The following section will outline the nuances and flow of a tournament, from Swiss rounds to single elimination.
Within a round of tournament play, there are two official match types.
- Best-of-3 match rules are detailed in Best-of-3 Match Rules (see rule TC.1).
- Best-of-1 match rules are detailed in Best-of-1 Match Rules (see rule TC.2).
Swiss rounds paired using Melee.gg ensure that players with the same win/loss record (or closest tiebreakers) are paired against each other, while also ensuring that no two players are paired twice. At the competition-level, Swiss rounds must be played as 50-minute best-of-3 matches. At the LGS-level, Swiss rounds can be played as either 50-minute best-of-3 or 30-minute best-of-1 matches.
For the first round of Swiss, pairings will be random. For each subsequent round, players will be paired with other players with the same win/loss record, or closest tiebreakers in the instance of an uneven number of players with any given record. If there is an odd number of players, one of the players with the lowest win/loss record will receive a Bye. TOs may assume that Melee.gg will automate this when running a properly created tournament, but are required to verify the actual outcome.
Intentional Draws
Players may choose at the start of a Swiss round, before decks are revealed and before time has started, to Intentionally Draw (ID). Players may not offer any additional monetary compensation in exchange for an ID. Players may discuss prizing splits as a result of an ID (not a concession) such as two players in a Night City Showdown or District Open finals splitting a Champion promo and a Champion playmat. Players may choose to discuss tournament statistics and splitting prizing elements as they understand them, but they may not seek additional information on the subject from other players or Judge staff during this time. Judge staff may not discuss tournament statistics with any player at any time.
Single elimination rounds are generally 75-minute best-of-3 matches. (See Best-of-3 Match Rules (see rule TC.1)). The final single elimination rounds of EORs are untimed. Players may not choose to ID during a single elimination round.
Single elimination rounds occur only after Swiss rounds in an event have concluded. Certain events are mandatory to be run with these top cuts in mind.
- Night City District Open
- 64-256 Players - Top 8
- Edgerunner Open Regional
- 512-2048 Players - Top 16
During single elimination rounds, players will be paired in a bracket based on standings in the top cut, with each winner proceeding through to the next stage of the bracket until one winner is determined. The highest ranking player will always play against the lowest ranking player, the second highest ranking player will play against the second lowest ranking player, and so on during the first round of single elimination. From there, bracket advancements will be determined by each match’s winner.
During single elimination rounds, the player with the higher seed will choose the player going first or second as opposed to a random method (die roll).
If a player in the top cut drops from a tournament prior to the start of the first round of single elimination, their Rival receives a Bye for the round.
Different player counts at official Cyberpunk TCG events result in different numbers of Swiss rounds. LGS-Level events such as Pre-Release and Night City Brawl events are typically 3 rounds regardless of attendance. Night City Showdown event TOs should refer to the table below for reference when determining how many rounds to play in Swiss.
A Top Cut is not required for Night City Showdown events. Should a Night City Showdown elect to use a Top Cut, it must follow these metrics.
A Top Cut is required for Night City District Open events. Despite a capacity of up to 256, stores may elect to cut District Open events to Top 8 due to time constraints.
Edgerunner Regional Open and above numbers may differ based on varying event capacities.
| Number of Players | Number of Swiss Rounds | Number Top Cut Players -> Number of Single Elim. Rounds |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Number of Players | Number of Swiss Rounds | Number Top Cut Players -> Number of Single Elim. Rounds |
| 4-8 | 3 | - |
| 9-16 | 4 | Top 4 -> 2 rounds |
| 17-32 | 5 | Top 8 -> 3 rounds |
| 33-64 | 6 | Top 8 -> 3 rounds |
| 65-128 | 7 | Top 8 -> 3 rounds |
| 129-256 | 8 | Top 8 -> 3 rounds (District Open) |
| 257-512 | 9 | Top 16 -> 4 Rounds |
| 513-1024 | 10 | Top 16 -> 4 Rounds |
| 1025-2048 | 11 | Top 16 -> 4 Rounds |
This is the order-of-operations when setting up before matches and in between games of best-of-3 rounds.
1. Both players find their assigned table and take a seat.
1. Players may discuss if they would like to ID.
1. If players choose to ID, they must submit this result in the Melee.gg app. If they do not, this sequence continues as normal.
1. Players choose randomly who gets the choice of going first. (In top cut single elimination rounds, the higher seeded player chooses)
1. Players shuffle their main deck and offer their Rival their deck to perform a cut and/or a shuffle.
1. Players offer their Rival their 3 Legends cards to shuffle. Then, players place their Legends face-down, left-to-right, placing the top card of the stack to the left.
1. Players draw their opening hands and may choose to mulligan once by shuffling their hand back into their deck and redrawing. Players may only mulligan once per game.
1. Players complete Game 1.
1. Players may choose to sideboard by adding cards to their main deck from their 7 card sideboard. Players have 3 minutes to complete sideboarding and present their deck to their Rival.
1. The loser of Game 1 determines who goes first in Game 2.
1. Both players shuffle their main deck and Legends, with their Rival offering their Legends for their Rival to shuffle and their main deck to be cut.
1. Players draw opening hands and resolve mulligans. Play begins in Game 2.
1. Players complete Game 2. If one player has won two games, the round is complete, and they must submit this result in the Melee.gg app. If not, this sequence continues. If the round is complete, both players must reveal any remaining facedown Legends to their Rival.
1. Players may choose to sideboard again between Game 2 and Game 3.
1. The loser of Game 2 determines who goes first in Game 3.
1. Both players shuffle their main deck and Legends, with their Rival offering their Legends for their Rival to shuffle and their main deck to be cut.
1. Players draw opening hands and resolve mulligans. Play begins in Game 3.
1. Players complete Game 3. A player has now won two games, the round is complete, and they must submit this result in the Melee.gg app. Both players must reveal any remaining facedown Legends to their Rival.
1. Players should return their main deck and sideboard configurations to the way it is written on their decklist. For formats without decklists, players should return the deck to their originally understood configuration.
In all single-elimination rounds, players also have 3 minutes prior to the start of the round to review their Rival’s decklist, provided to them by the Judge staff. Players may not take notes on the contents of their Rival’s decklist. Once this 3-minute period has elapsed, players must return the decklists to the Judge staff and may not review their Rival’s decklist further.
If time is called during Game 2 or 3 and no player has won two games, the match outcome is determined by whichever player has won more games at the conclusion of round end procedures.
It is important to ensure Legends are indistinguishable from one another unless a game effect provides additional information. The following instructions are all enforceable by judges, required upon request, and suggested best practices at all levels of competitive play.
At the beginning of the game, Legends must be sufficiently randomized with the opportunity for a Rival to further randomize Legends. Those shuffled Legends are then placed face-down in a player’s Legend Area left-to-right from the perspective of the owner. For the player going first, the first two Legends placed will be spent, with the third Legend positioned ready.
When a player performs a game action that chooses a face-down Legend that has no prior information to a player, their Rival may request to have that Legend be chosen at random among all Legends without additional information. An object such as a non-gig D6 may be used to facilitate this.
Example: A player performs the “Call a Legend” game action with 3 face-down Legends. No players have additional information about them. The Rival may request the Legend be chosen randomly.
When a player acquires prior information about a Legend, they may indicate it by using a token separating that Legend from your others through horizontal space. All players have the ability to request validating which face-down Legends players have additional information about. It is the responsibility of the owner to validate to ensure this validation.
When a player does have prior information about 1 or more Legends, they may select that specific face-down Legend. In this case, no randomization occurs.
Example: A player has three face-down Ready Legends, and knows the identity of one of them. They perform the “Call a Legend” game action. That player has two options:
A: Call the Legend the player has information about.
B: Call one of the Legends the player has no information about. A player may request a randomization check.
If among all Legends without prior information there is variety in orientation (ready versus spent), a player may declare the intended orientation of the Legend after being Called, and then adjust the orientation of the selected Legend prior to revealing it. In this case, re-orient another Legend without prior information so that the net number of ready and spent Legends are identical to before the game action began.
Example: A player has two face-down Legends without additional information. Legend A is Ready, Legend B is Spent. They perform the “Call a Legend” game action, and a Rival requests a random choice. The player would declare if they want to Call a Legend to be Ready or Spent. The player chooses “Ready” One of two outcomes will occur:
Legend A is chosen randomly. Reveal Legend A.
Legend B is chosen randomly. Orient Legend B to Ready, Legend A to Spent, then reveal Legend B.
A gameplay rewind (or takeback) occurs when a player takes a game action then immediately chooses to undo the action. Both players must agree to a gameplay rewind before it's enacted. If a player insists on receiving a rewind but their Rival disagrees, call a Judge. The Judge may grant the gameplay rewind based on the following criteria:
- Neither player has taken any new game actions, nor gained any new information (i.e. looked at a new card, seen their Rival's reaction, etc.) since the start of the original game action.
- No game knowledge is gained or lost outside of the pieces involved in the rewind.
- During competition-level gameplay, a player may not rewind gameplay due to lack of player knowledge of *Cyberpunk TCG*'s Comprehensive Rules (https://cyberpunktcg.com/comprehensive-rules).
A Judge may issue a gameplay rewind at any time if they deem it the only reasonable way to return the game to a legal state.
When it is appropriate to do so, either before the start of a best-of-1 round or in between games during a best-of-3 round, players may choose to swap in cards from their 7-card sideboard in their deck. After sideboarding, the deck must still have the same number of cards as it did pre-sideboard, and the sideboard must have 7 cards. Sideboards may only include main deck cards. Players may not sideboard Legend cards.
Three minutes will be given to sideboard at the start of a best-of-1 round, and two minutes for sideboarding between games in a best-of-3 round.
Following a game or the conclusion of a match, players should return their main deck and the sideboard to their original composition as described on their decklist. If a player has determined in a future game that their deck has not been returned to its original configuration and is therefore illegal, that player should call for a Judge immediately. It is a player's responsibility to call attention to an illegal deck configuration caused by failure to de-sideboard following a game.
After round time has elapsed, players who are not finished with their match enter into a procedure called “Round-End.”
NOTE: Round-End procedures are distinct from the Overtime rules described in the Comprehensive Rules.
Current round times are as follows:
- Swiss Best-of-3 Rounds - 50 Minutes
- Swiss Best-of-1 Rounds - 30 Minutes, 3 Minute Pre-Sideboard Period
- Single Elimination Best-of-3 Rounds - 75 Minutes
- Single Elimination Best-of-1 Rounds - 55 Minutes
If time elapses, players proceed to the following Round-End Procedure:
1. Finish the current turn.
1. Both players will receive one full turn following the turn time was called. Players will each have 5 minutes to complete their final turn.
1. At the end of the second turn after time is called, a player wins the game if they control seven or more Gig dice. Then, based on the total games won or lost by each player, the match result is determined and reported. If no winner is determined in this game, the game is a draw. If no players have won more games in the match, the match is a draw.
In single elimination rounds, players who elapse time will proceed to Round-End procedure and follow the steps outlined above. If no winner is determined at the end of the second turn during Round-End, play continues after this until one player has more Gigs than their Rival.
If time is called during Overtime, players begin round-end turn procedures but continue to also maintain Overtime scoring procedures as Overtime scoring rules will always take place before Round-End scoring rules can.
TOs should make reasonable efforts to ensure that the current time remaining in the round is visible and/or accessible to all players. If a player cannot quickly access the remaining time in the round, they may request that information from a Judge.