Gundam Card Game keywords and rules: Breach, Blocker, Burst, Link Units and more

How does Breach work in the Gundam TCG? When your Unit destroys an enemy Unit with battle damage during your turn, <Breach X> deals X extra damage to the first card in that opponent's shield area: their Base if they have one, otherwise their top Shield. The Breach section below covers it in detail. This guide also explains Pilots and Link Units, Support, Blocker, Shields and Burst, First Strike, High-Maneuver, Suppression and Repair, plus attack targets, deck construction and the best-of-three sideboard. Each topic has its own section, so you can jump straight to the one you need.

Everything here was read on 21 October 2026 in the official Comprehensive Rules, Ver. 1.10.0, updated 16 October 2026, and in Bandai's official FAQ, last updated the same day. Rule numbers appear in brackets, for example (13-1-2), and FAQ answers as Q followed by their number. Card text beats the rules when the two disagree (1-3-1). An effect that says a thing "can't" happen beats one that says it can (1-3-3, 10-1-5-6).

Gundam Card Game keywords at a glance

When a card in front of you uses a keyword that isn't listed here, or you want to compare it with another game's version, the keyword glossary has a Gundam Card Game filter and points you to the section of this guide that covers it.

Pilots and Link Units: pairing, links and attacking the same turn

In the Gundam Card Game, pairing a Pilot with a Unit always adds the Pilot's AP and HP, but it only creates a Link Unit when the Pilot meets the link condition printed on that Unit. A Link Unit can attack on the turn it is deployed; any other new Unit has to wait. Pairing and linking are two separate checks, and most mistakes come from treating them as the same thing.

How pairing works

A Pilot card is played from your hand in your main phase like any other card: it must meet its Lv. condition and you rest Resources to pay its cost (7-5-2). Instead of entering the battle area on its own, it goes face up beneath one of your Units (3-3-1, 4-5-3). A Pilot can never sit in the battle area without a Unit (3-3-3, Q85), and as a rule each Unit takes at most one Pilot (3-3-4). Once paired, you can't remove the Pilot, swap in another one or move it to a different Unit (3-3-5, Q86, Q87).

While the pair lasts, the Pilot's "+1"-style numbers are added to the Unit's AP and HP (3-3-8-1). The card has two text boxes. Text above the Pilot's name belongs to the Pilot card itself, and that is usually where a Burst effect sits. Text below the name is gained by the Unit it is paired with, unless it says it works from somewhere else, such as the hand or the trash (3-3-9). An effect on a paired Pilot resolves as if it belonged to the Unit (Q88).

What the Pilot does not give the Unit

• Traits. A Pilot's traits are not added to the Unit's (2-5-5, 3-3-7). An effect looking for an "(Earth Federation) Unit" ignores the Pilot's traits.
• Colour. A blue Unit paired with a green Pilot is still only blue (2-4-3, Q93).
• A second Pilot. The one-Pilot limit applies even if the second Pilot would meet the link condition better.

When a pair becomes a Link Unit

Only Units have link conditions (2-12-2). They name a Pilot or a trait. A Unit with a Pilot underneath that satisfies the condition is called a Link Unit (3-2-6-2). A condition written in square brackets matches any Pilot whose name contains that text. The rules give the example of a Gundam X with the link requirement [Garrod Ran]: pairing the Pilot Garrod Ran & Tiffa Adill satisfies it, because the name contains "Garrod Ran" (3-2-6-4).

The only extra the rules attach to the link itself is the attack permission. A newly deployed Unit normally can't attack that turn (3-2-4), while a Link Unit can (3-2-6-3). Many cards add more through the timing keywords When Linked and During Link, which only work when the link condition is met (13-2-11, 13-2-12). The official FAQ is clear that a pair that doesn't link still works as a pair. Its example is Char Aznable (ST03-011) paired with a Unit whose requirement is [Amuro Ray]. The AP and HP are still added and the Pilot's Attack effect can still trigger. The Unit simply doesn't gain the right to attack on the turn it arrived (Q89).

Command cards that act as Pilots

Some Command cards have a Pilot effect at the bottom with its own name, traits, AP and HP. When you play one, you can pair it with a Unit instead of using its command effect (3-4-6-2, Q23). It counts as a Pilot only while it is paired. Everywhere else, including the hand and the trash, it is a Command card (3-4-6-3, Q163; the FAQ uses Peaceful Timbre, ST02-013). You can't pair one as a Pilot during an action step, even if its command effect has Action timing (13-2-4-2, Q38).

When the Unit leaves

The Pilot always follows its Unit. If the Unit is destroyed, the Pilot goes to the trash with it. If the Unit is returned to the hand, the Pilot goes to the hand too (3-3-6, Q41). There is no rule that leaves the Pilot behind to re-pair later.

Worked example: same-turn attack

Bandai's official play sheet suggests Gundam and Amuro Ray as a Unit and Pilot that can link. On your fifth turn you have five Resources. With illustrative costs of three for the Unit and two for the Pilot, you deploy the Unit and then pair the Pilot that meets its link condition. The Unit was deployed this turn, but it is now a Link Unit, so it can rest and attack straight away. If you had paired a different Pilot with no matching name, the Unit would get the same AP and HP bonus but would have to wait until your next turn to attack.

Common Pilot and Link mistakes

• Thinking any Pilot makes a Link Unit. Only one that meets the printed link condition does.
• Thinking a failed link wastes the Pilot. Its stats and lower text still apply (Q89).
• Moving a Pilot to a better Unit later in the game.
• Counting the Pilot's traits or colour for effects that check the Unit.
• Pairing a Command card's Pilot effect during the opponent's attack.

Breach: extra damage when your Unit wins a battle

<Breach X> means: when this Unit destroys an enemy Unit with battle damage during your turn, it deals X damage to the first card in that opponent's shield area (13-1-2-1). The first card is the opponent's Base if one is deployed. If there is no Base, it is their top Shield (13-1-2-2, Q53).

The three conditions

1. The enemy Unit has to be destroyed by battle damage, the damage Units deal each other from their AP in the damage step (5-5-3). Destroying it with a Command or another effect does not trigger Breach.
2. It has to be your turn. In practice that means your Unit is the attacker.
3. The opponent must still have a Base or at least one Shield. With an empty shield area, Breach does not activate at all (13-1-2-4, Q54).

Your Unit doesn't need to survive. Breach still activates when both Units destroy each other in the battle (13-1-2-3, Q55). It also doesn't matter whether you attacked a rested Unit directly or attacked the player and got blocked. Either way, an enemy Unit was destroyed by your Unit's battle damage.

How much damage, and where it goes

The damage is the number written after Breach. It has nothing to do with the attacker's AP or the AP left over after the fight. A Unit with 6 AP and <Breach 1> that destroys a 2-HP Unit deals exactly 1. If a Unit gains a second copy, the numbers add up: <Breach 2> plus <Breach 1> is <Breach 3> (13-1-2-5, Q57).

Breach always hits a single card. Damage beyond what a Base or a Shield can take is not carried over to the next Shield (5-5-6). Shields have 1 HP each (4-6-4-2), so <Breach 3> aimed at a Shield destroys that Shield and nothing more. Aimed at a Base, it adds three damage counters to it. You can't skip a Base to hit a Shield, and you can't choose which Shield takes it.

Breach can't win the game

You win by dealing battle damage from a Unit to a player who has no cards left in their shield area (1-2-2-1). Breach damage comes from an effect, and in that situation it doesn't even activate (13-1-2-4). A Breach Unit is still a strong attacker. Every battle it wins takes away one more Base point or Shield, which brings the game-winning attack closer.

Order with other effects

• If the enemy Unit you destroyed has a Destroyed effect, both trigger at the same time. The active player's effects resolve first, so your Breach goes before their Destroyed effect (Q56, 10-1-6-6).
• If Breach destroys a Shield that has a Burst effect, the Burst gets priority and resolves before anything else still waiting (Q110, 10-1-6-8).

Worked example

Your opponent has their EX Base (0 AP, 3 HP) and five Shields. You attack the player with a 4-AP Unit that has <Breach 2>. They use <Blocker> on a 2-AP, 3-HP Unit. In the damage step the two Units hit each other at the same time. The blocker takes 4 and is destroyed. Your Unit takes 2 and, with 4 HP, survives. Breach triggers. There is a Base, so the EX Base takes the 2 damage and has 1 HP left. Your attack never reached the shields, but Breach still chipped the Base. The stats are illustrative.

Common Breach mistakes

• Applying it when the enemy Unit was destroyed by an effect rather than battle damage.
• Applying it on the opponent's turn.
• Sending it to a Shield while the opponent has a Base.
• Splitting it across several Shields, or converting leftover AP into Breach damage.
• Treating Breach into an empty shield area as a winning hit.

Support: lending AP to another Unit

<Support X> is an Activate･Main ability: rest this Unit to choose one other friendly Unit, which gets AP+X during this turn (13-1-3-1). It can't target the Unit that has it, it adds nothing to HP, and the bonus ends in the cleanup step of the same turn (7-6-6-1).

When you can use it

Activate･Main abilities only work in your own main phase, and not while the Unit is attacking (13-2-1-1). So you use Support before you declare the attack it is meant to help, not in the middle of the battle. The cost is resting the Unit, so it has to be active. Something already rested can't be rested again (1-3-2-1).

A Unit you deployed this turn can use Support right away. It enters active (5-4-2), and the FAQ confirms Activate･Main effects work on the turn a Unit is deployed (Q30). That makes Support Units useful the turn they arrive, even though they can't attack yet.

The price of resting

Resting for Support has the same effect as attacking: the Unit stays rested until your next start phase (7-2-3-1). During your opponent's turn it can be attacked, because attacks can target rested enemy Units (8-2-1). It also can't use <Blocker>, which needs an active Unit (8-3-1, Q59).

Stacking

Two copies on one Unit add up into one ability: <Support 2> plus <Support 1> is <Support 3>, activated once by resting once (13-1-3-2, Q58). Two different Support Units can both target the same attacker, and the bonuses add up like any other AP changes (Q95).

Worked example

Your opponent has a rested 2-AP, 5-HP Unit. Your attacker has 3 AP, which isn't enough to destroy it. Before attacking, you rest a Unit with <Support 2> and choose the attacker, which now has 5 AP until the end of the turn. You attack the rested Unit and it is destroyed. If your attacker also had <Breach>, that would trigger now. The Support Unit stays rested through the opponent's turn and can't block. The stats are illustrative.

Blocker: changing the target of an attack

<Blocker> lets the defending player rest one of their active Units in the block step to make it the new target of the attack (8-3-1, 13-1-4-1). It works against an attack on the player and against an attack on one of their Units, and it is always optional (8-3-4).

The rules of the block step

• Only one <Blocker> can be activated per attack (8-3-2).
• The blocking Unit must be active, and it rests as part of the block. A rested Unit can't block (Q59).
• A Unit that was the original target of the attack can't use its own <Blocker> (8-3-3).
• A Unit can't have two copies of <Blocker> (13-1-4-2, Q60).
• Enemy Units can't block an attacker with <High-Maneuver> at all (13-1-6-1). See the High-Maneuver section.

What changes after a block

The previous target stops battling and the Blocker becomes the Unit in the battle (5-22-2). If the attack was aimed at the player, the shield area is no longer touched. The attack now resolves as an attack on a Unit: both Units deal damage equal to their AP to each other at the same time (8-5-3-2). Blocking doesn't protect the Blocker. If the attacker has enough AP, the Blocker is destroyed. That counts as destruction by battle damage, so a <Breach> attacker still deals its extra damage.

After the block step comes the action step. Both players, starting with the defender, can play Action Commands and Activate･Action effects (8-4-1). If either battling Unit leaves the battle area before the damage step, the battle jumps to the battle end step and no battle damage is dealt (8-3-5, 8-4-2, Q33).

Worked example: saving the game

Your opponent has no Base and no Shields. You attack them with a 3-AP Unit. If nothing changes, that battle damage wins you the game (8-5-2-2). In the block step they rest an active 1-AP, 4-HP Unit with <Blocker>. Your attack now targets that Unit. It takes 3, survives with 1 HP left, and deals 1 back. The game goes on. With <High-Maneuver> on your attacker, the block would not have been possible. The stats are illustrative.

Common Blocker mistakes

• Blocking with a rested Unit, including one that rested for <Support> or attacked on its own turn.
• Blocking twice for the same attack.
• Expecting the Blocker to take no damage.
• Forgetting that a blocked attack can still trigger the attacker's Breach.

Shields, Bases and Burst

Burst is a free effect printed on some cards. It can be used when that card is one of your Shields and is destroyed and revealed. You decide whether to use it before the card goes to the trash, and you pay no cost (13-2-5-1). To see when that happens, you first need to know how damage reaches the shield area.

Shields and the Base

At the start of the game each player puts the top six cards of their deck face down as Shields, without looking at them (6-2-2). The card that came off the top of the deck first ends up as the bottom Shield (Q8). Each player also deploys an EX Base, a token Base with 0 AP and 3 HP (6-2-3, 5-17-3-1). Every Shield counts as having 1 HP (4-6-4-2). Only one Base can be in play at a time. Deploying a new one sends the old one to the trash, and that doesn't count as destroying it (11-5-2, Q29).

Bandai's official play sheet puts the shield area on the left, with the base section above the Shields; the battle area takes the centre and the resource area runs along the bottom.

When an attack on a player succeeds, the damage step checks the shield area in this order (8-5-2):

1. If there is a Base, the attacker deals its AP as damage to the Base. You can't choose a Shield instead (Q37).
2. With no Base, it deals its AP to the top Shield only. Any amount of damage of 1 or more destroys it, and the rest is lost. Damage doesn't carry over to a second Shield (5-5-6).
3. With no Base and no Shields, the attacker deals battle damage to the player, who loses at once (8-5-2-2).

A Unit with 0 AP can attack, but it can't destroy a Shield, because zero damage isn't dealt (Q34, Q35, 5-5-5). You can't pick which Shield is destroyed; it is always the top one (Q36, 4-6-4-1).

How Burst resolves

1. The Shield is destroyed, by battle damage or by an effect (13-2-5-1).
2. Its owner reveals it and checks for a Burst effect (5-10-3).
3. If there is one, they choose whether to activate it. Declining is allowed, and then the card simply goes to the trash (13-2-5-2, Q81).
4. If they activate it, the effect resolves without paying its cost. After that, the card goes to the trash, unless the effect itself moved it somewhere else (13-2-5-3, Q82).

Burst text usually appears on Pilot cards, above the Pilot's name (3-3-9-1), and on some Command cards (3-4-7). The FAQ also describes a Base card that deploys itself through its own Burst (Q195). The effect still has to be possible. If the Burst says "choose" something and there is no legal target, it doesn't activate (10-2-2).

When there is no Burst

• When a Shield goes to your hand through an effect such as "Add 1 of your Shields to your hand", it isn't destroyed. Its Burst can't be used (Q83).
• Drawing a card with Burst text doesn't trigger it. Burst only works while the card is acting as a Shield.
• A Burst can't be saved for later. The decision is made when the Shield is revealed.

Priority over other effects

If a Burst triggers while other triggered effects are waiting, the Burst resolves first (10-1-6-8). The FAQ example is a Shield destroyed by <Breach> while other effects are still waiting: the Burst goes first (Q110). When <Suppression> destroys two Shields with Burst at once, their owner picks the order (13-1-7-4, Q166).

First Strike: who deals battle damage first

<First Strike> makes an attacking Unit deal its battle damage before the enemy does. If that damage destroys the Unit or Base it is attacking, the attacker takes no battle damage back (13-1-5-1, 13-1-5-2, Q62). It only works while the Unit with it is attacking.

How the damage step changes

Normally the attacker and its target deal damage to each other at the same time, and if both die, they die together (8-5-3-2, 8-5-3-2-3). With <First Strike> the step splits in two. First the attacker deals its damage. Then, if the target is still there, the target deals its damage (13-1-5-2). The rules apply this to attacks on a Unit (8-5-3-2-2) and to attacks that hit a Base (8-5-2-4-2).

What it doesn't do

• It does nothing for a Unit that is being attacked or that blocks. The definition talks about "the attacking Unit" only (13-1-5-1).
• It doesn't stop the target from hitting back when the target survives. A survivor deals its full AP as normal.
• It doesn't stop <Blocker>. That is what <High-Maneuver> does.
• A second copy adds nothing. A Unit can't have two (13-1-5-3, Q63).

Since the update of 11 September 2026 (Ver. 1.9.0), the rules state that First Strike also applies to effects that begin a battle and only perform the damage step (13-1-5-4).

Worked example

Your 4-AP, 2-HP Unit with <First Strike> attacks a rested enemy Unit with 3 AP and 4 HP. Your damage is dealt first: 4 damage against 4 HP, so it is destroyed. It never deals its 3, and your Unit survives undamaged. Now make the enemy Unit 5 HP instead. It survives your 4 damage, then deals 3 back, and your 2-HP Unit is destroyed. The stats are illustrative.

High-Maneuver: attacks that can't be blocked

<High-Maneuver> means "While this Unit is attacking, enemy Units cannot activate <Blocker>" (13-1-6-1). It is a constant effect that lasts from the attack declaration to the end of the battle. Its only job is switching off the block step against that attacker.

It doesn't make the Unit untargetable by Commands, give it extra damage or let it attack active Units. The defender can still respond in the action step with Action Commands and Activate･Action effects (8-4-1). A Unit can't have two copies (13-1-6-2, Q64). High-Maneuver is at its best against a player with an empty shield area. Without a Blocker, the defender has only the action step left to stop the game-winning hit.

Example: your opponent has no Base and one Shield, and they keep two active Units with <Blocker> back. You attack with a High-Maneuver Unit. Neither can block, so the top Shield is destroyed. Next turn, another High-Maneuver attack would go straight through to the player unless they find an answer in the action step.

Suppression: two Shields at once

<Suppression> means that when this Unit deals battle damage to an enemy Shield, the damage is dealt to the first two Shields simultaneously (13-1-7-1). Normally only the top Shield is affected, whatever the AP, so this doubles the Shields a single attack removes.

• With only one Shield left, only that Shield takes damage. The player isn't damaged (13-1-7-3, Q167).
• Both Shields are destroyed at the same moment and revealed together (13-1-7-4, Q165). If both have Burst, their owner chooses the order and resolves them one at a time (Q166).
• Because they are destroyed together, a Burst can't save the second Shield by moving it to the hand (Q195).
• A Unit can't have two copies. There is no way to reach three Shields by stacking Suppression (13-1-7-2).

The trigger is battle damage to a Shield. When the opponent has a Base, attack damage goes to the Base (8-5-2-4), so read literally, Suppression has nothing to apply to on that attack. It becomes useful once the Base is gone.

Example: your opponent has no Base and four Shields. Your 2-AP Unit with <Suppression> attacks the player and isn't blocked. The top two Shields are destroyed and revealed together, leaving two. Without Suppression, the same attack would have removed one.

Repair: recovering HP at the end of your turn

<Repair X> means "At the end of your turn, this Unit recovers X HP" (13-1-1-1): you remove X damage counters from it in your end step. It matters because damage doesn't go away on its own. Counters stay on a Unit from turn to turn (Q99).

• It triggers at the end of your turn, in the end step, along with other "at the end of the turn" effects (7-6-4-1). It doesn't trigger on your opponent's turn.
• An undamaged Unit recovers nothing. Repair doesn't activate on it (5-6-3, Q51).
• It can't raise HP above the printed total. Recovering more than the damage on the Unit just removes all the counters (5-6-2).
• It can't bring back a destroyed Unit. A Unit destroyed during your turn is already in the trash before your end step.
• Copies add up: <Repair 1> plus <Repair 2> is <Repair 3> (13-1-1-2, Q52).

Example: your 5-HP Unit with <Repair 2> attacks and takes 3 damage. It survives with 2 HP. In your end step it removes 2 counters and has 4 HP for your opponent's turn. Without Repair, an attacker with 2 AP could destroy it. With it, they need 4.

Attack targets: what you can attack and when

In the Gundam Card Game, a Unit can attack either the opposing player or a rested enemy Unit. You can't attack an active enemy Unit (7-5-4-1, 8-2-1). To attack, you choose one of your active Units in the main phase and rest it. Then you declare the target.

Who can attack

• Only Units attack. Pilots, Bases and Commands don't (3-2-3).
• The attacker must be active, because resting it is part of the attack.
• A Unit deployed this turn can't attack unless it is a Link Unit or an effect allows it (3-2-4, 3-2-6-3). Player One can attack on their first turn, but only with something that can legally attack that turn (Q31).
• A Unit with 0 AP can attack (Q34), but it won't destroy Shields or Units.

Choosing between the player and a Unit

Attacking the player sends the damage to their Base, then the top Shield, then the player, as described in Shields, Bases and Burst. You declare "the player", not a particular Shield (Q36). Attacking a rested Unit starts a Unit-against-Unit battle in which both deal damage at the same time. Remember that your own attacker stays rested for the opponent's whole turn, so it becomes a legal target for them.

The five battle steps

If the attacker or the target is destroyed or leaves the battle area at the end of the attack, block or action step, you skip straight to the battle end step (8-2-4, 8-3-5, 8-4-2, Q33). The attack doesn't automatically switch to the player or to another Unit.

The diagram follows an attack on a player through its five steps in order: the full sequence along the top, then what changes when a <Blocker> steps in and the order in which the damage step checks the shield area.

Deck of 50 and resource deck of 10

A Gundam Card Game deck has exactly 50 cards (Units, Pilots, Commands and Bases in one or two colours, with at most four copies of each card number), plus a separate resource deck of exactly 10 Resource cards (6-1-1). The ten Resources don't count towards the 50.

Deck construction rules

The limit counts card numbers, not names. Four ST01-001 Gundam and four GD01-013 Gundam are legal in the same deck (2-1-1, Q4). You also bring an EX Base and an EX Resource token, and any tokens your cards create, with no more than six tokens of one card number (6-1-2, 5-17-4-1).

How Resources work during the game

In every resource phase you must put the top card of your resource deck into your resource area, face up and active (7-4-1, Q18). Two numbers on each card use those Resources differently:

• Lv. is a requirement. You need at least that many Resources in your resource area, whether active or rested (2-9-1).
• Cost is a payment. You rest that many active Resources (2-10-1).

So with four Resources, two of them already rested, you can still play a card with Lv. 4 and cost 2. Player Two starts with an EX Resource (6-2-4). It counts towards your Lv. (2-9-4, Q21). When you use it to pay a cost, it is removed from the game, and your Lv. goes down by one (5-17-3-2-3, Q22). The resource area holds at most 15 cards: your 10 Resources plus up to 5 EX Resources (4-4-2, Q19). Once the resource deck is empty, the resource phase still happens but does nothing (Q20).

Starting hand, hand limit and decking out

You draw five cards and may redraw once: Player One decides first, then Player Two. A redraw puts the whole hand on the bottom, draws five new cards and then shuffles (6-2-1-6). Player One does draw in their first draw phase (Q15). There is no limit on hand size during the turn, but in your end phase you discard down to 10 (7-6-5-1, Q16). A player with no cards left in their deck loses. That includes drawing your last card: the moment the deck is empty, you lose (1-2-2-2, 7-3-1-1, Q17). For organising and storing a deck like this, see the guide to sleeves, binders and storage.

Putting the hand on the bottom has a practical consequence: your second hand comes from the 45 cards you haven't seen. With 4 copies of a Pilot in 50 cards, a 5-card hand has at least one 35.3% of the time; if you redraw a hand without it, the new hand has one 38.7% of the time, and redrawing whenever it is missing gets you started with it in 60.3% of games. That is the hypergeometric distribution: 1 − C(46,5)/C(50,5) for the first hand and 1 − C(41,5)/C(45,5) for the second. For your own list, the opening hand probability calculator has a Gundam preset (50 cards, 5-card hand).

Best of three and the 10-card sideboard

In Bandai's best-of-three (BO3) format you may bring a sideboard of exactly 10 cards and swap cards between games. The four-copy limit and the two-colour limit cover the main deck and sideboard together, and every game is played with exactly 50 cards. That comes from the official BO3 Match Rules page, updated 3 July 2026.

• A match is up to three games within 60 minutes. The first player to win two games wins the match.
• In game one, Player One is decided at random. In games two and three, the loser of the previous game chooses.
• Swaps happen only between games, and the time they take counts against the 60 minutes.
• Before the next match starts, your main deck must go back to the list you first presented.
• The sideboard is kept face down away from the deck. Its contents are private, but its card count is public.

Check which format your event uses. Bandai's Tournament Rules Manual says Professional-level events should play best of one in the qualifying rounds (30 minutes plus 5 for extra turns) and best of three in the top cut (60 minutes plus 10). Its deck section, last updated in July 2025, also says "No side decks are permitted". That predates the BO3 page and conflicts with it, so confirm the sideboard rule with the organiser. Bring the tokens your deck needs and fully opaque sleeves. The manual requires both. If it is your first event, the first TCG event checklist covers the rest.

Timing keywords: Main, Action, Deploy, Attack and the rest

Besides the keyword effects above, cards carry timing keywords in brackets. They don't do anything by themselves. They say when the text after them works.

An action step happens in every battle after the block step and once more in each end phase (9-1). The standby player always acts first. The step ends when both players pass in a row (9-2 to 9-5). One more keyword effect, <Development>, appears inside Deploy or When Linked text. In the rules' example, Deploy Development (number) lets you remove that many (G Generation) cards in your trash from the game to activate the text that follows (13-1-8).

The last diagram places those action steps inside the full turn: the five phases in the order of rule 7-1-1 and the four steps of the end phase (7-6-1).

Finding the Units and Pilots you need

Link conditions make the right Pilot worth more than its stats. If you are missing the one your Unit names, make your have and want lists with the printable trade list and bring it to your store's events. The TradeMatches app does not support the Gundam Card Game yet, so those lists can't be added to the app. If you are unsure which printing to look for, Bandai's usage rules say English-version cards are the ones used in Europe (consulted 21 October 2026). Our card language and edition guide explains why that matters when trading, and how to get started in Gundam Card Game explains how to move from a Starter Deck to your own deck.

If the Pilot you need arrives in a set that hasn't been released yet, the release calendar collects upcoming Gundam Card Game dates and lets you download them to your own calendar.

FAQ

Does Breach trigger if my attacking Unit is also destroyed?

Yes. Bandai's FAQ confirms that <Breach> still deals its damage when both battling Units are destroyed, as long as yours destroyed the enemy Unit with battle damage on your turn.

Can a Link Unit attack the turn it is deployed?

Yes, that is the main benefit of meeting the link condition. A Unit paired with a Pilot that doesn't meet its condition keeps the AP and HP bonus but still waits until your next turn.

Can I move a Pilot to another Unit?

No. Once paired, a Pilot can't be removed, exchanged or moved by the rules. It leaves only when its Unit leaves the battle area, and then it goes to the same place.

Does damage from a Command trigger Burst?

Yes, if it destroys a Shield. Burst works whenever a Shield is destroyed, by damage or by an effect. A Shield added to the hand isn't destroyed, so its Burst can't be used.

Can a Unit with First Strike use it while blocking?

No. First Strike only applies while the Unit with it is attacking. A blocking or defending Unit deals damage at the same time as the attacker.

How many Shields does each player start with?

Six, taken from the top of the deck, plus an EX Base with 3 HP that absorbs attacks before any Shield is touched.

Sources and checks

On 21 October 2026 we downloaded Comprehensive Rules Ver. 1.10.0 (updated 16 October 2026) from Bandai's English site and read the keyword section (13) together with the rules on cards, the field, battle and rules management (1 to 11). We read all 119 answers in the rule FAQ categories, the BO3 Match Rules, the Tournament Rules Manual and the official Spanish play sheet.

• GUNDAM CARD GAME Comprehensive Rules (PDF, Ver. 1.10.0, 16 October 2026)
• Official rules page (links to all rule documents)
• Official FAQ (updated 16 October 2026)
• BO3 Match Rules (updated 3 July 2026)
• Bandai Organized Play Tournament Rules Manual (PDF)
• Usage rules for Japanese, English and Simplified Chinese cards