I haven't played a TON of games of Netrunner but I recently decided to focus on the Anarch faction as my primary runner faction. I started with the "pre-con" Anarch deck from the core set (all of the Anarch cards plus all of the neutral cards) for a few games before breaking it apart and building my own. For reference, I've only got the core set and Creation and Control to build from.

One of the cards that really got to me when I was using the pre-con was Wyldside, which is the Anarch resource card that forces you to lose a click at the start of your turn and draw two cards. Basically, I felt like the maximum hand size of 5 cards was way too small to support so much constant card draw. Meaning, I never felt like I had the credits to play enough cards that I wouldn't have to discard. Plus, you're forced out of a click, so you've only got 3 clicks to use to try to make money with.

(As an aside, the first game I played with this deck and card, we made a mistake and thought the max hand size was 7 cards, and that STILL wasn't large enough. I was STILL discarding.)

So, when I broke the deck up to make my own, I took them out. In the subsequent games, I realized that a lot of my icebreakers were only really good in combination - rarely were they strong enough to stand on their own. I realized that if I couldn't draw them, I was pretty weak. None of the icebreakers I included were viruses, so the program... Daemon, I think... which lets you search your deck for virus cards, couldn't help. Yes, I took out Crypsis, also. I did, however, put in 3 copies of Diesel.

So I've got a few questions for you:

1) In general, what do you think about Wyldside? It seems like it would be good but I don't know if I'm missing something about it.

2) Is there a strategy element that I'm missing? Should I be including different icebreakers if I can? What about Crypsis?

3) Bonus rules question: if I play Wyldside, which is a resource, and then find myself flooded with cards and no longer want Wyldside in play, can I just trash it when I don't want it anymore?

Wyldside is good in the right deck. It's great in a deck where you just want to keep installing new cards (noise mill). It's not so good in other decks. Anarchs have an issue with tutoring for cards that aren't viruses (Djinn is the card you were thinking of) so Wyldside can help in drawing faster in order to find the right pieces of the puzzle. The important part is being able to turn it off when you don't need the card draw anymore which is why most wyldside decks will include at least one and usually two aesop's pawnshops. You can not just trash Wyldside when you don't need it anymore (nothing in netrunner rules allows you to just trash cards for no reason) but aesop's allows you to not only trash wyldside but also gain 3 creds as a bonus.

Makes sense, though I'm not sure what you mean by noise mill. I assume it means... when you play as Noise, you try to constantly make your opponent trash cards from R&D?

And what does "tutoring" mean? Does it mean searching through your deck for cards?

Tutoring is a reference from Magic the Gathering IIRC. There was a card called Diabolic Tutor which allowed you to go though your deck, find a card and put it into your hand. It's just an easy way to say 'looking though your deck for cards'.

Mill (or milling) is the act of forcing your opponant to discard cards from his deck (usualy to his graveyard/archives). Again this is a reference from Magic AFAIK.

Yep sorry I do use Magic terms when I shouldn't but everything Kahadras said is true.

There is a card in Magic that is called milling stone that says "tap milling stone trash one card from the top of the deck" so milling means just that trashing cards from your deck. A noise mill deck is a deck that looks to trash as many cards as possible from R&D(mostly by installing lots of viruses but also by using Data leak reversal and Keyhole) and then make one run on archives where they will steal all 7 agendas at once.

Hand limit is kind of irrelevent with regards to how effective Wyldside is; you'll hit the limit eventually and end up discarding. That's ok! it means you can toss things like the second copy of your Icebreaers, and they stop being dead draws.

Anarch is definitely harder to get a handle on than Criminal or Shaper because it plays so differently. Most of your 'breakers need Virus support to be effective; Datasucker and Parasite are the way forward. Don't be afraid to burn a couple of clicks using Djinn to get the cards you need.

Parasite and Datasucker are also a vicious combo - Datasucker allows you to accelerate your Parasite by reducing the strength to 0 faster. And ICE which isn't there is no obstacle at all - who needs Icebreakers?

Also, don't be afraid to Stimhack into a server, especially mid-to late-game - it's one of your greatest suprise tactics when the Corp thinks you don't have enough credits to bust into a server and will try and rush an Agenda. It's also good with the ever-inefficient Crypsis (but don't take him out without good reason; he's a Virus so Djinn can find him and you get an extra R&D trash with Noise).

Are there any other Anarch personalities other than Noise?

Aesop's Pawnshop comes in Creation and Control, right? And you only get one, I think.

I was also going to ask about Parasite. When Parasite is on a piece of ICE, is that ICE trashed if it's strength is EVER brought down to zero, for ANY reason? Even temporarily?

Aesop's is Core set. You do indeed get one only, and is one of the reasons a second Core is desirable. All expansions to date include 3x each card.

Other Anarchs to date are Whizzard (45/15, 3 recurring credits to trash cards, Link 0) and Reina Roja (45/15, First ICE rezzed each turn is +1 to rez cost, Link 1). They are available in What Lies Ahead and Mala Tempora.

And for Parasite, yes. It's a constant ability, which means if the condition is ever fulfilled, resolve it immediately. Great fun with Datasucker and Ice Carver.

What about Icecarver? Does it's strength-lowering effect interact with Parasite?

Yes.

Last line of my post - great fun with Datasucker and Ice Carver.

Oh, sorry. I thought you meant... something else.

I was considering building an Anarch deck. This post has been very enlightening. Thanks, peeps