Iain's Creepy Sleepover

CapAp 953

I’ve been playing with this deck for a while now (since Off-Campus Apartment came out, I guess) and it’s always been a FUN deck to play, but it was never really GOOD. That changed when Film Critic dropped. Since adding her, a whole new world opened up with New Angeles City Hall, bringing Rachel Beckman into play, taking Account Siphon and Vamp to the next level, and not forcing me to rely on Decoy any more. And of course, The Source actually became playable once I wasn't trashing her myself.

Most people think Iain looks like a stick in the mud. A boring old professor, nose to the grindstone, digging through that deck till he can get his decrepit rig up and ready to score, then trying to take the lead back in the endgame just as time runs out; an inevitable metaphor for the pointlessness of life. Man, toss that idea right out the window.

[RECORD SCRATCH]

You’re gonna win this game by throwing the biggest party any weird old man ever threw.

[James Brown's "I FEEL GOOD" starts to play in the background]

The Party Place
Strip down to your underwear, throw on some shades, and start dialing numbers. Your Off-Campus Apartment is where the magic happens. You have 18 friends coming over, and every time one of them rings the bell, they invite someone else. This card is gonna draw half your deck for you! If only you could afford the third copy. But FFG wisely cramped Iain’s style at 10 influence. Oh well.

The Party People
Dude, we don’t have TIME to go over everyone you’re inviting! But let’s point out a couple of the real high-end attendees, the people who are gonna put this party on the MAP.

First off, The Supplier. You need to get in touch with this guy as soon as possible. He’ll basically be handling your invites for you, letting people into the Apartment every turn for $2 off the cover charge. Mulligan your starting hand if you don’t have either him, the Apartment, or a Hostage to grab him with. You simply will not believe how fast this combination burns through your deck.

The Helpful AI and his Underworld Contacts. Once you have a couple of these guys show up, the dough really starts to trickle in. Don't be afraid to Hostage for the other half once you get one into your hand (assuming you have The Supplier in play, natch). This is half of your economy. Ideally, once this stuff is out (and it will happen virtually every game, believe me), you’re making $5/turn, saving $2/turn on a free install, and getting a free draw off that install. And that's all before you wake up and take a shower for your first click.

But don’t stop there, broaden that social circle.

Film Critic. Yeah, everybody loves her, and for good reason. But in this deck, she doesn't just help you avoid Corporate troubles, she keeps your own friends feeling good. If you invite her, you don’t have to worry about playing by The Source's rules any more (but the Corp still does). She also means that your deal with the NAPD won’t go south, and that opens up some possibilities...

The Party Problem
So everyone’s having a great time till there’s a knock at the door, and it turns out they’re NOT strippers, they’re real cops. What to do? Pay em, that’s what. Get a deal going with the New Angeles City Hall. That way when you Account Siphon or Vamp, you can just make a quick donation and be on your way. Breaking News got you down? Not anymore, have the NAPD put a lock on that footage for ya. And don’t worry, as long as your Film Critic’s just “adding those agendas to your scoring area” rather than actually scoring them, City Hall doesn’t seem to care. Legal loopholes, huh?

And hell, now that we’re not worried about tags, I think we can invite Rachel Beckman. Give her a call once the NACH deal is in place if you need a fifth click to recover from all that early-morning partying you're doing.

And of course, just in case something unexpected happens, invite a few Fall Guys. You can always kick them out if somebody important down at the station gets their panties in a twist.

The Party Pooper
So everything seems like magic, right? I mean, you can’t be tagged, you’re making $7 a turn without any effort, you have 5 clicks, it takes the Corp an extra advancement to score anything, and half the time when you play a card you get to draw for free. What’s the downside?

Well, the honest truth is, the deck’s only weakness so far has been real life. Since Film Critic’s release, I’ve gone 51-2 with this deck at the time of this writing (losing once to a misplay which cost me my Aurora - making barriers impassable, and once to Haarpsichord, described in more detail below).

The problem is, none of those games were timed, and every tournament match is.

As much as I’ve played this deck now, a game still takes at least 45 minutes. I’d put my Iain up against ANYTHING out there right now and bet on it to win, but it just won’t make hay in a tournament format. So I’ve posted it here for people to enjoy casually, and I guess in hopes that someone will have the balls to try it in timed, and let me know how it does. Maybe someone else with lightning-fast judgement will be able to get it down to a playable time-frame. I just don’t think that, even if I took the fastest-playing Corp possible, I’d be able to get both sides in. (And this deck is ALWAYS playing at a point deficit, so timeout is not your friend.)

General Strategy
Obviously, you can’t lose resources or programs that are necessary, because you don’t have any way to get them back. Even when you know this, you can make mistakes. I drew on click 4 vs PE and then took a net damage, losing Aurora. Once my Overmind counters were gone, that was it. My other loss (Haarpsichord) was due to having a Breaking News go off while NACH was on my Supplier. Bye-bye tag protection, and all because I wanted to save a buck on installing NACH. Don’t be greedy. Draw on your first (and second if need be) click, then install anything that you can’t afford to lose (your programs, your NACH, your Film Critic, your Source, and to some degree, your Helpful AI).

Second, you have a lot of silver bullets in here. Luckily you can tutor for most of them with Hostage. Logos will let you find the rest. Prioritizing what you tutor for will make or break your play. Know what the correct “answer” to the deck type you are playing is, and get it out as soon as you can. It stands to reason that in some games you just won’t find what you need, but in my 53 recorded plays, it hasn’t been the reason I’ve lost yet. Iain always has a trick up his sleeve.

Once you have played cards to the table, get your redundant systems in place to protect them (Fall Guy, and to a lesser extent, Decoy). Sometimes you simply HAVE to steal two agendas in a turn (the horror!)

Biotic or Astro rush decks, wait until one agenda is scored, then get the Source and a Fall Guy out as fast as you can. Don’t be afraid of rush, really. It’s not a hard matchup. Source hurts the Corp WAY more than you think she does as long as you can keep her in play (versus a rush deck, you will probably want to save ALL THREE Fall guys to protect her if at all possible). Rush decks are usually woefully unprepared to protect against a sustained economy on this scale. You will have far more money than you need to get into servers, and you can trash SanSans (and other assets) where you find them with abandon. Don’t freak, keep your cool, be ready to run earlier than you’d like. Your apartment won't be as full as it gets most games, but you’ll win without too much trouble.

Butchershop and Haarpsichord are a different story. NACH is the all-star here, but you can’t tutor for it until they score (Logos), so be careful what is installed. Remember that Breaking News can hurt you really bad if you have an Apartment with 10 connections on it and no Fall Guy. Play it safe, let them score, get NACH. Once you do, you should always have enough money on hand to avoid any tags they can put on you, and Breaking News stops being scary. Film Critic makes Midseasons a non-issue.

Tag-and-Bag / Argus tend to be easy, since Film Critic hard counters Argus and Punative Counterstrike. You should usually win credit contests (Vamp and Siphon to swing the balance) if they are neccessary. NACH will protect you against a SEA Source or Posted Bounty, but again, you have to get it into play. Fall Guys and Decoys fill in the gap until you see it.

RP is a boring-ass slog of a matchup. You both want the game to last forever and will each be playing solitaire for a long time. Fortunately, you can make a LOT more money than RP can, so you will completely ignore his remote server till late game, and apply pressure on his HQ (dont waste Overmind counters though). When he makes a late-game move on what seems like a scoring window, take an assload of Kati money (or Call in some Favors for 15 credits) and Vamp the motherfucker. Ash and Caprice won't do anything if they don't see a paycheck. Same Old Thing him when he tries it again. You can sometimes suck the coffers dry a third time with a Siphon or two if you’ve had really bad luck with the centrals.

PE is a surprisingly stressful matchup, because the course of regular play means you will be taking damage at unexpected times, and that can ruin you if you don't watch out. NEVER LEAVE ANYTHING IN YOUR HAND THAT WILL WRECK YOU PERMANENTLY IF YOU LOSE IT. You can't get it back. That means your programs must be played the instant you find them in your hand. Yes, this will lead to inefficiency and a loss of surprise, and it really sucks for Femme but it’s virtually mandatory. If you lose NACH, it’s not the end of the world here, just don’t plan to play Rachel this game, and leave yourself enough clicks to work off the Siphon and Vamp tags. Remember that Film Critic protects you when you steal, and hoard those hit points for the thousand cuts you can't avoid. Iain wants to play most of his deck, so there will definitely be hard choices to make about what to play and what to hold.

Glacier is probably the worst matchup, because if they can get enough big ICE in front of their servers, you will deplete even Iain's astounding cash reserves running every turn. Try to keep them as poor as possible (Vamp or Siphon at opportune times) early game so their options are limited. They may just turtle up and earn as much money as they can, so don't waste your credits on runs that won't end in points. Remember that they're the one on a timer; you can wait until kingdom come for them to put something out that you can steal. You may end up just having to let them mill themselves to death, rather than getting into a position where you have no money and they have a scoring window.

Possible Changes? I just finished testing Pheromones in what had been the Lemuria Codecracker slot. They're both reasonable choices (surprisingly), but Sneakdoor Beta is currently testing in that slot, and so far I find it to be superior. Play it on click one late-game, after Overmind is useless. Then run for 12 HQ accesses. Nobody expects this kindly old gentleman to try the backdoor.

I'm also thinking a second NACH might be a reasonable slot, just for consistency. I would be happy to hear other suggestions.

Final Note: Always perform your best Drunk Ian McKellan impression while piloting this deck.

54 comments
9 Sep 2015 onibaku06

This deck is surprisingly strong. I've been getting my butt kicked with it.

9 Sep 2015 MidgardSerpent

I love the way you wrote this up... I'm going to give it a spin on Jinteki

9 Sep 2015 MidgardSerpent

Ok, that's about the most ridiculously brilliant deck I've ever seen. I ended the two games I played with under 10 cards in the stack and over 30 credits in my credit pool. Both games won with no programs at all...

If I might make a suggestion, it might be worth it go one or two above 45 and put in just a few more breakers. I lost mine to PE in one game and an ichi in the other before I got the engine going and just managed to beat them anyway.

9 Sep 2015 CapAp

That could be have value, cut the last slot and go 2x on the breakers. How did Ichi get you? Facecheck? I tend to be very conservative with my runs.

9 Sep 2015 MidgardSerpent

Yeah, Facecheck. I tend to run like an Anarch, which is how I won both games despite having no programs in either one.

9 Sep 2015 bloth

I played a deck like this out of Geist for a while, but after the first time I lost 12 cards to a Corporate Town unpreventably trashing my Off-Campus Apartment, I added some Drive-Bys.

9 Sep 2015 Badeesh

Awesome. I also get behind this being tournament friendly, but it is one of my favorite decks of all time. Connections Iain is a goodie, glad to see that there are still some devotees.

Missing the Medium though, and legworks. I love being able to smash face at the right moment.

9 Sep 2015 striatic

What percentage of the time would you say you are drawing NACH versus using Logos to get it?

9 Sep 2015 Mechanoise

This needs to be decklist of the week! It's interesting, unique, clever, and I am stoked to try it! :D

9 Sep 2015 MidgardSerpent

Best moment playing it so far was a Jinteki player hitting me with ShuKyu in the first turn... getting a ton of free creds for the -1 Agenda Point, then him hitting me with a second... and then tutoring out the Data Dealer and saccing both ShuKyu's for 18 creds.

9 Sep 2015 CapAp

@striatic I would say I Logos for it most of the time, maybe 60-70%. Depending on the matchup, it is usually the first thing I will grab, just because almost everything else can be had with Hostage. Sometimes I need an Overmind more.

9 Sep 2015 Blitz40k

Saw this played in person. It makes an insane amount of cred. I looked over and was like.. whoa.. look at all those phat stacks of cash. When calling in favors for only 8 credits is a weak play for this deck.. yeash. Plus the giant spread of cards you end up with all over your table kinda makes you giggle. A few things I can see may give issue would be PE net damage and Corporate town if you can't get in and trash it fast enough. I always wanted Ian to work but I couldn't make it happen. I'm glad you did it.

10 Sep 2015 Dydra

I've seen an Off-campus Andromeda already a few months ago ... generating crazy amounts of credits is part of the deck ... like nothing new here. Film Critic is an obv include in that deck and many others ...

10 Sep 2015 MidgardSerpent

I've run this deck eight times with a record of 5-3, with all three losses to Jinteki: Personal Evolution. After the second time I got nailed with a cerebral overwriter (in a single game), I dropped in three Drive By (without removing anything) and they have proven extremely valuable. The one thing I don't really get is why Overmind since this deck has no recursion and only 1 MU from the console. Perhaps because the meta on Jinteki.com involve so much Jinteki:PE, I tend to find myself short a breaker from net damage and stuck with used up Overminds I can't get back. I'll probably drop them and Vamp, and double up the existing breakers instead to pad against the loss to net damage.

10 Sep 2015 CapAp

@MidgardSerpent You play the Overmind early when it gets 4 counters, and it stays out as your ace in the hole if you need to get into a remote with a death card (like Corporate Town), or you facecheck an ICE that would mess you up. I can't imagine doing this deck without Vamp, or I'd have dropped it for a Deja Vu long ago. But if it's working for you, go with it!

@Dydra Well, looking at your posted decks, you are definitely the expert on publishing lists everyone has seen before, so I'll have to take your word for it! I'm just glad others are finding this one interesting.

10 Sep 2015 HopelessHeretic

For a long time I played a connections Andy deck and saw a lot of success with it. Since the release of Film Critic I've wanted to go back and play it again, but I never considered the fact that Film Critic prevents The Source and New Angeles City Hall from being trashed. Does the inefficient breaker suite work out for you? I splash for 2 Corroders and a single Gordian Blade to make my runs more efficient. I also deal with Caprice Nisei a little differently. I run Unregistered S&W '35. With Rachel Beckman it makes the killing of caprice in RP very doable. run hq run the scoring server they rez Caprice and you lose the psi game shoot Caprice Nisei run scoring server. I like the list might have to try it out.

10 Sep 2015 CapAp

@HopelessHeretic Yes, I've had great success with the breakers. People always laugh when they see Aurora or Peacock hit the table, but the truth is, those breakers are not terrible, they're just not OPTIMAL. The deck makes so much money you really don't notice the waste. The exception is when you're playing against a glacier deck that capitalizes on efficiency (which as I mentioned above, makes for the hardest matchup). I am not a fan of the S&W because it is so click-intensive, but this deck has lots of time and money so it might work!

Also, Drive By seems to be a popular suggestion, and it could definitely be strong depending on your meta. Locally, it got played a lot when it was released and people tend to pre-rez assets now, so I don't bother packing it.

11 Sep 2015 Dixie_Flatline

if I hadn't JUST discovered this, I would have taken it to the SMC finals in Atlanta. I'll tinker around with this though and try to get it moving quickly enough to play in a tournament, because it looks very fun

12 Sep 2015 sod_timber_wolf

Very nice list, will try it out, though I am wondering how do you stand up to being Marcus Batty-ed behind any kind of program destruction? Him being on HQ and fired off during your Vamp run might easily end the game...?

12 Sep 2015 jrp

Do you find the 2cr from Iain worth not playing Andy? If the combo is this good once set up, it seems you'd prefer the 9-card opener to even more drip.

12 Sep 2015 CapAp

@sod_timber_wolfYou know, in 50+ games I've never encountered Marcus in HQ, but I agree that would be nasty and a potential game-over. Based on comments here, I'm thinking it would strengthen the deck to go +Drive By / -Sneakdoor, and drop the Decoys for second copies of the breakers (46 card deck).

@jrp The Apartment is amazing, but The Supplier is the more important half and you can tutor for him. I don't feel drawing 4 cards at the start of the game is anywhere near as valuable as the credit drip Iain provides. YMMV.

12 Sep 2015 Arkhon

Like some of the others on here I've seen this out of Andromeda months ago (April/May kind of time) and agree that it makes crazy amounts of cash. The synergy with Film Critic probably makes it more viable now than it was then, but I don't see that you really need to be running Iain Stirling. Andromeda will get you far more consistent starts and the 5 extra influence means you can upgrade your breaker suite to one that's slightly more optimised.

12 Sep 2015 Arkhon

I should add, the version my friend was playing back then was using multiple Tri-Mafs, so it was effectively Opus economy. I haven't played it so I can't comment for sure but it feels like you shouldn't need the money from Iain. Playing Andromeda might reduce the maximum effectiveness of the deck, but I think the average performance will improve and, as the author notes, Iain makes it a really bad fit for tournament play because you're always behind and often time out. Andromeda solves both issues.

12 Sep 2015 manveruppd

This is the best deck description I've read since Can o'Whupass! Really enjoyed it! :)

On a serious note, how often do you find yourself installing all of your contacts? Do you generally ignore the board state until you have the cash to make repeated accesses? Or will you try to steal an advanced agenda in a remote even in the early game, before you've got your rig set up?

I'm also surprised that you went for Helpful AI over something like Dyson Memchips or even Access to Globalsec. I get that you can use a Hostage to tutor the AI and turn on your Underworld Contacts when you need them, but the influence you'd save could be used on so much cool stuff - maybe a Corroder to replace the awful Aurora, or an RDI or Maker's Eye.

12 Sep 2015 CapAp

@manveruppdThank you! Most games I go through the entire deck, so I usually have all three Contacts installed.

You can't totally ignore the board state early, and that's why Overmind is included. Sometimes early or mid game you NEED to get into a server to disrupt something. If they make it super easy to steal something, I will oblige; Data Dealer is in here for just that reason. But generally I want anyone except Weyland to be at 4-5 points before I start to move.

I have been wavering on the Helpful AI for a long time because I want to add a Deja Vu so badly, but I've never made the change. If only Globalsec was a connection!

I don't think Aurora is so awful. It is definitely inferior to Corroder, but with E3 you are usually talking a difference of 1-2 credits. Curtain Wall is actually cheaper with it! So for me, the influence would definitely go into some recursion rather than out-of-faction breakers. Five extra influence is actually the strongest argument for Andromeda, in my opinion.

12 Sep 2015 Bigguyforyou518

AkAnderson's Valencia version of this deck is much stronger, in my opinion.

netrunnerdb.com

He has the exact same obscene combo (Film Critic + The Source + New Angeles City Hall), but with Blackmail recursion as an infinitely more reliable scoring-window eliminator. It has Déjà Vus and Tropes for tons of recursion, as well as a full breaker suite and Pancakes/Wyldside/Faust with a Medium if someone removes your bad pub or is wasting Blackmails with Ash 2X3ZB9CY or Caprice Nisei.

Has the same problem of running games too long, and probably is slightly less consistent because it's Valencia, but otherwise looks like a much smoother ride.

13 Sep 2015 CapAp

@Bigguyforyou518I have to admit I'm confused... that deck shares a total of four cards in common with this one. I wouldn't call it a "version" of this deck in any way. They both utilize Film Critic to sidestep Source/NACH but it's not like either of us invented that combo. The decks appear entirely dissimilar to me.

13 Sep 2015 DarkMite2

I enjoyed the write up. FYI - You reference The Source as "her" more than once. The Source is actually the gentleman on right "whispering all those secrets" into her ear. Hence he's The Source.

That person is Tommy Haas, Director Haas' son. He's also the person on Hostage ransoming HIMSELF back to his mom. LOL! (That's why his fingers are crossed in that card image) I'm a big fan of theme / mythos in this game. Thought you'd like to know. =)

13 Sep 2015 CapAp

@lroach2 That's interesting! I always thought The Source was Smoke, but it makes much more sense that Thomas is HER "source". You learn something new every day!

13 Sep 2015 valerian32

You have lots of creds. I know that Overmind is good but... why not try to get in old expensive.... Cripsis? at least one of 2. Cripsis is expensive and slow. But you have all the creds you want and even the time.

13 Sep 2015 Crauseon

Let's just add (it seems like people haven't brought it up yet) how Elizabeth Mills can be the worst party pooper, like, ever.

It's an awesome deck, and really fun description, anyhows! I really enjoy it how the Netrunner community has taken up as its kind-of-a goal to compete not just with the power level of a deck, but with theme, style and write up as well. It really marks NR from the rest.

13 Sep 2015 CapAp

@Crauseon Elizabeth Mills isn't usually a problem because you can Fall Guy whatever she targets, and she trashes herself. Same goes for Contract Killer. People have brought up Corporate Town as more of a concern because it's "unpreventable".

13 Sep 2015 manveruppd

@CapApI hear you on Andromeda, that 5 extra influence would make a huge difference, get you your clone chip, a Corroder, and even a Zu to replace Peacock. The most tempting include might be a Levy so you can cycle back trashed Fall Guys/NACH/etc. Debatable whether you'd ever get to use it though, I used to run drip Andy/Ian (tried both) several months ago and it's EXTREMELY slow. With Andy not gaining Ian's 2cr/turn to help set up her rig, she might actually be even slower.

14 Sep 2015 Tozar

Congrats on getting featured and thanks for listing my decklist as an inspiration! I'll definitely try out your variation sometime. I've included a lot of the same cards from recent packs in my current version as well. I've yet to try out Rachel with New Angeles, but I can see that being good against RP, which i have trouble with.

15 Sep 2015 Trenzor

This is one of those ridiculous decks that you just have to love. I'll have to try it out online.

15 Sep 2015 Superjank

@CapAp Marvelous deck, but I'm slightly confused as to how Film Critic negates trashing The Source?

FC says that the agenda is no longer being accessed and is uninstalled, but it also states that you can spend click click to "add an agenda hosted on Film Critic to your scoring area".

By the nature of adding the agenda to your scoring area, are you not scoring it? Thus firing the trash instruction on The Source?

If it is indeed a legal loophole, then I think that the Corp would be justified in saying that if you are not "scoring" the agenda, then you don't get the points for it..... just a thought.

15 Sep 2015 Superjank

@CapAp Forgive my fried brain - the Corp scores agendas... not the runner.

Goodnight :-/

15 Sep 2015 Crashdown

Chronos Protocol: Selective Mind-mapping + Neural EMP will mop the floor with this.

-1 The Source -1 Rachel Beckman +1 Levy AR Lab Access

...and it's lot less to think for old men. ;)

15 Sep 2015 MidgardSerpent

It's a good thing nobody runs Hellion Alpha Test. Putting a resource on the top of your deck can't be protected against by trash prevention. Beat that trace or a frenzied robot beast mauls everyone in your party leaving you nothing but a bloody apartment the next morning.

17 Sep 2015 AkAnderson

@Bigguyforyou518 Hey, thanks for the shoutout!

@CapAp I kinda did something like this before I did it with Val. It was with Andy and went something like this: netrunnerdb.com

I found that Andy was a little too slow and even when I got everything up and running, I was too far behind. I know mine is a lot more in on the 'Combo' than yours appears to be but it still looks like it might be a step behind. I'm glad we both dig the same cards though, hopefully your games go better than mine went.

17 Sep 2015 tbigfish

Seems like Andy is a stronger basis for this deck, given that you get stronger mulligans and also more influence to build a decent breaker suite. You can even include Street Peddler, who is ridiculous good.

netrunnerdb.com

19 Sep 2015 CapAp

@MidgardSerpent I dunno, I think it would be the same situation as Snatch and Grab. You always have so much money that trace cards never look like a worthwhile play to the Corp. The "runner has to pay first" thing from Data and Destiny would change that, I guess.

@Crashdown Chronos Protocol is actually weaker than either RP or PE against this deck. You just draw on the early clicks and play out your programs when you get them (as against PE). Everything else you can really afford to lose. CP doesn't have the sustainable damage output that PE has.

20 Sep 2015 lmm

Having played my own variant of Supplier Iain with a lot more econ cards in, how do you get consistent money, at least early? Sure you're netting 7c/turn clickless once you're fully set up - but that's quite a way in, and assuming the corp is obliging enough to score (I played one very mean RP deck that simply left their agendas on the table with 4-5 advancement counters on, alongside the failed traps). Against NEH you what, Logos out The Source early sure, but that only turns the AstroTrain into a never-advance play. Do you have time to check everything? And what's your SEA-Scorch protection that early? Or do you spend the first few turns doing a lot of clicking for credits?

20 Sep 2015 tbigfish

@lmm You don't, you just sit there with no cash! This deck doesn't work against anything that does anything quickly.

20 Sep 2015 CapAp

``@lmm` you're not going to run anything early, and you hardly need any money to play your cards. You do sometimes have to click for creds to get Logos into play, but you can tutor Kati or Tri-Maf early if you can tell the corp wants to turtle.

@tbigfish I think the very first comment on your Andy "version" of this deck shows that you don't actually spend much time thinking about deck construction before making statements, so I'll just let your ignorance speak for itself.

20 Sep 2015 lmm

@CapAp It's not when the corp wants to turtle I'm worried about, it's a fast NEH-type deck where they're astrotraining and/or scoring behind single ICE. I've published my deck for comparison ( netrunnerdb.com ) and even pre-Drug Dealer I found I would struggle to have the 4 credits to install Overmind early, never mind using it. Admittedly I haven't tried Tri-Maf, but I ran Symmetrical Visage at one stage and it didn't seem to do much.

20 Sep 2015 CapAp

@lmm Well, rush decks get ahead and trigger Iain almost immediately. I've had issues with getting Overmind into hand promptly, but not with having the money to play it. NEH can score 2-3 times before you even need to play defense, and you use all that time setting up. I honestly have found rush to be one of the easier matchups with the deck, but you might try a couple of Inside Jobs if single servers are giving you trouble.

21 Sep 2015 tbigfish

@CapAp Great job making it personal. I'll be going then.

9 Oct 2015 ADHiDef

LOVE the write up. and LOVE this deck. I'm still trying to get the hang of that intuition you're talking about when it comes to knowing what cards to retrieve and when. A hard recurring choice keeps popping up that I hope you can help with. If you don't have a Supplier or off-campus in your opening hand, when that first hostage shows up, how often do you fetch Mr. Li?

10 Oct 2015 CapAp

@ADHiDef Thanks for the kind words! With neither Supplier nor Off-Campus after a mulligan, I might Hostage for Mr Li but it's more likely I would just go straight for The Supplier. I know it feels like a waste to use a tutor for a 3-of, but Supplier will let you move cards through your hand even if you don't have any money coming in. Nothing sucks worse with this deck than drawing cards and having to click-for-credits to play them.

However, if you have the early econ to play what you are drawing (maybe you had Tri-Maf or Kati in opener, or Corp scored fast), then Mr Li is a great choice and will usually get you into Supplier quickly anyway.

1 Nov 2016 TheFool

Hi, I was wondering if it would make a huge difference if I took out Vamp and replaced it with something else? Also, I'm new lol

23 Jan 2017 Paolo Cole

Thank you for this fun deck which I am currently testing during casual play! I like it very much and surprises my opponents.

I would like to ask how to deal with Aggressive Secretary and Cerebral Overwriter.

At the beginning of the game I agree that it does not matter if I see an advanced card: the corp will score it and I would get the 2 credits. But in the mid game, if the Corp has already 4 points and I am not yet fully equipped to establish R&D lock for agendas and ambushes and to have checked all the Corp's hand, it happens that the Corp advances a card in a server and I MUST run there to check... finding myself in front of the secretary or the overwriter. Today I lost the only fracter against a secretary and I obviously lost the game against the Wraparounds (I managed to femme one of them but I had to pay each time 7 credits+1 token with the Overmind for the other one).

Even if I manage to establish soon R&D lock and check the entire Corp's hand, it may be that in the very early game against NBN a card is installed and it receives a lot of advancements. It may be a Project Beale and thus sooner or later I have to run, but it may be the secretary or the overwriter and I may lose my rig or my brain. With a more traditional runner I would run after the first couple of advancements and get a maximum of two brain damages, but with this deck I cannot afford to lose cards. Today it happened twice: once I did not run and it was a Beale and the Corp scored 6 agenda points (a Breaking News ended later the game)! The second time it was an overwriter and luckily I did not run...

I understand that it is not common in the current tournaments' meta to see ambushes, especially out-of-faction in NBN. But it may happen in casual games and, as soon as the Corp realizes the weak spot of this deck, it will start the beale-or-ambush game. Do you have any suggestion, apart from trying to be full rigged as son as possible?

24 Jan 2017 Tozar

A single Lemuria Codecracker is a solid influence free response to this type of play. You can also siphon them to 0 to prevent any ambushes from being fired.

25 Jan 2017 Paolo Cole

Thank you very much, I will try the Lemuria in my next games!