♌ Old School Stirling 2

Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Repartition by Cost
Repartition by Strength
Derived from
♌ Old School Stirling
Inspiration for
None yet
Include in your page (help)

Pyjam 523

My first try with the new criminal identities. With only two well-known connections, this isn't Iain and his buddies. I'm more interested by the couple Stirling / Logos. I hope Stirling isn't the runner who loses very rich.

There isn't a lot of new tricks in this deck, although Stirling + Logos is enough to force a new tempo for both the Runner and the Corp.

I don't want to steal an agenda too early with this deck. I think it would be detrimental. The early game is devoted to installation and siphoning.

The most important thing is to install Logos as soon as possible. I mulligan without Logos or (Express Delivery + 1 econ card + 1 breaker). There's a lot of sources of incomes to help the early game: Sure Gamble, Dirty Laundry, and Daily Casts. Kati is reserved for the mid and late game. I don't want to waste clicks loading Kati too early.

I avoid face-checking. The last thing I want is to steal an agenda before the Corp. At least, not until I'm fully installed.

For this reason, the early game could be disturbing because the Corp could score a naked agenda if she dares, although, with Logos installed, this helps the Runner a lot.

It is there that the situation is interesting. A cautious Corp should not score an agenda too early (when Logos is in play). At least, certainly not a 2/1 agenda like Hostile Takeover. The consequences could be really devastating. The Corp should build a good position before all.

There's a lot of breakers and tutors in this deck. As soon as you have a Faerie and a Passport or a Corroder, you can blindly siphon the Corp. Even if doesn't work, you can replay the card later with Same old Thing.

I prefer to remove the tags with Lawyer Up, so I draw three new cards, maybe another Account Siphon or something useful. The VoicePAD can pay for the Lawyer Up, this is great.

The VoicePAD, helped by Passport and Faerie, provides a protection for the Corroder against Power Shutdown. They are also an additional source of incomes, of course, but I add them mostly for the Corroder protection.

I prefer Crash Space over Plascrete Carapace when I play Criminal because I'm not fond of tag-me, specially against NBN and Weyland. It's just a matter of preference and the Carapace is good too, of course.

Once you have installed Corroder, Gordian Blade or Passport, Garrote, and Medium, you can start to hammer R&D. This is the main strategy. Nihil novum sub sole.

If you feel the Corp has some agendas in hand, it's time to play Legwork. I think one is enough if played at the right time, but you can same-old-thing it later if necessary.

I have removed all expose cards in this version for the better or the worse. I have to test this deck against a wider range of Corp decks to see if it was a good idea.

3 comments
21 May 2014 CJFM

These are just some initial impressions to what I consider is a pretty solid build. Thanks for sharing!

With 2x Crash Space, it might not be worth it to have 3x Lawyer Up. I usually have 2x even if I'm going for heavy Account Siphon play. I expect to pay for removing the tags at least twice per game anyway (even if you average 3 Siphons). I do like using Lawyer Up as an expensive Card Draw engine, though.

Not sure why you need 2x Passport since you're also splashing for GordBlade, are Code Gates giving you a lot of trouble? I'd probably go down to 1 Passport. (You have 2 Special Orders already to grab that missing Breaker)

Might consider going Medium-less since you're playing voice-pad and do a 1-of Makers Eye or Indexing on the splash, also a good target for Planned Assault. I do realize that you hit your memory limit perfectly with Logos, your four breakers (not including a second copy of a code-gate breaker) and Medium. But if you decide to go with a Makers or Indexing, I'd probably go up to 3 SOT.

As for economy, you've only got 1 Kati and 1 Hostage, giving you a 25% chance of hitting her in your opening hand. Not terrible, but not great. Given the card draw/card quality advantage with Lawyer Up, Express Delivery, and Hostage, this MIGHT be enough, but you might need one or two other ways to get her (or just another copy of Kati) if you find yourself unable to reliably get her out. I mean, you have other things to find with Express Delivery, and you also want to Hostage for Johnny sometimes too. I haven't done any testing with Express Delivery yet. My intuition tells me that it's fine for card quality. The card you want is not guaranteed to be in those 4. If you have to ED for a Hostage to Hostage for Kati, wouldn't you just rather have another Hostage or Kati?

21 May 2014 Pyjam

Thank you for the feedback.

I do not need 2 Passports. I added a 2nd copy because it's cheap and it can help to siphon earlier. That's the only reason. Maybe a Breach would be a better idea, or something completely different like one Emergency Shutdown. The 3rd Faerie is also always useless but I'm happy to get one copy early.

I can assure you that I do not need Kati in the early game. Daily Casts is way faster than Kati. I need clicks to draw and install cheap cards. Do not forget that I win 2 credits/turn when the Corp is leading, and Logos is another tutor for Kati or Account Siphon. Sometimes I've tutored a Sure Gamble instead of Kati because SG is +6 credits for a click if two VoicePAD are installed.

I might consider Maker's Eye or Indexing but Medium works really well.

21 May 2014 fdubois

I like your deck a lot....and your thoughts too as usual.

"A cautious Corp should not score an agenda too early (when Logos is in play). At least, certainly not a 2/1 agenda like Hostile Takeover. The consequences could be really devastating. The Corp should build a good position before all."

This assertion is interesting and makes me think a lot about the early game as this will entice the corp to play "unnaturally" (benefit from early game to rush). You are right, Iain is certainely an artchetype that will have an impact on the corp playing style.

I konw that your are a fond of John Masanori but i still can't see why appart : 1) running open archives 2) after a siphon when the corps isn't able to rez ices