One Piece Card Game for Beginners

The One Piece Card Game has grown fast, and a lot of new collectors are coming in from the anime and manga. If you're trying to figure out where to start and what to buy, here's the simple version.

Collecting vs playing

Decide this first, because it changes what you should buy. If you want to play, starter decks are the way in. If you mainly want to collect or open packs, booster boxes are the main event.

Starter decks

Starter decks come ready to play with a Leader card, a 50-card deck and DON!! cards. They're the cheapest way to learn the rules and get a feel for how different Leaders play. A lot of players start with two decks so they can play against a friend right away.

Booster packs and booster boxes

English booster packs have 12 cards, and a standard booster box has 24 packs. Each pack has commons, uncommons and at least one rare, plus a chance at the big ones: super rares, secret rares, alternate arts and special art cards.

There are also special box types. Extra Booster sets add focused or themed card pools, and Premium Booster sets bring back popular cards, often with special treatments. They're usually smaller boxes than a standard set.

English vs Japanese

Both have big followings. English cards are what you'll use at most local tournaments in the US. Japanese sets release earlier and are popular with collectors. If you're planning to play locally, go English. If you're collecting, either works.

How the game works (very short version)

Each player picks a Leader, uses DON!! cards as their resource, and plays characters to attack the other Leader. You win when your opponent's Leader has no Life cards left and takes one more hit, or when they run out of cards to draw.

What collectors chase

• Alternate art and manga art cards
• Secret rares of popular characters (Luffy, Zoro, Shanks, Nami and so on)
• Sealed booster boxes from popular sets, especially once they go out of print

Protect your pulls

Sleeve anything good the second it comes out of the pack. Our card storage guide covers sleeves, toploaders and binders.

Shop sealed product in our One Piece TCG section.