Android: Netrunner

Android: Netrunner

Android: Netrunner original core set box
Designers	Richard Garfield, Lukas Litzsinger, Damon Stone, Michael Boggs
Publishers	Fantasy Flight Games
Publication	2012-2018
Players	2
Setup time	< 5 minutes
Playing time	30-60 minutes
Chance	Some
Skills	Card playing, Logic, Bluffing, Strategy

Android: Netrunner is a Living Card Game (LCG) produced by Fantasy Flight Games. It is a two-player game set in the dystopian future of the Android universe. Each game is played as a battle between a megacorporation and a hacker ("runner") in a duel to take control of data. It is based on Richard Garfield's Netrunner collectible card game, produced by Wizards of the Coast in 1996.

In 2017, a second edition of the core set was announced which replaced some of the original cards with cards from the first two expansion cycles. In 2018, the game was discontinued due to the license with Wizards of the Coast ending. Fantasy Flight stated that Netrunner products will no longer be sold by them as of October 22, 2018, and Reign and Reverie will be the last expansion.

Gameplay

Like the original, the game is asymmetric and involves two players, one playing the Runner, and the other playing a Corporation. The runner wins by hacking into the corporation's computer network and stealing 7 or more points worth of agenda cards or if the Corporation can't draw a card when required (due to an empty deck). The corporation wins by scoring agenda cards worth a total of 7 or more points or if the Runner is forced to discard more cards than they have in their hand.

Differences from the original

While the game retains much of the gameplay of the original, there are some key differences:

• The original Netrunner game was sold in randomized booster packs and semi-random starter decks, similar to Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games. Fantasy Flight's version has been built like its other Living Card Games. The expansions are sold in fixed, non-random sets, either as monthly packs ("Data Packs"), or, less frequently, deluxe box expansions. While this approach virtually eliminates the secondary card market, card speculation, and draft formats, it also promotes an equal playing field and game play over the value of the cards.
• Fantasy Flight reprinted the original card set and various data packs after they sold out; this is similar to the company's support of its other Living Card Games. Collectible card games (like Magic) do not reprint card sets, preferring to re-build the card base and help support a secondary card market and card pricing speculation.
• The setting for the original game was based on the Cyberpunk 2020 RPG. The game has been moved to Fantasy Flight's Android setting.
• The original game had only two factions: Corp and Runner. The new version splits the two factions into four Corps (Jinteki, NBN, Haas-Bioroid, and the Weyland Consortium) and three core Runner types (Anarch, Criminal, and Shaper) as well as 3 Runner mini-factions (Adam, Apex, and Sunny Lebeau). Every deck must have an identity card from one of these factions. This card may grant one or more special abilities and sets deck-building constraints.
• A deck cannot have more than three copies of a single card (by name) in it, unless specifically stated on the card. In the original game, no limit was imposed.
• In the original game, the corp had a maximum deck size for specific numbers of agenda points (for example, 18-19 agenda points meant a maximum deck size of 45 cards, 20-21 agenda points meant max 50 cards, and so on). In the new game, the relationship is reversed; a deck size interval is tied to a number of agenda points (for example, a 45-49 card deck must have 20-21 agenda points). This means that the corporation must decide between using the lower number for more consistency, the higher number for lower agenda density, or somewhere in between.
• Some terminology has changed: bits have been replaced with credits, actions replaced by clicks, and data forts replaced by servers. Also, some card types have been renamed (for example, Prep cards are now Events).
• Some mechanics have been simplified or otherwise altered.
  • In the original game, the "trace" mechanic was a blind bid, with both players revealing their bids simultaneously. Now traces are done openly, with the Corp bidding first, followed by the Runner.
  • In the original game, the Corporation would lose the game if they received 7 Bad Publicity tokens. In Android: Netrunner the Corporation can have any number of Bad Publicity tokens without fear of losing, but each Bad Publicity token gives the Runner a free "temporary use" credit to use during each run.

Due to these changes, cards from the two games are not interchangeable. Richard Garfield has stated that "almost all [changes] are reasonable simplifications or elaborations on the original mechanics", and that he is "confident that care was taken not to change for the sake of change."

Expansions

Cycles

Each Data Pack contains 60 cards and has a complete playset of new cards (typically 3 copies each of 20 cards), and is part of a six-pack "cycle". A new pack is released monthly during the cycle; between cycles the wait is 3 to 4 months.

Genesis

Expansion Name	Release Date	Expansion Icon
What Lies Ahead	December 2012	Wireless
Trace Amount	January 2013	Wireless
Cyber Exodus	February 2013	Wireless
A Study in Static	March 2013	Wireless
Humanity's Shadow	May 2013	Wireless
Future Proof	June 2013	Wireless

Spin

Expansion Name	Release Date	Symbol
Opening Moves	September 2013	Microphone
Second Thoughts	November 2013	Microphone
Mala Tempora	December 2013	Microphone
True Colors	January 2014	Microphone
Fear and Loathing	February 2014	Microphone
Double Time	March 2014	Microphone

Lunar

Expansion Name	Release Date	Symbol
Upstalk	July 2014	Waxing Crescent Moon
The Spaces Between	August 2014	Waxing Moon
First Contact	September 2014	Waxing Moon
Up and Over	October 2014	Waxing Moon
All That Remains	November 2014	Waxing Moon
The Source	December 2014	Waxing Moon

SanSan

Expansion Name	Release Date	Symbol
The Valley	April 2015	The Sun
Breaker Bay	April 2015	The Sun
Chrome City	May 2015	The Sun
The Underway	July 2015	The Sun
Old Hollywood	August 2015	The Sun
The Universe of Tomorrow	September 2015	The Sun

Mumbad

Expansion Name	Release Date
Kala Ghoda	January 2016	Blank Flag
Business First	March 2016	Blank Flag
Democracy and Dogma	March 2016	Blank Flag
Salsette Island	April 2016	Blank Flag
The Liberated Mind	May 2016	Blank Flag
Fear the Masses	June 2016	Blank Flag

Flashpoint

Expansion Name	Release Date	Symbol
23 Seconds	July 2016	Titan Transnational Credit
Blood Money	August 2016	Titan Transnational Credit
Escalation	October 2016	Titan Transnational Credit
Intervention	November 2016	Titan Transnational Credit
Martial Law	December 2016	Titan Transnational Credit
Quorum	January 2017	Titan Transnational Credit

Red Sands

Expansion Name	Release Date	Symbol
Daedalus Complex	February 2017	Centurion Helmet
Station One	March 2017	Centurion Helmet
Earth's Scion	May 2017	Centurion Helmet
Blood and Water	June 2017	Centurion Helmet
Free Mars	July 2017	Centurion Helmet
Crimson Dust	August 2017	Centurion Helmet

Kitara

Expansion Name	Release Date	Symbol
Sovereign Sight	December 2017	Leafless Tree
Down the White Nile	February 2018	Leafless Tree
Council of the Crest	March 2018	Leafless Tree
The Devil and the Dragon	April 2018	Leafless Tree
Whispers in Nalubaale	May 2018	Leafless Tree
Kampala Ascendent	May 31, 2018	Leafless Tree

Deluxe Expansions

Deluxe expansions are released between cycles. Deluxe expansions originally focused on two factions (one Corporation and one Runner) and contain three copies of 55 cards. The fourth and fifth deluxe expansions break from this pattern; the fourth introduces three new Runner "mini-factions" along with its focus on a Corporation, while the fifth includes cards for all 7 factions and 3 mini-factions.

Expansion Name	Release Date	Factions	Expansion Icon
Creation and Control	July 2013	Haas-Bioroid, Shaper	Brain
Honor and Profit	May 2014	Jinteki, Criminal	Helix
Order and Chaos	January 28, 2015	Weyland, Anarch	Eye
Data and Destiny	October 28, 2015	NBN, Runner mini-factions	Trifold
Reign and Reverie	June 2018	All factions	Omega

Narrative Campaign Expansions

Narrative campaign expansions include new player cards (including Runner and Corp identities), PAD sheets to hold stickers that will affect future games played in the same campaign setting, and packs of secret campaign cards and stickers. A Core Set is required to play a narrative campaign expansion.

Expansion Name	Release Date	Factions	Expansion Icon
Terminal Directive	April 30th, 2017	Criminal, Shaper, Haas-Bioroid, Weyland	Heartbeat

Organized play

The four levels of competitive Netrunner play.

Android: Netrunner World Championships occur annually during Fantasy Flight's World Championships. National, regional, and store championships precede this; each event's first-place winner receives a first-round bye in the following level of tournament play. Android: Netrunner tournaments follow a Swiss-system similar to that of Magic: the Gathering, though with a key difference: only two games are played, with each player playing as the Corporation and Runner once. In most tournaments, however, after a certain number of rounds all except the top eight or sixteen players are cut from the tournament. The tournament then shifts to double-elimination bracket, eventually crowning a winner.

Game Night Kit (GNK) tournaments are also run at times between other organized play events and usually follow the same structure, but without any byes to other events being available as prizes.

Rotation

In November 2014, Fantasy Flight Games announced the concept of rotation, wherein cycles are periodically phased out and considered illegal for tournament play. Under these rules, 5-7 cycles would be legal at any given time, as well as the core set and Deluxe Expansions (which will always remain legal). The first two cycles, Genesis and Spin, rotated out in October 2017, prior to the release of the eighth cycle, Kitara. Following this, rotation would occur every two cycles, or around every year. In September 2017, Fantasy Flight Games announced a revision of the core set, rotating out some of the cards in the original core set, while retaining some from the Genesis and Spin cycles.

Draft

Draft is an alternate way to play Android: Netrunner, in which players begin the tournament without a deck, rather a randomized, unopened pack of cards. Players have eight packs of ten cards, four each for the Corporation and Runner. Each player begins by looking at their cards in one pack, choosing a card from it, then passing it to another player (either to their left or right, depending on which number pack is being drafted). Each player then selects one of the remaining cards from the pack he or she just received, and passes the remaining cards again. This process continues until no cards are left in the packs. Following this, players repeat the same process with each pack. After this, players are given time to make a Corporation and Runner deck out of the cards drafted, then play a tournament in the same style as standard Android: Netrunner.

A variety of "Draft Packs" are available to draft with. Cards included within the Draft Packs can be either previously released cards or soon to be released. Certain draft cards are unique to draft and illegal in standard tournaments, and are marked as such on the card.

Draft Pack Name	Release Date
Cyber War	February 28, 2014
Overdrive	May 14, 2014
System Crash	November 10, 2014
Hardwired	January 25, 2016

Awards

Android: Netrunner has won the 2012 Best Card Game and 2012 Best Two Player Game, at the 2012 BoardGameGeek Golden Geek Awards.

External links

• Official Website