How to Win Netrunner Quick Draft (Corp)

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Published

February 2, 2026

I’ve basically exclusively been playing quick draft; while it isn’t perfect (more on that in part 3) it is definitely the most fun I’ve had while playing netrunner for at least a few meta cycles. In this article, I will provide a guide for how to win as corp.

Big Picture:

Quick Draft is a high variance, mid-power format. Just like other high variance formats (early metas, RAM), flexibility is key. You will not be able to tech for every possible runner, but if you want to beat the variance, you need to be able to respond to what the runner does and let the strength of your deck and play shine through.

Agenda Combos:

The first choice you make is your 3-point agenda and 2-point agenda. There are 13 possible options, and you are given 5 to choose from. As such, if you want 1 agenda you have a 38% of getting it, if you want 2 agendas you have a 64% chance, 3 agendas: 80% chance, 4 agendas: 90%. One 2-pointer (Tomorrow’s Headline) is not currently programmed properly, so you can’t pick it. Stop trying it no no no.

Generally, there are 3 combinations of agendas that I consider S-Tier:

  1. Obokata, Astroscript
  2. Bellona, Astroscript
  3. Obokata, Blood in the Water

The benefit of these three combos is that all three provide both a fast advance option while maintaining central pressure. This is important because it lets you adapt to the flow of the match — if the runner gets a turtle/boat up, you focus on pressuring money and hand size. If the runner seems to be taking a slower start, try to push an early Astroscript or kill-con.

Bellona vs Obokata is an interesting choice that polarizes a lot of my friends. I think Bellona has a higher power level: unlike Obokata you can threaten it reliably turn 2-3 in a game, and then you only need to get one more agenda scored. However, I’ve found that, unless you find Astroscript or reliable FA, that boxes you into a very specific scoring plan, and this plan is disrupted pretty readily by money.

I find Obokata has the edge just because it pairs with two agendas (Astroscript and BitW). I really love Obokata BitW: it gives you the space to go full damage/grinder, which is especially potent when you can draw your damage cards incredibly consistently, and your opponent only has 34 total hit points. You don’t even need to go full grinder — with enough tempo you can find the windows pretty readily against very strong players. I also prefer Obo with my third favorite 2-pointer (Medical Breakthrough), which furthers my weak preference.

My hunch is the math changes if Tomorrow’s Headline is legal, or if there is another Bellona combo that folks find maximizes its leverage. But with 2 2-pointers and 4 3-pointers, I’d rather a 3-pointer which best leverages the 2-pointers.

Other 3 Pointers: My A-tier 3-pointers are The Future Perfect and Vacheron. Generally, I find these two agendas are better central protection, but limit scoring plans, which removed your draft flexibility. On the 10% you get none of these, I find Send a Message to be an okay B-Tier pick because it means I can take an Accelerated Beta Test and build for ice-hell, but that’s last resort territory (as you typically die to Sifr or Paperclip). The other on-score or on-steal effects just do not have the time in a first-to-6 game to play a meaningful role, as much as I wish SSL was better.

Other 2 Pointers: If I have a scorable 5/3 (Bellona, Obokata), my preference if I don’t get an S-tier combo is any reliable 3/2. Currently, I rank it Above the Law, Longevity, Accelerated/Beale/Philotic. I generally prefer Above the Law because you already get Longevity Serum’s effect in your Jhow and Philotic never has enough time to make a difference. Don’t do a 4/2 — you never find the NA tool, there are so few of them.

If I have a slow 5/3 like TFP or Vacheron, my preference is a faster 2-pointer. Astro is of course the best, but I’ll accept Medical Breakthrough (though I’m liking it less and less) or Accelerated Beta.

First Ice:

Because games are shorter, your servers will be a lot less deep: this means that gear checks are more critical, positional ice is much weaker, bioroids are a bit weaker, and ice which trashes programs is much weaker (as it’s harder to position outside a gear check). A few ice I pretty universally am happy with as my first pick:

  • IP Block (Opens tag lines, and is a reliable gear check early game)
  • Gold Farmer (Just amazing ice)
  • Gatekeeper (Opens a lot of scoring lines)
  • Kakugo (Even without Obokata, slows the game down until they find the 5/3, which is useful to push a scoring line)
  • Mother Goddess (Worse than “real ice”, but lots of mythic/traps to pair with, and gives you the slots to try weirder things)

Generally, I don’t like sentries because those are usually better in an outermost position, so I’d rather hold to the 2-card phase.

Above all, though, follow your agendas. In Astroscript games, gear checks allow you to more reliably push a turn 1-2 score. In Bellona games, I’m much more interested in stronger non-gear checks, like IP Block or Gold Farmer. In Obokata games, a strong net damage ice pretty much above all else.

First Picks:

You will get 3-of an ice, and the 4 other 3-ofs. This means you can do a lot more with a little — pretty much every card you pick will get drawn. The biggest mistake I often make is picking two cards which do the same thing (usually two econ operations). Try to make sure your first 5 post-agenda picks each do something different: small ice, big ice, econ, on-board threat, defensive/punishing tools. I think players overvalue agenda control — I rarely will take extra Jackson Howards or Sprints: 34 cards means your deck will be very consistent in itself.

IDs:

After your 3-ofs, you get an ID. There are 20 possible IDs. 3 are draft IDs and are effectively blank.1 is Hyoubu. As such, there are 16 possible IDs. You are offered 4 of these; this means you should build your deck as though your ID slot will be blank; you’ll usually have the space after picking to find a cute small synergy.

RP is busted good. It doesn’t really matter the archetype, centrals protection is great in format, so making the runner lose a click to run a remote feels amazing. If you can’t take RP, Aginf is pretty much always good (but means you usually need to take one more set of ice than you would expect). Cybernetics is busted good if you have Obokata, otherwise it’s fine. Epiphany is very good if you have Astro or Medical, otherwise it’s fine.

Argus, Thule, Sportsmetal, and PD are all powerful, but rarely fire more than once. PT Untian is surprisingly worth considering: even if it just gives you, like, a single click all game, that click can be the way you properly threaten a three point score out.

Obviously if you have a synergy piece, B2L, R+, Outfit, Earth Station, Prav are all real IDs. But I’d never take them preemptively unless none of the above are options.

Later Picks:

These are where you can cement the strategy: If you have good ice, find the money to afford it. If you have a damage based strategy, keep finding ways to knock cards out of hand or require runners to answer threats. If you have good econ, find a wincon to leverage it. Often, you need to make a slightly out there pick here to just have what you need, whether that’s a below-level ice, or an installable just to have more bluffing tools (love Vlad in this format). Here is also where currents can be REALLY good – they can stick for a while in this format with so many defensive agendas and no strong counter-current meta.

Wincons:

I generally find tags hard to consider because it requires two synergy pieces – I’ll consider it if I get a strong early enabler (HHN or Drago).

I like Measured Response a lot even with the low threats – with 4 2-pointers you can usually force to threat 4 for at least a turn or two. I don’t like Punitive for pretty much the same reason (esp’y with such high film critic stocks)

Mill works against weaker players, but even with Obokata and BitW, you usually need to find enough threats to make strong tempo plays. You should always act like you have Astroscript if you’re playing mill.

Big ice and glacier is really fun when it works, but usually needs a lot of support to feel worth it.

I pretty much never rig shoot, two copies of everything and less ice makes it really hard to make it work.

Conclusion:

Quickdraft is a game of tactics, not strategy. Make the best move for you at any given moment, don’t make some big plan. If you do that, really cool big plans will be assembled, and you will have lots of fun. Always Dee Running!