Purple BLEACH Gets New Cards in UNION ARENA Vol. 3

BLEACH is the first anime IP to get a UNION ARENA Vol. 3 set, and fans are very excited.

Not only will the makeup of this Vol. 3 massively impact BLEACH (one of UNION ARENA’s most popular sets), it will show us what we can expect from Vol. 3 from additional UNION ARENA sets when they occur in the future.

While we’ve had a look at a select few of the English cards from the set already, the UNION ARENA X account for the Japanese Version shared some pretty big reveals, including two Purple BLEACH cards aimed directly at the Ichigo/Rukia build.

Purple Ichigo and Rukia cards unlock serious power for Purple BLEACH

Ichigo Kurosaki (黒崎 一護)

Card Type: Character

Cost / Action: 3 Cost / 1 Action

BP: 2500

Generated Energy: 2 Purple

Effects:

• [On Play] (登場時): Look at the top 2 cards of your deck. Place any number of them on top of your deck in any order, and place the rest into your Sideline (場外). If any of the cards placed into your Sideline by this effect have a required Energy of 3 or more, draw 1 card.

Trigger:

• [Get] (ゲット): Add this card to your hand.

Rukia Kuchiki (朽木 ルキア)

Card Type: Character

Trait: Gotei 13 (護廷十三隊)

Cost / Action: 2 Cost / 1 Action

BP: 2500

Generated Energy: 1 Purple

Effects:

• Passive: If you have no cards on your field, reduce the required Energy of this card in your hand by [Purple] 1.
• Raid Support: When a character Raids on this character, choose 1 of the following effects. (You may resolve the [On Play] effect of the Raided character and this effect in any order.)
  • Look at the top card of your deck and place it on top of your deck or into your Sideline.
  • Choose up to 1 of your <Rukia Kuchiki> on your field. During this turn, give it: "This character cannot be blocked by characters with 4000 or more BP."
• [On Play] (登場時): Look at the top card of your deck and place it on top of your deck or into your Sideline.

While Purple BLEACH was one of the original best UNION ARENA decks, it was always hampered by the exclusion of the cards it needed to perform at the top of the game. While Japan got key cards to the strategy like zero-cost Rukia, we did not. Instead, we had to wait over a year before a card that was vital to the strategy was released. By then, the meta had already moved onto stronger, faster decks that Purple BLEACH couldn’t really compete with.

We don’t yet know the full extent of what Purple BLEACH will be getting in Vol. 3, but both of these cards look promising.

Ichigo gives you a strong filter/sideline three-cost double energy generating character with a trigger, while Rukia is even stronger. She is a fake zero-cost, making her an excellent replacement for the current Rukia in your deck. She will give you a better BP alternative to the Rukia, while unlocking solid effects like further sideline fueling, and also the ability to make your Rukia’s un-blockable by characters with 4000 BP or more.

With these two cards added to the strategy, we’re looking at Purple BLEACH becoming a much stronger strategy. All it needs now is a free-play mechanic and we could see that archetype once again joining the S-tier.

Additional BLEACH: Thousand Year Blood War Vol. 3 spoilers revealed

While the Ichigo and Rukia cards are the only officially revealed cards with their effects intact, the artwork for several additional BLEACH Vol. 3 cards were also revealed.

First of all, the alternate art cards for the Rukia and the Ichigo look absolutely gorgeous, and I’m totally going to try and get my hands on those for my Purple BLEACH deck.

But even more telling are the alt art cards that haven’t had their official card text revealed. Each one of these cards is a 4000 BP+ character, meaning we’re likely to have new themed decks with them either as a main attacker or supporting Raid. I could go on for a while about that because of how exciting this is, but I’ll wait to dive into more depth when the official card text is actually revealed.

First look at the BLEACH Thousand Year Blood War Advanced deck

Also spoiled over the weekend was a preview of both the packaging of the upcoming BLEACH Vol. 3 Advanced deck, as well as some of the foil cards included in the deck.

You can see from the cover that the new three-cost Ichigo will be included in the Advanced Deck, and probably the Rukia, too.

You can also get foil staples for the Purple BLEACH deck, as well as the Raids for Rukia and Ichigo themselves.

Booster pack art revealed

Lastly, we have the booster pack artwork revealed for UNION ARENA’s first Vol. 3. All-in-all, these spoilers are delivering exactly what the fans want. More BLEACH characters, more exciting strategies to try, and more strong upgrades for our favorite decks that will actually potentially make a difference.

So far, BLEACH Vol. 3 is looking amazing. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available!