Disclaimer

UVS sent me the a Guilty Gear Strive Blitz Box to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinions. This will be my honest review. 2026 is going to be an exciting year for Universus TCG, so make sure you check out the road map! I am super excited for some Fairy Tail cards. Also check out my reviews for other universus products like Attack on Titan and my favorite set so far, Heroes of Exandria. I’ll also be using my TCG Player affiliate link where possible. It helps me out if you use it before buying anything.

Table of Contents

The Set

The Guilty Gear Strive set came out on November 28, so I am a little behind on the draw. Holidays have been a little busy for me. While the new King of Fighers comes out soon, I think it is still worth looking back at a fantastic set. Guilty Gear Strive released with a new type of product, the Blitz Box, which is a 12 pack booster at a much more attainable price point. The game features unique art and foils that you are going to want in your collection, especially if you’re a fan of the fighting game. If you haven’t played Universus, it is a fantastic unique game that I have fun playing everything time I get product. I’ve talk in more detail about the game in other posts, so make sure you check that out.

Character Cards

The Guilty Gear Strive character cards are some of my favorite since I’ve started playing the game. If you are unfamiliar with the game, Universus usually uses screen grabs for most of their artwork except for a handful of alt cards and character cards where the art is unique. I have never played a Guilty Gear game, but I kind of want to now because the characters looks so cool. The character cards are all vibrant, with cool looking characters that are going to be fun to collect. Here are a few of my favorites:

Token cards

Non-alt character cards in this set are tokens. Instead of the normal backs, the backs have a few rule explanations. While it may take away from the TCG aesthetic, it does offer a different back for easy orginization. As a casual player, I appreciate the easy reminder of rules I would otherwise have to look up. It is a handy tool for newer players. While I understand that it stops being useful the more to have, it is handy.

Chrome rares

While some might be upset that their character cards have been made tokens, there are some nice chrome rare versions available for those who want to bling out their deck. I like the more cartoonish, oversaturated look of the art. You know it is going to look fantastic on the table. While I didn’t pull any of the chromes for my collection, I can sit hit and look at them longingly:

Alt cards

The real reason I love this game is how much effort is put into the alt cards. The alt cards in this set are all fantastic. I was lucky enough to pull a few of the alt cards and I am so happy with my pulls. If you are a fan of the series, you are going to want to try to pull some of these cards, at least for your collection. It is very hard to choose just a few cards, so here is as many as I could fit in no particular order:

Review

I am writing this as a collector. I love this game, but I play it very casually. I can’t speak on the power it adds to the game nor how it is shaping the meta. I can say that this has been the most fun set to open (aside from the the Heroes of Exandira). Guilty Gear Strive has the best quality of any set I’ve pulled from, and the best looking art.

Quality

Guilty Gear Strive, at least the box I pulled, has some of the best quality I’ve seen from this game. The foils still curve, but that is an unavoidable truth in the TCG space. Regardless of that fact, none of them had that annoying print line that seems to plague previous sets. Coming from the Riftbound cards I pulled, the quality is night and day. If they can keep this level of quality for future releases, and even spread it to Riftbound, I can see this game surviving at least another year.

The Art

My biggest issue with Universus as a collector is that most of the cards are screen grabs. While the special treatment cards are always fun to open and collect, most of the time I am collecting screenshots of IPs I don’t always care about. With the exception of Heroes of Exandria, most of the sets have been disappointing to open. Riftbound, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Street Fighter (the worst in my opinion) were all boring. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fairs a little better because of nostalgia, but not enough to buy into.

The screenshots used for Guilty Gear Strive are a lot better than the previous sets. While I am still not a fan of the screenshot cards, they do look nice in a binder. I liked Guilty Gear Strive a lot more than the Street Fighter ones, and I can only hope they can carry a similar vibe with the King of Fighters IP. I am sure fans of the Guilty Gear series will appreciate the cards more than I did, but I had fun pulling them. I’ll probably only collect special treatment cards.

Conclusion

If you are thinking of getting into Universus, Guilty Gear Strive is a solid entry point. It has cool art, some solid mechanics, and the set is fun to open. I can’t speak on how it holds up against the current meta or how much return on investment you’ll get, but as a collector, I am very happy with this set and am tempted to pick up a bit more. You can pick up