Time for an inane segment that I’ll publish when I have nothing else I want to discuss; what would I do if I were in charge of Netrunner Organized Play! Thankfully I am not, as my opinions on how the game should develop have been defined as…dramatic, but it’s an interesting thought experiment to consider what is defining the meta from a snapshot, and what changes can be made to produce a more entertaining and interesting tournament scene.

Some notes on my general stance:

1: I don’t mind banning cards if it positively affects the meta and player experience. Bans are the most drastic means of manipulating a meta, so they need to be taken seriously, but there are times when a ban is the most effective means of solving a problem that demands immediate reaction. You can’t always wait for rotation to solve a stagnant format, especially if it will cause player exodus.

2: I think the MWL is an elegant solution to prevent bans while affecting the meta; however, I don’t think that it is currently functioning as intended. Damon argued that the MWL had two primary functions: to mitigate the power of cards that inhibit design space (Prepaid VoicePAD, Yog.0), and to encourage card diversity when deckbuilding due to being too powerful (Eli 1.0, Architect). With that in mind, the MWL is in no way currently successful. Dominant decks either utilize the cards on the MWL through the exact same strategies that they would use without the MWL (CtM, Damonfork) or they sidestep it since their strategy never relied on MWL cards (Hate Bears, CI Shutdown). No one is taking popular decks and cutting Parasite or Desperado because of the influence penalty; no cards are printed to encourage a real replacement.

3: The meta IS SUPPOSED TO CHANGE. Even if a meta is considered unhealthy, it is important to consider what aspects are genuinely dangerous and which are the result of the designer’s intended deckscape. It is very very clear for instance that the design team currently wants the corp meta to shift away from glacier as the dominant archtype, with cards like Rumor Mill, Temujin Contract, and the upcoming Interdiction punishing decks that rely on protective upgrades and slow setups.

With that in mind, what needs to change?

1: BAN BREAKING NEWS

Many people claim that the easy way to nerf NBN is to MWL Sensie Actor’s Union, but the reality is that EVERY NBN deck uses Breaking News as a core component of its playstyle, and the plays being made through it are incredibly difficult to compensate for. It has made kill easier than ever; in addition to being degenerate with 24/7 News Cycle, the release of Boom! has made kill a 1-card affair. Both fast-advance and never-advance use Breaking News to facilitate insane point swings alongside Exchange of Information, and the ruling that said interaction makes the tags permanent is (while correct) very frustrating. Worst of all, Breaking News is creating scenarios where the runner has no way to play correctly. Often a Breaking News behind a Data Raven is all the corp needs recover from a rocky start, with cards like Closed Accounts and All-Seeing I, and having to constantly contest taxing ICE just because the unconditional tags are so strong is frustrating.

Every single NBN deck that is dominant runs three copies Breaking News, and they are not there because they’re just “good”. CtM asset-spam, Sync never-advance Boom!, NEH Shutdown combo, and Russian NEH all rely on Breaking News to win because it is SO much better than any alternative. The game has changed, and landing tags is so much more powerful than it has ever been. Global Food Initiative, Exchange of Information, Boom!, ASI, and Resistor are all so good right now, and Hard-Hitting News ensures that the corp can punish the runner for inappropriate runs already. Breaking News punishes the runner for not running, which is why CtM is so clearly the best corp deck in the meta. These decks will continue to abuse Breaking News no matter how many cards you MWL; (I could easily see cutting the Commercial Bankers with Launch Campaigns and suddenly CtM has 4 more influence to add MWL’d Sensies or EOIs.

Removing Breaking News from the game will have profound impact on the corp meta. NBN will become slower and will have to use its ICE more. Agendas like Quantum Predictive Model or TGTBT will see more play as alternative agendas to punish runs. Some archtypes will disappear completely, and with those decks gone, Temujin Whizzard will be poised to dominate…

2: BAN PARASITE

This ban is arguably more profound than Breaking News, and also less warranted, but I believe that Parasite currently is a silent tool that warps the corp meta so much that people might not even consider the implications of its banning. Without Parasite, Temujin Whizzard is SO much slower. So is Damonfork. And you cannot currently build a corp deck without acknowledging those decks.

Parasite is so troublesome in the game at this point I believe due to player skill being so much higher than it was. The fact that Parasite is unconditional ICE destruction, and that it is so GOOD at all phases in the game makes a deck with 3 Parasite so much better at having the luxury of time to set up without relying on tutor effects to find needed breakers. You don’t need anything other than Datasucker to make this truly dangerous; it’s always been in the game, but it’s never been better than now, with player skill at an all-time hight. Parasite also inhibits the usage of taxing ICE with low strength, and cards meant to have an impact on the meta like Tsurugi or Brainstorm are just laughed off. You probably think that me mentioning that ICE makes me out of touch; only two years ago Tsurugi was an auto-include for Replicating Perfection, the dominant corp of mid-2014.

Removing Parasite from the game gives legs to both glacier and, more importantly, to rush decks like Supermodernism. ICE destruction has already been given a tremendous boon in the form of the cutlery run events, so glacier decks that rely on high-cost ICE still have a strong counter. Hate Bears proved that you don’t need Parasite to utterly destroy a corp…

3: SIPHON ON THE MWL, DESPERADO OFF

Account Siphon has always belonged on the MWL, and I have no idea why it hasn’t been put on already. Strike that, we all know why; it’s because Criminals have sucked for the last 2+ years, and 3 Siphons is something only Criminals and bad Anarch decks can afford. But Darkside Anarch is still so good, with an insane 6 copies of Deja/Same Old Thing to recur just one Siphon, and both the AI and the cutlery to keep the corp’s HQ impossible to protect. Most of these decks can only afford to run two copies of Siphon, but the hit of two more influence does matter.

Desperado coming off of the MWL is an unfortunate acknowledgement that Criminals have no other option of console. I have tried Doppelganger, and Logos, and Reflection, and while they are better than no console, they are not even close to the power of Desperado. Desperado will only stop getting played when we get a second insane Criminal console or it gets banned, and Criminal needs more than Temujin Contract to maintain its economy…

4: LEAVE TEMUJIN CONTRACT ALONE

Yes, it’s really really good. Yes, it is defining runner economy. And yes, it probably should have been more influence. But it isn’t broken, certainly not with the other changes I’m describing about within this fictional future meta. Temujin Contract without Parasite in Anarch seems way less dangerous. Sure, you still have Yogsucker to make Code Gates worthless against the Temujin, but with more “safe” ICE to include without Parasite, Temu Whiz will be a much slower deck to set up, and will be more vulnerable to poor starting hands or a fast corp setup. Keeping the Temujin runs free is what makes the card so good, and Parasite is a big part of that picture. I can personally attest that Temujin in Shaper is much less attractive without access to Parasite. 😛

More importantly, Temujin in its home faction is needed. Criminal economy has been devoid of a bigger credit swing card like Liberated Accounts or Magnum Opus, and Temujin does an excellent job of serving that role while being vulnerable to the same lines of punishing play that affect similar Criminal econ cards like Bank Job and Security Testing. If you’re concerned about Criminal becoming dominant, look at the number of them in the top 96 of Worlds. It’s not just hivemind; it isn’t broken independently, it’s just very good…

5: TAKE THE “JUST GOOD CARDS” OFF THE MWL

The MWL’s first run was meant to gut three decks: Prepaid Kate, Noiseshop, and NEH Fastrobiotics. Prepaid Kate wouldn’t be that good anymore (especially sans Parasite), Noise isn’t a bogeyman (without Parasite), and NEH Fastro can’t be that Fastro with only one Astro. With current considerations, I think that cards that can safely come off the MWL include Clone Chip, Eli 1.0, Architect, and NAPD Contract. Brief arguments for each:

-Clone Chip/SMC is an intended part of the game, and Clone Chip was only really on the MWL because Parasite is a stupid stupid card.

-Eli 1.0 looks a lot worse with Knifed, Paperclip, and the upcoming IP Block as an alternative ICE.

-Architect is somewhat risky since it encourages asset spam, but if everyone is or can become Whizzard then it would be nice to incentivize the runner actually installing their killers.

-NAPD is no longer the only choice for 4/2: we now have the very strong Corporate Sales Team as an alternative consideration. It is a very good agenda, but one that helps glacier and rush function, and it’s hardly the most broken neutral agenda…

6: MWL GLOBAL FOOD INITIATIVE

GFI is nutter-butters, we all saw it coming, and it has redefined corp decks to the point that any other 5/3 is laughable. Protective agendas are the way of the future, and Obokata Protocol hopefully shows that FFG has realized that fact. Admittedly, we also don’t have many 5/3s worth scoring, but until we get good ones GFI is the only option for serious glacier decks. Even The Future Perfect is being dropped for GFI with the addition of Rumor Mill threatening to blank Caprice at any time.

I don’t think that much would change with GFI being added to the MWL. It would still be played, many of the decks would have room to include them with other cards being taken off the MWL, and 2 influence a copy seems much more reasonable given how much better GFI is than literally anything else I could imagine them printing.

7: OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

This ends what I believe would immediately redefine the meta, but I do believe there are other ways we could improve the game experience for players of all styles. Unfortunately these changes are either preemptive or don’t actually warrant the severity needed to change the game in the way all players would mutually want.

Ban Rumor Mill (It’s an awful unfair card and I consider it the worst design in the game by a huge margin for so many reasons)

Ban Film Critic (Its presence invalidates so many creative protective upgrades and kill strategies that are in no way degenerate)

Ban/Errata IG (The cards coming down the pipe that we’ve seen are frightening, and IG needs either an influence drop or to not be in the meta when those cards hit or we’re going to lose a lot of players)

Errata Whizzard (Make him a Scrubber. He’ll still be the best option, honest)

MWL Blackmail, Caprice Nisei, Obelus (These cards aren’t broken, but I could see them becoming dangerous given what other suggestions I’ve made, and they are format defining)

Color-shift Quest Completed to Criminal (It’s so obvious!)

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That’s it! What do you think would solve this stagnant meta? How wrong am I about every claim I’ve made? I think that these discussions are important both for helping understand the current meta as well as helping FFG understand what is causing player fatigue. At the end of the day we all want Netrunner to be the best game it can be, and it is an amazing game. It deserves serious thought as to how to develop, and how to keep it a dynamic experience for all players.