Robbing a casino is no easy task, let alone robbing The Cósmico, MegaVegas’s premier—and most secure—gambling establishment. So when a mysterious benefactor offers three strangers the profits of her high-stakes heist, they’re justifiably hesitant.
She sweetens the pot with the only prizes they care about. The ex-mercenary gets her hands on the throat of her betrayer. The kid genius breaks his grandmother out of prison. The mad scientist taps into the tech that can restore their experiment-ravaged mind.
They’re in, but it won’t be easy. Security’s tight, lives are at stake, and there’s no room for error in a town where the house always wins.
Ready to Ante Up?
Ante Up is part one of the River Cycle, a two-set cycle set in the harsh deserts and corporate oases of the Southwestern United States.
Ante Up is a standalone duel deck product with something for everyone, playable right out of the box.
Ante Up tells the first part of a thrilling heist story – we’re getting the gang together.
Ante Up is the next expansion from Null Signal Games, releasing January 2027. We’re ready to raise the stakes. Are you?
Cards on the table
Inside a new custom box, you’ll find two pre-built duel decks, ready to play out a knock-down, drag-out brawl of a matchup depicting a Criminal runner’s quest to get revenge against the Weyland Consortium corp that left her for dead. Players of any experience level can crack open these decks, sit down and enjoy a great game of Netrunner straightaway – just grab some tokens and you’re ready to go!
But that’s not all. Ante Up is the first of two full expansions that make up the River Cycle with cards for every faction and something for every player. It contains full playsets of 66 brand new cards – including five new identity cards – plus playsets of 11 reprinted cards from System Gateway and Elevation which round out the duel decks. Among those reprints are new versions of the staple cards Sure Gamble and Hedge Fund, featuring new flavour text and stunning new art by Amirul Hhf!
As you flick through the cards of Ante Up, you’ll witness the frightening implications of corporate control of water in a parched region, and follow the buildup to a daring heist amidst the legendary highs and lows of MegaVegas. Whether you’re new to Netrunner, an old hand intrigued by NSG’s expansions for the first time, or a die-hard Netrunner grinder, there’s lots to discover in this collection of expressive cards, designed to add further depth to the Standard format.
Where water’s more precious than gold
The River Cycle takes place in the Southwestern United States – everywhere the Colorado River touches. It is the first time an NSG expansion has depicted life in North America outside of one of the continent’s sprawling megacities. To ensure our worldbuilding was faithful to the experience of people from the region, we hired a Comanche consultant to help us develop some of the characters and art that make up this setting.
It is an arid region, and Ante Up explores how the corps have heightened that dryness through their control of water. To live in corp-controlled regions and play by their rules is to enjoy a bountiful oasis and a comfortable life. But to exist outside of the corps’ purview – or stand against them – is a hard life of heat, thirst and struggle.
On the Runner side, we see the gang getting brought together for a daring heist: a collection of messy, misguided, compromised individuals with very different goals, coming together for one big job that will make or break them all. On the Corp side, we put names and faces to their enemies: brazenly cruel corporate divisions and their love-to-hate-em CEOs.
Flop, Turn, River
Ante Up is scheduled to release in January 2027. On release, it will be available to purchase through our online store, our retail partners and print-on-demand services. The custom box will not be provided through print-on-demand – copies of the set purchased through those services will come in smaller tuckboxes as usual, but will contain all the same cards.
Ante Up will also be available for free as print-and-play files, and on NetrunnerDB and jinteki.net for deckbuilding and online play. New balance updates for Standard and other supported formats will be released with the set. The release of Ante Up will not be accompanied by any rotation in Standard.
Get your official first look at the cards from Ante Up when preview season begins, right here at nullsignal.games, in early January. Preorders for the set will open a few weeks before release.
Null Signal Games work with our printing partner, Boda Games, to set release dates according to their detailed production and shipping estimates. Due to the complexities of this process, we have not yet been able to confirm an exact release date, but will make another announcement with that date as soon as we can. We are a volunteer-run organization managing a large and complex international distribution program, and as such there are factors involved that are out of our control which could cause delays to the cards arriving in the hands of some players. If we anticipate issues like this arising with Ante Up, we will attempt to communicate that information as soon as possible; in the meantime, you can read more about our distribution process on our blog.
The River Cycle is a bold new step for Null Signal Games. Make your way through the desert and join us amid the lights of MegaVegas when Ante Up releases in January!
