Why would someone EVER play Moria instead of Sakazuki? (Moria Theory + Decklist)

Hey guys, CrossAi (@Cross_Aii) here, and today we are doing a special kind of article. Typically, I only do deck-guides & decklists, but for those who like to do even more extra thinking, I wanted to present some theory today.

After testing Sakazuki the most that I ever have since OP05, and building a new tier list, this question crossed my mind.

Why would I EVER play Moria instead of Sakazuki?

Without any limitations, there are infinite answers to this question, right? “I’m better at Moria than Sakazuki” or “I’ll never be as good as the top Sakazuki players,” etc. But to me, answers like these are unacceptable, because I think I can become as good as I need to be at either deck given X amount of practice on it. So I posed a new question, and pondered it for a while.

If I was the best One Piece player in the universe, is there any REAL reasons I would EVER play Moria instead of Sakazuki?

Most of us already understand Sakazuki as a deck that can answer almost any situation happening. Like maybe, you can’t stop five 10-drops being on the board at once, but you could hypothetically clear every 10-drop, before they ever reached that board state in the first place. And that’s the power in playing Sakazuki, right? The sky is the limits with what the deck can do, and if you play well enough, you can seemingly beat any deck. Even though Moria also has the capabilities of beating almost any deck, and boasts similar removal performance to Moria… 

| The ability to botdeck, and having removal on a cheap event is too strong |

Mono-Black lacks the card power of the blue-black card pool. 

Sakazuki fundamentally has a level of removal flexibility that Moria will seemingly never reach(for now anyways), simply due to the blue/black card pool, and the extra minus 1 from the Sakazuki’s skill. Even Sakazuki’s filter ability, allows for a level of deck building flexibility, that can’t be seen from Moria decks. This is what originally raised the question for meof “Why Moria over Saka?” for me. If Sakazuki can beat almost any deck, thanks to it’s removal capabilities, then why Moria? Let’s go ahead and analyze the Moria deck:

What are the FUNDAMENTAL benefits of playing Moria?

| The Standard Moria Deck from North America |

If I had to name the biggest reason I would play Moria off the top of my head, I would say:

• It’s the most consistently powerful deck (prior to doing more testing of Sakazuki, I would have argued that it was SIGNIFICANTLY more consistent, especially given a long tournament, but they’re honestly extremely close in terms of consistentcy)

Moria’s leader ability allows us to actively aim to trash Gecko Moria's (that can later be retrieved from the graveyard), and we always have a huge toolbox, just a leader skill away. 

I originally thought this alone was a big enough reason to play Moria over Saka, but is it really? Even though we can send Gecko to trash in the early stages, due to us ideally having to answer the opponent’s board every turn, we have very LIMITED timing to attempt to retrieve 8Moria from the trash. And even though we ALWAYS have a toolbox available as Moria, Sakazuki’s leader skill & efficiency in removal, means Sakazuki generally has the answer in their hand 90% of the time anyways. I’d actually argue that Sakazuki has it better, because they can consistently remove large units (thanks to the amount of dig it has for cards like IceAge, and Moria + Murakumo combo), while clearing multiple big units, is one of Moria’s biggest struggles.

Ok, maybe Moria isn’t actually more consistent than Saka, but Moria produces a more threatening board!

Moria does produce a way more powerful board than Sakazuki in the EARLY-GAME. But Sakazuki’s removal performance seems to typically outweigh this downside, and in the late-game they produce similar boards thanks to 8Moria.

So let me think deeper, and pick a new reason for why I would play Moria. 

5 Life

Yes, Moria’s 5 life is one of the realest incentives to play Moria instead of Sakazuki. Maybe this was extremely obvious to you all, but it wasn’t this obvious to me. Even though Sakazuki’s removal is CLEARLY more powerful than Moria’s. The Moria deck having 5-life & less bricks, inherently makes it less susceptible to losing to decks like Red/Purple Law & Yamato, which are both decks that are capable of beating Sakazuki.

Now I do think Sakazuki consistently beats BOTH of these decks when it draws well enough (seeing removal against R/P Law, or drawing blockers against Yamato), but Moria definitely beats these decks significantly more consistently than Sakazuki.

We’ve finally found a real reason to play Moria over Sakazuki, but is having 5-life enough?

Moria’s worst matchup is the popular Black/Yellow Luffy.

Moria is more consistent at beating R/P Law, and Yamato, but I would argue that Sakazuki can consistently beat those decks anyway(still testing Saka vs. RP Law, but I’m convinced that it is surely Saka favored, at least when you are playing enough Murakumo). But Black/Yellow Luffy, which is FREE for Sakazuki, is fairly difficult to defeat as Moria. And I haven’t even played against a REALLY GOOD B/Y Luffy player, to know if I should be winning as many games as I do of Moria vs. BY Luffy, in the first place.

So 5-life is a legitimate benefit, but is it enough? Depending on Black/Yellow Luffy’s popularity, and Moria’s deck-power (which I will examine shortly), it could not be worth it. Let’s look at the next question I want to answer:

How Strong is Black Moria?

We’ve finally found the fundamental benefit to playing Moria. It is one of the most consistent decks, but it does not seem to be notably more consistent than Sakazuki. BUT having 5-life actually has real benefits in our meta. So the next question is, “Is Black Moria, any STRONGER than Sakazuki? (In terms of what the deck can literally do)” 

I briefly mentioned in the previous section, that unlike Sakazuki, Moria consistently produces units in the early-game that handles the opponent’s board, or has advantageous effects. I briefly want to expand on this.

Obviously there’s Absalom which directly destroys a unit on the opponent’s board, but it’s very important to note that Hogback & Perona are also insane in the early-game.

Even when the opponent has nothing on the board, Hogback & Perona STILL create a different in resources between you and the opponent’s board and hand (we go +1 on the board, while giving +1 to our own hand, or -1 to the opponent’s hand!). And this is one of the strongest aspects of Moria, we actively create an advantage (whether thats through drawing cards, discarding the opponent’s card, destroying opponent’s board, all while producing a unit), and we continuously do this throughout the game, until we have eventually won (it’s a gradual process, compared to decks like Kata/Yamato that bumrush, or even Saka, that completely takes over the board every turn, or sets up to do so, etc.). And on our 7-don turn going first, or 6-don turn going second, we can start producing 2 units at the same time, while creating an advantage!

I think Moria’s normal form of “earning advantage,” is strong enough to make it easily one of the best decks in the game, and this is how the deck is still relevant in OP07, despite the decklists looking mostly the same. But I don’t believe this is strong enough to outperform Sakazuki. But what if Moria had a strong enough move, that could do Sakazuki-levels of bullshit? During the turns of 7-don, and ESPECIALLY 6-don of going second, I think the ability to produce 2 units, while performing Moria’s ideal move, is almost stronger than anything Sakazuki can do this early in the game. And the tempo from having an extra unit we shouldn’t have (especially on the 6-don turn of going second), can create tempo that can help us win the entire game! Or it can force unnecessary or uncomfortable plays from Sakazuki, that makes them expend more cards, that makes it easier for us to win!

Let’s take this deck-list for example:

| The Standard Moria Deck from North America (2nd Place @ Carta Magica) |

I actively hate on this version of Moria with 4 Borsalinos & 4 Sabos(& no Hinas), and this is because I believe this deck is simply worse Sakazuki.

As I’ve already described in this article, Moria already kinda feels like watered-down Sakazuki, due to its card pool only having mono-black cards. But it has the important saving grace of being a 5-life leader.

But this NA standard list of Moria especially, seems like a worse Sakazuki, that has a good rep because it’s easier to play and perform well with, than Sakazuki. 

And there’s nothing wrong with playing an easier Sakazuki, that will perform just as well as Sakazuki will the majority of the time. But I’m still actively researching and want to propose a list that moves Moria a step-above being “easier” Sakazuki.

Just to clarify, I’m sure I’m not the only player that generally views Moria as a watered-down Sakazuki. Me & Yonas had an argument, that I mentioned in a previous article, about Moria’s matchup-spread compared to Sakazuki. And I thought Yonas was underestimating Moria, but when the standard Moria deck is basically watered-down Sakazuki, his opinion of Moria not being able to handle rogue well RELATIVE to Sakazuki, makes a lot of sense. 

Even Chris Sok has become interested in replacing Borsalinos, which is a day I thought I would never see come.

But anyways, let me stop with the glaze, let me present a list that would actually make me reconsider playing Moria instead of Sakazuki. 

And just to clarify. Due to the ceiling of Sakazuki, and how well I believe I can play Sakazuki, I deadass don’t think I would reasonably ever take a non-Rebecca/Hina Moria deck to a tournament. It is basically worse Sakazuki to me, but it has the SAFETY cushion of being a 5-life leader(and having a more solid RP Law matchup), but I believe I can beat the decks that 5-life helps against, with Saka anyways…

Let’s go ahead and look at it:

A Style of Moria that I could potneitally take to tournament, instead of Sakazuki

At the end of the day, the truth could be that Moria’s peak is a worse Sakazuki, that is easier to play with. But I believe it’s more than that, which is why I am presenting this decklist:

| CrossAi’s Cope Moria Deck Version25678 |

Let’s directly compare this to the standard Moria list I just posted:

• No Kuzan

• No Borsalino

• TWO Sabo

• 3 Hogback

• 3 Cost Brook?!

WHAT IS CROSS SMOKING?!?!

I explain most of these in my previous Moria article, but I will briefly recap on them, and explain the main strength of my build.

• No Kuzan - Hina has felt like it’s done Kuzan’s removal role quite well. Kuzan feels awkward to time on curve(it never sticks, and Moria is more proactive than Sakazuki, so it’s rough to waste a turn), and I would rather clear my opponent’s board every single-time. At the start of the format, I liked to do Kuzan + Hogback on my 7-don. But now I am a huge fan of doing Hina + Absalom on that turn.

  • My other argument for no Kuzan, is that the decks that it stays on the field against, are the same decks that can have their units defeated in alternative methods, that are still efficient thanks to Hina/Brook!

• No Borsalino

  • Against one-half of the meta (Yellow decks, Rogue, Yamato), I believe Cerb outclasses Borsalino, thanks to it being an infinite blocker! And against Sakazuki/RP Law, I think both Borsalino & Sabo are mostly useless. So at this point, I think Borsalino is ONLY good in the mirror (specifically on 4-don turn of going second, IF you are missing Eruption + Absalom), and Sabo outperforms Borsalino in the mirror in every way, in the late-game

    • If this idea is true, then the standard Moria list seems to have a good amount of dead space, that could be spent making matchups like Sakazuki/BY Luffy better or making the overall power of the deck stronger (3 Cost Brook) or both!

  • Most people haven’t experimented with Hina, so it may be hard to understand until you see it. But in most of my mirror matches, I never even get to field Borsalino/Sabo, because I am destroying my opponent so badly from doing Hina + Absalom combos! You could choose to play an indestructible blocker, but you could also choose to deal with your opponent’s board, and have an arguably better outcome.

• Two Sabo

  • As I mentioned in the previous section, I think Sabo is mostly unnecessary in most matchups. Cerb/Rebecca either do the job better, or I’m not in a position where I need Sabo, or Sabo isn’t good in the matchup. I honestly mostly like Sabo to close-out games in very close mirror matches, so in that case I am a fan of Rebecca + Sabo, which is why I only feel the need for 2 Sabo.

• Three Hogback

  • I started the format with 3 Hogback. Reverted when I wanted to consistently grab 8 Cost Moria from trash, and now I have reverted again.

  • It feels like the majority of the time, I am UNABLE to play Hogback in the early-game, because I am spending too much time responding to the opponent’s board, or I’m aggressively playing Perona, so I don’t feel the need for 4 Hogback. 

    • And thanks to the inclusion of Brook, Perona has been strengthened, and I can also play Brook on curve, IF I’m missing a Thriller-Bark!

• 3 Cost Brook

  • To me this is one of the strongest cards I have ever added to the deck, since Tashigi pre-EB01

  • Moria players typically think R/P Law is free, but I actually don’t think it’s free if you don’t open enough Absalom/Lucci, so Brook actually makes the matchup free, since we have 4 extra cards that can pop stuff.

  • In addition to this, the ability to clear a big unit, while producing THREE BODIES is completely unheard of. I believe the combos of Brook + Hina + Perona / Hina + Hina + Absalom, etc, have opened up a whole new realm of bullshit in the Moria vs. Saka argument

    • This is finally a combo unique to Moria, and Sakazuki struggles with handling three units at once.

The main strength of this build comes from 3 Cost Units & especially 3-Cost Brook (and I think the main game-changer to my list pre-EB01, was the addition of Tashigi to the Hina build). Access to producing 3 units at once is an absolute game changer for the deck! And 3 Cost Brook(and Tashigi pre-EB01), allowed me to hit the thresholds that I was trying to hit with Kuzan. For instance, in order to clear an 8 drop & a 4-drop on 9-don, I would already need a Kuzan on the board. But I can accomplish the same thing with Tashigi/Brook already being on the board! And these cards are a lot more versatile & proactive than Kuzan.

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This is it for my new type of article. I hope that this type of article offered insight on my opinions on Moria, and my thoughts during deck building & deck-selection in general. Keep in mind what I say is never 100% the gospel, but this is an opinion I stand-by and I hope I verbalized my position well enough.

With that being said I’ll catch y’all in the next one. PEACE!!