So there you have it - the end of our first (and most definitely not last) Community Scoops Week! It’s been pretty nerve-wracking here at NISEI Plaza, even beyond the normal twitchiness at cards being shown off… but I’m gonna mark this one down as a success!

Now, I said I’d do you a recap of everything spoiled this week, so we’re all on the same page moving forward. In chronological order… some of the cards have had minor tweaks since they were sent out, including some graphical tweaks (like lightening of the text boxes), a rewrite of Saisentain’s text, a rework of Complete Image’s last two sentences, and Game Over now specifically states “Runner cards”.

On with the recap!

We started off on the Tuesday with Jakuza showing off the final version of the card he made the lovely art for (which features on the Q2 GNK mat!)

And we wrapped up that first day with Trace5 showing off three new Crim cards .

Wednesday was a powerhouse of a day, starting with Dead Channel bringing some Bad Publicity ...

… then to some new Jinteki cards via Métropole Grid…

...finishing with a number of Runner cards , including our new Shaper ID, courtesy of Code Marvelous!

On Thursday The Flatline had scoops on two new Runner cards ...

Then, later on the same day, Noch Fünfzehner Minuten showed off three of the new ICE from Downfall.

On Friday, Fobby from Remove and Discard showed the world two agendas

Then on Saturday, Beyoken got his hands on some of the new HB cards , including the final version of the MirrorMorph ID.

Lastly, Stimhack did an old-school style community review of some cards with old-school concepts!

Phew. Now after that, I’m guessing you’re all sated on the scoop front, right? No? You want more?

NO WORRIES! Today, I’ll be showing you two cards, from a set that’s become known as “friendos” around NISEI Plaza. With me today to talk about this is @BreakOneBarrier, NISEI’s Creative Director...

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So, I understand these two new friends come to us via the new Anarch ID that will be making an appearance in Uprising - which came first, the Runner or her friends?

The Runner! She actually started as nothing more than an aesthetic and theme I wanted to build a Runner around, originally. As I wrote her story and her personality developed, having little digital friends just naturally fell into place. Once more of her character is released I think everyone will agree.

When design came up with the idea for the “friendos”, what was the process for filling in the lore around them?

Originally in my writing she only had one major digital companion with just a few small random creatures as nothing more than scenery. A big part of her personality is that she has pretty severe social anxiety which cyberspace helps to remedy - in fact, her very first (long since changed) ability was based on having Virtual - Connection resources installed. Naturally, virtual connections were created as a big centerpiece of her kit, and while that ID ability was abandoned pretty quickly, the friends were kept around. They grew to be pretty popular and were a really charming idea for a game that was typically pretty serious in most of its story, so they each got personalities to match their mechanics!

When do we get to read the stories behind our mysterious Anarch and her four friends?

The current plan is to drop stories within the few days leading up to the launch of their respective IDs, so you'll have to wait until we're a little closer to Uprising to read more about her. That said, you might find a card or two in Downfall that gives a little sneak peak.

Do you have a favourite friendo? (Don't worry, I won't tell them)

I'm really in love with Taka's art - Izzy is a good friend of mine and did a great job with it. In terms of story though, that first-designed one I mentioned before is probably my favorite, and I think our Runner would agree.

You've not named the first-designed one, is that because we've not seen them yet?

Correct! It's her console.

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Thanks for that Holly. Now, I’m sure half the people reading this have skipped ahead to see the new cards and frankly, as lovely as Holly and I are, I kinda don’t blame them. So here they are: Fencer Fueno and Trickster Taka!

So there you go - two new companions for your journeys through cyberspace!

That’s all(?) from me today, come back on Wednesday for Anzekay’s journey through the development process and a couple of new cards. Until then…