UNION ARENA: Code Geass Purple Deck List & Guide
My favorite deck strategy so far in Code Geass is the Purple deck featuring Lelouch, C.C., and Kallen. Using this deck, you can seriously mess with your opponent without sacrificing your own draw capabilities. In this guide, let’s look at the strategy that leverages the most popular characters in the franchise.
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Main Deck (50 Cards):
Kallen Kozuki (CGH-1-002) x4
Zero (CGH-1-009) x4
C.C. (CGH-1-005) x4
C.C. (CGH-1-006) x3
Kallen Kozuki (CGH-1-003) x4
Kallen Kozuki (CGH-1-004) x3
Kallen Kozuki (CGH-1-101) x3
Lelouch Lamperouge (CGH-1-016) x4
Gawain (CGH-1-022) x4
Lelouch Lamperouge (CGH-1-017) x3
Guren Mk-II (CGH-1-023) x4
Guren Mk-II (CGH-1-107) x2
United States of Japan (CGH-1-029) x4
Power of Absolute Obedience (CGH-1-030) x4
Although the synergy between different cards and their interactions is so strong in this deck that it almost builds itself, it’s taken some serious fine tuning to get it to where I really needed it to be. After much testing, competing and winning tournaments, however, the result is this powerful deck capable of dominating the meta.
The main strategy here rests in the powerful Guren coupled with effects from both Lelouch and Gawain that lower BP, softening your opponent’s front line and making it easier to take out your opponent’s characters. When combined, you have the potential for some very strong card removal.
However, this is going to need to be done strategically, and in that way this deck reminds me a fair bit of the Byakuya deck build I put together for BLEACH.
Play your cards right and you could certainly remove multiple characters in a turn with relative ease.
Let’s look at how this is done before getting into the rest of this deck’s strategy as card removal and BP reduction are going to be the most intriguing plays this deck has to offer.
Early game plays to set yourself up for success
With Code Geass Purple, it’s vital to move quickly. This deck works best when it’s taking life every turn that it reasonably can, simply trying to outpace decks with stronger characters before they can build up enough resistance to stop you.
However, unlike other decks that work aggressively, Code Geass uniquely doesn’t run out of steam in the later game. Once you’ve set things up by taking plenty of life early on, you have plenty of cards capable of sneaking their way into the finish line.
Early on, you are going to almost always be looking to go first and then take a life with one of your low cost characters.
Get zero-cost C.C. onto the board
Zero-cost C.C. is actually vital to this deck’s success and you’re going to want to use her very strategically. Having her in play means being able to easily hit your five-cost Guren raid. While you won’t always be able to save her until the time you need her to get off a raid, she can also be great to help you build up your board with stronger energy generating cards like the three-cost Kallen with two energy gen.
One-cost C.C. makes for a great early game attacker
This C.C. character is one I’ve been running in my Purple Code Geass deck since getting my first products, and I have to say she really comes in handy depending on the matchup. Not only does she nullify Impact, she further incentives you to add her into your deck by granting you a card whenever she is sidelined. Early game, this makes her a very, every effective character to promote to the front line to take pot shots at your opponent’s life, especially if you go first and they haven’t managed to field a character on the front line yet.
What cards to play going first vs. second
When going second, my favorite move is to play both zero-cost AND one-cost C.C. to my energy line to prep her to start taking life the very next turn.
When going first, I will avoid playing C.C. as I’m going to want to promote my first played zero-cost character start of the next turn and you really can’t be wasting your zero-cost C.C. as an attacker. Instead, I’ll play Zero or Kallen down and use them to pressure my opponent. If you have to choose between the two, go with Kallen as you have more of her and you’ll need your Lelouch’s in play to use Guren’s raid.
A tale of two Lelouch
True to the anime, Lelouch acts as a strategic support character in this deck rather than (usually) your main attacker. Use Lelouch to grant additional energy, reduce BP, or get around your opponent’s altogether to take a direct attack on their life.
Let’s look at each of these Lelouch in more detail and dive into how you can pair them with your stronger cards to maximize your chances of winning.
Three-energy Lelouch
The most vital Lelouch for this deck is undoubtedly three-energy cost Lelouch. It’s vital as you will need either this card on the field or zero-cost C.C. in order to play the Guren. These two characters are the only ones capable of letting you play the Guren so you’ll need to use them strategically or add in a one more two energy generating character if you find this curve too narrow.
While this Lelouch is mostly here to grant energy, it’s got a solid trigger effect, and also a when played effect that enables you to force your opponent to use their stronger characters as blockers rather than their weak ones.
Two-cost Lelouch
The other is is two-cost Lelouch. While still a strong card, you mostly won’t need this effect during the course of your battles, or its better and more reliable to get the BP reduction from Gawain. If you were to go for a more flat out BP reduction build with Code Geass Purple you might want to up the number of this particular card in your deck. Otherwise, two should probably be enough to get the job done.
Gawain
Gawain’s BP reduction effect when played lets you get through your opponent’s board if they have managed to stack it with high BP characters.
Additionally, Gawain is challenging to block thanks to its passive effect that prevents it from being blocked by characters with 2000 or less BP. Not only can this effect be used to take late game wins against your opponent’s life directly, it can also be a great way to force your opponent to block with their stronger characters and not just low-power fodder.
The Guren Mk-II adds significant utility to this deck
While the Lelouch/BP reduction strategy is going to be the backbone of this deck, it’s not the only powerhouse attacker you have at your disposal. You also have one of the best attackers in the game in the shape of The Guren.
For just five energy, the Guren can be played to the field. Assuming the conditions are met, your opponent is forced to block its attacks while also offering up a Life thanks to the handy Impact 1 keyword. Forcing your opponent to block and taking a life card is insane, especially when you factor in the Guren’s relatively low cost. It’s also this deck’s highest cost character, meaning the rest of this deck’s strategy can be pulled off with relative ease.
While the Guren is so strong that the possibility of playing it is enough to excited any hardened Code Geass fan, the fact that you have a powerful and reliable way to search it out makes fielding this Knightmare Frame essentially a no-brainer.
SR Guren is also quite strong
While I actually think the rare version of the Guren will be your best bet in. most circumstances, you also have another option that’s quite strong. This card combos well with Gawain or your two-cost Lelouch as it should be able to efficiently act as a removal when played. One advantage to this Guren over the other is the condition of its ability is not based on having Lelouch on the field.
Code Geass Purple – alternate cards to consider
The list I’m sharing here is my personal favorite Code Geass Purple deck and the one I’ve won the most tournaments with. It’s reliable, powerful, and especially enables rush plays thanks to running two one-cost characters. However, it’s not the only way to play Code Geass Purple. A few additional cards you could try in your list:
Checkmate: I’ve had success teching in Checkmate to the list. This way, you can gain double Impact on your Guren when using the forced block. That being said, there are several characters capable of stopping the forced block in the meta (like Saitama), making this strategy less effective than it once was.
Two AP Lelouch: there are two different two AP cost Lelouch cards that are popular to run in your Code Geass Purple deck. Of the two, the one with two energy generation and 3000 BP reduction is the stronger. I’ve found those 2 AP cards often get clogged up in my hand and Code Geass Purple works fine without them.
Code Geass Purple Matchups to watch for
Right now, Code Geass Purple is arguably the best deck. While that’s likely to change as more sets and especially Voume 2s enter the game, it’s still a solid deck with decent matchups. Below, let’s talk about some of your most important matchups and how to deal with them.
Vs. Blue Sukuna
While Blue Sukuna was once the strongest deck in the game, its power has been waning lately. Still, it’s one of the decks that fares best and you’re likely to run into it at competitive level events.
Your main advantage against Sukuna is the fact that Raid Yuji does not help your opponent much. If they are constantly bouncing Guren’s back into your hand, you essentially just get to infinitely loop forced blocks or 3000 BP card removal.
Additionally, your C.C. with Nullify Impact Stands out in this deck as a powerful counter to the Impact hungry Raid Sukuna.
Vs. Yellow Saitama
This is not a terribly bad matchup despite the fact Saitama can render your Guren Forced block useless. Getting off to a fast start will help you here as Yellow Saitama gets more difficult the more of his five-cost self are out on the board.
Vs. Green Saitama
This is a horrible matchup. Green Saitama has so many tools to use against you that are hard to deal with, including a King raid that can’t block, and a 4500 BP Silverfang that’s hard to remove via BP reducing effects.
If you don’t hit an early rush play via your low-cost characters your opponent could easily beat you to the punch (pardon the pun).
Vs. Yellow Goddesses
Yellow Goddesses stands out as a real threat to you due to how much Nullify Impact it has access to. Look to remove the Null Impact characters before launching at your opponent with a forced block attack. Also be careful of Asuna’s swaping effect. If used on your C.C. it could be deadly.
Otherwise, you are much stronger early game and if you manage to clear two big targets it could throw off your opponent’s momentum and make it hard for them to come back.
This Code Geass Purple deck is certainly my favorite deck right now from the set and the one I most look forward to building when the set releases on December 13th! With the ability to unlock insane card removal, and also forcing your opponent to block in a disadvantageous manner, I can see this deck doing really well in the UNION ARENA meta and possibly even end up being one of the top decks!
