Hayley Smaug: 2nd Place Big Kidz Games SC

voltorocks 201

So, I took this list I've been working on to a 22-player SC in Grand Rapids MI today, and had great results taking down 2nd place.

It's worth noting that this was a Non-MWL environment, but also that this deck loses only clot to the MWL, which I never installed once this tournament. Haley simply vomits cards onto the board, getting great value for her extra clicks with ProCons and Armitage. Thusly you become insanely rich, threaten any and all servers, and basically just crush any corp under the weight of your megarig.

First off, the obvious: the HB matchup was brutal (for them). even in games where I just let them run away with the econ (40+ credit totals across the table were common) it was in every case a complete shutdown via remote and RnD lock, often coupled with heavy HQ attack once caprice got too pricey to contest on the remote.

My one loss in swiss was to a meat damage blue sun that sold an extremely convincing IAA shattered remains to kill both my plascretes. lesson learned, only install one until you need the other. even then I went out at 6 points and whiffed on a last turn RnD dig of 6 cards.

NBN matches were surprisingly easy - beating an NEH and a Haarp soundly, and losing to a SYNC in the finals due to the classic "perfect draw" where he had a turn 2 astro that led to a turn 3 astro that lead to a turn 4 astro that lead to a turn 6 fast track BN. I might be a bit off on turn numbers but it was definitely one of those games where you just have to throw up your hands and say GG! (I won't go into what happened in the finals with my corp... basically RNG shit the bed there as well).

memory proved to be an issue in testing so I switched to 2x akamatsu (I found I was often wanting to install the toolbox but without the spare memory to aesops astrolabe). Toolbox is a card I have almost cut many times that I ended up really glad to have. in addition to a 3rd or 4th multithreader and the memory to keep the aesops engine thrumming (it essentially gives three b/c of shrike), the 2 link proved essential against tagstorm decks with resistor (the link making the trace a breeze). I would consider dropping an akamatsu for a second toolbox even, though my gut says it would cause unwanted variance issues.

TLDR; I built this deck after playing some Jnet rando named Smaug who was rocking aesops haley and I think it holds up. For a deck that looks "slow" on paper, it sure is hard to score against!

9 comments
24 Jan 2016 x3r0h0ur

Since harbinger fucks over your double install, why not 3 full cache? I'd also consider going to vamp, for that long game where you can't get in, but htey're just econning. It opens up RnD for cheap, and lets you contest remotes as long as you haven't ran them all game.

24 Jan 2016 voltorocks

Great questions! I actually had 3x cache (and one harbinger) up until very recently, but I found that because the rig builds so quickly, I often ran out of memory quite a few turns before I found the next memory card.

regarding the small negative interation between hayley and harbinger, I found during testing that I had plenty of turns (especially as the game wears on, or early when I am just digging with ProCons) that I simply didn't have an opportunity to use Hayley anyways. Because of the zero memory cost, harbinger can sit out there for turns and turns (while you aesops other things) until you find a turn where you're going to armitage and run, or just simply not install, then the 6-credit battery is a very welcome sight.

I tested vamp in the slot that clot is now in quite a lot, and I found it tended to warp my play. multithreader wants to run every turn (and is very good for doing so) so ICE tends to get rezzed. On the day I had very little trouble contesting remotes - obviously caprice can be a problem (as she can be for anyone but vamp) but I can usually test her two or three times without letting up on the RnD lock next turn.

test for MWL will probably start with the same list -Clot +escher (a real beast when all the ice is rezzed) though I'm considering experimenting with dropping some of the cache and harbingers to try out a few different influence options. I'd really like some good anti-SYNC tech, but right now I just don't know what that is. Imp maybe? medium? It's a tough deck to beat right now for anyone but connections criminals (who are terrible against everything else...)

25 Jan 2016 PapaBear

I play a stealth Hayley rig with Aesops and Drug Dealer. It's the best card/money engine I have ever played. When you lose Clot to MWL may I humbly suggest you try 2x Drug dealer (cut a ProCo, maybe)? Drug dealers help against meat damage, are cheap to install and Aesop will give you money to rehab your addiction when money becomes more important than cards. It's not hard to end a turn on 0-1 credits, lose 0-1 credits to Aesop's, then start your turn with 2 from casts and 3 from Aesop. With up to 8 recurring credits, more available clicks for Armitage and "this turn" Cache money you ought to be able to run anywhere. Think of Drug Dealer as being "scalable". Earlier runs go through less ice and need less money. You can afford Drug Dealer. By the time you can no longer afford to lose money your addiction becomes a wacko, way-delayed click for 2 credits.

25 Jan 2016 PapaBear

Also, 2x Atman at 4 and 6, along with Corroder is all you need against most Sync. It covers Archangel, Data Raven, News Hound, the odd Archer, Ichi, and Wraparound. 2x Hunting Grounds is 2 influence, mostly turns off Keegan and Tollbooth and at two credits is never a completely dead card because of Aesop. It works for me.

25 Jan 2016 voltorocks

Hmm, I hadn't considered drug dealer's potential synergy with an aesops economy.... I may have to try out a variant with this included (that said, I'd point out that it does cost influence, so it wouldn't help me with the MWL transition). Definitely seems like it could be a solid include, maybe trading out a couple of harbingers or caches.

2x atman is a waste imo, study guide makes archangel a dead card, and atman 4 covers so many problem ICE that I don't much mind paying 6 to break archers or ichi 2.0s (generally the cost to the corp hurts them more than me using a bunch of multithreader credits). Hunting grounds is certainly interesting to me - tollbooth usually isn't too much of an issue but stacking them can become quite taxing. ducking Data Raven could also be nice.

One thing I wanted to mention also is that after "reviewing the tape" of my last finals game against SYNC with a few friends, they pointed out that I had a couple opportunities to slow his roll by holding an SMC or clone chip to threaten clot - I basically completely forgot about clot because I had barely used it all day against a sea of HB. Given that, I'm currently testing an MWL list that keeps clot. losing even more caches and harbingers hurts a bit, but if NBN becomes as resurgent as people seem to think it will be in the MWL era I may need to keep clot and just actually remember to use it :D

26 Jan 2016 Smaug

Have you had any difficulty not having levy available for post decking econ? I like the HQ interface.

26 Jan 2016 voltorocks

@Smaug Hey! I wonder if you are the Smaug that inspired this list? Re: Levy, I have yet to deck out. with only diesel and procons, it actually takes a while. My theory is that if you're decking this deck, you might not be running enough? Armitage has some staying power and late game I'll often switch to clicking it instead of Procons. If you're decking a lot and running out of econ, I'd probably suggest a one-of Kati Jones to supplement multithreader and toolbox, before resorting to Levy.

And yes, HQ interface is the best. Even without running the hand, it will cause hasty plays by the corp into unready remotes that you can exploit.

26 Jan 2016 Smaug

Yea, I'm the same Smaug, seems like you got the most important choices in the deck with the optional ones taking an interesting stance. My deck link (although updated since) is at netrunnerdb.com The deck inspired by it is by a guy that I am generally in frequent communication with in regards to improving the decklist. Still always changing for sure.

27 Jan 2016 voltorocks

cool, I linked your deck in the "derived from" - funny that I got so close to your exact list just after playing against it once! most of the differences are simple tech cards, and while I mostly stand by my choices, I think there are a lot of justifiable choices based on one's meta- for example, no one in my area is playing jinteki, especially PE, so levy and net shield would've been a waste. whereas meat decks are everywhere here so 2x plascrete was a must.