Welcome to The Automata Initiative Preview Season

|

The Automata Initiative  is almost here, and it is finally time for us to preview the set with you! Starting today and until July 29, key cards from the set will begin appearing right here on our website. They will feature alongside scene-setting fiction exploring the themes, setting, and characters of the set, design articles detailing the evolution of the cards, and high-level overviews of the new mechanics introduced in the Liberation Cycle. 

The first piece of The Automata Initiative fiction was published yesterday. Broken Bodies, by Erin “Chouxflower” Celovsky, sets the scene for the protests against the constitutional amendment aiming to reclassify bioroids as non-sentient and remove their personhood and rights throughout Brazil. 

Once you’ve read that, you’re all set to enjoy today’s previews. Meet Mercury, the new Criminal identity, in the short story Through Inaction Allowing by Calvin Wong Tze Loon, then check out Mercury’s console in a design article by NSG Playtest member Thomas Berton, and read about the card’s development history and the mechanical themes for the faction in the cycle.

You can always come back to see all the different articles by using the links to our tags below:

Beginning on Monday, July 24, we will hand the baton over to the community, and additional cards will be previewed in videos and livestreams, podcasts, blogs, and a few surprise outlets. Cards previewed on our website will be uploaded to NetrunnerDB on the same day, but cards previewed by community members will be uploaded two days later, so be sure to visit their channels to get the early scoops! The last remaining cards will be published on July 31, the day of The Automata Initiative‘s release.

Preview Schedule

Please click below for a list of where to find each day’s previews. This schedule omits a few cards whose reveal is intended to be a surprise. There may also be some adjustments to this schedule if any content creators need to move their reveals to a different date. Keep an eye on our social media for any last minute changes or surprise reveals! As in the last two preview seasons, NSG Organized Play’s own Ysengrin is running Daily Casts to summarise the day’s reveals and discuss them with a variety of great guests! Be sure to tune in to that every evening from tonight until Friday 28th at approximately 6pm EDT.

Friday, July 21 

Saturday, July 22 

  • Meet the new Shaper Identity in How Arissana Got Back In The Groove by Chouxflower.
  • Lead Designer Zoe Cohen gives us an overview of Arissana’s themes and how they are reflected in the Shaper faction’s mechanics in this set
  • Zinos from the Development team talks about Threat, the brand new marquee mechanic of the Liberation Cycle. 

Sunday, July 23

  • The Corps finally get to have their day, and this piece of fiction by Anzekay introduces the new NBN Identity, Epiphany Analytica. 
  • Design team member McGregor gives us some Balanced Coverage of Epiphany’s development history. 
  • Chouxflower is back with a new story introducing A Teia, the new Jinteki Identity.
  • Kobayashi from the Design team details all the shenanigans A Teia enables, and shows off a brand new asset that truly perfects their game plan. 

Monday, July 24

  • The community content creators get their turn to spoil some cards, and who better to kick us off than 2022 Intercontinental Champion, Bridgeman, here to talk about some Jinteki and NBN cards!
  • Taking the reins next are Neon Static, who have some Criminal cards to show off!
  • If you’re in the Green Level Clearance Discord, keep your eyes peeled for a fun reveal!

Tuesday, July 25

  • Our own newly-minted podcast, Null Signal Station, has an interview with Development team lead Divadus, who will be doing a deep dive into the Threat mechanic.
  • Andrej from The Métropole Grid will be sharing some of Weyland’s new tricks with us.
  • For fans of the Netrunner Wordle-style puzzle site GordianBla.de, there may be a fun new card for you to guess today!

Wednesday, July 26

  • A new episode from The Slumscast will be dropping, showing us the new threats HB has at their disposal.
  • Are you following our Fediverse account? If you are, you’ll surely see a sight to behold!
  • In a last minute addition to the preview schedule, Baa Ram Wu has some anarch cards to share tonight at 9PM UTC!

Thursday, July 27

  • We are back on nullsignal.games to find out what the latest Ban List Update is, and maybe get a sneak peek at a new card, if the Balance team are feeling generous!
  • Those rebels with only a bit of cause at The Shadow Net are here with a new episode chock-full of anarchy!

Friday, July 28

  • Ysengrin has a whole video on all the cool new toys that Shapers are getting, and we can tell he’s excited to share it!
  • Have you noticed increased activity at the old Stimhack forums lately? Today might be a good day to check them out!

Saturday, July 29

  • Join Postis at Logic Bomb for an interview with Jamie from the rules team going deep into the minutiae of a couple of the more complicated cards in the pack.
  • Bookending community previews we have another Intercontinental Champion, 2020’s Yannick “QVM” Stucki. He will be partnering with a video creator that you haven’t seen in years, to show off his champion card design and a few other cards. Stay tuned to find out who this mysterious video creator is! EDIT: It’s Beyoken! Video will premiere here.

We’re looking forward to seeing your reaction to all the new cards in The Automata Initiative! Make sure to let us know which of these cards excites you, and what decks you’re inspired to brew with them!

Author

News, Scoops

, , ,