OTK Whizz (5th/6th Sydney Regionals)

Gizmaluke 216

This deck was carried to 5/6th at Sydney Regionals by my corp deck - https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/43979/hb-rush-4th-canberra-5th-6th-sydney-regionals- . It went 2-2 in swiss and 0-1 in the cut. I hadn't played Siphon Whizz before last week and only had time for around 10 games prior, so some terrible play errors hurt. But the tournament showed me two things about this deck. It does the thing reliably, and it will get much stronger when Mars for Martians is released.

The Thing

Seeing enough of RnD to reliably reproduce the corps full decklist. Spend the game building up tags, getting your conspiracy breakers into the bin/board, moneying up, and keeping the corp unable to score. Then use Counter Surveillance to see a large number of cards from RnD - often closing the game in one run.

Step 1 - Build Tags

Siphons are brilliant in some matchups and situations but there is so much hate out there for that strategy right now that they can't be relied on. Even if you think you may not land a full siphon, it can still create pressure and poverty. Plus this deck is often happy to take any number of credits to get the tags.

Joshua B is the real work horse on this front. He allows you to setup 25% faster while building up a tag per turn. Be aggressive with your placement of him but not foolish (which I arguably was in the cut). Having the corp contest resources gives you more time to setup but it shouldn't be made easy for them.

Step 2 - Install Counter Surveillance and run

If possible, keep RnD ICE unrezzed and get the corp to 0 credits to save money for accesses. You can't use Eater and still see cards. On successful run, if you don't have credits equal or greater to your number of tags you will not see any cards.

It is often worth firing early if you have Obelus down. The card draw will allow you to quickly setup for another attempt.

Tag Punishment

Closed Accounts Off-shore money once your resources are safe and keep a day job in hand if possible. Liberated accounts should be as loaded as possible. With Day Job and Josh B you can go from 0 to 12 credits in a turn. Kati is brilliant with Counter Surveillance.

The All-Seeing I Activist Support can provide the bad publicity necessary to counter this card as well as being brilliant for keeping up with asset spam. Could go up to two copies if you see ASI a lot. Mining Accident may replace this slot depending on testing.

Psychographics Siphon spam to keep them off the big score.

Exchange of Information This never bit me during testing against Sync. Their ICE helps you build tags very quickly and they are vulnerable to Siphon spam. This allowed me to OTK much earlier in the game.

BOOM! This holds you off going tag me until you see Obelus or Jarogniew Mercs. There are quite a few ways to play around depending on the cards in hand which aren't too hard to work out. Only tip I'll give is to get Counter Surveillance on board and keep IHW in hand if you're relying on hand size from Obelus. This makes it easier to survive two booms in a row and often draws you into your mercs.

2 comments
3 Jul 2017 BobAloVskI

I was watching you play your first round match with this. I saw the big 11 card dig on R&D and just how brutal it can be.

I did wonder how the Sync BOOM! matchup would go but if you get Obelus down and stay above seven cards you should be pretty good to win. Two BOOM!s in two turns could get you but if you manage their credits that should not be an issue. And if you can get Jarogniew Mercs down I think that pretty much turns off their kill.

3 Jul 2017 Gizmaluke

I play tested against Lyndon who won Canberra regionals with Sync a bit. I lost terribly in our first games (when it was a Reina deck lol), but with some edits and adjustments to strategy I did really well in our next set of games. Haven't done enough testing but it feels like a favourable matchup.

You're spot on about the credit control in that matchup. It's so easy to do once you're happy to go tag-me but there is some nuance in making the switch. 1c can equal a Boom next turn. Plus credit advantage is your only reliable way to access cards through resistor and it will eventually turn off any financial benefit to siphons. So the credit advantage needs to be maintained.