Fast Matches, Big Stakes
Seven turns. That’s the target length of a Cyberpunk TCG match before it flips into overtime, and you feel that urgency from the first roll. My 30-minute PAX East 2026 playtest wrapped early at the proctor’s signal, yet the tempo made every decision sting or sing. It moves fast in a way most card games don’t, and that pace might be its biggest hook as the game heads toward a full launch later this year with more than $15.75 million already behind it on Kickstarter.
Despite a learning curve and a few rules checks, I came within a whisker of closing out my opponent. The short round timer clipped the finish, but the momentum was clear. Compared to a typical 45-minute Magic Arena grind, this was punchy, tense, and clean. I walked away wanting another go immediately.
How Street Cred and Gigs Drive the Game
Every player begins with six Gig Dice in a fixer zone along the left side of the mat. At the start of your turn you draw a card, then pick and roll one die from a lineup of d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. The d20 has to come last. That die slides into your gigs zone, and its roll adds to your total Street Cred, a running number that turns on bonus effects across the card pool.
That economy pushes risk and reward in subtle ways. You’ll want to spike your Street Cred early to unlock certain gear payoffs, but overextending can burn you. If an attacker hits face and goes unblocked, they steal a gig die of their choice; for every 10 power that unit has, they snag an extra gig. Jumping straight to a d12 on turn one feels tempting—until your opponent rips it away and swings the race.
Payoffs are immediate and mean. In one sequence, I equipped Dying Night: V’s Pistol, which snipes an opposing gear that costs 2 whenever the equipped unit or legend attacks and you’re at seven or more Street Cred. When that trigger blew up my opponent’s Mantis Blades mid-game, he visibly grimaced. That kind of swing gives the match a street-fight texture: one good hit can change the night.