One Piece Card Game

How to Play the One Piece Card Game

The One Piece Card Game is a two-player game. You attack your opponent's Leader until their Life cards run out, then hit it once more to win. This guide walks through setup, card types, DON!! cards, a turn and a battle, using Bandai's rules as of September 2026.

The goal

You win by taking away your opponent's Life cards and then damaging their Leader once more. Each player has a Leader, and each Leader starts with a stack of face-down Life cards. Every successful attack on a Leader removes one. The rules below follow Bandai's Comprehensive Rules and Official Rule Manual as of September 2026. Bandai revises both, so if your store plays a rule differently, check the current manual.

What you need

Each player brings a Leader card, a 50-card main deck and a DON!! deck of 10 DON!! cards. A deck can hold no more than 4 copies of any one card number, and every card other than the Leader must share a color with the Leader. Building one is covered in how to build a One Piece deck. You also need a playmat or a clear table. The game turns cards sideways all the time: an upright card is active, and a sideways one is rested and can't attack or pay costs until your next turn.

Card types

Card typeWhat it does
LeaderStarts the game in play, sets your starting life, and decides which colors your deck can use. It can attack, and it's the card your opponent is trying to defeat.
CharacterStays in your Character area and can attack, block and use effects. You can have up to 5 Characters in play.
EventYou play it from your hand, use its effect, and it goes to the trash. Some Events can also be played from your hand as a Counter during a battle.
StageStays in your Stage area and gives an ongoing effect. You can have one Stage at a time.
DON!!Comes from a separate 10-card deck. It pays for your cards and can be given to your Leader or a Character for extra power.

Each card also has a cost, a power, a color, and an effect with keywords in brackets such as [Rush], [Blocker], [Trigger] and [On Play]. Our guide to reading a One Piece card shows where those fields sit on the card.

Setting up

  1. Place your Leader face up in the Leader area, and put your DON!! deck to one side.
  2. Shuffle your 50-card deck. Players decide who goes first with rock-paper-scissors or a coin flip, and the winner chooses to go first or second.
  3. Each player draws 5 cards. You may take a mulligan once: shuffle your hand back into the deck and draw 5 new cards.
  4. Put cards from the top of your deck face down into your Life area, as many as your Leader's printed Life (most often 5 or 4).
  5. The first player takes the first turn.

There is no separate life total. The number of face-down cards in your Life area is your life, and our One Piece life tracker page covers how it changes during a game.

A turn

A turn has five phases, always in the same order.

PhaseWhat happens
RefreshReturn every DON!! card you gave to a Leader or Character to your cost area, then set all your rested cards upright.
DrawDraw a card. The player who goes first skips this draw on their first turn.
DON!!Take 2 DON!! cards from your DON!! deck and place them active in your cost area. The first player takes only 1 on their first turn, and you take 1 when only 1 is left.
MainPlay cards, give DON!! cards, use effects and attack, in any order, as long as you can pay for them.
EndEffects that last until the end of the turn finish, and play passes to your opponent.

In the Main phase, you play a Character, Event or Stage by resting DON!! cards equal to its cost. A new Character enters upright but can't attack that turn unless it has [Rush]. You can also give any active DON!! to your Leader or a Character, and each one adds +1000 power during your turn. That DON!! stays with the card until your next Refresh phase, so it can't pay for anything else this turn. Neither player can attack on their own first turn.

How battles work

To attack, rest your Leader or an active Character and choose a target: your opponent's Leader, or one of their rested Characters. You can't attack an active Character. A battle then runs through five steps.

StepWhat happens
AttackYou declare the attacker and its target. [When Attacking] effects happen here.
BlockThe defending player may rest a Character with [Blocker] to become the new target.
CounterThe defending player may add power to their Leader or Character by trashing cards with a Counter value from their hand, or by playing a Counter Event.
DamageCompare power. If the attacker's power is equal to or higher than the target's, the attack succeeds.
End of BattleEffects that trigger at the end of a battle happen, and effects that lasted for the battle end.

If the target is a Character and the attack succeeds, that Character is K.O.'d and goes to the trash. If the target is a Leader and the attack succeeds, the Leader takes 1 damage: the top card of the defender's Life area goes to their hand, and if it has a [Trigger], they may reveal it and use the Trigger instead. If the attack fails, nothing happens to the target.

How you win

You win when your opponent's Leader takes damage while they have no Life cards left. Reaching 0 Life cards is not a loss by itself, so a player with an empty Life area is still in the game until one more attack gets through. You also win if your opponent's deck reaches 0 cards. That loss happens as soon as the deck is empty, not when they next try to draw. A player can also concede.

If you're playing at a real table and want to keep the score, TurnZero HQ has a game tracker for One Piece: one Life number per player, and the winner and how the game ended saved in your gathering's history. See the One Piece life tracker for the steps.

Formats

Most store events use Standard Regulation, which follows the deck rules above plus Bandai's banned and restricted lists and a rotation. Since April 1, 2026, each card's block number (printed in the lower right corner) decides whether it is legal in Standard, and Block 1 cards, from the first four booster sets and early starter decks, have rotated out. Bandai makes some exceptions, and Extra Regulation allows cards from every block. Check Bandai's site for the current lists before a tournament. TurnZero HQ's One Piece deck builder checks a deck against the construction rules, and the deck-building guide explains what it covers.

What to do next

Pick a Leader you like, then build a deck around it with how to build a One Piece deck. If you already own cards, the One Piece hub has your collection tools, and you can browse decks other players have published in the One Piece deck gallery. To price what you own, see how much your One Piece cards are worth.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you win the One Piece Card Game?

You win when your opponent's Leader takes damage while they have no Life cards left. You also win if your opponent's deck reaches 0 cards, which ends the game at once rather than on their next draw, or if they concede.

How many cards are in a One Piece Card Game deck?

A deck is exactly 50 cards plus one Leader card, with no more than 4 copies of any card number. Every player also has a separate DON!! deck of 10 DON!! cards.

Who goes first in the One Piece TCG?

The players decide by a random method such as rock-paper-scissors or a coin flip, and the winner chooses to go first or second. The player who goes first skips their first draw and takes only 1 DON!! card on their first turn.

What are DON!! cards used for?

DON!! cards are the game's resource. You rest active DON!! cards to pay the cost of cards you play, and you can give them to your Leader or a Character for +1000 power each during your turn.

Can you attack on the first turn?

No. Neither player can battle on their own first turn. After that, a Character still can't attack on the turn it's played unless it has [Rush].

Does TurnZero HQ teach or run One Piece games?

No. TurnZero HQ doesn't host online play. You use it to build and publish decks, track your collection, and keep score for a game at a real table: each player's Life and the result.

Build your first One Piece deck.

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ONE PIECE CARD GAME card names and images are the property of Bandai and their respective owners. ©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation. TurnZero HQ is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by Bandai, Shueisha, or Toei Animation. Card data and prices come from TCGplayer.