Boise, Idaho Regional 2nd Place 5/9/15 - SexX Bob-omb

I loved watching this deck. I'm not usually a fan of eater/keyhole MaxX, but the amount of pressure that the DLR and Johnny add are just incredible. This is the most aggressive deck I've seen in a while. and you piloted it fantastically. And, while you didn't win, watching the final round play out was one of the most fascinating rounds of Netrunner I have ever seen.

Dude you had that guy dead to rights having killed him 3 times previously in the swiss and rounds of 8. After you wrecked two Tollbooths on HQ you should have ran HQ over and over again, he had 3 agendas protected by a single pup until the end of the game. I wondered if you had forgotten that you can pay through pup with that 20ish credits you got with your siphon lock?

I wish I had pulled you aside and pumped you up, coached you a little. You are always so confident and calm that it was hard to tell that his little sniping comments were getting in your head and the fatigue was getting to you. Over the course of 5 games it seemed like he got in your head and wore you down little by little. A lesson to us all to that tournaments are more about the practice you have put into the game and overcoming the fatigue then it is about what decks you or your opponent is playing. Better luck next year!

Thanks Saan! The high octane aggression is why I play this deck, it's like netrunner-crack for me. It was a great series in the final and I had a helluva time.

Elthane, you're right, I was certainly slipping and making mistakes by the time the grand finals rolled around. I don't think even I realized my mind was slipping until it was a little too late to do anything about it. Still though, I lost to a fantastic player who was able to turn it up when I couldn't, full credit to him for the wins.

Hey, Nyan, nothing really to say about the deck; seems to speak for itself! Just wanted to take a quick sec and applaud you on your attitude toward the fellow who beat you. Super classy. I love how full of respect the Netrunner community usually is. :)

Here here, I also commend Nyan for his excellent sportsmanship. The Netrunner community is lucky to have him. While recognizing the legitimacy of both player's wins and the tendency in us all to be defensive towards those closest to our metas/playgroups, I think it is important to be critical of Nyan's opponent who consistently called Nyan's wins "lucky" or accused Nyan of slow playing his MaxX deck, claims which were frankly preposterous.

I did ? I remember telling him he was the best eater maxx player I ever played against and stuff. Sure I had some poor draws that I complained about a bit but umm ... I started with none of my cheap ice in any of the 3 games. So is the variance if netrunner, if Isaac feels I was devaluing his wins or his play in anyway With my comments I sincerely apologize.

Your fave is problematic: Kyle -said he got some bad draws -won

Love this deck tho. Having spent months a while ago trying MaxX with two friends also trying to make her work it's awesome to see a successful list still kicking.

I didn't feel like you devalued my wins, particularly the first one I got off easy due to the draws and I can recognize that with no malice, I think I pointed that out more than you did.

No offense meant and none taken Kyle, I felt like we had a great series and I have no issues losing to someone with your abilities and cool play under pressure. I think there's a fine line between competitive spirit and poor sportsmanship and at times that's easy to mistake one for the other, but I don't feel like that line was crossed. As far as I'm concerned we parted on good terms and looking forward to facing you again sometime!

And just to cap this off from a spectator perspective the PDX crew spent at least like half an hour total over the course of the next 16 hours saying how much we loved the Utah players, so hopefully the feeling is mutual. Back to deck discussion.

Really great deck and even better pilot. Some of the plays you were making made me scratch my head, then they'd pay off in ways I never saw coming. That's why I couldn't best you in the SC when it really mattered and why you're the best MaxX player I know. I thought those final games in Boise were very well played by both guys. Bluebird man, you play a near flawless, methodical game. Sadly I didn't get a chance to really meet or play against any of you Portland guys ... which is my own fault because I had such a poor tourney (mostly self inflicted). Come to Utah when we get to host a Regional next year ;)

As for any comments that throw off players, I would say that sometimes players say things that unintentionally sound rude. We shouldn't take those things to heart, chances are there wasn't anything meant by them (got to give people the benefit of the doubt). In a competitive setting, just like in sports, mental fortitude is part of the game too. The best will lock down their focus no matter what's happening or being said. After seeing Elthane, Nyan AND Bluebird play and win in tournaments now, I can say that all 3 of you have got that aspect of the competitive game mastered. It's been great to learn from you guys cause you're all extremely strong players.

Sorry for the tangent. Now, the deck. I think the only changes from your Blackfyre SC winning deck are the data suckers and maybe another parasite? Right? This deck is a deck that can seriously punish any and all mistakes by the opponent or their deck. DLR does work when you're least expecting it too. It's nasty. Congrats on the finish.

What everyone else said, +1 more for Scott Pilgrim reference

Very well, I retract my statements. Perhaps it was merely poor perception on my part. I apologize if I caused offense.

Great deck, great pilot. I must say I am surprised by just how much work this deck can get done with only 8 real sources of economy, that is if you count the 2 account siphons. The real revelation that I had was how sometimes activating joshua b. and taking 5 credits was the right play.

Nyan... I still want to talk HB with you :D. Also I want your thoughts on RegAss MaxX. Thanks for posting your list.

You are an awesome player and an even more awesome dude! Thanks for your example in being gracious in defeat and humble in victories.

Let's play... We still haven't faced each other :P

@Elthane I honestly don't remember all that transpired in the tournament, it's become kind of a blur. I don't mind if you check me if I did something wrong, and well I was posting from school before. I want Netrunner to be a good community that people want to play in and take part of. I do think I probably complained too much about having bad hands, but it wasn't like @NyanPudge didn't play extremely well in those situations, and it wasn't like I wasn't completely screwed :P Also, The hole I was in was not due to bad luck in that finals game, I definitely could have played better(probably in every game of the tournament), I'm far from perfect. To be honest, I had plenty of luck on my side in most of the games of the tournament including both games of the finals, and I'm not afraid to admit it, there were times where I could lose any moment. Netrunner does have an element of variance and to be a good player you need to embrace that and just do the best with what you have to work with.

@NyanPudge you and your deck gave me tough choice after tough choice, and punished me over and over. Often times players will give me time and space that they shouldn't to get out of bad situations, but you were really good at going after my weakness. You pivoted from pressuring HQ to RnD to Archives, and even threatened to mill me out(and probably would have, had I not specifically scored the Hades). Yeah, I had some agendas that you might have gotten had you known in that final game, but I tried to play in a way that you didn't know about them, and don't let anyone fault you for the way you played it out, this game is hard, and you played like a regional champion. I still have that game playing out in my head and regret several things(like not using the etr on that first siphon so you can't kill my tollbooth!) and plenty of smaller optimization things that could have had a large impact.

Anyways if anyone has any questions or anything feel free to pm me @bluebird503` on stimhack. I don't want to hi-jack this awesome decks netrunner db any further.

@NyanPudge Wish I had stayed to watch you pilot this deck again. I'm still looking forward to putting my Biotech deck up against this sometime.

Holy comments batman, thanks for all the feedback gents!

@Heartthrob, same number of parasites, the changes are the added datasuckers and one more Grimoire, also dropped Singularity because it just wasn't carrying its weight.

@Elthane, when I originally put this together I was kind of worried about how light it was on economy, but as it turns out its usually enough if you're able to apply the kind of pressure it is. And you're right, the take 5 play with Joshua is underrated, it's kind of amazing how much better it is than taking 4.

@yeoda, for sure man, let's talk on facebook and get some matches in. My HB deck was also posted if you want a look at it, we'll talk.

@bluebird503, thanks again! I'm flattered you have that much regard, the feeling's certainly mutual and I have immense respect for how you continually adapted and performed better against my style as the day went on, it speaks volumes to your ability that you're able to make those adjustments on the fly during an event. Hindsight is a powerful thing and there are sure decision I wish I had made differently, but you were ice cold under pressure and absolutely deserved the win with how well you played. I look forward to doing it again.

Have you tried getting lamprey in the deck? Seems to do wonders for Reina.

@gumonshoe I did try Lamprey out briefly but found it to be one of those cards I was never really that glad to see, and because memory can be an issue if you don't see your Grimoire early I elected to cut it. I certainly get why it works well for Reina headlock lists, I've been on the receiving end of them several times, but it doesn't quite fit well enough to justify the slot to me.

Two quick questions! (also super congrats on piloting MaxX to 2nd! She is my fave and I was pushed over the edge to give her a shot at regionals thanks to your success)

1.) Since you are already running planned assault, do you think it might be worth running knifed and spooned or a copy of Vamp? Maybe in exchange for 1 copy of either keyhole, plascrete or wanton?

2.) Is mimic necessary? Or is that just to be a second sentry breaker?

I <3 MaxX Siphon/Keyhole. It seems the meta has started to drop some of the crisiums and started to slot in Blacklist, which in my opinion hurts Reg-Ass more than Siphon spam MaxX.

Congrats again! Keep fighting the good fight!

@NyanPudge Love that you're carrying the MaxX torch. I think sh'e super strong and hope to do well in our regionals with her.

Several sources of hate, though, and I wonder if you could comment on whether you saw these and how you deal with them?

• Crisum
• Chronos Project
• Blacklist

And/or any others you see coming up that are difficult?

Love the DLR/Josh play in Max. I've gone Semi-reg in my build but will def give this list a swing. Brings back memories of Anatomy-style Reina, which I took to regionals top 8 last year.

@Myriad, Thanks, you clearly have excellent taste in runners!

1) One copy of Spooned is definitely something I'm trying to figure on how to fit into the deck, and as little scorch as I've seen lately there are good odds I'll be dropping Plascrete Carapace to make room for either Spooned or Vamp. Forked I'm not really sold on, since I prefer to usually kill the hard ETR ice and leave the porous-but-taxing stuff on the table if I have to choose between the two. This makes it more possible to reach Crisium Grid/Blacklist if and when they pop up.

2) Mimic is mostly a second sentry breaker, since in some matchups you won't want to pay to install the Femme. Swordsman is still an occasional nuisance I find it the most agreeable solution most of the time, losing Eater and having to use some of your recursion on him isn't game-ending but it's annoying.

@poorhaus, Crisium Grid is the most common piece of MaxX-hate I tend to see, but it can be dealt with. For one, it's public enemy #1 on Keyhole runs and because of the number of cards you'll be trashing, corps will be hard-pressed to recur it. I've hit more than a few with early Data Leak Reversal's as well. Two, between Femme Fatale and Parasite you can usually focus enough hate on a server's ice that you can crack it open and dispose of the Crisium Grid. That might seem like a heavy investment, but when you count the fact that you're also killing their defenses and opening them up for Siphon/Keyhole/Wanton or whatever kind of spam, it easily pays off later.

Chronos Project I don't think I've seen once post-Clot, RP doesn't like to slot extra points and they're the common cold at the moment, while superserver HB is mostly in the same kind of boat. MaxX has become uncommon enough that it seems like a slot most people aren't using. As for dealing with it, early aggression is the name of the game. Some cards you don't have to play around, just play over. If you can pull your early aggression off, you'll often times clinch the game before you need to play your Levy AR Lab Access and begin again. If you see one during Keyhole, obviously try to get it out of play as soon as you can, but other than that the best thing you can do is to keep the Corp under your thumb.

Blacklist is tricky, it's a major silver bullet but I don't see many corps running it because while it is strong, it has limited usefulness. Calimsha Kate can just get in and trash it when necessary, the only one who has big issues there is Eater. For that purpose, if you see it, trash it if possible. Like any hate card it's a priority target for trashing. Once it's out in play, again it's something that should be trashed if at all possible. Parasites with Suckers are your friends, but if you're worried about how reliable that is, Quest Completed and Singularity are still happy to help fulfill that role. I decided I wasn't sufficiently scared of Blacklist to bring Singularity back, and it worked out for me, but that's primarily going to be a meta call.

Whew. Sorry for the wall of text. Again.

I need more practice vs Blacklist. Parasite and Datasucker seems like a pretty good answer... but I haven't played against it a ton yet. The games I did play against it were Reg-Ass, which felt awful. My opponent just kind of waited until my code gate breaker hit the garbage and then flipped over the blacklist and lotus.

I think me and Poorhaus are going to be at the same regional at the end of the month. I will be very interested to see what his final product is.

Keep fighting the good fight!

@MyriadI've learned the hard way to publish lists after tournaments :)

Nyan, been playing your MaxX and I think I finally figured out how to play her thanks to you.

Question: a lot of times I see I've had Worse in hand and I don't really want to play it. in Jinteki match ups it has been useful but many times it just stares at me in my hand and I want to hold other combo pieces like siphons, deja vu, data leaks, sometimes keyhole and eater. As protection it is subpar unless you see lots of little damage. Ever thought of cutting it for the more utility you are seeking, spooned or quest?

@Elthane I've thought about it, yeah, but usually when I'm about to cut it it winds up being useful.

When I end up playing it most of the time it's because I'm looking for the missing piece in a rig (Not common, as I've previously stated I tend to play what I draw and be happy with that), or the last bit of recursion I need for Levy or some such. I think dropping it to a 2x is probably a good idea, more than that might make me a little bit nervous especially if I'm getting rid of the last Plascrete, but would probably work out ok. Most of the time MaxX's draw and sometimes a couple extra draw clicks over the course of a game is plenty.

Glad to hear you've been having fun with it!

What do you think about cutting all 3 I've Had Worse, keeping 1x plascrete; and fitting in 1x symmetrical visage, 1x Spooned, 1x Quest? I subbed Quest for Knifed and it was a really good change.

I dunno, what I like about your deck is that it is so focused and honed. I worry if you start trying to put in too many contingencies that it will hurt how razor sharp the plan is. Still, having quest in the heap or hand has been awesome. Quest itself solves many of the problems that Spooned would be trying to target, looking at you Lotus Field.

What do you think of Net Ready Eyes for MaxX? Does it make you want to move away from Eater?

It's probably not a bad call. I certainly regretted removing Quest from the deck, especially with as much RP as we're seeing right now. I don't think I'd add symmetrical visage just because it's not an immediate payoff card, it takes a while to be really useful and can be trashed at any rate.

Getting both Spooned and Quest in here is probably the right call though, more dead ice is always a good thing and Lotus Field is pretty damned obnoxious at the moment. That's probably the next thing I'll try with dropping all 3 I've Had Worse, maybe just add 1x Quest and Spooned and play it at 46, see how that goes.

@ElthaneAs for Net-Ready Eyes, I think it's a helluva card that I'm interested in putting with Anarch, but I think it goes with a different deck than this one. I think MaxX still can like it very well, but it might be more for a medium-dig kind of build.

I've been playing with NRE in the RegAss MaxX build. It's good. Real good. But I think it's slower on the set up since your'e waiting for that card to hit the table. I think a clot is necessary if NRE is gonna get played. But a str 4 yog makes a world of difference.

I'm not sure if I should go 2 NRE or keep the 1 zu in there. But the medium digs have been pretty fruitful in my last week of testing.

ah yeah, forgot for a sec that the plan is tag-me, don't want them to murder the baby. What about loggin' babes with Johnny Masanori? I have had good success with him in previous tag me decks and he is pretty good card draw.

I like Johnny Boy a lot actually, he was in an early iteration of this deck, he just got cut because I didn't feel like I needed the draw on top of I've Had Worse. But if you're not running I've Had Worse he certainly couldn't hurt.

Alright! Had a few chances to play this build and here are my changes.

-1 Amped Up, -1 Plascrete, -2 Keyhole, -1 Mimic.

+1 Knight, +1 Spooned, +2 Retrieval Run, +1 D4v1D

My reasoning is this. Plascrete and I've Had Worse don't blend well anyway. I would either run x3 of I've Had Worse or x1 Plascrete and use the 3 slots for x2 inject and x1 something else. Not both.

Spooned and Knifed are money, especially with Planned Assault. It lets you always get those tools right when you need them.

D4v1D, Knight and Femme form a triumvirate of awesome. Between the three of them you have an answer to ANY piece of ICE in the game (for the most part). Femme is strengthened by Ret Run. Also D4v1D is usually much better late game than Knight, who is my early game surprise siphon enabler... and is basically my 4th eater in that regard.

I loved Amped Up, but I needed the card slot.

What do you think of Demolition Script, Turntables and Hacktivist Meetings? All three seem really good in this build. Even as a 1 of Demolition Script will be very playable with Planned Assault. Turntables can replace Grimoire decently enough (and is 1 cheaper) and Hacktivist is just awesome. Running Turntables though probably necessitates dropping datasuckers though, cause memory might become an issue.