Android: Netrunner: The Living Card Game

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Android: Netrunner: The Living Card Game

Post Post #0 (ISO) » Wed Jan 16, 2013 2:41 pm

Post by hitogoroshi »

Hey guys. Let's talk about
Android: Netrunner.


Netrunner was an old CCG developed by Richard Garfield, who designed Magic. Garfield actually said he preferred Netrunner to Magic, but Netrunner came out in that dark time of Too Many God Damn CCGs and it bubbled into obscurity.

But now there's a living card game reboot of Netrunner called Android: Netrunner. So, a game that used to cost quite a bit (CCG price model coupled with rarity) is now way cheaper and has players again. This is a good thing.

Let me talk about some of the rad things in Netrunner.

  • Asymmetrical sides:
    This is the really big, really cool one. Netrunner games have two players: a corporation and a runner. They have completely different cards and rules. The Corporation is trying to "advance" agendas by playing them on the field and using actions to place a number of tokens on them. If they do, they get some powerful effect from the agenda. The runner is trying to steal agendas. They can hit them on the field, or in the corps hand, deck, or discard. If they find an agenda, they score it immediately - no actions required. But, they don't get any effect. First to 7 points wins. The Corp tries to stop the Runner getting agendas by playing ICE that impedes their progress. The runner plays Icebreaker programs to get through the ICE. The corp can also be decked. The runner can also be killed. It's two completely different experiences. Tournament play of Netrunner is two players facing off, and then switching sides and playing again.

    More open, less algorithmic play:
    Okay, let me poke the hornets nest a bit. Magic: the Gathering has a lot of skill in play, not just deckbuilding. Yes. This is true. Can I say whether Netrunner has "more" or "less"? Not really, that's a weird question. But, I think it's very fair to say Netrunner is less algorithmic: that is, that if you were to program a robot to play your Magic deck and program a robot to play your Netrunner deck, it would take a lot more code for the Netrunner robot than the Magic robot. That's because a lot of skilled play in Magic is just playing your deck with the one formula that you "baked" in to it (to be clear, programming a robot to play ALL magic decks would take infinity billion more lines of code than programming a robot to play ALL Netrunner decks, even both sides.) Netrunner is different, because your turn is spending clicks (3 clicks for corp, 4 clicks for runner.) You can spend a click to take a credit (analogue to mana.) You can spend a click to draw a card. You can spend a click to play an event. You can spend a click to install a card that'll be around forever. You have a lot more options at any decision-node than most card games, and "what to do" expands out exponentially. It's pretty rad!

    Identities and Influence:
    The deck-building is something FFG changed from the original Netrunner, but I like the change. You play with an "Identity card" that gives you 3 things. The first is a special power that is in play all game. That alone makes decks feel very different. The second is minimum deck limit, which has very interesting implications for deckbuilding. The third is the coolest one though - influence. There are different factions that are like MtG's colors. You can have as many cards as you want from your color and from the neutral cards (aside from very rare Neutral cards with influence costs that EVERYONE has to pay influence to include - currently, the only one is The Source . From the other colors, you can only have your influence worth of cards. Cards have influence values from 1 to 5. So, you know mostly what to expect based on the faction of the opponent - but the out-faction cards could be ANYTHING, because there's no problem of getting the "right mana" or anything. Out-faction cards are used at full effectiveness.

    It's cheap:
    Netrunner is a living card game. No booster packs. Pay about $30 for the core set on amazon, $15 for each non-random expansion. That's it. That's the whole cost. (The one exception is the core set itself - because FFG wanted to have a viable deck's worth of cards for each faction, they couldn't print every core card x3. If you get in to serious tournament play for Netrunner, you'll want 2 cores. It's still way cheaper than magic. :p) The online client for it, OCTGN, is free and pretty good. Horray for money.



So, hopefully you are interested. If you are, here are some resources:

Learning About Netrunner




Playing Online


You need to download the OCTGN client. You can do so here.

Then, when you're in, go to the game manager and install the follow feed: https://www.myget.org/f/octgngamedirectory

Don't open that in browser, it'll just be XML code. Just install that feed. Then, you'll get a list of games to install. Choose Android: Netrunner.

After that, close OCTGN and use this tool to update the card images from the proxies.

You do NOT need to update anything manually when new sets come out, now - you used to have to, and it stunk. All you'll need to do is re-run the image tool once per set.

Deckbuilding


The gold standard for making Netrunner decks is Meteor decks. Awesome, robust interface, saves the decks for later, easy to link, tracks changes...it's great.

However, sometimes Meteor goes down or lags in adding new sets. Less so than it used to, but as a backup, there's Cardgamedb. They were very recently purchased by Fantasy Flight so it might get better - right now I mostly like it when Meteor's down. It's a little more clunky to use, but serviceable.

Finally, OCTGN also has an internal editor. It's a nightmare to use to make a whole deck, but it's the quickest way to just change 1-2 cards, especially if you know the exact change you want to make.

I love this game and want to play it with you lovely people.
Last edited by hitogoroshi on Fri Aug 23, 2013 6:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post Post #1 (ISO) » Fri Jan 18, 2013 6:34 pm

Post by hitogoroshi »

So, the deck builder website bugged out and would save the "text" files as deck files. That's finally fixed, so I'm working on the deck pack now. (You don't need a text file to load it with OCTGN, but the idea is if you have a text version of a deck that you play and enjoy, you can make a slightly modified version of it on your own.)

Let me know if you want to play any Netrunner over the next two days. I'm free to do teaching games and I'll be able to provide install help, interface help, and (soon) the deck pack. :D
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Post Post #2 (ISO) » Fri Jan 18, 2013 6:46 pm

Post by Bitmap »

I'll take a look. This peaked my interest.
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Post Post #3 (ISO) » Fri Jan 18, 2013 6:53 pm

Post by hitogoroshi »

Oh, for fucks sake...the save as text thing bugged out again.

I'ma use this post to have a place to hide my drafts of the deck stuff. Ignore the decks here, I'll post a prettier version of the deck pack when it's done.

Spoiler: Where I'm leaving deck stuff
Deck Created with CardGameDB.com Android: Netrunner Deck Builder

Identity:
Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future (Core)


Total Cards: (49)

Agenda: (8)
Mandatory Upgrades (What Lies Ahead) x3
Executive Retreat (Trace Amount) x3
Priority Requisition (Core) x2

Asset: (7)
Melange Mining Corp (Core) x3
Adonis Campaign (Core) x1
Aggressive Secretary (Core) x2
PAD Campaign (Core) x1

ICE: (20)
Rototurret (Core) x3
Wall of Static (Core) x3
Enigma (Core) x3
Ichi 1.0 (Core) x3
Heimdall 1.0 (Core) x2
Janus 1.0 (What Lies Ahead) x1
Tollbooth (Core) x3
Wall of Thorns (Core) x1
TMI (What Lies Ahead) x1

Operation: (8)
Hedge Fund (Core) x3
Archived Memories (Core) x2
Biotic Labor (Core) x3

Upgrade: (6)
Ash 2X3ZB9CY (What Lies Ahead) x2
SanSan City Grid (Core) x2
Corporate Troubleshooter (Core) x2

Total Agenda Points: 21

Influence Values Totals -
Haas-Bioroid: 44
Jinteki: 1
NBN: 13
The Weyland Consortium: 0


--

Deck Created with CardGameDB.com Android: Netrunner Deck Builder

Identity:
Jinteki: Replicating Perfection (Trace Amount)


Total Cards: (49)

Agenda: (10)
Nisei MK II (Core) x3
Braintrust (What Lies Ahead) x3
Fetal AI (Trace Amount) x3
Private Security Force (Core) x1

Asset: (13)
Snare! (Core) x3
Project Junebug (Core) x3
Melange Mining Corp (Core) x3
PAD Campaign (Core) x3
Aggressive Secretary (Core) x1

ICE: (18)
Neural Katana (Core) x3
Ichi 1.0 (Core) x2
Tollbooth (Core) x2
Enigma (Core) x3
Wall of Static (Core) x3
Wall of Thorns (Core) x2
Chum (Core) x1
Snowflake (What Lies Ahead) x1
Draco (What Lies Ahead) x1

Operation: (6)
Trick of Light (Trace Amount) x3
Hedge Fund (Core) x3

Upgrade: (2)
Red Herrings (Core) x2

Total Agenda Points: 20

Influence Values Totals -
Haas-Bioroid: 6
Jinteki: 29
NBN: 8
The Weyland Consortium: 0

--

Deck Created with CardGameDB.com Android: Netrunner Deck Builder

Identity:
Weyland Consortium: Building a Better World (Core)


Total Cards: (49)

Agenda: (12)
Project Atlas (What Lies Ahead) x3
Hostile Takeover (Core) x3
Posted Bounty (Core) x3
Priority Requisition (Core) x3

Asset: (6)
Melange Mining Corp (Core) x3
Security Subcontract (Core) x2
Project Junebug (Core) x1

ICE: (20)
Archer (Core) x3
Ice Wall (Core) x3
Caduceus (What Lies Ahead) x2
Enigma (Core) x3
Tollbooth (Core) x3
Data Raven (Core) x2
Wall of Static (Core) x2
Hadrian's Wall (Core) x1
Draco (What Lies Ahead) x1

Operation: (11)
Beanstalk Royalties (Core) x3
Scorched Earth (Core) x3
Hedge Fund (Core) x3
SEA Source (Core) x2

Upgrade: (0)

Total Agenda Points: 21

Influence Values Totals -
Haas-Bioroid: 0
Jinteki: 1
NBN: 14
The Weyland Consortium: 33

--

Deck Created with CardGameDB.com Android: Netrunner Deck Builder

Identity:
Kate "Mac" McCaffrey: Digital Tinker (Core)


Total Cards: (45)

Event: (14)
Sure Gamble (Core) x3
Modded (Core) x3
The Maker's Eye (Core) x3
Diesel (Core) x3
Special Order (Core) x2

Hardware: (10)
Rabbit Hole (Core) x3
The Toolbox (Core) x2
The Personal Touch (Core) x3
Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead) x2

Program: (14)
Magnum Opus (Core) x2
ZU.13 Key Master (What Lies Ahead) x3
Medium (Core) x2
Mimic (Core) x2
Snowball (Trace Amount) x2
Battering Ram (Core) x1
Femme Fatale (Core) x2

Resource: (7)
Aesop's Pawnshop (Core) x2
Armitage Codebusting (Core) x3
The Helpful AI (What Lies Ahead) x2

Influence Values Totals -
Anarch: 8
Criminal: 6
Shaper: 55

--

Deck Created with CardGameDB.com Android: Netrunner Deck Builder

Identity:
Gabriel Santiago: Consummate Professional (Core)


Total Cards: (45)

Event: (18)
Account Siphon (Core) x3
Sure Gamble (Core) x3
Easy Mark (Core) x3
Forged Activation Orders (Core) x3
Inside Job (Core) x3
Special Order (Core) x3

Hardware: (4)
Desperado (Core) x2
Cortez Chip (What Lies Ahead) x2

Program: (13)
Sneakdoor Beta (Core) x2
Femme Fatale (Core) x3
Ninja (Core) x2
Gordian Blade (Core) x3
Corroder (Core) x3

Resource: (10)
Decoy (Core) x2
Crash Space (Core) x2
Armitage Codebusting (Core) x3
Bank Job (Core) x3

Influence Values Totals -
Anarch: 6
Criminal: 73
Shaper: 9

--

Deck Created with CardGameDB.com Android: Netrunner Deck Builder

Identity:
Noise: Hacker Extraordinaire (Core)


Total Cards: (45)

Event: (10)
Sure Gamble (Core) x3
Deja Vu (Core) x3
Stimhack (Core) x2
Special Order (Core) x2

Hardware: (6)
Grimoire (Core) x2
Cyberfeeder (Core) x3
Dyson Mem Chip (Trace Amount) x1

Program: (22)
Djinn (Core) x3
Datasucker (Core) x3
Parasite (Core) x2
Medium (Core) x2
Imp (What Lies Ahead) x2
Mimic (Core) x3
Corroder (Core) x3
Yog.0 (Core) x2
Gordian Blade (Core) x1
Femme Fatale (Core) x1

Resource: (7)
Liberated Account (Trace Amount) x3
Ice Carver (Core) x2
Aesop's Pawnshop (Core) x2

Influence Values Totals -
Anarch: 63
Criminal: 5
Shaper: 7
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Post Post #4 (ISO) » Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:05 pm

Post by Sudo_Nym »

So, count me interested. I'm a big fan of card games in general, and I got to play a few rounds of this, back in the day. Would love to see if the revival is as good as some of the reviews have made it out to be.
One time, back in 'nam, Sudo was set upon by an entire squadron of charlies. He challenged them all to a game of Pictionary, which he won resoundingly. The charlies were forced to not only surrender the skirmish, but also their world-famous chili recipe, which Sudo sold to Texas for a hefty profit. Sudo is a master of diplomacy.
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Post Post #5 (ISO) » Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:05 pm

Post by Sudo_Nym »

Which leads me to the actual question: How similar is this to the original?
One time, back in 'nam, Sudo was set upon by an entire squadron of charlies. He challenged them all to a game of Pictionary, which he won resoundingly. The charlies were forced to not only surrender the skirmish, but also their world-famous chili recipe, which Sudo sold to Texas for a hefty profit. Sudo is a master of diplomacy.
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Post Post #6 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 4:00 am

Post by mykonian »

I'm interested.
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Post Post #7 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 5:39 am

Post by Untrod Tripod »

this game is GREAT
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Post Post #8 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:21 am

Post by hitogoroshi »

In post 5, Sudo_Nym wrote:Which leads me to the actual question: How similar is this to the original?


Very. Quite a few cards are direct reprints.

Off the top of my head, the major changes are...

  • Traces are different. Now, the corp takes the base trace amount and adds some number of credits. THEN, the runner takes their base Link and adds some number of credits. If runner ties, the trace doesn't go off - otherwise it does. However, there's no cap to what the corp can add for the trace. (Blind bidding is in the game with other effects, but much more subdued. See Jinteki's Snowflake.)
  • The Identity cards are also major. Let it suffice to say A:NR decks will be much less samey than default Netrunner. Totally awesome change.
  • No weird "things happening between turns" anymore. If the Corp wants to play the 3 clicks for Melange Mining Corp, they have to spend their whole turn to do it.


Note I've never played original Netrunner myself, but I've read about it, and those are the big ones if I recall correctly.
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Post Post #9 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:34 am

Post by mykonian »

uhm, hito. Does your corp deck have enough agenda points?
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Post Post #10 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:41 am

Post by Timeater »

As someone who loved yugioh and disliked magic I think I will like this
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Post Post #11 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:42 am

Post by hitogoroshi »

Yeah. A 45 card corp deck needs 20-21 agenda points, BUT it's the range 45-49 that needs it.

This is why, while most runner decks are just minimum deck size (For the same reason as most card games) Corp decks usually go to 49, so that the agenda:card ratio is lower. Generally the only 45 card corp decks I see are fast-advance or tag-and-bag decks that require comboing cards - in that case, a more consistent draw is sometimes worth a higher agenda:card ratio.
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Post Post #12 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:44 am

Post by mykonian »

hmm, clever. Thanks.
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Post Post #13 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 11:19 am

Post by Sudo_Nym »

I installed into OCTGN, but all of the text is censored. What's up?
One time, back in 'nam, Sudo was set upon by an entire squadron of charlies. He challenged them all to a game of Pictionary, which he won resoundingly. The charlies were forced to not only surrender the skirmish, but also their world-famous chili recipe, which Sudo sold to Texas for a hefty profit. Sudo is a master of diplomacy.
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Post Post #14 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 12:03 pm

Post by hitogoroshi »

I just finished grocery shopping; I'll hop on to aim and skype to troubleshoot.

EDIT: Should be good. Anyone who wants to get in on this, please IM me before you install. I threw together a little kit to make it easier.
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Post Post #15 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 1:08 pm

Post by mykonian »

oh, shoot. I did the same as Sudo, I think. I was trying to memorize the cards.
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Post Post #16 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 1:16 pm

Post by xRECKONERx »

I already told you I wanted to learn.
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Post Post #17 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 1:24 pm

Post by hitogoroshi »

Deck Set is live!

I can't promise these are all good decks, or that they're all equally strong. But they're better than the default decks, and they show a decent range of the playstyles in Netrunner (for corps, standard, high-bluff, fast advance, and bag and tag - for runners, there's standard, tactical run-focused, virus.)

When my hand is less crampy I can post a basic strategy guide for each. For now all of the deck lists are in the draft spoiler earlier up the page (except for NBN, that one got left out I guess.)
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Post Post #18 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 5:28 pm

Post by mykonian »

I'd have a deck for either side now, so if someone wants to try this sometime, I'd be available.
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Post Post #19 (ISO) » Sat Jan 19, 2013 6:18 pm

Post by hitogoroshi »

Gonna just throw something I posted elsewhere in thread:


Anarchs:
Anarchs are all about aggression. They can destroy your ICE with Parasite, they can get huge rewards for attacking R+D over and over with Medium, and perhaps most frightening, their Data Suckers mean that every time they get in it's easier to get in again. Their icebreakers are all about efficiency, boasting relatively high strength and cheap subroutine breaking (including the only "pay 0 to break a subroutine" card in the game). When you play Anarchs, you can attack over and over for cheap and get awesome benefits whenever you do. The big problem with Anarchs, though, is robustness. They have the worse economy of the runner factions (with Whizzard being better than Noise but still far below the others.) They don't have much link. Most of their icebreakers do not HAVE the ability to increase their strength. So as an Anarch, you're fragile, and when you get knocked down, you get knocked down HARD. You're a nightmare as you keep running and feeding your datasuckers - but if they virus scan, you may suddenly be looking at four severs you literally cannot run. (Virus scan is another thing to point out - it's far more of a threat to Anarchs than anyone else.) There's something terrifying about being both the runner who's easiest to TAG and the runner who's hurt the most by Closed Accounts. Playing Anarchs is like having two brass knuckles and no nut cup. When you punch someone with brass knuckles, it'll hurt a bunch, and when your hand gets tired you can switch to the other brass knuckle. But whatever you do, don't get kicked in the nuts. As an Anarch, be aggressive as often as possible and try to roll unstoppable advantage. Splash things that let you bounce back from disaster and keep right on swinging: money cards, tag avoidance/link, and tools to deal with very strong ice are good options.

Criminals:
Criminals are all about surprise. They have far more things relating to runs than anyone else. They can do runs that bypass the first ICE, runs that treat Archives like HQ, runs that siphon your money, a resource that gives them money when they run a remote. Criminals love to run. At first this might sound like Anarchs. Well, part of that is because all runners love to run, otherwise they'd be bakers or whatever. Here's the difference between Anarchs and Criminals, though. The corps defend themselves against all possible assualts. Anarchs say "If I just keep hitting him eventually his armor will break." Criminals say "I'll find his weakest spot and do something that really hurts him there." Criminals have amazing economy and tons of flexibility. They have tricks for every situation. Wow, Criminals sound like clearly the best. What's the catch? Well, let's put it this way: there's a reason the Criminal knows about every back door in your system, and it's because they can't get in the front door to save their life. Criminal icebreakers take a ton of money to pump up. They don't have the strong attacks like Stimhack or the recurring credits for icebreakers like Toolbox. The best play against Criminals is to just play it straight without any subtlety. Criminals are good at a lot of things, but put agendas behind big fuckin things and their lives become sad. Criminals having all the in-faction infiltration shows this well: they can find out exactly what you're up to and punish your weak points, but it doesn't make them any better at hitting your STRONG points. As a Criminal, build up a bankroll and always look for a weakness to exploit. Splash more efficient icebreakers and cards that let you perform heroic feats in emergencies like Stimhack.

Shapers:
Shapers are all about investment. Let's continue the armor analogy. The corps build up their suit of armor, right? And the Anarch says, "I'm going to punch your armor with my bare fists until it breaks", which is really good if it works but if his knuckles break first he's basicially fucked. And the Criminal says, "I'm going to figure out exactly where your armor is weakest and stab you RIGHT THERE", which is really good if you just need to stab the corp until they bleed to death but not if you need to specifically stab his heart, where the armor is thickest, right this second. But the Shaper? The Shaper says "I'm going to invent guns, and then invent armor piercing bullets, and then I'm going to shoot you with armor piercing bullets from my gun." And yeah, they might kill you before you invent guns - but if you do, well, suddenly that suit of armor is target practice. Shapers have icebreakers that usually keep their strength upgrades until the end of the run, so any ice after 3 they add to their fort is less and less likely to really impede you. You get recurring credits with Toolbox, a lot of link that lets you be cavalier in the face of traces, cards like modded that make inventing guns go by a little faster. Man, inventing guns! Why play anyone else when you could invent guns? The problem with Shapers is that it's hard to surprise the corp. You are very straightforwardly strong and it's hard for the threats they have on the table to matter. But the corp has a VERY good idea what you're capable of. In essence, while Shapers are easily the strongest with what they get out on the table, they don't really get much stronger than THAT. So you're like a final boss in a video game to the corp. Your attacks are super bullshit and maybe they'll wipe, yeah, but they probably have a pretty good idea of your attack patterns. So they have the very clear advantage in the information war (corp always has this, but corp vs. shaper is the most transparent.) Your goal is to make it so that winning the information war only tells them "I know I am going to lose." As a Shaper, your rig is your baby. Build it up. Eventually every click you spend will be so powerful and valuable that they can't stop you, so don't stress if they do well early, because eventually you'll invent guns. As for what to splash: surprises! Shapers I think more than anyone have no excuse not to cap influence. Events like Forged Activation Orders or Inside Job, programs like Medium or Imp - you get the idea. Have the ability to sudden present a threat you weren't presenting before.
"Don’t buy a dozen eggs if you just want a hardboiled egg. Don’t buy a head of lettuce if you just want a salad. Don’t buy eggs and lettuce if you want egg salad because those are not the right ingredients." -Julius Bloop
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Post Post #20 (ISO) » Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:27 pm

Post by Sudo_Nym »

So, this is a really neat game. Been making a lot of decks in the builder, and it's fun just to play around with. Corp strategy seems a bit difficult, though
One time, back in 'nam, Sudo was set upon by an entire squadron of charlies. He challenged them all to a game of Pictionary, which he won resoundingly. The charlies were forced to not only surrender the skirmish, but also their world-famous chili recipe, which Sudo sold to Texas for a hefty profit. Sudo is a master of diplomacy.
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Post Post #21 (ISO) » Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:52 am

Post by mykonian »

I don't know. I need to figure out how it actually works when playing, but so far I have more corp decks then the sole runner deck I made.
Surrender, imagine and of course wear something nice.
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Post Post #22 (ISO) » Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:08 am

Post by Timeater »

Having a hard time setting up octgn ._.
watch for the eggshells
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Post Post #23 (ISO) » Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:58 am

Post by hitogoroshi »

Timeater, I'm gonna be in and out all day, but maybe you can catch me on AIM.

The second OCTGN tournament is taking signups. I'm definitely going to play my Criminal deck, not sure on Corp. I'm really enjoying my NBN deck but I'm worried about how bad it'll fare vs. Shapers.
"Don’t buy a dozen eggs if you just want a hardboiled egg. Don’t buy a head of lettuce if you just want a salad. Don’t buy eggs and lettuce if you want egg salad because those are not the right ingredients." -Julius Bloop
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Post Post #24 (ISO) » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:00 am

Post by Timeater »

Its my .net framework thats the issue, im sure I can figure out how to use it once I figure this out if ever
watch for the eggshells
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