UNION ARENA: BLEACH Vol. 3 has finally launched in North America, and with it some of the strongest strategies ever seen in the game. Below, we’ll be looking at every deck you can build and upgrade with the new cards from Vol. 3, and ranking them based on their competitive potential.
#13 Yellow BLEACH – The Almighty
Yellow Yhwach always felt like it had potential, but was missing many pieces to make it work. It gets a lot in BLEACH Vol. 3 – enough to make it feel much stronger than it ever had before. Cards like the fake two-cost Askin are a much needed bump to this deck’s foundation, while the undeniable strongest card it gets is the new Jugram Raid.
Jugram Haschwalth (012)
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Super Rare
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Jugram will do a few things for you:
First, it’s going to boost the Required Energy of the characters on your field a bit so that you can activate the ability on your new Raidless Yhwach.
Second, it’s going to unlock a unique passive draw effect that plays particularly well into this deck, letting you draw a card whenever a character is Sidelined.
Lastly, Jugram adds a much needed free-play effect to your deck.
This card alone elevates Yellow BLEACH decks featuring it to a whole different tier than they otherwise would have access to.
Yet for all its anti-meta potential, the Yhwach side of things still feels like it’s not unlocked its full potential. Perhaps we’ll have to wait until Vol. 4 to see just what this deck can get up to.
#12 Yellow BLEACH – Bambies
Yellow Bambies is a cult classic deck and for good reason: in the right hands it’s a powerful strategy. That being said, it’s a deck that also doesn’t get a whole lot in Vol. 3 – indeed, it needed more to uplevel it to compete with the current meta.
Still, diehard Bambies players will certainly notice a difference. The new three-cost Giselle is undeniably good, granting Double Attack to one of your Zombie characters.
Giselle Gewelle
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Rare
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That’s pretty incredible considering you can now turn your Zombie Bambietta into an Impact Double Attack character.
Bambietta Basterbine
UEX01BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.2 • Rare
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That’s legitimately good, but the deck still suffers from the same over-reliance on a clunky 2-AP character being on the front line that has always hampered its potential. And no amount of Uryu switching it out from the backline can really mitigate that liability.
Still, Yellow BLEACH was always a reliable deck, and with the new cards it gets in Vol. 3, it’s absolutely a meta threat once again.
#11 Blue BLEACH – Mayuri
Who would’ve thought that Mayuri could actually be kind of good some day?
While I once panned this deck for having a non-removal Special, decks like Shadow Army have shown how strong a card that free-plays two characters can be. Still, that alone isn’t why this deck is something of an anti-meta threat today. Instead, its strongest card is definitely the four-cost Nemu.
Nemu Kurotsuchi (041)
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Super Rare
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This Nemu is actually pretty great, especially when you consider it is only a four-cost 1 AP character. Getting Impact 1 and a forced block at 5000 BP is pretty nuts.
While Mayuri has gotten plenty else to bolster its ranks via both the New Card Selection and the latest set, it’s this Nemu alone that raises it to new heights in the meta.
#10 Purple BLEACH – Squad Zero
I remember those halcyon days when Squad Zero was the scourge of the UNION ARENA English Meta. However, given how strong the rest of the Purple decks get with Vol. 3, it kind of just doesn’t feel great to run this deck anymore.
In the early days, having a Site that could let you filter and draw every turn was amazing. There weren’t many counters to Sites back then and draw was limited. Now, however, this deck just feels like a mid-level removal deck with some high end power that’s a little too slow to keep up with the fast pace of the current meta.
Still, Squad Zero enjoyers don’t need to hang their heads and cry over its lower ranking relative to the utterly dominant decks in the set: it still does get significant upgrades in Vol. 3, with the strongest being the two new Ichibe cards.
Ichibe Hyosube (056)
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Rare
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Both have solid free-play mechanics in them, helping Squad Zero pick up the pace a little bit. Honestly, if your Ichigo came in as a Damage 2 Impact 1 attacker active, this deck would be significantly better.
#9 Green BLEACH – Yamamoto
Another old favorite of mine, Yamamoto is a deck that hasn’t felt good to play since the earliest days of the game. Thanks to several key additions in Vol. 3, however, it feels much, much better. Most important are the new zero-cost characters for Unohana and Yamamoto.
Of all the different Green BLEACH decks you can build, Yamamoto is the best positioned to leverage Raid Unohana’s search and free-play mechanic. And with the inclusion of the two new Raid targets, running both of these cards in the same deck never felt better.
For more insights into how to build and play this deck, check out my Yamamoto deck list and guide.
#8 Yellow BLEACH – Jugram and Bazz-B
Yellow BLEACH has long lagged behind the other energy colors for the set in terms of power. However, its strongest deck may be a mostly new one: the Bazz-B and Jugram deck (inspired by the relationship the two central characters share in the anime) has some pretty enticing combos.
Of course, the backbone of this deck is still that same Jugram Raid mentioned earlier. Only in this deck, Jugram’s passive abilities go much further. Not only does it pair well with the five-cost Yhwach, it enhances the removal capabilities of your Bazz-B.
Bazz-B (008)
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Super Rare
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While Bazz-B needs to not have a Yhwach in your sideline to activate this removal effect, that’s not an issue: five-cost Yhwach will go to the bottom of your deck when sidelined.
Yhwach (015)
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Rare
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This new and improved Yellow BLEACH deck is essentially a removal and draw focused deck in disguise as something more complex. And it’s straightforward and consistent enough to be a big hit.
#7 Green BLEACH – Shunsui Kyoraku
While often fun to play, decks that rely too heavily on Site cards rarely perform at peak competitive levels. That’s partly because unlike characters, Sites can’t be moved to the front line, making them somewhat dead spaces once they are played.
That being said, Shunsui’s Site and Event focused deck may be the strongest of its kind that we’ve seen in the English Version. It’s also doing something few other decks have ever managed to do before.
As such, it’s also got a bit of a learning curve: we haven’t really had a deck like this one before in the game, so you can’t easily port existing knowledge onto it.
Shunsui Kyoraku (069)
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Super Rare
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That being said, the most important mechanic is the interplay between Shunsui’s six-cost Raid and the three-cost Aizen. Get the right amount of Green Event and Energy cards in your Sideline and you can use Shunsui’s When Attacking ability to switch in your Aizen, and get another 4000 BP attack in while protecting your core Raid.
#6 Blue BLEACH – Ichigo
Blue BLEACH gets a ton of added support in Vol. 3, with the overall best addition being the 2 AP Orihime.
Orihime Inoue (022)
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Super Rare
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In Japan, players are leveraging a plethora of characters to improve Blue Ichigo’s strategy, and many are using Rukia as a secondary Raid to help lock down your opponent’s board while your other attackers do much of the work.
With everything going for it, Blue BLEACH may not be quite as dominant as the massively upgraded Purple decks from the set, but it can more than hold its own in both the post BLEACH format, and in Rare Battles.
#5 Purple BLEACH – Byakuya
Byakuya was once one of my favorite decks – alongside Ichigo/Renji, Yamamoto, and Kenpachi, it was one of the decks I played the most during UNION ARENA’s original release, and later when Byakuya got a significant boost with the New Card Selection.
However, Byakuya is a whole new kind of deck following Vol. 3, and there are a million ways to build it. The deck above focuses on the Byakuya/Renji core engine, unlocking insane board wipe capabilities.
Your strongest new character from Vol. 3 is easily the Raid Byakuya – and this guy really is a beast.
Byakuya Kuchiki (053)
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Super Rare
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Threatening Damage 2 while also having an ability that lets him re-stand after winning a battle is deadly. Its only limitation is that you’ll need to have three opposing characters with reduced BP on the board. However, with the combination of this new attacker, a solid new three-cost and two-energy generating Raid target and two additional Renji that can add tremendous pressure, you’re looking at a very strong runner up to the top tier of Purple BLEACH decks.
#4 Blue BLEACH – Yoruichi
To me, Yoruichi’s deck is the most underrated coming out of early results in the Japanese meta. In reality, this deck is absolutely insane – it has Impact/Snipe combo at just four energy cost, plenty of aggression, and a free-play and recursion system that’s second to none.
For more info on how to pilot this deck to success, check out my Blue Yoruichi deck list and guide.
#3 Green BLEACH – Kenpachi/Toshiro
Before the BLEACH Vol. 3 set list was released in Japan, I was really skeptical as to whether or not Kenpachi/Toshiro would get anything with the latest volume. After all, it got so much when the New Card Selection came out. To my pleasant surprise, one of UNION ARENA’s most consistent decks does get several powerful new additions: an upgraded zero-cost draw character and a massively powerful Kenpachi.
Kenpachi Zaraki
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Uncommon
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This Kenpachi provides several advantages at once. First, it’s a solid blocker early game, letting you stop early threats with ease. Second, it’s a Raid target for your Kenpachi – which is always nice to have. Lastly, it’s a Nullify Impact character, which adds significant benefits to Green BLEACH in general which previously lacked a solid Nullify Impact character in its arsenal.
Indeed, this Kenpachi is so strong, many will opt to run even more copies of it in their deck, and you could see the one-cost Shinji drop off in popularity in favor of it.
#2 Purple BLEACH – Renji/Rukia
Ichigo/Rukia may be my top pick for strongest deck in the latest set, but Renji/Rukia is also a top contender. It has stronger free-play and more complex combos when compared to the more straightforward power plays of Ichigo/Rukia.
Its strongest new card is this pretty incredible Renji Raid.
Renji Abarai (050)
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Super Rare
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Renji gets Impact 1 or has the option to choose one character on your opponent’s front line and reduce its BP by 1000. Renji can choose between one of these abilities each turn, giving you a solid way to enhance your other Renji Raid’s BP reducing effects.
What really stands out about this card, however, isn’t just that it’s a 4000 BP with Impact and BP reduction – it’s that it can be played without paying an AP – making it an insanely strong free-play card at Purple BLEACH’s disposal.
The best way to use this is to combo it with the three-cost Rukia also released with Vol. 3.
Rukia Kuchiki (054)
UEX08BT: BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Vol.3 • Rare
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This Rukia has an ability that activates by paying an AP – only it’s not really an added cost as it lets you play one of your Renjis from your hand with fulfilled energy. Use this to play or Raid a Renji, then Raid your strongest Renji for free!
It’s a broken combo that – when combined with the rest of the abilities in this deck at your disposal – is one of the strongest in the game right now.
#1 Purple BLEACH – Ichigo/Rukia
Purple BLEACH emerges as the strongest energy color overall with the new cards from the latest BLEACH UNION ARENA set. Out of all of them, Ichigo/Rukia feels the strongest, and has the most consistent results coming out of Japan (although Rukia/Renji is close on its heels).
Leveraging the tighter and more powerful lines unlocked by the fake two cost Rukia and the new Ichigo three-cost vastly improve this deck’s speed to cards in the sideline. Meanwhile, Uryu proves to be a powerful “reload” character, coming in active, protecting with Nullify Impact, and bringing Ichigo characters back from removal to use once again for your strongest effects.
For more info on the strongest BLEACH Vol. 3 deck, check out my Ichigo/Rukia deck guide.
In terms of impact on the UNION ARENA English Version meta, BLEACH Vol. 3 is the biggest set to come out since Evangelion. While sets since then have performed well, few have shaped the meta in the same way that BLEACH is about to. Indeed, when looking back, we may look to the month BLEACH released as the time the game changed, much in how we look back to Evangelion or even Kenshin for the indelible mark those sets left on the game.
However, given how same-same the game has been pretty much since Solo Leveling and Sakamoto Days came out, I think it’s a change UNION ARENA players are generally welcoming.
