Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game

The Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game was released in 2005. The game is based off of the hit anime show, Fullmetal Alchemist. It currently has 5 sets, Premier Edition, Blood & Water, Artificial Human, A Hero's Passing, and Alchemist's Gate. The game is currently run and owned by Joyride Entertainment.

Booster Pack and Starter Decks

The Booster packs so far are called the Premier Edition, Blood & Water, Artificial Human, A Hero's Passing, and the recently released, Alchemist's Gate. There are 11 cards per pack, on the average 1 Rare, 3 Uncommons, and 7 Commons. Rare Inserts are Transmutated (1:80 packs) Chase and Chase Exclusive, (1:24 packs) Player's Choice cards, (1:1 Only in A Hero's Passing) and Signature cards, (1:200) SIG cards are only in A Hero's Passing and Alchemist's Gate. Mispacks have been reported with Promotional cards.

Theme Decks for Hero's Passing are Maes Hughes, Alphonse Elric, Scar, and Envy. Theme Decks for Artificial Human are Alex Louis Armstrong and Edward Elric. Theme Decks for Blood & Water are Scar and Roy Mustang. Theme Decks for Premier Edition are Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, Lust, Roy Mustang, and Father Cornello.

The next set, Seven Deadly Sins, is expected in later 2006 or early 2007.

Card Rarity

The rarity of the cards is as follows:

Common: Just a regular card, has a C in the bottom right-hand corner. 7:1 pack.

Uncommon': Looks regular, but is a short-printed card. Has a U in the bottom right-hand corner. 3:1 pack.

Rare: Looks regular, but is even shorter printed than uncommon. Has an R in the bottom right-hand corner. These cards are usually better for gameplay, but some are exeptions. 1:1 pack.

Foil: Is holographic, And even rarer than rare. Can be any card in the base of the set. Has the card's rarity in the bottom right-hand corner. Most people prefer the holographic because they are rarer than the normal cards, and are prettier than the usual card, although the foil still has the same picture. 1:3 packs.

Fixed: These cards are found in all Starter and Theme decks. Premier Edition were normal cards, while all decks after fixed cards are foiled. Marked with the F in the bottom right corner. 1:1 Deck (Premier Edition) 3:1 Deck (All other sets)

Chase: A chase card is an alternate template print of a card in the base of the set. These cards are always foiled. An X is found in the lower right corner. 1:24 packs. Now 1:12 packs for Alchemist's Gate.

Chase Exclusive: Commonly referred to as "Black Film" or "Filmstrip" cards, these cards are only available as Chases. They have a unique design compared to other chase cards. These are only found as Leaders and Locations. These cards are usually better than the normal cards in the base of the set, but there are also exceptions. These are the most sought after cards. These have Xe in the bottom right corner. 1:24 Packs

Transmutated: Is see-through, completely clear except the pictures and the card's effects. Can only be Leader cards. Has a T in the bottom right-hand corner. 1:80 packs.

Player's Choice: Reprints of older cards (usually better ones). Only in A Hero's Passing. 1:1 They are maked with PC.

Signature Cards: Cards with a signature from the Voice Actor. 1:200 packs. Only A Hero's Passing and Alchemist's Gate. They are marked with SIG.

Promo: Most promos are only obtained from special events. Some promos have been reprinted or are reprints. They are marked with a PR****. The **** is the year, 2005/2006.

Heavy Duty: These are cards only given out at conventions by Joyride. They are given if you spend more than $20 at once. They are marked with HD. There are only 8 as of now.

Types of Cards

There are six known main types of cards:

Leader cards: Your leading character. Has a green flag in the top left-hand corner, with his or her command (the number of points he/she has to recruit allies and equip things to themselves) inside of it. If this character is defeated in battle, you must bring him back, you do not have a choice.

Ally cards: Characters you can recruit. Has a gold coin in the top left-hand corner, with the recruit cost inside of it. You can recruit as many allies as you want per turn, as long as your leader has the command to do it.

Event cards: Cards that you can play during the phase written on the cards. Usually has a cost of Alchemy, Wits, or Strength (designated in the top right-hand corner of the card as the symbol of alchemy, wits, or strength with a number inside of it).

Attachment cards: Usually cards you can equip to Ally or leader cards, or cards that help you in some way. Has a silver coin in the top-left hand corner, with a cost inside of them.

Location cards: Cards that have clue points on them. Has an incomplete philosopher's stone with a number inside of them, indicating the number of clue point they have. Also, they usually have an effect on them which benefits or hurts you and your opponent. These are the main cards with which you win.

Advantage: A blue card with the ally gold coin in the top left corner. These are played in the recruit phase, but don't count towards your maximum ally limit. You use command to play these, similar to allies.

Factions

There are four main factions. Factions designate who the recruit or leader is loyal to.

Elric: Has the snake-over-cross (crucified serpent) symbol, also called Flamel's Cadeuceus, in the upper right-hand corner. Cards like Edward Elric, Tim Marcoh and Alphonse Elric share this faction.

Rebel: Has Psiren's Transmutation Circle in the upper right hand corner. Cards like Scar, Father Cornello and Psiren share this faction.

Military: Has a Military Crest in the upper right-hand corner. Cards like Roy Mustang, Alex Louis Armstrong, Basque Grand and Maes Hughes share this faction.

Homunculi: Has an Ouroboros in the upper right-hand corner. Cards like Envy, Shou Tucker and Lust share this faction.

Unaligned: Not really a faction. It has no faction symbol, and these leaders get the recruit penalty for any ally that has a faction. The only factionless leader is Majhal. Also, note that unaligned allies do not have a recruit penalty, and can be played in your starting team.

Ally Types

In addition to a faction, Allies also have certain characteristics written on the card.

Ally card types:

Human
Sin
5th Laboratory
Construct
Spirit
Ishbalite
Soldier
State Alchemist
Chimera
Hero
Villain
Animal
Mob (can have more than one of these in play)
Alchemist (anyone with at least one alchemy, printed or added, is considered an alchemist, Alchemist type is not printed on cards)

Note that hero leaders cannot recruit villain allies, and vice-verca.

Attachment Types

Attachments also have their own types. No more than one of each type can be attached to a character.

Attachment card types:

Mark
Unique (Cannot have more than one of that card in play)
Auto-mail (May have upto 2 auto-mail attachments on a character)
Weapon
Armor
Item
Oath
Vehicle

Event Types

Train
Animal
Noble
Vile

Location Types/Areas

Liore
Ishbal
5th Laboratory
Dublith
East City
South City
Central City
Amestris
Aquoroya
Xenotime
Resembool
Rebel City

Phases of the game

These are the phases that one turn consists of.

Draw Phase: The phase in which you draw (Usually) Two cards from your deck

Power-up Phase: The Phase in which you either gain an experience by placing a card from the top of your deck under your leader or level your leader up by placing the correct amount of experience in the discard pile and placing your next leader on the field. You also reveal your locations in this phase.

Recruit Phase: The phase in which you can recruit allies to your team. You cannot recruit allies with more of a recruit cost than your leader has, though you can recruit more than one ally, as long as it equals or is lower than your leader's recruit points, altogether.

Main Phase: The phase in which you play main events or abilities, or play attachment cards.

Search Phase The phase in which your allies and leaders battle to win the current location. Note that you can lose the game if you send out all of your allies and your leader and they are all defeated. Whoever comes out with the current location's requirements win the location, and get as many location points as printed on the card.

Cleanup Phase: The phase in which your defeated allies are either saved or sent to the discard pile or defeated, and all set allies are unset.

Common Terminology

Set: The ally or leader is set, and cannot assign to a search party or attack, if already in a search party.

Defeated: The ally is flipped face-down and cannot assign to a search party, attack, and may be discarded at the end of the search phase.

RFG: The card is removed from the game.

Blocked: The attack is redirected to another opponent that has the block ability, by the opponent.

React: You use an event or ability to react to a specific thing.

Alchemy, wits, and strength events/abilities: Events that require a certain cost of an alchemy, wits, or strength.

Search, main, recruit, and battle events/abilities: Events or abilities that can only take place on the search, battle, recruit, or main phase, depending on what the text says.

Equivalent Exchange: Discarding a certain amount of cards to meet the cost of an event or ability.

Discard: Send a card from your hand to the discard pile.

Destroy: Send an attachment card from the field to the discard pile.

Sacrifice: Send an ally from the field to the discard pile to meet a certain cost.

Broken: A card that has such a good ability that it is almost unfair to the opposing player.

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