Every new trading card game eventually settles on one card everybody wants, and Welcome to Night City settled on its chase card almost immediately.
That card is Johnny Silverhand, the rockerboy terrorist and former Samurai frontman at the center of Cyberpunk 2077's story.
He shows up across more than one printing in the debut set, and collectors are chasing nearly all of them.
Here is why Silverhand specifically became the card to beat, and how his different versions actually compare.
Johnny Silverhand is widely considered the face of the Cyberpunk 2077 franchise, a rockerboy and one of Arasaka's most dangerous enemies long before the video game's own story begins.
That built-in name recognition alone makes him a natural chase target, the same way a franchise's most iconic character tends to anchor the chase list in almost any licensed card game.
Silverhand's Legend printing, Rocking Renegade, carries Secret rarity and 2 RAM, with card number 003 in the set's numbering, and depicts him mid-performance on stage with a crowd surrounding him.
As a Legend, he offers a unique effect for whichever crew runs him, making this version desirable to competitive players and collectors at the same time rather than appealing to just one group.
A separate printing, Never Stop Fighting, casts Silverhand as a Red Epic Unit with a cost of 6, power of 8, and 2 RAM, readying himself the first time he wins a fight each turn and automatically beating any Corpo-tagged Unit he fights.
That ability makes him a genuinely strong on-board threat in addition to a collectible, which is part of why this version holds its own appeal separate from the Legend printing.
Kickstarter backers received their own exclusive Silverhand variant as part of the Beta print run, and several hobby writers covering the set have already noted that version as the more striking of the two Iconic-tier prints.
Since Beta cards carry a distinct Beta symbol and B-prefixed card numbers, that version is cleanly distinguishable from anything found in retail boosters, and it isn't available through normal retail channels at all.
Multiple printings of the same character across different rarities is a common way for a new card game to build sustained chase demand around one name instead of spreading attention too thin.
Silverhand earning that treatment in Welcome to Night City, alongside fellow headliners V, Jackie Welles, and Judy Alvarez, puts him in the same company as the set's other most-recognized characters while still standing out as the single most searched name early on.
Because his Secret Rare Legend print sits among just four total Secret Rares in the entire 171-card set, the raw odds of pulling that specific card from any individual pack stay low even before accounting for the two-slot Rare-or-better collation in a standard booster.
Collectors specifically chasing Rocking Renegade should expect buying a booster box, rather than individual packs, to be the more realistic path to a copy in the first weeks after launch.
Hobby coverage of Welcome to Night City's chase list consistently places Silverhand alongside Judy Alvarez, Adam Smasher, V, and Jackie Welles as the set's most-wanted pulls, with Judy Alvarez's Iconic Rare topping more than one early ranking.
Silverhand still stands apart from that group by appearing across multiple meaningfully different printings, rather than just one alternate-art version, which is the main reason his name comes up first in almost every chase-card conversation about this set.
New card games without an established secondary market make early price predictions unreliable, but headline chase cards tied to a franchise's most recognizable character consistently command the highest early premiums in similar licensed releases.
Expect Rocking Renegade specifically to trade well above typical Secret Rare pricing in the weeks right after November 6, simply because demand for the character outpaces the four total Secret Rare slots across the whole set.
At least two retail versions, Rocking Renegade and Never Stop Fighting, plus a separate Beta-exclusive print.
Secret Rare, one of only four Secret Rares in the set.
Yes, it's a strong Red Epic Unit that readies on winning fights and auto-beats Corpo Units.
No, that version was exclusive to Kickstarter backers.
A card this chased deserves protection the second it leaves the pack, not after you've shown it around the shop. Slide a fresh pull straight into an EVORETRO magnetic card holder before it ever changes hands.
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