A Look Back at the Netrunner Core Set - Haas Bioroid

[@manjr]

We need a look at the new core set!

[@DefiasBrotherhood]

Thanks for the review! I agree with your assessments. When I teach people Netrunner, I start them off with this Corp. I also appreciated that you compared the original Netrunner cards to the new Android Netrunner cards. After seeing the old artwork, I see ANR excels even in that department as well!

[@Willingdone]

Seth Dortch No joke RE: artwork. ANR looks so much better holy crap. That isn't to say that the ONR artists weren't good: many of them worked with Magic and produced some of my favorite works in that game. It's more of a style and art direction problem. At Worlds in 2013, I got a chance to talk to the lead graphic designer for the LCGs on her lunch break (very kind of her to put up with my chatter xD) and one of the things I kept going on about was how much more evocative new Netrunner is vs old Netrunner. It's partially choices with the art style, -- ONR is very grim and gritty whereas ANR is much more lighthearted with its dystopia, -- but it's also the graphic design choices. The card borders and the way that the influence bar is incorporated in like a series of lights on a computer panel: stuff like this really helps sell the theme. ONR doesn't envoke a world where everyone is on computers all day in the way that ANR does. Everything is circuit boards, cables, bolts, and brushed metal. While I love many of the artists in Netrunner, especially liiga Smilshkalne and Matt Zeilinger, the graphic design also deserves some recognition.

[@truce11]

(4:00) Nice suggestion/prediction: the Revised core swapped non-essential cards for agendas

[@NovaCyn]

Interns' only upside to archived memories is influence cost... I think a lot of people underestimate the value of archived memories effect, and maybe Archived sees less play than a colorless card because its supposed to be a single faction trick. I'd never add interns to an HB deck... Unless its like some weird doomsday brew or something ofc. Archived memories is an awesome card and i feel its underaprechiated. Jackson is a better recursion effect? I'm not sure i agree, but its definitely a more flexible card, and included in all decks, therefor making other recursion effects overkill. The fact that you can get whatever usefull card you want, and that it enters your hand (making ambush effects acutally recurable) and you can split the getting the card and playing it into different turns all add up. Great review just as the other one, i just think i need to show my love for what i feel is the most unappreciated card in CORE. :D

[@Willingdone]

Phijkchu_Cute_Phijkchu Yeah, that's what I meant when I was talking about this card being "weakened by factions." The original Netrunner card didn't cost influence (since that didn't exist) so it was a lot easier to include this thing. You're right that Interns is good in part because it doesn't cost influence. The "ignore install cost" aspect of Interns is also sometimes important, especially in HB where you're often putting 4+ ICE on a server. We could argue about whether Jackson's shuffle in effect beats Archived Memories return to hand (probably doesn't), but undeniably Archived Memories was overshadowed by Jackson. Like you said, Jackson is an incredible card and since he has a bit of overlap with Archived Memories, people largely had to choose between the two. They chose Jackson. You're not wrong about Archived Memories. It's a good card. But it's often cards 50-52 and doesn't make the cut.

[@TheHiveTyrant]

Awesome content, Willingdone! I only found out about your channel recently, but you put out some stellar stuff. I used to make very similar reviews for the LOTR LCG, and very recently started this channel for WH40k: Conquest, if you've ever played it. Anyhow, keep up the great work! You're an asset to the Netrunner community, and long live the LCG format!

[@Willingdone]

The Hive Tyrant Hey! Thanks for the kind words! I've played WH40K: Conquest a few times, but the guy that I used to play with moved away from here :( From what I played, it was pretty great. I wish I had kept up on it, but with Netrunner and Doomtown plus board games and D&D, I've had my plate pretty full. I subscribed to your channel. Keep up the good work! Long live the LCG! It's truly the card game revolution.

[@TheHiveTyrant]

Willingdone Well, thank you all the same in return for your own compliments! And as unfortunate as it is that your Conquest-playing-friend moved away, my locale is nothing but utterly devoid of any and all gamers - in fact, even the truly horrible LGS just announced it's shutting down, eek. But, thank goodness for a world in which OCTGN is a thing! Anyhow, consider me flattered that you subscribed, and whenever I meet people looking to get into Netrunner (or take their game to a new level), I'll definitely send them your way. Take care, good sir!

[@DefiasBrotherhood]

The Hive Tyrant I’m just getting into the LOTR LCG. I will have to check out your videos for that.

[@oscartorrandell1953]

Very smart analisys as always, keep on!

[@Willingdone]

Oscar Torrandell Thanks! Will do!

[@EdHastingsKillerShrike]

Good vid, as always. Nothing to really add, as I generally agree with you down the line. I was intrigued that you think Corporate Troubleshooter is starting to be relevant again. I used to see it early on to power up Rototurret, and similar shenanigans but it was usually a Pyrrhic victory even when it worked, and it fell out of play. I haven't seen it in a long time, and more or less have forgotten about it. Can you give us a for instance on a scenario where it would be worth its card slot(s) in the current pool?

[@Willingdone]

Ed Hastings I've seen a fair amount of HB:ETF in the last few months and many of them run into a problem where they need more stuff to leverage their big economy. Once you've included 2-3 Ash, there's nothing to translate a lot of money into a better defense other than playing more ICE. 1x-2x Corporate Troubleshooter sometimes makes the cut as a another non-ICE defensive tool that can take advantage of ETF's big economy. He's especially nice if you're already playing NEXT Gold since that gives you a really devastating effect to Troubleshoot. There's a deck on the front page of NetrunnerDB right now that's basically what I'm talking about: netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/22917/polish-hb-1st-undefeated-wroc-aw-regionals- Also this (though the 11 influence is making my head hurt xD): netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/22704/tacoma-regionals-2nd-place-etf

[@micahgmiranda]

I totally agree about NEXT design. I really wish it was 45/17 because I like the concept.

[@Willingdone]

+Micah Miranda Me too! I'd like to see it compete with ETF. It's such a cool idea with a poor implementation.

[@p6mkq]

Their robots also appeared in House of the dead 2 . Level 6.

[@KoenigNord]

Like always, great video! Also great ideas on the Willingdone version of a Core Set. I must admit, that I still can't find myself enjoying to play HB to this day. So I'm curious why you think that it was the best corp faction in that set. I always felt like NBN and even Jinteki were way more interesting to me.

[@Willingdone]

KoenigNord I'd agree that Jinteki is more interesting. I'd probably agree that NBN was more interesting as well if Astroscript wasn't a thing (more on this point later xD). HB has always been pretty straight up and standard. It just plays ICE and economy and tries to lock you out. A big reason I say HB is the best designed is that it both has the most cards that still see a lot of play and also most resembles the modern day decks. Another way of saying this might be that HB has had the most staying power. Another reason is that HB didn't have any cards that cause major issues. Most of the "errors" in design were underpowered effects. HB isn't necessarily my favorite; it just had the best designed card pool in the Core Set.

[@KoenigNord]

Sounds like the classic German stereotype regarding industries. It is stable and efficient and scared of paradigm shifts. Regarding the AS NBN shenanigans I am totally with you. It makes the faction very boring to play against most of the time if they focus on the train and the rest of the FA tracks. Beale would have been the perfect agenda in the Core Set instead of the train to make sense of the other cards.

[@Willingdone]

KoenigNord You make a good point RE: NBN issues, especially Beale in the Core set. I'll be talking about that at length in my NBN video. It might be little bit before I get to that. My tentative schedule from here is Criminal, Jinteki, Shaper, NBN, Neutral Cards, Weyland, but I might switch a few of those around. Anyway, sit tight, I'll have plenty to say about NBN ;)

[@KoenigNord]

Awesome, I'll be there :) Also looking forward on your ideas what the new Underway cards can achieve. Besides Drive By the pack seems pretty week to me.

[@Willingdone]

KoenigNord I have the Underway review recorded, but I'm waiting for my pack to show up in the mail so that I can scan the cards. I'll hopefully have the review up early next week. It seems like it's not going to get here before the 4th of July weekend. :(

[@6ft_otter]

With lotusfield being so prevalent does yog still get used much in your area? Gordian, Zu13 and refractor seem to get a lot more use (also from what I remember of the gencon footage). Surely victor is much better in the current meta?

[@Willingdone]

Graeme Broadbridge Yeah, the Icebreakers you mentioned are generally more popular than Yog, though that has to do with Shaper being so popular over the last six months or so. With Net-ready Eyes, Yog is still very playable in Anarch. You're right that Viktor is much better now that Yog isn't the most popular way to break Code Gates, but I'm not sure that makes Viktor playably good. Since the Core Set, HB's gotten a lot of really great Code Gates that compete with Viktor like IQ, Turing, NEXT Bronze, and Viper. Perhaps Viktor will come back if Cybernetics Division gains some popularity because it's a good source of Brain Damage for Marcus Batty.

[@alittlelemontest]

Great video. Thanks for sharing hero!

[@Willingdone]

alittlelemontest Thanks for watching!

[@NovaCyn]

Oh also didn't corporate troubleshooter make it to 'merica after CnC and the whole atman craze? It was SOO GOOOD at that time, because people ran atman and datasucker, and the fact you couldnt use credits to flex your breakers made it not about the money. Spreading ice strength to make datasucker not go crazy was ofcourse still needed, but CTS+archer/turret really hammered the atmans in that short period

[@NovaCyn]

Phijkchu_Cute_Phijkchu Ofc when people realized parasites belong with atman the whole roto turret part was less good, but it was still a scary trick in my meta

[@Willingdone]

Phijkchu_Cute_Phijkchu Yeah, it saw a bit of play then, though HB was pretty unpopular compared to NBN. That's been the biggest thing about this card: when HB was most popular (right at the beginning of the game), economies were too weak for Troubleshooter to do a whole and by the time the economies got stronger, HB has fallen out of favor. I agree that it's monstrous against Datasucker-oriented stuff since credits aren't the only factor for breaking ICE. Troubleshooter is pretty good in the current metagame in "Red Coats" style decks. RE: Parasite I'd amend your statement to say "then people realized that Parasite belongs in every deck, especially Shaper."

[@NovaCyn]

Good points :D

[@felixhathaway2112]

Nice lookback, I think you're a bit harsh on some of the cards though. As you state, many of the issues are caused by underinfluenced Anarch cards. Hope we get a core 2.0.

[@Willingdone]

Felix Hathaway Any card in particular that you thought that I didn't give justice? Other than Experiential Data and maybe Shipment from Mirrormorph, I felt like I was pretty positive about these cards. Like you said, some of the cards should've been better than they were because of the Anarch problems e.g. Rototurrret and Ichi 1.0. I also hope for Core Set 2.0. It certainly seems possible.

[@felixhathaway2112]

Willingdone Maybe Archived memories, I think it's pretty balanced and have used it in and out of faction. Shipment from mirrormorph is a weird one, because it is inherently very powerful (3 clicks), but the game doesn't give you enough ways to leverage them. Ignoring install costs would be good. Roto I think is just good, but comes in and out with parasite.

[@karlitohomes]

Part of the design of the Core Set is that you could just take the neutral cards and combine them with the cards from any faction and have a legally playable deck. Sure, the resultant deck was always terrible, but I think its important that new players be able to quickly start playing the game. Including more agendas in the Core Set would have ruined that.

[@Willingdone]

karlitohomes That's true. I'd say it's a bigger deal that your decks were terrible than it would be to disrupt this quick play feature, but you make a good point.

[@KrystianMajewski]

Archived Memories - I think you misrepresented the playability of this. Archived Memories is super playable and comes up in a lot of top-tier decks. Its main competition is Interns. And I think the main reason you see Interns is because Archived Memories costs influence. So you will see Interns in RP. But I any HB deck has to do quite some rationalization if they pick Interns over Archived Memories. Shipment from Mirrormorph - I'm not quite getting what you say at the beginning there. There is no way this card will save any noteworthy ammount of econ. I think this may see some use every time there are situations where you want to get installs out and play a double at the same time. The most prominent example is this following a Mushin-no-shin to instantly create a substantial server. But yeah, so far that's a janky combo. Viktor 1.0 - I just wanted to add that Markus 1.0 is kinda a fix/reprint and proves your point. You see that kind of Bioroid (nasty surprise + etr) being way more effective if the type is something that is NOT breakable for 0 credits. I think it also shows how unhealthy Yog is for the game, turning off so many interesting cards. Viktor 1.0 might see more play with Batty in the new Brain Damage decks. Experiential Data - I think Lag Time is a nice comparison that proves your point. Way more powerful effect that is potentially more difficult to remove and yet costs the same. I appriciate you going into the old cards. Can you elaborate on the Edgerunner, Inc combo? How does this allow purge if the card clearly states that the actions can't be used for anything else other than installs? Really loving this series. Can't wait for the next one. Keep it up!

[@Willingdone]

Krystian Majewski Archives Memories - Fair point. Like I said elsewhere, Archived Memories is a good card; it's just often overshadowed by other stuff like Interns. Shipment from Mirrormorph - Yeah, I wasn't very clear here. I meant that the most credits it could save you if it said "ignoring install costs" was about 15 and that would be in extreme circumstances. I wanted the card to ignore install costs but didn't say that outright. Viktor - Agreed. Poor Viktor makes me sad. Yog is like the schoolyard bully making the playground unsafe for all weak Code Gates. Experiential - Hmm, good point. I didn't think of that, but you're totally right. Experiential Data would be pretty sweet if it was hard to trash. We could see different styles of big remote glacier. Edgerunner - It's kind of a funky rule but one that sort of makes sense. When you purge "on credit," you just have to "forgo" the clicks during the next turn. Since you're not "using" them, Edgerunner can be used to pay for the purge. I didn't play the old game, but I understand the "forgo" rule as being kind of a mess. Basically, whenever you tried to do an action and you couldn't afford it (or if, say, a card effect made you lose a click that you didn't have), you had to "forgo" that action on the next turn. That let you purge on credit, essentially. So you'd play Edgerunner, then purge and "forgo" those clicks. I think you could also purge on one turn, play Edgerunner on the next, and then "forgo" those. I'm not sure if you had to "forgo" the next clicks, or just had to pay off the debt before the end of the next turn. The old Netrunner Rulings page says: Edgerunner, Inc., Temps The actions gained from Edgerunner, Inc., Temps may be forgone to remove Virus counters. (JD Wiker, Netrunner-L, 12/19/96) www.netrunneronline.com/rules/?s=3 then Ctrl+F for "edgerunner"

[@ticoodem]

Almost every time you say something close to 'this card was unplayable' I start to understand why I lost a lot a couple years ago.

[@Willingdone]

James Elhardt Haha! Unfortunately, a healthy percentage of the card pool isn't really viable for competitive play. That isn't to say that those cards aren't fun to play with in more casual decks, but it's not really fair to pit competitive decks against casual ones. It's a big theme of these videos that I'd like to see changes to the card pool to allow less viable cards and strategies to become more competitive.

[@ddbrown30]

I have a bit of a weird request for you. Could you please clear your throat more often? I find myself constantly clearing my own throat in response. :P I noticed it in the last core set video too. It's super distracting. Good videos, though. :)

[@Willingdone]

TheChemist I'm doing my best to not sound like I have absolutely devastating allergies. This video was particularly bad, I'll admit. I couldn't breathe out of my nose for the entire recording. If I waited until my allergies were better, I'd never record anything. :( The summer and fall are by far the worst. We've had record rainfall in my area this month and that's shaking the grass pollen off and into the air. There have been a couple of days where I've done nothing but lay around and take Benadryl . It's not so much that I get phlegm in my throat as much as it is I can't breathe out of my nose. Trying hard over here. It'll be better in a few months, hopefully. I've been trying to re-record or edit out the worst of it.

[@ddbrown30]

Fair enough. :)

[@klinktastic]

this is great for noobies like me