Cyberpunk TCG keywords explained

Lag

A Unit with Lag cannot attack, and cannot activate an ability whose cost is , which spends the Unit itself. It lasts until the end of the turn.

Every Unit enters the field with Lag, so the board you just built cannot attack this turn. Exactly two things are barred: attacking, and activating an ability whose cost is spending this Unit. An ability paid for in €⁠$ alone works the turn the Unit lands.

Note that Lag expires at the end of the turn it arrived, not at your next ready step. It is gone for your rival’s whole turn, which is what lets a freshly played Unit use a Quick ability on defence.

Adrenaline

A Unit with Adrenaline enters without Lag, so it can attack the turn it is played and can pay a self-spend cost immediately.

Some cards grant Adrenaline to a Unit already on the field rather than printing it. The effect is the same: the Unit stops being Lagged.

Blocker

A Blocker redirects an incoming attack onto itself, during the defender’s reaction window. Spending the Blocker is the cost, so it has to be ready: a Blocker that already attacked or paid a cost this turn is sideways and cannot answer.

The redirect is worth more than a body swap. An attack aimed at your Gig area that gets redirected to a Blocker steals no Gigs at all, even if the attacking Unit then wins the fight. Blocking a raid with a Unit you expect to lose is frequently the correct play.

Quick

Quick is a timing keyword. It means the effect can be used in your own main phase and also when a rival attacks.

Quick adds the reaction window, it does not confine the card to it. A Quick ability on a card in play is usable on your own turn like any other, and a Quick Program can be played straight from hand as a reaction. Only a Program: on any other card type, Quick describes an ability you use while the card is face-up on the field.

Go Solo

Go Solo lets you play a Legend as a ready Unit after Calling it, it can attack right away.

The cost is permanence. A Legend that entered play this way is removed from the game entirely if it ever leaves the field, rather than going to the Trash where things can be recovered from. Additionally, it can't be used as a resource anymore.

A Legend played this way answers to both card types at once. It is a Unit for everything that targets Units, and still a Legend for everything that cares about Legends.

Spend

Spend, printed as , is an activation cost. Paying it turns the card sideways, the same way attacking does, and it stays spent until your next start phase readies it.

A card cannot pay for itself: a cost that spends this card excludes it from also being sold or spent as an Eddie for the same ability. And because attacking is itself a self-spend, Lag blocks a activation for exactly the same reason it blocks an attack.

Play, Call, Attack and Defeated

These four mark when an ability fires, and they are the backbone of most cards in the set.

• Play fires when the card is played from your hand.
• Call fires when a Legend is flipped face up.
• Attack fires when the Unit declares an attack, before the fight resolves.
• Defeated fires when the card is defeated and goes to the Trash.

Spent and ready

A card is either ready or spent, shown by whether it is upright or sideways. Attacking spends a Unit, and so does paying a cost.

Everything of yours readies at the start of your turn. This is also why a ready Unit is normally safe from attack: your rival can only aim at Units that have already acted.