Core Kate Aggro

clydeiii 487

When I play runner, I like to play as aggressively as possible. Kate "Mac" McCaffrey: Digital Tinker isn't the most aggressive runner, nor is Shaper the most aggressive faction. But Kate can get a bit aggro if you play her that way.

First off: Diesel is your best friend. Drank the purple drank for lots of cards and don't care if you need to discard some at the end of your turn. Drawing cards is second best if you can't drank Diesel. Use Modded along with your ID discount to cheat out expensive programs (especially your second best friend, Femme Fatale) onto the board. It also helps you keep under your hand limit of five. Between Modded, the ID discount, Armitage Codebusting (early game), Magnum Opus (late game), Desperado (great anytime), and Sure Gamble, you should never be poor.

Like I said, this is an Aggro Kate build (as aggro as you can get her in Core, for the most part). Cards like Account Siphon, Desperado, The Maker's Eye, Tinkering, Crypsis, Femme Fatale and most especially Inside Job allow you to go balls-to-the-wall with running early and often. Inside Job and Tinkering are, in particular, fantastic for getting into places the corp thinks you can't go. Similarly, Infiltration is the lone card that allows you to check for traps when you suspect their presence. Store those up and never use them for money unless you get really desperate.

The core set of ice breakers in this deck are Gordian Blade, one of the strongest, best code gate breakers still to this day, Femme Fatale, which allows you to bypass a selected ice instead of breaking it, and Battering Ram, a lackluster but respectable barrier breaker. None of these are cheap, unfortunately, but hopefully you're making a lot of money along the way and you can get them out without putting a dent into your fortunes. Resort to Crypsis only when you must, typically early in the game.

The keys to success with this deck against any corp will be: draw draw draw, run run run, Magnum Opus for money, and always try to install at least once per turn.

2 comments
8 Dec 2014 Bananifier

I would argue that Special Order would make your deck more aggressive. You can face-check, get your breaker and get in. You could do -1 Femme Fatale -1 Inside Job +2 special order.

10 Dec 2014 Oisin

No Corroder makes me sad. I get that Account Siphon is boss, but I would rather have 2 Corroders. Battering Ram is expensive to use, and costs 2 MU--which is a problem for a deck that wants to run Magnum Opus.