One Punch Man was something of an unprecedented set for UNION ARENA as it was the first time a set was released simultaneously both in North America and Japan. As such, there was a crazy amount of hype and speculation for this set the likes of which we hadn’t seen before. While many stateside assumed its release in tandem with Japan’s more advanced meta meant sudden death for our varied and relatively tame English meta, One Punch Man never obliterated the competition, although it did have an outsized impact on the game.

Even months after its release, One Punch Man decks regularly show up at tournaments and continue to force players to rethink the way they approach the game. While the majority of its decks are considered tier 1.5-2 fare, Yellow Saitama still stands out as the most powerful anti-removal deck in the game, while the likes of Green Saitama and Psychic Sisters continue to be popular options for players thanks to their innovative and unique approaches to gameplay.

Below, we’ll be looking at current lists for each and every major One Punch Man deck, and ranking them from strong to strongest.

#6 Garou

While Garou had its time to shine, these days it’s not considered a top UA meta deck, and it also isn’t a deck that feels like it has aged very well, despite only being out for a few months.

If you manage to fully power up your Raid Garou, then suddenly this deck starts to feel scary good. However, for the amount of work that goes into powering him up, you can’t help but think that maybe your time and effort would have been better spent trying to fuel your Green Saitama and swing for the fences.

That being said, Garou is far from a bad deck, and easily makes the second tier of all deck in the game, showing up at tournaments and placing well today.

#5 Speed-o’-Sound Sonic

For what it does, it does better than just about any other aggro deck out there. Indeed, the fact that a deck as solid as Speed-o’-Sound Sonic doesn’t end up seeing more play than it does is a testament to how powerful the current UA deck lineup is. Indeed, this deck moves quickly, easily launches multiple attacks in a single turn, and even has late game removal via the likes of Boros.

After having played this deck often enough, I can appreciate both its strengths an weaknesses. If you manage to hit the cards you need early, take multiple attacks before your opponent’s board is set up, then close things out at exactly four total life between you and your opponent, then this deck feels like an absolute lethal weapon.

However, that’s a lot of dependencies and too often for my liking this deck fails to get its combos off the ground, and that four or less combined life requirement feels far too restricting to bank on each and every battle.

While players have chosen other options for their preferred multi-attack deck (like the Blue Aincrad SAO deck), Speed-o’-Sound Sonic truly was like nothing we’d seen before in the English Meta at the time it came out, and remains a viable option for those craving a healthy dose of speed and power.

#4 Metal Bat

Metal Bat is my personal favorite deck from the set, and the one I took with me to my One Punch Man Rare Battle to snag second place. As a rush-style deck, Metal Bat has a lot going for it. It’s fast, consistent, and boasts a ton of Nullify Impact. As if that weren’t enough, the deck is very easy to play, doesn’t run anything higher than a four-cost character, and can get under your opponent’s strategies before they have a chance to build up to their bigger combos.

Not to mention Metal Bat Raid is a very strong character capable of bringing itself back from the sideline. While that doesn’t come up too often because of the somewhat restrictive requirement, the combo of Nullify Impact and Impact make him a must-have in this deck.

A few other standout cards that really make this list worth trying out:

The powerful Terrible Tornado which can come in active very easily.
The handy Watchdog Man who can be used either to boost the energy line or as a 4000 BP body on the front line.
The Puri-Puri Prisoner who easily boosts to 4000 BP – an insane attack power for just a one-cost character.
Flashy Flash who is arguably the best card in the deck capable of swinging through your opponent’s defenses without costing a single energy to play.

If you’re looking for something strong, fast, and with plenty of removal, give Metal Bat a try.

#3 Psychic Sisters

As it so happens, Psychic Sisters is a very powerful deck, and it gets even stronger when you add in a few copies of the two-cost Saitama. This deck is all about overwhelming your opponent with the sheer number of events you are able to employ per turn, combined with combos that boost Impact, BP, and essentially make your wave of attackers high pressured enough to overcome most obstacles.

Really the only weakness of this deck to mention is the relative low power of the characters on their own. After all, Hellish Blizzard is just a 3000 BP base character, making her a relatively easy target for all kinds of removal options. For this reason, pairing the deck with two-AP Saitama helps, giving your event-card focused combos a little bit of cover. At least you’re almost guaranteed to have a strong body on board while building up to your greater combos!

#2 Green Saitama

When I originally tested Green Saitama, I thought the mechanic was interesting but also felt it wouldn’t be consistent enough to be reliable. Then I proceeded to attend several tournaments where I was gobsmacked by this crazy deck back to back.

With the right mindset and approach, this deck can be absolutely deadly, and there truly isn’t anything else like it in the game. Essentially, you are playing your own game with Green Saitama. You don’t care what’s going on with the board as much as you do hitting the cards in your sideline and on your field to play your powerful, game closing character.

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Because of how differently this deck operates from the other top UA decks out there, it can be very, very hard for those unfamiliar with how it works to deal with it. A heavy control deck, your opponent will often be shaking in their boots wondering when and how the big 2 AP Saitama will hit the board and swing for a game closing punch.

Wise players, however, can muster a pretty powerful counter-strategy to this deck, which inhibits it from reaching the upper echelons of decks. That being said, it’s easily the second strongest One Punch Man deck, and also a solid pick in the general, removal-heavy meta we find ourselves in.

#1 Yellow Saitama is the best One Punch Man deck

Here he is: the man, the myth, the legend – and also the central character to the strongest One Punch Man deck of them all – Yellow Saitama!

I remember when I first broke this deck out– upgraded from the One Punch Man Starter Deck – a few weeks before the set actually released and felt its phenomenal power. Truly, it was unlike anything seen in the UNION ARENA English meta to date. Yellow Saitama – or as I like to call it the “anti-removal deck” – dominated the English meta for a little while, causing most other decks to make plans for how to deal with it.

However, the very next set to come out – Sword Art Online – brought with it a variety of tools to deal with Yellow Saitama, including powerful multi-attackers capable of punishing Yellow Saitama and the deck’s relative lack of board presence, and decks capable of locking him down like Yellow Goddesses.

That being said, as the meta swings back to once again being more removal focused, players are recalling the benefits of a deck like Yellow Saitama that renders most removal tactics useless. As such, Yellow Saitama is a core pillar of the current English meta, and likely will remain so for a while to come.

Two-AP Saitama is this deck’s critical card

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While the preferred way to play this dark has largely shifted into leveraging Hellish Blizzard for her powerful draw support and ability to bring back Finals, the deck primarily revolves around two-AP Saitama.

Saitama has the rare ability that prevents him from being removed from the field by almost anything other than a direct attack or BP reduction. Combine that with the fact he can be a Damage 2 and Impact 1 character and you quickly realize he could be considered one of the strongest characters in the game.

On the flip side, he stays resting after he attacks, opening up some serious holes in your defenses unless you manage to switch him back to active via your zero-cost King’s ability or a lucky Active trigger off of life.

Regardless, Yellow Saitama stood at the very top of the meta for a time, and today is still one of the top UNION ARENA decks around.

When it comes to One Punch Man, you can’t really go wrong in regards to what deck you choose. Every single one of the main decks included in this UNION ARENA set are solid – truly ranging from good to great.

UNION ARENA: Every One Punch Man Deck, Ranked