G.I. Joe TCG Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Learning the Advanced Game
• Object of the Game
• Parts of a Card
• Advanced Setup
• Parts of the Turn
• One-on-One Combat
  • Each player draws 2 cards
  • First player attacks
  • Second player attacks
  • One-on-One Combat Example
• Team Firefight
  • Both players flip Firefight cards
  • First player uses Hits
  • Second player uses Hits
  • Incoming Missile!
  • Direct Hit!
  • Firefight Example
• Doing What Cards Say
• Running out of Cards
• Vehicles
• Building Your Own Deck
• Uniqueness
• Frequently Asked Questions
  • Questions about game play
  • Questions about abilities
  • Questions about specific cards
• Glossary
• Starter Set Decklists

Learning the Advanced Game

By now you should have played a few games using the basic rules on the playmat. All the rules you need to play with the cards in the G.I. Joe™ trading card game (TCG) Starter Set are there on the playmat. This rulebook contains the rules on the playmat plus the extra rules you'll need to play with the cards you find in G.I. Joe booster packs. It will be a lot easier to learn the game by playing with the rules on the playmat first.

In these advanced rules, you'll learn some new strategies that will make the game more fun and interesting. And best of all, you'll learn how to build your very own G.I. Joe trading card game deck!

Object of the Game

Use your soldiers and vehicles to defeat your opponent's units and send them to the discard pile. At the end of any turn, if you have at least one unit left but your opponent has none, you win!

Parts of a Card

The printed parts of a card are: the Card Name, the Subtitle, the Color (the box around the card's name), the Side (the shape behind the Power number), the Power, the Supply Points, the Card Type, the Group, the Hits, the In-Play Ability, the Boost Ability, the Boost Number, the Rarity Symbol, and the Card Collector Number.

Advanced Setup

For an easy setup, use the rules on the playmat. For more strategy, try the advanced setup rules here.

During setup, each player will create 2 rows of units: a front rank and a back rank. A "unit" is either a soldier or a vehicle. Each player reveals cards from the top of his deck and puts them into those ranks until he reaches his supply point limit. Here's how it works:

• At the start of the game, each player shuffles his deck and puts it face down on the table. Decide which player will go first. That player will go first in each part of the turn until the game ends.
• If you are the first player, reveal the top card of your deck and put it in front of you, face up and right side up. This card marks the beginning of your front rank. Then reveal the next card from your deck. Put it next to your first card in the front rank, or directly behind it to start your back rank.
• Keep revealing cards, one at a time, and putting them into the front rank or the back rank. You can only put a card in the back rank if there is an open space behind a card in the front rank. Once you have put a unit in your ranks, you can't move it during setup.
• Continue to reveal cards this way unless you have units worth 15 or more supply points. (Supply points are the white dots in the upper-left corner of the card.) It's okay if the last card you reveal takes you over 15 points.
• Now the second player does the same thing. The only difference is that the second player reveals and places cards unless he has units worth 17 or more supply points.

Now you're ready to start the first turn!

Parts of the Turn

There are only 2 parts of the turn, each with 3 steps:

1. One-on-One Combat
   • Each player draws 2 cards
   • First player attacks
   • Second player attacks
2. Team Firefight
   • Both players flip Firefight cards
   • First player uses Hits
   • Second player uses Hits

One-on-One Combat

Each player draws 2 cards

• When you begin One-on-One combat, each player draws a hand of 2 cards. Hold them upside-down so that you can read their Boost numbers. These Boost numbers, and any Boost ability written under the numbers, are the only important parts of the cards while they're in your hand.

First player attacks

• If all your front-rank units are tapped, untap all your units in both ranks. This is the only time that you untap your units.
• Choose an untapped unit in your front rank and any unit in your opponent's front rank. Your unit will attack, and your opponent's unit will defend. Say which units you chose and tap them. Each player announces his unit's color and Power.
• Each player chooses a Boost card from his hand and plays it face down. Boost cards help your units in combat. Try to match the color of the biggest Boost number to your unit's color if you can!
• Both players reveal their Boost cards at the same time. For each one, find the Boost number that matches the color of the unit it was played on and tell it to your opponent. Also, keep track of special abilities that affect the combat.
• Each player adds his unit's Power and the Boost number from the revealed card together. The unit with the highest total wins. The other unit loses and is discarded. If the totals are the same or one of the Boost cards says "DRAW," the combat is a draw and neither unit is discarded. Also discard all Boost cards that were played. Be sure to put any discarded cards in their owners' discard pile!
• If a discarded front-rank unit had another unit behind it, move that unit up to the front rank.

Second player attacks

• The second player attacks in the same way as the first player did. Keep in mind that each player has only 1 Boost card in hand now, not 2.

Once each player has made an attack, it's time to have a Team Firefight!

One-on-One Combat Example

You have Storm Shadow in the front rank. You tap it to attack your opponent's Agent Jinx, which is in his front rank. He taps his Agent Jinx. You tell your opponent that Storm Shadow is gold and has 7 Power, and your opponent says that Agent Jinx is blue and has 6 Power. You each play a Boost card face down, then reveal them. Your gold Boost number is +8. Your opponent's blue Boost number is also +8. Storm Shadow's total is 15, while Agent Jinx's total is only 14. Storm Shadow wins and Agent Jinx is discarded, as are the 2 Boost cards.

Agent Jinx has 6 + 8 = 14. Storm Shadow has 7 + 8 = 15.

You're promoted! If a space ever opens up in your front rank and there's a unit behind that space, move it up to the front rank immediately! Always move it up before doing other things, like following card instructions.

Taps. When one of your units is chosen for One-on-One combat as either an attacker or a defender, you tap that unit. To tap a unit, turn the card sideways. This shows that you've used it! You'll have to wait until it untaps (turns right side up) to use it again.

Team Firefight

Both players flip Firefight cards

• In a Firefight, your entire side gets in on the action, with all their guns blasting! Each player counts the number of units he has and flips that many cards face up from his deck. Put these new cards face up and sideways in a special pile of "Firefight cards." The only important thing on the cards in this pile is the number of Hits along the side of each card. A card's Hits are shown on either side of the card, but you only use the Hits on one sidedon't add the Hits from different sides together.

First player uses Hits

• Choose a front-rank enemy unit that you want to defeat and check its Power. Then look through your Firefight cards. Choose cards with enough Hits on them to equal or beat that enemy unit's Power.
• Put the Firefight cards you chose in a stack on top of the enemy unit. It's okay to put Firefight cards with more Hits than you need on an enemy unit. The extra Hits won't do anything. It's also okay to put Firefight cards with fewer Hits than you need on an enemy unit, but that unit won't be defeated.
• If you have more Firefight cards, choose another front-rank enemy unit and put more cards on it. Keep going until you run out of Firefight cards or you've used enough cards to defeat every front-rank enemy unit.
• When you're done putting all your Firefight cards on front-rank enemy units, your opponent discards each unit that was defeated. Then you put all your Firefight cards into your discard pile.
• If a discarded front-rank unit had another unit behind it, move that unit up to the front rank.

Second player uses Hits

• The second player uses his Firefight cards now, in the same way as the first player. Even if all of his units have been discarded in this Firefight, he still gets to use his Firefight cards before the game ends!

After both players have used all their Firefight cards and discarded any defeated units, if only one player has units remaining, that player wins the game! If neither player has units left, the game is a draw. If both players still have units remaining, then start the next turn with One-on-One combat!

Incoming Missile!

Some cards in upcoming expansions will have a special kind of Hit called a "Missile Hit." In a Firefight, a Missile Hit is worth 1 Hit if played on a soldier, and worth 2 Hits if played on a vehicle. (The printed rule shows these values as Missile Hit icons: one icon for a soldier, two icons for a vehicle.)

Direct Hit!

Some cards have a special kind of Hit called a "Direct Hit." A Direct Hit works like a normal Hit in a Firefight, with an added bonus. If you put all your Firefight cards on a single enemy unit, and at least one of those cards has a Direct Hit icon on it, that unit is defeated no matter what its Power is!

Firefight Example

You're going first this game. At the start of a Firefight, you have SAW Viper Recruit, Crimson Guard, and SAW Viper. Your opponent has Roadblock, Greenshirt Rifleman, and Sideswipe. You flip 5 Firefight cards from your deck because 2 of your units have the Firepower ability. Your opponent flips 3 Firefight cards. You use a 3-Hit card, a 2-Hit card, and a 1-Hit card to defeat Roadblock, a 3-Hit card to defeat Sideswipe, and a 1-Hit card to defeat Greenshirt Rifleman. You discard your Firefight cards, and your opponent discards his soldiers that were defeated.

Then your opponent uses a 3-Hit card and a 2-Hit card to defeat Crimson Guard and a 1-Hit card to defeat SAW Viper Recruit. You discard your soldiers that were defeated, and your opponent discards his Firefight cards. Your SAW Viper moves up to the front rank. You have one unit left, but your opponent has noneyou win!

(Illustration captions in the printed example: "Hits from Firefight cards"; "One card left, Cobra Team wins!")

Doing What Cards Say

Sometimes cards will tell you to do something you can't do. For example, Blowtorch has the special ability "TorchAfter Blowtorch wins in One-on-One combat, discard any soldier with Power 3 or less behind the losing unit." If Blowtorch wins a One-on-One combat, and there is no soldier of Power 3 or less behind the unit that lost, just skip that instruction.

This is different from cards that say you have to do a particular thing to use them. For example, a card might say, "Before you flip Firefight cards, you may discard a soldier from your back rank. If you do, flip 2 extra cards in that Firefight." When a Firefight starts, if you don't have any soldiers in your back rank, you can't use the ability.

Sometimes, one card will tell you to do something while another card says you can't. Whenever this happens, the "can't" card always wins.

Usually, the order things happen in doesn't matter. But if it does, the player who is going first this game does all of his things first, in any order he chooses. Then the other player does all his things, in any order he chooses.

Running out of Cards

If your deck ever runs out of cards, just shuffle your discard pile and use that as your deck. There is no penalty.

Vehicles

Look for incredible vehicle cards to come roaring into the G.I. Joe trading card game in the first expansion, Armored Assault™, coming to stores in December 2004. Joe and Cobra vehicles are bigger and tougher than most soldiers, and they have larger Power numbers and more Hits. Some vehicles are so huge that they cost 4 or even 5 supply points to play! Vehicles work like soldiers do, with 3 big differences:

• If a card says something about a "unit," that includes both soldiers and vehicles. But cards that specifically say "soldier" work only on soldiers, not on vehicles.
• Missile Hits are special Hits that are great at defeating vehicles. In a Firefight, a Missile Hit is worth 1 Hit if played on a soldier, and worth 2 Hits if played on a vehicle. (Values shown as icons in the printed rule.)
• Vehicles have a special keyword called "manned." A vehicle is "manned" if it's in the front rank and has a soldier behind it. Each vehicle has 2 different Power numbers. As long as the vehicle is manned, use the larger Power number. If the vehicle is unmanned, use the smaller Power number. Vehicles are much better when they are manned!

See p. 18 for a vehicle card.

Building Your Own Deck

One of the most exciting parts of the G.I. Joe trading card game is building your own deck! You can find more cards to play with in booster packs or by trading with your friends. You can build your deck however you like, as long as you follow these simple rules:

• Your deck must have at least 50 cards. If you don't have any booster packs yet, you can shuffle the 2 30-card starter decks together, and then remove up to 10 cards.
• You can't put more than 4 copies of any card with the same name and subtitle in your deck. It's okay to have 4 copies of "Roadblock, Combat Camo-Soldier" and 4 copies of "Roadblock, Heavy Machine Gunner" in the same deck, because they have different subtitles.

It's tricky to build a good deck. Here are some things to think about:

• You should build your deck mostly with Cobra cards or mostly with Joe cards. Mixing the cards from each team together will make a weaker deck, since Cobra Boost numbers can't help Joe units, and Joe Boost numbers can't help Cobra units.
• Pay attention to the Hits and the Boost numbers in your deck. Putting a lot of Hits in your deck can make your Firefights very powerful. Playing cards with higher Boost numbers will help you win One-on-One combat attacks. Units with high Power help with both.

After you build your deck, play it a lot! Replace cards that don't help you or that don't seem as strong as the rest. Keep playing your deck and making it better, and soon you'll be able to take down your opponents. Remember, the best part of trading card games is the ability to put any card you want into your deck, so start experimenting!

Uniqueness

In the world of G.I. Joe, there's only one Roadblock and only one Duke. Here's an optional rule to show that a soldier like Snake Eyes is truly one-of-a-kind.

When you set up your team at the beginning of the game, if you reveal a unit with the same name as one you already have in your ranks, discard the duplicate card you revealed and reveal another card instead. Cards with the same name but different subtitles count as duplicates for this rule, even though you can have 4 of each in your deck. For example, if you're setting up and have "Duke, Field Commander" on the table, and you reveal "Duke, First Sergeant," you discard "Duke, First Sergeant" and continue revealing cards.

When you're using the uniqueness rule, if you put 10 or more cards into your discard pile during setup, you have to stop setting up even if you haven't reached your supply point limit yet. You'll have to play the game with the units you already have in your ranks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about game play

Q: Does one player have to play Joe and the other Cobra? A: No. Each player can have his own deck made up of whatever cards he likes. If the game ends up as Joe vs. Joe, think of it as a training mission. If it ends up as Cobra vs. Cobra, think of it as internal strife.

Q: Does my deck need to be all from one side—either Joe or Cobra? A: No. You can mix Joe and Cobra cards if you like. But we don't recommend it. If you play a Joe Boost card on a Cobra unit, the Boost number counts as +0 because the colors will never match up!

Q: Will the Boost ability of a Joe card work if I play it on a Cobra soldier? A: Yes. Even though the Boost numbers are always +0 when you play a Boost card on a unit from the other side, the Boost abilities still work.

Q: My opponent and I are using the Uniqueness Rule. Can we each have a Duke card in play? A: Yes. The Uniqueness Rule only states that one player can't have multiple cards with the same name in play.

Q: How many Duke cards can I put in my deck? A: You can have 4 copies of any card that has its own name and subtitle. So, using cards only from the Base Set, you could have 4 copies of Duke, First Sergeant and 4 copies of Duke, Field Commander for a total of 8 Duke cards. If we make more Duke cards with different subtitles in future sets, you could have 4 of each of those as well.

Q: I'm not using the Uniqueness Rule, and I have 2 copies of a soldier in my ranks. If he has an ability, do I use that ability twice? A: Yes. If the ability is one that happens at a specific time, like Tunnel Rat's Defuse ability, you do each ability one at a time. See the section, "Doing What Cards Say."

Q: If I put one vehicle behind another vehicle, are either of them considered manned? A: No. A vehicle is manned only if there is a soldier behind it.

Q: How can I get more units into my ranks? A: There is no game rule that lets you add more units to your team. You need cards with special abilities in order to do that. For example, check out the Boost abilities on Rip Cord and Big Boa. There are other cards in the game that let you add more units as well.

Q: What do I do with my hand of cards when the Firefight begins? A: You should never have a hand of cards when the Firefight begins. If you do have cards somehow, simply discard them.

Q: Do tapped units count toward my total in a Firefight? A: Yes. A tapped unit is the same as any other unit in a Firefight. You flip one Firefight card for each unit you have in your ranks, whether tapped or not.

Q: In a Firefight, I use 3 Hits on a soldier with 5 Power. Is the soldier "wounded?" A: No. Hits don't stay around after a Firefight. Either a unit is defeated or it isn't. In this case, the unit isn't defeated, and the 3 Hits are wasted.

Questions about abilities

Q: Can a soldier with the Fury ability end up in the back rank somehow? A: Yes. You must put soldiers with Fury in the front rank during setup, but a unit's ability in the game can move that soldier to the back rank.

Q: Can I choose to attack with a soldier who has the Stealth ability if that soldier is in the back rank? A: Yes. Even though the rules say you must attack with a front-rank unit, units with Stealth are an exception to that rule.

Q: Can a Direct Hit card be used against a vehicle? A: Yes. A Direct Hit can be used against any kind of unit, including vehicles.

Q: If I defeat my opponent's last unit, do I automatically win? A: No. For example, say your last unit is Duke, First Sergeant and your opponent's last unit is Cobra Commander, Sinister Dictator. If you attack and win in One-on-One Combat, your opponent has no units, but he still gets to use Cobra Commander's Revenge ability to discard Duke, making the game a draw. The game officially ends when one player has no units left after a Firefight is over, so you always do any effects that happen when you discard units.

Q: Does the "anti-draw" Boost ability (like that found on Recondo) work when my opponent uses a "This combat is a draw." Boost card, or does it work when our One-on-One combat totals are the same? A: Both. It doesn't matter how the combat became a draw; your opponent's unit is discarded either way.

Q: In One-on-One combat, I play a Boost card that gives +20 but says that my unit is discarded. My opponent plays a Boost card that says, "This combat is a draw." What happens? A: The combat is a draw. Your Boost ability says that your unit is discarded, so you must discard it. Your opponent's unit isn't discarded.

Q: I use the Explode ability of one of my units. Do I flip a normal Firefight card for that unit in the Firefight? A: No. By the time you flip Firefight cards, the unit with the Explode ability isn't in your ranks anymore, so you don't flip a card for it. You just get the extra cards from the Explode ability.

Q: If I use a unit's Explode ability, when does the unit behind it move up? A: Right away, before you flip Firefight cards. Units in the back rank with no unit in front of them always move up as soon as possible.

Q: Can a Direct Hit card be used against a unit with the Concealment ability in a Firefight? A: No. Concealment means that no Firefight cards can be used on that unit, not even Direct Hits.

Q: What happens in a Firefight if all the units in one player's front rank have the Concealment ability? A: The other player won't be able to use his Hits. He still flips Firefight cards, but he just discards them, since there are no units he can use them on (unless he has units with Long Range or similar abilities).

Questions about specific cards

Q: What if I have Croc Master in play, and my opponent has only vehicles in his ranks? Does Croc Master have 0 Power? A: Yes. Treat the 0 just like any other number in One-on-One combat. In a Firefight like this, if your opponent uses any Hit cards on Croc Master, he will be defeated.

Q: In One-on-One combat, I play Annihilator as a Boost card and lose. Can I put Annihilator into play before I move my back-rank unit up? A: No. Units in the back rank with no unit in front of them always move up as soon as possible. You don't put Annihilator into the front rank until after the combat is over, and units will have moved up by then.

Q: How does Agent Faces' Disguise ability work? If I switch him for Lifeline in the middle of the combat, what Boost number do I use? A: You play a Boost card on Lifeline and look at the white number. Then, you may choose to switch Agent Faces and Lifeline if you like. If you do, you keep the same Boost card, and look at the blue number now, since Agent Faces is blue.

Q: How does Zartan's Shapeshift ability work if I copy a soldier like Lifeline? His ability refers to "Joe soldiers." A: The ability probably won't help you much. Zartan will become a gold, 4-Power soldier with the Medic ability that says, "Your other Joe soldiers get +1 Power in Firefights." If the rest of your soldiers are from the Cobra side, they won't get the bonus.

Q: What happens if I copy my opponent's Zartan with my Zartan? A: You only get one chance to copy. If you copy Zartan, your Zartan stays as a gold, 4-Power soldier. You won't get another chance to copy anyone.

Q: What happens when Zartan comes into play in the middle of the game? A: Nothing special. He only gets to use his Shapeshift ability right after setup, so he will stay as a 4-Power soldier.

Q: Do I have to use Cobra Commander, Enemy Leader's Hideout ability, or can I choose to leave him in the front rank? A: You must move him before each Firefight if you can. The ability isn't optional.

Q: My opponent is going first and defeats my Destro, Weapons Supplier in a Firefight. Will Destro's Arms Dealer ability still let my cards give me when I use my Firefight cards? A: No. Destro must be in your ranks when you use your Firefight cards in order for his Arms Dealer ability to work. The same goes for Blackout's Assassin ability and units with Long Range like Short-Fuze.

Q: I'm playing a mixed deck, and I have Agent Jinx, Ninja/Intelligence Agent in my ranks along with some Cobra units and some other Joe units. Can my opponent use Firefight cards on my Cobra units, or does Agent Jinx protect them? A: Agent Jinx's ability lets your opponent use Firefight cards on a maximum of 2 Joe units, but it doesn't affect how he deals with your Cobra units. He can use Firefight cards on any number of your Cobra units in the front rank.

Glossary

Boost card — A card played from your hand during One-on-One combat.

attack — The action you take during One-on-One combat. To attack, choose an untapped unit in your front rank and a unit in your opponent's front rank. Tap both of them. Each player plays a Boost card. Add each unit's Power to the Boost number played on it. The unit with the lower total is discarded. If the totals are the same or one of the Boost cards says "DRAW," the combat is a draw and neither unit is discarded.

Boost number — The number on the bottom of a Boost card that matches the color of the unit it's played on. When you use a Boost card in One-on-One combat, you add the Boost number that matches your unit's color to that unit's Power. If you use a Cobra Boost card on a Joe unit, or vice versa, the Boost number will be 0. If a Boost card says "DRAW" instead of a number, that combat is a draw and neither unit is discarded.

back rank — The second row of your units. Units in the back rank can't attack, be attacked, or be hit in a Firefight. You don't need to have a back rank. A unit in the back rank must have a unit in the front rank directly in front of it. Whenever a unit in the front rank is discarded, the unit directly behind it moves up to the front rank immediately.

card type — The card type is listed at the top of each card. The Base Set has only one card type: soldier. The card type "vehicle" will be added in the first expansion, and other card types may be added later.

Boost ability — Text printed near the Boost numbers on some cards. You follow the instructions of a card's Boost ability when you play it from your hand as a Boost card.

color — There are 6 colors of cards in the G.I. Joe trading card game: red, white, and blue for Joe units, and gray, purple, and gold for Cobra units. The box around each card's name shows its color. When you play a Boost card, you use the Boost number that matches the color of your unit in One-on-One combat.

deck — Each player has his own deck. A deck must have at least 50 cards, and it can't have more than 4 copies of any one card in it. After shuffling, you can't look at the cards in your deck or your opponent's deck unless a card tells you to.

defeat — In a Firefight, when you use a total number of Hits on a unit that's greater than or equal to that unit's Power, the unit is defeated. All defeated units are discarded at the same time.

defend — A unit defends when an enemy unit attacks it in One-on-One combat.

Direct Hit — A special type of Hit shown as a Direct Hit icon. A Direct Hit can be used like one normal Hit in a Firefight, with an added bonus. If you assign all of your Firefight cards to a single enemy unit, and at least one of those cards has a Direct Hit icon on it, that unit is defeated regardless of its Power.

discard — To put into your discard pile. Boost cards and Firefight cards that have been used, as well as units that have been defeated in Firefights and units that lost in One-on-One combat, are all discarded. Be sure to put the cards into their owners' discard pile!

discard pile — Where all discarded cards go. Your discard pile is always face up and either player can look through it at any time. If you run out of cards in your deck, shuffle your discard pile and use it as a new deck.

draw — Draw has 2 meanings in the G.I. Joe trading card game. 1) A draw is a tie. Whenever the totals for both units in a One-on-One combat are the same or one of the Boost cards says "DRAW," that combat is a draw. Neither unit is discarded. 2) To draw means to take the top card of your deck and put it into your hand. At the start of One-on-One combat, each player draws 2 cards.

Firefight — One of the parts of the turn. In a Firefight, each player flips a Firefight card for each unit he has in his ranks and looks at those cards' Hits. The first player uses his Firefight cards on his opponent's units. Each unit given Hits greater than or equal to its Power is defeated. Then all defeated units are discarded. The second player uses his Firefight cards the same way.

Firefight card — A card flipped from your deck during a Firefight. The only important thing on a Firefight card is the number of Hits it has. Note that even though Hits are printed on both sides of each card, you only use one set.

flavor text — Text in italics in the place where in-play abilities would normally appear. Flavor text has no impact on game play; it's only there for fun.

front rank — The first row of units you have in play. You must have a front rank at all times. Units in the front rank are the only ones that can attack, be attacked, or be hit in a Firefight.

group — A unit may have a group listed after its card type. "Ninja" is an example of a group, and some cards refer to other units by group. For example, a card might give all Ninjas +1 Power. Not all cards have groups.

hand — Cards you are holding but haven't played yet. Before each One-on-One combat, each player draws 2 Boost cards. Those cards are your hand.

Hits — Hits are the symbols on either side of most cards. They include Hits, Direct Hits, and Missile Hits. They matter only when a card is being used as a Firefight card. If the number of Hits played on a soldier in a Firefight is greater than or equal to its Power, that soldier is defeated.

in-play ability — Text that appears in the colored box below the card art. You follow the instructions of a unit's in-play ability while that unit is in your ranks.

manned — A vehicle is manned if it's in the front rank and a soldier is in the back rank directly behind it. A vehicle uses its larger Power number while it's manned.

Missile Hit — A special type of Hit shown as a Missile Hit icon. (Cards with Missile Hits aren't in the Base Set, but you'll find them in expansions.) In a Firefight, a Missile Hit is worth 1 Hit if played on a soldier, and worth 2 Hits if played on a vehicle.

move up — To take a unit in the back rank and move it up into the front rank. Whenever a unit in the front rank is discarded, the unit directly behind it in the back rank moves up to the front rank immediately.

name — The first line of text at the top of a card. Different cards can have the same name, which means they represent the same character. For example, "Cobra Commander, Enemy Leader" and "Cobra Commander, Sinister Dictator" both have the name "Cobra Commander."

One-on-One combat — One of the parts of the turn. In One-on-One combat, each player uses one of his units to attack one of his opponent's units. Boost cards are played only in One-on-One combat.

Power — How strong a soldier or vehicle is. The Power is the big number in the upper-right corner of each card.

setup — The first part of the game. In the advanced setup, the first player puts units into play from the top of his deck unless he has soldiers worth 15 or more supply points. Then the second player puts units into play from the top of his deck unless he has soldiers worth 17 or more supply points.

side — There are 2 sides in the G.I. Joe trading card game: Joe and Cobra. The shape behind a card's Power number shows you what side it's on. Joe cards have a blue star, and Cobra cards have a red snakehead. You can put cards from either side into your deck, but your deck will probably be better if all your cards are from the same side.

soldier — A card type. Soldier cards represent the various characters and troops in the G.I. Joe vs. Cobra conflict. All soldiers are also units.

subtitle — The second line of text at the top of a card. The subtitle describes which version of a character that card shows. For example, there are 2 different Cobra Commander cards in the Base Set. One has the subtitle "Enemy Leader," and the other has the subtitle "Sinister Dictator." You can have up to 4 copies of each one in your deck.

supply points — The cost of each unit during the setup phase. Supply points are the little white dots in the upper-left corner of each card. All the cards in the Base Set cost 1, 2, or 3 supply points.

switch — Some cards tell you to switch the positions of 2 or more units. When you switch the positions of units, you put one where the other used to be in your ranks and vice versa. Don't tap or untap the units when you do this.

tap — To turn a card sideways. Whenever one of your units attacks or is attacked in One-on-One combat, tap that unit. This shows that the card has been used.

team — All the units in your ranks.

uniqueness rule — An optional rule that lets each player have a team of all-different soldiers and vehicles. If you use this rule when you're setting up, discard any card you reveal that has the same name as a unit already in your ranks. If you have 10 or more cards in your discard pile, your setup ends even if you haven't reached your supply point limit.

unit — A soldier or vehicle you have in your ranks.

unmanned — A vehicle is unmanned if it doesn't have a soldier directly behind it. A vehicle uses its smaller Power number as long as it is unmanned.

untap — To turn a card right side up. When you attack during One-on-One combat, if every unit in your front rank is tapped, the first thing you do is untap all your units.

vehicle — A card type. (Vehicles aren't in the Base Set, but you'll find them in expansions.) Vehicle cards have 2 Power numbers. The smaller number is used when the vehicle is unmanned. The larger number is used when the vehicle is manned. All vehicles are also units.

Starter Set Decklists

The Starter Set decklists are printed as two tables (Joe Deck and Cobra Deck) with number, card name, subtitle and rarity columns. The rarity symbols are reproduced as printed (✪, ★, ✦, ●); the printed key is not in the text layer.

Joe Deck

Number	Card Name	Subtitle	Rarity
1	Duke*	First Sergeant	✪
1	Dusty	Desert Trooper	★
1	Tunnel Rat	Explosive Ordinance Disposal	★
2	Sideswipe	Medical Specialist	✦
2	Snake Eyes	Commando	✦
2	Zap	Bazooka Soldier	✦
3

Cobra Deck

Number	Card Name	Subtitle	Rarity
1	Cobra Commander*	Sinister Dictator	✪
1	Skull Buster	Range-Viper Leader	★
1	Slice	Ninja Swordsman	★
2	Alley Viper	Urban Assault Specialist	✦
2	Crimson Guard	Elite Trooper	✦
2	Storm Shadow	Ninja	✦
3

* Special Base Set promo holofoil card.

For a complete list of G.I. Joe Base Set cards, go to GIJOETCG.com.