Android: Netrunner is about to get a huge shake-up

Android: Netrunner, the legendary head-to-head card game of cyberpunk hackers and powerful megacorporations, is about to change in a big way.

Fantasy Flight has announced that it is releasing a new revised core set, which will act as a new baseline for the game’s universe as it replaces the classic core box that has been around since 2012.

The revised pack comes with more than 240 cards (here’s the list), but none of the cards will be completely new – so those who already own the original core set don’t need to pick up this box. Although all of the cards have been seen before, there will be new versions of classic cards that age some of the world’s characters in line with the story and feature fresh artwork.

What the set will do is swap out several cards from the original core with new cards from the Genesis and Spin cycle data packs, as the earlier cards not included in the upcoming box are removed from tournament play as part of Netrunner’s first rotation.

The rotation is similar to the evolving card pool of Magic: The Gathering, which makes certain cards illegal to use in organised play as new expansions are released over time. As spotted by Reddit user tsarkees, some of the cards being removed include the iconic – and controversial – Scorched Earth, Account Siphon, Corroder and SanSan City Grid.

Netrunner will rotate for the first time on October 1st along the rest of FFG’s living card games, removing most of the Genesis and Spin cycle cards – those not included in the revised core set – from the list of cards legal to use in competitions. This will make the number of expansions legal to use equal to five cycles of data packs and the first data pack in the upcoming Kitara cycle, which begins with the Sovereign Sight set.

Fantasy Flight has confirmed that both the revised core set and Sovereign Sight data pack will not be released before its world championships for Android: Netrunner in early November, but is yet to detail a solid release date for either.