Recently, BANDAI announced that three ONE PIECE Card Game cards would be banned from tournament play starting from 1 April 2024. Among these was the Sakazuki card from the Awakening of the New Era [OP-05] which had proven to be an absolute juggernaut in gameplay ever since its introduction. However, this card’s appeal goes far beyond its sheer power when wielded by players.

This Sakazuki card is a Leader card that exists in a Parallel Art version in addition to its ordinary one. The Parallel Art version’s illustration takes a close-up view of the Fleet Admiral’s face—grimacing while smoking his signature cigar. The use of maps and diagrams in the background, meanwhile, may allude to Sakazuki’s status as a Fleet Admiral.

Having been banned from tournament play, it’s quite possible that this card will garner a level of mystique about it. Its ability to create an overwhelming advantage by quickly amassing many cards in the player’s hand paired with its extreme stability and flexibility essentially “broke” the meta.

While it’ll never again see official gameplay, this card now has a level of notoriety that very few other cards have. After coupling this with its Parallel Art status, one can expect the value of this Sakazuki card to see a significant uptick before too long.

This card has already been released in English.

A copy of the Parallel Art version of the Sakazuki (OP05-041) card sells for ¥7,480 (~US$49).

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