As May approaches and seasons visibly change for us, so does the One Piece TCG climate. One Piece Trading Card Game's Extra Booster Memorial Collection is the game's first outside of quarterly rotation set, to be released on May 3rd 2024. Extra Booster is bringing support for some less played leaders and play styles but is also bringing some unique gameplay to the table. With that being said, the Extra Booster set is also a much smaller set with 80 new cards within it compared to other OPTCG sets that normally have 154 cards in them (Set 4 has 149 cards and set 6 has 151 cards. All others have 154). Just like with the card number, Extra Booster is introducing 3 new leaders instead of the average number of 7 leaders per set (Set 1, 2 and 3 had 8 New Leaders. Set 4, 5 and 6 bought 6 new leaders) those leaders being Kouzuki Oden, Hannyabal, and Kyros. I know I love dissecting cards, and while I am not here to strictly discuss leaders, let's just briefly showcase these cards.

These Leaders highlight some Archetypes that used to stand on a pedestal within other periods of the OPTCG time. Kouzuki Oden promotes a lot of Wano country characters and builds which is a throwback to One Piece Leader from Set 2 Leader Kin'emon, whereas Hannyabal is also a callback to Set 2 but to the less commonly known Leader, Magellan. Kyros, however, is a Dressrosa type Leader to encourage more Dressrosa cards to see the table top again, however he doesn't really promote the Dressrosa type deck. Kyros provides character removal in exchange for information provided to your opponent in the form of flipping the top card of your life face up. This is the first Yellow leader with this ability of turning life cards face up to be printed in a Set (outside of Starter Deck 13 Leaders).

But, let's really dig into the meat and potatoes of the new set; Hot Cards! The most useful cards to come out of this set. Let's just start off this list with the Mascot of this set, Tony Tony.Chopper.

Tony Tony.Chopper is this set's Manga Art which means this blocker will have TWO alternate arts. Manga Art cards are always the crown gem to pull out of any set, but they are harder to get than most alternate arts since there is a chance you might pull it's other Alternate Art printing. However, this little Reindeer is a 3-cost 4000 power blocker with the ability of " DON!!x2 When Attacking: Give up to one of your opponent's characters -3000 power during this turn". Let's emphasize that this card states for the TURN. Chopper is bringing versatility to the table. We all know the card "White Snake" can be devastating enough, providing a character or Leader +1000 for the turn and keeping your opponents from swinging regular old 5000 power bodies at you. Now, imagine Chopper has swung for 6k at your opponent and suddenly your opponent's 7000 power characters can be hit by a 4000 power body on your side, or even a 5000 power character can be removed by characters such as Kuma from Set 5. This Chopper is a great inclusion to almost any red deck, especially ones with Straw Hat support!

Our next card is another Straw Hat, Brook. Brook is a 3-cost 4000 power character that reads "On Play/ On attack give target character -1 to their cost. Then, K.O. a character with a total cost of zero". This may not look like a lot at first glance, but the fact that Brook can knock out an opponent's character On attack is a huge advantage that has not been present in Black decks prior to Brook. When unchecked, with how much cost reduction is present within Black such as Ice Age, Hina, Soap Sheep, and Leaders such as Set 1 Smoker and even starter deck characters like 4-cost Shirahoshi, Brook can remove a wide range of characters. It does of course come at the cost of One DON!! Attachment just to ensure that you are swinging for 5k at your opponents, but that is a price we are willing to pay for removal.

Now let's turn our binoculars toward another deadly crew upon the vast seas.... Take a look at this Red menace who will undoubtedly become a vital piece of any Red/Purple Law deck, Kid and Killer.

Red/Purple Law is enough of a menace as it stands, however Extra Booster brings this literal Killer for a rapid close to the Game. Kid and Killer is a 4-cost 5000 power character with Rush that reads "When attacking if your opponent has two or less life this character gains +2000 power" bringing a WHOPPING 7000 power if you're already on the lower end of your life deck. Insane! All Law Leader has to do is return three DON!! to the DON!! deck, bring out this radical duo, and then swing in for huge damage. But Law isn't the only Leader that benefits from a character like this, the other Leaders from Starter deck 10 and Red Leaders such as Zoro or even Set 1 Luffy really benefit from the opportunities this character brings to the table.

Enough of these Pirates though, let's dig into our last inclusion. From the underground cells of Impel Down we have a rising star and a former member of Baroque Works, Mr.2. Bon. Kurei (Bentham)!

Mr.2 is a 4-cost 1000 power Character that reads "On play Add up to one DON!! card from your DON!! deck and set is as active" along with "When Attacking Select up to one of your opponents characters. This character's base power becomes the same as the selected Character's power during this turn." It's important to note that this says during this TURN! Why wouldn't any purple deck play this card? It assists with Purple's favorite attribute, DON!! manipulation, and it can also turn your 1000 power character into a 7000 or 9000 power character until the end of your turn! Your opponent could even have a 10-drop Kaido or something with power over 10000 and suddenly you, too, have that much aggressive potential on the board!

Keep your eyes peeled and your minds open to opportunities when Extra Booster hit the shelves. Extra Booster will be bringing support to decks not normally seen on the table top frontier, and hopefully you too will see these news cards in your hands and some new strategies hit the board!