Basically, Core and Deluxes will always be legal. 5-7 cycles will be legal at any one time. Cycles rotate out in pairs when the first pack of the cycle that would be the 8th cycle in standard is released. This means that Genesis and Spin will rotate out together when the 8th cycle of data pack releases… some time in 2017.
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This is so far off as to almost be a joke. Eight cycles before any rotation happens? I fully support a Rotation policy, but this seems absurd. 3 more years until ANR’s first rotation? That’s gonna be a hell of a card pool
Personally I think 3 active cycles at a time would be reasonable. That would keep the game fresh. ie. as soon as the first set of SanSan Cycle is released, Genesis would rotate out.
I would have thought there would have been some recent cycles, mixed with old cycles at the same time rather than just have old cards disappear.
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During the Q&A they said they wouldn’t rule out re-prints of “old” cards.
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Here’s the A:NR-specific post. Anyone else notice that the next cycle is going to be the SanSan Cycle and that “System Crash” will be the new draft pool?
Rotation was inevitable, but it limits how thinly FFG can spread out new mechanics. When Spin cycle rotates out, we’ll have NEXT Silver without NEXT Bronze. Stealth is also going to get a hit when the Dyson/Silencer/Lockpick trio rotate out and all you’re left with is Cloak. I suppose that’s one reason why the rotation interval is so long.
@karmaportrait noted that they may consider reprinting classic cards, but I think it’s more likely they’ll revisit themes instead of direct reprints. Once Genesis is gone, crim will need a basic in-faction decoder (probably - FFG could decide that Rex is fine for a while) and there will be some sort of meat-damage prevention because of Scorched Earth.
I’m disappointed at the planned lack of support for legacy formats. I hope the game continues to grow and becomes successful enough that it can eventually support them, and possibly a shorter format that’s easier for newbies to get into. (Also: the thought of saying goodbye to Data Leak Reversal is not a pleasant one.)
The other thing that rotation gives us is a chance to farewell sets instead of chasing the newest hotness. I read a really great retrospective of H&P on BGG, and having articles looking back will be informative.
But for ultimate conspiracy value: I claim that the real reason that FFG put in rotation across all their LCGs was to cover up that it’s a way to deal with Andromeda, once and for all.
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This… doesn’t make much sense to me, at least for the given reasons.
So a new player down the road that wants to purchase all the cards can rest easy knowing that the monetary barrier to entry is capped at about 800-1000 bucks msrp. Of course, unlike before, you’ll be left with mountains of useless card board every six months
Dammit, so deluxe sets will remain legal forever? I guess there’s no getting rid of all those pesky Professor decks…
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This is the goofiest rotation plan I can think of that still qualifies as rotation 
. Ah well.
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The rotation seems way too long to me. Aside from the cost to enter, which will be immense, the knowledge base one would have to learn to become competitive at the game seems huge. Netrunner is somewhat unique with how much hidden information there is during the game, thus knowing the card base gives a huge advantage. Having to learn 8 cycles + deluxe expansions + core set worth of cards is a ton. I’m glad they’re introducing a rotation to help break up stale metas and reduce the barrier of entry, but it doesn’t seem like nearly enough.
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I don’t know if I’ll be able to cope with the loss of Andy when the time comes. ;_;
Was really hoping for print on demand singles.
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I really hope there’ll be a separate format in which you can use everything - I really don’t want all my cards to be useless. I only have three years left for my BWBI deck to finally work!
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Am I the only one who cares more that they revealed that the next cycle is called the SanSan Cycle than the rotation policy? Here’s hoping it hints at ways for Runners to mess with advancement counters or agenda counters and not more tools for FA.
Very disappointed that astroscript and siphon will always be legal.
Ah well… I can still dream of organizing unofficial tournaments with wacky formats like no-core.
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They said restricted lists were part of it. Wouldn’t be surprised if they took action after Worlds
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People have learned how to deal with Siphon pretty well, and even Planned Assault didn’t bring about the apocalypse. Besides, FFG can continue to print cards that trash on tagging (see Beckman, Zona Sul Shipping) to encourage non-siphon strategies. Also, playing tag-me is going to be a much riskier play when Plascrete rotates out.
Astroscript is mostly terrifying because NBN got a second 3/2 that can also be a 5/3. Beale won’t be around forever either. (But Fast Track will. Dun dun DUUUUN…)
Is it wrong that this is where my head went as well 
From what I understand it’s not dissimilar to Magic, though you’ll always have a full playset of the legal cards.
Yeah. I mean, obviously NBN will have more Agendas by that time, but it’s an interesting exercise making an NBN deck when you take out the Genesis and Spin Agendas
This is a strange policy, but also so far off in the future as to not bother me at all.
With Runners weak these days, I don’t think Siphon is still a problem and there are enough answers to it.
More relevant to the present meta, I would be interested to see a restricted list along the lines of you can only play either SanSan City Grid or Biotic, but not both.
If Worlds turns out be 75% NBN at the top tables as I predict, maybe this will happen.
I’d also love if the psi mechanic was banned from sanctioned play. It’s a fun kitchen table mechanic but Caprice and TFP are too high impact for a random die roll (or spinner ring). It’s not a good feeling that you won (or lost) a tournament because of psi game variance.
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Yeah, now that you mention it, siphon is a lot less of a problem card than it used to be.
On the other hand, even without beale, astroscript + sansan + biotic + breaking news is still pretty scary. Sansan vs biotic on the restricted list would be fine.
Edit: actually, astroscript vs biotic. I like HBFA.