I've been wanting to get into this game for over a year now. The person I would mostly be playing with is my wife. I have a few questions for the community.

My wife once played Magic and now hates how complex it has become. (she hates surprise instant cards and being mana screwed) She plays Star Realms and DC Deck Build game and loves those games. A few months ago I bought Star Wars: The Card Game. She HATES the mechanics of the game. (I personally don't like the "Edge Battle" mechanic either)

Questions:

How does this game compare to Magic and Star Wars the card game? Do you think this game is more straight forward than those games? Are there "Instant" cards?

Thank you in advance!

As much as I love the game I have to tell you it may not be her cup of tea. It's not a straightforward game, because generally the corporation side has much more information than the Runner. As the runner, she's got to go delving into the corporation's spread of cards, trying to find hidden agendas. In order to reveal face-down cards on the opponent's board, she will have to run at it and poke it with a stick.

Not only might that face down card potentially be a trap, during the run, the corporation my pay money to activate another card in another server that might suddenly impact the outcome of the current run.

While there are no "Instant" or "Interrupt" effects that are played from hand, the turn sequence of the game is chock full of activation points for cards which are already installed and in play. Some of those are known, some of them are unknown.

Say the corporation has a server which is protected by two face down cards and contains a third face down card. The card in the server may be an agenda worth victory points, but it might be a trap which can hurt or kill the runner. The only way to find out is to run at it and find out. You first have to deal with the protection cards, and maybe you have the tools in play to handle them, and enough money to do so, and maybe you don't. Maybe you blow through them with a laugh and a handful of credits, maybe they kick you offline and you'll have to come back later. Maybe you get hurt going through, such that accessing the agenda will present an unacceptable risk. You don't know, and you're forced to use your best judgment and what it seems like the corporation's game plan is in order to weigh the possible outcomes.

Bottom line, Netrunner is a game about bluffing, calculated risks, and both "unknown" and "known unknowns." Strong meta-knowledge of the game is an advantage, so as to know the various possibilities of what is possibly in the opponent's deck and how they might be used.

Thanks for your response Grimwalker. This helps a lot! Sounds like I should find a demo copy to play before buying...

More than likely, we would only play this game with what comes in the box and against each other. That being said, how hard is it to pick up? I see this game as a cyberpunk version of poker, because of the bluffing aspect. How long does an average game take to play?

average time? Half an hour-ish. Sometimes one side or the other has the golden combo and just closes out the game fast. If you plan to play this as a bookshelf game then maybe it can work. Poker is a decent comparison, except for the mechanics being completely different. You have certain pieces of information: What is in play that you know about, how much money the opponent has, how they have been playing. What the corp does and doesn't do at any given time is a tremendous source of information to the runner. If you play out of a single core set, you may get to the point where the corporation has few surprises at any given time, and it's the ability to put the runner in the position of having to make unacceptable choices that leads to corp wins.

I'd like to second the notion that this game is a lot like poker (didn't the creator even use poker as an inspiration for the game?). Just realize that a single game of netrunner is not like a single hand of poker, it's more like a tournament of poker. A single hand of poker is largely decided by luck of the draw, especially in the early game where you don't know your opponents, their betting habits, tells, etc. What you can do in the early game of netrunner is largely dependent on your draw, but just as in poker, you can use the early turns to learn what your opponents habits are and use that information later in the game.

I would argue that if you are only getting the core set and only playing each other, that the game could become stale pretty quickly as you will know after a few dozen games exactly what the other person is doing almost all of the time, especially if you limit yourself to one of each side (runner/corp). The only ways to combat this are to expand the cardpool and build multiple decks and/or expand who you play with.

I'd like to second the notion that this game is a lot like poker (didn't the creator even use poker as an inspiration for the game?). Just realize that a single game of netrunner is not like a single hand of poker, it's more like a tournament of poker. A single hand of poker is largely decided by luck of the draw, especially in the early game where you don't know your opponents, their betting habits, tells, etc. What you can do in the early game of netrunner is largely dependent on your draw, but just as in poker, you can use the early turns to learn what your opponents habits are and use that information later in the game.

I would argue that if you are only getting the core set and only playing each other, that the game could become stale pretty quickly as you will know after a few dozen games exactly what the other person is doing almost all of the time, especially if you limit yourself to one of each side (runner/corp). The only ways to combat this are to expand the cardpool and build multiple decks and/or expand who you play with.

I think I found a copy of the game to borrow. The hope is I find a few people that enjoy the game and it leads to "the need" to buy expansions later on.

Any players in the Orlando, Florida area?

I think hearthstone might be better as it is a lot like magic but much simpler.

This game well it is way more abstract than magic which means it takes more time (and more losing) to get the grasp of it.

The economy system and all good CCG have one might not be as dependent on draws such as mana as you have actions points per turn called clicks. however if you depend on clicks solely for your economy then you are going to lose badly.

There is a bluffing aspect but the asymmetric nature of the game means one person has the information but the other controls the pace of the game. The corporate has the information but the corporate player needs to wait for an opportunity called a "scoring window" when the runner is too low on credits to make a successful run and the corporate has enough credits to advance an agenda and protect it for a turn.

So how the game usually works is the corporation controls the information and the runner controls the pace. If the runner pushes hard and fast then it will be a long game. If the runner builds up their rig first then it could be a quick and short game. Learning the pacing of the game is as important as learning the mechanics.

Getting a copy of the game tomorrow. Any tips on how to introduce the game, best beginner factions, etc.?

Getting a copy of the game tomorrow. Any tips on how to introduce the game, best beginner factions, etc.?

With the starter decks all you do is take one faction cards and shuffle them in with the neutral cards. I think the recommended 1st game starter IDs are Kate vs Jenteki with the core set starter decks (no influence spent). Once you start mixing cards and spending influence you have entered deckbuilding.

For the runner they often say that the typical new player progression is starting with Shaper then moving to Criminal when they are tired of being poor then to Anarch when they just want to destroy everything in sight. Me I played mostly Shaper, not much criminal although they have some great IDs and cards, I am currently working on an Anarch deck.

For the corporation I don't know what the standard progression is. My suggestion would be to try all the starter decks and when you figure out what faction is your favorite for both Corp and Runner get the deluxe expansions (aka the big box expansions) that match your preferred faction and deck build and expand your collection from there.

Played a few games today... hopelessly hooked. I might as well start sending my paycheck to FFG directly...

The nice thing about Netrunner is that it actually does scale quite well and while there are some obvious first buys (Opening Moves, Future Proof, Creation & Control) you can do a lot with a couple of core sets and a few packs. I often will help new players play learning games on OCTGN with Core Set only decks, and I've got a perfectly functional Gabe and Weyland deck that I could bust out at a game night really any time.

The nice thing about Netrunner is that it actually does scale quite well and while there are some obvious first buys (Opening Moves, Future Proof, Creation & Control) you can do a lot with a couple of core sets and a few packs. I often will help new players play learning games on OCTGN with Core Set only decks, and I've got a perfectly functional Gabe and Weyland deck that I could bust out at a game night really any time.

Opening Moves , good luck finding that data pack and the Netrunner equivalent of Black Lotus aka Howard Jackson .

Jackson Howard. ;-)

It will be reprinted in due time, Patience, young soldier.

The nice thing about Netrunner is that it actually does scale quite well and while there are some obvious first buys (Opening Moves, Future Proof, Creation & Control) you can do a lot with a couple of core sets and a few packs. I often will help new players play learning games on OCTGN with Core Set only decks, and I've got a perfectly functional Gabe and Weyland deck that I could bust out at a game night really any time.

There is no community where I play for this game. I built an X-wing community over the last 2 years and I'm hoping to do the same for this game. I am thrilled that the Core comes with 7 decks and enough variety to keep the game fun for casual play.

The core doesn't contain 7 decks--there are 7 factions, 3 runner and 4 corporate, and a single core set allows you to make one runner deck and one corporate deck, which could represent any of the given factions. There are 7 "base decks" you can make by taking all the Neutral cards and all the cards of a particular faction and shuffling them together, but then the other factions' cards go back in the box and are not usable.

While you have a lot of customizability right out of the gate once you actually start mixing in cards from multiple factions, you really cannot make more than one deck per side out of a single core set. For one thing, there simply aren't enough points of Neutral Agendas to fill out more than one legal Corp deck. Possibly you could make two runner decks, but they would be very bad builds.

For this reason, we always say that one of the best buys for a new player to expand their collection and deckbuilding scope is a second core set. It's a tremendous value-add.

"the Core comes with 7 decks" is kind of like saying you have seven outfits in your closet, but what you really have is one pair of shorts, one pair of pants, three T-shirts, and four dress shirts. Yes, you have 7 basic combinations, but seven people can't dress themselves at the same time.

"the Core comes with 7 decks" is kind of like saying you have seven outfits in your closet, but what you really have is one pair of shorts, one pair of pants, three T-shirts, and four dress shirts. Yes, you have 7 basic combinations, but seven people can't dress themselves at the same time.

I get what you're saying here... but I don't need more than 1 runner and 1 corp deck at a time. You can only play with one deck at a time. I'm just not at that place yet where I need decks that stay put together. I'm still learning the game, as is everyone I'll be playing with.

I look forward to deck building (and I was given two expansions that I haven't touched yet) but I feel like I need to get many more games in before I could effectively build a better deck than the prebuilds.

Ok, just didn't want you to get blindsided!

The nice thing about Netrunner is that it actually does scale quite well and while there are some obvious first buys (Opening Moves, Future Proof, Creation & Control) you can do a lot with a couple of core sets and a few packs. I often will help new players play learning games on OCTGN with Core Set only decks, and I've got a perfectly functional Gabe and Weyland deck that I could bust out at a game night really any time.

Opening Moves , good luck finding that data pack and the Netrunner equivalent of Black Lotus aka Howard Jackson .

I've found that, despite the outrageous prices online (looking at you, Amazon resellers) for both Opening Moves and Future Proof, it's worth checking local game stores in your area. I just started playing a few weeks ago and found both Opening Moves and Future Proof (and Creation & Control) split between two different stores in my area (Wisconsin border to Illinois). Retail price for all three.

The nice thing about Netrunner is that it actually does scale quite well and while there are some obvious first buys (Opening Moves, Future Proof, Creation & Control) you can do a lot with a couple of core sets and a few packs. I often will help new players play learning games on OCTGN with Core Set only decks, and I've got a perfectly functional Gabe and Weyland deck that I could bust out at a game night really any time.

Opening Moves , good luck finding that data pack and the Netrunner equivalent of Black Lotus aka Howard Jackson .

I've found that, despite the outrageous prices online (looking at you, Amazon resellers) for both Opening Moves and Future Proof, it's worth checking local game stores in your area. I just started playing a few weeks ago and found both Opening Moves and Future Proof (and Creation & Control) split between two different stores in my area (Wisconsin border to Illinois). Retail price for all three.

When I first started buying data packs, I wanted to get them in publication order but found that opening moves was like $40 on ebay and unavailable through local or online retailers. So I instead started buy packs that had cards I needed/wanted and were actually available. Eventually, Opening Moves came back in stock and I bought it for a little less than retail price online.

Moral of the story... pay attention to Fantasy Flight's upcoming page (Opening Moves and Future Proof and both listed as "At the Printer") and when it becomes available again, pick one up. You don't need it right away. You can always proxy Jackson for everything except tournaments and for that I bet you could find someone to let you borrow a few.

But you should never pay more than retail for anything in Netrunner as Fantasy Flight will continue to reprint everything that hasn't been rotated out. (Which currently means everything.)

Played a few games today... hopelessly hooked. I might as well start sending my paycheck to FFG directly...

Same thing happened to me! And Im pretty sure that my gf is more hooked than me since she secretely started playing online probably to thrash me irl xd

I have not played the Star Wars LCG, but IMO A:NR plays alot different then Magic. I feel you have alot more control on what you can do in Netrunner. With Magic you have to depend on your card draw. Netrunner not so much.

I have not played the Star Wars LCG, but IMO A:NR plays alot different then Magic. I feel you have alot more control on what you can do in Netrunner. With Magic you have to depend on your card draw. Netrunner not so much .

While there are some that might disagree with that premise, there is actually a very simple reasons for this: click actions. In Magic (unless things have changed drastically since the years I used to play) the only actions you could take are those you draw, and the vast majority require resources... which also needed to be drawn.

In netrunner, there are quite a few actions you can take - and several that are integral to the game - without ever playing a card. Many cards, at least on the runner side, simply augment what you were doing anyway: running. Corp-side is a little different. I mulligan way more on corp-side than I do on runner-side. But even then, there are times where I'm quite happy to just click for creds as I wait for the next turn's forced card draw.