P.E.A.R.N.A.D. v1.1

dodgepong 1796

My own variation on Toomin's N.E.A.R.P.A.D deck. Read his original explanation to learn how to run the deck.

Went 5-0 at FCB Comics and Games tournament in Alpharetta, GA on Nov. 30th, 2014.

Main differences:

  • -3 Hedge Fund, +3 Diversified Portfolio: This was almost a no-brainer. I regularly get 7 or more credits off each Diversified...a 4-credit Diversified is bad. Toomin also made this change in later revisions.

  • -1 Rainbow, +1 Enigma: I wanted another way besides Tollboth to force out a decoder from the runner. Quandary could arguably do this as well, but I wanted it to not be as Parasitible.

  • -1 Rainbow, +1 Mother Goddess: Just as taxing as Rainbow for +1 credit, but keeps people out a lot better early game. I'm willing to eat the higher rez cost to ETR more reliably early game.

  • -1 Interns, -1 Closed Accounts, +2 Daily Business Show: Daily Business Show wasn't out when the original N.E.A.R.P.A.D came out, and I think it's a very natural addition to the deck. Lets you dig for the right combo pieces more quickly, especially if you have both of them rezzed.

Other thoughts/lines of improvement:

  • Toomin's later variations of N.E.A.R.P.A.D traded the 2x Snare! for 2x Cerebral Static, mainly to help with the Whizzard matchup. I think it would also help with Noise and Leela, and at least disrupt a few others. It makes the deck a little more consistent in that it might lose less to bad matchups, but also removes the somewhat random wins when they facecheck a Snare with 2x Dedicated Response Teams on the table. I have yet to decide if I want to make this change...perhaps if people start building decks to counter this sort of deck, I'll have to consider it. For now, I like my Snares...

  • Many people have mentioned that Manhunt would fit with this archetype well. The problem is that I don't know what I would cut for it. The natural cut is City Surveillance, but I really like having 3 of those in the deck, since it's important to get them early in case they make themselves broke early. The other advantage to City Surveillance is that it taxes them even when they aren't running (which they might do if they were poor with a Manhunt on the table, knowing that DRTs are lurking). Maybe I could trade an Interns for it? I don't know...I feel like Manhunt would be a card for a Making News variant of this deck.

  • I have recently been considering taking out an Interns and a NAPD Contract and adding in 2x License Acquisition. I find that Interns tend to pile up in my hand if I don't have anything to use them on, and License Acquisition could get me a point & recover a DRT or City Surveillance for free. This will probably be the first change I actually make to this version of the deck.

  • The ICE I like seeing least are Tollbooth and Information Overload. IO is fun when it hits (I've only gotten it to hit once to trash a full rig) but besides that, it's expensive to rez and only matters once they have a lot of tags; if they are already tagged that much, it feels like a "win more" card. On the other hand, I suppose it's another on-encounter way to give them a tag (like Data Raven) that must be Femme'd or otherwise bypassed to avoid, but I often find myself trashing it. Tollbooth, on the other hand, just feels too expensive. I don't tend to have the cash to rez it until late game, which I suppose isn't bad, but if I draw it early, it goes straight into Archives. I'm wondering if I can fit Virgo in here somewhere.

19 comments
2 Dec 2014 Spaceman_Spiff

My thoughts:

  • I like the Diversified Portfolio switch.

  • I personally like a few more Data Ravens, maybe removing an Enigma or Wraparound. They just work so well with DRT, and nearly ensure a secure server until the runner decides to trash the DRT's.

  • Did Toomin really take out Snares for Cerebral Static in later versions? That seems...odd. They're literally the only thing keeping the runner from checking every single remote you lay down (therefore trashing DRT's before they're a problem and removing a huge win condition). If they do that, then your only option is to set up a scoring server and hope to ride the astro train. I definitely agree with you keeping in Snare. In fact, in my deck I took out one Encryption protocol and one Eli for a third copy.

  • I agree with your sentiments about Manhunt as well. It's nice in something like Making News, but the ability to time City Surveillance is much more valuable. Being able to rez 1 or 2 at a point when they have very few credits basically ensures that they'll either be fighting out of the rut for the next 4-5 turns or just resign to be tagged (which obviously turns on a lot of the cards). Playing Manhunt just tells the runner that they need to save up extra credits before they run.

  • I would support your change with Interns/NAPD for License Acquisition. Interns is nice-ish, but feels very resource-intensive.

2 Dec 2014 dodgepong

Yes, you can see Toomin's newer version here with the hedge/DP trade and the Snare/CS trade. Personally I'm sticking with Snares until I see a very strong reason to switch, such as if Whizzard or Leela are giving me a hard time.

I don't think I would remove an Encryption Protocol...I think it's extremely important to get them early to make trashing things impractical. Getting a 3rd Snare certainly sounds tempting, though...

That's a good point about the Data Ravens...come to think of it, I don't really see a reason now to not run a second Data Raven instead of the Information Overload. Perhaps I need to man up about the Tollbooth...I just hate spending 8 credits all at once like that, feels like a huge swing that I seldom want to invest in.

2 Dec 2014 say200426

why not sansan city grid?

2 Dec 2014 dodgepong

Partially because it doesn't really have anything to do with the DRT/tagging synergy of the deck; SanSan City Grid is a fast-advance card, and this is not a fast-advance deck. This is a taxing/tagging deck, and SanSan doesn't really create a synergy with that purpose, other than being expensive to trash with multiple encryption protocols. But then, I don't know what I would cut in its favor.

But also partially because SanSan and fast advance are boring. I'm playing this deck because I like NBN but I don't want to play Astrobiotics/FA. If you're playing NEH with SanSan, why not go full FA? Asking "Why not SanSan" is the first question in a long line of "Why not ___" questions that ends in NEH FA, and I'm just not interested in playing that way.

2 Dec 2014 say200426

I totally understand your point. I also love NBN but refuse to build an astrobiotic deck.

However, somtimes I think it is better to include sansan city than not. By pressure the runner to trash it, or risk the astrotrain start scoring.

2 Dec 2014 Dydra

retarded NEH deck that requires 0 brain to play ... these decks play themselves ... bleh ...

If I could downrate this, I actually would.

2 Dec 2014 dodgepong

@say200426 Yeah, I hear you, it could be a big target for the runner to spend time/money running. The problem is that removing a couple cards and replacing them with SanSan makes the deck weaker in accomplishing its goal. It's an interesting thought, though, and I'll keep it in mind if I want to make it more economically taxing instead of tag-taxing.

3 Dec 2014 noise42

What about Reversed Accounts? I find that useful as a bait since the advanceability and can break a runner's economy in a total of 4 clicks

3 Dec 2014 Diegofsv

I wanted an Architect here so bad, but its probably impossible to fit in

3 Dec 2014 dodgepong

@noise42 Maybe? I could see it as a way to start the City Surveillance train, though spending 4 clicks and 2 credits to remove 8 runner credits makes me a bit sad when I could spend a single click to remove infinite runner credits with Closed Accounts, if they make the mistake of floating a tag. Having said that, if you install/advance it behind a Data Raven, it would be a nice bait...

@Diegofsv I know, right?! @Spaceman_Spiff above said he took out 1x Eli and 1x Encryption protocol for an extra Snare...perhaps the same could be done for an Architect instead!

Maybe -1x Eli -1 Encryption Protocol, +1 Architect +1 Reversed Accounts?

3 Dec 2014 Diegofsv

Seems like a good idea. Architect is such an awesome card in this deck.

4 Dec 2014 Freeman 1.0

Maybe Shell Corporation instead Marked Accounts? +1 Data Raven will be great

great adaptation for the original deck @dodgepong

4 Dec 2014 Freeman 1.0

sorry for the double post but I just realized Ice: Universal Conectivity free instead of Closed Accounts, being that the ability triggers in his turn losing all that has saved, doing the following ice imposible pass (even pop up window XD). Imagine Data first and Universal then...

4 Dec 2014 dodgepong

@Freeman 1.0 Setting up a Data Raven -> UCF server to replace Closed Accounts seems a bit clumsy to me, but I could maybe see replacing a Pop-up with UCF instead.

6 Dec 2014 Tr33beard

This is one of my favorite decks that I've ever had the chance to run. That being said, I've found out the hard way that Keyhole is a big problem for the deck. Any ideas on how to improve that matchup?

6 Dec 2014 dodgepong

Put the Tollbooth over R&D, for a start. My next version of the deck has better ways of pulling things out of the Archives, as well, but I want to play with it some more before I publish it, since several pieces are still experimental.

6 Dec 2014 dodgepong

Also, if you can get a DRT on the field, you could throw a Data Raven over R&D as well and tax via meat damage.

12 Dec 2014 howdypertner

Great adaptation of Toomin's original deck. I've been working on adaptations of that deck, but you've beaten me to pretty much all of the changes. I plan on giving this version a spin in the near future. Good job!

12 Dec 2014 dodgepong

Posted an updated version, thanks everyone for your feedback!

netrunnerdb.com