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Universus

Guilty Gear Strive Blitz Box Review: A Collector’s Perspective

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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.

Token Back

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

Board Games and TCGs

Unboxing the Riftbound Spellbook by Elderwood Academy

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Disclaimer

I was sent a custom Elderwood Academy spellbook as a gift for the Riftbound launch. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, this will be my honest review of the spellbook. Make sure you check out the official Elderwood Academy page for unique tabletop RPG accesories.

Table of Contents

What is Elderwood Academy Spellbook?

Elderwood Academy Spellbook makes high quality TTRPG accessories. They make unique wooden dice trays, dice towers, and journals in the form of spellbooks. They offer hundreds of customization options so that you can get a book that not only fits your RPG needs, but fits your personality. If you are looking for a a clean and cool way to carry your tabletop accessories to your next campaign, check out what the Elderwood Academy has to offer. As a forever DM, I am a huge fan of their Master Tome DM Screen. It looks like a cool spell book and can carry everything I need to run my next campaign.

What I got

I didn’t get any of the Tabletop products to review, but I did get a special Riftbound Spellbook. As far as I know, it is a unique item that was created in collaboration with UVS, the people behind the Riftbound TCG.

The wooden box is lined with faux leather with the Riftbound, UVS, and League of Legends logo printed in shining text. My copy came personalized with my full name. The wood is smooth with a nice finish to give it that elegant flare, and the inside is decided to fit the four trial decks and booster packs snugly inside. The book closes securely with a magnet that is strong enough to keep your contents from falling out.

Review

The tome is very impressive. It is crafted from high quality materials with a good amount of care and attention. Unfortunately, isn’t very practical for my TCG needs. That said, I am impressed enough by the design and quality to look into the rest of their official line.

Quality

This spellbook was a very happy surprise. At first glance, it looks like a real book. The leather binding is very elegent, but the edges run a little long. I suspect they will wear down with travel and years of use, I can only hope they don’t start looking ratty instead of a used book. I’ve been carrying this around my bag and the edges don’t look as bad, and the wear seems pretty reasonable. Some of the letters are starting to crack which is normal, but the design is still visible. None of it has fallen off. It should survive a few years of normal wear and tear.

The wood bits are impressive. They have clean and clear designs and everything is smooth. Companies that cut corners will have pieces that start to crack or flake a the seems, but everything here looks well designed. All of the compartments are firm. Nothing felt loose or flimsy, even against my unrealistic force tests. Everything is staying in place.

The magnet that holds everything in place is very impressive. It is strong enough to keep your contents safely secured during travel, and can even survive a few hard shakes. I wouldn’t go flipping it upside down though.

The Fit

Elderwood Academy has an impressive attention to detail. The book is perfectly designed to fit its contents in a nice presentation. This book looks very cool with all four decks boxes snugly fit inside. The problem is, it only fits the four deck boxes and the unsleeved trial decks. It does not fit my entire sleeved deck, even if I remove the deckbox. The compartments are too short and anything taller than a 50 card single sleeved deck is spilling into the rest of the box. Your cards may not fall out because of the strong magnet, but you will need to do some reorganizing when it is time to take them out.

Taking them out is also a bit of a chore. The snug compartments are perfect to hold the deckbox, but it is a bit too tight for sleeved cards. I could take out most of the deck, but there was always a bottom portion that got left behind. I am afraid that using this tome as a regular deckbox will result in some damage to my cards.

To be fair, the book was not designed as an everyday deckbock. It was a giftbox to hold the trial decks, and it is perfect at that. If I didn’t sleeve the decks and kept them in the box, there are no issues. Unfortunately, I sleeve everything and the book can’t be used as anything more practical as decoration. This is a shame because I was very excited to take my cool looking deckbox to my next locals, and if they ever design one, they will take all of my money. It would be cool if they have a way to fit three decks and a slot for dice and accessories and even a notepad. They can even get a little extra and make their own deckboxes to fit the different compartments.

That said, if the quality of the specifications say anything about the brand, the Elderwood Academy TTRPG accessories are a guarantee banger.

Conclusion

Even though I am disappointed at the lack of practicality of my spell book, it is still a very cool gift that I will keep on display. I think the unique high quality feel makes up for the lack of utility, and it definitely makes me want to look into the rest of their line. I might even try to do a little modding of my won to repurpose it into a proper deckbox.

If you are looking for a cool new way to carry your accessories to your next campaign, whatever system that may be, check out the cool stuff at Elderwood Academy.