If you've been in the TCG community for a while, or in any specific card community even such as YuGiOh, Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, Flesh and Blood, etc, you know that power shifts as new card are printed. One Piece Trading Card Game is not excluded from this standard.

Previously, we discussed in another article how the One Piece Trading Card Game had evolved since release. Today, however, we are going to be focusing a little deeper into One piece TCG's history and find the Top 5 cards from set 2, Paramount War, that still see play.

Starting out with Number 5 we have Edward.Newgate, or properly nicknamed 9beard. Edward.Newgate is a 9 cost 10,000 power character with "[On Play] Up to 1 of your Leader gains +2000 power until the start of your next turn. Then, you cannot add Life cards to your hand using your own effects during this turn." and "[DON!! x2] [When Attacking] K.O. up to 1 of your opponent's Characters with 3000 power or less." Edward.Newgate clearly has a lot of power behind him, but his high cost of 9 DON!! and the current state of Red in the meta being Red/Purple Law utilizing mostly 4-cost cards or lower has put this powerhouse in 5th. Edward.Newgate's worst case scenario is that you have rested 9 DON!! To give your Leader +2000 power until your next turn and you have a 10,000 power body. In contrast, the best case scenario for Edward.Newgate character is that you Buff your leader +2000, swing in for 12,000 next turn, and K.O. a lower power character with the swing. Currently, 9Beard is just a high risk/high reward character within the meta.

Moving on to our number 4 slot, we have Kuzan. Kuzan has two different character prints in this set, but only one of his two printings has made it to our Top 5 today. He's is a 4 cost 5000 power with "[On Play] Draw 1 card." and "[When Attacking] Give up to 1 of your opponent's Characters -4 cost during this turn." On release, Kuzan and the other admirals were highly sought after. More specificly, Kuzan's "on play" replaces himself in hand by allowing you to draw a card while also promoting removal by giving one of your opponent's characters -4 to their cost. -4 is nothing to gawk at, as this could reduce a card such as Yamato down to 5 allowing a card such as Finger Gun to remove it.

Kuzan currently see's play in Navy Perona builds alongside Moria decks with a navy package. However, even with replacing himself in hand he is hard to justify. His worst case scenario is a power 4 to draw a card and can easily be removed from the board with such a low cost.

We are now entering the Top 3 with a Blue event, Death Wink. This is a 3-cost even with "[Counter] Up to 1 of your Leader or Character cards gains +6000 power during this battle. Then, draw cards so that you have 2 cards in your hand." along with a trigger of "Return up to 1 Character with a cost of 7 or less to the owner's hand." This event is currently seeing a lot of top play with Nami leader on the rise after months of debating whether the Seven Warlord package or Kuja pirate package would be best for the leader. With bigger threats such as Katakuri, Ace, and Gecko Moria present in the format, a higher power counter with draw potential has become vital. This event may not be searchable with Gloriosa or Sengoku, but Buggy certainly gets that job done. Regardless of how Nami has been built this even proves itself within its wide versatility of a counter, draw and potential removal.

Moving on to our number 2, let's shine some light on Borsalino. Borsalino is a 4 DON!! Cost blocker with 5000 power with the ability "[Opponent's Turn] This Character gains +1000 power and cannot be K.O.'d by effects." While similar stat lines with our other admiral on this list, what separates #4 from #2 is their ability. Borsalino is able to swing in for 5000 and then be a 6000 power blocker on your opponent's turn meaning your opponent has to swing into Borsalino with 6000 power or higher to get rid of him since he cannot be K.O.'d by effects on your opponent's turn. It is also beneficial to note that Borsalino, unlike Kuzan, has +1000 counter to him allowing him to be discarded to avoid taking damage. Even so, cards such as finger gun might be one of the few removal pieces that would remove Borsalino outside of combat from its life trigger. Borsalino is truly just a solid blocker for the game and its seeing play in Perona Navy builds and Moria leader navy packages much like our number 4, Kuzan.

Yet our number one slot still remains to be named... Before going over this final card, it is important to note that Paramount War was a set focused on anything related to the Paramount War arc of the manga as well as introducing the color Black into the game. Impel Down, an important and long segment of the Paramount War Arc, was added in within the presence of Blue cards as well as Purple cards, characters with wide variety of costs and abilities were printed with the Whitebeard Pirates type in Red, more Wano support came out of Green cards which carried over from set 1 and the introduction of film cards came from this set as well within Green. The set in its entirety has not aged well when it comes to playability, but there are staples within this set in Black.

That being said, our number one slot is filled by none other than the loyal and tenured member of the navy, Tsuru! This card reads as something simple, but simple can be powerful. Tsuru is a one cost zero power character with +2000 and an ability of "[On Play] Give up to 1 of your opponent's Characters -2 cost during this turn.". Tsuru is a cheap to play character who, like Kuzan, promotes removal within Black and has a +2000 counter on her which is vital in any OPTCG deck no matter the leader or color. On top of being a cheap cost reduction and a +2000 counter, she is also a target for Gecko Moria to reanimate and reduce the cost so your opponent's characters can be more easily removed from the board. Tsuru is such a solid card that it is no wonder that she is still seeing lots of play today!

This concludes today's journey. Until our paths cross again fellow seafarers!