Cycles

Each Data Pack contained 60 cards, had a complete playset of new cards (typically three copies each of twenty cards), and was part of a six-pack "cycle". A new pack was released monthly during the cycle; between cycles the wait was typically three to four months.

Deluxe expansions

Deluxe expansions are released between cycles. Deluxe expansions originally focused on two factions (one Corporation and one Runner) and contain three copies of 55 cards. The fourth and fifth deluxe expansions break from this pattern; the fourth introduces three new Runner "mini-factions" along with its focus on a Corporation, while the fifth includes cards for all 7 factions and 3 mini-factions.

Narrative campaign expansions

Narrative campaign expansions include new player cards (including Runner and Corp identities), printed player dashboards (referred to as "PAD sheets") to hold stickers that will affect future games played in the same campaign setting, and packs of secret campaign cards and stickers. A Core Set is required to play a narrative campaign expansion.

Ashes

Magnum Opus reprint

System

Borealis

Liberation

Standard

The Standard format is the most popular among players, and contains sets from both the FFG and NSG eras of Netrunner. As of March 28, 2024, Standard contains the following sets:

• all sets in the Red Sand Cycle
• all sets in the Kitara Cycle
• Reign and Reverie
• Magnum Opus
• Downfall and Uprising from the Ashes Cycle
• System Update 2021
• System Gateway
• Midnight Sun and Parhelion from the Borealis Cycle
• The Automata Initiative and Rebellion Without Rehearsal from the Liberation Cycle

The release of The Automata Initiative in July 2023 caused the Flashpoint Cycle and Data and Destiny to rotate from the format.

The Standard format also has a ban list, currently the Standard Ban List 23.09. Any cards on the ban list are not to be used in Standard format-legal play.

Startup

The Startup format is a subset of the cards available in the Standard format. The startup format contains:

• System Gateway and the most recent System Update set (currently System Update 2021)
• The most recent fully completed card cycle (currently The Automata Initiative and Rebellion Without Rehearsal from the Liberation Cycle)
• All sets in any current incomplete card cycle (currently none)

Rotations in the Startup format occur whenever a card cycle is completed. The most recent rotation was triggered on the release of Rebellion Without Rehearsal, causing the two sets from the Borealis Cycle to rotate from the format.

As of March 2024, there are no cards on the Startup banned list.^[10]

Eternal

The Eternal format consists of nearly every set of cards printed for Android: Netrunner by Fantasy Flight Games or Null Signal Games.

In place of a ban list, the Eternal format contains a points list, currently the Eternal Points List 23.03. Each Eternal format-legal deck may spend up to 7 points from the points list. When any number of a card on the points list is used, that number of points is counted. Any cards listed as "Banned" may not be used.

Other formats

Many more formats have been created for the game. These include, but are not limited to, Snapshot, Random Access Memories, and Draft, as well as many player-created formats.

Fantasy Flight Games era (2012–2018)

Android: Netrunner World Championships occurred annually during Fantasy Flight's World Championships. National, regional, and store championships precede this; each event's first-place winner receives a first-round bye in the following level of tournament play.^[10] Android: Netrunner tournaments follow a Swiss-system similar to that of Magic: the Gathering, though with a key difference: only two games are played, with each player playing as the Corporation and Runner once. In most tournaments, however, after a certain number of rounds all except the top eight or sixteen players are cut from the tournament. The tournament then shifts to double-elimination bracket, eventually crowning a winner.

Game Night Kit (GNK) tournaments are also run at times between other organized play events and usually follow the same structure, but without any byes to other events being available as prizes.

Null Signal Games era (2019-present)

Organised Netrunner events include a series of casual and competitive tournaments held every year, leading up to the World Championships, as detailed in the Null Signal Games Organized Play Policies.^[11] These events include, but are not limited to Circuit Openers, and National, Continental, and World Championships. Some of the events (excluding the World Championships) are held online, many using jinteki.net.

Most events follow a single-sided or double-sided Swiss-system. In a double-sided Swiss tournament, each round sees each player playing once as the runner, and once as the corporation. In single-sided Swiss, there is one game per round, and players are paired such that they play a nearly even number of games as the runner and as the corporation. For events with more than 16 players, after a set number of rounds, the players with the best result from the Swiss rounds compete in the "top cut" to decide the tournament winner.

Players entering a tournament are never required to have officially printed cards. Proxies - printed stand-in cards - are usually permitted, as long as they are acceptable according to the Organized Play Policies.

There is no competitive criteria to enter the World Championships. The 2022 World Championships were held in Toronto, and the 2023 World Championships took place in Barcelona on 13-15 October 2023.^[12][13] The 2024 World Championships are scheduled to be held in San Francisco on October 18-20.^[14]

Online Play

The Android: Netrunner community also conducts games online via Jinteki.net, which is a free and open-source web platform with rule implementation.^[15]