Stealthy DrugDeela

This is the Leela deck that I have been enjoying regularly in my casual playgroup and on Jinteki.net. It is loosely based on @x3r0h0ur's Kitty Cornered decklist (https://netrunnerdb.com/en/decklist/38386/anrpc-glc-2016-1st-place-kitty-cornered-aka-241-leela).

The idea of the deck is to use the low econ, Drug Dealer + Faust shell and replace Faust with the stealth breaker suite in criminal. Now, I don't have any cards past Data & Destiny so I don't use them. I also normally don't play MWL in my casual group; if you want to go that way, replace the #Networking with a single #Levy AR Lab Access or a single #Clone Chip (for #Marcus Batty).

~ General Strategy ~

Early game you want to get set up as quickly as possible. I would only install 2 #Drug Dealers if the Corp has scored an agenda and you still haven't seen more than 1 of your breakers / Special Orders. #Hostage actually does work in this deck because your connections are all big cards. #Kati Jones lets you store money that your dealer won't touch; #Dr. Lovegood lets you save 1c a turn on drugs (beginning to see a theme yet?), and #Film Critic lets you dodge Midseasons which you will never have money for. Try hard to get a single #HQ Interface down before you get hooked on drugs because this deck has a lot of trouble getting to 4c for that install and installing it later will likely cost you a turn. It's also important to get as many #Gang Sign 's in play as possible before the corp scores their first agenda.

There will come a time when you have 2 #Drug Dealers set up (unless you get really lucky early). At this point, you want to always end your turn at 0c. There are many tricks to do this, discussed in the card choices section. The Corp will definitely think that you are weak and you want to play off of that.

Once you are somewhat set up, you want to pressure the remote for free while your Gang Signs and HQ Interface passively pressure HQ. Once you are set up the corp will be shitting their pants and their only hope will be to fast advance agendas or stack the remote ~4 deep with ICE. Fast advancing will essentially give you a free #Legwork every time, and if the remote gets big you may have an opportunity to #Account Siphon + #Emergency Shutdown and still get in. Generally this is when you want to install your #R&D Interface off of some Kati money and start running R&D once a turn.

If the corp has less than 20 cards in their deck and isn't on game point you often just win the game for free off of the classic Gang Sign-Leela snowball combos. The main things to watch out for in the late game are program trashing and getting flatlined. I sometimes run this deck with a Deja Vu or Clone Chip to account for this but you have to change up the deck quite a bit to fit this in.

~Specific Cards ~

-> #Drug Dealer: My entire goal with this deck was to build around this card without using #Faust. You will generally pitch the last copy of this in every game that you play, but running 2 means that you never see it early enough. The fun in playing the deck is that you always want to end your turns at 0c in order to get that card draw for free (unless you have only 1 installed with #Dr. Lovegood out).

-> #Easy Mark (over #Sure Gamble): This card does work in this deck! You can install every single card except the interfaces off of 0c. Never use these unless you have to, you will regret it later.

-> #Hostage, #Data Dealer, #Dr. Lovegood, #Film Critic #Kati Jones: This is the current connection suite that I play. If you have #Political Operative you definitely want to slot that. Hostage fetches the one you need (or a #Drug Dealer), Film protects you when you are at low credits, Data Dealer acts as insurance for a critical run, Dr. Lovegood lets you push off that 0c stage for as long as possible. Kati is probably the most important card in the deck. Sometimes I run 2. You want to see her early and to offshore all of your money onto her for those big turns.

NOTE: Sometimes I take this suite out in favor of a slightly different version: -1 Hostage, -1 Dr. Lovegood, -1 Film Critic +1 Kati Jones, +1 Deja Vu, +1 Drive By I've also toyed around with Councilman and Political Operative on Jnet (I don't own them), but a lot of the time you don't have the money to pay for them. However they can save your ass from #Marcus Batty or #Caprice Nisei.

-> 3 #Desperado: You want to see this before you are hooked on drugs. Ends up paying for an install just about every turn.

-> 2 #Bank Jobs: Against glacier this is often just a dead card. If your meta is asset heavy then find a way to run 3.

-> #R&D Interface: I've played with this deck a lot and I found that it needed just a touch of R&D pressure. Against experienced corp players, Leela's ability becomes a lot less useful, and if they can avoid getting flooded your Gang Signs don't pull their weight quite as well. Honestly though, just trash every #Jackson Howard that you see and you should be alright.

~ Other Cards ~

As mentioned above, #Councilman and #Political Operative can work well with the connection tutoring suite. I'm not as good at using them but maybe you are. Finding a way to slot recursion can save your ass as well. I often don't play with #Networking and just cry when I get HHN. I love to slot Levy &/or CC when I play with my partner 'cause we don't play MWL. #Drive By can protect you from upgrades that will ruin your day 9/10 times. Also I don't play with #Plascrete Carapace because I'm ballsy, definitely gets me killed sometimes though.

~ Closing Thoughts~

If you like to play Gang Sign Leela then I highly recommend giving this deck a shot in a casual playroom near you. Its a blast to balance on the knifes edge of 0c while still maintaining both HQ and Remote Lock. Lots of flexible card slots means that you can put your own unique spin on it as well.