Let's try playing a new TCG of a very popular work! The 2nd "ONE PIECE Card Game" ["TCG for Beginners!

It has been about 30 years since the world's first trading card game (TCG), "Magic: The Gathering," was introduced to the world. However, there are probably many people who played TCGs only briefly as children or have never actually played a single one.

In this series of articles, we will report on the appeal of TCG games that can be enjoyed by TCG beginners even if they are just starting out, as well as the TCG industry as told by the development team and staff members.

In this second installment, we pick up the "ONE PIECE Card Game" based on "ONE PIECE," a manga work published by Weekly Shonen Jump that is famous not only in Japan but also worldwide. This is the latest title from Bandai, just released on July 8, 2022.

We have experienced the charm of "ONE PIECE Card Game" by actually playing with the starting deck while receiving a lecture on how to play from the development team in the same format as the actual official teaching event.

In the latter half of the article, we asked Mr. Takuya Imamura of the TCG development team about the secret story behind the development of "ONE PIECE Card Game," future developments, ideas for boosting the TCG industry, and a message to those who want to start playing TCGs!

People interviewed

Ravika

A deck case fairy who came from the TCG world with a mission to increase the number of new TCG players. It would be a terrible thing if the number of new players did not increase, so today she continues to help spread the charm of TCGs to the world.

Since she cannot play the card game in her body, she uses her live avatar's hand to play the game during the interview.

I am very excited to see the game system that reproduces the original story to a high degree!

Takuya Imamura, Bandai (Imamura) Hello, Ravika! I am Takuya Imamura of the TCG Development Team, Card Division, Bandai Co.

Shino Ogawa from Bandai (hereafter, Ogawa ) Likewise, I am Shino Ogawa from the TCG Development Team.

Ogawa: You check it out a lot, Rabika-chan!

Here is the official video in which Ms. Ogawa from the development team also appears!

Imamura Here is the "ONE PIECE Card Game" that Rabika-chan will be playing this time.

What is "ONE PIECE Card Game"?

A new TCG title released by Bandai in 2022 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Weekly Shonen Jump manga series "ONE PIECE," which has become overwhelmingly popular worldwide. The game features various "character cards" and "event cards" that appear in the series, as well as "Don! Cards, which are also used in the game to strengthen characters and substitute for costs. The player who attacks the opponent leader with zero life wins. While the game is simple and requires no preparation other than the cards in the deck, it offers a wide range of tactics using "Don! Cards" and the use of hidden life cards to turn the tables on your opponent, the game is both easy to play and strategically sound.

Mr. Imamura carefully explains the game rules.

Imamura: From here, I will explain how to play the game while teaching using actual cards. For this interview, we will be using two starter decks: the Start Deck "Straw Hat Pirates," led by Luffy, and the Start Deck "Hundred Beast Pirates," led by Kaidou.

Ogawa: Okay, I'll move Kaidou and explain it to you at ....... Ravika, can you play with that hand?

Imamura-Ogawa (Raw avatar ......?)

(In the foreground is the hand of the live avatar that Rabika is using for the interview.

Imamura...... Let's get back on track. There are a total of five types of cards in the "ONE PIECE Card Game," and the core of the deck is the leader card of Luffy and Kaidou. The deck consists of 50 cards of the same color as this leader card and 10 Don! cards for cost and card reinforcement.

Imamura: Leader cards are the guiding cards of the deck, and they play a key role in the game by attacking and using effects.

Instead of life, a card equivalent to the leader card's life is kept face down in the deck. When the leader takes damage, he or she adds the face-down life cards to his or her hand. If the leader is attacked with 0 life, the player loses the game. You also lose if your deck is reduced to 0 cards.

Imamura In addition, there are character cards that can be placed on the field at a cost to fight alongside the leader, event cards that can be placed at a cost to activate card effects, and stage cards that can be placed only once on the field and provide a variety of support effects.

In battle, if the attacking card has more power than the card being attacked, the player can KO if the character card is the opponent, or reduce the opponent's life by 1 if the leader card is the opponent.

Imamura The key point is the Don! cards, which I showed you earlier. Cards are automatically increased by two each turn, but these are character cards and event cards. cards, which not only replace the cost of playing character cards and event cards, but also add power to leader cards and character cards when they attack. The maximum number of cards is 10, but any number of Don! cards in the active state, you can add any number of cards as additional power, so it is good to use them in a battle when the moment is right.

This is the end of the explanation of the cards, and from here, I hope you can follow the actual flow of the tutorial at ....... Before that, I would like to tell you the main feature of "ONE PIECE Card Game".

Imamura: In "ONE PIECE Card Game", you can attack and play character cards in the main phase, and there is no particular order in which you can play them. You can play in any order you like, whenever possible.

Imamura: Now, let's explain the game as we actually play it. First, after placing the leader card on the table, the players decide who goes first and who goes second by rock-paper-scissors-scissors. Then, the players draw five cards from the deck.

Ogawa At this time, if you do not like the cards in your hand, you can redraw your cards only once. However, you must replace all five cards at once, not just one or two.

Imamura: The game starts with the first player who has placed the amount of life indicated on the leader card. The turn proceeds as follows: "Refresh Phase" to activate a card that was rested in the previous turn, "Draw Phase" to add a card from the deck to your hand, and "Don! from the deck to the "Don! Phase" to add two cards from the deck, "Don! Phase", "Main Phase" to play cards, and "End Phase" to change turns.

Ogawa: However, on the first turn, the player who attacked first does not have a Draw Phase, and also does not have a Don! phase. phase. Also, both the first and the second player cannot attack with the leader card in the first turn.

Imamura Then comes the Main Phase. You can pay the cost to play a character card, but unless the character has "Quick Attack" in its card effect, the character card cannot attack the turn it enters the field.

Ogawa: There is "Blocker," which allows a character to shoulder the attack for the leader, "Counter," which activates against the opponent's attack, and "Double Attack," which can inflict two damage on the leader. Besides that, there are many other unique effects written on the cards.

Imamura Then, when your turn comes around, don! You aim for victory by summoning character cards and attacking the opposing player while working your way through the cards. Each leader has different deck characteristics and strategies, so you need to watch your opponent's moves, use card effects, and attack with Don! cards on the attack to prevent your opponent from interfering with your attack.

Imamura Well then, let's stop with the tutorial and actually play the game. Let's play a free match, and I, Imamura, will be your opponent.

Imamura: The Straw Pirates deck is a fast deck with fast attackers. Then I will use Kaidou's Hundred Beast Pirates deck. This is a Don! card deck with powerful card effects.

~20 minutes later, Imamura turn~.

Imamura: Yes, then I put the character card Kaidou with the Don! card on it and its power is now 11,000. I attack the leader, do you want to play any counter cards?

Imamura: Then, it has more power than the leader, Luffy, so the damage will pass. Ravika-chan took damage with zero life, so she loses the game.

Imamura: Of course "ONE PIECE" fans can enjoy this game, but I think it will also satisfy general TCG fans with its simplicity and depth.

On the next page, we asked Takuya Imamura about the product development of ONE PIECE Card Game !