OP14-020 Dracule Mihawk Banned From Oct 12 in Japan and English

If you play or collect the Mihawk Leader from OP-14, the September 24 announcement is the one you need to read. OP14-020 Dracule Mihawk is banned from October 12, 2026, parallel included, and the English-language game banned it on the same day with the same date. There is no regional loophole here. Here is what the card is, why Bandai pulled it, what replaces it, and how the ban does and does not touch the Japanese singles market.

Is OP14-020 Dracule Mihawk banned in the English game too?

Yes. The English site for North America, Europe, Oceania, Latin America and the Middle East posted an identical ban on September 24, 2026, effective October 12, 2026, with Alt-Art cards included.

That matters because the English game has its own product list and its own list page, so it is fair to ask. We checked both official sites on September 26. The Japanese notice (禁止・制限カードについて) and the English notice name the same card number, the same effective date and the same replacement card. The English (Asia) site carries the same October 12 notice too.

One naming quirk. The Japanese notice spells the name ジュラキール・ミホーク, while the official card list and Japanese shops use ジュラキュール・ミホーク. If you search Japanese marketplaces, use the card-list spelling plus the number OP14-020.

Why did Bandai ban the Mihawk Leader?

Bandai gives two reasons: the card became stronger than intended as sets progressed, and it crushed the Slash (斬) Leaders.

In plain terms, the notice says certain card combinations built around OP14-020 grew more powerful with each new booster than the design team expected, and the resulting gameplay drifted away from what it wants to offer. The second reason explains why this is a Leader ban rather than a hit on a supporting card. The Leader’s own text reads that it gains +1000 power when the opponent’s Leader has the Slash attribute. Bandai judged that this, combined with the deck’s strength, heavily limited Slash Leaders and damaged Leader diversity, including for cards not released yet.

The notice also restates the policy on timing. Revisions are normally announced after Japan’s Championship Season 1 ends and after the World Finals, but Bandai reserves the right to add cards earlier if it thinks the tournament environment is unhealthy. Treat the ban list as something that can move between those two dates.

For context, the full current list on the official restriction page now reads: banned cards OP06-047 Charlotte Pudding, OP03-040 Nami, OP06-086 Gecko Moria, ST10-001 Trafalgar Law and OP06-116 Reject, plus OP14-020 from October 12. There are no restricted (1-copy) cards, and three banned pairs remain in place.

What is P-163, and when can you get it?

P-163 Dracule Mihawk is a new Leader with new text that Bandai will hand out at future tournaments and events. That is the whole of what is official. The Japanese notice closes with 詳細は後日お知らせいたします, meaning details will follow later. The English notice says “at future events.”

So no date, no event name, no distribution quantity and no method (participation prize, top-cut prize, or something else) has been published as of September 26, 2026. The official pages show the card image, and that is it. If you see a listing that claims to sell P-163 before Bandai says where it comes from, ask the seller what they actually have.

What we can say is how this category of card usually behaves for people outside Japan. Event-distributed promos in Japan are handed to the people physically present at the event. For the recent OP-17 Crew Battle, entry required pre-registration in the BANDAI TCG+ app and ID matching the account, and Bandai treats transferring an entry right as grounds for suspension. We walked through that gate in detail in OP-17 Crew Battle promo cards. Whether P-163 follows the same pattern is unknown until Bandai publishes the details, but the Japanese copies will almost certainly reach overseas collectors through the secondhand market rather than through entry.

What the ban does to OP14-020 in the Japanese singles market

Two different groups of buyers own this card, and the ban only hits one of them. On September 26, 2026, yuyu-tei listed the base OP14-020 (L) at ¥50 with stock marked available, and the parallel (P-L) at ¥2,980 with 2 copies in stock.

The mechanics are simple. A banned card in Japanese singles loses the play demand that came from deck building, and the base print of a Leader was already at bulk-level pricing. Parallels sit on a different demand curve, because the people who buy an alternate-art Mihawk for a binder did not buy it to sit in a Leader slot. We are not going to predict where either price lands, and neither should anyone selling you one. For the difference between L and P-L labels on Japanese shop listings, see our guide to Japanese One Piece card rarities.

One more check before you buy anything with this name on it: OP14-119 Dracule Mihawk is a separate card. It is a green SEC Character (cost 9, 10000 power) from the same set, with its own parallels, and it is not on the banned list. Listings that say “Mihawk OP-14” without a card number could be either one.

Does a Japanese ban list even apply to your games?

For most overseas players, the question is moot this time, because the English list made the same change on the same day. Still, it is worth understanding how the two lists relate, because they will not always move together.

Bandai runs separate official sites per language region, and each one publishes its own banned/restricted page with its own history. Look at the history links on each page and they do not line up: the Japanese page lists earlier revisions effective May 1, 2026 and April 1, 2026, while the English page lists April 10, 2026 and April 1, 2026. The September 24 announcement happened to land everywhere at once. The next one might not.

The practical checklist is short. Know which region’s list your event follows, know which language your cards need to be in, and check the official restriction page on the day you build, since Bandai says revisions can come outside the usual two windows.

So what for overseas collectors?

This is a gameplay story with a small collecting footnote. Nothing about the ban changes what the card is: an OP-14 green Leader with a base print and one parallel, released in Japan on November 22, 2025 and in English as part of THE AZURE SEA’S SEVEN.

If you do go after a Japanese copy, the mechanics are the same as any other single, and our guide to buying One Piece cards from Japan covers the proxy route step by step. We will follow up when Bandai publishes how P-163 is distributed.