One Piece Card Game OP-16 The Time of Battle: Japan's First Treasure Rare and Three Admiral Manga Rares
Bandai's OP-16 The Time of Battle is a Paramount War-themed booster releasing in Japan on May 30. It debuts Japan's first Treasure Rare with Prisoner of Impel Down and includes three Admiral Manga Rares of Kuzan, Borsalino, and Akainu.
Bandai is taking the One Piece Card Game back to its most iconic battlefield. OP-16, titled The Time of Battle, is a full Paramount War-themed booster set built around the Marineford arc, and it lands a genuine first for the game in Japan. Pre-orders are open now ahead of the Japanese release on May 30, and the early reveals have the competitive and collecting communities equally locked in.
The Headline: Japan's First Treasure Rare
The structural news is the new rarity tier. OP-16 marks the first time a Treasure Rare appears in the Japanese print run, and the debut card is Prisoner of Impel Down, featuring Buggy and Mr. 3. Treasure Rares sit at the very top of the set's rarity ladder, and introducing the tier to Japan changes the chase math for every box opened. Expect this card to anchor the set's secondary market the way top-tier hits have in past flagship releases.
Three Manga Rares of the Admirals
The art chase is just as loaded. OP-16 includes three Manga Rare cards depicting the Marine Admirals — Kuzan, Borsalino, and Akainu — rendered in the black-and-white manga panel style that has become the most coveted treatment in the game. Marineford is the arc where the Admirals defined themselves, so building the Manga Rare slate around all three is a thematic bullseye that should age extremely well in collections.
- Prisoner of Impel Down (Buggy and Mr. 3) — the debut Treasure Rare, the set's top pull.
- Kuzan, Borsalino, and Akainu — three Admiral Manga Rares anchoring the art chase.
- A new Enel Leader card with a powerful effect that can redirect attacks to your Leader or to Blackbeard Pirates-type characters, opening fresh archetype possibilities.
"A Paramount War set with all three Admirals as Manga Rares and the first Japanese Treasure Rare on top of it — this is the kind of set people will be opening cases of."
Set Composition and Color Lineup
The set is built out to 126 types plus a single secret Treasure Rare, broken into 6 Leader cards, 10 Super Rares, 26 Rares, 30 Uncommons, and 45 Commons. The character mix leans hard into Marineford: Green and Blue Luffy, Red Ace, Blue Buggy, Black and Yellow Blackbeard, Purple Sengoku, and Black Yamato all appear, giving deck builders new options across nearly every color.
What Collectors and Players Should Do Now
For players, the new Enel Leader and the deep multicolor character pool mean the post-OP-16 metagame is worth watching closely once the full list lands. For collectors, the move to make is straightforward: the Treasure Rare and the three Admiral Manga Rares are the cards that will define this set's long-term value, so prioritize condition and grading-grade copies if you pull them. Japanese release is May 30, with the English print following on Bandai's usual lag — pre-order through your shop now if you want sealed product at MSRP rather than chasing it on the aftermarket later.