Fellow Gundam fans, you need to see this new card game because it's "simply too potent to ignore"

The Gundam Card Game is a slick, fast-paced experience built around pilots battling in mammoth mech suits. The new project, which launched in July of this year in hope of challenging the best card games, draws from multiple Gundam series in its inaugural set, with everything from the original Gundam series to Gundam Wing and Gundam: The Witch From Mercury represented. Both a lovingly crafted homage to the popular mech franchise as a whole and a very easy-to-play game, it packs plenty of deck archetypes to choose from and in-game strategies that can lead a player to victory or defeat.

Raise your shields

For those who have played one of Bandai’s card games before, the Gundam Card Game bears a lot of similarity to the One Piece Card Game, albeit with some critical differences. Like One Piece, the core gameplay involves playing cards and attacking an opponent. Instead of a Leader with "Life" represented by cards from a player’s deck, the Gundam Card Game has bases and shield cards. Each can be attacked and destroyed, but players can put additional bases in play, giving them more protection (but at the cost of losing a shield card when played). If a player ever scores a hit on an unshielded opponent, they win the match.

Players generally attack with mobile suits pulled from various Gundam series. Each mobile suit has an attack power (AP) and hit points (HP) and typically can attack a turn after they’re played. An exception to this rule are Link Pairs, which are formed when an iconic mobile suit is paired with their iconic pilot. Those can attack on the turn they’re played, with many Link Pairs gaining additional abilities that make them exceptionally powerful in matches. Any pilot can be paired with any mobile suit, but most decks will likely be built around certain Link Pairs because they’re simply too potent to ignore.

As with One Piece, each player has a small resource deck that gradually builds up resources over the course of the game. Each card has a cost that’s played by exhausting resources (similar to tapping mana in Magic: The Gathering), and a level that dictates when it can be played. Players can only play cards with a level equal to or less than the amount of resources in their resource area.

While the dual cost/level system might seem a bit redundant at first, there are plenty of high level cards with low costs. The aim of the cost/level system is to prevent a player from gaining too much of an advantage early, while also preventing a player from having to choose between getting more mobile suits into play and playing a Command card or pilot in later turns.

Critical mass

Another novel aspect to the game is the use of shields and bases. Shields are represented by cards pulled from a player’s deck and are attacked one at a time. One Piece has a similar mechanic via a Leader’s Life, but one big difference is that destroyed shields don’t go into a player’s hand automatically. Instead, some cards have Burst effects that only activate when they’re used as a Shield and destroyed. Bases can stack on top of a Shield, with more HP and occasionally the ability to generate Tokens or other effects. However, when they’re played, they automatically remove a Shield from a player’s stack, providing a negative aspect to a card. Notably, every Base has a Burst effect that causes them to automatically deploy. I’ve been in a few games where a player’s steady destruction of a Shield stack has come crashing to a halt thanks to a Shield flipping over to reveal a Base.

Although there are a few different deck strategies, it seems that a lot of matches come down to tempo. Many games often come down to one side amassing a critical mass of mobile suits that can’t be blocked by shields, especially since a player can’t (typically) attack non-rested units. Building up a suitable force while staving off opponent attacks seems to be the best approach, although there’s plenty of options ranging from defensive strategies to flooding a board with cheap units to pulling out an all-powerful Gundam that carves through enemy units to get you to that point.

All in all, the Gundam Card Game is a fun card game that moves quickly, has plenty of opportunities for big swings, and enough strategy within the game to feel reactive and interesting. While the game doesn’t perfectly capture the feeling of mobile suit duels, you can squint and almost imagine an outer space battle where mobile suits are destroyed with saddening regularity. Plus, like other Bandai games, the Gundam Card Game features absolutely phenomenal artwork with some top-tier foil effects.

If you’re a fan of Gundams and card games, the Gundam Card Game should absolutely be your jam.

Where to buy Gundam Card Game

• Seed Strike Starter Deck: View at Amazon
• Wings of Advance Starter Deck: View at Amazon
• Miniature Market: Check for stock

For more tabletop recommendations, why not check out our guide to the best board games or the best tabletop RPGs?