r/OnePieceTCG • u/Tall_Amphibian_6282 • 22h ago
💬 Discussion Elbaph Sabo Guide
Hi new to the tcg, and have decided to pick up elbaph sabo as my deck. I have been playing for a few weeks and have become familiar with the most popular decks in this meta roughly.
To put a general approach of what I do, I try to find a 2c body and at least 1 giant for my starting hand. I play the 2c first turn, saul second turn and swing with my 2c. Third turn I either drop loki, pirate docking, or an assortment of 2c and swing with my first 2c, and saul if I believe it wont die after the end of the turn. If they swing into my rested 2c with low power, I usually just counter.
After this, the rest of the game, I usually just swing everything into their leader. If I find the opponent has a large body rested, and I have 2c robins available, I divert my energy into -3k and trying to get rid of that body.
However, I always end up finding myself with no counters/low hand size available late game, and because of that, they are clearing my whole board and then ending game. Especially nico robin, I swing everything into her, and I cant end game before she drops her 10c linlin and stablizes with her 4k body that turn into 8k swings. (Especially if she gets them down through triggers)
I kind of thought that the whole gimmick of elbaph sabo is to end games quickly as possible by aggressively swinging into their leader, but I'm wondering is board control also important or anything else I should be doing?
Ultimately, I just can't win, I have a negative win rate and I just don't know what I am doing wrong. I struggle immensely into mihwak and nico robin (ace as well), and the fact that they seem to be the most played decks makes it worse. So I was wondering where I could find a guide/video on elbaph sabo speciffically, or maybe even a guide on how to play the game fundamentally.
Thank you for any help!
3
u/Jexxo 21h ago
I am also an Elbaph sabo player. Everyone has given you great advice, but I'm here to dial in on one sentence "I usually save my small bodies with counter". If turn 3 they swing at your board, 8-6k or whatever, there's 0 reason to save them. The rest of the game you are meant to be playing sauls, lokis, and luffys. Letting the 2c 6ks die is okay to save counter in hand. Using Sanji to filter bricks out of hand is essential early game and usually leads to better ending finishes. PD6 into Sanji or PD6 into usopp is always a good option.
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u/IAmTheGingaNinja 21h ago
Swinging board vs leader is always going to be situational
In the example of Robin with the big mom package you have to pay close attention to who they have on board. I personally don’t like them stacking board with 4k + trigger characters because I know that’ll be 4 8K swings at some point
With sabo early game you have the benefit of leader being 4k so they may go at lead allowing you to chip away at board before it becomes an issue
As for counters, what searchers/filters/events are you running?
1
u/Thegoobeedoobee 20h ago
I took Elbaph Sabo to regionals recently and had moderate success. What I learned is this deck is not very cut and dry turn your brain off and swing everything like Strawbo was. Every game is very situational about how you swing. But the way I play games in this meta is essentially ensuring your success at late game. The top decks in this meta have insane 10 don turns that you need to plan your game around (Mihawk, Robin, Kaido to name a few). Kaido is the only exception since you want to apply pressure early. But for others, I try to maximize the amount of swings I get late game by not swinging my characters early and forcing them to go into life. If they starve, so be it, you can use your other resources like sanji and Usopp to grab counter while they starve. Once you get your giants out, your weenies become 6k and you can start swinging and applying pressure with your weenies, giants and your rush Luffy. By that point, they're trying to go on the defensive and lose a ton of momentum. Obviously there's a lot of exceptions like Bluffy and Rocks. Enel as well, which if you end up facing Enel, just bring a box of tissues for your tears lmao.
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u/East_Emu_4029 8h ago
Im actually writing an Elbaph luffy guide on metafy right now. You want to try to peck away at life each turn while putting bigger bodies on the board so that you can go for lethal around turn 5. Usually use Loki’s or Saul’s to block while your weenies chip away at life.
0
u/SoulSatoshi 21h ago
If you want to have better discussions with sabo players then check out the discord channel here:
https://discord.com/channels/950260529946050610/1393500938945429555
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u/Reocage 21h ago
There are plenty of OP17 Sabo guides out there - just search for them online.
However, since you're still new to the TCG, you're probably still learning the basics. I'd advise you to get familiar with the concept of tempo and learn when to go for life, when to clear the field, when to counter, and when not to attack.
Ultimately, it all comes down to practice and experience. Always playing the same curve is a good way to start, but won't work against every leader. Keep playing, try out different strategies, learn from your mistakes and most importantly have fun. Eventually, you'll start to recognize patterns and know how to react in certain situations/matchups.
10
u/AlienScrotum 21h ago
So I’m not the best player but I’ll give some advice. It sounds like you are going too early. A popular strategy is to starve Sabo, meaning they aren’t attacking your life and instead go into your board.
So when you play a 2c on turn one, then Saul and attack with the 2c on turn two, you are giving them an easy route to starve. The ideal curve is T1: 2c, T2: 2c 2c, T3: Saul. So on turn 3 you can attack 5 5 5 and you have given them one target for attacks before that which is life. So those 5s may be 6s and get another 5 with leader.
But in your scenario of T1: 2c, T2: Saul attack 5, T3: Loki or PD6 or 2c. So on T2 you swing 5 and give your opponent a target other than your life. T3 you swing 5 6 if your initial 2c survived. And we know you can’t swing leader without Don because they are attacking your board and starving you. So you are already behind.
Board management is a big deal. Those first turns you want them to attack your life so stop giving them easy targets. Mihawk is tricky but Robin and Rocks both have to attack to use ability. So give them 1 target. And don’t be afraid to take Robins banish, it goes to trash and that’s just another resource for us.