Netrunner Online

I have started playing Netrunner online using software from http://www.ccgworkshop.com.

It's a lot of fun. I played 2 games last night. The advantage is you have access to any number of any card you want, and so do your opponents. My first game I played a fast Artificial Security Directors / Corp War deck against a very brutal HQ-attacking virus deck with a lot of ice elimination. Basically, he played three Restrictive Net Zonings on my HQ, such that each ice I played there cost 6 extra to install. Then, he played cards which allowed him to trash ice when he accessed HQ. So he would trash my defenses elsewhere and run them also. When I paid 6 to ice HQ, he played an Inside Job to run it any bypass the first piece of ice, then he used a card to trash that ice. (Argh! There is just no defending!) Furthermore, he used a virus that got stronger each time he accessed HQ, and let him access more cards from my hand. So eventually he could simply run HQ, which I couldn't defend, access my entire hand, and play cards to trash ice I played elsewhere.

Luckily, I had gotten off a very fast ASD and then a Corp War on turns 2 and 3, before he was all set up. So I merely needed a Corp War to win, and it was only 2 difficulty. I kept installing ice on subsidiary dataforts (which he trashed sometimes), to make sure that I would have a defended place to put a Corp War once I drew it. I hoped to be able to draw Corp War with my start of turn draw, then play it and advance twice for the win. However, when I finally drew Corp War, it wasn't in my initial draw, and I had to play it. I installed it behind a Puzzle and a Data Wall. I knew he could break the Data Wall, but Puzzle is a 2 cost, 5 strength code gate with 2 subroutines that say: "End the run, and trash puzzle at end of turn". So it is a 1 turn defense, and a cheap, good one at that. But 1 turn was all I would need. He couldn't break the puzzle, and couldn't get anything out of my HQ, so I was able to advance it for the win.

I then played an improved version of my Clown Runner (with all the cards I wanted) against his Corp. He played a wall deck, with many cards that increased the strenght of walls, and cards like Bizarre Encryption Scheme and Red Herrings that made his agendas hard to steal. He had very strong walls such as Glacier, which can be used to defend any Data Fort. However, this Clown deck was very fast, and by turn 5 I had 3 Clowns and a full set of Icebreakers in play, along with other cool stuff, and could run through most any wall he had for free. He did keep me out for awhile with Glaciers and wall strength boosters, but I was eventually able to build up the bits to get through and trash his strength boosters. Then, he hit me with a Self Destruct, which destroys a Data Fort when it is accessed, and does 1 net damage for each card destroyed. I was flatlined, but had Emergency Self Construct to save me, so I lived. I was eventually able to score the necessary agenda points from a couple successful runs on data forts, and finally by accessing R&D a lot with R&D Protocol Files and a Microtech AI Interface.

Playing online was a lot of fun, and I recommend it. I prefer playing in real life, but having access to any card online is quite nice.

--Alex_Rockwell?