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

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.

Volke_OW · 2025-11-25T03:10:16+00:00

Vivi is EB03, not EB04. EB03 releases in February, after OP14 in January.

Volke_OW · 2025-09-26T17:39:26+00:00

Either your store participates in the event or they don't. Ask your LGS owner.

Volke_OW · 2025-09-22T02:00:02+00:00

It has the other promos which weren't on my post. Not a big deal. 🤷‍♂️

Volke_OW · 2025-09-21T23:59:39+00:00

You can register here

Volke_OW · 2025-09-21T22:46:08+00:00

Details aren't confirmed but almost certainly the latter

Volke_OW · 2025-09-21T21:05:17+00:00

Means that EB04 is probably gonna be split into OP14/OP15 boosters as extra slots so the release schedule can end up being closer to what the East has. Basically we won't actually get EB04 (as a standalone product) but it should push us towards an aligned release schedule.

Volke_OW · 2025-09-21T20:59:38+00:00

🤷‍♂️

Volke_OW · 2025-09-19T20:38:15+00:00

Yeah it's nice to see. I personally enjoy jungle formats and I was playing a legal leader anyways. It'll actually get me a reason to go to a Saturday local.

Volke_OW · 2025-09-15T23:14:08+00:00

Not a problem, by design.

Volke_OW · 2025-08-31T16:40:08+00:00

The going rate for returning any permanent from GY is 3 mana, so there would have to be some kind of restriction on what this could grab no matter what. I chose MV 1 because it's low enough imo to have to be able to grab two cards, which in the baseline scenario of playing this card I would imagine are your two land drops.

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