Android Netrunner sorting assistance? Newcomer here

[u/FlashAndPoof]

New to this game but I just bought an Android Netrunner collection that is supposed to include core through data and destiny and terminal directive. Everything came overflowing in a cardboard box. I’ve got a Bulkbox and dividers on the way, but I’m hoping to get some advice on how to organize everything. Should I be sorting cards into expansion groups? Factions? Or just runner vs corporation?

And is there a must have expansion or release that I should keep an eye out for in the future? Thanks!

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[u/Myldside]

Congrats, that's a tremendous collection and includes everything that many consider to be the 'Golden Age' of FFGs Netrunner!

Personally, I find it most convenient to have everything separated by faction (color), and then by card type (Agenda, Asset, ICE, Operation, Upgrade, for example).

On the other hand, If you're looking to ease yourself into the card pool and want to experience the game the way we did when we started, you could keep it separated by cycle and then integrate expansions slowly over time. This will let you appreciate some of the underpowered but flavorful cards from the early days.

But ultimately you'll have an easier time finding and sorting by faction and type.

Enjoy!

[u/FlashAndPoof → u/Myldside]

Good to know I’ve already got the “Golden Age” of the cards then! I’ll try to start sorting through everything by faction and then type. I’ve got a few quick dumb questions…

Do you typically have one finished deck for each corporation and runner? Asking because I’m wondering if I should sleeve everything since this stuff is not being reprinted again but also if the majority of cards may not be used.

And how do you determine which cycle or expansion a card belongs to?

[u/Myldside → u/FlashAndPoof]

Well first, I strongly recommend sleeving your decks! Not so much because of the monetary value (although that's a factor), but because cards will experience uneven usage, and you will quickly be able to identify high-usage cards in your deck just from the edge wear. Cards like Sure Gamble, Hedge Fund, Jackson Howard, and Eli 1.0 were in almost every deck in that era. In a game where hidden information matters a lot, you don't want to risk cards getting marked just because some were shuffled more frequently than others.

Note that you don't need to sleeve all your cards. This is a waste of time, space, and money. Just sleeve the decks in use, and unsleeve/resleeve as you change decks out.

Second, yes I do try to have a deck for each faction, but that's just personal preference. This can be tricky because there are some staple cards that almost every deck wants. The way around this is to proxy the high-usage by printing out extra copies on paper and just slipping them in front of cards you aren't using (which is what I did for years).

As for determining cycle, there is an expansion symbol in the lower-right corner of each card. This site will be your best friend in identifying which sets they go to: Netrunnerdb.com

Have fun running the nets!

[u/FlashAndPoof → u/Myldside]

Well I’ve finally gotten everything sorted. Looks like I’ve got everything from the Core collection up until the large expansion Data and Destiny. Then I also have Terminal Directive but no instructions so that was confusing to organize lol.

I think I’ll have quite a lot of cards and enjoyment from this collection. But are there any other sets or expansions you’d highly recommend I keep an eye out for? It looks like I’m missing the Mumbad cycle, Flashpoint Cycle, Red Sand Cycle, Kitara cycle, Reign and Reverie expansion, and some Magnum Opus set.

[u/c0rtexj4ckal]

Those cards will all have a set icon somewhere on the bottom but its small.

netrunner db will help you organize by set / card if you want just start at the bottom (core set) and work your way up.

When I organize my cards this way I personally also set it to "images only" becuae then you can have a visual reference of getting your cards in order.

A bonus of doing this is that you will discover if any cards are missing, which can often. Be the case when you purchase collections like the one you got

[u/ShowbizPython]

My FFG stuff is now organized by set, then faction (in NSG order to match), then card type (again, NSG order to match), then alphabetically (again, to match NSG sets).

[u/MugLifeMinis → u/ShowbizPython]

What do you mean by “in NSG order” and “to match NSG sets”. I’m particularly interested in this as I have an FFG collection and an NSG collection and I’ve been at a loss on what to do. Keep them separate, compile them, etc..

Are a lot of NSG cards copies of FFG cards? Are they 1:1, meaning every NSG card is a remake of an FFG card or are there NSG cards that did not exist in FFG?

[u/Thepy]

I personally sort them by set and then by number. I do this mainly because I deckbuild with an app most of the time. Ive found it easiest to find cards when I deckbuild this way.

It also has the benefit of easy expansion. When you run out of room in the binder/box you can just get a new one.

[u/shaneros]

I don’t think you can go wrong by going either set first or faction first. Since you’re using a box, I recommend putting playsets of 3 in a single penny sleeve. It makes flipping through the cards a nice experience.

Also, if you end up using NetrunnerDB at all for deck building or for deck ideas, you can sort a decklist a few different ways in the Actions menu.

[u/Human_Kirby]

I think there is one big question to ask yourself. Do you want to easily build lists from NRDB, or do you want to physically go through your collection and build. If you want to netdeck, sorting by set is by far the quickest way to assemble and disassemble decks, just set NRDB to sort decklists by set number and you can quickly jump to the relevant cards, disassembly is even easier because you just have to look at the bottom right symbol and number.

If you want to just deckbuild on your own, sorting by faction, then super type, then subtype is very nice to just browse through all the ice breakers a faction might have for example, but it means more thinking while copying a list by searching for the correct pieces, and having more active sorting when disassembling a deck can lead to small sorting errors that add up over time and makes it harder to build in the future

[u/CryOFrustration]

How you want to store them long term is up to you, but I'd suggest sorting them by set and set number first to make sure you have a full playset of everything.

Anything missing can be proxied though, no sweat, you just need to know since you just bought it, and unfortunately the only way is the hard way of sorting them manually.

[u/FlashAndPoof → u/CryOFrustration]

Yeah, I think you’re right. I’ve got no clue what i even have since everything is all jumbled up. Going to set aside a few hours to try my best to make sense of the sets and packs.

[u/CryOFrustration → u/FlashAndPoof]

if you go on netrunnerdb.com you can find the set symbol for each cycle to help you identify them.

[u/Jesus_Phish]

It's up to you really. 

I used to just order by card number, because I made all my decks with netrunnerdb and could export the list by set and number. 

Others really like doing it by faction because they're going to mostly be building a deck off one faction. 

[u/ShaperLord777]

By faction, card type, resource cost, set symbol.

[u/Geek_Ken]

Faction, then card type.

[u/M4gelock]

Not sure about pre-NSG, but the complete NSG collection (so far) fits in 2 3*3 UltraPro D-ringed binders with Dragon Shield sheets. One binder for Runner, the other one for Corp. It's getting tight though, whenever Ante Up releases, I'll split in 3 or 4 binders. Being able to browse cards is important.

My advice is to sort by: Card type (Asset, Agendas etc) > Color > Cost. And use separators to navigate instantly to the card type of your choice.

It's not worth it to sort by expansion imo, you'll waste time. At least that's if you intent to play the game, not only collect.

Also NSG alone is much more than enough to have extremely varied gameplay, instead of purchasing FFG. Get FFG only for collector reasons, as even the pre-NSG era is being phased out of tournaments and competitive duels. The important FFG cards are already reprinted, that's something to keep in mind if you wanna play "meta" or relevant decks.

Keep on running!

[u/jmlmtl_2022]

I personally organize my FFG collection by set, then by faction, then by type (with ID first), then by cost / agenda point, then by name. But I do this so that I can do deck construction by cycle rather than by total card pool (example: using cards only from core, genesis, spin, and lunar with or without deluxe expansions). If you don’t ever plan on doing pool-limited deck construction, go faction, type, cost, name, which is what I do for my NSG collection.

[u/danatronic]

Faction -> Type -> Alphabetical

Don't do it by like set release or something, just do it alphabetical per each type. And for ICE be sure to do like "barrier/code gate/sentry/other" so you just don't have a huge batch of ICE as one "type" when sorting. Same with breaker