The God of Thunder is Coming to UNION ARENA BLEACH Vol. 3

Aug 26

Who hasn’t wanted to play as the powerful Yoruichi’s now famous Raijin Senkei “God of Thunder” form? After seeing fan reaction to the first episode of BLEACH: Thousand Year Blood War – The Calamity, I wondered whether we might be getting a “God of Thunder” card in the game. As it so happens, we are – although it’s not an alternate form of Yoruichi but rather a very powerful special!

Yoruichi Shihoin (四楓院夜一)

Card Type: Character

Cost / Action: 4 Cost / 1 Action

BP: 4000

Generated Energy: 1 Blue

Effects:

[Raid] (レイド): <Yoruichi Shihoin> (You may make this active and move it to the Front L).
[On Play] (登場時): Choose up to 1 other character on your field that has no traits, and make it Active.
[On Retire] (退場時): If you have <Kisuke Urahara> on your field, play up to 1 of this character's Raid base cards onto your field in Rest.

Trigger:

[Raid] (レイド): Add this card to your hand, or if you meet the energy requirements, Raid it.

Shunko: Raijin Senkei (瞬閧・雷神戦形)

Card Type: Event

Cost / Action: 4 Cost / 1 Action

Generated Energy: 1 Blue

Effects:

Choose 1 <Yoruichi Shihoin> on your field. During this turn, it gets BP+2000 and gains the following effect:
- "When this character makes its first attack this turn, until the end of that attack, it gains Impact 1 (インパクト 1) and Snipe (狙い撃ち) (You may specify an opponent's Front L character to attack, and if you do, it cannot be blocked)."

Trigger:

[SPECIAL] (スペシャル): Choose 1 character on your opponent's Front L and retire it.

While we’ve been granted a look at Yoruichi’s new Raid SR** design before, this is the first time her card text has been made publicly available. And anyone who is a Yoruichi fan should be happy with this Raid as she looks quite strong.

Essentially, Yoruichi comes in Raided, will switch a character on the front line to Active, and then has recursion built in. When Sidelined, you’ll be retaining Yoruichi’s base Raided character rested on the field.

That combination of aggressive power and defensive might is relatively rare in UNION ARENA. But the “God of Thunder” Special is where things get VERY interesting.

God of Thunder unlocks Yoruichi’s greatest power

In BLEACH, Yoruichi is known for her incredible mastery of hand-to-hand combat. Her greatest power, however, is her ability to activate a terrifying form called Raijin Senkei: God of Thunder.

While this ultimate form unlocks terrifying power, it also diminishes Yoruichi’s mind, transforming her into a creature of instinct. While in this form, she acts notably different from her usual tough as nails self. Indeed, she becomes quite “cute” and playful, listening only to Kisuke himself.

Yoruichi’s new Special in UNION ARENA delivers similar levels of devastation to the deck. At just four energy cost, Raijin Senkei: God of Thunder grants Impact/Snipe and 2000 BP to Yoruichi: the most deadly keyword combo in the game right now.

Clearly UNION ARENA is cooking up a Kisuke/Yoruichi combo deck. Delivering this level of low-level Snipe/Impact, recursion and aggro is unusual in the game. The closest thing to it in existence right now is the Yellow Sakamoto deck that has dominated the metagame since it came out.

Given what we’ve seen of the new Blue Yoruichi deck, I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up top tier, and I have never been more stoked for UNION ARENA’s first Vol. 3.