NIKKE and Demon Slayer Vol. 2 Rare Battle Guide
Two exciting new Rare Battles are on the near horizon for UNION ARENA players: the NIKKE Rare Battle and Demon Slayer Vol. 2. Starting on January 23, 2026 and running for a month, these Rare Battles will lock players into playing decks built only from cards from their respective anime, affording a unique challenge and alternate format to master. Of course, both of these IPs are absolutely massive, and you can bet to see crowded shops around NA with players eager to bag these two gorgeous UNION Rare Winner cards.
The winner cards aren’t the only incentive to join in on the battle: exclusive prizes can be earned just for attending an event. While the Demon Slayer Vol. 2 participation prizes look solid, it’s the highly stylized NIKKE Action Point cards that should be the bigger draw for its many diehard fans.
Those looking for more than just participation prizes – for players desiring a top finish and bagging either the Winner promo or the top four promo from either IP – mastering their chosen IP will be the name of the game.
This is why we’ll be taking a high level overview into the Demon Slayer Vol. 2 and NIKKE Rare Battle metas to give you some helpful pointers on what to expect from your own tournament. Keep in mind, this is going to be more of a stategy deep dive, not a deck overview guide. For recommended deck builds, check out my best Demon Slayer decks and best NIKKE deck lists.
Demon Slayer Vol. 2 Rare Battle meta guide
When it comes to Rare Battles, typically there’s one deck at the top. More mixed rare battle formats can have a variety of strong decks, but even those tend to have around two that see the most play and success.
For Demon Slayer Vol. 2, the top two decks are pretty handedly the Yellow Tanjiro/Nezuko deck and the Purple Muzan deck. While in the first set Yellow Tanjiro/Nezuko was the overwhelming favorite, my money is on Muzan this time around.
Muzan has a lot of power and is able to close out games like no other deck in the Demon Slayer meta. Players will look to leverage its unique new powers to dominate their tournaments.
However, yellow Tanjiro can easily keep up with Muzan. Its speed and multi attack power via the three-cost Nezuko pose a significant threat to Muzan’s slower, late game power.
On the grand scale, I see the Demon Slayer Vol. 2 Rare Battle meta as essentially being a battle between these two giants. They’ll likely take the lion’s share of wins, with other decks still fairing decently well at a lower play share.
My pick for the Demon Slayer Rare Battle
Of course, always one to buck the fad, I won’t be running either of these top decks but my top pick for the dark horse of the Demon Slayer Vol. 2 Rare Battle format: Blue Demon Slayer. Specifically, the Tanjiro/Nezuko/Kanroji build I took first place at a regular store tournament with.
I really love this Blue Demon Slayer deck. It has phenomenal board control via the four-cost Tanjiro and five-cost Kanroji, and an excellent consistency package via the Nezuko. While it’s got a few too many moving parts to content with some of the strongest decks out there in the UNION ARENA meta, it does very well into the Demon Slayer Vol. 2 format. Specifically, it has solid plays into Yellow Tanjiro/Nezuko, and I would even say I favorite the Blue siblings deck over the Yellow in that matchup.
Blue just has so many ways to disrupt your opponent’s board that Yellow Tanjiro/Nezuko lacks. Manage to disrupt their combos early and you can easily run away with the game.
NIKKE Rare Battle meta guide
NIKKE feels more like a tossup as a Rare Battle format. It has so many cooky decks that almost any of them could secure a win within its own anime-locked battles. That being said, the Yellow Counters deck has seen a lot of popularity amongst local tournaments, focusing on using your Rapi to take a highly aggressive stance against the opposition.
Modernia could do well into this format given its powerful removal effects, while Purple Dorothy has seen modest success at the local level. You’ll likely see either Purple or Yellow topping the most NIKKE events, with a few “rogue” green decks making their way into the top four.
My pick for the NIKKE UNION ARENA Rare Battle
Of course, taking home Winner cards would be too easy if you just play the best deck. So for a little bit more of a challenge I picked up my own version of the Purple Pilgrim/Pioneer deck.
To me, Pilgrim/Pioneer is the dark horse of the NIKKE Rare Battle format. It has solid removal via four-cost Modernia (when combined with other BP reducing effects in the deck), moves fast, and has the strongest end-of-game closer in all of NIKKE: five-cost Scarlet.
Meanwhile, Snow White acts as a powerful counter to the other two top decks in the format by enabling you to shut down effects like Modernia’s Removal effect and various cards in the Purple Dorothy deck that can be quite problematic if you let them use their effects turn after turn.
Apart from the prizes, the NIKKE Rare Battle format should be particularly fun for NIKKE fans who will have a chance to play these decks at a highly competitive level without worrying too much about how they compare to the other top decks in the game right now.
Whatever deck you choose, practice makes perfect, and a skilled player can overcome a top tier deck. So get your reps in and share your tournament results with me via the website, or on social media like X or my Discord (links in website menu).
What deck are you bringing to your next UNION ARENA Rare Battle?
