OP-17 Kaido Deck List: Best Early Build & How to Play Purple Kaido

Purple Kaido OP17-058 is shaping up to be one of the more interesting new Leaders in One Piece Card Game OP-17: The World’s Strongest Warriors.

The basic idea is wonderfully Kaido: ramp DON!! faster than you normally should, make opposing Characters easier to deal with, and eventually start dropping 12000-power monsters until the other side runs out of answers.

Players are already testing different OP17 Kaido deck lists, but there is not a tournament-proven “best” build yet. The early testing does point toward a recognizable core, though. Queen and King help accelerate the DON!! curve, the two new 10-cost Kaidos provide very different late-game payoffs, and the rest of the deck has to balance ramp, defense, and enough Counter to keep those huge Characters from turning into a hand full of bricks.

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The 50-card list below is our early build based on those developing ideas. Expect some ratios to change once OP-17 gets into more competitive hands.

Early One Piece OP-17 Purple Kaido Deck List

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How Does Kaido OP17-058 Work?

Kaido OP17-058

Kaido is a 5000-power, 5-Life Purple Leader that turns DON!! manipulation into board control.

Once per turn, either when Kaido attacks or when your opponent attacks, you can return one DON!! from your field to your DON!! deck to give one opposing Character minus 2000 power for the turn.

That flexibility is the fun part.

On your turn, Kaido can shrink an important Character enough to make attacking over it much easier. On the opponent’s turn, he can weaken an incoming Character attack and potentially save Counter cards in your hand.

The problem is obvious: every time you use the ability, you are moving backward on DON!!.

So the rest of the deck is designed to move forward faster.

Queen and King Make the Ramp Engine Work

Queen EB04-032 is one of the cards you really want to see early. Queen can trash an Animal Kingdom Pirates card to draw two cards, then rest two DON!! once per turn to add another DON!! from the deck rested.

That helps set up King EB04-031, which looks like one of the most important cards in early Kaido testing.

King costs 6 DON!! and has 7000 power, but the ramp effect is the real prize. With an Animal Kingdom Pirates Leader and no other King Character on your field, King can add one DON!! active and another rested once per turn. He can even protect himself from being K.O.’d by returning one DON!! to the DON!! deck instead.

The clean going-first line looks something like this:

Multiple simulator testers have zeroed in on that sequence because of how quickly it turns an ordinary Purple curve into a board full of enormous Characters. One testing session called Queen into King exactly what the deck wants to see, while another demonstrated the same curve before reaching 10 DON!! and beginning to deploy the big Kaidos.

King is not the only way to get there. Yamato and Basil Hawkins provide additional ramp options, and testing has shown that Kaido can still reach 10 DON!! without King by combining those alternatives with Queen.

King is the dream. He does not have to be the entire plan.

The Big Finishers: Kaido OP17-062 and OP17-063

Eventually, the deck wants to start playing Kaido OP17-062 and Kaido OP17-063.

Both cost 10 DON!! and have 12000 power, but they solve completely different problems.

Kaido OP17-062 is the defensive monster. He has Blocker, then helps recover resources when one of your DON!! cards returns to the DON!! deck during your turn. That interaction fits naturally with the Leader and can leave you with usable DON!! even after committing 10 to a gigantic Character. The official revealed text gives him 12000 power, Blocker, and the ability to recover active DON!! after a DON!! is returned.

Kaido OP17-063 helps solve the deck’s brick problem.

While he is on the field, Character cards in your hand without Counter gain +1000 Counter. He can also return one DON!! on the turn he is played to negate the effect of an opposing Character costing 6 or less and K.O. it.

That first ability is a much bigger deal than it might initially look.

Kaido wants to run expensive Characters. Expensive Characters tend to make miserable defensive cards when they have no Counter. OP17-063 can suddenly turn those dead cards into something useful.

One recent player who spent hours testing the Leader went as far as calling that 10-cost Kaido the most important one to establish early because of how much it helps the deck’s brick problem.

Pretty convenient for a deck that really wants to fill its hand with enormous dragons.

What Are Players Still Changing?

This is where I would be careful about calling any current list definitive.

The biggest debate is consistency.

Some early testers think getting King on curve is crucial enough that missing him can put Kaido badly behind stronger decks. Another player has already gone in the opposite direction, testing a build without King and relying more heavily on ramp Events because they found that approach more consistent.

Counter density is another problem.

The deck wants Kaido, Charlotte Linlin, Lead Performers, and other expensive threats, but there is a limit to how many zero-Counter cards you want staring back at you when the opponent starts attacking. One simulator tester specifically identified the number of non-Counter cards as one of the deck’s biggest issues, which is part of why OP17-063 and the defensive Events matter so much.

Players are also testing different ratios of Lead Performers, Queen, Jack, Linlin, and the two 10-cost Kaidos.

That part of the deck is nowhere near solved yet.

Is This the Best OP-17 Kaido Deck?

Not yet, because there really isn’t a proven best OP-17 Kaido deck yet.

What we have is a promising early shell with a very clear identity. Ramp through the early game, use Kaido’s Leader ability to make opposing Characters easier to handle, establish a DON!! engine, and then start dropping threats that completely change the board.

The ceiling looks pretty nasty when everything works.

The unanswered question is how consistently Kaido can reach that ceiling. One tester found the deck strong enough to compete with several expected OP-17 threats but still worried about its reliance on finding the right curve, while another simulator test showed just how rough the deck can look when the important ramp pieces never arrive.For now, though, the basic Purple Kaido strategy looks pretty clear:

Ramp early. Build your DON!! engine. Reach 10 DON!! before the opponent is ready. Then start dropping 12000-power Kaidos until they run out of ways to deal with them.

Very Kaido.