Netrunner (and LCGs)

Despite the lack of punk in the cyberpunk, Netrunner is still awesome, regardless of edition.

Ahhh Shadowrun - I have 3 longboxes of that out in the garage and abunch of promos in the pile o' games I always though that maybe my kids would play with me but never did.

I just fell into some side contract work, which means Netrunner and Infiltration may get snapped up next month.

So, someone sort the runner/corp situation out for me. I understand the base game includes 3 runners and 4 corp set-ups and they are shown in the image below, correct?


That being the case, is there an expansion(s) that has more runners and corps or will I only be able to build decks around one of these three characters?

Ok, I found this list.

ancur.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_all_Runner_identities

The set numbers on the side, I assume they correspond with an expansion. So, some of these came out in the little expansions? I don't want to be in this game for a pound...more a penny.

How viable are the cards in the starter set to be used with a runner from an expansion? Playing for fun here and not tourneys, but could I buy a small expansion to get a new runner and then use the cards I have in the core to build a workable deck around him/her?

What's wrong with picking up the core set used and leaving it at that? Likely a $25 outlay for a lot of game.

iguanaDitty wrote:

craniac wrote: I still don't understand why you can't just buy the base set, and maybe an expansion, and play your friends once in a while without having to mortgage your house or sell organs.

Possible for all C/LCG's ever. But you as the person who owns the stuff have got to be a big proponent of it or it just doesn't work, and that's assuming your friends aren't the kind who would rather build their own decks. In my experience, anyway.

Sagrilarus wrote: What's wrong with picking up the core set used and leaving it at that? Likely a $25 outlay for a lot of game.

C'mon, Sag, you know better than this.
Did you stop at only the Wings of War/Glory starter? No...and a lot of those planes are redundant.

Believe me, I won't be spending much on this which is why I want to know how viable it is to simply change out the runner card and still use the bulk of the cards in the starter. If the game does take, I'd like to know I have the option to slightly mix it up at some point. If I can buy a $10-12 data pack some months or years down the road and get a new runner to bring a new dynamic to my cards...that's good value.

I have total constraint about not going balls in, heck, I love BB:TM but find no need to buy the two expansions. Still playing the core five years on.

Sagrilarus wrote: What's wrong with picking up the core set used and leaving it at that? Likely a $25 outlay for a lot of game.

Nothing at all. I've tried almost all the LCG, and out of the starter box by itself , there has been a lot of value in there for the money IMO.

Mr. White wrote: Ok, I found this list.

ancur.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_all_Runner_identities

The set numbers on the side, I assume they correspond with an expansion. So, some of these came out in the little expansions? I don't want to be in this game for a pound...more a penny.

How viable are the cards in the starter set to be used with a runner from an expansion? Playing for fun here and not tourneys, but could I buy a small expansion to get a new runner and then use the cards I have in the core to build a workable deck around him/her?

I'm afraid I'm not much help here. I only have the core set and I've never bought any of the expansions of data packs. However don't confuse the 4 runners in the core set with the 4 runner factions. The Android: Netrunner introduced factions for both corporations and runners that did not exist in the original Netrunner game. So it looks like they've introduced different runners for the different runner factions in the data packs/expansions. So you could use Shaper cards for any Shaper runner or any Criminal cards for any Criminal runner. There's also neutral cards, of course. I'm not sure if they've added any new corporations or variations on the corps.

It's a great game, Mr. White, and it gets better with your investment in the expansions. That's all there is to it. You can determine it's worth and pick up stuff as you see fit. You don't need to go nuts and 3x everything. Just chill out, enjoy the cards you have, and wait for some sales or "I-hate-this-now" Math Trade opportunities.

The expansions "focus" on one or more runners/corps. You may find yourself gravitating to one or another--akin to colors in MtG. Once you find yourself playing Anarch, say, even though the matchup is bad, then fish around for the good Anarch expansions.

This guide has a very brief synopsis of expansions through 2014, I am sure there are more thorough/current ones out there.
boardgamegeek.com/thread/1090522/beginne...-expanding-netrunner

Mr. White wrote:

Sagrilarus wrote: What's wrong with picking up the core set used and leaving it at that? Likely a $25 outlay for a lot of game.

C'mon, Sag, you know better than this.
Did you stop at only the Wings of War/Glory starter? No...and a lot of those planes are redundant.

I never requested to be in for just a Penny. If you want to go cheap the base set has a lot of versatility. I'd do that first and then start grabbing pieces as onesies if you still like the game. My point is that there's no good reason to buy more than that to start.

Pure curioisty, but how does the netrunner draft work? I was at a store tonight and they had draft starters (supposedly you can start a draft runner and Corp deck with one of these) and draft runner and Corp decks.

Can you only do drafts with these packs? Can't get a draft starter and use the card from the core for the rest?

Finally, does the core have enough cards for my son and I to each have a runner deck and a Corp deck (4 decks)?

Drafting works in that you have a "starter" that has the IDs, basic economy cards, and some AI icebreakers/neutral agendas. Each player gets a corp and a runner draft pack, and then you draft the same way you do in any other game. I guess if you knew the distribution you could assemble draft packs out of cores/datapacks, but it would be awfully time consuming and most people who want to draft outside of that system just use "cubes." The first draft set had a lot of 1-ofs from the Core in it, so you could fill out your core and have fun drafting, but the later ones are mostly stuff from the new sets. It's something you do for its own sake, but it can provide duplicates of helpful cards from data packs if you want to draft them.

I'm reasonably sure the core can't support four decks without swapping cards between them. You're each only going to be playing one deck at a time, so that may not be an issue, but it would be pretty annoying/time consuming to swap out the cards I'd imagine. The basic engine required for a deck just wouldn't exist for both of you.

Mr. White wrote: Finally, does the core have enough cards for my son and I to each have a runner deck and a Corp deck (4 decks)?

No, you don't have enough cards to build two legal decks at once, specially on the Corp side which is limited by agendas. You'll be able to build two decks at once if you get two cores, which I heavily recommend everyone to. That said, you'll still be short of some key cards (Eg. Jackson Howard, Daily Casts) that you'll have to switch from one deck to the other.

What about with a core and one deluxe expansion? Two?

Buying two cores is not really anything I'm interested in.