Zahya Smuggles Knives [Standard] [2-1 (4-2) @ Worcester CO]

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LastWalter 88

Played this deck in the CO in Worcester and qualified for CBI somehow - came in 3rd but top 2 finishers both had invites already. I honestly just went to hang out with the Neon Static guys as they are my locals, but ended up overachieving. I went in with pretty low hopes, I had been studying chess a few hours that morning and I thought I was kinda fried.

This deck went 2-1, with one win on points (vs. Nick @ Azmari), one knife win (vs. revengeanceful @ Sports) and one loss to Holly on RH (flatlined). For Corp I played Jukebox Asa (also 2-1) with the only change playing a single Offworld Office to replace the banned Luminal.

As befits all good tournament results, I built this deck the morning of the event, at about 5 AM. I knew I wanted to play knife and went from there. Zahya is here because with 5 less cards in deck you're more likely to draw a knife! This reads like a meme, but I'm being completely serious. I think it is a substantial factor. If I were to work on the deck some more the economy probably needs to be improved. The economy isn't bad exactly, but it's not smooth so the mix of cards might just not be right.

Final thoughts - I actually think the current balance point of the game is pretty awful. I don't mean any particular faction or side is OP (though I do have thoughts about this too), I just think the power level of the game is way, way too high to the point of not being enjoyable. The demands put on Runner decks by Corp decks are unreasonable. While I think a lot of this has to do with FFG era cards (and I don't mean to pick on any particular person at NSG) the now banned Trick Shot is a perfect demonstration of this - an event card that is two runs, an additional access and 6 credits for 1 credit is WILD, and any world that it might remotely be okay in is probably a world where there is too much click compression. As the power level of the cards gets higher the board game part of Netrunner (it's greatest strength) becomes less important, and I think that's a real shame.

Good luck knifing people friends.

1 comments
8 Jan 2025 Kharack

"As the power level of the cards gets higher the board game part of Netrunner (it's greatest strength) becomes less important, and I think that's a real shame."

I've been struggling lately with the game and I feel like this really sums up my issues with it. If I wanted to play a game where I play cards and things just happen I could play yugioh, magic, pokemon etc. I play netrunner because I want to build a board on either side and have to play that board, I want to ask "How do I keep them out for a full turn to score this" or "How can I get all the way down there?" The game right now is so built into events/operations/assets that entire decks play with ice counted on one hand. I'm not saying everyone should be glacier but runners not having a significant ability to punish corps for that (or worse that the return punishment for punishing that is EVEN WORSE than the punishment the runner can dish out) is not good for the game.

I understand she's about to rotate but banning Trickshot while leaving rashida active for so long is just bonkers to me, a corp card that gives you 2 turns of value with no limitation or downside on the gains on it is nuts, because that means runners have to be lightning quick on setup to keep up. Trickshot gives you several turns worth of value for next to nothing but getting full value out of trickshot requires more setup than a single click, I'm am almost never going to turn 1 click 1 trickshot. Is there a single corp that wouldn't at least consider a turn 1 click 1 rashida?

Anyway I ranted quite a bit here and I agree with your sentiment that I love that NSG has kept this game going for so long after FFG dropped it, and I don't want this to be a condemnation of them. I am excited for dawn and rotation, but I worry that FFG was able to say "eh we don't have to support this so we can do whatever we like" with their last set, and while NSG banned some of the offenders, they let some exist far too long and have had to design around how fast/powerful the game was for so long. I remember the long ago FFG days of people lamenting how ridiculous it was that nobody ever used another fracter but corroder...which I never see play anymore. Power creep is inevitable but I don't want to play games of netrunner decided in 3 turns, or feel like it was but I'm just going through the motions.

Anyway thanks to anyone who actually read this.