UNION ARENA: Every Kagurabachi Deck, Ranked
Kagurabachi is one-of-a-kind as far as UNION ARENA sets go. Never before have we seen a manga-based set in the English version, and with it comes an opportunity for the game designers to lean into some gorgeously crafted artworks that will drive diehard manga fans crazy.
How strong is the set?
UNION ARENA players will be glad to know that Kagurabachi is strong – like, crazy strong. It’s the perfect antidote to the Evangelion infested waters that saw that one set eat up the lion’s share of the top performing decks at the North America Finals over Valentine’s Day Weekend.
Below, we’ll be looking at each of the core new decks joining the game in Kagurabachi, as well as discussing some of the core mechanics that make these decks tick.
#5 Purple Sojo
Red Chihiro may get all of the attention in Kagurabachi’s debut UA set, but Sojo also has a very high power ceiling – although you will need to get a lot more pieces together to see that strategy pay off. To start things off, you have the Sojo Raid that brings powerful removal capabilities to the Purple energy deck – just in line with this energy color’s penchant for BP reduction.
Sojo has an insane combination of abilities that make him a pretty terrifying multi-removal board threat. First, the When Played is nice because it lets you set up for some bigger plays along with drawing a card. It’s the Activate: Main effect that’s the big one to watch, however. This effect has the potential to remove multiple characters in a single turn if you play your cards right.
Paying an AP might sound like a bummer, but you have plenty of cards that grant some payoff for using character abilities that require you to pay an AP as an added cost. For example, look at this solid four-cost Yura.
I love this deck’s color trigger – one that lets you gain an AP back when you use one of this deck’s many abilities that require an AP cost to activate. For the cost of just one card from hand to sideline, you can push Yura up to the front line complete with Impact 1 and 4000 BP.
Additional effects let you take advantage of paying APs from your character abilities, including a powerful four-cost character that lets you lock a character down – adding freezing effects to widespread BP reduction.
It’s an ambitious strategy that may not quite hit the same threshold as the simpler and elite decks, but still one that’s bound to be popular as an alternative to Kagurabachi’s strongest deck overall.
#4 Purple Chihiro
This Purple Chihiro deck honestly looks like a lot of fun. While it’s nowhere near meta defining the way Red Chihiro is, it has a ton of unique mechanics that could certainly take even the strongest opponent by surprise. Its most recognizable card is arguably its four-cost Raid Chihiro.
Let’s unpack this character just a little bit, as there’s a lot going on here.
Handy base effect that prevents him from being blocked by chump blockers (2000 BP).
When Played draw effect that lets you preserve one card by placing it on top of your deck – bonus points if it’s your “special.”
A When Attacking effect that lets you play your Special for free.
It’s a bold play that looks like a ton of fun to try out competitively.
Meanwhile, your backup attacker is lori.
I don’t say “back-up” here lightly – you literally cannot play lori without having Chihiro on the field. I will admit, lori’s not the strongest supporting Raid character in the world. Only being able to Raid this character by having Chihiro on the field is less than ideal, and clearly lori’s effects are aimed at providing support rather than doing anything crazy in itself.
It’s not the only supporting attacker at your disposal in this deck, however. You also have this very cool two-AP cost character: Seichi Samura.
Coming in active, 4000 BP, and with built-in protection for your lori characters, I love this character that pairs really well with the three-cost to unlock additional effects.
Purple Chihiro/lori may not be the top deck in the set, but could definitely be a powerful rogue deck with its complexity of plays and unique synergies between its two lead characters.
#3 Red Kamunabi deck
Chihiro isn’t the only red deck to watch from Kagurabachi – look out for this powerful Kamunabi deck featuring the deadly five-cost Hiyuki Kagari.
Kagari may lack the outright removal that red Chihiro has, but this card certainly packs a punch by delivering both Damage 2 and Impact 1 at just five energy-cost. This is one of the strongest keyword combos to have, and it’s typically reserved for more high energy cards or those with harder-to-reach prerequisites.
However, you will need to reach four or more Kamunabi affinity cards to access this powerful Keyword combo, so it’s not exactly a sure thing. Yet, you have plenty of powerful cards with this affinity in your deck, making meeting that requirement pretty realistic.
However, where this deck falls short in comparison to the other red deck that will be far more popular is in its lack of a strong secondary attacker. Whereas Chihiro has the four-cost Hakuri to back him up, this deck really does feel like a one-Kagari-show. Sacrificing versatility for blatant, offensive power may be the more fun play for some pilots, but ultimately the less effective overall.
#2 Purple Chihiro/Kyora
As is the case with a lot of sets, Kagurabachi’s Purple energy color feels like it has a lot of overlap between decks. Cards used in this build can be used in the Sojo-focused deck, and the Chihiro from his own deck with lori fits in well here. But in this set’s case, the runner up in terms of power to Red Kagurabachi’s undisputed throne is arguably this Chihiro/Kyora build.
While this deck focuses far less on Chihiro than the lori/Chiro build does, the pay off feels pretty big given how strong some of these combos can be.
The strongest is arguably the Kyora/Centipede combo.
Using Kyora’s ability, you can easily play your special for just one AP cost – letting you search and play it with ease. Just like with the Sojo deck mentioned before, this build also unlocks many powerful effects that come on line when you use your characters to pay APs.
Soya is a great example of this kind of advantage, letting you push an opposing character to the back line – so long as you’ve used an ability like Kyora’s to pay an AP this turn.
Soya further pairs incredibly well with Kyora as you can play Soya set to the field active while also taking advantage of his pushing to the energy line ability. Combine this with some seriously strong Damage 2 buffs, and a site that forces your opponent to make a decision between two very difficult options, and you have a solid deck that holds up well with the current UNION ARENA meta.
#1 Red Chihiro
You thought Evangelion was scary – this might be the scariest deck I’ve seen to date. It’s like Red Kenshin if Kenshin was even stronger. Get ready Evangelion meta – things are about to get turned on their head.
While this deck has a ton going for it, look no further than Chihiro’s five-cost Raid to get a taste of what a powerhouse this deck is going to be.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I see this powerful attacker is…poor Roy Mustang. While sure their effects aren’t exactly the same, Chihiro can do a lot more for a lot less, with the only trade-off being his removal effect isn’t repeatable turn after turn. Meanwhile, what he does have is a reusable Double Attack that you can use whenever you want, as long as you drop three cards from hand into the sideline. It’s a powerful double-whammy of a Raid character: clearing the field while also threatening Double Attack.
While discarding this number of cards may seem like a lot, you do have handy cards like the three-cost Char to make it less severe. Char lets you bring back one of those cards to your hand, as long as that card was a Chihiro or Char card.
I also really like this deck’s secondary attacker – one that really does give this deck an unmistakeable Red Kenshin vibe: the four-cost Raid Hakuri Sazanami.
Hakuri works a lot like the starter deck Kenshin, enabling you to push characters to the energy line while simultaneously acting as a draw engine.
Admittedly, there’s even more unique mechanics going on in this deck that warrant their own devoted guide. Look for that coming up soon and until then, expect Red Chihiro to be at the absolute top of the UNION ARENA English meta.
