I play a game from time to time, but stopped actively following the meta around SanSan, maybe a bit early Mumbad.
There was a lot of negativity back then, I think the main issue was asset spam (I remember passionately writing that Whizzard is OP you fools use him! but he finally became tier1 material after I had quit the forums).
From what I understand the Core set 2.0 brought back some excitement.
So my question now is, is this the best era for Netrunner fun and balance wise? If not, which cycle do you think was the best? I’d also be interested to see how some people who played through all rank them.
I’ve always liked this question since there are (somewhat) definitive signposts for the meta at various stages of the game. I believe Dave Hoyland said in a podcast a while back that the “best” meta could be identified by the most “variety” and the most “skill intensive.” A best case scenario would be when those two categories would overlap.
From (if I recall correctly), Hoyland’s perspective from said podcast, some of the more competitive players enjoyed the CtM v. Whizzard Meta because, even though there was very little variety, the games were very skill intensive.
Having never played at a top table at a top tournament, I can’t really weigh in on that side of things.
For me, I think post-MWL of Worlds 2017 has been incredibly fun. Glacier and Rush seem to be viable option, Fast Advance in Weyland is kind of a thing; and I don’t see anything wrong with Good Stuff Anarch or Pirate Haley decks.
I’ve yet to play against the new iteration of Dyper (which won in New Zealand), which is fine by me.
While I think there is a place for a deck like Dyper in the game (same as there is a place for Wombo Combo CI decks), I hope those kinds of decks stay in the Tier 2/1.5 level
TLDR: I like the current meta a lot, but less so if Dyper surges to the top tables.
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The Lunar era was my fave. RP, Kate, NEH, Andy, some Noise and Blue Sun. It was diverse, fun, and the Andy/RP or NEH/Kate MUs were decently skills based.
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Small correction, it was all NEH/Andy verses.
These players were competing to get more than 2/3 wr, and get the faster turn win if you remember.
Playing butchershop or strict FA involved no skill to me (to prove that, I played these decks. All I can say is my skill did not magically got multiplied by 1.5, but my wr did that).
Day 0 after rotation was my prefered meta, because netbuilders were lost, and 5 years without netbuilding growed me some skill of “can build slightly better-than-average” decks here.
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Excuse you? RP was heavily played throughout Lunar. It won Worlds in 2014. Kate didn’t win that year, but was in Top 16. She was the main foil to NEH because she was faster than Andy.
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I really liked early 2015 right after Order & Chaos. Reg-ass MaxX forever. I’ve liked the recent Worlds meta up to the present an awful lot, too. It’s been very interesting.
My least favorite meta was the 100% yellow worlds top 16. Late-Mumbad into early Flashpoint wasn’t great. Even though the power levels got wacky I didn’t mind late Flashpoint that much. I guess if I was to rank by cycle:
Lunar
Red Sand
Kitara
SanSan
Flashpoint
Mumbad
I started playing during Lunar so I don’t have a perspective on prior metas.
Genesis had a lot Noiseshop, which was awful to play against, and tons of Gabe. Gabe was awesome. Main Corps were Weyland TagNBag, which was dominant because we were all so god damned awful at the game (apparently it didn’t occur to many of us that landing a tag was hard if Runner was rich), and Glacier/FA ETF. Plas killed TNB, so ETF was the star Corp after that and up until Spin.
Spin was pretty good. GabeKnight and the first iterations of Andysucker were the main Runner decks. Kit and Kate were sprinkled here and there because it turns out SMC and Clone Chip are good ass cards; Katman being the most notable Shaper. BABW was popular again going in, but NBN took over after a few packs. TWIY Astrobiotics was way good after Sweeps came out, but not too good because it had some money issues.
I heard Core wasn’t great. I did not start until just before the fall of Weyland in Genesis (about halfway through), so I can’t say for sure. I hear Noiseshop was the choice deck, which makes me hurt inside.