Set Sail Deck Set SD-01 sells under its $24.99 list. Here's why

Every card game runs into the same problem sooner or later. The people who already play want new cards, and the people who don't play have no idea where to start. Bandai's answer for the second group is a $24.99 box called the Set Sail Deck Set, SD-01, and less than a month after release it's selling for less than that on TCGplayer. That isn't a sign it failed. It's a sign of who it was built for.

What comes in the Set Sail Deck Set SD-01?

Two complete decks you can play against each other straight out of the box, according to Bandai's product page. Each deck has 51 cards and 10 DON!! cards, the same shape Bandai describes for a regular starter deck: a 50-card deck plus a leader. On top of that you get one booster pack of OP-17 The World's Strongest Warriors, a two-player playsheet, a guide book for each side and two deck cases. It came out in English on Sept. 18.

Bandai pitches it as a way to learn the game "with the help of Luffy and Ace," and the playsheet gives the game away. Nobody who already owns a playmat needs one. This is the box you hand a friend at the kitchen table so the two of you can sit down and play the same night.

Which leaders do the Set Sail Deck Set's Luffy and Ace decks use?

The Luffy deck runs OP15-098 Monkey.D.Luffy, a yellow leader built around Sky Island characters, and the Ace deck runs OP16-001 Portgas.D.Ace, a red Whitebeard Pirates leader. Both leaders come as foils, per TCGplayer's listing of the set.

The two play very differently, which is the point of putting them in one box. Luffy protects his board. When an opponent would remove one of your Sky Island characters with 6000 base power or more, his text says "you may add 1 card from the top of your Life cards to your hand instead." The deck around him is a Skypiea crew: Wyper, Gan.Fall, Shura and the Upper Yard stage.

Ace pushes the other way. Once per turn he gives one of your Luffy characters, or one of your Whitebeard Pirates with 8000 power or more, Rush for the turn, so it can attack the turn it lands. His deck is the Whitebeard crew you'd expect: Marco, Jozu, Vista, Izo, Thatch and the Moby Dick.

So a new player learns one deck that wants to hold on and one that wants to swing. That's most of what the game asks you to think about.

Why does the Set Sail Deck Set sell for less than its $24.99 list price?

Because almost nothing in it is new or rare. TCGplayer lists 30 distinct cards across the two decks, and every one carries a code from an earlier release: OP-05, OP-12, OP-15, OP-16 and the ST-15 starter. On Oct. 13 the most expensive single was the foil Luffy leader at a $4.62 market price, followed by the Roronoa Zoro super rare, OP15-113, at $3.42 and the foil Ace leader at $3.34. Everything else sat under $1.

That left the box at a $21.67 market price that day, with the cheapest listing at $19.99.

The funny part is the booster pack. A single OP-17 pack had a TCGplayer market price of $9.39 on Oct. 13, nearly double its $4.99 list, with a sealed OP-17 box at $305.78. So close to half of what you pay for a Set Sail box is the one pack inside it.

Compare that with Bandai's other Luffy-and-Ace product, Starter Deck EX Luffy & Ace, ST-30, which launched June 12 at $19.99. Bandai describes its EX decks as upgraded versions of the regular starters, and ST-30's TCGplayer market price was $30.43 on Oct. 13, well above list. My guess, and it's a guess, is that the difference is the buyer. Players already in the game chase upgraded decks. Nobody who already plays needs a teaching box, so it drifts under list.

My read: anyone teaching a friend or a kid, and almost nobody else. At around $20 on the secondary market you get two balanced decks, a mat and a pack of OP-17, which is a fair deal for a first game night. If you already play and want Ace or Luffy for a real deck, buy the two leaders as singles for under $5 each and skip the box. And if you're hoping the sealed box climbs in value, nothing in the Oct. 13 prices points that way. It's a teaching tool, and it's priced like one.

If you're new and wondering what comes next, the next main set is covered in OP-18 The Dominance of God lands Nov. 20.