ST-04 Animal Kingdom Pirates

Overview

ST-04 Animal Kingdom Pirates is a mono-purple deck led by Kaido. The Leader has 5000 power and 5 Life. Once per turn, you can return 7 DON!! cards from your field to your DON!! deck to trash 1 of your opponent's Life cards, which is damage your opponent cannot counter or block.

Purple's theme is DON!! −X: effects that return DON!! cards from your field to your DON!! deck as a cost. The deck's 17 different cards use it for removal and card draw. King K.O.s a cost 4 or less Character for DON!! −1, Queen draws 2 and trashes 1, and the 9-cost Kaido returns 5 DON!! to K.O. a cost 6 or less Character and gain [Rush]. Jack, Lead Performer "Disaster", Brachio Bomber and Onigashima Island add DON!! back from your DON!! deck.

The whole box rotated out of Standard on April 1, 2026, so ST-04 is for casual games and Bandai's Extra Regulation. The character has a Standard successor: OP17-058 Kaido, a purple The Four Emperors and Animal Kingdom Pirates Leader released with OP17. It uses DON!! −1 instead of −7, which makes it a much more practical Leader.

Kaido

ST04-001

ST04-001, 5000 power, 5 Life: DON!! −7 to trash 1 of your opponent's Life cards

Every card in ST-04, including the ST04-001 Kaido Leader, is a block 1 card that left Standard on April 1, 2026.

Ratings

These are TurnZero HQ's own read of the cards, not tournament results or an official Bandai rating. How we rate starter decks →

How it plays

The deck wins by removing your opponent's Characters with DON!! −1 effects, then landing large Characters late. Early, play Sheepshead, Ginrummy and X.Drake as bodies, and use Jack to trash a card and add an active DON!! card, which puts you a DON!! ahead.

In the middle turns, use Who's.Who and King to K.O. Characters for DON!! −1 each, and Queen as a [Blocker] that draws. Brachio Bomber is 6-cost removal that also adds a DON!! back. Onigashima Island adds a rested DON!! each turn while your Leader is Animal Kingdom Pirates, which helps you recover from the minus costs.

The 9-cost Kaido is the finisher: DON!! −5 to K.O. a cost 6 or less Character and attack the same turn. The Leader's DON!! −7 effect is a last push to trash a final Life card, and it is only worth using when it wins the game or your opponent is at 1 Life, since it leaves you with almost no DON!! for the next turn.

Tips for your first games

• Count your DON!! before any minus effect: returning them means fewer for this turn and slower growth on later turns.
• Play Onigashima Island early, since it adds a DON!! card every turn it is rested.
• Play Jack early to get ahead on DON!!, and trash a card with no counter, like a second 9-cost Kaido, to pay for it.
• Blast Breath costs 1 DON!! plus DON!! −1, so leave a DON!! card active at the end of your turn if you plan to use it.
• Ulti only plays Page One from hand, so hold Ulti until you have Page One to drop alongside it.

Key cards in the box

King

ST04-004

DON!! −1 to K.O. a cost 4 or less Character on play

Queen

ST04-005

[Blocker] that draws 2 and trashes 1 for DON!! −1

Kaido

ST04-003

9-cost finisher: DON!! −5 to K.O. a cost 6 or less Character and gain [Rush]

Jack

ST04-008

Trash a card to add an active DON!! card, putting you ahead on DON!!

Brachio Bomber

ST04-015

K.O.s a cost 6 or less Character and adds an active DON!! card

Onigashima Island

ST04-017

Rest it each turn to add a rested DON!! card with an Animal Kingdom Pirates Leader

Upgrade guide

Every upgrade below is legal in Standard and shares a color with the Leader. Prices are each card's base printing on TCGplayer on October 10, 2026; open a card for today's price.

Budget move to the OP17-058 Kaido Leader

OP17-058 Kaido is the Standard way to play this deck, and most of its support is budget-priced. Once per turn, when it attacks or when your opponent attacks, it can spend DON!! −1 to give an opposing Character −2000 power, which works as removal on your turn and as defense on theirs. Ulti & Page One replaces the ST-04 pair with one card that adds an active DON!! and K.O.s a 3000-power Character. Who's.Who (OP17-071) K.O.s two cost 2 or less Characters, and OP17-063 Kaido gives every Character in your hand without a counter a +1000 counter, which helps a deck full of big bodies defend. The counters here add defense the original box lacks.

Kaido

OP17-058

Purple Animal Kingdom Pirates Leader: DON!! −1 for −2000 on attack or defense

Ulti & Page One

OP17-060

Adds an active DON!! and K.O.s a 3000-power Character on play

Who's.Who

OP17-071

DON!! −1 to K.O. up to two cost 2 or less Characters; plays itself from Life

Kaido

OP17-063

Gives no-counter Characters in your hand a +1000 counter

Drunken Dragon Bagua

OP17-078

+4000 counter, or a [Main] that adds 3 rested DON!! under an Animal Kingdom Leader

Wo Ro Ro Ro Ro... I Think I've Sobered Up

OP17-076

Trash a card for a +3000 counter; its Trigger draws 2 for DON!! −1

DON!! ramp to pay for the minus effects

Every DON!! −X effect sets you back, so the deck wants cards that add DON!! back from your DON!! deck. EB04-032 Queen draws 2 and can rest 2 DON!! to add 1, EB04-031 King adds one active and one rested DON!! each turn, and Basil Hawkins (OP17-073) and Sasaki (OP17-068) add DON!! when played or when attacking. Kundali Dragon Swarm adds 3 rested DON!! and doubles as a Leader counter. These all need an Animal Kingdom Pirates Leader, which both Kaido Leaders are. Several of them ask you to trash cards from hand, which costs you counters.

Queen

EB04-032

Trash an Animal Kingdom Pirates card to draw 2; rest 2 DON!! to add a DON!!

King

EB04-031

Adds one active and one rested DON!! each turn; DON!! −1 saves it from K.O.

Basil Hawkins

OP17-073

2000 counter; trash a card on play to add an active DON!!

Sasaki

OP17-068

2000 counter; trash 2 when attacking to add 2 rested DON!!

Kundali Dragon Swarm

OP17-077

Adds 3 rested DON!!, or DON!! −1 for a +4000 Leader counter

Bigger removal and finishers

ST-04 has strong removal but only one copy of each idea. These cards add more. Conquerer of Three Worlds Ragnaraku K.O.s a cost 8 or less Character for DON!! −1, Conquest of the Sea K.O.s two cost 6 or less Characters for DON!! −2, and EB04-030 Kaido is a 7-cost 9000 that gains [Rush] and rests a cost 7 or less Character. OP17-065 Queen keeps two Characters from attacking, and OP17-069 Jack can attack a Character the turn it is played. Queen is the most expensive card in this list.

Conquerer of Three Worlds Ragnaraku

EB01-039

DON!! −1 to K.O. a cost 8 or less Character; Trigger adds a DON!!

Conquest of the Sea

OP08-077

DON!! −2 to K.O. up to two cost 6 or less Characters

Kaido

EB04-030

7-cost 9000: DON!! −2 for [Rush] and rests a cost 7 or less Character

Queen

OP17-065

[Banish]; DON!! −1 to draw and stop two cost 5 or less Characters attacking

Jack

OP17-069

[Rush: Character] 10000; DON!! −1 for −2000 on an opposing Character

What to cut first

Bandai's list doesn't say how many copies of each card the deck has, so cut by card: take out every copy of these before anything else, and keep the deck at exactly 50.

Page One

ST04-012

4-cost 6000 vanilla that only matters with Ulti

Ulti

ST04-002

Needs Page One in hand and a DON!! −1 to do anything

Ginrummy

ST04-009

1-cost 3000 with no effect

Sheepshead

ST04-007

2-cost 4000 with no effect

Every card in ST-04

Bandai's card list for ST-04 has 17 different cards. 17 of them carry a block 1 icon or are banned, so they can't be played in Standard; they are still legal in Extra Regulation unless banned. Legality follows Bandai's block icons and its banned list effective October 12, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions