Back in 1996 Richard Garfield designed another card game, and why not, Magic seemed to be doing okay… Already fans of the designer and William Gibson novels etc., a mate and I got into this new-fangled Netrunner card game. Back in those days it was the CCG model of random cards in a booster and in an effort to keep the cardboard crack addiction in check, my mate and I decided to split all the cards. He was Runner and I was Corp. Ah, happy days, how we miss you Schlaghund.
To this very day though, I still favour playing Corp. I don’t really know why. It’s an odd dichotomy playing Netrunner. Sometimes I look at Architect and think (especially in the current meta), “Why aren’t there more indestructible ICE?!” and then others (when building Runner decks, especially with Apocalypse) I’m more “Bloomin’ Architect is annoying, why is it untrashable!?”. Such are the joys of an asymmetrical card game.
Mostly though, it’s the Corp that interests me. The inexorable journey to an end game, the vulnerability of agendas, that myriad Runner plans that can unfold as you make a best guess at defence with the resource R&D and HQ see fit to make available to you…
Have you got a favourite side? Who would win in a fight, Runner or Corp?
I massively favour corp. As corp, you set the tempo, you have all the hidden information, you make all the bluffs, and the traps. Your strategy is what you determine it to be at the deckbuilding stage (runner decks have to be broad to cope with all possible corp strategies, whilst corp decks can be as narrow and specific as you want them to be). I also enjoy the defensive aspect of playing corp. One last thing – the corps are the good guys folks.
I think I always enjoyed runner more…when I started out I played thousand cuts PE and that was actually probably more fun than my runner at the time, but at this stage playing as corp feels like you are creating a puzzle with limited moves, and runner feels like you are solving a puzzle with limited information, which is a lot more exciting. Obviously some metas are more fun for one side than the other, whilst I don’t mind playing against IG, I imagine a lot of people are not enjoying runner right now without tools or an ID that has a good match up. But yeah, runner all the way
I heavily prefer building Corp decks and thinking about Corp strategy. All my deck primers have been Corp decks and they have all been far more interesting than my Runner commentary.
But when it comes to playing, I like both. It’s just that my Runners are more “normal” and normally the reliable deck that helps the rogue one win. I simply take a deck basis I like and change it until it’s good (See: My Stirling decks)
I used to prefer playing corp, mostly glacier HB and/or Weyland. However, once I started playing Faust Noise, and playing against the all PPVP Kate meta, I decided that I couldn’t realistically keep runners out, so I stopped trying to.
I switched to flatline decks, Fast Advance, and most recently an old-school Cambridge PE deck. I really love all of the ways to build to a win condition as corp. I started building these decks to better understand how to beat them as a runner (particularly NEH FA), but really came to enjoy the different ways to play the game.
I personally really dislike what a lot of people seem to be calling for in ‘old school netrunner.’ The game never had a single way to play, and rush/glacier is the least interesting corp archetype in the game. I don’t enjoy endless MoH games, but the IG grinder deck is a neat new archetype (and when played right it does not take all day to play against). Fast advance and tag 'n bag are both archetypes present in the core set, so they certainly are not contaminants to some idealized ‘pure’ game either.
Corp has been and will continue to be my favorite side. Balancing different win conditions and setting the board state/rules of that particular game is way more interesting to me than trying to see as many cards as possible.
I find myself much more able to make interesting and functional corp decks that I am able to make even just functioning runner decks. I think I try and devise too much of a plan when building decks which helps my corp decks but I hamstring my runner be thinking too much of a plan and not enough of “how do I respond to x?”
this actually. I love to play both sides but when it comes to building the only interesting side is the one that isn’t “solved.” Right now that feels like corp.
One weird caveat: sometimes if one particular deck or achetype is extremely dominant, I like to build on that side with other factions or IDs to see if I can exploit the expectation (building a lot with crim and non-hayley shapers right now, for example).
I love to build runner decks, but then I am a weirdo who enjoys tinkering with my Professor deck. The cat-and-mouse gameplay of Netrunner really gets to me. When the corp presents me with a problem, be it ICE, flatlines or threatening to score out, I love finding new, innovative ways of solving those problems.
At heart, I’m a Shaper. I love building together a rig out of bubblegum and string with the cards I’m dealt. Bouncing weirdly back and forth through cyberspace, gaining creds from the strangest places, always having an extra trick up your sleeve… it’s exhillarating ^^
There’s something intrinsically in the Runner experience which makes you feel like you’re the underdog, trying to fight back against the bootheel of “the man”. It’s all in the flavour of the game, I suppose, but playing the Runner really speaks to me.
Sometimes all I’m building is corp decks, so much that I can barely test any of them… and during this time all my runner decks are ooolllld.
Other times it’s the reverse. All it takes is a few data packs to cause a switch.
Right now I’m actually in a rare equilibrium in terms of deck construction. I’m probably enjoying playing Corp a little bit better atm, but the difference is minimal.
I always have three or four Runner ideas bouncing around that I toy with in between playing Good Decks.
I only rarely have more than one Corp that I feel is interesting to play. (I like to have at least two on each side. I recently tore down all the decks I wasn’t playing and rebuilt ones I am playing… I only have one Corp, but I already have four Runners.)
I personally prefer corp. For me it’s mentally more easily to play corp, because I worry less about hidden information. I love creating puzzles for a runner and waiting for them to respond. And corps actually have two reasonably available win-conditions - flatline and scoring. That’s why my favourite archetype ever is Butchershop (I’ve been playing yellow decks with meat damage since the beginnig of the second cycle (when I’ve started to play Netrunner)). It can create numerous interesting boardstate situations. It’s a way more fun than pure FA. Unfortunatelly, MWL hits it pretty hard
For me it varies depending on whether I have a deck I really love or not. For instance, right now I love my Leela deck but I’m not sure I’ve figured out a great corp deck for the current meta.
One thing is for sure though - I would never want to play more than a couple games in a row with one side. You gotta switch it up!
If I want to win, I find it easier to do so with Corp. I prefer Corp if that’s my goal. Processing information and using it to good effect is just easier when you have most of it.
That said, I have more fun with Runner. I like announcing what I think face-down ICE are and then reading my opponent/running for a rez. It is like poker banter. Also, the info you gleen is fun to process.
