Rules
Quick answer
CardSpicy keeps the official effect text of every GUNDAM CARD GAME card we index, which makes one question answerable with a count rather than an opinion: which keywords does this game actually lean on? The answer is that the text uses two different bracket styles, and they mean different things.
The two kinds of bracket
Angle brackets — <Blocker> — print a standing keyword: a property of the card that is always on. Corner brackets — 【Deploy】 — print a timing word: it introduces an ability and says when that ability fires. Reading a card, the first tells you what it is; the second tells you what it does and when.
The standing keywords, counted
Counted from the printed text of all 1,148 cards we index. A card can carry more than one, so these do not add up to a card count.
| Keyword | Cards printing it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| <Blocker> | 94 | Rest this Unit to redirect an attack onto it. The game’s main defensive keyword. |
| <Breach> | 58 | When this Unit destroys an enemy Unit, deal the listed damage to the first card in that opponent’s shield area. |
| <Repair> | 40 | Removes damage from a Unit, usually as an end-of-turn effect. The number in the bracket is how much. |
| <High-Maneuver> | 25 | A movement keyword; the exact restriction is printed on the card. |
| <Suppression> | 18 | Deals damage on entry to a defined set of enemy cards. |
| <First Strike> | 17 | This Unit deals its damage before the other side does. |
| <Support> | 17 | Moves or adds value to another friendly card. |
Blocker is by far the most common, and it is the reason the game has a defensive floor at all: rest a Unit and an attack can be pulled onto it. Breach is the counterweight — it lets a won combat spill damage into the opponent’s shield area instead of stopping at the Unit. First Strike, Support and High-Maneuver are rare enough that a card printing them is worth a second look.
The timing words, counted
The corner-bracket words are how the game schedules abilities. These are the ones that appear on the most cards.
| Timing word | Cards using it | When it fires |
|---|---|---|
| 【Burst】 | 252 | Fires when the card is revealed or destroyed — the game’s most-used timing word. |
| 【Deploy】 | 191 | Fires when the card enters play. |
| 【Main】 | 146 | Usable in the main phase of your turn. |
| 【Action】 | 97 | Usable during an action step, including the opponent’s turn. |
| 【Attack】 | 88 | Applies when this card attacks. |
| 【Once per Turn】 | 87 | Caps how often an ability can be used in one turn. |
| 【During Link】 | 70 | Applies while the card is linked to its named Pilot. |
| 【Pilot】 | 68 | Marks a Pilot-specific condition. |
| 【Destroyed】 | 47 | Fires when the card is destroyed. |
| 【When Linked】 | 43 | Fires at the moment the link is established. |
| 【When Paired】 | 56 | Fires at the moment the pairing is established. |
What Link adds to all of this
Link is the keyword that ties the two bracket styles together. The pilot pairing itself is a standing property, but the payoff is scheduled: 【During Link】 abilities apply only while the pairing holds, and 【When Linked】 and 【When Paired】 abilities fire at the moment it is established. 299 cards carry a Link line in our index, naming 129 different pilots, so a deck built around one pilot’s cards is a real build rather than a gimmick.
Where the exact wording lives
A keyword is only as precise as the card that prints it, and this game prints its reminder text inside the brackets. We reproduce the official text rather than paraphrasing it, so the card page for any card here shows the exact line you would read on the physical card. For the field-by-field tour first, the how to read a card page walks the printed layout, and the card types page covers what each of the nine types is for.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common keyword in the GUNDAM CARD GAME?
By timing words, Burst, which appears on 252 cards, ahead of Deploy on 191. By standing keywords, Blocker, on 94 cards. Burst and Deploy say when an ability fires; Blocker says how a Unit defends.
What is the difference between angle brackets and corner brackets?
Angle brackets print a standing keyword that is always on, such as <Blocker> or <First Strike>. Corner brackets print a timing word that introduces an ability and says when it fires, such as 【Deploy】 or 【During Link】.
What does Blocker do?
Blocker lets a Unit rest to pull an attack onto itself instead of letting the attack reach its original target. 94 cards in the game print it, which makes it the main defensive keyword.
Do the keyword counts include reprints?
They count every card we index, whatever product it came from. A keyword that appears in several products is counted once per card, so a widely reprinted effect reads as a higher number.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- GUNDAM CARD GAME official card database (Bandai) — card entries for the whole game, including printed name, number, rarity, level, cost, colour, type, AP, HP, zone, traits, link, source series and effect text. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- Bandai — GUNDAM CARD GAME product pages, for set names, codes and release information used here.
Card data is quoted from the official card database at the date cited and is subject to change. This page is identification and set data, not valuation: we publish no price for Gundam cards, because there is no sales source we can stand behind for the game.
Related reading
- Gundam Cards — the full index
- How to read a GUNDAM CARD GAME card
- Card types in the GUNDAM CARD GAME, counted
- How to build a first GUNDAM CARD GAME deck
Where to go next
- The CardSpicy card index — every card we track, with its PSA 10 population and market history (195 cards).
- The illustrator index — every artist behind those cards, card by card (110 artists).
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