So, I was a bit bored today. Which led to me look at all the spoilers from SanSan to create the theory for the datapack names.
As we know from the announcement of the Cycle, the datapacks were created thematically independant from each other. As we saw from The Valley preview, the first datapack deals with the genetic modification from The Valley, we saw these in the form of agendas and the genetic resources for the runners.
With that in mind, I looked through the spoilers to try and guess which will be the next expansion.
From the FFG announcement we know that we will visit the Underway and the World Expo. From some comments from 4chan and reddit we also know an University is coming.
So, let the speculation begin!
SanSan Cycle #2: So far, the cards we know from this pack are the ICE named after famous people: Crick, Turing, Oppenheimer and Meru Mati. So, my guess is that this pack is either the World Expo or the University one. From elimination (read later) my guess is that this pack will contain the World Expo. So, the other partially spoiled card from this theme is Weylandâs Corporate Town, so we are probably getting it in this pack.
SanSan Cycle #3: The cards we know from this pack are CrowBar, Ryon Knight and Little Engine. So no especullation on this one.
SanSan Cycle #4: The cards from this pack are Drive By, Forger, Muertos Gang Member and Chameleon. So this is probably the Underworld pack. Underway it is!
SanSan Cycle #5: The cards we know from this are Trope and An Offer You can refuse. From the partial spoilers we onow NBN is getting a card called Casting Call. Which, combined with trope led me to believe that we are getting a LA/Hollywood pack. Since Trope is is this pack, My guess is that the 5th pack will deal with Hollywood.
SanSan Cycle #6: This card will bring us Team Sponsorship and Ancestral Imaging. My guess is this will be the University one. Since we have research and sports in the same pack. Expect the partiLly spoiled London Library in it!
So, this was it. I hope someone enjoys reading this speculation. What are your thoughts? Any ideas? What might be the misterious third pack?
Did you catch how many IDs will be released for each faction?
Itâs time for Laramy, but the new Criminal cards in Underway seem totally point towards a Muertos Gang Leader/Member runner. Seems perfectly fitting to Criminal, where our dudes & gals in blue all have this ritzy, James Bond-ish vibe. Showing the other side of the faction,etc.
We could well still end up with him, given his tattoo sleeves. Would be more than a bit of a shame if we got him instead of a new Muertos member, but he is due to be in this set. I donât imagine weâll get two Crim IDs, though.
That said, one interesting thing with this cycle is that the count is off. Usually each faction as one or two packs with 3 cards and the rest have 2 â but Jinteki in the Valley has 4 that we know of, I believe, and Criminal looks to have as many as five later on. Iâm sure this is a result of the whole âgroup by locationâ thing, with some gangs being bigger presences in some locations, but still. Kind of exciting.
Back to IDs for a moment, I look forward to learning if weâll get an ID for each faction or if thisâll be somewhat like Spin, where we only get two (or three) spread out across multiple ones in the second cycle of the rotation block. I like having lots of IDs, but I can see why theyâd want to slow it down every so often, especially following O&C when only NBN is limited in terms of available IDs (and is likely still going to be showing results even so, because Cyberdex helps handle things like Clot before they even come out).
Laramy âTurbodoucheâ Fisk could fit in a âbig businessâ pack, as generic a term as that is, or into the âHollywoodâ pack. Heâs described as a big-name mover and shaker with a lot of attention given to his public life.
Sure hope pack 5 has Princess Space Kitten, though.
The number of IDs per pack hasnât been spoiled yet. But snow-jax said on 4chan that we are getting both Fisk and Chronos Protocol this cycle. If we are gettin 2 Jinteki IDs maybe weâll get two criminals? Not sure.
The other things we know from him on 4chan is that this Cycle will be a runner cycle, especially shaper.
They are gettin a very good Icebreaker that Nasir especially will love and a new ID that will compete with Kate as the top Shaper. That was all we got from him. Not 100% confirmed, but so far he has never lied.
That will be a dark day indeed, since his spoilers are taken as being effectively official.
Interesting that we might get two Jinteki IDs in one cycle, though. I mean, with the location-heavy focus, thatâs not impossible, and actually HAVING CP will be nice because Iâve been wanting it for a loooong time. But those two being released as extras was always a possibility, so yeah, seems not unlikely weâd get another criminal if CP is indeed here.
Looking forward to new Shaper goodness, too. Anarchâs going to be big for a while, I think (though new good things for them is always nice), and I donât see Criminal getting worse with the addition of Drive By and whatnot.
I will confess, though, that the card Iâm most looking forward to having spoiled is NEXT Gold. I want that cycle of cards dooone. (Though I will hold out hope for NEXT Platinum anyway.)
I definitely like the shift to thematic packs, so that they can drop bigger pieces of a combo or synergistic cards at the same time. Interesting that weâre getting 2x Criminal & 2x Jinteki IDs; probably means that a faction on either side is getting skipped (or there are lots of IDs, I guess).
Iâm hoping/guessing theyâll be extra. It makes sense, somewhat â then they just add those two in on top and design a card for the other faction that could have won, rather than needing to develop new IDs entirely for them as well. I feel as though IDs are probably harder by and large to do with balancing.
Yes, the second pack was my biggest doubt. [And pack 3, which we have no info].
Not sure if the whole Team Sponsoship and Ancestral Imaging fit the World Expo. So maybe pack #3 will be the world expo and the 6th is something unknown.
6th seems like business, to me. Marketing, maybe? Product Placement, Team Sponsorship, seems kind of like that might be the theme, to me. Suppose weâll see.
