Hey gang! We are just a few weeks away from the release of the Ultraman Card Game’s third booster pack set, Shadow of Undying Vengeance. Earlier today we just got the entire set revealed HERE (excluding alternate art cards)! While many strategies might emerge, the cornerstone of most decks is a strong RRR. Today we will look at all 5 RRRs in this set and look at what they are going to try to accomplish. Let’s see if we can get some good card interactions to build a deck around. With any luck, you’ll be able to use one of these as a starting point and have a deck and character in mind before you start opening packs.
Behold: the RRRs. Let’s start from left to right. First up… Jugglus Juggler.
We are starting off hot, because Juggler is one of my favorite characters in the entire Ultraman franchise. To put it simply, he’s an anti-hero with very apparent trauma and pain. While his methods may be questionable, his skills with a sword are not. He is also a brilliant strategist and manipulator. While Jugglus Juggler does not have the innate ability to grow to the size of an Ultra, he has routinely found ways to use magical items or relics to increase his size during pivotal battles. That’s enough backstory, on to his cards.
RRR Juggler is the first card we’ve seen that allows us a peek at something in our opponents’ hand. The information you gain from seeing that card might be just as valuable as the BP advantage it results in. His scene card does something similar, giving a BP bonus if the revealed card from an opponents’ hand is a Character card. He also has an uncommon level 7 that allows both players to draw a card. This could be great to tempt your opponent into getting a card in their hand just for you to use an ability to look at that card.
Juggler doesn’t seem like much of a win condition on his own. He offers some solid support and can give you incredibly useful information about what your opponent has in their hand. I would pair him with a character that can take advantage of knowing the character that your opponent can play. This can look like a couple different things. There are a few different characters with cards that want to face a certain type of opposing character. If you know what your opponent is able to level up into, you can position them in a no-win situation by making sure you’ll win a type matchup that they could play into. Some of the more basic kaiju in the game have the ability where they become weaker against certain character types. Juggler can allow you the foresight to avoid those matchups. He will also help a character that’s good at just amassing many cards into your hand. If you have card advantage, AND you know where your opponent is able to level up, it makes it easy to decide which lanes to focus on winning to take victory. Ultraman Z and another card we will be looking at are both good at this. Hmmm….
The next RRR we’re looking at is Ultraman Belial. Belial is an evil Ultraman, corrupted by the Alien Reiblood and his lust for power. His rivalry with Ultraman Zero helped launch an entire New Generation of Ultraman stories. Where Jugglus Juggler is an anti-hero, occasionally helping the Ultra Heroes, Belial is fueled by hatred and jealousy. Beliel has a history of commanding an army of kaiju and even creating fusion monsters between two different types of kaiju. His ability is tied directly to commanding these kaiju.
Before we go any farther, let’s look at the cards for some of these “Belial Fusion Monsters”.
As you can see, these kaiju have printed EX BP values. These are lower than their printed single BP values, meaning that when these kaiju face an opposing character of a certain type, they become weaker. Belial allows you to give one of these kaiju an BP grade increase, but only if they are not in their EX BP state. EX BP is not something that can be given a grade increase or decrease. If it’s EX, then it’s EX. End of story. However… Belieal’s scene, The Geed Identity, allows you to change the type of one Ultra Hero that’s facing off against one of your kaiju. So, with these cards, you can ensure that your own kaiju will not be put into the weakened EX state, and then can be increased further with the Belial RRR. It sounds a bit convoluted. And maybe it is. But keep in mind, this will allow you to win battles with less cards in play because many kaiju typically have higher BP than Ultras. There’s just a risk because of that weaker EX BP that many of them have. Belial gives you a way to mitigate that.
I think this Ultraman Belial with other kaiju is going to be a very popular strategy in the upcoming meta. It may be a bit risk/reward, making sure you have the cards in hand as a resource to increase the BP level of your kaiju. Don’t be surprised if you see some variation of this at upcoming Galaxy Cup events.
With the two non-Ultras out of the way, let’s move on to our first RRR Ultra Hero: Ultraman Orb.
Full disclosure: Orb is my favorite Ultra Hero and I will be focused on making a deck with him work. In his series, Ultraman Orb is a wandering hero. Early in his series, he is haunted by the failures of his past and is traumatized to the point of being unable to wield his own power. So instead, he borrows the powers from past Ultra Heroes, using Fusion Cards from two different Ultras to call upon powerful forms. This is complicated even further with his longtime friend/enemy Jugglus Juggler becomes involved in a struggle upon Earth. Gai, Orb’s human host, must confront the failures of his past, understanding when to accept help from people that are weaker than himself. You see Gai’s pride through his belief that he must shoulder all the responsibility because he doesn’t truly think anyone is able to help him. It’s fascinating. … But, we’re here for the card game. Ultraman Orb’s RRR:
Do you remember when I said Orb uses two Fusion Cards from other Ultra Heroes? Well, here Orb draws two cards. I love how thematic it is. Most card draw in this game is conditional, but this one isn’t. And it allows you to give a little +1000 BP boost as well. Orb’s scene card lets you draw a card for no cost during the activate phase, but you must then put a card on the bottom of your deck. So, you’re not so much gaining cards, just ensuring you have more useful cards given the situation. Orb also has an uncommon level 3 that allows you to give a 1000 or 2000 BP boost for discarding a card from your hand. So, Orb is good at not only gathering cards in your hand, but making sure they are the right cards in your hand. Making sure you have more playable cards in your hand than your opponent, that sounds like card advantage to me. Do you remember who we mentioned earlier that could work well with someone who helps get card advantage? That’s right, Ultraman Orb’s friend-turned-rival, Jugglus Juggler.
I think these two characters will work vary well together. Orb’s scene is a round 1 card, good for the early game. Once you get established with a good healthy hand, you can play Juggler’s scene to start pinpointing where your opponent is able to play and level up. All the while, giving your Juggler or Orb cards a BP bonus, because Juggler’s scene doesn’t specify which type of character can receive the bonus. Now, I don’t expect Orb and Juggler to dominate the meta, but I think they can work well together. And for new players who don’t have older cards to build upon, everything these characters need will be in this set. That is a significant feature of this deck. You don’t need any previous cards.
Next up, is an Ultraman whose series I have not yet watched. I know, blasphemy. Now we have Ultraman Nexus. The Ultraman Nexus series was less geared towards children with a monster of the week formula, and instead focused more on longer character-based story arcs. One of my friends loves this series. I should probably watch it so I can discuss it with him. Anyways, here’s the Ultraman Nexus RRR.
This card is awesome, and it gives you options. First, you can either get rid of your opponent’s scene or pull your own back from your discard area to your deck. The cherry on top is to give one of your Ultra Heroes +2000 BP. It’s also worth pointing out that this activates as a double or triple. Now, why do you want your scene on top of your deck? Sure, you can draw it next turn. But let’s take a look at the scene card for Ultraman Nexus.
During the activate phase (which is after your RRR Nexus would come into play and resolve it’s ability), you send that scene card you just put on your deck right back to your discard area. Then, you give TWO Ultra Heroes +2000 BP each. That is a huge bonus. And if you do manage to combo this RRR coming into play with activating the scene in the same turn, that’s 6000 BP worth of bonuses you’re dishing out. You’d need to actively try to lose the game at that point. I exaggerate, but still. That is a massive amount of BP to apply to whatever Ultra Heroes you’d like in a single turn.
There’s no point in getting cute with this one. Ultraman Nexus wants to put a scene card on top of the deck to win during the activate phase. Ultraman Blazar has two different cards that let you put a card from your hand on top of your deck when they come into play. Blazar also boasts some very powerful cards that can offer support in the form of straight-ahead BP. He has 2 different level 3 cards that have a triple BP of 17,000 AND lower the BP of the character he’s facing. Nexus/Blazar could be a brutal combination to face. The most optimized version of this deck will run the RRR Blazar found in BP01. But even sub optimal, this could have very efficient combo potential. I expect this deck to be very, very good. Another character that could see success with Nexus is Ultraman Rosso. The RRR Rosso allows you to discard scenes in order to activate their effect, only to have the Nexus RRR put that scene card back on top of your deck. It allows you to cycle scene cards, continuing to activate the Nexus scene in play. One thing to keep in mind with Ultraman Nexus if you want to get creative, is that the bonuses he gives specify ‘Ultra Heroes’. So even though there are a lot of Kaiju characters in this set, Nexus may not pair well with them.
And so, that brings us to the end. The final RRR in BP03 is Ultraman Ginga. Ultraman Ginga was the first of what would become known as the New Generation Heroes. The Ultraman Ginga series was made with a shoestring budget, but laid some important groundwork and introduced concepts that would repeat in other New Generation Heroes series. Ultraman Ginga has a beautiful design. A perfect blend of classic Ultra colors with modern features.
What a unique ability. You want characters in play as doubles. And if this level 3 is the card you want in play as a double most, that means you’re wanting to play level 2 with it. Is there a point in running and level 1s? The scene not only lets you put the BOTTOM card from one of your double or triple cards back into your hand, but it also lets you give two different Ultra Heroes +2000 BP. And there’s another uncommon Ultraman Ginga that gets +2000 BP until end of turn if you have two or more double Ultra Heroes in play.
So, are there other Ultra Heroes that want to be in play as doubles? Ultraman Zero, Ultraman Geed, and Ultraman Z all had cards in a starter deck, The Bonds of Zero, that focused on this mechanic. Many cards for these characters gain a BP increase when facing a battle opponent of a certain type. The scene card that came with that deck can change the type of an opponent for one of these Ultras. I think any of them will pair with Ginga nicely. Ultraman Zero probably having the most success just because he has the largest card pool of the 3. Also, much like Nexus, Ginga specifies that the bonuses he grants from his scene are only available to Ultra Heroes. While it might be tempting to experiment with different Kaiju/Ultra combinations, only having your bonuses available to some characters in your deck is something to consider.
There they are: all 5 RRRs from the upcoming set and some initial thoughts for building decks around them. The set will also have other Ultra Heroes without a RRR card that can contribute to strong decks, brand new Kaiju characters that can combo well with existing characters from pervious set, and a few characters who only received a handful of cards that may or may not be able to tweak existing powerful decks. I do think this set, Shadow of Undying Vengeance, will be good for new and existing players alike. What are you looking forward to most? Is there a deck or character you know you’re going to try first? Let me know in the comments.
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