Welcome back, Ultraman Card Game players! We’re approaching the last of the major decks releases in BP01, Guardians of the Earth, and not a moment too soon, as BP02 Vortex of Crimson and Azure has debuted! There are a number of new decks here, dramatically widening the game’s meta, but the one we’re focusing today to close the book on BP01 is one of the most interesting decks in the entire meta — as it is one that has completely changed its playstyle in between sets. Let’s jump into the sky with Ultraman Arc!
Part 1- How Did It Play in BP01?

Arc in BP01 was an interesting beast. More useful as a secondary Ultra than a main, Arc’s primary utility was in its incredible RRR Level 3 (BP01-016). Having the ability to, as a Triple, clear any scene on the field to be replaced by a Level 1 or lower scene you revealed in your hand combined with a whopping 18000 BP at Triple, Arc was a silver bullet against the powerful scene-based strategies of Mebius and Blazar. Having access to a scene searcher in its RR Level 2 (BP01-013) and a draw card in its R Level 1 (BP01-010), the Arc package was a dependable asset, though lacked a particularly compelling gameplan of its own.
That has changed.
Part 2 — An Imaginative New Strategy
With the advent of Vortex of Crimson and Azure, Arc, his series freshly over, was able to show the full length and breadth of his powers in cardboard form — and the key word here is breadth. Featuring a full 7-card wave of support, Arc now made it clear that what matters to this deck is Power — and Speed too. These two types form the vast majority of cards in your deck, and ask for those types whenever possible. Power types support Speed, and vice versa — and that support adds up really fast.
For better or worse, though, this puts the BP01 wave in… kind of a weird spot? The beloved BP01 RRR is not Power, nor Speed, nor even Armed, but Basic. This means that it can’t take advantage of the deck’s best tools. Then again, does it even need to? Even with the new support, it remains the strongest card in the archetype. So while we try to find a proper balance between the old and new, let’s go through all the cards that really matter and figure out if this deck is a real meta contender, or if its power is just our imagination.
Part 3 — Level 1s

Despite all of the changes Vortex has brought to the deck, Arc’s Level 1s remain mostly consistent. You’re still going to be relying on your R Level 1 (BP01-010) to fix your hand early, and in this deck, it’s actually become much more important for getting the cards you run that are neither Power nor Speed. Crucially, your primary card advantage is draw compared to search effects that will come up in later levels. Yes, there are other search cards, and we’re not just talking about the BP01 scene searcher. We’ll get to that later.

After that, you actually want to run a healthy number of Level 1s — your new Level 2s have effects that activate as Doubles, so you need to make sure you’ve got your 1s to have under them! Our recommendations are the U Level 1 (BP01-011) that pack surprising power with a base 6k and a grade increase against Power types, but more importantly, the new vanilla C Level 1 (BP02-039). Why would a 5k Level 1 with no effects or even a Double Grade be more important? As a Speed type, you’ll find that this is the only searchable Level 1 in the entire deck. (It’s also our favorite piece of art in the entire set — shout out to Klenda Vee for this stunning watercolor!) All three of these are worth running a playset of.
Part 4 — Level 2s

Here’s where the divergences from BP01 really start to become apparent. Vortex delivered unto players two mirrored Uncommon Level 2s in the form of Solis Armor (BP02-041) and Luna Armor (BP02-042), who are both searchers, each for their opposite type and the Armed type. Each one checks your top three cards, and adds an Arc of Power or Armed for Luna, and Speed or Armed for Solis. Then, crucially, you discard a card from your hand. Thus, rather than pure advantage like the Level 1s we have all come to play, these Arcs are considered “filter” cards, tuning your hand towards the result you want most rather than simply adding options.

While this is a deck that loves filling up your hand (and frankly, could stand to do a bit more of that in the future), the filter effects here are absolutely critical for your long-term game plan. There are cards you will want in your discard area, and you will want them sooner rather than later, we assure you. To help with that, the classic RR scene searcher (BP01-013) remains relevant, potentially getting you a scene while trashing 4-5 cards. To fill the remaining gaps, add a few copies of the vanilla Luna and Solis (BP01-014 and BP01-015 respectively). They’re well-statted, and work great as starting points if you’re playing certain cards on top of them as Doubles.
Part 5 — Level 3s

If the Level 2s were interesting, the Level 3s are where this deck becomes downright spicy. This is the most complicated, and frankly difficult part of the deck to quantify. There are too many options, and that’s both good and a little overwhelming for newer players. The core of the deck has undoubtedly changed, thanks to the RRR Ultraman Arc Galaxy Armor (BP02-043).
Thanks to this card’s ability to swap out a Level 3 on top of any of your Double or Triple Arcs with a Power or Speed type of the same level in your discard area, your board is insanely adaptable… But.

We come back to the BP01-016 problem. You can’t recycle the best Arc in your arsenal. Which, frankly, is almost certainly a balancing decision on the part of the devs — Imagine looping copies of this thing and vaporizing your opponent’s scenes while presenting a body bigger than anything else on the board. However, this doesn’t mean you’re not playing BP01-016. The opposite, in fact — If you can’t get it repeatedly, you’re playing as many copies as possible to see it as many times as possible. If necessary, you can replace it with another Arc once it’s done its job, letting it keep its historical role as the “secondary” boss of the deck.

The question remains, though — If BP02-043 can bring back Power and Speed type Level 3 Arcs, and neither it nor BP01-016 qualify, what are the targets? The answer lies at the R level, with a pair of powerful Level 3s perfect for turning lanes around. Ultraman Arc Saturn Armor (BP02-044) and Ultraman Arc Galaxy Armor (BP02-045) are counterparts of one another that promote the power of one another, regardless of what level they’re at. (Incidentally, if Saturn Armor is unfamiliar to you, check out our article on this cool armor!) BP02-044, as a Speed type, can increase the BP Grade of any Power type Arc by 1 by discarding a card, while BP02-044, a Power type, does the same for Speed.
The gameplay loop, as hinted at earlier, involves playing a Double Arc in your latest lane, then using BP02-043 to pop back whichever of the Level 3s corresponds to the newest stack’s type. Discard a card, and your latest battle is being fought by a Triple! It’s a trick that will cost you resources and can risk you running out of gas if you overdo it, but its effectiveness is undeniable. However, keep in mind that none of these new Level 3s have the power to match BP01-016. So what’s the solution?
Part 6 — The Scenes

Arc to the Future (BP01-102) is back! In BP01 format, while this scene was neat, its primary use was as a piece in hand to use for BP01-016’s scene removal effect (which, as a reminder, doesn’t work if you don’t actually have a scene to replace the one on the field with). However, the extra 2k it offers in a battle has become truly important to matching and surpassing Arc’s contemporaries on the field. Once again, it has to be used wisely, as spending too many cards on effects like this and the sub-3s can lead to you having an empty hand, and sometimes you have to pitch a card you really like to secure a turn.

That’s where The Wandering Future (BP02-105) comes in. Need one of the cards you pitched earlier in the game to set up a strong stack in the latest battle? Slap down this card and replace a card in your hand with a different Arc card in your discard. It can even recover a BP01-016 you sent to discard from the field in a previous turn! Arc to the Future is more important to getting you to a win, but knowing you have access to The Wandering Future does great work to letting you play your game with confidence.
Part 8 — Kaiju
Nah.
In all seriousness, you simply don’t have the space or the need to add any Kaiju to your deck — Arc’s toolbox does everything you need.

There is a question to be asked about Guil Arc (BP02-098), but its use simply isn’t there right now. However, just like this card’s counterpart on the silver screen, its future is unknown, so don’t simply write it off!
Part 9 — Sample Decklist
After all the various elements of the deck we’ve discussed up to now, let’s prepare a sample decklist for you to try. Keep in mind that this deck is a starting point — BP02 has only just come out, so there’s plenty of experimenting yet to come!
Level 1 — 12 Cards
BP01-010 Ultraman Arc (R) x4
BP01-011 Ultraman Arc (U) x4
BP02-039 Ultraman Arc (C) x4
Level 2 — 16 Cards
BP01-013 Ultraman Arc (RR) x4
BP01-014 Ultraman Arc Luna Armor (U) x2
BP01-015 Ultraman Arc Solis Armor (C) x2
BP02-041 Ultraman Arc Solis Armor (U) x4
BP02-042 Ultraman Arc Luna Armor (U) x4
Level 3 — 16 Cards
BP01-016 Ultraman Arc (RRR) x4
BP02-043 Ultraman Arc Galaxy Armor (RRR) x4
BP02-044 Ultraman Arc Saturn Armor (R) x4
BP02-045 Ultraman Arc Galaxy Armor (R) x4
Scenes — 6 Cards
BP01-102 Arc to the Future (U) x4
BP02-105 The Wandering Future (U) x2
This list is pretty simple, making use of all of the best Arc cards that exist right now. There are plenty of Level 3s — a preponderance of them, in fact — but all that means is that they’re available for discarding for cost and setup.
Do you think you can make a better mono-Arc deck? Share your lists on our Twitter! And if you’re curious about more of the Ultraman Card Game, check out the official Ultraman Card Game website! Come back next week for a bit of a surprise — We’re not actually going to go into the other BP02 decks just yet. Instead, our buddy Ken called us up to ask a favor — Something about a babysitting job…?