Darwin - Android Netrunner

So, I've gotten tired with Yu-Gi-Oh! for the moment, so let's look at another game, Android Netrunner. The game is set in a typical cyberpunk universe, where hackers square off against corporations. It's also an LCG, a living card game, the term trademarked by Fantasy Flight. How is this different from a TCG or a CCG? Long story short, TCGs and CCGs distribute cards mostly through randomized expansions. You're not guaranteed to get certain cards. An LCG though takes out the randomized part, making it easier for players to get the cards they want. In both formats though, players can  still play with their own customized decks. While I ultimately prefer and am partial to TCGs and CCGs, I still love LCGs. Part of the reason is that they have helped keep alive certain old games, A Game of Thrones and Call of Cthulhu for example.

I partly chose to do Android Netrunner because the fine people at cardgamedb just released scans for the latest expansion, Future Proof. What goodies can we find in here? Today, we start with this.

The star of the next Syfy telemovie.

The image of this card is a freakin' orca with arms and legs (or legs and legs, I can't tell)! One thing that confuses me about Android Netrunner is the program and ICE designs. Do they actually materialize in cyberspace, like Digimon, or are these illustrations simply meant to convey an idea of what the program does, since real programs are honestly boring to look at. I feel like it's the latter, but that doesn't stop me from imagining the programs battling each other in these forms.

One minor slip up here is the name, Darwin. The whale has legs, similar to that Darwin fish logo. But orcas are not fish! They're mammals, just like all other whales. It's possible this is meant to be the reverse of the Darwin fish, land based mammals evolving into aquatic ones as opposed to aquatic animals evolving into land based ones, but it's still a bit vague. Again, this is a nitpick, the illustration is fine if a bit unclear, but then again it's meant to evoke a concept and less of a physical thing.