Mastering the Android: Netrunner Game

Welcome to the captivating realm of Android: Netrunner, a thrilling game of strategy, deception, and cybernetic warfare. In this game, you’ll find two distinct roles to assume: the cunning Runner and the meticulous Corporation. As I delve into the core rules, I invite you on a journey to discover the exhilarating world of Android: Netrunner.

Essential Game Concepts

Android: Netrunner is a deck-building game where players aim to outwit and outmaneuver their opponents. To play the game effectively, there are a few key concepts to understand:

• Identity: Each player assumes a unique identity in the game, influencing their abilities and strategies.
• Actions: As the Runner or Corporation, you’ll take various actions throughout the game to advance your objectives.
• Clicks: Your actions are limited by a resource called “clicks”. These represent your available time and effort within a turn.
• Credits: Credits fuel your actions and enable you to purchase necessary resources and advancements.

The Runner’s Daring Strategy

As the Runner, your mission is to infiltrate the Corporation’s secure servers, exposing their secrets and snatching valuable data. To achieve this, you’ll build a deck filled with programs, hardware, and resources to aid you in your daring escapades. Be quick-witted as you decode ice and hack into remote servers, always staying a step ahead of the Corporation’s defenses.

The Meticulous Corporation

Controlling the Corporation, your objective is to fortify your servers and protect your secrets. You’ll construct a deck filled with ice, servers, and agendas, striving to secure your vital assets. Build impenetrable defenses by placing ice on your servers, but beware of the Runner’s cunning maneuvers as they relentlessly hack into your systems to uncover your hidden agendas.

Playing the Game

The game progresses through rounds, with each player taking turns until victory is achieved. As a player, you will always have four basic steps:

1. Draw: Begin your turn by drawing a card from your deck.
2. Click: Utilize your allotted actions or clicks to perform various actions, such as playing cards, installing programs, or hacking the Corporation’s servers.
3. Gain: Reap the rewards of your achievements, collecting additional credits and drawing more cards to replenish your hand.
4. Discard: End your turn by discarding any remaining cards that you don’t wish to keep in hand.

Winning the Game

The Runner wins the game by successfully stealing a predetermined number of agendas from the Corporation’s servers, while the Corporation wins by hosting a certain number of agendas in secure servers, outmaneuvering the Runner. Each player’s strategy, cunning, and calculated risks will determine the victor in this exhilarating battle of wits.

Embark on your journey into the vibrant world of Android: Netrunner. Unleash your ingenuity and immerse yourself in the thrill of cybernetic warfare. From the moment you step into this futuristic realm, the possibilities will be limitless, and the challenge will be enthralling. Are you ready to take on the role of the Runner or Corporation? The choice is yours, and your destiny awaits.

• 134 Corporation Cards
• 114 Runner Cards
• 2 Reference Cards
• 2 Click Tracker Tokens & Cards
• 51 One-Credit/Advancement Token
• 8 Five-Credit Token
• 6 Brain Damage Token
• 12 Bad Publicity/Tag Token
• 23 Generic Tokens

What’s the game all about?

Both you and I want to score seven agenda points to win. You can score agenda points by advancing agendas, and I can score agenda points by stealing your agendas. Agendas are special cards that only appear in your deck.

If you’re able to flatline me, you win. But if you have to draw a card from your empty draw deck, I win.

How do we set up the game?

Before we begin playing Android: Netrunner, let’s go through the setup process step by step:

Choose Sides: Let’s start by deciding who will be the Runner and who will be the Corporation. Take a moment to discuss and make that decision together. Once you’ve decided, place your identity card faceup in your play area and take the corresponding deck. If you’re new to the game, it’s recommended to use the Shaper and Jinteki starter decks for your first game. Create Token Bank: Next, we need to gather various tokens. We’ll need credits, advancement, brain damage, tag, bad publicity, and generic tokens. Make sure to have piles of these tokens within easy reach of both players. Collect Starting Credits: Each player starts with five credits. Take these credits from the bank and add them to your pool. Shuffle Decks: Now it’s time to shuffle your decks. Each player should shuffle their own deck thoroughly. After shuffling, offer your deck to your opponent for them to shuffle as well. This ensures that both decks are randomized and ready to play.

These steps are important for setting up the game properly, ensuring a fair and balanced playing field. Remember to communicate with your opponent and have fun!

I’m gonna show you the first steps of how to play this card game. The first thing you need to do is draw your starting hands. You take five cards from the top of your deck, and those will be the cards you start with. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. The Corporation, which is one of the players, can choose to shuffle their starting hand back into their deck and draw a new hand if they’re not happy with what they got. The Runner, the other player, can do the same thing. But here’s the catch – if you decide to take a mulligan, which means you shuffle your hand back into your deck and draw a new hand, you have to keep that second hand. You don’t get a third chance. Once both players are happy with their starting hands, they put their decks face-down in front of them. And that’s it for the first step! Next, we’ll talk about the different cards you’ll be playing with. But if you’re curious and want to know more now, click the link above!



Tutorial Video

Game play

Hey there! In this game called Android: Netrunner, it’s all about taking turns. But here’s the twist: the Corporation and the Runner have different rules to follow. Pretty cool, right?

Now, before we dive into the game, it’s important for you to understand how both sides work. The Corporation always goes first at the beginning of the game, so keep that in mind.

Turn Overview

When it’s your turn, you get to take actions by spending clicks. The catch is that you can only spend your clicks during your own Action phase, and you have to use up all of your clicks each time.

So, here’s the deal: the Corporation starts their turn with three clicks, and the Runner starts with four. Got it?

Corporation’s Turn



When it comes to playing the Corporation in the game, there are three important phases that I need to go through, and I always follow a specific order:

1. Draw Phase: This is when I draw one card from R&D.
2. Action Phase: During this phase, I have three clicks that I can use to perform various actions.
3. Discard Phase: If necessary, I must discard down to my maximum hand size.

I. Draw Phase

Here, I simply draw the top card from R&D without using any clicks.

It’s worth noting that if my R&D is empty when I try to draw a card, the Runner immediately wins the game.

II. Action Phase

When I’m in the Action phase, I get to do some cool stuff as the Corporation. I have 3 clicks to spend, and I have to use all of them during this phase. I can do any of the following actions as many times as I want, as long as I can pay for them. The actions are listed with their costs and effects:

• 1 click: I can draw a card from R&D.
• 1 click: I can gain one credit.
• 1 click: I can install an agenda, asset, upgrade, or piece of ice.
• 1 click: I can play an operation.
• 1 click and one credit: I can advance a card.
• 1 click and 2 credits: If the Runner is tagged, I can trash a resource in their rig.
• 3 clicks: I can purge virus counters.
• I can trigger a click ability on an active card. The cost for this varies depending on the card.

Hey there! So, when I spend clicks on any of these actions, it means I’m taking an action and can’t do anything else until that action is finished. Once I’ve used up all my clicks, my Action phase ends and my Discard phase starts.

Now, let’s talk about what I can do with those clicks.

Drawing One Card

If I spend one click, I get to draw the top card from my R&D and add it to my HQ.

Gaining One Credit

If I spend one credit, I can take one click from the bank and add it to my credit pool.

Installing Cards

Here’s where things get interesting. If I spend one click, I can install an agenda, asset, upgrade, or ice from my HQ. I place it facedown on the table, ready to surprise my opponent. Oh, and by the way, when I install an asset or upgrade, I can pay its rez cost to activate it at almost any time. On the other hand, ice can only be activated when the Runner comes near it during a run.

Phew! That’s a lot to take in, right? Just keep in mind that spending clicks means I’m making moves, and each action takes up a click. So make sure to plan your actions wisely!

Hey there! So, when you put a card in a server, the Corporation can kick out any cards that were already there. If those cards are up and running, they go to Archives faceup. If they hadn’t been activated yet, they go facedown.

Now, if the Corporation decides to set up a whole new server while installing a card, they can do that by placing the card facedown in a special spot on their side of the game board. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an agenda, asset, upgrade, or some icy protection – any of those can be used to create a new server. But hey, if the Corporation makes a server using ice, it’s empty, meaning there’s nothing in it. But don’t worry, even an empty server can still be targeted by the Runner.

By the way, just so you know, once a card is installed, neither player can mess with the order or shuffle them around, except when a card ability says otherwise. Now, let’s dive into each card type and see what it takes to install them:

• Agendas – When you want to install an agenda in a remote server, you have to keep in mind that only one agenda or asset can be installed in a remote server at a time. So, if there is already a card installed in the remote server, you have to trash it before installing the new agenda. However, you don’t have to trash upgrades in order to install an agenda or an asset.
• Assets – Similar to agendas, assets can be installed in a remote server. If there is already a card installed in the remote server, you have to trash it before installing the asset.
• Upgrades – Upgrades are special enhancements that can be added to any server, whether it’s a central server or a remote one. The interesting thing about upgrades is that there’s no limit to how many the Corporation can install. However, there is a rule: the Corporation can only have one upgrade with the region subtype installed per server or server root. This rule is clearly stated in the text box on these cards.
• Ice is like a shield that can be placed in front of a server to keep it secure. Once an ice is installed in front of a server, it stays there and cannot be moved. The Corporation needs to install ice at the outermost position in front of the server and pay a cost that depends on the number of ice already protecting that server. The outermost position is the farthest position from the server, in front of any other ice that is protecting it. The Corporation can also get rid of existing ice to reduce the install cost before installing new ice at the outermost position in front of the server.

Playing Operations

When you want to use a card in the game, you can do so by paying its play cost. This means that you spend one click and follow any additional requirements specified on the card. Once you’ve paid the cost, you place the card faceup in your play area and immediately resolve its effects. After that, the card is trashed, meaning it is moved to the appropriate discard pile.

Advancing a Card

An alternative action you can take is to advance a card. To do this, you’ll need to spend one click and one credit. When you advance a card, you add an advancement token to it, improving its status or abilities. Agendas can always be advanced while they are installed, meaning placed in the play area faceup. Other types of cards can only be advanced if their text box explicitly allows it. You can advance a card as many times as you want, there are no restrictions on the number of advancements.

Important Note: Even if a card is unrezzed, meaning face-down and inactive, if its text box says it can be advanced, you can still advance it.

Scoring Agendas – When an agenda has enough advancement tokens, the Corporation can score it. Scoring is only allowed right before the Corporation’s turn or after completing an action.

To score an agenda, the Corporation flips it over and puts it in their score area. Any abilities on the agenda that say “When you score” are resolved. The Corporation can only score an agenda once it is fully advanced. Scoring an agenda doesn’t take a click or count as an action. When an agenda is in the Corporation’s score area, it is active and adds its agenda points to their score.

Delayed Scoring – Sometimes, an agenda has a special power that rewards progress beyond the requirement for advancing it, or encourages the Corporation to wait before scoring it. The Corporation doesn’t have to score an agenda right away once it meets the advancement goal. Instead, it can choose to advance it further or wait for a better moment to score it.

Getting rid of a Runner’s Resource

If the Runner has been tagged, the Corporation can use one of their clicks and spend 2 credits to select one of the Runner’s resources and get rid of it.

Removing Virus Counters

By spending 3 clicks, the Corporation can wipe out all the virus counters stored on cards, putting them back in the token bank.

Using Click Abilities

Some cards have abilities that require the Corporation to spend clicks. These abilities can only be triggered during the Corporation’s Action phase, and their trigger cost includes the click icon.

III. Discard Phase

At the start of the Discard phase, the Corporation has a maximum hand size of five cards. However, this number can change due to card effects. If the number of cards in the Corporation’s headquarters (HQ) exceeds their current maximum hand size, they must discard down to that limit.

If the Corporation needs to discard multiple cards from HQ, they do it one at a time until their hand size is no longer above the limit. The discarded cards are always sent to Archives facedown, regardless of whether the Runner has previously accessed them.

Once the Corporation finishes their Discard phase, it’s your turn to shine, the Runner!

Your Moment



When I’m running, I have two main phases that I go through. First, there’s the Action Phase, where I get 4 clicks to do things. Then, there’s the Discard Phase, where I have to get rid of cards if I have too many in my hand.

I. Action Phase

During the Action Phase, I use my 4 clicks to take actions. It’s important to note that I can only take actions during this phase, and I have to use all four of my clicks.

When it comes to the actions I can take, I have a few choices. I can draw a card from the stack with just one click. I can also gain 1 credit with one click. Lastly, I can install a program, resource, or piece of hardware with one click.

• Click once to activate an event.
• Click twice to remove a tag (costs 2 credits).
• Click once to initiate a run.
• Activate a click ability on a card in play (the cost varies).

When you spend clicks to perform any of these actions, you are considered to be taking an action and cannot perform any other actions until the current one is complete.

Once you have used up all your clicks, your Action phase ends and your Discard phase begins.

Drawing One Card

By using one click, you can draw the top card from your deck and add it to your hand.

Gaining One Credit

For one click, you can take 1 credit from the bank and add it to your credit pool.

Installing Cards

When you play as the Runner in this game, you have the ability to install programs, resources, or pieces of hardware with just a single click. The great thing is, these installed cards are already active and ready to use without needing to be rezzed like the Corporation’s cards.

I want to note that as the Runner, your installed cards are always faceup and arranged vertically. This makes it easy to keep track of what you have.

Let’s talk about programs first. To install a program, you need to pay its install cost and place it in your program row. Be mindful of the program’s memory cost as well. You have a limited amount of memory units (MU) available, and you cannot exceed that limit with your installed programs. At the beginning of the game, you start with four MU, but this value can change throughout the game due to card effects.

If you find yourself with installed programs that exceed your available MU, you’ll need to make tough choices and trash some of them until you’re no longer exceeding your limit. It’s important to manage your programs wisely and make sure you have enough memory to run them effectively.

As a Runner, I have the option to discard any number of my installed programs at the start of an install program action.

Resources are items I can install by paying their install cost and placing them in my resource row. I can have as many resources as I want.

Hardware items work the same way. I pay the install cost and place them in my hardware row. There’s no limit to the amount of hardware I can have installed.

However, it’s important to remember that I can only have one piece of hardware with the console subtype installed at a time. The specific cards will have this information in their text boxes.

Playing Events

When I want to play an event in my hand, I can do it with just one click and by paying its play cost. After that, I put the event faceup in my play area, and I immediately get to use its effects before trashing it.

Getting Rid of Tags

If I want to remove one of the tags I have, I can do it by spending one click and 2 credits.

Time for a Run

If I want to steal the Corporation’s agendas and trash their cards, I can initiate a run against them by spending one click.

Using Click Abilities

Some cards have abilities that require me to spend one or more clicks to trigger them. These abilities have the click icon in their trigger cost, and I can only use them during my Action phase.

II. Discard Phase

I start the game with a hand of five cards. However, the number of cards I can hold can change based on certain card effects. During the Discard phase, if the cards in my hand exceed my current maximum, I have to discard down to that limit.

If I have to discard more than one card, I do it one at a time until I have reached my maximum hand size again.

Once I’m done discarding, it’s the Corporation’s turn to play.

Now let’s talk about runs.

Traces and Tags are also important aspects of the game.

Lastly, there are different types of damage that can be inflicted on me. I can receive Meat damage, which forces me to randomly trash a card from my hand for each point of damage I take.

• When I talk about damage in Netrunner, I’m referring to the harm caused to the Runner’s hand. This type of damage is known as net damage. It works like this: the Runner randomly discards one card from their hand for each point of net damage dealt to them.

It’s important to note that there are two categories of damage in the game: net damage and meat damage. The only difference between them is the cards that cause and prevent the damage.

Now, let’s say the Runner is hit with multiple points of net damage. The cards they discard are placed in their discard pile in the order they were randomly discarded.

If the Runner takes more damage than they have cards in their hand, or if they end up with a maximum hand size of less than zero at the end of their turn, they are flatlined. This means the Corporation wins the game.



Game Over

If I manage to collect seven agenda points in my score area, I win the game right away. It’s like a victory explosion!

If there are no cards left in R&D (that’s the Runner’s deck) and the Corporation tries to draw a card, the Runner wins the game instantly. Talk about luck!

Oh, by the way, if the Runner is flatlined – uh, that means they’re out of the game – then the Corporation wins. Sorry, Runner!