Did you know there is a My Hero Academia card game coming out?
If you’ve been following our blog or chatted with us on any of the various platforms, you know that it has been our most anticipated game release in the last couple of years. We’ve been asked on multiple occasions about the game and the UniVersus game system, so we thought we’d try to talk about it today.
Since being announced in July of 2019, the My Hero Academia: Collectible Card Game has been one of the most talked about game launches in recent memory for any card game. However, the unfortunate events of 2020 led to a delay in the game and scarce details as Jasco took the delay as a chance to retool some things, which led to the need for new approvals, in the hopes of launching the best possible game they could. However, we are finally reaching a point in which information is slowly leaking out before the tidal wave hits us as we get closer to the game’s September 2021 release window.
This has led customers and retailers asking two simple questions- What is the My Hero Academia: Collectible Card Game and how do I get started?
While we don’t have the super specifics of the game just yet, we think we have enough information to be able to help answer these questions and guide you on your journey into the My Hero Academia: Collectible Card Game and the UniVersus system as a whole!
So before we get into the question of what or how, we have to start with where the game is coming from!
UniVerses (Formally UFS)
The entire core of the My Hero Academia: Collectible Card Game (from here on referred to as simply MHA:CCG) is based on the fantastic trading card game called UniVersus. Formally known as UFS (or Universal Fight System), UniVersus is a fast paced, collectible card game featuring multiple IPs from video games and anime that utilizes a core rule system and mechanics that mirrors a classic fighting video game like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Both UFS and UniVersus are fully compatible.
Players select a fighter from the property of their choice and construct a 60-card deck to battle 1-on-1 with their friends, frenemies and rivals. A Standard Legal deck can consist of any cards from the last 10 in-print sets, so long as the cards match the selected fighter’s Resource Symbols listed on their card. For ease of learning the game, players can pick only one of the three Resource Symbols and make sure that all of the cards contain that one symbol.
Gameplay is done over the course of several rounds, with players either attacking or defending. Whenever a player plays a card, they have to perform a Control Check. For each card played prior to the current card, the difficulty is raised. This simulates the difficulty it takes to pull off harder and more complicated combos in a video games. Blocking is very similar, and both use a High, Medium, or Low mechanic to determine the full or partial success of either.
We’ll be going into game play more in-depth in the coming weeks as we plan on making some beginner’s guides and videos. The game itself is so easy to learn, but a challenge to master. It is definitely a fun challenge, though.
Now onto the newest set…
My Hero Academia: Collectible Card Game: What Is It?
The MHA:CCG was announced in July of 2019 and was supposed to be the big relaunched of the UFS system into UniVersus. As stated above, that didn’t work out as planned. While we awaited the game, Jasco Games did release six DLC (Deck-Loadable Content) packs in 2020, featuring: Cowboy Bebop, two for Soul Calibur VI, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales. These cards all featured the new card backs for UniVersus and the updated frames.
While information has been sporadic, we have gathered all the information we have been able to piece together from Gen Con 2020, various live streams, and the official MHA:CCG channels. NOTE: All of this is information available up until the time of this writing’s publication. The state of the world is in constant flux and it should go without saying that this is subject to change.
Lets dive in!
The MHA:CCG is the latest expansion into UniVersus that features Class-1A of the prestigious U.A. High School, Pro Heroes, and Villains, as well as their Quirks and iconic moments from the hit anime My Hero Academia. The game will launch in series/waves, with a minimum of four currently planned. Each series/wave will launch with a booster box expansion, DLC pack, Quirk Pack, Plus Ultra Pack, Tournament Pack, and Accessories.
The inaugural series is due with a release window of September 2021, with a new series launching roughly every four months. The first wave consists of the following products:
From our coverage of these reveals at Gen Con Online last year:
“Starting with the top left, we have:
- Izuku Midoriya vs. Katsuki Bakugo 2-Player Rival Deck: These include two complete decks themed to either Deku (Midoriya) or Bakugo. In traditional fashion with their 2-Player Turbo Deck, each deck is predertimed with Rival Deck exclusive cards and 1 randomly inserted Ultra Rare from the main booster set. These offer new players a fantastic way to learn the game as well as possibly get some legit value starting out (my Cowboy Bebop 2-Player Turbo Deck included a $15 Ultra Rare).
- Next to that in the same row, we have the My Hero Academia: Collectible Card Game DLC pack. DLC, or Deck Loadable Content, are a new product they launched this year. Each pack includes once copy of 4 different fighters, and two copies of an Attack and a Foundation for that character, for a total of 20 cards. These offer a great way for players to get new content for existing sets that do not have a full booster set in the release schedule.
- Then we have a look at the first three officially licensed My Hero Academia playmats. These just look absolutely gorgeous (we have a closer look at them further down the article).
- On the bottom, we have the box art for the first set. We’ve been told that there may or may not be hints at who we can expect to see in the set on the box. Though we have also been told that the first box focuses on the first season of the anime, so that will be a bigger clue of what to expect I think. Booster boxes include a box topper and every booster pack has 1 point printed on them for their redemption program.
- And finally, we have the first three officially licensed card sleeves from DragonShield. These are gorgeous and each set gets better than the previous (again, a closer look towards the bottom).”
Since then, we have gotten the following updates:
The first booster set will feature 144 cards, with the cards spread across 5 different rarities (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ultra Rare, and Secret Rare). Booster packs will contain 10 cards (6 Common, 3 Uncommon, and 1 Rare or higher), with 1 Uncommon slot card having the potential to be a full art Xtra Rare. Booster boxes will include 24 packs, a special box topper, and 2 Quirk Packs. On average, past UniVersus sets have had around 6 Ultra Rare cards per box. The new Xtra Rares have a chance of increasing the possibly Ultra Rare outcome to 11 per box!
The Quirk Packs in every box every box will contain 1 of 5 cards. These cards are foil and found exclusively in these packs. While we don’t know what they do as of yet, the names are: All Might (True Form), Amphibious Ambush, Capture Evil-Doers, Kamui Woods, and Villains Defeated. So we know that there are two of the set’s massive 35 character line up are exclusive to Quirk Packs!
Next up, the Deck-Loadable Content packs will include 24 exclusive foil cards. You will get 4 different characters and 2 copies of 2 different signature cards (an Attack and a Foundation) or the characters. This means for a playset of the signature cards, you will need to purchase two copies of the DLC pack. The characters in the pack are All Might, Ochaco Uraraka, Teny Iida, and Tsuyu Asui.
Finally the Izuku Midoriya vs. Katsuki Bakugo 2-Player Rival Deck will include two 51-card decks and 2 random Ultra Rare cards. As mention previously, these decks will include the first ever “How To Play” guide they’ve done, and the cards will have Reminder text on them. The cards found in the Rival Decks can be found as Xtra Rares in the booster boxes, without the Reminder text.
Additionally, they have given an update to Organized Play as well. The tournament exclusive cards will be divided into two types: Plus Ultra Packs and Tournament Packs. Plus Ultra Packs will be found at your local stores. There will be 12 cards exclusive to these, including 5 characters – All Might, Mt. Lady, Mina Ashido, Mezo Shoji, and Mashirao Ojiro. There has been mentioned of Victory Packs and Sensei Packs to be given to the winner of these events and those running them that are supposed to be the same cards but with different art. That hasn’t been completely touched on but I’m sure we’ll know something as soon as Organized Play begins to start up again.
The Tournament Packs will be exclusive to major events and online events held by Jasco Games themselves. Exactly how many cards will be featured, we do not know. We do know that there will be 4 characters exclusive to the Tournament Packs- Kurogiri, Midnight, Present Mic, and Toru Hagakure.
Also, like the sets themselves, each Quirk Pack, Plus Ultra Pack, and Tournament Pack is series/wave exclusive. You will have roughly 4 months to acquire everything before they are gone for good. Possibly, but more on that later.
When it comes to the game and its compatibly with UniVersus as a whole, MHA:CCG will be be a completely stand alone format free of some of UniVersus’s more competitive rules for ease of entry for new players. We went over the proposed rule changes back in January, but a quick break down is as follows:
- 51 card minimum deck (Character Card + 50 card deck) construction
- Side deck consisting of 0 to 10 cards
- No Diversity Rule for events
- No Character Stacking
- Strick Symbol Construction
- First Turn Immunity
If you would like a break down of what this means in greater detail, follow our link here.
Aside from its own format, the MHA:CCG will be 100% fully compatible with both the Standard and Retro formats of UniVersus. The Standard format allows for any of the last 10 printed booster sets to be legal, and Retro allows for any set Jasco Games has printed to be legal (Jasco Games began publishing the game in 2010, prior sets were released by Sabertooth Games/Fantasy Flight Games). Both formats have their respective Banned/Restricted lists.
My Hero Academia: Collectible Card Game: How Do I Get Started?
Now that we’ve covered what is about to come out in the near future, the question left to ask is how do you get started in the game? There are two possible answers depending on rather you are just interested in the MHA:CCG or UniVersus as a whole.
If you are wanting to play MHA:CCG exclusively, a fun way to begin would be to acquire one of the MHA:CCG demo decks they released at Gen Con 2019. They feature Deku and Bakugo, and give a nice feel for the game. They have been announced to no longer be legal in any official event due to some art and name changes, but they still are completely functional decks. They mentioned recently that they had received the test prints for the updated demo decks and will hopefully be getting those out as soon as possible.
Some stores are still taking preorders on the first Series/Wave of product due out in September. We would recommend, at the very least, the Rival Deck, a booster box, and two copies of the DLC pack. The 2-Player Rival Deck will be the only way to get Deku and Bakugo, and the the random Ultra Rare cards had incredible value to the decks. With a sealed box, you will have access to a wider range of characters to choose from, not to mention the two Quirk pack exclusives. Finally, the DLC packs are the only way to get those versions of the 4 characters and their cards. Two of them will also get you a play set of all of the included Attacks and Foundations.
If you are curious about UniVersus as a whole, there are multiple ways to jump right in.
Over at Drive Thru Cards, Jasco Games has a 2-player Intro deck pack featuring Kaden and Reese from Red Horizon. Currently the two decks are on sale for only $5.40 (at the time of this writing)!
Currently in Standard rotation, there are three 2-Player Turbo Decks (think of them as the original Rival Decks). For Cowboy Bebop it is Spike vs Vicious; for Street Fighter it is Ryu vs Chun-Li; and for Mortal Kombat X it is Sub-Zero vs Scorpion. All three of the decks include exclusive cards and two random Ultra Rares from their respective sets.
Sticking to Standard would be the easiest way for players to get into the game as the card pool is much smaller than going into Retro, so it can be far less intimating to learn the rules and all the various interactions. As we mentioned previously, the oldest set in the Standard rotation is Megaman: Battle for Power and will drop off in September when MHA:CCG releases. The most recent sets of Soul Calibur VI: Lost Libra of Souls, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Seventh Cross give players a nice mix of content between traditional fighting game IPs the game has become famous for and their newer venture into other IPs like anime.
Both the Cowboy Bebop and Mortal Kombat X boost boxes are currently sold out on Jasco Games’ website, but a quick search online showed some store still have limited supply. Rochester CCG and Legendary Wolf Games seem to be two of the gold standards for the UniVersus secondary market and community, and they have both in-stock at the time of this writing. Of course, check with your local friendly game store as well to see if they have any of them available either.
Something that Jasco Games does that we absolutely love is their Redemption program. Every booster pack of UniVersus features a little skull icon, marking the pack as worth 1 Redemption point (making every booster box worth 24 points). Players can keep their empty packs and mail them in to redeem various promo cards, foil cards, and embroidered playmats. We mentioned earlier that the only way to the MHA:CCG promos were through the various events. While it isn’t confirmed 100% yet, those hard to get promos may very well end up on the Redemption page as well.
More so, Jasco Games recently offered an extension to the program to cover any Standard legal Rare and Ultra Rare cards that would be banned. Unlike some games in which a broken card is banned and you instantly lose value on the card, they will allow Rares to be traded in for 20 Redemption points and Ultra Rares for 50 Redemption points. Of course, there is always the possibility the cards could be unbanned or errata’d in the future, but the option is there for players and collectors alike.
That was a lot of information to go over! Obviously there is so much more to be considered when getting into either the MHA:CCG or UniVersus in general. We’ll be bringing more coverage to both sides of this fantastic card game in the future, including our picks for character selection, how the various Resource symbols effect deck construction and play style, and competitive play. Of course, as preview season kicks off, we’ll be commenting on all the sure-to-be-amazing card reveals.
We hope you have found all of this, or at least some of it, remotely helpful as you begin to jump into this fantastic game. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below and we’ll be happy to answer them the best we can!
Plus Ultra!
The Late Night Players 