Welcome to Night City uses one of the more layered rarity systems a new trading card game has launched with in years.
There are seven tiers to learn, not the usual four or five, and one of them doesn't even come from booster packs at all.
Each tier also has its own printed symbol, which matters once you're sorting a binder full of mixed pulls.
Here is the full rarity ladder, how to spot each tier at a glance, and where foil treatment actually kicks in.
Welcome to Night City's rarity ladder runs Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic Rare, Secret Rare, Iconic Rare, and finally Nova Rare, which sits entirely outside the normal booster structure.
Across the set's 171 total cards, that breaks down to roughly 60 Commons, 32 Uncommons, 32 Rares, 12 Epic Rares, 4 Secret Rares, and 31 Iconic Rares, the last of which are alternate-art versions of cards already found at other rarities.
Common carries a single downward chevron, Uncommon an upward one, and Rare uses two opposing chevrons with a visible gap between them.
Epic Rare adds a diamond between those same two chevrons, Secret Rare widens that symbol with wing-like chevrons on either side, and Iconic Rare switches to a central diamond with bracket-like arms and spikes resembling a crest.
Commons and Uncommons print as standard non-foil cards, and foil treatment begins the moment a card reaches Rare, meaning every Rare-and-above pull has some holographic finish.
That foil intensity keeps climbing as rarity rises, with Secret Rares carrying a distinct chaotic holographic shimmer that visually separates them from a standard Rare foil even before you check the symbol.
Nova Rare isn't part of the standard booster rarity ladder at all. These cards are distributed through box toppers, Kickstarter rewards, convention exclusives, and other promotional channels instead of being pulled from a regular 12-card pack.
That distribution method means a Nova Rare isn't automatically rarer than an Iconic Rare in terms of total copies printed, but its limited channels can still make specific Nova Rare promos genuinely hard to track down.
Iconic Rares keep a card's existing rules text identical to its regular-rarity printing, which makes the tier a pure collector's chase rather than a competitive upgrade.
Of the 31 Iconic Rares in Welcome to Night City, some are alternate-art versions of ordinary Units, Programs, and Gear, while others reprint a Legend or one of the set's four Secret Rares in new artwork.
A standard 12-card booster breaks down to seven Commons, three Uncommons, and two Rare-or-better slots, with those final two spots capable of holding any combination from Rare up through Iconic Rare.
That collation means opening a single pack never guarantees a specific rarity beyond Rare, and a genuine Iconic Rare pull is the product of favorable odds on just two card slots out of twelve.
A rarity symbol only describes how often a card shows up in a pack, not how many total copies were printed or how many are actually sitting in collections rather than circulating on the secondary market.
A Common from a smaller print run can end up genuinely harder to find than an Epic Rare from a larger one, which is worth remembering before paying a premium on rarity alone.
The most reliable long-term value in a brand-new card game is often a Common or Uncommon that turns out to be format-defining once the competitive meta settles, long after it was opened in bulk and treated as worthless.
That category is invisible to a rarity symbol entirely, which is exactly why it's worth watching deck lists in the weeks after launch rather than assuming rarity alone predicts which cards end up actually mattering.
Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic Rare, Secret Rare, Iconic Rare, and Nova Rare.
Rare, with foil intensity increasing at each tier above it.
No, Nova Rares come only from box toppers, Kickstarter rewards, and other promotional channels.
Two, out of a 12-card pack that also includes seven Commons and three Uncommons.
Knowing the symbols before you open a box means you'll spot a genuine Iconic Rare the moment it hits the table instead of double-checking later. Protect any foil pull immediately with an EVORETRO graded card sleeve before it ever changes hands.
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