What is the best pick for Finals?
- rubentruong
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
I asked the top 20 ranked players (on Limitless with X) for their opinion.
With the European Finals coming up on August 1st in Paris, everyone seems to be searching for the perfect pick or deck choice. However, the meta feels so wide that many players are left clueless. Everything can feel strong—or weak—depending on how you look at the game.
So, I had the idea to ask the top 20 players on the Limitless rankings (who have an X account) what their opinions were for the Finals. I have to break it to you—their answers aren’t very exciting and are actually quite similar.
So, let’s try to analyze the past few months as closely as possible—alongside the responses from the top players.
Regionals overview OP11 + Starters
Oviedo Regional US - 14th June
Most succesful deck: Purple Black Luffy (OP09)
Winner: Green Purple Luffy (EB02)
Top meta deck amount In top16:
Belo Betty: 1
GP Luffy: 5
UP Luffy: 1
Dublin Regional EU - 14th June
Most succesful deck: GP Luffy
Winner: Belo Betty
Top meta deck amount In top16:
Belo Betty: 1
UP Luffy: 3
GP Luffy: 6
Las Vegas Regional US - 21st June
Most succesful deck: Bonney & GP Luffy
Winner: UP Luffy
Top meta deck amount In top16:
Belo Betty: 1 (5 in Top32)
UP Luffy: 2 (5 in Top32)
GP Luffy: 3 (5 in Top32)
Sydney Regional US -21st June Most succesful deck: UP Luffy & GP Luffy
Winner: Belo Betty
Top meta deck amount In top16:
Belo Betty: 3
UP Luffy: 5
GP Luffy: 5
Amsterdam Regional EU - 21st June
Most succesful deck: UP Luffy, GP Luffy & Belo Betty
Winner: Belo Betty
Top meta deck amount In top16:
Belo Betty: 3
UP Luffy: 3
GP Luffy: 3
Toronto Regional US - 28th June
Most succesful deck: Belo Betty
Winner: Belo Betty
Top meta deck amount In top16:
Belo Betty: 4
UP Luffy: 3
GP Luffy: 3
Toulouse Regional EU - 28th June
Most succesful deck: UP Luffy
Winner: Belo Betty
Top meta deck amount In top16:
Belo Betty: 1
UP Luffy: 10
GP Luffy: 1
Alright, these are all the stats I could find so far. This means that across all Top 16s (excluding Toulouse, since I couldn’t find a Top 16 breakdown for it), the data shows the following:
Belo Betty: 13 - Winners 4 (5 if we count Toulouse)
GP Luffy: 25 - Winner 1
UP Luffy: 16 - Winner 1
Although this isn’t the most accurate way to evaluate the meta—since you have to take conversion rates into account (for example, if there are 200 UP players and only 50 Betty players, it’s “normal” that more UP make Top 16, or at least have a higher percentage)—I still think it’s pretty clear that these three decks are the best right now.
In my opinion, to do well at Finals, you’ll need a consistent deck like UP or GP. But to actually win Finals, you’ll probably need a high-roll, powerful deck like Betty.
But what did the top ranked players actually think?
I asked the top 20 ranked players (from the past 12 months, and with an X account) for their opinions on the upcoming Finals:What are the top 3 best picks right now, and what do they think will actually win?
As already mentioned, GP, UP, and Belo Betty are the clear frontrunners—but here are the exact numbers of top 3 best picks & potential winners (according to my sample):
G/P Luffy is the best deck in OP11 post-starters imo. It has a more consistency matchup spread compared to its older brother in U/P Luffy. I think it also leaves the room for more skill expression in matchups like the mirror.
U/P Luffy is probably the highest ceiling deck, but also very brittle. I think it can end up being the best deck as well, but is more vulnerable to your matchup spread compared to G/P Luffy.
Belo Betty is the meta call. I think it's powerful in this meta because of its strong matchups into the 2 Luffy decks. The problem is that it's been doing so well and so many top players are on it that people might be looking to counter it in a tournament like the finals.
@ClydeTCG
TCGMatchmaking stats & ChinoizeCup Stats
So you might have noticed, the players I asked aren’t completely wrong. The decks they mentioned do seem quite dominant—but why is that and can we counter the meta? Let’s dig in and find out.
Here are the stats from TCGmatchmaking. Take them with a grain of salt, though—some of the data shouldn’t be taken at face value. For example, GP Luffy has a very high skill ceiling and may show a lower win rate because many players are still learning the deck. (We saw something similar with BY Luffy.)
But as you can see, Belo Betty is favored into both GP and UP. That’s what makes the deck so powerful—it beats the best decks in the format and goes even against itself. Its only real losses are to decks that are already being gatekept by UP and GP.
For UP and GP, it’s the opposite. They’re favored or even against most of the field but tend to lose to Belo Betty.
You might think Finals will be a bit of a roulette—where a highly skilled player, with the right deck choice and a solid matchup spread, could take it all.
The following stats don’t match the ones from TCGmatchmaking—and that’s mainly because the sample size is much smaller. However, I believe the ChinoizeCups still give a very solid snapshot of the current meta, especially since a lot of top-tier players join every week.
You can find all the leader breakdowns, winner lists, and more in the Chinoize-Discord.(https://discord.gg/Qew9dpSYV4)
Stats GP Luffy- ChinoizeCup (thanks to @tyrixtcg)
(read as: Wins/Losses/win%/total)
Stats UP Luffy- ChinoizeCup
Stats Belo Betty- ChinoizeCup
Tierlist (personal opinion)
Tier S – UP
UP sits at the top because it defines the meta. If UP didn’t exist, many Tier B–C decks would likely see more play and could even push Betty out of the spotlight.
Tier A – Betty & GP
Despite UP’s dominance, both Betty and GP continue to win consistently. That’s why I place them slightly apart from the rest of the field in their own top tier.
Tier B – Competitive & Meta-Responsive
These are decks that can either beat or go even with at least 2 of the top 3 decks. They’re solid, and with the right piloting and matchups, they can definitely perform. I’m also very close to placing Zoro in Tier A. It has a very strong win rate against both GP and Belo Betty, and goes about 50/50 against UP—which is honestly impressive. Sleeper pick for Finals? Could be.
Tier C – Matchup-Sensitive
Decks in this tier generally have 2 out of 3 bad matchups against the top meta decks. That said, I might be underestimating some of them here—I don’t fully trust the stats, and as mentioned, this is entirely my personal opinion. Sidenote: Teach has the best winrate in the ChinoizeCups.
Tier D – Highroll or Bust
These decks are still playable, but to make it through a full day of competition, you’ll probably need to highroll your matchups and performance. Risky, but not impossible. (Yes I know Marco is decent in to GP and UP.. but my copium stopped) And Yamato might lowkey be a sleeperdeck. Past weeks she seemed to perform very well in locals, cups,..
By any means, Tier D doesn't mean the deck is bad or unplayable. As you can see, I'm only considering a very small number of leaders in this tier list—many others are still below!
Guides:
So, if you now believe that these decks really are the top picks but you’re not feeling confident with them yet, here are some guides I know of that might help you out! (Apologies to anyone whose guide I may have missed.):
GP Luffy guides:
UP Luffy guides:
@ikailakai https://metafy.gg/guides/view/the-complete-guide-to-blue-purple-luffy-9ckfCx95uUV @Dobogeee: https://metafy.gg/events/op11-up-luffy-masterclass-learn-from-the-b-bI5pYfa146J Belo Betty guides:
Time to practice!
If you’re looking for the perfect practice leading up to Finals, I’ve got you covered.
I’m hosting a ChinoizeCup every Monday and Tuesday—single elimination format. The winner takes home a booster box, and everyone earns points based on their standings.
However, I know single elimination can be a bit rough—like hitting a Belo Betty with your UP in Round 1. That’s why I’m also running a Swiss-format ChinoizeCup every Wednesday: 5 rounds of serious practice, followed by a Top 4 cut. And this month in particular, Wednesday winners receive a Second Anniversary Collection Set instead of the usual booster box!
Links to the cups: https://www.tcglive.be/chinoize-cups
But I’m not done yet. All of these Cups are capped at 32 players—but let’s go bigger.
As part of my dream to one day host a full Chinoize Regionals / TCG Live Regionals, I’m organizing a 128-player capped event the weekend before Finals!
(All Cups are played on the SIM, by the way—GOD BLESS BATSU- https://x.com/maebatsu🙏)
Prizing:
1st place: the highly sought-after Dodger Luffy
2nd place: a BVB Luffy
3rd & 4th place: an OP-11 Booster Box
And if the event sells out, 5th–8th place will each receive an OP-10 Booster Box!
Even though I get the feeling I didn’t tell you anything groundbreaking—and that many of you probably would’ve guessed UP Luffy, GP Luffy, and Belly Betty—I still hope this article was fun to read and gave you some insight. If you enjoyed it, a like, share or comment on the X post would mean a lot! Also a follow on my socials would be much appreciated:
Special shoutout to / and stats - results used from:
https://x.com/Davidmelee98 https://x.com/YonasOPTCG https://x.com/ChopperOCE https://x.com/LukaTCG https://x.com/DogXwisdom https://x.com/Impact_onfire https://x.com/Skwigglee https://x.com/Progress_2126 https://x.com/NevenRaphael
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