Personal Data Research on the Japanese Competitive Environment [08/13/2026]

In preparation for the upcoming local Japanese competitive event in the U.S., I have decided to compile a list of decks with their assorted cards to be noted of during the event that I may encounter by chance. This list is non-exhaustive and there are more than likely to be outliers. The series shown here are based upon most likely encounters should individuals be indulging in the Japanese metagame.

All deck lists are taken from either Twitter or from Bushiroad’s own reported deck recipes from their own events.

The first and rising star of the Japanese metagame following the previous banlist is that of Summer Pockets. The most popular and rising build seems to be that of the eight door build consisting of Shiroha and friends. The main resource engine is Shiroha herself at level one. Shiroha is an extremely powerful resource engine that grants both stock and hand (as long as she has a marker with either Nanami [七海] or Umi [うみ] in its name). She also gets an absurd amount of cross-turn power with a Nanami marker, but the general builds only have a single Nanami marker card that is employed at level two. Generally speaking, without boosts, Shiroha reaches a fair power line of 7000 including that of the guaranteed boosted 1000 from her first effect, 3000 from having a marker underneath her, and another 1000 from the climax itself. Shiroha only has turn power and drops back to a measly 3000 during your opponent’s turn without a Nanami marker.

Umi is essentially a selective damage profile with an added ping. She pings on attack with the climax, and then, with her first ability, presuming she has a marker with Shiroha underneath, she can rearrange the top three cards of the deck, send a card to stock, and then choose her reveal target. That reveal target will be then be milled for the second ping effect.

The general deck runs both a stock flush and Fumio ability with Shiroha and Kanome respectively. It is key to note that Kanome’s ability is on-play while Shiroha needs to attack to perform its stock flush ability. The Nanami that is a core three-of is shown here. The card bonds to any character with Shiroha [しろは] from waiting room. Nanami’s key point to note is that she refunds the stock used to play her (blind stock) when used as inheritance fodder. The deck is overly reliant on 1/0 Shiroha to act as its front line and resource charger until it reaches level three.

In terms of responsive plays, a common trend uses the 2/1 Miki rest counter that needs a total of five stock to deploy. It is an expensive counter even by Summer Pockets standards since Umi only refunds stock on attack. Lesser common are that of the healing Shiroha & Ao counter followed by the anti-change counter with Tsumugi. Decks may or may not run a 2/1 Ao which is a level assist bouncer with a brainstorm ability. I would almost presume that Miki will be a global standard in almost every deck.

Decklists:

• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/79DKR
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/46RDH
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/5NXJ1
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/422UZ
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/168G1
• https://ws4696.xyz/2026/08/12/wsdecksmp-257/

Overlord has been knocked down a peg, but the overall deck is still fairly consistent and strong. The deck has become weaker with the loss of its primary standby target and that of its rest counter. Regardless, the deck still plays like before with a worse line-up. Notably, their level one combo is a reverse combo, meaning that if you can somehow deny the reverse, they’ll be in a pretty awful spot. Albedo hits around 8000 power without any support with her base boost from the first ability (2000) and another 2500 from her combo.

While the level two line-up for standby targets are varied, you’re more than likely to encounter a bunch of annoying tech with field counters (2/1 Shaltear) and larger standby bodies. The deck is contingent on spawning 3/2 Albedo, typically for one-turn in the back and then back in the front after. Adachis, anti-change, and level-downs are highly recommended. No deck recipes are provided since Overlord’s appearance on the Bushiroad events’ deck recipe page have not appeared since the banning.

Uzuki is considered a top contender, but my own experience and thoughts of it within the EN competitive environment is middling. This needs to be acknowledged since, despite this being a Japanese event, it takes place within the U.S., which will undoubtedly affect the playstyle of players. There are many problems, but the main problem I find is in the EN environment, games can be far too fast for Uzuki to have proper set-up. Uzuki is also fragile in the fact that she, like Albedo, wants to perform a two-turn loop. Needless to say, the basic premise involves getting Noriko by level two and then using her ability to fetch Uzuki from waiting room to spawn after from hand with combo. Uzuki’s first turn on board will typically be to acquire some advantage and then potentially heal down (assuming they get multiple on board).

Uzuki has, what I call, a default loss condition. Since Noriko needs to clock you to retrieve Uzuki or the 3/0 finisher event, if you are at level two and above four or more points of damage, you’ve essentially just accelerated yourself to level three depending on how many Uzukis you are able to spawn. Compound this with the fact that the deck doesn’t really have the most consistent way of grabbing the correct climax needed for the combo at just the right time as well. For Uzuki to do well, essentially, a lot of things have to go right, but the payoff is absurd. Uzuki has modular heal down (copying another Uzuki), resource generation, or the ability to copy a finisher. This is often done in the form of copying the single copy of Mayu in most decks.

Typically, the only form of backups that Uzuki runs is that of Miyabi above. Miyabi checks that you are out five or more door climaxes, and it’s main purpose is to constantly loop the deck with freefreshes that are paid for with Uzuki’s combo. Aside from that, there may the occasional 2/1 anti-change with Nana or Mayu (Nana is a reprint). Uzuki decks typically run zero to no backrow power, so you can feel free to beat over them or use typical anti-change mechanics. If any backrow power is added, it is often with just a single copy of Anzu which can only protect two lanes.

The finishers vary between Uzuki herself with the event or that of Shiki. Shiki cannot be responded to since her abilities are all random and both possibilities are nonsensical. Uzuki’s event requires Uzuki to reverse her opponent or attack an empty lane. If you are able to prepare a larger board, Uzuki decks reliant on the event will be in deep trouble. However, they can also snipe your board with their single copy of Mayu, but that’s if they have the luxury of having that in addition to all their other requirements.

Decklists:

• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/1SG7R
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/29P5B
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/1SG7R
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/6H2ZX
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/337Q9

To define Assault Lily’s dominance, I wouldn’t really try to call it exactly a comprehensive deck that’s the issue. Assault Lily just has a grab bag of different effects that are all relatively powerful and work very well together. Yuyu, the main finisher, cannot be interacted with, and due to the text on the card, she’ll typically side as well since she does no damage due to the soul demerit on her combo. Yuyu does have a lynchpin with Lily as, if you are able to rest counter or kick Lily off the board, their ability to refresh you is nullified since they cannot marker her to force you to refresh with less climaxes.

2/0 Kanaho is quite a menace for mainly it’s final ability to stack a card on top of your opponent’s deck. With this in mind, assuming your board is full of level ones which is common by Kanaho’s deployment, they can perfectly ensure that you take damage with her swing. They can also alternatively push for advantage while preventing their opponent from leveling, thus giving them more resources to work with for their endgame.

The common level one line-up is with Sachie and Raimu above. Sachie gets pretty large, especially with Raimu on board, reaching 8000 power (5000 from her initial ability, 1000 from Raimu, and 1000 from climax). This is assuming they even get Raimu on board. Raimu is also Sachie’s bonder. Raimu’s attack is more dangerous than most due to her optional ability to pay cost and trigger twice, meaning, given the amount of soul triggers in the deck, the early game can heavily push for damage. Raimu’s fetch ability could be relevant down the road, presuming that you consistently grab back copies of her for the tertiary ability.

Decks are varied and inconsistent with generic staples and 2/0 Kanaho being only the real guaranteed cards ran in pretty much every deck otherwise. Old Kanaho and Takane are occasionally used as alternative finishers to Lily and Yuyu. Responses to their opponent’s cards are typically thin and few. There is a large access to a varied number of counters including choices for freefresh, memory kick, heal counter, and anti-change. They key thing to note is almost all counters are at level two due to the need for the soul icon since many are playing choice.

Decklists:

• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/1WQ0T
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/3SG7D
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/6SH2X
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/76641
• https://decklog.bushiroad.com/view/1J9AV

A tier list partially influencing the matters of this post was made by Tonami Murakami-san and can be found on their Note here. This is once again a subjective report based upon my own thoughts and various opinions online. It is a non-exhaustive list.