Android Netrunner LCG

Hands down I have to say that this is my favorite game of all time. Period. Seems like a huge statement to make huh? Well I don’t say that lightly. I consider myself a pretty serious and dedicated board gamer. I love all types of games and play them regularly. But Netrunner takes the cake for me.It wasn’t always this way though. When I first tried out Netrunner I was actually pretty disappointed. I had heard for years from gamers about Richard Garfield’s “other CCG” that didn’t last long but was even better than Magic. I even considered dropping money on a very steeply priced starter for Netrunner on Ebay. But then I heard Fantasy Flight Games we re-releasing it. And in an LCG format no less! Constructible and fairly priced? Sweet! So I bought a core set. And meh. That’s how I felt. The rules were complicated. And it seemed like the runner always won. Finally I gave up and shelved the game for a few months. Then I was browsing the net and noticed that so many people were raving about the game. Had I been unfair in my evaluation? Maybe so. I decided to give it another go.There are a few things that make it tough to get into the game. The rules are daunting. It’s asymmetrical which means you are learning two sets of rules and not one. Also they recommend you play as the Jinteki and Shaper factions to start. The Shaper is ok (although some might find the core set version boring) but the Jinteki is pretty terrible and hard to win with. Honestly the game is easier to learn if you have someone teaching you. Also, I know it seems like the runners game is more straightforward and easier to learn with, but there are a lot of variables the runner doesn’t know which makes playing the corp easier early on in my opinion.The only other downside is the fact the game has everything two players need to play out of the box. But it’s so much better if you add a second core set or even some data packs to it.And that’s it for the downsides. On to all the good stuff. The theme is spot on. Cyberpunk future awaits you and immerses you as well! You will really feel like a powerful mega corp using any means necessary to achieve your goals. And on the flip side you feel like a hacker messing with the corporate structure in every way you can. The art is well done and FFG was generous with the huge amount of tokens you get in the set. Add to that the gameplay as well. The game is very well designed and flows quickly and steadily along. Even though the game takes a while to play, you don’t even realize it because it feels almost breakneck speed sometimes.My friends and I have had some truly epic games that came down to the wire. Always exciting!Another nice thing about the game is really how cheap it is. Now this might not seem that way to a traditional board gamer. But anyone who has delved into the CCG market knows this to be true. While a competitive Magic the Gathering Deck can easily run $200 up to a $1,000 or more depending on the format, you can get a playset of every single Netrunner card up to this point (7/28/14) for less than $300! You can even tournament play for less than that. And actually be competitive as well.So in summary, I highly recommend this game. Yes the learning curve is steep. But for all the hours of enjoyment it brings it is well worth it.

In the past couple of years I've started playing a lot of board games, and card games in particular are a favorite of mine. I looked through quite a few trying to find the perfect game to play with my wife, and while there are a few good ones that are nice and simple, I wanted one that was really deep that my wife and I could could dive into together to help deepen our relationship and satisfy my love of strategy at the same time. THIS is that game. For me, it's just about perfect.The hardest game for two players I've ever loved to deathIf you want to learn how to play this game, I suggest you watch the YouTube training videos available online to learn the basic rules, because trying to figure out how to play based on the rules is going to be a lot more work. Even when you learn the rules, the rules CHANGE depending on what cards you are using because the cards override the basic rules every time, and the text on the cards is never explanation enough. Be prepared to have your Smartphone set to Google and to use it often for individual card rule clarifications. And if you ever hit an impasse on individual rules, you should always have one player designated the gamemaster, and be ready to move ahead with a reasonable compromise to keep the game from bogging down. Add to that the fact that this game is asymmetrical (the two sides play completely differently), and I wouldn't blame people for being intimidated. Heck, I've played countless matches and sometimes I didn't understand MAJOR rules regarding links and traces and reoccurring credits, etc. In that way, this game is a bit like Sentinels of the Multiverse, because like that game, you can still play and enjoy it while not completely understanding how to play. Unlike that game, the instructions are very well written, and things are always moving quickly. It's also a lot more fun for two players who can appreciate this sort of thing.Don't let the scary amount of rules fool you, this game ROCKSThis is a deck-builder with evil corporations and hackers set in a world like Blade Runner or any awesome CyberPunk world you can imagine. Every card is dripping with flavor. Every card has awesome artwork. Every card adds more options. You can play plenty of games with the basic card sets, but you're going to want to buy expansions to give you more options for how to play. Every Corp and Runner faction plays differently, and works with different strategies. There's Corps that just endlessly try to flat-line the Runner. There are Corps that just print money and try to buy their way to victory. There are Runner factions that similarly work very different strategies.On top of that, there's a ton of out-of-faction cards and base cards that allow you to develop incredibly complex strategies and play styles. Yes, this game has INFINITE depth. You can play for fun. You can play to mess with the other player. You can play to win and only to win. And yeah, you can play to annihilate the other player in as few moves as possible. Awesome, awesome, awesome.Is this the game for you?A big turn off for many will be that this game has a constantly expanding set of rules to look up and memorize. I personally ENJOY this aspect of the game, because the more you play it, the better you understand it, the more complex your strategies, the better you become. Like two people who play chess every day over lunch or something like that, playing this game with someone regularly will help you to understand that person and stretch your mind. If you have a best friend or significant other who loves games like this and so do you, you are likely to consider this your favorite game in a short period of time. If you DON'T have a friend or loved one like that...this game is going to sit on your shelf unplayed and that would be a crying shame.As for myself, this is my favorite game I own. I have played almost completely as the Corp and almost completely as Weyland and sometimes the ultra-evil Jinteki. Only now am I starting to consider playing NBN and Hass Bioroid. And only now am I finally building Runner decks to play against my wife. The possibilities for playing this game are as endless as the fun. If you can afford this game and the expansions, and have the time and patience for it, it just might become your favorite game too.