Well at least for me[0].
February 2014 to September 2015 was maybe the best time I’ve had with board games. I’d picked up the Netrunner core set in July 2013 but bounced off it. My pals and I just couldn’t grasp the rules like we did with Magic. Over Christmas 2013 I finally grokked it and as a house we got into Netrunner big time.
We played a lot of Netrunner. Netrunner in the kitchen, the game store, and the pub. We forged our own meta as we explored new Datapacks. I read the novels, listened to the podcasts, and wrote words about it here[1]. I posted my decklists on GitHub. We went to tournaments and we taught it to everyone who’d listen.
I made friends in Sheffield and on the internet through Netrunner. It was, and maybe always will be, the best experience I’ve ever had with a game[2].
In 2015 I graduated and moved to Birmingham. I’d researched a local meta to play with[3]. I think I went to play with them twice. They’re lovely people and the game meta hadn’t changed. It just didn’t feel the same.
I stopped buying packs, unsubscribed from the podcasts, and stopped thinking about decks.
It soon it’ll be a year since I played the game and I think it’s time to call it. I store my cards in binders which sit in the top of my wardrobe. I see them every day and it makes me sad. I’m not going to sell them I’ll box them up, put them under the bed, and forget about Netrunner. Maybe in 2027 I’ll uncover them and get the rules wrong all over again[4].
My last match of Netrunner will remain the 1:1 draw with Char that I played in January this year.
[0] - I couldn’t resist the clickbait bate and switch.
[1] - Some of which are lost forever which is probably for the best.
[2] - So long as I don’t think too hard about EVE Online.
[3] - Not having a play group to play with was my biggest worry about the move.
[4] - Will the game as it is now even be playable then? The FAQs and errata are all online. Should I print off a copy now and file those with the cards? Preserving digital media is a scary thing to think about.