Beginner's guide

How to Play the Gundam Card Game

A plain-English walk through your first game: setting up, taking a turn, linking Pilots to Units and breaking six Shields. The examples use real cards from the starter decks.

Rules checked 24 September 202615 minute read

Players: 2
Deck: 50 cards + 10 Resources
Game length: About 20 to 30 minutes
Ages: Not stated by Bandai
To learn: Moderate
You win by: Hit a player who has no Base or Shields left

The short version

The Gundam Card Game is Bandai's two-player battle game, played with mobile suits from right across the Gundam series. You each bring a 50-card deck and a separate 10-card resource deck. Six cards off the top of your deck become face-down Shields, guarded by a Base with 3 HP. Each turn you draw a card, add one Resource, then deploy Units, put Pilots in them and attack. Knock out the Base, break all six Shields, then land one more hit and you win. Run out of cards in your deck and you lose.

If you've played the One Piece Card Game, a lot of this will feel familiar, because Bandai makes both. The twist here is the Pilot. Put Amuro Ray in the cockpit of the original Gundam and the pair becomes a Link Unit, which hits harder and can attack the turn it arrives. That one idea drives most of the game.

What you need to play

A 50-card deck of Units, Pilots, Commands and Bases.
A 10-card resource deck, kept separate from the main deck.
Two token cards: an EX Base and an EX Resource.
Something to count damage with. Dice work fine.
A playsheet if you want the zones marked out. Bandai has a free printable one on the official site.

The easy way in is a starter deck each. Each has a ready-to-play deck, the 10 Resources, tokens, a damage counter, a playsheet and a bonus pack.

Honestly, if you're teaching a friend, get Heroic Beginnings (ST01) for one of you and Zeon's Rush (ST03) for the other. It's Federation against Zeon: the RX-78 Gundam, Amuro and White Base on one side, Char's Zaku II and Sinanju on the other. ST01 teaches Link Units in the very first game. A starter costs about the same as three booster packs, and it teaches you far more.

Tip

You don't need sleeves at home. At tournaments your main deck must be in identical opaque sleeves, and your Resources and tokens just need to look different from it.

How you win (it takes one more hit than you think)

Short of conceding, the rules give you two ways to lose:

A Unit deals battle damage to you when your shield area is empty. That means no Base and no Shields. Breaking the last Shield doesn't end the game. Your opponent still has to get one more attack through.
Your deck runs out. The moment it hits zero, you lose. You don't wait for your next draw.

Count it out. Every player starts with a 3 HP Base in front of six Shields, and each Shield falls to a single hit of any size. With plain attacks, that's at least eight successful hits to win: one for the Base (if the attacker has 3 AP or more), six for the Shields and one to finish. First games run long because of this. That's normal.

Rule check

Damage from a card effect can't finish a player off. The losing hit has to be battle damage from a Unit. And with five cards in your hand and six in Shields, your deck starts the game at 39, not 50.

The card types, and how to read a card

Here's the original Gundam from Heroic Beginnings. The word UNIT down the left edge is the card type, and the blue frame is its colour. There are five colours: blue, green, red, white and purple.

Gundam Unit card ST01-001 with numbered markers on its level, cost, card number, name, effect text, zone, traits, link condition, AP and HP — Gundam (ST01-001), the Legend Rare at the heart of the Heroic Beginnings starter deck.

Level (Lv.): how many Resources you must have in play to use it.
Cost: how many Resources you rest to pay for it.
Card number: ST01-001 and rarity. The four-copy limit counts by number.
Name: Gundam, model RX-78-2.
Effect text: here, Repair 2 and a During Pair bonus.
Zone: Space, Earth or both. Some effects check it.
Traits: groups like Earth Federation that other cards refer to.
Link condition: the Pilot that makes it a Link Unit: [Amuro Ray].
AP: the damage it deals in battle.
HP: it's destroyed when its damage reaches this.

Your main deck uses the first four types below. Resources have their own deck, and the EX cards are tokens.

UnitYour mobile suits. Only Units attack, and you can have six in play.
PilotGoes underneath a Unit to boost its AP and HP and give it extra text.
CommandA one-off effect. Play it, do what it says, bin it.
BaseStands in front of your Shields and takes hits first. One at a time.
ResourceYour power supply. One comes out of the resource deck every turn.
EX BaseA 0 AP, 3 HP Base token. Both players start with one.
EX ResourceA one-use Resource token for the player going second.

Pilots and Link Units

A Unit can't attack on the turn you deploy it. The exception is a Link Unit, and that's why Pilots matter so much.

A Pilot never sits on the table by itself. You play it underneath one of your Units, which is called pairing. The Unit adds the Pilot's boosts (Amuro gives AP +2 and HP +1) and gains the text printed below the Pilot's name. The text above the name belongs to the Pilot card itself, usually a Burst effect.

Any Pilot can go in any Unit. If the Pilot matches the Unit's link condition, it becomes a Link Unit: it can attack straight away, and any 【When Linked】 or 【During Link】 text switches on. A Pilot that doesn't match still gives its boosts and text.

Amuro Ray Pilot card ST01-010, showing its Burst text above the name and its When Paired text below

Gundam ST01-001 beside Amuro Ray ST01-010, the Pilot named in Gundam's link condition — Gundam's link condition says [Amuro Ray]. Pair the two and you have a Link Unit that can attack straight away.

One Pilot per Unit. Once it's paired you can't choose to take it out or swap it, and when the Unit leaves play the Pilot goes with it. It doesn't add its colour or traits to the Unit either. Some Commands double as Pilots: Thoroughly Damaged (ST01-012) has a 【Pilot】[Hayato Kobayashi] line, so you can pay its cost and pair it as Hayato instead (just not during an action step).

Command timing, and what a Base is for

Commands tell you when you can play them. 【Main】 means in your own main phase. 【Action】 means in an action step, which includes your opponent's turn. Unforeseen Incident has both, so you can knock 3 AP off an enemy Unit in the middle of their attack.

While you have a Base, attacks on you hit it first. You can only have one. Deploy another and the old one goes to the trash. White Base, like a lot of Bases, has 【Burst】 Deploy this card and 【Deploy】 Add 1 of your Shields to your hand, so it can turn up as a nasty surprise when your opponent breaks a Shield.

The play area

This is one player's side, laid out the way the official playsheet does it. Your opponent mirrors it across the table.

Gundam Card Game play area for one player: Base and Shields on the left, the battle area in the middle, the deck and trash on the right, the resource deck and resource area along the bottom — One player's side of the table. The Base and Shields together make up your shield area.

Zone	What goes there	Limit
Battle area	Your Units, with any Pilot tucked underneath	6 Units
Shield area: Base	Your Base, face up. You start with the EX Base	1
Shield area: Shields	Six face-down cards. No peeking, no reordering	6 at the start
Resource area	Resources in play, face up	15, of which up to 5 EX
Deck and resource deck	Both face down, side by side	39 and 10 after setup
Trash	Destroyed cards, used Commands, broken Shields. Anyone can look	None
Hand	Cards you've drawn	10, checked at the end of your turn

Cards that get removed from play sit in a removal area off to one side, apart from tokens, which leave the game altogether. Cards are either active (upright) or rested (sideways). You rest Resources to pay and Units to attack, and all your rested cards stand back up at the start of your next turn.

Level and cost: how Resources work

This is the bit most new players muddle. Units, Pilots, Commands and Bases all carry two numbers in the top-left corner, and they do different jobs.

Level is a check. The number of Resources you have in play must be at least the card's Lv. Rested ones count, and so do EX Resources.
Cost is the payment. You rest that many active Resources.

So a Lv. 3, cost 2 card needs three Resources on the table, and you rest two of them. Because rested Resources still count towards Level, you can keep playing cards up to your full Level all turn, as long as you have active Resources left to pay.

You get one new Resource every turn, automatically. No "land" cards clog your deck, which is one of the nicest things about this game. After ten turns the resource deck is empty and you stop getting new ones. That isn't a loss.

Worth knowing

The EX Resource is Player Two's head start. It counts towards Level, but once you rest it to pay it's removed from the game and your Level drops by one. On their first turn, Player Two can put down a Lv. 2, cost 1 Unit such as GM without even spending it.

How to set up a game of the Gundam Card Game

Show your decks Both players check for a 50-card deck and a 10-card resource deck.
Shuffle and place Shuffle your main deck and put it face down. Put your resource deck face down next to it.
Decide who goes first Rock paper scissors or a dice roll. The winner chooses who is Player One, before anyone draws.
Draw five Each player draws five cards.
Redraw if you want One optional mulligan, Player One deciding first. Put your whole hand on the bottom of your deck, draw five, then shuffle.
Set six Shields Take the top six cards of your deck one at a time and lay them face down in your shield area without looking, overlapping each on the last.
Place your EX Base Both players put an active EX Base in front of their Shields.
Player Two takes an EX Resource Only the player going second, and it goes in their resource area, active.
Play Player One takes the first turn.

Watch out

Player One does draw on turn one. Some fan sites say the first player skips that draw, but Bandai's official FAQ says they don't.

How a turn works

StartStand all your rested cards back up. "Start of turn" effects happen.
DrawDraw one card. It isn't optional.
ResourcePut the top card of your resource deck into your resource area, face up and active.
MainPlay cards, use abilities and attack, in any order.
EndLast chance for Action cards, end-of-turn effects, then discard down to 10.

The main phase

You can do any of these, in any order, as often as you can afford:

Play a card: deploy a Unit or Base, pair a Pilot, or play a 【Main】 Command. Show it, check its Level, rest Resources for its cost.
Use an 【Activate･Main】 ability, even on a Unit you deployed this turn. The waiting rule only stops attacks.
Attack with a Unit (next section).
Say you're done and move to the end phase.

The end phase

It has four steps. First an action step: your opponent gets the first chance to play 【Action】 cards, then you, back and forth until you both pass in a row. Then "end of turn" effects happen, which is when <Repair> heals. Then discard down to 10 if you need to. Last, anything that lasted "during this turn" wears off, and it's your opponent's go.

How attacking works: Base, Shields and Burst

Rest one of your active Units and pick a target:

Your opponent. The hit lands on their Base if they have one, otherwise their top Shield, otherwise the player.
A rested enemy Unit. You normally can't attack an upright one. That's why effects that rest enemy Units, like Amuro Ray's, are so strong. A few cards break the rule: Wing Gundam (ST02-001) can go after an active enemy Unit of Lv. 4 or lower.

The five battle steps

Attack step. Rest your Unit and name the target. 【Attack】 effects trigger.
Block step. The defender may use <Blocker> on one active Unit, which rests and becomes the new target. One Blocker per attack, and the Unit being attacked can't block for itself.
Action step. Defender first, players take turns playing 【Action】 cards until both pass in a row.
Damage step. See below.
Battle end step. "During this battle" effects stop and you're back in your main phase, free to attack again with another Unit.

Unit against Unit

Both Units deal damage equal to their AP to each other at the same time. When damage reaches a Unit's HP, it's destroyed. If both die, they die together. The exception is an attacker with <First Strike>, which hits first. If that destroys the target, the attacker takes nothing back.

Attacking the player: Base first, then Shields

A Base takes damage equal to the attacker's AP. With no Base, the top Shield takes the hit, and any damage at all destroys it. Leftover damage never carries over. A 7 AP attack still breaks exactly one Shield. You can't pick which Shield, and you can't go past a Base to reach them.

Burst: the comeback mechanic

A destroyed Shield is turned face up. If it has 【Burst】, its owner may use that effect for free. Then it goes to the trash, unless the Burst sent it somewhere else: Amuro Ray's puts him straight into your hand, and White Base's deploys it as your new Base. A Shield that reaches your hand some other way, like White Base's own 【Deploy】, doesn't get to Burst.

Worked example

It's your fourth turn as Player One, so you have four Resources. In hand: Gundam (ST01-001: Lv. 4, cost 3, AP 3, HP 4) and Amuro Ray (ST01-010: Lv. 4, cost 1, AP +2, HP +1). Your opponent has an active Char's Zaku II (ST03-006: AP 3, HP 2), their EX Base and six Shields.

Rest three Resources to deploy Gundam. You still have four in play, so you still meet Amuro's Lv. 4.
Rest your last Resource to pair Amuro with Gundam. His 【When Paired】 rests an enemy Unit with 5 or less HP, so you rest the Zaku. Now it's a legal target.
Amuro matches Gundam's link condition, so Gundam is a Link Unit and can attack right away.
Gundam is now AP 6 (3, plus 2 from Amuro, plus 1 from its own 【During Pair】, which counts itself) and HP 5.
Attack the rested Zaku. No Blocker, and both players pass in the action step.
Gundam deals 6 and destroys the Zaku. At the same time the Zaku deals 3 back. That's 3 damage against Gundam's 5 HP, so it survives. The Zaku's 【Destroyed】 effect lets your opponent dig for another Zeon Unit.
In your end phase, <Repair 2> takes two damage off Gundam.

Had you attacked the player instead, all 6 would have gone into the 3 HP EX Base. The Base is gone, the extra 3 vanish, and the next attack hits the top Shield.

Gundam ST01-001 attacking Char's Zaku II ST03-006 — Gundam with Amuro on board (AP 6, HP 5) against Char's Zaku II (AP 3, HP 2). The Zaku goes. Gundam doesn't.

Gundam TCG keywords explained

Words in angle brackets are abilities a Unit has. Words in 【】 brackets tell you when an effect happens.

【When Paired】Triggers when a Pilot is paired with this Unit.
【During Pair】Works for as long as a Pilot is paired with this Unit.
【When Linked】 / 【During Link】The same, but only when the Pilot matches the link condition.
【Burst】When this card is a Shield and gets destroyed, you may use it for free.
【Deploy】Triggers when the card is played onto the field.
【Attack】Triggers when this Unit attacks.
【Destroyed】Triggers when this card is destroyed.
【Activate･Main】An ability you choose to use in your main phase. ① means pay 1.
【Activate･Action】An ability you can use in an action step, even on your opponent's turn.
<Blocker>Rest this active Unit to become the target of an enemy attack instead.
<First Strike>When this Unit attacks, it deals its damage first.
<High-Maneuver>When this Unit attacks, the opponent can't use Blocker.
<Breach X>On your turn, when this Unit destroys an enemy Unit in battle, deal X damage to the first card in that player's shield area.
<Repair X>At the end of your turn, this Unit recovers X HP.
<Support X>Rest this Unit to give another of your Units AP+X this turn.
<Suppression>This Unit's attacks hit the top two Shields at once.

Aile Strike Gundam (ST04-001) from SEED Strike is a nice one to learn on. It has <Blocker>, so it can throw itself in front of an attack. Pair it with a Lv. 4 or higher Pilot and it bounces an enemy Unit with 4 or less HP back to hand.

Two lots of Breach, Repair or Support add together, so Breach 1 plus Breach 2 is Breach 3. Extra copies of the others do nothing.

Aile Strike Gundam Unit card ST04-001 with the Blocker keyword

Rule check

Breach does nothing if the shield area is already empty, so it can't land the winning blow. Repair only takes damage off, so it never lifts a Unit above its HP. And if a card ever disagrees with the rules, the card wins.

"If you do": The next part only happens if the part before it did.
"Then": The next part happens either way.

Gundam Card Game deck building rules

Exactly 50 cards: Units, Pilots, Commands and Bases.
One or two colours. Three is not allowed.
Up to four of each card number. It's by number, not name, so four ST01-001 Gundam and four GD01-013 Gundam can share a deck.
Exactly 10 Resources in the resource deck.

Bandai's playsheet suggests 25 to 28 Units, 6 to 8 Pilots, 8 to 10 Commands and 4 to 6 Bases, with 16 to 20 of the Units at Lv. 3 or lower so you've got something to do early. Include the Pilots your big Units link with. A Gundam without its Amuro is a much slower card.

Our advice: play ten games with a starter before you change a thing. Then buy a second copy of the same starter (two of everything is well inside the limits) or boosters from a recent set in your colours. Freedom Ascension (GD05), the first-anniversary set, brought in Strike Freedom Gundam and a Nu Gundam that links with Amuro Ray. The rest of the range is on our Gundam Card Game page.

Mistakes everyone makes once

Thinking the last Shield wins. You need one more hit with no Base and no Shields left.
Forgetting the EX Base. It's there from turn one, and attacks hit it first.
Expecting a big hit to break several Shields. One attack, one Shield, unless Suppression or Breach say otherwise.
Attacking an upright enemy Unit. Only rested ones, unless a card says otherwise.
Attacking with a Unit you just played. Only Link Units can.
Paying Level instead of cost. Level is a check. Cost is what you rest.
Drawing your last card and carrying on. An empty deck loses on the spot.

Formats, the ban list and rotation

Most play is two-player constructed with the deck rules above. Bandai also has official rules for Battle Royale (three or more players), Team Battle (two against two) and Sealed, where you build from freshly opened packs.

Event rounds are usually best of one, 30 minutes plus 5. Some events run best of three with a 10-card sideboard, so check the event page. In Europe, the UK included, your main deck must be English cards at events, though Resources and tokens can be any language. The UK's Season 2 Regional is at Wakefield Exchange, 19 to 20 December 2026.

The ban list

The current Banned and Restricted list took effect on 24 July 2026:

Banned: Anksha (GD01-020).
Limited to 2: Corsica Base (ST02-016).
Banned pairs (not in the same deck): Amuro Ray (ST01-010) with Mikazuki Augus (ST05-010), and Guntank (GD01-008) with M1 Astray Shrike (GD05-015).
Plain 2/2 Units: of the Lv. 2, cost 1, 2 AP, 2 HP Units with no text, like GM (ST01-005) and Ginn (ST04-008), you can run just one card number (up to four copies).

Every starter deck is legal as printed. Mixing them is where people trip up: GM can't share a deck with ST04's Ginn or ST05's Graze, and Amuro Ray can't share one with Mikazuki Augus. At home, nobody minds.

Rotation

None has been announced as of September 2026, so every card back to the first starter decks is legal apart from the ban list. One to watch: in July 2026 Bandai said it was looking closely at a possible fundamental rule change. Nothing's been published yet, so before a big event check the current official rules PDF.

Stuck on a ruling or picking a starter? Ask us.

Questions people ask

How many cards are in a Gundam Card Game deck?

Your main deck is exactly 50 cards. On top of that you have a separate resource deck of exactly 10 Resource cards, plus an EX Base and an EX Resource token. You can play up to four copies of any card number and no more than two colours.

Do you draw on the first turn in the Gundam Card Game?

Yes. The player going first draws a card in their draw phase on turn one, the same as every other turn, and Bandai's official FAQ confirms it. The player going second gets an EX Resource to make up for going second.

What is a Link Unit in the Gundam TCG?

A Link Unit is a Unit paired with the Pilot named in its link condition, for example Gundam with Amuro Ray. Link Units can attack on the turn they're deployed, and any When Linked or During Link effects on them become active. A different Pilot still gives its AP and HP boosts, but no link.

How many Shields do you get in the Gundam Card Game?

Six. They come off the top of your deck during setup and sit face down, with a 3 HP EX Base in front of them. An attack that reaches your Shields normally destroys just the top one, however much AP the attacker has. Suppression is the exception: it hits two.

What does Burst do in the Gundam Card Game?

Burst only works when the card is one of your Shields and gets destroyed. The Shield is revealed and you may use its Burst effect for free. After that it goes to the trash, unless the effect moved it (Amuro Ray's Burst adds him to your hand, for example). It's optional, and a Shield that ends up in your hand through another effect can't use it.

Can you replace a Pilot once it's paired?

Not by choice. You can't take a paired Pilot out, move it to another Unit or swap it for a different Pilot unless a card effect lets you. Each Unit can only have one Pilot, and the Pilot leaves play with its Unit.

Does the Gundam Card Game have rotation?

No rotation had been announced as of September 2026, so older cards stay legal unless they're on the Banned and Restricted list. Bandai did say in July 2026 that it was considering a fundamental rule change, so check the official rules page before a big event.

Can I use Japanese Gundam cards at UK tournaments?

Not in your main deck. At events in Europe, including the UK, the main deck must be English cards. Your Resource cards and tokens can be in any language.

Which Gundam Card Game starter deck should I buy first?

For a complete beginner we'd pick Heroic Beginnings (ST01). It has the original Gundam, Amuro Ray and White Base, and it shows off Link Units straight away. For two players, add Zeon's Rush (ST03) for a classic Federation against Zeon match.

How long does a game of the Gundam Card Game take?

Usually around 20 to 30 minutes once you know the rules. Official tournament rounds are 30 minutes plus 5 minutes of extra time. Expect your first few games to take longer.

Where to start

The easiest ways in. Prices and stock on this list are live.

See everything for Gundam Card Game

Where these rules come from

Checked against Bandai's Comprehensive Rules Ver. 1.9.0 (11 September 2026), the official FAQ and playsheet, and the Banned and Restricted list effective 24 July 2026.

How to Play the Gundam Card Game

What you need to play

How you win (it takes one more hit than you think)