Your first match in Deep Sky: Tracers is going to throw a lot of information at you. That is normal. The interface is dense, the systems are layered, and nobody reads every tooltip on the first pass.
This guide walks through each phase of a match in order — not to script your decisions, but to make sure you understand what you are looking at, what your options are, and what actually matters in the first few turns.
By the end, you should feel ready to queue without needing to pause and Google things mid-match.
[PICTURE OF THE PRE-MATCH LOBBY OR LOADING SCREEN WITH THE DEEP SKY: TRACERS LOGO]
Hero Select
The match begins here. You pick your hero before anything else, and this choice shapes your entire game plan.
Right now, there are two heroes:
- V0!D — aggressive and disruptive. Her abilities apply DREAD (a power debuff) and FEAR (a control effect) to enemy units. Her active ability, Blood Corruption, costs 2 HP and gives a unit +5 attack — but that unit dies after two of its own attacks. V0!D wants fast, aggressive boards that break opponents early.
- H00_t — sustain and recovery. His abilities heal allies and grant shields. His active ability, Bulwark Blessing, costs 2 CR and gives a unit +5 shield at combat start. H00_t wants durable boards that outlast and stabilize through longer fights.
[PICTURE OF THE HERO SELECT SCREEN WITH V0!D AND H00_T SIDE BY SIDE]
For your first match, either hero works. Pick the one that sounds more appealing to how you want to play. You will learn the nuances over time.
Darknet Contract Select
After hero select, you are offered 3 Darknet contracts from a pool of 6. You pick one.
Each contract gives you two things:
- A passive clause that triggers every combat automatically
- A command package — three rotating abilities that cycle one per turn
Some contracts are defensive. Aegis Leak gives your leftmost unit +2 shield every fight. Safehouse Breach blocks the first debuff on your leftmost unit. Others are aggressive — Jailbreak Writ gives your strongest ally +1 power. Breach Market lets your first hit ignore shields.
And some are economy-focused: Ghost Archive reduces your first glitch purchase by 1 CR each turn.
[PICTURE OF THE CONTRACT SELECT SCREEN SHOWING THREE OFFERED CONTRACTS WITH THEIR DESCRIPTIONS]
Do not overthink this on your first game. Pick the one whose passive sounds most useful. You will learn how the command packages cycle once you have a few matches behind you.
Recruit Phase
This is where the game really begins. The Recruit phase is your economy turn — the shop phase where you build your board.
You receive credits at the start of each turn. The progression scales up:
- Turn 1: 6 CR
- Turn 2: 8 CR
- Turn 3: 10 CR
- Turn 4: 12 CR
- Turn 5+: 14 CR
Unspent credits carry over into the next turn, capped at 3 CR.
Your main actions during Recruit:
- Buy a glitch — costs 2 CR. These are your combat units.
- Buy a chip — costs 2 CR. These are equipment upgrades you attach to units later.
- SCAN — costs 1 CR. Rerolls your shop offers.
- CACHE — free. Locks a shop slot so it persists into the next turn.
- Tier Up — costs 4 / 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 CR depending on your current tier. Upgrades your Network Tier, which unlocks higher-cost glitches in the shop.
[PICTURE OF THE RECRUIT PHASE UI SHOWING SHOP OFFERS, CREDITS, SCAN BUTTON, AND TIER UP OPTION]
Your board capacity also grows with turns: 2 → 4 → 5 → 6 (max). On turn one you can only field 2 units. By turn four, you have a full 6-slot board.
The most important first-match advice for this phase: do not spend everything every turn. Having a plan for your credits — even a rough one — makes a real difference. Sometimes saving 2 CR for a stronger next turn is better than buying a unit you will replace in two rounds.
Loadout Phase
After Recruit, you move into Loadout. This is where you arrange your board for combat.
Your main actions:
- Place glitches into board slots. Slot position determines attack order — left to right.
- Equip chips onto units. Each unit can hold one chip.
- Use your hero's active ability if you have the resources and a valid target.
Positioning is real strategy here, not just cosmetic arrangement. Your leftmost unit attacks first and takes pressure first. Your rightmost unit acts last. Support units and adjacency effects (like Uplink chips or Song synergy) care about who is next to whom.
[PICTURE OF THE LOADOUT PHASE WITH UNITS PLACED ON THE BOARD AND CHIPS EQUIPPED]
For your first match, a simple rule works well: put your toughest unit on the left, your most important damage dealer somewhere in the middle or right, and pay attention to any chip or synergy that mentions adjacency.
When you are ready, you lock in. If you finish early, the remaining time carries over from Recruit into Loadout, so managing your time across both phases can give you a little extra room to think.
Combat Phase
Combat is automatic. You do not control anything once it starts.
Units attack in slot order — left to right. Each attack deals the unit's power as damage. The target retaliates immediately with its own power. Shields absorb damage before HP. Chips trigger based on their type — Firewall shields activate at the start, Payload burst fires on the first hit, Worm stacks Poison on each attack, and so on.
The fight continues until one side has no units left, or until the maximum of 40 rounds is reached.
The most important thing to understand about combat: it is entirely skill-driven. If you lose, the reason lives in the choices you made before combat started — not in bad luck. Every loss is a lesson, not a dice roll.
[PICTURE OF THE COMBAT PHASE IN PROGRESS WITH UNITS TRADING ATTACKS]
Watch the first few combats closely. Notice which unit acts first, which unit takes damage, and where your board breaks down. That observation is the foundation for every improvement you make later.
Turn Result and what to expect next
After combat, the losing player's hero takes damage.
Hero damage scales with the winner's Network Tier and the strength of their surviving units. The higher the tier and the more powerful the remaining board, the more damage you take. Late-game losses hit much harder than early ones.
That means a high-tier opponent with many survivors deals significantly more damage than a low-tier opponent who barely won. Tier matters, and surviving unit count matters.
Hero HP starts at 30. When it hits zero, the match ends.
After the Turn Result, the next Recruit phase begins. You get new credits, new shop offers, and another chance to improve your board. The loop continues — Recruit, Loadout, Combat, Result — until one hero falls.
Each turn, the stakes grow. Credits increase, board capacity expands, and the quality of available glitches improves as you climb Network Tiers. Early turns are about building foundations. Later turns are about refining your board and making every slot count.
A simple first-match checklist
You do not need to master everything on your first game. Just keep these basics in mind:
- Pick a hero that fits how you want to play — aggressive or sustain.
- Pick a contract whose passive sounds useful. Do not stress the command package yet.
- Buy units that share a faction or subtype when possible. Even a 2-unit synergy bonus helps.
- Do not spend all your credits every turn. Saving for a tier upgrade or a stronger next turn often pays off.
- Place your toughest unit on the left. It absorbs pressure and acts first.
- Match chips to roles. Firewall on tanks, Payload on damage dealers.
- Watch combat and ask questions. Why did that unit die first? Would a different position have changed the trade?
That is enough to have a real first match — one where you make decisions with intention instead of clicking randomly and hoping it works.
Want to clean up common early mistakes? Read the beginner mistakes guide. For a deeper look at credits and spending, check out the economy guide.