Union Arena Blue Yoruichi Deck: Bandai List vs JWA Build

How we checked this: on November 5, 2026 we opened Bandai's Blue BLEACH deck code on Bandai TCG+, decoded JWA's list from his deck-builder link, read all 16 cards on Bandai's North American and Japanese card lists, ran 200,000 shuffles of each list, priced the Vol.2 cards on TCGplayer and went through Bandai's top-four archives for a Blue BLEACH result.

Which Blue Yoruichi list to build

If you're bringing Yoruichi to a Constructed release event, build JWA's list. Stores can run Bandai's Special Release Event as Constructed with a BLEACH deck of any color, and Vol.3 cards are tournament legal from the November 6 pre-release. His list has more of everything the Raid turn needs: 18 Yoruichi characters to Bandai's 15, 14 Raid bases to 11, four Orihime to three, and the 12 Kisuke.

If you opened Grimmjow Jeagerjaques SRs and want to play them, Bandai's list is the one built for that. It runs four Grimmjow (036) and 14 Ichigo or Kisuke cards that can discard him from hand. JWA runs two Grimmjow and 10 such cards.

If you're new to Union Arena, neither list is where we'd start. Bandai's Bleach Vol.3 Advanced Deck is a ready-to-play 50-card Purple Ichigo and Rukia deck, out November 6, the same day as the pre-release.

Bandai's list and JWA's list, side by side

Card data is from Bandai's North American card list (Vol.3 is UEX08BT, Vol.2 is UEX01BT). "Energy" is the blue energy you need on your field to play the card; "-" means none.

The eight cards that differ tell you what each builder wanted. Bandai adds two Ichigo (017), two Ichigo (018), two Grimmjow (035) and two more Grimmjow (036): Ichigo cards that discard, and the Grimmjow who wants to be discarded. JWA adds four Kisuke (023), three of the Vol.2 Yoruichi (024) and a fourth Orihime.

The Vol.2 cards are cheap. On TCGplayer's market prices from November 4, Bandai's 14 Vol.2 cards come to $2.68 and JWA's 13 to $1.84. The Vol.3 singles are listed on TCGplayer but had no market price yet in that data, so we can't price the full lists before the set is out.

The Yoruichi turn: Raid, Shunko, 6000 BP

Everything in the deck points at Yoruichi Shihoin (033). She's a 4-energy, 4000-BP Raid card that goes on top of a Yoruichi already on your field, and Raid costs her full energy and AP, same as playing her normally. When she Raids she switches to active and can move to the front line, and her When Played switches another of your no-affinity characters to active. Our Raid mechanic explainer covers the base-card rules.

Image credit: Bandai via the UNION ARENA official card list.

Her last line is why we'd build JWA's list: when she's sidelined with a Kisuke Urahara on your field, you play her base card back onto the field, resting. Bandai plays 8 Kisuke. JWA plays 12, because his four Kisuke (023) cost no energy and give another character +1000 BP when played.

Then Shunko! Raijin Senkei! (044), a 4-energy event. Pick a Yoruichi: she gains 2000 BP and, on her first attack that turn, Impact 1 and Snipe. Put it on a Raided 033 and you have a 6000 BP attacker that picks which front-line character to fight, can't be blocked, and deals a point of damage if she wins. JWA calls it the card that "really makes this deck sing", and we agree. Most of the other 46 cards are there to put a Raided Yoruichi on the field the turn you hold Shunko.

Grimmjow is where the two lists split

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques (036) costs 6 energy to play from hand, so both lists play him through his own ability instead. When one of your Ichigo or Kisuke abilities puts him from your hand into your sideline, and you have 4 or more blue energy, you can pay 1 AP to play him active. The card also says the only affinity on your field has to be Arrancars. Japan's card list words that as "no affinity other than Arrancars", and every other card in both lists has no affinity, so in these decks that never stops you.

Image credit: Bandai via the UNION ARENA official card list.

The discard outlets are Ichigo (016), Ichigo (017), Ichigo (018) and Kisuke (015). Kisuke (015) only discards if it found a no-affinity character in the top three cards. JWA's pitch for Grimmjow is a fair one: "he'll be coming in active and putting on solid pressure as a 4000 BP character." With two copies and 10 outlets, though, his list sees Grimmjow and an outlet together by the tenth card in 32.7% of our shuffles. Bandai's four copies and 14 outlets get there 58.4% of the time.

What 200,000 shuffles say

We shuffled each list 200,000 times (seed 20261105, no mulligan) and counted how often the pieces turn up. "By 10 cards" is the opening seven plus three draws.

The full Raid-and-replay set (033, a base and a Kisuke) by the tenth card is 55.2% for JWA and 46.5% for Bandai. The Grimmjow line goes the other way. Both lists find Raid Yoruichi equally often, since both run four.

Orihime and the free plays

Orihime Inoue (022) is a 4-energy, 2-AP SR that enters active. When Played, you can sideline a card from hand to add a blue character with 1 or less energy from your sideline to your hand, or play it straight onto your field, resting. On the turn she's played she can also give a character "cannot be chosen by your opponent's abilities" until your next turn.

Image credit: Bandai via the UNION ARENA official card list.

Her best target is Yoruichi (031), which draws a card when one of your abilities plays it. Raid Yoruichi's replay counts too, if 031 was her base. JWA adds a third way in: the Vol.2 Yoruichi (024) plays a cheap no-affinity blue character from your hand if you've already sidelined a card from hand that turn. Yoruichi (030) does that sideline for you: put one card from hand into the sideline, look at the top card, then draw.

Triggers: 12 of 12 limited ones in both

Union Arena caps the Special, Color and Final triggers at four each, 12 in all (our trigger guide has the rest). Both lists use all 12: four Shunko (Special, sideline a front-line character), four Yoruichi (032) (Color, return a character with 3500 or less BP) and four Flash Master (Final, which also re-stands two AP cards when you play it).

Your seven life cards hold at least one Shunko 46.4% of the time in both lists, since both run four. That's the exact figure; our 200,000 shuffles gave 46.2% for Bandai and 46.5% for JWA, which is sampling noise. A Special or a Color is in there about 73% of the time for both.

What the tournament record says

Bandai hasn't posted a result that could include this deck yet. Its North American Top Placing Decks page lists 56 top-four decks from the 2025-26 and 2026-27 regionals and finals, and the newest were revealed on September 18, before Vol.3's November 6 pre-release, so none of them could have used Vol.3 cards. Five are BLEACH (three Green, two Purple) and none are Blue; our Purple Ichigo guide covers the Purple side. Of the 28 spots from the seven 2026-27 regionals posted so far, BLEACH has one: a Green deck in third at Core TCG. The current meta tier list covers who took the rest. Bandai's Japanese top-placing page has no entry dated after September 11, the day Vol.3 came out there, and BLEACH isn't in its title filter.

JWA thinks the deck "has everything it needs to dominate the UNION ARENA English meta post BLEACH Vol. 3". We'd want a tournament result before saying anything that strong, and Bandai's archives don't have one yet. The Shunko turn is real and the free plays are cheap. For now, treat Blue Yoruichi as a deck to test at locals.

When Bandai's list is the better pick

Bandai's list is built for the games where Grimmjow lands. Four Grimmjow (036) plus 14 outlets put Grimmjow and an outlet in 41.3% of opening hands, and he comes in active for 1 AP. Its two Ichigo (018) also bounce a front-line character with 4000 BP or less when played. That's removal JWA's list doesn't have outside Shunko's trigger and the Color trigger. The two Grimmjow (035) also carry Nullify Impact, which takes Impact away from whatever battles them (Impact explained).

If you already own four Grimmjow SRs, Bandai's list makes sense. For everyone else, pick JWA's for the Raid loop. If you want to try Grimmjow later, Bandai's eight extra slots (two each of Ichigo 017, Ichigo 018, Grimmjow 035 and Grimmjow 036) are the swap to test at your locals.