OP-17 Red Ace Deck List: Best Early Build & How to Play Portgas D. Ace
- Gregory Thornberry
- Aug 16
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 20
Red Portgas D. Ace was already capable of putting serious pressure on opponents before OP-17, but The World's Strongest Warriors may have given the deck exactly the finisher it needed.
The big addition is Edward.Newgate OP17-005, a massive Whitebeard Pirates Character that works almost perfectly with Ace's ability to give high-power Characters Rush. Early testing has been encouraging enough that Red Ace is once again getting attention as a possible competitive deck.
The list is not solved yet, but the basic game plan is becoming pretty clear.
Early One Piece OP-17 Red Ace Deck List
This is an early OP-17 build rather than a finalized tournament list. The ratios are still being tested, particularly around Ace's going-first curve and the number of defensive cards the deck needs.
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How Does Portgas D. Ace OP16-001 Work?
Red Ace is built around one simple idea: play large Characters and make them attack immediately.
Ace's once-per-turn ability can give Rush to a Monkey.D.Luffy or Whitebeard Pirates Character once that Character reaches 8000 power. That turns the deck's biggest Characters into immediate threats instead of forcing you to wait another turn before attacking.
The result is an aggressive strategy that can create enormous swings seemingly out of nowhere. A Character that would normally need to survive until your next turn can enter the board, reach 8000 power and immediately start pressuring the opponent.
Ace still prefers going second because many of the deck's strongest plays fit naturally along an even-DON!! curve. OP-17 does not completely change that game plan. Instead, it strengthens the Whitebeard Pirates shell with more useful Counter cards and a new late-game payoff that gives Ace one of its most threatening finishers yet.
Moby Dick and the Whitebeard Pirates Core
Moby Dick and Monkey.D.Garp help keep Red Ace moving by finding the Whitebeard Pirates Characters needed to build its curve.
Garp gives the deck an inexpensive early search play, while Moby Dick provides another way to dig through the deck for important pieces. From there, Luffy, Vista, Marco, Curiel and Edward.Newgate OP16-003 give Ace the combination of pressure, removal and large bodies the strategy already wants.
Monkey.D.Luffy OP16-015 remains one of the deck's most flexible plays. It can come down efficiently later in the game, help increase Ace's power and reach the 8000-power threshold needed to receive Rush from the Leader.
OP-17 adds two particularly interesting Characters to that foundation.
Rakuyo OP17-016 gives the deck another Whitebeard Pirates card with 2000 Counter while also offering early utility against smaller Characters. That matters in a deck where so many of the most powerful cards can otherwise become awkward defensive draws.
Kingdew OP17-006 may be even more important. At 8000 base power, Kingdew naturally satisfies Ace's Leader requirement without needing additional DON!! just to become a Rush target. It also carries 2000 Counter, giving Red Ace something it badly needs: a card that supports the deck's aggressive game plan without becoming useless when you need to defend.
Those additions do not replace the established Red Ace engine. They make that engine easier to support.
Edward.Newgate OP17-005 Is the Big New Addition
Edward.Newgate OP17-005 is the card that changes the conversation around Red Ace.
The new Whitebeard gives Ace a 12000-power late-game threat that can immediately become an attacker through the Leader ability. When Newgate's cost-reduction condition is active, that interaction becomes even more dangerous because Ace can potentially develop a massive Character while still having DON!! available for additional pressure.
After Newgate enters play, Ace's base power can also become 8000 until the end of the opponent's following turn. That means the card is not simply another giant attacker. It also makes the Leader substantially harder to damage on the clapback.
The ideal sequence can be brutal: play Newgate, increase Ace's base power, give Newgate Rush and immediately attack with a 12000-power Character.
Early testing has been positive enough that four copies are appearing repeatedly in Red Ace builds. Even when Newgate has to be played for its full cost, the combination of an 8000-power Leader and an immediate 12000-power attacker can put opponents in a very difficult position.
That is why this early build starts with the full four copies.
Why Red Ace Can Still Brick
All of that power comes with a cost.
Red Ace wants a large number of high-power Characters, and many of those cards are much better on the board than they are sitting in your hand. Draw too many expensive Characters at the wrong time and the deck can quickly become difficult to defend with.
That problem has not disappeared in OP-17.
What the new set does provide are more ways to manage it.
Rakuyo and Kingdew increase the number of Whitebeard Pirates Characters that also provide 2000 Counter. Gurararararara! gives the deck another defensive option when DON!! is available, while Portgas.D.Ace OP16-118 can help make otherwise awkward high-power cards more useful from the hand.
That creates one of the biggest deck-building questions for Red Ace in OP-17.
How much raw offensive power can you play without sacrificing too much defense?
The best Red Ace list will probably be the one that finds that balance.
What Are Red Ace Players Still Changing?
Edward.Newgate OP17-005 is quickly looking like one of the safest inclusions in the new build. The more interesting debate is what should surround it.
Some players are sticking closer to the established OP16 shell. Others are making more room for the new Whitebeard Pirates support, especially cards that improve the deck's Counter density without abandoning the 8000-power game plan.
Portgas.D.Ace OP16-118 is one of the cards at the center of that discussion. Its searching and hand-management utility can be extremely useful in a deck filled with expensive Characters, but some testers would rather devote those slots to additional 8000-power bodies and defensive cards.
Rakuyo and Kingdew are similarly important ratio questions. Both improve the defensive quality of the deck while remaining searchable Whitebeard Pirates cards, but every slot added for consistency has to come from somewhere.
Gurararararara! is another card worth watching. Red Ace frequently wants to spend most or all of its DON!! developing threats, so finding the right number of defensive Events without disrupting the deck's curve will take more testing.
The goal is not to fill the deck with OP-17 cards simply because they are new. The goal is to identify which new cards fix existing Red Ace problems while preserving what already makes the Leader dangerous.
Is This the Best OP-17 Red Ace Deck?
Probably not yet.
OP-17 Red Ace is still being tested, and the final ratios will almost certainly change once the format produces more tournament results.
What looks much clearer is the deck's ceiling.
Red Ace already had the ability to generate enormous pressure by turning powerful Whitebeard Pirates into immediate attackers. OP-17 gives that strategy better Counter options and, most importantly, Edward.Newgate OP17-005 as a devastating new top-end threat.
The biggest challenge is still consistency. Ace needs to develop its curve without getting trapped behind a hand full of expensive cards that cannot help defensively.
For now, the game plan is straightforward: use Garp and Moby Dick to find your pieces, build the Whitebeard Pirates board with cards like Luffy, Rakuyo, Kingdew, Vista and Marco, turn your biggest Characters into immediate attackers with Ace, and let Edward.Newgate take over the late game.
Red Ace already had the firepower. OP-17 may finally give the deck enough support around that firepower to become a serious threat again.
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