Sabo One Piece TCG Deck List: Best Build & How to Play
Red/Black Sabo was already an interesting Leader before OP-17. The World's Strongest Warriors gave him exactly the kind of cards his ability wanted: cheap Straw Hat Characters that become real attackers once a high-cost Character hits the board.
The early results have backed that up. Red/Black Sabo posted a 10-0 Swiss run at Bandai Card Games Fest Utrecht on September 5, and another Sabo build went 10-0 in a Japanese OP-17 event the following day. The exact 50 cards are still evolving, but the core of the deck is becoming difficult to ignore.
What Is the Best Sabo One Piece TCG Deck?
The current Sabo One Piece TCG deck list uses Sabo OP13-004, the Red/Black Leader from Carrying on His Will, with OP-17's new Elbaph and Straw Hat package.
The basic plan is to establish Jaguar.D.Saul or Loki, use them to activate the deck's high-cost conditions, then turn inexpensive Characters like Usopp, Sanji, Nico Robin and Roronoa Zoro into a wide board of efficient attackers. Sabo's Leader ability adds another 1000 power to the entire board once an 8-cost-or-higher Character is in play.
Sabo One Piece TCG Deck List
Early tournament results give us a pretty clear consensus core, but successful Sabo players are still taking different approaches with the final several slots. This Thornberry build leans heavily into character consistency while adding two copies of Sabo OP04-083 to protect a developed board.
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Leader
Characters
Events
Qty. | Card | Set |
2 |
Total: 50 cards plus the Leader.
This is not a copy of one tournament-winning list. We're using the cards that have consistently appeared across successful Sabo builds, then making our own decisions around Luffy, the two Nami cards, Brook, Chopper and the OP04-083 Sabo defensive package. Recent undefeated and high-finishing Sabo lists have already shown considerable variation around that same core.
How Does Sabo OP13-004 Work?
Sabo has five Life and 5000 base power, but he loses 1000 power while you have four or more Life cards. That means Sabo begins the game at only 4000 power.
Once you get down to three Life, that penalty disappears. Then the second half of the Leader ability becomes the reason to play the deck: with one DON!! attached and a Character costing eight or more on your field, Sabo and every one of your Characters gain +1000 power.
That means you generally do not need to spend half your opening hand desperately protecting the first couple of Life cards. Matchups still matter, but getting Sabo to three Life gives you more cards in hand and gets rid of the Leader's early power penalty.
More importantly, the +1000 is not going onto one Character. On a full board, one DON!! can add several thousand points of total attacking power.
Jaguar.D.Saul and Loki Turn the Deck On
Jaguar.D.Saul OP17-089 may be the cleanest enabler Sabo has.
Saul costs four DON!! and has 6000 power, but his effect gives him another 12 cost while he is on the field. That makes him a 16-cost Character, immediately satisfying both Sabo's 8-cost condition and the 12-cost condition used by several OP-17 Straw Hats. His On Play effect also looks at the top three cards of your deck for an Elbaph card and sends the rest to the trash.
Loki OP17-119 does the same job higher on the curve. Loki costs six, has 8000 power, gains another 12 cost and jumps to 11,000 power during the opponent's turn. His On Play effect can also KO opposing Characters whose combined cost is four or less.
Those two cards are what make the rest of the deck go from cheap utility Characters to a real offensive board.
The Cheap Straw Hats Do the Dirty Work
Sabo gets an enormous amount of value from Characters that only cost one or two DON!!.
Usopp OP17-080 starts as a 2-cost, 2000-power Character, searches the top three cards for an Elbaph card when played and gains another 3000 power whenever a 12-cost-or-higher Character is on the field. Sanji gets the same power increase while drawing two cards and trashing two from your hand. Nico Robin becomes another 5000-power body and can give one opposing Character -3000 power for the turn.
Roronoa Zoro OP17-095 might be the most useful of the bunch. Zoro has +2000 Counter, becomes a 5000-power Character once the 12-cost condition is active, and can protect one of your Characters from an opponent's removal effect by returning three cards from your trash to the bottom of the deck.
Now put Saul, Usopp, Sanji and Zoro on the same field.
Saul turns on the three cheap Straw Hats, making each of them 5000 power. Attach one DON!! to Sabo and activate the Leader ability, and Sabo becomes 6000, Saul becomes 7000, and all three Straw Hats become 6000-power attackers.
One DON!! just added 5000 total power across the board.
That is why Sabo gets so dangerous once he goes wide.
OP17-093 Monkey.D.Luffy Is the Finisher
We are playing four copies of Monkey.D.Luffy OP17-093.
Luffy costs eight and has 8000 power, which means he turns on Sabo's Leader ability by himself. If a 12-cost-or-higher Character is already on the field, Luffy also gains Rush. His On Play effect draws a card and plays a Character costing two or less directly from the trash.
That creates exactly the kind of late-game turn Sabo wants.
You can play Luffy, draw a card, bring back Usopp, Sanji, Robin, Zoro or Jinbe, then immediately attack with Luffy if Saul or Loki is still satisfying the 12-cost condition.
Some successful Sabo lists have played three Luffy while others have gone to four. I prefer four because Luffy is both a payoff card and an independent way to keep Sabo's Leader ability active.
Sabo OP04-083 Protects the Board
This is one of the places where our build makes a deliberate choice.
Sabo OP04-083 is a 5-cost, 6000-power Blocker. When played, he prevents your Characters from being KO'd by effects until the start of your next turn, then lets you draw two cards and trash two cards from your hand.
That matters because Red/Black Sabo invests heavily in building a wide board. It is painful to spend several turns establishing Saul, Zoro and multiple cheap Straw Hats only to watch the entire setup disappear to removal.
The Utrecht 10-0 Sabo list went as high as four copies of OP04-083. I do not want four because five DON!! can make the deck's natural curve awkward, but I like two copies as protection that does not take over the deck.
It also gives us another Blocker and helps put useful 2-cost Characters into the trash for Luffy to recover later.
Pirates Docking Six Gives Sabo Another Way to Go Wide
Pirates Docking Six OP15-088 costs five, has 7000 power and gains six additional cost, making it an 11-cost Character on the field. That is enough to activate Sabo's Leader ability, although it falls one short of activating the OP-17 Straw Hats that specifically need a 12-cost Character.
Its On Play effect is the bigger reason to use it. By trashing three cards from the top of your deck, you can play a Straw Hat Character costing two or less from your trash.
That means one five-DON!! play can give you a 7000-power body, another cheap Character and an active Sabo Leader ability. It also helps stock the trash for future Luffy turns.
How to Play Sabo
Sabo is at his best going second because the even-DON!! curve lines up almost perfectly with the deck.
At two DON!!, you can establish Usopp, Sanji, Robin, Zoro or Jinbe. Four DON!! gives you Saul. Six gives you Loki. Eight gives you Luffy.
The early game is about finding pieces and getting bodies onto the board rather than trying to win immediately. Usopp is one of the cards I most want to see because it develops the board and searches for Elbaph cards at the same time.
Once Saul or Loki establishes the 12-cost condition, the deck changes gears. Your cheap Straw Hats become real attackers, Sabo buffs the entire field, and Luffy gives you an 8000-power threat that can generate another body from the trash.
Brook ST01-011 helps make the DON!! math easier by attaching up to two rested DON!! to Sabo or another Character after it is played. That lets you spend aggressively on board development without necessarily giving up the DON!! Sabo needs for his Leader ability.
The Flex Slots We're Testing
The core of Sabo looks pretty settled. The exact ratios around it do not.
Our starting point is three Chopper, three OP17 Nami, three OP01 Nami, three Brook, two OP04 Sabo and two Bad Manners Kick Course.
Tony Tony.Chopper OP17-084 is excellent as a +2000 Counter and can make an attacker Unblockable when the 12-cost condition is active, but I do not think we need four copies of a card whose offensive effect mainly matters once the engine is already running.
The two Namis perform different jobs. OP17-086 Nami can discard an Elbaph card to draw two, while OP01-016 Nami searches for Straw Hat cards. Three of each gives us six one-DON!! consistency pieces without going too far in either direction.
Bad Manners Kick Course stays at two. It costs zero during the Counter step and can turn one discarded card into +3000 power for Sabo or another Character.
That gives the deck emergency defense without requiring us to leave DON!! open.
These are the ratios I would revisit first as more OP-17 tournament results come in.
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