This plan is very, very out of date. The ChiLo Buying Guide is a much better source for up-to-date collection building advice.
This page is a collection of information about building a Netrunner collection and about this plan.
I’ve listed the total MSRP of each stage in the summary table. Some online stores have prices below MSRP.
You may also want to see if you can find a used collection. Buying the collection of someone who’s quitting Netrunner will cost you more up front, but it will usually save you a lot of money overall.
Some of these decks are designed to to be good for new players, by being straightforward to play and encouraging the development of important skills. Others are more focused on making the best use of a limited collection, but most of these are still designed to be new-player-friendly.
Some of these decks are not legal for tournaments, because they ignore the tournament deckbuilding restrictions of the NAPD Most Wanted List (MWL). Some players do use the MWL in casual play, so you may want to warn your opponent if you’re playing a non-MWL-complaint deck. I’ve marked decks which conform to the current MWL, version 1.1, as tournament legal. Check for MWL updates before trusting these notes.
In the Stage 2 Runner deck you’ll have to proxy or borrow one card. In general, using a few proxies can be very helpful when you have a limited collection.
A “proxy” is a stand-in for a card. To make one, make a paper version of the card either by printing an image of it or by writing the important information from the card clearly on a piece of paper. Then stick the proxy in a sleeve and put a card you’re not using behind it. If you aren’t sleeving your decks yet, the ability to use paper proxies is one good reason to start.
Most Netrunner players have no objection to the use of a few proxies in casual play, though you probably shouldn’t use them for a whole deck.
You can’t use proxies in tournaments. You may be able to borrow specific cards from other local players for a tournament. If not, you’ll have to play different decks or buy the cards you’re missing. This is another good reason to avoid using proxies for too much of your deck.
When the first data pack of the eighth cycle is released, all the cards in the Genesis and Spin cycles will cease to be tournament legal. This is likely to happen in summer 2017.
Genesis and Spin have a lot of staple cards, and very few people have started work on building decks without them, so this version of this plan does include them. As rotation gets closer you should keep it in mind when deciding whether to stick with this plan.