[quote=@Defacto]
You can count me in—but first, I have one questions: How good should be my understanding of Wild Cards? I'm reading Down Deep (Wild Cards I). I know a few thing, mostly things I randomly read in the Wikia.
[/quote]

You don't need a comprehensive knowledge of the world. Actually, reading Wild Cards I and II will give you most of what you need, since, interestingly enough, the next 3 books after II all occur in the space of the "1986 to 1987" sections of the Timeline section. 

Knowing the social standing of the Wild Cards i.e. Jokers are ostracized and public Aces are lauded as celebrities is also important. Everyone should also read up on Dr. Tachyon until 1987, since it's highly likely they've met him at some point in his Clinic when they manifested their powers.

So, long story short, Books I-V are still "canon" and everything after that is in the wind. It may come into play, it may not. The "Croyd infects a whole bunch of new people" is our jumping off point...

[b][u]BUT[/u][/b] if anyone thinks they can write about some new events/characters that happened before this [u]without[/u] affecting the timeline in a major way, feel free to try your hand at it. I won't bitch and moan.