Images courtesy of UVS Games
The next UniVersus (UVS) Regional Championship is fast approaching, on May 16th, 2025. This Regional offers an extra day of fun with side events starting on Friday at the Sheraton Albuquerque Airport Hotel. The Rochester Retro format is quickly becoming a fan favorite and will be the featured side event starting at 3:00pm.
We’re not here to discuss side events, though. We’re here to make sure your Standard deck is ready for the main event. The current meta is one of the most cutthroat in the history of UVS, and if your deck isn’t prepared for the three decks I’ll be covering in this article, you better be playing one of them! These are by no means the only characters I think are worth playing, just the ones trending hard enough as the next major tournament approaches.
The Boogeyman, Devil Jin
The number one boogeyman at the moment has got to be the chaos Devil Jin deck. The most registered character in the Chelmsford Regional and eventual finalist, Devil Jin is a very appealing deck to play right now. His damage bonus is one of the best in the game. His response ability acts as a get out of jail free card once per turn. And both abilities synergize really well with some card pool abilities that really bring the entire deck together.
Devil Jin’s Card Pool Synergies
Camouflage Counter: This attack solves the consistency issues Devil Jin faces as a five hand size character. Using the card pool response to stack it on top of your deck is great for recursion and for when you need to force Devil Jin’s response ability. The check bonus stacks from multiple copies, eliminating any downside from checking an attack.
Aerial Goblin Bolt: Widely considered the best card in the deck, this little bugger cancels any enhance or blitz ability from the card pool. Without the “non-character” restriction, Aerial Goblin Bolt has turned into a gatekeeper against many characters with once per turn restrictions or commit costs on their enhances. This level of control has pushed defensive staples out of the meta just for being an enhance!
Mega Burst: Normally this five difficulty asks a tough question, “Can I pass this check with a lot of attacks adding to progressive difficulty?” Devil Jin has no problem answering that question giving him access to a massive stun attack. Giving itself two bonus speed is often just enough to make it unblockable once the rival is completely committed out.
How to Beat Devil Jin Decks
Dark Ward: This foundation from Heroes of Exandria is tailor made to counter Devil Jin’s antics. The most powerful plays he has are to add response abilities to his card pool. Dark Ward will also be useful against popular meta cards like Lethal Slash and Rejuvenating Smash so despite its narrow focus, I would encourage death attuned decks to at least start siding this bad boy.
Icy Blade: Icy Blade has a a powerful response ability to cancel any ability that would commits or readies foundations, meaning its helpful versus the large stun numbers becoming more and more popular alongside targeted commit effects like Vast Hybrid Chimera Kraken. The enhance for bonus damage lessens the burden as Icy Blade does have to compete with some very powerful foundations in the three difficulty slots for your deck. Even if the five check fails, you’ll be glad you cleared an attack off the top!
Soramitsu Tabe: I can already hear the comments now, and I promise this isn’t cope. While Tabe has been absent from the top tables for a while now is the perfect time for him to corner the meta game. His enhance completely stonewalls Devil Jin’s entire game plan. Your Tabe deck will have to come prepared to survive the high powered offenses since he has no defensive abilities on face. I doubt many decks will be prepared to counter a card pool clogging strategy, and foundation destruction has never been stronger in Standard.
Rodan, the Giant Monster in the Sky
Rodan has been the most successful wall deck for quite some time. In the past the only thing holding this deck back is finding a win condition in a timely manner. Luckily the void symbol has picked up a lot of firepower over the last few sets. Combine that with a critical mass of control elements and great card selection and you’ve got the recipe for one of the best late game decks possible.
The Best Attacks in a Rodan Deck
Rejuvenating Smash: This attack might not immediately scream “Rodan” to most players since the character doesn’t discard cards or care about gaining health. It does however play incredibly well with Rodan’s enhance commit to look at the top cards of your deck. Since Rejuvenating Smash is almost always played on a six, it can be a risky play in the early turns. Rodan not only scouts for a good check during the first attack but arranges the cards you want to draw as well. Momentum is an important part of the puzzle and Rejuvenating Smash offers that too!
Sweeping Daggers: This absolute beast of an ultra rare lets you borrow the rival’s win condition for the low price of a four difficulty. While the expected value of the top blitz can be random from rival to rival, removing cards in the discard pile is a strong tool to have at your disposal. Most Rodan decks are rocking this guy at four copies, and I don’t expect any different in Albuquerque.
Ice Sword Execution: This attack has all the hallmarks of a quality UVS attack. The quantity of cards you can commit makes it an excellent opening attack. The selective nature of the commit and five bonus damage for a single momentum means it can also be your kill card. The freeze portion of the card, while expensive, also makes it solid in the mid game as well. It can be a little lackluster by itself when you’ve got no momentum but this attack clears a path to victory like few others.
Countering Rodan Decks
Pony Tsunotori: Pony has the highest ceiling of any aggro deck in the format. The sheer amount of attacks Pony can play in a turn makes her best turns nigh unstoppable. The ability to draw her entire deck guarantees the game isn’t going to last very long one way or another. On top of that her abilities have defensive applications that put her head and shoulders above the other aggro decks in Standard.
Beast Titan Attacks!: This bad boy is a self contained loop on a massive throw. Once you’ve got a Beast Titan Attacks! in discard pile, and the transformed side The Beast Titan in your stage you can keep the pressure up every turn by using the form on The Beast Titan to add a ranged attack to your hand. Luckily, Beast Titan Attacks! happens to be ranged. When you play it, sacrifice the copy of The Beast Titan in your stage to give this attack throw, and use shift to build your Beast Titan Attacks! to repeat the process next turn. Its not exactly a fast clock to put the rival on, but it is does provide some inevitability if you can protect the backup. Make sure you have answers for Violent Animus Shot‘s blitz if you want to utilize this tactic.
Bedazzled Helm Blast: This attack and many like it seek to serve up a devastating one hit kill. Rodan is incredibly good at chain blocking many attacks throughout a turn but if you can stack massive speed and damage into a single move you can easily over come his singular speed reduction. These decks will have to be prepared for long response chains and have multiple cancels at the ready.
The Four Check Archetype
While Hange Zoe, Four Eyes, Reiner Braun and Smiling Titan all have distinct differences they’ve been relying on similar tactics using four check attacks recently. The death symbol offers each of them a foundation denial sub theme and high levels of damage reduction. If the game goes according to their game plan you’ll be too far behind in foundations to block their massive attacks.
Titan Attack Staples for the Death Symbol
Too Big to Contain: This is a nasty pickle to find yourself in. Too Big to Contain typically ends with you choosing to commit everything to block this attack, or lose your best foundation after it resolves and both are losing propositions.
Ravages of War: Being on the receiving end of a turn two Ravages of War sucks. Its so difficult to keep up on build turns and hold the correct blocks when you’re constantly fighting uphill. A lot of the success for these death symbol decks hinges on how early they play Ravages.
Female Titan Attacks!: A real simple attack, Female Titan Attacks! functions as the cantrip for these decks. Occasionally it will ready a back up like The Beast Titan causing a total blowout. Even readying a backup for two bonus speed can be the difference in landing a huge one-two punch combination.
Surviving Against the Titan Decks
Ymir: Ymir decks are already designed for consistent turn one builds and that is step number one in staying ahead of de-build strategies. Once transformed into Ymir, Jaw Titan the game plan is to sacrifice the stage anyways and end the game on the spot. Ymir brings a huge damage output that can win the arms race versus death’s damage reduction suite.
Barrier Shield: Ol’ reliable Barrier Shield is great in these matchups. A free block is worth the two cards invested and the Breaker: 2 should prevent a second Titan attack from passing on early turns. Be careful for Koenma’s Task post sideboard, games are often decided when a Barrier Shield gets canceled.
Fierce Wings: A flexible action in this matchup, Fierce Wings is a great way to punish the rival for de-building you. Sometimes it will be the fifth, sixth or seventh copy of Barrier Shield for evil symbol decks. Dredging up attack negates is gonna prove invaluable versus these decks that are all in on one or two big attacks a turn.
Winning the Albuquerque Regional Championship
At the end of the day winning a Regional Championship is gonna require many skills and lots of luck throughout the weekend. We’re lucky to be in a diverse enough meta game that I can’t cover every top tier character in a single article. Hopefully this write up has you feeling prepared for what looks like an action packed weekend of UVS action!
