Another store championship has come and gone here in Colorado. And once again, I chose to travel some unconventional paths in my deck design. As such, here are the decks I brought this time:
Time Dilation - 45 cards
Identity: Apex - Invasive Predator
Programs
Endless Hunger - 3
Harbinger - 3
Hyperdriver - 2 (6 influence)
Leprechaun - 2 (4 influence)
Hardware
Chop Bot 3000 - 3 (3 influence)
e3 Feedback Implants - 3 (6 influence)
Heartbeat - 3
Plascrete Carapace - 3
Resource
Hunting Grounds - 3
Wasteland - 3
Events
Apocalypse - 3
Dirty Laundry - 3
Levy AR Lab Access - 1 (3 influence)
Prey - 3
Quality Time - 3 (3 influence)
Sure Gamble - 3
Traffic Jam - 1
The main goal is to set up a large turn using Hyperdrivers. Of course, the only way to host them and Endless Hunger at the same time is to have a Leprechaun installed. Harbingers are standard for Apex, so they go in. e3 Feedback Implants is also kind of standard, since it lets you break additional subroutines. Chop Bot is a clickless draw engine. Combining it with Wastelands lets you get credits and a card at the start of your turn. Both Plascrete and Heartbeat let you mitigate damage, plus Heartbeat gives you the extra point of memory you need. Hunting Grounds shuts off some more annoying effects of ice, such as Tollbooth, Data Raven, and Komainu. Apocalypse is your main goal. Getting a good number of cards out of the way forces the corp to spend time and money recovering their board state. Just remember, you'll probably want to hold on to duplicates of some of your rig in your hand so you can get back up and running after Apocalypse. Dirty Laundry and Sure Gamble make up most of your economy, but you'll probably be credit light for much of the game. Prey can remove a piece of ice that is particularly troublesome. Quality Time works as a draw engine, helping refill your hand when it gets low. Levy is pretty necessary, as you'll likely burn through the deck quickly. Make sure to trash face-down cards that you'll want to use again before you use Levy, though. Traffic Jam rounds out the deck, allowing you turn shut off an annoying Corp current, such as Enhanced Login Protocol, without having to grab an agenda.
This deck does have some weaknesses. Being credit light, you'll not do very well against tag storm decks. Plus, your breaker is dependent on ice having at least one "End the run" subroutine, so damaging/destroying ice will be problematic. I was contemplating running a copy of D4V1D, but was unsure of what to remove in terms of influence without breaking the idea behind the deck. Still, it feels fairly solid.
Mind Games 1.0 - 54 cards
Identity: Nisei Division - The Next Generation
Agendas - 23 points
Global Food Initiative - 3 (3 influence)
Medical Breakthrough - 3
Nisei MK II - 3
Philotic Entanglement - 1
Ice
Chum - 2
Clairvoyant Monitor - 3
Cortex Lock - 2
Himitsu-Bako - 3
Komainu - 2
Sensei - 1
Susanoo-No-Mikoto - 1
Assets
Jackson Howard - 3 (3 influence)
Project Junebug - 3
Shi.Kyū - 3
Snare! - 3
Upgrades
Caprice Nisei - 3
Operations
Back Channels - 3 (3 influence)
Celebrity Gift - 3
Medical Research Fundraiser - 3
Mushin No Shin - 3
Trick of Light - 3
Yes, I'm aware I'm not using all of the influence available to me. I couldn't come up with something I wanted to use the last 6 points for. But the basic thought behind this deck was inspired by the Stimhack article on Personal Evolution and Yomi. If you'd like to read it right now, here's the link: http://stimhack.com/playing-the-high-stakes-game-with-personal-evolution/
For the agendas suite, originally the GFIs were Fetal AI, but I switched out so I could bring in some more cards and use some more influence. Medical Breakthrough is good, because if the runner grabs one, then the others move into the range where they can be fast advanced. Nisei Mk II can shut down a critical run. Philotic can be fast advanced as well. Ice has been selected to be taxing. Chum was added to increase the tax on the runner, or to force the runner to abort a run. Clairvoyant Monitor combos with the identity ability and can get you more advancement tokens. Cortex Lock is good while the runner has not yet filled their rig. Himitsu-Bako is cheap EtR, and can be moved around if needed. Komainu is more taxing/damaging. Sensei can increase the taxing on one or two more ice, depending on its position. Susanoo-No-Mikoto is meant to go on your scoring server, to deflect runners. Jackson is pretty much standard. Junebug, Shi.Kyu and Snare all add damaging traps to throw the runner off. Caprice helps shut down a run and combos with your identity ability. Celebrity Gift and Medical Research Fundraiser are the primary economy of this deck. Back Channels can give some more economy, especially when combined with Mushin No Shin. Trick of Light can also be used with Mushin No Shin to fast advance something.
Basically, the idea behind this deck is to keep the runner guessing. Test whether or not they will test unprotected remotes by mixing up traps and agendas. Use Mushin No Shin to full effect. Utilize traps, even if the runner knows they are traps, because they can be used with Trick of Light or Back Channels. Use Celebrity Gift to show the runner a hand mixed with traps and maybe one agenda, forcing them to consider if running HQ would be worth it. Granted, the deck is very porous, and if the runner doesn't jump the way you want them, they could easily win.
So with that out of the way, on to the matches.
Round 1: vs. Jason
Apex vs. Haarpsichord Studios: 2 - 7 L
Nisei Division vs. Noise: 5 - 8 L
Not a great pair of opening games for me. I had to mulligan cards as Apex that could have been useful early to try and get some economy. As such, I was struggling for most of the game to get to an Endless Hunger. I ended up getting hit with a Midseason Replacement after swiping a 15 Minutes, and that got taken away from me as well. I landed one Apocalypse and I was able to grab a Project Beale, but lost the game on running into two of Quantum Predictive Model. Second game was a little better. I gave up some agendas early, but was able to get a GFI and a Nisei scored. I had the Philotic in scoring position, but got hit with an R&D dig and lost.
Round 2 vs. Aidan
Apex vs. The Foundry: 7 - 2 W
Nisei Division vs. Kate "Mac" McCaffrey: 0 - 8 L
A little bit better. Apocalypse managed to be much more significant this game, as I snagged agendas at the right times to take my runner game. Corp game should have been good, as I had gotten both Cortex Locks in my hand, and used them to protect both R&D and HQ. However, my opponent managed to get a Deus X on turn 1 to break the one on R&D, then got a Clone Chip on turn 2 to break the one on HQ. After that, he loaded up on programs, making them useless. Plus, Faust was running rampant on all the other ice. I wasn't able to establish a foothold.
Round 3: vs. Ken
Apex vs. Personal Evolution: 8 - 1 W
Nisei Division vs. Ken "Express" Tenma: 4 - 4 W (flatline)
I feel my opponent this round was tilting pretty badly, which was probably not helped by my performance. I was able to prevent a good chunk of damage thanks to Heartbeat. Also, I took out a lot of cards with Apocalypse, since no Hostile Infrastructure seemed to be present. As such, I was able to hammer R&D and HQ to grab the agendas I needed. Second game could have gone either way. He managed to snag a Nisei and a Medical Breakthrough, which let me sneak out two Medical Breakthroughs. But he was also hitting my traps throughout the game. At least one, but possibly two Snares were used, and so was one Junebug early. He then ran into a server I had set up, getting past Caprice because I was out of cash, but that gave me the one credit I needed to trigger the Junebug that was there for 6 damage.
Round 4: vs. Jacob
Apex vs. Engineering the Future: 8 - 6 W
Nisei Division vs. Adam: 7 - 4 W
Remarkably, I was able to get two Apocalypses off as runner. The first one took out some cards that had been put up from an Accelerated Beta Test. Second didn't take out nearly as much, but felt pretty good. I hammered afterwards to grab what I needed. Next game was interesting. Adam running Endless Hunger is an interesting choice. Still, I managed to sneak out a GFI thanks to Mushin No Shin. Later, I pushed out a Nisei Mk II and a Philotic to win.
Out of 25 players, my 10 prestige put me close to the range of the top 8. 4 people managed to get more than that, and 4 more matched it. As such, my strength of schedule placed me at 9th. Still, I'm pleased with how well I did considering my unconventional choices. Also, I have an idea for Apex that I want to try out, so that may be coming to the blog in the future.
Until next time, don't trash the baby.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Total Escape Games 2016 Store Championship Report
I've been putting off this article for a bit, but it's still sort of within the schedule I'm trying to get back into of writing at least once per week. So, I'd like to talk about the most recent store championship here in Colorado. This one was a bit of a stretch for me, as it was farther away from my home than the one at Chaos, Games and More. Still, I had intended to go, and had set up some accommodations that made it possible for me to attend. As such, I might as well get to the decks I brought.
The Shadow Project 1.0 - 45 cards
Identity: Adam - Compulsive Hacker
Programs
BlacKat - 2 (6 influence)
Cache - 2 (2 influence)
Cloak - 3 (6 influence)
Dagger - 2 (4 influence)
Multithreader - 3
Refractor - 2 (4 influence)
Hardware
Brain Chip - 3
Resources
Daily Casts - 3
Dr. Lovegood - 2
Earthrise Hotel - 3
Ghost Runner - 3
Kati Jones - 3
Scrubber - 3 (3 influence)
Events
Independent Thinking - 3
Infiltration - 3
Mass Install - 2
Sure Gamble - 3
I'm still a bit of a novice when it comes to using the runners out of Data and Destiny, but I feel there is some promise in this route. Almost all of the influence has been sunk into the stealth rig. Also, I've gone with Dagger over Switchblade for two reasons: first, it costs less influence, and second, because it uses fewer stealth credits, which is important since I can't really bring in several copies of Silencer without massively shifting around influence. However, if you are interested in such a build, I recommend looking over Sneaky Adam by Jamieson.
So aside from the stealth rig, my build utilizes Multithreader to mitigate the cost of breaking subroutines (and also pumping up BlacKat,) and Cache for some extra burst economy. Brain Chip is the only hardware, but it's about all you will need, I feel. Daily Casts gives you some clickless economy. Dr. Lovegood allows you to shut down a directive that is hindering you, but can also be used to stop a Daily Cast or an Earthrise Hotel if you don't need money or cards immediately. Earthrise Hotel is your backup draw engine, although for most of the game you will probably be relying on Safety First. Ghost Runner gives you extra credits for using stealth breakers, but keep in mind that you may be forced to spend these credits when you don't want to because of Neutralize All Threats. Kati Jones works well for an efficient economy engine. Scrubber is included to help mitigate Neutralize All Threats. As for events, Independent Thinking is used to get rid of directives that are no longer useful, but can also be used to destroy empty Caches for extra cards. Infiltration works for either economy as needed or to expose specific cards, such as something that has just been put out from Mushin no Shin. Mass Install allows you to compress a handful of clicks into one, allowing you to install parts of your rig together. Sure Gamble is of course staple economy.
The biggest problem with this deck is the need to snowball. You need to grab two points worth of agenda in the early game so your Brain Chip can overcome the deficit of Safety First, as well as giving you enough space to bring in more of your rig. Making good use of Always Be Running will be critical in that regard. Still, if you feel a directive is holding you back, don't hesitate to blank it with Dr. Lovegood, or smash it with Independent Thinking.
While I would have liked to come up with something new and brilliant for this tournament, I'm afraid no inspiration came to me. Even so, the snowstorm I spoke of in the previous report ended up a full on blizzard, and I would have had no good opportunities to test a new deck. As such, I went to a deck I had come up with a few months ago.
Brother Eye 1.0 - 44 cards
Identity: SYNC - Everything, Everywhere
Agendas - 18 points
AstroScript Pilot Program - 2 (-2 max influence)
Breaking News - 2
NAPD Contract - 3 (-3 max influence)
Project Beale - 3
Ice
Data Raven - 1
Enigma - 2
Gutenberg - 1
Information Overload - 2
Tollbooth - 2
Universal Connectivity Fee - 2
Wall of Static - 2
Wraparound -1
Assets
Jackson Howard - 3
Marked Accounts - 3
Upgrades
Cyberdex Virus Suite - 1
Operations
Archived Memories - 2 (4 influence)
Closed Accounts - 1
Hedge Fund - 3
Midseason Replacements - 2
Psychographics - 1
Scorched Earth - 1 (4 influence)
Sweeps Week - 3
The All-Seeing I - 1
This was intended to be a mixture of Rush and Taxing decks. The agenda choices are fairly standard. AstroScript is in since it is a 3 for 2 agenda with a very good effect. Breaking News is in since it can be used in combo with several operations. NAPD Contract is in since it taxes the runner to steal, which works very well with Midseason Replacements. Project Beale can make for a surprise victory, especially with Psychographics. The ice suite is where the elements of Rush and Tax stand out. I originally ran two copies of Data Raven, but swapped one out for Gutenburg to try and more reliably land tags, since the runner can't choose to jack out against Gutenburg. Information Overload can become a painful surprise after a Midseason Replacements has landed. Tollbooth is both taxing and can stop the runner. Universal Connectivity Fee works like a Pop-Up Window while the runner has no tags and becomes a Closed Accounts when the runner is tagged. Plus, since it is a Trap, it becomes harder for the runner to break it. Enigma, Wall of Static, and Wraparound fill out the remaining slots for EtR ice, working as gear checks. For assets, Jackson is a given in this deck, since you are running a smaller deck, and may need to recycle cards. Marked Accounts is likely to be your primary source of economy throughout the game. One copy of Cyberdex Virus Suite allows you to purge viruses such as Clot at a moments notice, then goes into Archives to deprive runners from building up viruses such as Datasucker.
The main idea from this deck is the adaptability of the operations. Archived Memories sort of acts as additional copies of whatever operations you play or dump into Archives. Closed Accounts will let you shut down your opponent's credits, which could be hard to come back from. Hedge Fund and Sweeps Week give you some burst economy to supplement the drip from Marked Accounts. Midseason Replacements is the main tagging mechanism. Just watch out for runners using Film Critic. Psychographics lets you score out an agenda very quickly, provided the runner has been tagged enough times. Scorched Earth is in as a possible kill, either on its own or in combination with an Archived Memories. The All-Seeing I allows you to destroy numerous resources simultaneously, as few runners right now give the corporation Bad Publicity. But against those who do, you can use it to get the runner to remove it from you.
Even with all that versatility, this deck still has issues. The ice is very porous, so actually stopping a runner will become difficult once their rig is set up. Multi-access cards can snatch a lot of agenda points from you quickly. Also, once the runner hits 6 agenda points, Midseasons becomes useless, blocking off a quick way to victory.
With that out of the way, let's get on to the matches.
Round 1: vs. Elliot
Adam vs. Replicating Perfection: 2 - 8 L
SYNC vs. Leela Patel: 0 - 7 L
A very rough start for me. I managed to pull a Nisei Mk II off of R&D early in the first game, and saw The Future Perfect several times, but my opponent was able to keep me from getting it when I saw it. Game two was abysmal. I saw very few ice, and my opponent was able to pick agendas out of my hand and off of R&D before I could establish a solid defense. Maybe removing some taxing ice in favor of more EtR ice would have been beneficial.
Round 2: vs. Luke
Adam vs. Personal Evolution: 7 - 1 W
SYNC vs. Hayley: 0 - 7 L
A rematch, of sorts, though with somewhat different decks. I took more damage than I ought to have early game, mostly due to me forgetting to use Always Be Running to its full effect. Still, I managed to snag a Fetal AI, which started the snowball effect. I pulled a copy of The Future Perfect off of R&D after that. My opponent was able to score out a House of Knives, but I took another Fetal AI off of R&D to win that game. The next game was abysmal. Once again, I couldn't establish a solid defense, and couldn't score anything.
Round 3: vs. Stetson
Adam vs. Cybernetics Division: 6 - 8 L
SYNC vs. Edward Kim: 6 - 6 T
Both of these games were close. The first one was probably the worst match-up Adam could be against. Luckily, I pulled a copy of Independent Thinking in my opening hand, which I used to get rid of Safety First. I did manage to take a Mandatory Upgrades early, which enabled my Brain Chip, but that enabled him to use Media Blitz, which let him score out an Advanced Concept Hopper as well as another Mandatory Upgrades. I managed to shut that off by stealing a Hopper, but the damage had been done. He was able to score an Accelerated Beta Test, and I picked up another agenda, but he was able to score the last agenda point. Game two was rough. I gave up several agenda point before I was able to land a Midseasons. I was able to get a Wraparound on my scoring sever, which made trouble for his Faust. Still, I managed to get back up to 6 points. Then time was called. He made one last effort at snagging an agenda from R&D, but all of the remaining agendas were buried, so the game ended on a true tie.
Round 4: vs. Carl
SYNC vs. Rielle "Kit" Peddler: 2 - 8 L
Adam vs. Engineering the Future: 0 - 7 L
Once again, my corporation failed me. I was able to score a Breaking News into an All-Seeing I early, but I then gave up too many agenda points to get a Midseasons off. I managed to score the other Breaking News, but it was too late. Second game I messed up massively. I trashed Always Be Running early, since all the servers had been iced up and I wasn't seeing any breakers I needed. I suppose I ought to have trashed Safety First instead, as I was getting no real use out of it. As such, trying to dig through my deck for the cards I needed allowed my opponent to play solitaire Netrunner.
And that was that. Out of 19 players, I came in dead last. I don't recall doing quite this badly in any previous Netrunner tournament I've been in, but I may be forgetting something. Still, the games were, for the most part, good ones, and I've learned that this particular corp build needs to either be majorly overhauled, or just outright scrapped. Still, there are more store championships coming up, so there's more chances to try and get into a top ranking.
Anyways, thank you to Total Escape Games for hosting this store championship and to Tobin for running the event. Perhaps I'll come back some day in the future.
Until next time, Big Brother is watching.
The Shadow Project 1.0 - 45 cards
Identity: Adam - Compulsive Hacker
Programs
BlacKat - 2 (6 influence)
Cache - 2 (2 influence)
Cloak - 3 (6 influence)
Dagger - 2 (4 influence)
Multithreader - 3
Refractor - 2 (4 influence)
Hardware
Brain Chip - 3
Resources
Daily Casts - 3
Dr. Lovegood - 2
Earthrise Hotel - 3
Ghost Runner - 3
Kati Jones - 3
Scrubber - 3 (3 influence)
Events
Independent Thinking - 3
Infiltration - 3
Mass Install - 2
Sure Gamble - 3
I'm still a bit of a novice when it comes to using the runners out of Data and Destiny, but I feel there is some promise in this route. Almost all of the influence has been sunk into the stealth rig. Also, I've gone with Dagger over Switchblade for two reasons: first, it costs less influence, and second, because it uses fewer stealth credits, which is important since I can't really bring in several copies of Silencer without massively shifting around influence. However, if you are interested in such a build, I recommend looking over Sneaky Adam by Jamieson.
So aside from the stealth rig, my build utilizes Multithreader to mitigate the cost of breaking subroutines (and also pumping up BlacKat,) and Cache for some extra burst economy. Brain Chip is the only hardware, but it's about all you will need, I feel. Daily Casts gives you some clickless economy. Dr. Lovegood allows you to shut down a directive that is hindering you, but can also be used to stop a Daily Cast or an Earthrise Hotel if you don't need money or cards immediately. Earthrise Hotel is your backup draw engine, although for most of the game you will probably be relying on Safety First. Ghost Runner gives you extra credits for using stealth breakers, but keep in mind that you may be forced to spend these credits when you don't want to because of Neutralize All Threats. Kati Jones works well for an efficient economy engine. Scrubber is included to help mitigate Neutralize All Threats. As for events, Independent Thinking is used to get rid of directives that are no longer useful, but can also be used to destroy empty Caches for extra cards. Infiltration works for either economy as needed or to expose specific cards, such as something that has just been put out from Mushin no Shin. Mass Install allows you to compress a handful of clicks into one, allowing you to install parts of your rig together. Sure Gamble is of course staple economy.
The biggest problem with this deck is the need to snowball. You need to grab two points worth of agenda in the early game so your Brain Chip can overcome the deficit of Safety First, as well as giving you enough space to bring in more of your rig. Making good use of Always Be Running will be critical in that regard. Still, if you feel a directive is holding you back, don't hesitate to blank it with Dr. Lovegood, or smash it with Independent Thinking.
While I would have liked to come up with something new and brilliant for this tournament, I'm afraid no inspiration came to me. Even so, the snowstorm I spoke of in the previous report ended up a full on blizzard, and I would have had no good opportunities to test a new deck. As such, I went to a deck I had come up with a few months ago.
Brother Eye 1.0 - 44 cards
Identity: SYNC - Everything, Everywhere
Agendas - 18 points
AstroScript Pilot Program - 2 (-2 max influence)
Breaking News - 2
NAPD Contract - 3 (-3 max influence)
Project Beale - 3
Ice
Data Raven - 1
Enigma - 2
Gutenberg - 1
Information Overload - 2
Tollbooth - 2
Universal Connectivity Fee - 2
Wall of Static - 2
Wraparound -1
Assets
Jackson Howard - 3
Marked Accounts - 3
Upgrades
Cyberdex Virus Suite - 1
Operations
Archived Memories - 2 (4 influence)
Closed Accounts - 1
Hedge Fund - 3
Midseason Replacements - 2
Psychographics - 1
Scorched Earth - 1 (4 influence)
Sweeps Week - 3
The All-Seeing I - 1
This was intended to be a mixture of Rush and Taxing decks. The agenda choices are fairly standard. AstroScript is in since it is a 3 for 2 agenda with a very good effect. Breaking News is in since it can be used in combo with several operations. NAPD Contract is in since it taxes the runner to steal, which works very well with Midseason Replacements. Project Beale can make for a surprise victory, especially with Psychographics. The ice suite is where the elements of Rush and Tax stand out. I originally ran two copies of Data Raven, but swapped one out for Gutenburg to try and more reliably land tags, since the runner can't choose to jack out against Gutenburg. Information Overload can become a painful surprise after a Midseason Replacements has landed. Tollbooth is both taxing and can stop the runner. Universal Connectivity Fee works like a Pop-Up Window while the runner has no tags and becomes a Closed Accounts when the runner is tagged. Plus, since it is a Trap, it becomes harder for the runner to break it. Enigma, Wall of Static, and Wraparound fill out the remaining slots for EtR ice, working as gear checks. For assets, Jackson is a given in this deck, since you are running a smaller deck, and may need to recycle cards. Marked Accounts is likely to be your primary source of economy throughout the game. One copy of Cyberdex Virus Suite allows you to purge viruses such as Clot at a moments notice, then goes into Archives to deprive runners from building up viruses such as Datasucker.
The main idea from this deck is the adaptability of the operations. Archived Memories sort of acts as additional copies of whatever operations you play or dump into Archives. Closed Accounts will let you shut down your opponent's credits, which could be hard to come back from. Hedge Fund and Sweeps Week give you some burst economy to supplement the drip from Marked Accounts. Midseason Replacements is the main tagging mechanism. Just watch out for runners using Film Critic. Psychographics lets you score out an agenda very quickly, provided the runner has been tagged enough times. Scorched Earth is in as a possible kill, either on its own or in combination with an Archived Memories. The All-Seeing I allows you to destroy numerous resources simultaneously, as few runners right now give the corporation Bad Publicity. But against those who do, you can use it to get the runner to remove it from you.
Even with all that versatility, this deck still has issues. The ice is very porous, so actually stopping a runner will become difficult once their rig is set up. Multi-access cards can snatch a lot of agenda points from you quickly. Also, once the runner hits 6 agenda points, Midseasons becomes useless, blocking off a quick way to victory.
With that out of the way, let's get on to the matches.
Round 1: vs. Elliot
Adam vs. Replicating Perfection: 2 - 8 L
SYNC vs. Leela Patel: 0 - 7 L
A very rough start for me. I managed to pull a Nisei Mk II off of R&D early in the first game, and saw The Future Perfect several times, but my opponent was able to keep me from getting it when I saw it. Game two was abysmal. I saw very few ice, and my opponent was able to pick agendas out of my hand and off of R&D before I could establish a solid defense. Maybe removing some taxing ice in favor of more EtR ice would have been beneficial.
Round 2: vs. Luke
Adam vs. Personal Evolution: 7 - 1 W
SYNC vs. Hayley: 0 - 7 L
A rematch, of sorts, though with somewhat different decks. I took more damage than I ought to have early game, mostly due to me forgetting to use Always Be Running to its full effect. Still, I managed to snag a Fetal AI, which started the snowball effect. I pulled a copy of The Future Perfect off of R&D after that. My opponent was able to score out a House of Knives, but I took another Fetal AI off of R&D to win that game. The next game was abysmal. Once again, I couldn't establish a solid defense, and couldn't score anything.
Round 3: vs. Stetson
Adam vs. Cybernetics Division: 6 - 8 L
SYNC vs. Edward Kim: 6 - 6 T
Both of these games were close. The first one was probably the worst match-up Adam could be against. Luckily, I pulled a copy of Independent Thinking in my opening hand, which I used to get rid of Safety First. I did manage to take a Mandatory Upgrades early, which enabled my Brain Chip, but that enabled him to use Media Blitz, which let him score out an Advanced Concept Hopper as well as another Mandatory Upgrades. I managed to shut that off by stealing a Hopper, but the damage had been done. He was able to score an Accelerated Beta Test, and I picked up another agenda, but he was able to score the last agenda point. Game two was rough. I gave up several agenda point before I was able to land a Midseasons. I was able to get a Wraparound on my scoring sever, which made trouble for his Faust. Still, I managed to get back up to 6 points. Then time was called. He made one last effort at snagging an agenda from R&D, but all of the remaining agendas were buried, so the game ended on a true tie.
Round 4: vs. Carl
SYNC vs. Rielle "Kit" Peddler: 2 - 8 L
Adam vs. Engineering the Future: 0 - 7 L
Once again, my corporation failed me. I was able to score a Breaking News into an All-Seeing I early, but I then gave up too many agenda points to get a Midseasons off. I managed to score the other Breaking News, but it was too late. Second game I messed up massively. I trashed Always Be Running early, since all the servers had been iced up and I wasn't seeing any breakers I needed. I suppose I ought to have trashed Safety First instead, as I was getting no real use out of it. As such, trying to dig through my deck for the cards I needed allowed my opponent to play solitaire Netrunner.
And that was that. Out of 19 players, I came in dead last. I don't recall doing quite this badly in any previous Netrunner tournament I've been in, but I may be forgetting something. Still, the games were, for the most part, good ones, and I've learned that this particular corp build needs to either be majorly overhauled, or just outright scrapped. Still, there are more store championships coming up, so there's more chances to try and get into a top ranking.
Anyways, thank you to Total Escape Games for hosting this store championship and to Tobin for running the event. Perhaps I'll come back some day in the future.
Until next time, Big Brother is watching.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Chaos Games 2016 Store Championship Report
Store Championship season is upon us once again, and this year Colorado is holding eight of them. The first of these was this past weekend at Chaos, Games and More in Pueblo. Despite the beginnings of a significant snowstorm throughout the state, I chose to attend to try out two of the decks I've been tinkering with over the past two weeks.
Gotta Go Fast 1.0 - 49 cards
Identity: Ken "Express" Tenma
Programs
Alias - 1
Breach - 1
Corroder - 1 (2 influence)
Femme Fatale - 2
Gordian Blade - 1 (3 influence)
Passport - 1
Hardware
Doppelgänger - 3
Public Terminal - 3
Resources
Always Be Running - 2 (6 influence)
Bank Job - 2
Dr. Lovegood - 1 (1 influence)
John Masanori - 3
Same Old Thing - 3
Security Testing - 1
Events
Account Siphon - 2
Dirty Laundry - 3
Early Bird - 3
Fisk Investment Seminar - 3
Hostage -3
Inside Job -2
Legwork -3
Special Order - 2
Stimhack - 1 (1 influence)
The Maker's Eye - 2 (4 influence)
This deck is all about running hard and fast. Always Be Running is part of the key. While it forces you to run or play a run event on the first click, Ken wants to play out a run event. Plus, the ability to break a subroutine for two clicks allows you to get through ice that might otherwise keep you out early- or mid-game. For this reason, the deck is loaded with run events. Account Siphon for economy against a corp that hasn't defended HQ too well. Dirty Laundry because that's always good, especially for Ken. Early Bird gives a run and a click, which helps with ABR. Fisk Investment Seminar is tricky, because if ABR is already in play, you'll need to turn it off to play this event, but it still gives decent card draw, and refills the corporation's HQ if they're running light on cards to access. Hostage let's you search for the two connections in the deck: John Masanori and Dr. Lovegood. Grab whichever one is more beneficial when you need it and install. Inside Job for obvious reasons. Legwork lets you put more pressure on HQ. Special Order to grab whichever icebreaker you need at the time. Stimhack lets you make a big run, usually on a scoring server. The Maker's Eye for digging through R&D. Same Old Thing lets you reuse any of these events, but you'll probably be using the run events. For hardware, you're using the Doppelgänger for extra runs and click compression. Public Terminal pays for your run events, which means the one credit you get for playing the first run event each turn can go to that run instead of repaying the cost. Resources are pretty critical too. Bank Job gives some burst economy. Security Testing can give you two credits if the corporation keeps a server open. John Masanori is your main draw engine. Dr. Lovegood fills an interesting role. He can shut off whatever card you don't need at the time. If the corp is only keeping up the centrals, you can shut off Security Testing when you need to get in. If you can't get in or aren't sure if you can, you can shut off ABR or John Masanori to mitigate the effects. For icebreakers, you have the central-only suite plus two Femme Fatale for bypassing key ice, as well as a Corroder and a Gordian Blade to get into scoring servers.
This deck does have some flaws, though. With no recursion, losing any icebreaker or Dr. Lovegood can hit pretty hard. Also, there's no real way to mitigate kill decks, so you'll have to be careful not to get caught. Plus, there's not a really steady stream of economy, so if you run out of funds, you can get locked down pretty hard.
Haas' Destructive Tendencies - 49 cards
Identity: Haas-Biorid - Engineering the Future
Agendas - 21 points
Accelerated Beta Test - 3
Global Food Initiative - 3 (3 influence)
Project Vitruvius - 3
Ice
Eli 1.0 - 3 (-3 max influence)
Janus 1.0 - 1
Mother Goddess - 1
NEXT Bronze - 3
NEXT Gold - 3
NEXT Silver - 3
Tollbooth - 3 (6 influence)
Assets
Adonis Campaign - 3
Director Haas - 2
Executive Boot Camp - 3 (3 influence)
Upgrades
Ash 2X3ZB9CY - 3
Oaktown Grid - 3
Self-destruct - 3
Operations
Green Level Clearance - 3
Hedge Fund - 3
A bit of a nonstandard rush deck. Your main combo is Director Haas, Ash, and Oaktown Grid. Haas gives you the extra click to push out your 3/2 agendas, Ash keeps her from being trashed, and Oaktown makes Ash more expensive to trash. Slap a Self-destruct onto the server as a last resort option, or possibly to kill the runner. Both Accelerated Beta Test and Project Vitruvius are there mostly to be rushed out, but feel free to overadvance Vitruvius for counters if you need to. Global Food Initiative means you may need only 3 agendas to win, while the runner will need to take 4, although Haas can count for two of them. Ice suite is all of the NEXT ice, which are all great. Bronze becomes more expensive for most decoders as the game goes on. Silver also becomes more expensive for most fracters, but watch out for people using Morning Star or GS Sherman M3, as they'll tear right through it. Gold can become more damaging as the game goes on, and its 4 strength puts it just above a Mimic without any Datasucker tokens. Mother Goddess is the tenth piece of NEXT ice, so don't feel bad about rezzing it if the runner can get through it. Eli is in for additional taxing, either through clicks or credits. Janus makes for a nice surprise, potentially flatlining the runner or just keeping them out of a critical server. Tollbooth rounds out the taxing ice, as it'll cost at least 3 credits just to interact with it, unless they manage to bypass it. For assets, in addition to the Director, you have Adonis Campaign for some burst economy, as well as Executive Boot Camp, which lets you bring your NEXT ice online cheaper, letting you build up their effects faster. Plus, the boot camp lets you search for Adonis or the Director when you need them. Your only operations are Green Level Clearance and Hedge Fund, but they give you a small bit of burst economy. Your primary economy is going to be from installing cards, plus some clicking for credits, but you should still have more than enough money to get the job done.
Again, this deck is not without flaws. I've left Jackson Howard out for influence reasons, which makes the deck susceptible to milling. It's also somewhat light on ice, so ice destruction will hit you pretty hard, especially with no way to get any ice back. Plus, Clot stops your primary win mechanic, unless you manage to put up a scoring server in addition to your server for protecting Haas.
So, with those out of the way, on to the tournament. Interestingly, this was the last tournament before the Most Wanted List went into effect. However, both of these deck lists are compliant with those restrictions, so they can be used in future tournaments. This tournament had 14 players, sporting some interesting deck choices. All runner factions except Apex were present, and Jinteki was the only corporation not represented.
Round 1: vs. Marty
Ken "Express" Tenma vs. Near-Earth Hub: 6-7 L
Engineering the Future vs. Kate "Mac" McCaffrey: 5-8 L
This was probably the worst game for me, as I had played these exact two games against Marty before the tournament. I won't say that he altered his decks specifically to counter me, as diversifying your strategy to deal with more cases is generally good. I was able to hit pretty hard against his corp in the first game, snagging up several agendas. But it didn't help that I picked up 15 Minutes twice; once in the early-game and once in the mid-game, and both times it got shuffled back into the deck. The main downfall was allowing Architect to fire off multiple times, especially before I attempted a Maker's Eye run. I suppose playing more cautiously in that regard might have been prudent. Second game was another close one. Gave up a few agendas mid game, but got Haas out and shielded, which had the downside of no runs being made against it, since my strategy was known by my opponent. As such, I did see Clot come up, keeping me from rushing out some agendas. Did managed to score a GFI, and was about to get another agenda out, but ended up one turn too late. Still, a good pair of close games.
Round 2: vs. Kate
Ken "Express" Tenma vs. Spark Agency: 5-8 L
Engineering the Future vs. Sunny Lebeua: 8-2 W
Another pair of interesting games. Between numerous advertisements and trashing cards, I was kept poor as my runner, which kept me from running as hard as I would have liked. Still managed to snag a few agendas. Second game was much more interesting from my perspective. Ended up starting with only one piece of ice, so turn two I left an Accelerated Beta Test installed in the open. Turn three I scored and fired it, which let me install 2 Tollbooth and a NEXT Bronze on a remote server. I utilized that server to score a Vitruvius with a counter on it, and then later got another ABT, which yielded the third Tollbooth and a NEXT Silver. Even though that ended up dumping another Vitruvius into Archives, I was able to get it back with the counter and then score it out, having converted that massive sever into one for Haas. The only agenda I gave up was actually another Director Haas, which was taken off of R&D. I could have prevented that, because I was confident what it was based on my opponent's reaction (she found it on a multiaccess, but didn't have enough credits to trash it the first time, so the turn after that she built up credits and ran,) but I was fairly ahead by that point, so I felt like playing as though I had no idea what it was.
Round 3: vs. Eden
Ken "Express" Tenma vs. Engineering the Future: 8-4 W
Engineering the Future vs. Adam: 4-4 W (flatline)
I don't remember a great deal about these two games, as my notes are pretty sparse. I do remember that I made a few poor choices when playing run events, leading into losing some multiaccess and getting a Stimhack run stymied by an Ash. Still, I did manage to pull ahead and win. Second game was close. We both managed to get two agendas and I had Haas up and running. So I set up a small scoring server and tried to push through a GFI to win. He went for it, so I rezzed all the ice on it, draining his credits. Then i fired the Self-destruct, mostly to keep him from getting the GFI. However, since he was only holding 2 cards, it ended up securing the game for me.
Round 4: vs. Luke
Ken "Express" Tenma vs. Spark Agency: 8-6 W
Engineering the Future vs. Hayley Kaplan: 5-8 L
Coming into this round, in order to have a shot at the top 4, I needed to sweep my opponent. Clearly, that didn't happen. First game was really close. This time, I was able to keep my money up against him, and I swiped out a few agendas, keeping him from pulling off a 24/7 News Cycle and Scorched Earth combo I knew was in his hand thanks to Legwork. He managed to pull ahead and started digging through his deck for the one card he needed to win. Unfortunately, his 15 Minutes was at the very bottom of his deck, which gave me enough time to pick up the agendas I needed to win. Second game was fast, because there were only 20 minutes left in the round. Once again, I believe I managed to get a massive server off of ABT early on. I then got a GFI scored out and had installed the last one I needed. Time was called on his turn, so if he didn't get anything, I would win. Unfortunately, he was able to pull one off the top of R&D, which I couldn't really do anything about, thanks to his installation of programs that let would have let him deal with the NEXT Gold I had on that server. Still, once again, a pair of good games.
So that did it. Out of 14 players, I managed to place 8th, securing a deckbox. I look forward to playing against these people in the store championships yet to come in this state. Many thanks to Chaos, Games and More for hosting the event and to Brian for running it.
Until next time, check your directives.
Gotta Go Fast 1.0 - 49 cards
Identity: Ken "Express" Tenma
Programs
Alias - 1
Breach - 1
Corroder - 1 (2 influence)
Femme Fatale - 2
Gordian Blade - 1 (3 influence)
Passport - 1
Hardware
Doppelgänger - 3
Public Terminal - 3
Resources
Always Be Running - 2 (6 influence)
Bank Job - 2
Dr. Lovegood - 1 (1 influence)
John Masanori - 3
Same Old Thing - 3
Security Testing - 1
Events
Account Siphon - 2
Dirty Laundry - 3
Early Bird - 3
Fisk Investment Seminar - 3
Hostage -3
Inside Job -2
Legwork -3
Special Order - 2
Stimhack - 1 (1 influence)
The Maker's Eye - 2 (4 influence)
This deck is all about running hard and fast. Always Be Running is part of the key. While it forces you to run or play a run event on the first click, Ken wants to play out a run event. Plus, the ability to break a subroutine for two clicks allows you to get through ice that might otherwise keep you out early- or mid-game. For this reason, the deck is loaded with run events. Account Siphon for economy against a corp that hasn't defended HQ too well. Dirty Laundry because that's always good, especially for Ken. Early Bird gives a run and a click, which helps with ABR. Fisk Investment Seminar is tricky, because if ABR is already in play, you'll need to turn it off to play this event, but it still gives decent card draw, and refills the corporation's HQ if they're running light on cards to access. Hostage let's you search for the two connections in the deck: John Masanori and Dr. Lovegood. Grab whichever one is more beneficial when you need it and install. Inside Job for obvious reasons. Legwork lets you put more pressure on HQ. Special Order to grab whichever icebreaker you need at the time. Stimhack lets you make a big run, usually on a scoring server. The Maker's Eye for digging through R&D. Same Old Thing lets you reuse any of these events, but you'll probably be using the run events. For hardware, you're using the Doppelgänger for extra runs and click compression. Public Terminal pays for your run events, which means the one credit you get for playing the first run event each turn can go to that run instead of repaying the cost. Resources are pretty critical too. Bank Job gives some burst economy. Security Testing can give you two credits if the corporation keeps a server open. John Masanori is your main draw engine. Dr. Lovegood fills an interesting role. He can shut off whatever card you don't need at the time. If the corp is only keeping up the centrals, you can shut off Security Testing when you need to get in. If you can't get in or aren't sure if you can, you can shut off ABR or John Masanori to mitigate the effects. For icebreakers, you have the central-only suite plus two Femme Fatale for bypassing key ice, as well as a Corroder and a Gordian Blade to get into scoring servers.
This deck does have some flaws, though. With no recursion, losing any icebreaker or Dr. Lovegood can hit pretty hard. Also, there's no real way to mitigate kill decks, so you'll have to be careful not to get caught. Plus, there's not a really steady stream of economy, so if you run out of funds, you can get locked down pretty hard.
Haas' Destructive Tendencies - 49 cards
Identity: Haas-Biorid - Engineering the Future
Agendas - 21 points
Accelerated Beta Test - 3
Global Food Initiative - 3 (3 influence)
Project Vitruvius - 3
Ice
Eli 1.0 - 3 (-3 max influence)
Janus 1.0 - 1
Mother Goddess - 1
NEXT Bronze - 3
NEXT Gold - 3
NEXT Silver - 3
Tollbooth - 3 (6 influence)
Assets
Adonis Campaign - 3
Director Haas - 2
Executive Boot Camp - 3 (3 influence)
Upgrades
Ash 2X3ZB9CY - 3
Oaktown Grid - 3
Self-destruct - 3
Operations
Green Level Clearance - 3
Hedge Fund - 3
A bit of a nonstandard rush deck. Your main combo is Director Haas, Ash, and Oaktown Grid. Haas gives you the extra click to push out your 3/2 agendas, Ash keeps her from being trashed, and Oaktown makes Ash more expensive to trash. Slap a Self-destruct onto the server as a last resort option, or possibly to kill the runner. Both Accelerated Beta Test and Project Vitruvius are there mostly to be rushed out, but feel free to overadvance Vitruvius for counters if you need to. Global Food Initiative means you may need only 3 agendas to win, while the runner will need to take 4, although Haas can count for two of them. Ice suite is all of the NEXT ice, which are all great. Bronze becomes more expensive for most decoders as the game goes on. Silver also becomes more expensive for most fracters, but watch out for people using Morning Star or GS Sherman M3, as they'll tear right through it. Gold can become more damaging as the game goes on, and its 4 strength puts it just above a Mimic without any Datasucker tokens. Mother Goddess is the tenth piece of NEXT ice, so don't feel bad about rezzing it if the runner can get through it. Eli is in for additional taxing, either through clicks or credits. Janus makes for a nice surprise, potentially flatlining the runner or just keeping them out of a critical server. Tollbooth rounds out the taxing ice, as it'll cost at least 3 credits just to interact with it, unless they manage to bypass it. For assets, in addition to the Director, you have Adonis Campaign for some burst economy, as well as Executive Boot Camp, which lets you bring your NEXT ice online cheaper, letting you build up their effects faster. Plus, the boot camp lets you search for Adonis or the Director when you need them. Your only operations are Green Level Clearance and Hedge Fund, but they give you a small bit of burst economy. Your primary economy is going to be from installing cards, plus some clicking for credits, but you should still have more than enough money to get the job done.
Again, this deck is not without flaws. I've left Jackson Howard out for influence reasons, which makes the deck susceptible to milling. It's also somewhat light on ice, so ice destruction will hit you pretty hard, especially with no way to get any ice back. Plus, Clot stops your primary win mechanic, unless you manage to put up a scoring server in addition to your server for protecting Haas.
So, with those out of the way, on to the tournament. Interestingly, this was the last tournament before the Most Wanted List went into effect. However, both of these deck lists are compliant with those restrictions, so they can be used in future tournaments. This tournament had 14 players, sporting some interesting deck choices. All runner factions except Apex were present, and Jinteki was the only corporation not represented.
Round 1: vs. Marty
Ken "Express" Tenma vs. Near-Earth Hub: 6-7 L
Engineering the Future vs. Kate "Mac" McCaffrey: 5-8 L
This was probably the worst game for me, as I had played these exact two games against Marty before the tournament. I won't say that he altered his decks specifically to counter me, as diversifying your strategy to deal with more cases is generally good. I was able to hit pretty hard against his corp in the first game, snagging up several agendas. But it didn't help that I picked up 15 Minutes twice; once in the early-game and once in the mid-game, and both times it got shuffled back into the deck. The main downfall was allowing Architect to fire off multiple times, especially before I attempted a Maker's Eye run. I suppose playing more cautiously in that regard might have been prudent. Second game was another close one. Gave up a few agendas mid game, but got Haas out and shielded, which had the downside of no runs being made against it, since my strategy was known by my opponent. As such, I did see Clot come up, keeping me from rushing out some agendas. Did managed to score a GFI, and was about to get another agenda out, but ended up one turn too late. Still, a good pair of close games.
Round 2: vs. Kate
Ken "Express" Tenma vs. Spark Agency: 5-8 L
Engineering the Future vs. Sunny Lebeua: 8-2 W
Another pair of interesting games. Between numerous advertisements and trashing cards, I was kept poor as my runner, which kept me from running as hard as I would have liked. Still managed to snag a few agendas. Second game was much more interesting from my perspective. Ended up starting with only one piece of ice, so turn two I left an Accelerated Beta Test installed in the open. Turn three I scored and fired it, which let me install 2 Tollbooth and a NEXT Bronze on a remote server. I utilized that server to score a Vitruvius with a counter on it, and then later got another ABT, which yielded the third Tollbooth and a NEXT Silver. Even though that ended up dumping another Vitruvius into Archives, I was able to get it back with the counter and then score it out, having converted that massive sever into one for Haas. The only agenda I gave up was actually another Director Haas, which was taken off of R&D. I could have prevented that, because I was confident what it was based on my opponent's reaction (she found it on a multiaccess, but didn't have enough credits to trash it the first time, so the turn after that she built up credits and ran,) but I was fairly ahead by that point, so I felt like playing as though I had no idea what it was.
Round 3: vs. Eden
Ken "Express" Tenma vs. Engineering the Future: 8-4 W
Engineering the Future vs. Adam: 4-4 W (flatline)
I don't remember a great deal about these two games, as my notes are pretty sparse. I do remember that I made a few poor choices when playing run events, leading into losing some multiaccess and getting a Stimhack run stymied by an Ash. Still, I did manage to pull ahead and win. Second game was close. We both managed to get two agendas and I had Haas up and running. So I set up a small scoring server and tried to push through a GFI to win. He went for it, so I rezzed all the ice on it, draining his credits. Then i fired the Self-destruct, mostly to keep him from getting the GFI. However, since he was only holding 2 cards, it ended up securing the game for me.
Round 4: vs. Luke
Ken "Express" Tenma vs. Spark Agency: 8-6 W
Engineering the Future vs. Hayley Kaplan: 5-8 L
Coming into this round, in order to have a shot at the top 4, I needed to sweep my opponent. Clearly, that didn't happen. First game was really close. This time, I was able to keep my money up against him, and I swiped out a few agendas, keeping him from pulling off a 24/7 News Cycle and Scorched Earth combo I knew was in his hand thanks to Legwork. He managed to pull ahead and started digging through his deck for the one card he needed to win. Unfortunately, his 15 Minutes was at the very bottom of his deck, which gave me enough time to pick up the agendas I needed to win. Second game was fast, because there were only 20 minutes left in the round. Once again, I believe I managed to get a massive server off of ABT early on. I then got a GFI scored out and had installed the last one I needed. Time was called on his turn, so if he didn't get anything, I would win. Unfortunately, he was able to pull one off the top of R&D, which I couldn't really do anything about, thanks to his installation of programs that let would have let him deal with the NEXT Gold I had on that server. Still, once again, a pair of good games.
So that did it. Out of 14 players, I managed to place 8th, securing a deckbox. I look forward to playing against these people in the store championships yet to come in this state. Many thanks to Chaos, Games and More for hosting the event and to Brian for running it.
Until next time, check your directives.
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