Cyberpunk TCG keywords explained

Lag

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

Every Unit enters the field with Lag, so a Unit you play this turn does nothing offensive until your next one. This is the single most common surprise for new players: the board you just built cannot attack yet.

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.

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 in the React step when a rival attacks.

It is worth being precise here, because it reads the other way round at first glance: Quick adds the reaction window, it does not restrict the card to it. A Quick ability on a card in play is usable on your own turn like any other.

Go Solo

Go Solo lets you play a Legend as a ready Unit rather than Calling it, and it arrives able to attack.

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.

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 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 Spend 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 Spend 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.