Every Ablative Armor Found In Collectible Card Games
Have you ever been on eBay and thought to yourself, “I wonder what’s ablative on here”? No, of course not. No one but me does that. But I do do that, because…well, now that I think of it, I’m not sure why. But in my search to bring new information to this site about the Model 23 Iron Man Ablative Armor, I go out searching.
While ablative armor of a kind does exist in the real world — most often on heat shields to protect returning spacecraft — it’s such a cool concept that it’s often found in science fiction and fantasy. So much so that when you type “ablative armor” into Google, the first result after the Wikipedia entry is for the ablative armor found in Star Trek. So when I’m someplace like eBay and I type in ablative, I get…a bunch of paint. Ablative paint I don’t need. And ablative skincare treatments. Again, no thanks.
BUT there are a surprising number of collectible card games (CCG) that utilize ablative armor, and I have enough interest in the subject that I can write about those. I have gathered them all here for you, because no one else would. And you demanded it (no one demanded it).
Still, would you like to know what they are? Of course you would, you’re just that cool!
Star Trek CCG
Star Trek might be full of technobabble, but at least the ablative armor they mention is real! Sure, it might not be ablative armor as we understand it, but it follows the same principle. Various types of ablative armor are found on the upgraded USS Voyager as well as the USS Defiant and USS Prometheus.
When it comes to Star Trek’s CCG, the card is called “Ablative Armor” and is an Equipment card.
Terminator CCG
How many Terminator movies are there now? I’m going to guess six. Let me check Google.
Yup, six.
It also had a collectible card game. Were there really enough people interested in Terminator lore demanding a card game? This CCG came out in 2000, and apparently it also used dice. The card in question is “Dermal Ablative Armor.”
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle CCG
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle was the second-ever CCG after Magic: The Gathering (Vampire was originally called Jyhad, then changed its name after the first edition.)
The card in question is called “Ablative Skin.” I must have variants from two different editions, as the cards are slightly different.
X-Wing Miniatures
Star Ware: X-Wing Miniatures isn’t technically a CCG, even though it uses cards. Wikipedia calls it a “miniatures war game.” Do I know what that means? I do not. I’m getting so crotchety that, for me, Star Wars canon ended in 1983.
For my purposes, there’s only one card that’s worth mentioning from this game: “Ablative Plating.”
Horizon Zero Dawn
Again, not technically a CCG. Horizon Zero Dawn is a video game, but it also has an offshoot board game. This card, “Ablative Armour” (woooo! British “u”!) shows armor that’s…well, I don’t really see anything ablative about it. But the concept of ablation seems too cool not to use once you know about it.
Magic: The Gathering CCG
The granddaddy of all CCG games, Magic: The Gathering does not technically have an ablation card. “Erase: Not the Urza’s Legacy One” is from a M:TG joke expansion called “Unhinged” and is therefore not tournament legal. I wouldn’t try it against friends, either.
If you’re wondering why it’s here, you’ve got to read the flavor text: “Synonyms for ‘erase’ we haven’t used: ablate, abrade, chafe, fray, frazzled, scuff, and scrub.”
And That’s About It
If anybody knows why I went to all this trouble to point out a bunch of cards not even related to Iron Man’s Ablative Armor, please email me.
