Every UNION ARENA Starter Deck, Ranked

Eager to start playing everyone’s favorite anime IP brawler TCG, UNION ARENA, but don’t know where to start? If you have a favorite anime that’s already had a set, why not start with that? If, however, you’re wondering which starter deck will help you build a strong deck with the least effort, then you are in the right place. UNION ARENA starter decks are not all created equally, and some are much, much better buys than others.

With that in mind, let’s look at every UNION ARENA starter deck available right now and rank them from least to greatest!

#11 Hunter x Hunter

This starter deck has some interesting pieces, but ultimately players who pick it up will find themselves wishing they could ditch the Gon for the much stronger Green Kurapika (assuming they are set on playing Hunter x Hunter at all). Gon’s deck focuses heavily on boosting the BP of your characters – sometimes reaching some pretty insane numbers.

While boosting BP seems cool in theory, for the most part it’s unnecessary as most cards in the game end up maxed out at 4000 or 5000 BP. Gon and Friends saw relatively little play even at the time this set came out, especially compared to how madly popular the Kurapika deck was. If you’re looking for a starter deck to build from, you should probably leave this one quietly on the shelf.

Today, this has become even more true after the Hunter x Hunter Vol. 2 failed to pick up traction due to overwhelmingly weak strategies that have failed to keep up with the English meta.

Safe to say the Hunter x Hunter starter deck is one product better left untouched for most outside of diehard fans of the IP looking for a casual play experience.

#10 Attack on Titan

Don’t let the low place on the starter deck list fool you – Attack on Titan is overall an exciting set with plenty of strong decks to choose from. The problem with the starter deck, however, is that it’s not based on the strongest deck, or even one of the strongest in its own set. While you can upgrade it to the powerful Attack Titan deck, it’s going to take some considerable work to do so, making it feel a little less thrilling than some of the easier upgrades available higher up on this list.

However, this particular Attack on Titan strategy gets a significant boost in Vol. 2, making it a decent investment longterm.

#9 Fullmetal Alchemist

The Yellow Elric Bros deck looked promising at the time it came out. However, it inevitably proved too mid-tier to contend with the stronger decks out there. Basing the starter deck on an energy color largely lacking in powerful plays might not have been the best decision despite how popular the Fullmetal Alchemist himself is. A Roy Mustang starter deck would have been much more compelling, given that deck is easily the best in the set.

#8 One Punch Man

I remember building the Yellow One Punch Man Saitama deck when the set first came out and being relatively blown away by its strength. The starter deck comes with a ton of powerful tools directly out of the box, but the main card it is missing also happens to be the deck’s strongest: the formidable five-cost Saitama.

This Saitama character caused a huge storm in the English meta when he was released – for a while he was even considered the best deck. His anti-removal capabilities were really tough to deal with back then, causing the removal-heavy format to have to change a bit to figure out how to deal with this 10000 BP behemoth.

However, One Punch Man as a whole hasn’t aged well. The game got faster, and gained more tools to deal with characters like this, effectively pushing Yellow Saitama out of the format.

Unless a Vol. 2 comes around, the One Punch Man starter deck is unlikely to be the best pick outside of diehard fans.

#7 Black Clover

While Black Clover may not be an overwhelmingly strong set, its starter deck is decent. In this deck you will get the basics for what you’ll need to make the strongest Black Clover Deck centered on Red Asta. The key components of this deck that make it strong include an Asta character that can negate opposing characters abilities. At the time, this was only so effective, but as the meta evolves it could actually be pretty solid.

#6 Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Demon Slayer’s yellow Tanjiro focused starter deck is almost really solid. If it only had access to the Nezuko Raid mechanic directly out of the box the deck would be really good. However, it’s missing the whole switching in-and-out thing that Nezuko’s Raid does so well. As such, the basic starter deck essentially lacks the entire bit that makes Yellow Tanjiro good.

That being said, it does have an exclusive Tanjiro raid character that in some ways is even better than the SR you get from packs. While his Impact keyword only lasts a turn, the boosted 500 BP makes him able to withstand attacks from many opponents.

With Demon Slayer Vol. 2, Yellow Tanjiro gets considerably more powerful, making this starter deck a good buy for Demon Slayer fans and general UNION ARENA players alike.

#5 Sword Art Online

In the Sword Art Online starter deck, players can take up the mantle of their favorite characters from the show’s earliest arc. What’s more, two of the IP’s most popular characters are included in this deck, and they unlock solid combos even without the SR raid versions you can only get from the packs.

SAO’s starter deck affords plenty of fun and thrills directly out of the box, even without heavy upgrading. Upgraded, it easily becomes one of the strongest Sword Art Online decks of them all.

#4 BLEACH: Thousand Year Blood War

Despite the fact I’ve purchased two of these myself simply for the Raid Ichigo, BLEACH Starter deck is actually lacking many of the key pieces you need to build a powerhouse BLEACH Purple deck.

Again, the Raid Ichigo is a handy card, but he’s still a far-cry from the much more powerful five-cost Ichigo. Additionally, while you do get a situationally handy five-cost Renji, four-cost Renji which makes BLEACH Purple really sing is noticeably absent.

While this deck upgrades into one of the strongest UNION ARENA decks ever, you’re gonna have to put in some serious work to upgrade it to reach its full potential. That being said, it’s got most of the staples you are going to need, once you partner it with a few sets of relatively cheap super rare cards.

#3 Jujutsu Kaisen

Jujutsu Kaisen offers a pretty broken starter deck, and unlike the other starter decks on this list, you get your strongest character card, Sukuna, included right off the bat. Indeed, this deck really isn’t missing much. For the most part, you just need to add a few four-cost raid Itadori’s into the mix and you’re good to go.

The versatility of this deck directly out of the box may be partly to blame for why Blue Sukuna was so massively popular in the competitive UA scene for a while.

While it’s not the strongest deck in the game anymore, it’s still competitively viable, especially after the original two-cost Yuji/Starter Deck Sukuna pair ban was dropped.

#2 Evangelion

Red Evangelion is one of the strongest UNION ARENA decks right now. It has many high level wins and placements, including winning the UNION ARENA Grand Final in Japan as well as making top three at the North America Championship Finals.

While it’s not known for being overly easy to beat, it’s insanely powerful once you get the hang of it, and this starter deck is a great starting point. Once you purchase two of these, the main card you are going to need to upgrade it is the powerful seven-cost Evangelion piloted by Shinji.

Use this closer to swing through attacks, defend against triggers, and force your opponent into a very un-advantageous blocking pattern.

#1 Rurouni Kenshin

The best UNION ARENA starter deck money can buy

Rurouni Kenshin is the best UNION ARENA starter deck to buy right now. It’s strong, it’s colorful, and it’s insanely versatile – something that’s very handy in a UNION ARENA meta like ours with lots of powerful decks to choose from.

One of the best things about this starter deck that makes it so top tier is that it includes two essential characters in it – one of which is arguably the single strongest in the set.

Oftentimes starter decks won’t include your key cards in them out of the box, making them somewhat less exciting to pick up. However, the starter deck Kenshin is even stronger than the booster pack red Kenshin Raid. My Rurouni Kenshin Starter Deck upgrade was also very, very easy to because of how consistent and strong the cards already were.

If you’re looking for an excellent gateway deck to start playing the game, you can’t go wrong with Rurouni Kenshin.