Running the Nets! Weekly Netrunner Articles! (Updated 4/29/13)

By AndrewRogue, in Android: Netrunner The Card Game

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Just cross-posting some blogging I've been doing (mainly because I could use some feedback on what to change/improve… and broadening of my audience of no one). First two entries are pretty basic things, but I should eventually start getting into more complicated things (especially as the game deepens).
I'd appreciate if you dropped by my blog and read from there, but I will cross post here for ease of reading if people don't want to.
So. Android: Netrunner. The newest LCG from Fantasy Flight Games.
It’s awesome.
For those of you who don’t know, LCGs (Living Card Games) really only differ from CCGs (Collectable Card Games) in distribution method. Whereas CCGs are sold in random assortments (you get X amount of random cards in a pack), while LCGs are not randomized (when you purchase a pack, you know exactly what you’re getting). Otherwise, things are pretty much the same. You get cards, you build decks, there are expansions, etc. It is just a less secondary market happy distribution model.
Netrunner is an old CCG created by Richard Garfield (of Magic: the Gathering fame). It is a cyberpunk themed world, where villainous hackers penetrate the defenses of heroic corporations, ruining their plans, stealing information, and all around being terrible nuisances. Or something like that. Either way, it involves futuristic hacking, like you’d see in Neuromancer or another cyberpunk classic.
Anyhow, Android: Netrunner is a remake of Netrunner. From my understanding, rules wise, the games are actually fairly similar, with Android: Netrunner featuring some revisions to create a more balanced and exciting game. While I have not played the original Netrunner (a fact I’ve been regretting since I picked up Android: Netrunner), I have fallen completely in love with Android: Netrunner, indicating that both Richard Garfield and Fantasy Flight have both done something quite right.
So, that background aside, what is the game like and why do I love it so much?
Well, what makes Android: Netrunner stand-out is that it is an asymmetrical game: one player plays as one of the four corporation (Jinteki, NBN, Weyland, Haas-Biodroid) while the other plays as a runner from one of the three factions (Shapers, Criminals, Anarchs). This means that a full match of Android: Netrunner consists of two games, with the players swapping off who plays Runner and who plays Corporation. Each side plays drastically differently, having different ways to win.
The Corporation wins by either scoring 7 points worth of Agendas or by Flatlining (killing) the Runner. To expedite this, the Corporation establishes defenses (known as ICE), installing them in front of various servers to prevent the runner from accessing them. ICE has a variety of effects on the runner, ranging from forcing them to abandon to run, allowing the Corporation to “Trace” (and subsequently destroy the Runner’s resources or, sometimes, send some hitmen to deal with the Runner), or even directly frying the Runner’s brain.
What makes the corporation particularly dangerous, however, is their secretive nature. When initially installing cards to their servers (or ICE in front of them), the Corporation installs them facedown, only revealing them once they choose to Rez (activate) them. This means the Runner will often be going in blind, hoping that they can handle the ICE the Corporation has in place… and hoping that the card installed at the end of that server is an Agenda to steal and not a deadly trap that the Corporation had waiting for them.
The Runner, on the other hand, wins by either stealing 7 points of Agendas from the Corporation or by running the Corporation out of cards. They accomplish this feat by acquiring resources, hardware, and programs (notably Icebreakers) that allow them to penetrate the Corporation’s defenses without cooking their brain. Of course, the Corporation is going to be hard pressed to defend against a clever run, as they are not only capable of accessing cards that the Corporation has played, but they are also capable of accessing the Corporation’s deck, hand, and discard pile, forcing them to defend not only the cards they’ve played, but every part of the field.
Speaking of playing cards, another big difference between Android: Netrunner and other card games is that everything in the game requires actions, of which each side has a limited number per turn (the Corporation getting 3 actions and a forced draw while the Runner gets 4 actions). These actions are used to do everything: draw cards, play cards, gain credits (the game’s primary resource), make runs, advance agendas, etc. This creates difficult decision: do you spend your precious actions drawing more cards to find something you need? Filling your coffers with additional credits to Rez your ICE or installing ICE hoping to scare the Runner off?
There is a lot going on in this game. Individual decisions matter quite a bit, with every action you make possibly being the critical error that fries your brain or costs you billions as your new software plans are stolen despite your best efforts. This is a game where the way you play (between bluffing and constant decision making) can matter a lot more then your deck choice.
This serves as a pretty decent primer. I’ll be talking a bit more about Android: Netrunner next update: primarily the exciting world of deckbuilding.
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Last time I introduced the basics of Android: Netrunner. If you have not since gone out and purchased the game (or at least gone out and tried it) I’m going to be pretty disappointed in you. If you did and didn’t like it, well, I don’t like you either. =( If you tried it and like it (or already liked it) then you are pretty awesome and we should totally be friends.
So. Deckbuilding in Android: Netrunner. It is actually pretty neatly handled (although a bit limited at the moment due to only the core set being available). Every card in the game (with the exception of Agendas and Identities) is worth a certain amount of Influence (represented by between 0-5 pips along the bottom of the card). Each of the game’s identities has a specific amount of Out of Faction Influence (Influence coming from a faction that is not their own) that they are allowed to use in their deck (the allowed OoF Influence for all current identities is 15).
So, putting that all together: if an NBN deck wanted to run three copies of Scorched Earth (a Weyland card worth 4 Influence), they would be using 12 of their 15 allowed Out of Faction Influence. This leaves them with 3 more Out of Faction Influence they can spend on other OoF cards. So, deckbuilding is a game of balance: OoF cards are very helpful to supplement your own strategies or offset your weaknesses, but cards that cost more Influence narrow your options. In the above example, Scorched Earth is an incredibly powerful option in NBN, but it prevents you from reinforcing the deck with OoF ICE that would help solidify your somewhat lackluster defenses.
And thus the eternal cycles of give and take goes round and round.
Like I said. It is a neat system and just different enough to look like it’ll be quite engaging as the card pool grows.
The two big things to keep in mind are that Runner and Corporation cards can never be mixed, and that Agendas (which, if you’ll look, do not have an Influence cost as opposed to having an Influence cost of 0 like neutral cards) can only be given to their respective faction.
Deck size during construction also presents an interesting little quirk. Unlike a lot of other games, the minimum size of your deck is not actually fixed by the rules, instead being tied to the Identity you have chosen. While every Identity in the Core Set has a 45 card minimum, we have actually already had a 40 card minimum Identity previewed. Pretty sneaky!
Corporations have a further limitation regarding deck size and deck construction: depending on the size of their deck, they must have a specific number of Agenda points (that is to say, the sum of the points given by all the agendas) in their deck. For 40-44 cards, they must have 18-19 Agenda points, 45-49 is 20-21, 50-54 is 22-23, etc, etc.
All told, there is quite a bit to deck construction especially given that, in a normal Netrunner match, you play as both the Runner and Corporation, meaning you’ll need two decks built (one of each!). It treads a very fine line, with the limitations it provides (Influence mostly at the moment, but, as the game expands, the deck size and Agenda limitations will count too) providing interesting limitations and some give and take style development.
So, with that in mind, how about I round out the article by talking a little about the factions? Please keep in mind, these are just overviews of the various factions. There are weaknesses and strengths that may not be covered here.
CORPORATIONS
Jinteki : A corporation dedicated to the humane cause of creating clones (and possibly exploiting people to foster the development of psychic abilities). What isn’t too love?
This faction is all about messing with the Runner’s head. Literally. In addition to the psychic powers of Precognition and Nisei MK 2 protecting them from the runner, they are capable of dealing out quite a bit of Net damage from various sources, including the devastating Snare (which can trap them from both hand and deck, dealing Net damage and tagging them) and the deadly project Jungebug (which deals 2 Net damage for every Advancement counter on it).
Weyland Consortium : A corporation’s corporation, Weyland is quite productive, having its hand in construction, government contracts, war profiteering, monopolies, exploitation, the mysterious deaths of people who interfere with them…
Weyland is all about big business and devastation. Weyland takes advantage of the economical prowess to advance their ICE and increase its power, making servers that are hell for a Runner to bypass. In addition, they know when to sacrifice, dumping scored Agendas to rez the devastating Archer ICE (capable of scoring credits for the Corp, trashing two programs, and ending the run), something that is sure to ruin the day of even the most experienced Runner.
These sacrifices are made easier, of course, by cheap Agenda and the fact that if things don’t seem to be working out for Weyland, they always have the option of laying waste to the Runner with Scorched Earth (4 Meat damage to a tagged Runner).
NBN : NBN is dedicated to bringing you the latest breaking news from around the world and high quality entertainment (as well as keeping track of all of your personal information to better target the right consumers… and to sell that information off to other corporations for a tidy profit).
NBN loves Tags. From the clever Data Raven (an ICE that forces the Runner to take a tag or end the run) to SEA Source (an Operation that allows NBN to try and tag a Runner that made a successful run on their turn) to Breaking News (and Agenda that, you guessed it, allows them to give the Runner 2 Tags for the turn when scored!), NBN is all about the tags.
And they use that personal information well! Psychographics allows them to Advance a card a number of times equal to the tags on a Runner, and Closed Accounts to drain all the credits from a tagged Runner. NBN is also quick to adapt, possessing cheap Agendas and the ability to advance and complete Agendas thanks to cards like SanSan City Grid (reduces the Advancement requirements of Agendas).
And this is not quite so useful for a general overview, but they have Tollbooth, one of the best pieces of ICE in the game.
Haas-Bioroid : Do you love androids? Because Haas-Bioroid does. Specializing in advanced AIs and the creation of Bioroids (far better than Jinteki’s icky and morally questionable clones) to make the world a better place for people who aren’t having their jobs taken by Bioroids.
Haas is all about efficiency, capable of getting a lot done with fewer clicks and less money (epitomized with the Biotic Labor Operation, which gives you two clicks), Adonis Campaign (a fairly cheap Asset that provides 3 Credits at the start of your turn for a couple of turns), and Accelerated Beta Test (an Agenda, that, when scored, allows you to install several cards from the top of your deck… unfortunately trashing anything that you can’t install).
Haas also possesses fairly unique ICE in the form of their Bioroids. These AIs are very cost efficient (capable of doing way more then similarly priced ICE), but have a pretty notable drawback: given they are AIs, it is possible to reason your way past them. In other words, it is possible to break the subroutines on these pieces of ICE by spending Clicks.
RUNNERS
Anarchs : Some people just like to mess with governments, corporations, and other folks just to ruin their day. Those people are the Anarchs.
The Anarchs are typified by their use of Virus cards to incredibly destructive ends. Viruses are quite dangerous to the corporation, allowing the Anarchs to weaken (and possibly destroy) opposing ICE (Parasite and Datasucker) and access additional cards from R&D (Medium). A lot of their support cards are also geared towards exploiting the power of their viruses, allowing them to recover lost Viruses (Deja Vu), making them work faster (Grimoire), and searching them out of their deck (Djinn).
Of course, Anarchs aren’t all about Viruses. They also love to party, which is always good times. The Wyldside club forces them to use their first Click every turn to draw 2 cards and the brain enhancing Stimhack gives them 9 extra credits for a run (warning: may cause Brain Damage, use all recreational, run enhancing drugs with care!).
Criminals : Criminals are… well. Criminals. They love to exploit and abuse corporations and people for quick cash and data.
Criminals are the sneakiest and most tricky of the runners, having lots of ways to mess with them. Forced Activation Order (forces the corp to Rez a piece of ICE or trash it) and Account Siphon (make a run on HQ and, if successful, you can take up to 5 Credits from the Corp and gain twice that yourself… if you don’t mind a couple tags) are incredibly unpleasant for Corporations to deal with. Sneakdoor Beta (a program that allows you to access the Corp HQ instead if you successfully access their Archives) and Inside Job (bypass the first piece of ICE you encounter in a run) make it incredibly difficult for the Corporation to protect themselves.
Shapers : While Anarchs do what they do to mess with people and Criminals do it for the money, Shapers do it because… because. They live to run. They love to customize their Breakers, create new programs, hack, tweak, tinker… they just love it all.
Shapers are all about the run and prepping for the run. Their Icebreakers are unique in that their Strength boosts last for the entire run (making them quite good against deep ICE walls). Cards like Modded (which reduces the cost of the next program/hardware they install) and Magnum Opus (gain 2 Credits for a Click) help them build powerful rigs quickly and efficiently.
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RtNfFaP - 5 Tips for New Runners

So, you've read my last two entries of Running the Nets. You've decided "Man, this Andrew guy? Totally awesome. I should do things he says, like play Android: Netrunner." So you've started playing in whatever way is most convenient for you (at your game store, with a loved one, online over OCTGN…).
Awesome.
But you've got a problem. You've read the rules and you understand them, but you need a little bit more help to really get started. You don't really "get" the game yet. You run headlong into Project Junebug and flatline. You eat Scorched Earth and Flatline. NBN advances agendas right out from under your nose and you lose. Basically, you need a bit more help then "Hey, this game is awesome, play it!" posts provide.
Well, thankfully, you've got me in your corner. I've got some basic advice that will help you out as you learn your way around the net. After all, I want you to win. Unless you're playing against me. But that's neither here nor there.
Now, keep in mind. I myself am somewhat new to A:N myself. My word is not (yet) law. In fact, some of the advice I give would be bad if you treated it as law. There are constructed decks you can build or situations in which ignoring my advice will be the very best thing you can possibly do (for example, there is a deck that will want to ignore half of tip 2). But to identify those situations, you need to understand the game. And to understand the game? You need some basic, foundational advice to build off of!
And that is why I'm here.
So, read on if you want to jump in and learn to be a better runner.
1. Know What the Corporations are Capable Of
Okay. This is an AWFUL tip to have at number one for new players, but, unfortunately, this is the single most important thing you can do. If you don't know about things like Project Junebug or Scorched Earth? You've already lost the game. Plain and simple. Netrunner is a game that punishes mistakes quite harshly, and, to deal with that, you've going to need to know what the Corporations can do.
Now, don't get me wrong. You don't need to memorize every single Corporate card (although it does help), but you do need to know about cards that, when encountered, can either severely swing the game or outright end it. While this list is by no means exhaustive, these are the sorts of cards I mean:
1. Project Jungbug/Snare/Neural Katana/Scorched Earth (Capable of outright ending the game if you aren't expecting them and keep your hand small).
2. Archer/Rototurret/Aggressive Secretary (Losing Icebreakers, especially lategame, can brickwall the Runner).
3. Corporate Troubleshooter (Can potentially make ICE you weren't worried about unbreakable quite suddenly).
As the game expands, there are likely to be more cards like this, so it will be important to at least have a broad view of the potential threats that exist in the game at a given moment.
2. Run Early. Run Often.
Money gives the Corporation options. As a Runner, you need to find a way to keep the Corporation poor. Unless you're a Criminal with Account Siphon available, the only way to do that is to force them to spend money. Whenever you let an unrezzed card stop a run, they are getting a pretty serious advantage from it for minimal costs. You won't make progress on that server and they'll still have money to rez ICE they need elsewhere.
Thus, you need to force the issue with them.
Now, I'm not saying you should take stupid risks and run headlong into what could be a Neural Katana with 2 cards in hand, but you should take reasonable risks and force them to spend their money. A good example is the standard ICE HQ, ICE R&D, take a credit opening. You theoretically have very little to lose by checking both pieces of ICE without a breaker available (Clicks or a couple cards), but the Corp has quite a bit to lose: 6 Credits or whatever cards they let you get access to.
This severely limits their options next turn (a Corp with no credits is a sad Corp) and gives you an opportunity to run wild.
That said, try to make sure you make those runs early in your turn. This gives you the maximum ability to fix things if something goes wrong (you walk unexpectedly into a Neural Katana, you get tagged, etc). Late turn runs, unless you know exactly what you're getting into, can turn a good game into a bad one very, very quickly.
3. Don't Ignore the Archives
This one is pretty basic and one I've noticed. Make sure to keep an eye on the Archives and make a point to check it occasionally. Especially if things are getting tight in their hand or they are trying a weird server bluff, the Corp may well sneak an agenda into their discard and there, in that pile of cards that a lot of card gamers wouldn't normally worry about, it will linger, fully safe and secure.
In other words, you should strive the Corporation honest. As the Runner, you've got a lot to keep your eye on and, especially when you're new, so it is very easy to let one pile go by the wayside. In my experience, when you're new, that pile tends to be the Archives (not used to needing to worry about it, opponent stacks it weirdly, etc).
4. Pay Attention to Your Opponent
Moreso then many other card games, A:N is about watching your opponent. Since the Corporation has tons of hidden information, you need to become adept at predicting where to strike and when. A good example involves the Corporation's HQ. If you see that your opponent is keeping a fairly full hand, hasn't discarded Agendas and hasn't played them either… well. There are two safe guesses here. Either your opponent hasn't been drawing them or they're hoarding them in their hand.
You don't really have to guess here though, as you can further make a judgement based on what your opponent has been doing! Have they been installing like mad and running Operations left and right? Then it is likely they've just been failing to draw Agendas and you should hit their R&D. If their turns have been surprisingly light on plays, then you should start hammering their HQ.
5. Keep Your Grip Healthy
As a Runner, your Grip is your life. Literally.
As such, it is a good practice to keep your Grip, at the very least, at 4. This puts you out of range of immediate death from a 2-counter Junebug or a Scorched Earth, which are some of the most immediate, big damage threats.
And there you have it! 5 simple tips on starting out as a runner.
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The runner tips are great. While they probably seem obvious to anyone that's got more than a few games under their belt I can not tell you how many new runners are afraid to run anything unless they have a full set of ice breakers and plenty of bits.

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Thanks. I plan on expanding to more specialized/advanced articles, but I wanted to follow a logical progression first.

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I like what you've written so far. Keep up the good work.

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RtNfFaP - 5 Tips for New Corporations

Last week you read my “5 Tips for New Runners” entry and now you’re kicking ass and taking names! No Corporation can you keep you out of their servers and you’ve started to purposefully sacrifice Agendas to Data Dealer just so you can keep walking all over them longer thanks to all that amazing advice I gave you. You no longer run recklessly into Junebugs and instead run into them like a boss, tanking the net damage with your grip full of cards.

But now you’ve got a new problem. See, when you play Corporation, Runners always avoid your traps. Your R&D is practically leaking Agendas. Even your 12 deep wall of ICE couldn’t do anything. You’re at wit’s end and, if you lose one more game, you are going to do the unthinkable: give all of your employees a raise, provide healthcare to everyone, and become a *gasp* non-profit organization.

I can’t let that happen, so, here I am again, this time bringing a few tips to help those heroic Corporations deal with all of those nasty Runners! As with last week, please take this advice with a grain of salt. Playing Corporation, in my opinion, is more complicated then playing Runner and often relies on surprising, tricking, and ambushing the Runner, meaning that “rules” are even more prone to being breakable then with Runners.

Still, I feel like these tips should help you out on your way to becoming a serious Corp player!
Corporations

1. Think Before You Mulligan

As a Corporation, a mediocre hand is trouble. However, a bad hand loses games. I’ve played against Corps (and been a Corp) that have mulled decidedly “meh” hands into a game losing 3+ Agenda hand. So, before you mulligan, think very carefully about how bad your hand really is and if it is worth risking the fact that it could be much worse.

I am not trying to scare you out of mulligans as Corp! When your hand is legitimately bad, you should have no qualms about tossing it back. It is just that you should think very carefully about how much you want to risk that the hand could be much worse. Moreso then a lot of other games, a bad opening hand for the Corp can be fatal.

2. Card Draw May Not Actually Be King

This is a rule that may rub longtime TCG players the wrong way. The simple fact is that, as a Corporation, seeing too many of your cards can be a bad thing. The fact that your Agendas also serve as a win condition for the Runner means that drawing into them is, in many ways, a negative; your hand will become crowded (making HQ runs easy to complete), you won’t have enough adequately defended Remote Serves to play them to (forcing you to take big risks to get them out of your hand), which could force you to dump them into your Archives (the very worst place in the game for Agendas, as it is the least useful location to defend and guarantees access to everything in it with a single run).

As such, you want to try to keep those Agendas in your R&D for as long as possible.

Again, don’t let this scare you out of drawing when needed. It is just that, as the Corporation, there is a real downside to drawing large chunks of your deck.

3. You Can’t Keep a Runner Out Forever… Just for a While

It is important to realize that, no matter how awesome your walls of ICE end up being, it isn’t impossible for the Runner to crack any data fort you have. It is simply a matter of money for them. I don’t care if it is 3 Archers followed by 3 Tollbooths followed by 3 Heimdalls (although serious congrats on that server, it is pretty beastly): as long as the runner has the right Icebreakers and the ability to get Credits, they WILL eventually manage to get into it.

This means that, especially as the game progresses, timing becomes everything. You have to time Agenda attempts so that the Runner can’t actually reach them while the Agenda is in the server. This is where bluffing and misdirection come into play really come into play: if a server is so expensive to run that the Runner can only do it once every three turns, then make them run it while nothing of value is in there! Or maybe they have exactly enough money to run it right now, but you have a second, cheaper data fort and they can’t run both this turn. Go ahead and install two things down and make them choose where to hit!

You can’t think of making a data fort impenetrable. You need to think of how to make it impenetrable just long enough to score your Agenda!

4. Midgame is Your Friend

Despite (in my opinion) Corporations playing similarly to control decks in other card games, a Corporation does not actually want to reach lategame. When lategame finally rolls around, the Runner is going to have a fully assembled rig and be at their most dangerous. The Corporation is at their best before the Runner reaches that point. The ideal point in the game for the Corporation is when they have some credits stockpiled, a couple ICE (preferably some of it unrezzed) on their servers, and the Runner has yet to be able to develop a full suite of Icebreakers.

It is at that point in the game that the Corporation is safest. The Runner won’t be able to penetrate all types of ICE (and they won’t even know if they have enough credits to punch through the wall), your big, expensive ICE can stop runs dead in their tracks, a failed run will take significant time for the Runner to recover from because they don’t have Armitage/Magnum Opus in place yet., etc.

Exploit this opportunity!

5. Don’t Underestimate the Dangers of R&D

Especially early on in your play, R&D won’t seem that dangerous to leave exposed. After all, they have to luck out and hit those Agendas! Of course, to even reach those Agendas, they are going to need to not hit ICE or Operations that will completely stall out their attempts to peruse your R&D. You can get by without defending it too well, right?

Wrong.

R&D is incredibly dangerous to you. You have no idea what exists in R&D or how it’s ordered. It could be ICE for the next 5 turns or it could be 2 Priority Requisitions sitting right on top, waiting for the Runner to liberate them. The fact of the matter is that, if given enough opportunities to run R&D, the Runner will hit Agendas. Worse, there are already a few cards (Maker’s Eye and Medium) that will allow the Runner to access multiple cards in a single run, increasing their chances of seeing an Agenda substantially.

So don’t skimp on defending it because you think “Oh they’ll just keep running into cards they can’t get rid of!” Defend your R&D like every card they hit could be an Agenda because, for all you know, it very well could be.

And there you have it, 5 tips on playing as the Corporation!

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RtNfFaP - Icebreakers are for Chumps

I haven’t had much time to play with What Lies Ahead yet and this weekend was busy, so this is going to be more of a ramble then my previous entries. Hopefully you can glean some insight from it.

As I’ve grown more familiar with Android: Netrunner, I’ve made an interesting discovery: Icebreakers are far less necessary then I thought. There are, in fact, times where Icebreakers are completely unnecessary or even a bit of an impediment to your play.

Please visit Rogue Thoughts to read the rest!

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Running the Nets for Fun and Profit - Rototurret is Pretty Awesome

Whrrrrr!

That is one of the most terrifying sounds that a Runner hitting a server can hear.

Whrrrrr!

That is the sound of a Rototurret warming up before it opens fire on that Runner’s avatar.

Yes. This week’s Running the Nets for Fun and Profit is going to be completely dedicated to playing with Rototurret as the Corporation. Do you have a problem with that?

Whrrrrr!

Seriously though, you’re probably wondering why I’m willing to dedicate an entire article to a single piece of ICE from the Core Set. You might even suspect that it has something to do with the fact that I’m at the airport right now and remembered that today was Sunday a little late. Well, that might be part of it, but, honestly, Rototurret is a piece of ICE that deserves some discussion.

Please visit Rogue Thoughts to read the rest!

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Running the Nets for Fun and Profit - What Lies Ahead for Criminals

Sorry guys, this week has been a bit busy (and my playtime has been limited) so I don't have a huge, in-depth, fancy article this week.

So, instead, I figured I'd talk just a bit about what I feel What Lies Ahead has brought for Criminal players. Please take all of this with a rather large grain of salt, since this is mostly theoretical (again, only really managed a few plays with WLA so far) and first impressions.

Please visit Rogue Thoughts to read the rest!

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Hi, AndrewRogue,

Are you still looking at how to build your audience? If so, I'm in a similar situation and am exploring and experimenting right at the moment.

In August, I wrote a post on my own blog called, "What's so keen about Android: Netrunner?" According to my site stats, it's consistently the most popular posting I've written, even though I've not produced any Netrunner-related content since (or even bought the game - I'm an old time NR CCG player but keep managing to talk myself out of splurging on the new version).

I set up Google's Webmaster Tools a couple of days ago, and it even went so far as to tell me that that post has ranked as high in the top 6-10 results when someone searches for "Android Netrunner"! It's dropped to the 11-20 range since, but I'm curious as to how to get it back up there.

Right at the moment, though, I've got no idea just how, or how. I'm re-installing a WordPress plugin for SEO on my site right now which could give me a little more info.

Do you know how your posts are performing? It looks as though you're getting feedback here.

Rob / SlamDance

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RtNfFaP - A Rogue's Love of Fast Advance

Fast Advance is one of my favorite Corporation deck archetypes in Android: Netrunner, right next to Tag n' Bag, program destruction, and frying the runner's brain.

This all may point to the fact that I am a terrible person.

Ahem.

As such (and as it is the Corp archetype I am most familiar with at the moment), I figure I might as well talk a little bit about Fast Advance.

Please visit Rogue Thoughts to read the rest!

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This week we see a return to some basic guidelines to help newer players come to grips with the game.

Also, Neural Katana hype.

RtNfFaP - A Rogue's Guide to Surviving Net Damage

An important part of being a Runner is the ability to gauge how safe you are at a given moment during a run. So, today, I figured I’d run you all a bit through the dangers of Net Damage during a run and give a bit of advice on how to survive. Or at least give you something that will help you realize where you went wrong when you act like an overly aggressive idiot like myself and run headlong into fatal Snares…

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Thanks for your efforts!

I played my first few games just last night with a friend. We just used the suggested two starter decks (Shaper vs. Jinteki) to play three games (First game: I was Corp and the other two games I was Runner). I lost both games as Runner by being flatlined.

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Thanks for writing these amazing articles. I can't speak for all of us but I can say that it has helped those of us that are faily new to the game. I don't learn games through rulebooks, I mainly learn by just playing or watching YouTube. These articles are something that I have been able to read and understand. It has totally helped to understand the game rules and on how to play it better. Keep up the awesome work! burla

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I spent way too much time playing Netrunner over the weekend to even dream of writing a real article.

So here's what I played this weekend instead.

RtNfFaP - A Two Tournament Weekend (Decklist Spotlight)

Okay, going to take a moment to be fully honest with everyone here.

I’m exhausted, as I have just finished two back to back Netrunner events (one Saturday, one on Sunday that I also happened to be running). I won the first (22 prestige) and was 6th in the latter (17 prestige). So, rather then a particularly lengthy post, I figured I’d just share the two decks I ran with you, let you mull over them and talk a bit about them later…

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I just wanted to say that these articles are great. Thanks for writing them Andrew.

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AT: Well thank you kindly. =)

A bit of a follow-up to last week (at least the HB deck from last week), I opt to talk about program destruction. This felt like enough of a deal to be a two parter.

RtNfFaP - Program Destruction Part 1 - The Tools of the Trade

For a runner, program destruction is one of the scariest things you can run into. It ruins your carefully constructed rig, slams your momentum into a brickwall, creates a window for the corporation to go from dead in the water to letting their sysops post inappropriate pictures of your mother onto runner BBSes, and sometimes leaves you without any form of recourse.

As a corporation, it is one of the most delightful things you can do. It stops the pesky runners from getting into your servers, with the added benefit of letting you watch the hope drain from their eyes as they realize that they can’t touch you anymore.

So I figure we should talk a bit about it…

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Great article, keep up the good work. I am really enjoying your Netrunner coverage.

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A quick note before I get into the normal post! I am looking for suggestions on some topics to cover in upcoming Running the Nets articles! Got a card you want me to discuss? Curious about an archetype? Some sort of deck giving you trouble? Want me to look at a decklist?

Drop me a line here and I will consider it for a future installment of Running the Nets! =)

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I continue running my mouth about program destruction, as well as my thoughts on how to best counter it and how to best mobilize it.

RtNfFaP – Program Destruction Part 2 – Surviving and Thriving

So, last week we talked a bit about the tools used for program destruction. This week, I figured we should talk about how to really put those tools to work. Or avoid being utterly destroyed by those tools.

So, without much ado, let’s get started…

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Sorry for the late update, guys. Was a bit behind everything all last week. Will have this week in on time!

In addition, still taking suggestions for future topics! Have an entry for the two Jinteki factions planned, but I'm not sure I really have anything insightful to add about HB: Stronger Together at the moment sadly.

That said, how about we take a quick glance at Cyber Exodus?

RtNfFaP - A Quick Look at Cyber Exodus

Well, I spent all week on a failed(?) experiment making a Big Rig-style Anarch deck. I’ll talk about that next week, because I have a fair amount I want to talk about with it.

Instead, this week, since we got all those delicious spoilers for Cyber Exodus, I figured I might as well give some real quick thoughts on them…

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Next week, provided I can get the needed game time in, I'll talk about the differences in the two Jinteki IDs. For the moment though, bear witness to the fruits of some failed experimentation.

RtNfFaP - Rigging it up as Anarch

So, back a bit ago, I spent about a week toying with trying to make a “Big Rig” Anarch deck. For those unfamiliar with the idea, a “Big Rig” deck is one based around the idea of the Runner assembling their complete rig (full set of breakers + any tools they need to help them out) quickly, and then sustain it with a powerful economy. This deck (at least until the release of Cyber Exodus) was the domain of Kate both because of her ability and the relative power of the Shaper card suite…

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RtNfFaP - Corporation or Runner First?

Today’s installment of RtNfFaP is going to be a bit short, but it is going to address something that I feel is important: The choice of whether to play Corporation or Runner first during a match.

Having played for several months at this point, I’ve found that a lot of players seem to be a bit passive about what they want to play. “What does it matter,” they say? “I’m going to play both at some point anyway.” And there is indeed something to be said for that. But the nature of Netrunner’s scoring system means that it does matter. It can, in fact, be the difference between winning a match and losing it…

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RtNfFaP - Corp Poisoned My Disel

So, it looks like one of the megacorps managed to slip something into a recent shipment of Disel, and it has done unkind things to me. So, instead of a fill article, allow me to present you with what I’m playing right now while I try to get over whatever they spiked it with…

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Posting about Creation and Control, because new things are the hypest.

Running the Nets - Looking Ahead to Creation and Control

I’m feeling so hype today, so let’s take a look at the absolute deluge of spoilers that have come out since Creation and Control was announced!

I know this is a little (just a little, ) early, but new cards are always super cool. As usual, these are complete first impressions, could be totally wrong, still have two data packs + 39 other cards in the box coming out before we’ll have them so things could completely change, etc, etc warnings apply here. I’m just taking a bit of a look at what the future holds…