Tactical Retreat is a collectible Battle card that can be obtained from the Mixed Booster Pack.
Effect[]
This card can only be played by the unit on the defending side of the battle. Upon use, the player flees the battle in exchange for giving the challenger the stars paid to use the card. The card fails if the challenger uses a Battle card, in which case, the player still loses stars but does not give them to the challenger.
Strategy[]
Tactical Retreat allows the user to prevent battles from taking place for a modest star cost. It is best used in order to avoid the effects of temporary combat modifiers, such as boost or event cards or Field Events, such as . As such, is is a great counter to one-time buff cards like 
Accelerator or 
Super All-Out Mode or debuffs such as 
Poppoformation, provided the opponent does not follow up with a battle card of their own. Frail characters such as or can use this card as a defensive option, as it will rarely benefit the characters that would try to take advantage of them. can play it in any battle thanks to her passive, which also prevents opponents from ever using it against her. is another surprisingly good user of Tactical Retreat. Early game, it keeps her safe while helping her gain active extension stacks. If it is used against her later in the game once she has obtained some stacks, she can cancel it out with battle cards. Worst case scenario, she gets some stars and a stack for her trouble.
While incredible at preventing damage, Tactical Retreat can be a risky defensive option if the player relies on it too much. The star cost becomes much more expensive than other defensive cards later in the game. Other defensive cards, such as 
Rbits or 
Rainbow-Colored Circle, can be played on offense as well as defense, which Tactical Retreat cannot. Because of this, Tactical Retreat does nothing to save you from 
Encounter or 
Boss panels (unless the player is ). It is also easily countered by almost any other battle card, which can have a huge impact on the player's card selection for building decks. Playing Tactical Retreat alongside other battle cards is asking for it to get countered. Even if the player escapes an attacker successfully, they can always be attacked again if they roll poorly for movement, making it less helpful against naturally strong characters like . The player needs to be able to escape with cards like 
Dash! or 
Here and There or heal via a 
Home panel, or else they risk getting KO'd the following chapter. In some situations, it might even be better to take the KO, especially in the very early game where the activation cost is up to half the stars required to norma.