Every UNION ARENA Set Ranked from Good to Great
If you’ve already heard about the latest and greatest anime game to grace the shelves of game shops everywhere called UNION ARENA, you might be wondering which set you should start out with. The game has been out for over a year now, meaning there are plenty of great titles to choose from. But where do you get started?
While many will simply go with the set based on the anime they like best, others want to know the competitive viability and future prospects of the cards you can get from sets. Still others might be more interested in the collecting side of things and which set has the most collectible, high value cards.
Below, we’ll be taking all of these factors into consideration as I rank each and every UNION ARENA set released so far from good to great. For the sake of highlighting the sets as a whole, we’ll be considering Vol. 2 sets as part of the same set.
#11 Hunter x Hunter
Starting things off is Hunter x Hunter. The reason I put this set at the bottom of the list isn’t because it is a bad set. Indeed, there is a little something for everyone here, although these days much more for collectors than players.
Collectors will actually enjoy this set as it has a fairly broad range of higher value cards in the SR** camp. Indeed, Hunter x Hunter parallel arts seem to have faired well in general. However, it lacks a major chase the way other sets have and for the most part fails in the competitive side of things.
Despite a few colors getting played here and there, Green Kurapika was this set’s main deck, leaving little room in the meta for anything else.
While Kurapika has dropped out of popularity lately, it’s still a strong deck with plenty of arguments for having it see play.
Hunter x Hunter isn’t a bad set. It’s got highly collectible cards and a strong deck. However, beyond the one deck this set lacks much spice to entice gamers to play it, and was also a set highly dominated by BLEACH when both came out in US.
#10 Demon Slayer
Demon Slayer gets points for being an interesting set even if it’s severely lacking in a few departments. Unlike some sets that boast two or even three viable decks within them, Demon Slayer seems to only have about one really strong meta deck, and a bunch of other second tier decks.
While I really enjoyed my custom Demo Slayer Purple build, that was hardly ready right out of the box and took me a considerable amount of effort to put together. Typically, players want the core archetypes included in the set to work out for them and those ones are the decks that get attention at competition.
With a middling power level, no amount of interesting mechanics will be enough to make any set appeal to most players.
That being said, the sheer fun of playing Demon Slayer shouldn’t be underestimated, and it could very well be that Demon Slayer will have the most fun Rare Battle Format out of any of them given a lack of one overwhelmingly strong archetype being within it.
Oh, and the Tanjiro serialized chase card is epic.
#9 Black Clover
Black Clover is a solid step in power level above Demon Slayer, but still a far cry from the sets that come further down this list. Somewhat to its disadvantage, Black Clover happened to debut in the English meta on the very same day as BLEACH Vol. 2, casting further shadows on some of this set’s weaknesses.
While Black Clover’s best deck is the solid Red Asta build, it’s the only deck that’s likely to stand the test of time as a top meta deck – and even so it’s standing is shaking, landing it just short of the actual best UNION ARENA decks.
#8 One Punch Man
One Punch Man was something of an anomaly when it came out, being the first set to get a simultaneous release in both Japan and North America. Partly due to this, many feared the set would absolutely break the UNION ARENA meta due to its need to keep up with the Japanese meta – a game with a significant lead advantage over the English version of the game.
As it turns out, the fears were needless. While One Punch Man did introduce fantastic new mechanics and decks into the game, the meta remains as varied and fun as ever. It’s actually the variety available in this set that helps catapult itself to where it’s at on the list now: there are so many playable decks in this set. Really none of the One Punch Man decks are bad.
At the same time, none of the decks have been as meta defining as the likes of Code Geass Purple or Blue JJK. Yet the set ranks so highly due to its fun mechanics, infinite playability, and broad range of competitively viable archetypes.
#7 Attack on Titan
Despite Attack on Titan decks appearing really powerful at first (combined with plenty of interest in this behemoth title), this set has failed to have an outsized impact on the meta the way other sets tend to do when first released. Although on the surface sets like Fullmetal Alchemist may look more middling, Roy Mustang took the meta by storm and won an entire regional. AOT decks have performed well, but haven’t blown anyone away.
Still, there’s plenty of potential in these decks, and overtime players may adjust to their unique and powerful play style.
Finally, the other mark against this set from a subjective standpoint are Attack on Titan’s top chase cards. The alternate art cards in this set are relatively weak compared to some of the artworks in other sets. Again, that’s a subjective take but I think they could have been pulled off a little more excitingly.
#6 Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist was a highly anticipated UNION ARENA set, and for the most part it lived up to the excitement. With gorgeous chase cards, a solid lineup of mostly competitive-grade decks, it’s hard to imagine Fullmetal Alchemist fans not being happy with this set.
The only potential downside for this set is that the high end power of the decks included here don’t quite meet the threshold of top UNION ARENA deck. While Roy Mustang is top tier, the rest are tier two-decks: something which was met with general disappointment by the playerbase.
However, that might not matter to diehard FMA fans who should be happy with the otherwise well-rounded power levels and combos this set provides.
Check out the top chase cards from Fullmetal Alchemist.
See what FMA decks are trending right now.
#5 Rurouni Kenshin
Rurouni Kenshin decks are very powerful, with many bringing unique twists into the game. Take, for example, the Red Kenshin deck – one that forces characters to the energy line rather than the sideline. Like most UNION ARENA sets, it brings one-to-two top tier strategies into the fold, but the really unique thing about this set beyond its fantastic artwork that brings this iconic artwork to life is how refreshing each and every strategy is.
I also enjoy some of the more advanced mechanics it brings into the game. Take for example the powerful two-cost characters that can double as zero-cost, helping you brick less and win more.
With a collection of seriously gorgeous alternate art cards and unique mechanics, Kenshin is an excellent set for fans of the show and more serious competitors alike.
#4 BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War (Volumes I & II)
BLEACH is a personal favorite of mine and I love playing this set (I have every deck from it) and collecting it. BLEACH Purple is still a force in the meta several sets down the line, and the base SR*** from the original set is worth the most of any card from any UNION ARENA set (apart from serialized cards). It also has decent variety: back before some of the latest and greatest sets came out the meta was dominated by BLEACH decks.
Volume II, however, brought with it a host of added support, adding a plethora of top tier decks into the fold like the Squad Zero Purple deck, Yellow BLEACH, and Kenpachi. On the collector’s side, Rukia’s SR*** is one of the most beautiful UNION ARENA cards ever printed, and highly valuable as well.
If you’re looking for a set with strong decks, unique mechanics, and strong collectibility, you can’t go wrong with BLEACH.
#3 Jujutsu Kaisen (Volumes I & II)
While the Blue JJK deck is nowhere near as popular as it once was, JJK is a set that boasts a very high range of powerful decks. While the base set was strong enough, JJK Vol. 2 decks are much, much stronger, with the two standouts being Purple Todoh and Nanami/Sukuna.
Its chase cards may suffer from lower-than-average value on the secondary card market, but it’s indelible mark on the UNION ARENA meta warrant a high placement on this list.
#2 Code Geass (Volumes I and II)
For most of UNION ARENA’s first year, Code Geass reigned supreme, and I once considered it the definitive best set you could invest in. However, new innovations and changes in the game diminish one of the set’s most defining features: having multiple top tier decks.
Indeed, coming out of Code Geass Vol. 2, only one Code Geass deck really warrants the status of top tier, and that’s the phenomenally powerful Green Lancelot.
With that being said, there’s still a lot going for Code Geass. The mechanics remain fun and unique, and the parallel rare cards you can pull are gorgeous, including plenty of high valued chases like the alt art Lancelot Raid and more beauty-centric pieces like the C.C. SR**.
It’s not the UNION ARENA behemoth it once was, but still a more-than-solid option for players looking for a healthy mix of competitive viability and fun mechanics.
#1 Sword Art Online is the best UNION ARENA set
Although Sword Art Online was released early in 2025 (not very long after UNION ARENA originally came out), Sword Art Online stands out even among the excellent range of sets available in UNION ARENA for several reasons.
First, for casual fans, the set beautifully encapsulates different chapters of the Sword Art Online story, with a unique approach we haven’t seen in the game before. Instead of characters being divided between energy colors based on things like affinity or good guys/bad guys, in SAO energy colors are clearly divided based on seasons of the show. Blue covers SAO’s first and most influential Aincrad arc, Green gets Gun Gale Online and Fairy Dance, and Yellow gets the widely loved Alicization arc which spans all of season three.
Splitting the energy colors up in this way creates an effortless cohesiveness that is a treat to build decks with. Working my way through each of the SAO decks I built felt like an immersive experience, with characters and game mechanics clearly working together the way they do in the show.
Second, the decks in the SAO UNION ARENA set were so strong when they came out that they virtually dominated the meta in a way we haven’t quite seen in subsequent sets since. Indeed, SAO was so popular that even weekly tournaments began to feel a little bit like a Sword Art Online Rare Battle. While these decks and strategies are a bit less competitive than they used to be, they’re still viable, and the second volume should catapult several of them to the top once again.
Finally, no UNION ARENA set so far is as collectible as Sword Art Online. This set has the highest average value per card of any set, and also boasts the most expensive card you can get outside of the serialized versions: Asuna SR***.
Sword Art Online truly delivers on everything fans want most from a set, from playability, to collectibility, to solid tie-ins with the anime’s lore, earning it the top spot on this list.
