Union Arena BLEACH UEX08BT FAQ Q975–Q1018: Rulings and a Reworked Ichibe Hyosube
The official Union Arena North America site has added FAQ entries Q975 to Q1018 for UEX08BT (BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War), all marked as updated on October 30, 2026. Deck builders working with Liltotto, Orihime or Ichigo now have official answers to several tricky questions about targeting and the sideline.
The update also changes the printed text of Ichibe Hyosube, which is worth checking before you add him to a list.
UEX08BT "Cannot Be Chosen" Targeting
Liltotto Lamperd (BLC-4-018), Orihime Inoue (BLC-4-022) and Ichigo Kurosaki (BLC-4-027) all get the same clarification. When a card says it "cannot be chosen by abilities," any ability built on the "choose" instruction cannot target it. The FAQ's example is "Choose one character on your opponent's front line and sideline it".
BLEACH Sideline and Hand Rulings
- Orihime Inoue: her [When Played] puts a card from hand into the sideline. When that card is a blue character needing 1 or less energy, you may add it to your hand or play it onto the field set to resting. The ruling is yes.
- Riruka Dokugamine:
(BLC-2-047) can be sidelined by 's effect and then tucked face down under Riruka. Its draw-a-card effect still works afterward. - Grimmjow Jeagerjaques: if his conditions are met a second time in one turn, the second card he sends from hand to the sideline cannot use "play this card set to active onto your field".
- Mayuri Kurotsuchi: his play-from-hand ability needs a blue card that is actually named "Kurotsuchi Corpse Unit". Merely carrying the [Kurotsuchi Corpse Unit] affinity does not qualify.
Forced Blocks: Nemu Kurotsuchi and Kenpachi Zaraki
When a character with "Your opponent must block this character's attacks if able" attacks, the defending player picks one of their characters that is able to block, and that character blocks. If none of them can block, the attack deals its damage.
The Kenpachi Zaraki (BLC-4-070) ruling covers the reverse case. A character that must block if able does block when it can. If you control several such characters, you choose which one takes the block.
Shinuchi Shirafude Ichimonji and Losing Base Abilities
A character affected by "This character loses all base abilities" does not lose abilities it picked up earlier, whether from itself or from other cards. The FAQ names CGH-1-059 Lancelot and CGH-1-015 Lelouch Lamperouge as examples. Base abilities that keep referencing conditions, such as CGH-1-054 Gilbert G.P. Guilford, are lost even if they were already active.
A character in this state also will not trigger base abilities that fire away from the field. The FAQ lists [When Sidelined], "When this character is Raided" and "When this character is returned from your field to your hand".
Ichibe Hyosube Revised Text
Ichibe's new [When Played] has you draw a card. You may then place one [Squad Zero] affinity card from hand into the removal area, and if you do, he switches to active.
His new [When Sidelined] puts him into the removal area. You then play up to one purple
TCGKing's take: the Shirafude rulings carry the most weight, because the line between abilities lost and abilities kept decides whether the effect truly shuts a character down.
Context
These rulings follow the UEX08BT card list and arrive ahead of the Release Event, which runs at participating stores November 6 – 12, 2026.
What is still unknown
- A release date for UEX08BT is not announced yet.
TCGKing updates this article as soon as Bandai announces these details. Follow all Union Arena news or get it in our newsletter.
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