Counterfeit Security

Mechanoise 1595

In our local meta we set up a "Random ID" assignment for each week, and in one week I was drawn Nasir. Since that week I've played nothing but Nasir, constantly refining the deck to take advantage of the new cycles; and I'll be damned if he isn't worth another look. This was designed to be as "Tier 1" as it could be, allowing for aggressive pressure and quick credit transferal when his ID ability kicks in.

The ID ability is what puts people off, I get it, staring down the barrel of losing your credit pool to a Pop-up window rez will hurt. The key is to forget about pooling credits, they must be fluid, being able to transfer them into your Personal Workshop whenever you need. Take a very 'Anarch'-y approach to your playstyle, always be running to collect additional money, with the threat of multi-access hardware to force further rezes of gear check ICE.

So let's go over some of the card choices, and why they've been better than other similar counterparts.

Deuces Wild
This card is fantastic in Nasir, the flexibility of money and draw, as well as the ICE exposure, makes for a malleable play. It will always remain a 3-off in my Nasir decks.

Rigged Results
Piece of ICE bothering you? An already rezed Tollbooth / Curtain Wall blocking your path? Rigged Results gives you a 66.6% chance of bypassing the ICE. If it fails, it fails, but when it succeeds, any ICE of your choice, (except Guard), is blank. I like that you don't have to declare what server you intend to attack until the Psi game is successful.

Sealth Suite
The Stealth Suit consists of secure credits, between Lockpick, Cloak, etc. you can have your money tied up in other cards, meaning that if you do happen to hit a pop-up window it can still be broken with a Lockpick credit.

Order of Sol
I love this card. With my Nasir deck I tend to keep my credit pool low, and as well as the ability firing when the ID ability triggers I like to abuse it with Personal Workshop during the corp's turn to accelerate a card's install time. Leading on to...

The Toolbox (instead of Mirror)
Mirror did very little for me, only serving as a cheap memory booster. I found its ability rarely useful since I would 'tend' to make one run a turn against ICEd servers. The Toolbox not only gave Personal Workshop a juicy target to accelerate with Order of Sol, but gave 2 reoccurring credits and 2 link to boot, which was more purposeful in every game.

Armitage Codebusting (instead of Kati Jones)
Maybe it's the way I prefer to play, but despite Kati being a gem in most decks I don't think she suits Nasir. Instead of spending valuable clicks building up credits, only to potentially lose them, I'd rather bring out the Codebuster and drain the credits I need, and it has made the play more fluid. I barely fully drain one, as I prefer to have the corp give me their ICE credits.

Misc cards
2x Sports Hopper are better than Plascrete Carapace, because they are potential card draw with added Link. With 2 Hoppers, the Toolbox, and Nasir, your base link is 5, and since he doesn't like aggressive traces this can be very handy. Fall Guy is a must, since a sneaky Elizabeth Mills can ruin your day; the Political Operative used to be another Fall Guy, but this can comfortably be a Hunting Grounds or Turning Wheel. Don't forget the Fall Guy also ties up some credits if you need some in a pinch.

So far, this deck has had a 75% win rate against most deck types, the hardest being Trace happy NBN decks with the express purpose of being cruel to your resources. If you're feeling the meta is a bit stale, pick Nasir up and really make the corp wonder whether they're doing you a favour by rezing ICE ;)

13 comments
1 Aug 2016 FarCryFromHuman

Algo Trading is what will replace Kati Jones in Nasir, I think. Deuces Wild is absolutely brilliant, the expose then run is probably more valuable to Nasir than any other runner. Great catch!

1 Aug 2016 Mechanoise

@FarCryFromHuman Algo Trading is on my list, but I don't want it to replace Armitage because I like the idea of clicking for credits as and when I need to. It was a fellow player who through in the idea of Dueces Wild when I was doing my first iteration of it, so credit goes to him, it has been a true MVP.

1 Aug 2016 FarCryFromHuman

Oh I definitely wouldn't replace Armitage. I would use Algo as a replacement for the functionality Kati usually fills, as you mentioned in your description. You'd probably have to drop an Order of Sol (three seems like overkill anyway) and maybe the extra Toolbox to fit two? They stack so you wouldn't have to worry about dead draws; I think replacing two non-essential uniques with them is the right call.

The interaction between Algo and Order of Sol is really cool too, if you can get yourself to 3 or less at the start of your turn (easy with Personal Workshop). I might need to put something together with Drug Dealer, it seems fun.

1 Aug 2016 CJFM

@MechanoiseI think you can fit both Algo and Armitage. You really don't need 3 order of sol.

1 Aug 2016 Mechanoise

Order of Sol did so much work for me that I wanted to guarentee it was available. With Algo Trading I have other avenues, so would likely drop it to 2.

16 Aug 2016 Brackhar

Is there a window to dump credits into personal workshop after the corporation rezzes a pop up window? I thought that the triggered ability happens immediately.

16 Aug 2016 Mechanoise

@Brackhar There is a pay window when you're at the encounter phase, similar to how you could clone chip something in before actually 'dealing' with the ICE. As it's on my turn when I encounter I can choose the order of resolution, so I would naturally throw all my credits into the Workshop, (or other), before I would start 'losing' credits to Pop up.

16 Aug 2016 Brackhar

@Mechanoise Ah, you are right. Since the card says "when you encounter" and not "when the Corp rezzes" you do have a window to dump credits into the personal workshop. My mistake!

22 Aug 2016 AdamFitzgerald

Are you planning to make a space for Beth Kilrain-Chang in this deck? I'd be interested to see how she plays out in Nasir.

31 Aug 2016 JohnnyCache

And if you're going Beth, why not try out Hernando Cortez? Gives at least +1 on all ice if they're rich enough

31 Aug 2016 CJFM

Cortez doesn't give Nasir any cash.

2 Sep 2016 kwind

Dude I copied your deck and just played it on Jinteki. Most fun I've had playing Netrunner in a while. Won a close game against a competitive EtF deck. Nice build. Part of me really wants scrubbers/networking/hunting grounds in this meta, but it's a tough call with deck slots and influence.

2 Sep 2016 Mechanoise

@kwind Glad you had a blast! I've grown really attached to Nasir and running on low credits most of the time. It's so much fun to force the corp to acknowledge that rezing a tollbooth is going to give you 8 credits, (9 if you have Sol out and unused.)

There are a lot of good cards to use in these packs and I will be refining Nasir as I go. Against CTM decks I just hold out and get everything off of the Workshop before the HHN lands; after that, I'm quite reckless and tend to just blast my way through tagged. Experiment, get back to me if you find a must-have inclusing. Happy Nasiring :)