ST-18 Purple Monkey.D.Luffy

Overview

ST-18 is a mono-purple Straw Hat Crew deck led by Monkey.D.Luffy (OP05-060). Its 15 different cards are mostly Straw Hat Crew Characters such as Uso-Hachi, O-Nami, Zoro-Juurou and Luffy-Tarou, with a vanilla 10 cost Monkey.D.Luffy (P-041) at the top.

The Leader is a ramp engine. Once per turn, if you have 0 or 3 or more DON!! on your field, you can add the top card of your Life to your hand to add 1 extra DON!! from your DON!! deck as active. That is a real cost, because Life is your health, but it also draws you a card.

Almost every Character in the box gets better at 8 or more DON!! on your field, so the deck has one clear goal. It is a good first deck for a player who wants to learn DON!! management and does not mind trading Life for speed.

Monkey.D.Luffy

OP05-060

OP05-060, 5000 power, 5 Life: take your top Life card to add an active DON!!

Every card in ST-18 is legal in Standard; seven of its OP05 Characters were first printed in block 1 and are reprinted here with a block 2 icon.

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

Use the Leader early and often. Starting the turn you have 3 DON!!, each activation adds an active DON!!, which puts you about a turn ahead of the normal 2 DON!! per turn and gets you to 8 sooner. Spend the early turns on Uso-Hachi (OP05-061), with its 2000 counter, Zoro-Juurou (ST18-004) and the When You're at Sea search event (OP05-076).

At 8 DON!!, the deck turns on. Uso-Hachi (ST18-001) rests a 5 cost or less Character, O-Robi (OP05-063) K.O.s a 3 cost or less, Hone-Kichi (OP05-072) gives two Characters −2000 power, O-Nami (ST18-002) trades a card for 2, and Fra-Nosuke (OP05-070) gains Rush with a DON!! attached. Luffy-Tarou (ST18-005) returns a DON!! to play a purple Straw Hat with a cost of 5 or less from your hand, which can put two of those effects on the board in one turn.

With 10 DON!!, Monkey.D.Luffy (P-041) is a 12000 power body your opponent has to answer, and Jinbe (OP05-066) becomes a 7000 power Blocker on their turn. Because you have been taking Life into your hand, keep enough counters to survive the turns your opponent swings back.

Tips for your first games

• The Leader's effect needs 0 or 3 or more DON!! on your field, so it does nothing on your first turn with 1 or 2 DON!!; plan to start using it on your second turn.
• Do not use the Leader when you are at 1 or 2 Life unless the extra DON!! wins the game that turn, because the card leaves your Life for good.
• Play Chopa-Emon (OP05-068) after another 8 DON!! Character has attacked, so it sets that Character active to attack again or to block.
• Uso-Hachi (ST18-001) and O-Nami (ST18-002) check for 8 DON!! when they are played, so hold them until you reach 8 rather than playing them early for no effect.
• Zoro-Juurou (ST18-004) looks at 5 for a purple Straw Hat Crew card, so use it to find the 8 DON!! payoff you need that turn.

Key cards in the box

Luffy-Tarou

ST18-005

DON!! −1 to play a purple Straw Hat with cost 5 or less from hand for free

Uso-Hachi

ST18-001

At 8 DON!!, rests an opponent's 5 cost or less Character; 2000 counter

O-Robi

OP05-063

At 8 DON!!, K.O.s a 3 cost or less Character when played

Hone-Kichi

OP05-072

At 8 DON!!, gives two of your opponent's Characters −2000 power

Zoro-Juurou

ST18-004

Looks at 5 and adds a purple Straw Hat Crew card to your hand

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 blockers and counters

The box has two Blockers and no counter events, which is a problem for a Leader that spends Life. Every card here is under the budget line. Nico Robin and Franky are Straw Hat Crew Blockers that Zoro-Juurou (ST18-004) can find, Eustass"Captain"Kid is a 6000 power Blocker that adds an active DON!! when you return DON!!, which happens with Luffy-Tarou, and Gum-Gum Jet Gatling gives +3000 on defense. Expect to cut the vanilla cards and San-Gorou to fit them.

Nico Robin

EB02-036

Blocker; when K.O.'d, DON!! −1 to look at 3 for a Straw Hat Crew card

Franky

OP09-072

5000 power Blocker; DON!! −2 and a discard to draw 2

Eustass"Captain"Kid

OP05-074

6000 Blocker that gives back an active DON!! when you return one on your turn

Gum-Gum Jet Gatling

OP03-072

Trash a card for +3000; its Trigger adds an active DON!!

Removal that spends your extra DON!!

The Leader gives you more DON!! than you can always use, and DON!! minus cards turn that surplus into removal. Returning DON!! also drops you to a count where the Leader can refill it. These cards replace the weaker 8 DON!! effects with ones that work at any count, at the cost of slowing your climb to 10.

Gum-Gum Jump Rope

OP09-079

DON!! −2: rests a 5 cost or less Character and draws 1

Gum-Gum Lightning

OP09-077

DON!! −2: K.O.s a Character with 6000 power or less

Sanji

OP09-065

Return DON!! for Rush, then rest a 6 cost or less Character

Brook

OP09-073

Return DON!! on attack to give two Characters −2000 power

Finishers for 10 DON!!

The box tops out at a vanilla 12000 power Luffy. These Straw Hat Crew Characters give the deck a reason to reach 10 DON!!. Monkey.D.Luffy (OP05-119) returns all 10 DON!! to bottom your other Characters and take an extra turn, and it is the expensive card here. Jinbe (OP09-067) is the budget option, a 9000 power 7 cost body.

Monkey.D.Luffy

OP05-119

DON!! −10 on play for an extra turn; rest 1 DON!! to add an active one each turn

Monkey.D.Luffy

OP09-119

Return DON!! to draw 1 and gain Rush the turn it enters

Roronoa Zoro (OP-06 Pre-Release Tournament, Participant)

P-045

7000 power 6 cost with Banish, so its damage skips Triggers

Jinbe

OP09-067

Vanilla 9000 power for 7, a cheap large body

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.

Zoro-Juurou

OP05-067

OP05-067 ramps only at 3 or less Life and has a 1000 counter

Monkey.D.Luffy

P-041

Vanilla 10 cost; a finisher with an effect does more for the same DON!!

San-Gorou

ST18-003

5 cost that only draws when it attacks at 8 DON!!; easy to replace

Every card in ST-18

Bandai's card list for ST-18 has 15 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