I am way too into board games.

Ever since some unwitting family member decided to give me a copy of Axis & Allies: Europe for my 11th birthday, rolling dice and hunching over a board has been something of an obsession for me. Before long, the preteen version of myself was industriously painting little model aliens for a Warhammer army, and daydreaming through pointless middle school classes about leading them to war.

My gaming career has led me through plenty of awesome board and card games, and even into the magical world of tabletop RPGs. Naturally, I was surprised when I found a game that suddenly took up 100% of my allotted “nerd games” brain space (which works out to something like 75% of my total brain space). That game is Android: Netrunner.

If collectible, deck-building card games were relationships, then Magic: The Gathering would be the fun, but short-lived fling. Even while strolling around town on the first date (picking up my first event deck), we knew it wasn’t going to last. Like a past one-night stand, I don’t even mention my experience with Magic unless someone specifically asks me about it (no disrespect to Magic. It’s a great game, just wasn’t for me).

Netrunner would be the date that I heard about and couldn’t wait to meet. After a few, much longer than average dates (gaming sessions), Netrunner was the one that I was telling everyone about. Netrunner was the one that monopolized my wandering thoughts throughout the day, whether I was on the bus or talking to my best friends.

Open apology to anyone who’s had to repeat their sentences while they caught me gazing into the distance: I was probably thinking about how to optimize my Weyland ice-fort.

So what is it that’s so great about Netrunner? Why am I so willing to bet that it’s more fun than whatever regular-ass game you’re playing right now? Why did this creepy dude on the internet just compare it to a date?

You’re skeptical, I get it. Hang with me.

First things first, the format. Netrunner is one of Fantasy Flight Games’ Living Card Games, or LCGs. While Magic scared me off with it’s seemingly endless card pool and game-breaking legendaries from 1998, Netrunner drew me in with the innovative LCG model.

The idea is simple: there are no random booster packs of cards. There is a core set with 252 cards, a healthy sampling of each faction. After that, there are data packs: 60 cards, three copies of each, which is also conveniently the maximum amount allowed in a single deck.

You always know exactly what you’re buying, and no card is worth more than any other. This makes it easy to cherry pick the cards you want, avoiding packs without any cards you’re interested in.

Let me try to summarize the game briefly: there are two sides, the Corporation (often shortened to corp) and the Runner. The game plays asymmetrically. Both sides win by scoring agendas, cards which the game centers around.

The corp plays a more defensive game, laying down defenses and traps to guard their agendas. The corp player needs time and money to score their agendas, giving the runner an opportunity to steal them and win the points for themselves. The corp also plays the majority of their cards face-down, leaving the runner to guess about what each card is.

Runners play more aggressively, equipping themselves with programs and hardware to get through the corp’s defenses and steal agendas for themselves.

Adding to the tension, the corp can orchestrate certain circumstances where they fry the runners brain with an electrical surge, winning the game immediately. It’s a powerful tool in keeping the runner wary of your defenses.

So there you have it: a heart-pounding game of cat-and-mouse. As the corp, you find yourself disguising traps as agendas and vice-versa. Maybe you’ll play traps when you know the runner can infiltrate your defenses. Maybe you’ll play agendas when you’re confident they can’t. Or maybe you’ll take your mind games to the next level, doing the exact opposite (flash a confident smile at your opponent: it’ll go to their head). As the runner, you’ll find yourself second-guessing every attack, uncertain of whether this decision will win you the game, or simply kill you outright.

Whether I’m playing as the corp or the runner, I usually find myself feeling more stressed than I would while walking into a final exam. Stressed in the most fun, edge-of-your-seat, “holy shit I can’t believe that just happened” way possible. Go figure.

There’s three runner factions and four corp factions, and each faction has several identities, both of which have a large influence on how the game is played. You’ll pick an identity and then build your deck around it. Decks are usually between 40 and 50 cards.

Much like other collectible card games, the deck-building is a game in and of itself. Netrunner is the type of game that leads to sprawling out on the floor, countless cards arrayed in front of you, carefully picking each card for the coming contest.

Trying to put together the perfect 45 card deck feels like building a well-oiled machine–you don’t want anything you don’t need. You want each card to be the perfect fit. Taking cards out to make room for others feels like pulling teeth– because you’ll end up wanting all the get-rich-quick cards, along with the best defenses to keep the runner at bay, and also, while you’re there, the brutally punishing traps.

I haven’t even mentioned the theme yet. Theme is big to me in a game. It’s is one of the first things I notice, and it can be a deal-breaker in whether the game ropes me in or not. Netrunner boasts a slick cyberpunk theme reminiscent of Blade Runner or Neuromancer. It doesn’t hurt that the artwork is awesome.

Overall, the theme is nothing extraordinary, but there’s a sweet spot in mixing a solid theme with solid gameplay. Even better is when the gameplay adds to the theme, making the experience feel more immersive. Netrunner accomplishes this like no game I’ve ever seen. The mechanics fit so well with the theme, it makes other games pale in comparison.

As an example, consider the corp’s deck (called R&D), hand (HQ), and trash pile (Archives). The runner is able to hack directly into the corp’s hand, stealing agendas or trashing cards that the corp might have been planning on playing in the next turn or two. The runner might hack into R&D and steal a card the corp hasn’t even seen yet. The runner is even able to hack into Archives and steal cards the corp was forced to trash in past turns. It’s a beautiful example of the wonderful synergy between mechanics and theme in Netrunner, and there’s plenty of examples of this.

You can read all about the nuts and bolts of Netrunner in some of the great reviews posted (see here and here). But I want to take a slightly different angle and talk about why you should play the game.

Netrunner has earned it’s place as my all-time favorite board game because it’s such a satisfying puzzle. There’s so much to dive into with it. So many strategies to consider, so many play-styles to experiment with. You’ll never find yourself feeling bored, or like there isn’t another deck archetype to try out.

The psychological aspect of it grants the game an enormous amount of depth. There will always be the challenge of attempting to read your opponents plays, to predict what they’re going to do next. The longevity of Poker is a testament to this– it will always be immensely satisfying to play a game where you’re trying to read and deceive your opponent at the same time. Now, if you can imagine if Poker morphed with Magic and then timewarped to the glittering, seductive, cyberpunk future…then you have an inkling of what Netrunner is like.

In short, Netrunner is an addictive puzzle for your mind that will always leave you with more to learn. There’s the constant feeling that there are more things to experiment with and master. There’s that satisfying feeling of wrapping your brain around new strategies. There’s that feeling of almost unbearable tension when you’re desperately trying to figure out whether that card is a trap or an agenda, and you and your opponent both are only a point away from winning. And, of course, there’s the urge to cackle maniacally (or slump back into your chair from mental exhaustion) when you finally clench that victory.

Netrunner is one of those games where you can lose a game and find yourself grinning wildly from ear-to-ear– frustrated that you lost, yet eager to play again. As a board game fanatic, it’s not lightly that I can say I have a favorite. Yet here it is, the game that I can’t get enough of.

Okay, seriously. Just go play it.

— IM