How to Win Your Chainsaw Man Release Event
Want to know the secret sauce to conquering your UNION ARENA: Chainsaw Man Release Event tournament?
I attended my first event on early release day, July 24, 2026, and bagged the coveted two-cost Reze Release Event Winner card with a gorgeous full art design inspired by the Chainsaw Man film.
The win came after 4 very tough rounds between 16 excellent players. It was an incredibly fun event – the most fun and interesting Release Event/Five Pack Battle format I’ve probably ever experienced within UNION ARENA.
Because Chainsaw Man is such a small set with so many characters of the same name between energy colors, decks feel oddly synergistic. While the same battle of attrition style play still applies, far more combos and meaningful card interactions were possible because of the very design of the set.
Along the way through my battles, I also picked up some tricks and insights into which cards are particularly good in the Release Event format – even if they aren’t cards you would typically use in a regular deck!
The best cards to look out for in the Chainsaw Man Release Event format
Across the four battles I won, one card stood out as the absolute strongest not only in my deck, but when my opponents used him against me. It’s this guy: Kishibe.
Kishibe stands out for several reasons. First, he’s a common, meaning you have decently strong odds of pulling him from your five packs. I actually pulled two of him myself, and I think I saw him in at least three out of the four games I played.
Second, he comes in active with 4000 BP when played: a big deal in a format when hitting Raids is much harder than usual. Lastly and most importantly, he has an insane BP boosting effect that’s particularly strong in Five Pack Battles.
Use Kishibe to boost 3000 BP characters to 4000 BP characters and so on – essentially making your front line of attackers much more threatening without necessarily needing to field a front line of 4ks.
While Kishibe was the clear winner in terms of the card I wanted to see most by the final rounds of the tournament (and the guy I wanted to sideline most if my opponent had him), this three-cost Reze character was almost as critical – and sometimes even more so.
Being able to draw a card when she is played and also boost a small character by 2000 BP is absolutely huge in this format. I often paired her with the Typhoon Devil who rapidly becomes a 4000 BP character if on the same line as Reze.
Typhoon Devil
UE22BT: CHAINSAW MAN • common
Market Value
Loading...
But you really don’t need to wait until you have these two together: three-cost Reze can make any character significantly stronger. You can also use her to sideline a Denji and perform Raid with the four-cost Reze to unlock an AP-restand. As crazy as that sounds – pulling that all together in a release event – it did help me pull off a win against an otherwise superior board.
One character who was plenty strong on his own and worked as a solid early game aggressor, however, was four-cost Chainsaw Man.
Chainsaw Man (047)
UE22BT: CHAINSAW MAN • rare
Market Value
Loading...
Because of how many Denji characters you have across both energy colors, it’s really easy to find a target for this guy to Raid over, and doing so gives you a huge advantage. Not only will you have a 4000 BP character with Nullify Impact (useful when two different opponents Raided into me with Bomb Devil), you also have a solid target to take a hit with when you get to the attrition part of the game and need to take a few hits to set up to clear your opponent’s board the next turn.
This worked excellently in the final round of the tournament, where sacrificing my Chainsaw Man helped give me the cards I needed to pull out the narrowest of victories.
Other strong cards that can provide valuable support
While walling up with 4000 BP characters on your front line can work early on, as the game progresses you’ll need to be strategic about how you manage what characters are being moved up to the front line, as well as how strong they are.
Luckily, there are a ton of solid BP boosting effects in the Chainsaw Man set. While we’ve covered the overwhelmingly strong ones already, there are a few more that really stood out to me while playing my games. You can use these in isolation to create more formidable units, or in tandem with the effects of characters like Reze or Kishibe
Makima (019)
UE22BT: CHAINSAW MAN • common
Market Value
Loading...
The two-cost Makima is invaluable at boosting lesser BP characters into stronger ones.
Aki Hayakawa (011)
UE22BT: CHAINSAW MAN • uncommon
Market Value
Loading...
Aki came in clutch thanks to his BP boost and 3000 base BP.
A Movie Date
UE22BT: CHAINSAW MAN • common
Market Value
Loading...
While the character cards that boost BP were better overall for me, Movie Date came in handy on one occasion. You get the BP boost and re-stand the AP which is nice.
Power (013)
UE22BT: CHAINSAW MAN • uncommon
Market Value
Loading...
Three-cost Power isn’t the type of card you would typically run in a deck, but in release events she’s solid. Becoming a 4000 BP character at only three energy-cost helps you get ahead early, while her 3500 base BP works as solid blocker into your opponent’s weaker bodies.
Is winning the Chainsaw Man Release Event luck of the draw?
Of course, how well you will do at your release event will be impacted in some part by the cards you pull in your packs. While Chainsaw Man reduces variation through a smaller selection of cards than three energy-color sets – and also through the name consistency across energy colors I mentioned earlier – what you get will determine your experience.
In this particular tournament, I was working with some really good pieces. I had six specials in my deck, two finals, and at least eight or nine 4000 base BP characters, and even more that easily boost to 4000 BP.
I also pulled a Chainsaw Man Raid character, a Reze Raid, and even a six-cost Chainsaw Man (that never saw the light of day).
However, what helped me most wasn’t the cards: it was the fundamentals. Things like knowing when to go for the rush play, when to wall up with 4000 BP characters, and when to risk it all for the win. Proper blocking techniques (enabling favorable trades) also are a huge deal into this format.
So no: Release Events aren’t all about luck. They’re about learning on the spot and adapting your play based on what’s given to you, which is essentially how TCGs work no matter the game or format.
With that being said, I hope you get to enjoy one of these release events yourself! It’s a very fun format from a very solid set, and so far it’s massively popular. Go out and enjoy if you haven’t already!
