Beginner’s Guide to Playing Crocodile Purple Yellow Leader OP04
Crocodile Deck Analysis
OP04 introduced some crazy cards and hero color combinations one of which is Purple Yellow Crocodile. At this point, we have several yellow leaders including Katakuri, pure yellow Big Mom, black yellow Big Mom, Arlong, Yamato, Queen, and Crocodile. So what makes Crocodile stand out from the rest of the yellow leaders? That would be his don and life manipulation. Yellow is known for its life manipulation and triggers. Crocodile does this while also having a little bit of don manipulation.
Crocodile’s ability allows you to return a don from the don deck as active when you return a don on your opponent’s turn. This only happens once per turn so be mindful of that. Crocodile also has access to a lot of good blockers with good effects. Unfortunately running them all into the deck is not possible so you will have to decide which blockers will be included.
Let’s take a look at Crocodile’s core cards that should be included in every deck.
Core Cards
Boss Crocodile
The 8 cost Croc is the main boss card the purple yellow leader. This card has two effects that work with the crocodile leader’s ability. The first effect allows you to minus 2 don and get an extra life. This works whether are at 0 life or at full life, all you have to do is pay the 2 don requires by putting them back into the don deck and you gain a life from the top of your deck.
The second effect allows you to draw a card when your opponent attacks. If you use this ability you have to return 1 don back into the deck and when you draw a card you have to discard. This is a good ability if you need to sort through your hand. Remember, when you put a don back into your deck during your opponent’s turn you will immediately get that don back as active thanks to your leader’s ability. But this only happens once per turn. It is recommended to run this card between 2-4 copies in the deck depending on how much of a late game you want to have with the deck.
Miss Valentine
Miss Valentine will be your main searcher for all cards that include Baroque Works. This includes purple and blue cards that include “Baroque Works” in their name. She also has a trigger which is pretty useful. She is a staple and running 4 in the deck is recommended.
Ms All Sunday
Ms All Sunday AKA Nico Robin is another core card for the deck. This card draws you a card and gives you an extra don. If you are going first and you play her on your 5 don turn, you will go from 5 don to 8 don on your next turn which will allow you to play an 8 cost character like Crocodile or Katakuri. She has a trigger that allows you to play her on the board by subtracting 2 don from your field. But because of your leader’s ability and Ms. All Sunday’s ability to give you an extra don, you don’t really lose any don at all, assuming you only use your leader’s ability once on that turn.
Her weakness is that she doesn’t have a counter and for a 5-cost body her power is pretty low since most 5-cost cards with abilities usually have 6k attack and 5-cost vanilla cards have 7k attack. Nevertheless, she is a core card of the deck and it is recommended to run between 3-4 copies
Mr 13 & Ms Friday
This is the 2k counter for baroque works. Despite having an ability and a trigger you will probably not be activating either of these effects. So 99% of the time this will just be used as a 2k counter, which is perfectly fine. Since this is searchable Ms Valentine it is recommended to run 4 copies.
Mr 4
Mr. 4 might be the second best 5 drop of the baroque works type, Ms. All Sunday being the better one. Still, this card is a 6k attacker for a 5 drop which is pretty standard for a 5 drop with an effect. His effect is pretty nice too. You can return a don to the deck and this card gains +1k attack and becomes a blocker. That makes this card pretty flexible. You can use him to block. You can use his effect if your opponent wants to attack him to gain an extra 1k and make it easier to defend him. Or you can just use his ability to gain an active don in combo with your leader’s ability. That flexibility makes him a really great card for both offense and def. He also has a 1k counter which is nice. It is recommended to run 3-4 copies.
Event Cards
Blast Breath
A pretty solid 4k counter for only 1 don. It is recommended to leave one don up before passing your turn because the cost to activate this is to return one don into your deck. If you use this and you already have one don active then by the time this card resolves you will still have one don active thanks to your leader’s ability. Keep in mind Crocodile’s ability to return a don from the don deck is only once per turn so if you keep adding don into your deck by using your card’s abilities then you will have less don to work with during your next turn. It is recommended to run 2-4 copies.
Narikabura Arrow
Another good 1 cost event for the deck. This one does require you to be at two lives or less to activate. But once you’re at 2 life this card will reduce 3k attack from a character or leader. It also has a nice trigger that allows you to discard two cards from your hand to gain a life. It is recommended to run 2-4 copies.
None Core Card Options
The cards below are the cards that aren’t core cards but because of their abilities and effects, they are very good options for the deck. These cards are optional cards to include in the deck.
Yamato
Yamato is one of those yellow leader cards that are restricted by a leader to be able to use their effects (for example 10c Big Mom can only be used by a Big Mom-type leader). This makes Yamato a very flexible card with a strong ability. If you are at one life or less, this card gains you a life. This also KOs something with a cast equal to the number of cards in both player’s life. Being a 9 cost is very good because if you play her while you have 10 don it means you can have 1 don open for a 1 cost event which Crocodile decks will be running in order to take advantage of Crocodile leader’s ability. It is recommended to run 2-4 copies depending on your late-game strategy.
Charlotte Linlin
Charlotte Linlin is a nice card because it’s a big body with a good effect. If you are going first then she is a good card to play on curve during your turn 7 don. If you are going second it is also a good card to play on your 8 don turn which will allow you to have 1 don active for a one cost event. It is recommended to run 1-3 copies.
Katakuri
Katakuri is also a flexible big drop card that you can run in your Crocodile deck. It allows you to remove a threat from your opponent’s board or it allows you to put something in your own field back into your life. This works well because you can put a trigger you want to activate again into your life and mitigates an attack as well. Good targets for this are cards like Ms. Valentine or blockers with triggers. You can also target your Ms. All Sunday this way after you’ve attacked with her. This will allow you to draw a card and have her active again on your turn after your opponent has attacked. Because of the flexibility of this card, it is recommended to run 1-3 copies.
Sanji
Sanji is a solid yellow card in general. It’s a blocker with a trigger that allows you to play on the field. It has a 5k attack which means you can use it aggressively as well if you want. That flexibility makes this a solid card and it is recommended to run 4 copies.
Charlotte Brulee
This card is like Sanji but just has a weaker attack state. That doesn’t make it worse though. With Sanji, you have to discard a card to play it from your trigger. Brulee doesn’t require you to discard you can just play it. Overall still a pretty solid card and it is recommended to play 3-4 copies.
Capone Bege
Capone is a nice 2k counter with a good trigger ability. It’s trigger allows you to stop a character or leader that hasn’t attacked yet. Overall a really good defensive card. It is recommended to run 4 copies.
Streusen
Streusen is a nice flexible yellow 2k counter card. Crocodile decks tend to run a lot of triggers and this card gives you an option to KO a 1 cost of less character by discarding a trigger. The synergy is there on top of the 2k counter that it provides making this card a pretty solid 2k. It is recommended to run 4 copies.
Uta
Uta is another blocker that fits well into the deck. Despite not having a trigger she allows you to rest a 5 cost or lower when blocking by returning 1 don into the deck. Her ability allows you to potentially block 2 attacks while also allowing you to use your leader’s ability. That’s a very strong combo. It is recommended to run 4 copies.
Black Maria
Black Maria is another great blocker that activates Crocodile’s leader ability. By returning 1 don Black Maria gains an additional 1k attack. This makes her a 6k blocker. Please note that her ability is only activated when you decide to block with her. So it’s not as flexible as Mr 4’s ability. Still, it’s a good effect that synergizes well with your leader. It is recommended to run 3-4 copies.
Miss Merry Christmas
Another good blocker that allows you to play her from a trigger by returning 1 don to the don deck. Other than that she is a pretty mediocre blocker to play from hand. It is recommended to play 1-3 copies.
Mr. 5
Mr. 5 is an interesting card that may or may not fit in the deck depending on the meta. It is still very early to tell but it seems the meta will gravitate towards playing a lot of big bodies. If that is the case Mr.5’s ability will not be very useful unless, of course, they have blockers. This card also suffers from a lack of counter and it is a very expensive card to play with no immediate impact on the board. In fact, this card relies on your opponent to have a board that meets Mr. 5’s conditions. This makes this card a very niche card and in most cases, you would probably prefer to play the 7C big mom over this. But in the right meta or in the right tournament this could be a good niche card. It is recommended to play 1-2 copies.