Ctrl + Alt + Del

vvribeiro 816

The Man With The Plan.

Keegan Lane. The best ICE designer NBN ever hired. He developed gems like Data Raven, Bandwidth, Gutenberg back in the days when security experts were concerned about killing and bankrupting runners.

A man of peace, some call him. "Why should we worry about the location of a runner if she already entered and left the building safely?", he states. "We are not Weylanders. If we prevent a runner from breaching in, no blood is required.".

His method, refined throughout the years, is very simple, at least for him: "Once the runner is in the server, an alarm sounds on my screen. All I have to do is close the connection. It's like an old Ctrl + Alt + Del, only fancier."

How does it work.

Gutenberg on R&D, Data Raven on HQ and remotes. Keegan Lane on all juicy servers. All it takes is a tag mid run and a cheap ETR, aka Wraparound, Lotus Field or Enigma and this is it.

Out of Keegans? Rez Team Sponsorship and score; Install and advance an Allele Repression or file a Reclamation Order. And there you go. Start over.

Manhunt will keep the pressure on and if the runner takes the tag, you can still trash a program of your choice after the run is successful.

I'm thinking about switching the Reclamations for Architects. Not sure yet.

Comment away, feedback is always welcome!

11 comments
26 Sep 2015 PeterCapObvious

I feel like SanSan City Grid is always welcome in any NBN deck, more as another way to get the Astro Train rolling :)

26 Sep 2015 RubbishyUsername

Architect is an awesome way to recur Keegans. Rez Bandwidth, kill the sentry breaker with Keegan, fire architect, returning the keegan and maybe finding another off the top.

26 Sep 2015 vvribeiro

@RubbishyUsername I thought that at first, but the runner can simply jack out after I trash the killer. Idk if there's a window to rez and fire Keegan during the encounter.

26 Sep 2015 RubbishyUsername

@vvribeiro only if they know that their going to hit an Architect. If they jack out, then great, you get to score your agenda and resurrect Keegan with Team Sponsorship. Speaking of which I'd really reccomend jumping on SanSan City Grid and Team Sponsorship, even though it's a bit cheap. Just running some Breaking News would help. Or alternatively, why not Interns?

If I were to guess Manhunt looks like the weakest card in the list. I believe you don't get to fire Keegan with it, and even if you could, you'd have to stick a really weak trace on a really expensive card. It'd just be cheaper to run more tagging ice, like another Gutenberg or Turnpike.

27 Sep 2015 Ajar

It's the same as Marcus Batty. Wait to rez until they commit to continuing the run after passing the ice before the Architect (or a Destroyer).

27 Sep 2015 vvribeiro

@RubbishyUsername Manhunt triggers at the step 4.4 of the run. Before the access. So I can still fire Keegan. However, I completely forgot about how Interns would be useful here. I'm not sure it's better than having the runner pay 2 every turn for a run, but it's something to consider. Thanks!

28 Sep 2015 Popeye09

Yep and the last chance in a run to use a paid ability is 4.3, before Manhunt would have fired...

You can use Keegan Lane with a tag that the Runner has got from a piece of ICE (step 2.1 or 4.1, before the jack out opportunity), however you can't rez him then, so the Runner will need to know about Keegan Lane when they encounter the ICE that is going to tag them (step 2.3 is your last chance to rez). So you can't ever "catch the Runner out" with a Keegan Lane/Data Raven combo if they don't want to lose their programs (they can see Keegan Lane sitting there and choose to end the run on encounter).

28 Sep 2015 vvribeiro

@Popeye09 Yes, the runner will access in this case, but I'd still trash a program.

28 Sep 2015 Popeye09

@vvribeiro I'm not quite sure what case you're referring to, but just be careful with Keegan Lane timing windows.

You can't ever "get them" with Manhunt and Keegan Lane. The last chance to rez Keegan Lane is at 4.3 (after the jack out has been declined). If Manhunt is in play, the Runner gets tagged (assuming a successful trace) at 4.4. The next paid ability window (to fire Keegan Lane) is after the run has ended. Therefore you can't use him with that tag that Manhunt just caused. You could only use him if the Runner ran again without clearing the tag first.

In terms of Data Raven, the last chance to rez Keegan Lane is at 2.3 on approach. Then the Runner encounters Data Raven and can choose to take the tag or end the run. They can see Keegan Lane rezzed and know he will be fired at 3.1 if they take the tag. So they can choose to end the run instead if they want.

For other tagging ICE, Keegan Lane will still need to be rezzed at 2.3. The Runner knows that they're facing a program loss at 2.1/4.1 if they take a tag. They might not be able to stop it of course, but they will have that knowledge when they choose to break the subroutine or not.

The alternative of course is not to rez Keegan Lane, wait until the Runner gets tagged and then rez and fire him all in one go at 2.3/4.3, but this depends on the Runner not jacking out at 2.2/4.2. So it might work the first time, but the Runner may get wary of continuing runs when tagged once they work out what your deck does!

None of which is to say that Keegan Lane isn't any good, but it's probably more difficult to force program trashes with him. Instead, it's more of a case of giving the (not very nice!) option to jack out or lose a program. So he should be maybe seen more as ending the run rather than trashing programs.

28 Sep 2015 vvribeiro

@Popeye09 but the idea is to let the runner pass the Data Raven or another tagging ICE. Then at the step 2.3 I can rez the next ICE and Keegan Lane, trashing the program. I updated the deck, Manhunt is gone. I'll post soon.

13 Oct 2015 Exo

I think New Hound is missing here, it's a great piece of ICE to go with this ID.