Last week, we walked you through some changes to the Cyberpunk TCG Beta ruleset based on our community’s Alpha gameplay experience feedback. If you missed that, you can catch up on all the key details here.
Now, with our sights firmly trained on our Beta and Retail releases, it’s time to officially kick off the Welcome to Night City reveal season!
Welcome to Night City reveals start right now!
In the weeks ahead, you’ll see a lot of brand-new cards for the first time. But as we mentioned at the end of last week’s article, the Beta rule changes are also accompanied by changes to some of our previously revealed cards — especially those in our Alpha kits.
Keep an eye on our Cards Page to see the latest previews of cards you’ll find in Welcome to Night City Booster Packs. There’s already a batch for you to explore right now, and we’ll be adding plenty more in the weeks ahead.
Interacting in Night City just got Quicker…
To give you a bit more insight into some of the ways that previously revealed cards have evolved, let’s take a look at one of our additions in detail: the introduction of the Quick keyword.
Quick is a keyword used to describe effects that can be played in both your Main Phase and in the React Step when a Rival attacks. In many cases, Quick has replaced effects that previously carried the timing restriction “when a Rival Unit attacks”, like the one on Goro Takemura: Vengeful Bodyguard.
Not only does the Quick keyword make Goro’s effect more consistent with other similar effects, it also gives players greater flexibility in when they can use effects like this. Goro’s previous templating restricted his effect’s use exclusively to the React Step following a Rival attack. Now, thanks to the Quick keyword, the ability can also be used in your own Main Phase, if you want to utilize the +1 Power element of his effect offensively during your turn, for example.
Cyberpsychosis has also gained the Quick keyword. Now, instead of familiarizing yourself with when individual cards like Cyberpsychosis can be played, all you need to know is when Quick cards can be played. Once you see that keyword pill, you’ll know exactly what you can do with the card, and when.
…And so has Calling Legends
Speaking of timing, one aspect that some players found a little bit unintuitive related to Calling a Legend. Based on their feedback, we’ve made that Quick too. Now your two windows to Call a Legend are during your own Main Phase or in the React Step following a Rival’s attack — the same as all other Quick cards and effects.
Playtester feedback on Quick has been incredibly positive so far. When a single change increases clarity, makes gameplay more intuitive, and creates more opportunities for interaction and skill expression, that’s a big win from a game design point of view.
We’ve got plenty of cards in Welcome to Night City that utilize Quick, and we really can’t for you to explore them all.
So, what does this mean for our Alpha kit cards?
The game has seen significant evolution since the very first concepts. To ensure accessibility for all and avoid any confusion around card version legality, we have made the decision that, following our Beta release, your deck cannot contain cards bearing the Alpha symbol.
For those of you who do have an Alpha kit however, we’re very excited to share that the Nova Rare Legends, Saburo Arasaka: Stubborn Patriarch, Goro Takemura: Hands Unclean, and Yorinobu Arasaka: Embracing Destruction will all remain legal for tournament play.
The Beta and Retail versions of those cards are functionally identical to their Alpha versions. So, those without Alpha kits can easily obtain them in the Embracing Power Starter Deck!
Social reveals begin on June 9th
There’s already plenty to explore over on our Cards Page, and more reveals will begin rolling out across our Cyberpunk TCG social pages starting on June 9th.
Next week we’ll explore some of the tweaks we’ve made to the visual appearance and accessibility of Cyberpunk TCG cards in Beta and beyond. Until then, enjoy the start of reveal season, and be sure to share your opinions with your Chooms over on our official Discord at discord.gg/cyberpunktcg.