Disclaimer
I was sent a couple of packs of Universus’ latest set, Reign of Kaiju to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinion. This will be my honest review. I’ll be using my TCG player affiliate link where possible. Always support your LGS, but the link is there if your LGS doesn’t carry the game.
Table of contents
Introduction
Universus just turned 20 this week (as of writing this post), and that is an incredible feat for a game I’ve never seen anyone play. The game has clearly survived because it is a fun and interesting game. If you’ve never tried it, go pick up a couple of challenger decks. The King of Fighter Team Hero and Team Rival are the newest decks. While I am not a huge fan of these decks, the decks are a fun place to start. 11ake sure you check out the full review.
Now my issue with Universus is that the art doesn’t always hit every set. There are sets that I don’t care for, like attach on titan or Tekken, but then there are sets like Heroes of Exandria that get me real excited. They lost me with King of Fighters, but Reign of the Kaiju brought me back in, I just wish I had more packs to open.
Characters
My favorite part about Universes TCG as a collector is how cool the common rarity characters look. Sure the chase chromes and alt cards are on their one level of beautiful, but I respect the amount of effort the artists put into creating cool looking characters that anyone can have access to. The character art for Reign of Kaiju is simply beautiful. I love the mono color scheme and the old movie poster vibe. Each piece has its own unique flare, and while I can’t tell you how they do against the meta, I can tell you I want them for my collection. Here are a few of my favorite:
Collecting
One of my issues with Universus is how they handle the rest of the set after the unique cards. I understand there are constraints put in place by the licensing agreement, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are some sets in this game that are just ugly. There are sets, like all of Attack on Titan or Teken, that strait up lost my attention because the base rarity cards are boring. Reign of Kaiju has some very cool cards with some fantastic art. I love the comic book style. Here are a few of my favorites:
Ultra Rares
The ultra rares are just epic comic book stills that are going to look so good in a binder. Here are a few of my favorites:
Secret Rares
This game has some of the most beautiful secret rares of any game. If you like one of the ips this game carries, it probably has a card you are going to want to collect. The secret rares for Reign of Kaiju are some the most beautiful pieces I’ve seen, and I am very upset I didn’t pull any in my packs. Even if you aren’t a fan of Kaijus, you are going to appropriate how beautiful these pieces are. The use of color in this set is fantastic, and the way they are able to create such a massive composition in a compact space is commendable. In no particular order:
Impressions
Reign of Kaiju is a very fun set to open. This game is such a coin flip when it comes to openings. I like to go into openings as blind as possible because I don’t want my opinion to be swayed. I was very happy to get packs of this set because I missed out on the older Kaiju sets that have some fantastic art. Coming from King of Fighters, this set was such a joy to open. The devs did a fantastic job at crafting a kaiju theme that feels massive. I love the colors and comic book style of the cards. I enjoy flipping through the cards and looking at all the details.
I don’t know how they scale against other sets, but as a casual collector, I am in love. I am not even mad I didn’t get any of the chases because of how cool the cards look. If you are looking for a place to start, or just love Godzilla and friends for a personal collection, go get your a box or two and enjoy. If your LGS doesn’t carry Universus, you can pick up Reign of Kaiju on TCG player through my affiliate link.