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Beta Set Review · Blue

Beta Set Review · Blue

30 Jan 2025

Evaluating the blue cards of the limited beta set

Table of Contents

#Introduction

Moving on to blue in the beta set review, we get to some of the staples of the set. Blue does not have the highs of white and green, but if I am constructing a deck for the the beta environment I am going to be running a blue / X deck. There are just too many good cards in blue to omit the color. Let's just get into the list and see where things fall.

#Individual Reviews

Blue starts off strong with one of the strongest commands in the set, though given the commands we have access to, that is not saying much. Rather, this is just one of the best cards in the set. Card draw, and unconditional draw at that, is so rare that it will be powerful wherever you can find it. Decks running blue should be finding spots for 4 of this. The 3 cost can make for some awkward hands given the lack of filtering and selection available, but the upside is too large to pass up.

Score: 9/10

It would be a sad day if the initial Amuro pilot card were not playable. Fortunately, for us, that is not the case. Instead, we get what is the second-best pilot in the beta. Whereas 「Kira Yamato」 is good in nearly every situation due to its raw strength, 「Amuro Ray」 requires slightly more setup. The upside being that Amuro can lead to blowouts whenever you draw him. You do not really need to be looking for links, and I often like holding an Amuro for an appropriate time when the opponent is not ready for one of their units to be forced into a rested state. 「Amuro Ray」 offers a bit more skill expression, and is a fantastic pilot in any blue deck. Control decks want it for clearing freshly played units, and aggro decks can utilize it to get past annoying blockers.

Score: 9/10

All good things must come to an end, and blue is going to go from some of the best cards to one of the worst. 1 AP units (independent of Lv and cost) are generally going to be useless from what we have seen so far unless they have a strong effect on them. The Attack trigger here is not enough, as by the time you could make use of it, you are likely to get at best one use of it. Not much else to say other than this is a seductive trap.

Score: 0/10

This card is on my short list of cards with high potential. It is the only [+2|+2] pilot we have (save 「Heero Yuy」 ), and can push many of the white blockers into really problematic territory. The big downside being that other than the stats, this card effectively has no effect on it, and it does not pair with anything. Lv4 vs. Lv5 on a pilot does not matter terribly much. In both cases, you are likely trying to target a late game unit, many of which are coming down on resource 5 as is. I think 「Banagher Links」 is playable in the current environment, just do not fall into the trap of trying to link it.

Score: 5/10

The blue hits keep coming. We have a solid [3|2] stat line, a solid link condition, and a unique effect.

Since the card does not explicitly clarify, Deploy effects trigger after a unit has been deployed. This means that the card will be on the field when the effect triggers, and the effect can therefore see itself. So in the case that you happen to have 「G-Fighter」 and a (White Base) pilot in your hand you can play the 「G-Fighter」 , select itself for High Maneuver , link it with a pilot and attack. Pair this up with an Amuro and you have an incredibly powerful late game play.

Score: 7/10

Here is the first unit that is going to exemplify a rule that I believe holds true for the beta: any unit with less than 3 AP needs to have a strong additional effect to be playable. The difference between being able to take out an Ex Base in one attack versus two is huge. A 2 AP unit puts considerably less pressure on an opponent than a 3 AP unit does. So far, we have not seen an unconditional 3 AP Lv2 1 Cost unit yet, and I would guess if we do in the full release it will be at high rarity. Here is to hoping we set better GM variants in the future!

Score: 1/10

On an initial read, this card looks to be really pushed. It has an okay stat line of [2|3] for a Lv3, and two abilities that on paper are both strong. It lets you take out an opposing 「Demi Trainer」 or any of the various [3|2] units. The catch with 「Guncannon」 is that its power really does not come online until it is paired, and more specifically paired with a pilot that increases its HP. This means that what looks like a Lv3 card is more of a Lv4 card. That does not make 「Guncannon」 a bad card by any means. Pairing it late game with an Amuro is a good way to take board control back, or to push through the final pressure needed to end a game. I'm not convinced that this is a four of, and it definitely isn't a fit for every blue deck, but it is certainly worth trying to fit in.

Score: 6/10

The lesser of the two Gundam units that we get in beta. I spoke to this in the white review with 「Gundam Aerial (Bit on Form)」 and 「Strike Gundam」 , but this class of cards essentially feel like filler in the set. But compared to other card games, they are not entirely awful. These will be replaced once you start filling out a collection and putting together play sets of other cards, but until then or if you are playing in a limited event, these are fair enough to slot in over some of the much weaker cards. The standard .5 bonus that the Strike received for pairing with one of the better pilots in the set applies here as well.

Score: 4.5/10

Now we get to the real RX-78-2. This card is great, but does not quite reach the level of the other two LRs. Whereas the 「Aile Strike Gundam」 and 「Wing Gundam」 operate well without a pilot, and become dominant with a pilot, the 「Gundam」 generally requires a pilot to be effective. Once paired, though, the original Gundam can become a card that is very difficult for an opponent to deal with. The natural plan is to pair with 「Amuro Ray」 for the link, but I have much preferred pairing with 「Suletta Mercury」 . This gives you a [5|6] on the attack that repairs 2 after combat. It is not exactly a Kira piloted unit, but it gets close. Only being a 3 cost unit also makes it a lot easier to run four copies without taxing out the top end of your curve, making space for running either of the other two LRs.

Score: 8/10

The third RX-78-2 in the set is an interesting card. It has an incredibly powerful effect, an okay stat line at [4|3], and a prohibitive Lv. Even in the slower beta format that we have, I do not like running too many Lv 5 units. This means that the 「Gundam (MA Form)」 is not likely going to find a place in many Blue / White decks. The other problem is that this card requires a (White Base Team) pilot to be playable. There are good pilots with that link trait, but the times when a pilot is not available, this card is middling. I plan to try the card some more, but currently it is on the cut list.

Score: 5/10

Each color received a unique, strong one cost unit, and this is blue's. Similar to the 「Demi Trainer」 and 「Zaku II」 you are not playing these for their base stat line, but rather their effect. 「Guntank」 is superb at bringing a green or white unit into the appropriate HP range to be able to trade with one of your units, or picking off a 「Demi Trainer」 that was brazen enough to attack. It also has the (White Base Team) trait, meaning that in the late game it is still useful as a target for 「G-Fighter」 Deploy effect. I do suspect though that this card will fall off once the full set is released, and we have better options for direct damage. Until then, be cautious of leaving your units rested with 1 HP.

Score: 8/10

I am going to give this card a score because I feel like I have to, but I have next to zero confidence in it. I like this card, and I think it should be good as a two of for closing out games. The decks I have tried it in have either had it stuck in hand without good targets, or drawn it late game where the game is already in hand. I'll keep running through more games, and maybe update this score in the future, but for now, it gets a score just based on a gut feeling.

Score: 5/10

Another unit that I was really excited to see, but ended up being really disappointed in. Fundamentally, the card does not understand what it is trying to do. If it is trying to swarm the board, then reducing its cost by 1 is not really helping. By the time these are ready to deploy, you will likely have plenty of resources to pay 2 for each of them. Additionally, a [2|3] stat line is significantly worse than a [3|2]. A [2|3] cannot currently get to the 5 AP mark, meaning even when investing resources, it at best trades 1 for 2 with better units.

Score: 1/10

Similar to some of the filler units, I consider Kai to be a filler pilot. The bonus is fine, but I really wish it were [+1|+1]. Therefore, the main focus is on the Main effect. If you are coming from Magic, it is easy to dismiss this card, as dedicated life gain generally is weak. But in GCG if healing a unit may give you enough HP on a unit to participate in one more battle than it if you really squint, 「Kai's Resolve」 looks like a removal card. I find myself only ever playing this for the Main effect, and using it as a pilot in only dire situations. The main problem this card will face is that there are better pilots, and decks only have so much space for pilots.

Score: 4/10

See what I mentioned in 「GM」 . This card ends up costing one more to gain a trait link condition. This does not nearly bring the card up to a playable level, as assuming you are playing some number of 「G-Fighter」 (which you should), this card is lacking the necessary trait needed to be a target.

Score: 2/10

Was this card a typo in the production card file? No one else gets a stat line like this at Lv3 2 Cost. You can run four of these, and they will generally be your priority play on resource 3 (going first or second). The 「ReZEL」 does not get a link condition, and the (Earth Federation) trait really does not mean anything in the beta, but you neither are enough to hold this card back from being played. If it did have either of those, this card would definitely be standing very close to the edge.

Score: 7/10

Okay, I lied before, this is the filler pilot. The Repair effect bonus is not really relevant in the game as it is today. So you are getting a [+1|+1] pilot, and the only benefit it gets for the missing a +1 is a 1 Lv reduction compared to the Lv 4 pilots. There is no reason to run this over any random Lv 4 pilot.

Score: 0/10

This base is much maligned for its 4 HP. In fact, it is the only base we have with 4 HP. It is unclear why this base was given only 4 HP (which is a big breakpoint in the beta). Despite this, I think this base is actually effective in White / Blue control style decks. You often have plenty of blockers to have some degree of control as to when you let damage through to your shield area, and you are (or should be) running 4 「Kira Yamato」 which works amazing with 「Side 7」 . Kira can generally ensure your unit survives combat enough to make it to a second combat, and judicious target selection can allow the recovery here to push the unit in to a third combat. Outside of decks that are heavy on blockers, this card is generally going to be terrible. At that point, I would recommend playing any base other than this.

Score: 4/10

Here is a card that has a lot going on, and I have plenty of mixed feelings. I've played 0, I've played 4, I've played 2, and I cannot figure out the right number, if any. I think you only play it in the control style deck; the aggro / midrange decks have enough better options. It has the effect of the 「Guntank」 which we already know is strong, and pairs extremely well with it. 「Guntank」 can attack into the 「Zaku II」 or be blocked by 「Demi Trainer」 and then 「Thoroughly Damaged」 can clear it out. You are seldomly playing this as a pilot, which is where the contention comes in. Is the 1 damage ping enough for an entire card slot? I am on the side of no as of writing this, but could easily see myself flipping back.

Score: 5/10

This card is so close to being good that it is frustrating. Reduce the cost by 1 or increase its HP by 1, and this card is probably playable. If a unit is going to require a link to gain its effect, then in the current environment it will have to have good base stats in addition. The cool part about this card is that you get the card draw from 「Banagher Links」 up front, and do not need to pay the discard cost until later. You can then hold the discard effect until you have something that can be discarded. Sadly, with the stats it is given and a cost of 4, this is not the Unicorn you want. If you are a Unicorn fan, do not fear, there will certainly be numerous more versions to come.

Score: 3/10

It always feels good to end the list on a useful card. We have the requisite 5 HP here, we have a recurring effect, and we have a very powerful pseudo card draw. Everything on this card is good. Of all the bases in the game, this is the only one that puts pressure on your opponent. You can generally ignore your opponent's base until it is advantageous for you to attack into it. A 「White Base」 that is left unchecked will put your opponent further and further ahead. At its absolute worst, the base is chipping away at your units' HP by throwing disposable units in to them. White / Blue may need to make some concessions between this and 「Archangel」 , but Green / Blue should be running the full set of 4.

Score: 8/10

#Summary

Finally, let's wrap up with a quick list of where all the scores landed:


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