Hello, everyone.
I have reviewed Netrunner card art up to but not including Revised Core to answer the question: “Which runner appears on the most cards?”. I made the following assumptions:
- Digital representations of a runner (For example, Chaos Theory on Exploratory Romp) count as an appearance.
- If someone undefined appears in the art for a specific runner’s console, it is assumed to be that runner (For example, the hand on Mirror).
I did not include official (or unofficial) alt arts in my tallies. This was mainly out of laziness. I would happily accept the data were it given.
Here are my findings. I have meticulously hyperlinked them, which I hope you find to be at least a slight convenience.
1st Most Appearances: Adam (9) and Smoke (9)
Adam appears on Adam, Independent Thinking, Brain Chip, Multithreader, Always Be Running, Dr. Lovegood, Neutralize All Threats, Safety First, and Find The Truth.
Smoke is on Notoriety, Daily Casts, The Source, Encore, Cold Read, Smoke, Mirror, Net Mercur, and Misdirection
Adam is depicted on a lot of Adam cards! He went from 0 to 8 with Data and Destiny, and was depicted on Find the Truth as well.
Smoke, of course, had been popping up in flavor text and card art for years before she finally got her card with Flashpoint cycle, and with it a bunch of other appearances.
3rd Most Appearances: Chaos Theory (8)
Chaos Theory is on Big Brother, Test Run, Chaos Theory, Exploratory Romp, Power Nap, Shattered Remains, Casting Call, and Financial Collapse
Chaos Theory is likely to overtake Adam and Smoke once Revised Core drops, but for now, she is a close third. Interesting pattern to Chaos Theory’s depictions is that half of her appearances are on corp cards. That’s pretty uncommon, as usually runners are depicted being awesome, not being hassled. The dubious distinction is shared with Nasir, who also has half of his four appearances on corp cards.
4th Most Appearances: Gabe, Silhouette, Apex, maybe MaxX (6)
Look… is MaxX on Showing Off? I don’t know. But she’s certainly on MaxX, Amped Up, Day Job, Wanton Destruction, and Reality Threedee.
Gabe is on Gabe, Bank Job, Silencer, Power Tap, Titanium Ribs, and Lawyer Up, even though his arm is on the wrong side on Lawyer Up.
Silhouette is on Executive Wiretaps, Blackguard, Silhouette, Calling In Favors, Legwork, and Planned Assault
Apex is on Apex, Apocalypse, Prey, Endless Hunger, Hunting Grounds, and Wasteland
Is Gabe going to climb the ranks of appearances with Revised Core? I don’t know. We do know that his number of attractive appearances is going to go up.
8th Most Appearances: Andromeda, Kit, Reina (5)
Andy is on Networking, Andromeda, Leverage, Windfall, and On the Lam
Kit is on Kit, Feedback Filter, Omni-drive, False Echo, and Cerebral Static
Reina is on Reina, Deep Red, Activist Support, Queen’s Gambit, and En Passant
I just really hope we keep getting chess cards, y’know?
11th Most Appearances: Noise, Kate, The Professor, Iain, Ken, Nasir, Val (4)
Noise is on Noise, Hard at Work, Sacrificial Clone, Turntable
Kate is on Kate, Modded, Public Sympathy, Eureka!
The Professor is on The Professor, Professional Contacts, Character Assassination, Capstone
Iain is on Medical Research Fundraiser, Iain, Feint, Unscheduled Maintenance
Ken is on Ken “Sonic the Hedgehog” Tenma, Early Bird, Express Delivery, Public Terminal
Nasir is on The News Now Hour, Targeted Marketing, Social Engineering, Nasir
Val is on Val, Investigative Journalism, Vigil and Government Investigations
I would like to particularly congratulate myself for picking out Ken on Public Terminal. I am not good at Where’s Waldo books or Magic Eyes or whatever so this is a big deal for me.
I would like to also congratulate Iain Stirling for being the only person on a corp card not being depicted as being hassled at best and exploded at worst.
18th Most Appearances: Whizzard, Leela, Exile, Sunny, Jesminder (3)
Whizzard is on Whizzard, Quest Completed, and Boom!
Leela is on Satellite Uplink, Three Steps Ahead, and Leela
Exile is on Exile, Scavenge, and Motivation
Sunny is on Sunny, Globalsec Security Clearance, and Another Day, Another Paycheck
Jesminder is on The Price of Freedom, Jesminder, and Maya
RIP Akshara Sareen.
23rd Most Appearances: Quetzal, Edward Kim, Fisk, Hayley, Nero, Omar, Khan, Ayla (2)
Quetzal is on Inject and Quetzal
Edward Kim is on Edward Kim and I’ve Had Worse
Fisk is on Fisk and Fisky Vestment Seminar
Nero is on Nero and Reflection
Omar is on Omar and Frantic Coding
Khan is on Khan and The Gauntlet
Ayla is on Ayla and Careful Planning
Alice is on Alice and Clan Vengeance.
A bunch of lusers who only appear on their own dang identity card: Geist, Null, Los, Steve
I ain’t hyperlinking these, you can just take my word that they are on there.
It’s possible Steve is on regular art Brute Force Hack but I don’t think that’s him because that guy doesn’t have a beard. I suppose Steve might have shaved before he did a brute force hack? I know Edward Kim dyed his hair white so maybe weird hair stuff is just a thing runners do before they go Brute Force Hacking idk.
Those are my findings!
What did I miss?
EDIT: 12/1/17: Added Vigil and Clan Vengeance.