Upcoming UNION ARENA TCG Releases
Wondering when that hot new UNION ARENA set is coming to the English version of the game?
To make it easy on you, I’ve compiled the complete release schedule for the UNION ARENA English version to date, including all upcoming sets, and even those without official dates yet.
How do UNION ARENA set releases work?
One of the most unique things about UNION ARENA compared to other popular TCGs is its focus on specific anime per each release. Because each set contains a different IP (or an add-on in the case of Vol. 2s), players and collectors have the unique opportunity to pick and choose what sets they invest in quite easily, as opposed to other TCGs where releases add onto the core game, often cajoling you to “pay to play” if you want to stay competitively viable.
Because you can only build decks with cards from one specific anime, in UNION ARENA you really don’t need to buy every single set if you don’t want to, and power creep is much less of an issue in this game than in most TCGs. Decks tend to stay competitively viable much longer as a result, helping make the investments you do choose to make into sets go much farther.
With all that being said, you’re probably wondering when your favorite anime’s set is hitting shelves at stores near you. Jump to the set you’re most interested in via the table of contents below or simply browse through this article to see all of the wonderful options available to you in anime’s number one IP battler TCG!
UNION ARENA release schedule quick links
Jujutsu Kaisen – November 22, 2024
The third UNION ARENA set to be released was Jujutsu Kaisen. Like the previous sets, it came with a starter deck and booster box, as well as the very cool storage box/playmat option. JJK had an instant impact on the UNION ARENA meta and the Blue Sukuna deck became an instant classic that’s still a power in the game today.
Jujutsu Kaisen products
Code Geass – December 13, 2024
Just in time for Christmas, Code Geass released on December 13, 2024 to pretty big hype given its powerful new deck strategies and valuable new cards.
While this set didn’t get a starter deck, it did get plenty of additional support including an exclusive release event winner card, a rare battle, and some insanely powerful decks like Code Geass Purple that was once the strongest in the game.
Code Geass Booster Box
Demon Slayer – January 24, 2025
Unlike Code Geass, Demon Slayer got its own starter deck based on the powerful Nezuko/Tanjiro dynamic. Although this set wasn’t the most powerful at the time of release, the second Vol. 2 bolstered its strategies to make many of its decks much, much stronger. Meanwhile, the Tanjiro serialized SR*** card looks absolutely gorgeous and is drawing an impressive market value online.
UNION ARENA Demon Slayer Starter Deck
UNION ARENA Demon Slayer Booster Box
One Punch Man – March 7, 2025
One Punch Man made a huge wave among diehard UNION ARENA fans as it was the first time a set was released simultaneously for both the Japanese and English versions of the game. Many players took the simultaneous release to mean the decks would be massively more popular than everything else we have in the game.
However, that didn’t end up being the case. While the new One Punch Man decks did have an impact at the time they came out, today really just Green Saitama is the only competitive grade deck, doing what it does better than any other deck in the game to date.
Sword Art Online – May 2, 2025
Sword Art Online felt like a new high for UNION ARENA when it came out. It had a huge impact on the meta, and for a while there every store tournament felt like an SAO rare battle. And while Time eventually weeded even the strongest Sword Art Online decks out of the meta, Sword Art Online Vol. 2 makes them stronger than ever.
Competitive viability aside, Sword Art Online remains one of UNION ARENA’s best sets thanks to how well its cards have held up in value. Indeed, the Asuna SR*** from the first set is still the most valuable SR*** card of them all.
BLEACH Vol. 2 – May 30, 2025
BLEACH Thousand Year Blood War Vol. 2 brought many strong new cards into the game to help bolster UNION ARENA’s original set. And while strong BLEACH Vol. 2 decks like Squad Zero dominated the game for a while, the set would really come into its own when the New Card Selection released later in 2025.
Black Clover – May 30, 2025
Black Clover’s strongest deck is the Red Asta deck. It got additional support via. store promo later on, while the original set has both a booster pack and starter deck.
Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 2 – June 27, 2025
Not long after Jujutsu Kaisen released in the English version we got the second volume confirmed the following year. JJK fans didn’t have to wait too long to upgrade their decks with new cards, as the next set was released right in the middle of 2025.
Fullmetal Alchemist – July 25, 2025
Fullmetal Alchemist Booster Box
Fullmetal Alchemist Starter Deck
Fullmetal Alchemist may lack some power – one of the strongest decks came out in this set but it was the only one that was competitively viable – but it was still one of single biggest UNION ARENA sets of 2025.
Checkout the Fullmetal Alchemist decks and how they stack up competitively.
Attack On Titan – August 29, 2025
You can’t have a massive anime like Attack on Titan enter the arena and not cause a stir. The most talked about character from this set, however, is likely Levi – a character who can attack three times and gains Snipe on the last attack. Incredible. See the signed SR** cards you can get in the booster pack via the images below.
Code Geass Vol. 2 – August 29, 2025
While Code Geass Vol. 2 was a fun set, it did little to help its existing archetypes other than the powerful Lancelot deck. Knights of the Round decks fell short of having what they needed to compete, and Pizza’s support failed to have a huge impact. Still, many of its alternate art cards are worthy of a chase.
Rurouni Kenshin – September 26, 2025
Rurouni Kenshin will likely always be remembered by UNION ARENA players for its insane impact on the meta. For the first time, we felt the power of a set at the competitive level of the Japanese meta ahead of time. It was a strong wakeup call for many who needed to either learn to play Kenshin, or learn to play against it.
While many of its decks are interesting, the two strongest by far are Red Kenshin and Purple Saito. It also comes with some valuable chase cards, although its biggest appeal by far is to players.
Hunter X Hunter – September 26, 2025
The same month Kenshin came out we also got Vol. 2 for Hunter x Hunter. It was a bit of a contrast between the insane power of Kenshin and the underwhelming power of Hunter x Hunter – a set which may go down in history as the weakest Vol. 2 of all time.
Yu Yu Hakusho – October 31, 2025
Although based on an older anime, Yu Yu Hakusho has a surprising number of strong strategies in it. While nothing in this set screams top tier competitive deck, it’s still a solid choice for fans of the anime, and has at least one highly competitive deck thanks to the Toguro Bros.
Kaiju No. 8 – October 31, 2025
Kaiju No. 8 is one of the most fun sets that have come out to date for UNION ARENA. Although its smaller total number of cards makes it relatively bite sized compared to other UNION ARENA sets, at the same time that smaller number of cards and decks make it ideal for newcomers to the game.
The Yellow Mina deck is my favorite from the set, while the SR*** you can get from packs looks amazing.
Nikke: Goddess of Victory – November 28, 2025
NIKKE is my pick for the most popular UNION ARENA set of 2025. And while it got a ton of hype when it released late November, 2025, it’s really more of a fan-driven set as most of its decks failed the litmus test for the UNION ARENA meta at that time.
Demon Slayer Vol. 2 – December 12, 2025
Demon Slayer Vol. 2 was arguably the most popular Vol. 2 of 2025, rivaled only by Thousand Year Blood War. It has an elite chase card thanks to the SR*** Nezuko and made many of the Demon Slayer decks that once felt lackluster much more competitively viable. It also doesn’t hurt that Demon Slayer Vol. 2 came out the same year as the insanely popular Infinity Castle film, further driving attention for the final set release of 2025.
Sword Art Online Vol. 2 – January 30, 2026
2025 may have included countless top-notch titles coming into the game, it looks like 2026 will also start with a bang. Bandai has confirmed via the official UNION ARENA English Version X account that Sword Art Online Vol. 2 and Evangelion will be the first two releases of next year, with both releasing on January 30, 2026.
Check out some of the initial spoilers revealed for the strongest Vol 2. to date below, and see even more via my updated in real time guide to the Sword Art Online Vol. 2 card list!
Evangelion – January 30, 2026
Evangelion is one of the most hyped UNION ARENA sets to date. It has a plethora of powerful, top tier UNION ARENA decks in it, and should be a massively popular set for both players and collectors. Additionally, it’s the first set since Rurouni Kenshin to come with a Starter Deck.
Evangelion Booster Box
Evangelion Starter Deck
KAGURABACHI – February 27, 2026
Although UNION ARENA is usually hailed as an “anime” card game, it seems like that rule will be getting broken with the upcoming Kagurabachi set – a manga with an anime planned but one that is not yet an anime. How will a manga adaptation translate itself to the card game? It could be an interesting experiment in style for the UNION ARENA production team, letting them step outside typical anime screenshots into either original artwork or captures from the manga itself.
Solo Leveling – March 20, 2026
News of a Solo Leveling set garnered a ton of excitement when it was promised by Bandai. Now it has an official release date. However, we’ve only had a release date for a booster pack, no starter deck. Perhaps this set will come without one, same as the original Code Geass set? Seems likely, but we’ll have to wait and see to know for sure!
Tokyo Ghoul – April 24, 2026
Tokyo Ghoul’s booster pack and starter deck come out on the same day – the standard going forward for UNION ARENA starting with Rouni Kenshin.
Sakamoto Days – May 29, 2026
That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime – June 26, 2026
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime has the distinction of being the first set in the English version to contain four energy colors. Presumably a larger set than regular, we could see this expansion include cards from the second expansion in hopes of making this compete a little more easily with the UNION ARENA meta.
Check out the announcement on my blog for more details on That Time I was Reincarnated as a Slime.
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You – July 10, 2026
News of the 100 Girlfriends set was leaked via a form that seemed to include it as an already confirmed set. This leak may have been the impetus to officially confirm its release date as Bandai didn’t tease the announcement of new titles at all as they usually did, instead simply announcing both this set and Re:Zero via social media.
Chainsaw Man – July 31, 2026
Chainsaw Man should be very popular when it releases in 2026 thanks in part to the large amount of hype it saw for its recent theatrical release.
Coming Soon to UNION ARENA
The majority of the main UNION ARENA sets have been announced for 2026, with only two coming soon without release dates: InuYasha and Re:Zero. However, outside of Sword Art Online Vol. 2, no other Vol. 2 sets have been announced. Will more be announced soon, and could we even potentially be getting a Vol. 3?
UNION ARENA’s first Volume 3 has been announced for the Japanese version of the game, and it’s for the massively popular BLEACH: Thousand Year Blood War set.With a new season coming out in 2026, I find it highly likely we’ll be getting that Vol. 3 in the English version of the game sooner rather than later.
Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World
Announced the same day as the 100 Girlfriends set, Re:Zero is known for having some astoundingly powerful decks in it. No release date is given so far, but it’s likely to come out towards the end of 2026.
Needless to say, there are some very, very exciting things to come in UNION ARENA. Just when we think the English release schedule couldn’t get any more exciting, new and popular IPs are added. What will be next? While there’s no way to know for sure, I think we can rest assured that great things are in store for the world’s favorite IP battler TCG!
