If you're in a team game, can you eliminate your own teammate to get his reserves and his cards to better your own position?

And if so, what are people's thoughts on this tactic?
In one case, your team now only gets one turn per round.
On the other hand, you now have a chance to place more armies (if you pick up his reserves) and you likely will be able to trade cards sooner on this round.

So assume for the sake of argument that the above tactic just gives you a leg up in the game (as opposed to eliminating an opponents fighting hopes), how does one weigh current gain (trading cards) against future earnings (more turns/round)?

I'd think that this tactic has the ability to be lucrative enough that I'd have seen it before.
And yet I've never seen it happen, so I'm assuming there's a reason why not.

Yes, you are able to eliminate your team-mate, and often if you're able to do it, it's helpful.  It prevents the other team from eliminating the player and receiving cards or a bonus for doing so, which they likely would be able to do, if you are able to.  

This does come into play, and sometimes it's the right play, but it depends on circumstance.

Edward Nygma wrote:

This does come into play, and sometimes it's the right play, but it depends on circumstance.

Yep!

You get your teammates cards, reserves, elimination bonus, etc. when eliminating him/her, just as if you eliminated any player.  It can definitely be the right move, but most of the time it's only the right move if your teammate is really easy to take out and you plan on taking the game fairly quickly.  You more than likely won't want to leave other teams fully intact either as they can then catch up fairly quickly.

What Yertle said.

There are really only two times to take out your partner:

1) He is near to being taken out already - better for you to get the bonus & cards than an opponent.

and/or

2) Taking your partner out will allow you to cash multiple sets which will then allow for a run of eliminations of your opponents.  I think I once eliminated 8 players in one turn this way.

Both situations preclude that the game is far enough along that the card sets have a high worth. 

 Do not eliminate your partner early in the game unless there is a huge elimination bonus.

A good player shouldn't bear grudges if the case is good. It most often happens with the high card values, and sometimes a player with low units gets stuck with 4 or 5 cards. So they should understand that it is better for you to have it than the enemy!