So a little while ago I ran into a person who saw netrunner and regrettably stated that he sold his collection. I told him that since the big boxes are out and they don't have a rotation he could just pick up the core set and big boxes and never have to worry about his collection going out. Still he said after he didn't have anyone to play with he decided that was enough and it was too late.

Still that got me wondering, How much of an advantage someone with the entire collection would have over someone with just the non-rotating sets? I think it is a no brainer that people with more cards have an advantage over someone with just a single core set just because they have better flexibility in deck building, and because of this any one with more cards to pull from has some advantages over those with limited cards to pull from. Also a person with the entire collection could make any deck that the person with just the non-rotating collection has.

However having all non-rotating sets and 3 core sets is quite a large card pool and should be able to make some competitive near top meta decks. I'm just trying to figure out what the gap is between starter, non-rotating sets, and the whole in rotation collection.

Well, that info is out of date. Non-core, non-deluxe sets DO rotate, but rotaiton has yet to start (it won't until around 2017 or later). Ugh learn to read, Feesh!

As to the original question, I'd say probably a substantial one for the reasons you mentioned. More deckbuilding options are almost never bad, and there are some VERY strong cards (for all factions) in the datapacks. The top-level tournament-winning decks will pretty much all be using cards from all across the card pool (though might miss out a whole cycle on occasion depending on the deck).

So to be competitive you have to keep up with the rotation. So you can't just buy 3 core sets and the 4 deluxe expansions and expect to be competitive, or even come back a year or two from now and expect to have efficient decks? It would be just like having a single core set?

So to be competitive you have to keep up with the rotation. So you can't just buy 3 core sets and the 4 deluxe expansions and expect to be competitive, or even come back a year or two from now and expect to have efficient decks? It would be just like having a single core set?

Having just core plus deluxe cards is obviously better than just core, and there are some very strong cards in both areas. But consider also the cards you WON'T have. Kati Jones, Jackson Howard, various agendas, Ronin, Trick of Light, Crisium Grid, "Lady", Drive-by, Team Sponsorship... I could go on. Point is there are some SERIOUSLY good cards you won't have. But feel free to cherry-pick just the packs you want! You don't need every pack to have a good time with the game, and you can make competitive decks from a more limited pool. They just won't necessarily be AS strong as a deck that had access to the full card pool, IF there was a card that was a better fit than one you're currently using.

Define "competitive."

Build decent functional decks? Sure.

Show up at a regional tournament and do better than 50/50? Maybe, if you practice.

Make the cut at a Regional tournament or higher? Not a chance.

You *are* talking about playing with one hand tied behind your back, after all. Competitive play at the highest level pretty much means playing the strongest cards and the most potent deck types, and you just can't do that if you don't have access to the full toolbox.

Define "competitive."

Build decent functional decks? Sure.

Show up at a regional tournament and do better than 50/50? Maybe, if you practice.

Make the cut at a Regional tournament or higher? Not a chance.

You *are* talking about playing with one hand tied behind your back, after all. Competitive play at the highest level pretty much means playing the strongest cards and the most potent deck types, and you just can't do that if you don't have access to the full toolbox.

Well I guess looking for a collection that you can come back to after a couple years and still be good. Something that you can't do in Magic.

Also looking at scale where nterunner core set and big boxes compare to the rest of the game. on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 being a single core set and 10 being the entire collection where would 3x core sets and all 4 deluxe expansions fit in?

Honestly, that question is almost impossible to answer.

Having a limited pool will invaribly favour certain deckbuilds and strategies. The effectiveness of those strategies will vary according to the state of the metagame, which we're at no position to be able to predict. Sometimes if those strategies are particularly weak you may be as low as 2-3 on your scale, other times you might be able to get as high as a 5 (though I'd be surprised if you could rise much beyond that by hamstringing yourself so thoroughly).

I could of course be wrong. An average deck piloted by a good player who knows the deck and the current meta will do better than a strong deck piloted by a weak player, unpractised with their deck and with poor meta-knowledge, and a rogue deck can take even an experienced player by surprise - but all other things being equal , I'd expect a deck contructed from a bigger card pool to do better.

Bear in mind that LCGs rotate MUCH more slowly than Magic and after a couple of years the odds are good that much of your data packs will still be playable.

I am baffled and nauseated by the reckless speed at which MTG obviates players' investments.

ASSUMING that you're out of the game for the three or four or more years it will take for everything in the current card pool to be retired, I will say no, you will not be able to build decks that are competitive at anything more than a casual level. They'll be perfectly functional but well-tuned meta-dependent decks will probably have strategies you won't have an answer to.

As others have stated, it is unlikely that you'll win major tournaments with just Core+Deluxes, however, especially for Corp, if your opponent doesn't know that that is all you have to pick from, you can still gain advantages here and there. If they expect you to rez Eli 1.0 but you instead rez Datapike, you've gained an advantage and so on.

Then you can always start adding Datapacks when you find yourself playing enough for you to make that investment, but I think that with 2 Cores + All Deluxes, you should be ready to jump in and have decent games at any point in time. You are just more limited in the choices of decks.

That being said, one is not obligated to buy ALL datapacks from all cycles. Just buy the ones we want to use in our decks would suffice. Try making decks in cardgamedb, proxy the ones we need to purchase. Do several playtesting as both runners and corps against a friend. You can always goldfish (or play by yourself) to determine how fast can you build your rig / set up your resources, ice, assets and whatnots. After you're satisfied, you can do the actual purchasing.

Of the last few Data Packs, which are must haves?

thus far Mumbad has been bananas. Kala Ghoda and Democracy & Dogma have had some bomb cards.

Core, every deluxe and the highest recommended packs are a good start. Then pick packs according to cards you find use for. You'll probably end up putting pretty much everything on your wish list, like me :/

The very first data pack is still one I see as part of winning decks listed on the various deck builder sites. It'll be a sad day when it rotates out, but currently there is decent value for your money even in the first cycle.