Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba [UE05ST] First Thoughts

 Union Arena Demon Slayer First Thoughts

Starter Decks

Friday we saw the release of the Union Arena: Demon Slayer Starter Decks. My local shop hasn't gotten their cards in yet but they are looking to drop Universus from their lineup and pick up Union Arena since that is all my kids and I have been playing there when we go lately. We have gotten a lot of interest from the other players and having one of each start deck so far has been a great way to help introduce players to the game.

Like the other decks so far in the game if you plan on building something around the starter deck which is Yellow then I would recommend you get 2 of them. The reason for this is like many other games the starter decks are designed to get you hooked on the series and the new mechanics but still fail here and there. The reason is staple cards have only 2 copies in each deck. The game allows for 4 of each card in a constructed deck so if something like the Tanjiro Kamado UE05ST/KMY-1-103 card becomes popular the only way to get it is from the starter decks. I plan to release an article in the near future that breaks down the set numbers a little bit but for now the ST means Starter.

Let's compare the two Tanjiro Raid cards:

First we have the Starter Deck card

Then we have the Booster card

In case they are hard to read the ST card has the following in the Raid Box
 If <Nezuko Kamado> is on your field, this character gains 500 BP and  (When this character attacks and wins a battle, deal 1 damage to your opponent) until the start of your next turn.

The BT card is has this for text in the Raid Box
 (When this character attacks and wins a battle, deal 1 damage to your opponent.)
 Add up to one <Nezuko Kamado> card with 3 or less required energy and 1 AP cost from your sideline to your hand. Play up to one <Nezuko Kamado> card with 3 or less required energy and 1 AP cost from your hand set to resting onto your field.

Looking at them we see a few differences and similarities. The Starter deck card is a great card to Raid into and attack right away since it gets 500+ BP if Nezuko is on the field and Impact 1. These end though at the start of your next turn, which is important because that means it also has that added BP for defense during your opponent's turn. This could save you a life point by allowing you to block and still stay on the field. The Booster card always has impact 1 but loses the BP boost. There is a cool interaction though I can see from having both in a deck. using the Booster card you can get a Nezuko onto the field and then raid a second Tanjiro up with the boost.

In a deck of 50 cards it is important to be able to get to your attackers as early as you can and have  enough to replace them if needed. There are still a few Yellow cards that are not available on the official card list yet and we most likely won't see them until Friday the 24th when they officially release. With what is currently on the official list only Tanjiro and Nezuko have Raid cards in Yellow. This makes 12 total of 50 cards in your deck or 24% of your deck. Between your opening hand and possibly losing some to your life pile that leaves pretty good odds to get them when needed.

Enough about that though. The other cool thing I don't think I have seen yet on Union Arena cards is on the Inosuke Hashibira card. It has Impact 1 and If on the Front Line If this character is active at the end of your attack phase, sideline it. That is pretty self explanatory, use it or lose it. At 1 energy cost and one AP it is a fairly decent early attacker with 2500 BP. There is one last line on the card though. When this character attacks and loses a battle, sideline it. This differs from the standard of attackers are not defeated. The card pushes some aggro into the deck and there is a Sabito card in the starter deck that give 1000BP When Played so that will help Inosuke survive an extra round or maybe two.

All that being said, we have played a few games against the Hunter X Hunter starter deck as we like to take each starter against the other decks in order of release. Hunter X Hunter having a 5000BP card still means you have to save your removal in the Demon Slayer deck for it but after only 7 games this weekend it was 4-3 Hunter X Hunter. I think Union Arena has done a great job balancing the decks with each release and look forward to getting a few boxes and starting to upgrade this latest release.