OP-16 Impel Down Luffy Deck Guide: Full 50-Card List

The Impel Down Luffy deck is the highest-ceiling tempo build in the OP-16 format. The leader restriction sounds punishing on paper, but once the engine runs, no other Green/Blue build generates this kind of mid-game momentum.

TL;DR: OP16-022 Luffy is an S-tier Green/Blue leader with a hard tribal restriction: all characters must carry the Impel Down trait or the DON!! refund does not trigger. The reward for respecting that restriction is 2 free DON!! every turn from roughly turn 3 onward. Deploy cheap Prisoners on turns 1 and 2, unlock the engine on turn 3, and snowball from there. The Bandai feature deck runs a tight 50-card list centered on efficient 2-4 cost Impel Down characters.

Key Takeaways

• OP16-022OP16-022 Monkey.D.Luffy is Green/Blue with 5000 Power and 4 Life
• His effect fires once per turn during your main phase if ALL your characters in play have the Impel Down trait, setting up to 2 DON!! as active
• This is a tribal build: you cannot mix in generic Green/Blue cards without shutting off the leader
• The official Bandai feature deck runs 12 two-cost characters to ensure early board presence before the engine activates
• JP week 1 confirmed this archetype as S-tier; EN week 1 results align with that assessment
• Budget to build: $80-120 in June 2026 (no SEC leader, most pieces are mid-price OP-16 singles)

Impel Down Luffy deck guide (quick answer)

The Impel Down Luffy deck plays a tribe-locked tempo game. You spend turns 1 and 2 establishing an Impel Down board with efficient 2-cost characters, then trigger the leader effect from turn 3 onward to refund 2 DON!! per turn. Those extra resources either go into additional character plays or power attacks. The deck curves to 4-5 cost threats by mid-game while most opponents are still working their standard resource curve.

What Makes This Build Different

Most Green/Blue decks in the One Piece card game function as generic tempo builds: they take the best Green cards for board presence and the best Blue cards for disruption and mix them freely. OP16-022 Luffy breaks that pattern with a hard restriction. To activate the leader ability, every character you control must carry the Impel Down trait. A single non-Impel Down character on your board and the effect does not trigger that turn.

That restriction eliminates access to a wide pool of strong Green/Blue generalist cards. No Nami, no standard Law pieces, no cross-archetype staples unless they happen to carry the Impel Down trait. What you gain in exchange is a DON!! engine that compounds: 2 free DON!! per turn starting around turn 3 means you are effectively playing with 2 extra resources every main phase, which translates to an extra character play or a significantly stronger attack each turn.

The unrestricted Luffy build uses the same leader card but deliberately ignores the tribal ability. It mixes in strong general Green/Blue cards and plays a more consistent game without the engine upside. That version is more forgiving of bad draws and inconsistent board states. The Impel Down version punishes you more when your early drops are missing, but the ceiling on turns 4 and 5 is higher than any unrestricted version can match.

The tribal restriction also means your opponent knows exactly what is in your deck once they identify your leader. They will play around your character pool. Part of piloting this archetype is understanding that your hand is readable, so sequencing and bluffing become more important than in an open-card-pool build.

GODEEPER: The unrestricted version of this leader plays an entirely different game with a mixed card pool and no tribal commitment. OP-16 Luffy Deck Guide: Blue/Green Tempo Build →

Luffy (OP16-022) refunds 2 DON!! per turn as long as every Character carries the Impel Down trait, the restriction that defines the build.

The 50-Card Decklist

This is the official Bandai feature deck for OP16-022 Luffy, published at en.onepiece-cardgame.com:

Leader (1)

• 1x OP16-022 Monkey.D.Luffy

Characters (36)

• 4x OP16-034 Monkey.D.Luffy
• 4x OP16-027 Jinbe
• 4x Mr.1 (Daz.Bonez) (OP16-054)
• 4x Mr.2.Bon.Kurei (Bentham) (OP16-055)
• 4x OP16-026 Emporio.Ivankov
• 4x Mr.3 (Galdino) (OP16-056)
• 4x ST30-012 Monkey.D.Luffy
• 4x OP16-048 Buggy
• 4x OP16-042 Prisoner of Impel Down
• 4x OP16-032 Boa Hancock
• 2x OP16-024 Inazuma

Events (10)

• 10x Let's Go!! To the Navy Headquarters!! (OP16-038)

Total: 50 cards

The list is tight on card diversity by design. Twelve 2-cost character slots (Mr.1, Mr.2, and the Prisoner of Impel Down four-of) ensure you almost always have an early drop to start the board. The four copies of OP16-042 Prisoner of Impel Down function as a flexible filler character with low cost that fills the tribal requirement while you assemble your stronger pieces. The event card (Let's Go!!) appears as a 10-of, which is an unusually large Event slot for a One Piece deck: it provides the combat trick and counter support that a creature-heavy build needs to survive until the engine fires.

Key Cards Explained

Monkey.D.Luffy (Leader, OP16-022) is the engine of the entire deck. 5000 Power and 4 Life is an acceptable stat line for a Green/Blue leader. The effect is what you are playing for: once per turn during your main phase, if all your characters have the Impel Down trait, set up to 2 DON!! as active. 4 Life is on the lower end, which means aggressive decks can threaten you if the engine is not running. Prioritize board setup over life protection in the early turns.

OP16-034OP16-034 Monkey.D.Luffy (Character, 4x) is the primary mid-cost threat the deck accelerates into. The DON!! refund from your leader means you can play this piece earlier than your opponent expects, before they have stabilized against your board.

OP16-027OP16-027 Jinbe (Character, 4x) provides the defensive body your early Impel Down board needs. His role is holding the board long enough for the engine to generate meaningful advantage, and he carries the Impel Down trait so the restriction stays intact.

OP16-026OP16-026 Emporio.Ivankov (Character, 4x) is one of the deck's acceleration pieces. Ivankov's effect pairs with the DON!! refresh to create sequences where you deploy more characters per turn than your cost curve would suggest. He is a staple in Impel Down lists for that reason.

Mr.1 (Daz.Bonez) (OP16-054) and Mr.2.Bon.Kurei (Bentham) (OP16-055) are your turn-1 and turn-2 drops, both sitting at 2 cost. Getting either on the board on turn 1 establishes the Impel Down count so the leader effect can fire as soon as turn 3. Draw a hand without these two and your engine runs a full turn slower. Mulligan aggressively for at least one of them.

OP16-042OP16-042 Prisoner of Impel Down (Character, 4x) is the glue card. It exists primarily to fill the tribal requirement when you are missing a specific piece. Low cost, keeps the restriction alive, and is a valid blocker. Do not underestimate it: in games where your Mr.1 and Mr.2 are in the bottom of your deck, this card keeps the engine running.

OP16-032OP16-032 Boa Hancock (Character, 4x) is the deck's late-game finisher pressure. Once the DON!! engine is established, Hancock becomes a resource-efficient threat because you are playing her off partially refunded DON!!.

OP16-048OP16-048 Buggy (Character, 4x) and OP16-024OP16-024 Inazuma (Character, 2x) round out the supporting Impel Down cast. Buggy provides swarm presence at mid-cost. Inazuma at 2 copies is a flex slot: he provides utility in specific board states but at lower consistency than the 4-of slots.

Let's Go!! To the Navy Headquarters!! (OP16-038, 10x) running 10 Events is the unusual choice that defines this deck's defensive posture. A creature-heavy deck with no defensive tools is weak to Rush attackers and large-power attacks. The Event gives you the counter coverage to survive to turn 4-5 when the DON!! refund starts generating real advantage. Do not cut this to fewer than 8 copies.

Slower Sengoku decks lean on Sakazuki (OP16-065) to reset the board, which is exactly why Impel Down Luffy wants to close before the Admirals come online.

Matchups

vs. Sengoku Navy: This is one of the tougher matchups. Sengoku lists include OP16-065OP16-065 Sakazuki (Akainu) as a removal piece, and consistent removal clears your Impel Down board, cutting off the leader effect. The key is deploying characters at a pace faster than removal can answer them. Keep Mr.1 and Mr.2 pressure constant in the early turns so they are spending resources on removal rather than setting up their own engine. Check the full OP-16 Blackbeard Deck Guide for context on how redirect-control matchups play differently from removal-based ones.

vs. Blackbeard (Black/Yellow): Blackbeard's attack redirection disrupts your combat math. You commit power to an attack and the redirect shifts the damage target. Play around this by spreading attacks across multiple characters rather than committing all your DON!! to a single large attacker. The engine advantage gives you the resources to spread pressure in a way that taxes the redirect mechanic.

vs. Buggy (Blue): A mirror-adjacent matchup: both decks share the Impel Down character pool. The difference is your DON!! engine gives you higher individual turn ceilings. Their advantage is a lower average cost curve and more characters on board earlier. Play to your engine, not to racing their character count early.

vs. Rush Aggro (Red Ace): Red Ace is the most dangerous matchup. Four Life is manageable until the burn effects start adding up. The Let's Go!! Event becomes critical here: hold counter coverage for the key attack windows. Do not overextend into board if it leaves you unable to defend life. See the OP-16 Law Deck Guide for how control-adjacent builds approach this same aggro matchup.

vs. Purple Enel (format #1): Enel lists use board clears and draw engines that punish wide boards. The Impel Down build is vulnerable here because your tribal restriction means you cannot pivot easily. Focus on presenting individual high-power threats rather than spreading a wide board that is more exposed to AoE removal. The DON!! refund lets you redeploy after clears faster than most decks can.

GODEEPER: Law is the surprise package of the OP-16 format and shares some matchup characteristics with this deck. OP-16 Law Deck Guide →

Related Reading

• OP-16 Luffy Deck Guide: the unrestricted Blue/Green Luffy build, which plays the same leader without tribal commitment and mixes in general-use cards for broader flexibility.
• OP-16 Buggy Deck Guide: Buggy runs many of the same Impel Down characters but at lower average cost with a different leader effect, making it the budget-friendly Impel Down option.
• OP-16 Blackbeard Deck Guide: Black/Yellow control that is consistently the highest-skill deck in the format, with matchup breakdowns relevant to Impel Down lists.
• OP-16 Meta Tier List Week 1: full format tier list with tournament win rates and placement data from EN week 1.
• OP-16 All 6 Leaders Explained: side-by-side comparison of all leaders including both Luffy variants and their differences.

Frequently Asked Questions

What color is the Impel Down Luffy leader in OP-16? OP16-022 Monkey.D.Luffy is Green/Blue. He requires all characters in play to have the Impel Down trait to activate his DON!! refresh effect, which makes him a tribal build rather than a generic Green/Blue tempo deck.

Can I mix in non-Impel Down Green/Blue characters? No. Adding a single character without the Impel Down trait shuts off your leader ability for that turn. The restriction is strict: ALL characters currently in play must carry the Impel Down trait or you cannot activate the effect.

How many DON!! does Luffy OP16-022 refund per turn? Up to 2 DON!! become active once per turn during your main phase, provided the Impel Down restriction is met. Over a 5-turn mid-game stretch, that is 10 extra DON!! worth of tempo advantage.

Is the Impel Down Luffy deck expensive to build? The official Bandai feature list uses mostly OP-16 cards that have settled at low-to-mid price points post-launch. The leader itself is not a SEC, which keeps the entry cost reasonable. Expect $80-120 for the full 50-card build in June 2026.

How does this deck compare to the unrestricted Green/Blue Luffy build? The unrestricted build uses the same leader but ignores the tribal restriction, mixing in stronger general-use Green/Blue cards. It is more consistent in the early game. The Impel Down version wins harder on turns 4 and 5 when the DON!! engine is firing, but punishes you more for bad draws.

What is the best counter to Impel Down Luffy? Wide-board clear effects hurt this deck badly since it needs multiple characters in play to gain value. Decks with persistent removal or Rush attackers that threaten life before your engine comes online are the strongest counters.

Does Buggy work in both the Impel Down Luffy and Buggy decks? Yes. Several OP-16 Buggy and Impel Down characters overlap between the two archetypes. The difference is the leader: OP16-022 Luffy uses the DON!! refund for tempo, while the Buggy leader uses Impel Down characters for a swarm strategy at lower average card cost.

References

• Official Bandai OP16-022 Feature Deck: the 50-card official Impel Down Luffy decklist published by Bandai
• gumgum.gg OP16-022 Decklists: community submitted and tournament-verified decklists for Monkey.D.Luffy OP16-022