The Ultimate One Piece Card Game Guide Lethal

The following article is a section from The Ultimate One Piece Card Game Guide, brought to you by Kai and Cross on the Caliber Team.

Lethal

This is a subsection in the category ‘Attacking.’

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After reading this section, you will be able to:

• Know when to go for Lethal

• Spread your Don!! effectively to maximize the opportunity for Lethal

Outline

• 1.1When to go for Lethal

  • 1.1.1 Do I need to go for Lethal?

  • 1.1.2 Is it viable to go for Lethal? 

  • 1.1.3 Will I get a better chance later?

• 1.2 Spreading Don!!

  • 1.2.1 Equal Power

  • 1.2.2 Power Staircase

  • 1.2.3 The 1 Life Exception

    • 1.2.3.1 The Math

  • 1.2.4 ‘Threatening’ Lethal for Board Control

• 1.3 Extra Remarks or Exceptions

  • 1.3.1 Hand Read

Introduction

How the game is finished is just as important as how the game is played out in the mid-game. There have been countless times where the opponent had the perfect amount of Counter to survive your last attack, throwing a game that had the potential to be yours. Compared to attack sequencing and Don!! allocation for board control, Lethal calculations are a whole subset of knowledge that is necessary to ensure that the chances of victory are maximized.

‘Lethal’ is the term used for the killing blow on the opponent’s life to end the game. This means that the opponent is pushed to a point where they have not enough life, and Counter in hand to defend the flurry of attacks that have been established. If the spread of Don!! is miscalculated and inefficient, it allows the opponent to get away with countering less to maintain a relatively healthy amount of resources to push back in the following turns. Knowing why Don!! would be allocated in different ways when going for Lethal, and moreover, identifying opportunities to choose not to push for Lethal is key to improving this skill.

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1.1 When to go for Lethal

The first important question when tackling the subject of Lethal is if going for Lethal is viable, and / or necessary. These 2 points will be the main pillars deciding whether or not there is the opportunity to end the game. Oftentimes, players will find themselves going for Lethal when there was no need to, and in doing so, lose tempo and the ability to find Lethal at a later stage, assuming that they survive the following turn. 

There are many questions to ask yourself when deciding to go for Lethal. 

• Do I need to go for Lethal?

• Is it viable to go for Lethal? 

• Will I get a better chance later?

1.1.1 Do I need to go for Lethal?

This is the first question to ask. If there is no need to go for Lethal, then it should not be attempted. Every attack is a question and answer dialogue between you and your opponent, constantly asking the opponent how they will react to certain attacks. Throughout a game of questions and answers, slowly, a resource difference will grow. If you hold the resource advantage, there is usually no need to go for Lethal, as the advantage can be maintained for a clean Lethal in a few turns. Alternatively, if the resource advantage is not in your favor, the requirement to end the game on a shorter notice, hoping for a hand with low total counter, can be required to grab victory from the jaws of defeat. Electing to push for Lethal generally comes down to the amount of pressure the opponent is exerting, rather than the pressure you are exerting. Recognizing the resource advantage that is being built and the threat that the opponent is building is an indicator to start considering and planning a Lethal turn 2-3 turns ahead.

In this example, Luffy has 2 Life, and Uta has 3 attacks. This means that Uta is within the threshold where Lethal is now possible. However, if she fails to finish the game on this turn, the opponent can easily take back the board, set up blockers or potentially push back for Lethal on the following turn. Instead, if Uta elects to take the opponent’s board, and chip away at the opponent’s hand size in the process, this ensures that Luffy is out of range of Lethal, as Luffy would have less than 4 attacks, and you have 3 Life and potentially a blocker if Luffy is left active. More importantly, It maintains that you are still in range of Lethal, and can continue to chip away at resources until the win is guaranteed.

1.1.2 Is It Viable to go for Lethal?

Even if there is no threat of losing in the next turn, mathematically there will be times where victory is guaranteed. Things that factor into this are the life count, hand count, and things such as Active Don!! and Blockers.

Life Count:

Life Count is the most simple metric to take into account when going for Lethal. If you have more attackers than the opponent has life, you are in range of potentially threatening Lethal. The one exception for this is when the opponent has a blocker. If you do not have a means of removing the blocker, then this is essentially 1 extra life.

🔎 Why is a blocker similar to extra life, and how is it different?

When an attack is defended, it reduces the hand of the defender. When an attack to life is taken, it increases the hand of the defender. Importantly, what this means is that when damage is taken, the ‘hand cost’ is 0. As the attacker, you want to be finding ways to reduce the opponent’s hand size, as the cards that are added to their hand have the potential to have Counter.

Blocking and receiving damage both do not reduce hand size, as they become a substitute for the damage to the player’s hand. The difference is that blockers do not increase your hand, as they are sent to the trash when KO’d, while receiving damage does increase handsize by 1.

Hand Count:

As of July, 2024, Character cards only have up to +2000 Counter. While it is unlikely that the card game receives +3000 Counter Character cards, keep this in mind. Any single card can potentially increase the Power of the defending target by a maximum of 2000. This means that in a situation where nothing in the opponent’s hand is known, assuming that every card is a 2000 Counter card allows you to navigate battle according to the opponent’s hand size.

In this scenario, 9000 is guaranteed to go through.

By utilizing the maximum potential of the opponent’s hand, we can ensure that attacks at certain thresholds are guaranteed to go through. This applies to any attack, even to characters. However, it is most often utilized when going for Lethal as this is the stage of the game where hand sizes start to dwindle.

When you can calculate a Lethal utilizing the Don!! cards spread among your characters, you can account for the card that is added to the opponent’s life.

By doing this, we can ensure Lethal as the opponent physically cannot have enough Counter to save them.

When there are more characters on the board, it creates more opportunity to be creative with the allocation of Don!! to characters to go for Lethal, to find guaranteed Lethal from surprising places.

Active Don!!:

Other than blockers, life, and hand count, the final factor to take into account is Active Don!! Counter Events have the potential to increase the Power of the leader by more than 2000 at the cost of only 1 card.

Granted, 5000 Counter is extremely rare in this game, if the opponent leaves any number of Don!! up, there is a threat that a card could be worth more than 2000 Counter.

In the same scenario as before, swapping sides, by having 1 Don!! active, 9000 is no longer guaranteed to go through.

Knowing what Counter events potentially exist, and how you can play around them will further increase your level of execution. Make sure to be aware of the types of Counter Events that people may be running so that you have an idea of if the Active Don!! is a real threat, or a simple bluff.

1.1.3 Will I get a better chance later?

The last factor to consider is if you will ever be closer to Lethal. Perhaps you have calculated your damage against their defense, and all the opponent needs is 6000 Counter to survive. However, if there is a high likelihood that the opponent plays blockers in the following turns that push your Lethal even further back, you may need to recognize turns where you have the ‘best chance’ at achieving Lethal, and try your luck at the opponent having a weaker hand.

In this way, going for Lethal on the early turn would have yielded a higher chance at winning as It would require 6000 Counter in 6 cards, compared to the next turn where you need to spread your Don!! thinner amount 3 characters to try and achieve the same goal, after the opponent just played 2 more Sabos, and refreshed 4 cards from their hand. Where the odds may have been unlikely or slightly possible before, now, it is almost guaranteed to not go through. Predicting your opponent’s moves to find the timing with the highest likelihood of winning is a high level skill that needs to be practiced and refined. 

Section Overview:

Key Questions for Lethal Decision-Making

• Do I need to go for Lethal?

• Is it viable to go for Lethal?

• Will I get a better chance later?

Do I Need to Go for Lethal?

• Assess necessity based on resource advantage and opponent's pressure.

Is It Viable to Go for Lethal?

• Life Count: Compare number attackers to opponent's life.

• Blocker: Treat unremovable blockers as extra life.

• Hand Count: Calculate potential Counter based on opponent's hand size.

• Active Don!!: Evaluate the threat of Counter Events and the opponent's active resources.

Will I Get a Better Chance Later?

• Evaluating future opportunities for Lethal based on the opponent's potential moves.

Try:

In practice, try going for Lethal at different timings from set positions and see why it did, or didn’t work out. Sometimes there is nothing that could have been done, but see how changing when you approach Lethal may change the amount of required Counter from the opponent.

1.2 Spreading Don!!

Spreading Don!! is one of the most difficult skills in the game. There is so much complexity and variation to how Don!! can be spread amongst characters when approaching the board. Not only this, but when going for Lethal, there is a whole different way of thinking due to the factor of hand-size increasing when damage to Leader is taken.

When approaching Lethal by spreading your Don!!, there are generally 2 ways to spread them:

Hitting at equal Power with all units, or making a ‘Power staircase.’

1.2.1 Equal Power

Equal Power refers very literally to the concept of spreading your Don!! so that your characters are at equal values. There are merits, and demerits to this way of spreading Don!!

Demerits:

• The opponent’s hand size may increase

• The opponent is only forced to defend the final attack(s)

1. The Opponent’s Hand Size May Increase

In the scenario above, if Don!! is spread equally, and the opponent has any life remaining, the opponent has the opportunity to gain Counter in their hand after receiving damage to life. This means that even if it is true that the first 9000 Power attacks cannot be defended, the other ones can be with the potential Counter gained from life.

2. The Opponent is Only Forced to Defend the Final Attack(s)

Once 3 Don!! is allocated to a character in the scenario above, the opponent can do the math to identify that at best, there will be 2 more 9000 attacks. This means that not only does it allow the opponent to Counter just the final attacks, it is the correct play. 

If the opponent can only hit with a maximum of 9000, taking the first hit or 2, and only defending the last attack necessitates the opponent to allocate all of their Don!! before you are required to respond to their question of ‘Do you have enough Counter?’

🔎When Should Don!! be Spread Equally?

Although the 2 reasons stated seem like a great incentive to never spread your Don!! equally, there is a scenario where doing so is the correct play, and it is utilized even from the early game.

By spreading Don!!, the opponent doesn’t have a ‘cheaper’ attack that they can defend. The 1 Power that they are approached with is the lowest, and the highest Power simultaneously. This means that the opponent, should they defend the attack, is forced to defend a higher Power attack than if the Don!! was spread in a different way. 

To avoid the demerits listed above, the best timing to hit at equal Power is when the opponent is at 0 life. When the opponent is at 0 life, there is no longer the threat of them gaining counter, and they are simply forced to defend the attacks out of hand. In this scenario, hitting at equal value renders the opponent’s blockers as just another pawn ready to be taken. As blockers want to absorb as much damage as possible, by balancing the Power of all of the attacks to be equal, it does not matter which attack is blocked, decreasing the value of the blocker, and increasing the pressure on the opponent's hand.

Hitting at equal Power in the early game is also key to eroding resources over time. People are taught that hitting at 6000 Power is weak as like a 5000 Power attack, it only requires 1 card to defend. In the event that there are 2 Don!! left, and 2 5000 Power attackers, many people will elect to hit life at 5000, 7000, as 7000 requires 2 cards to defend. However, realistically, this 7000 Power attack is not being defended in the early game. Therefore, in actuality, hitting at 5000, 7000 yielded 1 life, and 1000 Counter.

Alternatively, hitting at 6000, 6000 in the early game will generally yield 1 life and 2000 Counter. 

By hitting at an equal value when approaching life in the early game, it forces the opponent to Counter slightly more, as they can absorb the larger attacks with their life.

1.2.2 Power Staircase

In Japan, we describe the act of spreading your Don!! in a way where each attack increases in Power as creating a staircase. Each ‘step’ or attack goes higher in Power and Counter required to defend the attack. This method of spreading Don!! gets around the demerits of hitting at equal Power in their hand size increasing, and needing to only require the final attack. If the opponent doesn’t have enough Counter to Counter a potential 10000 Power hit, then they are forced to defend the first hit. By forcing the opponent to defend the first hit, the player now has a wealth of options to spread their Don!! in different ways, or even decide to not go for Lethal. However, this method of spreading Don!! still comes with its demerits.

• The Early Attacks are Cheaper to Defend

This can be seen as a merit, and a demerit. As the early attacks are easier to defend, the amount of Counter required to prevent an attack is potentially much smaller than if the Don!! was spread equally. However, as the opponent is forced to ‘answer’ the question of ‘Do you have enough Counter?’ earlier than if the Don!! was spread equally, it offers the opportunity to the player to pivot their game plan before committing all of their Don!!

1.2.3 The 1 Life Exception

From this board, as Sakazuki, how would you approach Lethal? Take the time right now to think of the best way to spread out Don!! in this situation. Disregard the number of cards currently in the opponent’s hand, but factor in that they will gain a card when they receive one of the attacks.

Do you have your answer?

What Power attack would you start with?

The only correct answer in this specific situation is, in fact, 10000.

The automatic answer that many people will come up with is 11000, or 7000, as you can create a Power staircase with Borsalino and Sakazuki where Borsalino attacks with 11000, and Sakazuki attacks with 12000, or you can use Tsuru as an attacker and attack at 7000, 8000, and 8000. 

However, as the opponent is at 1 life, the 1 Life Exception applies.

As life has the ability to absorb an attack, no matter how high it is, hitting the final life with a large Power value requires the opponent to use more Counter to protect.

Scenario 1:

In this scenario, by starting at 7000, the opponent knows that 7000 is the cheapest attack that will come, as when the Don!! is spread, the only choices are 7000, 9000, or 8000, 8000. However, if the opponent receives the 7000 attack, Borsalino can hit at 16000. 16000 would require 12000 Counter to defend, so it is necessary to Counter the 7000 Attack with 3000 Counter.

To necessitate the highest amount of Counter to defend the next 2 attacks, spreading the Don!! evenly can be elected, as the opponent needs to have 4000 Counter to survive.

However, in this scenario, the opponent only needs 7000 Counter total to survive the attempt at Lethal.

Scenario 2:

By starting with 11000, the opponent is obligated to Counter 11000, or else they will be forced to defend the 12000.

In this scenario, it seems optimal to defend the first 11000 Power Attack, in the event that Pluffy cannot defend the second, 12000 Power Attack. However, it is optimal to defend the second attack thanks to the existence of Tsuru in this scenario. If Luffy receives the 11000 Attack, and guards the 12000 Attack, then 8000 Counter is required.

If Luffy defends the 11000, then the following is now a possibility.

With the remaining 7 Don!!, spread between the 2 Attackers, now, the total requirement is 9000 Counter. In this way, by hitting at a high Power first, it creates a scenario where the opponent is forced into difficult situations where the opponent can make mistakes. In this scenario, it is correct for Luffy to take the first 11000 hit, and defend the second 12000 hit, as it would only require 8000 Counter with the 1 extra card from life.

This seems like the answer, a way to spread Don!! that necessitates more Counter than creating a staircase. However, 10000 is mathematically a more optimal start.

Scenario 3:

By starting with 10000, two outcomes are set up, similar to the 11000 start scenario. However, in this scenario, in fact, more Counter is required.

In the event that Luffy responds to the 10000 Attack by letting it through, Sakazuki can simply hit at 13000, requiring 9000 Counter with the extra card from life.

In the event that the 10000 attack from Borsalino is defended, thanks to Tsuru being a potential attacker, Lethal is still possible, attacking at 6000 & 7000. If the 6000 is defended, then Lethal is no longer possible. However, this means that the opponent is required to have 8000 Counter in hand without the possibility of drawing their life.

If the 6000 is let through, then Tsuru can hit, and like before, the opponent would be required to have 9000 Counter with the extra card from life.

Scenario

Counter Required

Alternative

Scenario 1

7000 with life

none

Scenario 2

8000 with life

9000 with opponent mistake

Scenario 3

8000 without life

9000 with life

By simply changing the Don!! allocation when going for Lethal, it can potentially make a significant difference. This only works in scenarios where the opponent has 1 life and 0 blockers (assuming that the blockers can’t be easily cleared) yet is a skill that requires significant practice to perfect. Very very few people have perfected this skill, but if it means the difference between victory and defeat in one in every 20 games, it’s best to learn it.

Though this seems impossible to map out in your head in a timely fashion, there is math that could make it easier for some people.

1.2.3.1 The Math

Calculate how the Don!! would be divided between two attacks.

In this case, Sakazuki, and Borsalino are the 2 attackers with the highest Power. 

5000 (Sakazuki)

8000 (Borsalino)

10000 (10 Extra Don!! to be divided)

5000 + 8000 + 10000 = 23000 Total Power

Then, we divided the total Power by 2, for 2 units that will attack, to get 11500. In the case that the result ends in 500, characters cannot have equal Power when approaching Lethal. This means that if the Don!! were divided between Borsalino and Sakazuki, it would be at 11000, and 12000, like in Scenario 2.

Keep this 11500 number in mind.

In this scenario however, Tsuru is also a potential attacker. 

(5000 + 8000 + 0 + 10000) / 3 = 7666.67 Power if divided equally. By balancing this to increments of 1000, we get 7000, 8000, 8000 for the 3 characters like in Scenario 1.

By taking these two numbers of 11500, and 7666.67 and taking the average of the two, we find our magic number.

(11500 + 7666.67) / 2 = 9583.335. Rounding this result gives us 10000, which is the Power of the first Attack.

Do not ask me how this math works. I was shown it once, and every time that I test it, it works. Perhaps this won’t always work, but it has worked so far. If mathematicians can explain why this does, or doesn’t work, I would be curious to know why.

The elephant in the room is that this math seems equally difficult. In this case, the quotient was a very difficult number, but there will be situations where the result is a much cleaner number. While we don’t personally do the physical math when approaching Lethal, as this is the Ultimate Guide, it is something worth explaining. 

While in this example, the 1 Life Exception was explained, it also demonstrated the Power of low Power characters when approaching Lethal. Do not ignore their existence, and use them to your advantage. 

1.2.4 ‘Threatening’ Lethal for Board Control

When attacking characters, the general consensus is to hit at equal Power to try and chip away at the opponent’s hand, and 2000 or more Power over the target when trying to KO it. However, what should be done when the opponent’s characters are a higher base Power than the leader? If the opponent is at 1-2 Life, with no realistic way of obtaining Lethal, hitting life at very low thresholds, mainly 5000, can in many cases force the opponent to Counter it. This is generally the thought process that goes through the opponent’s mind in these situations. Understanding how the opponent thinks about situations helps the player reverse engineer solutions that maximizes the pressure exerted onto the opponent.

Let’s take this scenario. Ignoring hand-size, going for Lethal from this position is generally very hard as Reiju doesn’t have much Don!! and all attacks are required to go through. There is no urgency to go for Lethal due to the high life total Reiju is maintaining, so spreading Don!! correctly maximizes not only the threat that active Don!! exerts, but the Counter that the opponent is forced to cut creates boards that become harder and harder to defend.

Scenario 1. Approaching Lethal by ‘making a staircase’ with the attacks: Hitting at 6000, 7000, 8000 maximizes the potential threat exerted on the opponent. However, this can be resolved with one 2000 Counter, reading that 6000 will be the lower attack.

Scenario 2. Approaching Lethal by ‘hitting at equal Power’ with the attacks: Hitting at 7000, 7000, 7000 maximizes the potential threat exerted on the opponent. However, this can be resolved with a 2000, and 1000 Counter on the final attack, not allowing for the Reiju to pivot mid way through. 

Of these 2 Scenarios, Scenario 1 is clearly the better option. However, people tend to be blindsided by the fact that although it’s tricky to hit characters with high Power, if the opponent’s resources are being burned, it’s an excellent opportunity.

Though this may vary based on the Reiju’s own hand, to maximize the resource difference created, hitting at 5000 is most effective, and this is why.

Scenario 3. Hitting at 5000 to make taking board easier: Hitting at 5000 twice with Leader Reiju, and Character Reiju forces the opponent into a dilemma where they risk losing more resources to a threatening staircase, or they risk losing Moria by overcountering.

In this way, by actively not spreading Don!! from early attacks, Reiju has created a doomsday scenario for Moria. In the event that Moria does take one of the 5000 Power attacks, Reiju can proceed with the disaster scenario that Moria feared, creating situations where there is no ‘good choice.’

Try:

If you haven’t been utilizing this, simply keep it in mind, understanding the logic of the opponent’s thinking, considering how you would react as the opponent in their scenario. Keeping this option in mind when playing, you will notice opportunities to use it tremendously often.

1.3 Extra Remarks or Exceptions

1.3.1 Hand Read

While these examples were a holistic approach to Lethal, with no additional information, in a real game scenario, both players will be making an effort to read each other’s hand. One of the simplest ways to read a hand is how they react to a 6000 Power Attack. Letting through a 6000 Power Attack where it was unexpected to, or Countering it with 1000 + 1000, can be a great indicator that the opponent is lacking 2000 Counter cards. These kinds of reads will allow the player to make more technical decisions, choosing to hit at 6000 over and over to exploit the opponent’s Counter situation.

Section Overview:

• Hitting at Equal Power

  • Concept: Distributing Don!! so characters attack at equal values.

  • Demerits:

    • Opponent’s Hand Size Increases: Damaging the opponent's Leader allows them to draw more Counter cards.

    • Final Attack Defense: Opponent only needs to defend the final attacks.

  • Optimal Timing: Best used when the opponent is at 0 life to prevent the opponent from Countering attacks cheaply.

• Creating a Power Staircase

  • Concept: Increasing attack Power with each subsequent attack.

  • Merits:

    • Early Defense: Forces opponent to defend earlier attacks, offering the player flexibility.

  • Demerits:

    • Cheaper Early Defense: Early attacks are easier to defend, requiring less counter.

• The 1 Life Exception

  • Scenario: When the opponent has 1 life left.

  • Strategy: Start with a high Power attack to maximize the Counter needed for subsequent defenses.

• Threatening Lethal for Board Control

  • Strategy: Hitting characters at equal Power to chip away at the opponent’s hand, and hitting life at lower thresholds to force Counter usage.

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Thank you for reading this section of The Ultimate One Piece Card Game Guide on Lethal.

While compared to my other articles, it is relatively short in terms of word count, it has taken the longest of any guide to date to create. 

Thank you very much for reading this first guide in a new chapter of Caliber Team. Please let us know your feedback so that we can deliver the best content for actually improving at the game.

Thank you,

Cross & Kai