NARUTO CARD GAME Starter Decks: Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara, everything Bandai has said

The Starter Decks are the first thing most people will buy, and the first thing most people search for. Here is the whole of what Bandai has published about them, which is less than the search volume suggests, and what you can already read into it from the cards on the table.

What Bandai announced

On the NARUTO: What's Next? stage at New York Comic Con on October 10, 2026, and on its site report three days later, Bandai announced three Starter Decks for a June 2027 worldwide release:

The English report describes all three in two sentences: "These 3 pre-constructed decks, themed around Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Gaara, contain all the cards you need to start the game, letting you enjoy them right out of the box. With different leaders at the helm, you'll use the unique skillsets of your Ninjas, and your own game winning strategy, to battle with an opponent!" The Japanese page says the same: cards pre-assembled so you can start a match right after purchase, each deck built around a different Leader.

That is the complete published description. The names above are ours, built from the character each deck is "themed around"; Bandai has not printed a product name beyond "Starter Decks" and the artwork.

What is not announced

Every item in this list is missing from Bandai's pages as of October 15, 2026, and will be filled in on the products page the day it appears:

• Deck codes. Codes in the ST-01 to ST-03 pattern circulate in trade listings. They are not on any Bandai page and we do not treat them as official.
• Card count and card list. Not a single card has been attributed to a specific Starter Deck.
• Price. No MSRP in any currency, for any region.
• Day in June. Bandai says June 2027 and nothing finer.
• Exclusives. Whether the decks hold cards that Booster Pack 01 does not.

What the revealed cards tell you

Bandai's July reveal already showed two Leaders, and they map onto two of the three decks. Naruto Uzumaki N-001 is Red and Sasuke Uchiha N-012 is Blue; both start at 15 Life with DMG 1 and POW 3. The 22 named Character cards revealed so far split along the same line: Red for the Leaf and Naruto's allies (Jiraiya, Minato, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Hinata, Gamabunta), Blue for Sasuke's circle (Itachi, Shisui, Orochimaru, Karin, Suigetsu, Sakura, Manda). If the Naruto and Sasuke decks are built from these pools, you have already seen a large part of them; Bandai has not confirmed that they are.

Gaara is the one with nothing behind it. The only Gaara card shown is the C-005 Chakra Card, which carries his art over the same text as every other Chakra card. No Gaara Leader, no Sand Village Characters and no third colour have been revealed. The sensible reading is that the Gaara deck will show the game's third faction, and that Jump Festa in December is where Bandai would do it; that is inference, not announcement.

The demo decks used at conventions and at the Premier Demo Events are a "Naruto Deck" and a "Sasuke Deck", which Bandai says cannot be taken home. They are teaching decks, and Bandai has not said they match the retail Starter Decks.

What a Starter Deck has to contain

Bandai's published construction rules ask for 1 Leader, a 50-card main deck, exactly 5 Chakra cards and exactly 1 Summon card. A deck that is playable "right out of the box" has to cover those slots, so the minimum a Starter Deck can hold is 57 cards, unless the retail rules differ from the ones published for the reveal. The rules page carries the construction rules with their source, and the deck builder checks a list against them.

The Chakra Set vol.00, sold at Premier Demo Events from January 2027, holds five Chakra cards and one Summon card. That is exactly the Chakra and Summon slot of one deck, which is why it exists before the game does; whether the Starter Decks contain the same printings is not stated.

Buying one

Bandai's retailer page lists the official distributors by region, and our by-country guide says what that means for where you live. Until Bandai sets a price, any pre-order is a deposit against an unknown; the pre-order guide explains how to tell a placeholder from a real listing.

When this page changes

Bandai's report ends with "The next big reveal is coming in December 2026, at Jump Festa!", which runs December 19 to 20, 2026 at Makuhari Messe (event page). Deck contents, codes and prices are the obvious candidates. We crawl Bandai's site daily and update this page, the products page and the release-date page from the same facts.