Android: Netrunner was principally the best card recreation of all time, after which it died. 

That’s how the story goes anyway. Netrunner is a two-person recreation set in a classically cyberpunk universe the place firms squeeze the planet for all its value and a handful of hackers are the one ones preventing again. One participant takes on the function of an organization advancing its secret agendas whereas the opposite performs a runner making an attempt to interrupt into the corp’s servers and steal its knowledge. There are 5 megacorp factions and three runner factions, which provides a mind-boggling quantity of flexibility and creativity for deck builders. 

Netrunner has a historical past stretching again to the ’90s, however the model of the sport that exists in the present day was first revealed by Fantasy Flight Video games in 2012. It attracted a small however devoted fan base till FFG abruptly introduced it was finished with Netrunner in 2018. With no new playing cards within the pipeline and no extra event help, the sport was formally useless. 

Admittedly, that demise didn’t final very lengthy in any respect. Passionate followers determined that they needed to maintain taking part in, and never solely that – they needed to make new playing cards and proceed the sport’s evolution. Followers fashioned a nonprofit group referred to as NISEI, which has since been renamed Null Sign Video games, and began publishing new playing cards “suitable with Netrunner” and managing its personal tournaments nearly instantly. 

As of 2024, Null Sign has been working the sport for so long as FFG did again within the day. About every year they launch a brand new “cycle” – two units together with about 65 playing cards every. The second half of the Liberation Cycle was launched simply this yr and by the tip of 2024, a brand new set will formally rotate all of the outdated FFG playing cards out of the usual format. Netrunner is fully operated by the followers, they usually’re ensuring it’s extra accessible than ever. 

Jack in

I used to be first drawn to Netrunner as a result of I’m a sucker for cyberpunk video games and the asymmetrical setup was one thing I’d by no means encountered in one other card recreation. I are typically cautious of leaping into new card video games as a result of I’ve no self-control in the case of shopping for boosters, however that turned out to not be a difficulty with Netrunner. It’s an LCG, so new packs include a full playset of each card within the set, and, anyway, Netrunner is fully free to play. Along with bodily releases, Null Sign Video games publishes all its playing cards as print-and-play recordsdata, so you may make your personal proxies on a finances. Proxies are additionally fully authorized at aggressive occasions, so that you don’t have to purchase a single card to play even on the highest degree. 

In fact, you solely have to print proxies when you can truly discover individuals to play with you in particular person. I first began taking part in Netrunner in 2022, and at the moment there wasn’t an lively playgroup in my space. Fortunately, a cyberpunk card recreation attracts technically-minded followers, they usually’ve created an internet site that allows you to construct your personal decks and play Netrunner with anybody else on this planet. 

Jinteki.internet was my portal into the great world of Netrunner. The sport’s neighborhood is unfold throughout the globe, so there’s at all times somebody on-line and up for a recreation. My earliest video games had been gradual and concerned me asking a whole lot of questions within the chat, however I discovered my opponents to be wildly supportive and simply typically excited to be serving to a brand new participant get into the sport. I’ve by no means had such a heat welcome from a recreation’s neighborhood, and it actually endeared me to the scene. 

Apart from taking the time to be taught the principles, there’s nearly no barrier to entry to Netrunner. It’s the sort of recreation that actually sparks your creativeness and takes you on thrilling runs. In my thoughts, it’s the proper two-person card recreation, and everybody ought to give it a shot.