Cyberpunk TCG Judge Program: 3 Levels, Tests and Promos

Pass one online test and you are qualified to head-judge a Night City Showdown. That is the entry rung of the Cyberpunk TCG Judge Program, which WeirdCo published on 16 October 2026: a Basic test scored above 85% makes you a Level 1 judge automatically, and Level 1 covers all three store event types in any position. What Level 1 does not normally cover is an Edgerunner Open Regional. The exception is the first one. WeirdCo is taking applications to judge EOR Chicago (11 to 13 December 2026) from anyone who has passed Level 1.

WeirdCo kept to both deadlines it had set itself. Its 16 September Night City Showdown preview said judge details would arrive before the first Showdown window, which opens 13 November. Its 25 September Tournament Rules post said the Judge program and testing process would follow in October. This post covers the three levels, how the tests work, what each level is allowed to judge, what the Tournament Rules expect of a judge once you are on the floor, and the five Judge-stamped printings in the official card database.

The three levels at a glance

Two things sit outside the table. Head Judges for major events are picked from Level 3 judges at WeirdCo's discretion, and WeirdCo says Head Judge is not a tier of its own. Level 2 judges also get a job away from events: they are qualified to answer rules questions and resolve queries inside the Judge Discord.

Only Level 1 is a pure test result. Level 2 and Level 3 are applications that a passing score makes you eligible for, and WeirdCo decides them.

Taking the Level 1 test

The tests live on WeirdCo's site, not on Discord or Melee:

1. Log in to your cyberpunktcg.com account with the button at the top right of the site.
2. Open the Judge Program page at cyberpunktcg.com/judge-program (the "Become a Judge" link in the site menu). It asks you to log in if you have not.
3. Take the Basic (Level 1) test. A pass puts the Level 1 Judge tag on your account straight away.
4. Join the Judge Discord with the invite you are shown after passing, and confirm you have passed to get the Judge role there.

Fail the Basic or the Intermediate test and you wait 24 hours before you can retake it. WeirdCo's own advice is to pick your answers carefully.

WeirdCo has not published the question count, the time limit or a syllabus anywhere you can read without logging in. Its 25 September post told aspiring judges to get familiar with the Tournament Rules before the tests arrived, and the Level 3 test is described as policy and rulings. So the obvious reading list is the Tournament Rules for policy, the Comprehensive Rules for the game, and the official Rules FAQ for rulings. This site's breakdowns of the Tournament Rules, the Comprehensive Rules and the Rules FAQ are a starting point, but read WeirdCo's own documents too.

What each level is allowed to judge

This is WeirdCo's list, laid out by event. "Any" means any position.

The Tournament Rules (section 1.2) split organized play into two tiers. Pre-releases, Brawls and Showdowns make up the Night City Gauntlet, the store level. District Opens, Regionals, the Black Sapphire Invitational and Worlds are competition level. Read against that split, the program is simple. Level 1 covers the store level. Level 2 covers competition-level events up to the Black Sapphire Invitational, but only as a floor judge above District Opens. Level 3 is the only level listed for Worlds and the only one that can be an Assistant Head Judge.

Level 1 is a store certification

"Any position" at a store event includes Head Judge. Section 2.2.1 of the Tournament Rules names two judge roles, Head Judge and Floor Judge, and says a small event can have one judge doing both. Section 2.2.2.1 adds that at a small event the tournament organizer can also be the judge. Put that together with Level 1 and a store owner who passes the Basic test can run and judge a small Showdown on their own. None of the WeirdCo documents cited here says a store event has to have a certified judge at all.

Level 1's one competition-level slot, floor judge at a District Open, has no event to use it at yet. WeirdCo's Organized Play page says District Opens start with Set 2. Set 2, Edgerunners: Burn Bright, was announced on 20 October for Spring 2027, and section 2.3.2 of the Tournament Rules says stores apply to host District Opens in a window typically one to two weeks after a main set releases. So through the rest of the Welcome to Night City cycle, a Level 1 judge's sanctioned work is Pre-releases, Brawls and Showdowns, plus Chicago.

That store-first design is a choice. Bandai's GUNDAM CARD GAME Judge Program page, current as of 16 May 2025, routes applications through the Bandai Organized Play Discord, says the program is run by Play!TCG rather than Bandai, and says it is only recruiting floor judges for events with a capacity of 128 or more. WeirdCo runs its own tests on its own site and aims its first tier at the local store. Our Gundam online play guide covers the Bandai side.

Chicago is the one exception

On WeirdCo's ladder the Regional floor starts at Level 2. For EOR Chicago, at McCormick Place from 11 to 13 December 2026, WeirdCo has opened applications to anyone who has passed the Level 1 test, because it is the first Regional. It still recommends having passed at least the Intermediate (Level 2) test before you apply. The path it gives:

1. Pass the Basic (Level 1) test on the Judge Program page.
2. Join the Judge Discord through the invite shown after the test.
3. Get the Judge role in Discord by confirming you passed.
4. Find the application form inside the Judge Discord.

The application form is not on the open web. You only reach it by passing Level 1.

Section 2.3.2 of the Tournament Rules shows the range of judge jobs a competition-level event can have. Organizers hire judge staff as WeirdCo instructs, and the roles it lists include Head Judges, Floor Judges, Timekeepers, Stream Table Judges, side event Head and Floor Judges, and deck and dice check judges. Chicago runs a full side event schedule over three days (the side events breakdown has the timetable). Most side events run at store-level enforcement under section 1.2.3, and the premier ones, such as the Goro Takemura Open, run at full competition level.

WeirdCo frames the same four steps as the path to "any other upcoming" Regional. It does not say whether the Level 1 allowance carries over to EOR Warsaw on 30 and 31 January 2027.

What the Tournament Rules ask of a judge

The Tournament Rules breakdown covers sideboards, round timers and the dice-check thresholds. These are the parts that matter once you are the one being called to the table:

Two details explain how the system is built. Section 2.2.1.1 asks the Head Judge not to take calls directly from players, so that players keep a route to appeal a Floor Judge's ruling. And the Floor Judge section ends by calling the role a customer service job: clear and direct with players, but not harsh or rude.

The biggest gap is the penalty list. Section 4.3 points to Appendix A, Penalties & Infractions, and Appendix A still says it will be added at a later date. When I read the Tournament Rules on 25 October they still carried their 25 September date. A judge can tell that a penalty needs Head Judge approval but has no published table of which infraction earns which penalty.

The five Judge promos

WeirdCo's announcement says judges at every level of organized play get exclusive promos, and its event previews have named two of them. The card database also has a separate Judge Promos set with three more.

The Showdown preview says those four Sandevistans go to "Judges and tournament support staff", so they are not limited to certified judges. The Brawl preview calls its eight packs Judge packs and does not say who receives them. Kit contents and the Brawl pool are in the Night City Brawl and Showdown breakdown.

Three things about the set as a whole:

• None of them is a new card. All five are variants of cards already in Welcome to Night City Retail boosters: Secondhand Bombus #053, MaxTac Squadron #082, Sandevistan #095, Delamain: Rideshare AI #111 and Maman Brigitte #118. A judge promo is a different treatment of a card anyone can open, not a card only judges can play.
• The three JDG-WNC cards have no published route. WeirdCo's Pre-release kit preview, its side event preview and its EOR page mention no judge promo. The JDG-WNC cards could be the Pre-release or Regional judge reward, but WeirdCo has not said so.
• Two of the JDG-WNC cards echo the Brawl pool. Secondhand Bombus and MaxTac Squadron are also among the 18 Brawl pack promos, as is Maman Brigitte itself. Delamain: Rideshare AI is not. The Brawl pool's Delamain is Delamain Cab, a different card. The database files the two kit judge cards as Nova Rare and the three JDG-WNC cards at their booster rarities: Common, Common and Uncommon.

The calendar a new judge is working to

The Organized Play breakdown covers what each of those events is. WeirdCo says it weighs judging experience alongside the test when it awards Level 2. The Pre-release weekend, the first Brawls and the first Showdown window all start before Chicago, so they are the first sanctioned events where a new judge can get that experience.

What WeirdCo has not said

As of 25 October 2026:

• The test itself. Question count, time limit, format and syllabus are not published anywhere outside the logged-in Judge Program page.
• When the Level 3 test goes live, and so who can be an Assistant Head Judge at a Regional, a Black Sapphire Invitational or Worlds. Head Judges for major events come from Level 3, and WeirdCo's 16 October post says the Level 3 test is not live. WeirdCo has not said who will head-judge Chicago.
• What Assistant Head Judge means. The Tournament Rules (2.2.1) define Head Judge and Floor Judge, plus the alternate Head Judges and Appeals Judges a Head Judge may appoint at larger events. "Assistant Head Judge" is not defined there.
• The penalty guide. Appendix A of the Tournament Rules is still a placeholder.
• What Regional judges get. Neither the EOR page nor the side event preview mentions judge pay, travel, badges or promos, and the JDG-WNC promos have no announced distribution.
• The Chicago application deadline, and whether Level 1 judges can apply for Warsaw.
• Whether a store event needs a certified judge.
• Whether a level expires or has to be renewed.
• The 85% wording. Level 1 asks for a result "over 85%" and Level 2 for "85% or above". Read literally, exactly 85% passes the harder test but not the easier one. That is probably loose wording, but WeirdCo has not clarified it.

Quick reference

• Become a Level 1 judge: log in at cyberpunktcg.com, open the Judge Program page and score over 85% on the Basic test. The role and an invite to the Judge Discord follow automatically.
• Level 2: 85% or above on the Intermediate test, then apply in the Judge Discord. Awarded on experience plus the test, at WeirdCo's discretion.
• Level 3: 90% or higher on the Expert policy and rulings test as an approved Level 2. Not live as of WeirdCo's 16 October post.
• Retakes: 24-hour cooldown after a failed Basic or Intermediate test.
• Level 1 can judge: Pre-releases, Brawls and Showdowns in any position, including Head Judge, and District Opens as a Floor Judge (from Set 2, Spring 2027).
• Level 2 can judge: all of that, District Opens in any position, and Regionals and the Black Sapphire Invitational as a Floor Judge.
• Level 3 can judge: all of that, plus Worlds, as Floor Judge or Assistant Head Judge at Regionals, the Black Sapphire Invitational and Worlds. Major-event Head Judges are picked from Level 3.
• EOR Chicago (11 to 13 December 2026): open to any Level 1 judge, applications through the Judge Discord. WeirdCo recommends passing Level 2 first.
• Judge promos: Maman Brigitte (8 Judge packs per Brawl kit), Sandevistan (4 per Showdown kit), plus Secondhand Bombus, MaxTac Squadron and Delamain: Rideshare AI in the Judge Promos set, with no announced route.