When I first got into the One Piece TCG, I came from a Magic: The Gathering background, so naturally, I tended toward Blue. However, I learned that while Blue certainly did have some elements of its Magic counterpart, it was a wholly different color identity. And then, I discovered the OP03-040 Nami (040) leader.

To say it was a game-changer is an understatement. However, unlike many decks that "just build themselves," Nami forces players to think things through. It's not like you can just jam a set of instant-speed draw spells. No, Nami's play centers around counters, drawing, and "seeing the future."

The Core Nami Package

The basic gameplay premise for Nami is to counter out whatever your opponent throws at you while you draw cards on your own turn. Occasionally, based on the counters you play and the cards you have in hand, you can also card-draw on your opponent's turn.

Now, if you've never played against a Nami, it's easy to think that your opponent only has one card in hand, so the math for counters is easy. It's never that easy with Nami. Normally, a single card could mean a +2000 counter at best, but in Nami, one card could pump up to 6000 power, albeit at the cost of Don!! on your opponent's turn.

Even more demoralizing is that some cards draw your opponent more, rewarding them for having less than a certain amount (2 or 1) in hand. The core Nami experience includes these cards, with the actual number of cards differing based on the particular build:

• Marguerite
• Kaya
• Sanji's Pilaf
• Love-Love Mellow
• Gum-Gum Giant Gavel
• White Snake
• Nami (050)
• Death Wink
• Usopp's Rubber Band of Doom
• Snake Dance
• Desert Spada

The core Nami package tries to cover all the bases, but alongside the core, players have a few options for the rest of the deck.

The East Blue Package

Immediately, you can tell that there's a synergy with a few of the Nami core cards. Nami (050), Kaya, Usopp's Rubber Band of Doom, Sanji's Pilaf, and Gum-Gum Giant Gavel are all East Blue cards. Naturally, it makes sense to drop a searcher in there. The East Blue package is the one most people play in Nami competitively. Here's a sample list:

Deck: Blue Nami - East Blue Package

Leader:

1x OP03-040 Nami

Characters:

3x Marguerite OP07-054

4x Kaya OP03-044

4x Sanji's Pilaf OP03-056

4x Nami OP09-050

4x Apis OP04-041

4x Boodle OP03-050

2x Usopp OP03-041

1x Hanger OP04-050

Events:

4x Love-Love Mellow ST03-017

4x Gum-Gum Giant Gavel OP03-055

3x White Snake OP06-059

3x Death Wink OP02-069

4x Usopp's Rubber Band of Doom OP03-054

3x Snake Dance OP07-55

3x Desert Spada OP01-088

These cards add consistency and card drawing and reduce your hand size for cards like Death Wink and Love-Love Mellow, which trigger and draw extra cards. If you're playing against another Nami player or a deck that doesn't expect you to swing, Usopp is a surprise that can help you mill seven cards off the top. However, in a blocker situation, he's next to useless since he doesn't even have any counter.

The Impel Down Package

The Impel Down build of Nami leverages a few amazing cards that slot into the Nami shell. This deck-build changes some of the core cards but that doesn't make it less impressive than the original build. Buggy OP02-058 is an Impel Down-specific searcher and finds Mr.1 along with our Death Winks and another Impel Down card added to this list - Impel Down All Stars. It may look as though this is a bad addition since it only draws cards if your leader is Impel Down, but it can be useful as a trigger to draw cards and to reduce cards in hand for Love-Love Mellow and Death Wink. Here's what a sample deck may look like:

Deck: Blue Nami - Impel Down Package

Leader:

1x OP03-040 Nami

Characters:

3x Marguerite OP07-054

4x Kaya OP03-044

4x Nami OP09-050

4x Buggy OP02-058

2x Prince Bellett EB01-026

4x Mr.1(Daz Bones) OP02-063

Events:

4x Love-Love Mellow ST03-017

4x Gum-Gum Giant Gavel OP03-055

4x White Snake OP06-059

4x Death Wink OP02-069

2x Usopp's Rubber Band of Doom OP03-054

4x Sanji's Pilaf OP03-056

2x Snake Dance OP07-55

2x Desert Spada OP01-088

4x Impel Down All-Stars OP02-066

There's a higher chance that Buggy may whiff on his search since there's still a lot of East Blue stuff in there. However, when it goes off, it can be quite impressive. Seeing Mr.1 return your Gum-Gum Giant Gavels to hand makes it seem almost unfair.

The Amazon Lily/Kuja Pirates Package

Looking at the previous lists, I decided to create one myself that focuses on cards I have access to and plays into a few of the core functionalities of the main list. Gloriosa (Grandma Nyon) can search out our Snake Dances. We also added Boa Sandersonia, which makes an appearance in this list, but primarily as a searchable counter with Grandma Nyon. We're keeping Mr.1 in this build even though he's technically Impel Down. The value he can give us insane. Here's what a sample list would look like:

Deck: Blue Nami - Amazon Lily/Kuja Pirates Package

Leader:

1x OP03-040 Nami

Characters:

2x Boa Sandersonia OP07-050

4x Gloriosa Grandma Nyon OP07-041

4x Kaya OP03-044

4x Marguerite OP07-054

4x Mr.1(Daz Bones) OP02-063

4x Nami OP09-050

Events:

4x Love-Love Mellow ST03-017

4x Gum-Gum Giant Gavel OP03-055

3x White Snake OP06-059

4x Death Wink OP02-069

3x Usopp's Rubber Band of Doom OP03-054

2x Sanji's Pilaf OP03-056

4x Snake Dance OP07-55

4x Special Muggy Ball OP09-058

We've added an OP09 addition in Special Muggy Ball to deal with the serious threats that will probably pop up in the meta. Even so, it just needs to buy us some time. We could just as easily use Gum-Gum Red Roc or Gravity Blade Raging Tiger as alternatives, but Muggy Ball has the benefit of being better-costed (we want Don!! available for our opponent's turn to counter out) and allows us to bounce something back to our own hand (like a Kaya) if we trigger it.

Is Blue Nami Still Competitive?

Metas change rapidly as new sets come out. In many cases, whether Nami is competitive or not depends on the local meta. Blue Nami has some really good matchups against some of the top decks, but it can easily be overwhelmed by new meta decks like Blackbeard Pirates or Red-Haired Pirates. Choosing which of the Nami packages you want to play also determines how well or poorly you run against these decks. The only way to know for sure is to experiment. Maybe you can come up with your own Nami package!