The Annual Running of the Clone

ivanbarker 666

Hi my name is Ken, and I would like to welcome you to the annual running of the clone. Today's event is a special one, filled with fun, excitement and general mayhem for everyone!

We will begin this rousing tournament with an introduction of myself, Ken Tenma. Due to my inherent abilities as an escaped clone (I ran really fast while escaping), I was chosen to kick off these special ceremonies. I have many tricks up the sleeves of my blazing fast red jacket, and include 12 run events, which I love since I know how to profit from these to fuel my crazyness. You would think it costs a lot to hold these event, but 3 Prepaid VoicePADs are used up front to keep me in the sweet sweet criminal credits no matter how many events I play. I'm awesome because I can make creds off of just playing a run event.

Since I like to run, and I run a lot, I chose Doppelganger to help me keep running. Desperado is desperate and lame. Running is what I do. With Doppelganger, you will see me twice, I'll be like an awesome echo which you can't catch. Playing Three Steps Ahead lets me flex my sweet quads and keeps me ahead of the pack, allowing me to benefit from my extra runs. So long suckers!

Sometimes, I have to go to my boring day job Security Testing, but luckily I can do it while running. I'm able to do it on different targets, so I can spread my targets out and the corp will be kept on their toes, but of course they can't keep up. Three Steps Ahead, combined with Security Testing and with that sexy Dirty Laundry, can make me some serious dough. Top that off some other run event, and then show me the credits... which I could use to buy those new Apipas running shoes I've been wanting (I wore my last ones out).

Now of course, this whole shibang couldn't have been thrown together without a sponsor, John Masanori. Man that guy loves when I run. When I run he gives me new sponsorship items, I think he's my number one fan. But if I trip and fail, he gets pretty upset and let's the man know where I'm headed to. I do have some rad Lawyers Up in here that can deal with it and I also have a chill space to Crash, but sometimes it's ok, I know how to turn that frown upside down. I have a little trick called Data Leak Reversal. Even if I don't use it that often, it's a good way to keep the corp down and allow me to keep checking the hot new research that pops up in R&D.

But I have to talk about the most fun part of this event, the bit that will blow your socks off. Wait! You won't be able to keep up with this... Hemorrhage! Every time I run, Hemorrhage becomes even more big and beefy, just waiting to burst. It combines with Doppelganger so I could potentially get 5 tokens on it a turn. It could be combined with every run event, and Security Testing, and John Masanori. The corp will bleed data out the sides, as I run laps around them. Oh you're exhausted, need some water? Too bad, you get to dump those wussy execs into the trash! After those lame execs are gone, I sprint into the tiny HQ by showing off my awesome Legwork, and I get to steal everything. I don't even have to worry about net damage, since I was hooked up with a Feedback Filter. Adios amigos! And I'm out of there in a blink.

The corp is always trying to engineer a faster clone, and setup speed traps to slow me down. The only thing about this event that I am unsure of how to deal with are these speed traps. The coppers are getting so tricky lately! I was hoping for breakers that are cheap to setup, and that are pretty efficient to use. Since I run so often, I don't want to shell out too many credits once I get into the fast lane.

However, since this is an annual event, things change from year to year. Every year I ask for feedback, and I really appreciate it. The more feedback we receive, the better we will make this, so we can make this the best event ever next year!

Try to keep up!

5 comments
5 Nov 2015 ivanbarker

I'm thinking about [-3] Account Siphon [-1] Feedback Filter [-1] Prepaid VoicePAD [+3] Early Bird [+1] Security Testing [+1] Data Leak Reversal

5 Nov 2015 Im_cypher

I love anyone who writes an awesome story for the decks and you sir have accomplished that.

6 Nov 2015 enk

I used to run a similar Ken deck, although with slightly different cards. I went even more all-in on the run like hell concept, and included Grifter as drip econ. I was also running an Eater because most of the time you don't run to access cards anyway - you run to get some security tested. With Grifters, Masanori, Security Testing and Hemorrhage you are still guaranteed to come out ahead from a run even if every server has one ICE - and once the corp figures out what you're doing, there will be. One does not simply leave remotes open against this deck.

Based on my experiences, Masanori is absolutely crucial for this deck to stay running, so I strongly suggest including a third one. Otherwise you end up clicking for cards too much. The deck is also very short on MU, so using Garrote as your primary sentry breaker is going to land you in trouble. Often, one Hemorrhage is not efficient enough and you need to have two out which leaves you with exactly 1 MU for each type of breaker. Doppelgänger makes this deck more fun to play and can occasionally shine but sadly Desperado is just more stable. That said I'd still play this deck with Doppel.

I would definitely drop Lawyer Up. It's only good if you can fully utilize its full effect, and that is often not the case. If you need draw there are better options out there (Earthrise Hotel, Mr. Li and even Express Delivery). If you need to manage tags, Dorm Computer seems like a reasonable option. It can also dodge Enhanced Login Protocol in a pinch. Dropping Account Siphons is very likely a mistake, but I can totally understand if you don't want to play it (I just don't like must-include cards in general)

Either way, this archetype is very fun to play, so go, experiment, and have fun with it.

6 Nov 2015 ivanbarker

Thank you so much for the help enk!!! That's very wonderful feedback.

I would love to add eater, I think it would work very well, and then I could get rid of my support breakers, but I can't figure out where to steal the influence from, also I don't actually own that card so I'd have to proxy. Any ideas what should be dropped for it?

These are the changes I made, a lot based on your suggestions:

[-3] Account Siphon [-2] Lawyer Up [-1] Prepaid VoicePAD [-1] Clone Chip [-1] Faerie [-1] Garrote

[+3] Early Bird [+1] Feedback Filter [+1] Crash Space [+1] Femme Fatale [+1] Security Testing [+1] John Masanori [+1] Data Leak Reversal

I dropped Lawyer Up and added another Crash Space. I don't know if this is a good idea or not since I don't have Plascrete. I feel like Plascrete helps only if I get scorched, but otherwise it just sits there. But I'm self tagging for DLR, so I'd want to clear those. Thoughts?

I would love to fit Earth Rise Hotel in there, since it's automatic draw (I used to run Mr. Li, but it was still a lot of clicking). Would also like to get in Grifter since that synergizes so well with the running. But I have no idea what to cut!

I also have no program recursion now and I'd be a bit scared of that. But I do feed with the extra Feedback Filter that I'm fairly well covered from different damage types.

6 Nov 2015 enk

Well. I don't know how safe you like to be and what your meta is like, but my version was pretty balls-to-the-wall with no tag/damage protection at all and no program recursion. I would probably do tag protection with Dorm Computer if I got back into the deck now, or just include two Plascretes. Either way, you don't want tags because that kills your best friend Masanori and Grifters (if you include them) so the DLR is a bit a counter-intuitive and probably needs to go.

Feedback Filter is just too expensive to use. Net damage is inconvenient, sure, but dying to net damage from 5 cards is very rare so it's better to just tank it IMO. Besides, if you keep hemorrhaging the corp for 1-2 cards each turn it's gonna be hard for them to hold onto their kill combo cards anyway so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Also, ideally you're gonna be ahead in econ as you are either forcing them to rez ICE all over the place, avoid playing their econ assets or give you a free remote to run.

Early Bird seems a bit of a waste when you're already using Doppelgänger. The free run you get from it is more than enough to exploit any free access, and if there's not free access to exploit you're not gonna run that many times a turn anyway (with Grifters and Masanori, it's the first run that's super-economic, the others need to be free access or almost free). Account Siphon is just a bit too lucrative to pass, especially if you put Eater in the deck.

I'd suggest you try the concept without the safety cards to see how it works, and then add them back in if you lose games to surprise flatlines etc.

A final note on breakers: if you end up running Eater, then you may want to trade your Gordian for another Rex, which coincidentally frees the influence that Eater would need. Whenever you don't need access, Eater is just as good as Gordian, and to win the game you, double Rex should give all the access you need (coupled with Corroder and Femme).