Beginner's guide
How to Play Naruto Mythos TCG
A bluffing game of Missions, not a fighting game. Here's how to set up, play a Round and build your first deck, checked against the August 2026 rulebook.
- Players
- 2
- Deck
- 30+ Character and Attachment cards + 3 Missions
- Game length
- Exactly 4 Rounds, usually under 30 minutes
- Ages
- No official rating
- To learn
- Easy
- You win by
- Most Mission Points after Round 4
The short version
Naruto Mythos TCG is a two-player card game from the Italian publisher Cicaboom. Each player brings a deck of at least 30 cards plus 3 Mission cards. A game always lasts four Rounds, and one new Mission joins the table every Round. You get Chakra, then take turns sending one ninja at a time to a Mission, either face-up or face-down as a bluff. Once both players pass, whoever has more Power on each Mission scores it. There's no attacking and no life total. Most Mission Points after Round 4 wins.
What you need to play Naruto Mythos
Per player, you need:
- A deck of at least 30 cards. These are your Character cards and, since Set 2, Attachment cards. Thirty is the minimum, not a fixed size. There's no maximum, as long as you can still shuffle the thing.
- 3 different Mission cards. They're kept apart from your deck and never shuffled into it.
- Something to count with. You'll track Chakra (your spending money) and Mission Points (your score). Dice, coins or a notepad all do the job.
The two of you also share one Edge token. In official products it's a coin. Anything works, as long as nobody can mistake it for something else.
A playmat is optional. So are sleeves, until you play at a Store Championship or above.
A Starter Pack is not a ready-to-play deck, whatever the name suggests. The Set 1 Naruto & Sasuke Starter Pack is 4 random booster packs, some promo cards, a rulebook and a token. That's about 36 Characters and 4 Missions: enough to learn with, but short of a full 30-card deck with 3 Missions each for two players.
So what should you buy? Honestly, if two of you are learning together, a booster box. Each 10-card Set 01 pack has 1 Mission and 9 Characters, so 24 packs give you over 200 Characters and 24 Missions: two proper decks with plenty to swap in and out. We stock the Set 01 2nd Edition booster box, which plays exactly the same as the 1st Edition, and you can see everything else on our Naruto Mythos TCG page.
How you win: Mission Points over four Rounds
Every game lasts exactly four Rounds. After the fourth, more Mission Points wins, and a tie goes to whoever holds the Edge token. That's the only way it ends. Nobody gets knocked out, and an empty deck just means you stop drawing.
The clever part is how Missions stack up. One Mission is revealed each Round, and every Mission already on the table is scored again every Round. So Round 1 scores one Mission, Round 2 scores two, and Round 4 scores all four.
A Mission is worth its printed points plus a bonus that depends on when it arrived:
| Rank | Arrives in | Bonus points | Times it's scored |
|---|---|---|---|
| D | Round 1 | +1 | 4 |
| C | Round 2 | +2 | 3 |
| B | Round 3 | +3 | 2 |
| A | Round 4 | +4 | 1 |
Look at the last column. The A Mission carries the biggest bonus but only gets scored once. The D Mission is fought over four times. In the official rulebook's scoring example, one player takes 12 points from the D Mission alone. Don't write off Round 1.
The three card types
Older guides say there are two card types. Then Set 2, Shinobi Shiren, added Attachments on 4 September 2026.
CharacterYour ninja. You pay Chakra to send them to a Mission, where their Power counts towards winning it. 
MissionWhat you're fighting over. Printed points plus a rank bonus, and some have an effect of their own. 
AttachmentSlides under a Character or a Mission to add Power or an effect. New in Set 2.
Reading a Character card
Here's Kakashi Hatake, Sharingan, a Set 1 Uncommon. Most Characters are laid out the same way.
- Name: only one Character with this name per Mission on your side.
- Description: the subtitle that tells versions apart, here "Sharingan".
- Chakra cost: the cloud, top left. What you pay to play it face-up.
- Power: the shuriken, top right. What it adds to a Mission.
- Keywords: traits like Team 7 that other cards check for.
- Faction: Leaf Village, Sand Village, Akatsuki and so on.
- MAIN effect: happens when you play the card. The lightning bolt marks it as Instant.
- UPGRADE effect: only fires when this card is played as an upgrade.
- Rarity: C, UC, R and up.
- Collection number: 16/130. Deck limits follow this number, not the name.
A lightning bolt means Instant: it happens when the card is played face-up, and it's optional unless the text says MUST. An hourglass means Continuous: always on while the card is face-up. Set 2 cards also carry a set icon; no icon means Set 1.
Mission and Attachment cards
Mission cards are simpler: a title, the printed points in the top corner and usually an effect. Assassination, for instance, defeats an enemy hidden Character when you win it.
Attachments print a condition saying what they can go on. Ramen says "Attach to a friendly non-hidden character", so with no valid host you can't play it. Slide it under the right side of the host. Its Power adds to the host, or to your total on that Mission for Mission Attachments. Each card can hold one Attachment from each player. Attachments aren't Characters, so "Character" effects don't touch them, and face-up ones don't give Chakra. If the host leaves play or stops meeting the condition, the Attachment is discarded.
The play area
The Missions sit in a row between you, in the order they arrive: D, C, B, A. Each Mission has two sides, yours and your opponent's. Playing a Character "to a Mission" just means putting it on your side of that card.
- Mission deck four face-down Missions, two from each player. One is turned over each Round.
- Unused Mission your third Mission. It stays face-down, out of the game.
- Deck, hand and discard pile your own. There's no hand limit.
- Chakra and Mission Points tokens, dice or pen and paper.
How to set up a game of Naruto Mythos
- Pick a first player at random Flip a coin, roll a die. That player takes the Edge token.
- Build the Mission deck Each of you shuffles your 3 Missions face-down and picks 2 at random. Stack the four so they alternate, with the Edge player's cards 1st and 3rd from the top. So the Edge player's Missions become D and B, and the other player's become C and A.
- Put your spare Mission aside Face-down, for the whole game. Nobody looks at it.
- Apply any "start of the match" effects Most games won't have any.
- Shuffle and draw 5 Both players shuffle their decks and draw five cards.
- Mulligan if you want The Edge player decides first, then the other player. If you take it, your whole hand goes back, you reshuffle and draw 5 new cards. Once each, no penalty.
The March 2026 rulebook (and older guides) shuffled all four Missions together. The current rulebook alternates them, and tournaments do too. The official FAQ still allows a random shuffle in casual games, so don't fall out over it.
Round 1's Start phase then gives you two more cards, so your first Action phase begins with seven. There are no first-turn restrictions.
How a Round works
The rulebook calls each of the four rounds a Round, and each single action inside one a turn. Every Round has four phases.
- StartReveal the next Mission, gain Chakra, draw 2 cards.
- ActionTake turns doing one thing each (play a card, reveal one, or pass) until both players have passed.
- Mission evaluationScore every Mission in play, D first, then C, B and A.
- EndLeftover Chakra and Power tokens go. Your cards stay where they are.
Start phase
Turn over the top card of the Mission deck and put it next to any Missions already out. Then both players gain Chakra: 5, plus 1 for each Character you have in play. Face-down Characters count. So Round 1 is always 5 each. Finish it with two Characters out and you get 7 in Round 2.
An upgraded Character counts once, however many cards are in its stack, and face-up Attachments don't count at all. Then both players draw 2 and any "start of the round" effects happen.
Action phase
The Edge player goes first. On your turn you do exactly one of these:
- Play a card face-up onto a Mission. Pay its cost, then use its MAIN effect.
- Play a card face-down onto a Mission. It costs 1 Chakra, whatever the card is. No effects happen.
- Reveal one of your face-down cards. Pay its full printed cost and flip it. That counts as playing it, so MAIN fires, and so does AMBUSH.
- Pass. You're out of the Action phase for the rest of this Round.
Attachments are played the same way. You can only play onto Missions already in play, so in Round 1 everything goes on the D Mission.
Passing is a real decision, because the first player to pass takes the Edge token (or keeps it): first turn next Round, and every tie. The other player can then keep taking turns until they pass too. Sometimes grabbing the Edge with Chakra unspent is right. Sometimes you let it go because you've three more cards to get down.
Mission evaluation phase
Go through the Missions in order, D first. On each, higher total Power wins and a tie goes to the Edge holder, but you need at least 1 Power to win at all. The winner scores printed points plus rank bonus, then uses any SCORE effects on that Mission or their Characters there. Order matters: a SCORE effect on D happens before C is checked, so it can swing C.
End phase
Use any "end of the round" effects. If that was Round 4, count up. Otherwise both players lose unspent Chakra and every Power token comes off. Everything else stays. Characters, face-down cards and Attachments carry into the next Round, still counting on their Missions.
Spend your Chakra. It doesn't carry over, so 2 Chakra left at the end of a Round is 2 Chakra wasted. If you've nothing sensible to play, a face-down card for 1 still gets you an extra Chakra next Round.
Face-down cards, reveals and upgrades
A face-down card is called hidden. It costs 1 Chakra to put down, no matter what the card is. Your opponent sees only the card back. Is it a 1-cost filler or a 5-cost Itachi waiting to flip? They can't tell.
While hidden, it has 0 Power and 0 cost as far as other effects are concerned, and no keywords or faction. It can still hold Power tokens, and those do count. You can always check your own hidden cards.
To reveal it later, you pay its full printed cost, not 1. Revealing counts as playing the card.
AMBUSH: why you'd hide a card you could afford
AMBUSH only fires when a card is revealed from hidden, never when it's played face-up from hand. MAIN fires both ways.
Take Itachi Uchiha, Hunting Naruto (Set 1, 143/130). Played face-up for 5, you get the MAIN: move one of your own Characters to his Mission. Put him down hidden for 1 and reveal him later for 5, and you get the MAIN and the AMBUSH, which drags one of your opponent's Characters onto his Mission too. Pulling their best card off a Mission they were about to win is a nasty surprise.
Upgrades: same name, higher cost
You can't have two Characters with the same name on your side of one Mission. What you can do is upgrade: play a same-name card with a strictly higher cost on top of the one that's there, and pay only the difference.
- Only the top card's text counts. You get its MAIN and UPGRADE effects, and you can upgrade even with no UPGRADE effect.
- Power tokens carry over to the new top card.
- The whole stack counts as one Character, so it gives you 1 Chakra, not 2.
- If the top card leaves play, everything under it is discarded too.
How Missions are won (there's no attacking)
If you know Pokémon or One Piece, this is the big shift. Nobody attacks anybody. Your Power on a Mission is your Characters' Power there, plus Power tokens, plus your Attachments, checked at the end of the Round. Here's a Round 2 with real Set 1 cards.
Worked example
- Where we are. After Round 1, Aya's Naruto Uzumaki, Genin of the Leaf Village (3 Power) and one hidden card of Ben's sit on the D Mission, Call for Support. Aya won D for 1 + 1 = 2 points and holds the Edge.
- Start of Round 2. Chunin Exam is revealed as the C Mission (2 printed + 2 bonus = 4 points). It gives every non-hidden Character on it +1 Power. Both players have one Character in play, so each gets 5 + 1 = 6 Chakra.
- Aya: plays Kakashi Hatake, Teacher of Team 7 face-up on Chunin Exam for 3. He's 3 Power, plus 1 from the Mission: 4. Aya has 3 Chakra left.
- Ben: reveals his hidden card on Call for Support. It's Gaara, Genin of the Sand Village, so he pays its printed cost of 2. Its MAIN finds no other hidden cards of Ben's there, so does nothing. Ben has 4 left.
- Aya: puts a card face-down on Chunin Exam for 1. She has 2 left.
- Ben: upgrades Gaara with Gaara, Sand Coffin, paying 4 minus 2 = 2. Its MAIN defeats up to one enemy Character with Power 1 or less in every Mission. Naruto (3) is safe. Aya's hidden card (0) isn't. The UPGRADE effect then gives Gaara 1 Power token for that defeat. Gaara is now 4 + 1 = 5. Ben has 2 left.
- Aya passes first, so she keeps the Edge. Ben carries on alone: a face-down card on Chunin Exam for 1, then he passes too.
- D is scored first. Call for Support: Aya 3, Ben 5. Ben wins 2 points. Its SCORE effect lets him put 2 Power tokens on a Character, so he puts them on his hidden card on Chunin Exam.
- Then C. Chunin Exam: Aya 4, Ben 2 (a hidden card is 0, plus those 2 tokens). Aya wins 4 points. If Ben had got it to 4 as well, Aya would still have won it with the Edge.
- End phase. Leftover Chakra and all Power tokens go. Score: Aya 6, Ben 2. Next Round both get 7 Chakra: Aya for Naruto and Kakashi, Ben for his Gaara stack (one Character) and his hidden card.
Notice what happened to Aya's hidden card. Anything that removes "Power 1 or less" eats hidden cards. Bluffing is cheap, not free.
Naruto Mythos keywords explained
The capitalised words that open an effect, plus a few plain terms cards use. The two marked "new" arrived in the August 2026 rulebook.
- MAINHappens every time you play the Character: face-up from hand, revealed, or as an upgrade.
- AMBUSHOnly happens when you reveal the Character from hidden.
- UPGRADEOnly happens when you play the Character as an upgrade.
- SCOREOnly happens when you win that Mission.
- FIRST STRIKEOnly happens if this is the first Character you've played this Round. (New)
- DUELOnly happens if the named Character is in the same Mission, on either side. Itachi Uchiha, Avoiding Conflict has "DUEL Sasuke Uchiha" and loses 3 Power when Sasuke's there. (New)
- POWERUP XPut X Power tokens on a Character. If it doesn't say which, they go on the card that did it.
- CHAKRA +XThis Character gives you X extra Chakra in the Start phase.
- MUSTThe effect isn't optional, and if it can't happen you can't play the card at all. "MUST, IF ABLE" lets you play it anyway.
- DefeatThe Character goes to its owner's discard pile.
- Hide / MoveTurn the Character face-down, or put it on another Mission.
- Take controlYou control the card for now. If whatever gave you control is hidden, leaves play or changes sides, it goes back.
- Weakest / StrongestLowest or highest Power. If several tie, you pick one. An effect on "all" of them hits every tied Character.
When several effects trigger at once, the player whose turn it is picks the order.
Naruto Mythos deck building rules
The rules fit on a sticky note.
- At least 30 cards, Characters and Attachments together. No maximum.
- No more than 2 copies of each collection number. Art variants of the same number share the limit.
- As many cards with the same name as you like, as long as they have different numbers.
- 3 Mission cards, all different.
People get the copy rule wrong. Naruto Uzumaki, Fury of the Rasengan and the "Believe it!" alternate art are both 108/130, so you can have two between them. Naruto Uzumaki, Rasengan is 133/130, a different card, so you can have two of those as well. The numbered gold "I'll be the greatest Hokage!" Naruto counts as an alternate version of Rasengan 133/130, so it shares that card's limit.
A first deck that works
You only draw 13 cards in a game (5, then 2 a Round) unless effects add more, so keep it close to 30 and build a curve.
- Plenty of 1 to 3 cost Characters. Round 1 gives you 5 Chakra, and you want to get two or three bodies down to earn more next Round.
- A handful of 4 to 5 cost cards with strong effects, ideally ones that upgrade something cheaper with the same name.
- Two or three cards with AMBUSH, so your face-down cards are a real threat.
- Stick mostly to one or two factions or keywords, because lots of effects check for things like Team 7.
Pick Missions that suit your deck. Chakra Training gives both players an extra Chakra every Round once it's out, which helps most if your deck is full of cheap cards to spend it on. Protect the Leader gives Characters with 4 Power or more on it +1, which suits a few big hitters.
Short a second copy of something? That's what our Set 01 singles are for.
Mistakes everyone makes once
- Paying 1 to reveal. Putting a card face-down costs 1. Flipping it costs the full printed cost.
- Upgrading with an equal-cost card. It has to cost more. A 3 on a 3 isn't allowed.
- Clearing the table after each Round. Only Chakra and Power tokens go. The cards stay.
- Forgetting old Missions get scored again. In Round 4 you score all four.
- Thinking the Edge goes to the Round's winner. It goes to whoever passes first.
- Winning a Mission with 0 Power. You can't, even with the Edge. You need at least 1.
- Shuffling hidden cards about. Keep them in the order you played them, and tell your opponent the order if they ask.
Your first couple of games will be slow while you check effects. That's normal. Once the phases click, games fit well inside the 30 minutes tournaments allow.
Formats, sets and what's legal
Naruto Mythos is published by Cicaboom of Genoa, Italy. It isn't a Bandai game and has nothing to do with Kayou's Naruto collector cards. Set 1, Konoha Shidō, launched in Europe and the UK on 13 March 2026, with a 2nd Edition (same cards for play) in June 2026. Set 2, Shinobi Shiren, came out on 4 September 2026. Set 3, Akatsuki, is the first Shippuden-era set. Sources disagree on when it lands, so check the official news page.
- Standard is the normal tournament format: the deck rules above, usually Best-of-1 with 30-minute rounds. Cards become legal on their set's official release date. A few Set 2 cards only become playable once the Set 2 Special Pack is out, so check before an event.
- Sealed and Booster Draft are allowed for casual play and side events. In Sealed you build 30 or more cards and 3 Missions from packs you open, and the 2-copy limit doesn't apply. In a 4-pack Draft you build a 20-card deck with 4 Missions.
- Rotation and banlist: no rotation, and no banned cards under the tournament rules in effect from 7 September 2026.
Any printed language is legal at events, and proxies aren't. For every detail, the official rulebook (PDF) is 24 pages and short on waffle. Make sure it's the August 2026 edition, with Attachments.
Questions people ask
Is Naruto Mythos TCG made by Bandai or Kayou?
Neither. Naruto Mythos TCG is published by Cicaboom, an Italian company based in Genoa. Kayou's Naruto cards are a separate collector line with no competitive ruleset, and Bandai's old Naruto card game is a different product altogether.
How many cards are in a Naruto Mythos deck?
At least 30 Character and Attachment cards, with no upper limit as long as you can shuffle it comfortably. On top of that you bring 3 different Mission cards, which are kept separate from the deck. You can run up to 2 copies of any collection number.
Is a Naruto Mythos Starter Pack a ready-made deck?
No. A Starter Pack is 4 random booster packs with promo cards, a rulebook and a token. It's a good way to learn, but it won't give you a tuned 30-card deck. Two players building proper decks will want more packs or a booster box.
How long does a game of Naruto Mythos take?
The publisher doesn't give an official time, but every game is exactly four Rounds, and tournaments give each game a 30-minute round. Your first few games will run longer while you learn the effects.
What happens if you run out of cards in Naruto Mythos?
Nothing bad. If you need to draw and your deck is empty, you simply stop drawing. You don't lose the game for it.
What's the difference between Naruto Mythos 1st and 2nd Edition?
For playing, nothing: it's the same game and the same Set 1 cards. The 2nd Edition has an edition stamp, different packaging and its own secret variant and gold cards, which matters to collectors rather than players.
Is there a banlist in Naruto Mythos TCG?
Not at the moment. The official tournament rules, in effect from 7 September 2026, say there are currently no banned cards, and there's no rotation. The rules are updated as needed, so check before a big event.
Can more than two people play Naruto Mythos?
The official rules are written for two players only, and there's no multiplayer variant in the rulebook. For a group, run a few games side by side or try a casual Sealed or Draft night.
Is Naruto Mythos coming to America?
Yes. The publisher has said Set 3, Akatsuki, will be the first set released worldwide at the same time, including North America. The official announcement in May 2026 said early 2027, while some US shops list an earlier date, so check the official news page for the latest.
Where to start
The easiest ways in. Prices and stock on this list are live.
Where these rules come from
Checked on 24 September 2026 against the official English rulebook (24 pages, August 2026 edition with Attachments), the Tournament Rules in effect from 7 September 2026 and the official FAQ.
- Naruto Mythos TCG Official Rulebook, English (August 2026 edition, with Attachment cards)
- Naruto Mythos TCG Tournament Rules (in effect from 7 September 2026)
- Official FAQ: Ask to Sensei
- Official How to Play page
- Official Game Mechanics page
- Set 2 Shinobi Shiren announcement (Cicaboom)
- Official products page
