how to play

Learn the basics of Naruto Mythos TCG – Konoha Shidō and start playing in just minutes. An accessible system that rewards timing and foresight, featuring fast-paced matches and surprising strategic depth.

Card Types: Characters and Missions

There are two main types of cards you will use during the game:

Character Cards

These cards are played to assign ninjas to the Mission cards currently in play.

Mission Cards

All Mission cards give a reward of a base number of Mission points, as well as additional points based on their rank in play.

Anatomy of a Card: How to Read Them

Understanding the information on your cards is crucial for strategy.

Character card

Character Name

Character Version

Chakra Cost

Faction

Keywords

Effect

Power

  • Details character card

    Character Name: the name of the Character. You can have only one Character card with the same name per mission.  


    Character Version: a descriptor that differentiates the card from other cards with the same character name.  


    Chakra Cost: the amount of Chakra points required to play this card.  


    Power: the number that is applied to win a Mission card. 


    Keywords: they can be relevant in interactions with other cards and effects.  


    Faction: the character's faction, which may interact with other effects.  


    Effect: Cards with effects will have icons indicating their activation timing. "Istant" activates when the character is played face-up , while "Continuous" remains active as long as the character is face-up on the field.  

Title

Mission Points

Effect

Mission card

  • Details mission card

    Title: the title of the Mission.


    Mission Points: the base points awarded to the winner of this mission.


    Effect: effects that activate either during scoring or while in play.

Game Flow and Turn Structure

Every game of Naruto Mythos TCG takes place over exactly 4 Rounds. Here are the key steps to start and play a game:

Game setup

1. Determine initiative

Randomly determine a first player, that receives the Edge token. 

Edge token

2. Mission setup

Each player randomly chooses 2 Mission cards. Create the Missions deck.

3. Starting hand

Both players draw 5 cards into their hand to begin. They can shuffle and redraw once.

Game flow of a round

4. Start phase

At the start of each round, each player receives a base of 5 Chakra points, increased by how many characters in play they have, to play their Character cards in Missions. They also draw 2 cards, and add a new Mission in play . 

5. Action phase

Players take alternate turns on which they play Characters to Missions to try to win them. 

6. Mission evaluation phase

After each player ended their round, compare the total Power of the characters of each player on each mission. The highest total power in each mission determines who wins and scores that Mission. 

7. End phase

After a round is scored, pass to next round where there will be an additional mission in play. At the end of 4th round, the game is over and the player with the most total mission points wins the game.

Game Flow and Turn Structure

Every game of Naruto Mythos TCG takes place over exactly 4 Rounds. Here are the key steps to start and play a game:

1. Determine initiative

Each player rolls a die; the player with the highest roll decides who receives the Edge token to determine the first player.

Edge token

2. Mission setup

Each player chooses 2 Mission cards. The player with the Edge token shuffles these 4 cards to form the mission deck. Only the first mission is placed face-up, while the others remain face-down.

3. Starting hand

Both players draw 5 cards into their hand to begin.

4. Chakra pool

At the start of the game, each player receives a base of 5 Chakra points to play their Character cards. There is no limit to the number of characters you can place on the field; you are only limited by your available Chakra.

5. Determine the winner

After all characters have been played, compare the total Power of the characters for each player on the first mission.

2

1

+ 3

+ 1

= 3

= 4

Player 1:

Player 2:

Player 2 is the winner

6. Scoring

The player with the most Power wins that mission and earns the points printed on the Mission card.

Player 2 gains 3 points

7. Next Turn

Moving to turn 2, each player draws 2 cards from their deck.

Every Round is strictly divided into 4 phases:

1. Start phase

A new Mission card is revealed, and each player gains their Chakra points for the round.

2. Action phase

Players take turns playing 1 character onto a mission on the field.

3. Mission phase

Players sum up their total Power on the missions, and the player with the most Power wins the mission.

4. End phase

The round concludes, and both players discard any leftover Chakra points.

Check Out Our YouTube Channel!

Want to see these rules in action? Head over to our official YouTube channel for more in-depth content!

  • Full gameplay videos: watch complete matches to see strategies, card combos, and high-level play.
  • Detailed tutorials: learn the finer details of the game and master your skills.

Discover the first Naruto Mythos TCG Expansion

Step into Konoha Shidō, the first expansion of Naruto Mythos Trading Card Game.

This official guide reveals every detail of the set — from Common to Legendary cards — including rarities, numbering, and exclusive variants such as Rare ART, Secret, Mythos, and the prestigious Legendary Gold 22K.

Collection Guide

The official collector’s guide: card rarities explained, numbering, variants, and a full set checklist. Perfect to navigate the set and keep track of your collection.

Download the Official Rulebook

Your complete guide to correct play, with updated rules and helpful clarifications. Ideal for first games or a quick refresh before a match

FAQs and clarifications

Missions

  • How do I choose Missions?

    For casual play, you can just shuffle the Missions you have and draw randomly from there.


    In competitive play, each player brings 3 different missions together with their deck. You then create a Mission deck putting 2 random missions per player, alternated, so that the top one (Mission D) is from the player with the Edge at the start of the game. 

  • In earlier rounds, can I play characters in following Mission slots, even if there are no Missions there so they don’t get scored?

    No, those Mission don’t exist until their round comes and they are in play

  • What happens if you have 2 characters with the same Name in the same Mission?

    Normally this isn’t possible because you cannot on purpose play or activate effects to move a Character with the same name as another in the same Mission. If any effect out of your control forces you to have two Characters with the same name in the same Mission, discard the new one without applying the effects.

  • Can I put a Hidden Character with the same name as another non-hidden in the same Mission?

    Yes, but then you can’t play it anymore in that mission as long as the Character with the same name is there.

  • Can you win a Mission with total 0 Power?

    No, you need to have at least 1 total Power to win and score a Mission.

  • When I’m considered to be winning a mission?

    When you actually have more Power than the opponent in that mission. In case of a tie, the player currently holding the Edge is winning the mission at that moment.

  • Missions effects are optional?

    Like Normal effects, Instant effects are optional unless indicated differently. Continuous effects are always active.

Effects

  • I play a card with more than one target, for example Kabuto Yakushi (Nirvana Temple Jutsu). In which order do I hide the characters? If another continuous effect modifies their powers during this resolution, what happens?

    The effect is applied to all of them at the same time. Effects that modify the Power of the Characters would be applied again after your Kabuto’s effect is fully resolved.


    So in the example in the question, if you can’t hide a character A with higher power than Kabuto, because it is strengthened by another card B’s continuous effect, when with the Kabuto effect you hide the B card that is strengthening A, you can’t now hide also A, because they all get hidden at the same time. 

  • If I pass and take the Edge and my opponent starts taking multiple turns, and after playing a 3 cost Shikamaru Shadow Possession Jutsu then decides to activate the Ambush effect, does it still move the last card I played several turns ago, or does it not move anything because the previous turn was my opponents?

    You count only the last opponent’s turn, so if you take multiple turns, you can’t move anybody with Shikamaru - Shadow Possession Jutsu.

Specific cards

  • Sasuke Uchiha (Heaven Curse Mark) can be played if there are no targets in the mission? What happens if I choose a character that can’t be defeated?

    “If able” refers to the whole effect, so if there are targets you must choose and defeat, if there are no targets you can play it anyway. For example, if you upgrade and you have a friendly character but there is no enemy character in the mission, you still defeat yours.

  • With Sakura Haruno (The Leaf Medical Corps) I look at 3 cards from the top of the deck and I play one. Can I choose not to play anything?

    No, if you can, you have to play a character. You can’t decide to ignore parts of the effect

  • All Jiraiya cards say “ play a summon character anywhere”. Can I play also a hidden summon? If I do, can I play it into a different mission?

    Yes, you can play it from hidden, because revealing a hidden card into a mission is considered to play it. No, you can not move it around, as hidden characters can be revealed and played only in their mission, unless specified otherwise. “Anywhere” is meant to reinforce the fact you don’t have to play the summon only in the mission where you play Jiraiya.

  • I want to play Ino Yamanaka (Mind transfer Jutsu) to take control of a character of which I already have one of the same name in this mission on my side. What happens?

    You can never willingly act so that you create a situation where there are two characters with the same Name in the same side of a mission, so you cannot choose to steal that character. Same works for other card effects, for example with Kakashi (Curse Sealing): you cannot discard the Orochimaru (Reanimation) on top of an enemy character if under it there is a character of the same name of another character in the opponent’s side of the mission

  • If my opponent has the 4 cost Tsunade Mitotic Regeneration in play, and I defeat one of their hidden characters, does the hidden card get revealed before returning to their hand, or not?

    No, Tsunade’s effect replaces the normal defeat effects, so the hidden character goes to your hand instead of the discard where it would get revealed.

  • Kin Tsuchi - Kunoichi and Zaku Abumi - Overconfident Shinobi , have an effect that is beneficial to the opponent. Considering effects without MUST are optional, can I avoid them?

    No, this effect is not optional, please read it as the opponent MUST draw/gain chakra. We will fix it in further reprints.

  • Rashomon (Summoning) puts the biggest enemy character to 0 Power and removes its power tokens. How does it work? Does it switch target continuously?

    Rashomon has a continuous effect that locks on the strongest enemy character in the mission.  It works at the same time as other static continous effects.  To check Rashomon’s target: ignore its effect, identify the strongest enemy character and make it lose all Power tokens and set to Power 0. Every time the state of the mission changes, you need to identify again the target: for example, if a new character is played in that mission, or Rashomon is moved, or the target of Rashomon leaves play, get’s moved or hidden.

  • I have a Kurenai (Teacher Of Team 8) and a cost 3 Hinata (Byakugan) on the same mission. I want to play as an upgrade a cost 5 Hinata (Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms) on top of the cost 3. How much do I pay?

    To play an upgrade you pay the difference between the previous character and the one you play. So you should pay 2. That cost gets reduced by 1 by Kurenai, so you end up paying 1. If you have additional reductions, it could end up upgrading for free (you don’t get Chakra back for over-discounting).

  • I have a Kurenai (Teacher Of Team 8) in play. My opponent plays a team 8 Character in the same mission. Does it get discounted?

    Yes, Kurenai doesn’t say “friendly”. Same works for some other Characters, like Sakura - Genin of team 7

  • Kakashi (Sharingan) and other cards copy an instant effect. Do they also copy ambush and upgrade effects?

    Yes, if not specified differently they do, if they have the required condition: for example, if you play Sakon (Black Seal), and you want to copy an ambush effect, you must play it while hidden. If you want to copy an Upgrade effect, you must play as Upgrade. If a character has an UPGRADE that modifies another effect, you can't copy that part because it does nothing by itself. 

  • Kabuto Yakushi (Infiltrator) allows me to play a hidden character from the top of the opponent’s deck. How does it work if that card gets defeated or returned to hand?

    For all purposes that card is considered to be under your control like for the Take Control effects. This works also for all effects that allow you to use your opponent's card.

  • I play Sasuke Uchiha - Chidori and must move all my friendly characters from this mission. I have a Naruto Uzumaki in this mission, and one other Naruto in each other Mission available. What happens?

    It says you must move, if able. In this case you are not able, so Naruto stays

    in Sasuke’s Mission.

  • I play Itachi Uchiha (Tsukuyomi) and the opponent discards all cards in hand. In which order?

    They are the Decider and can discard in the order they like, it doesn’t say randomly.

  • Shino Aburame (Wall of Insects Jutsu) says move in this mission. Does it mean from or to this mission?

    It has the same effect as a “ move to this mission” effect. It is the only card that shows “move in” instead of “move to”, it will be made more consistent on all further cards.

  • Shino Aburame (Insect Clones) says it gets played discounted if the opponent has a “Jutsu” character, but the effect is an “instant” instead of a "continuous" like other similar discount effects. Is this effect different?

    No, please consider it as a "continuous" effect. MAIN ⧗ If there is an enemy Jutsu character in this mission, you can play this character while hidden paying 4 less

  • Genma Shiranui - Elite Guard - can sacrifice to protect a friendly character. If an effect defeats or hides all my characters, including Genma, can he protect, and how many characters?

    Genma's trigger says "if a friendly character WOULD be defeated or hidden". It means all your characters are going to be defeated or hidden, including Genma. When that is happening, Genma triggers and being more recent, he can sacrifice to save one friendly leaf village character. 

Upgrade

  • Can I upgrade a Character with one that comes out of Hidden condition?

    Yes, you can. Playing a card from Hidden condition is like playing it from hand, but locked to that Mission only.

  • What happens when an upgraded card leaves play?

    Whenever a card leaves play, for example by being defeated or taken back to hand, all cards under that specific card are discarded.

  • Can I play an Upgrade character even if it has no Upgrade ability?

    Yes, you can always upgrade a character with a higher cost version.

  • I took control of a character from the opponent. I then Upgrade over it because I had a higher cost version of the same character in my hand. Do i give it back?

    If it gets Upgraded over, its now a single card with the top Character so it stays there.

Frendly and Enemy

  • What do Friendly and Enemy mean?

    Enemy means on the the opponent’s side. All opponent’s characters are considered Enemy Character.


    Friendly means on your side. Your Characters are considered Friendly to all your other Characters. A character isn't a Friend of itself ;)

  • Some cards say Friendly characters, some other cards say “ other Friendly characters” or “another Friendly character”. Is there a difference?

    No, it has the same effect. The definitions will be aligned in future reprints.

  • If I take control of an Enemy Character does it become a Friendly Character? If it leaves play, where does it go?

    Yes, it becomes Friendly while under your control. If it leaves play, for example being defeated or taken back to hand, it goes back to their owner keeping the current state, for example defeated or in hand.

Chakra and Power

  • Can characters have negative Power?

    Yes

  • Chakra +1 means I get 1 chakra immediately?

    No, Chakra +x is a keyword in the glossary of the rulebook. It is a static effect, that provides x additional Chakra at the start of the round. You don't get anything when you play the card. 

The weakest and the strongest

  • What is the weakest character? And the strongest?

    The weakest character is the one with the lowest Power, while the strongest character is the one with the highest Power. Most effects target a single weakest or strongest character. If multiple characters are tied, you may choose which one is affected. Other effects target all the weakest or all the strongest characters. In that case, if there are multiple tied targets, the effect applies to all of them.

Alt cards

  • How do variant - alt art cards work?

    Check the number and expansion on the bottom of the card: cards with the same collection number count as the same card so you can’t have more than 2 of the same one in your deck, even if the illustration is different.

Hidden

  • Can Hidden Characters receive Power Tokens? What happens if a Character with Power tokens becomes hidden?

    A Hidden Character is a normal Character with cost 0 and Power 0, without any Keyword or Faction. They can normally receive Power Tokens.


    Characters with Power Tokens keep them if they change state between Hidden and not Hidden

  • If a card effect lets me “play a character”, can I put a hidden character in play? Can I play a character while hidden?

    You can put a hidden character in play only from your hand with the standard action, paying 1, or through an effect that allows you to do so. You can play in their mission a character that is already hidden in that mission.

Deck

  • What happens when my deck runs out of cards?

    You stop drawing even when an effect asks you to do so.

  • Can the discard pile be reorganized? What happens when multiple characters are defeated at the same time?

    You cannot reorganise your discard pile. If an effect puts multiple cards in the discard pile, the decider of the effect decides in which order they get defeated, so the order the cards enter the discard pile.

  • Some cards say “discard a card”. From where?

    When not specified, it means “ from hand”.

Tournament

  • The game is over and we are tied in mission points. Who wins?

    Who has the Edge at the end of the game. 

  • We are playing with time limit and the time is over. How do we proceed?

    If for any reason a match goes over the time limit, let the current turn player finish their turn. Then, the next player can have a final turn. Then both players must PASS in their following turn. Proceed to scoring the missions normally. You will not play any other rounds.

Translation

  • I saw a card that in english has a different text than in another language. What is correct? I saw a promo alternative art that has different stats/effect than the basic card, which is correct?

    Unfortunately misprints and mistakes can happen. Always consider the basic core card of the english language, as shown in the card gallery of the website, as the correct one.

  • Can I use cards in any language to play?

    Yes, as long as you can provide, on request, english text or text in a language your opponent can understand (even digital is fine).