Three-ofs MaxX 20-02-08 (9th @ Domecon)

Watzlav 1019

I still think your deck is better than mine.

– adquen, 2020 Domecon Champion playing Apocalypse 419

I think this might be the best runner deck now.

– lostgeek, 2018 Eternal Champion

By playing Apocalypse you're choosing not to use brain.

– Vaporwave, some online nobody complaining Apocalypse is "unoriginal" while playing Comrades' PE themself

I am struggling to find a runner deck I would enjoy playing. So much so that for the first time ever, at German Nationals, I played a criminal. That event saw NWE shaping the meta very horizontally, which prompted me to play a few games with Apocalypse 419 to a moderate success. Trying critd20’s as well as aptly named Heinzel’s take on my favourite faction was another brief detour on a journey to an enjoyable deck.



Then I decided that I should extend my tradition of playing MaxX at Domecon to a fourth year. Intrigued by Gachapon but in the end not having found the truth, I took a look at another promising virtual resource – DDoS. This pulled me in a predictable direction. After some good results I ran my first draft by Dante and Krasty, who are more familiar and accomplished with the Apoc playstyle. Dante suggested replacing Embezzle with Wanton Destruction and Boomerang, as well as slotting playset of each breaker. The latter hint led to this form I deemed flawless.




In the first round of the tourney I played against D7LLRK, a player notorious for winning playmats in Berlin. However, thanks to some lucky Wanton Destruction, his glacier GameNET didn’t give me nearly as much trouble as his Inversificator Maw Kit.



LukeNukem also played GameNet, but his variety was more akin to Rushin’ NEH or Und Nutzen! CtM. The only hurdle for Apocalypse victory was MCAAP.

I met the eventual champion adquen in a very interesting duel. If the gif he put in his write-up is not convincing enough evidence for you, let me tell you the story.
 It begins with scoring False Lead on second turn, me making money while denying CBGs, a Drudge Work and an Atlas, letting another one pass.

Later when adquen trashes an iced Marilyn and advances twice, it is the time for Apocalypse. I run the only iced central and after I spend six credits to break Border Control, my run ends unsuccessfully. I have to contest the remote, because letting Gagarin on matchpoint means having to check any new server – a losing proposition. Spending another six to break an Afshar yields an SSL for me. Having spent a lot of money, I liberate the last 4and then make a run HQ, reading the aggressive play as flood. Wrong.

Adqen deliberates for a long time and then installs, steals 4 from me and bankrupts himself to land four tags. With I have left, I remove two tags. But the Rashida he installed last turn "gets the job done" topdecking BOOM! The games decided by one credit difference are the pinnacle of competitive Netrunner for me. It was very exciting and I was shaken.



Gammagurke played what seemed like the labbES' list. I wasn’t familiar with the list enough to know it doesn’t play Crisium Grid, so the Cayambe with no advanced ice did good enough job delaying the looming Apocalypse turn by an eternity. Eventually, after several more rounds of nothing I got really bored, installed Stargate as my last card and then, missing one credit, died to Mausolus net damage. Note to myself: Click for one more credit against Weyland.



Miri was returning to the game after a year long pause with her Jinja prison deck and another great performance. But I capitalized on her sub-optimal ice placement and prevailed in the end.



I lost the game against lostgeek on Spombo Asa. I got anxious at one point and without calmly assessing the threat level, Apocalypsed maybe one turn too early, flipping my ~10 worth of economy. By the end I ran out of money to maintain pressure and lost a very close game.


The 50 % winrate is not very impressive, but I think that's due to my inexperience with this playstyle.

I believe everything that could be said about Domecon has already been said, so I'll just add: Thank you. To all of you.

13 comments
16 Feb 2020 lostgeek

Look at all those 3s. Glorious!

17 Feb 2020 Two_EG

How about Amped up or Moshing? I found them really strong in my Omar-Apocalypse deck. Amped up helps against tons of corp tricks (even that HHN-False Lead Combo!) and Moshing is so sweet with 9-heap breakers.

17 Feb 2020 adquen

For the record, I think it's the three Stargates that make this deck significantly better than Apoc Crim. Also, Amped Up would be indeed cool in the list, although I'm not sure what you can cut (Hacktivist, maybe?). I mean, you would obviously need three of, to maintain the beauty of this deck.

17 Feb 2020 Watzlav

I played Moshing initially and found it just OK, so I cut it. The only worse card was a Stimhack, that I haven't played once.

Amped Up was one of Dante's suggestions, but to me it seems too risky. You have one-in-five or higher chance of losing the Apocalypse, so you would either need to grip a second copy or have a Buffer Drive installed. Again, it might be that I'm not an Apoc player or that I'm only "medium punk rock" but I don't like the odds.

17 Feb 2020 moistloaf

now this is elegant

24 Feb 2020 Teemo

This deck is SOOOOO much fun to play! Love playing Maxx, but sometimes she can be a bit rough to pilot. But this is just smooth sailing!

24 Feb 2020 Havvy

Really wanting to pick this deck up and give it a go! Daft question time - Does Amped Up and Buffer Drive 'combo' with each other?

24 Feb 2020 DL7RRK

I haven't asked for this. But had fun. Congrats on this deck. Also winning the mat one time before makes me notorious now? XD

25 Feb 2020 Two_EG

Buffer Drive + Amped Up works like old SOT + Amped Up Apocalpyse combo. So Buffer Drive is basically like SOT but costs 3 credit and 1 inf more. Worth it? Well, I still find them necessary. I mean, not running Amped up + Buffer Drive against Jinteki(or even Argus) is what I would call 'risky'.

25 Feb 2020 namad

In one game I think Gachapon is much much worse than street peddler. The second you pop a gachapon, you reveal the cards to yourself and your opponent. It seems like almost every time I pop my first gachapon I reveal an apocalypse and my opponent puts a 2nd ice on a central server, asap.

Yeah I guess I could only ever pop gachapon's at the end of the corp's turn, but it can be hard to plan a strategy with a gachapon in play and 3 clicks remaining, because you have no idea what it will reveal.

Street peddler reveals the cards in question to you as soon as it's played, meaning you have all the information and the opponent has none. I think while street peddler only checks half as many cards for your ddos/stargate the fact it checks them secretly is a big advantage. It means you know what you've got and can pop it at the start of the exact right turn to fully exploit the corp.

Now in a best of 3, or best of 5? After game1 your opponent is 100% sure to know you have apoc. So gachapon is clearly far better, because it digs twice as hard as street peddler. I would assume domecon was best of 3's and finals maybe best of 5? or some such? But, hmm, for jnet casual I might prefer my peddlers?

26 Feb 2020 bowlsley

I might be wrong, but I think Buffer Drive would only trigger on Amped Up if it was installed in the same turn as the latter was played - because otherwise it would have already triggered on MaxX's ID and it's "once per turn".

26 Feb 2020 Two_EG

@bowlsley It's not about recurring ability. It's about RFG ability.

Buffer Drive RFG to put Apo on top -> draw -> Apocalypse.

28 Feb 2020 Labbes

this is my favorite writeup of all time