or you know, you can still just like sun bonny them on the on that six down turn. I mean, like they don't get to play the 10 against you. And a lot of these decks have nothing to do with their 10 down turn except for play mom at all. Like the only one where it's like really not like that is pudding because they can play like um like the normal pudding cards like the the cow and whatever. Um, but the other decks have like actually no other plan and so like you bonnieing them there is like still perfectly fine. sorry. Uh, yeah. So then when you play
▶ 01:49:01
against the other decks like I think they have like basically no way to win against you because they don't ramp. So, like we can talk about like the the Lynland deck. I think that like the Linland deck um will essentially like never do anything that's threatening because like you still have these points of interaction with like the Perona and the Stun Bonnie like interacting favorably with their ten mom. Um, but instead what happens, they're just like both of you discard a card from your hand every turn. Um, when they decide to make you do that and then you just attack them a lot and then Perona some of their board or stun Bonnie them or Luna them or whatever and like the game still end up playing out very well. Um, you kind of just need to be like I think like one of your biggest
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prerogatives is just to like be disciplined about like uh attacking before you play your cards so that like they cannot trigger enough stuff that you randomly end up dying, right? So like you don't want to like commit to your shanks for example before you send all of your attacks at them because if you commit to the shanks first it can like trigger stuff so now that plays over their board and now you cancel under them. Um or the same thing with Perona, like their board is wide and you peron them and then you attack them and then they trigger and play on top of the things you proned. Like you just can't do stuff like that. But if you don't do stuff like that, I think the matchups are like completely fine. Um verse Robin specifically, I like to counter the banish hits. They're because of like how constrained Verdon is. Normally the banish hits are still quite small, so it's like fine for you to do that. Um versus the other decks I think you can
1h50′
▶ 01:50:36
take more liberally than that. At least like the first damage you can take for sure. Um, if you have like Sun Bonnie stuff, then you can take much more aggressively than that because they don't get to play a 10 against you. Um, if not, then I think like countering to stay at four or three is like very uh, I generally make Llin discard. The only time I wouldn't is if there's like something that they can hit in my hand that like really [ __ ] up the game. Um I think that for Mihawk specifically, it's like often fine for you to deal the extra damage. And so like having them like discard an extra card to heal one
▶ 01:51:24
is fine when you get to like mitigate that specific risk. But generally that's just like not really what happens because you have so many cards in your hand that like most things have redundancy and so like you can afford to just discard the card and not give them the life. if they ever constrain themselves on their hand size, I'm much more willing to make them heal because like at that point, them discarding an extra card is like a very big cost for them. Um, also obviously if I need to send lethal, I'm like not healing them or like something like that. Like I need to kill them over a couple turns, I'm like not giving them the health. Uh, any other questions about Lynon
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or uh the mom decks or low key anything at all? I don't have a great answer for this. I um I kind of just attack Ace like I don't know you like freeze their guy with Odin and you attack them and I I counter pretty aggressively. Um like not the first life but often the second to make sure that you like don't randomly get zeroed by like the double strike turn. Um yeah, I don't know. Like I think that it's fine. Like you can just kind of kill them. Um the Shanks are like pretty
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good verse them because a lot of their board can get Luna. Um like the the sort of like early stuff that they play can all get Luna and then um you just like like they they'll untap with a character but you are like probably ahead in the race because of like how much more you developed than them early in the game. Um, yeah, for sure. For sure. I think you're favored if you go second. If you go first, I think like maybe it's problematic. Um, you probably have to counter a little bit more aggressively when you go first. You might be supposed to counter the 5k on four dawn when like their 5k and four dawn when you go first, but I'm not sure about that. I haven't tried that. Um, just cuz like or really it's like the 5k that turn and
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the 5k the next turn as well. It's like those swings are sort of like the cheapest ones that you'll get to counter um throughout that game and like you kind of like need it a little bit more because you do not have the like you're playing your bomb a turn later. Um but yeah, I think if you do that then you're chilling. Like as long as you're not like you just it needs to like not randomly be dead. The rad beams are like good at making that happen too, right? Yeah, exactly. Like there there's just going to be like 8k swings very early in the game. So like when you have the ability to counter early, it's very Uh I think that this deck list is very
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good in the mirror. Um it's like very good. I I don't know. I I think that this deck list is very good verse everything except for Sabo. And like I don't feel that bad about the Sabo matchup to be honest. Like I think that this is the the most you can build for the mirror within reason. Um like I think that the cards are good in other places or like generically good. Um and that's like that is the the primary incentive that like went into this deck list, right? that like I wanted to be as good in the mirror as was like realistic. Um with the exception of like maybe the third boat I guess. Um but then yeah, all the like all the other matchups are fine. I think that I think you not
▶ 01:55:43
having Yaspups like does give up a couple points into Sabo maybe, but I I don't know. I don't feel like great about Perona's being played instead of uh Yasub because Mihawk is better than Law. You cannot mihawk free. And so I just like incidentally gives up a couple points into probably Yeah, for sure.
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» Uh, any other questions on anything we've done before I go? » Yeah. Have you have you guys tested into Jelly Be Jelly Beans's list that uh was that random list he's Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, not specifically, but I imagine it's fine for all of the same reasons. I think that like um I don't know. Like I still think you just like interact very favorably with the mom stuff. Like the fact that they get to push like slightly more damage at you doesn't really matter when you like when the wave that you're beating them is either like you bonnie them off the mom turn and there's like nothing they can do about it or um you like freeze enough of the board that like the mom turn doesn't matter if like if those are how the games are playing out. It doesn't really matter if you took like one or two extra damage throughout the game because like they're still not going to kill you.
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» The thing that I think is most interesting about it is that they have like the alternative bomb to play through like the nine cost bonnie, but I still don't think it's like that big of a deal because everything that they've been setting up the whole game to like the random 4ks like doesn't convert to anything. Um, and like I don't know, you can still counter, but like I guess something that's like annoying about it is they get to like play Robin and burn you there, but like you can still counter the seven that comes afterwards with a red beam. yeah, the plan versus black Luffy is like the same as vers Sabo except their attacks are smaller, so it's pretty
▶ 01:58:19
chill. Um you'll like always go face because there's like I think very little incentive to starve that deck because like their leader is going to be the same size no matter what. Um, and so like yeah, you can just like put the attack space. I'll still like attack the body that's sideways if they give me that option. But um, but yeah, I don't see like I don't see any reason to play the matchup any differently. And like you getting to to shanks their full board is like still fine. I talked a lot about the lob thing throughout the session. I'm not going to like go into a ton of depth about it now, but basically it's good as your second bomb in most matchups. » I guess one last question. Um, uh, with like the Red Black Sabo and like all
▶ 01:59:05
these other decks, if it's like they're if they're say like a 5k lead or whatever and their board's like six, do you still just like do you just and you say swinging like either like six on six? Like is it better just go six on six or you just like kind of pushing life just to kind of get more cards » versus Sabo? I'm willing to send the sixes at the six because when you when you deal one more damage to them, their leader becomes a six anyway and so you're attacking the same size thing. So I'd rather like if the attack is going to resolve I would rather kill the body than like deal the damage to them. Um so that's like that's why I do that against Sabo specifically. Um » I think for other stuff you're like going to be well positioned to race especially because like you know like the Elbafluffy deck like does not buff their pull board. So like I think that
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it's Fine. Didn't send those things. » Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry that that was Yeah, that was the match I meant to say, but yeah. No, thank you. I I figured it was still the same, but I just Sure. » All right. I'm sorry to cut this a little bit short, but I'm going to have to to get going for tonight. Thank you all for being here. If there's more questions you have um from from now on, I'll take them wherever in the Discord you can send them. Yeah. Thank you all for being here. I'll get this uploaded as soon as possible. » I'll see you guys soon.