Ichigo/Rukia Purple BLEACH Deck (Vol. 3)
Finally. Finally. Zero-cost Rukia has been allowed to enter the arena! Below, we’ll be looking at Purple BLEACH the way it was meant to be played, complete with the full Ichigo and Rukia Raid packages.
You can get the new zero-cost Rukia by attending store tournaments at local card shops near you. In fact, I was able to pick up a compete play set of zero-cost Rukia’s at my first store tournament of 2026 thanks to some generous fellow players willing to trade with me.
How much does Purple BLEACH change thanks to zero-cost Rukia?
Purple BLEACH undergoes a massive improvement thanks to the inclusion of Zero-cost Rukia into the game. Back when BLEACH: Thousand Year Blood War Vol. 2 came out, many assumed we would get the zero-cost Rukia. Had we gotten that card, Purple BLEACH likely would have remained a core part of the UNION ARENA meta long after the once popular Squad Zero deck fell out of popularity.
With Zero-cost Rukia in tow, Purple BLEACH gains access to a level of draw, removal and other effects that is virtually unmatched by any other deck in the English meta right now. You will be surprised how much of your deck you will get through thanks to Zero-cost Rukia’s ability to enable a much faster game play.
Rukia moves into center-stage
While Ichigo remains this deck’s core removal character, Rukia plays an equally vital role. Not only does her zero-cost Raid target allow you to more rapidly fuel your sideline, her four-cost Raid lets you draw three and discard two, letting you see a ton of cards while also fueling the sideline. Whereas before it was relatively commonplace to not have the cards in your sideline to use your Raid Ichigo’s effects all the time, now it’s the other way around – relatively rare to not have what you need to remove a 4000 Bp character (assuming you play your cards right).
Another really fun combo to use with Rukia is using her Activate: Main to boost your two-cost Rukia to a 4000 BP character.
Not only does this give you a low-cost high BP character to threaten your opponent with, it also provides additional fuel to the fire by placing one card from your hand to your sideline.
The Kisuke play
I really like Kisuke in this build. He essentially fulfills several different roles all at once. First, he’s a three-cost two-energy character, and you need a full eight two energy-gen characters in Purple BLEACH because of how vital your five-cost Ichigo is. Second, he has the draw trigger, adding to this deck’s overwhelming draw power. Finally, his “When Played” fulfills two more additional functions, letting you search out a wide range of characters but typically your Raidless Ichigo cards while also letting you further fuel your sideline. You really want every chance you can get to add a card to your sideline with this deck as each and every card in there really does help.
Four-cost Ichigo and the double threat
Having the complete Raid Package makes your four-cost Ichigo much more effective in this build. Having ready access to plenty of cards in the sideline means being able to easily send those cards to removal with your various Ichigo Raid effects. Hit that magic 10 number and you’re attacking your opponent with a Damage 2 character who also has Nullify Impact. All of that at 4000 BP while doubling as a potential Raid target in a pinch makes four-cost Ichigo really, really strong in the Ichigo/Rukia build.
Ichigo Raid characters are stronger thanks to Rukia
While Rukia becomes something of a powerhouse of her own with the zero-cost, her biggest advantage is how much stronger she makes your Ichigo Raid characters. Remove opposing characters much more effectively with your five-cost Ichigo, and access Impact plus draw with your four-cost much, much more easily when you run the complete Rukia Raid package.
Draw and filter early with Uryu and Ichigo
Purple BLEACH really was ahead of the game since the start. It’s one of the earliest decks to have really strong draw and filter built-in thanks to zero-cost Uryu and one-cost Ichigo. Use these two cards to move more quickly through your deck and build that perfect hand you’re gonna need to compete with today’s challenging meta.
Use three-cost Ichigo to apply the pressure
The final card we need to talk about is three-cost Ichigo. This guy is an absolute beast in this deck, letting you fulfill your energy requirements for your Raid Ichigo characters while also acting as a 4000 BP attacker in a pinch. Be not afraid of pushing this guy up to the front line whenever it’s feasible to do so, and let your Kisuke hang out on the back line generating energy. Being able to push your bench warmer up to the front line to start hacking through opposing 4000 BP characters is one of this deck’s strongest moves.
You can find the cheapest version of this card in the BLEACH starter deck, but personally I use the Prerelease Winner version cause it looks snazzy.
Zero-cost Rukia really was the missing link to make this deck much, much stronger. Finally, after more than a year, we can play Purple BLEACH the way it was meant to be played all along.
