Cards, effects and Desire synergies
Last reviewed · Editor: btiger · Public-source guide.
Cards determine what your CZN team can do with its AP. Attack, Skill and Upgrade are the core functional types; tags such as Retain or Exhaust change how a card cycles. A useful deck combines damage with enough draw, resources and protection to repeat its plan. No public card-usage statistics were verified.
Core card types
Game8's card reference and Prydwen's combat guide independently describe these distinctions. A type is not the same as a character-specific tag or a rarity.
| Type | Usual purpose | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | Damage and offensive effects | Target, attribute, cost and attached triggers |
| Skill | Utility such as draw, healing, shields or debuffs | Whether it supports the team's actual loop |
| Upgrade | Changes that persist during an encounter | When the setup cost pays off |
| Status Ailment | Disruption added by an enemy | Its play/removal rule and whether leaving it in hand hurts |
| Curse | A harmful card acquired through run events | Whether it persists and which removal route applies |
| Ego Skill | Character/Partner special action | EP cost rather than ordinary AP |
Game8: card categories and examplesPrydwen: card-type explanation
Useful effects to recognize
Editorial reading checklist: check cost first, then target, trigger and duration. Draw helps reach the next relevant card; Retain can hold a piece for a later turn; Exhaust changes repeated access. A high damage number alone does not tell you whether the card fits a sustainable sequence.
Prydwen: current effect and tag definitionsAP and enemy-action consequences
What are Desire Cards?
Game8's Desire guide describes cards with Claim, Inquiry, Control and Survival synergy categories that build team effects. Prydwen's dictionary independently contains those category effects. Pick a category because its effect supports your build, rather than treating every Desire reward as automatically superior. Exact stacking thresholds and availability depend on the mode/season and are not repeated as universal rules.
Game8: Desire Cards guidePrydwen: Claim, Inquiry, Control and Survival effects
Neutral, Monster and Forbidden cards
Game8 distinguishes run-acquired cards from a combatant's starting/unique cards. Its Forbidden-card explanation belongs to Laboratory 0 and the Forbidden Catalyst context; it is not a promise that every present Chaos offers the same reward route. This acquisition detail is single-source here.
Which cards should you keep?
Keep effects that make the chosen combo work and skip additions that only dilute access to it. Consider which upgrades survive Save Data retention. No most-used ranking or full mirror of a database is supplied without usage evidence.
Epiphany variantsWhat Save Data retainsImport a Build Preset