Much like protagonists, antagonists have their own reasons that drive them toward their own malicious goals. Whether it be something as simple as revenge, or maybe a bleak gray area like a child needing a heart transplant, the best way to get the heart is to get the heart yourself for transplant. Today's antagonist and OPTCG Leader is someone who was born into wealth only to have it stripped from him after just getting comfortable with it. I am of course referring to the man with a Pink coat, fantastic shades, and a funky walk through the halls of Mary Geoise, Doflamingo.

With the Seven Warlord support that came out of Set 7 500 Years in the Future Doflamingo has seen a rise in playability. Additionally, I would expect to see more of him at the table with multiple starter decks with already existing leaders (One of them being Doflamingo), coming to your LGS near you as of October 25th this year.

As a regular breakdown goes, Doflamingo is a 5000 power with 5 life leader (standard stats for a Mono-color leader) and the ability of "[DON!! x2] [When Attacking] Pay 1 DON!! (You may rest the specified number of DON!! cards in your cost area.): Reveal 1 card from the top of your deck. If that card is a {The Seven Warlords of the Sea} type Character card with a cost of 4 or less, you may play that card rested." This leader heavily relies on the top of your deck to be set up properly, so what are some excellent options to set up the top of your deck?

We'll kick things off with the wise Fish-man himself, and the priciest of the Seven warlord characters that meet Doflamingo's criteria (4 cost), Jinbe.

Jinbe is a four cost 5000 power character with an On Play that allows you to put a 4 cost or lower character with the seven warlord types besides Jinbe into play rested from your hand. Essentially the same ability as Doflamingo except it's from the hand instead of the top of your library. One line of play is to play Jinbe off Doflamingo's ability then off Jinbe ability play Edward Weevil and then with his on play draw a card, ALL before your opponent declares blockers. Jinbe is the priciest of the 4-cost Seven warlord characters, holding an average market price between $7 and $9 dollars but he is not the only viable option to play off of Doflamingo's ability.

Some other excellent targets to play off the top of your deck are Extra Booster Weevil, Set 1 Doflamingo Blocker, and Gecko Moria. I know we've already gone over Edward Weevil at this point so let's talk about Doflamingo blocker.

Doflamingo is a 3 cost 4000 power character with blocker and "[Blocker] (After your opponent declares an attack, you may rest this card to make it the new target of the attack.) [On Play] Look at 5 cards from the top of your deck and place them at the top or bottom of the deck in any order.". This ability allows you to stack the top of your deck to align your draws and properly set your leader up to maximize his ability to play from the top of your deck, or you can just pitch the entire 5 cards to the bottom of your deck if you don't have need for them at this time. But let's go over Gecko Moria real fast since we did mention him previously.

Gecko Moria is a 4 cost 5000 power character, so you are able to play him off Doflamingo ability, that allows you to grab a Seven Warlord of the Sea character with a cost 4 or less from your grave to your hand on play. This means you could grab the previously mentioned cards from your grave to play later during your current turn or on a later turn. Long-term planning.

But enough about the cards that are currently available to us, I am sure you want to go over some of the excellent new characters coming out of Starter deck 17 for Doflamingo, right? Let's take a look at Marshall .D. Teach and Boa Hancock.

Marshall.D. Teach is a 2 cost 3000 power Character that allows you to manipulate the top of your deck for Doflamingo by utilizing what is in your hand and then places 2 rested DON!! on your leader or one of your characters. This ability can be activated once per turn but allows you to use the majority of your DON!! and still meet the 2x DON!! requirement on doflamingo's ability.

Last on our list is Boa Hancock. Boa Hancock is a 4 cost 6000 power blocker with an On Play of "Look at 3 cards from the top of your deck and place them at the top or bottom of your deck in any order. Then, give up to 1 rested DON!! card to 1 of your {The Seven Warlords of the Sea} type Leader or Character cards." which allows you to, once again, stack the deck AND increase power on your Leader or Characters to create a more menacing attack.

That's it for today fellow seafarers! Until the seas do us part!