Naruto Card Game vs Naruto Mythos: are they the same game?
No.
They are two different games, from two different companies, on two different schedules. The NARUTO CARD GAME is Bandai’s, announced on 18 June 2026 and releasing worldwide in 2027. Naruto Mythos is published by CICABOOM S.r.l. of Genoa, Italy, under an official Naruto licence, and has been on sale since 13 March 2026. Only one of them is playable today, and it is Mythos.
Sources: animenewsnetwork.comprnewswire.comnarutotcgmythos.comnarutotcgmythos.com
Last updated: Updated after Bandai’s 29 July reveal, which published its game’s card types, resource and win condition.
Side by side
Where a cell says “Not announced”, that is the literal state of the information. Bandai described how its game is played on 29 July 2026, but has still announced no products and no prices for anything playable.
Publisher
- NARUTO CARD GAME
- BANDAI CO., LTD. — BANDAI CARD GAMES
- Naruto Mythos
- CICABOOM S.r.l., Genoa, Italy — under official Naruto licence
Release
- NARUTO CARD GAME
- Summer 2027, worldwide and simultaneous — no month announced
- Naruto Mythos
- 13 March 2026 — Europe, UK, Turkey and the MENA region
Rules published
- NARUTO CARD GAME
- An overview since 29 July 2026 — card types, resource and win condition, but no full rulebook
- Naruto Mythos
- Yes — full official how-to-play
How you win
- NARUTO CARD GAME
- Reduce the opponent’s Leader’s Life to 0
- Naruto Mythos
- The player with the most total mission points
Deck rules
- NARUTO CARD GAME
- 51 cards, 5 Chakra cards and 1 Summon card; copy limits not announced
- Naruto Mythos
- Maximum 2 copies per collection number
Languages
- NARUTO CARD GAME
- Site in 4 editions (JP, EN Global, EN Asia, Traditional Chinese); print languages not announced
- Naruto Mythos
- English, Italian, Spanish, French
North America
- NARUTO CARD GAME
- Covered by the Summer 2027 worldwide release
- Naruto Mythos
- Via distributor Zvezdar — pre-release from 29 August 2026 in the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean
Organized play
- NARUTO CARD GAME
- Not announced
- Naruto Mythos
- Store Championships announced 19 June 2026; first European Championship in March 2027
Announced price
- NARUTO CARD GAME
- Official Playmat, $35 (+tax), Gen Con attendees only
- Naruto Mythos
- No official MSRP published; retail example — CHF 24.90 for the Konoha Shidō Starter Pack
| NARUTO CARD GAME | Naruto Mythos | |
|---|---|---|
| Publisheranimenewsnetwork.comnarutotcgmythos.com | BANDAI CO., LTD. — BANDAI CARD GAMES | CICABOOM S.r.l., Genoa, Italy — under official Naruto licence |
| Statusprnewswire.comnarutotcgmythos.com | Announced, not released | On sale |
| Releasenaruto-cardgame.comnarutotcgmythos.comcbr.com | Summer 2027, worldwide and simultaneous — no month announced | 13 March 2026 — Europe, UK, Turkey and the MENA region |
| First setnaruto-cardgame.comcbr.com | Not announced | Konoha Shidō (木ノ葉始動) |
| Rules publishednaruto-cardgame.comnarutotcgmythos.com | An overview since 29 July 2026 — card types, resource and win condition, but no full rulebook | Yes — full official how-to-play |
| Game lengthnarutotcgmythos.com | Not announced | Exactly 4 rounds |
| How you winnaruto-cardgame.comnarutotcgmythos.com | Reduce the opponent’s Leader’s Life to 0 | The player with the most total mission points |
| Deck rulesnaruto-cardgame.comnarutotcgmythos.com | 51 cards, 5 Chakra cards and 1 Summon card; copy limits not announced | Maximum 2 copies per collection number |
| Formatsnarutotcgmythos.com | Not announced | Standard, Draft, Sealed |
| Languagesnaruto-cardgame.comnarutotcgmythos.com | Site in 4 editions (JP, EN Global, EN Asia, Traditional Chinese); print languages not announced | English, Italian, Spanish, French |
| North Americaprnewswire.comcbr.com | Covered by the Summer 2027 worldwide release | Via distributor Zvezdar — pre-release from 29 August 2026 in the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean |
| Organized playnarutotcgmythos.comnarutotcgmythos.com | Not announced | Store Championships announced 19 June 2026; first European Championship in March 2027 |
| Announced pricenaruto-cardgame.comcardmaniac.ch | Official Playmat, $35 (+tax), Gen Con attendees only | No official MSRP published; retail example — CHF 24.90 for the Konoha Shidō Starter Pack |
| Playable todayprnewswire.comnarutotcgmythos.com | No | Yes |
How Naruto Mythos actually plays
This is the half of the comparison where real rules exist, because Cicaboom has published them.
Two players face off as the Kage of their villages. A game lasts exactly 4 rounds, and “the player with the most total mission points” wins.
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
Every round runs four phases in order: Start Phase, Action Phase, Mission Phase, End Phase.
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
In the Start Phase each player gets a base of 5 Chakra, draws 2 cards, and a new Mission is put into play. The base Chakra is “increased by how many characters in play they have”, and any unspent Chakra is discarded in the End Phase.
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
There is no cap on board size: “There is no limit to the number of characters you can place on the field; you are only limited by your available Chakra.”
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
Deck building allows at most two copies of a 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”.
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
Missions climb in rank across the game (D, then C, then B, then A) and are worth progressively more Mission Points. The Mission Phase compares each side’s total Power and awards the Mission to the higher value.
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
Three signature wrinkles: Hidden Characters can be played face down for bluffs and surprise reveals, Upgrades swap a character for a stronger version by paying the Chakra difference, and an Edge token decides who goes first.
Source: thecardvault.co.uk
Naruto Mythos products and rarities
What is in the boxes, and which numbers are firm versus merely reported.
Set 1, Konoha Shidō, was reported at release as 152 cards across Common, Uncommon, Rare, Secret and a Legendary card finished in 22-carat gold leaf. We print that figure as reported rather than as settled — check any card count against the publisher’s own card gallery before relying on it.
Source: cbr.com
The gold Legendary is certified by the Florentine gold-leaf house Giusto Manetti Battiloro and exists in roughly 2,000 English copies worldwide; the four Konoha Shidō Secret Variants are numbered to 75 English copies.
Source: cottiertcg.com.au
Beyond the five standard rarities there is an exclusive “Mythos” rarity, reserved for special events and tournaments.
Source: cbr.com
A booster pack holds 10 cards: 1 Mission Card, 4 Common, 3 Uncommon, 1 HOLO and 1 Rare/Secret/Legendary. A display box holds 24 boosters.
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
The Starter Pack 1st Edition contains 2 limited HOLO cards, 1 MAXI card, 4 booster packs, the rulebook and a token. A Starter Pack 2nd Edition reprint with different special cards also exists — they are not the same product — alongside a 16-page, 9-pocket Collector Binder in three cover variants.
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
The game had its world premiere as a demo at Spiel Essen 2025, where thousands of players tried it; the commercial release came later, in March 2026.
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
Two traps when you buy
Konoha Shidō exists in a First Edition (March 2026) and a Second Edition (May 2026) with different contents — they are not interchangeable.
Sources: narutotcgmythos.comnarutotcgmythos.com
And a caveat of our own, with no source to hang it on: the card counts quoted for this game vary between the sites that publish them. Check any total against the publisher’s own card gallery before treating it as fact.
The Naruto Mythos roadmap
Cicaboom publishes a roadmap and has been announcing against it through 2026.
The official roadmap lists Konoha Shidō First Edition on 13 March 2026, a Second Edition in May 2026 (with an Itachi & Sasuke Starter Pack and four team sets), Set 2 in summer 2026, Set 3 in autumn 2026, a first European Championship in March 2027, and “new language versions and international expansion” in 2027.
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
Set 2 is Shinobi Shiren, announced on 17 April 2026 for September 2026. The published roadmap had listed Set 2 under a “summer 2026” slot.
Set 3 is Akatsuki, announced on 27 May 2026. It covers the Naruto Shippuden era and marks the entry into new markets.
Source: narutotcgmythos.com
North America comes through distributor Zvezdar, debuting at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, with a Konoha Shidō pre-release from 29 August 2026 across the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, and a worldwide rollout announced for November without specific dates.
Source: cbr.com
And there is a third thing: Naruto Kayou
Worth naming, because it muddies the same searches.
Naruto Kayou is a separate, collector-oriented Naruto card product, with no competitive scene and no localised European or French version. It is neither Bandai’s game nor Cicaboom’s.
Source: pakushop.com
So which one are you looking for?
If you want to play a Naruto card game now
Naruto Mythos. On sale since 13 March 2026 across Europe, the UK, Turkey and the MENA region, in English, Italian, Spanish and French, with Standard, Draft and Sealed formats. North America gets a pre-release from 29 August 2026 through the distributor Zvezdar.
If you are waiting for Bandai’s
It launches worldwide in 2027, with no date announced. Its first playable outing is Gen Con 2026, 30 July to 2 August. Everything known about it lives on our Naruto Card Game tracker.
Sources: prnewswire.comnaruto-cardgame.com
Still unresolved
Neither publisher has addressed the following, and nobody credible has the answers yet.
- How the two licences coexist from 2027 — neither company has said anything about the overlap, or about what happens to Mythos after Bandai launches
- Official Cicaboom MSRP in USD or EUR — the figures in circulation are retailer and reseller prices
- Exact dates for the November 2026 worldwide Mythos rollout, announced only as a month
- Minimum and maximum deck size in Naruto Mythos — the official how-to-play states only the 2-copy limit
- Whether Naruto Mythos gets official TCGplayer distribution in the US, and when
- The exact size of the Naruto Mythos card database — third-party trackers disagree with each other
Sources
Every claim on this page traces back to one of these. External links open in a new tab.
- BANDAI CARD GAMES Reveals NARUTO CARD GAME — press release mirror animenewsnetwork.com
- BANDAI CARD GAMES Reveals NARUTO CARD GAME — press release prnewswire.com
- NARUTO CARD GAME — official site (English) naruto-cardgame.com
- NARUTO CARD GAME at Gen Con 2026 — official announcement naruto-cardgame.com
- Naruto Mythos TCG — official site narutotcgmythos.com
- Naruto Mythos TCG — How to play narutotcgmythos.com
- Naruto Mythos TCG — Products narutotcgmythos.com
- Naruto Mythos TCG — News narutotcgmythos.com
- Naruto Mythos TCG — Official roadmap narutotcgmythos.com
- Naruto Mythos TCG — The first expansion now has an official release date narutotcgmythos.com
- Naruto Mythos TCG gets a March 13 release date cbr.com
- Naruto Mythos TCG heads to North America after SDCC 2026 cbr.com
- Naruto Mythos Trading Card Game — everything you need to know thecardvault.co.uk
- Naruto Mythos TCG review — worth collecting? cottiertcg.com.au
- Naruto Mythos TCG — retailer listing cardmaniac.ch
- Naruto Mythos TCG — overview (incl. Naruto Kayou) pakushop.com
Combalo is an independent, unofficial fan project. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by BANDAI CO., LTD., Shueisha, Cicaboom S.r.l., or any card-game publisher. "NARUTO", "NARUTO CARD GAME", "Naruto Mythos" and all related names, logos and artwork are the trademarks and copyrights of their respective owners. This page reports publicly available information and cites its sources.