ST-13 The Three Brothers

Overview

ST-13 is an Ultra Deck, so it comes with more distinct cards than a regular starter: the deck's 19 different cards include three Leaders and 16 yellow main-deck cards. The three Leaders are Sabo (Red/Yellow), Portgas.D.Ace (Blue/Yellow) and Monkey.D.Luffy (Black/Yellow). All three have 4 Life and 5000 power, and all three care about putting cost 5 Characters into your Life area face-up.

The main deck is the same no matter which Leader you pick, because every non-Leader card is yellow. The center of it is a set of Goa Kingdom 2-costs (ST13-007 Sabo, ST13-010 Portgas.D.Ace and ST13-014 Monkey.D.Luffy). Each one can trash itself to reveal your top Life card, and if that card is the cost 5 version of the same brother, you play it for free and your Leader gains +2000 power until the end of your opponent's next turn.

The deck suits a player who already knows the basics and wants to use the Life area as a resource as well as a damage counter. A brand-new player can learn it, but the payoff only shows up once you set up face-up Life on purpose.

Sabo

ST13-001

ST13-001, Red/Yellow, 5000 power, 4 Life: turns a big Character into face-up Life for +2000

Portgas.D.Ace

ST13-002

ST13-002, Blue/Yellow, 5000 power, 4 Life: digs a cost 5 Character into Life each turn

Monkey.D.Luffy

ST13-003

ST13-003, Black/Yellow, 5000 power, 4 Life: refills Life with cost 5 Characters at 0

Every card in ST-13 is legal in Standard; the Luffy Leader (ST13-003) is a block 1 card that was reprinted with a block 2 icon, so it stays legal.

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 plan is to put a cost 5 brother on top of your Life, then cash it in with the matching Goa Kingdom 2-cost. Monkey.D.Garp and The Three Brothers' Bond both look at 5 cards for a Sabo, Portgas.D.Ace or Monkey.D.Luffy with a cost of 5 or less, so the early turns are about finding the pieces. Curly.Dadan is the mid-game swing: it is a Blocker that plays up to one each of the 2-cost Sabo, Portgas.D.Ace and Monkey.D.Luffy from your hand.

Each Leader gets a cost 5 card into Life differently. Sabo's Leader takes one of your Characters with a cost of 3 or more and 7000 power or more off the field and puts it on top of your Life face-up, giving another Character +2000 power. Power here is current power, so DON!! you have attached during your turn count toward the 7000. Ace's Leader, with two DON!! attached, looks at 5 cards and puts a cost 5 Character on top of your Life face-up, but trashes every face-up Life card at the end of your turn, so you use it the same turn. Luffy's Leader sends face-up Life cards to the bottom of your deck instead of your hand when you take damage, and at 0 Life it puts up to 2 cost 5 Characters from your hand or trash back into Life face-up.

Late in the game the SR Sabo trades a Life card for a K.O. on a cost 5 or less Character, the SR Portgas.D.Ace gets Rush at 2 or less Life, and the SR Monkey.D.Luffy draws a card each turn while it trashes your own Life. That last pattern is the Luffy Leader's plan: run your Life down on your terms, then rebuild it with face-up brothers.

Tips for your first games

• With the Ace Leader, use the Leader effect and the Goa Kingdom reveal in the same Main Phase, because any face-up Life you leave at the end of your turn is trashed.
• Makino adds a Life card to your hand and then lets you reorder your remaining Life, which helps you put a face-up brother back on top before a Goa Kingdom reveal.
• Ivankov is a Blocker that can trash a Life card to put a cost 5 Character from your hand into Life face-down, which is how the Sabo and Luffy Leaders refill Life without the Ace Leader's trash clause.
• Hold Flame Dragon King for a big attack: it gives +4000 and lets you reorder your Life, so the card you take from that attack can be the one you choose.
• Count your Life before you trash it with the SR Monkey.D.Luffy; its draw only happens if you have 1 or more Life cards when you use it.

Key cards in the box

Monkey.D.Garp

ST13-013

A 1-cost searcher for any of the three brothers with a cost of 5 or less

The Three Brothers' Bond

ST13-019

A second copy of Garp's search on an Event, and its Trigger does the same

Curly.Dadan

ST13-006

A Blocker that plays all three 2-cost brothers from your hand at once

Portgas.D.Ace

ST13-010

The Goa Kingdom reveal: plays a cost 5 Ace from Life and gives your Leader +2000

Sabo

ST13-008

Trades a Life card for a K.O. on a cost 5 or less Character

Portgas.D.Ace

ST13-011

7000 power for 5, and it gains Rush once you are at 2 or less Life

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.

All three Leaders: more cost 5 brothers to reveal

The Goa Kingdom 2-costs only pay off when the card on top of your Life is the cost 5 version of the same brother, and the box gives you just one of each. Adding more cost 5 Sabo, Portgas.D.Ace and Monkey.D.Luffy printings raises the odds that Garp, the Bond and the Ace Leader find one. Every card here is budget-priced, and the cost is a few slots of plain 2-costs or Makino.

Portgas.D.Ace

PRB02-018

Cost 5, 7000 power; with face-up Life, plays a 2-cost brother from hand or trash

Sabo

OP12-100

Cost 5; trades a Life card for draw 2, discard 1, and is a Blocker at 3 or less Life

Sabo (Reprint)

P-073

Cost 5 with a 2000 counter; a Sabo target for the Goa Kingdom reveal

Monkey.D.Luffy

OP07-109

Cost 5; trashes itself at 2 or less Life to K.O. cost 4 or less and draw

Monkey.D.Luffy (Store Tournament 2025 Vol. 4)

P-106

Cost 5; its Trigger draws a card and K.O.s a cost 2 or less Character

Sabo Leader: 7000-power bodies and removal

Sabo's Leader needs a Character with a cost of 3 or more and 7000 power or more to move into Life, and the box has few of them. These add bodies that meet the bar without DON!! help, plus Life-based removal that fits a deck already turning Life cards face-up. You give up some of the deck's 2-cost brother density, so keep the Goa Kingdom cards you draw most.

Sabo

OP09-104

7000 power; on play puts a Revolutionary Army Character from hand into Life face-up

Urouge

OP10-101

Cost 5, 7000 power with a 1000 counter: a clean target for the Leader

Shaka

OP13-107

Another cost 5, 7000-power body that also counters for 1000

Belo Betty

EB03-056

Turns a Life card face-up to K.O. a base cost 3 or less Character

Gum-Gum Dawn Stamp

OP13-117

Turns a Life card face-up to K.O. a base cost 6 or less Character

Luffy Leader: survive the turns at low Life

The Luffy Leader wants you at 0 Life so it can rebuild with face-up cost 5 Characters, which means you spend turns one hit from losing. These cards name a [Monkey.D.Luffy] Leader or reward low Life, so they defend you while the plan comes together. They cost some of the deck's attack power, so this path plays slower.

Sanji

EB02-054

A cost 5 Blocker that draws 2 and discards 1 at 2 or less Life

Nico Robin

ST29-009

Blocker with a 2000 counter; its Trigger plays it with a Luffy Leader

Jinbe

ST29-005

2000 counter, and its Trigger plays it free with a Luffy Leader

Nami

ST29-008

Cheap Trigger body that enters play from Life with a Luffy Leader

Kizaru!! Compared to Two Years Ago We're a Hundred Times Stronger Now!!

ST29-016

A +3000 Leader counter, or makes your Luffy Leader Unblockable

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.

Shanks

ST13-009

Seven cost for a Life trash that only works when your opponent holds 7 or more cards

Yamato

ST13-016

A 4000-power body for 5; its Life reorder is useful but the body is small

Makino

ST13-012

Costs you a Life card to reorder the rest; the first slot to open for a searcher

Every card in ST-13

Bandai's card list for ST-13 has 19 different cards. Every one of them is legal in Standard. Legality follows Bandai's block icons and its banned list effective October 12, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions