There are a lot of things that can influence an individual to get into a Trading Card Game. You could get into a Trading Card Game due to influence from your friends and watching them play. You might have run into an article or two, or came across a stream of people playing. There's also a fair chance you might have grown an interest in a Card Game due to watching the market, or you just want to collect certain cards.
One thing a majority of people within the Trading Card Game Community can agree upon is that good card art can really increase the value of a card. Take a look at the most well known card game out there, Magic: The Gathering. In the past decade or so, Magic has fully embraced the idea that art variety will encourage players to get a hold of specific art of a card they may already have just to bling out their deck, or if they simply collect that one card.
Personally speaking, I collect a bulk rare card called Profaner of the Dead. The card sees zero play in any format at the moment, but when this card was spoiled in Dragons of Tarkir I could not get over how aesthetically pleasing it was. As someone who REALLY enjoys a mixture of blue/black/colorless, this card spoke to me. Plus this Naga looked SUPER cool hiding their face behind a hood and boldly holding up a decapitated head by the hair. However, this is not a card that sees a whole lot of play at all and I am willing to bet there is a large majority of Magic players that didn't even know this card existed with the never ending growth of the game.
The Star Wars Unlimited Trading Card Game, within their first year, also brought in a series of alternate art for Leader cards. The main difference between Magic and Star Wars is the ratio for a Showcase leader in Star Wars Unlimited is roughly 1 showcase leader to every 3 to 6 booster boxes... Making pulling a showcase leader extremely valuable. And soon we will see a new version of alternate art cards within SWU's Carbonite Booster packs coming out with SWU Set 4 Jump to Lightspeed.
And One Piece is no exception to alternate art treatment. One Piece Trading Card Game has amazing art, especially the Anime and Manga panel cards, so of course the game itself must uphold those standards within its normal art. Right?
Today we will explore some of the cards I believe display the highest form of aesthetics in 2024 for the One Piece Trading Card Game. To kick this list off I want to address some of the best looking cards form Set 6, Wings of the Captain.
Set 6 had a lot of great art among the Parallel Art printings. Of the Thriller Bark characters that came out of this set, I specifically want to point out Perona, Gecko Moria, and Absasloms' Parallel Art.
I've always found the Halloweenish vibes from Thriller Bark to be very aesthetically pleasing. Perona laying down with tons of cute stuffed animals, and Absalom making some sort of pose while in the rain? Gecko Moria looking like an absolute menace with the scissors he uses to detach shadows? Stunning. Absolutely stunning.
But Thriller Bark isn't the only area where Parallel art cards shine in this set. The Straw Hats have some excellent Parallel arts of their own within a wide variety of colors. For this, I'd like to point out some of the original five members of the Straw hats; Monkey .D. Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Sanji.
I don't have much to say about these particular parallel arts... but that's mainly because I believe they speak for themselves.
An honorable mention from this set is Tashigi. I really enjoy the dramatic pose with the yellow floor and dust coming out from around her, displaying the wind from unsheathing her sword.
Moving on in chronological order we should go over the Parallel Arts from 500 Years in the Future.
This set brought back a leader parallel art format called "crew art" and it's not one of my personal favorites, but I must say that the Parallel Art for Boa Hancock, Foxy, and Jewelry Bonney do speak to me. Bandai's artists really outdid themselves with these Leader's parallel arts.
Outside of Leader card however, Boa Hancock character, Franky, and Stussy really shine.
Two Legends brought back the original Profile Parallel Art for its leaders but I am gonna level with all of you... the coolest art from the set was not on a leader card. I've got quite the list, so I'm just going to name these characters and then throw out the art real quick. Wyper, Nami, Kaido, Queen, Black Maria, Charlotte Pudding, Edward Newgate, Pedro, Dr.Kureha, and Chopper.
Lets move on to the last and final core set of the year, Emperors in the New World.
This set also utilized Profile Parallel Art for their leaders, but the Parallel Art on EVERY leader from this set also makes the cut as some of the best arts from the year 2024.
Much like Wings of the Captain from the beginning of 2024, Leaders are not the only cards who got outstanding Parallel Art. For the final call outs of excellent Parallel Arts from 2024, I'd like to draw your attention to Buggy, Lim, Franky, Marshall .D. Teach, and Nico Robin.
Those are my picks for the best art in the One Piece Trading Card Game from the year of 2024. What do you think? Will you be picking them up for your One Piece deck? Do you think some cards might have been missed from this list?
Until the seas bring us together again, fellow seafarers!