Edit Series: Gundam M.S. War Trading Card Game

'''''Gundam M.S. War Trading Card Game''''' was a collectible card game released in the United States in 2001. It had some similarities to previous ''Gundam'' card games, but was newly created just for the American market and not compatible with other games. The initial release was based solely on ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing]]'', attempting to capture both the excitement for the series -which was the introduction to most American audiences to ''Gundam'', having just begun airing the previous year in the west- and chasing a trend towards marketing anime-themed collectible card games, which had also begun to increase in popularity in America during the late 1990s and early 2000s with the ''Pokémon Trading Card Game''. The original ''Gundam M.S. War'' release was split between two faction-specific 30-card starter decks, one for the [[G Team]], and the other for [[OZ]], with other cards randomly packed into boosters. Two expansions were released in the same year, the first based on the ''Wing'' sequel ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz|Endless Waltz]]'' while the second was an expansion based on the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' which introduced the [[Earth Federation Forces|Federation]] and [[Principality of Zeon|Zeon]] as factions. At least one other booster for the ''MSG'' expansion was planned, but it was never released. The game development seemed rushed, and card quality seemed low compared to other contemporary trading card games. Gameplay was fairly straight-forward, however some badly worded card effects could easily lead to rules confusion. ''M.S. War'' was short-lived and its production was soon ended. ==Gameplay== To play the basic game, each player needs a deck of at least 30 cards. The game is designed for two players, however the playmat included in the starter decks has a reverse side for games with more players. Each player's deck is referred to as their Supply Base, and they draw five cards for their starting hand. Costs associated with playing cards are paid by discarding the face down cards from the Supply Base into the Dry Dock pile face up. Cards discarded into the Dry Dock pile can be discarded once more into the Defunct pile to pay for other cards, however they can never re-enter the game once they are Defunct. There are several different types of cards: Mobile Suits, Pilots, Battlefields, Events and Mission Objectives. Mobile Suits are placed into the M.S. Dock when played, and can be used to attack the opposing player or defend against attacking Mobile Suits. A Mobile Suit that attacks cannot be used to defend on the same turn. Mobile Suits have Clash Points, and the Mobile Suit with the highest Clash Points will win a combat. The winner gets a War Experience point (which should be tracked with tokens) and the losing Mobile Suit is sent to the Dry Dock. If the combat is a tie, both Mobile Suits are sent to the Dry Dock. If a Mobile Suit is not defended they will deal their Clash Points as damage to the opposing player's Supply Base and they discard that many cards. If a player's Supply Base runs out of cards they lose the game. Pilot cards are characters that can be placed in the M.S. Dock, and many are equippable to Mobile Suits to increase Clash Points. Event cards can be played as interrupts to effect the game, while Battlefields have field effects but only one Battlefield can be active at a time. Each faction also has two Mission Objective cards, and must choose one at the start of the game. By completing the mission objectives of the card, generally by accruing enough War Experience points and destroyed Battlefields, they can win the game, though in the average game a player will generally run out of Supply Base before someone can achieve a win in this fashion. The above gameplay style is described as Ace difficulty, but there are also other recommended gameplay difficulties. Rookie cuts hand size to three, and decksize to 15 (so the game can be played with only one starter deck), card Prices are ignored, and the goal is to exhaust the opponent's supply base. And then there's Newtype difficulty, which is played with 50 cards, it is similar to Ace play with one major difference: should you come close to winning via Mission Objectives a rebel faction will be spawned using the Mobile Suit cards from your own Supply Base, and they will begin to attack you on your next turn. ==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20011023105857/http://www.gundamofficial.com/mswar/ Official website] (archived October 23, 2001)