FFG: Netrunner Refreshes With A Revised Core Set
Fantasy Flight Games announces a new Revised Core Set for Android: Netrunner. You’re going to want to jack in to learn more!
Netrunner is an excellent LCG from Fantasy Flight Games. We don’t cover it as much as I’d personally like, but we do keep tabs on the game. It’s hard to believe that the game is quickly approaching it’s 8th “Data Cycle” of cards. That’s a feat by itself! As a Living Card Game, each Data Cycle adds more cards to the card pool that come in individual Data Packs (or expansion packs if you’re not familiar with the setting). This continued growth can be a doubled-edged sword however. On one hand, you’ve got an ever expanding card pool which is great for long time players. On the other hand, it starts to cause issues for new players who might be interested. Oh, and let’s not discount the fact that with such a large card pool the game can become more and more unwieldy to balance. So what do you do?
Well, in other CCG type games they cycle cards out of rotation. That’s pretty much what FFG has planned for Netrunner. I believe that this is a much better way to handle the game expansion than to simply throw the baby out with the bath water and start over. FFG’s plan from the beginning was to rotate out TWO cycles when they reached the 8th Data Cycle. You can read the full details HERE. Now, one caveat to this is that this “refresh” only applies to Organized Play and Tournaments. If you still want to use your older decks when you and your friends play, that is up to you! I’m sure some folks out there will even host special tournaments and events where there won’t be restrictions. Magic players do this all the time and there is no reason Netrunner enthusiasts can’t do the same thing.
So what the heck is this Revised Core Set? It’s a new edition of the core set – but it’s really more of a re-issue of the cards from the original core set plus cards from Genesis Cycle and Spin Cycle (those were the first two full Data Cycles from the series).
via FFG
The Revised Core set comes with 247 player cards: 133 Corp cards and 114 Runner cards. You can view a full list of all the cards HERE. If you’re a new player this represents a fantastic launching point into the world of Netrunner. It is more than enough for you to get started. If you’re a veteran player, the only real benefit for you is that the cards are different cosmetically. For example here is the new card art for two popular Runners:
Mechanically these two cards are virtually unchanged. However they have both aged a bit since they were first released. This represents that, yes, time does actually pass in the Android: Netrunner universe. The storyline (which is actually an enjoyable read – when you can get it) has progressed and things in universe have advanced. Changing the card art is a cool way for FFG to show that off without invalidating the previous versions (or confusing players from a mechanics perspective).
If you are one of the more dedicated players and you want to know how the rotation is going to impact the tournament scene you should read up on all the Organized Play changes HERE. For everyone else just know that a new Revised Core Set with new artwork is on the way and that’s where you’re going to want to direct your friends who might want to start playing. And if you’re brand new, just wait a month to pickup the Revised Set to start playing. Check out the full announcement from FFG HERE.
Revised Core Set $39.95
Boot up and run!
The Revised Core Set is your ticket to the not-too-distant future of Android: Netrunner The Card Game. This is an age of sprawling megacities. Artificially intelligent bioroids and genetically modified clones work alongside cyborgs, g-modded humans, and naturals. Hoppers pass overhead in their skylanes, and in New Angeles, a Space Elevator most commonly known as the “Beanstalk” dwarfs neighboring arcologies and skyscrapers as it reaches beyond the Earth’s atmosphere and gravity to serve as a low-cost launch for near-space travel.
With more than 240 cards, the Revised Core Set immerses you in this age and its high-stakes cybercrime. In this future of monolithic megacorps and augmented runners, the all-encompassing network is both one of humanity’s greatest assets—and one of its deadliest battlefields. Transmitting more data every second than was expressed in the first 5000 years of written language, the network is home to all manner of data, including countless corporate secrets. While the corps guard these secrets behind layers of defenses known as ice, they still remain vulnerable to those elite hackers known as runners.
Built upon a classic design by Richard Garfield, Android: Netrunner casts these struggles between Corp and Runner as tense, asymmetrical, cat-and-mouse duels for control of valuable data. Jack in, and you enter a world of countless bluffs, counterbluffs, and economic struggles. Every moment offers new choices, and the Revised Core Set comes with everything two players need to dive deep into this acclaimed Living Card Game®!
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A Revised Core Set? Sounds like the perfect time to jack in and surf the waves of Netrunner! Would you like to play a game?
