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 your favorite? 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!

#10 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. 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.

#9 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.

#8 Fullmetal Alchemist

The Yellow Elric Bros deck looked promising at the time it came out. However, it inevitably proved too mid-tier to content 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.

#7 Black Clover

While Black Clover may not be an overwhelmingly strong set, its starter deck is decent. Includes the basis 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 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.

#5 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.

#4 One Punch Man

The Yellow One Punch Man starter deck is missing the strongest card any Yellow Saitama deck should have – that being five-cost Saitama. That being said, this deck is insanely playable right off the shelf, and you can totally build something that wrecks with just buying two of these.

The fact that this deck comes with an insane added removal character like four-cost Saitama, the powerful One Punch card, and Genos with Impact really makes it stand head and shoulders above the rest of the starter decks out there. Not to mention it also includes the underrated one-cost Silverfang to give you plenty of early game aggression. Combined, One Punch Man’s starter deck currently tops the list.

#3 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.

#2 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 batt. 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 remains so massively popular in the competitive UA scene.

#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.