The UniVersus Collectible Card Game (or CCG) has been around in one form or another for almost 20 years. Launching as the Universal Fighting System (or UFS) back in 2006, it was rebranded as UniVersus in 2021. As it’s such a long running game, it has seen quite a few changes over the year beyond its name, such as the card backs and the different card rarity types you can expect to find in booster packs.
Though UniVersus has adapted numerous popular anime, fighting games (and more!) into the CCG format, with its biggest selling point being that characters and series can be mixed and matched in decks to be pitted against each other, with matches pitting Godzilla vs Attack On Titan’s Eren Yeager being possible (as just one example!), its primary focus in recent years has been its stunning My Hero Academia sets.
Though it’s now expanding with full sets based on Attack On Titan, it was in the third booster set of My Hero Academia that the most sought after and valuable card type, Chrome Rares, were introduced; they’ve appeared in most sets since then, including non-My Hero Academia sets such as Attack On Titan: Battle For Humanity.
So why are Chrome Rares the most prized cards to find in a booster pack, and why are they so valuable? Let’s take a look, as we find out what Chrome Rare cards are in UniVersus!
What Makes a Chrome Rare UniVersus Card So Special?
The main aspect of a Chrome Rare card, which makes them so special, is that there are just 100 copies of each Chrome Rare card in existence. Each is numbered from 001 to 100 with a stamp on the card, so you know that the one you hold in your hands is entirely unique and part of a print run of just 100 copies!
They have a layered, textured foil finish that also gives them a truly premium, next level aesthetic. This, along with the aforementioned highly limited rarity, makes Chrome Rares some of the most beautiful and highly prized cards in any card game, not just UniVersus.
The Eren Yeager card, shown above as an example, is from the Attack On Titan: Battle For Humanity set; within that set, there are just six Chrome Rare cards, and with only 100 printed per card, that means there are just 600 Chrome Rare Attack On Titan cards in the wild.
How To Identify A Chrome Rare UniVersus Card
Using the same example of the Eren Yeager card from Attack On Titan: Battle For Humanity, we’ve highlighted two parts of the card, using red circles. These are the clearest signs that you have a Chrome Rare, so let’s take a look at each in turn.
First up is the most obvious of the circles, as it’s larger; this is the one in the bottom middle of the card, and it’s circling the number 000/100. The image used is an example of a Chrome Rare, rather than a photo of an actual card; as such, if you had a genuine Chrome Rare card in your hand, this section would show a number between 001/100 and 100/100. This is easily the quickest and clearest way to identify a Chrome Rare card; just look for the serialized number on the card itself!
Next is the smaller circle, which is to the right of the serialized number. This shows the card’s rarity code; in UniVersus, there are numerous card rarities, with the most common being a C (which stands for, unsurprisingly, Common), but others including R (for Rare), UR (Ultra Rare) and SE (Starter Exclusive), to give examples of just a few. If you have a Chrome Rare in your possession, this code will be CR, which of course stands for Chrome Rare.
This isn’t the case for Chrome Rares in other sets, but each Chrome Rare in the Attack On Titan set also features the signature of Hajime Isayama, printed in gold, on the card too. Finally, something that all Chrome Rares have is a layered, textured foil finish that really makes them stand apart from other cards in booster packs. So Chrome Rares are incredibly easy cards to identify in general!
Are Chrome Rare UniVersus Cards Valuable?
The fact that there are only 100 of any given Chrome Rare card means that, yes, they are indeed pretty valuable! Just one look at TCG Player to find out current prices for cards will show you that Chrome Rares sell for hundreds of dollars each.
In fact, at the time of writing this very article, the cheapest Chrome Rare UniVersus card is selling for around $200 on average. The most expensive Chrome Rare card of them all is Mirko, pictured above (the box at the bottom centre of the card will be where the serialized number would be on an actual Mirko Chrome Rare card).
Mirko is a Character card from the My Hero Academia set, Girl Power. The seventh set for My Hero Academia, Girl Power was released in May, 2024. The Girl Power set contained five Chrome Rares; two of those five are still so scarce that no pricing information is available on TCG Player yet!
Mirko currently has an average selling price of $900; if you do happen to come across a graded copy of Mirko, or indeed any other Chrome Rare UniVersus card, you can expect to pay much more than the average selling price.
For more details on UniVersus in general, check out our guide to all upcoming UniVersus sets. With the Attack On Titan set(s) arriving, along with Star Trek and Tekken decks to look forward to, it’s arguably never been a better or more exciting time to get on board with UniVersus!
