Android: Netrunner: The Living Card Game

[Patrick]

Funtimes, the silly triple Midway Station / Triple Caprice deck is on it's way. Actually since Midway is NBN, Red Herrings can go in too. Nobody runs your chosen servers for less than approximately 34223 credits.

[Patrick]

Probably not too hard, if only with the base set?

[Patrick]

Incidentally, I think Lotus Field is a lovely piece of ice, that should be seen as a 1-2 off in many kinds of decks, but probably not as a 3 off. Early on it's a pretty expensive rez to just end the run, at a time when you'd rather be rezzing Quandary or Enigma, and lategame it won't tax the runner alot once they've found their best solution, but early-midgame it's a great ice to use to push through an agenda or two or block off Siphons on HQ, forcing the runner to spend more time finding a way round it. The 1 influence cost is a nice bonus.

[Patrick]

Post written while bored without internet. Here is my Jinteki RP deck, the best bet I have for seeing off the pressure applied by Myko's Noise.

Jinteki: Replicating Perfection

Agenda (9)

Nisei MKII x3
The Future Perfect x2
NAPD Contract x2
Philotic Entaglement x1
Fetal AI x1

Asset (10)

Jackson Howard x3
Sundew x3
Mental Health Clinic x2
Melange Mining Corp x1
Snare! x1

Operation (9)

Hedge Fund x3
Celebrity Gift x3
Closed Accounts x1
Subliminal Messaging x1
Enhanced Login Protocol x1

Upgrade (4)

Caprice Nisei x2
Ash 2X3ZB9CY x2

Barrier (4)

Himitsu-Bako x1
Eli 1.0 x1
Bastion x1
Wall of Thorns x1

Codegate (6)

Quandary x1
Yagura x1
Lotus Field x1
Tollbooth x2
Inazuma x1

Sentry (7)

Komainu x3
Pup x2
Tsurugi x2

Fairly normal RP theme, with the monstrous economy, taxing ice and annoying ID ability. It usually only takes one well protected Sundew or Melange to give this deck an economic lead, which you can then aim to convert into points with an Ash and/or Caprice protected remote. Enhanced Login Protocol was added when Spaces Between came out and so far has yielded nice results when I see it, far more than the very situational Taurus that was in the deck before mainly as a placeholder.

Closed accounts slips in conveniently for only 1 influence to punish any runner who thinks they can flippantly Siphon you without removing tags, and if played at the right time can usually give you enough of a scoring window to push something through. Fetal AI and Snare both provide some net damage behind the ice for runners who try running through Komainu with no cards.

For influence, I'd quite like an extra Login Protocol so that I can get it in play most games, but Buttons's idea of annoying popup windows seems like it would be effective as well. One of the Tollbooths might disappear to make room for this.

Not exactly a new archetype at this stage, but a fun one to play if you're in the mood for having alot of money and playing a traditional game that doesn't try to flatline the runner nor fast advance out 7 points worth of agendas in about 10 turns.

[Patrick]

Here's another deck, this time presented in the cool professional way.

Tennin Institute: The Secrets Within (Honor and Profit)

Agenda (11)
3x Braintrust (What Lies Ahead)
3x Clone Retirement (Second Thoughts)
3x Medical Breakthrough (Honor and Profit)
1x Philotic Entanglement (Honor and Profit)
1x The Future Perfect (Honor and Profit)

Asset (7)
1x Melange Mining Corp. (Core Set)
3x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves) •••
3x Shi.Kyū (Honor and Profit)

Upgrade (2)
2x Caprice Nisei (Double Time)

Operation (14)
1x Biotic Labor (Core Set) ••••
1x Closed Accounts (Core Set) •
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
3x Trick of Light (Trace Amount)
2x Green Level Clearance (A Study in Static) ••
3x Celebrity Gift (Opening Moves)
1x Reclamation Order (Double Time) ••

Barrier (4)
3x Ice Wall (Core Set) •••
1x Bastion (Creation and Control)

Code Gate (5)
2x Yagura (Fear and Loathing)
1x Quandary (Double Time)
1x Inazuma (Honor and Profit)
1x Lotus Field (Upstalk)

Sentry (6)
2x Grim (Opening Moves)
1x Tsurugi (True Colors)
2x Komainu (Honor and Profit)
1x Pup (Honor and Profit)

15 influence spent (maximum 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Upstalk

Completely new thing for me, I'm currently at 5 wins and 0 losses with it and every game feels bizarre. Deck much less tuned than my others.

Agendas are normal for a deck that wants to fast advance, with the exception of the Future Perfect, which is just there to give me a bonus cardslot and not get easily swiped out of centrals. In time this may just become an NAPD and a 3/1 agenda - any of Gila Hands, House of Knives or Profiteering could work, I think. Economy is mainly operations, and though there doesn't seem to be that much, I haven't felt too poor in any of the games I've played. A single melange because it can still make you richer than god if you can put it behind something they can't break for a while and ping it for a few turns. Of course the idea is to avoid setting up remotes at all so the runner can't get easy successful runs to turn off your ID ability.

Ice combines cheap early game ice with some medium more taxing ice that seems typical of fast advance decks, along with Jinteki staples like Komainu. I'm also starting to love Yagura more and more. Obviously 3 ice walls to benefit from Tennin tokens.

Influence has switched around alot already, with a couple of SanSans coming out in favour of Biotic, and Junbug/Mushin coming out because I wasn't using them. I wouldn't mind using one more ice that can be advanced, but I'm not too convinced by Tyrant. Could Shadow warrant one cardslot, especially with closed accounts?

Refreshing deck to play, even though it's not what you'd consider top tier at the moment. Could become stronger with the next pack.

[Patrick]

Blue Sun: Powering the Future (Up and Over)

Agenda (8)
1x Eden Fragment (The Spaces Between)
1x Government Contracts (A Study in Static)
1x Hades Fragment (Up and Over)
1x NAPD Contract (Double Time)
3x Project Atlas (What Lies Ahead)
1x The Cleaners (Second Thoughts)

Asset (7)
3x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves) •••
2x PAD Campaign (Core Set)
1x Reversed Accounts (Up and Over) •
1x The Root (Upstalk)

Upgrade (2)
2x Ash 2X3ZB9CY (What Lies Ahead) ••••

Operation (14)
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
1x Oversight AI (A Study in Static)
2x Paywall Implementation (The Spaces Between)
3x Punitive Counterstrike (True Colors)
3x Restructure (Second Thoughts)
2x Subliminal Messaging (Fear and Loathing)

Barrier (8)
2x Changeling (Up and Over)
3x Eli 1.0 (Future Proof) •••
2x Hadrian's Wall (Core Set)
1x Ice Wall (Core Set)

Code Gate (6)
2x Enigma (Core Set)
1x Quandary (Double Time)
2x Tollbooth (Core Set) ••••
1x Wendigo (First Contact)

Sentry (4)
3x Caduceus (What Lies Ahead)
1x Shadow (Core Set)

15 influence spent (max 15)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to Up and Over

This is my first attempt at making a deck with blue sun. Basic idea is a glacier with a flatline threat to act as a deterrent / alternate wincon. So far 6 wins, 0 losses, with 2 of the wins being punitive kills. The ability to immediately sell a large piece of ice to burst up in money provides a much stronger kill threat than other factions using Punitives.

Splashes are mostly normal glacier cards to compensate for the unexciting Weyland ice suite and lack of defensive upgrades, though the newish cards Changeling and Wendigo have exceeded expectations so far. Blue Suns ability to rearrange ice as you please makes cards like Wendigo/Inazuma/Chum better than usual, and if I had spare influence I'd look at including Chum somewhere. Oversight AI of course takes advantage of Blue sun to allow you to immediately rez big ice at a cost of 1, then bounce them back into HQ for a profit.

Economy aims to put the runner in a lose/lose situation, giving you money if they run at you due to Paywall, and giving you money if they don't run due to Subliminal messaging. Restructure works brilliantly since you can almost always use the ID to get yourself up to the required 10 credits. The Root has had good reviews in Blue Sun but I've yet to use it to any great effect - may replace if I don't figure it out.

Possible replacements:
Shadow >>> Taurus, since Taurus can take out a console or Plascrete, and it's normal downside of sometimes becoming useless doesn't matter as much when you can Pwnshop it back. Shadow currently exists to buff sentry numbers and earn money while bluffing scorched.
The Root >>> anything basically, possibly a second Oversight AI, possibly Private Contracts.

Once again, playing a new faction provides a refreshing new take on the game.

[Patrick]

I also started off with HB Glacier and then Gabe, which I think are two of the easiest IDs to pick up and play. If you're using Core set only you have the cards to play fast advance (SanSan and Biotic Labour), but if I'm not mistaken the agendas available basically force you to use Priority Req and Private Security Force, which would be very awkward.

[Patrick]

http://stimhack.com/tournament-decklists/ is a good place to look.

[Patrick]

I've only played online so I don't pay much attention to what's in each box, but looking at the cards I would say C&C has alot more substance than Study in Static. C&C seems to add alot to HB and Shapers, and alot of important neutral cards as well.

Probably the most important card in Study in Static would be Deus-X, but that's only really strong when facing Jinteki.

[Patrick]

What a card.

[Patrick]

As long as you have access to Jackson Howard you'll be fine.

[Patrick]

Not sure which cards you have access to and which you don't at the moment, but looking at both decks...

I think Mimic would be a fine choice for a Sentry breaker if you don't like femme. The inability to boost its own strength is easily compensated for with your datasuckers/parasites and personal touch. I would remove silencer, cloak and dagger and save 2 influence by using mimic - that could be put into having a third lucky find. There might also be an argument for using HQ Interface/RDI Interface for your multi access rather than run events, because you give Modded more useful targets; as it stands I could see it just sitting in your hand for a while until you find something you can install with it.

Supermodernism is fun and teaches alot about decision making in netrunner. The biggest thing I'd suggest would be trying to fit in more economy. Currently you have only 3 hedge fund and 3 beanstalk for money and you're relying on agendas for the rest of it - I think once you get into testing it you'll find yourself too poor most of the time to land scorched. I'd try and find influence somewhere to at least include 3x Green Level Clearance, another operation that benefits from your ID ability and speeds up your game. Apart from that, I'd drop archer down to 1-2 and maybe replace with Caduceus, a good early game piece of ice that can pay for itself immediately after rezzing. If you're playing to win quickly you won't want to sacrifice 3 agendas to rez 3 archers.

[Patrick]

I don't agree with Patrick on the archers. You are right in bringing three, the game becomes so much easier after an early rezzed archer and you don't want to be in the situation where you cant draw grims/archers.

On reflection I think it's more that I think Caduceus is very good rather than thinking Archer is bad, but still I don't think I'd bring 3. There's already alot in the deck that's conditional on other things happening (closed accounts, scorched earth, even power shutdown), and I think with 3 you risk archer being dead in your hand some of the time too. I might be wrong, I don't have that much experience playing this type of deck.

[Patrick]

Now that you mention it, restructure isn't a bad card either

[Patrick]

Yeah, not sure.

[Patrick]

So what would you take as your Killer over mimic? Turns out I'm not going to make the tournament now (work!), so I've got some time to fuck around and learn these decks.

I think he's saying don't use personal touch on Mimic, not drop Mimic entirely. Maybe some specific ice suites will make you want to permanently boost its strength by 1, but the majority of the time your parasites/suckers will do the job. Plenty of popular corp decks atm don't even play sentries above 3 strength.

[Patrick]

Not much experience playing Kit Stealth, but I'd say Professional Contacts is a card you want 3 copies of or none at all - you want to see it as early as possible. I'm not sure you want Aesops at all in the deck. Is Daily Casts the only target for it? I'd increase ProCo and Casts to 3 each and cut the Aesops. I think you could use Dagger alongside Femme because they fill different roles, the dagger acting as the efficient breaker that works with stealth credits, the femme acting as the swiss army knife that can get you in somewhere suddenly and can function without stealth. That change might require a mem chip to support the full rig, but that's all inhouse. I think one Levy could easily be cut to support any change you decide on - most decks only need one and I don't think yours has any special synergy with it.

[Patrick]

With an NBN tagging deck, your obvious choice is whether to go for the scorched plan or not. You have the influence to include it and still import some good ice, but if you're not using it, you have a ton of influence to play with.

I think your econ package gives you enough money, but there's no reason not to include Sweeps week, which is at least as good as Green level and successful demo, and costs no influence. I'm not a fan of successful demo, especially in a deck with limited end the run ice. I also don't think this is the kind of deck to include lag time, with only 16 ice and alot of them not benefitting much from +1 strength, I think those deck slots could more usefully go towards something else.

NBN tag decks are tricky because you're trying to strike the balance between stuff that inflicts tags and stuff that punishes tags; my feeling is you may have a bit too much tag punishment but you'll get a better feeling for that just by playing the deck. I'd consider cutting lag time and 1 of the Closed Accounts and use the deck slots for either more money (any of Marked accounts, subliminal messaging, sweeps week, another pad campaign etc) or just go back to basics and put a SanSan or two in. In my experience of playing a Making News Scorch deck, just the tagging threat in itself isn't that scary, but when you combine it with a credible fast advance threat you give your opponent alot to worry about. Good luck

[Patrick]

I completely missed the lack of popup window! Always a good include in any NBN deck, and a good import for other factions too. Not only is it trolly, it's also one of the best ice in the game.

[Patrick]

Viper is definitely worth including for 1 influence in Making News. I've been using it in some of my HB decks and it's a solid taxing piece. A bit worse than Enigma early on, but it stays relevant all game.

[Patrick]

NBN Trick of light

Near-Earth Hub: Broadcast Center (Upstalk)

Agenda (11)
3x AstroScript Pilot Program (Core Set)
2x Breaking News (Core Set)
3x NAPD Contract (Double Time)
3x Project Beale (Future Proof)

Asset (9)
2x Daily Business Show (All That Remains)
3x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves)
1x Marked Accounts (Cyber Exodus)
3x PAD Campaign (Core Set)

Upgrade (3)
3x SanSan City Grid (Core Set)

Operation (10)
1x Closed Accounts (Core Set)
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
3x Sweeps Week (True Colors)
3x Trick of Light (Trace Amount) ••••• ••••

Barrier (6)
3x Eli 1.0 (Future Proof) •••
2x Ice Wall (Core Set) ••
1x Wraparound (Fear and Loathing)

Code Gate (7)
1x Enigma (Core Set)
3x Pop-up Window (Cyber Exodus)
1x Quandary (Double Time)
2x Tollbooth (Core Set)

Sentry (3)
3x Shadow (Core Set) •••

17 influence spent (max 17)
20 agenda points (between 20 and 21)
49 cards (min 45)
Cards up to All That Remains

Deck built on http://netrunnerdb.com.

Valencia standard

Valencia Estevez: The Angel of Cayambe (Order and Chaos)

Event (17)
2x Blackmail (Fear and Loathing)
2x Day Job (Order and Chaos)
3x Déjà Vu (Core Set)
3x I've Had Worse (Order and Chaos)
2x Inject (Up and Over)
1x Spooned (Order and Chaos)
1x Stimhack (Core Set)
3x Sure Gamble (Core Set)

Hardware (6)
3x Clone Chip (Creation and Control) ••••• •
2x Grimoire (Core Set)
1x Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead)

Resource (7)
2x Armitage Codebusting (Core Set)
2x Daily Casts (Creation and Control)
2x Kati Jones (Humanity's Shadow)
1x Liberated Account (Trace Amount)

Icebreaker (7)
2x Corroder (Core Set)
2x Knight (Mala Tempora)
2x Mimic (Core Set)
1x Yog.0 (Core Set)

Program (13)
1x D4v1d (The Spaces Between)
2x Datasucker (Core Set)
2x Imp (What Lies Ahead)
2x Medium (Core Set)
3x Parasite (Core Set)
3x Self-modifying Code (Creation and Control) ••••• ••••

15 influence spent (max 15)
50 cards (min 50)
Cards up to Order and Chaos

New anarchs are fun! I went for the consistency of SMC+Clone chip and the economic/tricksy boost of Valencia's bad pub, over the disruptiveness of Noise. I think it's potentially the best Valencia build, but she's little tested so far. Played NEH because it's the best corp. Had one thing gone differently I would have won this, but I had some real luck in one of the unstreamed games as well (johnny legworking me early on and missing the astro that I then scored out for 2 credits). I found the pressure of knowing that so many were watching focussed my mind and made me play better. And now, the third league starts in two days!

[Patrick]

Holy shit nbn's new agendas are BALLSACKS!

They are indeed quite excellent

[Patrick]

I've also switched over to Jinteki.net, mainly because the population on Octgn was getting smaller and smaller. What's your username on there PrivateI?

I don't think Museum of History is really a Jackson replacement; it doesn't rescue you from agenda flood, it doesn't let you turbo draw to dig for agendas when you have a window, it doesn't provide immediate safety from Noise or DLR mills, and it requires a watered down deck. It is good in IG, but much more niche than Jackson, I think.

[Patrick]

i cant stop playing sunny decks i got fucking problems.

Much as I would like her to be good, she really isn't =/

Oman - I'd be happy to do it. Jinteki's interface is really easy.

[Patrick]

Anarchs are the best runner faction atm. You'll usually see either Noise with his normal bullshit, or Whizzard running a ton of ice destruction. Tagme DLR is still an occasional thing, and crims are not as popular as they once were.

NBN Fastro is still very much a thing, with still some NBN Butchershop (midseasons, scorched earth, traffic accident). Glacier tends to flit in and out, and is a bit hard pressed against some runners at the moment, though HB Glacier is still a thing. The new Jinteki ID, Palana Foods, which makes the corp money when the runner draws cards, also makes a reasonable Jinteki glacier. And I guess Blue Sun glacier is still kind of a thing, though I don't see much of it.

[Patrick]

Core HB is great. Great ability, great ice, ash and biotic in-faction. Adonis, Eve Campaign. So much :goodstuff:

The tradtional big rig shaper with magnum opus + 3 breakers is fun but not super popular. People prefer a more toolboxy breaker suite and the trendy econ package for them atm involves Professional contacts, daily casts and technical writers. However there is no better feeling than having 3 R&D interfaces out and playing makers eye for a 6 card dig.

[Patrick]

There isn't much wrong with Andysucker, but now Andromeda can consider going stealth, or a faust based build using drug dealer and Passport/Breach/Mongoose support. And Leela provides stiff competition for Andy, as does Geist now. So it's not that Andysucker became bad, it's just a much smaller slice of the pie, in the runner faction that is currently considered the weakest.

[Patrick]

What's your username on there?

[Patrick]

Yes, asset spam is difficult for shapers. If you want to kill assets, it seems you'd have to be looking at Imp, Paricia or Scrubber.

Imp used to appear in shaper decks all the time. Synergy with clone chip and scavenge is great but finding 3 influence isn't. Has other utility letting you trash biotics, scorches etc

Paricia is free to install, and so gets played in some pawnshop decks, but costing memory makes it awkward to fit into alot of rigs.

Scrubber could be a random 1 influence splash to help trash assets in the long term.

Uusually against those decks I try and find as many R&D interfaces as possible and just hammer R&D until I win, or they have so many assets that I can no longer see my screen (the way everything goes tiny when there are tons of remotes is one rare thing Jinteki.net is just horrible at). They will become rich with all the assets you ignore, but it takes time, and those decks don't normally play much ice, so you may get enough accesses to win. Most asset spam decks play DBS, allowing you to see fresh cards more quickly from R&D.

Even if playing in full ignore mode, still check a remote or two when your gut tells you they are trying to sneak out an astro or breaking news, because those decks always do.

[Patrick]

http://forum.stimhack.com/t/flashpoint-cycle/7403/50

Nice looking cycle here imo.

[Patrick]

I was thinking about that ID last night and it's a bit hard to evaluate, but it does allow you to run the fixed strength breakers and run with minimal risk of being punished by a big nasty sentry or codegate. And once ice on a server is rezzed, you can get a pretty nice reduction on going through the most taxing piece of ice they have. Reducing a Curtain/Hadrians wall to something a corroder can easily deal with, or pulling Wormhole or Archangel (or the new busted Weyland codegate!!) into Yog range.

Not a bad ability, though something will probably have to change to get people off Whizzard.

[Patrick]

I would drop one same old thing and add in the 3rd R&D Interface for it. You're a big rig deck, so you want your runs lategame to be as impactful as possible, no reason to see 3 cards when you could see 4. I think with 1x Levy and 1x SoT, the chances of losing both to random net dmg are very low, as you can install the SoT as soon as you draw it.

On that note, I would think about whether the SoT / Levy is needed in the deck at all. It seems to me the main reasons decks play it are:

1) They have faust, and want to refill their supply of cards to feed to it
2) They are running disposable programs that are good to recur many times; sharpshooters, David, parasites
3) They want to recur crucial economic pieces, such as events in a prepaid deck, caches and other programs in a pwnshop deck, etc
4) They are afraid of slow death against Jinteki Net damage decks

The first three don't really apply, as you're setting up a full permanent rig on the first pass through, and have clone chips to recur anything that gets trashed. So unless you're finding yourself playing Levy alot for longevity against Net damage decks, you could consider dropping it entirely and gaining 2 deckslots. Not saying it's wrong, but worth thinking about.

Cool hactivist and Logos splashes. Hope the hactivist works out for you.

[Patrick]

*GOLD COINS*