I come from many years of MtG but I kind of want to get away from this huge paywall of playing a competitive deck. I came across Android Netrunner recently and I looked up how to play, I find it extremely interesting and would like to start playing this game, atleast with my own group of friends (it looks like the game has lost its competitive-side with a licensing issue? Correct me if I am wrong).
I came across the Revised Core version on Amazon, at $89 which seems to be because it is Out-of-Print. I was wondering, as a new player, should I buy the Revised Core? Are there other places besides Miniature Market and Amazon that have brand new versions of this game? Or are there other combinations (expansions and the old core?) that I should buy instead.
Thank you and sorry for the long post (I am not sure if this is even the right forum category to post into!!!).
Welcome! Netrunner is a great game. I think it’s the best competitive game out there.
Since FFG has stopped publishing the game, a fan-run organization, NISEI, has sprung up and has continued supporting the game including Organized Play and even released their own 65-card expansion (with more to come). In fact the competitive event structure is almost identical including a Worlds event in about a month. You can still play casually for a while with friends, but if you do want to eventually play at a higher level, this game can deliver on that. Check out nisei.net.
Either of FFG’s Core sets is a good starting point. The key is to get a set and try it out with friends for a while and get a sense of how it plays and if it’s the right game for you. Like Magic, Netrunner can become a lifestyle game, where you can tinker with decks for a long time or spend a lot of time on which decks will be best in the current meta.
$89 is about double the original MSRP, which isn’t too bad for a very popular our-of-print game. There are some $30 expansions that are a few hundred. Another easy thing to try is to see if any of your local game shops have a copy in stock. Oh, the community has also implemented a free web version of the game on jinteki.net. It’s not the easiest place to learn the game, but if you find someone that is willing to take the time to teach you (or partner up with a friend and try it) it can work as a free way to try out the game.
The Stimhack forums still gets some traffic, especially from more competitive (yet friendly) players, but a lot have moved on to the Stimhack Slack. The Netrunner Reddit and Netrunner Dorks Facebook group gets quite a bit more.
Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to get on jinteki.net myself, but a lot of new players have had luck posting on Netrunner Reddit and getting a response from someone with more time willing to be a patient teacher.
Only TWO WEEKS to worlds now actually, Tim, and I’ve still barely started testing! :o AAAAARRRRRGHHHHH!!!
To the OP, the compeititve structure is arguably stronger than it was under FFG since NISEI also run official tournaments on jinteki.net (which FFG never did since it was unofficial). In fact, today at 5pm UK time we’re holding the top cut of an online tournament we held last weekend, so tune in to the stream here if you’d like to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrcjou2_8t7wFun9m68Ufyg
As far as learning the game, I would seriously recommend you learn with your friends or find a local group, as learning online is hardly easy due to having to learn both the rules and the interface at the same time. The Netrunner Dorks facebook group is probably the best place to ask if there’s anyone near your area (or they’ll direct you to your local meta’s facebook group). /r/netrunner also run a weekly find a player thread you might try to use. If you just want to learn with your friends, might be worth watching Team Covenant’s tutorial videos featuring the revised core set on youtube, to help you get the basics.
$89 is not bad for a core set, but keep an eye out on various places (bgg, facebook, ebay) for partial used collections being sold off. For the same price you’ll probably get a couple cores and the first couple cycles. Also note that NISEI have ruled all proxies legal so if you want to print some cards out on your home printer and sleeve them in front of Magic cards you can use them at even the highest levels of competitive play. proxynexus.net is a great resource for easily doing that, but I recommend you buy a guillotine if you’re gonna cut up an entire core set’s worth of proxies!
Welcome to this side of clicks, remotes, tags, bad publicity, and an endless amount of headcanon based on all the flavours of data gleaned from cards and other sources!
