Exclusive: Titans Clash In UniVersus' Attack On Titan: Origins Of Power Alt-Art Character Cards

The first Attack on Titan set, Battle for Humanity, was a slam dunk for the crossover TCG UniVersus. It included the manga's iconic scratchy art style and stylish alternate treatments, along with lots of new mechanics, to make one of the most cohesive and impressive UniVersus sets so far.

Striking while the ODM gear is hot, UniVersus is already following it up with Origins of Power. Pushing the story further and exploring the Clash of the Titans and Royal Government arcs, we get some major players in the manga like Kenny Ackerman and the Cart Titan for the first time, and, of course, the Colossal and Armored Titans in all their glory.

UniVersus has given us an exclusive look at many of the alt-art character cards from both sides of the conflict that you could find when Origins of Power launches on November 8.

The Survey Corps

The Survey Corps are those fighting against the titans, hoping to regain enough land to discover their origins and the mystery behind the wall. These are some of the best fighters in the world, so it makes sense that their UniVersus cards offer just a hint of what they're capable of.

Character cards in UniVersus are what you build your deck around. They determine your hand size, life total, and even what cards you can run in the deck. Any card you include has to share at least one of the icons found in the lower-left corner of the character cards.

Survey Corps

Image

Name And Description

Armin Arlert, Brilliant Mind

Character - Survey Corps - 6 Hand Size - 31 Life - Death/Order

Form [Once per turn] Sacrifice 1 foundation: Search your deck for 1 card and build it face down. You cannot play attacks for the rest of this turn.

Response: After you play a keyword or Outwit ability, your rival commits 1 foundation. If this is the third time you have played this ability this turn, commit this card.

Connie Springer, Ideal Soldier

Character - Survey Corps - 6 Hand Size - 31 Life - Air/Chaos

Enhance Spend 1 momentum: Clear 1 card from your card pool.

Response: After you take damage, add the top card of your deck to your momentum.

Erwin Smith, Strategic Mastermind

Character - Survey Corps - 5 Hand Size - 34 Life - Air/Death

Enhance [Once per turn]: Build the top or bottom card of your deck face down. This attack gets +3 or -3 speed.

Response: After a foundation is destroyed, look at the top 2 cards of your deck. You may put 1 of them on the bottom of your deck. (Sacrificing a card destroys it.)

Hange Zoe, Four Eyes

Character - Survey Corps - 7 Hand Size - 21 Life - Life/Death

Enhance Commit: Build 1 card from your hand face down. This attack gets +3 or -3 damage.

Enhance [Tenacious] Sacrifice 2 foundations: Ready this card.

(Tenacious - This ability is playable while committed.)

Historia Reiss, Secret Identity

Character - Survey Corps - 5 Hand Size - 30 Life - Life/Order

Response [Tenacious]: After you build a foundation that does not share a name with a card in your stage, add 1 Wall counter to this card and gain 1 health.

Response: After you draw 1 or more cards, this attack gets +1 or -1 damage.

Enhance Remove 2 Wall counters: Draw 1 card.

Jean Kirstein, Dependable Competitor

Character - Survey Corps - 7 Hand Size - 22 Life - Air/Fire

Enhance: Your attack gets +1 damage. It gets an additional +1 damage for every 2 non-action cards you have played this turn.

Response Commit: After you take damage, add 1 attack from your discard pile to your hand.

Mikasa Ackerman, Protective Friend

Character - Survey Corps - 6 Hand Size - 30 Life - Air/Life

Enhance Reveal 2 Weapon cards from your hand: This attack gets +2 or -2 speed.

Response: After your attack deals damage to a character, reveal the top card of your deck. If it is a Weapon, add it to your hand.

Sasha Blouse, Food Fanatic

Character - Survey Corps - 6 Hand Size - 30 Life - Chaos/Life

Enhance Commit: Add 1 card with difficulty 1 from your stage to your momentum. Draw 1 card. If the card you added to your momentum was an asset, draw 2 cards instead.

Enhance [Tenacious] Discard 1 card: This attack gets +X speed or +X damage. X equals your momentum.

(Tenacious - This ability is playable while committed.)

Of particular interest is Armin Arlert, Brilliant Mind. Armin might not be a big brawler, but his tactical genius makes him one of the most important members of the Corps, and his card makes use of a new mechanic debuing in Origins of Power: outwit.

Outwit effects can only be used if the card is face-down in your stage, and can only be used once your opponent performs certain actions. For example, Buying Team will trigger when your opponent plays an attack, while Battle Plan triggers if they commit one of your foundations.

Though not explicitly built around outwitting, another tactical force of the Survey Corps, Hange Zoe, Four Eyes, also fits nicely with the mechanic. Their ability lets you build cards face-down, giving you an easier way of setting outwit cards up for your opponent to stumble into.

It's not dissimilar from a deadlock effect, or, if you've not played UniVersus, like a face-down trap card in Yu-Gi-Oh!.

The Warriors

And Kenny

This arc of the manga revealed the identities of the Colossus Titan and Armored Titan to be none other than Eren's former squadmates, Bertolt Hoover and Reiner Braun. Though they appeared in the Battle for Humanity set, Origins of Power finally lets you unleash their titan forms, using the set's Transform mechanic.

Warriors (And Kenny)

Image

Name And Description

Bertolt Hoover, Living Weapon//Bertolt, Colossus Titan Advancing

Bertolt Hoover, Living Weapon

Character - Warrior - 5 Hand Size - 31 Life - Death/Fire

Enhance: Draw 2 cards and discard 2 cards. If the discarded cards are the same type, this attack gets +2 or -2 damage.

Response: At the start of the End Phase, transform Bertolt Hoover, Living Weapon. Each player chooses 3 foundations in their stage and sacrifice the rest. Only a playable if a player has 9 or more foundations.

Bertolt, Colossus Titan Advancing

Character - Titan - Warrior - 5 Hand Size - 31 Life - Death/Fire

Your attacks get +2 damage and you may remove them after they resolve.

Response: After you play an attack, draw 1 card and your rival commits 1 foundation.

Cart Titan

Character - Titan - Warrior - 6 Hand Size - 33 Life - Chaos/Order

Enhance Commit: Your attack gets +3 speed.

Enhance Commit: If this attack is blocked, it deals no damage.

Form [Tenacious] Ready this card, commit 1 foundation: The next foundation you try to play ignores progressive difficulty or your rival commits 1 foundation.

Kenny Ackerman, The Ripper

Character - Military Police Brigade - 6 Hand Size - 31 Life - Chaos/Death

Your Ranged and/or Weapon attacks get +1 speed and +1 damage.

Response Commit: After your non-Throw attack deals damage to a character, you draw 2 cards or your rival loses 3 health and discards 1 card.

Reiner Braun, Warrior//Reiner Braun, Armored Titan Advancing

Reiner Braun, Warrior

Character - Warrior - 6 Hand Size - 17 Life - Chaos/Fire

If you would lose the game due to your health being reduced below 1, instead transform Reiner Braun, Warrior and return to maximum health.

Enhance Mill 4: Your attack gets +1 damage for each different card type among cards milled this way. If you have cycled this game, your attack gets +1 speed for each card type among cards milled this way.

Reiner, Armored Titan Advancing

Character - Titan - Warrior - 6 Hand Size - 17 Life - Chaos/Fire

Your rival's first attack each turn gets -5 damage.

Enhance Remove 3 cards from your discard pile: Your attack gets +1 speed and +1 damage for each different card type in your stage. If you have cycled thid game, you may add 1 card from your momentum to your hand.

Zeke Yeager//Zeke, Beast Titan

Zeke Yeager

Character - Warrior - 5 Hand Size - 34 Life - Fire/Life

At the start of your first turn of the game, search your deck for 1 non-Unique backup, reveal it, and add it to your hand.

Form Commit: Draw 1 card for each backup in your stage. If you draw 4 or more cards this way, transform Zeke Yeager.

Enhance Discard 1 attack: Add 1 backup from your discard pile to your hand.

Zeke, Beast Titan

Character - Titan - Warrior - 6 Hand Size - 34 Life - Fire/Life

Your Ranged attacks get +2 speed and +2 damage.

Enhance Discard 1 backup: Add 1 Ranged attack from your discard pile to your hand.

Cards that can transform are double-sided, with one side showing their human forms, and the reverse featuring their hulking titans. It takes some work to transform, like having Zeke needing enough backups in your stage to draw four cards, but doing so can be truly apocalyptic for your opponent.

Bertolt can wipe the board of almost every foundation card, pulling you and an opponent back to equal footing. Alternatively, Zeke's tremendous throwing skills buff every ranged attack by +2/+2, or Reiner can reduce the damage your opponent's first attack does by a whopping -5.

Though he isn't a titan warrior like the others, Kenny also serves as a major antagonist of these arcs in the manga, acting as the captain of a secret Military Police taskforce trying to take down the Survey Corps. In true Ackerman fashion, his attacks are ruthless, forcing your opponent to lose even more life and discard cards if he manages to land a hit.

Attack On Titan: Origins Of Power launches on November 8, 2024.

UniVersus

Formerly known as the Universal Fighting System (UVS) UniVersus is a collectible card game in which you build decks of cards, with an additional Character Card that represents you and can access powerful Enhance abilities.