Our Android: Netrunner tumblr celebrates the creativity, ingenuity, and diversity of the game's community. Read our profiles on the community's luminaries and their advice on improving your play.
"Shut the fuck up, Zach." - Ran Cao joking with Zach Cavis during their match in the Top 16 cut at Netrunner’s North American Championship. [Scenes from Netrunner’s 2017 North American Championship at Gen Con]
If I’m recalling this correctly, Zach gave Ran the Andromeda deck she’s playing here. Not having much time to spend playing or practicing Netrunner lately, she relied on friends to give her Cerebral Imaging and Andy lists to learn right before the event -- before the tournament began, you could see Ran reviewing the stapled pages of decklists and articles she printed out with instructions on how to pull off CI combos. And she took those decks right to Top 16.
Paired against her Gen Con roommate here, Ran teased that he should give her advice on what to do. Zach proceeded to predict each click Ran would take during her first turn (optimal Andy turns are pretty easy to plot out), even reminding her to use Dirty Laundry during a Temüjin Contract run to get the most money possible. Anyone who caught her Blast Zone segment in ScoopsCast episode 2 would not be surprised by her reaction.
“He’s gone bananas with these remotes.” - Me, after Sam Suied scored a Successful Field Test that let him install seven new cards all at once. [Scenes from Netrunner’s 2017 North American Championship at Gen Con]
Sam pulled off the sickest play in the lead-up to scoring SFT -- his opponent was keeping great control of the board up until this point in the Losers Finals match-up, but then he neglected to trash an Advanced Assembly Lines. Before the end of the runner’s turn, Sam used a Project Vitruvius token to retrieve a Clone Suffrage Movement from Archives, then installed it with AAL. Rezzing CSM, he returned a Friends in High Places to his hand at the start of his own turn, and installed a mix of threats (including a Blacklist to stop Bloo Moose from firing) that the opponent had to spend time dealing with. This setup allowed Sam to score SFT next turn and flood the board with Donkey Kongs.
Congrats to Sam, who is having a stellar 2017. After coming in second at regional after regional for several years, he took down TWO regionals this year, and then won the North American Championship! He also tried to steal my deckbox at Gen Con, but that’s okay because I’ve been stealing his runner decklists (shoutouts to Headlock Reina) for years.
Dien Tran watches with an uneasy expression as Jason Deng attempts to pull off a kill combo during his Grand Finals match-up. [Scenes from Netrunner’s 2017 North American Championship at Gen Con]
Deng didn’t end up winning this one -- I know your pain, Jason -- but the NYC-based player should be commended for almost taking the event with a wild Near-Earth Hub, a corp long-presumed dead in the current meta. He also was responsible for making sure people could watch a livestream of the final cut for the tournament, driving 10+ hours to and back from Gen Con (instead of taking an easy flight) to transport his streaming equipment.
Unfortunately, Twitch did not archive the stream, so those matches are likely lost forever. I rounded up the list of Top 16 players, along with their runner and corp IDs, after the break, though:
Sam S (samrs) - Moons EtF / Inversificator Andy
Jason D (simpleton) - Boom NEH / Whizzard
Larry M (larro) - Moons EtF / Sifr Whizzard
Alec A - Sync / Whizzard
Josh W (josh01) - Moons IG / Inversificator Andy
Max W (whackedmaki) - IG / Whizzard
Zach C (webster) - Sweeps AgInfusion / DLR Maxx
Josiah O (aunthemod) - Trick of Light Titan / Inversificator Andy
Dien T (d1en) - Moons EtF / Inversificator Andy
John L - Moons EtF / Desperado Whizzard
Adam W (wesselal) - Biotic Titan / Desperado Whizzard
Ran C (crfluency) - Penguins CI / Inversificator Andy
Scott P (spags) - News Hound AgInfusion / Whizzard
Andrew W (wynalazca) - Sweeps AgInfusion / Sifr Whizzard
David W - SanSan Moons EtF / Alice
Travis Y (yeoda) - Sweeps AgInfusion / Desperado Whizzard
"We'll have an announcement relatively soon that I think players will be happy about." - Netrunner’s lead designer Michael Boggs. [Scenes from Netrunner’s 2017 North American Championship at Gen Con]
I spoke with the designer briefly at Gen Con, and this statement seemed important to share, as morale amongst the general community seemed to be at an all-time low due to the dearth of information on the cyberpunk card game’s future. Boggs didn’t indicate if this announcement is related to news that's been long expected like the updated Most Wanted List or something bigger.
He later clarified the promise with a comment in Facebook’s Women of Netrunner group, “Want to errata this. Should read: ...soon™...’ We are working on getting out news to everyone. I honestly cannot say if that will take days, weeks or months, but I promise that we are working on it.”
Meanwhile players are impatient to hear any reports about to what to expect from the game, pleading like Morrissey in ”How Soon is Now?”, “When you say it’s gonna happen now, well when exactly do you mean? See, I’ve already waited too long, and all my hope is gone.”
Many expected publisher Fantasy Flight Games to make a Netrunner announcement at its Gen Con “InFlight Report” to appease the disgruntled fanbase, whether it be for the MWL, specifics on the World Championship event two months away (making it difficult for overseas fans to book flights and ask for time off), or speculated products like a new Core Set and Africa-themed cycle. The only news it had to share at the tabletop convention, however, was that rotation will take place before Worlds and the next cycle of cards -- and that the upcoming cycle’s debut is delayed to late 2017.
A generic statement like the one Boggs’ gave me could have gone a long way to calm players, who spent the weekend lashing out against the company, declaring the game dead (or arguing with others for taking that pessimistic outlook), and even dragging Netrunner’s former lead developer into Facebook arguments. Many took their anger out at Legend of the Five Rings, upset the recently rebooted game seemed to have soaked FFG’s attention and resources that were vital to support Netrunner.
Talking to Boggs, though, he wasn’t panicked about the community’s unrest, even as I voiced their concerns. He said he appreciated that so many responded passionately and felt invested in the game’s future, and he acknowledged that improving communications with the playerbase is on the team’s mind.
To his credit, the designer has been nothing but approachable since joining FFG earlier this year, agreeing to a number of podcast interviews, taking Skype calls from fans, and even responding to people messaging him on Facebook about Netrunner potentially dying. Boggs recently responded to one of those private messages that was later posted with his permission, “It's definitely not dying. Things are just taking a bit longer than we anticipated and was expected.”
So, where does that leave unconvinced players desperate for news and worried about others abandoning the game? Well-placed sources expect that Worlds info and the MWL update are imminent. The Bad Publicity group has a video interview with FFG studio head Andrew Navaro coming, which will go over Netrunner’s future and Organized Play’s takeaways from the community’s feedback. And we have Boggs’ vague but hopeful statement that kicked off this post.
There’s a lot that can be said and done to persuade players that Netrunner has a healthy future. But how many of us will still be around by the time FFG decides to say and do all those things? See, we’ve already waited too long.
This wildly expensive domain expires in less than a week, and I was prepared to shut it all down and let rotation hit Fetal.AI early. But after hanging out with friends at a recent regional, hearing people’s appreciation for the site, and receiving a kind donation of cards from Peter McOwen and Ellen Biscotti, I’m motivated to renew the domain and get back to updating it!
So if you want to keep Fetal.AI going and add to your alt-art collection, take these cards off of my hands. Or if you don’t want cards and just want to contribute to the site, which would be REALLY awesome and appreciated, get in touch with me.
Prices on above cards (more after the break):
Hedge Fund set - $120 or make me an offer / sold
Wall of Static set - $120 or make me an offer
NAPD Contract set - $75 or make me an offer
Chronos Project sets - $35 for a set or make me an offer
Professional Contacts - $45 each or make me an offer
All cards shown as a complete set will be sold as such, unless I fail to move them and get desperate. Add $3 for shipping if you’re Continental US -- international and everyone else, we’ll figure out an appropriate amount. You can reach me on the Stimhack Slack (eric_c), Facebook, Twitter, email (eric at tinycartridge diggitydot com -- no diggity), or the comments below, and I’ll give you my PayPal. Maybe I’ll convince Kenny to let me give you a Scoopscast shout-out as thanks, too.
Alt-art IDs:
Noise - $15 / sold
Reina Roja - $5
Weyland Core Set - $5 / sold
Ken Tenma - $15 / reserved
Leela Patel - $12 each / one reserved
Chaos Theory - $5 each
Other cards:
Jackson Howard set - $10 / reserved
Wyldside set - $10 / reserved
Same Old Thing sets $12 each set / one sold, one reserved
Kati Jones - $4 each
Femme Fatale - $15
Corroder - $12 each / both reserved
Crypsis - $12 / reserved
Worlds promos for other FFG titles (1x each):
IDK what any of these are. I can see the Darth Vader in one of them. Make me an offer for a card, and I’ll check with eBay and/or people who know what these are, and if the offer isn’t insulting, sure, you can have them.
Any extra cash I make after paying off Fetal.AI’s domain for the next two years will go toward Netrunner-related travel expenses so I can meet more cool people in the community, and toward treating Peter and Ellen to something nice next time I see them. Thanks for supporting the site!
Vote for Netrunner’s first Hall of Fame candidates ⧉
[Community leader Scott “Spags” Pagliaroni just launched and opened voting for a new tribute meant to celebrate exemplary members of the Netrunner scene. We’ve given him the space here to introduce the Hall of Fame and explain how this first wave of nominees will be voted in. The King of Servers organizer also shared his personal picks from the initial ballot after the break.]
The idea of an Android: Netrunner (ANR) Hall of Fame (HOF) started as a Slack #general chat folly between Dien Tran and Abram Jopp. It is now becoming a reality. One of the reasons people play the game is to gain the admiration and esteem of one’s peers. Another thing people gain enjoyment from is organizing events, or contributing to the community in a myriad of ways. The ANR HOF is a fan-run idea that will enshrine ANR players past and present, based on votes of their peers, that recognizes them for their contributions and performances.
The ANR HOF will initially induct twelve players from a list of 32. Voters will pick their top 12 in the initial vote. Every six months or so, in the spring, and before Worlds, six more players will be inducted. The list will be added to before being put forward for a vote. Players that do not make it in will remain on the list for the next vote. For the next vote, the community can voice whom they would like to see on the list of nominees.
The initial list was created by myself, and a number of people on the list itself, who nominated others. These people are known for their past performances and community contributions. Some no longer even play the game, but we felt that they should be at least nominated for their work towards making ANR a better game. You can turn in your ballot here!
Below is my ballot, with some brief words on each:
Aaron Andries
Aaron is my old L5R friend, and ANR sparring partner since the game came out. He has finished in the top 17 at Worlds 3 times, and would’ve had a longer run in 2014 if I would’ve thrown a game to Mihn, and the software and Super Byes didn’t screw him over. One of the nicest players in the game, and an Android Netrunner Players Circuit (ANRPC) founder, as well.
Zach Cavis
Zach is a strong player, who has contributed a large amount of strong ideas to various top level players throughout the years. His generosity with donating to various tournament prize pools is not to be undervalued.
Jon Dalessandry
This is a bit of a personal pick. Jon is a great guy, closer to my age than most ANRers, and a Detroit Lions fan, so we can both wallow in the ineptitude of our NFL teams’ lack of success over the years. Jon is a strong player who, like a lot of California players, prefers experimentation and jank to Tier 1 Best Decks All The Time. Sometimes, that jank goes his way, and he succeeds wildly.
Dan D'Argenio
What needs to be said about the GOAT? He may be a filthy dicer, and play some degenerate builds, but he’s also run some great Stimhack JNET tourneys, and has been a strong contributor to the ANRPC.
Chris Hinkes
I first played Chris at Worlds 2013. He played Kit and PE then, and has been a successful champion for them throughout the years. Chris’ unique builds have invigorated and changed the community’s thoughts on Jinteki.
Dave Hoyland
One of the best face-to-face players I’ve met. Aggressive, imposing, and just one of the most intuitive players in the game, he’s the first UK player I’d submit to the HOF. I played Dave in the Top 16 of Worlds 2014, when he was at the vanguard of the British Invasion. Glad he convinced so many of his fellow country-people to join him in the future!
Niles Stanley
I first met Niles as part of the DC trio that was at Worlds 2013. All three guys were great, fun players, but the other two noted that Niles was the deck mastermind for them. He had some truly unique builds over the years, as well as some strong ones.
Dien Tran
Dien is the Canadian representative. He is one of the nicest, coolest kids in the game I know. Consistently tough to beat, Dien has also been is also a long-standing helper of community organizing in the Toronto area.
Minh Tran
One of the toughest people to read I have ever played against, Mihn has two impressive Worlds Top 16 runs. Also, he is the creator and force behind the best online tool for the game, jinteki.net.
Jesse Vandover
Another DC-area product, Jesse has been performing consistently well for a long time in ANR, from Regional wins, to Worlds placement, to co-winning King of Servers last year. One of the strongest players in the game over the years.
Timmy Wong
The People’s Champion, Timmy is another consistent performer for a long time now. Always a welcome voice when he’s on a podcast or video, he’s also shown how some ‘odd’ deck builds can really shine in the proper meta.
Steven Wooley
Steven is one of the heads of Team Covenant, the premier provider of video content for all of FFG’s monthly subscription products. A chill, cerebral cat who was the brains behind the Whizz resurgence back in early 2015, as well as Anatomy of Anarchy before that.
Don’t forget to submit your own vote here!
Couple notes from Fetal.AI editor Eric Caoili:
Pretty sure someone nominated me for this first wave ballot as a joke -- like I think the person who did it even told me so a while back lol. 😤😤
Spags invited me and others to submit potential nominees, and I regret not taking him up on the offer or participating (aside from complaining about a particular candidate), as this initial ballot does not include any women. A number of women deserve to be in this list, and I’ve talked with Spags about making sure the next wave honors those contributors.
With seemingly fewer live tournament streams for Netrunner this year (might have something to do with the dwindling attendance for events 😭), it’s harder to catch top-cut coverage of regionals this season. That’s why I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the heroes who’ve sacrificed their phone batteries and data limits for the community, streaming top cuts with the Periscope app on their phones so that Stimslack jokers at home can follow them.
Mike Summers did it last weekend at the NorCal regional, sharing some WILD matches with Timmy Wong and Jon Dalesandry. And today, Chris Hinkes is coming through with scenes from Seattle’s Top 8, and this adorable koala.
If you want to set up your own illicit Netrunner koala stream, you can pick up a great portable phone battery charger here, and one of the dancing arboreal marsupials here or here. S/o to Dave Cheng for the photo of the Periscope rig.
Autism acceptance month is this month (April), so I’ve put together a little primer on autism for the Android: Netrunner community with some suggestions on how to make A:NR events more accessible. I’m no expert, but I’m an adult on the spectrum whose special interest is A:NR, and since nobody seems to be talking about this I figured I would.
I think I’ve only made it through all the swiss rounds in three A:NR events of the dozen or so I’ve played in. It’s always an ordeal for me to prepare for an event. I’m not a competitive player, so I don’t worry about being at the top of my game or gauging the meta. I worry about what the space will be like, when I get breaks and for how long, and where I can go to have a meltdown/shutdown. I worry about how many people will be there, what (precisely) will be expected of me, and I worry whether I’ll be having a ‘good day’; that is, a day where my symptoms are less severe - all among other things that will ruin my fun and have nothing to do with the game. It is not a wonder that I tilt easily and if I leave an event without crying, I consider that a victory. I don’t think it has to be this way.
Netrunner has even more trans representation than we thought ⧉
We’ve known for a couple years now that at least one of Netrunner’s characters, Quetzal, has dismissed gender binarism, and many have celebrated publisher Fantasy Flight Games for being so progressive. It turns out the game’s designers wrote an explicitly trans runner into the Android universe last year but didn’t make a point to call much attention to it. You can see one of the hints they dropped in the Democracy & Dogma insert above.
Former lead developer Damon Stone discussed Nero’s runner ID art in the Women of Netrunner group on Facebook:
“It's the sort of thing that the artist is made aware of in the art brief and [former senior art coordinator] Zoë Robinson took a lot of time and care working with [artist Matt Zeilinger] to get Nero just right, but beyond the way it affects their world view and how that may affect how they act and present themselves, they are us. We don't mention sexuality or gender identity or religion unless it has direct impact on the story being told, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a wide range of sexual, racial, and gender diversity that goes into the creation of them. ...
We just thought the game should reflect the world we live in. Shouldn't seem to be in your face or radical, but so few games ever bother that it seems like a substantial departure.”
And maybe it’s unintentional, but friend-of-the-site Cass Sparks recently pointed out that Terminal Directive’s new shaper ID, Ayla Rahim, is wearing a scarf that looks like the colors of the Transgender Pride flag!
Unfortunately, players rarely pick Nero as their runner. With this weekend being the last of the Store Championship season, though, it’s a good opportunity to attempt the $100 bounty put out last year challenging someone to win a store championship (or a bigger event) with Nero. The bounty is valid even if you start off as another runner ID and rebirth into Nero!
I designed (put text on someone else’s art) another thing for a big Netrunner streaming event. Keep your Sunday open because this is going to be wildddd. The colonies have an absolutely stacked dream team, and the Brits are running a tournament with its best players just to determine who will rep the queen.
You’ll be able to watch Top Deck’s stream for the Jnet matches here. More details about the event and its rules are posted on Stimhack.
It started as a squabble and bet over whether Geist could beat Controlling the Message, but now it’s a holiday charity event featuring two of the Netrunner community’s biggest personalities, Scott “Spags” Pagliaroni and Josh Wilson!
The two will play a streamed series of matches on December 11, 2016 at 11AM Eastern Time, with commentary by Timmy Wong and Abram “TheBigBoy” Jopp. Those who donate toward the event will receive special rewards (add an extra $5 if you’re shipping physical rewards outside of the U.S.):
$1 - Commentators will read your name during the stream
$10 - 2 Android: Netrunner Player Circuit dice
$25 - 1 ANRPC Blue/Sun/Argus carbon fibre ID or Engineering the Future/Stronger Together steel ID (IDs are limited to 10 of each available)
$25 - Name a matchup, with Corp and Runner IDs, that you want to see played (players will pick from matchup options)
Paypal donations can be sent to [email protected]. Josh has chosen to play for Feeding America, while Spags has selected Planned Parenthood and Doctors Without Borders as his charities -- 65% of donations will be sent to the winner’s organization(s) of choice, and the remaining 35% will be sent to the other charity or charities.
[In this motivational piece by guest contributor Dien Tran, the two-time Worlds Top 16 competitor reaches out to those who won, lost, laughed, and cried at this year’s premiere event for Android: Netrunner.]
7:00AM, the alarm on my phone fires off a light melody to gently stir me from a 4-hour slumber. The waking up part is never hard; it’s a quick reach to the left of my bed, and a soft touch to stop the sound. I want to be courteous, because it’s not just me in the room; Mikhail is in our hotel room’s other bed, and while he’s all cocooned up, he may need the sleep more than I do. I quickly turn on my laptop in bed, and it’s onto Jinteki.net to play a few games before the big event. I had great conversations with Jesse Vandover, Tomasz Fedorczyk, and David Cheng the previous night about decks they were set on for today’s Worlds tournament, and they convinced me to make a last-minute switch. Two hours go by, and I’m mixed about the results. Although they were very strong decks, they didn’t speak to me the way I expect from my personal deck builds.
The drive to win games is strong; I want to win just like everyone else. I want to prove to myself that I’m more than just a good player in my own local meta, that making Top 16 last year wasn’t a fluke. There’s something else buzzing in the back of my head that I can’t let go. It’s my internal values on why I play the game, and why I’m here at the World Championship. It’s this constant reminder that stops my previous line of thinking and brings me back on track. This is how I found my identity 30 minutes before Worlds.
Netrunner’s World Championship happens every year in the cold month of November. Roseville, Minnesota isn’t noted for much besides being the hub where international players come together to fight for the Throne, wage dog fights in the galaxy, or in our case, shuffle our decks 12 clicks in a row before David Saiya decides it’s time to run Archives.* Whatever the flavor that brings you to this city, it’s a great time to socialize and connect with others you wouldn’t otherwise meet in your lifetime. I’ve personally met some of the most outstanding people in the world that I would gladly go out and have dinner with, and I have. From GenCon Macaroni and Cheese with Josh Wilson and Peter McOwen, to Radisson Cheeseplates with Dan D’Argenio and Kyle James, it’s no wonder why I wish I had the ability to clone myself just for this event. Though Netrunner is the one hobby that brings us all to this city, it is truly the players that represent the experience in my eyes.
And it clearly shows at the event. I had the opportunity to meet with old opponents and new friends. Seeing Nick Soto represent FFG as a Judge this year was inspiring; having a kind individual who is super passionate about the game forgo his contention for the crown to ensure that our player experience is consistent echoes to my core. And watching Alexis Spicer, also a Judge this year, lead the charge for Women of Netrunner and connect with the community in such a positive light showcased to me that we truly are kind humans at the end of it all. If there was ever a question whether this community is toxic or positive, you would definitely know my answer.
No doubt, many competitors who came to Worlds this year left disappointed, sad, or even angry with their showing. I’m the first to admit that I would’ve felt the same. No one likes to lose, especially when they’ve committed so much of their life toward a goal, whether it’s making the Top 16 cut or Day 2 of the tournament. I heard stories from people committing in excess of four hours a day to the game, some spurning professional needs to reach a goal they set out for. Last year, I neglected time with close ones to get more games in. To those who made the commitment and missed your goal, I empathize with you.
In the last hour leading to Worlds, I came to a few realizations. First and foremost, this is a game of variance. There are just times when your back is against the corner and you have no logical way of escaping the alleyway. It’s far more important to recognize that it is happening and accept what is happening than to mull over the result. During round 8 against Ben Ni, I was matched up against DLR MaxX with my NEH BOOM!! deck. Ben played masterfully, and there was no way I could escape a loss. It would’ve been much easier to be tilted and frustrated with it all. But what I valued more was the player experience and respecting that Ben is also an individual with goals and a heart. It was in the moment that Ben thanked me for the game — and thanked me for my creative builds and contributions — that solidified my moral fiber. To Ben Ni, thank you for your contributions and being a good soul through it all.
Secondly, we’re here to play with other players. It is my personal initiative to ensure that my impact on the game is that of positivity and that I can feel connected to the players themselves. Whether I walk away a World Champion or not does not impact if I left the games knowing that my opponent felt that was a good experience. After all, the experience I provide can only be controlled by no one else but myself. To all those who I have played, laughed with, and cried with (Aaron Andries), thank you for all the fun. It is the friendships that I have made these past three years that make me want to come back again and again.
Whether or not you walk away with the result you desired, recognize the journey you made to get to this point. The reality of this game is, almost everyone will lose, and one individual will win it all. To base the entirety of your experience on your result is unfair, with betting odds that are severely skewed against yourself.
In the final hour that led to the eventual decision for my Worlds decks, I chose what I did because I recognized what clouded my judgement. If I had walked in with what was perceived as “the best decks” and lost, it would’ve been my just desserts — I wouldn’t play what spoke to my heart, and it wouldn’t be something I was proud of. Instead I opted to play what I worked on, and win or lose, I would walk away knowing I made my mark with the decks I enjoy. The journey of reaching my goal with what was my own made the journey well worth it.
Remember that at the end of it all, you need to be happy with what you’re doing, and most of all, happy with yourself. I’m happy to know that I’m playing a game that allows me to connect with friends that I’ve made over the past few years. Knowing I’ve left a mark on people internationally in such a positive light makes my journey worth it. I judge my time and self worth on your happiness. I hope I made you all smile and happy to play Game 1; you ready for Game 2?
*David Saiya ruined more than a few dreams that day with his False Echo/DDOS/Apoc Hayley deck.
This photo came from last week’s King of Servers team tournament, when our Ohio crew was paired against the Wotan Clan on the left side. From what I was told, our opponents only wore the “Make America Great Again” hats to tilt opponents -- at least one player refused to wear his, though, fearing that he would be the one feeling tilted if anyone applauded the caps. Either way, as you can see here, Josh was not amused. Credit to Spags for the photo.
Here is a useful voting guide full of links with details on where you should vote, what to bring, whether you can take ballot selfies in your state, etc.
Hidden from the eyes of Android: Netrunner's general public, several secret societies are operating unchecked, shaping the future of the game and its meta. These shadowy groups emerged in recent months, each with separate motives, some sinister and others unknown. As a voice for working class Netrunner players, I felt it my duty to name these shrouded factions and bring their misdeeds to light.
1. Illuminati Deckbuilders
What if I were to tell you that many the world's top deckbuilders are congregating in an unlisted Slack chat channel, testing and developing deck lists, often designed with the most malicious intents? The members of this group work together to fine-tune seemingly unwieldy combos into efficient Negative-Player-Experience engines, then debut them at premiere tournaments to inflict as much damage as possible on an unsuspecting crowd during the Swiss rounds of an event.
It sounds farfetched, but the Illuminati's agents are relying on the idea's implausibility and the community's ignorance to continue their corrupt enterprise. They don't want you to know what to expect for Store Championship season. They don't want me to tell you that runners will be playing New Angeles City Halls at Worlds next month, or that the influence-free tech Corps should be slotting is Foxfire (hits Net Mercur, Ice Carver, The Turning Wheel, and other notable resources).
What these selfish deckbuilders do want is to keep the best lists, the best combos, and the best tech all to themselves -- at least until they have had their taste of blood at a tournament and written up a post-mortem. As for the rest of us, who just want to play fun, relevant decks, we will have to wait a month or two for their lists to trickle down to the commoners, as they laugh all the way to the playmat bank.
2.0 Scoop Lords
While we wait to see what cards Fantasy Flight Games will introduce in Netruner’s next data pack, a growing number of players are privy to what happens in the next cycle and beyond. This advance intelligence is in the hands of people you'd expect, FFG employees working on the game and playtesters, but it's also in the grips of others who have obtained the classified information through unclear methods.
What is clear is those with a direct line to those spoilers, known as Scoop Lords, have whispered their illicit knowledge to others, creating an imbalance in the community between players who are prepared for upcoming meta shifts, and players who are not. The former group of Scoop Citizens has gloated over its exclusive info, some even managing to ascend the ranks of scoops nobility by leveraging their positions and displays of discretion to obtain even more trade secrets. Others have cloaked their status with inscrutable memes:
As we speak, though, FFG is cracking down on people who've abused the privilege of peerage. I've received reports of the publisher investigating talkative Scoop Lords and surveilling known associates (citizens designated as "Hangin' With Mr. Scooper"). But with the company set to hold an "Android: Netrunner Special Event" on November 4th anyway, those Lords might soon find their titles’ value depreciated in a post-scoops world.
3. Xylophones
You might notice numerous high-profile players absent from Jinteki.net, or maybe you never saw them online at all. That’s likely because they’re playing under alternative accounts with unfamiliar handles, or smurfs. There are a few reasons why one would not want to play with an easily identifiable name. Maybe they don’t want anyone to scout what they’re playing. Perhaps they don’t want to be recognized and have others brag about outsmarting them after a defeat.
That explains why you will see names like ZacharyXylophone and SierraXylophone pop up in Jinteki.net’s Competitive lobby, all part of a coordinated group of smurf account users. The Xylophone surname originated in England, but it has spread to other countries and spawned short-lived offshoots also themed around percussion instruments (e.g. Glockenspiel, Vibraphone). There is no parallel between the players’ real first names and their Xylophone handles, but I have been able to discern correlations between their genders and sometimes nations of origin.
While the Xylophone clan seems innocuous, there is evidence that the group has close ties to Illuminati deckbuilders if not shared members. They are also seeking to expand their ranks and footprint, and dominate rivals or unaffiliated groups. I have noted a growing aggression in certain members, too -- could the Xylophones be evolving from an anonymous crew into a violent gang operation? For the health and safety of our community, please keep an eye on Xylophone players and report any suspicious activity.
4. Barcodes
Materializing in just the last week, the Barcodes are a collection of players using a series of eight lowercase “L”s and uppercase “I”s as their Jinteki.net handles (with other non-regulation variations), making it hard for casual observers to discern which smurf they’re facing or spectating online. Among the names I have spotted are IIIIIII and lIllIllI. Little is known about the Barcodes, but some speculate that the Fantasy Draft values for several members are on the high end. Unsanctioned members exist, however, so it’s difficult to gauge the quality of the overall clique.
The practice of using Barcode smurfs is a tradition handed down from StarCraft, League of Legends, and other competitive online games, so it’s not a surprise to see the practice appearing in Netrunner. In one Barcode match I witnessed, two players held a conversation entirely in Korean. While South Korea has a Netrunner community, I suspect the exchange was an attempt to further obfuscate their identities.
It is likely the Barcodes have chosen these smurfs for the same reasons as the Xylophones. Still, I am uncomfortable with unidentifiable players becoming ubiquitous on Jinteki.net, as it could lead to some using their anonymity as an opportunity to act rude with their opponents. At least there is a clumsy way to track which Barcode you’re playing -- each user has a different Gravatar icon and background color next to their name.
5. Stimhack.com Cabal
You may have noticed a sudden uptick in articles published at venerated Netrunner community hub Stimhack.com in the past few weeks. While these pieces present valuable game strategies that are appreciated, it is suspicious to see this rapid ramping up of the site’s publication schedule, especially in the month leading to Netrunner’s World Championship tournament.
Could the release of these articles be the concerted effort of an editor or editors attempting to manipulate the meta toward a direction that favors what they will be playing at Worlds? It sounds like nonsense and wild fear-mongering, but I have not been the only one to voice these worries. Indeed, even a Stimhack author expressed misgivings about a managing editor choosing not to produce detailed articles on their pet decks while encouraging writers to discuss other archetypes.
Adding to concerns, that same editor has been identified as a confirmed top-level member of the Illuminatis, Xylophones, and Scoop Lords -- garnering a special title as the “Duke of Scoops”. Where are the in-depth Stimhack articles (not just a couple of paragraphs hidden in a Nexus Kate piece) on how to play against contemporary Engineering the Future builds? And why was this player boasting that they sought out ETF users to play against, with the intention of defeating them to convince them to switch IDs? I hate to scrutinize the integrity of Stimhack.com’s production, but these questions are troubling, to say the least.
The groups I covered here are just the tip of the iceberg. I have not even discussed the West Coast Test House, the Toronto Lake House cooperative, the 241 Mafia, smurf names for last year’s Top 4 players at Worlds, or the betting action surrounding the 142nd place player at this year’s Worlds. But since catching wind of my investigations into their activities, members of the groups I profiled above have sought to intimidate me, discredit me, and describe me as a conspiracy theorist. I can only take on so many of these organizations at a time.
Know that I will not allow these scurrilous statements to discourage me from delivering the truth to Fetal.AI’s readers, and I will continue to serve the needs of the common player. Playmats should not be reserved for just Illuminatis and Xylophones. Everyone deserves a chance. Everyone.
I always love it when Netrunner’s cards reference real-life people who deserve some extra shine, so I appreciate this newly revealed Jemison Astronautics ID from the game’s upcoming Red Sand cycle. The astronaut pictured next to Weyland’s card is Dr. Mae Jemison, the first woman of color to travel in space.
Jemison went up with the space shuttle Endeavor back in September 12, 1992 on an 8-day mission focused on “conducting experiments in life and material sciences.” Jemison also served as a Lieutenant junior grade on the U.S.S. Enterprise-D for an episode (Remember that one with two Rikers?)!
The Weyland ID’s subtitle -- “Sacrifice. Audacity. Success.” -- alludes to a lecture Jemison delivered earlier this year called “On Fear, Audacity, and the Importance of Inclusion”. Big ups to Jarred for catching the reference.
Okay, this looks way fun! EmergencyShutdown.Net set up a fantasy draft allowing you to put together a team of five players for Netrunner’s World Championship tournament in November, and compare your scores with others based on their performance. Whether you plan to attend the event or not, this looks like a great side-game to play while we’re all following/watching the results of the World Championship tournament’s top cut.
The players available so far have “draft values” based on their performance at recent premiere events and other evaluations, but you can submit write-ins for cheap picks if you can think of any people that would be a steal. While my name is in the pool, I couldn’t tell you whether I’m under- or overvalued.
With Fantasy Flight Games’ floor rules disallowing any gambling at its tournaments, the site makes sure to note, “This is not a gambling or betting website. I neither solicit nor accept wagers. The news, information, opinion, and recommendations on this website are for education and entertainment only.”
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