UNION ARENA: Every Jujutsu Kaisen Deck, Ranked (Vol. 2)
UNION ARENA Jujutsu Kaisen is not exactly a deck in massive need of help. Indeed, Blue Sukuna builds focused on Sukuna and Nanami are still prevalent at events. However, given the powerful support granted to JJK in Volume 2, it seems inevitable that Blue JJK will rise to even greater heights to take the crown as best deck in the format.
Will that ultimately be an awful thing for the UNION ARENA meta? Not necessarily – the UA meta is resilient and a plethora of decks are playable right now. But what we really care about is which of the JJK Volume 2 decks are going to be on top, so with that in mind let’s take a look at each of the decks following Volume 2 and how they stack up against each other.
#8 Red Geto
Both red decks in JJK Vol. 2 are pretty innovative in their approaches. While the Sorcerers deck focuses on a mechanic that sees its characters getting stronger based on how build up your opponent’s field becomes, Geto leverages the many Activate: Main effects printed on the cards in this deck as his own.
Granting one card access to such a varied number of abilities in this way makes for a very unique build. Indeed, Geto starts to feel like a one-man-toolbox, rather than just a distinct character with his own strengths and weaknesses.
Additionally, this Cursed Red deck has access to an uncommonly strong special in the form of Prison Realm: a removal tool that lets you send chosen character to the removal area as opposed to sidelining them. This has a range of benefits from slowing down decks that benefit from having cards in sideline like Purple BLEACh as well as avoiding effects that activate when a card is sidelined.
While this deck could actually do quite well in the right scenario, it feels a little too slow and inconsistent when compared to the many solid decks viable to JJK following Vol. 2, hence the reason for its much lower placement on the list.
#7 Red Sorcerers
I can see the JJK Red Sorcerers deck being fairly popular because of how many of the central cast of characters are featured in it, even if its not quite as powerful as the buffed up base set decks. Red is the new energy color brought to JJK via Volume 2, and with it a unique focus that primarily works around your opponent having multiple powerful characters on the field. Based on how many 4000 BP+ characters they are fielding, your characters get access to solid buffs.
That being said, in typical red UNION ARENA deck fashion, the heart and soul of this deck is actually centered around a double attack – something which you can enable by just having the right number of Sorcerers affinity characters on the field in addition to your four-cost Yuji.
Again, it’s a unique strategy that could be a lot of fun to play around with, even if nothing here screams competitive-level power, especially in a meta that’s growing rapidly more challenging in the wake of Volume 2 sets.
#6 Raidless Gojo
Yellow Gojo is shaping out to be fairly solid Raidless option going into the JJK UNION ARENA format. The two other decks it reminds me of are both yellow, and they are the Yellow Hashira deck and the more recent Integrity Knights deck. This deck reminds me of the Hashira build because of its focus on raidless cards, while it reminds me of Integrity Knights because its power is built from having specific names characters on the field rather than a host of cards with the same affinity.
While only needing one other named character on the field to activate effects makes these abilities more likely to get off, at the same time they do leave themselves open to manipulation – i.e. removing said named character to inhibit your combos.
However, unlike in the case of the Hashira deck, you do have a solid way to switch your characters to active the turn they are played thanks to your Riko Amanai character. Just discard a card from your hand and you can switch either your Gojo or Geto to active – that’s not bad given how strong some these cards get under the right circumstances.
#5 Purple Mahito
This Purple Mahito deck (not to be confused with the adult beverage of a similar name) not only looks fairly strong – it feels like a lot of fun to play. I particularly enjoy the insane BP reduction effects you can employ, especially via the new five-cost Mahito added in Volume 2.
Very few cards in the game have the ability to reduce BP at this scale, unlocking some very intriguing combos especially when you consider the other BP reduction tools at this deck’s disposal. I also really like the Special for this deck: a card that lets you remove an opposing character while simultaneously playing a character for free. While not a new card, that combined with the new additional removal options give this deck a lot of flare. In the right hands, it could be deadly, although not nearly as consistent as the stronger decks on this list.
#4 Megumi
Megumi has already seen some modest success competitively with the cards available to it in the JJK base set. However, given some of the incredible power added to the deck in Volume 2, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see lists like this one above popping up at tournaments around the country. Two of this deck’s strongest additions include the Max Elephant – a three cost character with 4000 BP and an ability that lets it gain energy when on the front line.
Meanwhile, four-cost-two-AP Megumi hits hard, letting you sideline 4000, 5000, and even more BP characters with relative ease on play. Otherwise the Megumi deck strategy works much in the same way – focused on overwhelming your opponent with a swarm of powerful charcters in order to take their life faster than they can build up stronger combos.
While not the strongest deck in JJK Vol. 2, an aggressive play like this could play off in the JJK Rare Battle format with the likes of Blue Sukuna becoming increasingly control oriented.
#3 Purple Todo
Purple Todo feels like a deck with something of a cult following. Despite the fact that this strategy didn’t have the nuts and bolts that it needed first time around, it’s still one that showed up on the local scene with plenty of players hoping to Boogie Woogie their way to victory.
Now, that’s changed thanks to plenty of added support from Volume 2. Cards like Ultimate Mechamaru grant considerable versatility to this deck, while the primary technical advantage here still rests in Todo’s character swapping ability – the best of its kind in the game.
Lastly, Todo could be a very handy pick into the JJK Vol. 2 Rare Battle format thanks to the Mechamaru’s site demolishing capabilities, making it a reliable counter to Blue JJK’s broken Shrine play.
#2 Nanami/Sukuna
There’s been some back and forth about which Blue JJK deck is number one. Both the pure Sukuna build and the Nanami/Sukuna hybrid have vied for dominance in the English meta. However, with Volume 2 it seems more apparent than ever that Blue Sukuna without Nami is ultimately the top deck. That being said, many players will still enjoy the more midrange version of Blue JJK that hosts additional power thanks to added support for Nanami introduced to the game via the second volume.
In addition to two solid new raid targets for Nanami, we get an additional raid that will greatly compliment the deck’s core strategy.
In addition to preventing one of your opponent’s characters from attacking, this new Nanami gives you added Mill capabilities while also reducing the BP of all opposing characters with 1500 or more BP. Not only does this soften up your opponent’s defenses, it makes them highly susceptible to four-cost raid Yuji who can now bounce even 5000 BP characters back to the hand.
Of course, all of the added mill we get via this card and the two other Nanami added to the Blue color make reaching your end-game goal of 15 or less cards in deck much more feasible – thereby boosting
It’s not the best JJK deck over all, but it’s close.
#1 Blue Sukuna is the best JJK Vol. 2 deck
I tremble in the face of Blue Sukuna. Already this deck was crazy strong – the reason why Bandai implemented a limit to this deck in the Japanese meta of the game. As of now, no official update limiting the starter deck Sukuna exists in the English meta, meaning that this deck theoretically could end up being allowed in organized play. If so, it will shoot straight to the very top of the meta and be the definitive best UNION ARENA deck of them all.
While for the most part Blue Sukuna works in the same fashion as always – sending you on a scavenger hunt for Fingers supercharged by one of the best draw engines int the game – it gets seriously buffed via three powerful new cards.
Three-cost Yuji brings a solid color trigger into the fold
The first big boost to this deck’s strategy is three-cost Yuji, giving you a very solid raid target for Sukuna. He’s the complete package – relatively low cost, two energy generating, and complete with the color trigger packaged in. And of course you’re going to need that added energy in order to reach some of the higher numbers the more heavily control focused Blue Sukuna is going to want to reach via the other big baddie added to the list: seven-cost Sukuna.
Seven-cost Sukuna adds considerable power to Blue JJK
The new big bad Sukuna is truly monstrous. The closest thing we’ve seen to how deadly this guy is would be the Lancelot Air Cavalry that makes up the backbone of Green Code Geass. However, even that guy isn’t quite on the same level as Sukuna. Indeed, if you manage to play this guy fully powered up you are not only sidelining a character while weakening your opponent’s defenses, you are forcing them to discard a card while you get to draw a card – essentially a powered up four-cost Lelouch that made him something of a strategic advantage for Purple Code Geass decks.
Of course, you might think the seven energy cost is somewhat restrictive, but it really isn’t thanks to the final game changing card added to Blue Sukuna’s repertoire
Five-cost Yuji provides powerful support
Finally, there’s this guy. Yuji reduces the cost to play your Sukuna characters by as much as two energy costs, provided you have the right number of Sukuna’s Fingers in your sideline. That means if you manage to hit four fingers in the sideline, that monstrously powerful seven-cost Sukuna becomes only a five-cost character. At five cost, he’s essentially the strongest character of that energy cost in the game.
Clearly, Blue Sukuna is the deck to beat from JJK Vol. 2. Without a limitation or ban in place, this deck will top the standings and be omnipresent for quite some time – so be prepared!
