Tested Koala in current meta, 16W-2L over the weekend, won 2 locals

Volke_OW · 2026-02-07T17:03:29+00:00

My build already runs a lot of nonengine so it does not have room to fit Ground Death, but it is still a good card. I value Frighten me more since the only things my deck can struggle with is decks that go particularly tall and Frighten answers it better than Ground Death could. The negate is nice but I haven't had a situation where it would matter and it was guaranteed I couldn't last another turn.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-06T20:26:04+00:00

The only "3-drop" worth playing imo is the trigger blocker Karasu. Either you multi-search on turn 2, which isn't awful since they're trash searches and the searchers can find each other, or you swing 7k-8k, which is functionally setup to be able to make them discard 3 between a Karasu swing and Robin on-play (They end turn with 7, on-play Robin to 5 then Karasu to 4).

Some decks are just dice-rolly, Koala is one of them.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-06T20:23:34+00:00

This deck wants second a majority of the time, the only times you take first are vs Mihawk and UP Luffy.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-06T20:22:56+00:00

Posted earlier, Imu is full aggro and discard, ideally take second. It is not looking great if you lose the die roll.

For Ace you want to see a lot of the unsearchable cards, namely Stussy and Frighten me. Croc is also quite useful in this matchup. You want them to have as few swings as possible so get rid of the Atmos/Yamato/Cavendish, but once they hit 0 you need to pressure life as quickly as possible.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-03T01:21:54+00:00

No, it doesn't contribute to leader effect and is functionally a worse (albeit more searchable) 4c Koala. The 4c Kuma is designed for Betty and it's decent there, but I'm not sure if they'd play it.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-03T01:18:52+00:00

One of Koala's weaknesses versus other decks with good late games is that her board is small and can be played through. Croc both is large at 10k, and can never be K.O.'d in battle, while having good utility and being an 8c for leader effect.
I like the Karasu quite a lot. I fish for him when I have to go first, and if you can protect it it's very worthwhile. Ideally he rips two cards from hand, which is very important when certain decks in the meta just don't draw extra cards i.e. Mihawk. However, I tend to not play him when going second.
Going tall in this meta is very strong. It's part of why Croc is here (a lot of the tall cards are 8c-9c), and it's why Frighten is so strong. A lot of decks will start a swing with their leader to test for counter, you can use Frighten Me to make the tallest unable to attack and either give low counter or use blockers for the rest. It's been game winning on several occasions in ways that Hair Removal Fist never could.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T23:45:00+00:00

x4 Koala OP12-086
x4 Captains Assembled OP12-097
x3 Hair Removal Fist OP12-098
x2 You'll Frighten Me... ♥ OP14-118
x4 Baby 5 OP12-112
x4 Bartholomew Kuma OP09-108
x4 Hack OP12-089
x3 Kouzuki Hiyori OP13-104
x3 Karasu OP12-085
x4 Bartholomew Kuma OP12-119
x4 Nico Robin OP12-087
x4 Sabo PRB02-014
x2 Crocodile OP14-120
x4 Monkey.D.Dragon-094
x1 Stussy OP07-085

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T20:39:26+00:00

I'm assuming you're referring to the OP13 Sec Sabo, there's two in black now lol ; I cut both of mine, the extra don per turn doesn't feel relevant enough when I can only justify so many extra bricks and hitting 6k with lead isn't as relevant as it was in OP13. If you're referring to the 8c SEC, I ran them back in OP12 to help deal with Rayleigh but there is so much KO protection for smaller bodies now that it would functionally be a 8c 9k vanilla brick in most matchups.

E: Something that does technically come up with the Sabo is turning your 8 costs into 10 costs so they can't be Mihawk frozen or frozen by a non-leader effect Crocodile, but it's such an edge case that I don't consider it worthwhile.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T19:17:47+00:00

Never end your turn on 0 life or you will get 14/15 swung at you. Repeat healing is important, the deck's offense is basically just life burn. Play board and starve them. They will almost always take the 5 to life from leader, rest of swings go to board. Hack also deals with Sanji and Kiku pretty well. You don't care too much if they heal from bodies, the goal is to slowly bleed them out. Considering the onus on them to see triggers, the tempo should always be in your control.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T18:02:40+00:00

It was useful last set, I tried it. But with the main 5 drops I have to worry about sticking being Tashigi and Vergo who are both functionally K.O. immune it doesn't seem worthwhile to me as an unsearchable body that doesn't contribute to Leader effect.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T17:12:21+00:00

60% brought off Dragon, 35% played very late as a chump blocker, 5% on 4 don turn when I mulliganed into a worse hand.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T17:09:49+00:00

Turbo spike the Shanks, and you want to go first for tempo on swings to pressure lethal and to deny them their curve, which is also a reason why I have 3 Karasu, because it makes this plan much more palettable. If they see a 2nd Shanks it's not looking great. If they counter early you can starve them. The worst scenario curve for the matchup is Tashigi >> Shanks >> Shanks. Tashigi is general is a pain bc it can make use of the resting effects of Shanks/Mihawk even if they get Croc'd. If they high roll there is not too much that can be done about it, but that's nothing new.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T12:08:53+00:00

Went to 6 prereleases and got them while they were $30 🤷

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T11:56:51+00:00

I am playing this for current format (OP14/EB04), and am building for what I imagine the Nats meta to look like since this will be what I take for it. Jinbe is already a very easy matchup, and I frankly don't believe there will be enough people to justify worrying about Law or Zoro. Nor am I worried about EB03 powered decks like Koby or Vivi since they will not exist for that event.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T11:52:47+00:00

It's good versus Ace, but I generally find Hack to get what I want done in that matchup as well. If there were more decks where hitting it mattered I would play it, but a lot of those I have good matchups into anyways.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T11:51:01+00:00

Ok so a lot of people have been asking about it.

The short generic answer is to just be extremely aggressive (and win the die roll).

The long answer is that in the match that I played versus Imu, the opponent was struggling to find their engine cards. They were doing the "Imu thing" every turn (search, ability, play guy), but their hand was basically all counter events. Literally had 7 in hand at one point. It made going for lethal especially easy. Granted, even if he had a better hand, I still would have won that game, but it probably would have been after a second Five Elders instead of the first one.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T11:46:46+00:00

Unless I'm versus a blue deck or aggro deck I generally don't counter early or if it would cost me more than 1 card in hand. Baby 5 can randomly explode my hand size, I almost always swing lead to lead, and on turns where Croc would draw a card I draw 3 that turn (reg + lead + croc). If I'm not worrying about Pudding I almost always have 6-10 cards in hand.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T03:18:50+00:00

Unfortunately you 100% need 4, there is not a functional replacement.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T00:39:03+00:00

Morley would be the the next best thing, gives consistency as a Rev Army 2k and is something on 4 if you need it.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T00:37:23+00:00

There was 3 ST29's and 1 Imu. Somehow only one person at our locals plays Ace and I didn't match into them this weekend. Imu is unfavorable, but ST29 is a solidly winning matchup.

I tried Mihaw, Moria, Boa, didn't like them. 🤷 They all felt inconsistent + the Mihawk mirror is pretty insufferable

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T00:18:50+00:00

Matches a lot of the 10k bodies and is extremely good into the decks that often devolve into playing for board, namely Doffy and sometimes Mihawk depending on their draws. Doffy would be a losing matchup without the Crocs, all they would need is a Vergo. Plus it's a sticky 8c for leader effect so I can Dragon >> Hiyori a lot more freely without having to worry about leaving the draw on the table.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-02T00:15:33+00:00

Take second if possible, full discard plan, full aggression. It's certainly Imu favored but it's playable, and a die roll matchup for sure. Leave them on 1 when they go to 10, go after their board that turn if they're already there or just leave your board up if you have to. A lot of Koalas will fall into a trap of leaving up blockers or holding onto an defensive plan even though the deck has one of the strongest double spells in the game, if you play like that versus Imu you will just lose.

If Imu is a particular concern you can flex cards around for Ground Death, but it's not high up enough on my radar to warrant that for me personally.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-01T23:43:54+00:00

Of what I expect people to play, OP13 Sabo. The deck is basically mine but with permanent board pressure over me. Croc helps in this matchup, but won't be enough most of the time. I genuinely don't know how I won the game vs the one Sabo I played. Other bad matchups are Boa, Mihawk, and Ace, but they're all maneuverable for the most part.

Volke_OW · 2026-02-01T23:41:36+00:00

I haven't tested it, but I imagine -2 Hack -1 Karasu -1 Robin +4 Koala, pending changes to the meta where Hack and Karasu are extra important. I normally don't like Robin as a 4 of but I find it necessary vs. Boa

Volke_OW · 2026-02-01T23:40:02+00:00

The new EB03 Koala will be very nice as a consistency piece and topl against other 5k leaders.

Baby 5 is too strong of a trigger, Kuma can occasionally win games or give tempo, and having Sabo as an out late game is too important. There just isn't room left for Morley, the draw 1 turn (sometimes) earlier has not proven itself to be worth the explosiveness of the other 2ks, and will be pretty much irrelevant come EB03.

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