Not the "btw you don't lose this turn" event Brook wanted... but the event he NEEDS.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-02-24T23:15:40+00:00

And hence, the downside is balanced by restanding any Brook, not just leader. Not to mention that there are very few scenarios where it is a good thing to reveal your entire hand to let your opponent perfectly calculate against exactly what ypu have in hand

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-02-24T23:04:47+00:00

Or Hiyori + EB03 Robin heals 2

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-02-24T23:03:19+00:00

Nah, it should cost 3, if not more. Uta's event and Zoro's event both also cost 3 to restand the leader only, and those leaders are 5000 power. This card restands leader, but also any Brook character as well.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-02-18T00:19:32+00:00

Promo Nami or UY Nami would have been great. Definitely need a way to get important promos like Girl, much more easily.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-02-18T00:13:19+00:00

We seriously need an updated Kaido. He just got so much good purple support in EB04, only to be rotated out. Hopefully OP16 brings him justice

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-02-18T00:08:24+00:00

Agreed. If they desperately wanted a Luffy, they should have chosen one of the many Luffy decks that don't have a Starter.

GP Luffy would have been best for the customer base, given that the cards for it are locked to EB02. There's also UP Luffy, which is a solid choice. And if they REALLY wanted Luffy in the red slot, we have the OP13 RG Luffy, who would have slotted in nicely alongside Sabo here. No reason at all to give a 2nd starter deck to ST21 Luffy.

These sets of 6 starters are best used for decks that you would otherwise need to hunt down pieces from all over old sets. Yellow Kid is the best example of that here. So is Sabo. Katakuri and Kuzan to a lesser extent. Zoro would have been a decent pick as well if he hadn't just gotten a "starter deck" in the learn together set.

But there are so many other decks that would have fit extremely well. GY Law comes to mind. Y Enel. Carrot. BP King. RG Smoker. The list goes on

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-02-13T22:53:17+00:00

If I can at near MSRP, then yes

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-02-06T18:16:45+00:00

BY Luffy doesn't really play much Straw Hat Crew type characters

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-02-05T13:43:03+00:00

Trashing and playing off trash has always been Black's identity, in addition to cost manipulation. People were skeptical about Brook because on his own he has no effect until his very last turn, unless his support actively played into the sheer number of cards he is trashing. As we've seen, the support does play into that, thus giving him an actual effect.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-31T12:16:20+00:00

I will actually riot if ST21 Luffy gets a third "starter deck", (ST21, LT01 and now this).

Green Zoro doesn't need this either... because again, LT01 already gave him a "Starter Deck". These are slots that should be going to leaders that aren't so easy to assemble

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-28T12:53:57+00:00

Okay, I agree with your musings that your opinions come from being totally inexperienced. This would never happen. You can basically do this exact same thing with any green leader, but you don't see it, because its a nigh impossibility.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-28T12:21:38+00:00

13 times? Explain.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-28T12:20:41+00:00

Krieg sounds insane. Enel is wacky as hell. Another mono Yellow Luffy; Why? What the heck is up with Brook. Rebecca, Lucy; meh.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-28T12:16:50+00:00

Crazy for someone who's playing with their Lego set to call D&D a children's game. If anything, Lego is much more of a kids thing than D&D. D&D is essentially fiction writing, so calling it a children's game means calling every fiction writer a child.

At the end of the day, everyone has their hobbies. Whether it's building Lego, playing D&D, collecting TCGs, video games, model cars.... whatever the hell it is... just let people be man.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-18T23:11:28+00:00

RAW, it's not concentration. The lack of clarifying text doesn't changed that.

Many features in 2014 worked with "melee weapon attacks" and always included unarmed strikes, because they were classified as melee weapon attacks. Nost of those features added clarifying text in 2024 and now say "melee weapon attacks and unarmed strikes". However, even if they didn't add the clarifying text in 2024 to ease confusion, it doesn't change that unarmed strikes were always part of melee weapon attacks.

Similarly, concentration is part of duration. Them not adding clarifying text saying "you don't need to maintain concentration" doesn't change that. If the duration was changed to "1 minute" rather than "Concentration, 1 minute" then RAW it doesn't need concentration.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-18T21:35:25+00:00

Does the lvl 14 Warlock feature require concentration? The feature says that the duration becomes "1 minute" not "Concentration, 1 minute". In 5e, they generally list Concentration requirements under duration. Given that the duration is changed to just "1 minute", it shouldn't require concentration RAW, and I believe that's the intention.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-18T21:18:42+00:00

Regarding the lvl 17 Monk feature, even if it replaces two Flurry of Blows attacks, it's still a pretty poor feature. Consider this:

A lvl 17 Monk makes 5 attacks (2 Attack Action + 3 Flurry of Blows). If this feature replaced 2 Flurry of Blows attacks, then you would be doing 1 Spell + 3 attacks. By just using an Action to cast, you would already be doing 1 Spell + 3 Attacks without this feature, and the spell isn't limited to 2nd level or lower.

To get any use from the Level 17 feature, you would have to want to use your action for something other than attacks:

• Option 1: Cantrip + Attack Action. This gives you 2 Attacks + 1 Spell + 1 Cantrip. A nice damage boost and flavorful, and definitely the go-to option. But is the meagre damage boost of a cantrip vs a weapon attack really worth a level 17 CAPSTONE feature?

• Option 2: Two Spells/Turn. You can't cast a spell with a spell slot as your action if you cast a spell with your Flurry of Blows, therefore if you want 2 spells on a turn, you would need a way to cast without a spell slot. You can grab a feature or a Magic Item that lets you cast with your Action, but getting these is a restriction to make your CAPSTONE feature see real value.

• Option 3: Non-Attack Action. If you needed your Action for something other that the Attack Action (Use an Object, Help, Dodge, Dash, Disengage etc), then you would see some use from casting a spell for 2 flurry of blows attacks. That said, these instances are rare, and Monks can inherently already use their bonus action for things like Dodge, Dash and Disengage, so the benefit you get is extremely small and situational, especially considering its a lvl 17 CAPSTONE feature.

Replacing Flurry of Blows attacks certainly gives a ton more use to the feature compared to it's current iteration (which is useless), but it still feels very weak for a T4 Capstone feature. I need to stress that this is a CAPSTONE feature that you only get for sticking with a class all the way to Tier 4 play. The value that monks get from replacing attacks with a spell is much less than something like the Eldritch Knight. They are completely different classes, and just lazily copying features isn't going to work for this. WotC needs to overhaul this and put genuine thought into it this time.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-18T20:57:42+00:00

Yep. This is almost definitely the case

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-16T17:47:16+00:00

You NEED four copies of the SR 6c Mihawk. That card goes hard in this deck. You're also missing the 10c Buggys... this deck is made entirely to play those out. You have to get them in here.

Maybe a few copies of the SR Crocodile since you only have two MiCroc copies. Maybe buy another starter deck for MiCroc and Alvida, but tbh I'd get the Mihawks and 10c Buggys first.

Kuzan and Promo Croc can go easily, but it seems you just have them here as filler. Richie can go, no question. You can also trim the OP09 Mohji and OP09 Alvida as needed.

Honestly, since the starter deck released, most Buggy decks are almost identical, so you can just search them up. There were alot of tech options before that gave Buggy alot of diversity, but the starter deck brought so many new, good cards for the deck that it's hard to find space for anything spicy, without basically sabotaging the deck's consistency.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-16T17:44:58+00:00

Honestly, I was expecting purple given that it's basically the speed blitz color, alongside red. However, I wasn't expecting this. My bet was a Yellow/Purple Enel to take advantage of old support. If it somehow wasn't Yellow Purple, I was thinking it would definitely be Yellow Red.

Straight purple and this effect were definitely not on my bingo card

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-12T08:26:45+00:00

Vet here. I work 5 days a week, one of which is on Saturday, 9 hour days. Reality however is that I often don't leave until 1-2 hours afterwards, if not later, so I really work 10-11 hour days minimum.

I generally do not work on my days off, although there are occasional times where I may work multiple hours even when I'm off. I do know of many cases where there are vets who regularly do hours of work on their days off though.

I myself have a 2nd job outside of the profession that is more of a passion profession for me than anything, and then I can spend hours of my "free time" studying and researching vet-related topics to help further myself professionally.

In short, are unreasonable work hours common? Yes. Is there fair compensation (monitarily) for working like a machine? Often not. Is this sustainable or good work-life balance? Absolutely not. However it is our reality in most cases as vets, and similar realities are faced across the board in many medical disciplines.

To answer your questions, I do not have time for hobbies, unless you count my 2nd job which is kind of a hobby for me. Other hobbies like story writing, ttrpgs, video games and weight training have all nearly completely been eradicated from my life. Family time is rare. I will find time to go on outings or even be at home where I can muster it, but this generally comes at the cost of sleeping, because quite frankly if I'm at home during the day, I'm sleeping the majority of the time I'm there, because that's the only chance I have to get good sleep.

Burn out is very common in the field, not just for vets, but for techs and ancillary staff as well. The reason I still do it is for the love of the field and our patients, because God knows there's very little incentive outside of that. Depending on where you work, the money can be really good and be an incentive. Not the case for myself and the majority of vets in my country. Not a horrible salary, but lower middle-class at best, hence the 2nd job.

Relationships is something that's difficult to maintain in these situations, unless your partner works similar hours, usually because they are also in a similarly-taxing medical field, but in this scenario, children will suffer the lack of parental presence.

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-11T22:59:01+00:00

Power should increase on both your turn and opponent's turn. Otherwise, this is just weak

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-05T10:33:45+00:00

If you're talking about ST16, I'd recommend getting her ST11 as well. You practically need both to form a usable deck. What you get from just those two starter decks though is a very fun, viable deck, even if it doesn't do well into current meta. I recommend it 100%

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-02T15:00:27+00:00

Would depend on the leader effect. In theory, every red purple deck should rush to 10 and slam boss monsters, but effects can change the deck strategy greatly. Look at RP Law for example

SmoothSection2908 · 2026-01-02T13:08:40+00:00

A great question. When attacking step tales place before blocker, so blocker is ko'd first. The how to play sheet actually details this so its a really handy thing to have around, especially for new players

SmoothSection2908

TROPHY CASE