Trading Card Games are a dime a dozen, and it is common for a new release to flame out before the meta even settles. However, based on my recent hands-on preview, the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 TCG—developed by WeirdCo—feels like it has the legs to stick around. Beyond the fact that it was one of the fastest-backed Kickstarter campaigns, the actual gameplay loop feels distinct enough to carve out a niche in a crowded market.
Why CD Projekt Red Is Entering the TCG Arena
Following the studio's success with Gwent, CD Projekt Red decided to expand its card game ambitions. “We’ve always had more ambition when it comes to card games because we love them at CDPR,” says Pawel Burza, senior communication manager at CD Projekt Red. “We have a lot of TCG fans within the studio.”
The game is lean. You play with a 40 to 50-card deck, capped at three copies per card, and a maximum hand size of six. While it borrows the concept of Commanders from Magic: The Gathering, the Cyberpunk TCG puts its own spin on the mechanic with "Legends." Instead of one leader, you deploy three, keeping them face-down in their own zone until you have enough "eddies"—the game's primary resource—to reveal them.
Dice and Gigs: The Mechanics of Night City
The most chaotic and defining element of the game is its reliance on dice. Players use a D4, D8, D10, D12, and D20. These rolls determine how many "gigs" are available to you. Gigs are essentially your path to victory: the first player to hit seven gigs wins the game. The game is designed to be fast, concluding by round seven or, in the event of sudden death, round eight.
“We’ve really tried hard to prioritize having a speedy game experience while still feeling like your skill expression is the most important part,” says Richard Zapp, head of game design at WeirdCo. This design choice is intended to ensure that tournament play, including regionals, remains brisk.
Strategy here is surprisingly fluid. You can earn eddies by selling off cards from your hand, which mimics the act of hitting a vendor in the video game to offload gear you don't need. During my session, I found myself in a constant tug-of-war. My opponent focused on sniping my gigs, while I prioritized taking out their grunts to prevent them from scaling up. My deck—a mix of Blue (Intelligence) and Yellow (Dexterity)—allowed me to manipulate dice counts and draw cards, eventually leading to a win in sudden death.
Visuals and Authenticity
The art direction is another high point. WeirdCo had full access to the CD Projekt Red art vault, allowing them to pull from existing assets and even reference specific comic book runs like Blackout. The cards are color-coded to match the skill trees of Cyberpunk 2077—Red (Body), Green (Reflect), Blue (Intelligence), and Yellow (Dexterity)—and the team uses lighting to create striking visual contrasts.
“At the end of the day, it’s all Cyberpunk, and it’s all an authentic representation of Night City,” says WeirdCo creative director Jonny Erner. For players tired of reading paragraphs of text on every single card, the Cyberpunk TCG offers a refreshing change of pace: the text is sparse, to the point, and easy to parse.
If you are looking to follow the latest updates as the game approaches its release later this year, it is worth keeping an eye on how WeirdCo balances the meta. My single match left me hungry for more, and for a Cyberpunk fan, it is hard to imagine not getting lost in this loop once the game hits shelves.