Tale of the Fox and the Swordsman

Hongkong Koma 271

This deck took me through the Zurich Spring League 2017 (ANRZH) to a second place and is still one of my favorites.

The ID: PU is dangerous and punishes careless runners. Only by being careful, he gets out alive. The deck managed to kill through two Levys, Net Shield and Feedback Filter most of the time by decking the runner. Forget that nonsense talk about "potatos", PU cuts deep and is far away from being vegan at all.

Agendas:

Assets: Not big deal.

Upgrades:

Usually I went with 3 Hokusai Grid, but these days Shapers start camping remotes again and so Caprice Nisei is of much more use.

Operations:

ICE:

  • Kakugo works beautifully with your ID. Place it on centrals and your scoring remote.
  • Aiki and DNA Tracker too. Runners need to get their decoder and their killer, otherwise it's lethal.
  • Crick on archives is gold to recur so much good stuff.
  • Mind Game is basically an ETR or redirects runners into traps or archives.
  • Pop-up Window in front of RnD gave me so often the forth cred to fire a Snare!.
  • Swordsman is against AI, which is otherwise a real danger for this deck. And hey, a net damage!
  • Tsurugi is plain mean here.
  • The true stars of the deck are - and that's why you need to get rid of AI breakers - Data Mine and Kitsune. Nobody expects the fox, but actually it fires most of the time. You can even feed a Fetal to the runner.

Just keep on pressuring the runners deck, disturb their setup. Deal damage whenever you can, don't go for a killshot, this deck is intended to grind runners out.

4 comments
5 Jul 2017 qvm

I was indeed surprised when I got a snare fed via a Kitsune!

One thing this deck misses (from an opponents point of view) is psychic field. I was happy to check all your remotes, I dont mind eating snare as it costs you 4. The only thing I fear is psychic field.

5 Jul 2017 Hongkong Koma

Psychic Field is nice indeed, but Deck Slots are tight. PF does not protect centrals, does not work with Kitsune and needs a psi game to fire. Usually you just don't build remotes here except the one scoring remote.

One might consider adding a Sapper or Chrysalis for extra Kitsune fun, but most runners have a killer before they start running against Jinteki.

5 Jul 2017 Veste

I like it, and I've been playing something similar. I have two questions: 1.) Why Sundew? I understand the money and pressure but with the amount of Whizzard running around and just tech in general for dealing with assets - does it really ever stay up for more than 1 turn? Are you using ICE on this? I guess I just feel like those slots might be better as IPO or Celebrity Gift or some other operation econ.

2.) I think you're right about the swap for Obokata Protocol, however I am just curious on your thoughts on it with the proliferation of Film Critic in the meta again. I just foresee that being too easy to deal with, even though I love the card.

5 Jul 2017 Hongkong Koma

@Veste

1.) Sundew is put behind ICE, sometimes protected by Caprice or Hokusai. Don't install it naked. In this deck I don't like the Giraffes, because you have to keep HQ secret. You often juggle ambushes and agendas around. IPO might work, but Sundew really makes runners run into you traps.

2.) Voter Intimidation! Maybe even two copies. Jackson/Preemptive it back. Re-use it with Archived Memories. Or use the influence you get from GFIs for an MCA Informant.