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Posted by: ggodo Nov 27 2011, 12:03 AM

Ok, I recently bought two 'starter decks' and a booster box of the old defunct Shadowrun TCG, and have run into an issue. I can't figure out how to make a functional deck out of the bits I have. I've read the rules completely twixe, and it sounds well designed from a gameplay standpoint, but the starter decks were two random piles of cards, one of which wasn't even legally playable. I turn to the only people who may be able to help: Dumpshock. Also, is it just me or are the rarites for the cards pretty screwed up? Skillsofts are commons but the chipdecks that let you use them are uncommon or rare depending on rating. Deckers seem like they could be cool, but they require so many cards to be effective, Mages get some cool stuff, but only they get their stuff. if not for the occasional thing requiring a mage or decker I'd say screw'em and run all riggers and Sams, but I really don't know how to create a balance in this game.

Help me Dumpshock, you're my only hope.

Posted by: ggodo Nov 30 2011, 09:48 PM

Ok, after dinking around with this for a while I made two decks, one skewing towards Awakend Magical stuff, and the other skewing towards the mundane beat-downy stuff. I'm currently working on a decker/rigger tech deck, but I don't think that I'd be able to fight at all. Honestly Deckers seem like they're playing a totally different game that may or may not have any bearing on the rest of the game.

Posted by: Critias Nov 30 2011, 09:50 PM

Sounds genre appropriate, to me.

Posted by: ggodo Nov 30 2011, 09:54 PM

Yeah, the difference is that deckers require programs, which are their own card type that can only be used with deckers, which means that if you want to use deckers you have to pretty much commit your deck to it, and I've seen nothing that indicates that it's possible to win as a decker deck. Quite a bit of the opposite, though.

EDIT: If I ever get time with a willing opponent I'll give you guys a more structured view of my thoughts on the matter. doesn't look bad mechanics-wise, but it seems like there's too much stuff that's not compatible.

Posted by: silva Dec 1 2011, 03:09 AM

The card distribution on boosters is simply screwed up. To play it effectively you must have LOTS of boosters (I suggest looking out for booster pack boxes. try Ebay).

The game allows for a lot of different strategies and play styles.

The easier deck to play for starters is the "cheap-samurai" deck: cheap samurais + gear (warhawks/predators with explosive or flechette ammo), supported by rockers (to help the team economicaly), and some deckers (to make recon on the challenges - dont need any programs at first, just pick the ones with the Recon skill).

Besides it, one thing thats important to have in mind when build a deck is:

1. Youre is going for a sleazing/infiltration team, or a brute force/combat team ? Or a mix of both ?
2. Youre focusing your team offensively and defensively, or a mix of both ?
3. What cards sinnergy would you like to use?
4. Whats is your opponent´s deck and/or playstyle ?

Sleazing decks tend to take longer to build during play (since they depend more on card combinations), while pure-combat decks are faster to build.

The runner types tend to be more or less like this..

Deckers are great for recon (Browse), good for infiltrating electrical devices (Steamroller; Crash) and for dirty tricks (Sticky Fingers; Evaluate);
Mages are great supporters all-around (Heal, Barrier, Fireball), and good for infiltrating (Sleep, Invisibility);
Shamans are like mages, but more defensively oriented (Protective Spirit);
Riggers are good for direct combat (Rotor Drone, Yellowjacket), and for some tricks (Bulldog Van)
Samurais are the best for direct combat, but are expensive;
Mercenary are the second best for combat, but tend to be more versatile;
Gangers and criminals are so-so in combat, but at least they are cheap;
Rockers and detectives ten to be specialized runners, used only for money and specials/skills, respectively.

All runner types can use specific gear for better efficiency, but its not mandatory. When building decks, I suggest for you to pick only 2 or 3 specialities and go with it.

Eg: a balanced sleaze-bruteforce deck could have..

10 samurai, 4 mages and 4 deckers.
4 Warhawk revolvers (for boosting everyone combat against challenges); 3 Sleep spells (for the mage to sleaze challenges); 3 browse programs (for the deckers to recon the challenges).
..plus specials, contacts, locations and objectives.

Take care with prime runners: they are super-good in very narrow fields, and very expensive. Use them wisely or you can get bankrupt in no time.

Posted by: ggodo Dec 1 2011, 06:16 AM

Grr. . . I need to see if I got any sleep spells. This game was likely killed entirely by its booster distribution. By the time I was halfway through the box I could tell what the first four cards were from whatever was on top. Anyway, I got fireball, though, and invisibility. Oh, Silva, you seem like a guy to ask. If some of the runners on your team have the skills to sleaze a challenge does the whole team go? Or is it just the guys with the right skills? The rulebook didn't seem clear. Anyway, it looks like mercs should be my go to filler runners, and I should sprinkle some specialties on top of that. As for Prime Runners, I got Sally Tsung and the Rat Shaman guy that gets free spirits. How viable is Riggers as a balanced sort of fight-sleaze deck? It seems like they tend to have useful sleaze skills and the capability to field lots of cheapish drones.

Posted by: silva Dec 1 2011, 10:49 AM

First, a correction: I compared shamans with mages. This is innacurate. Shamans are mechanically just like Riggers, but where one is offensivelly oriented (Riggers) the other is defensively oriented.

THIS, unfortunately.


The whole team. And the sleaze requirement can be beaten by the group as whole as well. So, if a security drone shows up with its "Mechanical 1 and Stealth 2" sleaze requirement, and in your group you have a rigger with mechanical 1, and a samurai with stealth 1, the drone is sleazed. In other words: you sleaze challenges as a group, combining the skills of everybody.

Also, remember that you cannot sleaze a challenge if you attacked another one previously in this turn (because, when you trash a challenge in combat, the ALARM sounds). The only exception to this is through the use of tricks (like that decker program that resets the alarm). And remember too that deckers do not need to be physically present in a run to use programs on it, ok ? But they DO count for the max numbers of runners going in a run.

And finally, the best tactic for sleazing is to relly on tricks/"sleazer gear", not just on skills. In the example above (the security drone with Mechanical 1 and Stealth 2), a steamroller program or a jynx spell would dispose of the challenge in much more guaranteed way, since you just need to have one card of these equipped on a runner, instead of counting on luck for deploying a group of runners with the right combination of skills.


Sally is the only magic-user in the game who has sorcey and conjuring skills. It makes her a great sleazer against magical or awakened challenges. And the Rat Shaman can be extremelly useful (munchkin-level even! ) if you have the right deck (full of spirits).


Very viable, mainly if you expect foes to deploy mechanical/electrical challenges, which the riggers have a nice chance of sleazing. And they have an advantage against one of the better challenges in the game - maglocks.

From a tactical point of view, there are 2 kinds of challenges: "combat" ones and "trap" ones. Ideally ( supposing you dont know your adversaries deck), you should pick a nice distribution between these 2 kinds.

Dont neglect specials. Theyre the cards that give dynamism to the game, changing its status-quo if well used. (believe me, when you see your opponent deploying Lord Torgo, you will wish you had more specials in hand hehe).

Also, my group found the game much more enjoyable with 3+ players. We didnt like the game with just 2 players.

Posted by: ggodo Dec 1 2011, 06:07 PM

Well, I've got enough cards that I can make 4 decks, but I'm not really sure how to gauge the usefulness of specials. Green Apple Quick Steps seems great, Drive-By seems really great, the rest are kinda eh? Maybe I just don't have the good ones though. How many challenges do you think I should put in a deck? I currently am thinking like 20.

Posted by: silva Dec 2 2011, 10:40 AM

Green Apple QS is great (it can be used on your adversaries and yourself, remember it). Drive By is so-so, in my view.

About specials, it will vary according to your strategy, of course, but I like to have at least 10 of it. 20 seems a bit too much for me, though, specially because i like to keep the decks with the minimum number of cards ( 60 ).

And I forgot to show you this program http://www.wolflair.com/index.php?context=card_vault. It allows you to see all existing cards in the game, with all images and descriptions. The trial version dont allow you to build decks, but its unecessary really. Just download it, and then add in the Shadowrun database (that can be downloaded from the same site, http://www.wolflair.com/rightframe.php?context=card_vault&page=supplemental_downloads ).

Posted by: ggodo Dec 4 2011, 10:38 PM

How about Challenges? They seems super necessary, but at the same time I don't want too many because they don't help me at all.

Posted by: silva Dec 6 2011, 10:14 PM

Challenges are very important. I like to put between 18 and 22 (in a deck of 60 cards), half "traps" and half "combat" ones. Except when I know my enemies decks. Then I suit them accordly. (eg: against a magicians-deck, put technical challenges; against a pure-combat deck, put "traps" like Maglock, Mine fields, etc).

Once in a game that I knew my enemy´s deck (my brother thought he was invincible with a deck full of orcs and trolls), one single Maglock challenge made his team go back to safehouse 5 times. This means I got 5 chances to go for the objectives while he just watched. In the same game, I used a combination of anti-metahuman cards ("humanis policlub raid" objetctive; "humanis ganger" contact; etc) and smashed him mightly. The boy didnt know what hit him. It was a massacre.

Posted by: ggodo Dec 8 2011, 01:57 AM

I accidental rolled one of my friend in pokemon back in the day. Turns out the deck I built as a joke had resistance to his entire tourney competitive deck. He was utterly incapable of hurting me.

More on topic: It seems like a good guideline to do 1/3 1/3 1/3 runners, gear/specials, and challenges, give or take as necessary. I'm trying to avoid meta-gaming too much in my deck designs just cuz I'm only going to have what I build, and if they're too tailored against each other it'll lead to too many sweeps. Hopefully I'll be able to get a game going but it's the end of semester push on my head right now and I haven't the time for fun.

Posted by: silva Dec 10 2011, 01:12 PM

Yes, the 1/3 1/3 1/3 runners, gear/specials, challenges is a good measure. Just remember you must have 6 objectives (that dont count towards the total 60).

And dont forget Contacts and Locations. Their use may seem more specialized than the other card types, but all depends on your deck theme/strategy. On a magic-based deck, a Talismonger is very useful; on a decking based deck, the Decker Coffeeshop is very useful; and for a samurai-deck full of guns, a Mr. Black (weapons dealer) may be useful. Some contacts are useful for all decks/strategies, like the Mr Johnson (lets you deploy any runner directly from you deck pile, sometimes for free); Media Chick lets you get more rep from objectives (can be a very strong if used wisely); the Bounty Hunter can kill runners, etc.

Posted by: ggodo Dec 10 2011, 06:16 PM

The die roll in their use scares me, though. having a fifty fifty chance to lose my investment permanently is not a pleasant thought.

Posted by: ggodo Jan 11 2012, 07:39 AM

Ok, I just opened a pack and got the Saeder-Krupp card. I love that if you abuse your connection with them Lofwyr wins. Not you, not your opponent, Lofwyr. Wins. He's not even playing. He's not even real, or at least not awake yet, and he wins. That's how deep this guy plans.

Posted by: Critias Jan 11 2012, 08:07 AM

Lofwyr's just that cool.

Posted by: ggodo Jan 11 2012, 08:11 AM

I want more of these, so I can make a deck that exists solely for Lofwyr to work through me. I will be a golden avatar for His Goldiness.

Posted by: Critias Jan 11 2012, 08:19 AM

First thing he'll want you to do is change that avatar picture, then.

Posted by: ggodo Jan 11 2012, 09:03 AM

Good point.