Midnight Trading Cards

Following the shipping of civilians to the Iceforts in the Frozen North during the Dimensional War, makeshift trading cards made from scraps of paper began being used by the younger civilians and even the Midnight soldiers off-duty in the bases. After a while, a Midnight Grunt (Corporal Adam Kellins) suggested to his superior officers that the cards be made official in order to boost morale. By the end of the Dimensional War, the Midnight developed and produced trading cards based on the armed forces that had won the Dimensional War.

The card game (known simply as Midnight Trading Cards) was developed by Umbratech, the Midnight's main technology contractor. It follows the basics of regular real-life trading card sets, though it is themed after the Midnight Armed Response Forces and the allies of the Midnight Coalition. The cards themselves have several rarities represented by colours and the characters that are present on them.

Common (White)

Uncommon (Green)

Rare (Blue)

Legendary (Purple)

Epic (Yellow)

Heroic (Red)

Unique (Gold)

Classified (Cyan)

Highly Classified (Alien Alloy/Grey)

The cards are usually sold in packs of 5 for approximately £1 (5B) a pack. This translates to 20p for one card. The cards inside the pack are totally random, with each progressive rarity becoming harder to obtain than the last. They are less of a competitive game and more like a collector's hobby, encouraging social interaction between players. To further get people involved, anyone who joins the Midnight Armed Response Forces will gain a card depicting the Midnight as a whole (Legendary) and a card depicting the Division they joined (also Legendary) for free. On top of that, weekly rations will always include a Booster Pack of 5 cards.

While all card rarities have a chance of being in all packs (excluding Classified and Highly Classified), the final rarity (Unique) is incredibly hard to find. This is due to the fact that the Unique variant of card only has one print per character. These cards are lined with actual gold making them exceedingly valuable to compensate for their one-of-a-kind nature. People known to hold these cards have actually been attacked and mugged for their value, though the known holders of the more valuable Unique cards tend to keep them on their person in secret at all times. While Connor Pemberton has the Unique variant of his own card (Apex Centurion) he actually keeps it open on his armour, tucked into the collar of his gear. He is known to mockingly use this as an Identification Card.

The cards can contain both the Midnight and any Midnight Divisions and allies, including the USSR and others. There is also a "Classified" and "Highly Classified" rarity of card that is actually only available to members of the XCOM Project and any Midnight officials that know of XCOM itself. These types of card are not available to the public, but were created in order to give XCOM staff the same luxuries that the Midnight has. Despite this, Central Officer John Bradford shows disdain for the cards as he constantly finds wrappers of the Booster Packs tucked under consoles. Bradford himself, as an XCOM operative, is a Classified card rarity and actually has his own "Unique Classified" variant of his card, just as Commander Fielde Locke has the Unique Classified variant of his card that he actively keeps inside the sheathe of his sword, Talisman.