If there’s one thing that’s constant between most of the popular Trading Card Games (TCGs), it’s that there are cards that flip the game’s environment on its head to the point it becomes unhealthy. Unsurprisingly, given this is a problem that affects all TCGs, One Piece TCG isn't immune from this. As such, Bandai has recently announced an update that's added four new cards to the One Piece TCG Banned/Forbidden List. OP06-086 Gecko Moira
Even relative newcomers to the One Piece TCG can look at OP06-086 Gecko Moira and see just how much card advantage he can generate. Yes, he has a cost of 8 DON!! but the fact that Moira has built-in recursion for two bodies coupled with his 9,000 power makes him quite oppressive. The cherry on top is that should cards you recur via Gecko Moira’s effect have an ‘On Play’ effect, they can activate.
This can allow Gecko’s controlling player a lot of versatility if they have someone like ST14-006 Nami for card draw or ST13-014 Monkey.D.Luffy for information gathering and possibly free ramp. OP07-045 Jinbe
Accompanying Moira to the ban list is OP07-045 Jinbei. While not as physically oppressive as Moira thanks to his rather average 5,000 power, Jinbei can offer just as much versatility for his controlling player.
Being able to bounce off other characters from “The Seven Warlords of the Sea” faction of the set, Jinbei’s controlling player can easily veer off into different lines of play depending on the board state.
ST17-004 Boa Hancock can easily be selected to gather information for the controlling player to see what’s coming up the chain and basically reset the line if the next few cards aren’t as useful before giving a rested DON!! card to the leader.
ST03-004 Gecko Moira, ST17-002 Trafalgar Law, and OP06-047 Charlotte Pudding are just some other partners Jinbei can play off of with varying effects; recursion, targeted bounce, and board wipe/reset respectively. OP02-117 Ice Age
Ice Age is a prime example of a card that’s just too good and too efficient at its job. For just a single DON!! Ice Age can play off any of its in-faction resources like OP05-093 Rob Lucci or OP07-096 Tempest Kick to just wipe out the enemy lineup. It’s a very short and apt reason why this card had to go.
EB01-059 Kingdom Come
While bringing up the rear, Kingdom Come is still definitely deserving of being banned. Just like everything else on this list, Kingdom Come is just direct board removal.
The worst part is that its supposed demerit isn’t really much of one when you have cards like OP07-112 Lucy, OP04-112 Yamato, or OP07-119 Portgas.D.Ace who can play off living on the edge of a single life card.
If you want to see the official announcement and the rationale behind each ban, you can check Bandai’s website here. For those affected by this ban list, it comes online this coming April 1st.