Cyberpunk TCG Penalty Guide aims at providing the judges the guidance and remediation procedures for handling situations that can negatively affect tournament integrity.
When applying penalties, Judge staff should remember that the role of a Judge is to be an impartial entity, with the express goal of maintaining tournament integrity by attending to issues that might arise during its course and assisting in fixing potential issues in a way that is closest possible to the natural state it should be in. Judges shouldn’t intervene in games beyond the extent of their role as stated here.
Penalties are meant to be a tool both for ensuring fairness via deterrence, as well as a corrective means of education for players, which is why it’s important to explain in detail which rules were broken, what the penalty is, and how to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.
The penalty guide should be followed as written for most cases, with the opportunity for deviation in special circumstances being available only to the Head Judge of the tournament.
The contents of this guide should be applied for tournaments in the Competition-Level and above.
The following are the core penalties Judges may assign to players:
This infraction is generally to be given to first instances during tournament play of any rules being violated. This is to be used as a gentle reminder or an attempt to correct player behavior should an issue arise. Warnings have a low impact on the tournament or games played and should be treated as such when evaluating player error and necessary infractions.
This penalty is to be given for infractions that have moderate impact on the overall tournament integrity or have a high risk of abuse if occurring during gameplay. This penalty may also be given for multiple repeated instances of behavior that would typically result in a Warning, to players that have shown consistent infractions in that category. Typically, a third Warning given to a player should be upgraded to a Minor Penalty automatically. Examples of this would be players who have received multiple Warnings (Ws) about dice manipulation, where their Street Cred does not align with the understanding of both players due to accidental changing of the dice faces. This penalty is accompanied with a Game Loss, to be assigned to the next (or current) game the player participates in during their current tournament.
If the match continues after the Game Loss was issued, the affected player has the same rights as a player that lost a game, ex. Choosing who will start the next game and sideboarding. If a Game Loss would be issued after the match has ended, it is applied to the first game of the next round, and the affected player is required to inform their next opponent about the Game Loss. In such cases, the affected player may not sideboard before the game. If all players in a match would be issued a Game Loss, they should be marked for tournament tracking purposes, however they cancel each other out for result reporting purposes.
This penalty is to be given when tournament integrity is significantly impacted or the match has been compromised beyond the point of recovery. This penalty may be given to players that have shown a lack of responsibility to maintain tournament procedures as outlined in this document to an egregious extent. It results in a Match Loss being given to a player, which impacts either their current match or the next available match. This can be assigned due to significant infractions, unsporting conduct, or insisting on playing with inappropriate additional materials.
If the penalty is issued after the applicable match has concluded, it applies to the next round match, and the impacted player must inform their next opponent of the Match Loss.
Disqualification is a penalty given when severe damage has been done to tournament integrity by the offending participant, and/or the participant’s behavior is consistently out of line with what is expected of a participant in an official Cyberpunk TCG Competition-level event. Examples of infractions include intentionally cheating, highly inappropriate conduct, or playing an illegal deck. Judge staff should use extreme discretion when reviewing circumstances that may lead to a disqualification.
A disqualified player automatically loses their current match, and are to be removed from the subsequent run of the tournament, including their place in the standings. A disqualified player loses any right to any remaining potential prizes they might be entitled to from their participation in a tournament.
Disqualifications should be reported to WeirdCo, as some situations might merit issuing a Ban on the offending player, at WeirdCo’s discretion.
Intentional and unintentional infractions of rules are subject to penalties as listed below. While these penalties serve as suggested penalties, head judges are encouraged to escalate or degrade penalties contextually to the infraction.
2.1.1. Missed Trigger [No Penalty*]
A player demonstrates a lack of awareness of their triggered ability when it would visibly affect the game. A player is only responsible for the triggered abilities from the cards and objects they control. If the triggered ability would have no impact on the game state, even if it’s considered detrimental, it doesn’t need to be acknowledged.
If the error is discovered on the current turn and before any new information has been gained, a Judge may be able to rewind the gamestate.
Common examples of this might include:
- An Arasaka unit is defeated for the first time this turn while Yorinobu Arasaka: Steel Dragon in play. Its controller doesn’t draw a card.
- Viktor Vektor: Sit down and Relax is flipped. Its controller does not search the top 5 cards of their deck.
- Dexter Deshawn: One Last Chance attacks and doesn’t adjust a Gig by up to 1 before allowing their Rival to proceed to the React Step.
- Modded Kusanagi is played. Its controller doesn’t return the Unit to their hand at the end of the turn.
- Dying Night is equipped to an attacking unit named “V” and will ready two Eddies at the end of the turn. At the end of that turn, the attacking player has no Eddies spent. Now that it has no effect on the gamestate, this effect does not need to be acknowledged and is not a missed trigger.
If the triggered ability is determined to be detrimental to the player, the penalty is upgraded to a Warning. Repeated instances of this should be carefully tracked by judges.
2.1.2. Game Rules Violation [Warning]
This infraction is issued for any game errors that are not covered separately by other categories.
If no random elements were present or no new information has been revealed, and the last completed action is the source of the infraction, rewind the game to before the violating game action with a simple rewind.
Some scenarios may only require a partial fix such as:
- If a card is not in the zone it’s supposed to be, move it to the correct zone.
- If a player forgot to ready one or more game pieces under their control, ready them.
- If a player forgot to roll the gig for the turn, the player does so.
- If a player forgot to draw or discard a card, the player does so.
- If a player forgot to steal a gig after a successful attack at the Rival’s gig zone, the player does so.
No scenario can prevent a gig dice from being rolled for turn. In the event that a player forgets to roll their gig dice at the beginning of their turn or steal a Rival gig while attacking, and new information has been revealed to them, the player’s Rival chooses which gig dice they should roll or take.
If any of these scenarios result in an illegal gamestate (new Street Cred values retroactively changing abilities that were performed) or a game state that would severely impact the integrity of the match, it may constitute a full rewind. This must be authorized by the Head Judge. In a full rewind, preference is given to the Rival of the erroring player and extra caution must be exercised when randomized elements are included
Common examples of this might include:
- Before rolling their gig dice for the turn, a player plays “Royce: Don’t Call Me Simon” with less Street Cred than their Rival. They only defeat a Rival Unit with power 2 or less. They then remember to roll their gig dice for turn, resulting in them having more Street Cred than their Rival. If substantial additional actions with random elements or new information have not been taken, a full rewind could be taken to allow the player to defeat a Rival Unit with power 3 or less instead.
- Before rolling their gig dice for the turn, a player plays “Nadia: Fighting Through Grief” with fewer gig dice than their Rival and attacks. They then remember to roll their gig dice for turn, resulting in them having the same amount of gig dice as their Rival and an illegal attack from Nadia. If substantial additional actions with random elements or new information have not been taken, a full rewind should be taken to undo the attack from Nadia.
- Before rolling their gig dice for the turn, a player plays Field Operator with even Street Cred and draws a card. They then remember to roll their gig dice for turn, resulting in them having odd Street Cred. This constitutes a Hidden Zone Error remedy.
- Before rolling their gig dice for the turn, a player attacks with “Panam Palmer: Strength Through Family” and draws additional cards. Due to receiving new information, their Rival now chooses what gig dice they will roll.
In the rare occurrence that a player forgetting to roll a gig dice followed by a series of illegal actions creates a completely irreparable gamestate, this infraction may be upgraded to a Game Loss for the erroring player.
2.1.3. Failure to Maintain Game State [Warning]
A player doesn’t notice that their Rival performed an action that commits a Game Error, and doesn’t call attention to the error within reasonable time. All players that participate in the game are responsible for maintaining its integrity, and are expected to call out Game Errors in an effort to mitigate and correct the results of it.
If there can be reasonable grounds to believe that the player is intentionally not pointing out the error in hopes of using it to their advantage, the Judge should investigate if the situation is fitting the Unsporting Conduct - Cheating infraction’s criteria. Warnings given for Failure to Maintain Game State cannot be cause for an upgrade to a Game Loss penalty, and are to be used for tracking purposes primarily.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player forgets to draw a card at the beginning of their turn.
- A player forgets to ready one of their units at the beginning of their turn.
- A player readies a Unit that was affected by Rivals “Memory Relapse” last turn. The error is not discovered until the player attempts to attack with the affected Unit.
2.1.4. Hidden Zone Error [Warning]
A player commits an error while performing a game action on a set of cards that aren’t known to their Rival(s).
The player reveals the set of cards affected by the error to their Rival, and the Rival chooses which cards should remain part of the set, and which should be returned to their original zone. If any of the cards are returned to the deck, they should be shuffled in the random portion of the deck, preserving the previously known card positions.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player drawing an additional card for turn
- A player draws seven cards in their opening hand
- A player searching too many cards from the top of their deck from a card effect
- A player Calls “Viktor Vektor: Sit Down and Relax”, searches the top 5 cards of their deck, and adds two of them to their hand without revealing them to their Rival
2.1.5. Looking at Extra Cards [Warning]
A player sees the face of one or multiple cards in a situation where no game rules or actions allowed them to see the face of the card, or they were prohibited from seeing it.
This infraction will be most commonly seen as a result of dexterity errors such as when cards stick together or fall out of players’ decks during the course of shuffling. Seeing a face of a card that a player mistakenly thought they were entitled to see as a result of a game rule or instruction is considered to be a Game Rules Violation. The Rival is never penalized in a situation like this.
If the card seen by the player was part of a hidden zone (deck, sold Eddies, etc), shuffle the affected card(s) back into their original zone, while preserving the position of any previously known cards by setting them aside.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player sees the face of a card that flipped over from the top of their deck when drawing a card
- A player sees the face of a sold Edde from a previous turn due to it accidentally flipping over
- A Player sees the bottom card of their Rivals deck when cutting it
2.1.6. Mulligan Violation [Warning]
A player fails to properly adhere to the instructions of the mulligan procedure.
The player takes an additional mulligan, drawing one card less than they would otherwise have.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player draws their new hand before shuffling their deck
- A player draws too few cards in their opening hand
- A player takes an additional mulligan
Once the game begins, any issues resulting from the errors during the mulligans are no longer subject to this infraction, and should be evaluated and categorized appropriately depending on the nature of the issue.
2.1.7. Dice Dexterity Error [Warning]
A player affects the values of the friendly or Rival gigs that are currently in game by physically interacting with them in an unintended manner.
If the values of the individual gig dice changed as the result of the infraction and players cannot agree on the original value of the die, they must call a judge. In these instances, notetaking will be used as the primary reference for restoring the die’s value. If no consensus can be made, the die must be rerolled.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player has rolled their gig die and collided with a rival die
- A player has bumped the table enough to affect gig dice
- A player knocks a rival die while attempting to take one from them
2.2.1. Unsporting Conduct - Minor [Warning]
A tournament participant behaves in a way that is disruptive to others around them or the tournament itself in a way that is not covered by the other infractions.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player litters in the play area.
- A player asks for an appeal before the Judge finishes issuing their ruling.
- A player doesn’t follow the staff members official requests.
- A player tries to convince a Judge that their Rival should get a penalty or a harsher penalty.
- A player uses vulgar language or publicly talks about topics that can reasonably be considered uncomfortable.
2.2.2. Unsporting Conduct - Major [Match Loss]
A tournament participant acts or expresses an intent to act in a way that can be perceived as harassing, stalking or bullying, towards one or more individuals.
If the offending behavior doesn’t stop after the intervention from the Tournament Officials and/or the offender(s) do not display remorse for their actions, the penalty is upgraded to a Disqualification. In addition to issuing the penalty, the Tournament Organizer will take steps to remove the offender from the Tournament Venue in order to prevent further escalation and/or creating an unsafe environment.
Common examples of this might include:
- A participant is taking photos of another person, even though the person asked them to not do that.
- A player uses discriminatory language or slurs towards their Rival.
- A group of participants is surrounding and singling out a person in order to intimidate them.
- A player doesn’t maintain proper hygiene.
2.2.3. Unsporting Conduct - Randomizing Match Result [Match Loss]
A player uses or offers to use any random method to determine the winner of a Cyberpunk TCG match outside of gameplay. The player offering or both players engaging in the method receive a match loss.
Common examples of this might include:
- One player offers or two players roll a D20 to determine the winner
- One player offers or two players flip the top cards of their deck to compare card costs to determine the winner.
If the player demonstrates awareness of such action being against the rules, this infraction is upgraded to Unsporting Conduct - Cheating
2.2.4. Unsporting Conduct - Cheating [Disqualification]
A player participates in unsporting conduct that meets all of the following characteristics:
- Commits an infraction specified in the Comprehensive or Tournament rules for Cyberpunk TCG, and/or lies to a tournament official, and/ or chooses not to call attention to an infraction despite being aware of it.
- Presents acute awareness that their action is not legal.
- If their attempt is successful, they would benefit from it in the gameplay or broader tournament structure.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player allows the Rival’s unit to be put in trash, even though it was not defeated as a result of a fight.
- A player looks at the bottom of Rival’s deck when shuffling it before game 1.
- A player marks the sleeves of their Legend cards to be able to recognize their position.
- A player uses loaded gig dice that drastically increase the possibility of rolling the numbers that are advantageous to their strategy.
- A player adds one of their Eddies to their hand.
- A player is intentionally exploiting tournament procedures to gain an advantage in any way.
2.2.5. Slow Play [Warning]
A player takes longer than is appropriate to complete their game actions.
If the player is cautioned by a Judge to play faster and they continue to take longer to complete game actions, the penalty applies. Judges must use their best discretion here. If a Judge suspects intentionality in the player’s Slow Play, this is upgraded to Unsporting Conduct - Stalling.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player reads their Rival cards multiple times without taking any further action.
- A player ponders over an unreasonable number of possible decisions with very little information.
- A player constantly reviews various public zones that have no immediate effect on gameplay or have been recently reviewed.
If a player suspects their Rival of slow play/stalling, they should always call a judge for assistance. If this penalty is applied to a player in a match, the Judge must issue a 2 minute time extension to offset the potential advantage caused by the Slow Play. Judges should continue observing the match until they can reasonably expect that no further Slow Play will occur.
2.2.6. Unsporting Conduct - Stalling [Disqualification]
A player intentionally takes longer to complete the actions in their turn to leverage the time limit in the match to their advantage. Upon finding a case of slow play to be intentional, it is upgraded to this infraction.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player that won game 1 plays significantly slower in the subsequent games.
- A player reads their Rival’s card multiple times before they allow them to continue playing.
- A player leaves their seat during a match without informing a staff member.
2.2.7. Unsporting Conduct - Aggressive Behavior [Disqualification]
A tournament participant acts in a way that can be reasonably interpreted as threatening towards other participants, visitors, staff or their property.
In addition to issuing the penalty, the Tournament Organizer will take steps to remove the offender from the Tournament Venue in order to prevent further escalation and/or creating an unsafe environment.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player throws a card at their Rival.
- A player threatens a Tournament Official.
- A player flips a table after losing their match.
2.2.8. Decklist Error [Game Loss*]
A player’s submitted decklist is determined as illegal due to its content differing from the deck that was presented to the tournament organizer or Rival or from containing errors or ambiguous card names.
The player is required to correct the decklist in a way that matches what they are playing and represents a deck that is legal. If, as a result of this process, the player’s main deck or Legends count would fall below legal minimums, the player must use cards in their sideboard to make up for the missing cards. The remainder of their sideboard is then discarded for the rest of the event. After the replacements have been chosen, the decklist is corrected to reflect the new state.
If a player submits a minimum 40 card deck with no sideboard and their decklist contains errors that would cause cards to be removed, this infraction upgrades to a disqualification.
Examples
- A player submitted a decklist containing 3 copies of Zetatech Faceplate, but their deck only contains 2.
- A player included in their decklist “Victor Vector” but didn’t specify which version of the card.
- A player submitted a decklist containing 3 copies of Detonate in their main deck, but plays with them in their sideboard every round.
2.2.9. Deck Error [Game Loss]
A player’s complete deck (main deck, Legends and sideboard) does not match what they have submitted on the decklist for the tournament as a result of various circumstances.
The player is issued a game loss and must return their deck to its legal state. If the player’s deck contains a card mistakenly taken from a previous Rival’s deck, both players are issued the penalty.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player acknowledges a card from their sideboard is in their main deck during the first game in a match.
- A player acknowledges a card from their Rival’s sideboard is in their main deck during the first game in a match.
- During a deck check at the beginning of a round, a judge discovers cards from a player’s sideboard inside their main deck.
- A player acknowledges a card in their deck that was mistakenly taken from a rival.
If the rival or a judge is the one to discover a sideboard card inside of the main deck before the erroring player, it should be noted for potential cheating.
2.2.10. Illegal Deck [Disqualification]
A player’s complete deck (main deck, Legends and sideboard) contains errors that render their deck illegal according to deckbuilding rules.
That player is disqualified from the event. In a case where the illegal deck is discovered during Round 1 of a tournament, the player may instead receive a match loss, legalize their deck using cards from their sideboard (if possible), and remain in the event.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player has 4 copies of a card inside their deck.
- A player has a card with a 5 Yellow RAM cost inside their deck while their Legends only provides 4.
- A player has a card with a color in their deck that their Legends do not provide
- A player has more than 7 cards in their sideboard
- A player has less than 40 or more than 50 cards in their deck
2.2.11. Dice Error [Warning]
A player uses dice that do not fulfill the requirements outlined in the Tournament Rules as their Gig dice.
The player must cease the use of the problematic dice and acquire a set that adheres to the Tournament Rules.
Common examples of this might include:
- Multiple faces show symbols instead of numbers.
- The dice are too small to be reasonably legible.
- The dice are too large and hinder gameplay.
- A die-face that is neither a max or min dice value is a symbol.
- The die is unbalanced in a way that clearly results in a higher chance of rolling specific value(s), due to its manufacturing.
2.2.12. Tardiness [Game Loss*]
A player is not prepared for the start of the round within 5 minutes of the timer beginning or does not complete any other tournament task within the allotted time. If a player has notified a member of the staff and was granted a permission to arrive late for their match or complete a tournament task with a delay, they are not issued a penalty until 5 minutes past the agreed-upon deadline, after which the upgrade applies.
The tardy player is issued a game loss before or during the match. If the issue is affecting an ongoing match, the players are also issued a time extension equal to the offset that tardiness caused for the remainder of the match.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player does not arrive at their table until 5 minutes into the round.
- A player does not present their prepared deck to the Rival until 5 minutes into the round.
- A player hands in their decklist 5 minutes after the announced deadline.
- A player has not completed sideboarding within 3 minutes.
If a player’s tardiness exceeds 10 minutes, the penalty is upgraded to a Match Loss. Additionally if they do not report to the tournament staff that they would like to continue their participation in the tournament until the end of the current round, they will be dropped from the tournament.
If a player’s tardiness is as little as 3 minutes, the penalty is downgraded to a Warning.
2.2.13. Outside Assistance [Game Loss]
A player tries to gain access to gameplay guidance or private information relevant to their current match from people not participating in it, or supplies private information or gameplay guidance relevant to the current match to the players.
The player who solicited information and the player who provided it both receive a game loss. If a judge can surmise the player who received the information did not solicit it, this can be downgraded to a warning.
Commons examples of this might include:
- A spectator makes hand signs at the player to influence action.
- A spectator points out a player missing a beneficial optional trigger.
- A player accessing notes not permitted by the Tournament Rules during a match.
- A player taking a phone call or using digital messaging during a match.
2.2.14. Marked Cards [Warning*]
A player’s cards have been discovered to have inconsistencies on them that could allow for their identification while they are in hidden zones. These inconsistencies can be either on the cards themselves or on the sleeves of the cards. These inconsistencies can include but are not limited to: bent corners, curved cards, inconsistent use of double sleeves, or wear from play, dirt, scratches.
The player must replace all marked cards in their deck and return it to a state where no inconsistencies are noticeable.
Commons examples of this might include:
- A player’s sleeves on only their strongest cards have markings.
- A player’s sleeves have bent corners on only some of their cards.
- A player’s sideboard sleeves have noticeable inconsistencies.
- A player has double sleeved only some of the cards in their deck.
- A player’s sleeves have different lengths or slightly different colors/materials.
If the inconsistencies are discovered during a match, the player receives a warning and must repair the state of their deck before the next match.
If the player does not or is not able to repair the state of the deck, or If the inconsistencies are severe enough to be considered cheating, the penalty may be upgraded to a Game Loss, Match Loss or Disqualification based on the severity of the evidence, repeated warnings, or a clear pattern of marking cards.
2.2.15. Insufficient Shuffling [Warning]
A player forgets or otherwise fails to shuffle their deck or other card sets in a way that ensures all the cards have been reasonably randomized. The penalty applies if this state remains unchanged before presenting the deck or card set to the Rival for further randomization, or the player starts to take other game actions.
The player receives a warning and must shuffle the affected deck or card set to a reasonably randomized level before presenting it to their opponent.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player “pile shuffles” and then doesn’t use another method of randomizing their deck afterwards.
- A player forgets to shuffle cards meant to be placed in a random order on the bottom of their deck.
- A player does not shuffle their deck after searching through it.
2.2.16. Collusion, Bribery and Wagering [Disqualification]
If one or more players meet any of the following criteria, they will be disqualified from the tournament:
- A player is discovered to have offered or accepted incentives to concede or change the results of a match to a one that doesn’t accurately reflect the result of gameplay.
- Two or more players are discovered to be part of a coordinated effort to affect the tournament rankings.
- A player is discovered to have offered incentives to staff members for a gameplay or tournament advantage .
- Any players are discovered to have placed bets on any portion or component of the tournament.
Common examples of this might include:
- A player offers to concede the match in exchange for part of any of their Rival’s prizes.
- A player suggests their Rival concedes a match in exchange for any part of their prizes.
- A player offers a Judge any form of compensation for a favorable ruling.
- A group of players have agreed to always concede if they get matched against the appointed player of the group.
- Two players enter into an agreement where they financially compensate the other based on Cyberpunk TCG tournament outcomes.
The role of a judge is to be an impartial entity that supports and protects the tournament integrity by attending to issues that might arise during its course. Judges are the line between unnatural issues in gameplay and the restoration of natural gamestates. Judges should not intervene in gameplay for any reason beyond the extent of their role as stated above. Judges should never intervene to stop a player from making an error, their involvement starts after rule violation has occurred.
Penalties are meant to be a tool both for ensuring fairness via deterrence, as well as a corrective means of education for players. It is important to explain in detail which rules were broken, what the penalty is, and how to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.
The penalty guide should be followed as written for most cases, with the opportunity for deviation in special circumstances being available only to the Head Judge of the tournament.