In 2004 Wizards of the Coast released the first set of the G.I.Joe ARAH Trading Card Game. The game was designed by some of the biggest legendary names over at Wizards of the Coast: Aaron Forsythe Director of Magic R&D and a former Magic: The Gathering pro-player, Robert Gutschera director of development at Wizards of the Coast and Mark Rosewater. The first set of 114 cards was released during the G.I. Joe Valor vs Venom line and had a decent marketing push, along side of a huge toy launch and cartoon.
The game was supported by a two player G.I. Joe Trading Card Game Starter Pack that was filled with tons of awesome product to get you playing. The box contained:
- G.I.Joe starter Deck, with Exclusive Foil Duke card
- Cobra starter Deck, with Exclusive Foil Cobra Commander card
- Booster Pack
- Rules Book
- Play Mat with a massive Poster on the flip side
- Devil’s Due Mini Comic
The basic rules of the game are G.I. joe vs Cobra and the last man standing wins. Much like Magic: The Gathering cards with highest total after all effects are resolved win, and are discarded to your graveyard. But the G.I. Joe Trading Card Game had a special second combat phase that was called Firefight, that used cards drawn from your library with special bullet and target markers to destroy cards from the field of battle.
The second set of the G.I. Joe Trading Card Game was called Armored Strike! This set had 78 cards and introduced G.I. Joe and Cobra Vehicles into the combat steps of the game, allowing for a more complex battle with Drivers manning their Vehicles for extra combat power and abilities. Armored Strike also featured more Vintage G.I. Joe ARAH Art like the Skystriker and H.I.S.S. Tank cards, along with many more classic vehicles.
Unfortunately the game was short lived and Wizards of the Coast stopped developing new sets of cards. The reason we have chosen to bring this old G.I. Joe Card Game back into the spotlight is two fold. First, we wanted to share some of the awesome art and quality of product that went into these card sets with the community. Second, who would like to see a revised attempt by Wizards of the Coast to bring us a new G.I. Joe Trading Card Game?
I know personally I would be all for an awesome G.I. Joe Trading Card Game that functions more like the basic rules of Magic: The Gathering with casting cost of cards and similar turn steps. The possibilities are endless, you could have the basic land of MTG, turn into basic base cards that feature the PIT and the Terrordrome, along with all the other lore, and content that goes with G.I. Joe and Cobra. I personally feel there is a lot of potential for a version of this game that would appeal with all fans, maybe even use the Star Wars X-Wing style of play that included miniatures of vehicles. It’s an untapped market for Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast… Lets hope that one day will get a second chance for a great card game in the Modern Era of G.I. Joe Collecting.
We have set up a poll and discussion thread after the jump for those of you who want to sound off with their own ideas on a new game format. See you on the flip side….
DESTRO says
G.I. Joe Trading Card Game By Wizards of the Coast Poll
G.I. Joe Trading Card Game By Wizards of the Coast - HissTank.com
I cracked both of these sealed booster boxes for this article. I gotta say I got over it after looking at the pulls from those boxes. Well worth the destruction of rare sealed product. Now the hunt to replace those boosters begins.....
Night Viper 143 says
What is great about this game is that it is simple enough to play with your kids when they are young.
Im looking forward to breaking it out again in a few more years for the grandsons.
DESTRO says
Im looking forward to breaking it out again in a few more years for the grandsons.
Hasbro has never tried something like this in the modern era of collecting and I think with the addition of heavy web base connected fans this could take off for G.I. Joe.
My biggest fear is that Hasbro and Wizards take a look at this and decide to do it for Transformers......
C.I.A.D. says
Shhhhhh...they'll hear you. >.>
skinny says
Cards heck yeah, just put all the game info on the back and some killer art for each card on the front, so I can collect trading cards and ignore the game.
diagnull says
I only found out about the game last year, which led to binge purchases to collect as many of the cards as I could.
The art on a lot of the cards hasn't aged well though, and some of the character choices were...odd, so I started making my own cards using art from the defunct Battleground mobile game.
In fact, I was playing a quick game earlier today!
-d
diagnull says
Oh! And in my enthusiasm for a 10+ years old game, I set up a wikia for it:
G.I.Joe TCG Wiki - Wikia
Which I never finished, but hey, I got scans of all the cards at least!
-d
captain N says
I have all ways been a fan of G.i. Joe card sets.
C.I.A.D. says
G.I.Joe TCG Wiki - Wikia
Which I never finished, but hey, I got scans of all the cards at least!
-d
That is awesome!
nero9000 says
G.I.Joe TCG Wiki - Wikia
Which I never finished, but hey, I got scans of all the cards at least!
-d
Is this game available anywhere for a decent price?
Keep reading: G.I. Joe Trading Card Game By Wizards of the Coast Poll - Page 2
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