Hi guys!

I guess this is my first post on this section of the official forums. So.. yes, I am a newb!

It's funny though - it has to be about 4-5 years ago when I've bought the old core set and the first two cycles plus some deluxe expansions all at once. I had to do it.. it was a really good deal for the complete package. Then weeks and months passed.. and I've neither had the time nor the courage to bring it to the table and learn the freaking game. It was overwhelming. All the rules and the special terms for already known things like the discard pile or your hand. Man! So. many. things. to. learn. I've read the rule book a couple of times and couldn't get it into my head. Then I've watched a video tutorial by Nam Ngo on YouTube - it was such an incredible good tutorial but nevertheless I was intimidated somehow, maybe even a bit scared.

And then years passed.. the game still unplayed on my shelf. SAD! ( )

Fast forward to 2018. Revised core set on the horizon. A new cycle as well. I was tempted again by the spoilers.. the beautiful artworks.. the cool theme.

"But xo_rocinante.. You can't be that stupid to invest even more money in this dead game."

Yes yes I know. And guess what? I can be that stupid . I ordered one revised core set. Nothing more, nothing less. Even though I own the unplayed old core and the full first two cycles. Stuuuupid . I then asked my buddy to play a short introduction game against me. With lots of beer and just a short overview of the rules. No 1-hour video or reading through all the paragraphs. Just try to remember what the main goal for each part is and how runs are done - to get an impression of how the game actually feels to play.

I expected to feel overwhelmed.. the need to consult the rules every few minutes and finally to try selling my whole collection for a few bucks.

But none of those things happened. We had a decent match with pre-defined Weyland and Criminal decks from the new rule book. It took us some rounds to get the grasp and the feeling of the game. But it felt fluid. Of course we didn't understand everything completely.. but all in all it was waaaaaaay easier than I've ever thought it would be. I was so blown away how simple it is to play. And these mind games. Woooooow! There's more bluffing in it than in Texas Hold'em. I love that!

While the first match was rather good than great.. the following match-ups were epic. We tried other decks. A mean Jinteki deck. A completely bonkers Anarch deck (destroy everything.. even yourself to do even more in your turn). And many others. I've invested about 1-2 hours every single day of the week to understand deck building and construct my own ones. Constructing decks is a hobby for itself.. I know that from a lot of other LCGs (L5R, SW, Arkham, MtG) but A:NR is a different kind of beast in that regard. I've never seen that many possibilities to go completely nuts. Most games got a lot of restrictions (L5R -> only in conflict decks, SW -> objective sets, MtG -> bound to ressources) but this one feels totally free form.

I've played up to 60-70 games in the last 4 months and none of them felt the same. Every faction plays differently and there is so much WEIRDNESS in the game! Did you see that Kabonesa Wu deck which never uses the basic action card and only the action from her ID card and other card specific abilities? So freaking awesome! Or how about decks with nearly only event cards? It's possible and playable! (I'm not a tournament player though.. so bear that in mind that I don't care for the actual meta game.)

All in all I just wanted to shout out what a great game Android: Netrunner is. I loved the Star Wars: LCG , also had some fun with Legend of the 5 Rings and Magic: The Gathering is probably the holy grail of my youth but I never ever played a competitive card game where I had so much fun in winning AND losing. I never know what to expect. Every single matchup is exciting and after fooling around with the Kitara cycle I have the feeling that there is a bright future for the game. It also dethroned my #1 game for the past 8 years - Cosmic Encounter.

Thank you Fantasy Flight Games for creating this game (and leeching 50% of my monthly income directly from my bank account over the last years)!

P.S.: The best thing about A:NR though is that I've managed to introduce it to my spouse and to two other buddies who love it as I do. Wohooo!

Ya, I can totally agree with you on all counts. I wish this was the game I was playing back when I was in school instead of the money pit that was Pokemon TCG - especially with the vast majority of all those old cards being useless now.

There's something about the art, the strategy, the cohesion & narrative of all the different Netrunner cards that makes reading each new one just pure joy. I hope people are still playing well into the 2030's, I know I will be.