Bandai has announced the latest revisions to the One Piece Card Game Banned/Restricted Card List, effective April 1, 2026. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s changing and why.
The Development Team’s Philosophy
Before diving into the changes, it’s worth understanding how Bandai approaches the Banned/Restricted list. The core design goal of the One Piece Card Game is simple: every Leader card should have a viable path to victory. Strategic diversity isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the foundation of the game’s design.
The Development Team monitors the competitive environment continuously, evaluating cards across multiple criteria:
- Win rate across the competitive field
- Tournament results from major events
- Usage rate — how frequently a deck appears in a given competition
- Long-term impact on the future game environment
- Whether a deck inhibits the viability of various Leaders
Typically, list revisions are announced once after Championship Season 1 in Japan and once after the World Championship. However, Bandai reserves the right to act outside of these windows if a card is deemed an urgent threat to a healthy game environment.
Cards with Active Restrictions
🚫 Banned Cards
The following cards cannot be included in any deck:
- OP06-047 Charlotte Pudding
- OP03-040 Nami
- OP06-086 Gecko Moria
- ST10-001 Trafalgar Law
- OP06-116 Reject
🔄 Newly Banned (April 1, 2026)
OP06-047 Charlotte Pudding (all parallel versions included)
Charlotte Pudding is out — and the reasoning is fascinating. Rather than being banned for raw power or win rate dominance, Pudding was removed because of the psychological and strategic impact she had on the game.
Blue decks had been using Pudding as a reliable counter to hand-size-based strategies, but the Development Team determined she was fundamentally undermining one of the game’s most beloved mechanics: the mind games around hand size. Knowing — or guessing — how many cards your opponent holds is a core tension in One Piece Card Game, and Pudding was stripping that away too efficiently.
This is a ban rooted in game feel, not just numbers. A refreshing and transparent piece of reasoning from the Development Team.
✅ Unbanned
Six cards are coming off the Banned/Restricted list, reflecting how much the game environment has shifted since they were originally restricted:
- OP07-045 Jinbe (all parallel versions included)
- EB01-059 Kingdom Come (all parallel versions included)
- ST06-015 Great Eruption (all parallel versions included)
- OP02-024 Moby Dick (all parallel versions included)
- OP03-098 Enies Lobby (all parallel versions included)
- OP02-117 Ice Age (all parallel versions included)
This is a significant wave of unbans. Cards like Moby Dick, Enies Lobby, and Ice Age are early-set staples that were restricted as the game’s power level was still being established. With the card pool now significantly larger and the meta more diverse, Bandai is confident these cards can re-enter the format without causing issues.
The return of Jinbe and Kingdom Come in particular will be welcomed by fans of those strategies, opening up new deckbuilding possibilities heading into the next competitive season.
🔗 Banned Pair Cards
One Piece Card Game features a unique mechanic: Banned Pair Cards. Rather than banning a card outright, Bandai can restrict two cards from being used together in the same deck. This is a surgical approach that preserves individual card viability while preventing a specific combination from warping the format.
The following pairs cannot be included in the same deck:
- OP07-115 I Re-Quasar Helllp!! + EB04-058 Borsalino (all parallel versions included)
- OP11-040 Monkey D. Luffy + OP11-067 Charlotte Katakuri
- OP11-040 Monkey D. Luffy + OP08-069 Charlotte Linlin
The Banned Pair system is one of the most interesting tools in Bandai’s competitive management arsenal. Instead of removing a card entirely from the game, it targets the synergy between two cards that becomes problematic when combined. Both cards remain individually legal — it’s only their combination that is forbidden.
Notably, OP11-040 Monkey D. Luffy appears in two separate pairs, meaning he cannot be paired with either Charlotte Katakuri or Charlotte Linlin in the same deck — though Katakuri and Linlin can still be used together without Luffy.
What This Means for the Meta
The banning of Charlotte Pudding removes a key Blue tech option that had been quietly warping deckbuilding decisions. Expect Blue decks to adapt — the colour remains powerful, but players will need to find new ways to interact with hand-heavy strategies.
The Banned Pair additions are equally significant. The Luffy pairings in particular suggest that certain Luffy-based combo lines were reaching unacceptable power levels when combined with Katakuri or Linlin — expect the competitive community to rapidly test what Luffy decks look like without these key partners.
The wave of unbans is the bigger story. Six cards returning simultaneously is a bold move, and it signals that Bandai is confident in the current game’s resilience. Expect players to immediately start testing these cards in existing and new archetypes — some may slot right back into competitive play, while others may find the meta has simply moved on.
Final Thoughts
This update reflects a Development Team that is actively engaged with its player base and willing to make nuanced decisions — banning a card not for dominance, but for undermining the spirit of the game, introducing pair bans to surgically target problematic synergies, while simultaneously freeing up six previously restricted cards.
It’s a healthy sign for the One Piece Card Game’s long-term competitive future.
Stay tuned to Knightly Gaming for the latest One Piece Card Game products, singles, and competitive news.
'
'
'
'
'