To celebrate the 25th anniversary ofOne Piece, Shueisha, Bandai, and Carddass announced in 2022 that they would be making a trading card game adaptation of the hit manga. This TCG, titled theOne Piece Card Game, was initially released in Japan in July 2022, before it eventually made its way to other countries later that year. The reveal of theOne Piece Card Gamewasn’t met with much fanfare; TCG adaptations of popular Japanese franchises aren’t exactly a new thing, and aside from a few exceptions, likeYu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card GameandPokemon TCG, most of them haven’t performed that well from a commercial standpoint. TheOne Piece Card Game, however, did far better than expected.
According to statistics provided bythe card game retailer TCGplayer, theOne PieceCard Gamewas one of the best-selling TCGs of 2024. During the last quarter of the year, in fact, the booster boxes for theOne PieceCard Game: Emperors of the New Worldset managed to outsellthePokemon TCG:Surging Sparksbooster boxeson the TCGplayer website. In Japan, meanwhile, theOne PieceTCGwas the third best-selling trading card game of September 2024, behind onlyYu-Gi-Oh!andPokemon. While the evergreen popularity of the manga and anime likely played a major role in its commercial performance, theOne Piece Card Game’s apparent success could partially be attributed to the fact that one of its biggest mechanics was taken straight out ofMagic: The Gathering’s playbook.
The One Piece TCG and the Magic: The Gathering Commander Format Have a Lot in Common
The One Piece TCG Features a Type of Card Known as a Leader
In theOne PieceTCG, players compete against each other using decks of 50 cards, most of which are classified under three different categories: character cards, event cards, and stage cards. On top of this, each deck hasa certainOne Piece TCGcard known as a Leader, which is utilized as a representative of sorts for the players themselves. Leader cards are intended to remain on the playing field at all times, and they are used to determine the primary strategies that a certain deck employs. All the cards in a single deck have to share the same color as their respective Leader, and when one of these Leaders is defeated by an opponent in battle, a player loses the game.
The One Piece TCG’s Leaders Are Similar to Magic: The Gathering’s Commanders in Concept
Though the games themselves may be fundamentally different, the Leader cards of theOne PieceTCGbear a striking resemblance to the widely popularCommanderformat inMagic: The Gathering.Commander, for those who don’t know, is pretty much exactly as its name describes. In this format, players build a 100-card deck and choose a specific creature or Planeswalker to use as a “Commander” for their game. Like with theOne Piece TCG’s Leaders, each player’s deck is based around the colors of their Commander cards. If a Commander deals a minimum of 21 points of damage to an opponent during a single game, that player will lose the battle.
TheMagic: The Gathering Commanderformat and theOne PieceTCGare both more casual-friendly compared to the average trading card game, and they encourage a lot of experimentation, as well. Since players have to mix-and-match cards that fit best with their desired Commanders or Leaders, they are given many options on how to build their decks, which has led to more player freedom and less rigid rules. TheCommanderformat and theOne Piece Card Gamehave largely attracted the attention of small friend groups and solo TCG players rather thancompetitive TCG enthusiasts.
While There Are Some Differences Between the Two, MtG’s Commander Format and One Piece’s TCG are Both Casual-Friendly
It’s worth noting that there are a few significant distinctions between theMagic: The Gathering Commanderformat and theOne Piece TCG. InCommander, for example, players have to ensure that there are no duplicates of any card in their decks (aside from basic lands), while intheOne Piece Card Game, they can have up to four of the same cards in a single deck, much like in traditionalMagic: The Gatheringformats. Differences aside, however, the fact that these TCGs both use a similar, approachable gameplay formula has likely contributed a lot to their overall popularity.
