Top 16 Peoria, A BRAN NEW Sakazuki Deck (No Brannew, 1 Hound???))

Intro (@Cross_Aii)

Hope everyone is doing great, I finish Top 64 cut not too long ago, I got slowplayed to a loss in Top 16, but we still achieved Top 16 with the craziest Sakazuki list! I believe between NA, Japan, and Europe there are literally NO OTHER Sakazuki lists like this that have topped before, so it’s pretty insane for someone to achieve this result.

Enough yap, let’s go ahead and look at the list.

THE List

This the list I ran, and I know, it looks insane. Here were my matchups: https://x.com/Cross_Aii/status/1794811147213742298.

Let's take a look at the list:

• 4 3Brook?!

• Sanji’s Pilaf??

• 1 Hound Blaze and 4 Murakumo???

• NO BRANNEW?!?!?!?!?!

Personally I think this list was very calculated. I don’t think I made it to top cut or top 16 by luck, and I think had I not gotten slow-play,ed I for-sure could have made it to top 8, and even further. I was so confident in the list, that I was willing to scoop game1 in T16, to attempt to have enough time to win games 2 and 3!

There’s no proof that this is the best version of Sakazuki, and I can’t claim it is either. But at the very least, this deck concept has proven to be capable of getting Top16, and this is my FIRST tournament with it.

Similar to what happened with Yamato, I actually didn’t have time to test this list either. But I was confident in the deck concept, so I was like, “fuck it, let’s run it.” And I’m glad I did.

Let’s go ahead and discuss each of my card choices.

3 Cost Brook

I mentioned interest in this card in my most recent Sakazuki article. And I am fairly convinced that REGARDLESS, of which version of Sakazuki I choose to play, I will be including 2-4 3 Cost Brook. 

Sakazuki is a deck that thrives on creativity, and this card has unlimited potential. The ability to clear a unit on the opponent’s board, WHILE playing Rebecca, and WITHOUT using a 2-cost event is absolutely insane. Being able to produce a blocker, every time we go for a single-unit clear, is infinite advantage overtime. This goes back to the “don’t underestimate Rebecca” concept, that I mentioned in the Sakazuki article.

It’s also extremely strong in the early-game of mirrors(and Gecko, and RP Law, and Yamato, and pretty much every matchup lmao.) But specifically in the mirror, I believe eruption + Lucci was the strongest play on 5-don. Because it stops the Sakazuki opponent from doing 4Kuzan two turns in a row.

But now there’s Brook! This allows us to meet the same threshold as Eruption + Lucci, without having to bottom-deck 3 cards, and without exposing our Lucci to getting bottom-decked! Even on the 3-don turn, being able to pop a Brannew/Tashigi is insane, and we request for them to answer Brook.

There’s too much to explain for Brook tbh, but literally, just USE YOUR IMAGINATION. There’s so many lines that become possible with a card that can minus 1, and pop a 0 cost. It’s actually insane to see lmao. Let me think of some:

• IceAge + MoriaRebeccaHelmeppo + 3Brook

• Great Eruption + Leadeswing + Brook/RebBrook

• Hina + Brook

• Brook(that’s already on the board) + Great Eruption + Leader swing, then play Kuzan/Rebecca/4Borsalino

List goes on. The main thing to understand, is you should ABUSE Rebecca + Brook. Getting a blocker while clearing a unit is insane. And if you know when to not swing with it as well, and know when to not attach don to it, you will be absolutely golden.

Sanji’s Pilaf

Brief Rant

I remember seeing GuanRong win with Pilaf’s at worlds. And it didn’t fully click until very recently. This dude’s a genius, and people don’t even REALLY understand. Sure there were some people who “preferred” Pilaf, and there were others who “preferred” Blue Hina, but if you were logically able to DEDUCE and TEST which was better, you KNEW what was better. And no one KNEW that Pilaf was almost objectively THE right answer, except GuanRong. Fkin genius man, he deserved to win.

People tell me 4 houndblaze is the best, so I blindly run 4 houndblaze. People tell me 4Borsalino is broken in Moria, so I blindly run all the Borsalinos. And I trusted in Japan so much, that when they told me Blue Hina > Pilaf, I never gave Pilaf a real consideration. And don’t get me wrong, it’s very possible that these choices are THE RIGHT choices. But the point is that people have a standard in their head, and they REFUSE to deviate from it. Most people don’t think, or test enough, when presented with something new. People are quick to see cards like Dogura from Nicky Goldman, Pilaf from Guanrong, etc. And their first reaction is “Wtf, this sucks.” Rather than thinking “Damn these players are really good. Maybe there’s something he knows, that I don’t? Let me consider this.”

And don’t worry. I am, or at least was, guilty of this for the longest time as well. I remember, back in OP02, I flamed Nicky Goldman’s Dogura list. I never tested it, nor gave it enough thought. And I wasn’t even good enough at the game yet (no one was good enough at the game yet though, tbf). And yet I was so quick to pass bad/negative judgement on his tech, that he was actively performing well with. 

As I was rebuilding RG Law recently, I considered Dogura in my deck. I thought back to OP02, and I was like “holy shit Nicky Goldman is cracked, he was right all along”. I wish I could have gone back to OP02 and tested it more myself, it makes 20x more sense than what I gave it credit for. And it likely was THE answer over Film Brook, to be honest.

And even if you don’t think these players are good. There are very few players good enough in this game, to know what the right answer is from theory alone. If you’re one of these people who quickly pass judgemenet, I respectfully have to ask, “Are you one of these players?” And don’t worry if you’re not, you can be. Starts with fixing your mentality first though.

4 Murakumo might not be the right answer, or maybe it is, but people like to ASSUME it’s wrong. I noticed that there were top players, who clearly thought I was crazy, but they didn’t shoot down the concept in 2 seconds. And this is just the difference between the best(I’m a 0-3 Yamato coper, so don’t include me), and everyone else. And even the best struggle with giving new ideas a try, it’s like a tcg syndrome haha. Anyways back to talking about Pilaf.

Anyone who understands why Pilaf was broken in OP05, should have never let the Blue Hina players doubt them after a bit of testing. Going first is the worst in the mirror, and sure, BlueHina CAN give you an advantage difference, IF your opponent misplays and takes the first life. But Pilaf gives you a guaranteed advantage, that also draws you into MORE combos. Drawing into more combos is the more important part.

Reasoning for Pilaf

Everyone’s problem this set has been “omg he saw more 8 Cost Morias than me”(which btw the mirror is A LOT MORE complex than this. Especially if you play ice ages, you can win while seeing less Morias, but I digress). So I wanted to experiment with a way, that not only makes going first better, but also allows me to have a higher chance to draw into more 8Morias. And the solution I thought of was Pilaf.

Pilaf isn’t guaranteed to stay in the deck, but it was an interesting experiment. It was definitely really strong to play on 3-don, but it can be very awkward, depending on how the game progresses, and there’s a lot of times when you will need to pitch it. It’s a card I wouldn’t recommend most people to play. It requires perfect understanding of each matchup, to understand when you can play it, and when you should ditch.

4 Murakumo + 1 Hound Blaze

| My craziest deckbuilding decision? |

This is the ratio everyone was in shock by. I think there may have been more people shocked about this ratio, than about the lack of Brannew LMAO.

Let’s really think about Hound Blaze for a second, and think about how often we need it. What about Black/Yellow Luffy? No Murakumo is better against BY Luffy, assuming you play the game properly, and don’t attack. Ok what about Moria? Murakumo is actually better against Moria, because they drain our resources really quick. Being able to get rid of 2 units consistently is very strong, and the Moria + RebHina + Helmeppo + Stage Eff + Kumo combo is very important, because we get extra de fense from Rebecca blocker. Ok what about Yellow or Whitebeard? Once again, assuming you play the game PROPERLY, I believe Murakumo is stronger against BOTH Yellow & Whitebeard. Being able to clean up extra units, that could randomly kill you, is way better than aggroing against both these decks. And you might think it’s crazy to think Murakumo is better against Whitebeard, but you should be able to lock out the game with Moria, blockers, and Murakumos, IF you play against Whitebeard properly (don’t worry I’mma do Sakazuki vs. Whitebeard on stream soon, as proof).

Ok so is Houndblaze good against anything then? Yes, against THE MIRROR. Now don’t get me wrong, I think Murakumo is also more insane in the mirror (people don’t give enough credit to Murakumo trigger, or for the ability for it to clean up small weenie units that could kill you later / be recurred from 8Cost Moria). But hound blaze can give you random advantages in the mirror by allowing a Tashigi/Brannew to take an extra card, or for random aggro pushes (opponent only played 1 unit, so we use hound blaze to push them to 0/1 life), or it can close out the game, when the opponent has 0 life.

Yes I think it’s great in the mirror, but not as broken as people think it is to be honest. I think 3 Murakumo, 2 Hound blaze is a likely ratio for me, but I may personally stick to 4-1.  I think more Murakumos is stronger against non-mirror, but Hound Blaze is stronger against mirror. But I think Murakumo is great enough in the mirror(and an excellent punish card to HinaLucci, while also providing a greater edge to to matchups like Moria/RP Law, etc, than the advantage 4 blazes provides in the mirror.

No Brannew?

| The craziest decision I’ve ever made |

I still don’t know if this was the right decision or not. My gut tells me I should have at least 2 Brannew, but my gut also tells me that it’s possible to get away with no Brannew. I think the list I took didn’t have enough advantage in it, to justify no Brannew.

In order to justify no Brannew, I THINK I need to run more great eruptions and/or Sanji’s Pilaf. And even then, Brannew has the secret benefit of being a 3K attacker, that can also be recurred from Moria.

It’s pretty easy to take this list and just replace Pilaf for the Brannew. I think there is an argument for Pilaf, especially when considering going first, but Brannew is more consistent, has counter, and can be recurred off Moria.

Since the tournament yesterday, I have drafted a list with 0-1 Pilaf, and I’ve also drafted a list with 3-4 Pilaf.

If I had to give an official recommendation, I would say Brannew is reasonably tried and trued. Unlike the Hound Blaze vs. Murakumo argument(where I feel like it’s very clear that Murakumo has reasonable potential, to have legs in the format over Hound Blazez But Pilaf vs. Brannew is a lot harder to justify, and Pilaf is hard to use properly in the first place. 

If you’re able to envision the exact turns Pilaf could and would be strong in each matchup, then I suggest you test Pilaf with me, and help me reach a conclusion. Or else you will probably just be confused, but Brannew is defintely good, and already tested, so understandable.

3 Cost Brook also played a huge roll in the lack of Brannew. When going first, even if I had both Brook & Brannew, I believe I would prefer to play Brook! Playing Brook also opens up great eruption + Brook effect + Kuzan on 5-don. Very strong.

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This is it for the article for now. I would like to update the section on fighting RP Law. It’s a very hard matchup to articulate, but I think I have more insight on it. I originally believed you should guard every attack(you can reasonably guard), but depending on hand, I think it’s fine to take some do the early attacks.

I’m also doing Sakazuki vs. Whitebeard, on stream, with a STANDARD Sakazuki list soon. So stay tuned for that.

Thank you all for reading. I will catch y'all in the next one, peace.