Android: Netrunner
260 questions players ask about Android: Netrunner. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-03.
Setup, Decks and Editions
- Does the Revised Core Set change the rules compared with the original 2012 core set?
- Are the expansions and data packs compatible with the original core set?
- Do the core set and deluxe expansions rotate out of tournament legality like data packs?
- Do I still need three original core sets for full playsets if I own a Revised Core?
- Do I need extra core sets to have three copies of every card?
- How many credits does each player start with?
- How does the mulligan work, and can I mulligan more than once?
- What wins when a card's text conflicts with the rulebook?
- What are the minimum and maximum deck sizes?
- How many copies of one card can a deck contain?
- How many agenda points must a Corporation deck contain?
- Do agenda cards count toward the Corporation's deck size?
- Can a Corporation deck include agendas from another Corporation faction?
- Do I pay influence for every copy of an out-of-faction card?
- Can the same card go in both a Runner deck and a Corporation deck?
- Does the identity card count toward deck size?
- What is the difference between the MWL and rotation?
- Can identities like Catalyst or Syndicate be built with no influence limit?
- Can I use two identity cards in one deck, or switch identity mid-game?
- How do I build a starter deck from the core set?
- Do unused recurring credits on cards like Cyberfeeder or Toolbox accumulate?
- Are recurring credits part of my credit pool?
- Can recurring credits from a card like Toolbox pay install costs?
Servers, Installing and Trashing
- What does it cost to install a piece of ICE?
- Can the Corp trash ICE on a server to lower the install cost of new ICE?
- Can the Corp trash its own installed cards whenever it wants?
- How many cards can a remote server hold?
- Can I install an upgrade in a remote server, and does the Runner know it is an upgrade?
- How many upgrades can a server hold, and can I have two of the same one?
- Are upgrades in a central server's root shared between HQ, R&D and Archives?
- Can the Corp install ICE and upgrades on Archives, HQ or R&D?
- Can the Corp rearrange or move installed cards and ICE?
- If the middle ICE on a server is trashed, do the others close up and where does new ICE go?
- Does a remote server disappear after its agenda is scored or stolen, and do its ICE stay?
- Can the Corp build a remote server out of ICE alone?
- Can the Corp bluff by installing a card in a position its type cannot legally occupy?
- Can the Corp install two copies of a unique card if only one is rezzed?
- Can the Corp voluntarily derez a rezzed card?
- Which Corporation cards go to Archives facedown and which faceup?
- Can the Corp look at its own facedown cards in Archives?
Corporation Turn: Actions, Rezzing and Scoring
- Does the Corporation draw a card on its first turn?
- What happens when the Corp has to draw from an empty R&D?
- When can the Corp rez ICE?
- When can the Corp rez assets and upgrades?
- Can the Corp advance any installed card?
- How much does it cost to advance, and where do advancement tokens come from?
- When can the Corp score an agenda, and is scoring automatic?
- Can the Corp wait to score an agenda that already has enough advancement tokens?
- Are the advancement tokens removed when an agenda is scored?
- Does the Corp's scored agenda keep its text active, and can the Runner use a stolen agenda's text?
- Does the Corp's Purge remove virus counters from the Runner's cards too?
- What does it cost the Corp to trash a Runner resource?
- How does the Corporation discard down to hand size?
- Can the Runner discard cards voluntarily during their turn?
- When can hosted counter abilities like Nisei Mk II or AstroScript be used?
Runner Turn and Rig
- What happens when the Runner's stack is empty?
- Is there a limit to how many clicks a player can have, and can the Runner gain clicks on the Corp's turn?
- Do I have to spend all my clicks every turn?
- Does installing a program for free, as with Test Run or Personal Workshop, ignore its memory cost?
- Can the Runner trash installed programs to make room before installing a program?
- Can I play an event or spend a click while a run is in progress?
- Does an event that installs a card or starts a run cost an extra click?
- What does it cost the Runner to remove a tag?
- If I have two copies of Magnum Opus, does one click gain credits from both?
- Can I swap the program hosted on Dinosaurus, Djinn or similar for another installed program?
- If a host card is trashed, are the cards and counters hosted on it trashed too?
- Are programs hosted on Personal Workshop installed?
- Can I have two copies of a unique Runner card like Order of Sol or Adjusted Chronotype installed?
- Does Andromeda keep a nine-card hand?
- Can the Runner use a paid ability at the start of their turn before start-of-turn effects, such as pumping Darwin?
- In what order do several 'when your turn begins' abilities resolve?
Runs and Approaching ICE
- When can the Runner jack out?
- Can the Runner jack out at the first ICE when Snitch lets them look at it?
- Can the Runner make several runs on the same server in one turn?
- Does breaking all of a piece of ICE's subroutines trash or remove it?
- If I can't or don't break an ICE's subroutines, does the run end?
- Can I break subroutines in any order and leave some unbroken?
- Does an icebreaker need at least the ICE's strength to break its subroutines?
- Can two icebreakers combine their strength to break one ICE?
- Does an icebreaker need to match all of an ICE's subtypes to break it?
- How long does an icebreaker's strength boost last?
- Can the Runner break subroutines without an icebreaker, or without matching strength?
- Can a subroutine be broken more than once?
- Can an icebreaker's credit-cost ability be used several times in one encounter?
- Do subroutines granted by an effect stack when the same ICE is encountered again in a run?
- When does the Runner get credits for the Corp's bad publicity?
- What happens to a run if the server it targets ceases to exist?
- How does a paid-ability window work, and when does it close?
- If the Corp trashes the ICE during approach or encounter, does the paid-ability window close?
- Who has to stop an infinite loop during a run, such as Toshiyuki Sakai swapping forever?
- What happens with two rezzed Wormholes and no icebreaker?
- Can the Runner jack out after passing the last ICE?
- What counts as a successful or unsuccessful run?
- Can the Runner run an empty server?
- What happens if ICE is trashed in the middle of a run?
- How long does a broken subroutine stay broken?
- Can the same icebreaker be used against several pieces of ICE in one run?
- Can one icebreaker lower an ICE's strength so another icebreaker can break it?
- Do I need matching strength or type to bypass ICE?
- If an ICE trashes my icebreaker while resolving, do the other subroutines still fire?
- Do subroutines count as having the ICE's subtypes?
- Are 'make a run' and 'initiate a run' the same for card abilities?
Accessing Cards
- Which cards does the Runner access on each type of server?
- Can the Runner choose not to access cards after a successful run?
- Can the Runner decline to steal an agenda they access?
- Can the Runner decline the extra credits (Red Herrings, NAPD Contract) and not steal the agenda?
- Must the Runner reveal an agenda accessed from R&D that they can't or won't steal?
- Does the Runner show the Corp cards accessed from R&D?
- How is the random card chosen when the Runner accesses HQ, and can dice be used?
- In what order does the Runner access several cards?
- Can the Runner trash any accessed card, and what does it cost?
- Can the Runner trash a card that is already in Archives?
- If the Runner steals the agenda in a remote, what happens to an upgrade there?
- If Fetal AI's damage would flatline the Runner, can the Runner still steal it?
- If stealing an agenda gives the Runner 7 points but a when-stolen effect would flatline them, who wins?
- Can ambush cards like Snare! trigger when accessed from HQ, R&D or Archives?
- Does an ambush need to be rezzed to use its when-accessed ability?
- When the Runner accesses Archives, are all cards accessed, including facedown ones and ICE?
- Is a card the Runner trashes during an access placed faceup or facedown in Archives?
- When the Runner accesses a remote server, does it also access unrezzed upgrades?
- With Medium or Nerve Agent, can the Runner stop accessing extra cards partway through?
Damage, Tags and Traces
- What is the difference between meat, net and brain damage?
- Does the Runner choose which cards are trashed for damage?
- When is the Runner flatlined?
- If I have brain damage, can I hold more cards than my reduced hand size during my turn?
- Is discarding for hand size the same as trashing?
- What does being tagged do?
- Can the Runner remove tags during a run?
- How does a trace work, and can the Corp raise its bid again?
- What is link, and does it help break ICE?
- If the Runner takes the tag from Data Raven and avoids it with Decoy or New Angeles City Hall, does the run end?
- If the tag from Snatch and Grab is prevented, is the connection still trashed?
- What does Net Shield prevent and when can it be used?
- If Net Shield prevents net damage, can Tori Hanzo still trigger?
- How does The Cleaners' extra meat damage work with prevention?
- Does one Deus X prevent all damage from several simultaneous sources?
- Does Profiteering still give credits if the Runner prevents the bad publicity?
- When can Disruptor stop a trace?
- Can the Runner spend credits to raise link in a trace while RSVP is in play?
- If the Runner loses the trace on Troll with only one click left, can they end the run instead of losing the click?
- When a successful trace fires Spinal Modem, ChiLo City Grid and Sentinel Defense Program, in what order do the effects resolve?
Timing, Abilities and Hosting
- Is there a difference between prevent and avoid, and when can they be used?
- What happens when a second copy of a unique card becomes active?
- In what order do abilities that share a trigger resolve?
- Where do hosted counters go when they are spent as a cost?
- Do cards hosted on ICE stay attached when the ICE is derezzed?
- What does exposing a card do, and what can be exposed?
- Where does a forfeited agenda go?
- Can a paid ability be used more than once a turn?
- Do multiple copies of a card like Daily Business Show each trigger?
- If a trigger fires while another ability is resolving, which resolves first?
Runner Card Rulings
- If Sneakdoor Beta redirects a successful run on Archives, does Security Testing still give 2 credits?
- Can you take 0 credits from Bank Job?
- Does Director Haas count as unique while she sits in the Runner's score area?
- Can Bishop, Knight, or Rook move off Scheherazade once hosted on it?
- Can Clone Chip reinstall the same program you just trashed mid-run?
- When a search effect like Special Order is played, must the Runner find a card if an eligible one exists?
- Does Q-Coherence Chip trigger when a program is trashed from the Runner's grip, not only from play?
- Can the first click under Always Be Running be spent on a run button like Keyhole?
- Does Parasite get a second virus counter from its own 'when your turn begins' ability when Personal Workshop installs it during the start-of-turn step?
- Does Rabbit Hole make you shuffle your stack even if you decline to search for another copy?
- Can you spend Stimhack's credits on Personal Workshop abilities during a run?
- Does Datasucker reduce the encountered ice's strength by 1 for each virus counter on it?
- Can Omni Drive's recurring credit pay for Atman's 'When you install Atman, you may pay X' ability?
- Does Order of Sol trigger if installing it leaves the Runner at zero credits?
- Does Imp the Future Perfect let the Runner use Imp before a Psi game on an accessed agenda resolves?
- Can Mass Install be used to host programs on a Djinn installed by the same Mass Install?
- When Nasir and Inside Job both trigger on the same ICE, which resolves first, and does Nasir still work if the ICE is bypassed first?
- If Flare's successful trace destroys Spinal Modem, does Spinal Modem still deal its brain damage?
- Does Parasite trash a rezzed ICE as soon as its strength reaches zero, even with no virus counter on Parasite?
- Does Medium's new virus counter apply before accessing cards on a successful run?
- Does Same Old Thing plus a Double event like Lucky Find cost three clicks total?
- Can Djinn host Parasite, and does Parasite use a memory unit when it is installed on ICE?
- If the Corp pays to trash Personal Workshop while the Runner is tagged, can the Runner remove power counters in response?
- Does Virus Purge remove virus counters from ICE and from the Runner's programs?
- When Satellite Uplink exposes two cards under Blackguard, who decides the order of the forced rez?
- Does Femme Fatale bypass ice regardless of the Runner's strength?
- If Femme Fatale is trashed, can its bypass still be used?
- Which icebreakers can break the subroutines of a Trap ICE such as Data Mine?
- Does Running Interference double the rez cost before or after Xanadu or Reina's increase?
Corporation Card Rulings
- Does Chum still deal damage if the Runner bypasses the ICE (Femme Fatale, Inside Job)?
- When must Caprice Nisei be rezzed for her psi game to trigger?
- When can Corporate Troubleshooter be rezzed to raise ICE strength?
- Does Security Testing pay out when the first run on the server was on Crisium Grid, and what about the next run?
- If Security Testing and Account Siphon or Keyhole both apply to a successful HQ run, which one resolves?
- When can the Corp spend Nisei Mk II's agenda counter to end a run?
- Is an agenda counter the same as an advancement counter?
- Does Midori make the Corp pay install costs for the swapped-in ICE?
- Can Shipment from Kaguya or Trick of Light place advancement tokens on the turn Efficiency Committee is used?
- Can Trick of Light move advancement tokens off a scored agenda?
- Does Housekeeping flatline the Runner if the grip is empty, or block installing?
- Does Will-o'-the-Wisp trash the icebreaker it removes?
- Does Archer's agenda forfeit apply when Blackguard or Priority Requisition forces or discounts the rez?
- How does The Foundry interact with Accelerated Beta Test?
- Can Accelerated Diagnostics still play or trash cards that have left the top three of R&D?
- When does Sundew give the Corp credits?
- How many advancement tokens can AstroScript Pilot Program place?
- Can Sacrificial Construct protect a program Project Ares has targeted?
- What does it cost to place an advancement token with Matrix Analyzer?
- How much damage does Edge of World do behind three ICE with Sentinel Defense Program?
- Can the Corp rez non-ICE cards if Hacktivist Meeting's discard can't be paid?
- Can two Haas Arcology AIs each give a click in one turn?
- Who chooses the program trashed by a trash-a-program subroutine?
- Is an unrezzed Server Diagnostics trashed when the Corp installs ICE in its server?
- Are revealed cards, like Grail ICE revealed from HQ, active?
- Does Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future give a credit every turn?
- If the Corp trashes Minelayer while resolving its subroutine, does the install still happen?
- If Kitsune makes the Runner access a chosen HQ card, does HQ Interface add a second access, and can the Runner refuse it?
Android: Netrunner – Trace AmountExpansion
- Does E3 Feedback Implant trigger itself so one use can break all of Janus's subroutines?
- Can a Runner play Sneakdoor Beta on Archives and still satisfy Notoriety's successful run on HQ?
- Under Jinteki: Replicating Perfection, when can the Runner run a remote server?
- If an unbroken Sensei adds an end-the-run subroutine to Data Mine or Cell Portal, does the run end?
- Does Snowball gain +1 strength for every subroutine it breaks, and does that strength last the whole run?
- Can the Runner use Stimhack credits to pay to steal Fetal AI?
- Is Hostile Takeover's credit and bad publicity effect mandatory when the Corp scores it?
- Can the Runner use hosted counters from two Imps to trash two cards in one turn?
- When does the Runner have to discard down to hand size after Public Sympathy raises the hand limit?
Android: Netrunner – A Study in StaticExpansion
- Can Sacrificial Construct prevent a card being trashed as part of a paid ability cost, like Self-Modifying Code?
- Does Chum or Oversight AI trigger on ICE with no subroutines, like an unadvanced Woodcutter?
- Can Aggressive Secretary choose the same program more than once, and does Sacrificial Construct help?
- Does False Lead make the Runner lose clicks if the Runner has only one left?
- Can the Runner trash All-Nighter in response to the Corp sacrificing False Lead?
- What does Deus X's net damage prevention cover?
- Can Inside Man credits be used with Personal Workshop to put power counters on hosted hardware?
Android: Netrunner – Creation and ControlExpansion
- Does ICE hosted on Awakening Center protect the server, and can Midori swap it?
- Can you rez more than one piece of ICE with Awakening Centre during a single run?
- Does a scored Director Haas in the Runner's score area stop the Corporation from installing or rezzing another copy?
- For Next Design, can the Corp install ICE drawn as the replacement, and is the install done before or after drawing?
- Does ALIX T4LB07 need to be rezzed to place power counters?
- How do multiple Project Wotan tokens stack with an ICE's subroutines such as Ichi 2.0?
- Does Director Haas' Pet Project let the Corp rez the cards it installs at no cost?
- Does The Source count against the Runner's influence limit?
Android: Netrunner – What Lies AheadExpansion
- Do you get Mandatory Upgrades' extra click on the turn you score it?
- For Spinal Modem, which side's success counts as a successful trace?
- Can Cortez Chip raise ICE rez costs after the ICE has already been rezzed, or during a run?
- Can the Corp rez Red Herrings after the Runner has started accessing the card?
- Does Project Beale's extra agenda point threshold work with SanSan City Grid?
Android: Netrunner – Terminal DirectiveExpansion
- Can you use Terminal Directive's cards in normal games after finishing its campaign?
- Can you play Terminal Directive with just one copy of the Core Set?
- Do you need multiple copies of Terminal Directive cards to complete a playset?
- Can you start the game with three copies of the same Directive using Adam?
- Can the runner change its deck between games in Terminal Directive?
- Does a Skorpios Defense System removal persist into later campaign games?
- Can a Runner who steals Evidence Collection use its text to open a pack?
- Can Ayla Rahim freely choose cards from NVRAM when adding them to hand?
- Do ethos icons on Terminal Directive cards affect how a card can be used?
Android: Netrunner – Cyber ExodusExpansion
- Can the Runner move a Femme Fatale out of Personal Workshop before paying a rezzed Tollbooth's cost?
- Can Kate's ability reduce the cost of a card hosted on Personal Workshop when it is later installed?
- Does Personal Workshop let the Runner host more than one console when it already has one installed?
- Does Project Vitruvius's ability work after the Runner passes all ICE?
- Can the Runner respond to Scorched Earth or a tag by using a Personal Workshop paid ability?
- Does Pop-Up Window's 1 credit go to the Corp, and does the Runner pay the Corp to break it?
- Can the Runner remove a counter from a card hosted on a different Personal Workshop?
Android: Netrunner – Future ProofExpansion
- Can Cyberfeeder's recurring credit pay to pump Darwin, which is a virus program that is also an icebreaker?
- Can Deep Thought steal or trash the top R&D card it lets you see?
- If the Corp scores Corporate War with fewer than 7 credits, does the Runner's steal also cost the Corp credits?
- Does The World is Yours' extra hand size change the opening hand?