Now the one issue about not being able to buy singles in a game like this seems to be the above. I just started playing about a week ago and have been researching decks. I want to have a deck for each faction, or at least 2 decks for each runner and corp going so I can be varied in play style. However there's already a number of cards that seem like they almost "have" to go in a deck to keep it competitive.

Corp:

Jackson Howard -- this is the only card I've seen that consistently makes most player's lists, and for good reason. So at least corp's cardpool is pretty balanced.

Runner:

Kati Jones

Plascrete Carapace

Dirty Laundry

R&D Interface

A little less so but still there:

Desperado

Corroder

Sure Gamble

Datasucker

there may be some more i've missed but to have a few decks, it makes it really challenging to build multiple decks at a competitive level, especially on the runner side. Any thoughts about what to do about this?

It's hard, no doubt, to make several decks at once for this reason. A second Core set will certainly help in having multiples of staples like Sure Gamble/Hedge Fund.

One common solution is to have scraps of paper with card names in sleeves, and swap them between decks when necessary.

Remember though, that no card is ever 'auto-include' - every single card decision you make should be justified.

I think on the corp side it's definitely:

Hedge Fund

Jackson Howard

PAD Campaign (maybe)

On the runner side:

Sure Gamble

Corroder

Magnum Opus (maybe)

I think on the corp side it's definitely:

Hedge Fund

Jackson Howard

PAD Campaign (maybe)

On the runner side:

Sure Gamble

Corroder

Magnum Opus (maybe)

I haven't run PAD or Opus in a deck for ages. I've made Weyland glacier decks without Jackson, and I've seen rush decks that prefer to use the influence for Anonymous Tip.

I've also run decks that don't use Sure Gamble or Hedge Fund.

I've just written (though have yet to test) an Iain Stirling deck that doesn't use Corroder.

There are no auto-includes.

I guess auto-include is a bit strong, but it's very close on the competitive level to need a couple of the cards I listed. "can get by" is not quite the same as "don't need", it means the deck's not 100% tuned. I hate proxying that way but can't really justify buying extra sets for 1 card. Will have to think on this.

I guess auto-include is a bit strong, but it's very close on the competitive level to need a couple of the cards I listed. "can get by" is not quite the same as "don't need", it means the deck's not 100% tuned. I hate proxying that way but can't really justify buying extra sets for 1 card. Will have to think on this.

Actually what Feesh is saying (and I agree with him 100%) is not that you can just get by with cards but that there are decks that are actually better without the cards you think of as auto-includes so maybe look into making those decks. Although I must say that Sure Gambles/Hedge Funds are pretty hard to not include everything else on your list is not 100% mandatory. For instance Kati Jones is a resource and therfore decks that almost always go into tag-me mode will not have much use for her (Account Siphone recuring decks). If you're looking into a deck that doesn't benefit from Dirty Laundry look at a Noise-Shop deck. That deck doesn't rely on running for winning and deck slots are at a premium because you want to stick in as many Viruses as possible. Same goes for Plascrete. Noise has a more effective way of preventing SEA source Scorch Scorch. It's called not running. Also Imp is good for getting rid of their scorches and SEA sources. I've seen many many non-shaper decks that don't need RDI becuase the influence is much better spent elsewhere. And sometimes Mediums are better then RDI anyways. As Feesh said rush decks benefit from annonymous tip much more then JH. So you can build all these decks, put in 3 proxies for Sure Gambles/Hedge Funds and you'll have optimized, tuned decks without having multiple copies of the "auto-includes".