I am pretty sure I want to start playing this game. I enjoy card games but I have only ever played ccg's and I quit playing them all along time ago due to cost. I like that it is an LCG and I really like cyber punk. I would however like to understand how the game is played, and figure out some basic deckbuilding before I buy in to ensure that I really do want to and so that I can figure out what to buy as well. Any help, or directions to websites that can help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

as far as how the game is played, I'd recommend checking out the videos here on the FFG site, they're a good place to get your feet wet.

Now, let's talk deckbuilding. It's not fundamentally dissimilar to CCGs, in that you have a large card pool to select from to build your decks: one for the Runner and one for the Corp. (each has separate card pools, no overlap.) The corporation plays permanents onto the board representing their corporate system in cyberspace, and the runner deploys tools and resources to penetrate the corp's side of the board and find their secret plans before the corp can develop them to fruition.

The core set is playable out of the box, though most players acquire a second one because for space and cost reasons, you don't get a full 3x playset of all cards.

There are currently two deluxe sets, each providing expansions to one Corp and one Runner faction (not dissimilar to Colors in MTG). Deluxe sets are 55 cards, 3x each. A third deluxe set will be released probably around EOY.

Roughly monthly, Data Packs are released containing 20 cards, 3x each. Every faction gets 1-3 cards per pack, again, split roughly evenly between corp and runner.

There is no randomness: you can look up the exact contents of each pack and buy whichever packs you need for the deck you want to build. Playtesting with proxies prior to purchase is pretty passable.

There is no rarity: everything that is printed stays in print. Sometimes certain packs can be hard to come by, but a reprint is usually not far off.

There is no disparity: every player has access to the same card pool. Tournament prizes are alt-art cards representing premium versions of cards that are functionally identical to the retail edition--so there's no worry that some power player is going to show up with a raft of hard-to-acquire cards that give a competitive advantage.

It's a fantastic and extremely cost-effective game compared to CCGs. Welcome! Don't feel like you have to buy the entire card pool at once. Get a couple of core sets, build some decks, then make targeted buys from there.

Thank you for your reply.

With reference to factions not being dissimilar to mtg colors, could you tell me which factions are similar to which colors?

I just meant different factions have different strengths. It's very much chess vs checkers since the structure of the game is so very different.

Anarchs specialize in destruction and disruption of the permanents the corporation plays.
Criminals specialize in bypassing corporate defenses, generating income, and gaining benefits by aggressive running.

Shapers specialize in big beefy programs to search their deck, install their rig, and take the direct approach.

Corp side:
HB has strong Ice, and a sub-theme of manipulating actions possible per turn.
Weyland is hostile toward the runner, with many ways to punish the runner for successful runs. They also have strong defenses, but the real threat is what happens after those defenses are broken.

Jinteki is extremely dangerous, a hornets' nest of potential sources of damage and traps. The high risk to the runner allows them to try and win despite weak overall defenses in terms of keeping the runner out.
NBN also has weak overall defenses, but they make up for it in the ability to score agendas very quickly and tax the runner economically.

There's also a lot more cross-faction building in Netrunner, since every deck has an allowance for imported cards. Arguably the strongest archetype in the game right now leverages NBN's speed in card draw and ability to quickly advance in combination with HB cards to give them more actions per turn in order to close out games with maddening speed. Also popular are Jinteki's surprise damage capabilities in concert with Weyland's direct damage options to flatline the runner.

Or NBN tracers and tags so Weyland can finish you off by blowing up the building you are in.